ton/lies like as of tire''' (Acts ii, 3). See PENTECOST;
Iloi.v Ghost. It must be admitted, however, against this view, that ''fire" elsewhere is the symbol of ven- geance or destruction, and that in all the parallel pas- sages it has this import (see Kuinol in loc). It would therefore be more appropriate to understand the fiery
B AP TI SM AL FORMULA
653
BAPTISTS
Baptism to lie the temporal and eternal punishments to which the Jews were exposed, in contrast with the spiritual baptism offered as the other alternative (comp. the context in Matt, and Luke ; also the parallel pas- sages in Acts). See Fire.
Baptismal Formula (Matt, xxviii, 19). See Baptism; Trinity; Sacrament.
Baptismal Regeneration. See Baptism; Re- generation.
Baptist, John the. See John (the Baptist).
Baptist Denomination. See Baptists.
Baptistery, a place or room set apart for per- forming baptism. We have no account in the New Testament of any such separated places. John and the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ baptized in the Jordan. But baptism could be administered in other places (see Acts viii, 36, 37; xvi, 13-16'). There was a public baptism of three thousand converts on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii, 41), but no account is given of the place. Examples also occur in the Acts of the Apostles of baptism in private houses. Passages in the writings of Justin Martyr, Clement, and Tertullian show that, during their time, there were no baptisteries. In later times the baptistery was one of the exedrce, or buildings distinct from the church itself, and consist- ed of the porch, where the person about to be baptized made the confession of faith, and an inner room, w here the ceremony was performed. Thus it remained till the sixth century, when the baptistery was taken into the church porch, and afterward into the church it- self. The ancient baptisteries were sometimes called foj-irrri'ipia (iUumhmtorui), either because baptism was sometimes called q&wrtcr/zoc, illumination, or because they were places of illumination or instruction, preced- ing baptism, where the catechumens were taught the first principles of the Christian faith. We occasion- ally meet with the word KoXvjxfiriQpa, or piscina (the font). The octagonal or circular form was adopted, surmounted with a dome, and the baptistery was situ- , ated at the entrance to the principal or western gate. ' These edifices arc of considerable antiquity, since one was prepared for the ceremonial of the baptism of Clo- vis. It is not possible to decide at what period they began to be multiplied, and at length united to, or I changed into parish churches ; yet it appears that the alteration took place when stated seasons of baptism ceased, and the right of administration was ceded to ; all presbyters and deacons. The word baptistery is now applied also to the baptismal font. — Bingham, Orifj. Eccles. bk. viii, ch. vii, § 14; Farrar, s. v.
Baptists, a name given to those Christian denom- inations which reject the validity of infant baptism, and bold that the ordinance of baptism can be administered only to those who have made a personal profession of faith in Christ. The Baptist churches also, in general, maintain that the entire immersion of the body is the only scriptural mode of baptism ; yet the Mennonites, who are generally regarded as Baptists, use sprinkling. The name Baptist, as assumed by the Baptist denom- inations, of course implies that they alone maintain the Christian doctrine and practice of baptism ; and in this j sense their right to this distinctive name is denied by . all other Christian denominations, as well as the simi- lar claims of the Unitarians and (Raman) Catholics to their respective names. But, as established by usage, without having regard to its original signification, it is now generally adopted. The name Anabaptist is ! rejected by the Baptists as a term of reproach, because they protest against being identified with the Anabap- tists of Minister, and as also incorrect, because most of their members receive the rite for the first time on their admission to a Baptist church.
I. History. — 1. Before the sixteenth Century. — All Baptists, of course, claim that the apostolic church was essentially Baptist, and that infant baptism is an
innovation. But Baptist writers differ concerning the time of the introduction of infant baptism, and also as to the question whether it is possible to trace an unin- terrupted succession of Baptist churches from the apos- tles' time down to the present. Some Baptist writers have attempted to trace this succession, as Orchard (History of Foreign Baptists, Lond. 1838), who gives, as the summing up of his researches, that "all Chris- tian communities during the first three centuries were of the Baptist denomination in constitution and prac- tice. In the middle of the third century the Kovatian Baptists established separate and independent societies, which continued until the end of the sixth age, when these communities were succeeded by the Patcrines, which continued until the Reformation (1517). The Oriental Baptist churches, with their successors, the Paulicians, continued in their purity until the tenth century, when they visited France, resuscitating and extending the ( 'hristian profession in Languedoc, where they nourished rill the crusading army scattered, cr drowned in blood, one million of unoffending profess- ors. The Baptists in Piedmont and Germany are ex- hibited as existing under different names down to the Reformation. These churches, with their genuine suc- cessors, the Mcnnonilcs of Holland, are connectedly and chronologically detailed to the present period."