The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-14
DR.. HUNTERS AFFIRMATIVE
No. 2

reioinder you place Us all under obligs
ton BY giving Us an entirely new defiE
/. ltion Of Baptidzo. You say, in q
B its uses the idea of form Is carried along
that Is to say, in every use Of the word
|. ii expresses the mode By which the bar
tism is effected DR.. Fnller says bap
: tism may be effected by pouring.
pouring always expressed by the word
: DIR. Cox SAYS the same. Did he ais
mean that pouring is expressed BY tn
: word 2 It is Mr. Gambrell, who assert
that form essentially inheres in tn
word. ! set against this the authority o
DIR. Fuller and DR.. Cox, and DR.. Gale
The latter says, .'the word baptize doe
not so necessarily express the action put
ting under water, as in general thing
being in that condition, no matter how il
comes so.' You deny that baptize is 6
word of condition. But Gale asserts thai
it is. There is not dictionary on earth
that says that the essence of Baptize is
mode, and not condition. / challenge
you to find such.
But to your new definition. Form,
you say, is not only essential to the
word, but that that form is burial, an
immt rsion." Then the word must be
defined in the lexicons as meaning bury.
| ask you to find me one such lexicon
that gives bury as even one of its mean
ings | cali your attention to this for
reply. Tell your readers where baptize,
in the whole range of classic Greek or,
in the whole range of Lexicography,
means to bury Even the Latin word
immergo never means to bury so far as
/ have been able to find. If it does,
please give us an example.
| But bury itself, is also a word of con-
dition, and not of mode, / bury in
vault, / bury in the ground, bury by
| incarceration. Are all those things done
by one and the same mode?
2. You inform us that, form (mode)
is the very body and substance of the
word. You assure us that the hoac of
burying, or immersing, the where, the
when, the what for, in what, &c are
questions lying round. but do not touch
IT'S heart. Gentle reade,, the learned
Editor of the Baptist Record asserts that
the very substance and heart of the
word baptize is dipping in water, and
that the how of baptism, the where, the |
when, the what for, or into what, do not |
touch the heart of the word. Most |
Christians have hitherto regarded the
word as having a spiritual Specification,
but it appears the very heart of the |
word, is mode, form, a heathern form,
which, in its Uesy heart, contains no
spiritual truth. This is the worst form of |
ritualism on earth, which completely /
throws all the other ritualists, into the
shade. This is one of the most glaring
arrors { N ri afp fn- day
3 You demand that | shall not only
plove that ritual baptism is seripturally
administered by pouring and sprinkling,
but also, that shall prove pouring or
sprinkliGg is baptism. That is to say,
you d sire me to prove that the mode of
thing is the thing itself, that the mode
Of Producing an effect, is the effect itself.
fhis is how you headed my last article,
but that was not my work Because you
believe that the made of baptism is bap
:Ism, is no good reason for my believing
such conceit. There are however,
those who have given tie specific meaning
of sprinkle. Tertulian is good author
ity with you, when he is on your side
especially He uses the following ex
preston, "Mergere non tantum, sed ct
per! undere." III means the (word bap-
tize) not only To sink. but also, to
@pra6lcr
G;.zrs was a natire of Thessaly, and
one oil the most learned of Greek Lexi
cographPrs, He defines baptidzo, to put ,
frequently anything into any thing, and
thence upon it; to pour forth anything, .
To pour Upon, to pour, to wash, to wash :
the hands. to perform ahlution Now,
so far as any of these words is specific
aud modal, | deny that it can define the ;
Greek word baptize. | only want to let !
You see that there are not wanting Com
mentatofs and photographers, who
have assigned 10 the word baptize
specific meaning. When You ask for
more names in this direction | will give :
them There are many modes that can I,
meet its demands. !
f. Your appropriation of what DR.. ,
Dale says about the primary meaning of {
Daptize is cordially appreciated. OF I
course when you baptize you put the I
subject within water, lcith0m Limitation
IF mode in effacting such condition, or of |
'ime IN abiding in such condition. You in /
tuSpose in the ''the liquid grave, with !
lut limitation Of time as to the continu- {
lnce in such intuspostion. This is Bap- .
list baptism is it not? You know, you |
saw the word baptize never brings cut I
what it puts in to the water, and you /
have too much respect for the meaning i
IF the word baptize to interfere, {
and snatch the subject out Of its !
hands.
While on this point, let me ask you /
for some examples in classic baptisms, I
where the baptizer brings out the bap-
TIED man, just as the Baptists do. You i
ean readily find men who received
classic baptism; now give US even one ex- !;
ample of the baptizer doing just neither :
more nor less than what the Baptists do !
when they say they baptize. Your |.
readers will be interested in this, and !
they ought to be instructed, for many of !
them are Pedo-baptists. ,
DR.. Dale says another thing about
baptism which | hope you sanction. He
mentions a large class of classic bap-
tisms in which there Is no iatusposition,
drunken baptisms, drug baptisms, ETC.. :
. Alexander was baptized by much wine"
He could have been dipped in much
wine, but he was not. He was baptized :
ny drinking it. | will give you more of q
This when you call for it. You seek to Q
escape from this class of baptisms on the t
ground Of figure. Kirkhan, the author {
IF an English grammar, was accused
Of making every expression he could | /
not readily parse an abverhial phrase, .
and thus disposed of it. So all the bap- q
tisms in which there is no intusposition O
you dispose of by conjuring up pools,
lakes, rivers and ponds, in order to fur c
nish dipping There was time when /
T.
same way, wheE it was stoutly main Q
tanned that a lake was dipped into a q
frogs blood. But Carson came along |
and said it was absurd, and that the {
word meant to dye or evel to sprinkle, |
as literally as it did to dip. Ever since,
nearly all the fgurative meanings of !
baptO have disappeared from Baptist lit I
erature, and it will be the same with /
baptize, when Raptists get over their in
fatuation about dip as its one and only
Dipping into wine would not !
make drunken man. Immersion into i
wine would make dead man, but not {
drunk man. But baptism Nth aCiae, viii j
make man drunk till the fumes of the
wine die away.
3. You want me to pour and sprinkle |
both when / baptize. | will consent I'd 4
do SO when you. first dip and then im-
merse and then immerge,and then merge,
and then overwhelm, and then endure, b
and then suffer, and then bury when yon /
baptize. You admit there is difference
in all these words, but not such differ
ence as is worth contending for. But
contend about them, and as You insist |
on the Baptist pound Of flesh, ron shall
hayeit. II
s. You want to know what sort of
condition baptism expresses This con
dition is according to the baptizing
agency. Baptism By drinking wine pro-
duces drunken condition. hapfism
BY questions q CONFUSED condition. Ships
bapfixed By i storm are ii 3 wrecked
coalition. Men wadirg in water up to
their arm pits are 80 far 10 q submerged