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CHRISTIAN BAPTISM.
SEAM.
VII.
grace,'
does
not
lessen,
but increase
the privileges
of
the
church
:
It
takes
away yokes
and burdens
indeed, such
-circumcision
was
;
Acts
xv. 10.
but
does
not
diminish
its honours,
titles
and
privileges.
Yet
further,
when
the
fathèr or mother of
a family
be-
lieved
in Christ,
their
households
were
baptized
together
with
themselves, even
where
there
is
no
mention
that
the
household believed
in
Christ
also
:
As in
the
case
of
Lydia
and Stephanas
;
Acts
xvi. 15.
1
Cor.
i.
16.
Now
children are usually a considerable
part
of
the house-
hold.
In
the
last
place,
Children under the New
Testament
are
as
capable
of
receiving the
blessings signified,
and
fulfilling
the duties enjoined, as ever they
were
under the
Old.
It
is
granted
indeed,
they
neither
could
then
nor
can
now
understand
the
blessings
nor
the duties;
yet
they might
receive the seal
of
circumcision or
of
baptism,
as
a
bond laid upon them
in infancy,
to
fulfil
the obliga-
tions
and
the
duties
at
riper
years,
and
as
an
encourage-
ment
to wait and hope
for the
blessings.
This
was
the
case
of Jewish
infants,
and
why
may
not christians
be
favoured
with
it
also
?
I
proceed
now to
the
third
general enquiry,
viz.
" What
is the
manner of
performing
this ceremony
?"
which also
I
shall
dispatch,
in
a
brief hint or
two.
The Greek
word
`
baptizo'
signifies
to
'
wash'
any thing,
properly
by
water
coming over it
:
Now there are
several
ways
of
such
washing,
viz.
sprinkling water
on
it
in small
quantity,
pouring
water
on it
in
larger quantity, or dipping
it
under
water, either
in
part
or in whole
:
And
since
this
seems
to
be
left undetermined
in
scripture
to
one
particular
mode, therefore any
of
these
ways
of washing
may
be
sufficient
to
answer the
purpose of
this
ordinance. Now
that
the
Greek
word
signifies
"washing" a
thing
in ge-
neral
by
water coming over
it,
and not
always
"
dipping'
is
argued
by
learned
men,
not
only from
ancient
Greek
authors, but
from
the New
Testament itself:
as
Luke
xi.
33.
"
The
pharisees marvelled
that Jesus
had
not
first
washed before
dinner
;"
in
Greek,
that
he was
not
first
baptized
;
and
can
it
be supposed,
that
they
would
have
had
him
dip himself
in
water;
Mark
vii. 4.
" The
pha-
risees
when they come
from the
market,
eat not
except
they
are
washed,".
that
is,
baptized
;
surely it cannot
w