to g I- aid lo begin and maintain in them the war
againsl inward and outward evil, so that they may be divinely assist* d, as reason strengthens, to make their calling and election Bure. in a word, it is, both as to infants and lo adults, the Blgn and pledge of that in- ward grace which, though modified in its operations by tin- difference of their circumstances, has respect to, and flows from, a covenant relation to each of the three ■' whose one n ime they an- baptized— accept- ance bj lb- Father, union win, Christ as the head of his mystical body, the church, and the communion of the i. To these advantages must lie added the i- io il„. believing acl of tin parents, ami to their solemn prayers on tin- occasion, in both which ih- . bild h interested, as well as in that solemn engagement of the parents which the rite neces- sarily implies to brio- up their children in the nurture and admoniti m of the Lord."
Exaggerated ideas of the necessity and efficacy of baptism developed themselves as early as the second and third centuries (see references in llagcnbach, His- tory of Doctrines, § 72). It became the custom to de- fer baptism as Ioul; as possible (a practice recommend- ed, e. g. by Tertullian, Be Bapt. c. 18). Many would not be baptized until just before death ; e. g. Constan- titie. They supposed that baptism removes all pre- vious sins in a sort of magical way ; but that sins after baptism are remitted with difficulty, or not at all. Hence the baptism of new converts was delayed, en- tirely contrary to the spirit and practice of the apos- tles, who baptized converts immediately (Acts ii, 41 ; xvi, 15). See Baumgarten, Be Proerastinativne Bap- tismi np. Veteres, Halle, 1747. After Augustine, throiiL h whom the doctrine of " no salvation out of the church" came to be received, it began to be held that infants dying without baptism were lost, and the baptism of very young infants became the common rule, while the baptism of adult converts was hastened (Knapp, Theolorjy, § 141).
The Church of Rome continues to teach that original sin is effaced by the sacrament of baptism. The An- glican Church holds that " this infection of nature doth remain in them that are regenerated." The Rus- sian Catechism declares that in holy baptism the be- liever " dies to the carnal life of sin, and is born again of the Holy Ghost to a life spiritual and holy;" which is the doctrine of the Greek Church generally. Sea Grace; Regeneration ; Sacraments.
II. Obl'ffilion and Perpetuity of Baptism.— That bap- tism is obligatory is evident from the example of Christ, who by his disciples baptized many that, by his miracles and discourses, were 1 rought to profess faith in him as the Messiah ; from his command to his apostles after his resurrection (Matt, xxviii, 10 1 : end from the practice of the apostles themselves (Aits ii, 38). But the Quakers assert that Water baptism was never intended to continue in the Church of < hrist any longer than while Jewish prejudices made such an ex- ternal ceremony necessary. They argue from Eph. iv, 5, in which one baptism is spoken of as neoersavy to Christians, that this must be a baptism of the Spirit. But, from comparing the texts that relate to this inrti- tution, it will plainly appear th; t water baptism was instituted by Christ in more general terms than will agree with this explication. That it was administered to all the Gentile converts, and not confined to the Jews, appears from Matt, xxviii, lit, 20, compared with Acts x,47; and that the baptism of the Spirit did not supersede water baptism appears to have been the judgment of Peter and of those that were with him ; so that the one baptism spoken of seems to have Ik en that of water, the communication of the Holy Spirit being only called baptism in a figurative sense. As for any objection which may be drawn from 1 Cor. i, 17, it is sufficiently answered by the preceding verses, and all the numerous texts in which, in epistles writ- ten long after this, the apostle speaks of all Christians as baptized, and argues from the obligation of baptfcm in such a manner as we could never imagine he would have don- it' he had apprehended it to have been the will of (bid that it should be discontinued in the church (compare Rom. vi, •'', etc. ; Col. ii, 12; Gal. iii, 27). — Doddridge, Lectures on Divinity, Lect. 201. For a clear view of the obligation of baptism, see Hibbard on Christian Baptism, pt. ii, ch. x. See Anti-bap- tists; Quakers.
III. Mode of Baptism. — The ceremonies used in bap- tism have varied in different ages and countries; a brief account of them is given below (VII). Among Protesl ints baptism is performed with great simplici- ty; all that is deemed essential to the ordinance being the application of water by sprinkling, pouring, or im- mersion, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy (.host.
1. The Baptists (q. v.) maintain, however, that im-
BAPTISM
mersion is the only valid baptism, in this point sepa- rating themselves from all the rest of Christendom. They rely for their justification chiefly upon the follow- ing arguments : (1.) That the word |3a7rTi£w means, literal!//, to '•immerse," and nothing else; while its figurative uses always include the idea of "burying" or "overwhelming;" (2.) that the terms washing, pu- rifying, burying in baptism, so often mentioned in the Scriptures, allude to this mode ; (3.) that the places se- lected for baptism in the New Test, imply immersion ; (1.) that immersion only was the practice of the apos- tles, the first Christians, and the church in general for many ages, and that it wa.s only laid aside from the love of novelty and the coldness of climate. These positions, they think, are so clear from Scripture and the history of the church that they stand in need of hut little argument for their support. (5.) Farther, they also insist that all positive institutions depend en- tirely upon the will and declaration of the institutor ; and that, therefore, reasoning hy analogy from pre- viously abrogated rites is to be rejected, and the ex- press command of Christ respecting baptism ought to be our rule. See Lmmersiox.