Mexico weekly ledger., 1886-06-10
DUNCAN'S GOSPEL LESSONS.
REPLY NO. %.

REPLY NO. 20.
We have now examined the bap.
tism on the day Of Pentecost; the
baptism of the jailor; the record in
Heb. 9:1O; the baptism of Cornelius
(Acts 10:47), and found them with
one voice testifying in favor of
sprinkling as the one only mode of
using water in the ordinance of bap-
tisD. Let us now look briefly at the
babtism of Saul of Tarsus, Acts, 9th
chapter. We find Saul, maddened
by fierce zeal against the disciples of
Christ, rushing toward Damascus for
the purpose of seizlng all who had
the temerity to be followers of the
crucified One, and bringing them to
Jerusalem for trial and punishment.
On this mad journey, while frantic
with "threatenings and slaughter"
the spirit of the Lord overlook him,
struck him down and completely SUBJ
dued him. Blind, weak, praying and
penitent, he is found at the house of
Judas, on the street called Straight,
by Ananias, a Disciple who had been
sent to minister to him. He is pros
tratc on couch or on the floor, and
Ananias put his hands on him and
said, "Bro:her Saul, the Lord, even
Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the
way which thou comest, hath sent
me, that thou mayest receive thy
sight, and be filled with the Holy
Ghost. And now why tarriest thou?
Arise (stand up and be baptized,
and wash away thy sins by calling on
his name. And immedia tely there
fell from his eyes as it were scales,
and he received his sight; and he
arose STOOD up) and was baptized;
and he took food and was strength
ened"
(Dr. j. r. Graves said in the Car
rolIton debate in 1875, that ''no Dis
ciple ever called man brother till
after he was baptized" l instantly
turned to Acts. 9:17 and nailed down
that misstatement.)
In the light of what has gone be-
fore it is very plain that Saul of
Tarsus was baptized in the house of
Judas, by the. side of the couch on
which he had been reclining and in q
standing posture. The only probable
(or even possible) way that could
have been effected was to have the
water sprinkled on him, as all previous
scriptural baptisms had been admins
tered. OF course, if we let Mr. D.
and his dipping friend assume with
out the shadow of proof, that Japtizo
means 'fo dip, and nothing but dip,
through all Greek literature" we
might, in the face of all probability,
imagine Ananias taking the weak,
debilitated, famlshed Saul of Tarsus
out of the house of Judas, down the
long straight street to some river
running near the city of Damascus,
and when the water edge is reached
first wading in himself, carefully feel
ing his way with stick less he get
! in water over his head; then after
sounding the depth of the water,
leading the wearied, exhausted Saul
Of Tarsus into the water to Il proper
depth, then ducling him under the
water. and then leading him back to
the river bank and to the house OF
Judas, dripping wet as drowned rat
We might imagine such scene as
this if---ycs if. But when it Is
known that bdptizO never had the
meaning of "dip'' in all Greek liteia'
ture, and in all classics older thar
the New Testament baptizo moves
the element and not the object, enc
in all the previous Bible baptisms the
baptizing element had been sprinklet
upon the person baptized. 1t is al
absolute impossibility to imagine suci
a scene or extort such fable from
the record of Saurs baptism as fount
in Acts, 9th, % and &c chapters.
No one could get dippin out o
Saul's baptism unless his fancy wa
like the old Baptist preachers, wh'
was reading 2nd chapter OF Solo
mons Song. When he came to tn
18th verse he thought he had foun'
a prophetical allusion to modern In
mersion. He read, :'and the voice o
the turtle (dove) is heard IN ou
> land" The old man thought it mean
mud turtle, and he said-"Here
: NV brethren, is clear alluslon t
immersion. You al know q turtl
has no voice, and the voice her
! snoken of must be the kerchug h
makes when he falls off a log int
= tie water. That "kerehug' of II
! tnrtle is heard wAeuever We lmmers
: anyone, and thus this prophecy
: falfile6 our mode shs II to b
scriptufal.