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BAPTISM

-BY-

ELDER W. S. CRAIG

COZAD, NEBRASKA

PRICE 15 CENTS

-1943-

Samford University Library

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SOME NOTES, COMMENTS AND EXTRACTS 0~ THE MODE AND SUBJECTS OF BAPTI SM

BY ELDER W. S. CRAIG.

I am bt·inging out this little Booklet on Baptism with the prayerful desire that it may benefit my readers. While the material for a very large book on this subject is quite abundant, but the cost of such would be prohibitive. Also in this busy age, a large work would be read by only a comparatively few. Therefore, a very brief treatise whose size and expense is small, seems the most fitting and advisable. Those who are really intere!:ted about Baptism, if their eyes meet with these pages, should be able to find the little time required to r ead them. It is only what people interestingly read and se•iously meditate upon, that benefits them very much May the graciou!: Lord be pleased to bless the minds a nd hearts of all my readers in their perusal of the following, which has been written in kindness, even towards those who may differ from me.

I believe that Baptism and the Lord's Supper may properly be called Ordinances of the Lo,.d Jresus Christ. "Ordinance. a t•cligious 1 ite or ceremony."-Funk & Wagnalls. "Ordinance; an institution established by lawful authority. Religious ordinances must be instituted by the great Institutor of religion, or they are not binding. * * Ordinances of the Gospel, ate institutions of divine authority relating to the worship of God; c:uch as Baptism and the Lord's Supper."-Brown. '<And keep the ordinances as I delivered them to. you." -1 Cor. 11 :2. To my mind, Paul here has reference to Baptism and the Lord's Supper, which he· had received from J esus Christ and· had delivered to the Corinthian Church. Gill agrees with thi~ view.

"Baptize. (Greek, 'baptizein,' to dip in water)." -Winston. "Baptizo, to dip in or under water." -Liddell & Scott. "The very word baptize, how-ever, signifies to immerse; and it is certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient church." -Calvin, Inst., 2-491.

"It is true, the first baptisms of which we read in Holy Writ were clippings of the persons baptized."-Poole, 3-146. "Th~ baptism of the apostolic


churehes was imme rsion."- MacArthur, 8. " In p1 imitive limes, the manner of baptizing was by immersion, or dipp ing the whole body into water."

Samuel ('Iarke, Campbell -Rice D'ebate, 235. I believe that Ba ptism is one of the most solemn

and important duties of Lhe believer and should be c:u·pfully a nd reverenlia Jly practic~d, beca use it has 1 ec<' i,·NI the we ightiest approval from heaven. This ordinance 1s to he administered in th·e ljacred name of the Trini ty, and in this respect it stands alone . " No other act of obedience must be performed 'In the na me of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' The Trinity took part in the baptism of Christ."

"And they were baptized of him in the r iver J 01·dan."- Mark 1 :5.- Re vised Ver. "And having been immer sed, J esus came up s t raightway from the wa ter .''- Matt. 3 :16.''- H ovey, Broadus, Weston.

"The end of bapti sm is not only to represent the dea th and buria l, but also the r esurrect ion of Christ from the dead.''- Gill, 8-479. "Bapt ism by immersion is pl obably 1-<ecognized as valid in a ll denominations, and among the Ba pt ists is considered the on ly va lid f orm.''- W ebster.

"Baptist.- Orig inally, one who administered baptism; as J ohn the Baptist; one of tha t denomina tion which believes that Christia ns should 1-<eceive bapt is m only as adults, after a public declara t ion of fai th. a nd by immersion rather than sprinkling .'' - Winston. "Ba ptist.- One holding that the only yalid baptism is the immer sion of a believer ; or iginally, one who baptizes; as J ohn the Baptist.''Funk & Wagnalls.

"Baptism is a positive ins t itution, and the obli~ation to practice it arises wholly from the a uthority of the Saviour. H is command is the origin a nd the rule of our duty respecting bapt ism ; w e must obey the precept exactly as it was meant to be observed; we have no right t o deviate in t he slighte<>t degree.''- Brown's Cy., 181. It is a pla in g osp•cl ordinance, and to lay it aside by any manner of subst itu tion, is surely r ebellion against t he Lord .

"Why do the Old Baptists teach that true believers are the only proper subjects for baptism ? Ans. Because the Scr iptures so t each (Matt. 3 :6, 8 ;

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28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38, 41; 8 :36-38; 10:44-48; 16:31-4)."- Elder Pitt.man's Qucs . and Ans., 11.

"Why do they baptize by immers ion only? An:; . Because, as all scholars admit, baptism, a Greek word, means nothing but immersion, and docs not in a single passage in Gre·ck literature up to A. D. 100, the end of the Apostolic Age, mean s prinkling ot· pouring."- Eld. Pittman's Ques. and Ans., 11.

"What passage of Scripture contains the strongest proof that Immers ion or dipping is baptism ? Ans. There are so many passages proving this fact that it is hard to say which is the strongest proof of it. Perhaps Rom. 6:4-5 is the strongest passage; but such passages as Matt. 3-13-17; Acts 8 :36-39 are strong enough. But the strongest proof of all is the Greek word 'Baptizo,' translated or rather transliterated 'Baptize,' which, accord ing to all European and American Scholars , never means t o sprinkle or pour, but always to dip or immer se."Elder Pittman, Ques. & Ans ., 11.

"Schaff says: ' Immersion, and not sprinkling, was unquestionably the original form. This is shown by the very meaning of the words, bapt izo, baptisma and baptismos used to designate the rite." - Hiscox.

"Waddington says: 'The sacraments of the primitive church were two: that of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Th<e ceremony of immersion, the oldest form of baptism, was performed in the name of the three persons of the Trinity.' "- Hiscox.

"And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

"And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip.''- Acts 8:38-9.

"'They went down both into the water'- not To but Into the water; for it is stated in the next verse that they came up Out Of the water. * * It was necessary for both to go down into the water, in order that Philip might baptize- that is. Immerse the eunuch. The positive proof of Immersion is the meaning of the word Baptizre. The connecting circumstances confirm it."-Clark.

Acts 8:38-9. "'And they went down both into 3


the walt'l', holh Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him:' upon which Calvin has this note; 'hence \\l' se(• what was lhe manner of baptizing with the ancients, for tlwy plunged the whole body into walc>r.' And inclt•cd. if an~· other mode had been praclic<'d then, as sprinkling or pouring of water, thPre would han• been no necessity of their going out of tht' chariot. and much less of their going down into th(• water. • 'And when they were come up out of the water.'- Which is another circumstance shewing that baptism was then performed h\' imm<'rsion; wilh this compare Matt. 3 :16."Gill.

''And .Jesus, when H e was baptiz·ed went up stmightway out of the water.''-Matt. 3 :16. "From the water whl'l'e lie was immersed to the bank of the Jordan. The preposition used here in the original means 'from;' 'out of' is the meaning of the prepos ition found in Acts 8 :39, and so translated there. The pl'culiar force of "straightway' should not be overlooked. lTl' W<'nt up immediately.''-Ciark.

"Christ was a Baptist, and His disciples were Baptists. .John the Baptist, who was sent of God to baptize in water, received his authority from heaven and not from man. He baptised Christ and perhaps all His disciples. Christ perpetuated this ordinance by the commission given His Apostles." - Elder Wilson Thompson, 281.

John the Baptis t baptized (immersed) our blessed Redeemer in the river Jordan, thus setting forth an unmistakable example for His peopl~ to follow. And this ought to settle the question with all those who want to be governed by Him. Baptism represents a burial, and only complete immersion can be a burial. Also, believer s only were baptized in Primitive times, and only believers should be baptized today. Thre·e things are absolutely necessary to valid and orderly baptism: First, a true Believer; !'econd, a legal Administrator; and third. the proper "Mode.

"Baptism is the peculiar privilege of the believer. We have shown that the believer is 'born of God:' 'is passed from death unto life,' and that he 'shall not comrc into condemnation.' The design of baptism is not to bring about a new birth, or save

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from condemnation."-Eld. J. II. Oliphant, Prin. and Prac., :n1.

"In all human literature then• is not another word whose meaning is more certain, and yet more disputed, than the Greek word ' baptizo.' "-274. "It was a terrible sin, visited by a terrible puni'ihmcnt, for man to presume to alter an ordinance of God under the Old Dispensation (Lev. 10; Num. 16; 1 Sam. 13; 2 Sam. 6); and the ordinances of the New Testament, though fewer in number, are not of les!> solemnity and authority, nor is there any Scriptural ev idence that they may be altered by man. H~ who instituted these ordinances alone can change or· abrogate them. No theories or traditions or pr<'cepts of men are to be allowed to make void or modify the commandments of God.''-Hassell, 277.

John Gill, giving an old version of an extract from Calvin, says, "And Calvin expressly says, 'The word baptizing signif ies to plunge; and it is certain, that the rite of plunging was used by the ancient churches.' "-Bod. Div., :3-307. And on page 308, Gill gives a number of "our best Lexicoggraphers" and "besides a number of critics" that "by whose united testimonies" agree that baptize means to "dip or plunge into," and not "pour or sprinkle.''

" I n the Scriptures baptism is immersion in water. The mode is fixed for all times. No authority out of heaven can change it. One Lord, one faith, and one baptism. Any change in this ceremonial institution destroys it.''-Cathcart, 1-69.

Thomas Goodwin, 1600-1697, an eminent Puritan divine and member of the Westminister Assembly, says in his Glories of Christ, 1-97, "We are said to be buried with Him in baptism, etc., (Rom. 6 :4; Col. 2 :12), "' * being first buried under water, and then rising out of it."

"The word baptize is rendered in all ancient versions of the Scriptures to dip.''-Orchard. 3. "The ancient manner of baptism was by immersion.''Wesley, by Hassell, 276. Mosheim says of the first century, that baptism was "by immersing the candidates wholly in water."- 1-87.

"The Roman Catholic Council of Ravenna, in 1311, was the fi1'st council which l'egalized baptism by sprinkling, by leaving it to the choice of the officiating minister.''-Hassell, 276.

5 Samford University Library

"Baptism was originally administered by immcrsion."-Neander, 197. "Immersion was, there is no doubt, the first rule of the church."-Sanfo. d's Cy., 81.

"It is undoubtedly true that the preponderance of proof is in favor of the position that baptism was, in the first instance, administered only by immersion; that the very word for baptism used in the Greek New Testament means plainly to 'immerse,' and not sprinkle; and that the ablest opponents of the Baptists have been compelled to admit that the argument drawn from the early practice of the church is in their favor."-Schmucker, 38.

"We believe and teach that J ohn baptized Jesus in the river Jordan in such form that it is likened to a burial. All well informed historians concede that the Apostles baptized by immersion in water." - Eld. Cash, Standing With A ., 13.

Martin Luther translated Matt. 3:1, " In those days came John the dipper."-Orchard, 344. "Luther sought to restore immersion, but without effect."- Schaff, 2-2'51. "And John also was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was much water there."--John 3:23. "And what was sufficient to immerse the whole body in, as Calvin, Aretius, Piscator, and Grotius, on the place observe."-Gill, 7-800.

"Pouring, aspersion, and sprinkling were customs among the heathen, before Christ or Moses." - Orchard, 170. "These lustrations, holy water, and sprinklings, were by the Catholics borrowed from the heathens."-171.

"The whole English church used immersion as its regular baptism down to the Reformation."Cathcart, 1-78.

"In 1644 the celebrated Westminister Assembly had an exciting discussion about putting immersion in their confession along with sprinkling and pouring. Immersion was ably defended by Mr. Marshall and :Mr. Coleman, among the foremost members of that body, and when the first vote was taken, immersion was defeated by only one vote."-Cathcart, 1-78.

"Native Greeks must understand their own language better than foreigners, and they have al-

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ways understood the word baptism to signify dipping; and therefor e from their first embrac:ng of Christianity to this day they have always baptized, and do yet baptize, by immersion. This is an authority for the meaning of the word baptize prefe table to European lexicographers; so that a man, who is obliged to trust to human testimony, and who baptises by immersion, because the Greeks do, understands a Greek word exactly as the Greeks themselves understand it; and in this case, the Greeks are * * safe guides."-DaYis, 163.

"We apprehend that no well informed person will deny that Prof. Porson was one of the best Greek scholars that have been known in this country (England); and he says expressly, ' I t is absurd to imagine that baptizo has any other proper meaning t han to d ip entirely, or plunge, or immerse. * '-' The Baptis t s have the advantage of us." - John Gadsby, Baptism, 39. "We have shown that all kinds agree-Romanists, Episcopalians, Independents, and Scotch Presbyterians, that Immer sion was the original mode, though they all now think that sprinkling does as well."- 99.

"The Edinburg Encyclopedia (Art. Baptism) gives the following account of the r ise of sprinkling: 'The first law to sanction aspersion as a mode of baptism was by Pope Stephen II . in 753. But it was not till the year 1311 that a council held at Ravenna declared immersion or sprinkling to be indifferent. In this country (Scotland), however, sprinkling was never practiced in ordinary cases till after the Reformation; and in England, even in the reign of Edward VI. (about 1550), immersion was commonly observed.' But during the Teign of the Catholic Mary, who succeeded to the throne on the death of Edward, 1553, persecution drove many of the Protestants f r om their homes, not a few of whom, especially the Scotch, found an asylum in Geneva, where, under the influence of John Calvin, they imbibed a preference for sprinkling. 'These Scottish exiles,' says the above authority, 'who had renounced the authority of the P ope, imp licitly acknowledged the authority of Calvin; and returning to their own country, with John Knox at their head, in 1559 established sprinkling in Scotland. From Scotland this practice made its way


into England in the reign of Elizabeth, but was not nuthorizt•d in England until the action of the Wt•st mi ni~ter Assembly in lG t:L and confirmed by l'arlinwnt in 16·1·1.' ''-Hiscox, 80-1.

"In thc Douay (Ca tho lic) B ible, with Haydock's .:'\ ntcs. which have rcccivt•d the official endorscnwnt of the Pope him~elf, and therefore come with tlw highe~t Roman Catholic autl1ority, I find, 011 J\latl. :Ul· 'Baptized. The word baptism sig-nifies a washin~, particularly when it is done by immersion or dipping or plunging a thing under water, whid1 was formerly the ot·dinat·y way of administe ring the sacrament of baptism. But the church, "hieh eannot change the least a rticle of the Christian faith. is not so tied up in the matters of di~eipline and ceremonie~. Not only th·e Cathol ic Chureh. but also the pretended r eformed churches, han• altC'red the primitive custom in giving the sacrament of baptism, and now allow of baptism by pouring or sprinkling wate r upon the person baptiz<.'d : nay, many of their mini~ters do it nowadays h~· filliping a wet finger and thumb over the chi ld's h<.'ad or ~haking a wet finger or two over the child. which it is hard enough to call baptism in any sense.' Again. on Mark 1:9, t he same authority says: 'That Christ. wa~ baptize<] by immersion is clear from the text; for he who ascended out. of the water must. first haYe descended into it. And this m ethod was of general u~e in the church f ot· 1300 years, a s appear1' from the acts of councils and ancient rituals.'" - T. T. Eaton, Faith of Baptists, 50.

"1 ow let us look at sprinkling. Nothing whateve r was known of this unt.il the thirteenth century, though the immersing of children sprang up in the third ."-Gad~by, 101. "'It is a great mis take t o suppo!'e that baptism by immersion was discontinued when infant baptism became generally prevalent. The practice of immersion continued even to the 1:Hh and 14th centuries.'-Coleman. 'If YOU consult the Edinburg Ency.. the British Ency., and Enc~·clopedia Americanna, Article Baptism, you will find a complete history of the whole subject, the truthfulne1's of which ~·ou will feel no di sposition to question. You will there learn that in E ngland the Westminister Assembly of Divines had a warm d iscussion whether imrner~ion or sprinkling should

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he adopted; hut, by the earnest efforts of Dr. Lightfool, who had great interest in the Assembly, sprinkl ing was adopted by a majority of one. The vol" stood 2-1 for immersion, and 25 for sprinkl ing. Thi~ was in 1 G43.' "-Gadsby, 105.

F. lVI. lams, formerly a Congregationlist, in Before the Foollights, 208-9, after devoting many page~ of admissions of learned writers (who were not Baptists) testifying to the fact that imm<'rsion is the Scriptural mode of baptism, says : "Now, if these witnesses tell the truth, then it follow~ heyond question-1. That immersion was established by command of Christ. 2. That it was set aside in defiance of His command. 3. That the practice of s prinkling is against His authority. ·1. That il is simply c·ustom against Christ. 5 .That in this controversy the Baptists arc right. 6. That in adhering to immersion, they are loyal to Chrisl. 7. That in insisting upon immersion a~ baptism, they honor and obev Christ."

"We cannot recognize a body that practices sprinkling. or pouring for baptism, or baptizes infants, which was not authorized until the third century, therefore, too late to have apostolic approval. We do not recognize the authority of the Roman Catholic organization, or any other body to make changes in doctrine or practice, nor do W<' assume such po"·er. "'e did not come out of the• Roman Catholic church, henc·c arc not Protestants, as arc those who came out of that body. having onl:'-' the baptism that they received from il. as the Episcopalian church in which John ·wesley lived and died. We respect the members of these organizations as neighbors and friends, and can have Christian fellowship for all of such as show evidences of being born again, but we cannot recognize them as churches of J-esus Christ, nor receive their work as churches.''-Elder Walter Cash. Standing With The Apostles, 15-6.

"In every passage in the Bible, ,,·here 'baptizo' is found, 'clip' or 'immerse' will make good sense; hut not so 'sprinkle,' 'pour,' or 'wash.' "-CampbellRice Debate, 234.

"The famil~r of Greek words relating to Baptism springs from the root word 'baptizcin.' which term was in such common usc in Greek literature.


Its ground lll(•aning in all these cases is, 'to imnwrsc, imnwrge, ~uhmcrge, to dip, to plung<', to inhaUw, Lo wlwlm.' This, Donegan, Liddell and Scott, and th~ otht•r great lexicographers uniformly maintain. As a divim• onlinance, Baptism was unknown among the .Jl'\\'S until the lime of Christ, when ]I (• introduc{'() it as a divine appointment from ht•av<•n."- Imp. Ency. Die .. 3-Baptism.

E. T. Hiscox, in hi!:' excellent work on Bapt:sm, pn•sents much information on this subject. Ile ~a~·s. "Let iL be understood, however, that all the emirwnt names and learned authorities here cited are Pedobapl.ists. Bapti~t authorities haYe been l'ntirely omitted; not because their scholarship is less accurate or· less able, or their testimony les~ \\'lighty; but we have preferred to allow our opponents in this controversy to bear witness for us, rather than to testify in ou r own behalf."-7.

"Our Lord, in commanding baptism, evidently sclect<'d sueh words as conveyed His meaning in no doubtful terms. And the sacred writers, in transmitting His command to posterity, a s well as His Apostles in preaching His gospel to the nations, chose from all the words of the Greek language that one which accurately and truthfully conveyed His mcanin!A to those who should believe upon His name. ' * ·Bapl.izo' is found eighty times in the );ew Testament, and is a derivitive from 'bapto.' In nearly ;:,eventy it is used to designate this ordinance,-and no other word is u sed for that purpo;:.e. 'Bapl.isma,' a baptism, an immersion, is f ound twenty-two lime;:,, and 'baptismos,' the act of baptizing, or immersing, four times, formed from 'baptizo.' Dr. Carson, Prof. Stuart, and others, have abundantly proven that thi~ word means to 'dip,' 'plunge. or immer;:,e; and that, primarily and propnly, it means nolhing else."- H iscox, 13-4.

"And Jesus, whrn He was baptized, went up straightway oul of the water.''-l\Iatt. 3:16. "And slraightway coming up out of the water."-Mark 1:10. "Does nol the Ycry fact of His going down into the water·, c:o as lo come up out of the water, show * '-' that His baptism was an immersion, or burial in the water? "-Hiscox, 16-7.

"Calvin, whom Sc:aliger pronounced the most learned man in Europe, says : 'From these words of

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John (3 :2:3) it may be inien·ed LhaL bapt.i~m was adminisLered, by John and Christ, by 'plunging' Lhc whole body under waLer.' "-Hiscox, 20.

"Beza says : 'Christ commanded us to be baptized; by which word it, is certain 'immersion' is signified.' "-Hiscox, 25. "Scholz ~ays: 'BapLi.~m consisLs in the 'immersion' of the whole bodv in water.' "-Hiscox, 27. ·

"'Baptizo' is rendered 'to dip,' by the PeshiLo, Syric, Arabic, Ethiopic, Coptic, BoLhic, German of LuLher, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish, verl'ions. * * The Syrians, the Armenians, Lhc Persian~, and all the oriental nations, who must have understood the Greek word 'baptizo,' have practiced dipping, and it is so rendered in th·eir versions of the S::riptures.'' - Ot·chard, 127.

"The Christians of Chri~t's time are called by the Jews . in a way of contempt, apostates, that received the doctrine of baptism, and were dipped in J ordan. The manner in which they were baptized by him w::ts by immersion or plunging them in the wate r: this may be concluded from Lhe significat.ion of the word here used, which in the primary sense of it signifies to dip or plunge; from the place in which they were baptized, the river Jordan; and from John's constant manner of baptizing elsewhere, who chose places for this purpose, where and because there was there much water; J ohn 1 :28; 3 :2:3."-Gill, 7-21.

"As the Saviour's will is our only rule in baptism, and as that will is t'cvcaled in the Bible alone, we must resort to the Bible to ascertain what is baptism, and who are the proper subjects. * * They (Baptists) accordingly appeal to the Scriptures, and ins ist, that if any practice, claiming to be a positive Christian rite, is not clearly sanctioned by the Bible, it must be rejected, whatever arguments may be produced in its favor from supposed analogies. or from the practice of some portion sof the Christian world.''- Brown's Cy., 181.

"The column entitled 'The Lexicographer's Easy Chair,' in the 'Literary Digest' of l\Iarch 7th. has the following for its first item: 'The word' 'baptize' came into the English from the old French 'baptizer,' from the late Latin 'baptizo' from 'bapto,' dip. T herefore, the idea if sprinkling is not to be


n--sociat<.'d with il.'" Elder \\'alter Ca sh, :'llcs::;eng<'r of Pt•at·e. :\[a\· I, I !125.

",Jcsus stlluniilcd to be baptized, that is, buried undt•r t he water· hy .John, and to be raised ou t of it again, as an emblem of His future death and t't•sutTection." Dr. Macknight, Presbyterian, C:acls-11\·. 12. ·'Nom• of the great. re formers· Lu the r , (':1h in. t>tc .. cvt•t· thought of den~·ing that immersion \\a!" the or iginal mode. whet.lwr for infants or adults.'' Gadsby, 11.

"The Romanist bishop, Bossuet, ::;ays, 'Baptism hy immersion is tleady estahl' shed in thl' New TPslament.' And he goes on to say that the r t formt•t·s, Luther. Melancht.on, Calvin, Grotius, and otlll'r~ as well as those who bel't understoncl the (;rpek' languagP and the ancient custom of hrth .Jt•\\'s and Gentiles all agree upon this point." Gacbby, 14. ''The Eastern churches to this da~ tall the \\'e~tern churches 'sprinkled Christians ,' by way of derision."- Prof. Stewart. by Gadsby, 71.

''Carnality and convenience arc the causes of the substitution of sprinkling or pouring for baptism bv Roman Catholics and their Protestant. imitator~.' The Greek Catholics, who certainly ;mow ''hat the Greek word baptizo mean!' , immerse even infants in the cold climate of northern E urope ~nd Asia, and call the Roman Catholic pope at~ unbaptizrd heretic. Not until 1311, did even T{oman Catholics, at their council at Ravenna in northern Italy, authorize the substitution of sprinkling or pouring for baptism. Of course, no so~iet.'· t hat thus presumes to change the ordinance of the Divine Sa\'iour. i!:: a true church of Christ, a!t hou}!ht some of their members may be believers in Chr is t. Water baptism is essential to obedience, but not :-o salvation."- Hassell, Gospel l\Iess ., Mch., 1922.

Philip Schaff. Presbyterian, Church History, 7-586 says the "Old Sch·ool Presbyterian General As~cmbly held at Cincinnati, 1845, with an o\·erwhelming majority, declared Roman Cath0!ic baptism to be invalid, and thus virtuallv unchurched and unbaptized the greater part of Chris tendom, including the f ounder s of the Protestant chutche:o, who were baptized in the R oman commu1<on. •:• ':' In the year 1885 an attempt was made to re-enact that decision, it faikd by a very large majority.

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Calvin did nol unchurc:h lhe Churc:h of Rome." We believe wilh Eld<'r Lamplon: " l. "''hht r0

organization but a lrue Churc:h of C~risl, vi~ihl•, can administer scriptural and orderly bapl'~m. •) If baptism is considered scriptural and valid, th~·J. the church administering it must be acknowledged and treated as a true Church of Christ, vic;iHc•. :;. T hat there is and c:an he hut one true Church of Christ, vi>< ible, on earth." And that Church we }>(•lieve to be lhe Primitive Baptist Churc"h. They baptise on ly those whom they believe manifest sp ir itual evidences of having already been born again.

"Was John's baptism Christian bapti-·m ?" "Tf John'!= baplism was not Christian baptism, I would like to know what was. Christ asked lhe Jc,,·s whether it was of man, or from heaven; and they dared not answer the question; and no sprinkler dare answer it yet. * * Chrisl was baptized by John, and it is unreasonable lo suppose that He was baptized in one way, a nd yet required His follow~rs to be baptized another way. To follow Christ il is essentia l that we should be baptized as He was"Eld. G. M. Thompton, 406.

"John was the first administrator of the ordinance of baptism, and therefore called 'the Baptist,' (1\Iall. 3:1) by wa y of emphasis. * '~ John had a mission and commisison from God, he "·as a man sent of God, and sent to baptize (John 1 :6, 3:3), and his baptism was water-baptism, this he affi rms, and lhe places he made usc of for that purpose shew it, and none will deny it. Now his bapt ism, and that of Christ and His apostles, were the same. Christ was baptized by John. and his baptism was surely Christian-baptism. <-, * And it is observable, that the baptism of J ohn, and the baptism of Christ and His apostles, were at the same time; they were contemporary, and did not the one SU<'<'t>c.>d the other. * * Those whom John baptized were sensible penitent sinners, who were convinced of th eir sins. * * For an act of religious worship there must be a command of God. * * A command from men is not sufficient. * * The end of baptism, which is to represent the burial of Christ, cannot be answc1'ecl in any other way than by immersion, or covering the body in water; that baptism is an


cmhlt•m of the burial of Chrisl, is clear from Rom. G:cl; and Col. 2:12. • * As none can be sa id to he buried, unless put under ground, and covered with carlh ; so none can be said to be baptized, but s uch who arc put under water, and covered " ·ith it. "' * A corpse cannot be sa id lo be buried when only a Iittlc earth or dust is sprinkled or pom·ed on it. * * The ark in which oah and his family were savcd by water, was God's ordinance; it was mad.J ac:::onling to the pattern lie gave Noah, as baptism is ; and as that was the object of the scorn of men, so is lhe ordinance of baptism, r ightly administered ; and a~ it represented a burial, when Noah and hi s fami ly were shut up in it, so baptism; and when the fountains of the gr<eat deep were broken up below, and the windows of heaven were opened above, the ark, with those in it, were as it wen~ covered with and immersed in water; and so was a figure of baptism by immersion: and as there were none but adult persons in th·e ark, who were saved by water in it, so none but adult persons are the proper subjects of water baptism; and though there were few who wer·-e in the ark, it was attended with a salutary effect to them; they were saved by water; so such who truly bel ieve in Christ and arc baptized, shall be saved, and that by the resuncction of J esus Christ, which was typified by the coming of Noah and his family out of the ark; to which bapti~m, a s the antitype, corresponds, b'eing an emblem of the same. * * It represents the sufferings, burial, and resunection of Christ. * * Hie; sufferings are r epresented by going into t he water, and being ovewhelmed in it, His burial by a short continuance under it, and being covered with it, and His resurrection by an emersion out of it * * 'By the r essurection of Jesus Christ;' that is, b:-.· leading the faith of the person baptized to Christ, as delivered for his offences, and as risen again f or his justification."- Gill. Bod. Div., 3-289.

INFANT BAPTISM "Thos'e who hold the doctrine of infant bap

t ism are styled Pedobaptists." " ow as to the baptism of infants, it is quite

certain tha t nothing was heard of it until the close of the second or the early part of the third centur y. Tertullian, who died in 220, was th'e f ir st

14

I J


writer upon the subj~ct, ~o fat· a s his tory gives us any information. And C\ en then it was hy immersion."- Gadsby, 66.

"Ant:quity is urged in favor of inf ant ba pt ism; it is pretended that thi~ is a t · adition of thc• church rece ived ft·om the Apo;;tlcs ; though of thi s no other proof is given, but the tc~timony of Origin, nom• before that; and this i ~ taken, not from any of hi s genuine Greek writings, only from some Latin t ra nslations, confessedly interpolated, and so conupted, that it is owned, one is at a loss t o find Origin in Origin. No mention is made of thi s practice in the• first two centuries, no ins tance given until the third, when Tertull ian is the fir~t who spoke of it, and at the same time spoke against it."- Gill, Bod. Div., 3-307.

"It cannot be proved by the sacred Sc.1 iptu 1·1> ~ that infant baptism was instituted by Chri.-l or begun by the f irs t Chris tians aftet· the Ap0.;1.l:!s."·Luther, by Gadsby, 73. "There being ne it her rrecept nor precendent in the Word of God for infa:1t baptism, it may be justly condemned as unscript ur. al and unwarrantable."-Gill, God. Div., 3-2!:>7.

"'In England, of late years , I ever thou :-;1-- l the parson baptized his own finger s rather than 'he child.'- John Seldon, a man of vas t l(!arni!'lg, who lived in England in the 17th century, ,,·hen ,_prinkling was newly introduced into thi s C)Un try."'Gadsby, 74. "It is nowhere expressed by the Eva ngelists that any one infant was baptized.''- Calvin, by Gadsby, 74. "The persons to be bap~izcd wf' rc

" not, of course, unconscious infants .''- :\Ioshcim, by Gadsby, 75.

"The baptism of infants in the firs t two Cl'nturies after Christ was altogether unknown; bu l in the 3rd and 4th was allowed by some f e\v. In the 5th and following ages it \vas g enerally received. The custom of baptizing infants did not begin before the third age after Christ was J..o1·n. ln the former ages no trace of it appears . It was introduced without Christ's command."-Curccllaeu!i, Prof. of Divinity, Geneva, by Gadsby, n. '·The church of the Reformation swallowed the camel cf P edobaptism."- Bunsen, by Gadsby, 73.

" In the days of Constantine, early in the four th centur y, Christianity became a respectable profes-


sion. It was no longer necessary lhat persons lo he baptized should be believers. On the contrary, the emperor gave lhose slaves their freedom who would be baplized, and rewarded other:> in like manner; so Lhat 12,000 men, besides women and minors, were baptized in one year. But mind, this was by immersion, as the emperor himself was baptized, as we have else\vhere shown. Here is the root of the universal baptism of the churches of G1 eece and Rome. And the money Constantine lavished in Lhe bui lding of churches, rivaling the heathen temples, would hardly be believed were it not a matter of undisputed history. He patronized the church, and lhus became the head of it."-Gadsby, 67.

"The pagans were in the habit of sacrificing their infants to the gods. Now, if the poor creatures could only be dedicated to God in some other way, how much better that would be! Accordingly, a council was held in 257, called by Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, which was attended by 60 or 70 bishops, or pastors; and baptism of the children again came to the rescu•e. 'Fidus, a country pastor, and humane man, appears to have been desirous of checking. as far as he could, the inhuman practice of sacrificing infants in the rites of pagan idolatry, which prevailed in the remote province where he labored. Could he but get them dedicated to God, the end would be attained; and he wrote Cyprian on the subject. Cyprian not having confidence in his own judgment, submitt ed the letter to the above council, who, appealing to the Jewis h rite of cir- •· cumcision and the Old Testament gen~rally, in- I stead of the rew, consented to their dedication by baptism. * * Such glaring e rrors were sure to lead to others. And not only infant baptism with regeneration accompanying it, but damnation for all who died without baptism speedily followed. * * 'They argued, moreover, that as the sin of Adam had occasioned the pollution of infants, their sa lvation would be secured by baptism. Thus these African divin-es added error to error; and not content with converting the circumcision of the Jew into infant baptism, they confounded the outward rite with the inward grace in the senseless doctrine of baptismal reg-eneration.} * * Here was the begin-

16


n ing of baptismal regeneration, sprinkling followed, after a number of years, the almost universal baptism (by immersion) of infants. * * 'An opinion prevailed that no one could be saved without bcin~ baptized; and for that reason the custom arose of baptizing infants.' "-Gadsby, 92-4.

"An increasingly number of those who claim their liberty to practice infant baptism deny the right of any church to require it, s ince the New Testament gives no command concerning it. Not withstanding all that has been written by learned men upon this subject, it remains indisputable that infant baptism is not mention·ed in the New Testa ment. No instance of it is recorded there; no allusion is made to its effects; no directions are given for its administration. Then, without the authority of Christ or His apostles, it must fall to the ground. Clearly the Lord J esus instructed His apostles whom to baptize, and on what conditions, but went no farther. Infant baptism found little favor in the primitive church'es, till men began to associate the purging of the soul from original sin with the act of baptism. Tertullian denounced it stoutly, and as a doctrine it found no place in Christian theology till Augustine invoked it against Pelagianism. Down to his time, there was in the church no liturgy for the baptism of infants, and Adrianus of Corinth r<efused to baptize them. But in order to silence all opposition to the practice, the Council of Carthage, in 397, pronounced 'an anathema against such as deny that chi ld!'en ought to be

~· baptized as soon as they are born;' and the Council of Milevium, 416, dect<eed that 'whosoever denies that new-born infants are to be baptized, to the taking away of original sin-let him be anathema.' By the 9th century the practice had overcome all opposition. and become almost universal. Towards the close of the 6th century the state interfered, and fee!' were collected for its administration, and often the charg-es became so enormous that the poor could not pay them. Yet, lest their children should die unbaptized and perish, they strained every nerve to secure their baptism."-Imp. Ency., 3-Infant baptism.

"The Council of Milevi, held in 416, cursed all who declared that infants are not to be baptized.


And in 7!17 a penalty ''as infliclc•d on all parents who had not their ehildn•n haptizc·d within a year of tiH·ir hir th. \\'e go on to tlw Councils of Toulouse•, lll!l; Latpran II. , Jl:~!l; Latc·ran III.. 117!1; London, 1 :,ttl; all eondemned those who rejected bapti 111 of infant:<. \\'~·tliffP. ou1· gTeal and good English rcfornwr. had dc•clared that lhosp who held that. in-ant.; could not be saH·d without. bapli~m were• pre

. umptuous and foolish; and Lhis opinion' of Wycliffe' ''as ''hat the above London Couneil condemned."

( ;;ul-;hy, !15. ":\'c•ither immers ion nor ~prinkling has any

thing to do \\ ith saving the> soul. Bul as infant. bapt sm and baptismal regeneration came into the world to·~·Pth<•r. who dare SC'parate th(•m '! * * As the bi~ho:->s al'<l prit>sts belieYed, o1· professed to believe, that , •. i.h mt I aptism no one could possibly be saved, they thoug"ht they \\'ere doing a good \\'Ork in comJWlling all to be baptized, that the ir souls might not h<• lost. The Baptisls not, on ly refused to have t h<'ir childrC'n baptized by Lhe priesls, but also rcfus<•d to rceciY-: inlo their chu rch any who had l•<•c•n so baptized unt'l. on a confession of their fnith, th<•y had been baptized b:v their O\\·n minister:::. This gave rise to the term Anabaptists, or Rebaptism. The most bitter and relentless pen;('Cution was directed e!Opecia lly against t hose who deri.-d infant baptism. This ha:o; continued through P\'C'r~· age. It has not been confined to the Romani-;ts. It has l'een practicC'd by all the so-called ::-hurC'h, s which received infant members wheneYer ard \\'h< re· ·c,. thC'y have been able to obtain power." [

c;adl' bv' 95-6. "In '1:~11 it \\'as decreed that pouring should be

r''-' valid as immersion. But this did not include spr'nkling; neither did it even profess that the PraC'tice was apostolic; it was on ly the Pope of Rome in C'ouncil who orde1·cd it. Clearly, therefore those who folio\\· it arc teaching for doctrine the commandments of men."-Gadsby, 106. • Hisctory J'Pco~ds so ,·ery mu~h concerning the abuse of Christian baptism .

"Al length I relustantl:v confc!'sed myself vanqu'shcd. and gave up the practice of infant bapti~m a prac-tice which no man can defend, C'xcept hy the false pretense that there is in it some hidden,

18


saving efficacy- some secret power to save the soul. • • What is the good of it? What blessing has it ever conferred on the church, the world or the family? How has it ever benefitted one of its unconsc ious subjects '? It has done evil enoughand the evil it has done is evident enough- but what good has it ever done? Ask history, and sh<' will point to the darkest of her many blood-stainc·d pages, and tell you these a1·e the records of its evil deeds. It brought the world into the church, unregenerate, godless, impenitent. It introduced into the church the men who invented the papacy, the men who contrivod its machine ry, the men who fostered its corruptions, the men whose ambitions developed its fearfu l power. I t is not the child but the mother of papacy. It existed before thc papacy, and its existence made the papacy possible. It is the mother and conservator of every state church on earth. It keeps alive all state churches to da~· . with all their festering corruptions. Take it away, and Romanism would die in a single generation. Abolish it, and you abolish Episcopacy in England and Lutheranism in Germany. Abolish it, and you make persecution f or religious opinions f orever imposs ible among the professed disciples of Chri~t. Infant baptism and per secution were absolu tely inseparable fo r more than 1300 years. Only such churches a s cherished infant batism have been guilty of the great sin of persecution. * * The evil infant baptis m has done is written in letters of blood on almost every page of Christendom."-F. M. l ams, (formerly Congregationalist), Behind the Scenes, 21-2.

"Alexander Carson, a most scholarly, profound and conscientious Presbyterian minister of Ireland ( 1776-1844), declared, after long and earnest i nvestigation: 'I found I must either give up the Bible o rgive up infant baptism.' He preferred to give up infant baptism, though with it he had to g ive up honors, riches and friends ; and he became a Baptist, and wrote one of the fullest a nd ablest works extant on the 'Mode and Subjects of Baptism.' "- Hassell, 273.

" Infant dipping led to baptismal r egeneration, t hen to infant sprinkling, and infant sprinkling to adult sprinkling; thus setting aside the r ew Testa-


nH'nt altog<.'thcr." Gadsby, 119. "Infant bapti sm came in quitP naturally as the consequent of the h:>lid in the m•ccssity of bapti~m ."-Schaff-Herzog, l -204. " In 8JG the Counci l of Calcuit (in England) forbade the priests to pour water upon the infants ' heads, hut ord<.>red to immerse them."-Schaff-Herzog, 1-201.

" Indeed, those who aim at a national church must haw• som<.> principle upon which the whole of 'ts inhabitant!' may be compressed within its pale. This infant baptism alone renders possible. All national churches haYe practiced infant baptism. Xothing is plainer than that where national churches arc maintained, infant baptism must be practiced, hecuse the nation is brought into the church in its infancy. In Europe, t his is in fact, one of the principa l arguments in support of infant baptism, that it is the grand foundation upon which r ests the union of church and state, and that without it such union cannot be maintained. All who belong to the nation must belong to the church. T o be in the church, all must be baptized. And to baptize all. thev must receive the ordinance in their infancy. Infant baptism is es·esntial to the union of church and state. H e who defends infant baptism defends the union of church and state. Infant baptism leads to religious persecution. And the fact is well knO\\"n that every state church in all ages, and in all countries, has been a persecuting church. •· * I nfant baptism therefore, is justly changeable \\'ith all their persecutions. If infant baptism is right, a state r eligion is right, and persecution is right. F or the enormities of every state religion, Catholic a nd Protestant, infant baptism is ~ justly cha1·geable. Therefore infant baptism is an enormous eviL- Howell, Evils of Infant Baptism, ~ 225-37, condensed. The True Church while often persecuted has never persecuted others.

"Anabaptists (re-baptisers) . a name sometimes applied incJ:scriminately to all denominations of Christians that deny the validity of infant baptism, but rest1 icted in general usage to certain sects which became prominent in Germany and elsewhere at the period of the Reformation. In both cases the designation originates with opponents, and is repudiated by the great majority of those to whom


't i' applied. Belit·ving, as iht•y do, that the baptism of infants is no baptism, they naturally object to a namt• whi('h implies thai their baptism of such persons a~ may have been baptized in infancy is a s0cond administration of the rite . * · Th('n• is an olr. ious * :· connection belwee nthe Anahapti:-;ts and those earlier sects (Novatians, Donatists, Albigenscs, Waldens<•s) which did not practice infant 1Japti3m."-Amer. Ency. Brit., J-:wo. This nic·knamc given in ridicule, "is manifestly connN·tcd with the contt·oversy about infant baptism catriccl on in the early church."-Imp. Ency. Die., 2. Thi" name Anabaptist is a very old name according to history. The Bapti~ts were more 01· less called that by their opposers, down through the ages, h<'causc they would not receive the so-called baptisms of others. Orchard says of the Albigcnses, "That persons baptized in infancy arc to be ba,, tizPd after they believe, ·which is not to be esteemed rc-bapli. zation, but right baptism."-:317.

Some writers blame the Baptists for that vt•ry disgraceful aJfair at Munster. "No greater injustice can be clone to any people than has bec·n clone to the German Baptists. in the attempt to saddle them with the e\ ils of the Peasant<s' War and the villanies of i\Iunster."-Armitage, 371. "It is the greatest injustice to make the Anabaptists as such responsible for the extravagances that led to the tragedy at Munster. Their original and final tendencies were orderly and peaceful. They disowned the wild fanaticism of l\Iunzcr, Bockelsohn, and Kippcrdolling."-Schaff, by Hassell, 473-4. ''The vis:cious and criminal excesses of these new socalled 'Anabaptists' were earnestly condemned and repudiated by all true Baptists everywh~re, who saw and declared that these false prophets who professed to be inspired of God, wc"e r~ally Jno;pired of the Devil."- IIasscll, 503. "Few \F;t<:>ro; have tl'eated this s ubject with greater care :we! c·learness than Ypeig and Dermont in their 'H1story of the ).Tetherland Church.' They say of thn :'llunster men that while they are known in history as 'Anahaptists,' they ought by no means to be known as Baptists.''-Armitagc, 368. Armitage enter.:; quite fully into a history of that disgr~ceful affair and by plentiful ·evidence makes it plain that tht.! Bap-


t isls of llh' Reformation pPriod had nothin}T to do '' ith the '' ickt•d exn'SH':-> of tht• i\lunster rclw'lio:1, Jut tll'\l the~· strong-!~· condt•mtwd all such f'lPHiic:tl ,·ink net•. ·w~-7 •. "It s hut j usticc to ohst•t'\'t', abo. tll:lt the Baptists in llolland, England, a•·d Ow l'nitt•d Statt•s. arc to ht' t·onsidercd as entirely dislind ft Qm tho~c seditious and fanatical individuals allen t' nwntioncd: as they profess an equal a' t r··ion to all prineiplcs of rcht'llion on the one hand, and of enlhu:·\asm on the otht· t·." Brown's Cy., 78.

"H is awful to behold thousands who ha\'C hN•n b:•ptizt•d in their infanc~· by wat:cr on ly, and who, ' in ttpt•r year~. live and die as complete infid,.]s as

1 those who n<>\'er heard of ChrisL"-Hawkcr, 7-:!.2. In tlw (lth and 7th centuriC's, "The charges for baptizing infants were so C'Xeessi\'e. that many infants \H'll' lo . .;t. which fr ghtencd timerous mother~ into complianee; and thus the rite and trade of infant baptism Wl'nt still togelll<'r."-Orchard, 1G6.

Sc• era! Baptist preachers were f ined, whipped and imp1 isoned in the Congregational state of l\fass. in tht• Colonial days . One court charge against 1-:ld('l' llolmes was that he had denied "The law•'ulness of Infant Baptism." ;.\IacArthur, 15; Annita.~re . li~x. Elder Clarke stal1(1:ng stripped at the whipping post asked, ''\\'hat law of God or man he h·HI ln okl'n '? ., GoYernor Endicott replied, "You lul\·e dl'nit•d Infant Baptism, and dcsene death." " Dr. Ilawk::. the historian of the Episcopal Church of \'a .. :-;a~·s. ·~ .. ) dissenters in \ "a. expe1·ienced, for a tinw. harsher treatment than did the Baptists.'"

Book of Re1igions, 46. In 16G2 a law \Yas pa:;:::ed in \"a. compelling all ch'ldren to be baptized. ·'Jtl . "In lf.i-14 a poor man named Painter, in Boston, was tied up and whipped for refusing to have his ' infant. child l'aptized."-Hassell, 52:3. ( F or more, S('t' Bannoft, Semple, Armitage, Backus, and other:::.)

"The principle of independence as the true relation hct ween Church and state was not brought. t') America by the Puritans. Though the~· left their nat·vc countn· on account of the tn·annv of its church-establi~hment they established 'a state-church thC'n>!<el• es no less tyrannical. No man, they cnl1Ctc•d, who did not belong to the Church of the Colon;.·, should have the freedom of the Colony.

22


'

'

l~omanists, Baptists, and oth<•rs \\(•' c <'X ·ludcd."-Schaff-II<•r?.og, 1-IHO. In 1(} II th<· State of :\lass. pas!>ed a law hani~h ing all who opposNl Infan t haplism--At miLage, GH1. Several Quakers were hangcd.-Ridpath, 12:~; lias. el l, 519. Th<·y oppost·d infant baptism.

A chu1ch established by law i" and will ],p protected hy Jaw, and Lh is 'a:'' a~·s leads to more or less of the law's pow<•t· again,;(, dis~enLcJ's. "('hr·stian ity flouri shes be~L without a state-church."Schaff, G Ha. "Every state-~hurch hom th<· Lmes of the C'ht islian emperor!' of Constantinople lo the limes of lhe Russian Cu1rs and the South American Republics, has mo• e or less pct·secuted the di~senter, in di1 ect violation of the pr.nciplc,; and pract ice of Christ and the apostle!>, and in carnal misUPderstanding of the kingdom of heaven." Schaff. 2-:;G. "The New Testament furnishes not a shadow of !'.uppo1t for the doctrine of per!>ecution. The whole te:1ching and example of Christ and the Apostles arc directly opposed to it. They suffered pe• se~uti on. but they persecuted no one. Their weapons were sp: itual not carnal. They rendered Lo God the things thal arc God's and to C'arsa1· the things that are Caesat·'s."-Schaff, 7-6!:15. "Of all fo1 ms of persecution, religious persecution is the wo. ~t. Lecause it is enacted in the name of God." -7-69:3.

"The Subje~ts of Bapt:sm in the Apostolic ChUlches, we•·e those who repented of sin, and confessed their faith in Christ for salvation; none else were admitted, hence infant baptism was unknown amongst them, either by precept or example, nor have we anv definition of the relation of infants to the Church, or any provision for their discipline. I n itself baptism was the confession of reliance on Christ, ha\'ing no rc•f<'lence to parental faith, or federal relationship." Armitage, 1-12. "Suffer litVe ehi 1dren. and forbid them not, to come unto :\Ie."-i\Iatl. 19:14. "These children do not appear to be new- born babes. The words used hy the evangelists do not always signify such; but are sometimes used of l'UCh who arc capable of going alone· and of being instructed, and of understanding the Scriptures. and c•·en of one of tweh·c years of age.- Malt. 18:2, 2 Tim. :3:15; i\lark 5::39, 42.


:\or i,- it prohahlt• that childn•n just horn should Itt• had ahroad; ht•siclt•s. these were ~mch as Christ called unto Him. Luke l~: l!i . And were capable of t·oming to Him of themseh'l'S. as is su!)J>Ost>d in t lw words lht•mst•h (•s; nor is tlw ir being brought UJ'to l lim. nor i~ laking: them in ll is arms, any ohi<'dion to this. s'ncc llw same an• said of sueh who ;. ltdcl \\alk of lhemseiYes. ::\l atl. 1~:~~; 17:Hi. ·:· •:• It is certain tlw~· were nol brought lo Christ, to hl' haptizl·d h~· Jl im. hut for otht•r purposes; lhat H e ·~hould pul llis h:111ds upon llwm and pray,' as H e dHI. that is. for a blessing- on llwm; as it was usual t \lith thC' Jews lo do.- (;cn. 1~: 1 1- 1 5. l\lark and ~ Lukt• say. tlwy \\"t'rC' hroug-hl lo II in1, 'that lie should touch them.' as lie did ''"hen 1 Ic !waled per~ons of mst•ase;.: ho\\ en•r. lhe~· were not brought, to he l,aplized h~· Christ; for Christ baptized none al all, adults or :nfant:-. The rea»on given for suffer-ing lit tie childn•n to come lo Clwi:::t. for of such is tlw king-dom of heaYen. is to he understood in a figurative and nwtaphorical sense. •:• •:• Which sense i» gi\"t•n b~· Origin, among- lhe ancients, and by C'ah·in and Bnlg-t>nsi,, among- the moderns." (;ill, Bod. DiL :~-~91-5.

IXF.-\XT CO:\L\lUi\IOX "As infanl baplism was inlroduced in the Lhird

ccntur~·. so was infant communion; and the latler continued in the Lalin church till the n inth century, and still continues in th<• Greek church. The Pt>dobaplist churches, though professedly baptizing ( lmt reall~· rhanlizing- or sprinkling) infanls, ineon~i~lenth· withhold the communion from tnfant~-e"e~·y argument for or against the one practice is equal!~· 'alid for ot· against. the other; there i~ no reason or Scripture for eilher."-Hassell, 286.

"There is quile as much to prove infant communion as there is to prove infanl baptism. Th<:>y r<:>st upon the !'ame argument; and the traditional hi!'tm·~· that would JH'O\'e the antiquity of the one would proYe the antiquity of the other. The Greek church "·hen it baptizes an infant also admit,~ it to the Lord's lable and feeds Lhe child w ilh a spoon."-Christian, Com .. 212. "Lundy, Episcopalian. says, 'Baptism and t he eucharist t herefore are for infants jm;t as much as for adults.' "-214. "1.

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; l

Infant communion is a s authoritat:ve a~ infant baptism. 2. And what is mol'c to our point, a s long as our Pcdobaptist friend s di sregard the voice of all antqu:ty, and s till will not commune with their own child ren, they ought not to accuse us of being illiberal. We, at least, do commune with our own membeship." 2HJ.

"As it was the orth African church that the ne::essity of infant baptism was first peculiarly ins is ted upon, so also did they join this notion of infant communion." 'eander, 213. "The Lord's Supper was more frequently repeated in some churches than in others, but was considered in all as of the highest importance, and as essential to salvation; for wh"ch reason it was thought proper to adminis ter it to infants ."- Mosheim, by Gadsby, 98. "Cyprian relates concerning a sucking child, who so violently refused t o take the sacramenta l wir:e that the deacon was obliged to open her lips ard pour it down he r throat."- Dr. Hook, Dean of Chilchester· by Gads by, 98. " The r eason for laying aside infant communion in the Latin church was, lest by puking up the holy symbols t he sacremcnt should be dis honored."- Bishop J. Taylor, by Gadsby, 98. " Infant commun ion is rejected by all Protestant churchcs."-Sanford's Cy., 440.

INFANT SALVATION P1·imitive Baptis ts have often been unjustly

charged with believ ing in Infant Damnation. Some suppose that Election and Predestinat!on will necessarily lead into the belief that some infants must be lost; when the truth is, that on ly those \\"ho are Predes tinarians really believe and hold such views a s is truly calculated to save dying infants. The Baptists believe that all dying in infancy are saved by the blood of Jes us Christ. In my Booklet, Infa nt Salvation. I have tried to scripturally explain and defend their salvation.

"The doctrine of infant damnation was unknown to the early church. * * The Roman Church, a ccepting Augustine's conceptions of the necessity of baptism to salvat ion, and the mildness of the punishment of those who died unbaptized, agreed with h im that they were sent to hell, and assigned to them a separate place in it. * * Zwingli taught that all


elect chi ldren who die in infancy are sa,·ecl, whether thev are baptized or not. whether Pagan or Christian; and further, that all who die in infancy arc elect. since their early death is a token of God's pccul'ar mercy, and thet·efore of their salvation. Luther, on the other hand, taught the necessity of baptism to salvation; and this doctrine is part of the Lutheran creed, involving baptismal regeneration. • • Calvinism, by its doctrine of election, 1·ids itself of the stigma of infant damation. • * The Lutherans, and all others who teach baptismal regenerat:on, are logica lly shut up to the view that all who die unbaptized, are lost."-Schaff-Herzog. 2 1079-80. "All infants, idiots, and all believers are saved by gracc."- 1-:-!71. "All who die in infancy are saved. * * The Scripture nowhere exclude any class of infants, baptized or unbaptized, born in Christian or in heathen lands, of believing or unbelieving parents, from the benefits of the redemption of Christ."- Hodge's The., 1-2'6.

"The doctrine of universal infant salvation i s now adopted by almost all Protestant divines, especially by Calvinists, who are not hampered by the theory of baptismal regeneration."-Schaff, 7-560. "Bible Baptists have always believed that all children who die in infancy are regenerated by the almighty grace of God and go directly home to the loving arms of J esus."- Hassell, 270.

"Every child dying in infancy is saved. This is the doctrine of the Baptist denomination. Not of a few only, nor of our churches, and people, of the present day alone. It is the doctrine which has been invariably held by us in all countries and in everv age; it is the doctrine taught by the word of God."-Howell, 175-6.

"The doctrine that all dying in infancy are saved, was first taught by the Baptists. They held not only that an adult believer would be saved, though he died without baptism, but that all dying in infancy were saved. This doctrine continually appears in the charges against Baptists who were put to death fo r their faith, * * by the Lutherans. Among their announced views was the doctrine that 'all infants, even those of Turks, Gentiles and Hebrews, are saved without baptism.' The first time this doctrine appears in a n~n-Baptist creed, \t is


mentioned only to be condemned. The Augshurg Confession of 15:W says : 'They ( lh<' church<•s putling forth thi~ <Teed) condemn the Anabaptists (a ni.:k-name of the Baptists) who reject lh<• lmpti sm of children, and declare that children arc saved without Baptis m.'" l\IacArthur, Why I Am, J.l.

BAP TI SMAL HEGENERATION AND SALVATIO

As this doctrine gave rise to infant baptism, Ol' course it is very closely conn~ctcd with that subject. While P rimitive Baptists wish to carefully follow the mode of baptism which J esus Christ personally laid down for a ll believers to follow, yet they do not idol ize and worship thi s ordinance as a mC'ans of obtaining salvation and etemal life. Baptism is plainly a command and duty of the bel iHer, and who is a lready in possess ion of eternal life. It s hould never be forgotten that the New Birth must su1·ely come fir!'t, and before there can really he any stepping into any Christian or gospel obedie nce .

"Baptism is not, as virtually represented by the pre\ ailing Catholic and Protestant theories, a magical, mater ial, chemical or electric means and instrument of grace and salvation; but it is simply and beautifully the divinely-ordained outward symbol or emblem of the inward spiritual cleans ing of our guilty souls by the saving a pplication which the H oly Sp'rit makes to us of the atoning blood of the Lord J esus Christ. No ordinance of Chri ~t must be put idolatrously in the place of Christ."-Hassell, 279. Anything which is calculated to pervert the real purpose of baptism, is a grievous affront to J esus Christ and a great wrong to all believers.

"The first great error among Christians was t hat water baptis m in some way removed the s ins of penitents . * * When th:s conviction about the powe r of haptism to take away the sins of believers became common in the third century, then for the f irst time the baptism of unconscious babes was thought of."-Cathcart, 1-74.

" They w ould have the whole uncleanness of our natures to be washed away by baptism; and having thus shifted themselves of the filth of orig inal s in, a s easily a s a man may change his

2'7 Samford University Library

clothes wh0n foul."-John Owen, The Holy Spirit, ;W 1. 1 f haplismal reg-<'neration be true, does not man's will hav<.> a pari in il? When a man is baptiz('(l, is ht• not willin~t '? If born again by baptism. is ht• not willing- lo be born again? Now explain .John 1 :I a, "Who were born, not of blood nor of tlw will o f the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

·'Rt•g-<'ncration is the act of God in imparting !if<' to the soul, and onlY such as bear evidence of this wo1·k ha\'ing been clone for them have a right to the church an dits ordinances."-Elder Walter Ca!'h. •·The monergislic or scriptural theory of regeneration Leaches that there is but one efficient ag<'nL or acto1· in the renovation of the soul, name!~· . the Holy Spirit."-IIassell, 329. "By the first birth men are children of wrath, and under the tokens of divine displeasure; at the second birth they appear to be the objects of the love of God; r cg-ene1·ation being the fruit and effect of it. * * The efficient cau!'C of regeneration is God only." - Gill, Bod. Div., 2-269-74.

"Out of four hundred millions of so-called Christians in the world, (less than one in a hundred) insist upon the First and l\Iost Important Mark of the Apostolic Church-a spiritual or regenerated chur ch-membership. What a lamentable falling a wa~· from the truth is this! "-Hassell, 27:3-4. '·Christ, and not water-baptism, is the only God and SaYiour, both of infants and adults."-Hassell, 272.

TRI~E-Il\DIERSIO~

Trine-immersion seem s to have come in during the "ery last of the 2nd or the forepart of the 3rd century. It seems to have originated with the idea that the three Persons in the Trinity were so separate and distinct, that a separate baptism in the name of each one ·was essential. But I feel sure that the Bible does not teach to baptize three times; for that would be contrary to Eph. 4:5; "One Lord, one faith, one baptism."

Trine immersion is universal in Russia now, and throughout the Greek and all the churches of the East. Before the end of the 2nd century no Christian writer mentions it. Tertullian is the first author who names it."-Cathcart, 2-1167. "Jerome

28


pre~enls the truth about the ongm of trine-irm1ler·sion when he says: ';\l any other things whi('h al'(• observed by tradition in the churches have secul'(•d the authority of written law for lhemselves, as, for example, to immerse the head three timC'~.' No man that ever lived cherished an established l'eligious practice like trine-immersion more affectionately, and clung to it more tenaciously than Jer·ome. No writer of the 1lh centurv was bc•ller informed about lhe customs, present and past, lhan he. And he was right; trine immersion ·was only a tradition, and of course ought to be rejected hy all friends of' Bible Christianity. * ':' As our fathers refused to receive infant baptism with nothing to support it but conjectures, ~o they rejected trineimmersion res ting on that poor basis; and their successors in the faith have followed their example." - Cathcart, 16-17.

"To bury is to coYer up. People who arc s pr;nkled are not covered up. It has no resemblance to a burial. Nor do we see people bury their dead, face-downward. If baptism represents the burial and resurrection of Christ, 'show me,' as Dr. Long, a good deacon of Hawksbill church once said to an advocate of trine, face-downward baptism, 'show me, from Scripture, where Christ was buried three times face-foremost. and raised three times backward, and I will believe in that kind of baptism.' I t has not been shown."- Eld. R. H. P ittman, Zion's Advocate, Mch. 1922.

IIEMEROBAPTISTS

"A sect among the ancient Jews. thus called from their washing and bathing every day, in all seasons; and performing this custom with the greatest solemnity, as a religious rile necessary to salvation. Epiphanius, who mentions this as the fourth heresy among the J e\YS, observes, that in other points these heretics had much the same opinion as the Scribes and Pharisees; only that they denied the resurrection of the dead, in common with the sadducees, and retained a few other of the impropl'ieties of these last.''-Brown's Cy., 611. "The IIemerobaptists religiously dipped themselves every day.''- Orchard, 41.


BAPTISM OF T il E DEAD "A <"uslom which anciently prevailed among

sonw JH>opl<' in Afr'ta, of gi,·ing baptism lo the dt'ad. The practice seems lo he grounded on the vain id<>a. that when men had neg-lected lo recc•ive bapti~m in thc•ir lif<>lime. some compensation might lw madt• for this default by recei,·ing it after dc•ath." llt•nd<>rson-Buck, 69.

BAPTIS::\1 FOR THE DEAD ··A practit<' formerly in use. when a person dy

ing without baptism, another was baptized in his sl<'ad; thus supposing that God would accept the baptism of the proxy, as though it had been administ<>r<'d lo the principle. Chrysostom says this was practiced among the Marcionites \\·ith a great dC"al of ridiculous ceremony."- Henderson-Buck, 69. \\'hat gr<>al delusion!' history records!

I wrot<' and compiled the following on Baptism, which apreared in the Messenger of Peace for Feb. 1942:

Baptism is used in different senses in the New Te~tanwnt. There is a baptism in water (or burial, Col. 2 :1 2; Rom. 6 :4) , which is an outward orclinanc<>. And a baptism b ythe Holy Spirit (Matt. :~:12; Acts 2; I Cor. 6:11; 12:13; Tit. 3:5). Also, Jesus Christ calls His sufferings and death a baptism; Luke 12:50. My limits will confine me to water and spiritual baptism.

Baptism in water is an ordinance of our Savious. Its practice among the Primitive Baptists is held to be a fundamental principle. They believe it to be of great importance to believers in Jesus Christ. While they wish to carefully follow the form of baptism in water which He personallv laid down for all believers to follow, yet they do not idolize and worship it as a means of obtaining eternal life and salvation.

* * * * * l\Iany have quite different views of what may

he allowed to be valid and orderly baptism, but I only want what the Bible teaches, for Bible truth alwavs has the full authority of God t he Father. According to history, many enors have arose in

30


the past, and some of these may s(•cm quite stran~<· to us. Il has been practiced by some in ea se of those who had never been baptized in Jife, that they baptized their bodies after death. And it is 1·ecorded they have bapt:zed a living person in the place of one who had died without being baptizNI. Also, history says there was a sect among the .Jew~. call ed llemerobaptisls, who religiously dipped themeslves every day a!' a netcssary eondition of sa lvation. And others, s ince t.hal time, have held that baptism should be administered more than just the one time.

One time some children were talking about baptism, when the question came up, "Why wa~ Jesus baptized?" and one of them promplly answered, "To wash away His sins." This, of course, was a very erroneous answer. But may I ask, What was the real reason why lie was baptized? He s urely had a good and sufficient reason for it, and I will let H im answer. When J ohn the Baptist was hes itating about baptizing the Saviour, Ile said, "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness." So it was the fulfilling of the rig hteous will of the Father, and I think that this is a lso a good and scriptural reason why bel ieYers are baptized now. It is the duty, a nd also a blessed privilege of believers to be baptized after t he Saviour's example, and when they do so they a re complying with the Lord's righteous will and command; and so this w ill meet His approval. Their obedience is always pleasing unto Him. All errors regarding baptism spring from want of understanding of its nature and purposes.

The baptism of J esus Christ is the very be~t and highest example that we can follow, both as to the form and purpose of it; and I bel ieve in all th is, we should carefully follow Him. He was the Son of God before His baptism, and therefore bapt:sm did not make him any more the Son of God than He was before. And so· the believer is a spiritua l child of God before hi s baptism, because he is already in possession of eternal life by being a lready born again. But baptism will make the believer an obedient child, so far as his baptism goes,

Paul says there is, "One L ord, one faith, one baptism."- Eph. 4:5. T his one baptism I believe


to be t.he immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, h\· one that is held to be a lawful administrator. So three things are required, in our opinion, to con!':titute va lid and orderly baptism: a true believer, a legal administrator, and the New Testament way of immersion. Our Saviour's own example shows that. He understood baptism to be an immers ion in water, because He was baptized in the river Jordan and came up out of the water.

"Every allusion and example, as far as given, show that the apostles and believers of their day understood baptism to be immers ion. Since the apostles' t:me there has been no power authorized to change any doctrine 01· practice delivered to the church."-Elder Walter Cash.

S ince baptism in water is a burial, we strongly believe the New Testament baptis m to be by immendon. yet we do not idolize nor worship the rite by ascribing to it any magical or heaven-procuring results. The true believer in J esus Christ is already in possession of eternal life in his soul or spi rit (John 3 :36; 5:24; 6:57). And such living persons realize their need of the Saviour, and therefore are fit and proper subjects for baptism in " ·ater.

" Baptism is not a '~ •:• means and instrument of g race and salYation; but it is simply and beautifully the divinely-ordained outward symbol or emblem of the spiritual cleansing of our guilty souls by the saving application which the Holy Spirit makes to us of the a toning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. No ordinance of Christ must be put idolatrously in the place of Christ."- Hassell .

Bapt ism is a command to the believer and which he should glady and willingly obey, for such obedience will be of great benefit to him while traveling through this s inful wo1·ld. H e should unite with the church, for it surely has many blessings which will pr ove to be of much g ood in this life. If this were better understood, many of the Lord's dear people would be more obedient in their baptism. ro, water baptism is not a saving ordinance. It

will not procm-<e or prepare anyone for a home in heaven, for that is not its purpose or design, and so, it is not to be worshiped as though it would

32


do so. Its blessings, like all the other blessings of obedience, belong to this life, and ther<·fore should always be so considered. None will ever rightly understand salvation by grace as long as they think that what they do will help take them to heaven. Then, let us always try to l<ee{l baptism in its proper place- the duty and priYilege of the believer.

1 Peter 3 :19-21.- "By which also, He went and preached u nto the spirits in prison which sometime were disobed ient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing wherein few, that is, eight souls we1 e saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth a lso now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God), by the resurre(!t ion of J esus Christ."

Christ's preaching to those spirits in prison, I believe, has reference to the Lord's directing and uphold ing the ministry of Noah for the 120 years before the flood. T hey were a very sinful and disobedient people, had no regard for the preaching of Noah, a nd the longsuffering of God waited all this time while the ark was being prepared. The eig ht souls were saved from a watery grave by water, or by the water bearing up the ark. This ark was God's institution, and not man's invention; so is baptism. The ark was very heavily laden, and no doubt sunk low in the water, and the enormous weight of that great downpour of rain upon its roof wou ld sink it much lower, and may sometimes have completely buried it. So this was a figure of baptism by immer sion. But Noah and his family was not sav-ed from sin in all this, for waterbaptism does not put away the filth of the flesh and make it pur e and sinless. A believer's bapt ism after Christ's example of immers ion is the answer of a good conscience towards God, or the answer to the desire of one who has this good conscience to be baptized. It is a precious blessing to be g iven t h is answer of a good conscienc·e. Also, Noah's coming out of the ark, where, in type, he h ad been buried, was a figure of the resurrection. As baptism typifies the resurrection, it would be


an unmeaning ct·remony if there was no resurrection of the dead.

Acts :22: JG "And now why tarriest thou? arisl', and be bapt"zed, and wa::h away thy sins, calling on tht' name of the Lord." This text is sometimes confidently relied upon to prove that sins are litera lly washed away by water-baptism. 1 ht•n• must be a sen:-·e in which this text is tt"UC' and ytl he consist(•nt with all other Scripture. To my mind. it is the sins of om·ssion, which many believers may commit through their delaying the Lord'~ command, and which may be in figure or t(•rcmony (not really) put away by baptism. With th is view, I can sec a consistency in what Ananias told Pau l to do. But this ceremonial cleansing is no more a real cleansing from the guilt and condemnation of sin, than the many J ewish sacrifices were a real and actual clcans:ng under the Levitical law, for not one of all those many sacrifices ever really washed away sin and guilt. Their continual repetition was pos itive proof of lack of any real saving Yirtue. They were only types and shadows of bette r things. The curse of s in is only and proper!~· washed away by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. This alone and of itself possesses all h{!avenly virtue and efficacy t o cleanse from guilt and condemnation. It is NOT Primitive Baptist belief that s ins are literally washed away by water baptism. The Spirit of God only can wash away sins by the blood of the Lamb. T he most gifted ministers on earth may pt<each about this gracious work, and comfort and instruct believers, hut none of them, can, through water-baptism, wield the almighty power of the Son of God and del iver sinners from hell and death.

John Owen wrote in the 17th century conceming a great error of his time: "They would have the whole uncleanness of our nature to b·e washed away by baptism; and having thus s hifted t he1melves of the filth of original sin, a s eas ily a s a man may change his clothes when foul."- Holy Spirit 261.

"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son clean seth us from all s in."--1 John 1:7. "Unto him t hat loved us, and was hed us from our sins in his own hlood."- Rev. 1:5. "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once


into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.'-Heb. 9:1::!. ''But this :\Ian, after lw had offered one sact if icc for sins fore\ cr, sat down on the right hand of God.' Hcb. 10:12.

'·Not t,hat it i~ in the powe r of man to cleanse himself from his s.ns; the Ethiopian may as soon change his skin, or the leopard his spots, a:- a creature do this nor is there any such efficacy in baptism as to remove the filth of sin; persons may s uumit unto it, and yet be as Simon ~lagus was, in the gall of bitterness, and the bond of iniquity; but the ordinance of baptism may be, and sometimes, is, a means of leadmg the faith of God's children to the blood of Christ, which cleanses from atl s in."- Gill.

"I presume it is, without controversy, universally agreed that the word 'baptized' in this text means water-baptism when administered to believers agreeable to the Gospel of Christ. The question, 'And why taniest thou?' forcibly urges the solemn truth, that all gospel believers arc without valid 'Cxcuses and good, Ia wful reasons for delaying, procrastinating, or tarrying by putting off the duty and good work of being baptized. "' * The phase, 'wash away thy sins.' in the text, must have some meaning for us. What is it? * * An outward, figurative, and ceremonial 'washing away of sins' Ly scriptural water-baptism. * '' It should be observed that such baptism is an outward or external gospel ceremony. Its effects and benefits are of an exte1 nal sort."- Prim. Monitor, Feb., 1903

"Ananias dir·ected Saul to obey Jesus in the ordinance of baptism. and thereby be baptized 'for' or because of the forgiveness of his s ins.''-Elder Joel H ume. It should always be remembe red that the great redemption price of the Lord's pcop~e has already been PAID, and therefore its saving fruits are not now conditioned upon water baptism or anything else that they can do. Their eternal salvation is not according to works . (2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5; Eph. 2:9.)

Also, this typical sense is well illustrated by the us'e of the bread and wine in the Lord's supper. J esus said of the bread. This is my body; and of the wine, This is my blood. But we know these emblems are only used in a representative of figu-

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rativc sense. The sins of believers are washed awav in water baptism in the same figurative sense that· the believer eats the flesh and drinks the blood of Jesus in the Lord's Supper. In further confirmation of this same emblematical use, our Saviour said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed."--John 6:53, 55. This is most plainly figurative language.

Mark 16 :16- "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Unbelief is plainly the cause of final condemnation. The unbeliever "is condemned alrcady."--John 3:18. And "he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but thre wrath of God abideth on him."- :36. The emphasis is laid upon belief, not on baptism, for it is plain that the cause of final condemnation is unbelief. Those only are lost who a re finally impenitent and unbelieving. Water bapt ism is not a saving ordinance, but is a duty of believers in this lif.c; its absence will not keep them out of heaven, but will keep them from the spiritual joys that are connected with baptism in this life.

'"And is baptized;' faith must precede baptism, as thes·e words of Christ, and S.:::ripture examples shew; and such as have it, ought to make profession of it. and be baptized; and in which way it is that faith d:scovers itself, and works by love to Christ; ramel~· - in obser,·ing His commands, and this among the rest: 'Shall be saved'; such rec:eive the remission of their sins, a justifying righteousness, the privilege of adoption, a right and meetness for heaven now, and shall be saV'ed in Christ with an everlasting salvation; not that either faith or baptism 'l.re the procuring causes of salvation; not fa ith, for Christ is the author of salvation; and faith is the grace that looks to Him for it, receives the assurance of it now, and that will be the end of it hereafter: faith and eternal life are so connected together, that he that has the one shall have the other; and it is descriptive of the person that shall enjoy it: and baptism, through it is said to save by the resurrection of Christ, as it is a means of leading faith to Christ's resurrection for justification, yet has no casual influence upon salvation; it is not

36


essential to it; the thie f on the c:·oss went to hca vc·n without it, and Simon l\lagus to hell wi th it; hu t it is the duly of everyone that believes."- Gill.

Acts 2 :38-"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jes us Chri s t f or the r em iss ion of s ins, and ye shall receive the g ift of t he lloly Ghost." It s hould be noticed that P ctcr here admonishes those who had just been " picked in t he ir hearts" to repent (he had just charged them with the crucifixion of Jesus ) and be baptized "for" (which I believe means " because of," and not "in order to") the r emission of s ins, and t hey shall receive the g :ft of the Holy Ghost , which was tha t miraculous P entecosta l outpouring of t he H oly Spiri t in its a s tonishing gifts which had just been bes towed upon many others . Peter was not addressing those who had mockingly said t hat those u nder this wonderful influence of the Holy Spi t it, W{'re f ull of new wine. The direct:ons here given by P eter ve ry plainly had refe rence to thi s wonderful gift, which had been prophesied by J oel, a nd not to any manner of literal washing away of their sins by water baptis m. Jesus referred to t his outpour ing of the Holy Spirit, and called it a baptism. ( i\latt. 3 :11.)

"For the remission of s ins ; not that f orgiveness of sin could be procured eithC'r by repentance, or by baptism· for this is only obtained by the blood of Christ; but the apostle advises these awakened, sensible, t•epenting, and believing souls, to submit to baptism, that by it their faith might be led to Chr is t . who suffered and died for their s ins. who left them buried in His grave, and who rose again f or their justification from them; all which is, in a most lively manner, represented in the ord ina nce of ba ptism by immer sion."- Gill.

Titus 3 :5-"Not by works of righteousness which we have done. but a ::cording to hi s mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." This washing of regeneration or by r egeneration, mus t be unders tood of the soul or spirit alone, and not of the body; f or it is the spirit which is born a gain in this life and cleansed, and the reby fitted for heaven. This text has no refe rence to baptism of the body. which is not cleansed from its defilement and guilt in this


r

l1ft•, for at. cll•ath it goes into the graV(• a corruptible and vilt• hod\'.

'' Is nwant. not thP ordinance of water-bapt ism , for that is nl•vt•r express<'d by washing, nor is it. tlw cause• or means of regenera tion; t he cause being the Sp1rit of Cod. • A nd besides, persons ought. to ht• n•g<•nerat('(l be· fore they a r e baptized : and th<·~· may he baptized, and not r egenera ted· a s Simon ;\lagu!'i; nor is it a saving ord inance, or a point of Salvation."- Gil l. " Ba pt ism is t he outwa rd !' ign of n·gc•n<>rat'on." Scott.

" In no ~ense do<•s th is passage teach t hat ou t w~u d baptism is a n instrument of regeneration. * * It is a sign of an inward c ha nge a lready expe ri enced, of a faith al ready in exe rcise. * * The whole trend of ;../('\\' Testament. teaching in regard t o this matt<·r is that. regeneration is to precede bapt ism."Clark.

1 Cor. G:ll- ln fu rther confirma tion of this sp'ritual cleansing, Pa ul here sa ys, " But ye are washed, but. ye a re sanctif ied, but ye are justif ied in the name of l h<' Lord J esus, and by t he Spirit of our God." I think Paul is plainly not speaking of any washing of the body, but of t he soul being wash<'d by the Spirit of God.

" I n water baptism t here is an outward washing which is a symbol ot· f ig ure of the inward washin~ by t he Spiri t . The bap t is m or washing of the Holy Spir it i ~ a n inwa rd work."- Eider C. H. Cayce.

Rom . 6 :3--1-"Know ye not, that so many of us as we re bap t: zed in to J esus Chris t were baptized into h is dea th ? The refore we are buri'Cd with him by ba ptis m into dea t h: t hat like as Christ was raised u p from the dead by the g lor y of the Father, even so we a lso should walk in n'Cwness of life." Two differ<'n t ba ptisms are he re spoken of. First· they were baptized into J esus Chri st by a spiritual baptism, and then buri ed with H im in water baptism , and ra i ~ed up to walk in the prof ession of a Christian life . There is quite a differ ence between being baptized in t he name of J esus by water baptism, a nd be ing baptized into J esus by the Holy Spirit, which is a s pirit ua l baptism.

"There is jus t one baptism which puts sinner s into Chr ist, a nd t hat. is t he w ork of the H oly Spirit -not the work of the prea che r· nor the preacher

38


and the walt•r. Then then• is a hapti~m. which is a symbol. It. is an outwar·d ordinanee or \\ashrn~. which represt'nts the inward work uf tht• Spinl. It represents tht' inward washing or cl<•ansing whit•h is perfornwd by the Holy Spirit in the 0:-\E hap tism which puts the sinnt'r in Christ. Thns<• who have thus been operated upon hy the Holy Spirit should be baptized in walt•r· to show forth or dt•clare the work of the Spir it in tht·ir ht"<trts."Elder C. II. Cayce.

"For if we have been planted togelht'r in th~: likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likt·ncss of his resurrection."- Rom. 6:5. By watt•r bapt ism the true believer is figuratively planted together with Christ in the likeness of His d<•ath, and wh ich g i,·es assurance that he will he raist•d in llis glor ious likeness at the resurrection. (Phil. a :21.)

Gal. 3 :27-"For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." This refers to those who had been baptized into Christ spi r itually, or had been born again. and then putti ng on Christ outwardly or by their public profession of H im through water baptism. "To our mind this lext 1"Cpresents our becoming in possession of eternal life as being bap tized into Christ. • • This baptism is not water baptism. It is the baptism of t he H oly Spi r it."-C. H . Cayce.

1 Cor. 12 :13-"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be .Jews or Gentiles. whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to dri nk into on·e Spirit." The hod~· of Chr ist here has reference to the redeemed as a family , a nd to be baptized into this spiritua l family, is alone t he work of t he Holy Spirit. T his spiritua) birth is typically ilJustratcd by Ezek. 36:26-7. "A new heart also will I gi,·e you, and a new spirit will I pu t within you; and I wi lJ take away the stony heart ou t of your flesh, and I wilJ give you an heart of flesh. And I w ill pu t my Spirit within you." This plain ly means a divi ne work in which the r ece iver is a ltogether passive.

J ohn 3 :3-8-These verses are sometimes referred to as being conclusive proof of baptismal regeneration. J esus is here plainly talking about the new birth. a nd not t he baptism of the body. All true believers are already in possession of spiritual


or l'lt'l'mtl lifP and thl'r<'fore it is too late to baptizP thPill in ,~·atcr to procure this great blesf'.ing. Th<' unhelil'Vl'r do<'s not ha\'<! this spiritual life, twitlwr is hl' comnuuHled to he baptized for the baptism of his body in walPr will not impart this gifl of lwa,·t·nlv J'fc to hi l' soul. The water and Spirit, a-; here u~ed, I believe, illustrates that the new hi1·th i-; both a cleansing and life-giYing birth. To he hom again is to be hot·n of the Holy Spirit· which m this work acts as sovereignly a~ the wind. In full harmony .John 1·ccords, "Which were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the w'IJ of man, but of God."- 1 :1:3. It is plain from th<' Scriptun•s that no one is commanded to be born aga in. Thl' new birth is also ~ometimes ascribed t o thP Son. ( 1 .John ii. 29.)

"'Being horn of water and the Spirit' is the saml' as 'hl' ing bo1·n again or from above' or 'being horn or hegot..Len of God.' I n the same conversation wid1 1\'"i..:ockmus, Jes us uses the wind as also an emblem of lhc Spirit. because of its invisibility, and its inclc•Jwnclcncc of man, and its irresistibility. He plain ly l:' hows, in this conversation, that the wat<'r and t h'l' wind a r e only emblems of the Spirft.

~ * * In some of the oldest versions, the phrase 'water and the Spiril' is rendered 'the Holy Spirit'"Elder Hassell.

While I bcli~ve in religious liberty, yet I cannot agree that anyone has any Bible right whatC\'er to teach contrary to the Scriptures. I feel ,·ery sure that the Bible does not te'1ch that people are born again or that their s ins are literally washed away by water baptism. These great errors are plainly not Pimit ive Baptist doctrine, and therefore such cannot be advocated with any degree of consi~tency or fidelity to their principles.

Our ,·iews of baptism must ahvays harmonize with the blessed doctrines of God our Saviour, if our po~itions be at all scripturally correct. Jesus Christ sa id lo the unbelieving Sadducees, "Ye do err, not knowing lhe scriptures, nor the power of God."-Matt. 22:29. This is the plain reason why many ~o greatly err religiously today. Conditional salvation is directly opposed to election and predestination. Salvation from sin and death, from its

40


first concepl"on in the Di\'im• :\lind· to ils final con!'ummation in heaven aho\'e, is all of God's fr<•(• and unmerited grace from fir:-:t to last. Tlw hl<'st subjects of sa l\'alion were chosen in Chrbl lwfon· the world began. Their names were thus (•arly and indelibly \vri ttcn in t.hc Lamb's Book of Life. They were predislinalcd unto lhe adopt.ion of <"hildn•n. (:race was given them in lhe saving purpo!'cs of God before the world was. Eternal life was promised them before this world existed.

These declarations are TRUE according lo lhC' Bible, and therefore our views of baptism mu:-:t always be interpreted in full harmony w;th them, w. s. c.

BOOKLETS

By Elder W. S. Craig, Cozad, ~ebraska.

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CO :--: T E N T S

Introductory ~ott•s

Baptism, Definitions and l\Tode

Infant Baptism

Infant Communion

Infant Salvation

Baptismal Rt•genC'ration and Salvation

Trine-I mmersion

I Iemerohaptists

Baptism of the Dead

Baptism for the Dead

A1·tidc on Baptism

Page 1

Page 1

Page 14

Page 24

Page 25

Page 27

Page 28

Page 29

Page 30

P age 30

Page 30


.\DDITIO:\ \L :\COTES 0:\ B \I'Tn·nt

Walcr-baplisrn is nol a work of pur fil'ation or ngeneration, hut a bt•autiful t•mhll•m of thl'"''·

".John \\CUi a Bapti-,t; ('hrist was haptizt·d h) a Bapti.~t; and ll is (•xample ha:; he!m follo\\'l'd hy Baptist~ in all ages." J<:ld. (;. :\1. Thomp-,r.n, lOh.

''Baptism is a sign of the ft·llowship of lwlil'Vl' t s in Chri;:t with ll s death and n·>-ut·n·<·tion, and should ht• adminisl<·n·d only to belil'\ <·t·s, and by immersion in watt•r in ll.t· nam.· of the Fatlwr and the Son and the Holy Gho~t." - l!:l"sPII, Principles of Gospel !\h•:-scngct, Additional :'\ otcs Bap. II ist., !)5.

"If Baptism is an ord'rantt• of Christ, it stands upon Jli~ authority. I t is not to be sli~ht<'d at. unn<!ccssary, still less to he rejected with ('Ontempt. Nor can a child of Cod safely sh<·llcr him!'elf under the names of gn•at and g.10d nwn \\hO have not ~wen nor submitted lo that ordinancc."-Philpot, Strict Communion. 1-~.

" I n what s<•nsc is baptism for the n·mission ot· washing away o f sim: '? We answer that sins are washed away in baptism in the same s<•ns!' that we eat the flesh and drinl, the blood of .ksus in the Suppct·. I n llw in~titution of llw Lord's Supper, Christ said of the brca•l. 'This is l\ly body;' and of the wine, 'This is ::\ly blood'."

Hay, Camp., 195. Acts 19: 1-7. Regarding those disciples, 1f

they were re-dipped (as st'ems to me), was it not because the fi r!-'t one was inval ir! ·: And if invalid, was it not because of th" lack of authority in the first administr'llor, who had h<'<•n baptizing in the name of John thr Bap1.ist, instead of in the name of J esus Ch!'!!'t '? Bul thi~ last was not a re-baptism, IJtn. wac; lhe first right-baptism, and therefore was a \'alid and orderly baptism, and as such I believe it W:ls

recognized.


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