SEAM: vII.] CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. mean, except they were dipped : And if this should be restrained to signify washing their hands only, yet it does not. necessarily signify dipping them ;, for the manner of washing their hands of old was by pouring water on them; as " Elisha poured water on the hands of Elijah;" 2 Kings iii. 11. Yet further, they practised the wash- ing of tables, in Greek, of beds, as well as cups and vessels. Now beds could not usually be washed by dipping. lieb. ix. 10. The Jews had divers washings prescribed by Moses, in Greek baptisms, which were sprinkling and pouring water on things, as well as plung- ing them all over in water. 1 Cor. x. 2. The children of Israel were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and the sea,' in their passage through the Red Sea at their march from Egypt; not that they were dipped in the water, but they were sprinkled by the clouds over their heads, and perhaps by the water which stood up in heaps as They passed by. .Besides, it is said farther on this head, that pouring or sprinkling more naturally represents most of the spiritual blessings signified by baptism, viz. the sprinkling of the blood of Christ on the conscience, or the pouring out the Spirit on the person baptized, or sprinkling him with clean water, as an emblem of the influence of the Spirit; all which are; the things signified in baptism, as different re- presentations of the cleansing away of the guilt or defile- ment of sin thereby. But this shall suffice for a hint of this controversy, which has filled ,large volumes in the world, made a huge noise in the church, Äand destroyed the charity of a mul- titude ofchristians. Since I do not here profess to enter into the argument, but only to give a few short notices or rehearsals of what is said in our vindication, who practise the baptism of infants by sprinkling 'water on them, I do the rather ask leave to speak one charitable word on this subject, viz. that since this controversy has considerabledifficulties attending it, persons of an honest and sincere soul in searching out the truth, may happen to run into diflèrent opinions : And the things wherein we .agree are so important, as should not suffer usto quarrel about the lesser things wherein we differ. Our brethren who reject infant baptism, as well as we who practise it, all agree i'm a belief of the sacred institution
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=