SCRIPTURE GUIDE TO BAPTISM,

&c. &c.

CHAPTER I.

PASSAGES IN THE FOUR GOSPELS.

§ I. The Mission, Preaching, and Baptizing of John the Baptist.

THE first place of Scripture, where the ordinance of baptism is found, is in the account given of the ministry of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. The surname of "Baptist" was most probably given him because he was "sent to baptize" by Divine authority, and was the first so authorized and employed. As all the four evangelists have given some account of John, I shall unite the testimony of the four, and present it to the reader in a continued relation.

Mark i. 1. THE beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. John i. 6, 7.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John: the same came to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. Matt. iii. 3. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Luke i. 16, 17. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God: And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. iii. 1, 2. Now-the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

Matt. iii. 1. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea; Luke iii. 3. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; Matt. iii. 2. And saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Acts xiii. 24. John preached the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; xix. 4, saying unto the people, that they should believe on HIM which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

John i. 19 to 31. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites to ask him, Who art

thou? He confessed, I am not the Christ. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord. And they asked him, Why baptizest thou, if thou be not that Christ? John answered, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you-who, coming after me, is preferred before me. That HE should be manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 33. [For God] sent me to baptize with water.

Matt. iii. 5. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6. And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Mark i. 4. John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; 5. And there went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.

Luke iii. 12. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? 13. And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

Matt. iii. 7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance: 9. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 11. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: 12. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

CHRISTIAN READER: There are THREE INQUIRIES, in relation to the ordinance of baptism, upon which, I shall imagine, you are desirous of obtaining satisfaction of mind, purely deduced from the Scriptures; namely,—

I. Who are proper subjects of Christian baptism, according to the authority of Christ, and the practice of his harbinger and apostles'

II. By what mode should the ordinance be administered, according to the same authority and practice?

III. What is the spiritual design of baptism, and in whom is that design realized?

These three inquiries will be kept constantly in view in the following pages. In the foregoing section of Scriptures you have a full account of John the Baptist, with reference to his practice, in which you may notice,-

1. His mission was divine. He was "sent from God." He was raised up by the special purpose and power of God, and employed in a work entirely his own; succeeding to no one who had gone before him, and followed by no one in the same office. His instructions for his work he obtained by Divine revelation :-"The word of God came unto John," and thus his entire work was of God's immediate appoint

ment.

2. The great object of his ministry was to "prepare the way of the Lord,;" i. e. of Christ, who was immediately to follow him, according to the prediction of the prophets; Isa. xl. 3. Mal. iii. 1. This great design John was to accomplish, 1. By proclaiming repentanceimpressing on the minds of his hearers their guilt before God; the necessity of being sensible of it, and confessing it; and thus, with contrition of heart, "to turn to the Lord their God." 2. By announc ing the immediate approach of the long-promised MESSIAH; assuring the Jews that his "kingdom was at hand;" and, 3. By seriously charging and exhorting them to "Believe on him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." By these labors, attended with the blessing of heaven, he was "to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." And this was happily accomplished, inasmuch as the first disciples of Christ were previously disciples of John. John i. 35-47.

It does not appear, therefore,' that the design of John's mission could be realized in any but in adult persons, or persons come to the years of understanding; none else could repent of sin; none else could embrace the glad tidings of the coming Saviour, and thereby be "a people prepared" for the service of Christ; who, within one year, was to follow John, and receive the people so prepared.

3. His ministry was to be followed by the administration of the ordinance of baptism. His commission from heaven included this ordinance. Baptism, as a divine institution, was unknown in the church of God previous to the mission of John. But he informed his hearers, that the same God who sent him to prepare the way of the Lord," sent him to baptize with water," John i. 33, and this too was preparatory to the ministry of Christ, as it was fitted and intended to teach the guilt of sin, and the penitent sinner's purification in the way which the gospel of Christ should bring more fully to light. Of that blessed work of purification baptism was an appropriate and impressive EMBLEM. In accordance with these remarks,* we have the excellent

*In this work I shall introduce numerous extracts from the writings of eminent Pedobaptist authors, who, though they practised differently from what is contenden for in these pages; yet, some upon one part of our inquiry, and some upon others, have fully granted and allowed the Divine authority of what I shall endeavour to point out as having that authority, to the attention of the reader. As, however, I

MATTHEW HENRY. "Baptism with water made way for the manfesting of Christ, as it supposed our corruption and filthiness, and signiried our cleansing by him, who is the Fountain opened." Of John's express commission from heaven for baptizing, Mr. Henry adds, “See what sure grounds John went upon in his ministry and baptism. He did not run without sending; God sent him to baptize. He had warrant from heaven for what he did... God gave him both his mission and his message; both his credentials and instructions." Expos. on Avan i. 6—14, and 29–36.

4. The persons John baptized had received his ministry, and were professed penitents. One particular circumstance is expressly asserted by Matthew, and repeated again by Mark, descriptive of the persons whom John baptized, and by the latter it is asserted of "all" of them; namely, that they CONFESSED THEIR SINS. He had preached repentance-exhorted to repentance-and of the Pharisees and Sadducees demanded the "fruits of repentance;" while he peremptorily rejected every plea they might urge, particularly that, in which they generally gloried, that they were the children of Abraham; and hence in accord ance with that repentance which John thus preached and demanded, "they were all baptized of him, confessing their sins." Thus his bap tism is expressly called by Mark i. 4, by Luke iii. 3, and twice by Paul, Acts xiii. 24, and xix. 4, " the baptism of repentance." This being admitted, it will follow, that the persons, yea all the persons, whom John baptized, WERE THOSE WHO HAD RECEIVED AND BELIEVED HIS MINISTRY; and, as the "fruit" of their conviction, they openly professed repentance toward God, and faith in the approaching Saviour. Thus,

MR. ERSKINE. "John's baptism was termed the baptism of repentance, and baptism to repentance; because he required of ALL, whom he admitted to baptism, a profession of repentance, and exhorted them to such a conduct as would demonstrate their repentance genuine." In Booth's Pædobap. Exam. Vol. II. p. 241. Ed. 2.

MR. SCOTT. "It does not appear that any but adults were baptized by John... adult Jews, professing repentance and a disposition to become the Messiah's subjects, were the ONLY PERSONS whom John admitted to baptism." Comment. on Matt. iii. 5, 6.

MR. BURKITT. "John's baptism was the baptism of repentance, of which infants were incapable." Expos. Notes on Matt. xix. 13-15

OF THE MODE OF JOHN'S BAPTISM.

Mr reader will, no doubt, be aware that the ordinance of baptism is administered THREE different ways, in different countries, and by different bodies of Christians; namely, by DIPPING-POURING—and

shall make my work as brief as possible, these extracts must necessarily be short, but care shall be taken to give the real meaning of every writer in the passages cited. Their brevity can form no objection; or the same objection might be made against passages cited by the apostles in the New Testament.

SPRINKLING. He will also be aware, that in whatever way the water be employed, it cannot take away sin. No spiritual benefit can be conveyed by any one mode more than by another; but, notwithstanding this, it is a serious and interesting question, which of these has DIVINE AUTHORITY? How did the harbinger of Christ, having God's command upon the subject, administer the ordinance? By which of these modes was JESUS baptized? and his disciples by his sanction? There can be but ONE mode that has this DIVINE AUTHORITY; a deviation from this, is a deviation from the revealed will of God, and can be nothing better than a mere human invention. What is that ONE authorized mode? Will the Scriptures afford an inquiring mind satisfaction on this subject? No doubt; they were intended for that purpose, on this as well as on every other subject, in which our obedience to God is required.

Turn then your eye, reader, from the diversified and often varying practices of men, to that unerring and unchangeable source of information, which, in these pages, we propose to examine. Two inquiries here suggest themselves :

I. What does the word in the original language, employed by the Spirit of God to express this ordinance, signify? Does it express the action of dipping, pouring, or sprinkling?

II. What mode do the circumstances attending the ordinance most evidently favor?

I. To express the action by which this ordinance is to be administered, the word so chosen is Barrica; which our translators have not rendered into English by a verb of our own language expressive of the same action, but adopted the original Greek word, which with us is to baptize. To obtain therefore the sense of this word, we will turn to a Lexicon, where the word in question is explained.* The following is from the excellent Greek and English Lexicon of DR. JOHN JONES, which gives the plain sense of words without refining or accommodating

"Вллт∞, I dips—I dye, stain.

Barrisw, I plunge; I plunge in water, dip, baptize; bury, overwhelm.

Barrioμal, I am plunged; plunge myself in sorrow; ubmit to, suffer.

Barroux, immersion, baptism; plunging in affliction."

To the unlearned reader it may be proper to observe, that the first of these words is the theme or root of the three following, and gives the primary idea of all; the first sense of which is to dip. The second is the word chosen by inspiration, to express the action by which the ordinance is administered, to baptize, i. e. to plunge. The

*We might here call to our assistance lexicographers and other learned writers out of number; but I may with confidence affirm, that in citing one, we cite every competent authority on the subject; for, in the proper and primary sense of the word baptize, learned men of all classes and countries are agreed, as I shall show in the Appendix.

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