Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1914-03-19
BAPTISM
By ]. ]. Wilson

Infant baptism is taught by many diff
ferent classes of religious people, while
1t is opposed, perhaps, by an equal num-
Der. The practice originated very early
in the Christian era But the ancient or
modern origin OF doctrine in no way
determines the Scripturalness of its
foundation. 1t Is not easy, however, to
convince men that they are in error after
an erroneous belief has become to them
fixed principle. But the mere fact that
belief has been entertained for years
does not make 1T true. The Bible is the
only absolute authority for truth.
When certain religious observance
has been customary fol- years, we quite
naturally take it for granted that such
custom must be plainly substantiated by
the Scriptures; but when our attention
lie called to the matter, we are some
times surprised to find how little foun-
dation we really have had for the follow
ing of such custom. This is particular
ly true Of infant baptism. 1t has been
practissd for centuries, not only by many
heatben people, but also by Roman
Catholics and many Protestant denomi-
nations; yet ws can not find one scrip
tnre clearly teaching such doctrine.
True, there are few that, taken out OF
their natural order, may eeem to teach
that infants should be baptized. But to
cite one plain text relating to the subject
lie impossible.
In Acts S:l2, we 6nd that both men
and women we're baptized, but nothing
is said of children. Peter epjoined,
Repent and be baptized, every one OF
vou' Acts 2:28) but according to this
scripture the candidate must at least be
old enough to repent. Again, Jesus said,
HE that believeth and is baptized ehal
be saved" MARK l6:IO). Here, they al
so must be old enough to believe. But
why multiply texts since there is no
room for discussion? Throughout the
entire New IL etament the unprecedented
Bible reader will observe that where the
doctrine of water baptism is taught, the
text clearly shows that some preparation
of the heart is needed before baptism is
in order The child can not possibly
make any preparation of the heart until
he has reached the age of accountable
ity; hence, only those who are capable of
believing to the salvation of their souls,
who are capable of repentance, are prop
or subjects for baptism.
THE MODE OF BAPTISM
As to the mode of administering the
ordinance of baptism, there is much con-
troversy. And yet, to the average per-
son, there is no good reason why men Of
intelligence should be so divided. Men
readily agree as to the meaning of al
most all Edglish words other than scrip
tural terms, whether those of words be
of Latin, Hebrew, Greek, or other origin
But here is an English word derived
from the Greek word baptisma, the true
meaning Of which is to dip, dye, or i'm
merse, to which many would seek to at
tach an altogether different meaning
! Again we have the word "baptise." de-
rived from the Greek baptizo, which is
the verb form, whereas baptisma is the
noun form In the following passages as
we'll as in several others, the original
word was baptisma: Matt 3:17; Mark "A;
Luke 3:3; Acts 1:22; Rom 6:4; Col. 2:12;
In our authorized version the derived
word mot translated) is "baptism"
while in many other versions the word
is translated hmm ersion " In no place
is baptisma or baptizo translated sprinkle
or pour. True, both sprinkle and pour
are used in the Authorized Version, but
they are not translated from any form Of
baptizo, neither do they have any refer
ence whatever to Christian baptism.
Then, too, since baptism is likened to
q burial and resurrection, how could
sprinkling or pouring bear any resem-
blance to that? Of course, many con
tend that it is not always convenient to
immerse the candidate. Sufficient water
may be lacking, and then. besides, the
immersion of large number, except in
running water, is not cleanly. either
from ceremonial or sanitary stand
point. Then another favorite argument
is that God does not look at the acts it.
self, but considers the attitude Of the
heart. To all these arguments we would
answer, The person whose heart is right
with God easily finds a way to carry out