A candid discussion of Christian baptism

Front matter

[ SMITHSOKI =-I'iy DEPOSIT. "]

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 1

ELEGANT JUVENILE BOOKS,

Preface

Thic following treatise is diesigned, not to enlighten ministers, but to instruct the common people. Espedat ly is it intended for the benefit of recent converts to Christ, whose minds are embarrassed on the subject of Baptism ; and of parents in pedo-baptist churches, who withhold their infant children from this sacred ordinance. It was originally prepared in the form of sermons to my own congregation ; and therefore, "as much as possible, adapted to the popular mind. Many of the arguments are such as every minister of the gospel is, or ought to be, familiar with. They have been gathered unhesita^ tingly, wherever I have found them during a peiiod of many years ; and have been so much incorporated with my own cogitations, that, to a considerable extent, I am unable to say which is borrowed and which is original. I have not, as I am aware, aimed at originality for its own sa%e ; nor attempted it at all, except where my own thoughts seemed, if not better, at least as well suited to my general purpose as aJiy otlI6l^3 whidi I faM at com-

It preface.

mand. Nor have I thought it best to enlarge the volume by attempting to offer all the arguments on the subject which readily occur to mind, and which are believed to be sound and unanswerable ; but have selected only such as appear to be best adapted to enlighten and convince the plain and candid reader.

The subject of Baptism, though a trite one, is still important^ on several accounts, and therefore entitled to grave and careful consideration. If, however, its discussion in the present work has any peculiar merits, they are believed to consist chiefly in the presentation of familiar arguments in a more than ordinarily clear and convincing light, and in the spirit of candor and kindness with which I have aimed to exhibit them.

It is true that many able works — volumes, pamphlets, and tracts — having in view the same general object contemplated in this, have been already issued from the press. But no one that I have seen appears to be quite w^hat is required, to meet the wants of pastors and churches in gathering in the fruits of religious revivals — especially in communities where sentiments of an opposite cast have had considerable sway. The belligerent or caustic character which most of the publications on this subject bexir, has seemed to me to render even those designed for popular use, and in which the argument is con-

PKEFACE. V

elusive, highly objectionable as works to be put into the hands of recent converts ; and, for the same reason, not well calculated to be extensively useful in relieving the doubts and correcting the ening faith of older Christians. And such as are not liable to this objection are, for the most part, wanting in that simplicity, clearness; and force of argument, and that condensed yet comprehensive treatment of the subject, which are required in a work of this kind, intended for general and permanent use. Whether the present little volume is, in these respects, any better adapted to the wants of the Church than others have been, remains to be seen. But, having hope that some good may come of it to the cause of truth and the kingdom of Christ, I now respectfully offer it to the public.

D. G

Fredonia, January, 1854.

CHAPTER I. IMPORT OF THE WOliD BAPTIZE

Primary and classic sense. Derived or secondary sense. Scriptural use of the word. Argument from Mark 7 : 1-5, and Luke 11: 38. Argument from John 1: 26. Argument from Heb. 9: 10. Argument from John 3: 22-26 IS

Chapter II. Design Of Baptism

Kot to represent the burial and resurrection of Christ. Examination of Rom. 6: 8-5, and Col. 2: 12. Illustration from 1 Cor. 2 : 13, and Gal. 3: 2Y. Not to effect spiritual union with Christ. Adult converts spiritually united to Christ before baptism. Unconverted adults not spiritually changed by baptism. Simon Magus. Infants not spiritually renewed by baptism. Experience and observation. What its design is. Token and seal of the covenant. Symbol of spiritual purificatioa. Initiatory rite. . • . i . • . . 80 riii CONTETfTS.

Chapter III Paok

MODE OF BAPTISM.

Example of Christ. Mode of Christ's baptism. Baptism of the eunuch. Baptism of the three thousand. Baptism of Saul. Baptism of the jailer and family. Baptism by the Spirit. Sprinkling of the blood of Christ. 52

CHAPTER lY.

INFANT BAPTISM— OB J EOTIONS CONSIDEREP.

First objection — The Scriptures require faith and repentance before baptism. Second objection — No Scripture precept enjoining infant baptism. Third objection — No Scripture example of infant baptism 86

' CHAPTER Y.

INFANT BAPTISM ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.

The Church organized under the covenant made with Abraham. Infants included. The Christian Church a continuation of the same. The covenant still in force. Right to include her infant seed continued in the Christian Church, unless especially withdrawn. This right never withdrawn. Understanding of the Jewish converts. Silence of the unbelieving Jews. . . Ill

CHAPTER YI.

INFANT BAPTISM HISTORICAL ARGUMENT.

The Commission to baptize the nations. How the apostles must have understood it. Proselyte baptism. Baptism of households. Testimony of Justin Martyr —

CONTENTS. ix

PAQfi,

Ireneus — Tertullian — Origen — Cyprian — Augustine — Pelagius. No record of the introduction of infant baptism 160

CHAPTER VII.

INFANT feAPTISM — DIFFICULTIES EXPLAINBD.

Is baptism an initiatory rite t Relation of baptized infants to the Church. Why not admitted to the Lord's Supper. Why not subject to Church discipline. Effect of infant baptism on the purity of the Church. Propriety of infant baptism. Rights of infants. Privilege and duty of Christian parents 11^

INTEGDUCTIOK.

The risen Saviour stood with the eleven on the Mount of Olives. He was about to asc^id into heaven to resume the glory which he had with the Father from eternity. He had completed the atoning sacrifice for men — had "magnified the law and made it honorable," — and had fully prepared the way for the proclamation of redeeming mercy to all the world. The legal dispensation had answered its purpose, and was terminated ; and thenceforth the gospel -— the good news of salvation by grace through faith — was to be more distinctly revealed, and made the animating principle of the Qiurch. He therefore gave, as his last charge, the gracious commission, *^ Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

It is my design, in the following pages, to discuss the subject of Christian Baptism, with the view of showing, as clearly as I am able, what is intended by this com-

Xll INTRODUCTIOIS".

inand of the Saviour to baptize all nations. The course which I intend to pursue is,

I. To define and defend the true import of the word baptize.

II. Discuss the object or design of this rite.

III. With the help of what light may be obtained from the two preceding points, examine the question directly, What is the proper mode of baptism, as a rite of the Christian Clmrch ?

IV. Offer what I conceive to be a fair and sufficiently full investigation of the subject of infant baptism.

V. Solve some questions which often linger about and perplex many minds, in regard to infant baptism, even after the argument is settled.

It is hoped that such a range over the general subject of baptism as is here proposed, will be found, on the one hand, sufficiently comprehensive for ordinary readers, and on the other, not prove burdensome to any who feel interested in the subject. I will therefore proceed immediately to the discussion of these several topics in their order.

CHRISTIAH BAPTISM.

Chapter I. Impokt Of The Woed Baptize

The unhappy differences in the Christian Church on the subject of Baptism depend, to a great extent, on the meanings assigned to the word lajptize. If the honest inquirer after truth can be made to perceive clearly what is the just sense of this term, the way will then be prepared for him to appreheiid readily the whole Bible doctrine of Baptism. I will therefore commence this discussion with the following question : —

What is the true and jprojper import of the vjorcl ^kptizeI

Many candid and excellent men, as the reader knows, regard this word as meaning plu7ige or immerse^ and nothing else. But from this view

I must, in the present discussion, dissent ; and affirm that the Greek word from which this is formed, and which Christ and his apostles employed to denote the administration of an ordinance in the Christian Church, has a variety of significations, depending on the circumstances in which it is used, and the subjects to which it is applied. When the Saviour instituted the sacrament of Christian baptism, he did not create the word by which it was to be called ; but employed a term which was then, and had long been, in familiar use. The word haptize (J^a'KTv^a) was as old as the Greek language, and is therefore by no means confined, in its application, to this ordinance of the Christian Church. It was used freely to signify immerse^ overwhehn^ wash^ cleanse or purify. It is needless to cite examples showing these several uses of the word. They encumber the pages of ahnost every book written in defence of sprinkling or pouring as a mode of baptism. And besides, it is of no consequence in this discussion, any fartlier than to prove its use in the last-mentioned sense, viz, purify or cleanse; and in this sense I hope fully to demonstrate its use.

The primary or original meaning of the

IMPORT OF TH15 W0E13. tC

word seems to have been to plunge or immerse ; in which sense the profane classie writers generally employ it. The other mean^ ing8 appear to have been derived from this by a natural law of association. Because the effect of immersing in water was commonly to wash, to cleanse or purify, the same word baptize^ which was at first used to denote only the mode by which this eftect was procui^ed, came at length, by association, to be used also to represent simply the procurifbg of this effect^ without any reference to the mode of doing it. Hence haptism^ instead of always defining a specific manner of purifying, as by immersion, was, at a later period, also used generically to signify the act of pv/rifying^ irrespective of the mode j or purification by any mode whatever. This is the sense^ as I hope to show, in which the word is commonly^ if not invariably^ used hy the inspired writers. They seldom or never use it in the original classic sense, but in this derived and secondary sense.

Although it is possible, and perhaps probable, that, under the Old Testament dispensation, religious purifications, called sometimes in the Greek y^xuon baptisms^ wer© often perfornaed by immersion ; yet they were haptismSj not because they were immersions, but because they ^weroi purifications. In some cases, the washing of the wliole body was required ; and in others, only a sprinkling of the " water of purifying." But in no case w^as the purification imperatively required to be by immersion. When a general ablution of the body was called for, immersion, in some circumstances, might be the most convenient or agreeable method ; and in many other circumstances, a more gradual process of washing from a small vessel would be most convenient. Either method met the requirement of the law. In either case it was accounted purification.

Purification was both external and internal. External purification was sometimes a physical cleansing, and sometimes merely a ceremonial act. Ceremonial purification was designed to be symbolical, either of internal moral purification, which consists in repentance, or a turning of the heart from sin to righteousness ; or of spiritual purification by the Holy Ghost, which consists in sanctification, or deliverance from the defilement of sin f or of legal purification, which

■■ * I suppose that moral and spiritual purification are diatinguished chiefly by regarding the^ame efect as produced bj consists in justification, or deliverance from liability to punishment for sin, and wliicli always presupposes an atonement. ' To enable the unprejudiced reader to see that the Greek word which we render ha^tize^ as used by the writers of the New Testament, has the general sense of purify^ wash or cleanse — and that, too, without regard to the mode of doing it — I tliink it will be only necessary that he examine with care and candor some passages of Scripture to which I will now^ invite his attention.

Let him look firsts if he will, to Mark 7 : 1-5. "Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled (that is to say, with unwashen) hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash^ (Greek, hajptize^ they

human or divine agency. "When the internal purification is considered in its relation to human agency, it is termed repentance, or moral purification ; and when considered in its relation to divine agency, it is called sanctification, or spiritual purification.

eat not. And many other tilings there be which they have received to hold, as the washing (Gr. haptizing) of cups, pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked liirn, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands ? " Now, what is the general idea running through this passage ? Is it not plainly the following? — The Jews,at this time, were very particular in observing the custom, according to the tradition of the elders, oi purifying themselves before taking their meals. And these Pharisees and scribes from Jerusal^em were displeased, and complained to Christ, when they saw this custom departed from l)y some of his disciples. It was their standing practice to wash their hands before eating ; and ' when they returned from the market, except they washed they ate not.' When the washing of their hands is spoken of, the Greek word here employed for ''wash" is ^ntlo^ nipto — a word that never defines the lyiannev of washing, but permits it to be done in aiiy way. Tliis no one will dispute. And when they are said to wash on returning from market, and to wash their " cups, pots, brazen vessels, and tables," the original word for " wash " is ^a^7i^o, ha^tizo. Here the two words seem to be used as meaning the same thing, and are accordingly bot-h transhxted by the English word wash. But if 7iij^to and l)aptizo do here mean the same thing, then haptizo in this place means simply to wash or purify, because nipto never means any thing els^.

But if it is contended that the two words do not here mean the same thing, but that there is an extension of the idea, in passing from the loashing on ordinary occasions to the haptizing after returning from market, — I answer, If it were proved that there is this extension of the idea, it would not follow that the baptism here spoken of was necessarily by immersion. The most that it would imply is that, after returning from market, a more general and thorough ablution of the body was had than was required on ordinary occasions. But this more general washing was simply for the purpose of thorough purification; and consequently this haptism was simply a purification — as truly so as the washing of the hands. But this supposed change, or extension of the idea, in passing from the one word to the other, is mere conjecture — it is not proved, and cannot be. The evangelist, in recording this cornphiint of the Pharisees and scribes, takes occasion to speak of the general custom of the Jews on the subject oi purifyhig themselves before taking their meals ; and states wliat that custom is on common occasions, and what it is when they have been to market. But the idea of purifying is the only one introduced, wdth perhaps the different degrees of thoroughness required on the different occasions. This is evident from the public declaration w^iich the Saviour made on this very occasion. Verse 15, " There is nothing from without a man that, entering into him, can defile him ; but the things that come out of him, these are tliey that defile the man." Their custom of washing or baptizing before eating was founded on the supposition that they might possibly have touched something w^liich, by the ceremonial law, was accounted unclean ; and. by handling their food in that state they might pollute it, and so defile themselves, by eating that which was unclean. Hence they purified themselves before eating. This is evidently the meaning, and the only meaning of their washing or baptizing at such times. A similar complaint against the

Sanour himself was made by a Pharisee who ^ had invited Christ to eat in his house, as mentioned in Luke 11 : 38. The passage, with the connection, is as follows : " And as he spake, -a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him : and he went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed (Gr. baptized) before dinner." Now, suppose the Saviour, before eating, had taken a small vessel of water, and, with a towel, ha5 proceeded to wash himself thoroughly — all over, if you please — it would not have been immersion at all ; and yet, does any candid mind think that the Pharisee, in that case, would have marvelled that Jesus did not get into a bathing-tub and immerse himself? Was it immersion or purification that the Pharisee required? Manifestly the latter, although it is called by the evangelist haptism. The Pharisee " marvelled that he had not first laptized before dinner." But, that purifying or cleansing was the idea involved is evident from what the Saviour says in reply. '' And the Lord said unto him. Now do ye Pharisees makeoleaj^ the outside of the cup and the platter ; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.'^

It w^s the fact that he had not first madi!: clkan or PURIFIED himself that the Pharisee complainec'^ of. But " bai)tized " is the original word which Luke employs to express this idea. This shows in what sense he uses the term. Immersion would indeed have answered the purpose of the Pharisee ; and so would anything else by ^vhich purification should have been efi:ected. The word " baptized " in this place has clearly no reference to tlie mode^ but only to the effect ; and is synonymous with clectnsed or purified. The same is true in the case above mentioned, wliere the disciples were complained of in a similar way. And when the Jews, as above, are said to hold the custom of washing (baptizing) " cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and tables," or dining couches, (for all agree that this is what is meant by xXivgjv, the word rendered '' tables " — couches on which they reclined at meals,) it is preposterous to suppose that immersion is here the essential idea of baptism ; or that the w-ord conveys any other idea than purification. Who can believe, from the mere use of this word in such a connection — and is there other evidence ? — tiiat the Jews were accustomed, before every -meal, to immerse their couches^ as well as rwrPOKT OF THE WORD. 28

their cooking utensils and table fnrnitnre ; and that, too, for the sake of the manyier of doing it rather than the effect f It was plainly a ceremonial purification, and might be performed bywashing in any way, or by sprinkling, which was a common mode of purifying under the law. The baptism of their couches was most probably performed by sprinkling. No one, it seems to me, who has not a theory to support, can believe it was done by immersion. And these cases illustrate the meaning of the word hajytize as used by these inspired writers. It is jpwrify or <?fe(^7^5^ — denoting simply the procuring of an effect ; and that without regard to the mode of doing it.

That this is the true meaning of the word, as used by the evangelists, is further evident from the question put to John the Baptist, (John 1 : 25,) when the Jews sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He having denied that he was the Christ, or the literal Elias, or any one of the old prophets returned, they ask him, '< Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? " This shows that there was an expectation among them that Christ, when he should come, would ic^- tize. But was there anything in the prophecies concerning Christ to awaken the expectation that he would imrncrse^ or be an immerser J Not one word. Why, then, should it have been expected that he would baptize f And why should it have been suspected that John must be the Christ from, the fact that he baptized? The reason is plain. It was distinctly declared (Mai. 3 : 23,) that Christ or Messiah should purify J and this was therefore expected of him. As to what would be the nature of his purifying, their ideas were vague and confused. But as soon as John appeared, officially baptizing, and administering the rite to many of tlie priests and Levites, as well as otliers, they at once thought they perceived in him the predicted ^'purifier." Baptism was understood to mean purification. A great purifier had appeared, who, according to prophecy, was ' purifying the sons of Levi ;' and they readily imagined that this must be the Christ. On no other principle can it be accounted for, that John's baptizing should have been taken as an indication of his being the Christ, than that baptism was understood to be purification, and they knew Christ was to come as a purifier. This shows the meaning of the word laptize^ as it was religiously used among the Jews in tlie time of John. It was not immerse, or sprinkle, or pour, or anything else which described a particular mode of doing a thing ; but purify^ having no regard whatever to the mode. And the term hajpturm w^as.usedto denote any and every sort of religious purification, w^hether ceremonial, moral, spiritual, or legal — that is, sacrificial. In speaking of the baptism of John, the w^ord is used to denote the ceremonial purification w^ith water, and also the moral purification of repentance. In repentance, the sinner withdraws his mind from the pollution of sin, and turns it to righteousness and purity. Hence it is moral purification. John preached the baptism of repentance -— in other w^ords, the purification of repentance. He preached that men should repent, and thus purify themselves in their moral affections. And as a sign of this moral purification which they professed, he administered the ceremonial purification with water. Water baptism, considered as ceremonial purification^ is strikingly emblematical of repentance, which is moral purification. But baptism, considered as immeV" m>n^ or anything else which denotes inodcy ean- B

26 BAPnsM ;

not, T\'itli any degree of filness, represent repentance ; because there is nothing about repentance which resembles the mc>6Z^ of immersion, or of sprinkling, or of pouring. It is not, then, the manner or mode of doing the thing which constitutes religious baptism ; but the procurmg of a certain effect^ viz. ^purification. Any process by which purification is effected is baptism^ in the religious sense of the term.

In Ileb. 9 : 10, the apostle calls the various purifications under the law ^' divers baptisms." '' Divers washings " it is in our translation ; but in the original Greek, the word for " washings" is,literally rendered,'' 5a^^2*6^m5." In this chapter he labors to show liis Jewish brethren that the Mosaic ritual could not take away sin, or produce real purity of heart and conscience, but afforded only an outward purification of the flesh; while the application of Christ's blood, of which these '' divers baptisms" were emblematical, was able to eflect.a true cleansing — a purifying of the conscience and heart — a deliverance from sin and condemnation. In the 10th vei*se he states, in general terms, in what tlie tabernacle service consisted. It " stood only in meats and drinks, and divers baptisms, and carnal ordinances,"

Then, in the 13th verse, he adverts again to tliis service more in detail, and shows what he meant by the " divers baptisms." '^ For," says he, '' if the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the jpurifying of the flesh," &c. The ^' divers 'baptisms^'^ then, were divers purifyings^ performed by " sprinkling the unclean " with " the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer."

The reader wdll permit me to offer one more passage in proof of the fact that the sacred' writers use the term hajptize in the sense oi j>urify. It is in John 3 : 22-26. While John was baptizing in Enon, Jesus with his disciples came into Judea and baptized. This was by some regarded as indicating a sort of rivalry between John and Jesus. Some of John's disciples appear to have felt a little jealously of Jesus, as if he were trespassing on the prerogatives of their master ; and they fell into a dispute with certain Jews on the subject, which they referred to John to settle. The account of the matter is in these words. ^' After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them and baptized* And

John also was baptizing in Enon, near to Salim, because there was ranch water there ; and they came and were baptized : for John was not vet cast into prison. Then tliere arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about imrify lug. ^ And thej came unto John and said unto him. Rabbi, he that was w^ith thee beyond Jordan, to w^hom thou bearest witness, the same* baptizeth, and all men come to him." John immediately acknow^ledges the superiority of Christ, and thus settles the question. Now^, it is perfectly manifest, on the face of the narrative, that this W'as a dispute growing out of the rival claims set up for John and Jesus, by their respective adherents, touching the right to baptize. It was in fact a question about baptizing ; and yet the evangelist calls it " a question-about purifying." This, I think, makes it abundantly evident that he uses the terms hajythlfiff and purifying interchangably, as meaning the same thing. Any process of purifjdng, therefore, is baptizing; because the Greek word xa^a^Krju-s, here translated ''purifying," is never restricted to any particular mode. The mode of purifying is always to be determined by some accompanying term ot term^^ andnot by the word purify

(x-'daf;i';^G) itself. And since laptize is used as a sjnionyni oi vuriftj^ it is manifestly improper to ascribe to it the specific and modal sense of immerse, or pour, or sprinkle. Its meaning is more general, and regards simply an effect which either of tliese modes may procure. Purify is its most exact definition.

Chapter II. Design Of Baptism

'What is the true object or design of Christian hajptism ? It is doubtless owing, in a great degree, to a want of accurate understanding on this point, that so much difference exists among evangelical Christians in regard to this ordinance. If I could be sure of fixing in the reader's mind correct ideas of the design of baptism, I should feel little concern in respect to his views of the mode^ or the proper sid)jects of the rite. But let me do what I can to this end.

The belief is extensively entertained that one main design of baptism is to syiiibolize and comraemorate the hurial and resurrection of Christ, This, in my opinion, is a radical error, and ought to be corrected. The Bible nowhere teaches tliat such is the main desi^'n, or anv desi^-n at all of baj)tism. There are, however, two passages of Scripture which, by many, are thought to sustain this view, and whicli it is proper here to

BAPTISM ; ITS DESIGN. 31

' examine. The first is in Rom. 6 : 3-5. " Know je not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ \vere baptized into his death ? Therefore we are buried with him, by baptism, into death ; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in tlie likeness of his resurrection." Now, I think that a careful and impartial examination of this passage will convince us that, by the baptism here spoken of is not meant the baptism of loafer, but that sjnritiial baptism, or purification, by which the heart is renewed, and the believer becomes dead to sin and alive to righteousness. The connection of the passage sIiovn^s that the object of the apostle is to declare what must be the moral eflect of justification by grace through faith in Christ. In the preceding chapters of this epistle, he had clearly taught tliis doctrine of justification by grace, in opposition to the Jewish idea of justification hj the vrorks of tlie law ; and had sustained his position by the most cogent argumentation. But now he anticipates an objection that w^ould naturally arise in many minds, especially in such as were exposed to the influence of Judaizing teachers. The objection is, that this doctrine would lead to laxity of morals — that, if it he true that " v/here sin abounded grace did much more abound," then men may feel at liberty to live in sin, since they thereby furnish opportunity for the exercise of the more grace. " What shall we say then ? " he asks. " Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound ? " And here he proceeds to reply to this objection, in the passage before us, by urging our hajptism into Christ as a guaranty against such perversion of grace. " God forbid ! How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein ? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death ? Therefore we are buried with him, by baptism, into death ; " — plainly meaning death to sin. By our spiritual purification, or baptism into Christ, we so sympathize with him as to die unto sin as he died for sin. Tims we are said to be ''baptized [puriKed] into his death." The baptism or purification of which the apostle here speaks is one that produces death to sin ; so as to furnish a perfect answer to the above objection raised against salvation