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1
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6
THE
i
PUSEYISM AND SIM [-POPERY
OF
JE
REV. J. M. CRAMP, D.D.,
p-e»ir.wt of ataUta CoUtge, 5f.»..
BE3NG
lEPLY TO THE LITBRABY CHARACTER OF k CATECHISM
RECENTLY PUBLISHEB BY THA.T GENTLEMAN ON
CHRISTIAN BAPTISM.
IN A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE LEARNED AUTHOE.
i BY THE
REV. D. F. HUTCHINSON,
faitujitrr of St.-??aiir» (Tijtitdj, JStiBgebJatn-. Xofta 5^tatia.
am OF THE "BSSAT ON THB WRD^B DAY " ''^i!^^^'^J±9^lf^i\ll^l^^'^f''
, CHBISTIAN BAPTISM," "GOD'S OWKOHtTRCH." ''""^^f^S^JV^^JjS'Jf '
"0I.A8S BOOK OF RHBTOltlO." AND ' ASTHOKOlllO*! PHII.OBOPHT.
8EC0ND BBITf^^'
i *
TORONTO, ONT.,
HKINTKD AT THE LEADER OFFICR, 68 KING STtttET EA?T,
1871.
U I I
*£*«(^'
R FOR REFERENCE
265.1
Hut
udult
1 Newspaper Room
NOT TO BE TAKEN FROM THE ROOM
Acc. no.
ii2£3SKti3i-"""*»**'''— "■'"''' '
6AP
a
in
'66
i
' h
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
ST. JOHN, N. B.
PRESENTED
i* ■* S^'<
t>Jrid ^uBS'^n Jack Scqu&%-
R.A.
H9lp iil
^.f^
mUF
■^
THE
rVAv^^:^
X
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,.,.2LGv?.i... ]
PUSEYISM AND SEMI-POPERY
OF
THE REV. J. M. CRAMP, D. D.,
i3rc3iticnt of acaUia Collfse, 'Is.S..
BTSINO
A REPLY TO THE LITERARY CHARACTER OF A CATECHISM
RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY THAT GENTLEMAN ON
CHRISTIAN BAPTISM.
IN A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE LEARNED AUTHOR,
13 V THE
llEV. D. F. HUTCHINSON,
iflinistcr of &t. \iiMV6 Cfjuvri}, Bvitigetoatcv, ^'oba Seatia.
▲ITTHOR OP THE "H39AT ON THE LORO'S DAT," ^'BIBLTOAIi CHART," "DHCODRSK
ON CHRISTIAN BAPTISM," "OOD'sOWNOHURCH," '"RHETORICAL CATKCI5I6M,"
"CLASS BOOK OF RUBTORIC," AND " ASTRONOiJIOAL PHILOSOPHY."
SECOND EDITION,
♦ >"
TORONTO, ONT.,
PRINTED AT THE LKADER OFFICE, C3 KINO STRiKT EAST,
1871.
i
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
Through the urgent solicitation, and at the urgent request
(^ of many from the Mai4time Provinces and other places, we
now publish the Second Edition of our ' * Letter to Dr.
Cramp," on the mode of Baptism, but especially on the
meaning of the Greek verb haptizo. AVe yield to the request
under a deep conviction of the importance of the subject.
Every year's experience increases our conviction that the
errorjj of our Baptist friends, in relation to the Sacrament of
Baptism, is not without its horrible fruit of impiety and
irrcligion : unintentional, no doubt, on their part, but never-
theless hateful to God and injurious to the rising generation.
The mode of baptism we acknowledge is of small import-
ance, when compared with the subjects ; and that is a sin of
no small magnitude which excludes the children from
becoming "members of Christ and children of God, and
inheritors of the kingdom of heaven."
Still we deem it of some importance to show that the true
ministry administers baptism by sprinkling according to
Christ's appointment, and that the mode now in use in the
Church is that one which the Holy Ghost himself adopted
or employed. We commend the following pages to the
perusal of all classes among whom it may circulate. The
learned Doctor himself, to whom it is addressed, could not
reply to the plain facts set forth in it, and we do trust it
will be read with profit by those who desire to know the
truth .and to be made free from sectarian error.
r
r
^ ^c
ex.
h
LETTER
TO THE REV. J. M. CRAMP, D. D,
PRESIDENT OF ACADIA COLLEGE, N. 8.
Sir,—
A friend has just put into my hands a small Catechism
published by you on Christian Baptism, and having attent
ively examined every line you have written upon the subject,
I feel it a duty I owe to God and the Christian public to
take exception to the work before me. Your theological ab-
^surdities I wish at this time to pass unnoticed, and shall
therefore confine myself to the literary character of your pro-
duction. On page 31 tlie substance of your assertion is, that
the Greek verb haptizo means exclusively to immerse. No
learned man, you add, will risk his reputation by affirming the
contrary. AH lexicons, you tell us, agree that this is tlie
primary meaning of the word, iuid that you yourself have
examined thirty of them. Some persons, you inform your
readers, say that the word has other meanings beside immer-
sion, but this you declare is absurd.
Now, sir, if you be really sincere in your statements, and
in Christian charity I dare not permit myself to doubt it, I
hope I shall be excused when I express my deepest convic-
tion, that you have examined your lexicons, and read your
authors but very inattentively, and to very little profit. And
I have to hope, sir, that you will not consider me imp'^rtinent
if I show you, as / surely will, from your own favored lexi-
cons and authors, that you are most egregriously mistaken.
I
■aMMMMi
■H*1
It is, sir, admitted by every writer, except yourself and
another very worthy gentleman, Dr. Richard Fuller, that the
word baptizo is derived from ba2)tOy and that to find out the
meaning of the secondary word, we must have recourse to the
root from whence the word is derived. But, sir, upon this
point of interpretation you have undertaken to differ from
every author that I know of in existence, except the one I have
juFt mentioned ; whose foolish idea you have most undoubt-
edly adopted.
On page 30, in speaking of tlie battle of the Frogs and
the Mice, you say, *' in that passage the word baptizo is not
used : it is bapto,^^ which you intimate to your readers is
a totally diflorcnt word. Again in your exposition of
Lev. xiv. 6, you say, persons ought to be careful how they
quote scripture. The word baptizo is not used in the Sep.
tuagint translation of the text, it is bajito.''^ Again, you re-
mark on Dan. iv. 2 : Our " learned men ought to have known
better, it is ba2^to again, not bajytizo.''- — Page V3. Thus
sir, in unmistakable language you declare with Dr. Fuller^
who made the discovery for you, that bapto and baptizo arc
two different words, bearing two entirely different meanings.
And when you endorsed that gentleman's views on this point,
it was not unreasonable to expect that you would have given
us some proof to substantiate the statement ; but really, sir^
I cannot tell you my suprise was great, when, on examina-
tion, I found you did not attempt to accompany your asser-
tion with the slightest degree of evidence, for I w^ell knew
that you could obtain no proof for it in the whole volume of
creation.
To assist you out of your present difficulty and embarrass-
ment, I will endeavour —
I. To shew you the meaning of the root bajyto,
II. I will examine the value or force of the addition, zo,
III. And then show that vour doctrine concerning the word
<
i
\
X'
i
bapfizo, as differing- from bapto is a sheer assumption, and
for ever unattainable.
You inform us, sir, you have as many as thirty lexicons
before you, and yet you contend that tlie verb means immer-
sion, and nothing but immersion. Allow me, sir, to assist
you in ascertaining the meaning of the word, and in doing so,
I beg to call your attention to the definition given of it by
native Greek authors themselves, who, you are free to confess,
are competent judges of their own language. The first I
shall quote is Gases, a native Greek, who compiled a largo
and valuable lexicon of his language. He defines bapto by
brecho, jiluno, (jemizOy buthizo. antleo, that is to loety to
moisten, to bedew, to loash. Coulon defines bapto by mergo,
tingo, ahluo, that is to dip, to dye, to cleanse. Ursinns de-
fines it by abluo aspergo, that is to wash, TO SPRINKLE.
Dttnbar renders it to dip, to plunge, to wash, to wet, to
moisten, TO SPRINKLE. And you, sir, know very well
that lavo means simply to wash, and Ainsworth , Andrews,
Anthon and others ^iwa BESPRINKLE and BEDEW as
among its signiiications. Bapto, therefore, according lo the
lexicons, does not always mean immersion ; for they tell us it
also signifies TO SPRINKLE, TO BEDEW, TO AVET,
and TO CLEANSE.
You inform us, sir, on page 34, that when the word bapto
means anything else than immersion it is to be understood in
a figurative sense; but your own critic. Dr. Alexander Car-
son, a Baptist minister, in his work on the subject, pp. 44,
45, 40, decides against you, and says : " Bapto as properly
signifies to sjyrinkle as it does to immerse ; nor can such
application of the words," he adds, " be accozmted for by
metaphors, as Dr. Gale asserts, they are as literal as the pri-
mitive meaning,'''' Another authority is Edwards, also a
Baptist minister. He says, " I will say this much for the
m
ll^i"
m^^amtt
6
I "
word hapto, that it is a term of such latitude, that he who
shall attempt to prove from its use in various authors, an ab-
solute and total immersion, will find that he has undertaken
that which he cannot perform."
You will now, sir, permit me to go beyond lexicons and
authorities to the written language itself. You say on page
72, that the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, from
Hebrew to Greek, is a work of much importance and utility
Very well, then, in Daniel iv. 33, it is written that Nebu
chadnezzar was ebaphaey baptized with the dew of heaven.
a2)0 from the dew of heaven. And the same expression and
words occur in the 21st verse of the same chapter. Here,
then, sir, is hapto in two instances, in both of which im-
mersion is out of the question ; for it signifies simply the
moistening of an exposed body from the falling dew ; this,
surely, could not be an immersion, for, as Mr. Carson says in
the 36th page of the work we have just quoted, " If all the
water in the ocean had thus fallen on the monarch, it would
not be an immersion. The mode would still be wantinjj.
Neither was it," he adds, " a figurative any mere than a
literal immersion. It was simply a wetting, and no man can
make any more out of it."
In Leviticus xiv. 4 — 6, it is also written that a living bird,
a piece of cedar loood, a bunch of hyssop and scarlet were
baptised in the blood of a dead bird. The passage reads : —
"As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood,
and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall bapsei, baptize them
in the blood of the bird that was killed." Here total immer-
sion, as you very well know, sir, was impossible. A living
bird alone could not be immersed in the blood of a dead bird ;
and if not, how could the piece of cedar wood, the bunch of
hyssop and the scarlet, with the living bird, ?!l be immersed
in the blood of a dead bird ? You, yourself, sir, will not
11*1
-r^
/IM
IM
venture to tell us that the thing was possible : and yet you
have said that the verb means nothing but immersion. In
Joshua, iii. 15, we read : " And the feet of the priests that
bare the ark, ebaphaesan, were baptized in the brim of the
water, the waters which came down from above stood, and rose
upon a heap, and the priests that bare the ark of the covenant
of the Lord stood firm on dry ground.'''' Here, sir, you
will perceive the mere touching of the priest's feet in the brim
of Jordan, and from v/liose touch those waters instantly
shrank away, so as to leave dry ground from shore to shore,
is denoted by hapto. Not even the shadow of immersion is
contained in the passage, much less total immersion.
You, sir, must be well versed in Greek classics, and you
ought to be pleased wben I give you instances to the same
effect from your favorite authors. In Hippocrates wc read :
'* When it drops upon the garments Uioy are baptized." The
word is bajHetai, and signifies SPRINKLING, and not im-
mersion. In Arrian^s History of Alexander the Great wc
have this sentence : Nearchus relates that the Indians hap-
tontaij dye their beards. But, sir, you will not undertake to
say that these Indians immersed their beards. Aristojyhaiies
speaks of Magnes as imitating the Lydians and baptomenoSf
baptizing himself with frog colored paints ; but, sir, did he
immerse himself in these washes or paints? In Elian it is
said of an old coxcomb that he endeavored to conceal his gray
hairs by haphae, baptizing them. Do you, sir, believe that the
old gentleman immersed his liair. Aristotle has the phrase,
but being pressed it bapttai., baptizes the hands. Are we to
understand that the juice of an article when pressed in the
hand immerses the hand? In Eschylus we have the sentence :
This garment stained, baptized, by the sword of Egisthus. A
sword surely could not immerse a garment, for it is not a fluid !
In
a comic poem, entitled the Battle of the BVogs and the
r^
8
!
Mice, wc have the account of the slaughter of one of the
combatants, and the effect of his blood upon the lake on the
shore of which he fell, is denoted by hapto. Could a lake,
sir, be immersed in the blood of a frog or a mouse ? And
now, what more can be required to convince you that in all
these instances I have given, hajHo is completely stripped of
every vestige of the signification you have given it.
And in addition, sir, to what I have already given, I will
now take the liberty to add a quotation or two from the New
Testament. In Matthew xxvi. 23, the Saviour savs : "He
that cmba^Jsas, hajytkes his hand witli me in the dish the
same shall betray me." Now, sir, suppo.se our blessed Lord
and his Disciples had befoi'c them a large vessel filled with
liquid food, for you well know if it was not li(piid all possi-
bility of immersion is excluded ; are you prepared to say that
he and Judas both together, in the ordinary course of taking
a meal, totally immersed their hands in it? Here again,
sir, you have cause to ponder, for the Lord Jesus Christ him-
self, he that gave the commission to baptize, Matt, xxviii. 1 9,
most positively contradicts you on the meaning of the word ;
for when he said that he baptized his hands in the dish, he
surely did not mean that he immorsed them in it; and there-
fore he understood hapto precisely as his church understands
it to the prer,ent hour.
In Rev. xix. 13, St. John says of him who is faithful and
true. " and lie was clothed with a vesture hebamenon, bap-
tized in blood." The figure, } ou know, sir, is that of a con-
queror fFom the field o< battle, with his clothing stained with
the blood of his foes. And I know, sir, you will agree with
me in saying that the allusion is plaiidy to Is. xliii. 2, 3 :
" Wherefore art thou red in thy apparel, '<\\\({ thy garments
like him that treadeth in the ivine vat. I have trodden the
wine press alone ; and of the people there was none with me;
w
riMirfhi
\ts
lie
9
for I will tread them in my anirer, and tmmple them in my
fury, and their i^of/ shall be SIKINKLED upon my n^ar-
nients, and I will STAIN all my raiment." And, sir, it is a
remarkable and overwhelming fact in this conection, that the
two oldest and best translations of the Apocalypse — the Syriac
and the Ethiopic versions — render this bebamenon by terms
denoting sprinkling. Wickliffe translates it spreynt, or
sprinkled. The Rheims version does the same. And so
Origen, himself a Greek, when citing this passage, gives the
word erantismenon, which, sir, in your catechism, page 51 ^
you tell us signifies to gprinkle. Thus, sir, a Greek, and a
learned one toe, gives us the equivalent of bapto, erantis^
menonj which being interpreted is fiprlnkled. Ought not this,
sir, to settle the question forever. *
According to Iledericus, Ursinus, Scapula, Schrevelius,
Donegan, Dun!>ar, Grove, AVutson, Ileroditus, Coulon, Car-
son and Wilson, and a host of others, bapto means to
SPRINKLE just as much as it does to itnmcrsc. And ac-
cording to the New Testament wliich we have just quoted, it
signlries the same thing. You cannot therefore, sir, resist
such demonstration. My case as it respects bajjto, is made
out, and the learned President of Acadia College is silent, for
he dare not contradict the truth of a single quotation I liavo
invdc ! Let the question tlien be ^elt1(>d. Bapto means to
wct^ no matter whether that wetting be accomplished by
sprinkling or by hnmcrsion.
And now, sir, according to promise, I am next to ascertain
the meaning of baptizo, or the force of zo or izo when added
to the root, bapto,
Mr. Campbell takes the ground that the addition zo does
not alter the sense of the primitive word to which it is aflSxed,
but, " indicates the rapidity with which the action is to be per-
formed." If tliis be a true position, baptize^ that is bapto
10
with the addition of zo, would sigiiity a more rapid, and con-
sequently only a more superficial cleansing, wetting, or
sprinkling than that indicated b^' hapto.
I need not tell you, sir, that the universally received opi-
nion is that verbs ending in zo are precisely of the same power
and sio-nification with the primitives from whicii thev arc
formed, and that zo, or izo, is added only for the sake of
euphony. ^J hus irnhjo, pnigizo, both mean to strangle ;
(uoreo and cuoriazo both to be unconcerned or careless ;
hiao and hiazo botli to force or compel. Therefore Dr. Gale,
one of the best informed of i3aptist authors, takes hajHo and
haptizo as exactly the same as to signification.
Now, sir, let us examine a few cases. First, nouns: —
PJios, light ; photizo, to enlighten, <»r to put in process of
being illuminated : ivnouchus, a eunoch ; CKUouchizo, to
make a eunoch, or to put in process of being one : fjunae,
gen. f/tinaikos, a woman ; (/luiaikizo to render womanish ;
jmraskcua, a state of preparation ; paraskeuazo, to put in
process of being prepared, or to make preparation, 2. Ad-
jectives : — /u//Ar/?w, clean ; kalharizo, to cleanse; phoi-
nohy red as Mood ; phoinizo, to redden. 3. Ycrh?, — and
here, air, the cases are perfectly analagous to bapto, baptizo:
Afvlaneo, to be black ; mdanizo, to be blackish, or verging to-
wards black: jy^outco, to be rich ; ploutko, to enrich, or put
in process of becoming rich : deipno, to sup ; dt'ipnizOy to
make ready to ssup : ]>hhio, to oveifiow ; phluzo, to bubble
up so as to tend to an overfiow.
From these examples, sir, and a great many others that
mi'dit eafiilv be o-iven, it would appear that the addition of so
or izo in Greek, corresponds precisely to our English suffix,
be or hh, which have most likely taken their origin from
it; as fertile, firtilize; blu*^, blueish. Accordingly zo indi-
cates a diminution of the primitive word, thus, 6«y><o, to wet;
.y
/•i
11
• put
o, to
>l)lc
that
)f 20
lilFix,
Voin
Indi-
ivet ;
haptizo, to sprinkle. For that wliicli is blackisli is not yet
black. lie who is being enriched is not yet rich ; the prepa-
ration for a supper is not yet supping. The water that bub-
bles up as if it woukl overflow, is r.ot necessarily overflowing.
He who is rendered womanish, is not yet a waman. So, then,
hajytizo is not quite a baptto, but only something approximat-
ing to it. In no single case '^oes it signify an increase of the
primitive word, but always fans short of wh it is denoted by
>y it.. And, sir, Dr. Carson himself, on the 23rd page of his
work already quoted, disputes you on this aho, for he says,
, "the derivative cannot go beyond the primitive,''^ therefore,
haptizq cannot go beyond hapto, and as /^a7)/o signifies to wet,
as I have already proved, ^.o baj^t/.vo cannot signify anythin'x
more, but somefhirif/ fr.'<.<i, which would be to sprinkle.
Dr. Fuller, sir, from whom evidently you liave received
your zo of bapto, says that zo cjiforces, tran^''fers, performs
upon another what tlic primitive verb signifies-". The meaning
• must bo, therefore, in tlie primitive verb, before it can bo
transferred, and it must transfer at the same time the whole
meaning of that primitive verb. If the primitive verb means
to spirinklc as well as to dip, to washy tvct, moisten and he-
d€?v, as well as to im?n"rsr, the addition of zo must perform
the same office for the one as well as for the other.
Now sir, I have shown you from the Septuagint \crsioii
of Daniel that there U a hajiio which signifies the simple
wefting of an exposed body by the falling dew ; I have shown
from the same version of Leviticus that there is a bajito which
denotes the staining of a living bird with the blood of a dead
bird, I have shown from Arrian and Elian that there is a
baptn which designates the dyeing of the hair. I have shown
from Esohylus and Hippocrates that there is a bapto which
expresses the staining of a garment by oozing blood or drop-
ping liqui'l. I have shown by the poem ascribed to Homer
~nA.
I II IHi H i U M
':imL
12
I
that there is a bjpto which signifies the slight tinging of a lake
by the blood of a frog or a morse ; and I have shown from
the Apocalypse that there is abapto wliich denoiosthe blood
stains upon the garments of a conquering warrior ; therefore
this meaning must necessarily be transferred from the prim-
itive to the derivative.
On page 44 of your catechism, sir, you say, "The New
Testament was written in Greek, what can be fairer than to
submit the question to the Greeks themselves ?" This, sir,
we are all very ready and willing to do. But you will in-
dulge me in expressing my astonishment that the learned
President of Acadia College is so thoroughly uninformed in
regard to the Greek of the New Testament, and the practice
of Greek Christians ! ! ! The Greek, sir, of the New Testa-
ment is not classic Greek, as is well known to every scholar,
with the exception of yourself. Let any one read Winer's
Idiom of the language of the New Testament, or Professor
Stewart's Grammar of the New Testament ; or compare any
good lexicon of the New Testament with the pure classic Greek
lexicons, and he will be satisfied that the Greek of the New
Testament has many lexical deflections from the true Greek.
Ernesti says : " We deny without hesitation that the dictum
of the New Testament is pure Greek. In many passages
there would arise an absurd and ridiculous meaning if they
should be interpreted according to a pure Greek idiom." —
p. 36, 37. Winer says : " The Greek of the New Testament
is Jewish Greek, wliich the native Greeks generally did not
understand, and therefore despised." — Idioms, p. 31, 36, 38.
And Dr. G. Campbell, a high authority with all irnmersionists,
says : " The sacred use and classical use of Greek arc often
very different." — On Gospels, vol. i. p. 38
I lejoice, sir, that you have left the question to an arbitra-
*on, viz., the Greeks themselves, and the Greek Cliurch, and
V
:t
i!^:
13
38.
ists,
'ten
V
.
.y
I hereby bind myself to do the same thing. Not tliat I con-
sider tlie Greeks any more capable of deciding tliis literary and
theological question than any other portion of the Catholic
church, but because I know they are with us in practice.
On page 46 you enquire, " Has the Greek Church ever
sustained sprinkling or pouring ?" And you answer the
question, " NO." And you add, " I was going to say that
this is remarkable. But it is not remarkable. The New
Testament was written in Greek. In speaking of baptism the
Apostles uscid the Greek word baptiso. Christians now-a-days
differ in opinion as to the meaning of the word. Whet
can he fairer than to submit this question to the Greeks
themselves. They must surely understand their own language.
Now the Greeks have always held baptism to be immersion,
and they havj practised accordingly. They do so to this day,
even during the severity of a Russian winter. The Russians
you are aware belong to the Greek Church."
Your argument, sir, drawn from the practice of the Greeks,
is exceedingly faulty, siu^ply because it is not founded on
facts, for, as I shall soon show you, you might just as well
have appealed to the Roman Church for exclusive immersion
as to have appealed to that of the Greek. And even if the
Greek church did practice immersion your argument would
be faulty still ; for modern Greek is not ancient Greek, very
little, if any, more than the Italian is like the ancient Latin.
This is a fact, sir, I am quite sure t\at as a scholar you will
not attempt to deny.
The great body of the Greek church does not speak Greek
at all, and never has spoken Greek, A.NI) IS IN NO WAY
CONNECTED WITH GREEK ANCESTRY. The head
and trunk of the so-called Greek church, as you yourself have
asserted, are in the Russian empire ; and out of a population
of seventy or eighty millions comprising that empire, not four
m
ji;:
14
millions arc of Greek extraction; and not one-tenth of those
know any thing about Greek !
I am now, sir, prepared to show ytju that it is not a fact
that the Greek christians have always understood the word
haptizo to signify immersion. For Clemens Alexandrinus
was a Greek Christian ; and he applied the word to denote
purityiiigs by wetting the body, by washing the hands, and
by sprinkling around and over one on a couch.
Cyril was a Greek Christian ; and yet he calls the sprink-
ling of the ashes of an heifer tinder the Jewisli law, a bap-
tism.
Origoii was a Greek Christian ; and yet he calls the pouring
of the wator on the wood and altar in Elijah's time a bap-
tizing of them.
Nicephoriis was a Greek Christian ; an<l ho expressly mc:)-
tions the case of a man who was Iviptized by sprinkling, when
lying upon liis bed.
Beside, sir, the native Greek lexi'^.ographers, setting them-
selves to explain the meanijig of Greek for the Greeks, have
not, as you mnst ver}'' well know, given dip or immerse as the
meaning of baptizo. Hesychiu'^ gives and defines it by one
word, wliicli is antleo, to draw or pour water. Suidas defines
baptizo by one word, piano, to wet, to cleanse.
To say tlien, sir, that the ureek church has always under-
stood the word baptizo to signify dipping, is a most positive
mistake, and a sheer assumption.
But, sir, you have gravely told us that the mode of bap-
tism in the Greek church is invariably by immersion ; but
like very many othjr of your assertions, this is also withoatr
fouiidatiou. And as mere assertion is no proof, I am pre-
pared to furnish the testimony.
Mr. Joseph Tlubsr, cMcr of the I'resbyterian church in
Danville, Ken., and afterwards a mitiister of the same church,
15
so;nc 49 years ^go resided among- the people of the Greek
churclij and he furiiishes the followinir statement :
"I resided upwards of three years in tlie capital of the
Grand Seignior's dominions, in a Greek family of the first
respectability. Jjuring that time I was present at four bap-
tis7ns, — two in the family, and two in the immediate neigh-
l)orhood. It is the custom amono: the Greeks either to have
their children baptized publicly in their churches, or else in
their houses ; in which latter case the parents invite tlieir
nearest relations and neighbors ; and after the ceremony,
while refreshments pass round, the father gives to each person
present a token of witnesship, consisting of a small piece of
Turkish money through which a hole is pierced and a piece of
narrow ribbon inserted. 1 was thus invited to attend the four
above-mentioned baptisms : and I still have in my possession
two tokens; the other two may be seen in Mrs. .McDowall's
Museum in Danville. The company were all seated on the
sofas around the roum. A t;iblc stood in the middle with a
basin of 'Water on it. Tiie priest was then sent for, who
upon entering the room was received by the father of the in-
fabt and led to ihe baptismal water, which he consecrated by
a short prayer and the sign of the cross ; then the'mother pre-
sented to him her babe, which he laid on his left arm, and in
thf. name of the Father, ^on, and Holy Ghost, he thrice
dipped his hand in the water and DUUPPED SOME OF
IT ON iIIE CHILD'S FOREHEAD, giving it a namer
" I may remark here," he adds, " that I never heard, dur-
ing my stay in Constantin'>])le, of adult baptisms, nor of the
ordina}ice being performed by immersion in a single inaiance.
Most generally the infants are baptized in the churches. Be-
fore the altar stands a tripod holding a basin of consecrated
water for baptism."' . •
No'^v, sir, wliat are we to think of your statement that the
Greek church performs its baptisms by immersion. Here
were native Greeks, members of the Greek church, holding
to the good old practice of the ancient church, baptizing thc«
infants by spriidvling. You say that " the Greeks must have
understood their own lanouaoe." We ijrant it, when we find
sausssssmi
16
that they perform thoir baptiuins by sprinkling and not by
immersion.
Tlie Iwcv. Pliny Fisk, Missionary to Palcstiwc some years
ago, says :
" T went one morning to the Syrian church to witness a
baptism. When ready for the baptism the fo!it was uncov-
ered, and a small quantity, first of warm water, and then of
cold, was poured into it. The child, in a state of- perfect
nudity, was then taken by the bishop, who held it with one
liand, while with the other he anointed the whole body with oil.
He then held the child in the font, its feet and leo;s being in
the water, AND WITH HIS RIGHT HAND^Ae took up
the water AND POURED IT ON THE CHILD, in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." — Memoirs of
Fisk, p. 357.
These, baptisms, sir, 'occurred in the East, where the cli-
mate is favorable to immersion. Let us now proceed North,
and see how the same Greek church administers the sacrament
there. The Rev. Benjamin Kurtz, in his first tour through
Europe in 1825, says : " We ourselves once witnessed the
baptism of an infant in the great Cathedral of St. Petersburg,
by POURING." And so Delinguis, as (pioted in Booth's
Pedobaptism Examined, says : " The Greeks at this day
practice SPRINKLING."
Now, sir, I hope, on your part, the controversy is ended.
You have appealed to the Greek church .•anl they iiave de-
cided ao-ainst vou, and in favor of the church as existinif from
the beirinninr. Therefore it is to be expected that you will
immediately renounce your error as publicly as you circulated
it in the Catechism now before the public.
On the 40th page of your Catechism, sir, you inform tis of
several learned men who believed the word baptizo to mean
exclusive injmersion. And among others you include Lu-
ther, of immortal memory. But if Luther believed that in
r>
17
IT'
the^New Testament baptism meant nothing but immersion,
can you tell me the reason that he never performed the sa-
crament by immersion in his whole life, or that he never was
immersed himself. Indeed, sir, on examination, your argu-
ment for immersion drawn from Luther's practice will appear
as destitute of foundation as the one you drew from the prac-
tice of the Greek church, which evidently appears so positive
against you. Luther speaks of sprinklhiy water upon a
child in accordance with the command of Christ. He refers
to baptism as involving no parade or display, and says that
therein " God outwardly does no more than apply a handful
of water." Again he says of baptism, "God has commanded
that we use our hands and tongue in administerin.n: by sprink-
ling water upon the subject, in connection with the words
which he has prescribed." He translates hapto in Rev. xix.
13, respregnet, besprinkled. Can you, Lhen, sir, as an honest
man, refer to Luther for authority that baptizo means immer-
sion and nothing else.
Hitherto, sir, I have met your arixument on the meaning of
the Greek baptizo, and from the Greek classics we have
found out that it means to wet, to cleanse, to sprinkle, as well
as to immerse. From the Septuagint versio i of the Old
Testament we find the same thing with which the Syrian and
Greek authorities which I have quoted perfectly af]^ree. The
question now arises which was the mode that God himself
adopted. This, sir, is the question to which I beg the most
serious attention both of yourself and friends.
Let us examine a moment what is said of the Baptism of
the Holy Ghost. In the prophecies we find certain predic-
tions that had their accomplishment in the Christian dispensa-
tion, or else they were not fulfilled at all. Thus Isaiah, lii.
15, the prophet declares of Christ, " So shall he sprinkle
many nations." A prophecy, sir, which, if your system be
MMMBMikKMiM^
18
jruc, is most certainly ffilso, for according to Baptist theology
he never intended to sprinkle a single person of all the na-
tions. This, sir, was one of the passages the Ethiopean
Eunoch was reading from which Philip explained to him the
nature and design of baptism, Acts viii. 25, which caused the
Eunoch to say, " Here is water, what doth hinder me to be
baptized ?" and acc(»itling to the announcement of God him-
self it was to be performed by SPRINKLING and not by
immersion. Again, in Ezekiel xxxvi. 25, thus saith the
Lord, " Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye
shall be clean." So again the Holy Spirit is represented as
*' rain upon the mown grass, as showjrs that water the face
of the earth." St. John the Baptist testifies of Jesus : " He
shall baptize you with the Hply Ghost and with fire." I
know, sir, it will be said that this docs not refer to water
baptism, and therefore it is foreign to the question ; but you
know, sir, I am finding out the meaning of the word baptizo,
and if the Holy Spirit denominated that which was performed
by sprinkli'ig a baptism, then, surely, the learned Dr. Cramp
has no right to tell us that it is not a baptism, and that there
is no other baptism but that administered by a mode that the
Holy Spirit never adopted. And in addition to St. John's testi-
mony, sir, Jesus himself says : " Ye shall be baptized with the
Holy Ghost not many days hence." Luke xxiv. 10, Acts i. 5.
Here, sir, are sacred prophecies, the fulfiment of which has
been faithfully recorded by the pen of inspiration. The bap-
tism was to occur not many days after Christ's ascension into
heaven. And all agree, yourself included, that it took place
on the Day of Pentecost, or Whit Sunday. There was at
that time a (/reat divine baptism. Now, sir, how was the
divine baptism performed ? Let the inspired word answer :
" And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, suddenly
there came a sound from heaven .... and there appeared unto
19
lieology
the na-
liiopean
lim the
iscd the
le to be
od him-
not by
ith the
and ye
nted as
he face
: "He
re." I
> water
ut you
>aptizo,
formed
Cramp
t there
lat the
testi-
h the
s i. 5.
h has
e bap-
n into
place
vas at
\s the
swer :
denly
unto
them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of
them." Acts ii. 1, 2. Now, sir, how, may I ask, do you
reconcile this great baptism employed by God himself with
your immersion ? I shall go right to your Cathecism and
find out. Ah ! here we have it on page 53. " They expe-
rienced a spiritual imbathing. They were immersed in the
divine element.*' Did ever the most inveterate Puseyite or
Papist so flatly contradict the Divine Word, as docs the
learned President of Acadia College ? No, sir, they were
not immersed in the element, for we read it fell upoti them,
not tliat they were plunged into it, but we arc told, " The
Holy Ghost fell on them even as on us at the beginning.
Then remembered I the word of the Lord how he said, John
indeed baptized ivith water; but ye shall be baptized with the
Holy Ghost." Acts xi. 15, IG. And, sir, we are told it
fell upon them even as on us at the beginning. Immersed in
the divine spirit! ! What sheer nonsense ! How contrary to
the plain and simple narrative given us in the Acts of the
Apostles! Besides, sir, if they had been overwhelmed in
the Spirit, it having been poured out upon them, this could
not have been an immersion accordinix to the candid acknow-
ledgment of your learned Dr. Carson, when he says, " if all
the waters in the ocean had fallen upon them it would not
have been an immersion, the mode would be still wanting,"
for immersion signifies to plunffe into the element. It implies
the person applied to the element and not the element applied
to the person. I do not wonder, sir, that you desire a new
Bible; for your new creed positively re(|uires one.
You tell us that the disciples were immersed in the spirit,
because we read the sound filled the whole house. I clearly
understand you ; you mean that they were immersed in the
sound, that agrees perfectly with your other definition, they
were immersed in the atmosphere But how was it, sir,
20
with the fire ? John said that Christ would baptize with fire,
and this was the literal fulfilment of it. Were the disciples
immersed in the cloven tongues of the flame ? We hearken
for a reply ! What does the learned Dr. say to this. AlaSy
he ifi as silent as the f/ravCj and so is every Baptist writer
that ever existed, there is not even a breath ainoiij^ them, for
they know that their favorite immersion is out of the question !
is impossible in the case ! and therefore the f/rcat baptism of
the Holy Ghost was not by immersion : for the passage reads,
cloven tonf/ues, like as of fire, sat upon each of thein. St.
Peter says of Cornelius and his friends, "llIE HOLY
GHOST FELL ON THEM AS OX US AT THE BE-
GINNING." Acts X. 44. St. John says : " I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.'*
John i. 22. And St. Peter says of the baptism of Pentecost :
*' This is that which is spoken of by the proplict Joel, I will
POUR out my spirit. . . .Jesus having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath SUED FORTH this
Avhich ye now see and hear." Acts ii. IG, 17, 33. St. Peter
and St. John " prayed for the people of Samaria that they
might receive the Holy Ghost ; for as yet he had FALLEN
ON NONE OF THEM." Acts viii. 25, 16. " While Peter
yet spake the Holy Ghost FELL ON ALL TPIEM which
heard the word, and they of the circumcision were astonished
because that on the Gentiles also was POURED OUT the
gift of the Holy Ghost." St. Paul speaks " of the Holy
Ghost which he SHED ON US." Titus iii. G.
Now, sir, I am confident you must acknowledge that the
great baptism of the spirit was not by immersion. I do not
mean to say that the pouring out, or falling upon, was the bap-
tism, but it was the mode of it ; and that mode ivas pourin</
out upon. There it is, sir, God's own spirit says it. And
God's own spirit knows how it was done. You may tell us,
Sll
anl
a\
abl
mi
fir^
or
21
sir, as other Baptists have told us before you, that this pour-
ing out was a fi|;ure ; a figure of what, sir ? If a figure of
anything it must be of iome action. It must figure motion.
And that is the coming down of the baptizing element from
above upon the subject. Make that subject, sir, sound, or
make it wind, or make it the appearance of wind, or make it
fire and wind, it is all the same thing, the mode was aj^usion,
or the falling of the element upon the person.
The sensible form that the Holy Ghost assumed on that
occasion, was "cloven tongues as of fire, and it sat upon
each of themy There was a shower of flame-like flashes
alighting upon each of them. And this we are told, WAS
THE BAPTISM OF TUE HOLY GHOST— Luke xxiv.
49 ; a baptism which the application of water in the name
of the blessed Trinity must necessarily represent. It was by
applying the element to the subject, and not thrusting the
subject into the element. The Holy Spirit therefore mo^l
positively declines immersion as his mode of baptism ; for
the spirit FELL on them, and it was POURED OUT.
They were baptized with and not in the Holy Spirit.
Again, sir, if baptizo, as a Christian ordinance, means im-
mersion, then the idea of immersion must fit and harmonize
with all those scriptural illusions to mode in connection with
the subject of baptism. That it docs not fit, the following
experimentum crucis will show : " This is that which is spo-
ken, I will immerse out my spirit on all flesh. I saw the
spirit immersing from heaven like a dove. Jesus hath im-
mersed forth this which ye do now see and hear. As yet the
Holy Ghost had immersed upon none of them. On the Gen-
tiles also was immersed out the gift of the Holy Ghost. The
Holy Ghost which he immersed on us. The Holy Ghost
immersed down from heaven." ! ! How ridiculous and shock-
ing would be such readings. And the whole ground of the
^s
22
difficulty lies in this, that the scriptures never contemplate
immersion, but simply the application of the baptismal element
to the subject, and they frame their language accordingly.
And, sir, independent of the fjict that the word baptize in
this case docs not, nor cannot signify immersion, it is very
reasonable to infer that the same mode holds good and is
agreeable to the divine mind with regard to baptism by water.
There is necessarily a close resemblance between them. In
many cases the same expressions arc applied to both. The
record of water baptism presents exactly the same construc-
tion, as the record of the baptism of the spirit. Indeed, one
must necessarily represent the other ; and are we not bound
to believe that the mode in one is correspondent with the mode
in the other. When Peter saw the Holy Ghost falling on
Cornelius and liis friends, liis mind instantly recurred to the
baptism of John. " Then remembered I the words of the
Lord how he said John baptized loith water, but ye shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost." What laws of mental asso-
ciation, sir, could thus carry him back from the contemplation
of the affusion of the spirit to a water baptism, unless that
water baptism was performed by a similar affusion.
And in addition to all this, the very nature of the sacra-
mentlays the foundation for the belief that immersion, awkward
and indecent as it is, it is not a becoming mode for the sacred
ordinance, whose whole meaning point to mii inward cleansing
by the II0I3; Spirit. Immersion, sir, is not, nor was it ever
a symbol of purity. Its leading import is destruction. The
sinking of a man always signifies degradation. The Hebrew
word for immerse is exprcssedly used in Job ix. 31, to denote
the very opposite of purity. But the application of clean
water to the subject is one of the liveliest images of purifica-
tion that can be presented to the human mind. The scrip-
tures have again and again referred to it in this very connec-
if
-4. -.
23
tion. Sprinkling and pouring water on one is an ever-
recurring' image of moral cleansing. Wliat, sir, does God
himself say in Ezekiel, xxvi. 25: [."Then will I sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clear : from all vour
filthiness will I cleanse you." Thus sprinkling is God's own
image of spiritual purification.
Now, sir, with all these facts before us, may I take the
liberty to enquire what evidence you have to show that when
/ Christ gave command to baptize, he meant exclusive immer-
sion ? We have certainly ascertained that the word signifies
to wet, to ivash, to sprinkle, and we have also seen that Christ
himself and the Holy Ghost also used tlie word in this con-
nection ; therefore what right has any man to fasten a mean-
ing on a word that Clirist never contemplated ; and thus to
profane the lioly sacrament by spoiling the beauty of the out-
ward and visible symbol.
I have in this letter, sir, limited my remarks to tlie literary
character of your production, and I am well convinced you
have been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. Your
theological absurdities 1 pass unoticed for the present, fur
ther than to observe that vour Catecl)ism contains down-
riglit Puseyism and Popery. First, by insisting upon an
uiiscriptural mode for baptism, of man's invention, that was
first introduced when the leaven of popery began to work.
Secondly, by wresting the Holy Scriptures from tlieir natural
meaning to suit a sectarian purpose. Thirdly, by taking the
advantage of the illiterate by an impious liandling of Greek
words, wresting them from what you, sir, must know, as a
scholar, is their true sense. And fourthly, by advocating the
leading dogma of popery, viz., the merits of good works, in
opposition to free grace. For instead of the water being
applied to us, your mode teaches that we must be applied to
the water, thus reprcsentsng the very worst feature of popery,
M
1^
^
24
that the Hoiy Spirit is passive ; that instead of it being
applied to as, it remains inactive, for that we must be
applied to it, and receive as a consequence the merits of
our own application ; while the scriptures set forth the very-
opposite doctrine, viz., that wc arc saved by the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and not
by works of righteousness. — Titus, iii. 5.
In conclusion, sir, I beg to assure you that I would be
most happy to hear you lecture on the merits of the whole
subject, theological and literary, provided you gave mo per-
mission before the same audience to reply in defence of the
faith once delivered to the saints ; and T hereby pledge myself
to pay One Hundred Dollars of lawful money to yoiir Mission-
ary, or any other society connected with your sect which you
may select to receive it, if you can find one clear case of immer-
sion in the whole New Testament in connection with Christian
baptism. If you can prove that St. Paul, baptized as he was
in a sick chamber. Acts ix. 18, was immersed ; or that the
Jailor of Phillippi, baptized as he was in the middle of the
night, and in jail. Acts xvi. 33, received the ordinance by
inmiersion. One single case, sir, will suffice, and you shall
have the money forthwith ; and besides your tottering system,
in the present age of light and knowledge, requires what little
support you can give to strengthen it, or else it will assuredly
come to nought.
I have the honor to be,
Sir, your obedient servant,
D. FALLOON IIUTCHTnSON,
Minister of St. Pauls Churchy Brid^cwater, JV. S,
h
m;
k
i*..
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