St. Paul takes the Israelites being under the cloud and pas-sing through the sea a-s an image of baptism (1 Co lu'-'^); where being under the cloud points to submen-ion, while passing through the sea may signify emersion; or (less well) the cloud may typify the spiritual element in baptism, and the sea tlie mat<;rial element.
Still more e.xpressly St. Peter makes the saving of a few persons tlirough water at the Flood a figure of the Christian rite (1 PS*-*'); where the water which purged the earth of its wicked inhabitants by lloating the Ark saved its inmates. Luther almost inverts this, when he remarks that ' baptism Ls a greater deluge than that described by ^I()se», since more are baptized than were drowned by the Deluge.'
Heyond these two we need not go. But patristic i»Titers lind baptism typified in a variety of things, some of which are remote enough, e.q. not only in the passage of the Jordan (Jos 3*') and the cleansing of Naanian (2 K 5"), but in the river of Paradise, the well revealed to Hagar, the water from the rock, the water poured upon Elijah's offering, etc etc. Tertullian asserts that the primeval water ' brought forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life' (On 1"), in order that there should be no difficulty in believing that baptismal waters can give life (De Dapt. ilL). In a like spirit prophecies respecting Christian baptism were found with great freedom, not only in Zech- ariah's fountain . . . ' for sin and for uncleanness ' (13'), in Isaiah's promise that sins red as scarlet shall be white as snow (1"), and in Ezekiel's, 'I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ja sliall be clean. ... A new heart also will I pve you, and a new spirit will I put within you ' (Sli-^- ^), but even in the hart panting after tlie water brooks (Ps 42'), and in the waters breaking out in the desert ( Is 35").
Without presuming to determine anything re- specting intended types and prophecies, we may safely say that those washings which were required by the Mosaic Law as a means of entering or re- entering the congregation, especially in its closer relations with J", had considerable analogy with Christian baptism. But that is a very ditfcrent thing from Cyprian's sweeping assertion, Qiinti- esntn'jue aqua sola in script uris Sanctis nomin/itnr, ba}itumuipr<Eflii-atur(Ep. Ixiii. 8); and this he applies not only to OT (Is 43'»-'" 48"'), but to NT (Jn 4'»-" T"-*. m 5«).
III. Partial Anticipations.— When we ap- proach the history of baptism as a rite of religious initiation, we are confronted with the question. Where does the history begin? We may set aside heathen baptisme as having no historic connexion with the Buoject, except so far as ceremonial ablu- tions may be common to the human race. But a baptism which prevailed in Iceland and some parts of Norway is worth mentioning as a partial parallel. The father decided whether an infant was to be nurtured or exposed. If he wished to preserve it, water was poured over it and a name given to it ; ajid to kill it after this ceremony of admission to the community was murder. After the introduc- tion of Christianity (c. A.n. 1000) this baptism still continue<l for some time side by side with Christian baptism. Omitting pagan lustrations, we have three conspicuous examples of the rite, all originat- ing in the same part of the world : proselyte baptism, John's baptism, and Christian baptism. Which of these three is chronologically the first, and therefore the possible suggester of one or both of the others? This question was very
hotly debated in the first half of the 18th cent, on controversial grounds, to lind arguments for or against infant baptism and sacramental doctrine. In the 19th cent, the question has been examined %vitli less heat, and of late has dropped out of notice. The monograph of Schneckenburger, Ueber das Alter der jiiilischcn Proselytentanfe, Berlin, 1829, is still quoted as the leading authority on the subject. Massecheth Gerim, the Talmudic authority on proselytes, or Septem Lihri Talmudici parvi Hierosolymitani, was published by Kirchheim, Frankfurt a/M. 1851.
(a) Froseli/te Baptism. — According to the teaching of later Judaism, a stranger who desired to become a Proselyte of the Covenant, or of Kighteousness, i.e. in the fullest sense an Isr., must he circumciseil and baptized, and then oiler a sacrifice; circum- cision alone was not enough. Three of those who had instructed the stranger in the Law became his 'fathers' or sponsors, and took him to a pool, in which he stood up to his neck in water, while the great commandments of the Law were recited to him. These he promised to keep. Then a benedic- tion was pronounced, and he plunged beneath the water, taking care to be entirely submerged. In the case of women, baptism and sacrifice were the things required to admit them to the full privileges of Israel. But for both male and female proselytes sacrifice was abolished after the destruction of the temple.
That this baptism of proselytes is not an original feature in Judaism is manifest. The Rabljis indeed found a trace of it in Jacob's command to his house- hold, ' Put away the strange gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your gar- ments' (On 35'^); and even in God's command to Moses, ' Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-iiay and to-morrow, and let them wa.sh their garments' (Ex 19'"), where the people to be sancti- fied are certainly all Jews. Wlien ' the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river' (Ex 2"), this also, the Talm. said, is to be regarded as the baptizing of a proselyte. But we may safely assert that there is no mention of proselyte baptism any^vhere in OT or in the A poor. NT is eipially silent. And this is by no means all. Josephus, Philo, and the older Targumists are silent also; and there is little more than a probable allusion to it in the Mishna. None of the early Christian writers seem to know anything about it ; and this is specially notable in tlie case of those who have discussed Judaism, or l>ai)tism, or both, €.(/. Barnabas, Justin Martyr, and 'lertullian. Let us admit that the Fourth IBook of the Sibylline Oracles is of Jewish origin, and that the line, h vorafioU Xovaaade fiXor i^^at itvioun (1G4), refers to proselyte baptism; and that Arrian refers to it also, when he says of one who is a heathen, Jtox ii dvaXtif^r} t6 irdOoi ^t^afi^vov Tore Kal (art ry 6vTt Kal KaXiirai 'lovSaUs {Diss. Epict. ii. 9) ; and that the reading of the Ethiopic VS of Mt 23" 'j'e compass sea an<l land to baptize one proselyte,' is beyond question. Nevertheless, these tnreo authorities do not bring as much (if at all) earlier than the 2nd cent. ; and that at that time