water : ' And if thou canst not in cold, then in warm ; but if thou hast neither, pour water thrice upon the head.' Here it is obvious that aflusion is to be practised only where immersion is incon- venient or impossible. The Eastern Church has in the main adhered to the primitive form. But in the Western Church the exigencies of climate and the alteration of manners have favoured affusion and sprinkling. Judging from the representations of the performance of the rite collected by Mr. C. F. Rogers {Studia Bibl. et Eccles. vol. v. pt. iv.), —whose collection is more valuable than his in- ferences,— it would seem that at an early period a common form of administration required that the baptized person should stand in some kind of bath or tul), naked or nearly so, while the liajitizer poured water three times over him. This restricted form gradually gave place to the still more meagre sprinkling of the head. But theoretically the form of Baptism by immersion was retained alike in the Roman, the Anglican, and the Presbyterian Churches. Thus Aquinas (Summa, III. Ixvi. 7) determines : ' si totum corpus aqua non possit perfundi jiropter aqua! pauci- tatem, vel propter aliquaui aliuiii causaiii, opurtct caput perfundere, in qim iinniiffstatur i>rincipiiim animalis vitaj.' The ^\iiyliruii ('lunch in iier rubric for Baptism directs the niinistrant to dip the child discreetly and warily, if the sponsors certify him that the child may well endure it ; if not, 'it shall .suffice to pour water upon it.' And tlie Westminster Confession ^VLax&eAXy anya : 'Dip- ping of the person into water is noi ncres.innj ; but Baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person ' (cf. Calvin, Inst. iv. 15, 19). This form of Baptism by sprink- ling gives prominence to the ' pouring out ' of the Spirit (cf. Tit 3**), but fails to indicate the dying to sin and rising to righteousness.
3. John's Baptism of the people.— 'V\ie message of the Baptist as herald of the Messiah was, ' Tlie kingdom of heaven is at hand.' The imminence of tlie kingdom produced in the people a sense of their unpreparedne.ss for its enjoyment. A new sense of sin was created within them, answering to the forerunner's cry, ' Repent ye : fur the king- dom of heaven is at hand' (Mt 3^). The hunger for cleanness of conscience thus awakened within them was responded to by John's Baptism ol repentance 'for (eis) remi-ssion of sins' (Mk V). True repentance cleanses the soul, and Baptism represented and sealed this inward cleansing. The reality of the repentance, as John insisted, would be determined by its fruits. Many writers (cf. Reynolds, John tlie- Baptist, pp. 288-289 ; and Lambert, The Sacraments, p. 6U) hold that the preposition ei'j tienotes that the remission of sins was not actually bestowed, but only guaranteed in John's Baptism. ' John proclaimed, with the voice of thunder, the need of repentance as a condition of the remission of sins ; his Baptism was the ex- ternal symbol of the frame of mind with which the penitent approached the great forerunner.' This seems, both exegetically and psychologically, untenable. The whole expression, ' Baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins,' denotes .-i Bap- tism which the iienitent submitted U, that lie might therein receive the plcdui' an. I a>.-,maiicc that he was forgiven. The Baiiti^ni niiant the cleansing of the people from past sin that they mi^ht be fitted for entrance on tlie kingdom.
But John's Baptism had a forward look also. It was the formal incorporation of the individual into the new community, his initiation into the
kinvil II was tlierefore in a very true sense
rill 1,1 1,111 l;,i|,nMii. That is, it pledged the re- iijiii 111 to 111.' acce|4anceof Christ,— a feature of it wliicli pcihap.i accounts for the Bai)tist continuing
BAPTISM
170
BAPTISM
that, as one with a^" . '\°<=' | ? ; „ idle to tell the Baptism to be appropnat^^ ^lUmed though her wife that she need not be -i^ i^^'"^" >■' s , hLband is committed for fraud ;aie to tel Jesus
that He need not be bap -^^1-^^^^^^^^
mmmm
lS^s^^,:|^of|eWineSgi.t^ ^^
The account tnven }n -^ae ^L""'^ „nrpspnted
tho\?s means, 'I did not know that he was the M::^in!^.ut_he^t.atsentmetoba^ue
^W^^l?^' ^ ,^XreTnone" gol.d'b'S
"al ms"^ But now, having reached the flowev^of most strenuous endeavour, and so gives suop
iter'rCuncedte position as forerunner 'nor Verged himself [" the kingdom.^ The re^
question whether all ^y^°T',;„ ..-ere re-baptized
in certain cu-cumsUnCerthft " ^ers^ns snoken of an evasion. He He"ies uuiu i ^^^ ^^^^
in Ac 19 were re-baptizecL 1 1 ey y ^^
the Lord Jesus and ^^ hen ra .^^j locutione
legitimacy of the 'ene^val of "^P^'r^ were
«"^^??HSeS^Sno[ John^s Baptrsm, Its relation to repe.^^.^^ ,
its efficacy as the o™„\"^"\gf ,, ,vas now supplied, kingdom of Jesus, ^^'u^ \l«'^." ^^^^^^ so universal
;:X:tli^ ;2;ie';^id unto me, Upon wliom tljou
'rhe^&i^m^UettthrbtameHisanointing Ihe l^apti^m o, ue j^i^g Anointed
S StiSExr^'isars?
Thus Har- '9 note) says: ' It cannot instituted Baptism, of the Lord. The i 1 ) It is only a later ..,,v..s(.nts the risen command-
can uc a^^^i'-^-- —
u!>.c)i(Hist.ofDo!J>n be directly proved for Mt OS'* is u. reasons for this a>
stage of the trad .^^ _
Christ as delivering ^l'^"^'r'^°; , ^^ m The Trini