1st. The word occurs four times in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, in three of which instances it refers to bap- tism with water. 2 Kings v., 14 — The prophet told Naanian to " wash and be clean/' and " he baptized himself in Jordan, and he was clean." Eccle. xxxiv., 25 — " He that baptiseth himself after the touching of a dead body." This purification according to the law was accomplished by sprinkling the ivater of separa- tion, Num. xix., 9, 13, 20. Judith xii., 7, Judith " baptized her- self in the camp at a fountain of water." Bathing was not per- formed among those nations by immersion ; and the circumstances in which Judith was placed increase the improbability in her case. It was a purification for she " baptized herself," and " so came in clean!'
2d. The question agitated between some of John's disciples and the Jews, John iii., 22-30, and iv., 1-3, concerning baptism is called a question concerning purification, negl KadapiG[iov.
3d. Matt, xv., 2 ; Mark vii., 1-5 ; Luke xi., 37-39. The word PanTi^c) is here used (1.) for the customary washing of the hands before meals, which was designed to purify, and was habit- ually performed by pouring water upon them, 2 Kings iii., 11 : (2.) it is interchanged with the word vltttg), which always signi- fies a partial washing ; (3.) its effect is declared to be to purify, KaOapifriv ; (4.) the baptized or washed hands are opposed to the unclean, Koivalg '
4th. Mark vii., 4, 8, " Baptism of pots and cups, brazen ves- sels, and of tables," nXivai, couches upon which Jews reclined at their meals, large enough to accommodate several persons at once. The object of these baptisms was purification, and the mode could not have been immersion in the case of the tables, couches, etc.
5th. Heb. ix., 10, Paul says the first tabernacle "stood only in meats, and drinks, and divers baptisms." In verses 13, 19, 21, he specifies some of these " divers baptisms" or washings, " For
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if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprink- ling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh/' and " Moses sprinkled both the book and all the people, and the tab- ernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry." — Dr. Armstrong's ■'Doc. of Bapt.," Parti.
11. What argument in favor of this view of the subject may be drawn from what is said of baptism with the Holy Ghost ?
Matt, iii., 11 ; Mark i., 8 ; Luke iii., 16 ; John i., 26, 33 ; Acts i., 5 ; xi., 16 ; 1 Cor. xii., 13.
If the word fiaiTTifa only means to immerse, it would be inca- pable of the figurative use to which, in these passages, it is actu- ally subjected. But if, as we claim, it signifies to purify, to cleanse, then water baptism, as a washing, though never as an immersion, may fitly represent the cleansing work of the Holy Ghost. See next question.
12. What argument may be drawn from the fact that the bles- sings symbolized by baptism are said to be applied by sprinkling and pouring ?
The gift of the Holy Ghost was the grace signified, Acts ii., 1-4, 32, 33; x., 44-48; xi., 15, 16. The fire which did not immerse them, but appeared as cloven tongues, and " sat upon each one of them/' was the sign of that grace. Jesus was him- self the baptizer, who now fulfilled the prediction of John the Baptist that he should baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. This gift of the Holy Ghost is set forth in such terms as "came from heaven/' "poured out," "shed forth/' "fell on them."
These very blessings were predicted in the Old Testament by similar language, Is. xliv., 3 ; Hi., 15 ; Ezek. xxxvi, 25-27 ; Joel ii., 28, 29. Hence we argue that if these spiritual blessings were predicted in the Old Testament by means of these figures of sprinkling and pouring, and if in the New Testament they were symbolically set forth under the same form, they mayj of course, be symbolized by the church now by the same emblematical actions.
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13. What argument may be drawn from the mode of purifica- tion adopted under the Old Testament ?