The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-03-22
A DISSENTING VIEW.

munication in your issue of Tuesday
Ievening. In reply I wish to say.
| The First Church of Christ is re-
suit of an effort to restore the church
as the apostles established it. AS
long as the church remained faithful
to the apostolic model it was a united
church. When it departed from that
model divisions came. A return to
that model is the only course that can
reunite the church. In setting forth
this position Sunday evening said !:
"This church will dis band and unite
with any church in Mankato that will
square itself with the apostolic model
given in the New Testament.
My friend, Mr. Edmands, thinks that
if that statement is lived up to the
church of Christ will unite with the
Congregational church. He gives
baptism as the point Of contention.
He thinks the Congregational
church follows apostolic teaching on
baptism. We think our position on
baptism is apostolic. Whose thinking
is right? What is the meaning of
baptize? Here hangs the question. All
talk about liberality and narrowness,
majorities and tradition its off the
point. What did Jesus and his apostles
mean by baptism? Did they mean
| immense or did they mean something
else? If they meant something else,
then the Congregationalists are right.
If they meant immense, then we are
right
l. Baptize is a Greek word, not
! translated, but simply Angelicized. 1t
can be translated immense, that is,
| immerse can be substituted for it in
all places where it occurs in the Bible
or in other writings. Such is not the
case with either sprinkle or pour.
Try it.
I 2. Jesus and the apostles used the
language of the people. The people
of their day understood the meaning
of the word baptize. Does history
show what meaning they gave to it?
Yes. All the great church historians,
Moheim, Meander, Smith, Bremen,
Schaff and all the others, testify that
immersion was the universal prac
! tice of the church for three centuries
and, except for the sick, till 1911 A.
D. Prof. L. L. Paine, d. D., of
Bangor Theological seminary, himself
a Congregationalist, says: "Was i'm
mersion the primitive form of bap-
tism? Yes, no matter of church his
tory is clearer. Non historian
who cares for his reputation would
dare. deny it.
EE'The Teaching Of the Twelve" is
not..univer sally.. accepted as the Oldest
Christian teaching. outside the New
Testament 1t shows, however, that
immerslona.was the practice of it's day
except in cases of sickness Sprinkling
water on the sick was a pagan COR
ruption that came into, the church
after the.aposUonc age. 1t was an
old practice of water worshippers of
Rome.
3. Every--Greek. lexicon in existence
says baptize means immerse- Liddell
and Scott, Robinson, Grove, Anthem,
Scapula and the whole list of them.
Prof. Timayenis of New York, himself
Greek, and one of the finest scholars
among his own people, says: "The
word baptize means nothing but i'm
merse in water.
A. The Greek people, who surely
understand their own language, de-
clare with one voice that baptize
means immense. The few protestan
missions among the Greeks are COM
PEELED to practice immersion only. The
So, 600, 900 in the Greek church are
immersed people.
The overwhelming testimony of the
scholarship of the world is that bap-
tie means immerse and nothing more.
If Jesus and His apostles commanded
immersion, who are we that we should
change it? To ''give liberty on this
one point would be rebellion against
Christ.
Why should it be considered narrow,
as Mr.. Edmands intimates, for us tc
stand firmly for a well supported posi-
tion2 To be right with the courage OF
conviction is. true liberality. Then the
Congregational church does exactly
what we do. We stand for what we
believe to besthe meaning of baptize.
They stand for their meaning.
Our stand compels us to refuse mem.
bership to many good people-the un.
immersed. Their stand compels them
to refuse membership to the Quaker
who discards baptism entirely.
Both act on the same principle. Tt
yield what Christ gave, would end in
giving up Christ Himself.
In reference to the name Mr.. Ed
mands conveys the impression that we
deny to other people the use of the
name Christians. He is very badly
mistaken in that. We have no patent
on the name. We should be glad tC
see all followers of Christ use it, and
are sorry that many of them prefer
some other name
Given loyalty to the New Testa.
ment church as established on the day
of Pentecost and there will be only ONE
church as it was in the beginning.
II Ell. d. WILLIAMS.