The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-12-21

creature poured water upon the head OF
the Creator. Lactantius, about the close
of the third century, says: Christ re-
ceived baptism that He might save the
Gentiles by baptism: that is, (pau!fcl
roris perfuSione) by the distilling of the
purifying dew" And the earliest pic
torial representation that we have of the
baptism of Christ is very ancient medal
or tablet, from which Poussin has taken
the figures and attitudes of his celebrated
painting representing Christ standing in
the water and John the Baptist with his
hand pouring or effusing water on the
head Of our Lord. To this mode of bap-
tism also correspond the rude tracings on
the walls of the Catacombs of Rome, those
gloomy subterranean retreats which date
back to time before the birth of Christ,
and in which many Christians took re-
fuge in the days of persecution under the
Roman Emperors. None of these trac-
ings represent immersion. All represent
pouring or efusion, although the person
baptized is sometimes represented as
standing in the water. The very earliest
notice of the mode of BAPTISM that we
have, after the death of the Apostle John,
has been preserved to US by Walker, a
very learned and careful English writer
on baptism. His account was repeated
by DR.. N l.. Rice, in his celebrated de-
bate with DR.. Alexander Campbell, in
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1943, and the
authenticity of the account was never
disputed. 1t is the case of man, about
seventy years after the time of the apos-
ties, who was on journey through a
desert part of Asia, in company with a
number of Christians. He was taken
dangerously i'll and protested Christianity
and desired to be baptized. But there
was no water within reach and therefore
he was sprinkled with sand, with the
Christian forms. He recovered, and re-
turned with them; and his case being re-
ported to the presiding Presbyter or
Bishop, he decided that he was validity
baptized eff only water should be poured
(pertunderetau) on him" Justin Martyr,
in the second century, the very first of
the Christian fathers CATER the aoostles)
who mentions baptism, speaks of it as a
washing (loettron), and not as an INNER
sion. Origen, who was born in Alexan-
dria only l65 years after Christ, and was
one of the most learned men of the Chris
tian Church, and was certainly acquaint-
ed with his own language-the Creek
translates the word bopto in Revelation
xix: Is, by the word Sprinkle" rantizo.
Aud he was clothed in vesture sprin-
Killed. with blood" And in the same way
exactly the old Peschito-Syriac transla-
ton of the New Testament which is one
of the most ancient translations existing
on earth, rendered that verse, thus prov
ing, by early Greek authority itself, that
bapto means SPRINKLE So excruciating
torture have these indisputable facts from
Origen and the Peschato-Syriac version
given to exclusive immersionists, that
two of them, DIR. Gale and Alexander
Campbell, have been actually driven to
adopt the wild theory that Origen and
the translators of the PeSchlto-Sy
must have had access to Greek copy OF
the book of Revelation differing from our
received Greek text. This theory is not
only wild, but false and dangerous
There is not one particle of evidence for
it in all the Greek copies of that book
that remain on earth; and to adopt this
theory would be to launch us on stormy
sea of uncertainty as to the whole origi-
nal text of the Bible; without chart, rud-
der, or compass to guide US. To proceed
with the early testimony as to the mode
of baptism: Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage
who was born about the close of the sec
ond century, and was put to death by
martyrdom in 259, decided in council
of sixty-six bishops, all of whom agreed
with him, that baptism by sprinkling OF
effusion of water was valid, and quoted
from the prophet Ezekiel in vindlcation
of the decision, these words: "Then will
1 sprinkle clean water upon you and ye
shall be Clean"
Some exclusive immersionists seem to
have sought comfort and encouragement
from work entitled Christian Institu-
TONS" by the late Dean Stanley, of the
Anglican Church But if they had
studied that work carefully, and com
pared it with Holy Scripture, and with
all the remains Of patristic literature and
history that are genuine and authentic,
they would promptly lay aside the book
as one which, both in its letter and its
spirit, will overthrow their tenets rather
than aid them. 1t is true that in the
opening chapter, Dean Stanley intimatea
a strong opinion that Johns baptism was
by immersion, and that this was the mode
practiced in the primitive Church. But,
| when we come to look for his authoritv