Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1843-03-18
ron THE AMgHfCAN,
B A II r. 4 q NJ.

u. u. and o0 you have very generously, and may
add, properly offered your columns for communicas
tons on the other side, will offer q reply, and in
the mean time attempt to show that this, like al.
most every other subject, has two sides, and that
"He that is first in his own cause, seen,efh just
ill his neghbor cometh, and searcheM him" 1t
is true feel somewhat diffident about entering the
field of controversy. with so learned an opponent
as your correspondent appears to be but pleased,
very much pleased with The opportunity now have
OF opposing error, and of vinjica,ing the ordinance
oi christian bsptism in your widely circulated pa.
per- am, however, aware Of the peculiar diff.
cuties which attend every efIor, to cxhib, nnpopu
lar truths, in the face of popular errors, We are
all the subjects Of strong passions and preiudices,
hut hope, confidently believe, tha, in this case.
the reader will carefully examine. and impat,ially
weigh the arguments on this subject. a. consci.
entiously yield to conviction. The subject of Bap.
tism does very much agitate the religious commun-
ty Of this generation, and although there is no sub
jeci more plainly taught in the New Testamen,
than the doctrine Of Baptism, yet there are many
professors Of christianity, at this day and no doubt
some who read your paper. latoring under consci
entous embarrassment on this subject. am sorrv
10 be under the painful impres ssion that L. d. L..
has only contributed to the increase of that en-.
harrassment--he certainly has darkened counsel
He has advanced nothing new, they are the tri,e,
old, worn out arguments that have been advanced
thousand times in support of sprnklng and
pouring for Baptism, and often fairly me, and
tiumphanIIy refuted Mr.. l.. pursues very strange
course in attempting to come at the scriptural
Testament, and confning himself to that, he goes
over TO the Old Testament, where by the way, not
one word is said about Christian Baptism. This
looks very much Ike drowning man catching
at q straw. Perchence, when writing these
Arguments" he had "in his minds eye" sign
board, which, i, is said, mechanic, once upon
time, placed over The door Of his shop, "AN sorts
oftccisting and turning done here"
Mr.. l.. says, "Let us examine the conncxio in
which the word Bsp,ise occurs, in order to oscer-
tain lis probable meaning" aud then, 10 and be
hold he directs the reader to Joel g %, Isaiah So
and SO, Psalms 90, Ezekiel 7,s, also to Ezeki iel
&c, 25. Now, deaf reader. will you believe il, tha,
the word baptize does not occur in one Of these
texts. Why in the name of common sense why
then did he bring up these texts ! He had an OBJ
ject in view, no doubt, and i, requires no extraor.
dinsry discernment to see what was that object
In these passages he found the word pour and
,Dr,uELe nj ha ut opJ ~ -
the subject of baptism, and argues that these are
the terms used to describe the baptism Of the Holy
Ghost, and il so, then either sprinkling or pouring
is baptism. He here takes for granted what he
ought first to have proved. Not only so, but we
defy him 10 prove that the words sprinkle and
pour synonymous with the word bap,ise, as
used in the scriptures
l.. falls into very great mistake with regard to
the Baptism Of the Holy Ghost. Because the
spirit is poured out in order to the Baptism there
fore, he argues that pouring is baptism. This is
strange logic, indeed. Does he suppose that the
immortal God was poured out, or sprnkIed abou,
in PARTICLES, as some ministers sprinkle or pour
little water the head or face of their candi aes
Let US see if we cannot find a rule by which TO
measure the baptism Of tho spirit. See Acts 2,
",3,4. The reader will please observe that not
only did the spirit :.fH all the house where they
were sruine.' but the dicPles "were aRfAed with
the Holy Ghost" Query-do our Pedobapiist
friends bapse with q room full Of water, snd put
their candidates entirely under il, or overwheim
them with water, the disciples were with the Ho.
ly Ghostl
Again, L. d. l.. falls into another error by sup.
posing tia, baptism is analogous to the "hlood Of
sprinklng. deny that baptism has a respect to
the blood Of sprinkhng, but tina, il denotes the
washing Of regeneration, and the renewing of the
Holy Ghost. and is emhlema,cal of the burial and
resurrection Of Christ, and Of our death and burial
with him, and of our resurrection with him TO a
new life. See Rom. G, 4-6; Col, ., 1871 Peter
., 2l. The sprinkling of he blood Of Christ never
once refers to the doctrina import Of baptism, but
has lis memorial sld representative in the Lords
supper l.. is compelled to abandon the scriptursl
import Of baptism and to substitute a conjecture OF
bis own, ia order TO make his sy stem hang together
And what is to be most of all deplored in the sr,
rors Of sprnklng, is that it msIeads and bew llders
those who receive it. in resPec, of the true meaning
of all the sacred institutions.
am sure that every scholar will be amazed al
l.. d. LIS. definition Of Bsptise. Can it be posi-.
tle that man who understands the Greek Ian
euage, would risk his reputation as scholar, by
asserting that the Greek word Baptizo "mesns no
thing but TO sprinkle or pour" and does not mean
"ihe gross act of dipping" Ienvy no, the learn