The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-07-27
TRIUNE IMMERSION.

TRIUNE IMMERSION.
First in order of the ordinances is bap-
tism, which is to be observed immediate
ly after the exercises of true repentance,
according to the command Repent and
be baptized" The mode of baptism is
peculiar, is called triune immersion, and
their general service attending it is as
follows: At the water-side they all kneel
down-especially the applicant and the
administrator-and the administrator
then offers up a short prayer to God.
This being over, they both go down into
the water to proper depth and the ap-
plicant kneels down. The administrator
then asks the following questions, all of
which the applicant answers in the af
frmative: "Dost thou believe Jesus
Christ is the son of God, and that he has
brought from heaven a saving gospel?
Dost thou willingly renounce Satan, with
all his prenicious ways, and all the sinful
pleasures of this world? Dost thou con-
venant with God, in Jesus Christ, to be
faithful until death?" Then he proceeds
-"Upon this, thy 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 applicant
t0TWard till he IS scholly immersed) "and
of the Son, dipping him the second tin,e)
-tand of the Holy Ghost" dipping him
the third time. After this, and while
the applicant is yet kneeling, the admin
istrator lays his hands on the applicants
head and offers up q short prayer to
God in his behalf. Baptism makes the
recipient member of the Church, and
Is never repeated for the same individu-
al. Excommunication does not impair
the validity of the baptism, so that they
can be received again on proper repent
ance and reformation, without the read
ministration of the ordinance.
In defense of their practice it is main
tained by them that the commission
"Baptizing them into the name Of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost,' is very elliptical, and when filled
up agreeable with the rules of the En-
glish as well rs the Greek language viii
read as follows: "Baptizing them into
the name of the Father, and baptizing
them into the name of the Son, and bdb-
tizing them into the name of the Holy
Ghost" This is claimed to be the gram
matical import Of the language, and is
amply sustained by all the ancient
Greeks Gf Christian antiquity who have
written ON the subject. 1t may be in
place to remark that Chrysostom the
most renowned scholar of antiquity,
and who lived and wrote in the fourth
century, says: Christ delivered to his
disciples one baptism in three INNER
sions of the body, when he said unto
them, go teach all nations, bathing them
in the name of the Father, and of the
son, and of the Holy Ghost" The
Greek portion of Christendom, who re
ceived the gospel directly from the apos-
ties, themselves, to this day, amid all
their speculations and ceremonies, still
retain their use of the three fold INNER
sion, which is an unanswerable argu-
ment in defense of the antiquity of the
triune immersion as now practiced blythe
German Baptists- As they believe In the
Trinty-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 inYaria
bly, performed by the
FORWARD MOTION.
of the body in the water, believing that
backward immersion is human inven-
ton. and cannot be traced beyond its
origin among the English Baptists in
the sixteenth century (Judson on Bap-
tism, p 112) They hold that as baptism
is an act of obedience, like all other
obedience, must be forward and not
backward, and being in the likeness Of
chris's death, which took place on the
cross where he bowed his head (forward)
they in ike manner must bow forward
in the water.
FEET-wAsHISG.
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