The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1877-02-08
FAITH AND PRACTICE.

FAITH AND PRACTICE.
They believe in the Trinity-thAl
, there are three divine persons or pow
ers ia the God-head. Tney accept
! tue entire Old and New Testsmsnts
as being Of divine inspiration, and
! strongly contend for 3 literal inter-
: pretAtiOn-of the same, ss we would
interpret the language Of other books,
80 far as it may appear In harmony
with the general tenor OF the Bible,
They believe in future rewards and
punishments-that tue wicked, those
who WillfulIy disobey the gospel,
''shali 90 away into everlasting pun
, ishment, but the righteous into life
eternslp Matt. XVI: 26).
They believe that idiots, all infants,
and persons who die before they ar
rive at the years Of knoWledge-tO
know good from evil-wilI be saved
without obedience, being sufficiently
stOned for by the death of Christ.
They are, however, strong opposers OF
infant baptism, believing like the
BaDtists in general, that baptism is
intended for believers only, and as
infants cannot believe, and are not
required to do so, they are perfectly
safe without 1t. It is further believed
by them that baptism in connection
with faith and repentance is for the
remission of sins" (Acts 2 49, 1. e.
actual sins committed and as the
children have committed no actual
sir against law Of which they know
nothing, they are fit subjects for
heaven without being baptized. It
being further maintained that bap-
tism is 'the answer Of a good con-
science towards God" let Pet. III: 81
cannot apply to children, as they
know nothing Of baptism and cannot,
therefore, have any conscience in the
| matter.
Faith, repentance and baptism are
considered essential to salvation and
| for the remission Of sins. "Without
faith it is impossible to please God"
'tHe that believsth not shall be damn
ed" Except ye repent ye shall all
likewise perish" Repent and be
baptized every one Of you, in the
| name of Jesus "Christ for the remis-
sion Of sins" Except q man be born
Of water and OF the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom Of GOd."-
John III-5. None are recognized as
members until after baptism.
TRINE IMMERSION.
First In order OF the ordinances is
baptism, which is to be observed i'm
medIately after the exercise of true
repentance, according to the COM
mand Repent and be baptized"
The mode of baptism is peculiar, is
called trine immersion, and their gen.
eral service attending It is as follows /:
At the water-side they all kneel
dOwn-especially the applicant and
the Northumberland the admin
Istrator then offers up q short prayer
to God. This being over, they both
90 down into the water to q proper
depth and the applicant kneels down.
The administrator then asks the fol-
lowing questions, all Of which the
applicant answers in the Affirmative
''D0st thou believe that Jesus Christ
is the son of God, and that he has
brought from heaven q saving gospel?
Dost thou willingly renounce Satan,
with all his pernicious ways, and all
the sinful pleasures of this world ?
Dost thou covenant with God, in
Christ Jesus, 70 be faithful until
death ?n Then he proceeds-"Upon
this, they confession of faith, which
thou hast made before God and these
witnesses, thou shalt, for the remis-
sion of sins, be baptized in the name
Of the Father" then bends the Gppli-
cant forlOdrd til he IS 1UhoLLy i'm
nlersed) sand Of the Son." dipping
him the second tiBle) "aud of the Holy
Ghost, (dipping him the third tiBle).
After this, and while the applicant is
Aa I'D int fofraknr Ia
his hands on the applicants head and
offers up short prayer to God in his
behalf. Baptism makes the recipient
q member Of the Church, and Is never
repeated for the same individual.
Excommunicatton does not impair
the validity of the baptism, so that
they can be received again on proper |
repentance and reformation, without |
the readministration of the ordi-
nance.
In defense of their practice it is
maintained by them that the COM |
mission-"Bsptizing them into the
name OF the Father, and OF the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, Matt.
xxvuI-19-is very elliptical, and
when filled up agreeab y with the
rules of the English as well as the
Greek language will read as follows :
"Baptizing them into the name of
the Father, and 6dptiZing them into
the name Of the Son, and bdptizing |
them into the name Of the Holy |
Ghost.n This is claimed tn be the |
grammatical import Of the language,
and is amply sustained by all the |
ancient Greeks of Christian antiquity |
who have written on the subject. 1t |
may be In place to remark that
Chrysostom tue most renowned Greek |
scholar of antiquity, and who lived |
and wrote in the fourth century, |
says "Christ delivered to his dis
ciples one baptism in three INNER
sions of the body, when he said unto |
them, go teach all nations, baptiZing |
them in the name of the Father, and |
of the Son, and Of the Holy Ghost
The Greek portion of Cnristendom, |
who received the gospel directly from |
the apostles, themselves, to this day, |
amid all their speculations aud cere- !
monies, still retain the use OF the |
three.fold immersion, which is an |
uDanswerable argument in defense OF
the trine immersion as now practiced |
by the German BAptists. As they |
believe in the Trinity-that there are |
three persons In the one GOd-head, |
they maintain that there should also |
be three actions in the One baptism. |
Their method is invariably performed
by the
FORWARD MOTION
of the body i'm the water, believing |
that backward imm ersion is human |
and cannot be traced be-
yond its origin among the English |
Baptists in the sixteenth century.
(Judson on Baptism, p. 1l2). They |
hold that as baptism is an act of obe- |
dience, like all other obedience, must |
be forward and not backward, and
being in the likeness of Ctrist's death,
which took place on the cross where |
he bowed bis head (forwardl they in
like manner must bow forward in the /
water.
FEET-wAsHING.
Next in order is the ordinance OF
feet-washing. The authority is from
the incident Of Christ washing his
disciples feet, narrated in John XIII.
They believe the command in the
I4th and 18th verses Of this chapter to
be as literally binding as the COM
mAuUS SlecMIcE AOE LAlH -OUSeTNduCc
of the communion. It is observed as
a preparation for the Love-feast and
communion, according to the state
ment of Christ to Peter in the 10TH
verse. In the observance Of the ordi-
nance the brethren wash the feet OF
the brethren only, and the sisters OF
the sisters. The sexes never, under
any circumstances, wash the feet of
each other, as has sometimes been
charged. Everything connected with
the ordinance is done decently and
in order. 1t is observed at every
Love-feast and communion.
L0vE-FEAsT.
Next Is the Love-fesst. The auth
ority for this Is predicated upon the
fact that before Christ Instituted the
communion, or the night of his be-
trayal he first psrtOok Of q supper
with his disciples. They make this
real meal. There is no limit as to
kind or quality Of food. The only re-
quirement is, that it be real supper.
After this, and Immediately preced-
ing the communion is the salutation
Of the kiss, which they claim was