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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/treatiseonbaptisOOshaf 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM, 
 
 TWO PARTS. 
 
 PART I. — INFANT BAPTISM. 
 PART II. — THE MODE. 
 
 REV. HIRAM M. SHAFFER. 
 
 " For they are the seed of the Messed of the Lord, and their 
 offspring with them," Isa. Ixv, 23. 
 
 "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and 
 heirs according to the promise," Gal. iii, 29. 
 
 CINCINNATI: 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 
 
 AT THE METHODIST BOOK CONCERN, CORNER 
 
 OF MAIN AND EIGHTH. 
 
 R. P. Thompson, Printer. 
 
 1851. 
 
Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1847, 
 by Hiram M. Shaffer, in ths Clerk's Office for the District 
 Court of Ohio. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART I. 
 INFANT BAPTISM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Objections to the doctrine of infant baptism ex- 
 amined — Express command — Want of faith — What 
 good will it do to baptize infants? . . . Page 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 First Position: God had a Church before Christ 
 came, and in it infants were recognized as membeTs. 
 Second Position: The Church which was in existence 
 before Christ came was not destroyed, but was con- 
 tinued down into the Gospel dispensation, and now 
 constitutes the Christian Church 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 It was a Gospel Church — The name would be 
 changed — Christ shall reign on David's throne — Christ 
 died that the blessings of Abraham might come to the 
 Gentiles — Parable of the vineyard — The house and par- 
 tition wall — Olive tree — Christ was a minister of the 
 Jewish Church — For this Church Christ died — The 
 gates of the Jewish Church were to remain open to 
 receive Gentile converts — A prophetic view of the 
 Church in the time of its millennial glory — Similarity 
 of expression in the Old and the New Testament — 
 One Lord, one faith, one baptism 42 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Objections to the foregoing: 1. Mr. Campbell's, 
 from Dan. ii, 44 — 2. I will build my Church — 3. From 
 Gal. iv, 21-31: Cast out — 4. If children are Church 
 members, and have a right to baptism, they should be 
 admitted to the communion Page 75 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Suffer the little children to come unto me — Pros- 
 elyte baptism — Example — Children capable of entering 
 into covenant 85 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The practice of the apostles in baptizing whole fam- 
 ilies — Lydia and her household — The jailer and all 
 his — Children in a state of justification 97 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 No controversy on infant baptism in the first ages 
 of the Church — History of infant baptism. . . 105 
 
 PART II. 
 MODE OF BAPTISM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Definition of bapto and baptizo 123 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The sense in which the Scriptures use the word 
 baptize 137 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 John's baptism. 160 
 
CONTENTS. 5 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Christ's baptism Page 175 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The baptism of the eunuch, by Philip, Acts viii. 184 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The baptism of the Israelites. . . . . . . .19] 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 On Romans vi, and Colossians ii 198 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The baptism on the day of Pentecost — The baptism 
 of Cornelius — The baptism of Paul — the baptism of 
 the jailer 217 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Immersion impracticable under many circum- 
 stances — Congregation going to the water — A change 
 of clothing — Immersion compared to a bank bill. 234 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The three that bear record in heaven, and in the 
 earth, 1 John v, 7, 8 — Westminster Assembly. . 245 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Having had several public discussions, at 
 different points in northern Ohio, on the sub- 
 ject of baptism, with distinguished advocates 
 of immersion, our friends have urged us to 
 furnish the public with the arguments used on 
 those occasions in the form of a book. We 
 have, at last, consented to do so. The argu- 
 ments we present with entire confidence, hav- 
 ing laid them before learned and talented op- 
 posers a number of times, for their scrutiny 
 and criticism. This work will present the 
 arguments on infant baptism, and the mode, 
 in a consecutive, though very brief form, so 
 that the reader may have the whole subject 
 before him without wading through much read- 
 ing. It will, also, be useful by way of refer- 
 ence, as it contains the principal testimony 
 used in the discussion of this subject. This 
 work has been prepared amidst the many and 
 pressing duties assigned us by the Church: 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 it is offered to the public with reluctance. Be- 
 lieving it may aid in settling the minds of some 
 who are seeking for truth on this subject, we 
 are induced to publish it. 
 
 Hiram M. Shaffer. 
 Wooster, 0., Oct., 1846. 
 
PART I 
 
INFANT BAPTISM. 
 > 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Objections to the Doctrine of Infant Baptism Exam- 
 ined — Express Command — The Want of Faith — Wftat 
 Good will it do to Baptize Infants'! 
 
 Before a superstructure is reared, it is ne- 
 cessary to clear away the rubbish, and lay the 
 foundation; therefore, we will examine the 
 objections to the doctrine of infant baptism. 
 
 The first which we will notice, raised by 
 the Baptist, is the following: (By the term 
 "Baptist," we mean all those sects that op- 
 pose infant baptism, and practice immersion 
 exclusively :) 
 
 " That if the Savior and his apostles had 
 designed to teach the doctrine of infant bap- 
 tism, they would have given an express, or pos- 
 itive command ; but as they have not thus 
 expressly, or positively commanded it, we take 
 it for granted they did not intend to teach it; 
 therefore, infants are not proper subjects of 
 baptism." 
 
 Let us examine this objection. " Express, 9 '* 
 or "positive," is opposed to inference, anal- 
 
12 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 ogy, or implication. It must be stated plainly : 
 as, they were " baptized, both men and wo- 
 men," at Samaria, by Philip. 
 
 This is positive, or express. We do not 
 arrive at the conclusion that men and women 
 were baptized on that occasion by a course of 
 reasoning, analogy, or inference ; but men and 
 women are expressly mentioned. 
 
 If we are to be governed by this principle, 
 it would destroy the Christian Church. That 
 is, if we are not to believe and practice any 
 thing, but what is expressly or positively men- 
 tioned in the New Testament, it would throw 
 female communion, the Christian Sabbath, 
 family prayer, as well as infant baptism, out 
 of the Church. 
 
 First. In reference to female communion, 
 we would ask the question, Where is an ex- 
 press, or positive precept, or command for 
 female communion? This cannot be found in 
 the Bible Do not understand us as opposing 
 it , for we believe it right that women should 
 partake of the symbols of the broken body and 
 shed blood of the Savior. But we arrive at 
 this conclusion by inference and analogy. 
 Surely they can have no objection, should we, 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 13 
 
 in the same way, more clearly prove infant 
 baptism. 
 
 It is acknowledged by every branch of the 
 Baptist Church that women should be admit- 
 ted to the Lord's table. But on what grounds 1 
 On inferential testimony. In this we see a 
 great inconsistency. There are two sacra- 
 ments in the Church, baptism and the euchar- 
 ist — doubtless of equal solemnity and impor- 
 tance. They admit to the one women upon 
 inferential testimony ; while, at the same time, 
 they reject infants from the other, though 
 coming with the same kind of evidence, and 
 call aloud for an express, or a positive com- 
 mand. This, we think, is an inconsistency 
 which would be difficult to reconcile. 
 
 Being pressed with this argument, they try 
 to find an express command for female com- 
 munion. They generally bring forward Acts 
 ii, 46 : " And they, continuing daily with one 
 accord in the temple, and breaking bread from 
 house to house, did eat their meat with glad- 
 ness and singleness of heart." They say the 
 personal pronoun "they" refers back to Acts 
 i, 14 : " These all continued with one accord in 
 prayer and supplication, with the women, and 
 
14 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Mary the mother of Jesus, and with the breth- 
 ren." They infer the phrase, " breaking of 
 bread," means the Lord's supper, and in this 
 way make out a positive precept for female 
 communion ! Admitting they are correct, is it 
 not wholly inference after all? But there is 
 no doubt they are incorrect in their inference 
 that the " breaking of bread " spoken of there 
 means the Lord's supper. After the resurrec- 
 tion of Christ, and before he was made known 
 to his disciples, two of them were going to 
 Emmaus ; the Savior fell in company with them, 
 and when they arrived at the place where they 
 had intended to tarry for the night, they pressed 
 him to tarry with them ; he went in and sat 
 down to " meat with them ;" he took bread and 
 blessed it, and broke, and gave it to them; 
 and their eyes were opened, and they knew 
 him, and he vanished out of sight. And they 
 told what things were done in the way, and 
 how he was known of them in the "break- 
 ing of bread," Luke xxiv, 30-35. Here the 
 "breaking of bread" has reference to a common 
 meal, or a supper, which they sat down to eat. 
 Mr. Boothe says, " Does not Paul, when he 
 says, ■ Let a man examine himself, and so let 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 15 
 
 him eat,' enjoin a reception of the sacred sup- 
 per ? Does not the man, (a^porto?,) Anthropos, 
 there used, often stand as a name of our spe- 
 cies, without regard to sex ?" True. But 
 does it always 1 By no means. For instance, 
 "And Abimelech charged all his people, say- 
 ing, He that toucheth this man, (ai£po7tot>,) or 
 his vjife, shall surely be put to death," Gen. 
 xxvi, 11 ; "For this cause shall a man (cu£p w - 
 7toi) leave his father and mother and cleave 
 unto his wife," Matt, xix, 5 ; "And their faces 
 were as the faces of men, (av§po7t<*v f ) and they 
 had hair as the hair of women," Rev. ix, 7, 8. 
 Numerous other instances might be given in 
 which the word ou^pa^o? does not stand for 
 the species, but to distinguish the sexes. Be- 
 cause the word sometimes stands for our spe- 
 cies, our opponents infer that it does here ; 
 therefore, they bring it forward as a positive 
 command for female communion. 
 
 Mr. Campbell tries to make out a positive 
 precept for female communion from 1 Cor. xi, 
 26. He says, " In the first seventeen verses 
 the word avrjp (aner) man occurs fourteen times, 
 and the word ywri (gune) woman, sixteen times ; 
 and in the 16th verse, the word rtj (tis) is used, 
 
16 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 referring to both genders." And then says, 
 "As oft," says the apostle, "as ye," men and 
 women of whom I have been speaking, " eat 
 this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show 
 forth the Lord's death till he come." 
 
 We are not a little surprised at this. A man 
 of Mr. Campbell's erudition to advance such 
 a weak criticism as the above for a positive 
 precept for female communion ! Read the 16th 
 verse, " But if any man (*t$) seems to be con- 
 tentious, we have no such custom, neither the 
 Church of God." The apostle is not speak- 
 ing of communion in any sense ; but of men 
 and women praying or preaching in the church 
 covered or uncovered. Examine the forepart 
 of the chapter. But he wishes to make the 
 impression that the word ti$, referring to both 
 genders, is used in the 26th verse. Then 
 says, " Show ye (men and women) the Lord's 
 death till he come." He then raises the shout 
 of victory, and says, " Here, then, is a posi- 
 tive command for men and women to show 
 forth the Lord's death till he come." 
 
 The word (tis) is not used in the 26th verse. 
 It reads as follows: "For as often as ye eat 
 this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 17 
 
 Lord's death till he come." From this text 
 nothing can be gained to show that reference 
 is had to females; and as in the 28th verse 
 cw&pwrfos (man) is used, and we have seen above 
 that this word is sometimes used to distinguish 
 the sexes, the inference is against rather than 
 in favor of female communion. Hence Mr. 
 Campbell's criticism is a total failure. And 
 the fact that Mr. Campbell has introduced 
 it here for a positive command for female com- 
 munion, is convincing proof that there is no 
 such command in the Bible. 
 
 Secondly. To require a positive command 
 for all our faith and practice would destroy the 
 Christian Sabbath. Where is the positive 
 command to change the seventh day of the 
 week for the first? It is not in the Bible. 
 Yet our opponents believe the first day of the 
 week to be the Sabbath, and practice accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 We should receive that objection to infant 
 baptism with a great deal of caution, which, if 
 it were carried out in reference to the Sabbath, 
 would destroy it. The Church cannot exist 
 without the Sabbath. 
 
 Thirdly, It would destroy family prayer. 
 2 
 
18 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Where is the express command that you should 
 pray in your family ? Yet nearly every branch 
 of the Protestant Church believes it to be a duty 
 enjoined in holy Scriptures, and practice ac- 
 cordingly. Now, if infants are to be rejected 
 from baptism for the want of an express, or 
 positive precept, then females are to be debar- 
 red the privilege of the sacred supper ! The 
 first day of the week is not to be observed as 
 the holy Sabbath ! The family altar, also, must 
 be demolished ! Again : our Baptist brethren 
 hold to the doctrine of close communion: that 
 is, they will not permit members of other 
 branches of the Church, however pious, to 
 commune with them. They are as strenuous 
 about this as they are in their opposition to 
 infant baptism. But where in the Bible is the 
 positive command for this ? 
 
 They give it as a reason for their practice in 
 this respect, that others are not baptized. They 
 say no person is baptized except he has been 
 immersed ; and even that immersion is not 
 valid except it has been performed by one who 
 has been immersed himself: without baptism 
 (legal immersion) you do not belong to the 
 Church of Christ ; therefore, the Baptists look 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 19 
 
 on all other professing Christians, so far as 
 having privileges in the Church, as in a state 
 of heathenism, and not belonging to the Church 
 of Christ. 
 
 If this position is correct, it can be very 
 easily shown their whole Church is an unbap- 
 tized one, and not one in their whole com- 
 munion has ever been legally baptized ! 
 
 The following is taken from the Memoir of 
 Roger Williams, a disaffected Presbyterian cler- 
 gyman, who established the first Baptist Church 
 in America, published by James D. Knowles, 
 Professor of Pastoral Duties in the Newton 
 Theological Institution. " One of the first 
 causes of disturbance between Mr. Williams 
 and the infant colony was, that he wished them 
 to make a public declaration of repentance for 
 having communion with the Churches of Eng- 
 land, while they lived there ; and refused to join 
 the congregation at Boston, till they should do 
 so," p. 46. Again, pp. 105-6, "We may not 
 unreasonably suppose, that Mr. Williams, on 
 further study of the Scriptures, and finding that 
 several of the colonists had embraced Baptist 
 principles, was himself convinced that he had 
 not been baptized. He accordingly resolved to 
 
20 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 obey the Savior's command, and unite in 3 
 Church with such persons as might be willing 
 to join him. A difficulty now presented itself. 
 They had been educated in the Episcopal 
 Church, and were accustomed to regard the 
 clergy with respect, as the only legal adminis- 
 trators of the Christian ordinances. Mr. Will- 
 iams himself strongly felt this difficulty. * He 
 had not himself been immersed; and it seem- 
 ed a reasonable conclusion, that he could not 
 with propriety baptize his brethren, till he had 
 received baptism. The most obvious expedi- 
 ent in their circumstances was adopted. Mr. 
 Ezekiel Holliman was selected to baptize Mr. 
 Williams, who then baptized the administrator 
 and ten others. This event occurred in March 
 1638. Thus was formed the first Baptist 
 Church in America, and the second, as it is sta- 
 ted, in the British empire." 
 
 We find from the above, that the first ad- 
 ministrator of immersion in the Baptist Church 
 in the United States, was Ezekiel Holliman, a 
 lay-member, and one who had not been immers- 
 ed himself. If that baptism were good then, 
 surely it is good now. That is, the baptism of 
 a lay-member, and one who has not been im- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 21 
 
 mersed. If, then, the baptism of a lay-mem- 
 ber, who has not been immersed himself, is not 
 legal or valid baptism, as our Baptist brethren 
 aver, then the whole Baptist Church is with- 
 out valid baptism until this day ! 
 
 The only effort to evade the force of this 
 conclusion, that we have seen, that deserves 
 attention, is, " That Baptist ministers from 
 Wales, and other places, that were in the regu- 
 lar line of immersion succession, have emigra- 
 ted to this country, and have baptized many 
 ministers and others, and of course all who 
 have been baptized by them, have received a 
 regular and valid baptism." 
 
 If, for the sake of the argument, we should 
 admit the correctness of all this, it would but 
 partially, if at all, relieve the difficulty. For, 
 if we should demand of the Baptists, indi- 
 vidually, to show the soundness of their bap- 
 tism, by tracing to this, so called, valid 
 source, in the case of ninety-nine out of a hun- 
 dred, it would prove a perfect failure. And 
 they would have to satisfy themselves by grave- 
 ly inferring that such was the fact in the case — 
 that they had received a valid baptism. 
 
 In reference to an epcpress, or positive pre- 
 
22 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 cept, we may have as clear, and as convincing 
 evidence of some truths, by inference, analogy, 
 or implication, as we possibly can by express, 
 or positive declaration. For instance, the 
 Scriptures nowhere say there are a first and 
 second heaven ; but we know certainly there 
 are. How do we know it? By inference. 
 Paul says he was caught up to the third heav- 
 ens. There must be a first and second, or 
 there could not be a third. We know there 
 was an outer prison at Philippi, though the 
 Scriptures do not assert the fact. They inform 
 us that Paul and Silas were thrust into the in- 
 ner prison. There must be an outer prison, 
 before there could be an inner one. 
 
 Does God generally employ an express, or 
 positive manner in his communication to the 
 children of men ? By no means. Look at the 
 prophecies ! Look at the dark sayings of Da- 
 vid's harp ! Look at the instructions of our Sa- 
 vior ! He spake in parables to the people. Pe- 
 ter, when on the house-top at Joppa, fell into a 
 trance and saw a sheet let down from heaven full 
 of animals and fowls. He was commanded to 
 kill and eat. He was taught to interpret this vis- 
 ion that he should go and preach the Gospel to 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 23 
 
 the Gentiles. But we think there is an express 
 command for infant baptism in Matt, xxviii, 19 : 
 "Go ye, therefore, and teach ^a^tsvaatt, math- 
 eteusatc, disciple) all nations, baptizing them," 
 &c. As infants constitute a part of nations, 
 therefore, they are to be discipled by baptism, 
 and afterwards, as they are capable, taught all 
 things, as Christ commanded. That matheteu- 
 sate means to disciple, no scholar will deny. 
 Christ's Church is a school — Christ the Mas- 
 ter — the apostles and ministers the under-teach- 
 ers, and Christians the disciples, or scholars, to- 
 gether with their infants, who are, at a very early 
 age, capable of being taught the first rudiments 
 of Christianity. Hence the command, "Bring 
 up your children in the nurture and admonition 
 of the Lord." 
 
 But the command is to disciple {navta, panta) 
 all (c£v?7, ethne) nations. The definition of 
 panta is, altogether, totally, entirely, &c. 
 And ethna, nations, people, tribes, &c. Hence, 
 Go ye, therefore, and disciple, altogether, total- 
 ly, or entirely, the nations, people, or tribes 
 of men, baptizing them (nations.) The word 
 autous, tliem, is a definite pronoun, referring to 
 
24 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 nations, which includes every human being on 
 the earth. This sense is corroborated by 
 Mark xvi, 15 : « Go ye into all the world and 
 preach the Gospel to every creature." Now, 
 as far as the command to disciple extends, the 
 command to baptize reaches ; and both are ex- 
 tensive with human population, irrespective of 
 age or sex. Hence, parents and children are 
 commanded to be discipled and baptized. 
 
 The second objection is, the want of faith. 
 Our opponents say, " The law of baptism re- 
 quires faith and repentance in the subject, and 
 as infants cannot repent and exercise faith, they 
 should not be baptized." This is the princi- 
 pal objection to infant baptism ; and to many 
 it appears to be a weighty one. 
 
 The Scriptures generally relied upon to sus- 
 tain the above objections, are, " He that believ- 
 eth and is baptized shall be saved ; but he that 
 believeth not shall be damned," Mark xvi, 16. 
 " If thou belie vest with all thy heart, thou may- 
 est," Acts viii, 37. This was spoken to the 
 Ethiopian eunuch — an adult. We will state 
 the question in form : 
 
 "The Scriptures require faith and repent- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 25 
 
 ance, as prerequisites to baptism; but infants 
 cannot believe and repent ; therefore, they are 
 not proper subjects of Christian baptism." 
 
 We would ask the question, of whom do the 
 Scriptures require faith and repentance ? All 
 must admit, of adults. Then the Scriptures 
 require faith and repentance of adults, as pre- 
 requisites of baptism, and not of infants. 
 
 The sophism of the above syllogism is plain. 
 The error lies in bringing infants in the second 
 or minor proposition, when they are not, nor 
 cannot, by the Scriptures, be brought into the 
 first, or major proposition. For the Scriptures 
 nowhere make such requisitions of infants. 
 
 We will now examine the principal text re- 
 lied upon, which is, " He that believeth and is 
 baptized shall be saved ; but he that believeth 
 not shall be damned." This text has exclu- 
 sive reference to adults. I will state it in form : 
 He (the adult) that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved ; but some adults will not be- 
 lieve ; therefore, the unbelieving adult shall not 
 be baptized, or saved. This exhibits the text 
 in its true light. 
 
 To make this sophism still plainer, I will 
 state it as our opponents do, namely : "He 
 
26 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 (the adult) that believeth and is baptized shall 
 be saved; but some adults will not believe; 
 therefore, infants shall not be baptized." 
 
 You may now see the sophism more plainly. 
 It consists in placing infants in the conclusion, 
 when they are not in the premises. There 
 should not be more in conclusion than in the 
 premises, because the conclusion is always 
 drawn from the premises. 
 
 Look at this text again : " He that believeth 
 and is baptized shall be saved." This baptism 
 may have taken place when the person was an 
 infant. It does not say, he that believeth and 
 will be baptized, but « is baptized." This 
 shows past time. For instance, the man is 
 dead. When did he die? Seventy years ago. 
 Christ is risen from the dead. That took place 
 above eighteen hundred years ago. The man 
 is baptized. When was he baptized 1 When 
 he was an infant. 
 
 The Greek text more clearly shows the cor- 
 rectness of the above view; it is, Bcwttfuy^ets (bap- 
 tistheis) the 1. aorist participle of the passive 
 voice, and a literal rendering would be, having 
 been baptized. But our opponents say, the 
 first member of the sentence, " believeth," is, 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 27 
 
 also, a participle, and denotes past time. But 
 it is the 1. aorist participle of the active voice. 
 
 "O rttctsvaas xo,v fia.7t-t testis tfw^fffz'at— -he that 
 
 believeth and having been baptized shall be 
 saved ;" for " an article, with a participle, must 
 be translated by the relative and indicative, as, 
 O eqx*>P'G vo s — ne tnat cometh." (See Valpy's 
 Greek Grammar, p. 185.) It is evident that the 
 translators were governed by this rule. " He 
 that believeth:" "that," is the relative; and 
 "believeth" is the participle, 7tiefsvoas, put in 
 the indicative. 
 
 But has the baptism spoken of here any ref- 
 erence to ivater baptism ? 
 
 The baptism of the Holy Ghost, is the bap- 
 tism which cleanses and purifies the soul and 
 prepares it for salvation. 
 
 As this is the principal objection to infant 
 baptism, let me be a little more particular. 
 
 Every argument that opposes an evident 
 truth, and supports a falsehood, must be a bad 
 one. The argument is this : " There are some 
 things said of baptism that do not suit the 
 case of infants, such as faith and repentance; 
 therefore, they are not to be baptized." 
 
 We will try this argument on infant circum- 
 
28 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 cision, which is an evident truth. God com- 
 manded infants to be circumcised. This is not 
 denied. But there are some things said of cir- 
 cumcision that do not suit, or agree with the 
 case of infants. Such as, " circumcision, a seal 
 of the righteousness of faith," Rom. iv, 11; 
 " He that is circumcised is a debtor to do the 
 whole law," Gal. iii, 3; "And the uncircum- 
 cised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is 
 not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from 
 his people ; he hath broken my covenant," Gen. 
 xvii, 14. 
 
 Here are several things said of circumcision, 
 that do not agree with the condition of infants 
 any more than faith and repentance ; such as, 
 " seal of the righteousness of faith" " debtor 
 to do the whole law" " hath broken my cove- 
 nant." 
 
 We might ask the questions: Can a child have 
 righteousness ? Can an infant become a debtor 
 to the whole law ? And can a young child, only 
 eight days old, break God's covenant ? There 
 cannot be an objection urged against infant bap- 
 tism, but what might have been urged against 
 infant circumcision by the unbelieving Jew. 
 
 We will try the argument on the baptism of 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 29 
 
 Christ. This is an evident truth, for it was 
 performed by his own request. There are 
 some things said of baptism, and especially that 
 of John's, that do not agree with the case of 
 Christ. John's baptism was a " baptism unto 
 repentance" Had Christ faith? Did he re- 
 pent of sin ? He was, and is, the great Author 
 of faith ; therefore, he could not exercise that 
 faith which is required of sinful man. Could 
 Christ repent? This would presuppose he 
 was a sinner. It is, therefore, evident that there 
 are some things said of Christ's baptism, that 
 no more agree with it than the baptism of in- 
 fants, such as faith and repentance. To avoid 
 this difficulty, our opponents say, " Christ was 
 baptized for our example." This will not re- 
 lieve them. For if that were the case, we 
 then would have the example of one incapable 
 of faith and repentance. What better example 
 could we have for infant baptism ? We do not 
 believe that the baptism of our Savior was 
 the Christian baptism ; but as our opponents 
 do, the above is intended as an argumentum 
 ad hominem. 
 
 We will now try the objection on the salva- 
 tion of infants. This is a truth admitted bv 
 
30 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 all. If we are to reject infants from baptism 
 because they cannot believe, we must reject 
 them from salvation for the same reason : " He 
 that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, 
 but he that believeth not shall be damned." If 
 the argument is good in reference to the first 
 part of this text, it must be good on the latter 
 clause. This would necessarily damn all lit- 
 tle children dying in a state of infancy, as they 
 cannot believe! 
 
 We will now state it in syllogistic form: 
 " He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
 saved ; but infants cannot believe ; therefore, 
 infants shall not be baptized." Well, we will 
 try it on the latter clause : he that believeth 
 not shall be damned; but infants cannot be- 
 lieve ; therefore, infants shall be damned ! 
 
 Two of the gentlemen with whom we have 
 discussed this subject, one a Disciple, and the 
 other a regular Baptist, being pressed with 
 this view of the subject, publicly advocated 
 the doctrine, " that if infants were ever saved, 
 they were saved by some other system than 
 the Gospel" This was the reason that led 
 to the formation of the first society that op- 
 posed infant baptism, which was formed, ac- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 31 
 
 cording to Dr. Wall, in A. D. 1130, among 
 the Waldenses. They declared that infants 
 were incapable of salvation ! He that be- 
 lieveth not shall be damned : infants could not 
 believe, therefore, they must be damned. They 
 accordingly came to the conclusion it was 
 wrong to baptize them. That objection to in- 
 fant baptism, which would necessarily damn 
 all little children dying in a state of infancy, 
 should be rejected at once. 
 
 The third objection, "What good will it do 
 to sprinkle a little water in the face of an in- 
 fant?" We might ask the question, What 
 good will it do to baptize any man, woman, or 
 child, either by sprinkling, pouring, or immer- 
 sion ? No person can see any good in it, ex- 
 cept it is to obey the injunction of Heaven. 
 Baptism is administered to fulfill the will, or de- 
 sign of God, not that we can see any advan- 
 tage in it. Infant baptism must rest on the 
 same foundation. Infants are to be baptized 
 because it is the design of God that they should 
 be, or they are to be rejected, because it was 
 not the design of the great Head of the Church 
 that they should be baptized. 
 
 The fourth objection: "It takes away the 
 
32 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 liberty of the child ; for when it arrives at 
 mature age, it may not choose to be baptized 
 in the same way. The little infant cannot be 
 conscious of i£." What would have been 
 said of a Jew who would have said so of cir- 
 cumcision ! "What does the child know about 
 it? And when he grows up he may not choose 
 to be circumcised ; and by doing so, you are 
 taking away his liberty." He would have 
 been called an infidel, or heathen, and perfectly 
 destitute of every attribute of a Jew, and un- 
 worthy of the congregation of the Lord. 
 
 We think there cannot be an objection 
 arrayed against the doctrine of infant baptism, 
 but what may be classed under some one of 
 the above objections which we have examined. 
 It is very evident none of them have any 
 merit, but are mere sophisms ; therefore, can- 
 not be brought to bear against any testimony, or 
 arguments that may be adduced to establish the 
 doctrine of infant baptism. Having thus cleared 
 away the rubbish, by removing the objections 
 to infant baptism, we will now proceed to raise 
 the superstructure, by presenting some argu- 
 ments in its favor. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 First Position : God had a Church before Christ came, 
 and in it infants were recognized as members. Second 
 Position: The Church which was before Christ came was 
 not destroyed, but was continued down into the Gospel 
 dispensation, and now constitutes the Christian Church. 
 
 If we shall sustain these positions, we will 
 have proved this fact, namely, that infants 
 were once proper members of the Church of 
 God ; and if the present Church is but a con- 
 tinuation of the Jewish, or the same Church 
 under the Gospel dispensation, we have another 
 fact, that infants are proper members of the 
 Church now. If so, they are to be baptized, 
 because they are members, or to recognize 
 them as such, or to constitute them members. 
 Perhaps in both cases; for, 1. The children 
 of Christian parents, like those of Jewish, 
 were born in the Church. They are then to 
 be baptized because they are members of the 
 Church, and of course would have a right to 
 the Christian name. 2. The children of hea- 
 then parents, who are born without the pale of 
 the Church; but when their parents shall em- 
 brace the Christian faith, are to be baptized 
 to constitute them members of the Church. 
 3 
 
34 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 This must be the irresistible conclusion, ex- 
 cept our opponents can show that infant mem- 
 bership has been set aside or abolished. 
 
 As the argument turns on these points, we 
 will now proceed to establish the first position, 
 namely, God had a Church before Christ 
 came, which recognized infants as members. 
 Stephen, just before he was stoned, said oi 
 Moses, " This is he that was in the Church 
 in the wilderness with the angel which spake 
 to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers, 
 who received the lively oracles to give unto 
 us," Acts vii, 38. This clearly shows there 
 was a Church as far back as Moses ; and, 
 doubtless, as far back as Adam, God had a 
 Church. It was rendered visible in the fam- 
 ily of Abraham by the rite of circumcision. 
 (See the xii, xv, xvii and xxii of Genesis.) 
 The word txxx^ia, (ekklesia,) used by Ste- 
 phen, translated Church, which is frequently 
 used in the Septuagint translation : for instance, 
 Deut. ix, 10 ; Judges xxi, 5; Joshua viii, 35, 
 and in many places in the book of Psalms. 
 The word Church originally was derived from 
 Kvptot; otxoj, (Kyriou oikos,) house of the Lord, 
 which was applied to any house dedicated to 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 35 
 
 the worship of God. In process of time these 
 words became contracted into Kyrioik and 
 Kyriake. In the northern part of Europe it 
 underwent another contraction. The Scotch 
 called it Kirk, the Germans Kirche, the Anglo- 
 Saxon called it Ciric Kirick, the Low Dutch 
 Kerk. But the Greek word used b}' the 
 Apostles, is exx7.7i<sca (ekklesia,) which is de- 
 rived from txxateio, (ekkaleo,) to call oat, or 
 from — a people called out, or from the com- 
 mon mass of mankind to the worship of God, 
 where the word is preached, and the sacra- 
 ments are duly administered. Abraham was 
 thus called out, who is represented as the father 
 of the faithful. 
 
 We are met here with the following objec- 
 tion : namely, " The word ' ekklesia' is used in 
 Acts xix, 32, also, 39, in reference to an un- 
 lawful assembly; therefore, there was no 
 Church in the wilderness." We might with 
 equal propriety say the word "ekklesia" is 
 used in the above place to represent a mob, or 
 sn unlawful assembly ; therefore, there is no 
 Church now. Marvelous logic ! 
 
 The regular Baptist Church contend that 
 " God had no Church before Christ's and John 
 
36 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 the Baptist's time." This was the position 
 taken in debate with us by one of her distin- 
 guished champions. If this position is correct, 
 it follows that all the high priests, with all the 
 holy prophets, with John the Baptist, were 
 heathens ; for, where there is no Church, the 
 people are in a state of heathenism. 
 
 The covenant which God made with Abra- 
 ham, as recorded in the seventeenth chapter of 
 Genesis : "As for me, behold my covenant is 
 with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many 
 nations. Neither shall thy name any more be 
 called Abram, but thy name shall be Abra- 
 ham ; for a father of many nations have I made 
 thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruit- 
 ful, and I will make nations of thee ; and kings 
 shall come out of thee. And I will establish 
 my covenant between me and thee, and thy 
 seed after thee, in their generations, for an 
 everlasting covenant ; to be a God unto thee, 
 and to thy seed after thee. And I will give 
 unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land 
 wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Ca- 
 naan, for an everlasting possession ; and I will 
 be their God. And God said unto Abraham, 
 Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 37 
 
 and thy seed after thee, in their generations. 
 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, be- 
 tween me and you, and thy seed after thee ; 
 Every man-child among you shall be circum- 
 cised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of 
 your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the 
 covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is 
 eight days old shall be circumcised among you, 
 every man-child in your generations, he that 
 is born in the house, or bought with money of 
 any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He 
 that is born in thy house, and he that is bought 
 with thy money, must needs be circumcised : 
 and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an 
 everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised 
 man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not 
 circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his 
 people ; he hath broken my covenant." This 
 covenant is the grand chart, or constitution of 
 the Church of God. This constituted Abra- 
 ham the father of all them that believe, and the 
 heir of the world ; and was to be an everlast- 
 ing covenant. This covenant was confirmed 
 in Christ, and, consequently, will continue as 
 long as there shall be a Church on earth. For 
 instance, Paul says, " And this I say, that the 
 
38 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 covenant that was confirmed before of God in 
 Christ; the law, which was four hundred and 
 thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it 
 should make the promise of none effect," Gal. 
 iii, 17. The provisions of this covenant 
 secured a Church state to Abraham and his 
 infant posterity ; and as this was confirmed of 
 God in Christ, to be perpetuated as the great 
 constitution of the Church until the end of 
 time, it is, therefore, evident a Church state is 
 secured to believing parents and their infant 
 posterity ; for, " if ye be Christ's, then are ye 
 Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the 
 promise," Gal. iii, 29. 
 
 This covenant is frequently referred to by 
 the Scripture as the covenant, not covenants. 
 For instance : " Ye are the children of the 
 prophets, and of the covenant, which God made 
 with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, and in 
 thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be 
 blessed," Acts iii, 25. Also, Zacharias, being 
 filled with the Holy Ghost, did prophesy, say- 
 ing, " To perform the mercies promised to our 
 fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, 
 the oath which he sware to our father Abra- 
 ham," Luke i, 72, 73. Moses says to the 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 39 
 
 children of Israel, " That He may establish 
 thee to-day for a people unto himself, and that 
 he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said 
 unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," 
 Deut. xxix, 13. This evidently establishes 
 the fact, that God had a Church before Christ 
 came — a people called out to worship him — 
 "a people unto himself;" as he has said 
 unto Abraham, in the great constitution of the 
 Church, " to be a God unto thee, and thy 
 seed after thee;" " this is my covenant, which 
 ye shall keep, between me and you, and thy 
 seed after you ; every man-child among you 
 shall be circumcised." Thus was the Church 
 made visible in the family of Abraham by the 
 sacrament of circumcision. 
 
 We are met here by our opponents, who 
 say, " that circumcision is only a national 
 mark to distinguish the Jews as a nation ; and 
 the covenant made with Abraham, as recorded 
 in the seventeenth of Genesis, of which cir- 
 cumcision was made a " token " and a " seal" 
 has no religious, or spiritual blessings promised 
 in it ; it secured only temporal, or political 
 privileges." In reference to circumcision be- 
 ing only a national mark, to distinguish the 
 
40 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Jews from the rest of mankind : Abraham was 
 not only to circumcise himself and his chil- 
 dren ; but all those that were "born in his 
 house, or bought with his money, must needs 
 be circumcised." If it is only a national 
 mark, what nation does it distinguish ? All 
 the descendants of Abraham, with all those that 
 were born in his house, or bought with his 
 money, practiced circumcision, making quite a 
 number of nations. For instance, Ishmael and 
 his posterity, that make most of the nations 
 of Arabia and Turkey ; the descendants of the 
 six sons of Keturah, Abraham's second wife ; 
 also, Esau and his descendants. But the 
 Church of God was confined to the descend- 
 ants of Jacob. How, then, can it be a national 
 mark? Which of those nations does it dis- 
 tinguish ? 
 
 In reference to the covenant with Abraham 
 securing only temporal and political blessings, 
 such as the land of Canaan, a national exist- 
 ence under a theocratical form of government : 
 it is certain temporal and political blessings 
 were secured in that covenant ; but God said to 
 Abraham, " / ivill be a God unto thee, and 
 thy seed after thee. 11 Were there no eccle- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 41 
 
 siastical, or spiritual blessings promised ? Are 
 we to consider this as a promise that God 
 would, in the general, be a God unto them, 
 and that it secured to them only the general 
 blessings of his providence, such as furnish- 
 ing them with meat, drink, and clothing ? Then 
 he promised nothing more to Abraham than 
 what he had promised, in the administration 
 of his government, to all the nations of the 
 earth. But Abraham, Isaac and Jacob under- 
 stood it differently. They understood it as 
 something promised to Abraham's particular 
 posterity — something more than the common 
 blessings of life ; for the Lord said to Jacob, 
 at the time when he changed his name to Is- 
 rael, " Be fruitful and multiply ; a nation and 
 a company of nations shall be of thee," Gen. 
 xxxv, 11. That covenant secured to Abraham 
 and that branch of his posterity which inherited 
 the Church state, both temporal and spiritual 
 blessings, just what is secured to the Church 
 under the Gospel dispensation, namely: "God- 
 liness is profitable unto all things, having the 
 promise of the life that now is, and that which 
 is to come," 1 Tim. iv, 8. The first position, 
 we think, is clearly established : that is, "God 
 
42 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 had a Church before Christ came ; and infants 
 were recognized as members of it." We will 
 now proceed to the second, which will be the 
 subject of the next chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 It was a Gospel Church — The name would be changed — 
 Christ shall reign on David's throne — Christ died that 
 the blessings of Abraham might come to the Gentiles — 
 Parable of the vineyard — The house and partition wall — 
 Olive tree — Christ was a minister of the Jewish Church — 
 For this Church Christ died — The gates of the Jewish 
 Church were to remain open to receive Gentile converts — 
 A prophetic view of the Church in the time of its millennial 
 glory — Similarity of expression in the Old and the New 
 Testament — One Lord, one faith, one baptism. 
 
 The second position, namely, The Church 
 which was before Christ came, was not de- 
 stroyed, hut was continued down into the 
 Gospel dispensation. The first argument we 
 shall adduce is, It was called a Gospel Church. 
 " And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would 
 justify the heathen through faith, preached be- 
 fore the Gospel unto Abraham," Gal. iii, 8. 
 Here we see the Church, which was established 
 in the family of Abraham, was a Gospel Church. 
 Paul says to his Jewish brethren, " For unto 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 43 
 
 us (Jews) was the Gospel preached as well as 
 unto them, but the word preached did not profit 
 them, not being mixed with faith in them that 
 heard it," Heb. iv, 2. It is, therefore, evident, 
 that the Church which was in Abraham's fam- 
 ily, and the Church under Moses in the wilder- 
 ness, was a Gospel Church. 
 
 The name of this Church ivas to be changed. 
 " And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, 
 and all kings thy glory ; and thou shalt be call- 
 ed by a new name, which the mouth of the 
 Lord shall name," Isa. lxii, 2. "And ye shall 
 leave your name for a curse unto my chosen : 
 for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his 
 servants by another name" Isa. lxv, 15. Here 
 it is expressly stated His Church shall be called 
 by a ^new name" and "his servants by an- 
 other name" That new name is, Christian. 
 Compare this prophecy with what Luke says 
 of the Church of Antioch : "And it came to 
 pass, that a whole year they assembled them- 
 selves with the Church, and taught much peo- 
 ple. And the disciples were called Christians 
 first in Antioch," Acts xi, 26. 
 
 We are informed by prophecy, that Christ 
 shall reign on David's throne. "The Lord 
 
44 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not 
 turn from it. Of the fruit of thy body will I 
 set upon thy throne," Ps. cxxxii, 11. "For 
 unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given : 
 and the government shall be upon his shoulder : 
 and his name shall be called Wonderful, Coun 
 selor, The mighty God, The everlasting Fa- 
 ther, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of 
 his government and peace there shall be no end, 
 upon the throne of David, and upon his king- 
 dom, to order it, and to establish it with judg- 
 ment and justice from henceforth even forever," 
 Isa. ix, 6, 7. " David's throne and kingdom" 
 cannot be his temporal, or political throne and 
 kingdom. That long since has crumbled to the 
 dust. The Savior laid no claims to worldly, or 
 political honors. " My kingdom," says he, 
 " is not of this world." What, then, are we to 
 consider its meaning ? It must be an ecclesi- 
 astical, or spiritual throne, or kingdom. This 
 agrees with the annunciation of the angel Ga- 
 briel to Mary: "And behold, thou shalt con- 
 ceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and 
 shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, 
 and shall be called the Son of the Highest ; and 
 the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 45 
 
 his father David. And he shall reign over the 
 house of Jacob for ever ; and of his kingdom 
 there shall be no end," Luke i, 31-33. The 
 Savior was to reign as a King: "A King 
 shall reign in righteousness," Isa. xxxii, 1. 
 " The Lord is our lawgiver and our King," 
 Isaiah xxxiii, 23 ; " Creator of Israel your 
 King," Isa. xlv, 15 ; " Rejoice greatly, O 
 daughter of Zion ; shout, O daughter of Jeru- 
 salem : behold, thy King cometh unto thee," 
 Zech. ix, 9. He was to reign over the house 
 of Israel and on the throne of David ; conse- 
 quently, his kingdom was a spiritual, or an ec- 
 clesiastical one ; as Peter preached on the day 
 of Pentecost: " David, being a prophet, and 
 knowing that God had sworn with an oath to 
 him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to 
 the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his 
 throne," Acts ii, 30. He, then, is to reign over 
 Zion, or his Church, that is,. the Church in the 
 Gospel dispensation, which is called, " Sitting 
 on the throne of David, and reigning over the 
 house of Jacob for ever.'''' 
 
 Therefore, it is evident, that the throne of 
 David, and the house of Jacob, which was the 
 Church of God among the Jews, was not to be 
 
46 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 destroyed; but to be continued down into the 
 Gospel dispensation, forming now the Christian 
 Church. This is further corroborated by the 
 prophet Isaiah, when he speaks of the Christian 
 Church: "And in mercy shall the throne be 
 established : and he shall sit upon it, in truth, 
 in the tabernacle of David," Isaiah xvi, 5. 
 Reigning over Zion, or the Christian Church, is 
 represented by the prophet, as sitting on the 
 throne in the tabernacle of David, which 
 shows clearly the identity of the Church before 
 and after Christ came. This agrees with the 
 Revelator, when he says, "And they sing the 
 song of Moses the servant of God, and the song 
 of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are 
 thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true 
 are thy ways, thou King of saints," Rev. xv, 
 3. The Psalmist, when he had a view of the 
 triumphant entry of Christ into heaven, says, 
 "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye 
 lift up, ye everlasting doors ; and the King of 
 glory shall come in," Ps. xxiv, 7. 
 
 Christ died that the blessing of Abraham 
 might come to the Gentiles. Paul says, 
 " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of 
 the law, being made a curse for us ; * * * 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 47 
 
 That the blessing of Abraham might come on 
 the Gentiles through Jesus Christ," Gal. iii, 
 13, 14. What were the blessing of Abraham ? 
 " To be a God unto thee, and thy seed after 
 thee.'" That blessing secured to Abraham 
 and his little children a Church state. The 
 public recognition of such a relation was the 
 "token" or "seal," which was circumcision. 
 This is an express declaration, that Christ died 
 to secure to the Gentile world that which was 
 secured to Abraham : Peter said to the Jews in 
 the temple, immediately after he miraculously 
 cured the impotent man at the beautiful gate, 
 " Ye are the children of the prophets, and of 
 the covenant which God made with our fathers, 
 saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all 
 the kindreds of the earth be blessed," Acts iii, 
 25. " And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abra- 
 ham's seed, and heirs according to the prom- 
 ise," Gal. iii, 29. Paul further says of Abra- 
 ham, he shall be " heir of the world," "father 
 of many nations," and "father of us all," 
 Rom. iv. This is further beautifully illustrated 
 by the 
 
 Parable of the Vineyard. The Savior says, 
 " Hear another parable ; There was a certain 
 
48 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 householder, which planted a vineyard, and 
 hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press 
 in it, and built a tower, and let it out to hus- 
 bandmen, and went into a far country: and 
 when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent 
 his servants to the husbandmen, that they might 
 receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen 
 took his servants, and beat one, and killed an- 
 other, and stoned another. Again he sent other 
 servants more than the first: and they did unto 
 them likewise. Bat last of all, he sent unto 
 them his son, saying, They will reverence my 
 son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, 
 they said among themselves, This is the heir; 
 come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his 
 inheritance. And they caught him, and cast 
 him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When 
 the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what 
 will he do unto those husbandmen ? They say 
 unto him, He will miserably destroy those 
 wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto 
 other husbandmen, which shall render him the 
 fruits in their season. Jesus saith unto them, 
 Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone 
 which the builders rejected, the same is become 
 the head of the corner : this is the Lord's doing-, 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 49 
 
 and it is marvelous in our eyes ? Therefore, 
 say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be 
 taken from you, and given to a nation bringing 
 forth the fruits thereof," Matth. xxi, 33-43. 
 Here, the Church before Christ came is called 
 a " vineyard" The building of the tower, 
 and digging of the wine-press, show the culti- 
 vation bestowed upon it. From time to time 
 the Lord sent his prophets. They illy treated 
 them, beating some and killing others. At last 
 he sent his Son. "They will reverence him." 
 But this was not the case; "he came to his 
 own, but his own received him not." That is, 
 Christ came to his own Church, but his own 
 Church received him not. " This is the heir," 
 said those wicked husbandmen, the Jews, "let 
 us kill him." They caught him, and cast him 
 out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the 
 Lord of the vineyard cometh, what will he do 
 unto them ? He will miserably destroy those 
 wicked husbandmen, and " let out his vineyard 
 unto other husbandmen." This was fulfilled 
 in the destruction of Jerusalem. Those wick- 
 ed husbandmen, the Jews, were destroyed, 
 their city left in ruins, their temple service and 
 polity entirely demolished. The vineyard, or 
 4 
 
50 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Church, was "let out" or given "unto other 
 husbandmen" the Gentiles. This, then, 
 clearly proves the point. The Jewish Church, 
 or vineyard, was taken from the Jews, and 
 given to the Gentiles, which now constitutes 
 the Christian Church. The Savior says, " The 
 stone which the builders rejected, the same is 
 become the head of the corner." "Therefore, 
 say I unto you, (Jews,) the kingdom (Church) 
 of God shall be taken from you, and be given 
 unto a nation (Gentiles) bringing forth the fruits 
 thereof." Giving and receiving do not imply 
 a destruction! What was taken from the 
 Jews? The "vineyard" or "kingdom of 
 God" or the Church of God, which was be- 
 fore Christ came. What was received by the 
 Gentiles? The same vineyard, or Church, 
 which was taken from the Jews. And as that 
 secured to parents membership for their little 
 children, therefore, the Church now secures the 
 same privilege. We learn from the above, 
 1. A Church state was to cease among the 
 Jews. 2. And to be given to the Gentiles, 
 3. The sameness of that state. 
 
 The house and partition wall, throws addi- 
 tional light on the subject. " But now, in 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 51 
 
 Christ Jesus, ye, who sometime were far off, 
 are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he 
 is our peace, who hath made both one, and 
 hath broken down the middle wall of partition 
 between us ; having abolished in his flesh the 
 enmity, even the law of commandments con- 
 tained in ordinances : for to make in himself of 
 twain one new man, so making peace ; and that 
 he might reconcile both unto God in one body 
 by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby ; 
 and came and preached peace to you (Gentiles) 
 which were afar off, and to them (Jews) that 
 were nigh. For through him we both have ac- 
 cess by one Spirit unto the Father. Now there- 
 fore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but 
 fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house- 
 hold of God ; and are built upon the foundation 
 of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ him- 
 self being the chief corner-stone; in whom all 
 the building fitly framed together, groweth unto 
 a holy temple in the Lord: in whom ve also 
 are builded together, for an habitation of God 
 through the Spirit," £ p h. ii, 13-22. This 
 agrees with what Paul says, in his letter to the 
 Hebrews, namely : « Wherefore, holy brethren, 
 (Jews,) partakers of the heavenly calling, con- 
 
52 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 sider the Apostle and High Priest of our pro- 
 fession, Christ Jesus. Who was faithful to 
 him that appointed him, as also Moses was 
 faithful in all his house (Jewish Church.) For 
 this man (Christ Jesus) was counted worthy 
 of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who 
 hath builded the house hath more honor than 
 the house. For every house is builded by 
 some man ; but he that hath built all things is 
 God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his 
 house, (Jewish Church,) as a servant, for a tes- 
 timony of those things which were to be spoken 
 after: but Christ as a son over his own house, 
 (Church,) whose house (Church) are we, (Jews,) 
 if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing 
 of the hope firm unto the end," Heb. iii, 1-6. 
 Here the two principal dispensations of the 
 Church are brought to view, namely, the Legal, 
 or Jewish, and the Gospel. Moses, the medi- 
 ator and lawgiver of the former; and Christ, 
 the mediator and lawgiver of the latter. But 
 it is expressly stated, that Christ was the build- 
 er, or founder of the Jewish, as well as the 
 Christian Church. "For this man (Christ) 
 was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, 
 inasmuch as he (Christ) who hath builded the 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 53 
 
 house (Jewish Church) hath more honor than 
 the house. But Christ, as a son (master, or 
 lord) over his own house, (Jewish as well as 
 the Christian Church,) whose house are we, if 
 we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing 
 of the hope firm unto the end." The Church, 
 before the time that Christ made his personal 
 appearance on the earth, was Christ's, but was 
 in a state of minority ; as Paul says, " Now I 
 say that the heir, (Jewish Church,) as long as 
 he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, 
 though he be lord of all; but is under tutors 
 and governors until the time (Gospel dispen- 
 sation) appointed of the father," Gal. iv, 1, 2. 
 Then the Church is to be presented in its 
 majority, or in its perfect form, to remain so 
 until the Trinity shall bring to a final conclu- 
 sion the plan of redemption by Jesus Christ. 
 
 Before the coming of Christ, the Gentiles 
 were called " aliens and strangers ;" but now, 
 they are "fellow-citizens with the saints and 
 household of God." Both are to be reconciled 
 untc God, in "one body," or Church; and are 
 built on the foundation of the apostles and 
 prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
 corner-stone. This "house," or "building," 
 
54 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 which is the Christian Church, is built on the 
 foundation of the prophets, as well as the apos- 
 tles. This building, or Church, " fitly framed 
 together, groweth unto an holy temple in the 
 Lord." See how beautifully Gospel institu- 
 tions and ordinances are framed on Jewish rites 
 and ceremonies. The Jewish Church had two 
 sacraments : namely, the passover and circum- 
 cision. The Christian Church, also, has two : 
 the eucharist and baptism. These take the 
 place of the former. The Lord's supper takes 
 the place of the passover, and baptism, that of 
 circumcision. The passover was typical of 
 the. shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God, 
 for the sins of the world ; and when that event 
 took place, it could not be continued, but must 
 give way to an institution which would repre- 
 sent the Savior's death as having taken place ; 
 which is the province of the eucharist : k< For 
 as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, 
 ye do show the Lord's death till he come," 1 
 Cor. xi, 26. Again, " For even Christ, our 
 Passover, is sacrificed for us ; therefore, let us 
 keep the feast," 1 Cor. v, 7, 8. This estab- 
 lishes the fact, that the Lord's supper is framed 
 on, or takes the place of the Jewish passover. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 55 
 
 Circumcision was a seal of the covenant made 
 with Abraham. The main point, in that cove- 
 nant, was a future and promised Savior, through 
 the birth of a son, in his old days, to be called 
 Isaac. Circumcision was typical, or emblemat- 
 ical of the miraculous conception of the Savior. 
 He was emphatically to be the " seed of the 
 woman" not of man. Hence, the rite of cir- 
 cumcision emblematically interdicted the agency 
 of man in the ordinary course of generation, as 
 is shown by Luke, in the facts of the Savior's 
 conception: " Then said Mary unto the angel, 
 How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 
 And the angel answered and said unto her, 
 The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and 
 the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
 thee • therefore, also, that holy thing which 
 shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son 
 of God," Luke i, 34, 35. Circumcision was, 
 then, a " token " of that covenant. It was, also, 
 a sign of the purification of heart : says Moses, 
 " And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy 
 heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
 thy soul, that thou mayest live," Deut. xxx, 6. 
 If, then, circumcision pointed to the miraculous 
 
56 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 conception and birth of the Savior, it is evident, 
 when that took place, it could not be practiced 
 without a denial that he had come. Of neces- 
 sity, it must be succeeded by another institu- 
 tion. It will be recollected, that, after the 
 coming of Christ, the Holy Spirit was to be 
 "poured out upon all flesh" This, then, was 
 the crowning evidence, that the son of Mary 
 was the promised Messiah. John says, "He 
 that sent me to baptize with water, the same 
 said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the 
 Spirit descending and remaining on him, the 
 same is he which baptizeth with the Holy 
 Spirit," John i, 33. And as circumcision was 
 a sign of the purification of the heart, so bap- 
 tism is "a sign of regeneration, or the new 
 birth." Peter beautifully illustrates this, when 
 he says, " The like figure whereunto, even 
 baptism doth also now save us, (not the putting 
 away the filth of the flesh,)" [circumcision.] 
 Circumcision was an institution by which 
 they named a person or child. " And it 
 came to pass, that on the eighth day they 
 came to circumcise the child; and they called 
 him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 
 And his mother answered, and said, Not 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 57 
 
 so; but he shall be called John. And 
 they said unto her, There is none of thy kin- 
 dred that is called by this name ; and they 
 made signs to his father, how he would have 
 him called ; and he asked for a writing-table, 
 and wrote, saying, His name is John. And 
 they marveled all," Luke i, 59-63. "And 
 when eight days were accomplished for the cir- 
 cumcising of the child, his name was called 
 JESUS, which was so named of the angel be- 
 fore he was conceived," Luke ii, 21. " Among 
 the Jews, a child was named when he was cir- 
 cumcised; and, ordinarily, the name of the 
 father was given to the first born." (See Dr. 
 Clarke's note on Luke i, 59.) In baptism, the 
 person, or child takes on him his permanent 
 Christian name. It is, therefore, an institution, 
 in the Christian Church, to give a name. 
 Hence it is called, "to Christen.'''' 
 
 The Sabbath. The Jews observed the sev- 
 enth day of the week, not only in commemo- 
 ration of the creation of the world, but of their 
 deliverance from Egyptian bondage, Deut. v, 
 13-16. But we, as Christians, observe the 
 first day of the week as our Sabbath, in com- 
 memoration of the resurrection of Christ, an 
 
58 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 assurance of deliverance from sin, a greater de- 
 liverance than that from the bondage of Egypt. 
 The Christian Sabbath is grafted, or comes in 
 the place of the Jewish : "In the end of the 
 Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first 
 day of the week, came Mary Magdalene, and 
 the other Mary to see the sepulchre," Matt. 
 xxviii, 1. In the end of the (Jewish) Sabbaths, 
 oaj3j3atu>v. This is the genitive plural, as it 
 began to dawn toward the first day of the 
 week, evs piav oapfiatcov. This is also in the 
 genitive plural. It should, then, be trans- 
 lated, In the end of the (Jewish) Sabbaths, as it 
 began to dawn into the first of the Sabbaths, 
 that is, the first of the Christian Sabbaths. 
 
 The ministers of the Gospel succeed the 
 priests and Levites; prayer, with a broken and 
 a contrite heart, succeeds the Jewish sacrifices 
 and feasts. All this building, fitly framed to- 
 gether, groweth unto an holy temple in the 
 Lord, in whom ye are also builded together, 
 for a habitation of God, through the Spirit. 
 
 Again: "He is our peace, who has made 
 both (Jews and Gentiles) one, and hath broken 
 down the middle wall of partition between 
 ws." The Church is here represented under 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 59 
 
 the idea of a building, or house, with a partition 
 wall in it. On the one side of the wall were 
 the Jews, in membership with their little chil- 
 dren ; and on the other side were the Gentiles. 
 This partition wall, when taken down, would 
 bring Jews and Gentiles together, in one en- 
 larged room. This formed the first apostolic, 
 or Christian Church. In this Church were 
 infants in membership — Jews, zoith their in- 
 fant children. This fact was prophesied by 
 the prophet Joel : namely, " Blow the trumpet 
 in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assem- 
 bly : gather the people, sanctify the congre- 
 gation, assemble the elders, gather the children, 
 and those that suck the breasts : let the bride- 
 groom go forth of his chamber, and the bride 
 out of her closet," Joel ii, 15, 16. The bride- 
 groom was the Savior, and the bride was the 
 Church : it is, therefore, evident the first apos- 
 tolic, or Christian Church, was formed, or 
 composed, of parents and their little children. 
 The "building," or "house," you will bear 
 in mind, was not destroyed, but was to remain ; 
 the partition wall only was to be taken down. 
 How clearly this sustains the fact of the con 
 tinuation of the Jewish Church. 
 
60 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Our opponents must prove one of three 
 things, or their opposition to infant Church 
 membership, and, consequently, infant bap- 
 tism, must fall to the ground: namely, 1. They 
 must show that infant membership was disan- 
 nulled, or taken away from the Church, before 
 the coming of Christ, or the taking down of 
 the partition wall. 2. At the time of the 
 taking of it down. 3. Or at some subsequent 
 period. 
 
 Will any of our opponents contend, that 
 before the coming of Christ, infant member 
 ship was taken away from the Church ? And, 
 if so, where is the testimony? Will they sa\ 
 that infant membership was practiced for some 
 time in the Christian Church, and was then 
 disannulled. If so, where is the evidence? 
 And, lastly, was infant membership destroyed 
 at the time of the taking down of the partition 
 wall? Hear Peter, on the day of Pentecost: 
 " Repent, and be baptized every one of you, 
 * * * For the promise is unto you, and to 
 your children, and to all that are afar off, even 
 as many as the Lord our God shall call," Acts 
 ii, 38, 39. Compare this with that which was 
 promised unto Abraham: "To be a God unto 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 61 
 
 thee, and thy seed after thee" This is the 
 same form of expression, and the same per- 
 sons are identified : namely, parents and their 
 infant children. 
 
 There are three things to be taken into con- 
 sideration for a correct understanding of the 
 above: namely, 1. The person speaking. 2. 
 The persons spoken to. 3. The matter, or 
 subject spoken of. 1. The person speaking is 
 Peter, a Jew. 2. The persons spoken to were 
 Jews. 3. He is about to present the Church 
 in its perfect form, under the broad commis- 
 sion of its great Head : «* Go ye, therefore, and 
 teach all nations, baptizing them (nations) in 
 the name of the Father and of the Son and of 
 the Holy Ghost." Who compose nations? 
 Men, women, and children. Here, then, is a 
 command to baptize men, women, and chil- 
 dren. Peter, then, presents the Church to 
 the world in the same form of expression that 
 God did to Abraham : namely, "The promise 
 is unto you and your children.'''' To Abra- 
 ham, it was said, " To be a God unto thee, 
 and thy seed after thee." He was taught to 
 understand that expression as embracing his 
 infant children; and, as the Jews were in the 
 
62 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 habit, for two thousand years, of dedicating 
 their infants to the Lord, and recognizing them 
 as members of the Church by circumcision, 
 they would naturally understand Peter that 
 there was no alteration in the Church in ref- 
 erence to their children ; and if Peter did in- 
 tend to convey the idea, that the children should 
 be cut off from Church membership and priv- 
 ileges, he has been most unfortunate in the 
 selection of words to convey such an idea. 
 The Church was to be presented to the Gen- 
 tiles in the same manner as it was to the Jews : 
 namely, " The promise is unto you and your 
 children." 
 
 In the first apostolic, or Christian Church, 
 we have clearly shown that infants were in 
 membership. Now, let our opponents show 
 to the world how they get them out. If they 
 cannot do this, their cause is ruined. 
 
 The figure of the olive tree throws additional 
 light on this subject: " For if the first fruit be 
 holy, the lump is also holy : and if the root 
 (Abraham) be holy, so are the branches. And 
 if some of the branches (unbelieving Jews) be 
 broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, 
 (Gentiles,) wert grafted in among them, and 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 63 
 
 with them (Jews) partakest of the root and 
 fatness of the olive tree ; (Jewish Church ;) 
 boast not against the branches. But if thou 
 boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root 
 thee. Thou wilt say, then, the branches were 
 broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well ; 
 because of unbelief they were broken off, and 
 thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, 
 but fear : for if God spared not the natural 
 branches, (Jews,) take heed lest he also spare 
 not thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness and 
 severity of God : on them which fell, severity ; 
 but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in 
 his goodness : otherwise thou also shalt be cut 
 off. And they also, if they abide not still in 
 unbelief, shall be grafted in ; for God is able to 
 graft them in again. For if thou wert cut out 
 of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and 
 wert grafted contrary to nature into a good 
 olive tree ; how much more shall these, which 
 be the natural branches, be grafted into their 
 own olive tree?" Rom. xi, 16-24. The apos- 
 tle, in the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh 
 chapters of this epistle, is showing the call of 
 the Jews to an ecclesiastical state ; and the for- 
 feiture of that relation, througli unbelief; and 
 
64 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 that Church state to pass from them to the 
 Gentiles. He presents the whole subject to 
 our view under the figure of an "olive tree," 
 which was the Jewish Church. Some of the 
 natural branches (Jews) were broken off 
 through unbelief: the root, trunk, and some 
 of the natural branches, remain. The Gen- 
 tiles, which were of the " wild olive tree," 
 were grafted into the "good olive tree ," {the 
 Jewish Church,) among the natural branches, 
 and partake of the root (the promises to 
 Abraham) and fatness of the olive tree: that 
 is, the advantages and immunities of the Jew- 
 ish Church. 
 
 Those Jews that embraced Christ by faith, 
 remained on the "olive tree," or Jewish 
 Church, as its natural branches: those of the 
 Gentiles, who embraced Christ, were grafted in- 
 to this olive tree, among the natural branches. 
 How beautifully and forcibly this shows the 
 connection between the Jewish and Christian 
 dispensations of the Church. The apostles, 
 with, perhaps, the one hundred and twenty, 
 with other believing Jews, were the connect- 
 ing link between those great dispensations of 
 the Church. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 65 
 
 The Savior, after his resurrection, gives his 
 great commission to his disciples to preach his 
 Gospel to every creature, and teach all na- 
 tions, baptizing them: they were to preach 
 repentance, and remission of sins, among all 
 nations. The commission, then, was to preach 
 and baptize; and this was to be done among 
 all nations. Before this time, their labors were 
 to be confined to the Jewish Church. The 
 commission was not to form a new Church, 
 but to make disciples and converts for the 
 Church which had been established, which 
 their fathers had lived in from the days of 
 Abraham. In proof of this, in the first ser- 
 mon which was preached by Peter on the day 
 of Pentecost, not one word was said about a 
 new organization: but, "Then they that 
 gladly received his word, were baptized: and 
 the same day there were added unto them 
 about three thousand souls," Acts ii, 41. Add- 
 ed unto what? The Church which was then 
 in existence, which was the Jewish. 
 
 If the apostle had intended to establish the 
 position entertained by Mr. Campbell and 
 others, that the Jewish Church was demol- 
 ished, and the Christian Church was built on 
 5 
 
66 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 the ruins thereof, he doubtless would have said, 
 " That old * olive tree,' the Jewish Church, 
 which is only a kind of a « politico-ecclesiasti- 
 cal' establishment, is to be rooted up, and cast 
 out of the vineyard." But, does he say so t 
 No \ Well, what does he say ? " The root is 
 hoi), also the branches;" and the Gentiles, 
 which are of the "wild olive," are grafted on 
 the good olive tree, among the natural branches, 
 and partake of the root and fatness thereof. 
 There is a time coining, according to prophecy, 
 when the Jews will believe on Jesus of Naza- 
 reth, and behold him as their long looked-for 
 Messiah, and shall be gathered into his fold. 
 This is clearly exhibited in the following: 
 "And they (Jews) also, if they abide not still 
 in unbelief, shall be grafted in ; for God is able 
 to graft them in again : for if thou (Gentiles) 
 wert cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by 
 nature, and wert grafted, contrary to nature, 
 into a good olive tree, how much more shall 
 these, (Jews,) which be the natural branches, 
 be grafted into their own olive tree :" that is, 
 the Church from which they were broken off, 
 which was the Jewish Church. Of course, 
 then, that M olive tree," or Church, must re- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 67 
 
 main, and constitute the Church of God at the 
 time of its millennial glory. 
 
 This is further clearly illustrated by Paul : 
 " Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand 
 my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which 
 in other ages was not made known unto the 
 sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the 
 holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit ; that 
 the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, (with the 
 Jews,) and of the same body, (same Church,) 
 and partakers of his promise in Christ by the 
 Gospel," Eph. iii, 4-6. And further, "And he 
 (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision, a 
 seal of the righteousness of the faith which he 
 had yet being uncircumcised : that he might be 
 the father of all them that believe, though they 
 be not circumcised ;" also, " he should be 
 heir of the world," Rom. iv, 11-18 ; Gal. iii, 
 29. 
 
 Christ was a minister of the Jewish Church. 
 " Now, I say that Jesus Christ was a minister 
 of the circumcision (Jewish Church) for the 
 truth of God, to confirm the promises made 
 unto the fathers," Rom. xv, 8. His personal 
 ministry was confined to the Jews ; he was 
 sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ; 
 
68 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 " he came to his own, (Church,) but his own 
 received him not;" and, indeed, the ministry 
 of the apostles prior to the crucifixion of the 
 Savior, was confined to the Jewish Church. 
 The Savior commands them, saying, " Go not 
 into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city 
 of the Samaritans enter ye not. But go rather 
 to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," 
 Matt, x, 5, 6. Therefore, the ministry of the 
 Savior, and that of the apostles, was confined 
 to the Jewish Church. 
 
 And for this Church Christ died. " Hus- 
 bands love your wives, even as Christ also 
 loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that 
 he might sanctify and cleanse it with the wash- 
 ing of water by the word," Eph. v, 25, 26. 
 (See Acts vii, 38.) For what Church did 
 Christ die ? That Church which was then in 
 existence : it was to be cleansed and sanctified, 
 and then to constitute the Christian Church. 
 This agrees with what John the Baptist says : 
 " I indeed baptize you with water unto repent- 
 ance: but he that cometh after me (Christ) 
 * * * shall baptize you with the Holy 
 Ghost, and with fire : whose fan is in his hand, 
 and he will thoroughly purge his floor, (Jew 
 
TREATISE ON BArTISM. 69 
 
 ish Church,) and gather his wheat into the 
 garner; but he will burn up the chaff with 
 unquenchable fire," Matt, iii, 11, 12. The 
 "floor" here, means the Jewish Church, 
 which is emphatically called "his floor," or 
 Church, which was to be purged or cleansed, 
 and then given to the Gentiles, to be continued 
 down to the end of time, and not destroyed, as 
 some vainly talk. 
 
 The gates of the Jewish Church were to 
 remain open to receive Gentile converts. Hear 
 what the prophet Isaiah says : " Therefore, thy 
 gates shall be open continually ; they shall not 
 be shut day nor night; that men may bring 
 unto thee (Jewish Church) the forces of the 
 Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought," 
 Isa. lx, 11. Here we see, that the gates of the 
 Jewish Church are to be open continually, for 
 the reception of Gentile converts ; therefore, 
 it is to be continued, and become an " eternal 
 excellency:" "Whereas thou hast been for- 
 saken and hated, so that no man went through 
 thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a 
 joy of many generations," Isa. lx, 15. The 
 fruit of this Church is to fill the whole world: 
 "He shall cause them that come of Jacob to 
 
70 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 take root : Israel shall blossom and bud, and 
 fill the face of the world with fruit,*' Isa. xxvii, 
 6. Again : " Sing, O barren, thou that didst 
 not bear ; break forth into singing, and cry 
 aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: 
 for more are the children of the desolate than 
 the children of the married wife, (Jewish 
 Church,) saith the Lord. Enlarge the place 
 of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the cur- 
 tain of thy habitations ; spare not, lengthen thy 
 cords, and strengthen thy stakes ; for thou 
 shalt break forth on the right hand and on the 
 left ; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, " 
 Isa. liv, 1-3. Here is a prophecy, that the 
 Jewish Church should enlarge her borders, and 
 inherit the Gentiles. This did not take place 
 before the coming of Christ, as all history 
 shows ; and if the Jewish Church were de- 
 stroyed, then here is a prophecy which has 
 failed! Are we prepared to rush into such a 
 conclusion ? I presume not. Well, when was 
 Zion's borders enlarged ; and when did the 
 Jewish Church inherit the Gentiles? When 
 the Savior gave his disciples their great com- 
 mission: m Go ye into all the world, and preach 
 the Gospel to every creature ;" " Go ye, there- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 71 
 
 fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost;" "And said unto them, Thus 
 it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to 
 suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day : 
 and that repentance and remission of sins should 
 be preached in his name among all nations, 
 beginning at Jerusalem." This agrees with 
 what the Savior says in commendation of the 
 faith of the centurion of Capernaum : " Verily, 
 I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, 
 no, not in Israel. And I say unto you, That 
 many shall come from the east and west, and 
 shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and 
 Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: (Jewish 
 Church:) but the children (Jews) of the king- 
 dom shall be cast out into outer darkness," 
 Matth. viii, 10-12. This cannot mean the 
 Church triumphant ; for those that shall be so 
 happy as to get there, shall never be cast out. 
 " Many shall come from the east and west," 
 &c, has reference to the Gentiles coming into 
 the Church. " Sitting down with Abraham, 
 Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom," who were 
 the fathers of the Church, means, to enjoy the 
 blessings secured to them. Therefore, the 
 
72 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 kingdom of heaven, or Church, shall remain ; 
 but the children of the kingdom, the Jews, shall 
 be cast out. 
 
 A prophetic vieiv of the Church in the time 
 of its millennial glory. " The children which 
 thou shalt have, (Gentile converts,) after thou 
 hast lost the other, (Jews,) shall say again in 
 thy ears, The place is too strait for me : give 
 place to me, that I may dwell. Then shalt 
 thou say in thy heart, Who hath begotten me 
 these, (Gentile converts,) seeing I have lost 
 my children, (Jews,) and am desolate, a cap- 
 tive, and removing to and fro ? and who hath 
 brought up these ? Behold, I was left alone ; 
 these, where had they been ? Thus saith the 
 Lord God, Behold, I will lift up my hand to 
 the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the peo- 
 ple : and they shall bring thy sons in their 
 arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon 
 their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nurs- 
 ing fathers, and their queens thy nursing moth- 
 ers, " Isa. xlix, 20-23. Here it speaks of the 
 Church having children after she had lost her 
 first children, (the Jews,) and tells how: by 
 " the Lord God lifting up his hand to the Gen- 
 tiles, and a standard to the people ;" and at a 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 73 
 
 time when kings and queens shall be nursing 
 fathers and mothers. The prophet represents 
 them coming into the Church, with their little 
 children in their arms. This is further beauti- 
 fully corroborated by the following : " Then 
 Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was 
 necessary that the word of God should first 
 have been spoken to you (Jews) : but seeing 
 ye put it from you, and judge yourselves un- 
 worthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the 
 Gentiles," Acts xiU, 46. Again : " They shall 
 not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble ; 
 for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, 
 and their offspring with them. And it shall 
 come to pass, before they call, I will answer ; 
 and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 
 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and 
 the lion shall eat straw like the bullock," Isa. 
 lxv, 23-25. The prophet is here speaking of 
 the Church at the time of its millennial glory : 
 " The wolf and the lamb shall feed together," 
 &c. And who will compose the Church then ? 
 " The seed of the blessed of the Lord, and 
 their offspring with them.'' 1 " If ye then be 
 Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs 
 according to the promise." 
 
74 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 We now notice similarity of expression in 
 the Old and the New Testament. " Turn, O 
 backsliding children, saith the Lord ; for I am 
 married unto you," Jer. iii, 14 : " Come hith- 
 er, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's 
 wife," Rev. xxi, 9. " Give ear, O shepherd 
 of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock," 
 Ps. lxxx, 1 : " Our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
 great shepherd of the sheep," Heb. xiii, 20. 
 
 " One Lord, one faith, one baptism,''' 1 Eph. 
 iv, 5. "One Lord" over the Jewish Church, 
 as well as the Christian. The angel of the 
 Lord, or the Lord God of the holy prophets, 
 was the future Christ. "One faith:" the 
 holy prophets had faith in a Messiah to come, 
 who was to atone for the sins of the world. 
 Since Christ has come, the Church believe in 
 a crucified and risen Savior. "One baptism:" 
 that, before Christ, was personified by " cir- 
 cumcision of the heart," Deut. xxx, 6, or that 
 state of purification, which is necessary to the 
 entry, and the enjoyment of heaven. The 
 purification of the heart by the Holy Ghost, 
 under the Gospel dispensation, is the same as 
 the circumcision of the heart, whiih is called, 
 "baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." " For, by 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 75 
 
 one Spirit we are all baptized into one body." 
 One Lord over the Jewish, as well as the 
 Christian Church ; one faith in Christ by both; 
 one baptism, or cleansing operation of the 
 Holy Ghost, in both. 
 
 We think we have clearly established the 
 positions with which we started out : namely, 
 1. God had a Church before Christ. 2. That 
 Church was not destroyed, but was continued 
 down into the Gospel dispensation, forming the 
 Christian Church. 3. Infants were recognized 
 in that Church as members. 4. The member- 
 ship of infants was not abrogated, or disan- 
 nulled. Therefore, infants are now members 
 of the Church. If so, the conclusion is irre- 
 sistible, that they have the right to take the 
 Christian name in holy baptism. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Objections to the foregoing: 1. Mr. Campbells, from 
 Dan. ii, 44 — 2. J will build my Church — 3. From Gal. 
 iv, 21-31 : Cast out — 4. If children are Church members, 
 and have a right to baptism, they should be admitted to 
 the communion. 
 
 " In the days of these kings shall the God 
 of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never 
 
76 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 be destroyed : and the kingdom shall not be 
 left to other people," Dan. ii, 44. Mr. Camp- 
 bell says, " In the days of the iron kingdom 
 shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom. Not 
 the golden, the silver, the brazen, nor sacerdo- 
 tal: these had all been set up." (Debate with 
 M'Calla, p. 97.) 
 
 This kingdom to be "setup," means the 
 reigning of Christ. This was to be after the 
 manner pointed out in the Scriptures. Hear 
 how the prophet Isaiah describes it: "Of the 
 increase of his government and peace, there 
 shall be no end, upon the throne of David, 
 and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to es- 
 tablish it with judgment and with justice, from 
 henceforth even for ever," Isa. ix, 7. This 
 agrees with the annunciation of the angel Ga- 
 briel, a minister fresh from the court of heaven : 
 "And the Lord God shall give unto him 
 (Christ) the throne of his father David : and 
 he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; 
 and of his kingdom there shall be no end," 
 Luke i, 32, 33. Then the reigning of Christ, 
 as a king, was to be on the throne of David, 
 and over the house of Jacob. Then, as a mat- 
 ter of course, the throne of David and the house 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 77 
 
 of Jacob must remain. But as we have already- 
 examined this point, we will not extend the 
 argument here, but will refer the reader to the 
 decision of the first conference, which met at 
 Jerusalem, over which James presided, as a 
 triumphant refutation of Mr. Campbell's views : 
 " And after they held their peace, James an- 
 swered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken 
 unto me. Simeon hath declared how God at 
 the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of 
 them a people for his name. And to this 
 agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, 
 (Amos ix, 11, 12,) After this 1 will return, 
 and will build again the tabernacle of David 
 (Jewish Church) which is fallen down, and I 
 will build again the ruins thereof, and I will 
 set it up," Acts xv, 13-17. We will now 
 turn and quote from the prophet Amos : "In 
 that day (the coming of Christ) will I raise up 
 the tabernacle of David (Jewish Church) that is 
 fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I 
 will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in 
 the days of old : that they may possess the 
 remnant of Edom, and all the heathen, which 
 are called by my name, saith the Lord that 
 doeth this," Amos ix, 11, 12. 
 
78 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 What Daniel calls setting up the kingdom, 
 or reign of Christ, Amos and James call the 
 setting up the tabernacle of David, or the Jew- 
 ish Church, which is represented to be in a 
 fallen and corrupt condition ; for they had 
 made the commandments of God of none effect 
 by their traditions. Now, mark the manner 
 in which the tabernacle is to be built: " as in 
 the days of old:" that is, salvation through 
 Jesus Christ; and membership for believing 
 parents and their infant children. In addition 
 to the above, it is to be built, or repaired, so that 
 it " may possess the remnant of Udom, and 
 all the heathen" How strongly and irrefra- 
 gably does this sustain the position of the con- 
 tinuation of the Jewish Church into the Gos- 
 pel dispensation, which forms now the Chris- 
 tian Church ! And how beautifully the above 
 shows the connection of the two great dispen- 
 sations of the Church. 
 
 Again: "Upon this rock I will build my 
 Church." "This Church," says Mr. Camp- 
 bell, " was not the Jewish, for that was built 
 long ago — is yet future — I will build it — build 
 a new Church, not repair an old one." James 
 says : "After this I will return and build the 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 79 
 
 tabernacle of David which is fallen down, and 
 I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will 
 set it up." James, you are certainly mistaken ! 
 You do not mean the tabernacle of David, 
 when you say, " / will return and build the 
 tabernacle of David :" that was long ago built! 
 You mean a new one! What the Savior 
 meant by building his Church, the apostle 
 James explains to be the tabernacle of David, 
 or the Jewish Church, 
 
 Another objection is taken from Gal. iv, 21- 
 31 : "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the 
 law, do ye not hear the law ? For it is writ- 
 ten, that Abraham had two sons ; the one by a 
 bond-maid, the other by a free- woman. But 
 he who was of the bond- woman, was born 
 after the flesh ; but he of the free woman was 
 by promise. Which things are an allegory : 
 for these are the two covenants ; the one from 
 the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, 
 which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai 
 in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which 
 now is, and is in bondage with her children. 
 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is 
 the mother of us all. For it is written, (Isa. 
 liv,) Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; 
 
80 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 break forth and cry, thou that travailest not : 
 for the desolate hath many more children than 
 she which hath a husband. Now we, breth- 
 ren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 
 But as then he that was born after the flesh 
 persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, 
 even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith 
 the Scripture ? Cast out the bond- woman and 
 her son : for the son of the bond- worn an shall 
 not be heir with the son of the free-woman." 
 Mr. Campbell says, " Cast out — tremen- 
 dous words ! Cast out the bond-woman — the 
 old covenant compared to Hagar. Disannul it, 
 vacate it, lay it aside, reject it. Is this all ? 
 No, no. Cast out the son of Hagar, also the 
 people of the old covenant" (Debate with 
 M'Calla, p. 249.) The apostle here says to 
 those who desire to be under the law, "Where- 
 fore, then, serveth the law ? It was added (to 
 the Abrahamic covenant) because of transgres- 
 sions, till the seed (Christ) should come." 
 Then it was to be disannulled, which is repre- 
 sented by Hagar and her son — the Jews now 
 in bondage, which were to be cast out. Cast 
 out of what? The Church of God made vis- 
 ible in the family of Abraham. But that great 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 81 
 
 chart, the Abrahamic covenant, was to remain ! 
 The Sinai covenant, formed subsequently to 
 it, was only temporary. It was to continue 
 only until Christ should come, and act as a 
 "schoolmaster" to lead us to him. But the 
 Abrahamic covenant was to be an everlasting 
 one ! Paul says : "And this I say, that the 
 covenant (Abrahamic) that was confirmed be- 
 fore of God in Christ, the law, (Sinaie cove- 
 nant,) which was four hundred and thirty years 
 after, (the Abrahamic covenant,) cannot disan- 
 nul, (it,) that it should make the promise of 
 none effect," Gal. iii, 17 ; " But Jerusalem 
 which is above is free, which is the mother of 
 us all," Gal. iv, 26. Have we the correct 
 meaning of the above, when we refer it to the 
 Gospel covenant, as it has generally been 
 done? We think not; and conclude it refers 
 to the Abrahamic covenant, which is the mother 
 of the whole Church. 
 
 Mr. Campbell's whole argument is on the 
 supposition that it refers to the Gospel cove- 
 nant. The Greek word avu>, (ano,) translated 
 above, not only means upward, above, but an- 
 tecedently, or before. The apostle here is 
 speaking of time, not position, or place. Well, 
 6 
 
82 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 we will read it so : " But Jerusalem, (the Abra- 
 hamic covenant,) which is before, or antece- 
 dent, (to the Sinaic covenant,) is free, which 
 is the mother of us all." Paul, in his letter 
 to the Jews, further explains this : " For find- 
 ing fault with them he saith, Behold, the days 
 come, saith the Lord, (Jer. xxxi,) when I will 
 make a new covenant with the house of Israel 
 and with the house of Judah : not according 
 to the covenant that I made with their fathers, 
 in the day when I took them by the hand to 
 lead them out of the land of Egypt; because 
 they continued not in my covenant, and I re- 
 garded them (Jewish people) not, saith the 
 Lord. For this is the covenant that I will 
 make with the house of Israel, (Church,) after 
 those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my laws 
 into their mind, and write them in their hearts : 
 and I will be to them a God, and they shall be 
 to me a people," Heb. viii, 8-10. Here the 
 date of the covenant made with the house of 
 Israel, when the Lord took them by the hand 
 to lead them out of the land of Egypt, desig- 
 nates it from all other covenants made with that 
 people. This is called the Sinaic. "Behold 
 the days come, saith the Lord, I will make a 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 83 
 
 new covenant with the house of Israel," (Jew- 
 ish Church.) This is the Gospel covenant. 
 Now, observe, the Sinaic covenant, or the giv- 
 ing of the law, was made with the house of 
 Israel. The Gospel covenant was to be made 
 with the same house of Israel; therefore, that 
 house of Israel, or the Church, was to stand, 
 but pass into a new dispensation. Daniel says, 
 "And in the days of these kings shall the God- 
 of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never 
 be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be 
 left to other people" How strikingly this 
 agrees with what the angel Gabriel' says to the 
 Virgin Mary concerning Christ: "He shall 
 reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of. 
 his kingdom there shall be no end." 
 
 The difference between what Paul says in 
 the eighth of Hebrews, and the fourth of Gala- 
 tians, is this : In the latter, by the allegory of 
 Abraham's two sons, the one by a bond-wo- 
 man and the other by a free-woman, the Abra- 
 hamic and Sinaic covenants are personified. 
 In the former, the Sinaic and Gospel covenants 
 are set forth. 
 
 Another objection, which is this : "If chil- 
 dren are Church members, and have a right to 
 
84 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 baptism, they should, also, be admitted to the 
 communion table." It does not necessarily 
 follow, if they are admitted to baptism, that 
 they must be admitted to the eucharist. This 
 point ought to be proved, instead of taking it 
 for granted. We deny the position, and call 
 for the proof. 
 
 But, in the meantime, in order to throw 
 some light on the subject, let us look at the 
 practice of the Church before the coming of 
 Christ. She had two sacraments, circumcis- 
 ion and the passover — like the Church now, 
 baptism and the Lord's supper. Well, what 
 was the practice of the Church before the com- 
 ing of Christ ? The children of the Jews and 
 proselytes were members of it, and were 
 circumcised. If they were members of the 
 Church, and had a right to circumcision, then 
 they must have had a right to the passover. 
 Was this the fact? No ! They were not ad- 
 mitted to the passover, until they were able to 
 understand the meaning of it. The age at 
 which they were admitted was twelve years : 
 "And when he (Christ) was twelve years old, 
 they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of 
 the feast, (passover;) and when they had ful- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 85 
 
 filled the days," &c, Luke ii, 14, 15. Dr. 
 Clarke says : " Probably this was the very 
 age at which the male children were obligated 
 to appear before the Lord at the three public 
 festivals — eight days in the whole — one was 
 the passover, and the other seven the days of 
 unleavened bread." We clearly discover from 
 this, that it does not necessarily follow they 
 should be admitted to the communion, though 
 they have a right to baptism : they should not 
 partake of the eucharist, until they arrive at 
 that age that they can discern the Lord's body, 
 1 Cor. xi, 29. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Suffer the little children to come unto me — Proselyte 
 baptism — Example — Children capable of entering into 
 covenant. 
 
 "And they brought young children to him, 
 that he should touch them ; and his disciples 
 rebuked those that brought them. But when 
 Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said 
 unto them, Suffer the little children to come 
 unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is 
 the kingdom of God, (Church.) Verily I say 
 
86 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the 
 kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not 
 enter therein," Mark x, 13-15; Matth. xix, 
 13; Luke xviii, 15. 
 
 Those little children were of such tender age, 
 that they were brought to the Savior by their 
 parents, and he took them up in his arms p"d 
 blessed them. The disciples rebuked those 
 that brought them ; but the Savior was much 
 displeased at it, and said, " Suffer the little 
 children to come unto me, and forbid them 
 not;" meaning, doubtless, all little children, in 
 all future time ; giving, at the same time, a 
 reason to his disciples, which was a quietus to 
 all their objections, that they belonged to his 
 Church : " For of such is the kingdom of God ;" 
 therefore, forbid them not, but suffer them to 
 come unto me. How can we forbid a little 
 child from coming unto the Savior, except it is 
 ecclesiastically, or ceremonially, or by bap- 
 tism 1 Again : how can the Church suffer the 
 little children to come unto Christ, except it is 
 by baptism? But our opponents say, "It 
 means of such like, or adults of child-like dis- 
 position ; such as humility, meekness, and 
 gentleness." But that is a great mistake ; for 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 87 
 
 we might as well talk of faith and repentance 
 in a child, as humility, meekness, and gentle- 
 ness. But if adults are to be received, because 
 they are like little children, little children should 
 be received, because they are like themselves. 
 We will illustrate : Suppose a man were to 
 sell his farm for one thousand dollars : the 
 buyer proposes to pay him off by giving him 
 ten bank bills, on a certain bank, of one hun- 
 dred dollars each, which is acknowledged to be 
 good. But the seller, lest he should be de- 
 ceived, goes to the bank, and obtains a genuine 
 bill. The buyer comes and pays him down 
 the ten bills, according to contract. The seller 
 then takes them, and compares them with the 
 one he knows to be genuine, and finds they 
 agree, or correspond; he then takes the ten 
 bills, and throws away the sample he obtained 
 from the bank ! All would acknowledge he 
 has acted strangely. Yet on this principle our 
 opponents act. They will receive adults in 
 baptism, because they are like " a little child" 
 the genuine sample, of whom the Savior says, 
 " Of such is the kingdom of God," and then 
 turn right round and reject the "little child." 
 This not only shows, that little children are 
 
88 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 capable of receiving the kingdom of God, or ot 
 entering the Church, but an adult must receive 
 it as a little child. Now, how does any person 
 receive the kingdom of God? or, how is he 
 recognized as belonging to the visible Church 1 
 All must admit, that baptism is that ceremony ; 
 therefore, children ought to be baptized. I 
 will state it in syllogistic language : 
 
 Infant children are capable of receiving the 
 kingdom of God, or entering the Church : but 
 none can receive the kingdom of God, or 
 Church, except it is by baptism : therefore, 
 infant children ought to be baptized. 
 
 The error of our opponents is this : they 
 put forth an adult as the model, or sample, 
 and say, " Repent, and believe, and be bap- 
 tized :" but children cannot repent and believe : 
 therefore, they should not be baptized. But 
 the Savior reverses it, and puts forth a "little 
 child," as the model, or sample, and says, 
 "Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not 
 receive the kingdom of God, as a little child, 
 shall not enter therein." But some of our op- 
 ponents say, "The kingdom of God means 
 the state of glory in the future world ; and little 
 children are fit subjects for it." This is grant 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 89 
 
 ing them the greater, whilst they deny to them 
 the lesser. They admit, that children are 
 proper subjects for heaven ; but deny them a 
 place in the road to get there ! Instead of 
 receiving them in the name of Christ, we regret 
 their practice has the appearance of forbidding 
 their coming to the Savior, and a place in the 
 road that leads to a better world. 
 
 "YVe learn two facts from the above : 1. That 
 little children are capable of receiving the king- 
 dom of God. 2. But the way and manner that 
 they receive it, is the very way and manner 
 adults are to receive it; therefore, no differ- 
 ence should be in the practice of the Church 
 between them, in reference to baptism. 
 
 The following will throw additional light on 
 the above : " And he took a child, and set him 
 in the midst of them : and when he had taken 
 him in his arms, he said unto them, "Whoso- 
 ever shall receive one of such children in my 
 name, receiveth me," Mark ix, 36, 37. What 
 does this mean? Why, the Church, or pastor, 
 or minister, that receives little children, receives 
 Christ. We ask the question, Do the Baptist 
 Churches, or ministers, receive little children 
 in their Churches, in the name of Christ ? All 
 
90 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 must answer, No ! The ceremony of receiving 
 infant children, in the name of Christ, with 
 them, is unknown. But why shall we receive 
 little children in the name of Christ? Let the 
 Savior himself explain. Hear him : " Who- 
 soever shall give you a cup of water to drink 
 in my name, because ye belong to Christ, ver- 
 ily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward," 
 Mark ix, 41. Then, to receive them in the 
 name of Christ, is because they belong to him. 
 And if so, they have a right to take upon them 
 the Christian name. This only can be done 
 in holy baptism. 
 
 Proselyte baptism. This was practiced, 
 probably, from the time of Moses ; therefore, 
 the baptism of children, when the Savior was 
 upon the earth, was not a novelty. When they 
 received a Gentile family into the Jewish 
 Church, the males were circumcised, all were 
 baptized, both males and females, and offered a 
 gift. 
 
 As proselyte baptism has been denied by 
 some Baptist authors, I will here introduce 
 some authority. 
 
 Calmet (see his Dictionary) says, "The 
 Jews required three things for a complete pros- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 91 
 
 elyte, baptism, circumcision, and sacrifice; 
 but for women, only baptism and sacrifice." 
 
 " When a Gentile became a proselyte of 
 righteousness, three ceremonies were used : 
 namely, circumcision, baptism, and sacrifice." 
 (Witsius.) 
 
 " The Jews, in our Savior's time, were very 
 sedulous to proselyte the Gentiles to their re- 
 ligion ; and when thus proselyted, they were 
 initiated by baptism, sacrifice, and circumcis- 
 ion." (Prideaux.) 
 
 " The custom of the Jews, in all ages, has 
 been to receive their heathen proselytes by 
 baptism, as well as circumcision." (Stack- 
 house.) 
 
 " Whenever Gentiles were proselyted to the 
 Jewish religion, they were initiated by circum- 
 cision, the offering of sacrifice, and baptism. 
 They were all baptized, males and females, 
 adults and infants. This was the constant 
 practice, from the time of Moses, to that of 
 our Savior, and from that period to the present 
 day." (Dr. Wall.) 
 
 " The apostles knew well, that the Jews not 
 only circumcised the children of proselytes, 
 but baptized them. The children, and even 
 
92 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 infants, of proselytes, were baptized among the 
 Jews. They were, in consequence, reputed 
 clean, and partakers of the blessings of the cov 
 enant." (Dr. Adam Clarke.) 
 
 "I have always understood that Marmonides 
 is perfectly correct, when he says, « In all ages, 
 when a heathen (or stranger by nature) was 
 willing to enter into the covenant of Israel, and 
 gather himself under the wings of the majesty 
 of God, and take upon himself the yoke of the 
 law, he must be first circumcised, and secondly, 
 baptized, and thirdly, bring a sacrifice ; or, if 
 the party were a woman, then she must be first 
 baptized, and secondly, bring a sacrifice.' He 
 adds, « At that present time, when (the temple 
 being destroyed) there is no sacrificing, a 
 stranger must be first circumcised, and second- 
 ly, baptized.' It does not rest on the testimony 
 of Jewish records solely ; it was in circulation 
 among the heathen, as we learn from the clear 
 and demonstrative testimony of Epictetus, who 
 has these words : (he is blaming those who 
 assume the profession of philosophy, without 
 acting up to it :) ' Why do you call yourself a 
 Stoic? Why do you deceive the multitude? 
 Why do you pretend to be a Greek, when you 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 93 
 
 are a Jew ? a Syrian ? an Egyptian ? And 
 when we say any one is wavering, we are wont 
 to say, This is not a Jew, but acts one. But 
 when he assumes the sentiment of one who has 
 been baptized and circumcised, then he both 
 really is, and is called, a Jew. Thus we falsify 
 our profession : are Jews in name ; but in real- 
 ity, something else.' " (Watson.) 
 
 Our opponents say : "Where is your ex- 
 ample for infant baptism ?" "Why, we have 
 the example of our heavenly Father himself, 
 in the baptism of the children of Israel in the 
 Red Sea: "Moreover, brethren, I would not 
 that ye should be ignorant how that all our 
 fathers were under the cloud, and all passed 
 through the sea; and were all baptized unto 
 Moses in the cloud and in the sea," 1 Cor. x, 
 1, 2. The Jewish nation, when they passed 
 through the Red Sea, was composed of men, 
 women and children. They were all baptized 
 unto Moses. That dispensation of the Church 
 was partial — it was confined to a single nation ; 
 6ut when the Church was presented to the 
 world in its perfect form, by the great Head 
 of the same, after his resurrection, he com- 
 missioned them as follows : "- Go ye, there- 
 
94 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in 
 the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 of the Holy Ghost." The Church was no 
 longer to be confined to the descendants of 
 Jacob, but to extend to all nations. Can we 
 conceive of a commission more extensive, 
 which has for its object human subjects, than 
 the above ? If you wish to know who are 
 proper subjects, or may be baptized, inquire 
 who compose all nations. *The answer must 
 be, men, women, and children. Then men, 
 women, and children may be baptized. The 
 Savior says, " baptizing them." The pro- 
 noun " them " has for its antecedent the noun 
 "nations:" it is, therefore, evident that the 
 Savior intended to give to his disciples a com- 
 mission to baptize children. 
 
 Mr. A. Campbell, instead of making the 
 Savior say, " Go and disciple all nations," 
 makes him say, " Go and make disciples out 
 of all nations." But the Greek sx, which is 
 sometimes used to signify out of, is not in 
 the text ; and had it been omitted by an ellip- 
 sis, then the words panta ta ethne, in the 
 accusative case, would have been panton ton 
 ethnon, in the genitive. Every linguist knows 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 95 
 
 that the clause, " Go teach all nations," means, 
 " Go disciple all nations." 
 
 "We are, also, met with another objection 
 drawn from the Greek text, superior to the 
 former only in absurdity. It is the following : 
 1 The Greek nouns panta ta ethne, all nations, 
 are in the neuter ; autous, them, is in the mas- 
 culine gender ; and, as those words do not 
 agree in gender, then we must look for some 
 noun which agrees with autous, and that is the 
 noun mathetas, disciples, included in the verb 
 matheteusate.' We may pronounce, without 
 fear of contradiction, that this objection pre- 
 sents so many glaring grammatical absurdities 
 to any one who understands Greek, that it is 
 utterly unnecessary to offer a single criticism 
 in order to expose them. We will only men- 
 tion, that a mode of expression similar to that 
 in the text is found in the Greek of Psalms ix, 
 19, 20. Many more might be added." (El- 
 liott on Baptism, p. 56.) 
 
 Children are capable of entering into cove- 
 nant. "Keep therefore the words of this cove- 
 nant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all 
 that ye do. Ye stand this day all of you be- 
 fore the Lord your God ; your captains of 
 
90 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 your tribes, your elders, your officers, with all 
 the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, 
 and thy stranger that is in thy camp, from the 
 hewer of thy wood, unto the drawer of thy 
 water : that thou shouldest enter into covenant 
 with the Lord thy God, and into his oath, 
 which the Lord thy God maketh with thee 
 this day; that he may establish thee to-day 
 for a people unto himself, and that he may be 
 unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and 
 as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abra- 
 ham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with 
 you only do I make this covenant and this 
 oath ; but with him that standeth here with us 
 this day before the Lord our God, and also 
 with him that is not here with us this day," 
 Deut. xxix, 9-15. This covenant was not 
 only binding on the Jewish congregation, at 
 that time, little children and all, but in all sub- 
 sequent time. Again: "In the number of all 
 the males from a month old and upward, were 
 eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the 
 charge of the sanctuary," Num. iii, 28. If 
 children were once capable of entering into 
 covenant, and were members of the Church of 
 God, it is evident they had all the prerequisite 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 97 
 
 qualifications, and are now capable, through 
 their parents, of entering into covenant rela- 
 tions with their God, and thus be acknowl- 
 edged and recognized as members of his 
 Church 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The practice of the apostles in baptizing whole fam- 
 ilies — Lydia and her household — The jailer and all 
 his — Children in a state of justification. 
 
 The "Acts of the Apostles," is a very brief 
 history of the acts and doings of those de- 
 voted men, merely sufficient to show their 
 doctrine and practice. Their household, or 
 family baptisms, show that it was their uniform 
 custom to baptize whole families on the faith 
 of the parents. There are nine cases of bap- 
 tism mentioned as the acts and doings of those 
 holy men after the resurrection of Christ: 
 four of them were family baptisms. 
 
 It cannot be supposed that the apostles bap- 
 tized only those nine cases thus mentioned, 
 but hundreds of others, which are not recorded. 
 This being true, we cannot suppose the four 
 cases of family baptism were the only house- 
 7 
 
98 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 hold baptisms performed by them. The fam- 
 ily baptisms bear the proportion of four to five, 
 nearly one half of the whole number. From 
 the above, what is the irresistible conclusion 
 to which we must arrive ? Why, it was their 
 uniform practice to baptize all the children of 
 believing parents. Like the practice among 
 the Jews: when a heathen came into the 
 Church, he came with all his family, as we 
 have already shown. How strikingly this 
 accords with the practice of the Pedo-Baptist 
 Churches! When a heathen, or any othei 
 person, renounces the world, and professes 
 faith in Christ, he comes into the Church, with 
 all his children. This is not the practice of 
 the Baptist Churches. The language would 
 not be suitable to their operations. To say, 
 " such a man believed, and he, and all his 
 household, or children, were baptized," does 
 not apply to Baptist Churches. 
 
 There is no doubt but every member of 
 those families mentioned above was baptized ; 
 and if there were any infant children in any of 
 them, they were of course baptized; and if 
 they were not baptized, doubtless, that excep- 
 tion would have been made. For instance: 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 99 
 
 "And the man Elkanah, and all his house, 
 went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly 
 sacrifice, and his vow. But Hannah went not 
 up; 'for she said unto her husband, (Elkanah,) 
 I will not go up until the child be weaned, and 
 then I will bring him, that he may appear be- 
 fore the Lord, and there abide for ever," 1 
 Sam. i, 21, 22. It is represented, that those 
 families were baptized on the faith of the 
 parents, which presupposes that those house- 
 holds were composed, in part, of infant chil- 
 dren ; for, if they were all adults, it is reason- 
 able to suppose that something would have 
 been said of their faith, and repentance, &c. 
 Another important idea is the following: The 
 apostolic age lasted about sixty years ; and in 
 all the acts and doings of the apostles, we have 
 no account of the baptism of any adult person 
 who was brought up by Christian parents! 
 How are we to account for this ? Only on the 
 supposition that it was the universal practice 
 of the apostles to baptize whole families — all 
 the children of believing parents ; and when 
 they would arrive at adult years, there would 
 be none to be baptized. 
 
 We will examine some of those household 
 
100 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 baptisms more particularly: "And a certain 
 woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the 
 city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard 
 us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she 
 attended unto the things which were spoken of 
 Paul. And when she was baptized, and her 
 household, she besought us, saying, If ye have 
 judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come 
 into my house, and abide there," Acts xvi, 
 14, 15. 
 
 It is evident Lydia was a householder, had 
 a family, and they were baptized on her faith : 
 the Lord opened her heart, " that she attended 
 unto the things which were spoken of Paul." 
 Baptism, doubtless, was explained and en- 
 joined. She said: "If ye have judged me 
 (not us) faithful to the Lord, come into my 
 house, and abide there." How were they to 
 judge of her faithfulness ? From the fact that 
 she believed, and went forward in baptism, and 
 then had her household, or children, baptized. 
 This is a pretty strong case of infant baptism. 
 
 Our opponents find great difficulty in ma- 
 king out a family for Lydia without allowing 
 her children. They say, " She was from Thy 
 atira, and carried on a coloring, or dying estab 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 101 
 
 lishment, in Philippi, and her household con- 
 sisted of journeymen dyers." If so, they 
 were baptized on the faith of Lydia ! The 
 Lord opened Lydia's heart, and then Paul and 
 Silas took those gentlemen journeymen dyers 
 and baptized them ! 
 
 The baptism of the jailer and his family. 
 "And he took them the same hour of the 
 night, and washed their stripes ; and was bap- 
 tized, he and all his, straightway," Acts xvi, 
 33. The jailer was convinced of the truth 
 of the Christian religion by the miraculous 
 display of divine power in the earthquake, 
 and in the opening of the prison doors, and, 
 at the same time, the prisoners not escaping. 
 He exclaimed: "Sirs, what must I do to be 
 saved?" They told him to believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and he and all his house 
 should be saved. He then took them out of 
 the inner prison into the outer; and Paul 
 preached to all them that were present the 
 word of the Lord; and then the jailer, the 
 same hour of the night, washed their stripes, 
 and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 
 What is the natural construction of the phrase, 
 " all his ?" Why, his family of children ; and 
 
102 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 the probability is there were some small chil- 
 dren, from the fact he was a jailer, which was 
 an office of one who was in the prime of life. 
 Our opponents object to the above view, and 
 say: "And when he had brought them into his 
 house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, 
 believing in God, with all his house." They 
 wish to make the impression that the sentence, 
 ** and rejoiced, believing in God, with all his 
 house," means all were adulis, and capable of 
 rejoicing and believing. But reference to the 
 Greek text will clearly disprove the above. 
 The word rejoice, ^yaWaaoaro, is in the middle 
 voice: 1. a. 3. per. sin. ind., which is from 
 ayar, very much, and aWio^icu, to leap, which 
 means, to leap for joy, show delight by ges- 
 tures, to exult, rejoice, triumph. As it is in 
 the middle voice, and singular number, the 
 action, or rejoicing, is confined to the jailer: 
 he leaped for joy, or rejoiced : that is, the 
 jailer himself leaped, and shouted aloud for 
 
 In reference to believing, 7tt7ttcit£vx<x><;, which 
 is a perfect active participle, in the singular 
 number, and masculine gender; and a literal 
 translation would be: he (the jailer) having 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 103 
 
 believed, rejoiced in God, with all his house. 
 Nothing is said of believing and rejoicing, only 
 as it refers to the jailer himself. 
 
 The regular Baptist Church baptize on a 
 profession of faith in Christ: that is, the can- 
 didate must be in a state of justification. Mr. 
 Campbell and his disciples baptize for the re- 
 mission of sins. Mr. Campbell says, " The 
 believer rises out of the water, is born of water, 
 enters the world a second time — he enters it as 
 innocent, as clean, as unspotted as an angel." 
 (Debate with M'Calla, p. 137.) These differ- 
 ent opinions, entertained by the several sects 
 of the Baptists, at present we shall not notice, 
 but will leave them to settle those difficulties 
 among themselves. 
 
 But, if the position is correct, that the 
 proper candidate for baptism should be in a 
 state of justification, what better argument can 
 we have for infant baptism ? For infants are, 
 also, in a state of justification. Paul says: 
 "Therefore, as by the offense of one judg- 
 ment came upon all men to condemnation, 
 even so by the righteousness of one the free 
 gift came upon all men unto justification of 
 life," Rom. v, 18. Here is proof that all men, 
 
104 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 when in a state of infancy, are in a state of 
 justification of life : therefore, if adults are 
 to be baptized, because they are in a state of 
 justification, infants should, also, be baptized, 
 because they are in the same state. I will 
 state it in syllogistic language: All persons 
 that are in a state of justification, are proper 
 subjects of Christian baptism : infants are 
 in a state of justification, therefore, infants are 
 proper subjects of Christian baptism. 
 
 Church members are called by the Greek 
 word ayta, (agia,) or " holy," Eph. i, 1 ; Phil, 
 i, 1 ; Col. i, 2; 1 Thes. v, 27; Rom. viii, 27; 
 Eph. vi, 18 ; Rom. xii, 13, xv, 25 ; 2 Cor. viii, 
 4, ix, 12. This term, also, is applied by Paul 
 to children : " For the unbelieving husband is 
 sanctified by the (believing) wife, and the unbe- 
 lieving wife is sanctified by the (believing) hus- 
 band : else were your children unclean ; but 
 now are they (ayia) holy," 1 Cor. vii, 14. 
 The question, doubtless, was propounded to 
 Paul to determine the relation of children to 
 the Church where only one parent was a be- 
 liever: "The children of believing parents I 
 know are members of the Church, and have a 
 right to baptism ; but what relation does mine 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 105 
 
 sustain : my wife, or my husband, is an unbe- 
 liever ?" The apostle says the marriage rela- 
 tion is sanctified by the believing parent, and 
 their children sustain the same relation to the 
 Church as if both parents were believers. The 
 term "unclean" is used in reference to the 
 heathen, and others, who were either literally, 
 or legally so ; therefore, were unfit for the con- 
 gregation of the righteous, and sanctuary of 
 the Lord. The term "holy" must mean a 
 literal, or natural holiness, or an ecclesiastical, 
 or ceremonial holiness ; and, as our Baptist 
 friends do not contend for a literal, or natural 
 purity, or holiness of infants, then it must 
 mean they are ceremonially holy. If so, surely 
 they have a right to that ordinance, or cere- 
 mony, which represents that state : namely, 
 
 BAPTISM. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 No controversy on infant baptism in the first ages of 
 the Church — History of infant baptism. 
 
 In the first ages of the Christian Church 
 there were schisms, and divisions, and con- 
 troversies, perhaps on almost every point in 
 
106 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 theology. Many of those controversies have 
 been preserved. But one thing is remarkable : 
 there was none on the subject of infant bap- 
 tism ! There is a perfect silence on that sub- 
 ject. How are we to account for it? Why, 
 they were all of one mind. It was admitted 
 by all that infants should be baptized, and that 
 by the command of the apostles 
 
 Mr. Campbell says : " Tertullian was the 
 first man that mentions infant baptism, and he 
 opposed it." Tertullian flourished A. D. 204, 
 a little over one hundred years after the apos- 
 tles ; for it is believed John wrote his Gospel 
 A. D. 99, or 100. It is evident, if infant bap- 
 tism were introduced into the Church as an 
 innovation upon the law of baptism, it must 
 have been done between the time of the apos- 
 tles and Tertullian — a space of a little more 
 than one hundred years! Mr. Campbell says: 
 " Yes, of 44 writers, called orthodox, besides 
 a great many called heterodox, who lived, and 
 taught, and wrote, from the apostle John's 
 time till the time of Tertullian, not one men- 
 tions infant baptism." (Debate with M'Calla, 
 p. 366.) 
 
 What do we learn from the above admis- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 107 
 
 sion ? That Tertullian was the first to men- 
 tion infant baptism, as then being practiced in 
 the Church. We, then, are enabled to trace 
 infant baptism back within one hundred years 
 of the time of the apostles, from the showing 
 of our opponents. It is evident, if infant bap- 
 tism were introduced into the Church as an 
 innovation, it must have been between the 
 time of John the divine and Tertullian. Mr. 
 Campbell says, in that time forty-four ortho- 
 dox writers, besides a great many others, lived, 
 taught, and wrote, and not one of them men- 
 tions infant baptism. Is it possible that those 
 writers could have beheld infant baptism come 
 into the Church as an innovation, and not one 
 of them, out of so many, raise a warning 
 voice ! Many of those writers were baptized, 
 perhaps, by the apostles themselves ; their 
 fathers associated with those holy men, and 
 conversed freely with them on every subject 
 connected with our holy religion. Perhaps 
 some of those writers themselves had the dis- 
 tinguished privilege of an acquaintance with 
 them, and had heard them teach and preach 
 the doctrines of Christ; and it is very prob- 
 able many of them died martyrs to the cause 
 
108 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 of Christianity. Can it be supposed that those 
 forty-four orthodox writers, with a great num- 
 ber of others, could have seen infant baptism 
 come into the Church as an innovation, with- 
 out some one of them declaring against it ! 
 
 Lay prejudice aside, the case is a plain one. 
 We have traced infant baptism back so nigh 
 the apostles' time as one hundred years, by the 
 testimony of our opponents themselves. If, 
 then, it ever were introduced into the Church 
 as an innovation upon the design of baptism, 
 is it probable, or even possible, those writers 
 could have witnessed it without declaring 
 against it? It is very evident those writers 
 did not view infant baptism as our opponents 
 do, or they would at once have denounced it. 
 Did you ever hear an effort made by a Bap- 
 tist on the subject of baptism, without his de- 
 nouncing infant baptism in very plain, and 
 sometimes severe terms ? 
 
 Mr. Campbell says : " Tertullian opposed 
 infant baptism." Not absolutely so. He only 
 advised the delay of the baptism of infants, as 
 well as that of unmarried persons. From the 
 superstitious notions which he had conceived 
 concerning its efficacy, he believed it to be a 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 109 
 
 saving ordinance : it washed away all sin ; 
 therefore, the nigher baptism came to death 
 the better. Tertullian admits, if a child were 
 in danger of dying, it should be baptized. 
 
 HISTORY OF INFANT BAPTISM. 
 
 SECOND CENTURY. 
 
 "Justin Martyr, who was converted to 
 Christianity A. D. 132, and suffered martyr- 
 dom A. D. 167, represents baptism coming in 
 the place of circumcision. In his apology for 
 the Christians before the emperor Antonius 
 Pius, near the beginning, he has these remark- 
 able words : ' Several persons among us, sixty 
 and seventy years old, and ol both sexes, who 
 were discipled ^/xa^tsv^aav, ematheteuthesan) 
 to Christ in their childhood, and remain uncor- 
 rupted.' This is the same word made use of 
 in the great commission to baptize : Go and 
 make disciples (fxa^t tvcsats, matheteusate) all 
 nations ; and the mode to make disciples was 
 by baptism ; and this was done, says Justin 
 Martyr, in their childhood. The time they 
 were discipled was about the middle of the 
 apostolic age. This must be a clear proof of 
 infant baptism at the time of the apostles." 
 
 " Iren\eus, a disciple of Poly carp, who was 
 
110 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 a disciple of John the divine, says : ' Christ 
 came to save all persons who are regenerated 
 unto God : infants, little ones, youths, and 
 elderly persons.' That by the word renascor, 
 to regenerate, he means baptism, is plain from 
 his use of the word in another place, where he 
 says : ■ When Christ gave his apostles the 
 command of regenerating unto God, he said, 
 Go teach all nations, baptizing them.' " 
 
 THIRD CENTURY. 
 
 " Origen says : ' Infants, by the usage of the 
 Church are baptized. Infants are baptized for 
 the remission of sins. Infants are baptized, 
 because, by the sacrament of baptism, our pol- 
 lution is taken away. The Church had an 
 order, or tradition, from the apostles to give 
 baptism to infants.' (Rom. viii, in sec. 12, 
 Com. in Epis. ad Rom. lib. 5.) Origen was 
 born about A. D. 184, and died A. D. 252, 
 was of Christian parents, a man of extensive 
 learning and acquaintance with the customs of 
 the Church. He speaks of baptism of infants 
 of universal usage." 
 
 The Council of Carthage. — "Fidus, an 
 African Bishop, applied to Cyprian, Bishop of 
 Carthage, to know, not whether infants were 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. Ill 
 
 to be baptized, but whether their baptism 
 might take place before the eighth day after 
 their birth, that being the day on which cir- 
 cumcision was performed by the law of Moses. 
 This question was considered in an African 
 Synod, held A. D. 254, at which sixty-six 
 bishops were present, and it was unanimously 
 decided, ' that it was not necessary to defer 
 baptism to that day ; and that the grace of 
 God, or baptism, should be given to all, and 
 especially to infants.' " 
 
 Can it be supposed that a council, or con- 
 ference of sixty-six grave bishops, sitting only 
 about 154 years after the apostles' time, could 
 unanimously decree that the grace of baptism 
 should be given to all, especially to infants, 
 without infant baptism being of apostolic or- 
 igin ! 
 
 FOURTH CENTURY. 
 
 "Ambrose, who died in A. D. 375, when 
 commenting on Luke i, 17, says : * But, per- 
 haps this may seem to be fulfilled in our time, 
 and in the apostles' time ; for that returning of 
 the river waters backward toward the spring 
 head, which was caused by Elias, when the 
 river was divided, (as the Scripture says Jor- 
 
112 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 dan was driven back,) signified the sacrament 
 of the laver of salvation, which was afterwards 
 to be instituted, by which those infants that 
 are baptized are reformed back again from 
 wickedness, or a corrupt state, to the primitive 
 state of their nature.' " 
 
 " Gregory Nazeanzen, who died A. D. 
 389, declares, in his discourse on baptism, 
 * that infants are to be baptized to consecrate 
 them to Christ from their infancy.' " 
 
 FIFTH CENTURY. 
 
 " The fifth Council of Carthage, held A. D. 
 401, declares in her 72d canon, 'that children 
 ought to be baptized, when there is no proof, 
 nor testimony, that they have been already 
 baptized.' " 
 
 " Chrysostom, who died in A. D. 407, says, 
 (in his Horn, de Bapt. Christi,) « Persons may 
 be baptized, either in their infancy, in middle 
 age, or in old age.' " 
 
 " Pelagius, in his letter to Innocent, Bishop 
 of Rome, says : ' We hold one baptism, which 
 we say ought to be administered with the same 
 sacramental words to infants, as it is to elder 
 persons.' We have, also, the following from 
 him : ' Men slauder me, as if I denied the 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 113 
 
 sacrament of baptism to infants, or did prom- 
 ise the kingdom of heaven to some persons 
 without the redemption of Christ, which is a 
 thing that I never heard not even any wicked 
 heretic say.' Pelagius is a witness of high 
 authority. He was a man of talents, and ex- 
 tensive learning. He, also, traveled over a 
 great part of the Christian world. Add to this, 
 his heretical doctrine of the purity of human 
 nature, which, according to the views of that 
 age respecting baptism, was logically opposed 
 to infant baptism, yet he speaks of it as prac- 
 ticed everywhere, as a custom which no one 
 denies." 
 
 " Ccelestius, of the same sentiments, and 
 fellow-traveler with Pelagius, when on his trial 
 before the Council of Carthage, in A. D. 410, 
 says, 'As for infants, I always said that they 
 stood in need of baptism, and that they ought 
 to be baptized.' ' Infants are to be baptized ac- 
 cording to the rules of the universal Church.' " 
 
 " Jerome, who died A. D. 420, says, « If 
 infants be not baptized, the sin of omitting their 
 baptism is laid to their parents' charge.' " 
 
 "Augustine, who died A. D. 430, declares : 
 * Infant baptism the whole world practices ; it 
 8 
 
114 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 was not instituted by councils, but was ever in 
 use. The whole Church of Christ has con- 
 stantly held, that infants were baptized for the 
 remission of sins. Let no one so much as 
 whisper any other doctrine in your ears : this 
 the Church has always had, has always held. 
 I have never read, or heard, of any Christian, 
 whether Catholic or sectary, who held other- 
 wise.' " 
 
 "Austin. 'Which the whole body of the 
 Church holds, as delivered to them, in the case 
 of little infants baptized, who cannot yet be- 
 lieve with a heart to righteousness, or confess 
 with the mouth to salvation, as the thief could ; 
 nay, by their crying and noise, while the sacra- 
 ment is administering, they disturb the holy 
 mysteries, and yet no Christian man of any 
 sort will say they are baptized to no purpose.' " 
 (See Watson and Elliott on Baptism.) 
 
 All history, in reference to this subject, goes 
 to establish the practice of infant baptism by 
 the whole Christian world. Pelagins expressly 
 says, he " never heard not even a wicked 
 heretic say" it was wrong to baptize infants. 
 He was a man distinguished for his learning, 
 and his travels over the Christian world. An- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 115 
 
 gustine says, he " never read, or heard" of 
 any person who denied baptism to infants : 
 then, certainly, there could not have been any 
 Baptists at that age of the Church. 
 
 "At the end of the fourth century, the famous 
 controversy took place between Augustine and 
 Pelagius concerning original sin, in which the' 
 uniform practice of baptizing infants, from the 
 days of the apostles, was admitted by both par- 
 ties, although they assigned different reasons 
 for it." (Watson.) 
 
 This was only about three hundred years 
 after the apostles' time. Those learned men 
 were well acquainted with the history of the 
 Church during that period, as well as with the 
 doctrines and practice of the apostles, and they 
 both not only admitted it was the constant 
 practice of the Church, but they never read, 
 or heard, of any person who said it was wrong 
 to baptize infants. 
 
 It is now a little over three hundred years 
 since the Reformation took place under Lu- 
 ther, Melancthon, Zwingle, and others. Can 
 we now be mistaken as to the doctrines taught 
 by those devoted men, or their practice ? No ! 
 They attacked the doctrine of transubstan- 
 
116 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 tiation, and contended that the laity should 
 have the cup as well as the bread, and they 
 practiced accordingly. They, also, attacked 
 the celibacy of the priests, both by precept 
 and example. The whole Christian world are 
 well acquainted with the practice and doctrines 
 of those holy reformers ; so were those de- 
 voted fathers of the Church, which we have 
 quoted, living in the second, third, fourth, and 
 fifth centuries, well acquainted with the doc- 
 trines and practice of the apostles and prim- 
 itive Church. They all declare it was the 
 uniform practice of the Church, from the apos- 
 tles down, to baptize infants. It is impossible 
 to account for this unanimity, except on the 
 supposition that the doctrine and practice of 
 infant baptism was of apostolic origin. 
 
 During the first four centuries of the Chris- 
 tian Church, there were divisions, and parties, 
 and controversies, on almost every point of 
 theology and usage of the Church ; but not a 
 word of dispute on the subject of infant bap- 
 tism ! This is only accounted for on the 
 ground that infant baptism was the constant 
 and universal practice of the Church from the 
 Savior down. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 117 
 
 Look at the three great divisions of the prim- 
 itive Church: namely, the Syriae, the Greek, 
 and the Latin. These all practiced infant 
 baptism, in every period of their history, down 
 to the present time. Our opponents say, " In- 
 fant baptism is a relic of Popery, and that Pe- 
 do-Baptists get their history from that corrupt 
 establishment." We have thought, when we 
 have heard them palm that on their congrega- 
 tions, they could not be honest, or were pro- 
 foundly ignorant of the subject. You will 
 observe, that of all the authority we have 
 brought 'forward, not one has been from the 
 Roman Catholic Church, but all lived and 
 wrote some centuries before the Bishop of 
 Rome was declared universal Bishop, which 
 was A. D. 606 ; and this was the same year 
 Mohammed wrote the Alkoran. 
 
 I will only bring forward one more witness 
 on this point. The celebrated Dr. Wall, 
 " who studied thoroughly the history of bap- 
 tism, and who, as to the mode, was even a 
 Baptist, gives us, in his history of baptism, 
 the following summary, as the result of his 
 researches:" "For the first four hundred 
 years after Christ, there appears only one 
 
118 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 man (Tertullian) who advises the delay of in- 
 fant baptism in some cases, one Gregory, who 
 did, perhaps, practice such delay in the case 
 of his own children; but no society of men 
 so thinking, or so practicing, or any one man 
 saying it was unlawful to baptize infants ; so, 
 in the next seven hundred years, there is not 
 so much as one man to be found, who either 
 spoke for, or practiced such delay, but all to 
 the contrary. And when, about the year 1 130, 
 one sect among the Waldenses, or Albigenses, 
 declared against the baptism of infants, as be- 
 ing incapable of salvation, the main body of 
 that people rejected their opinion, and they of 
 them who held that opinion, quickly dwindled 
 away, and disappeared ; there being no more 
 persons holding that tenet until the rising of 
 the German Anabaptists in the year 1522." 
 
 Mr. Watson says, according to Bishop Tom- 
 line, the first Baptist Church was formed in 
 England in 1640. The first in the United 
 States was in 1638. 
 
 Our Baptist brethren, we see from the above, 
 have just come into the vineyard — a sect of but 
 yesterday; but from the prerogative they 
 take, and boasting dogmas they constantly ex- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 119 
 
 hibit, wish to make the impression that they 
 have had an existence for a long time. 
 
 Now, in conclusion, whether do the Bap- 
 tist, or the Pedo-Baptist Churches, resemble 
 heaven most ? Look on those high and lofty 
 plains of glory : there you see little children 
 and their parents associated together. Look to 
 the throne : there you will see infant children 
 bowing with their parents, and crying, "Amen, 
 alleluiah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 
 Hearken to the song of Moses and the Lamb ! 
 How beautifully infant voices symphonize with 
 the voices of that innumerable company, having 
 come up through much tribulation, and made 
 their robes white in the blood of the Lamb ! 
 
 Now, look to the different branches of the Pe- 
 do-Baptist Church : the Presbyterians, Luther- 
 ans, Episcopalians, Methodists, United Breth- 
 ren, Seceders, Evangelical Association, Ger- 
 man Reform, and all other branches. There 
 you will see little children in membership 
 with their parents. Look, now, to the differ- 
 ent branches of the Baptist Church. No in- 
 fants there in membership with their parents ! 
 Which has the greater resemblance to heaven, 
 the Baptist, or the Pedo-Baptist Church? 
 
PART II, 
 
MODE OF BAPTISM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Definition of Bapto and Baptizo. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no subject in theology 
 so much discussed, at present, as the mode of 
 Christian baptism. Some are wont to make 
 the mode essential to baptism, whilst others 
 wish to make both the mode and baptism itself 
 essential to salvation. 
 
 Our Baptist brethren say, " Immersion is 
 essential to baptism, and without baptism (im- 
 mersion) you do not belong to the Church of 
 Christ." Mr. Campbell and his disciples not 
 only contend for the above position, but go 
 farther, and say, " Without immersion there is 
 no remission of sins, or salvation." 
 
 From the high ground taken by them, it is 
 a matter of importance to the Pedo-Baptist 
 Churches, and the public in general, to have 
 the subject carefully examined, and their errors 
 exposed, and thus disabuse the public mind; 
 especially as immersion is made the foundation 
 of that very reprehensible system of prose- 
 
124 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 lytism, so universally practiced by every im- 
 mersionist sect ; for, it appears, they wish to 
 sustain themselves by making converts to this 
 peculiarity of their creed, as if it were the 
 Alpha and Omega of religious duty. 
 
 Suppose a person is concerned for the wel- 
 fare of his soul, their first object is to direct 
 his attention to their views on baptism, and 
 urge on him a speedy compliance, and be re- 
 ceived into their Church, and then the great 
 work of salvation, at present, appears to be 
 accomplished! Or, if members of the Pedo- 
 Baptist Church shall occasionally attend their 
 meetings, or shall associate with them, their 
 first object will be to repudiate, or overthrow 
 their baptism. The whole effort of this labor 
 of love will be to show them they are unbap- 
 tized. If they shall be so fortunate as to suc- 
 ceed in unsettling them on this point, they are 
 ready to immerse them, and receive them into 
 their Church. 
 
 We believe the mode of baptism, as taught 
 in the Scriptures, and practiced by the apos- 
 tles, was by aspersion, or affusion: that is, 
 they applied the water to the candidate ; there- 
 fore, they baptized with water, and not in 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 125 
 
 water. The difference between the practice 
 of the apostles and the Baptist Churches is 
 this : the former baptized with water, and the 
 latter baptize in water. To baptize by im- 
 mersion, you apply the candidate to the water, 
 and, consequently, baptize in water. It can- 
 not be said, after a person was baptized by im- 
 mersion, that he was baptized with water, but 
 was baptized in water ; but it would be correct 
 to say a person was baptized with water, where 
 the water was applied to him. Whenever the 
 Scriptures speak of the baptism of water, 
 whether as practiced by John, or the apostles, 
 it is said, " baptized ivith water." And, verily, 
 to baptize with water, the water must be ap- 
 plied to the subject; but to baptize by immer- 
 sion, the subject is applied to the water. 
 
 There is a rule of the Greek language, 
 which, in our mind, settles the mode of bap- 
 tism beyond a doubt, which is this : namely, 
 " The instrument and manner of an action 
 are put in the dative case : as, Apyupaat? ^oy^aw 
 [ao.%ov xai rtavta xpatr t <3u$, oracle to Philip : 
 fight with silver iveapons, and you will con- 
 quer the world." (See Valpy's Greek Gram- 
 mar, p. 192.) Throughout the New Testa- 
 
126 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 ment, in every place where it speaks of the 
 baptism of water and the Holy Ghost, and the 
 washing of persons and things with water, the 
 water and the Holy Ghost are always put in 
 the dative case; therefore, the preposition sv, 
 which is generally in connection, and is trans- 
 lated with, is a correct translation : the instru- 
 ment of the action of baptism is water, and 
 the manner is with; therefore, it was applied 
 to the subject. Should it be said a school 
 teacher corrected his scholars with a rod, all 
 would immediately understand him as having 
 done it by applying the rod to them, and not 
 the scholars to the rod. A limner painted a 
 picture with paint ; the paint was applied to 
 make the picture : a man cut down a tree with 
 an axe ; the axe was applied to the tree : John 
 baptized the people with water; he then, of 
 course, applied the water to them. 
 
 This rule of the Greek language should set- 
 tle the dispute about the mode of baptism in 
 every candid mind. We Pedo-Baptists have 
 been on the defensive long enough: it is high 
 time we should buckle on our armor, and 
 boldly step forth and attack this insidious 
 error that lurks around the walls and bulwarks 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 127 
 
 of our Zion, and rout him, and put him to 
 death with the sword of truth. 
 
 The first position taken by them is from the 
 meaning of the word used in this ordinance, 
 which is /3arti , t^w, derived from /Sart^w, its root. 
 They are words of but " one meaning," as 
 they say ; " and that is, to dip, plunge, or im- 
 merse; and that these words are never used 
 in the Scriptures, nor in classic Greek, except 
 in the sense of immersion, or in a secondary 
 sense, to color, or stain, from having been im- 
 mersed." The conclusion they draw is this : 
 " If the Savior and the apostles made use of, 
 and selected a word of but one meaning, in the 
 ordinance of baptism, and that is immersion, 
 then immersion is the only mode of baptism." 
 
 This position is either true or false. If it is 
 true, the argument is a strong one ; but, if 
 false, then they will be found deceiving and 
 misleading the public mind. As this is the 
 main pillar which supports their system, per- 
 mit us to approach it, and if we succeed in 
 bearing it away, their whole superstructure 
 must fall to the ground. They are exuberant in 
 their quotations from learned authors and Greek 
 lexicons. We will, also, introduce some : 
 
128 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Schrevelius, that great master of the Greek 
 tongue, gives four definitions : " Baptizo, mer- 
 go, abluo, lavo : to baptize, to immerse, to 
 wash, to sprinkle, wet, or moisten." 
 
 Schleusner (see his Lexicon on the N. T.) 
 defines baptizo, 1. " To immerse in water. 2. 
 To wash, sprinkle, or cleanse with water. 3. 
 To baptize. 4. To pour out largely." 
 
 Scapula (see his Lexicon) defines baptizo, 
 " to immerse, wash, sprinkle." 
 
 Hedericus (see his Lexicon) defines bap- 
 tizo, " to immerse, wash, sprinkle." 
 
 Parkhurst (see his Lexicon) defines bap- 
 tizo, " to immerse in, or wash with water, in 
 token of purification of sin." 
 
 Mnsworlh (English and Latin Dictionary) 
 defines it, " to wash any one in the sacred bap- 
 tismal font, or to sprinkle on him the conse- 
 crated water." 
 
 Buck (see his Dictionary) says, its "radi- 
 cal, proper, and primary meaning is, to tinge, 
 to dye, to wet, or the like, which primary de- 
 sign is effected by different modes of appli- 
 cation." 
 
 Cole (see his Lexicon) defines it, " to bap- 
 tize, to wash, to sprinkle" 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 129 
 
 Passor (see his Lexicon) defines it, " to 
 immerse, wash, sprinkle" 
 
 Suidas (see his Lexicon) defines it, to im- 
 merse, moisten, sprinkle. 
 
 Conler (see his Lexicon) defines it, by im- 
 mersion, washing, sprinkling, or wetting. 
 
 Stephanus (see his Lexicon) defines it, " to 
 immerse, wash, cleanse, or sprinkle" (mergo, 
 abluo, lavo.) 
 
 Leigh (see his Lexicon, i. e., Critica Sacra) 
 defines it, " a kind of washing, as by plung- 
 ing ; and yet it is more largely taken for any 
 kind of washing, where there is no dipping 
 at all." This is a very important witness, as 
 he was an immersionist. 
 
 Wahl (see his Lexicon) defines it, 1. "To 
 wash, to perform ablution, to cleanse. 2. To 
 immerse, to administer the rite of baptism." 
 This lexicographer gives immersion as its sec- 
 ondary meaning, and to wash as its primary. 
 
 Dr. George Hill, principal of St. Mary's 
 College, who was eminently a learned man, 
 says, "Both sprinkling and immersion are 
 implied in the word baptizo ; both were used 
 in the religious ceremonies of the Jews, and 
 
 both may be considered as significant of the 
 9 
 
130 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 purposes of baptism." (Hill's Divinity, p. 
 659.) 
 
 John Wesley says, " The matter of this sa- 
 crament is water, which, as it has a natural power 
 of cleansing, is the more fit for this symbolical 
 use. Baptism is performed by washing, dip- 
 ping, or sprinkling the person in the name of 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, who is here- 
 by devoted to the ever-blessed Trinity. I say, 
 by ivashing, sprinkling, or dipping; be- 
 cause it is not determined in Scripture in which 
 of these ways it shall be done, neither by any 
 express precept, nor by any such example as 
 clearly prove it, neither by the force or mean- 
 ing of the word baptism." 
 
 Calvin says, "Whether the person baptized 
 be wholly immersed, and whether thrice or not, 
 or whether water be only poured, or sprinkled 
 upon him, is of no importance." 
 
 Dr. Doddridge, who had strong partialities 
 for immersion, says, " Baptizo may signify any 
 method of washing, and is sometimes used in 
 Scripture, for washing things which were not 
 dipped in water, but on which it was poured, 
 as, Luke, xi, 38 ; Mark, vii, 4." 
 
 Johnson says, "Baptize, to Christen." 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 131 
 
 Walker (see his Dictionary) says, " Baptize, 
 to administer the sacrament of baptism, sprin- 
 kle, plunge." 
 
 Webster (see his Dictionary) says, "Baptism, 
 the application of water to a person, as a sacra- 
 ment or religious ceremony." 
 
 Grove (see his Greek Lexicon) defines /3a*:- 
 i<u, "to dip, plunge, immerse, to wash, to wet, 
 moisten, sprinkle; to steep, to imbue, to dye, 
 to stain, color." This is the root of j3artti£u, 
 the word used in the ordinance of baptism, 
 which, according to Grove, means, " to dip, im- 
 merse, immerge, plunge; to wash, cleanse, 
 purify; to baptize, to depress, humble, over- 
 throw." 
 
 Dr. Adam Clarke says, " Were the people 
 dipped, or sprinkled? for it is certain, bapto 
 and baptizo mean both." (See Com. on 
 Matt, iii, 6.) 
 
 Professor Stuart, after a full examination 
 of the meaning of the word baptizo, says, " I 
 do conceive it quite plain, that none of the 
 circumstantial evidences (in the Bible) prove 
 immersion to have been exclusively the mode 
 of Christian baptism, or even that of John. 
 Indeed I conceive this point so far made out, 
 
132 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 that I can hardly suppress the conviction, that 
 if any one maintains the contrary, it must be 
 either because he is unable rightly to estimate 
 the nature, or power of the Greek language ; 
 or because he is influenced in some measure 
 by party feelings ; or else, because he has 
 looked at the subject in only a partial man- 
 ner." (See Bib. Rep., p. 337.) 
 
 We have seen that lexicographers do not 
 give to baptizo, immersion, as its exclusive 
 meaning, we will now see whether its classic 
 use is exclusively immersion. So far as the 
 mode is concerned, it is admitted that bapto 
 and baptizo have the same meaning. We will 
 give a few cases from bapto. 
 
 Hippocrates says, " When it drops upon 
 the garments, (baptetai,) they are dyed." 
 How were the garments dyed ? By some col- 
 oring fluid dropping on them. 
 
 In Ariaii's expedition of Alexander the 
 Great, " Nearchus relates that the Indians (bap- 
 tontai, baptize) dye their beards." It will not be 
 contended they dyed their beards by immersion. 
 
 JElian, speaking of an old coxcomb who 
 endeavored to conceal his age by dying his 
 hair, says, " He endeavored to conceal the 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 133 
 
 hoariness of his hair by dying (baphe, bap- 
 tizing) it." 
 
 Homer, in his battle of Frogs and Mice, uses 
 the following language: "He breathless fell, 
 and the lake was tinged (ebapteto, baptized) 
 with blood." Surely the lake was not immersed 
 in the blood of one of those little animals ! 
 
 Aristophanes says, « Magnes, an old comic 
 actor of Athens, used the Lydian music, shaved 
 his face, and smeared (baptomenos, baptized) 
 it over with tawny washes." 
 
 Aristotle speaks of a substance which, "if it 
 is pressed, dyes (bapiei, baptizes) and colors 
 the hand." 
 
 We will now show the classic use of baptize 
 Plutarch, relating the stratagem of a Roman 
 general, a little before he died of his wounds, 
 says, " He set up a trophy, on which, having 
 baptized (baptisas) his hand in blood, he wrote 
 this inscription, &c." Here, doubtless, some 
 blood was put on his finger, or his finger was 
 put in blood, and he wrote, &c; and this is 
 called baptizing his hand, when a very small 
 part of his hand had blood on it. 
 
 Hippocrates directs, concerning a blister 
 plaster, if it should be too painful, " to baptize," 
 
134 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 or moisten it with breast milk, or Egyptian 
 ointment." Here it means to sprinkle a little 
 breast milk on it ; for since the days of old 
 mother Eve, it has never been known that a 
 blister plaster has been immersed in breast 
 milk. Hippocrates was a Greek physician. 
 Dr. Gale, a learned immersionist, furnishes us 
 with the following : 
 
 Aristotle says, "The Phoenicians, who in- 
 habit Cadiz, relate, that sailing beyond Her- 
 cules' Pillars, in four days, with the wind at 
 east, they came to a land inhabited, whose 
 coast was full of sea- weed, and is not over- 
 flowed (baptizesthai, baptized) at ebb; but 
 when the tide comes in, it is wholly covered." 
 Here the land could not have been put in the 
 water, but as the water flowed over it, the coast 
 was baptized. Here baptizo does not express 
 the action for which immersionists contend. 
 With them it always means to immerse, or put 
 in water. 
 
 We will now prove by Mr. Carson, a learn- 
 ed and zealous immersionist, that the views of 
 the immersionists are not sustained by lexi- 
 cographers and commentators. Mr. Carson's 
 language is as follows : " My position is, that 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 135 
 
 IT (baptizo) ALWAYS SIGNIFIES TO DIP ; NEVER 
 EXPRESSING ANY THING BUT MODE. Now, as 
 
 / have all the lexicographers and commenta- 
 tors against me, in this opinion, it will be 
 necessary to say a word or two with respect 
 to the authority of the lexicons." (P. 79.) 
 Here, Mr. Carson clearly admits, that all 
 lexicographers and commentators are against 
 the main position of the immersionists, which 
 is this, the word baptize means always to dip. 
 Origen, who nourished in the third century, 
 and was himself a Greek, and the Greek lan- 
 guage was his mother tongue, who is of greater 
 authority than many lexicons, uses the follow- 
 ing language : " How came you to think that 
 Elias, when he should come, would baptize, 
 who did not, in Ahab's time, baptize the wood 
 upon the altar, which was to be washed before 
 it was burnt, by the Lord's appearing in fire ? 
 But he ordered the priests to do that; not once 
 only, but says, Do it the second time; and they 
 did it the second time : and, Do it the third 
 time ; and they did it the third time. He, 
 therefore, that did not himself baptize then, but 
 assigned that work to others, how was he likely 
 to baptize, when he, according to Malachi's 
 
136 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 prophecy, should come." (Wall's Hist, of Inf. 
 Bap., vol. ii., p. 332.) 
 
 By turning to 1 Kings, xviii, 33, we can see 
 how that baptism was performed : " And he 
 put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in 
 pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, 
 Fill four barrels with water and pour it on the 
 burnt sacrifice, and on the wood." Origen 
 says the wood upon the altar was baptized. 
 How? By pouring several barrels of water 
 upon it. If the altar could be baptized by pour- 
 ing water upon it, so could a person. 
 
 We have quoted from some of the most em- 
 inent lexicographers the world ever produced, 
 and not one of them gives immersion as the only 
 meaning of baptizo. But some of them give 
 immersion as its secondary meaning — Buck, 
 Cole, Wahl, Walker, and others. But after 
 all, the Bible is the best lexicon — those di- 
 vinely inspired men who wrote it, the best of 
 lexicographers, for they were taught by the 
 Holy Spirit all things. An appeal to it, which 
 is the highest authority, must settle this mooted 
 question in the minds of all who are truly in- 
 quiring after truth. The opinion of authors, 
 however distinguished and learned, cannot be 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 137 
 
 brought to overthrow the Scriptures given 
 by divine inspiration. The sense in which the 
 Scriptures use the word baptize will be the 
 subject of the next chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The sense in which the Scriptures use the word baptize. 
 But to the Scriptures : by this standard we 
 are willing to stand, or fall. The first place 
 we will adduce is the following: "And I saw 
 heaven opened, and behold, a white horse ; 
 and he that sat upon him was called Faithful 
 and True, and in righteousness he doth judge 
 and make war. His eyes were as a flame of 
 fire, and on his head were many crowns ; and 
 he had a name written, that no man knew, but 
 he himself. And he was clothed with a ves- 
 ture dipped in blood : fafiapfibiov ai'pn, bap- 
 tized with blood,) and his name is called The 
 Word of God. And the armies which were 
 in heaven followed him upon white horses, 
 clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And 
 out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that 
 with it he should smite the nations: and he 
 shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he 
 
138 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and 
 wrath of almighty God," Rev. xix, 11-15. 
 It will be remembered the Greek text is the 
 standard of appeal ; for the apostles wrote in 
 Greek. The Savior is here spoken of. He 
 is represented as coming with the armies of 
 heaven ; out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp 
 sword, with which he should smite the nations. 
 The figure is a military one. The Savior is 
 represented as a military chieftain, coming from 
 the conquest of his enemies, with his garments 
 stained with blood. How does a successful 
 warrior in the field of battle get blood on his 
 garments ? All must admit his garments are 
 sprinkled with blood. The case before us is 
 a clear one of aspersion. The blood flying 
 out from the wounds made by the " sharp 
 sword" in " smiting the nations," is called by 
 John, writing under the plenary inspiration of 
 the Holy Spirit, a baptism. The prophet Isai- 
 ah throws light on this subject, and explains 
 how this baptism was performed : " Who is 
 this that cometh from Edom, with dyed gar- 
 ments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in 
 his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his 
 strength ? I that speak in righteousness, 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 139 
 
 mighty to save. Wherefore art thou red in 
 thine apparel, and thy garments like him that 
 treadeth in the wine-fat ? I have trodden the 
 wine-press alone ; and of the people there was 
 none with me : for I will tread them in mine 
 anger, and trample them in my fury, and their 
 blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, 
 and I will stain all my raiment," Isa. lxiii, 1-3. 
 What the revelator calls " his vesture baptized 
 with blood," the prophet calls "sprinkled;" 
 therefore, the Scriptures in the above places 
 make baptizing and sprinkling to be synon- 
 ymous. 
 
 Origen, in quoting this passage, (Rev. xix, 
 13,) substitutes the word rantizo (sprinkle) 
 for bapto, though, in other respects, he quotes 
 it verbatim. The old Peshito Syraic version 
 translates it thus : (Latin translation by Schaaf 
 and Leusden :) aspersa (sprinkle). The Vulgate 
 by Jerome, renders it aspersa (sprinkle). The 
 Ethiopic renders it sprinkle. The French ren- 
 ders it teinte (stained). The German translation 
 by Luther, is the same, " Uttb mar attaetbatt nut 
 cittern Meibc, ba$ mit SSlut befprettget mar." 
 — He was clothed with a garment that was 
 besprinkled with blood. 
 
140 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Here are three ancient translations : the Sy- 
 riac, the Vulgate, and Ethiopic, also the French 
 and German, together with Origen, a native 
 Greek, giving sprinkle as the meaning of be- 
 bammanon, a derivative of bapto. 
 
 We will now call your attention to Dan. iv, 
 33: "The same hour was the thing fulfilled 
 upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven 
 from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his 
 body was (efia$q, baptized) wet with the dew 
 of heaven, till his hairs were grown like 
 eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' 
 claws." The case of this monarch was this : 
 for his sins the Lord deprived him of his 
 senses, and he was driven from the society of 
 men, and did eat grass as the ox, and at night 
 he slept on the cold ground, as the beast of the 
 forest, having no other covering than a clouded 
 canopy, or a starry-decked heaven ; and the 
 dew gently falling upon him during the night, 
 is called a baptism. The falling of dew is the 
 most gentle form of sprinkling, yet it is called 
 a baptism! Baptized with the dew from 
 heaven. This is a clear case of sprinkling: 
 immersion is perfectly out of the question. 
 But the dew gently falling upon him, by the 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 141 
 
 prophet is called a baptism. Now, what be- 
 comes of the position of the Baptist, that bapto 
 and baptizo always mean immersion, and 
 nothing else ? 
 
 Again: "As for the living bird, he shall take 
 it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the 
 hyssop, and shall (bapsei apo, baptize from) 
 dip them, and the living bird, in the blood of 
 the bird that was killed over the running water. 
 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be 
 cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and 
 shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the 
 living bird loose into the open field," Lev. xiv, 
 6, 7. Thus the Septuagint translates this pas- 
 sage. Was the living bird, cedar-wood, scar- 
 let, and hyssop, all immersed in the blood of 
 one bird ? 
 
 Again, in Heb. ix, 10: "Which stood only 
 in meats and drinks, and divers washings, 
 (Sta^opot? j3a7tT , K?^oK, divers, various, or differ- 
 ent baptisms,) and carnal ordinances, im- 
 posed on them until the time of reformation." 
 "Which stood :" the Jewish ritual, or mode of 
 purification. The different baptisms are dis- 
 tinguished from the "carnal ordinances:" they 
 had reference to the purification of the flesh, 
 
142 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 which are fully explained in Leviticus, fifteenth 
 chapter. The apostle goes on, in the thir- 
 teenth and fourteenth verses, and explains 
 some of those baptisms referred to: "For, if 
 the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of 
 an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth, 
 to the purifying of the flesh, how much more 
 shall the blood of Christ, who, through the 
 Eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to 
 God, purge your conscience from dead works, 
 to serve the living God." The apostle re- 
 fers to Num. xix, 9, 13: "And a man that 
 is clean, shall gather up the ashes of the 
 heifer, and lay them up without the camp, in a 
 clean place, and it shall be kept for the congre- 
 gation of the children of Israel, for a water of 
 separation, it is purification for sin. * * * Who- 
 soever toucheth the dead body of any man that 
 is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the 
 tabernacle of the Lord ; and that soul shall be 
 cut off from Israel ; because the water of sepa- 
 ration was not sprinkled upon him." Again, 
 in Heb. ix, 19th to 21st verse, inclusive: 
 " For when Moses had spoken every precept 
 to all the people, according to the law, he took 
 the blood of calves and goats, with water and 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 143 
 
 scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both 
 the book and all the people, saying, This is the 
 blood of the testament which God hath enjoin- 
 ed unto you. Moreover, he sprinkled like- 
 wise with blood both the tabernacle and all the 
 vessels of the ministry." Moses, as he bap- 
 tized, or sprinkled the people, used the following 
 sacramental words : namely, " This is the blood 
 of the testament which God hath enjoined unto 
 you." Paul says, " Which was a figure for the 
 time then present." Again : " For the law hav- 
 ing a shadow of good things to come, and not 
 the very image of the things." How beauti- 
 fully this represents Christian baptism, which 
 is to be performed using the following sacra- 
 mental words: "I baptize thee in the name of 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." The Jew- 
 ish dispensation was a "figure" and a " shad- 
 ow of good things to come." 
 
 In the whole administration of the Jewish 
 economy, whenever it required an administra- 
 tor and a subject, the baptism, or rite of purifi- 
 cation was always and invariably done by 
 sprinkling. " Wherefore," says Paul, " the law 
 was our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ, 
 that we might be justified by faith." And as 
 
144 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 sprinkling was invariably practiced in that dis- 
 pensation, sprinkling must now be the mode of 
 baptism. Paul, when he used the words " di- 
 vers ivashings, or baptisms" must have con- 
 sidered the appropriate and correct translation 
 of /SartT-Kj^oj, when used in a theological, or 
 sacramental sense, to be sprinkling. 
 
 That dispensation, as a schoolmaster, was 
 to lead us to Christ. The blood of the sacri- 
 fices was only available, as it pointed to, or was 
 a type of the blood of Christ. Paul says, 
 "Without shedding of blood, is no remission." 
 The blood of Christ is to be applied to the soul, 
 or spiritual man by the Holy Ghost. The 
 water of baptism is to be applied to the body, 
 or the material man, which is a representation 
 of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or the puri- 
 fication of the heart. 
 
 As soul and body are both the subjects of the 
 saving power of the Gospel, it is intended there 
 should be something appropriate in religion for 
 both. The soul is to be baptized with the 
 blood of Christ, by the Holy Ghost; the body 
 is to be baptized with water, by a proper ad- 
 ministrator. This is beautifully expressed by 
 Paul, when he savs, " Having our hearts 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 145 
 
 sprinkled (baptized) from an evil conscience, 
 and our bodies washed (baptized) with pure 
 water." 
 
 The word washed is from %ovo, which does 
 not mean immersion ; but to wash by applying 
 the water to the body. If the above place have 
 reference to baptism, where it says, "and 
 our bodies washed with pure water," in which 
 all immersionists agree, then it decides the 
 whole controversy on the mode of baptism in 
 favor of sprinkling. How beautifully this fulfills 
 the prophecy of Ezek. xxxvi, 25, 26: "Then 
 will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye 
 shall be clean, from all your filthiness and from 
 all your idols, will I cleanse you. Anew heart 
 also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put 
 within you." This being the case, how forci- 
 bly it strikes the mind, that sprinkling was in- 
 tended by the great Head of the Church to 
 be practiced as the correct mode of baptism ! 
 Ninth verse : " Which was a figure (rtapajSo^, 
 type, or emblem) for the time then present." 
 If the tabernacle and its services, embracing the 
 rites and ceremonies of that dispensation, were 
 only typical, or emblematical of the Gospel 
 dispensation, it is certain, then, that immer- 
 10 
 
146 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 sion cannot be the mode of baptism the Scrip- 
 tures intended to teach. 
 
 Again: "Then came together unto him the 
 Pharisees, and certain of the Scribes, which 
 came from Jerusalem. And when they saw 
 some of his disciples eat bread with defiled 
 (that is to say, with unwashen) hands, they 
 found fault. For the Pharisees and all the 
 Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, 
 holding the tradition of the elders. And when 
 they come from the market, except they wash, 
 (/3a7tT , Kjw»"i'cu, baptize) they eat not. And many 
 other things there be which they have received 
 to hold, as the washing (/3art*«)rjioi>f, baptisms) 
 of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and tables," 
 Mark vii, 1-4. It was a custom among the 
 Jews to wash their hands before eating ; and 
 especially when they came from the market. So 
 particular were they, except they washed (bap- 
 tized) they ate not. Here is a clear case, where 
 the water is only applied to a part of the body, 
 and it is called a baptism. The Savior was in- 
 vited to dine with a Pharisee, and without wash- 
 ing his hands, " he went in and sat down to 
 meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he mar- 
 veled, that he had not first washed (fj3a7ttt,c^r n 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 14? 
 
 baptized) himself before dinner," Luke xi, 38. 
 Did the Pharisee marvel because he had not 
 first immersed himself? Verily, no ! He mar- 
 veled that he had not first washed his hands, 
 according to the Jewish tradition. 
 
 "Of tables, beds, couches, xav xUvu>v: It 
 is likely it means no more than the forms, 
 or seats, on which they sat to eat. A bed 
 or couch was defiled if any unclean person 
 sat, or leaned on it — a man with an issue — 
 a leper — a woman with child, &c. As the 
 word paTttioixovs, baptisms, is applied to all of 
 them, and as it is contended that this word 
 and the verb whence it is derived, signify dip- 
 ping, or immersion alone, its use in the above 
 case refutes that opinion, and shows that it 
 was used not only to express dipping, or im- 
 mersion, but also sprinkling and washing." 
 (Clarke's Com.) 
 
 T7ie Baptism of the Holy Ghost. John 
 says, "I indeed baptize you with water, * * * 
 but he that cometh after me * * * shall bap- 
 tize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire," 
 Matt, iii, 11. The Savior says, "For John 
 truly baptized with water, but ye shall baptize 
 
148 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence," 
 Acts i, 5. It will be observed, that, in the 
 above quotations, water baptism and the bap- 
 tism of the Holy Ghost are connected. 
 When the action of two different things is 
 expressed by one word, if we can find out the 
 action, or modus operandi of one, this, in the 
 absence of positive testimony, must be the best 
 evidence that can be adduced to ascertain the 
 action of the other. We have the baptism of 
 water and that of the Holy Ghost set forth here 
 by one word, namely, "baptize." If we can 
 ascertain the manner of performing the baptism 
 of the Holy Ghost, we then clearly demonstrate 
 the mode of water baptism — at least John's. 
 This prophecy was fulfilled on the day of Pen- 
 tecost. Acts ii : "And when the day of Pente- 
 cost was fully come, they were all with one ac- 
 cord in one place. And suddenly there came a 
 sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty 
 wind, and it (the sound) filled all the house 
 where they were sitting. And there appeared 
 unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and 
 it sat upon each of them. And they were all 
 filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 149 
 
 with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them 
 utterance. Peter standing up with the eleven, 
 and said, But this is that which was spoken 
 by the prophet Joel, (ii, 28, 32;) And it shall 
 come to pass in the last days (saith God) 
 I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh : 
 * * * And on my servants and hand- 
 maidens, I will pour out, in those days of 
 my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." Here 
 we see the baptism of the Holy Ghost was 
 clearly performed by pouring. And to put 
 it beyond a doubt, Peter, rehearsing the mat- 
 ter, says, "He hath shed forth this which 
 ye now see and hear." Again: speaking 
 of the transaction which took place at the 
 house of Cornelius: "And, as I began to 
 speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us 
 at the beginning, (day of Pentecost.) Then 
 remembered I the words of the Lord, how 
 that he said, John, indeed, baptized with 
 water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
 Ghost." Query: How did the falling of the 
 Holy Ghost upon Cornelius and his friends, 
 remind Peter of the baptism of John, if John 
 baptized by immersion? Just as a few drops 
 of rain falling upon one's head, would remind 
 
150 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 him of having fallen into a river, or a millpond, 
 sometime of his life ! 
 
 The baptism of the Holy Spirit had the ap- 
 pearance of cloven tongues of fire, which sat 
 upon them. This was the visible sign, or em- 
 blem of the Holy Ghost. It was not a large 
 flame of fire, that they might have-been plunged 
 or immersed in it ; but it sat upon them, just as 
 we pour water upon a person to baptize him. 
 It was in the form of a tongue, to represent that 
 the gift of tongues was connected with the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 We have four forms of expression, showing 
 the mode of baptism of the Spirit: namely, 
 "pour out" "fell on them," " shed forth " 
 and " come upon." This fixes the mode of 
 the baptism of the Holy Ghost beyond a doubt. 
 
 This is the highest baptism, and the only 
 real baptism. For instance, Paul says, "For 
 he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; nei- 
 ther is that circumcision which is outward in 
 the flesh : but he is a Jew which is one in- 
 wardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in 
 the spirit, and not in the letter." Circumcis- 
 ion in the flesh was not the real circumcision; 
 but was only to personify, or represent it. So 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 151 
 
 water baptism is not the real baptism, but is to 
 represent it. St. Paul says, " One Lord, one 
 faith, one baptism," which is that of the Spirit. 
 
 Then, from the foregoing premises, the bap- 
 tism of the Holy Ghost is clearly defined to be 
 a pouring; and if water baptism is an inferior 
 one, and is only to represent it in its primary 
 design, it is evident it should be after the same 
 manner. 
 
 If the baptism of the Holy Ghost is the real 
 baptism, and water baptism is only a figure to 
 represent the reality, then the figure, to be a 
 good one, should resemble the thing represent- 
 ed as nearly as possible; for instance, if we 
 would make the figure of a man, we must make 
 it as nearly in the form of a man as possible, 
 and not in the form of an ox, or a horse. So 
 to make water baptism a good figure to repre- 
 sent the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it must be 
 by pouring out, falling on, shedding forth, or 
 coming upon, the candidate ; and this is any 
 thing but immersion. 
 
 Our Baptist brethren, even in the above plain 
 case of pouring, endeavor to make out immer- 
 sion. "And suddenly there came a sound 
 from heaven as a rushing mighty wind, and 
 
152 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 it filled all the house where they were sit- 
 ting." They say, " If the house were filled 
 where they were sitting, they must have been 
 immersed." What filled the house 1 Why, 
 the sound. The pronoun "'it" has for its 
 antecedent "sound." Then the sound filled 
 the house, and if they were immersed, of course 
 it was in the sound. But the Savior says, 
 " Not many days hence, ye shall be baptized 
 with the Holy Ghost," not in sound} 
 
 In a public debate which the writer had with 
 a distinguished immersionist, he tried to make 
 out immersion in the above case in a different 
 manner. He assumed, 1. They were in the 
 temple, and quoted Haggai ii, 7: "And I 
 will shake all nations, and the desire of all 
 nations shall come : and I will fill this house 
 with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." He 
 then assumed, 2. The "glory" with which 
 the second temple was to be filled, was the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost, on the day of Pen- 
 tecost. 
 
 Doubtless, the place where they were all 
 with one accord, was an upper room, where 
 the disciples abode, when they all " continued 
 with one accord in prayer and supplication, 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 153 
 
 with the women, and Mary, the mother of 
 Jesus, and his brethren. And in those days, 
 Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples," 
 &c, Acts i, 13, 14. This could not be in the 
 temple, for every part of it was consecrated to 
 religious purposes; but it was an "upper room," 
 where they " abode," cooked, ate, and slept. 
 
 In reference to the second position, it is 
 such a wide stretch of imagination, that it 
 scarcely requires a serious refutation ; but we 
 will only notice what the prophet says, " The 
 glory of this latter house shall be greater than 
 the former." If the glory spoken of were the 
 same as the baptism of the Holy Ghost, then 
 the Holy Ghost was, or is to be, greater at one 
 time than what he was at another ! 
 
 Again : " He that washeth himself (/3a**t£- 
 ofisvos, is baptized) after the touching of a dead 
 body, if he touch it again, what availeth his 
 washing," Ecc. (Apoc.) xxxiv, 25. By refer- 
 ence to the nineteenth chapter of Numbers, we 
 can tell to a certainty how that baptism was 
 performed : " Whosoever toucheth the dead 
 body of any man that is dead, and purifieth 
 not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the 
 Lord ; and that soul shall be cut off from Is- 
 
154 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 rael : because the water of separation was not 
 sprinkled upon him." 
 
 Dr. Thomas Scott, the commentator, admit- 
 ted by all to be a learned man, quotes Leigh- 
 ton as saying, " It (baptizo) is taken more 
 largely for any kind of washing, rinsing, or 
 cleansing, even where there is no dipping at 
 all," then remarks, " The word was adopted 
 from the Greek authors, and a sense put upon 
 it by the inspired writers, according to the 
 style of Scripture, to signify the use of water 
 in the sacrament of baptism, and in many 
 things of a spiritual nature, which stood re- 
 lated to it. Some, indeed, contend zealously 
 that baptism always signifies immersion; but 
 the use of the words baptize and baptism in 
 the New Testament, cannot accord with this 
 exclusive interpretation." 
 
 Dr. Dwight, who is admitted to have been 
 one of the most learned men in the United 
 States, says, "I have examined almost one 
 hundred instances in which the word baptizo 
 and its derivatives are used in the New Testa- 
 ment, and four in the Septuagint; and these, 
 so far as I have observed, being all the in- 
 stances contained in both. By this examin- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 155 
 
 ation, it is, to my apprehension, evident that 
 the following- things are true : that the primary- 
 meaning of these terms is cleansing ; the effect 
 not the mode of washing: that the mode is 
 usually referred to incidentally, whenever these 
 words are mentioned, and that this is always 
 the case wherever the ordinance of baptism is 
 mentioned, and a reference made, at the same 
 time, to the mode of administration : that these 
 words, although often capable of denoting any 
 mode of washing, whether by affusion, sprink- 
 ling, or immersion, (since cleansing was famil- 
 iarly accomplished by the Jews in all these 
 ways,) yet, in many instances, cannot, without 
 obvious impropriety, be made to signify im- 
 mersion, and in others cannot signify it at 
 all." (Theology, vol. v, p. 331.) 
 
 We now have completely demolished the 
 main position taken by the Baptists, on which 
 they principally rest their cause : namely, 
 " that bapto and baptizo, with their deriva- 
 tives, always mean immersion." 
 
 We now affirm, that the word " baptize" 
 when used in a sacramental, or theological 
 sense, never means immersion, but pouring 
 and sprinkling. 
 
156 TREATISE ON BAFTISM. 
 
 It is important for a correct understanding 
 of the Scriptures, and especially in reference 
 to the controversy on baptism, to ascertain 
 whether words are used in their classic, or 
 theological sense : that is, not how the hea- 
 then Greek writers used them, but in what 
 sense did the Savior and his apostles employ 
 them. In no place in the Scriptures, by any 
 fair construction of the passage, is the word 
 baptize used in the sense of immersing the 
 body in water, but, as has already been shown, 
 it is used to denote pouring and sprinkling. 
 
 We will now examine this position. Man 
 has an immortal soul, an undying principle, 
 which is called tyzq, breath. Well, if we are 
 to interpret the Scriptures after the manner of 
 the Baptist, which is to use words only in their 
 classic sense, we may then say, man has noth- 
 ing more than his breath! 
 
 Hear what the great Professor Stuart says : 
 " New Testament usage of the word, in cases 
 not relevant to this rite, clearly does not entitle 
 you (immersionists) to such a conclusion with 
 any confidence. If you say, « the classical 
 usage of the word abundantly justifies the con- 
 struction I put upon it,' my reply is, that clas- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 157 
 
 sical usage can never be very certain in respect 
 to the meaning of a word in the New Testa- 
 ment. Who does not know that a multitude 
 of Greek words here receive their coloring and 
 particular meaning from the Hebrew, and not 
 from the Greek classics ? Does Theos, (God,) 
 ouranos, (heaven,) sarx, (flesh,) pistis, (faith,) 
 dikaiosune, (righteousness,) and other words, 
 almost without number, exhibit meanings 
 which conform to the Greek classics, or which, 
 in general, can be illustrated by them ? Not at 
 all. Then, how can you be over-confident in 
 the application of the classical meaning of 
 baptizo, where the word is employed in rela- 
 tion to a rite that is purely Christian ? Such 
 a confidence is indeed common, but it is not 
 the more rational, nor the more becoming, 
 on that account" 
 
 The word used in the New Testament for 
 spirit, or ghost is rivsvpa, which is derived from 
 rtvsw, to blow. Its classic use is wind, gale, 
 blast, air, vapor. Should a classical meaning 
 be contended for, then the phrase, "yielded up 
 the ghost," would be, yielded up the wind; 
 "blessed are the poor in spirit," blessed are 
 the poor in wind ; "the spirit indeed is will- 
 
158 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 ing," the wind indeed is willing; "neither 
 angel nor spirit," neither angel nor wind; 
 " to the spirits of just men made perfect," to 
 the ivinds of just men made perfect ; "he cast 
 out the spirits," he cast out the winds. 
 
 Again : we believe in the resurrection of the 
 dead. Paul, when at Athens, " preached unto 
 them Jesus and the resurrection," [tr t v cu-acy- 
 taaw, standing up.) Here, then, according to 
 our Baptist brethren, Paul did not preach the 
 resurrection of the dead, but only a standing 
 up of the people. This would suit the Sad- 
 ducees. This shows how important it is to as- 
 certain whether a word is used in a classic, or 
 a theological sense. It is readily admitted 
 some words retain, in theology, their classic 
 meaning, but this could not be the case with 
 all words ; for, of many of the doctrines of 
 the Gospel, and especially the resurrection of 
 the dead, the heathens had no idea, and could 
 not have used a word to express it. A case in 
 point: Paul says, "Is not to eat the Lord's 
 supper," (Surtvov, a feast.) Yet we all think 
 we celebrate the Lord's supper in a correct 
 manner by taking a little crum of bread and a 
 sip of wine. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 159 
 
 The mode of interpretation adopted by our 
 opponents would destroy the doctrine of the 
 immortality of the soul, the resurrection of 
 the dead, and, to cap the climax, would have 
 us to partake of a full meal, or feast, in order 
 to celebrate the Lord's supper. 
 
 Dr. Owen, one of the greatest and most 
 learned men, says, "Baptizo signifies to 
 wash, as instances out of all authors may be 
 given." Again: " No one place can be given 
 in the Scriptures wherein baptizo doth neces- 
 sarily signify either to dip, or plunge." Again : 
 "In this sense, as it expresseth baptism, it de- 
 notes to wash only, and not to dip at all ; for 
 so it is expounded, Tit. iii, 5," &c. Again : 
 " AVherefore, in this sense, as the word is ap- 
 plied unto the ordinance, the sense of dipping 
 is utterly excluded." (Owen's Works, vol. 
 xxi, p. 557.) 
 
 Our opponents further say, in their zeal 
 and determination to make out immersion, 
 " Though the Greek language is exuberant, and 
 abounds with the richness of its expression, 
 yet there is not another word in the whole lan- 
 guage to convey the idea of immersion but 
 bapto and baptizo, and the Savior thus selected 
 
160 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 the only word in the language that means im- 
 mersion; therefore, the mode of baptism must 
 be by immersion." This is not true. There 
 are several words in the Greek which convey 
 the idea of dipping, immersing, and plung- 
 ing: namely, xatcxrlovtv^^, xai'ajSartT'u, sfi^a7i- 
 tfw, i[Afiart-ti£ia, Svvu), rtapaSvco, evartoxKvco, dvy- 
 
 XtfhVTHUi. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 John's baptism. 
 
 John baptized in Jordan. "If so," say 
 our opponents, " he must have immersed the 
 people." This would be a good conclusion, 
 if he could not have baptized at a river in any 
 other manner. The Scripture says, he bap- 
 tized " in the wilderness," in " Bethabara, be- 
 yond Jordan," "in Jordan," and "at Enon." 
 John was a minister of the wilderness, person- 
 ified by the prophet Isaiah : " The voice of 
 one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the 
 way of the Lord," Isa. xl, 3. 
 
 Three of those places named, doubtless, 
 have reference to the same district of country, 
 where John exercised his office and ministry, 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 161 
 
 which was the "wilderness of Judea," which 
 extended as far as the river Jordan, from 
 whence he obtained his supplies of water. He 
 did not immerse the people in Jordan, for, 
 " These things were done in Bethabara, be- 
 yond Jordan, where John was baptizing - ," 
 John i, 28. Again: "But he escaped out of 
 their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan 
 into the place where John at first baptized, and 
 there abode, and many resorted unto him," 
 John x, 40. Ask an immersionist where John 
 first baptized? His answer will be, "in Jor- 
 dan" Well, what do you mean by the phrase 
 "in Jordan?" In the water, and under its 
 surface. Well, did Christ go there and take 
 up his abode ! 
 
 " Bethabara, beyond Jordan." Dr. Clarke 
 thinks it should be Bethany, which was on the 
 other side of Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben. 
 Its meaning is, "house of passage ," and is 
 thought to be at the place where the Israelites 
 passed the river Jordan under Joshua. If the 
 correct reading is "Bethabara," house of pass- 
 age, instead of Bethany, which was beyond 
 Jordan, in the tribe of Reuben, then John's 
 baptism was a house baptism: this, then, 
 11 
 
162 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 strongly implies the idea that he sprinkled the 
 people, or baptized them with water. 
 
 The baptism of John and that of Christ, 
 were viewed by the people as a system of puri- 
 fication, after the manner of the Jews : " Then 
 there arose a question between some of John's 
 disciples and the Jews, about purifying. And 
 they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, 
 he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom 
 thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, 
 and all men come to him," John iii, 25, 26. 
 There was a controversy between some of 
 John's followers and the Jews about the bap- 
 tism of John and that of Christ. The Jews told 
 John's disciples, " Behold the same (Christ) 
 baptizeth, and all men come to him." And 
 this was a question about, purifying. Well, 
 what was the manner of the Jewish mode of 
 purification? Sprinkling ; therefore, the bap- 
 tism of John and of Christ was by sprinkling, 
 or the Jews would not have considered it a 
 mode of purification. 
 
 It is very probable John occasionally exer- 
 cised his ministry at the brink of the water of 
 Jordan, when the weather was pleasant; and 
 this being the case, it would be proper to say, 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 163 
 
 he baptized " in Jordan:" for instance, Joshua 
 iii, 8, "And thou shalt command the priests 
 that bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 
 when ye are come to the brink of the water 
 of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan." If 
 it were proper to say the priests were stand- 
 ing still in Jordan, though only at the brink 
 of the water, it would be correct to say, John 
 baptized " in Jordan," though he was only at 
 the edge of the water. There might have 
 been a strip of country on either side of Jor- 
 dan, or its valley, called Jordan, and thus John 
 might have baptized " in Jordan," or the valley, 
 or country of Jordan : just as we speak of go- 
 ing out into the Maumee ; but we do not mean 
 into the water, but only into the Maumee coun- 
 try, or valley ; therefore, John was called, 
 " The voice of one crying in the wilderness." 
 We suppose John did not baptize by immer- 
 sion, from the consideration of the literal and 
 physical impossibility. John could not have 
 immersed the millions who came to his bap- 
 tism ! The number he baptized would be 
 difficult to tell precisely, but we think we can 
 come sufficiently near to show it would be 
 impossible for him to immerse them. There, 
 
164 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 doubtless, were five millions of inhabitants in 
 Judea at that time. In the days of David 
 there were one million three hundred thousand 
 " valiant men that drew the sword," besides 
 the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. If we reckon 
 only five for every warrior — this would embrace 
 those under twenty years old, with the aged 
 and infirm, with v/omen and children — we 
 would have six millions and a half. Josephus 
 gives us the following account of the popula- 
 tion of Palestine in A. D. 66, forty years after 
 the time John entered on his ministry, (see 
 Wars, b. II, chap, xiv, sec. 3 :) " Whilst Ces- 
 tius Gallus was president of the province of 
 Syria, nobody durst so much as send an em- 
 bassage to him against Floras ; but when he 
 was come to Jerusalem, upon the approach of 
 the feast of unleavened bread, the people came 
 about him, not fewer than three millions : these 
 besought him to commiserate the calamities of 
 their nation, and cried out upon Floras as the 
 bane of their nation." Josephus further says, 
 one million and one hundred thousand per- 
 ished in the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 
 70. At this time the Jews were greatly re- 
 duced in number by the wars they were 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 165 
 
 engaged in with the Romans, and among them- 
 selves ; so at the time of John there could not 
 have been less than five millions. 
 
 The next item that will engage our atten- 
 tion, will be the number baptized: "Then 
 went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, 
 and all the region round about Jordan, and 
 were baptized of him, in Jordan, confessing 
 their sins," Matt, iii, 5, 6. "And there went 
 out unto him, all the land of Judea, and they 
 of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of John," 
 Mark i, 5. " Now, when all the people were 
 baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being 
 baptized," Luke iii, 21. We will not contend 
 that every man, woman, and child were bap- 
 tized ; but from the above language, it must 
 mean a large majority of the whole: "Je- 
 rusalem" "all Judea" "all the land of 
 Judea" "all the regions round about Jor- 
 dan" "all the people." This would not be 
 correct, if a less number than a majority were 
 baptized. For instance, should it be said of 
 a Baptist clergyman, that he visited Wooster 
 and immersed all Wooster, and all Wayne 
 county, and all the regions round about Wayne 
 county, it would not be correct if a less 
 
166 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 number than a majority only were immersed. 
 Then John must have baptized at least three 
 millions. 
 
 The next inquiry will be, the time of 
 John's ministry. This we can ascertain 
 pretty clearly. We believe it lasted some- 
 thing near eight months. John was thirty 
 years old when he entered on his public min- 
 istry, which was the age required by the law, 
 for a priest to enter on the public functions 
 of his office. "From thirty years old and 
 upward, even until fifty years old, all that 
 enter into the host, to do the work in the 
 tabernacle of the congregation," Num. iv, 3. 
 " Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of 
 Tiberius Cassar, * * * the word of God 
 came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in 
 the wilderness," Luke iii, 1, 2. This was 
 A. D. 26, which would make John thirty 
 years old. " Now when all the people were 
 baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also 
 being baptized. * * * And Jesus himself 
 began to be about thirty years of age," Luke 
 iii, 21, 23. At the time of Christ's baptism, 
 John's ministry had lasted six months; for he 
 was that much older than the Savior. The 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 167 
 
 very next circumstance, as recorded by the 
 evangelists, after the baptism of Christ was, 
 Christ's forty days and nights temptation of the 
 devil in the wilderness. The next circum- 
 stance after the expiration of forty days, was 
 the imprisonment of John that ended his public 
 ministry. Put forty days to six months, and 
 we will have between seven and eight months. 
 "Was it possible that John could have immersed 
 three millions in eight months ! 
 
 Our opponents being pressed with this view 
 of the subject, try to lengthen out the time 
 of his ministry. Some contend for twelve 
 months — others for eighteen. 
 
 Admit, we grant for a moment all they con- 
 tend for, which is eighteen months, and we 
 will suppose John stepped into the water up to 
 his waist, the moment he entered on his public 
 ministry, and stood there day and night, win- 
 ter and summer, for twenty-four hours in each 
 day — allowing him no time to eat, drink, sleep, 
 or preach — and baptized one for every minute, 
 how many could he have baptized ? Only 
 seven hundred and eighty-eight thousand and 
 four hundred — a little over three-fourths of a 
 million. 
 
168 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 To suppose he baptized less than one mil- 
 lion, is not what our opponents contend for; 
 and indeed to do so, would be a perfect disre- 
 gard of the Scripture and facts in the case. So 
 we see, to put it down to the smallest possible 
 number, aud grant all they contend for as to 
 time, John could not have baptized by immer- 
 sion. 
 
 But admitting he baptized three millions, 
 and we believe he did, at least that number; 
 and we will suppose his ministry lasted only 
 eight months, which was about the correct 
 time ; and we will further suppose he stood in 
 the water up to his waist, and baptized for six 
 hours every clay — more he could not do with- 
 out a continued miracle to sustain him, and it 
 will be recollected, "John did no miracles" — 
 how many must he have baptized every 
 minute ? He must have baptized thirty-four 
 every minute ! This shows it could not have 
 been done by immersion. But he could have 
 baptized the people by sprinkling. " Moses 
 sprinkled all the people," Heb. ix, 19. (See 
 Exodus xxiv.) But what was their number? 
 " All those that were numbered of the camps 
 throughout their hosts, were six hundred thou- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 169 
 
 sand and three thousand and five hundred and 
 fifty," Num. ii, 32. (See Dr. Clarke's Com- 
 mentary on this chapter.) Suppose there were 
 five to each warrior, including young and old 
 men, women and children ; then we would 
 have above three millions. The Scriptures 
 represent, that Moses sprinkled all of them 
 forthwith. This was done with "scarlet wool 
 and hyssop;" and as John's baptism was a 
 Jewish purification, or something similar to it, 
 John must have sprinkled the people after the 
 manner of Moses. 
 
 Our immersion brethren say, " John bap- 
 tized at Enon, because there was 'much 
 water;' therefore, he immersed the people." 
 This is the last place where he exercised his 
 ministry. The first place was " beyond Jor- 
 dan," which, as we have already seen, em- 
 braced that district of country called the " wil- 
 derness of Judea," and extended as far as 
 Jordan, from whence he obtained his supplies 
 of water. This place was emphatically called 
 " beyond Jordan.'" The second and last place 
 was at Enon, near Salem. 
 
 " Much water" moMa vSa-ta, many waters. 
 This may refer to small as well as large 
 
170 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 streams. " The Baptists, however, have mag- 
 nified Enon, which signifies the fountain of 
 On, into a place of ' many and great waters.' 
 Unfortunately, however, no such powerful 
 fountain, sending out many streams of water 
 fit for plunging multitudes into, has ever been 
 found by travelers, although the country has 
 been often visited ; and certainly if its streams 
 had been of the copious and remarkable char- 
 acter assigned to them, they could not have 
 vanished. It rather appears, however, that the 
 ' much water,' or * many waters ' in the text, 
 refers rather to the whole tract of country, 
 than to the fountain of On itself, because it 
 appears to be given by the evangelist as the 
 reason why Jesus and his disciples came into 
 the same neighborhood to baptize. Different 
 baptisms were administered, and, therefore, in 
 different places. The baptism administered by 
 Jesus at this time was of multitudes. This 
 appears from the remark of one of John's dis- 
 ciples to his master: 'He that was with thee 
 beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, 
 behold the same baptizeth, and all men come to 
 him.'' The place, or places, too, where Jesus 
 baptized, although in the same district, could 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 171 
 
 not be very near, since John's disciple men- 
 tions the multitudes who came to be baptized 
 by Jesus, or rather by his disciples, as a piece 
 of information ; and thus we find a reason for 
 the mention of much water, or many waters, 
 with reference to the district of country itself, 
 and not to the single fountain of On. The 
 tract probably had many fountains in it, which, 
 as being a peculiarity in a country not so dis- 
 tinguished, would lead to the use of the ex- 
 pression, ' much water,' although not one of 
 those fountains, or wells might be sufficient to 
 allow of the plunging of numbers of people, 
 and probably was not. Indeed, if the disciples 
 of Jesus baptized by immersion, the immer- 
 sionists are much more concerned to discover 
 * much water,' « many waters,' ' large and deep 
 streams,' somewhere else in the district than at 
 Enon ; because it is plain from the narrative, that 
 the number of candidates for John's baptism 
 had greatly fallen off at that time." (Watson.) 
 " Salem was at least fifty miles north, up 
 the river Jordan from the place where John 
 had begun to baptize. Enon, near it, was 
 either a natural spring, an artificial reservoir, 
 or a cavernous temple of the sun, prepared by 
 
172 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 the Canaanites, the ancient idolatrous inhabit- 
 ants of the land. The eastern versions, that is, 
 the Syriac, Ethiopic, Persiac, and Arabic, of 
 the Gospel of John, as well as the Hebrew 
 and Chaldean Ain-yon, Gnain-yon, suggest 
 these opinions, and it is difficult to say which 
 is the precise meaning of the evangelist's word 
 Enon, and it is not certain whether the plain 
 meaning be, John was baptizing at the Dove- 
 spring near Salem, or, John was baptizing at 
 the Sun fountain near Salem. * • * * 
 Springs issuing from the fissures of rocks, gurg- 
 ling through the chinks as waters out of bottles, 
 falling from crag to crag, murmuring from bed 
 to basin, and from basin to bed, fretting along 
 the ragged sides of a rocky cavern, would form 
 what the Jews called a Dove-water, or, if it 
 flowed from a natural spring, in their figurative 
 style, a Dove's-eye." (Robinson's Hist, of 
 Baptism, pp. 27 and 30.) This author is a 
 Baptist, and he expressly says, page 29, " The 
 spring where John baptized was called the 
 Dove's-cye." Here, then, the deep and large 
 streams, the " much water" of the Baptists, at 
 Enon, is, according to their own showing, the 
 spring of the Dove's-eye! 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 173 
 
 Hear what Professor Stuart says on this 
 point: "Now John was baptizing in (or at) 
 Enon, near Salem, hoti hudala polla en ekei, 
 for there was much water there; or, (more 
 literally,) there were many waters there. 
 The question is, whether John baptized at 
 Enon, near Salem, because the waters there 
 were abundant and deep, so as to afford con- 
 venient means of immersion, or whether the 
 writer meant merely to say that John made 
 choice of Enon, because there was an abun- 
 dant supply of water there for the accommo- 
 dation of those who visited him for the sake 
 of being baptized, and hearing the powerful 
 addresses he made to the Jews. The former 
 statement makes the much waters, or many 
 waters, necessary, or, at least, convenient and 
 desirable, for the purposes of the baptismal 
 rite — the latter for supplying the wants of the 
 multitudes who attended the preaching of John. 
 It has always seemed to me a very singular 
 mode of expression, if the sacred writer meant 
 to designate the former idea, to say hoti hudata 
 polla en ekei. Why not say, because the 
 water was deep, or abundant, simply ? A sin- 
 gle brook, of very small capacity, but a living 
 
174 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 stream, might, with scooping out a small place 
 in the sand, answer most abundantly all the 
 purposes of baptism, in case it were performed 
 by immersion, and answer them just as well 
 as many waters could do. But, on the other 
 hand, a single brook would not suffice for the 
 accommodation of the great multitudes who 
 flocked to John. The sacred writers tell us 
 that ' there went out to him Jerusalem and all 
 Judea, and all the regions of Jordan,' Matt. 
 iii, 5 ; and that they were baptized of him. 
 Of course, there must have been a great mul- 
 titude of people. Nothing could be more nat- 
 ural than for John to choose a place that was 
 watered by many streams, where all could 
 be accommodated. The circumstances of the 
 case, then, would seem to favor the interpre- 
 tation which refers the mention of the many 
 waters to the wants of the people who flocked 
 to hear John." (Stuart on the Mode of Bap- 
 tism, pp. 37, 38.) 
 
 John's baptism was not Christian baptism, 
 (see Acts xix, 1-7,) but was a kind of a Jew- 
 ish purification. When he says, " I indeed 
 baptize you with water, but he shall baptize 
 you with the Holy Ghost," he means, "I 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 175 
 
 indeed purify you with water, but he shall 
 purify you with the Holy Ghost." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Christ's baptism. 
 This is brought forward by the immersion- 
 ists as a case of baptism by immersion. Mat- 
 thew says, Christ came (?rtt) to Jordan ; and 
 Mark says, he was "baptized in Jordan." 
 John baptized him ; but with what baptism 
 was he baptized ? It could not have been 
 John's baptism, for that was a baptism unto 
 repentance. Did He who knew no sin, in 
 whose mouth no guile was found, repent? Re- 
 pentance is founded in sin, and none but a sin- 
 ner can repent. Some say, " Christ's baptism 
 was the beginning of the Christian baptism ;" 
 but they forget that the Christian baptism was 
 not instituted, or commanded until above three 
 years after Christ was baptized, when he com- 
 manded his disciples to " teach all nations, 
 baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
 of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Besides, 
 Christ would then have been baptized in his 
 Father's name, and in his own name, and in 
 
176 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 the name of the Holy Ghost, which, to say 
 the least, would be absurd. 
 
 Again: other immersionists say, "Christ's 
 baptism was to set us an example, and we 
 must follow him just as he set the example." 
 But, says the evangelist, " When all the people 
 were baptized, it came to pass Jesus, also, be- 
 ing baptized," &c, Luke iii, 21. A singular 
 manner of setting an example, to wait until all 
 the people were baptized. Do the Baptists 
 intend to be understood that we are to follow 
 the example of Christ, and wait until all the 
 people are baptized? Then, no one would be 
 baptized ; for all would be waiting until the 
 rest were baptized ; or, do they wish us to fol- 
 low his example, and wait until we are thirty 
 years of age, and then have it done by a Jew- 
 ish priest in the river Jordan? If so, it then 
 would be done by sprinkling with a bunch of 
 hyssop. 
 
 It is evident he was not baptized with John's 
 baptism. Well, with what kind of baptism 
 was he baptized? It was a priestly ivash- 
 ing, or consecration. He was inducted into 
 his priestly office by John. This was required 
 by the law : "And this is the thing that thou 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 177 
 
 shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister 
 unto me in the priest's office. * * * And 
 Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the 
 door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and 
 shalt wash (baptize) them with water," Ex. 
 xxix, 1,4. It was this priestly washing, or 
 consecration, that John performed on Christ, 
 as we may learn from what the Savior says : 
 " Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan 
 unto John, lo be baptized of him. But John 
 forbade him, saying, I have need to be bap- 
 tized (or purified) of thee, and comest thou to 
 me ? (to be purified.) And Jesus answering 
 said unto him, suffer it to be so now : for thus 
 it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. 
 Then he suffered him," Matt, iii, 13-15. 
 " Fulfill all righteousness :" says Dr. Clarke, 
 "Every righteous ordinance." He submitted 
 to circumcision, and now requires baptism. 
 But, He says, " Thus it becometh us to fulfill 
 all righteousness." On his part, 1. The right- 
 eousness of God. 2. The righteousness of 
 the law. On the part of John, 1. The right- 
 eousness of faith. 2. The righteousness of 
 the saints. 
 
 Behold the Saviur teaching in the temple. 
 12 
 
178 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 " The chief priests and the elders of the people 
 said unto him, by what authority doest thou 
 these things ? and who gave thee this author- 
 ity ? And he answered and said unto them, 
 I will ask you one thing, The baptism of 
 John, whence was it?" They asked the Sa- 
 vior for his authority to teach in the temple. 
 It was no part of his design to equivocate, 
 but to give a forcible answer. And what 
 was it? John's baptism. How did John's 
 baptism give him authority to teach in the 
 temple ? By consecrating him a high priest. 
 Paul says, " For every high priest is or- 
 dained to offer gifts and sacrifices : where- 
 fore it is of necessity that this man have some- 
 what also to offer," Heb. viii, 3. The high 
 priests were ordained by being taken to the 
 door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and 
 there washed with water and anointed with 
 oil. Christ was thus ordained by John on the 
 banks of the Jordan, when he baptized him ; 
 and by the Holy Spirit: "Thy God hath 
 anointed thee with the oil of gladness above 
 thy fellows :" that is, he was anointed above 
 all the high priests that preceded him. 
 
 An objection is urged against this view of 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 179 
 
 the subject, which is this: "He was a priest 
 after the order of Melchisedec, and not after 
 that of Aaron." Paul says, "Melchisedec, 
 king of Salem, priest of the most high God, 
 king of righteousness, and after that king of 
 Salem, which is, king of peace; without 
 father or mother, without descent, having 
 neither beginning of days nor end of life ; but 
 made like unto the Son of God," Heb. vii. 
 In the above respect, he was after the order of 
 Melchisedec ; without father or mother ; that 
 is, he did not descend from any line of priests, 
 as did Aaron and his sons. He sprang from 
 the tribe of Judah, " of which no man gave any 
 attendance at the altar." As we have already 
 seen, the Jewish dispensation was a type, or 
 emblem of the Gospel. They had their high 
 priest: we have, also, a "high priest of our 
 profession, Christ Jesus;" "a minister of the 
 sanctuary, and the true tabernacle, which the 
 Lord pitched, and not man." Though a priest 
 after the order of Melchisedec, he was "called 
 of God, as was Aaron." Paul says, " Now, 
 I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the 
 circumcision, for the truth of God, to confirm 
 the promises made unto the fathers." We 
 
180 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 see the connection from Melchisedec down 
 through Aaron to Christ. Levi paid tithes to 
 Melchisedec, being in the loins of Abraham, 
 who met him returning from the slaughter of 
 the kings, and blessed him. The priesthood 
 of Levi, or Aaron, was a type of that of 
 Christ, the law requiring, at the age of thirty 
 years, at the door of the tabernacle, a priestly 
 washing, or consecration. This washing, or 
 baptism, was a sprinkling, as we learn from 
 Numbers viii : "Take the Levites from among 
 the children of Israel, and cleanse them : and 
 this shalt thou do to cleanse them, sprinkle 
 water of purification upon them." 
 
 Our opponents say, " 'And when Jesus was 
 baptized, he went up straightway out of the 
 water;' therefore, he was immersed." It reads 
 in the original, avsSrj sv§v$ arto tov vbatos : 
 he ascended straightway from the zoater. To 
 show this to be the literal rendering of the 
 Greek, the primary meaning of arto is from, 
 and not " out of." It is used five hundred and 
 ninety-two times in the New Testament, three 
 hundred and thirty-six times it is translated 
 from, one hundred and fourteen times of, and 
 only forty-eight times out of. This shows its 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 181 
 
 primary meaning to be from. Well, if we 
 had its primary meaning in our common trans- 
 lation, it would read thus : " He went up 
 straightway from the water." The meaning 
 of the word owjfy is to climb, to ascend, to 
 scale. This is the same word, mood, tense, 
 and person, where it speaks of Zaccheus : "And 
 he ran before, and (ow-jSj?) climbed up into a 
 sycamore tree to see him," Luke xix, 3. 
 Again : he (ai/f/3*/) went up into a mountain, 
 Matt, v, 1. Its literal meaning is, he ascended 
 the banks of the Jordan. The immersionists 
 would convey the idea, "he arose out of the 
 watery grave of immersion:" that is, from the 
 depth John had plunged him. This would 
 have been the action of John, and not of the 
 Savior. The administrator of immersion raises 
 the candidate out of the water himself. The 
 candidate is passive in his hands. But the 
 action here is ascribed to the Savior, and not 
 to John ; therefore, it is unconnected with 
 the immediate action of baptism, and simply 
 means, after he was baptized, "he imme- 
 diately, or straightway ascended from the 
 water" 
 
 The place where Jesus was baptized is 
 
182 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 emphatically said to be " in Bethabara, be- 
 yond Jordan." Matthew says, " He came to 
 Jordan to be baptized." Mark says, "He 
 was baptized in Jordan." But John says he 
 was baptized " in Bethabara, beyond Jordan :" 
 " These things were done in Bethabara, be- 
 yond Jordan, where John w r as baptizing. The 
 next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, 
 (to be baptized,) and saith, Behold the Lamb 
 of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
 world ! This is he of whom I said, after me 
 cometh a man which is preferred before me; 
 for he was before me. And I knew him not: 
 but that he should be made manifest to Israel, 
 therefore am I come baptizing with water. 
 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit 
 descending from heaven like a dove, and it 
 abode upon him," John i, 2&-32. This whole 
 scene is laid by the evangelist " in Betha- 
 bara, beyond Jordan.'" 
 
 The first fact stated is, John was baptizing 
 in Bethabara, beyond Jordan. 2. Here is the 
 place where Jesus came to John to be bap- 
 tized. 3. In order that Christ might be made 
 manifest to Israel, John was sent to baptize 
 with water. 4. The record which John bare 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 183 
 
 of him, which was at the time of his baptism, 
 saying, " I saw the Spirit descending from 
 heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 
 And I knew him not : but he that sent me to 
 baptize with water, the same said unto me, 
 upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descend- 
 ing and remaining on him, the same is he 
 which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." Now, 
 " These things were done in Bethabara, be- 
 yond Jordan, where John was baptizing." 
 John, the evangelist, in another place, declares 
 the same fact: "Then there arose a question 
 between some of John's disciples and the Jews, 
 about purifying. And they came unto John, 
 and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with 
 thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest wit- 
 ness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men 
 come to him," John iii, 25, 26. Here it is 
 stated, " He that was with thee beyond Jor- 
 dan, of whom thou bearest witness." The 
 time that Christ was with John, and the time 
 that John bare "witness," or "record," of 
 Christ, was at the time of his baptizing. The 
 evangelist emphatically says, it was "beyond 
 Jordan." This view of the subject destroys 
 the idea of immersion, from the supposed fad 
 
184 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 that Christ was baptized in the stream of the 
 river of Jordan. 
 
 In conclusion of this subject we say, the 
 Savior's baptism was not a baptism by immer- 
 sion, because the baptism, or priestly washing 
 required by the law, was a sprinkling. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The baptism of the eunuch, by Philip, Acts vhi. 
 
 The baptism of the eunuch is always re- 
 sorted to with a great deal of confidence by our 
 immersion brethren. This Ethiopian prince 
 was a proselyte Jew — had been to Jerusalem 
 to worship — was reading by the way in his 
 Hebrew or Greek Bible, in the fifty-second and 
 fifty-third chapters of the prophecy of Isaiah, 
 "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter," &c. 
 Philip was walking by the side of his carriage 
 and said unto him, " Understandest thou what 
 thou readest?" He replied, " How can I, ex- 
 cept some man shall guide me?" He then 
 invited Philip to sit with him in his chariot. 
 The eunuch inquired of him, " Was the prophet 
 speaking of himself, or some other person V* 
 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 185 
 
 the same Scripture and preached unto him 
 Jesus. 
 
 It is emphatically said, "The place of the 
 Scripture ," meaning all the prophecy concern- 
 ing Christ, of which that was a part quoted by 
 the evangelist. Then it was not confined to 
 the fifty-third chapter, but commenced at the 
 thirteenth verse of the fifty-second chapter. It 
 will be remembered, the division of the Bible 
 into chapters and verses was the work of the 
 thirteenth century. From this Scripture Philip 
 preached Jesus, that is, explained the whole 
 plan of redemption, the institutions of the 
 Church, and ordinances of the house of God. 
 Baptism was fully explained; for when they 
 came to some water, the eunuch desired to 
 be baptized. And from what portion of the 
 above "place of the Scripture" did he preach 
 baptism? Doubtless, from the following: "So 
 shall he sprinkle many nations ;" showing 
 here, the "sprinkling many nations" meant 
 baptizing them. 
 
 In order to make it clear that this is a correct 
 view of the subject, we will refer to what Peter 
 says : " The like figure whereunto even bap- 
 tism doth also now save us," 1 Peter iii, 21. 
 
186 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Baptism is, therefore, a "like figure," to rep- 
 resent a substance, or something that saves us. 
 And what is that? We will let Peter explain 
 himself: "Elect according to the foreknowl- 
 edge of God the Father, through the sanctifica- 
 tion of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprink- 
 ling of the blood of Jesus Christ" 1 Peter 
 i, 2. Here, then, the substance is declared to 
 be the "sprinkling of the blood of Jesus 
 Christ." If baptism is a "like figure" of the 
 sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, then 
 sprinkling must be the mode. This agrees 
 with what Paul says: "For if the blood of 
 bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer 
 sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purify- 
 ing of the flesh : how much more shall the 
 blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit 
 offered himself without spot to God, purge 
 your conscience from dead works to serve the 
 living God!" Heb. ix, 13, 14. Again: " We 
 are come" " to Jesus, the mediator of the new 
 covenant, and the blood of sprinkling." This, 
 then, clearly shows, the " sprinkling of many 
 nations" means baptizing them. 
 
 But our opponents say, "Both Philip and 
 the eunuch went down into the water, and he 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 187 
 
 baptized him, and they came up out of the wa- 
 ter, and of course he immersed him." They 
 further say, the Greek preposition, atcf, trans- 
 lated, into, used in this case, and the word «/, 
 used where it says, " John baptized in (tv) 
 Jordan," always mean into, and nothing else. 
 Is this position true ? It certainly is not ; 
 therefore, the inference they wish to draw 
 from it is not correct. 
 
 Parkhurst (see his Lexicon) gives sixteen 
 different definitions to sv. I will quote one 
 portion of Scripture where it is used : "At (sv) 
 the right hand of the throne of God," Heb. 
 xii, 2. 
 
 Grove (see his Lexicon) gives twenty-three 
 meanings to sty, yet our opponents say it has 
 but one. 
 
 Donnegan (see his Lexicon) defines it, to, 
 into. 
 
 Bui-man's Greek Grammar defines it, to, 
 into. 
 
 Scapula (see his Lexicon) defines it, " ad, 
 in," to, into. 
 
 Schrivellius (see his Lexicon) defines it, ad, 
 in; item, ergo, to, into ; also, towards. 
 These learned authors give to as the first, or 
 
188 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 primary meaning of s tj. We will now quote a 
 few passages of Scripture where it is used. 
 " As it began to dawn («$) toward the first day 
 of the week," Matt, xxviii, 1; "I am not 
 sent but (ft?) unto the lost sheep of the house 
 of Israel,'' Matt, xv, 24 ; " Come (ft?) unto 
 the marriage," Matt, xxii, 4; "He saith ( £ t$) 
 unto him, Wilt thou be made whole," John v, 
 6 ; " She goeth (sii) unto the grave to weep," 
 John xi, 31; "She fell down (ftj) at the feet 
 of Jesus," John xi, 32 ; "Jesus again groan- 
 ing in himself, cometh (ctj) to the grave," John 
 xi, 38; "He loved them («$) unto the end," 
 John xiii, 1 ; "If by any means I might attain 
 (sij) unto the resurrection of the dead," Phil, 
 iii, 11 ; " Use hospitality one («j) to another,' 
 1 Pet. iv, 9 ; " Come first («$) to the sepulchre 
 * * * yet went he not in," John xx, 4, 5 
 "And were all baptized (ft?) unto Moses,'* 
 1 Cor. x, 2 ; " John baptized («$) unto repent 
 ance," Matt, iii, 11 ; Saul and his companion? 
 "were all fallen (»?) unto the earth," Acts 
 xxvi, 14. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this array of testimony 
 against our opponents, yet they say, " When 
 (ctj) is before water it always brings them into 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 189 
 
 it." To overthrow this position, we will only 
 quote two passages of Scripture. Says our 
 Savior to Peter, in reference to the tribute- 
 money, " Lest we should offend them, go thou 
 (f tj) to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the 
 fish that first cometh up," Matt, xvii, 27. 
 Here every person can see, when Peter was 
 commanded to go (ft?) to the sea, he was not 
 commanded to go into the water. " And when 
 they came (st$) to Jordan they cut down 
 wood," 2 Kings vi, 4. Surely they did not 
 go into the water of Jordan to cut down build- 
 ing timber! 
 
 Mr. Campbell and his followers found their 
 whole system of theology on a different inter- 
 pretation of £ij. For instance, "Repent, and 
 be baptized every one of you in the name of 
 Jesus Christ, (*t$,) for the remission of sins," 
 Acts ii, 38. When speaking of the mode of 
 baptism it must always mean into; but when 
 speaking of the design of baptism it means for, 
 in the sense to obtain. Well, give us this 
 translation : they, both Philip and the eunuch, 
 went for the water; that is, to obtain it. 
 
 How particular the evangelist is in mention- 
 ing the water, and how it was procured. This 
 
190 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 speciality is not to be observed when speaking 
 of baptism in general. They were travel- 
 ing on a road that, doubtless, led through a 
 desert country. If the evangelist had simply 
 narrated the case by saying, " He baptized 
 him," infidels might cavil and deny the whole 
 history, and say, "Where was the water? 
 and, if water, whether did he baptize him in 
 the carriage or out of it? and if in the chariot, 
 how did he get the water there?" The evan- 
 gelist is, therefore, particular in stating that both 
 Philip and the eunuch went down from the 
 chariot to the ground, and from thence to the 
 water, and there he baptized him. The word 
 used here is xatsj5r t aav, which is from xatajSaivu, 
 to go down, to descend, to disembark. Then, 
 they went down, descended, or disembarked 
 from the chariot. The going down, spoken 
 of here, is not used in the sense of going down 
 to the water, but simply, going down from 
 the chariot to the ground ; and from thence, 
 they went to or for the water, both Philip and 
 the eunuch, and there he baptized him. Im- 
 mersion can never be made out of this case, 
 when properly understood. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 191 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The baptisin of the Israelites. 
 
 " Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye 
 should be ignorant how that all our fathers 
 were under the cloud, and all passed through 
 the sea ; and were all baptized unto Moses in 
 the cloud and in the sea," 1 Cor. x, 1, 2. 
 
 To be baptized unto Moses is to be con~ 
 secratcd by a solemn act — to be devoted to the 
 doctrines and duties of that dispensation of 
 which he was mediator. Likewise, to be bap- 
 tized into, or rather unto Christ, is to be con- 
 secrated to Christ, as the mediator of the new 
 and everlasting covenant. And if the word 
 "baptize" is to be translated, perhaps the En- 
 glish language does not furnish a more appro- 
 priate word than "consecrate ." 
 
 The next inquiry will be, How was this 
 consecration, or baptism, performed ? 
 
 The Israelites encamped on the banks of the 
 Red Sea — the Egyptians were rushing upon 
 them — the cloud that led them, and was in 
 their front, now passed over them, and stood 
 in their rear. The Lord commanded " Moses 
 to stretch out his hand over the sea ; and the 
 
192 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong 
 east wind all that night, and made the sea dry 
 land, and the waters were divided. * * * 
 And the children of Israel walked on dry 
 ground in the midst of the sea, and the waters 
 were a wall on their right hand and their left," 
 Ex. xiv. Their baptism could not be by im- 
 mersion, for they walked through the sea on 
 dry ground. They " were under the cloud" 
 and its natural operation would be to sprinkle, 
 or pour out water, which, doubtless, was the 
 mode of baptism in the above case. We are 
 informed by the Psalmist: "The waters saw 
 thee, O God, the waters saw thee : they were 
 afraid; the depths also were troubled. The 
 clouds poured out water ; the skies sent out a 
 sound, thy arrows also went abroad. The 
 voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the 
 lightnings lightened the world : the earth trem- 
 bled and shook. Thy way is in the sea, and 
 thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps 
 are not known. Thou leddest thy people like 
 a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron," 
 Ps. lxxvii. This clearly describes the passage 
 of the children of Israel through the Red Sea ; 
 and we are informed the clouds poured out 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 193 
 
 water. This baptism is more particularly re- 
 ferred to in the sixty-eighth Psalm : " O God, 
 when thou wentest forth before thy people, 
 when thou didst march through the wilder- 
 ness. Selah. The earth shook, the heavens 
 dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai 
 itself was moved at the presence of God, the 
 God of Israel. Thou, O God, didst send a 
 ■plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm 
 thine inheritance when it was weary." This 
 "plentiful rain" which the Lord sent on the 
 children of Israel, was to confirm their inher- 
 itance unto them. This confirming shower, 
 Paul calls, " baptized unto Moses ;" and then 
 He miraculously furnished the Israelites in the 
 wilderness with water and provisions ; and to 
 shield them from the scorching rays of an 
 Arabian sun, " He spread a cloud for their 
 covering," Ps. cv, 39. 
 
 Our opponents, even in this plain case of 
 sprinkling, try to make out immersion ! Some 
 of them say, " The average depth of the Red 
 Sea, where the Israelites crossed, was fifteen 
 hundred feet deep ; the water standing on the 
 right and on the left as a wall, and the cloud 
 resting on the top; and thus they were im- 
 13 
 
194 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 mersed in the cloud and in the sea." This 
 is beautiful imagery, indeed ! Well, we will 
 grant all they ask, and we will see if we can 
 make immersion, or even the figure of immer- 
 sion. We will suppose the watery walls of the 
 Red Sea stood perpendicularly fifteen hundred 
 feet high, the children of Israel down between 
 these walls, walking on the bottom of the sea, 
 the cloud resting on the top of those walls, or 
 above them — would this make out immersion ? 
 To be immersed, is to be completely sur- 
 rounded, above, below, and all around. Now, 
 what was there in iheu front and rear? Noth- 
 ing. Well, this would not make out a case 
 of immersion. But we are willing to go far- 
 ther, and suppose they were covered above, 
 and surrounded on their right and left, front, 
 and rear. Would this be an immersion in the 
 cloud and in the sea? They would only be 
 three-fourths immersed ; for, recollect, neither 
 the cloud nor the sea was below them, for they 
 walked on dry ground! And, to make out 
 such an immersion as our opponents wish, 
 Paul should have said, " They were all bap- 
 tized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea, 
 and in the dry ground!" 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 195 
 
 We will now show there is no foundation 
 for the whole of this ideal immersion. Dr. 
 Clarke says, (see his Com. on Ex. xiv,) 
 " That part of the sea over which the children 
 of Israel passed, was, according to Mr. Bruce, 
 and other travelers, about four leagues (twelve 
 miles) across, and, therefore, might easily be 
 crossed in one night. It has been observed, 
 that in the place where the Israelites are sup- 
 posed to have passed, the water is about four- 
 teen fathoms, or twenty-eight yards deep." 
 The camp of Israel had the form of the hollow 
 square — three tribes in front, three on the 
 right, three on the left, and three in the rear, 
 with the tabernacle in the centre, and sur- 
 rounded by the Levites. After this manner 
 they marched, as we are informed: " So they 
 pitched by their standards, and so they set for- 
 ward, (marched,) every one after their families, 
 according to the house of their fathers," Num. 
 ii, 34. (See the draft and notes on the above 
 chapter by Dr. Clarke.) 
 
 Our opponents first presume the sea to be 
 fifteen hundred feet deep. We see from the 
 quotation from Dr. Clarke, it is only twenty- 
 eight yards, or eighty-four feet. The second 
 
196 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 presumption they make is, the sea divided — 
 the water standing on the right and left as 
 walls. They suppose the passage to be about 
 the width of a common street. They marched 
 agreeable to their encampment, three tribes 
 forming each line of the hollow square, cover- 
 ing an area in circumference of twelve miles, 
 so their front was at least three miles. It must 
 have been a front of at least three miles, or 
 else the camp could not cross in one night, for 
 that was the time they occupied in crossing. 
 For instance, when Xerxes was about to pass 
 into Europe from Asia, across the Hellespont, 
 now the Straits of Dardanelles, he had two 
 bridges of boats erected, and it occupied his 
 army of one million and eight hundred thou- 
 sand men, " seven days and seven nights in 
 passing over these straits ; those who were 
 appointed to conduct the march lashing the 
 poor soldiers all the while with whips, in order 
 to quicken their speed." (Rollin's An. Hist., 
 vol. iii, p. 19.) Here the number is but a little 
 over half as many as were in the camp of 
 Israel. In order to cross over the sea, a dis- 
 tance of twelve or thirteen miles, they must 
 have occupied a space at least three miles 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 197 
 
 wide ; and then, with an altitude of water only 
 eighty-four feet on the right and left, it will be 
 with great difficulty that even an ideal im- 
 mersion can be made out! 
 
 The whole mistake of our opponents here 
 is supposing there was but one baptism, and 
 that a conjoint baptism of the cloud and sea. 
 There, doubtless, were two baptisms, the one 
 with the cloud and the other with the sea. 
 The apostle first states they were " under the 
 cloud." This he afterwards explains by say- 
 ing, "baptized with the cloud." (We say 
 "with" — this is the general translation of this 
 word in other places, and thus it reads in this 
 place in the German Bible.) And, secondly, 
 "and all passed through the sea;" and from 
 the strong east wind that blew, they were 
 sprinkled with the spray of the sea. This he 
 calls " baptized with the sea." " Baptized in 
 the cloud and in the sea," conveys the idea of 
 two distinct baptisms, or times of baptizing. 
 For instance, "Washington fought with the 
 British in New Jersey and in Virginia. This 
 conveys the idea of more than one battle : 
 well, baptized in the cloud and in the sea. 
 
198 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 On Romans vi, and Colossians ii. 
 The above are always brought forward by 
 our Baptist brethren, especially when they are 
 proselyting. They say, " You must be buried 
 with Christ in baptism ; and this you cannot 
 do, if you only have a little water sprinkled on 
 the face." Charmed and captivated by the 
 mere sound of the passage, they lead off with 
 this main position, that baptism is a "burial," 
 " and if so, immersion must be the mode." 
 This should be proved by them, instead of 
 taking it for granted. We will show the whole 
 theory of our opponents in the above is entirely 
 fanciful. The whole passage reads as follows: 
 " What shall we say then? Shall we continue 
 in sin, that grace may abound ? God forbid : 
 how shall we, that are dead to sin, live any 
 longer therein? Know ye not that so many 
 of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, (not 
 ivater,) were baptized into his death ? There- 
 fore we are buried with him by baptism into 
 death, (not ivater,) that like as Christ was 
 raised up from the dead by the glory of the 
 Father, even so we also should walk in new- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 199 
 
 ness of life. For if we have been planted 
 together in the likeness of his death, we shall 
 be also in the likeness of his resurrection : 
 knowing this, that our old man is crucified 
 with him, that the body of sin might be de- 
 stroyed, that henceforth we should not serve 
 sin." 
 
 We have already stated, in the argument on 
 infant baptism, that this has reference to the 
 baptism of the Holy Spirit; therefore, it does 
 not refer to water baptism, much less the mode. 
 To show this, reference will be had to the 
 point under discussion by the apostle. And 
 what is that? He was repelling a charge 
 that was maliciously and slanderously brought 
 against him by some of his enemies : namely, 
 " And not rather (as we be slanderously re- 
 ported, and as some affirm that we say) Let us 
 do evil, that good may come ? whose damna- 
 tion is just," Romans iii, 8. They said Paul 
 taught the doctrine, that " where sin abounded 
 grace did much more abound," Romans v, 20. 
 " So the more we sin, the richer we will be 
 in grace." See in what a bold manner he 
 attacks this charge ! " What shall we say 
 then? Shall we continue in sin that grace 
 
200 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 may abound ? God forbid." He then goes on 
 and reasons with the brethren of Rome, and 
 shows it to be contrary to philosophy and re- 
 ligion. He asks the question, "How shall 
 we that are dead to sin live any longer there- 
 in?" If dead to sin, they could not live any 
 longer in the enjoyment of it; neither could 
 they desire it. How could a man literally 
 dead live in the world ? " l Bow shall we that 
 are dead to sin :' the phraseology of this verse 
 is common among Hebrews, Greeks, and Lat- 
 ins. To die to a thing, or person, is to have 
 nothing to do with it or him — to be totally 
 separated from them ; and to live to a thing, or 
 person, is to be wholly given up to them — to 
 have the most intimate connection with them. 
 Nihil mecum tibi, mortuus tibi sum : / have 
 nothing to do with thee — I am dead to thee" 
 (See Dr. Clarke's Commentary.) Those who 
 were baptized into Jesus Christ by the Holy 
 Ghost, and received that marvelous change 
 wrought in the heart by his energies, have 
 died unto sin and the world, and have awaked 
 unto newness of life. As Christ was literally 
 dead, and arose from the dead, so must the 
 sinner who is alive to the world and sin, die 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 201 
 
 • o the world and sin : and as he is not only 
 bruised and maimed, halt and blind — the 
 whole head sick and the heart faint, but dead 
 in trespasses and sins : and as Christ was raised 
 from the dead by the power of God, so 
 must the sinner be raised from this spiritual, 
 or moral death by the power of the Holy 
 Ghost, "to walk in newness of life." This 
 spiritual baptism, or change of heart makes the 
 individual a new creature. Old things have 
 passed away and behold all things become new. 
 The natural tendency of this change of heart 
 is, to cause him to walk in newness of life. 
 John says, " Whosoever abideth in him sinneth 
 not." 
 
 To show this in a clearer light, the apostle 
 goes on and changes the figure, and says, 
 " But if we have been planted together in the 
 likeness of his death, we shall be in the like- 
 ness of his resurrection." "Dr. Taylor ob- 
 serves that our translation does not completely 
 express the apostle's meaning. Ta av/jupvta 
 are such plants as grow the one upon and in 
 the other, deriving sap and nourishment from 
 it, as the mistletoe upon the oak, or the scion 
 upon the stock in which it is grafted. He 
 
202 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 would, therefore, translate the words : For if we 
 have been growers together with Christ in the 
 likeness of his death, (or in that which is like 
 his death,) we shall be also growers together 
 with him in the likeness of his resurrection ; 
 or in that which is like his resurrection. He 
 reckons it is a beautiful metaphor, taken from 
 grafting, or making the scion grow together 
 with a new stock." (See Clarke's Com.) 
 The apostle means precisely the same thing in 
 the above expression, as he does when he says, 
 *' Therefore we are buried with him by bap- 
 tism into death." If being buried with him by 
 baptism means immersion, what does it mean 
 when he says, " Being planted together in the 
 likeness of his death?" It must, also, mean 
 immersion ! And what resemblance is there 
 between planting a young tree, or plant, the 
 roots only being put under the ground, or 
 grafting a scion on a stock, and plunging a man 
 under the water ! 
 
 Again : to make it still more certain that the 
 apostle is not speaking of immersion, but a 
 change of heart, he again changes the figure, 
 and says, "Knowing this, that our old man is 
 crucified with him, that the body of sin might 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 203 
 
 be destroyed, that henceforth we should not 
 serve sin." The same meaning and doctrine 
 are taught in those three figures: "Buried by- 
 baptism into death;" " planted together in the 
 likeness of his death;" "and the old man is 
 crucified with him." What resemblance is 
 there between the Savior being nailed to the 
 cross and crucified, and a person being im- 
 mersed in water ! This passage must be con- 
 strued literally, or spiritually. If literally, then 
 we must be literally baptized into Jesus Christ, 
 (that is, immersed into him,) literally planted 
 together with the Savior in the likeness of his 
 death, and literally crucified with him ; and 
 this would be literal nonsense. This is the 
 way our opponents would have the world to 
 understand this subject — literally buried with 
 him in water! Then we must understand it 
 as having a spiritual allusion. The person 
 having been baptized into Jesus Christ, or 
 having experienced the new birth, and made a 
 new creature, has experienced a death unto 
 sin and the world, and a moral and spiritual 
 resurrection, and walks in newness of life. 
 
 To show still further, that there is no refer- 
 ence to water baptism, the apostle tells us how 
 
204 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 we are baptized into Jesus Christ: "For by 
 one Spirit we are all baptized into one body," 
 1 Cor. xii, 13. This is, indeed, the fulfillment 
 of John's prophecy: "I, indeed, baptize you 
 with water, but He shall baptize you with the 
 Holy Ghost and with fire." John baptized 
 the Church with water, but the Savior with 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 In Col. ii, 11, 12, the apostle changes the 
 figure again, and says, "In whom, also, ye 
 are circumcised with the circumcision made 
 without hands, in putting away the body of 
 the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of 
 Christ." And this " circumcision made with- 
 out hands," is explained to be "buried with 
 him in baptism." This being the case, all 
 must see it is not a physical, or literal bap- 
 tism, but a spiritual one, because it is made 
 "without hands." When the apostle says, 
 " Buried with him in baptism, wherein, also, 
 ye are risen with him through the faith of the 
 operation of God," a regular antithesis is 
 formed — one part opposed to the other. If the 
 first part mean to be physically and literally 
 buried in water, the second part means a literal 
 and physical raising out of the water by the 
 
TREATISE OX BAPTISM. 205 
 
 muscular force of the administrator. But this 
 does not agree with the apostle ; for he says, 
 "Ye are risen with him through the faith of 
 the operation of God." If, then, the resurrec- 
 tion spoken of is " through the faith of the 
 operation of God," it must be spiritual, and 
 not literal ; and, of course, the opposing part 
 of the antithesis, namely, buried with him in 
 baptism, must be spiritual. 
 
 Our opponents say, " The burial spoken of 
 in Rom. vi, and the baptism are synonymous. 
 'Buried,' and 'baptized,' mean the same act: 
 buried in baptism, and baptized in the burial." 
 The interpretation of a word will always make 
 good sense, if substituted for the original. 
 They say, "Baptism means immersion, and 
 immersion means a burial, and a burial means 
 a baptism." Well, we will read it so : " There- 
 fore, we are immersed with him by immer- 
 sion." This would make the great apostle 
 Paul, who was, in addition to his plenary in- 
 spiration, a logician of the highest order, speak 
 nonsense. 
 
 We will now prove the "baptism" and 
 "burial" spoken of here to be two different 
 things ; and, if so, the whole theory of oui 
 
206 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 opponents, as built on this passage, must go 
 overboard, without the hope of a rescue; be- 
 cause, it is on the supposition they are the one 
 and same act — mean precisely the same thing. 
 Whatever this "burial" may be, it is accom- 
 plished by baptism, as the instrument ; there- 
 fore, it must differ from it. " Buried by bap- 
 tism:" baptism stands here as the instrument 
 that accomplishes the burial, and, as a matter 
 of course, must differ from it. It stands in the 
 relation of cause, and burial the effect. To 
 say the cause and effect are precisely the same 
 thing, is marvelous indeed ! 
 
 We will make this plain by a few illustra- 
 tions. We will suppose before us is a dead 
 man by the name of A. We will call on a 
 man by the name of B. to bury him. He goes 
 and digs a grave, and takes the corpse and lays 
 it in it, and pours the earth on him, until he is 
 buried. A., the dead man, was buried by B., 
 the live man. Do you not see a difference 
 between B., the live man, and the burial of the 
 dead man A., accomplished by him? Well, 
 buried with him by baptism ; therefore, bap- 
 tism is the agent that accomplishes the burial, 
 and, of course, differs from it. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 207 
 
 Again : we will suppose we have some corn 
 in our hand. "We will say to our servant, 
 " Take a hoe and bury it." He does so. The 
 corn was buried by the hoe : the hoe was the 
 instrument that accomplished the burial. We 
 see there is a clear and manifest difference 
 between the "baptism" and "burial." The 
 one the cause, and the other the effect. Then 
 the idea of immersion is clearly out of the 
 question ; for the whole theory of the immer- 
 sionist is built on the supposition they were 
 one. 
 
 The position that baptism is a burial, and a 
 burial is a baptism, is without any foundation 
 in Scripture. A few instances will show this. 
 And Abraham said unto the sons of Heth, " I 
 am a stranger and a sojourner with you : give 
 me a possession of a burying-place with you, 
 that I may bury rny dead out of my sight," 
 Gen. xxiii, 4. That is, baptize them out of 
 his sight! "And after this, Abraham buried 
 Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Mach- 
 pelah, before Mamre :" that is, baptized Sa- 
 rah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Mach- 
 pelah, before Mamre. And Jacob said unto 
 his sons, "I am to be gathered unto my peo- 
 
208 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 pie : bury me with my fathers in the cave that 
 is in the field of Ephron the Hittite," Gen. 
 xlix, 29: that is, they should baptize him in 
 the cave that is in the field of Ephron, the Hit- 
 tite ! Again: "And another of his disciples 
 said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and 
 bury my father:" that is, baptize him ! " But 
 Jesus said unto him, Follow me, and let the 
 dead bury their dead :" that is, let the dead 
 baptize their dead ! 
 
 Our opponents say, " The design of bap- 
 tism is to represent the burial and resurrection 
 of Jesus Christ." Admitting, for a moment, 
 this to be the case, it could not be done by im- 
 mersion. The tomb of Christ was the sep- 
 ulchre of Joseph, which was cut out of a rock ; 
 the floor, or bottom of it was, perhaps, on a 
 level with the ground. He was taken and laid 
 in it. This would be like taking a corpse in a 
 basement story of a house, and laying it down 
 in the appointed place. A large stone was 
 rolled to the door ; and in the morning of the 
 third day, an angel came and rolled it away, 
 and Christ was awaked by the power of God, 
 and he came forth from death's dark domain. 
 How could immersion represent this most 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 209 
 
 glorious scene ! If the Christian baptism is to 
 represent the burial of Christ, then it is a com- 
 memorative ordinance, and should oft be re- 
 peated, like the sacrament of the Lord's sup- 
 per, to refresh our memory. Again : The 
 burial of Christ, for aught we know, may be 
 of no more importance to us than his wearing a 
 crown of thorns and the purple robe. But why 
 no sacrament to represent that, and so on, and 
 every incident in Christ's life have its own com- 
 memorative sacrament? Then could we out- 
 number the Catholics in sacraments. Besides, 
 we have the sacrament of the Lord's supper to 
 represent the shedding of Christ's blood and 
 the breaking of his body — in a word, his death 
 and resurrection, with all that he has done for 
 us, while we have no sacrament, unless it is 
 baptism, to represent what the Holy Ghost 
 does for us in applying the merit of Christ's 
 blood, and changing and purifying our hearts. 
 Have we two sacraments to represent what 
 Christ has done for us, and none to represent 
 the agency of the Holy Ghost in our salvation? 
 We think not. 
 
 We will now show this position to be unten- 
 able and unscriptural. 
 
 14 
 
210 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 The design of water baptism is to represent 
 the "sprinkling of the blood of Christ," or the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost, as we have already- 
 stated. Christ has instituted the eucharist, or 
 Lord's supper, as a memento of his sufferings, 
 and an institution to represent his death, 
 burial, resurrection, ascension, intercession, 
 and his second coming to judge the world. 
 This is all embraced in the Lord's supper 
 Paul says, " For as often as ye eat this bread, 
 and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's 
 death till he come," 1 Cor. xi, 26. 
 
 To make it still plainer that baptism is not 
 to represent the fact that Christ was laid in Jo- 
 seph's sepulchre, and his resurrection from the 
 dead, we will present to you the faith and 
 practice of the apostles before the crucifixion 
 of the Savior. It is a fact they baptized 
 thousands before that time. Being with the 
 Savior daily for three years and a half, it must 
 be presumed, or admitted, they were thor- 
 oughly instructed in reference to the design of 
 baptism ; and if they had been instructed it 
 was to represent the Savior's burial and resur- 
 rection, they would have, as a matter of course, 
 embraced the doctrine of his resurrection ; but 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 211 
 
 this was not the case. The same day that 
 Christ arose from the dead, two of the dis- 
 ciples went to Emmaus, a village not far from 
 Jerusalem, and the Savior fell in company with 
 them ; but they did not know him, but con- 
 versed with him on the subject of his death 
 and resurrection, and said, "Yea, and certain 
 women, also, of our company made us aston- 
 ished, which were early at the sepulchre * 
 * * said he was alive." This being a fact, 
 they had not the most distant idea that the de- 
 sign of baptism was to represent the burial 
 and resurrection of Christ, " For as yet they 
 knew not the Scripture, that he must arise 
 again from the dead," John xx, 9. After the 
 Savior had appeared to all the disciples but 
 Thomas, and they reported the fact to him, 
 the idea was so astounding and extraordinary, 
 that he " said unto them, Except I shall see in 
 his hands the print of the nails, and put my 
 fingers into the print of the nails, and thrust 
 my hand into his side, I will not believe," 
 John xx, 25. Can it be supposed that Thom- 
 as, with the rest of the disciples, had been 
 administering baptism to thousands for three 
 years and a half, and teaching them that the de- 
 
212 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 sign of baptism was to represent the burial and 
 resurrection of Christ, that would take place, 
 when he, and they, had not as " yet known 
 the Scripture, that he must arise from the 
 dead !" This is to suppose an impossibility. 
 To be an immersionist, you must believe all 
 this : that the apostles baptized to represent the 
 burial and resurrection of Christ, and taught 
 the same, when they themselves did not know 
 he must arise from the dead ! 
 
 Permit me here to introduce a query. Is it 
 necessary to have correct views of the use and 
 design of baptism to make it valid, though the 
 mode maybe correct? Or, will a perverted 
 use, or design of baptism render it nugatory? 
 Suppose we were to invite the Church mem- 
 bers to come and partake of the Lord's supper, 
 and we should state the object of the sacrament 
 to be a representation of the crucifixion of 
 Peter, and we should rehearse the circumstances 
 of his death, and portray his sufferings in a 
 vivid manner, so that the minds of the com- 
 municants are fixed upon Peter's death while 
 they receive and partake of the bread and wine, 
 yet in all other respects they conform to the 
 mode, and all the directions in the word of God 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 213 
 
 concerning this institution : I ask if they have 
 validly received the sacrament? The great 
 apostle would answer, " They have eaten and 
 drunk to themselves condemnation, because 
 they did not discern the Lord's body." If, 
 then, having an improper object in view inval- 
 idates an ordinance, those whose object in 
 baptism was to represent the burial of Christ, 
 are, indeed, as unbaptized (though they may 
 have been immersed in Lake Erie) as if not a 
 drop of water touched them. It is our opinion 
 a perverted use and design of baptism will 
 render it nugatory. For instance : we will 
 suppose a sect will arise and teach that a 
 person must be baptized to represent the trans- 
 figuration of Christ on the mount, and would 
 practice accordingly. Query : would their bap- 
 tism be the Christian baptism ? Or, suppose 
 another sect would start up and teach that 
 the design of baptism is to represent Christ's 
 forty days and nights temptation in the wilder- 
 ness, or his triumphant entry into Jerusalem : 
 though the mode and ceremony be correct, 
 would it be Christian baptism? It is evident 
 it would not ; for it would be a perversion of 
 the use and design of Christian baptism. And 
 
214 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 for aught we know, baptism, in fact, could 
 represent Christ's forty days and nights temp- 
 tation of the devil in the wilderness, as well as 
 the three days in the sepulchre. 
 
 Well, then, if the teaching and practice of 
 the immersion Churches are wrong, when they 
 say baptism is to represent the burial and 
 resurrection of Christ, which is evidently h 
 perverted view of the use and design of bap- 
 tism, is not their baptism invalid and nugatory? 
 This is the view that Paul takes of circum 
 cision : " For circumcision verily profiteth, if 
 thou keep the law ; but if thou be a breaker of 
 the law, thy circumcision is made uncircum- 
 cision" Rom. ii, 25. This being the case, 
 are there not more unbaptized persons in the 
 immersion Churches than all others, notwith- 
 standing their boasting, that they practice that 
 mode of baptism admitted by all to bt correct? 
 
 But, admitting for a moment the design of 
 baptism is to represent the burial and resurrec- 
 tion of Christ, pouring, according to the 
 Scriptures, would do it ; but not immersion. 
 " Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the 
 house of Simon the leper, there came unto him 
 a woman having an alabaster-box of very pre- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 215 
 
 cious ointment, and poured it on his head as he 
 sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, 
 they had indignation, saying, To what purpose 
 is this waste ? For this ointment might have 
 been sold for much, and given to the poor. 
 When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, 
 Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath 
 wrought a good work upon me. For ye have 
 the poor always with you ; but me ye have 
 not always. For in that she hath poured this 
 ointment on my body, she did it for my 
 burial." Matt, xxvi, 6-12. Here we see, the 
 woman poured a little ointment on the Savior's 
 head; and he said she hath poured it on his 
 body, and she did it for his burial. Nowhere 
 in the Scripture is the idea held out that plung- 
 ing, or immersion, is to represent a burial. 
 
 There are two leading, or fundamental princi- 
 ples in theology, whereby we expect to obtain 
 eternal salvation : 1. The shed blood of Christ, 
 for the remission of our sins. 2. The applica- 
 tion of that blood to our hearts by the Holy 
 Ghost, whereby we obtain a pardon of, and a 
 cleansing from sin. There are two sacraments 
 divinely appointed in the Church to represent 
 them: 1. The eucharist: " As often as ye eat 
 
216 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the 
 Lord's death till he come." 2. Baptism: 
 " For by one Spirit are we all baptized into 
 one body;" "Our hearts sprinkled from an 
 evil conscience, and our bodies washed with 
 pure water." 
 
 But our opponents say, " But ye have obeyed 
 from the heart that form of doctrine which was 
 delivered unto you," Rom. vi, 17. And taking 
 for granted "that form of doctrine" was a 
 burial in water, they come, triumphantly, to 
 the conclusion, that immersion is the mode of 
 baptism. Doctrine, or the " form of doctrine," 
 has been, by the Scripture, compared to the 
 falling of dew and rain. Moses says, "My 
 doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech 
 shall distil as the clew, as the small rain upon 
 the tender herb, and as the showers upon the 
 grass," Deut. xxxii, 2. If, then, the "form 
 of doctrine" is to settle the mode of baptism, 
 it is certain sprinkling is the Bible mode. 
 
 But, once more : " We are buried with him 
 in baptism." This burial has continued from 
 the time it took place with the apostle, and the 
 brethren at Rome, until the time of writing his 
 epistle to them. If this mean a literal burial in 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 217 
 
 water, as our immersionist friends say, then 
 Paul must have been a good while under water ! 
 He was converted and baptized, A. D. 33 ; he 
 wrote this epistle to the Romans, A. D. 58 ; 
 which would make twenty-five years he was 
 under the water. This being the case, he 
 must have been preaching to the people, and 
 writing his epistles to the different Churches, 
 though literally buried under water all that 
 time ! The apostle says, " We are buried." 
 That burial continued from the time it took place 
 until the time of writing this epistle, which 
 shows clearly it could not have been a literal 
 burial in water. For as the death is spiritual, 
 the resurrection to " newness of life," of course, 
 is spiritual. Well, we have, 1st, a death; 2d, 
 a burial ; 3d, a resurrection. The death is spir- 
 itual ; the resurrection is spiritual ; then, as a 
 matter of course, the burial must be spiritual. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The baptism on the day of Pentecost — The baptism of 
 Cornelius — The baptism of Paul — The baptism of the 
 jailer. 
 
 The baptism on the day of Pentecost. 
 
 The disciples were all assembled with one 
 
218 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 accord, in one place — probably in an upper 
 room, in Jerusalem. The Holy Ghost was 
 poured out upon them the third hour of the 
 day, which answers to our 9 o'clock in the 
 morning. They all preached, especially Peter : 
 " With many other words did he testify and 
 exhort." We may reasonably suppose they 
 occupied three or four hours in their public 
 addresses. It would, also, take some time for 
 them to have the congregation prepared for 
 baptism — such as, their assent to certain doc- 
 trines and facts, proposed to them as the rule 
 of their faith and practice ; though this might 
 be done en masse, by raising of hands. This, 
 however, would take some time ; and, as the 
 Jewish day ended at 6 o'clock, P* M., they 
 would only have from three to five hours to 
 baptize three thousand. How could this be 
 done by immersion? and, especially, when not 
 more than one administered the rite at the 
 same time and place? But suppose the twelve 
 were engaged in baptizing on this occasion, 
 and we will allow there were five hours of 
 time, then each must have baptized fifty for 
 each hour — almost one for every minute ! If 
 they were four hours baptizing, then each one 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 219 
 
 must have baptized sixty-two every hour — 
 more than one for every minute ! But if they 
 were only three hours at it, then each one must 
 have baptized eighty-three every hour — about 
 one for every three-quarters of a minute ! We 
 are informed, it requires a man in good health, 
 and of strong muscular powers, to immerse 
 forty or fifty at one time, and it would require 
 a man of Herculean abilities to immerse eighty 
 or one hundred without being completely pros- 
 trated. Then, is it probable the apostles im- 
 mersed three thousand : that is, two hundred 
 and fifty each, at one time? which, probably, 
 could not be without a miracle. The Lord 
 does not usually carry on the ordinary opera- 
 tions of his Church by his miracle-working 
 power. The probability is against the idea of 
 immersion in the case ; for where could they 
 be accommodated with water? They say, 
 " The pool of Siloam — the pool of Bethesda, 
 with its five porches — the brook of Kedron, and 
 the brazen seas of the Temple." 
 
 1. The pool of Siloam. This was a spring 
 which came up under the wall near the gate of 
 he sheep-market. Dr. Clarke says, its waters 
 were collected into a large reservoir, to supply 
 
220 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 the city for drinking and culinary purposes. 
 Admitting there was a sufficient quantity for 
 immersion, can it be supposed the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem would have permitted them to 
 immerse in it ? 
 
 2. The pool of Bethesda. It is stated that 
 an angel came down once a year and troubled 
 the waters, and the first diseased man that 
 stepped in was healed. It is supposed the 
 blood from the sacrifices offered at the Temple 
 was conveyed to this pool, and from this it 
 received its healing qualities. Let this be as it 
 may, it was connected with the services of the 
 Temple — with the brazen seas, which were all 
 under the control of the priests and Pharisees, 
 who were inveterate enemies of Christ and his 
 apostles, and, doubtless, would not have con- 
 sented to such a use. 
 
 3. The brook of Kedron. This is a small 
 stream which passes along half a mile east of 
 the city, which is dry nearly nine months of 
 the year. There may be a considerable cur- 
 rent in the rainy seasons. However, it is the 
 sewer of the city, and is called Kedar, or Ke- 
 dron, (black.) It cannot be supposed they 
 immersed in it. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 221 
 
 They, doubtless, were baptized by pouring, 
 or sprinkling. 1. From the fact that the apos- 
 tles and people were baptized by the Holy 
 Ghost, which was by pouring. The reason- 
 able inference is, that the apostles baptized the 
 people in the same way that God had just 
 baptized them. 2. As Jerusalem was not fur- 
 nished with rivers, or creeks, and as there is no 
 intimation that they removed from the place 
 where the word was preached, therefore, the 
 most reasonable conclusion is, they were bap- 
 tized by sprinkling, or pouring. And as this 
 is the first time Christian baptism was admin- 
 istered, if immersion were to be the only mode, 
 is it not very probable something would be 
 said of going to the water, and of a change of 
 raiment, so necessary when immersion is prac- 
 ticed ? Look at the accounts of revivals by the 
 immersionists. They generally say something 
 which shows, definitely, that they practice 
 immersion : such as, " Going from the place 
 of worship to such a stream of water;"" " the 
 weather ivas very fair ;" "the weather was 
 stormy;'''' "the roads muddy;" "we cut 
 through the ice, for the weather was very 
 cold ;" " the crowds that assembled on the 
 
222 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 banks," &c. These expressions show that 
 they practice immersion. In all the Scrip- 
 tures there is not a single expression that goes 
 to show any of the circumstances to which we 
 have alluded. You will bear in mind that 
 Philip and the eunuch were traveling, and 
 Tame to water. 
 
 The baptism of Cornelius. He was a de- 
 vout Gentile. The Lord, in answer to prayer, 
 directed him to send to Joppa for Peter, at the 
 same time instructed Peter to go and open the 
 kingdom of heaven to him and the Gentile 
 world. And when he had preached the word 
 unto them, the Holy Ghost fell upon them, as 
 it did upon the Jews at the beginning, or day 
 of Pentecost. And when they heard them 
 speak with tongues, and magnify God, then 
 answered Peter, " Can any man forbid water, 
 that these should not be baptized, which have 
 received the Holy Ghost as well as we ? And 
 he commanded them to be baptized in the 
 name of the Lord," Acts x. They were as- 
 sembled in the house of Cornelius ; and when 
 the Holy Ghost fell on them, or they were bap- 
 tized with it, Peter said, " Can any man forbid 
 water, that these should not be baptized." The 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 223 
 
 plain understanding of the above is this, can 
 any man forbid water from being brought that 
 these should not be baptized ? 
 
 To make it clear that this is the true meaning 
 of the above, we will examine the word trans- 
 lated "forbid." It comes from the verb xwxw, 
 to check, hinder, stop, stay, delay; to impede, 
 obstruct; to prohibit, forbid. (See Grove's 
 Greek Lexicon.) In the baptism about to be 
 performed, the people and water must come 
 together. The people must either go to the 
 water, which they would do, if they were to 
 be immersed, or the water must be brought to 
 them, which would be done, if they were to 
 be sprinkled; and the prohibition would neces- 
 sarily be of the moving party. If they were 
 about to be immersed, the people would have 
 to go to the water. Then, the apostle, doubt- 
 less, would have said, " Can any man check, 
 hinder, stop, stay, delay, impede, obstruct, 
 prohibit, or forbid the people from going to 
 the water, that they should not be baptized?" 
 But this was said of the water, " Can any 
 man check, hinder, stop, stay, delay, impede, 
 obstruct, prohibit, or forbid wdierfrom being 
 brought, that these should not be baptized?" 
 
224 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 Therefore, it is plain water was to be brought 
 to the people, and they were not to go to the 
 water. The irresistible conclusion, if preju- 
 dice is left aside, is, the above case of baptism 
 was performed in the house, and water was 
 brought for that purpose ; therefore, they were 
 aspersed. 
 
 The baptism, of Paul. Paul was on his 
 way to Damascus, when a light shone around 
 him above the brightness of the sun, which 
 prostrated him to the ground. Being blind, he 
 was led into the city. So deep and pungent 
 were his convictions, that he could not eat, 
 drink, or sleep. In this debilitated and ex- 
 hausted condition Ananias found him. He 
 laid his hands on him, and said, " Brother 
 Saul, the Lord (even Jesus that appeared unto 
 thee in the way as thou earnest) hath sent me, 
 that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be 
 filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately 
 there fell from his eyes as it had been scales : 
 and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and 
 was baptized. And when he had received 
 meat, he was strengthened," Acts ix. 
 
 The natural inference, from the history of 
 the case, would be, that Ananias baptized him 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 225 
 
 in the house of Judas, where he found him ; 
 and immediately meat was set before him 
 This view of the subject is strengthened by 
 an examination of the Greek text of " arose" 
 ai/cwtfas ; this is the second aorist participle of 
 ttvKj^i, which means to stand, rise, rise up 
 again. The literal rendering of the above pass- 
 age would be, " and (Paul) having stood up, 
 was baptized," or, standing up, was bap- 
 tized. For instance, "And in those days Pe- 
 ter stood up (oi/acrtfaj) in the midst of the dis- 
 ciples," Acts i, 15. Again: "And there stood 
 up (avaatai) one of them, named Agabus," 
 Acts xi, 28. Again : " Then Paul stood up, 
 (avatfras,) and beckoning with his hand, said, 
 Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audi- 
 ence," Acts xiii, 16. The active participle 
 made use of here, points out the manner of 
 the baptism and position of the body, which 
 was standing up. This would not only be a 
 house baptism, but the candidate was in a 
 standing position when he received baptism. 
 Paul was found in a weakened and prostrated 
 condition. Ananias laid his hands upon him, 
 and he received his sight. He then said unto 
 him, "And now whv tarriest thou? arise, 
 15 
 
226 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 (avaatas, stand up,) and be baptized, and wash 
 away thy sins, calling on the name of the 
 Lord." He then arose, or stood up, either on 
 his knees or feet, and in that position was 
 baptized. 
 
 Permit me here to digress for a moment. 
 Mr. Campbell and his followers put great 
 stress in support of their theory on the above 
 passage. They wish to inculcate the idea, 
 that the washing away of sin is done in the 
 act of baptizing; but, in a few words, we will 
 show you this is not the case. "Why tarriest 
 thou?'''' is one idea; "arise" another; "and 
 be baptized" is another; "and wash away 
 thy sins" is another. And how ? By " call- 
 ing on the name of the Lord." Peter says, 
 on the day of Pentecost, "Whosoever shall 
 call on the name of the Lord shall be saved," 
 (that is, shall have their sins washed away,) 
 Acts ii, 21. This active participle clearly de- 
 fines the manner. For instance, cleanse a 
 house — sweeping it, or ivashing it ; cleanse a 
 garment — brushing it, or washing it. Ananias 
 said unto him, "Why defer, or procrastinate? 
 arise, or stand up, and be baptized;" and then 
 he was to wash away his sins, and thus defines 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 227 
 
 the manner: by " calling upon the name of the 
 Lord." 
 
 The baptism of the jailer. Paul and Silas 
 had been in a very providential manner direct- 
 ed to Philippi, and when there were followed 
 daily by a damsel possessed of an evil spirit, 
 who brought her masters much gain by 
 soothsaying. She said, "These men are the 
 servants of the most high God, which show 
 unto us the way of salvation." This was a 
 grief to them; for they knew the Philippians- 
 would suppose they were, also, in league with 
 the devi], if they were introduced and recom- 
 mended by this pythoness. Paul commanded 
 the evil spirit to come out of her; and when' 
 her masters saw the source of their gain was 
 gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and brought 
 them before the magistrates, who commanded 1 
 them to be beaten ; and when they had laid 
 many stripes upon them, they cast them into 
 prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, 
 who, having received such a strict charge, 
 thrust them into the inner prison, and made 
 their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight 
 Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises to 
 God. And suddenly there was a great earth- 
 
228 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 quake, and the foundations of the prison were 
 shaken, and the doors were opened. The jailer 
 called for a light and sprang in, and brought 
 them out of the inner prison, or dungeon, into 
 the outer prison. Being satisfied it was of the 
 power of God, he cried out, " Sirs, what must 
 I do to be saved ?" And they said, "Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ. And they spake 
 unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that 
 were in his house. The jailer took them the 
 same hour of the night, and washed their 
 stripes, and was baptized, he and all his, 
 straightway. And when he had brought them 
 into his own house, he set meat before them, 
 and rejoiced, believing in God with all .his 
 house," Acts xvi. 
 
 This appears to be another case of house 
 baptism. Doubtless, the place where the word 
 was preached was the place where their stripes 
 were washed, and where they were baptized. 
 This was in the outer prison. The jailer first 
 put them here; but afterwards, having received 
 strict orders, thrust them into the inner pris- 
 on; and, after the earthquake, he called for a 
 light, and sprang in, and tremblingly fell down 
 before Paul and Silas, and brought them out 
 
TREATISE OX BAPTISM 229 
 
 from the inner into the outer prison. This was 
 the place of preaching, washing of stripes, and 
 of baptizing. Doubtless, the apostle took a lit- 
 tle of the water which was left from washing of 
 their stripes, or, it may be, some was brought 
 especially for the purpose of baptizing, and 
 sprinkled the jailer and all his little ones. 
 And then the jailer brought them into his own 
 house, or that department where his family 
 resided, which was under the same roof with 
 the prison, and set meat before them, and 
 rejoiced with his family. But our opponents 
 even try to make a case of immersion out of 
 this! They say, "The jailer brought them 
 out of the prison, and went away to a river 
 about a mile distant, and there the apostle im- 
 mersed him and all his." Those who contend 
 for the above position, say, the jailer brought 
 them out of the prison for the purpose of going 
 to the river to be baptized ; and when they 
 came back, he brought them into his own 
 house, which was separated from the prison, 
 and then set meat before them. But this 
 shows what even good men will do, through 
 prejudice, and a determination to support a 
 favorite theory. The jailer (a heathen) did 
 
230 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 not know any thing about Christian baptism, 
 much less desired it, before Paul explained 
 it to him in preaching the word. After 
 preaching they were baptized. But the first 
 thing that was done after the jailer sprang in 
 with a light, teas to bring them out from the 
 inner prison to the outer. This could not 
 have been for the purpose of going away to 
 be baptized ; for at this time he knew nothing 
 about it, for it was before the preaching of the 
 word. But our opponents wish to make the 
 impression that the jailer brought them out for 
 that purpose, but this is a great mistake. 1. 
 The jailer called for a light, and sprang in. 2. 
 He brought them out of the inner prison, where 
 they were thrusted, into the outer. 3. Then 
 and there the word was preached unto all that 
 were in his house, and the jailer and all his 
 were baptized. 4. Then he brought them 
 into his own house, and set meat before them, 
 and rejoiced with his family. Dr. Clarke 
 says, "And, by the way, if he and all his were 
 baptized straightway, Ttapaxpqiia, immediately, 
 instantly, at that very time, dum ipsa res 
 agitur, it is by no means likely that there was 
 any immersion in the case. Indeed, all the 
 
TREATISE OX BAPTISM. 231 
 
 circumstances of the case — the dead of the night, 
 the general agitation, the necessity of dispatch, 
 and the words of the text, all disprove it. It 
 is, therefore, pretty evident, that we have in 
 this chapter very presumptive proofs, that bap- 
 tism was administered without immersion, as 
 in the case of the jailer and his family." (See 
 Dr. Clarke's notes on Aets xvi, 33.) 
 
 The jailer was a sworn officer; and if he 
 had permitted Paul and Silas to go out without 
 authority, he would have violated his oath ; 
 and instead of standing before them as an 
 acceptable candidate for baptism, he would 
 have stood before them a perjured man ! Not 
 only that, but, if found out, ii would have cost 
 him his life ! Such was the rigor of the Roman 
 law, that a jailer was held responsible for the 
 prisoners put in his custody. If they escaped, 
 whether accessory thereto or not, he was gen- 
 erally punished with death. For instance : 
 the Lord miraculously delivered Peter from 
 prison in Jerusalem ; " and when Herod had 
 sought for him and found him not, he ex- 
 amined the keepers, [of the prison,] and com- 
 manded that they should be put to death." 
 The jailer knowing this to be the case, when 
 
232 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 he awoke and saw the prison doors open, sup- 
 posing, as a matter of course, the prisoners 
 had escaped, he was about to fall upon his own 
 sword ; as it was a virtue among the heathen 
 to fall by one's own hand, when death was 
 inevitable. But his bed-chamber was so close 
 to the doors of the prison, that by the light that 
 enabled him to see that the prison doors were 
 opened, Paul saw what he was about to do, 
 and he cried out, " Do thyself no harm, for we 
 are all here." 
 
 Being night, our opponents suppose " the 
 jailer and his family might have gone out to 
 the river, and back again, without much fear 
 of detection." This could not be. We are 
 informed that there was a great earthquake — 
 that the foundations of the prison were shaken ! 
 And what are the natural consequences of a 
 great earthquake ? Houses falling down, peo- 
 ple rushing from them into the streets or open 
 air, as their only refuge ! The hour the jailer 
 was baptized, was not an hour of quietness and 
 repose to the inhabitants of Philippi, but a time 
 of great alarm and agitation. Can it be sup- 
 posed, under all these circumstances, that the 
 jailer would have gone, or could go with the 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 233 
 
 prisoners and his family to the river, and back 
 again, without detection ? And where, or what 
 was the motive, (without which man will not 
 act,) to go out at midnight's hour, at so great 
 a hazard as that of his life? And for aught 
 we see in the nature or obligation of baptism, 
 he might have deferred it until next morning, 
 or next week. And to make this still more 
 certain, the next morning the magistrates sent 
 word, privately, to let Paul and Silas go. 
 "But Paul said unto them, They have beaten 
 us openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and 
 have cast us into prison ; and now do they 
 thrust us out privily? Nay, verily; but let 
 them come themselves and fetch us out;" 
 showing, clearly, they had not been out the 
 night before, or else Paul dissembled. 
 
 Our opponents, being pressed with this view 
 of the subject, say, "Philippi is situated in a 
 tropical climate, and it is customary, in coun- 
 tries scorched with the suns of the torrid zone, 
 to furnish their prisons with baths, for the 
 health and comfort of their prisoners, and in 
 one of those baths Paul immersed the jailer 
 and his family." This, indeed, develops the 
 hopelessness of their cause. Philippi is situ- 
 
234 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 ated not far from the northern extremity of the 
 iEgean Sea; about forty-one degrees north 
 latitude, which would throw it as far north as 
 northern Ohio. Surely the perpetual " scorch- 
 ing suns of the torrid zone''' are not experi- 
 enced on Lake Erie's bleak shores ! Thus we 
 see the subterfuge of our Baptist brethren, to 
 make immersion in any wise agree with Bible 
 teaching or apostolic practice. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Immersion impracticable under many circumstances- 
 Congregation going to the water — A change of clothing — 
 Immersion compared to a bank bill. 
 
 We now urge another objection to immersion 
 as being the mode of baptism. It cannot be 
 practiced at all times, under all circumstances, 
 and in all countries. The Savior would, 
 doubtless, appoint that mode of baptism which 
 could be administered under all conditions and 
 circumstances of human existence. But im- 
 mersion cannot be administered at all times, 
 and under all circumstances ; therefore, it 
 strongly argues, the Savior never appointed 
 immersion to be practiced universally, as the 
 mode of baptism. 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 235 
 
 To show you that it cannot be practiced at 
 all times, women, from one-fourth to one- 
 eighth of their time, embracing a period of 
 nearly thirty years of their lives, though enjoy- 
 ing good health, cannot be immersed in cold 
 water without imminent danger to their health 
 and life. Then, if immersion is the mode of 
 baptism, women cannot obey a plain command- 
 ment for nearly one-fourth of the time of the 
 above period, though by faith and repentance 
 they are proper subjects. 
 
 Immersion cannot be practiced under all 
 circumstances. Men and women have, and 
 doubtless will, too frequently put off the con- 
 cerns of religion, and the momentous interests 
 of their deathless spirits, to the last period of 
 their existence; and when lying on a dying 
 bed, they see and realize their past folly, and 
 wake up to a due concern for themselves and 
 repent of their sins, (and, doubtless, in many 
 cases, find pardon to their souls,) many will 
 desire baptism and the Lord's supper. Well, 
 on the Baptist theory, they could not be bap- 
 tized without instantly destroying life in some 
 cases ! Here, then, the poor penitent, for- 
 given, and dying sinner, must be denied the 
 
236 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 comforts of those holy sacraments when they 
 most need them. In this situation, thousands 
 have had their souls comforted and strength- 
 ened ; which cannot take place under the ad- 
 ministration of the Baptist Churches. Let a 
 minister of the regular Baptist Church sit down 
 at the bedside of a forgiven and dying sinner, 
 and he will say, " brother, or sister, you 
 can get to heaven without baptism or the 
 Lord's supper — you feel the pardon of your 
 sins — that is enough!" But, let him sit down 
 by a person in health — say, a rich merchant, 
 or farmer, and he will say to him, " O how 
 important it is that you should be baptized! 
 You should follow your Savior's footsteps 
 down the banks of Jordan, and be buried with 
 Christ by baptism, that you may arise from 
 the Savior's watery grave to newness of life. 
 To get to the good world, you must imme- 
 diately go forward in baptism, and there is no 
 baptism without immersion." Well, how is 
 this difference of ministry to be reconciled? 
 Why, in the first place, their system could not 
 be carried out without destroying life ; there- 
 fore, they propose, or prefer to let them die 
 without baptism ; and, in the second place, a 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 237 
 
 proselyte is to be made : therefore, the whole 
 theory and practice of immersion must be 
 brought into requisition, and put in operation. 
 
 Our Campbellite friends act more consist- 
 ently, in cases of sickness, when it is impracti- 
 cable to immerse in cold water. They dig out, 
 or nail up troughs, and warm the water, and 
 then immerse the candidate. Yet they say 
 they take the Scripture just as it reads for 
 their practice. And, indeed, we have known 
 a number of instances where both the adminis- 
 trators and candidates have been violently 
 attacked with disease by practicing baptism by 
 immersion. Names could be given, if required. 
 
 Once on the Sabbath, I was preaching at 
 a quarterly meeting on baptism, and said, 
 
 " Mr. , the Baptist minister of this place, 
 
 by his first essay in the water, being young, 
 and not accustomed to it, and not having re- 
 ceived his * gum-elastics ' on from the east, 
 was violently attacked with disease." He, 
 being present, arose and said, "I was sick 
 before I went into the water." We said his 
 attending physician told us, it was caused by 
 going into the water; and he advised him to 
 keep out of the water. A Baptist clergyman 
 
238 TREATISE ON EAPTIS31. 
 
 from , being present, said, "The advice 
 
 was correct ; for it would make the admin- 
 istrator sick, but not the candidate." If the 
 Lord has ordered immersion to be the mode of 
 baptism, is it not a great pity he did not order 
 that the health of the administrator should be 
 preserved as well as that of the candidate! 
 
 There are now thousands of aged and in- 
 firm ministers, though very useful, who, if 
 revivals should break out in their charges, could 
 not administer baptism by immersion with- 
 out jeopardizing their useful lives; and, of 
 course, it must be delayed until some ro- 
 bust, healthy, young administrator can be pro- 
 cured. But the modern practice will, in a 
 great measure, obviate this difficulty. Admin- 
 istrators, I have been informed, generally use 
 gum-elastic drawers, or " baptisteries " — a 
 garment worn under their clothes, which keeps 
 out the water. This shows that they consider 
 they cannot go at all times in the water to 
 administer baptism without jeopardizing their 
 health ; or, that they must consider the practice 
 of baptizing by immersion in cold water a hard 
 and disagreeable work. The Savior says, 
 "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." 
 
TREATISE OX BAPTISM. 239 
 
 How can immersion be practiced in all 
 countries? In some countries there are ex- 
 tensive sandy deserts and plains, where there 
 is no running water for hundreds of miles ; 
 men and women live there, who procure their 
 water by digging, sometimes to a great depth, 
 or by traveling to an immense distance for it. 
 We will now suppose a revival to break out 
 there — how could they be immersed with- 
 out great labor and inconvenience ? Artificial 
 means must be resorted to ; troughs, or baptis- 
 tories must be made, and water must be pro- 
 cured for that purpose, when, at the same time, 
 it is with the greatest difficulty a sufficiency 
 for drinking and cooking can be obtained. 
 
 In other countries, toward the poles, for the 
 greater part of the year, water is nearly as 
 solid as the mountain rock itself. From the 
 rigor of the climate, people generally live in 
 caves, or dens, in the rocks. How can bap- 
 tism by immersion be practiced there? Meet- 
 ing-houses must be erected there, the Gospel 
 preached, and the sacraments of the house of 
 the Lord duly administered, before the millen- 
 nium will take place. 
 
 Even in our own country, though we live 
 
240 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 in a temperate zone, for some three or four 
 months in the year our streams are frozen up. 
 If immersion is the mode of baptism, then 
 those streams must be cut open, and the can- 
 didate, whether robust or delicate, must submit 
 to the harsh and dangerous enterprise of going 
 down into the water until it shall be of suffi- 
 cient depth, and then be plunged under its 
 surface ; and from their trembling, sobbing, 
 sighing, and catching of their breath, we 
 should think, in the general, it would produce 
 any other state of feeling than that of solemn 
 devotion. Many times, the stream, or baptis- 
 mal scene, is some distance from any house 
 where the candidates could go and change their 
 clothes ; and by the time they arrive at the 
 place where this could be done, not unfre- 
 quently their clothes have been frozen stiff 
 upon them. Can it be supposed, when the 
 Savior said, "My yoke is easy, and my bur- 
 den is light," he ordained and appointed all 
 this ? We believe, wherever the Gospel is 
 preached, there the ordinances of the house of 
 the Lord can be administered, whether on the 
 plains of India, or the deserts of Africa, or 
 amidst snow-capt mountains and ice-bound 
 
9 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 241 
 
 streams, or at midnight's solemn hour in some 
 cruel prison, or on the bed of death. 
 
 If immersion were practiced by the apostles, 
 doubtless, there would be something said about 
 the congregation removing from the place of 
 preaching to the stream, or water; but in all 
 the history of the doings and acts of the apos- 
 tles, there is not a word said about going from 
 the place of preaching to water for the purpose 
 of baptism. Take up the periodicals of the 
 Baptist Churches, and in their descriptions of 
 their revival operations you will see it fre- 
 quently stated, " The congregation repaired to 
 such a stream, though the day was inclem- 
 ent — it rained, snowed, or the road was mud- 
 dy" &c. Then, there were so many " bap- 
 tized, immersed, or were buried in immersion, 
 and arose from the Savior's watery grave," &c. 
 Thus leaving no doubt on the mind that they 
 baptized by immersion. Can it be conceived 
 that our Baptist friends can set forth facts in a 
 clearer light than the apostles — men writing 
 under the guidance of the Holy Spirit ? Then, 
 if the apostles practiced immersion, it would 
 be expected they would at least be equally 
 clear in setting forth those circumstances and 
 16 
 
242 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 facts so necessary to immersion — such as, the 
 congregation going from the place where they 
 were prepared for baptism, by the preaching of 
 the word, to the water, and the changing of 
 clothing, &c. On all these points the Scrip- 
 ture is entirely silent ; and is it not a reason- 
 able expectation that something should be said 
 in reference to clothing? for, if they were im- 
 mersed, except a change were provided, their 
 wet clothes must remain on them. This 
 would be a matter of great inconvenience, if it 
 would not, in some cases, produce disease and 
 death. It is reasonable to suppose the apostles 
 would recommend a change, if it could be 
 procured conveniently, or, at least, something 
 would be said on the subject — either there was 
 no danger in remaining in their wet clothes, 
 or they had better procure a change. The 
 apostles have been particular in reference to 
 clothing in other cases : for instance, when the 
 Savior was about to wash the disciples' feet, 
 "He riseth from supper, and laid aside his 
 garments ; and took a towel, and girded him- 
 self," John xiii, 4. Again : the witnesses that 
 stoned Stephen " laid down their clothes at a 
 young man's feet, whose name was Saul,' 9 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 243 
 
 Acts vii, 58. It must be supposed, if the 
 apostles immersed, something would be said 
 about going to the water, and a change of 
 raiment. 
 
 Our opponents say, "We practice the mode 
 of baptism admitted by all to be valid baptism ; 
 and would it not be the best for all to be im- 
 mersed, as all agree it is valid baptism, and as 
 many believe pouring and sprinkling not to 
 be baptism ?" They then go on and compare 
 immersion to a bank bill, and say, "Would 
 you not rather take a bank bill, though it may 
 look a little soiled and worn, which all the 
 people say is good, than to take one that looks 
 prettier, of which some have doubts as to its 
 genuineness ?" 
 
 In reference to the fact that all agree that 
 immersion is valid baptism, we say we believe 
 the apostolic and Scriptural mode of baptism 
 to be by affusion. But to satisfy the con- 
 science of a person who desires the whole body 
 to be wet, we suppose the superabundance of 
 water will not destroy the validity of the rite— 
 the Lord taking the will for the deed. In this 
 way we agree that immersion may be, or is bap- 
 tism. But if the position taken by our oppo- 
 
244 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 nents be true, which is, that "no baptism is 
 legal which is not performed in the way and 
 manner that the apostles baptized, 1 ' then we 
 contend that immersion is not legal baptism, and 
 the whole Baptist Churches are without valid 
 baptism, even from their commencement until 
 the present time, and none of their members 
 are baptized, except the few that were sprink- 
 led before they united with them; and even 
 in their case, it is doubtful whether they 
 now can be called baptized persons, as they 
 have repudiated the apostolic form of baptism, 
 and have embraced man's improvement on 
 baptism, as we humbly conceive. And as to 
 the "bank bill" the people are willing to re- 
 ceive it, as genuine, though it may have the 
 marks of being a good while in circulation. 
 But, suppose we take that same old popular 
 bill to the bank, and let the cashier condemn 
 it, and put his mark of infamy upon it, who 
 would wish to take it? Well, take the old 
 popular bill, "immersion ," to the "bank" — 
 the Bible — there it will be instantly con- 
 demned. That word which is so precious to 
 many, namely, immersion, is not found among 
 the precious coin of this bank ; neither has it 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 245 
 
 any coin that can be converted into it, when 
 speaking of the mode of Christian baptism. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The three that bear record in heaven and in the earth, 
 1 John v, 7, 8— Westminster Assembly. 
 
 "For there are three that bear record in 
 heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy- 
 Ghost: and these three are one. And there 
 are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, 
 and the water, and the blood : and these three 
 agree in one." 
 
 1. The witness or the Spirit. "Behold, 
 I will pour out my Spirit unto you," Prov. i, 
 23 ; "I will pour on the house of David the 
 Spirit of grace," Zech. xii, 10 ; " He shall 
 come down like rain upon the mown grass : 
 as showers that water the earth," Ps. lxxii, 6; 
 " I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and 
 my blessing upon thine offspring," Isa. xliv, 
 3 ; " Then it shall come to pass I will pour 
 out my Spirit upon all flesh," Joel ii; "His 
 going forth is prepared as the morning; and 
 he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter 
 and former rain unto the earth," Hos. vi, 3. 
 
246 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 The New Testament agrees with the above : 
 "And being assembled together with them, 
 commanded them that they should not depart 
 from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of 
 the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of 
 me. For John truly baptized with water ; but 
 ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. 
 * * * But ye shall receive power after that 
 the Holy Ghost is come upon you," Acts i,, 
 4-8. On the day of Pentecost the Spirit was 
 poured out upon them. Peter says, " Hath 
 shed forth this ye now hear and see." At the 
 house of Cornelius, " The Holy Ghost fell 
 upon all them that heard." Peter, in rehears- 
 ing the matter, says, " The Holy Ghost fell 
 on them as on us at the beginning." 
 
 2. The witness of the water. "I will 
 pour water on him that is thirsty ;" " So shall 
 he sprinkle many nations," Isa. lii, 15 ; " Then 
 will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye 
 shall be clean. * * * I will put my Spirit 
 within you, and cause you to walk in my 
 statutes," Ezek. xxxvi, 25, 27; "Christ also 
 loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that 
 he might sanctify and cleanse it with the wash- 
 ing of water by the word," Eph. v, 25, 26 ; 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 247 
 
 " But according to his mercy he saved us, by the 
 washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
 Holy Ghost," Titus iii, 5 ; " Having our hearts 
 sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our 
 bodies washed with pure water," Heb. x, 22 ; 
 " My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech 
 shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon 
 the tender herb, and as the showers upon the 
 grass," Deut. xxxii, 2; "Sprinkle the water 
 of purification upon him," Num. xix. The 
 Levites were all consecrated by sprinkling. 
 (See Num. viii.) John says, " I indeed bap- 
 tize you with water." 
 
 3. The witness of the blood. The blood 
 of the passover. — "And ye shall take a bunch 
 of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the 
 basin, and strike the lintel and the two side- 
 posts with the blood that is in the basin," Ex. 
 xii, 22; "Through faith he [Moses] kept the 
 passover, and the sprinkling of blood," Heb. 
 xi, 28 ; Moses " sprinkled both the book and 
 all the people, saying, This is the blood of the 
 testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 
 Moreover, he sprinkled likewise with blood 
 both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the 
 ministry," Heb. ix, 19-21. Blood of atone- 
 
248 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 merit. — " And he shall take of the blood of the 
 bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the 
 mercy-seat eastward : and before the mercy-seat 
 shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger 
 seven times," Lev. xvi, 14. Blood of Christ. — 
 " And to Jesus the mediator of the new cove- 
 nant, and to the blood of sprinkling" Heb. 
 xii, 24; "Elect * * * through sanctifica- 
 tion of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprink- 
 ling of the blood of Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. i, 2. 
 
 These three, the Spirit, water, and the 
 blood, agree in one fact: namely ■, purification ; 
 and one mode, which is sprinkling, or pouring. 
 
 Our opponents say, " Baptism by sprink- 
 ling is of recent date : it was only introduced 
 by the Westminster Assembly, by the casting 
 vote of Dr. Lightfoot ; and if it had not been 
 thus introduced, all would be now practicing 
 immersion." The remarks of Dr. Miller are 
 to the point. (See his work on Baptism.) 
 " It has been sometimes ignorantly, and most 
 erroneously asserted, that the Westminster As- 
 sembly of divines, in putting to vote whether 
 baptism should be performed by sprinkling or 
 immersion, carried it in favor of sprinkling by 
 a majority of one only. This is wholly incor- 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 249 
 
 rect. The facts were these. When the com- 
 mittee who had been charged with preparing 
 a ' Directory for the worship of God ' brought 
 in their report, they had spoken of the mode of 
 baptism thus : « It is laivful and sufficient to 
 sprinkle a child.' To this, Dr Lightfoot, 
 among others, objected ; not because he doubted 
 of the entire sufficiency of sprinkling ; for he 
 decidedly preferred sprinkling to immersion ; 
 but because he thought there was an impro- 
 priety in pronouncing that mode lawful only, 
 when no one present had any doubts of its 
 being so, and when almost all preferred it. 
 Others seemed to think, that by saying noth- 
 ing about dipping, that mode was meant to be 
 excluded as not a lawful mode. This they 
 did not wish to pronounce. When, therefore, 
 the clause, as originally reported, was put to 
 vote, there was twenty-five voted in favor of it, 
 and twenty-four against it. 
 
 "After this vote, a motion was made and 
 carried that it be recommitted. 
 
 " The next day, when the committee re- 
 ported, and when some of the members still 
 seemed unwilling to exclude all mention of dip- 
 ping, Dr. Lightfoot remarked, that to say that 
 
250 TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 
 
 pouring, or sprinkling was lawful, would be 
 'all one as saying that it was lawful to use 
 bread and wine in the Lord's supper;' he, 
 therefore, moved that the clause in the ' Direc- 
 tory ' respecting the mode of baptism be ex- 
 pressed thus : ' Then the minister is to de- 
 mand the name of tha child, which, being told 
 him, he is to say, (calling the child by his 
 name,) " / baptize thee in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost." As he pronounceth these words, he 
 is to baptize the child with water, which, for the 
 manner of doing it, is not only lawful, but 
 sufficient, and most expedient to be, by pour- 
 ing or sprinkling of the water on the face of 
 the child, without adding any other cere- 
 mony.' This was carried. (See Lightfoot's 
 Life, prefixed to the first volume of his Works, 
 folio edition, p. 4, compared with Neal's His- 
 tory of the Puritans, vol. ii, pp. 106, 107, 
 compared with the Appendix, No. II, quarto 
 edition, where the ■ Directory,' as finally 
 passed, is given at full length.) 
 
 "We do not learn precisely, either from 
 Lightfoot's biographer, (who was no other than 
 the indefatigable Strype,) or from Neal, by what 
 
TREATISE ON BAPTISM. 251 
 
 vote the clause, as moved by Lightfoot, was 
 finally adopted, but Neal expressly tells us 
 that ' the Directory passed the Assembly with 
 great unanimity.' 
 
 " From this statement, it is evident that the 
 question which was carried in the Assembly 
 by a majority of one, was not whether affusion 
 or sprinkling was a lawful mode of baptism, 
 but whether all mention of dipping, as one of 
 the lawful modes, should be omitted. This, 
 in an early stage of the discussion, was carried 
 by a majority of one in the affirmative. But it 
 would seem that the clause, as finally adopted, 
 which certainly was far more decisive in favor 
 of sprinkling, or affusion, was passed * with 
 great unanimity.' At any rate, nothing can 
 be more evident than that the clause, as it 
 originally stood, being carried by one vote 
 only, and afterwards, when recommitted, and 
 so altered as to be much stronger in favor of 
 sprinkling, and then adopted without difficulty, 
 the common statement of this matter by our 
 Baptist brethren is an evident misrepresen- 
 tation." 
 
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