THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
in the hands of the apostles. Each of us may properly cherish an opinion of his own as to what
that mode was. The opinion of the
6. The Mode writer of this article is that it was
of Applying probably by pouring water on the
the Water head of the recipient, standing, or-
Unessen- dinarily perhaps, but apparently not
tial. invariably, in a greater or less depth
of water. But he would not like to insist that no mode of administering baptism but this is valid. Certainly the New Testament lays no stress on the mode of applying the water; and even were it established that it was rather by immersion that the apostles were accustomed to administer it, it is not apparent that no other modes of administering it are valid. It might even be granted that the term " baptism " means nothing but " immersion," and that it was applied to this rite because it meant " immersion," and just in order to describe it as a rite of " immersion "; and still it would not follow that the rite can be validly administered only by " immersion." As in the case of the sister sacrament of the Lord's Supper, in which the term " supper," in its English form and in the Greek of the Lord's time, means an evening meal and was given to this ordinance because it meant an evening meal and to signalize the fact that the feast at which it was instituted was an evening meal, so in the case of baptism, it may be altogether conceivable that the name of the ordinance is derived from a prominent external circumstance connected with its first administration, and yet as far as possible from forming an integral element of the sacrament itself. Whatever may have been the primitive meaning of the term which was adopted to designate it, and however the rite was customarily administered in the first days of its use, the thing is a washing with water for the sake of cleansing to symbolize the cleansing of the sinner by the blood of Jesus Christ. And the main matter is therefore not the mode of washing, but the fact of washing.
Benjamin B. Warfield. 2. The Baptism of Infants: A large section of Protestant Christendom, especially in the United States, dissents from the practise of infant baptism. It includes the various denominations of Baptists, Disciples of Christ, the Dunkers, Mennonites, Winebrennerians, and other Christian bodies. These Christians and their sympathizers
in pedobaptist denominations, ground
i. Argu- their dissent (1) upon the absence of a
ments positive command of Christ, or of any
against account of apostolic procedure which
Infant Bap- expressly favors the practise; (2) they
tism. hold infant baptism to be a violation
of the very idea of baptism, since baptism presupposes conversion and an intelligent profession of faith, which can not be expected from infants.
To these arguments it is replied in general that, while no positive command for baptizing infants is given by Christ or his apostles, the pages of the New Testament offer a strong probability that infants were baptized from the beginning; and the testimonies of Irenaeus, Origen, and Tertullian con-
firm this impression. The argument in detail is
as follows: (1) The general command to baptize all
nations, naturally interpreted, includes
2. Argu- the baptism of infants; and the menments in tion of the baptism of whole house- Reply, holds (Acts x, 48; xvi, 15, 33; I Cor.
i, 16; xvi, 15) implies the presence of children; at least their presence in some households is far more probable than their absence in all. If to these considerations be joined the reiterated assertion that the promise of the remission of sins and of the Holy Spirit was to the believers and their children (Acts ii, 38; cf. iii, 25), we have a strong probability, to say the least, that infants were baptized by the apostles. (2) Christ's treatment of children, whom he blessed and pronounced to be members of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. xviii, 3; xix, 14) shows that children are fit subjects for the kingdom of heaven; are they not then also fit recipients of the initiatory rite, which is baptism with water ? All baptism is in idea an infant baptism, and requires to begin life anew in a truly childlike spirit, without which no one can enter the kingdom of God. (3) The analogy of circumcision, which began with adult Abraham and then extended to all his male children, favors the baptism of infants. Baptism is the initiatory rite of introduction into the Christian Church, and the sign and seal of the new covenant, as circumcision was the sign and seal of the old covenant (Rom. iv, 11). The blessing of the old covenant was to the seed as well as to the parents; and the blessing of the new covenant can not be less comprehensive. Infant baptism rests upon the organic relation of Christian parents and children (I Cor. vii, 14). It is a constant testimony to the living faith of the Church, which descends, not as an heirloom, but as a vital force, from parent to child.
No time can be assigned for the beginning of the practise of infant baptism. If it had been an innovation, it seems likely that it would
3. Origin have provoked a violent protest. of In- No traces of this can be found except
f ant Bap- in Tertullian, who, alone in the early tism. Church, denies the expediency of infant baptism. The requirement of repentance and faith, which the apostles made a condition of baptism, was to be expected when it is remembered that their exhortations were addressed to adults. This will always be the mode of procedure when the gospel is first preached to a people. Adult baptism always comes first in every missionary Church. Infant baptism, it is reasonable to assume, arose naturally from the very beginning, as Christianity took hold of family life and training.
The three earliest witnesses to the prevalence of
infant baptism are Irenaeus, Origen, and Tertullian.
The testimony of Irenaeus, though not unequivocal,
leans strongly in favor of the apos-
4. Patristic tolic usage. Born probably between
Testimony. 120 and 130, a disciple of Polycarp, one
of John's disciples, he was surely an
excellent witness. He says, " Christ came to save
through means of himself all who through him
are born again [regenerated] to God, infants,