The Van Buren press., 1872-07-23
The Bible Mode Of Baptism.


noticing the action of the last General
Assembly, in regard to Baptism, and in
speaking of the Presbyterian ministry,
remarks:
" How those who have thoroughly examined
the Greek can bend their minds as to see either
sIrinkling or pouring in the wor1 Baptidzo, and
not see dipping ia marvellous indeed, on the sup
position that they are honest.
We never expect TO be able. in the present life
to reconcile the learning with the integrity OF
those who teach that immersion is not baptism
or that pouring or sprnkling is We opine, how
ever, that il we could probe TIE matter to the bot
tom. it would appear that appetite had more 10 dc
in making up their decision than their Judg
ment.
The kind editor Of the Recorder will
pardon the writer if he respectfully sug
gests the opinion, that he himself is la
bering under that tmisapprehsnsion which
arises from not hariay thoroughly cram
med the Greek word in question. Be
cause,
l. Those who have most thoroughly
examined the Greek word Baptidzo, clear
ly perceive that it has no such meaning
as dipping When those who used the
Greek language wished to express the
idea Of putting a thing into the water,
and suddenly taking it out, they made
use Of the word Bapto, and never Bap-
tidzo. See this abundautly proved in the
volumes Of Dale on Classic, Judalc and
Johannic Baptsms.
The word Bsptidzo, in its primary,
classical Specification, was applied to OBJ
jects which were sunk into the water,
without any reference to their ever being
raised up again, such as the sinking OF a
ship, or the drowning of u man.
2 1t had also secondary meaning; as
when person was drunken he was said
to be baptized with tho wine he had TAX
en- into him, thus bringing him into a
condition OF intoxicaton. This baptism
could of course, have no resemblance to
an development in q dnd
g. All who have thoroughly examined
this subject know that it would be very
unwise to resort To- the classic Greeks, to
ascertain the meaning Of word which
was never used by them when treating
on religious subjects.
a The word Baptidzo, as connected
with religious ceremonies, was first used
by those Jews who made use of the
Greek language. when speaking or writ
| ing on subjects connected with their re,
ligious rite And here, every one may
perceive, is the proper place to inquire
| for the meaning of the word when first
introduced as Christian ordinance; as
the Jews who wrote in the Greek Ian.
guage you'd be the best judges Of the
meaning they gave % tho words OF that
language.
| 1t is well known that at the time and
before the coming Of the Savior, many
Of the Jews did make uso Of the Greek
language, and that translation Of the
Old Testament had been made from the
Hebrew into the Greek, which was then
used, and is still extant, called the Sep.
tuagint.
The question then arises, what was
the meaning attached to the word Bap-
tdzo by those jewish writer's, when used
in their religious ceremonies? In an.
swcr to this question let one out OF many
genuineness Of whose work none will call
call in question, writing in Greek, and re.
ferring to mum. 49, 49," where the
ceremonial law required the water Of sep
aration to be sprinkled upon q person
who had been deiied by dead body, in
order to his purifcation calls that sprlnk.
ling baptism See Wisdom Of Sirach,
in Van Ess' Septuagint, page 70S; and
Horne's character of the work referred
to, Vel A, page PIG. Here we see that
Jews, writing in the Greek language be-
fore the Christian era, made baptism syn
onymous with sprinkling.
These baptsms or ceremonial purilica-
tons are alluded to by Paul in the 9th
chapter Of Hebrews, where he calls them
Divers Washings;" in Greek, Divers
Bdptisms.
SO familiar were those baptisms TO the
Jewish mind at tho commencement Of
the Christian era, that, when John the
Baptist appeared before the public, preach
ing and administering the Baptism CT Re-
poatance, no inquiry was made as to the
rite itself When the Jews sent Priests
and Lcvites from Jerusalem, it was to
ask, who art thou? and why baptzest
thou? There was no question about the
rite, which there surely would have been,
had John introduced novelty, This
frs. had great weight on the mind ofDr
Archibald Alexander, in his youth, when
his mind was, for a time, perplexed on
this subject Sec his Life, page 2l5.
In view Of these facts, how natural
was the incorporation of Baptism as an
ordinance of the Christian Church Bap
tisng them with water, as emblcmatical
Of the Spirits purifying influences, and
as containing n fulfillment Of the propho-
eies Of Isaiah and Ezekiel" SO shall
He sprinkle many nations ".-"Thcn will
sprinkle clean water upon yen and ye
shall bo clean.
"Yc shall be baptised with the Holy
Ghost not many days hcncc,' said the
risen Savior. "As began to speak, '"
said Petor, the Holy Ghost fell on them
Then remembered the word of the Lord
how He said. ye shall be baptized with
the Holy Ghost. Is not the conclu-
sion irresistible that the two baptisms,
described as with the same breath, must
be one in mode, SO far as one can be con-
ccived of, and that IS q "tdUing upon y
was tho mode in the one, |, must have
been so in the othcr2
In closing these few remarks, wish
to present my very kind regards to the
editor Of tho Western Recorder, and,