deluge was a baptism, not only for the world, purging away its sins, but also for Noah and his family, as a means of salvation. As they were saved by the waters buoying up the ark, so are we saved by baptism. (2.) The baptism of Moses when he passed through the Red Sea. The sea was the symbol of the water of baptism ; the cloud, of the Holy Spirit. (3.) That of the He- brews, as among them any person or thing impure, ikovtro vSari, was washed with water. This washing, however done, was bap- tism. (4.) The baptism of John, which was regarded as intro- ductory, not spiritual, or conferring the Spirit, but simply leading to repentance. (5.) The baptism of Jesus. Ba7rri£ei I-qaovs, aAA.' ev xi/cv/xan. Here immersion is precluded. (6.) Of tears, &d Sa/c- pvuv. " I know a fifth," says Gregory Nazianzen,1 " by tears, but very laborious, when a man washes (6 Aowoi/) his pillow and his bed every night with his tears." (7.) Of blood. The martyrs were baptized with blood. Christ's cross and death were called his baptism, because thereby purification was made for the sins of men. (8.) The baptism of fire. This is sometimes under- stood of the Holy Spirit, who purifies as fire does ; at others of the final conflagration when the earth is to be purified by fire. With the fathers, therefore, the act of purification, and not sim- ply or only the act of immersion, was baptism.2
It is not denied that pmrrt^w means to immerse, or that it is frequently so used by the fathers as by the classic authors ; it is not denied that the Christian rite was often administered, after the apostolic age, by immersion ; it is not even denied that dur- ing certain periods of the history of the Church, and in certain regions, immersion was the common method in which baptism was administered. But it is denied that immersion is essential to baptism ; that it was the common method in the apostolic Churches ; that it was at any time or in any part of the Church the exclusive method ; and more especially is it denied that im- mersion is now and everywhere obligatory or necessary to the integrity of Christian baptism.8
i Oratio xxxix. ; Opera, Cologne, 1680, vol. i. p. 634.
* Joh. Caspar! Suiceri, Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus e Patribus Grcecis ordine alphabetico ex- hibens Quctcunque Phrases, Ritus, Dogmata, Hasreses, et hujusmodi alia spectant. Opus viginti annorum indefesso labor e adornatum, 2d edit., Amsterdam, 1728.
8 See Hermann Cremer, Biblisch-Theologisches Worterbuch der Neutestamentlichen Gra- citat, Gotha, 1866. After referring to the Old Testament ablutions the author says, on p. 87: "We must, therefore, by Pairri$tiv understand a washing, the design of which, as of the theocratical washings and purifications, was the purification of the soul from sin (Ent- •iindigung)." On p. 89 it is said, "We find the secondary meaning of (Hawriiup in Mat- thew iii. 11: BawT. iv irvtvfiart. ayitp »cai irvpt, opp. iv v&aTi eis peTapotap, comp. Luke iii. 16;
John i. 33. That it is not the meaning of immersion, but of ' washing with tbe design of
538 PART in. Ch. XX. — the means of grace.
The Catholicity of the Gf-ospel. The third general argument on this subject is derived from the fact that the Gospel is designed for all classes of persons and for all parts of the earth. It is not intended exclusively for the strong and robust, but also for the weak, the sick, and the dying. It is not to be confined to the warm or temperate regions of the earth, but it is to be preached and its ordinances are to be admin- istered wherever fallen men can be found. Baptism by immer- sion would be to many of the sick certainly fatal ; to the dying impossible. To the inhabitants of Greenland, if possible, it would be torture ; and to those dwelling in the deserts of Arabia or Africa, it could be administered only at long intervals or at the end of a long pilgrimage. Yet baptism is an imperative duty. The command of Christ is, " Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." It is not to be believed that our blessed Lord would have enjoined an external rite as the mode of professing his religion, the observance of which, under many cir- cumstances, would be exceedingly difficult, and sometimes impos- sible.
Argument from the Design of the Ordinance.
This argument was adverted to in the beginning of this section. It requires, however, a more particular consideration. (1.) It is admitted that baptism is a sign, and that the blessing which it signifies is purification from sin. (2.) It is admitted that the theocratical purifications, having the same general import, were effected by immersion, affusion, and sprinkling. (3.) It is ad- mitted that the soul is cleansed from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ. (4.) It is admitted that under the Old Testament the application of the blood of the sacrifices for sin was expressed by the act of sprinkling. It was sprinkled on the people (Ex. xxiv. 8) for whose benefit the sacrifices were offered ; it was sprinkled upon the altar ; and, by the High Priest, upon the mercy seat. In the New Testament the application of the blood of Christ is expressed by the same word. " Elect .... unto .... sprink- ling of the blood of Jesus Christ.', (1 Pet. i. 2.) " The blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Heb. xii. 24,) (5.) It is admitted, further, that the purification of the soul from the moral pollution of sin is effected by the renewing
purification,' that is transferred, is plain from the antithesis between iv v«. and iv w., whereby the two baptisms are distinguished."