The circumstances and manner of the introduction of the rite of immersion into the post-apostolic church presented a rich and inviting field of further investigation. But the volume has already exceeded the intended limit; the Biblical question is in itself complete, and its authority is conclusive. To it, therefore, the present inquiry is confined.
The fruit of much and assiduous investigation and thoughtful study is now reverently dedicated to the glory of the baptizing office of the Lord Jesus. May he speedily arise and display it in new and transcendent energy; pouring upon his blood-bought church the Spirit of grace and consecration, of knowledge and aggressive zeal, of unity and power; baptizing the nations with his Spirit, and filling the world with the joy of his salvation and the light of his glory.
Covington, Ky., Feb. 8, 1882.
CONTENTS.
| INTRODUCTION, | Page 15 |
| Book I. | |
| OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. | |
| Part I. | |
| BAPTISM AT SINAI. | |
| Section I. Baptism originated in the Old Testament.—It was familiar to the Jews when Christ came. There were “divers baptisms” imposed at Sinai, | [21] |
| Section II. No Immersions in the Old Testament.—None in the ritual. None in the figurative language, | [23] |
| Section III. The Old Testament Sacraments.—1. Sacrifice. 2. Circumcision. 3. The Passover. 4. Baptism, | [24] |
| Section IV. The Baptism of Israel at Sinai.--Scene at the mount. The covenant proposed and accepted. A great revival. Baptism of the converts. The feast of the covenant, | [25] |
| Section V. The Blood of Sprinkling.—It was a type of Christ’s atonement, | [30] |
| Section VI. The Living water.—A type of the Spirit. Living and salt water. The river of Eden. That of the Revelation and of the prophets. The Dead Sea. Rain and fountains. Their symbolic functions, | [31] |
| Part II. | |
| THE VISIBLE CHURCH. | |
| Section VII. The Abrahamic Covenant.—It was the betrothal,—not the marriage. Its terms spiritual, everlasting, exclusive. The Seed Christ. It adumbrated the covenant of grace. No salvation but on its terms, | [37] |
| Section VIII. The Sinai Covenant.—Its Conditions.—Moses’ commission. 1. “If ye will obey.” 2. “And keep my covenant,” | [42] |
| Section IX. The Sinai Covenant.—Its Promises.—1. A peculiar treasure. 2. “All the earth is mine.” 3. A priest kingdom. 4. A holy nation. 5. Palestine, | [45] |
| Section X. The Visible Church Established.—The Church defined. Its name. Its fundamental law. Membership. Family and eldership. Ordinances of testimony. The relation of the ritual law, | [49] |
| Section XI. The Terms of Membership.—Professed faith and obedience. The same to Israel and Gentiles. Separating the unworthy, | [56] |
| Section XII. Circumcision and Baptism.—The former sealed the Abrahamic covenant. The latter alone sealed the ecclesiastical covenant of Sinai, | [58] |
| Part III. | |
| ADMINISTERED BAPTISMS=SPRINKLINGS. | |
| Section XIII. Unclean Seven Days.—The meaning. Childbirth. Issues. Contact with the dead. Leprosy. Characterized by (1) inward corruption; (2) seven days continuance; (3) contagiousness; (4) requiring sacrifice and sprinkling, | [60] |
| Section XIV.—Baptism of a Healed Leper.—Seven sprinklings. The self-washings. Meaning of the rites, | [66] |
| Section XV. Baptism of the Defiled by the Dead.—The ordinary seal of the covenant. The ashes. Manner of the baptism, | [68] |
| Section XVI. Baptism from Issues.—The law seemingly incongruous. The water of nidda, | [69] |
| Section XVII. Baptism of Proselytes.—Talmudic traditions. Question between the Schools of Shammai and Hillel. The Levitical mode exemplified in the daughters of Midian, | [76] |
| Section XVIII. Baptism of Infants.—The principle of infant membership recognized. Evidence of the baptism of Hebrew children. Example of the infant Jesus, | [82] |
| Section XIX. Baptism of the Levites.—Sprinkled with “water of purifying,” | [85] |
| Section XX. These all were one Baptism. The rites were essentially the same. Slight differences explained, | [86] |
| Section XXI. The Symbol of Rain.—Descent from heaven. Life and fruitfulness imparted. Testimonies of the prophets. Carson’s doctrine, | [88] |
| Section XXII. It meant, Life to the Dead.—Men dead by nature. The Spirit shed down gives life to soul and body. Jesus at the grave of Lazarus, | [92] |
| Section XXIII. The Gospel in this Baptism.—(1) The red heifer. (2) Without the camp. (3) Blood sprinkled, and blood and water. (4) Seven times. (5) Seven days’ defilement. (6) The ashes. (7) The water. (8) The sprinkling. (9) The third day and the seventh. (10) The self-washing. (11) Things defiled and sprinkled, | [95] |
| Section XXIV. These were the “Divers Baptisms,”—The argument of Heb. ix, 8, 9. The sprinklings were the theme of Paul’s argument. They were his “divers baptisms,” | [103] |
| Part IV. | |
| RITUAL SELF-WASHINGS. | |
| Section XXV. Unclean until the Even.—From expiatory rites. From contact with the unclean. Self-washing, | [108] |
| Section XXVI. Grades of Self-washing.—1. The hands. 2. The hands and feet. 3. The clothes. 4. The clothes and flesh. 5. Shaving the hair, | [111] |
| Section XXVII. Mode implied in the meaning.—The self-washings meant the active putting off of the sins of the flesh, | [115] |
| Section XXVIII. The words used to designate the Washings.—1. Shātaph. 2. Kābas. 3. Rāhatz, | [116] |
| Section XXIX. Mode of Domestic Ablution.—By water poured on. The patriarchs. Mode in Egypt. In the wilderness. Story of Susanna. Purgation of a concealed murder. Washing the feet at table, | [119] |
| Section XXX. Facilities requisite.—The water drawn from wells by women. No vessels for immersion. The bath of Ulysses, | [126] |
| Section XXXI. The Washings of the Priests.—Symbolism of the tabernacle. The laver. Priestly washings. The laver and river of Ezekiel. No immersions here, | [128] |
| Section XXXII. Like these were the Self-washings of the People.—Designations and meaning the same. Immersion would have been without meaning, | [134] |
| Section XXXIII. Purifyings of things.—One case of immersion. Minor defilements cleansed by this immersion and by washings. The major, by sprinkling, | [136] |
| Part V. | |
| LATER TRACES OF THE SPRINKLED BAPTISMS. | |
| Section XXXIV. Old Testament Allusions.—The rite everywhere, from Moses to Zechariah, | [139] |
| Section XXXV. Rabbinic Traditions.—One heifer from Moses to Ezra. Eight thence to the end, | [142] |
| Section XXXVI. Festival of the Outpouring of Water.—Feast of tabernacles. The outpouring. The festivity. Its meaning, | [143] |
| Section XXXVII. Hellenistic Greek.—Alexander’s favor to the Jews. Alexandria. Hellenistic Greek. Its literature. Baptizo. Dr. Conant’s definitions. Baptisma and baptismoi, | [151] |
| Section XXXVIII. Baptism of Naaman. Tābal=baptizo.—The law of leprosy. Office of Elijah and Elisha. Naaman was sprinkled seven times, according to the law, | [157] |
| Section XXXIX. “Baptized from the Dead.”—Ecclus. xxxi, 30. The water of separation here called baptism. “Baptized for the dead.”—1 Cor. xv, 29, | [169] |
| Section XL. Judith’s Baptism.—Story of Judith. Her baptism. Mohammedan washing before prayer, | [172] |
| Section XLI. The Water of Separation in Philo and Josephus.—Philo on the subject. Josephus’ description, | [175] |
| Section XLII. Imitations by the Greeks and Romans.—Diffusive influence of Israel. The stain of crime, and purgation for it, novelties in Greece. Purifying always by sprinkled water. Ovid and Virgil. The Greek mysteries, | [178] |
| Section XLIII. Baptism in Egypt and among the Aztecs.—The libation vase of Osor-Ur. Aztec infant baptism, | [189] |
| Section XLIV. Levitical Baptism in the Fathers.—Tertullian on the idolatrous imitations. Other fathers on the water of separation. They recognize it as baptism, | [192] |
| Part VI. | |
| STATE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ARGUMENT. | |
| Section XLV. Points established by the foregoing Evidence.—Twenty-one points of evidence enumerated, | [196] |
| Book II. | |
| NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY. | |
| Part VII. | |
| INTRODUCTORY. | |
| Section XLVI. State of the Question.—1. Baptism by sprinkling,—fifteen centuries old,—the Jewish Scriptures full of it,—the Jewish mind molded by it. 2. Immersion,—new,—incongruous,—unmeaning. Carson’s double symbolism, | [201] |
| Part VIII. | |
| THE PURIFYINGS OF THE JEWS. | |
| Section XLVII. Accounts in the Gospels.—Purifying before the feasts. The marriage in Cana. Washings and baptisms, | [208] |
| Section XLVIII. Washing Hands before Meals.—Origin of the rite. The marriage feast, | [210] |
| Section XLIX. Baptism on return from Market.—Market defined. Jesus at the Pharisee’s table, | [214] |
| Section L. A Various Reading.—Baptizōntai and rantizōntai. Care taken in transcribing the New Testament. These two readings, | [216] |
| Section LI. Baptisms of Utensils and Furniture.—Their prototypes in the Levitical purifyings of things, | [219] |
| Part IX. | |
| JOHN’s$1BAPTISM. | |
| Section LII. History of John’s Mission.—The accounts of it. John the herald of the Angel of the Sinai covenant, | [221] |
| Section LIII. Israel at the time of John’s Coming.—No longer idolatrous, but apostate. Prophetic warnings. They were excommunicate from the covenant, | [225] |
| Section LIV. Nature of John’s Baptism.—Elijah the champion of the covenant, to the ten tribes. John the same to the Jews. His baptism renewed the Sinai seal, | [228] |
| Section LV. Extent of John’s Baptism.—Testimony of the evangelists. Other evidence. A great revival, | [232] |
| Section LVI. John did not Immerse.—The circumstances forbade it. It would have been unmeaning, | [237] |
| Section LVII. John sprinkled with unmingled Water.—Why the prophecies speak of water only. “The kingdom” John’s theme. Hence, water only. It was sprinkled. Some may have stood in the water, | [241] |
| Part X. | |
| CHRIST’s$1BAPTISMS AND ANOINTING. | |
| Section LVIII. His Baptism by John.—Various explanations. It was part of his obedience. It sealed him Surety of the covenant, and certified to him triumph in his resurrection, | [247] |
| Section LIX. His Anointing.—The Spirit given him, at his birth,—at his baptism,—and at his coronation. Meaning and purpose of his anointing, | [254] |
| Section LX. “The Baptism that I am Baptized with.”—Matt. xx, 20-22. The kingdom was to be after the resurrection; and upon condition of being worthy. “The regeneration” was typified by the Levitical baptisms. The baptism was his resurrection. Luke xii, 50, | [257] |
| Part XI. | |
| CHRIST THE GREAT BAPTIZER. | |
| Section LXI. The Kingdom of the Son of man.—“The kingdom of heaven.” Destined to man at creation. Satan’s scheme. The kingdom in the prophets. John’s proclamation. Christ’s triumph and coronation, | [267] |
| Section LXII. Christ is enthroned as Baptizer.—His commission,—to purge the universe. Order of precedence in the Godhead. On earth, Jesus was “in the Spirit.” On the throne, the Spirit is in and subject to him. “The promise of the Father,” | [273] |
| Section LXIII. Note on the Procession of the Spirit.—History of the filioque clause. Objections to it, | [281] |
| Section LXIV. The Baptism of Fire.—The Holy Ghost, and fire, two several things. Fire means wrath. The places cited against this view. The contrasted language of the evangelists. Grace and wrath inseparably connected. John’s theme and imagery are from Malachi. Arguments to identify the two baptisms in one. Baptizo. Mode of the baptism of fire, | [284] |
| Section LXV. The Baptism of Pentecost.—The apostles must “wait for the promise.” The Spirit poured out, | [297] |
| Section LXVI. Manner of the Baptism.—Pnoē,—a breath. Pheromenē,—borne forward,—impelled. “He breathed on them.” It was affusion, signalizing the height where Jesus sits, | [299] |
| Section LXVII. The New Spirit imparted.—The Spirit no novelty. Peter’s explanation. Hitherto, the church’s office was conservative. Now the aggressive Spirit of missions given, | [304] |
| Section LXVIII. The Tongues like as of Fire.—Not “cloven,” but “distributed.” Like the flame of a lamp. The candlestick. The seven stars. “Arise! shine!” | [310] |
| Section LXIX. The Gift of other Tongues.—Signified the union of all people in God’s worship. The phrasing of the historian. History of the sign, | [313] |
| Section LXX. The Baptism of Repentance.—The firstfruits. John’s “baptism of repentance.” Jesus gives repentance and remission. His baptism unites to him and the Father. Its manner. The Spirit’s relation to it, | [318] |
| Section LXXI. Paul’s Doctrine of this Baptism.—Titus iii, 4-7. Meaning of loutron. 1 Cor. xii, 12-14. Eph. iv, 4-16. Gal. iii, 27-29. Rom. vi, 2-6. Col. ii, 9-11. The doctrine of these places, | [323] |
| Section LXXII. Noah “saved by Water.”—1 Pet. iii, 17-22. Peter and Paul. The theme,—the saints persecuted with impunity. Noah persecuted, and saved by means of the flood. Christ’s people saved by antitype baptism, | [333] |
| Section LXXIII. Christ’s Baptizing Administration.—It covers his whole work on the throne. In the end, triumph complete, physical and moral. When he shall have purged earth and heaven, then will his baptizing office cease, | [338] |
| Section LXXIV. Argument from the Real to Ritual Baptism.—The real baptism has to do, not with abasement and the grave, but with exaltation and power. But immersion looks only to the grave. It is incongruous to all the phenomena of Pentecost. Immersed in “the sound from heaven,” | [343] |
| Part XII. | |
| THE BAPTIST ARGUMENT. | |
| Section LXXV. Baptizo and the Resurrection.—Elements of the Baptist argument. Dr. Conant on baptizo. It leaves its subjects in the water. Dr. Kendrick’s admissions. A second meaning in baptizo, | [347] |
| Section LXXVI. The Prepositions.—En. Eis. Ek. Apo. They indicate, not the mode, but the place of the baptisms, | [354] |
| Section LXXVII. “Much Water there.”—Aenon=The Springs. Many waters. Why Jesus and John resorted to waters, | [360] |
| Section LXXVIII. “Buried with him by Baptism into Death.”—Rom. vi, 2-7.—“Buried with him by the baptism into the death.” Analysis of the passage. Spiritual baptism alone referred to. Immersion incongruous to Paul’s conception, | [364] |
| Section LXXIX. “Buried with him in Baptism.”—Col. ii, 9-13. The doctrine the same as the preceding. Union with the Lord Jesus the controlling idea. “Buried with him in (or, by) the baptism.” The idea of immersion perplexes the exegesis, | [371] |
| Section LXXX. End of the Baptist Argument.—Baptist scholars concede that baptizo does not mean, to dip, only. It can not then decide the mode. They admit that it leaves its subject in the water. It knows then nothing of the resurrection. The prepositions and waters of Enon do not help the cause. Paul’s burial “in the baptism,” does not allude to the ritual ordinance. In all its parts, the argument fails, | [374] |
| Part XIII. | |
| BAPTISMAL REGENERATION. | |
| Section LXXXI. Contrary to the whole Tenor of the Gospel.—The mystery of iniquity early developed. The gospel church viewed as the antitype of the Levitical. The Scriptures are not so. Treatment of baptism by the evangelists. Paul’s testimony, | [377] |
| Section LXXXII. Born of Water and of the Spirit.—John iii, 4-8. Metaphor of water. “Water even the Spirit.” John had already stated the way of the new birth, | [384] |
| Section LXXXIII. “The Washing of Water, by the Word.”—The bridal bath. No formula of baptism. “Sanctify them through thy truth,” | [390] |
| Part XIV. | |
| THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH. | |
| Section LXXXIV. The Ritual Law is unrepealed.—Christ so left it. The apostles were zealous for it. The council of Jerusalem exempted the Gentiles only. James and Paul unite to show it still in force. Paul’s practice. He obeyed the law, but repudiated its righteousness. This view alone harmonizes the history, | [393] |
| Section LXXXV. Why the Gentiles were exempted.—Not because the law expired. But, unsuited to a world wide extension. Its chief end accomplished. What its survival implied, | [406] |
| Section LXXXVI. The Christian Passover.—Wine, and blood. The passover a type of Christ’s atonement. It is perpetuated in the Supper, | [408] |
| Section LXXXVII. The Hebrew Christian Church.—The synagogue system. The sects of Pharisees, Sadducees and Nazarenes. The number and diffusion of the Nazarenes. The Hebrew church after the destruction of Jerusalem, | [411] |
| Section LXXXVIII. The Gentiles Graffed in.—Mixed churches. Gentile churches. “Out of Zion the law.” The Gentiles graffed in, | [418] |
| Part XV. | |
| CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. | |
| Section LXXXIX. History of the Rite.—The cotemporaneous baptisms of John and Jesus. Both were the same Christian baptism. Christ did not institute baptism, but gave it to the Gentiles. Rebaptism at Ephesus. Note on rebaptism, | [424] |
| Section XC. “Baptizing them into the Name.”—1. Into the name. En; epi; eis. “Into Christ.” “Into the name of Christ.” 2. “The name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”—“The name of the Lord Jesus,” | [431] |
| Section XCI. “He that Believeth and is Baptized.”—It refers to ritual baptism; and is a caution against trust in it. Faith is the essential thing, | [437] |
| Section XCII. The Formula.—Ritualistic view. No formula prescribed by Christ, nor used by the apostles, | [438] |
| Section XCIII. The Administration on Pentecost.—There was a baptism with water. Dr. Dale’s objections, | [440] |
| Section XCIV. The meaning of this Baptism.—It could but symbolize the baptism of the Spirit. The two formulas thus reconciled, | [446] |
| Section XCV. The Mode of this Baptism.—Immersion incongruous and impossible. They were baptized in groups with a hyssop bush, | [448] |
| Section XCVI. Other Illustrations.—The eunuch. The apostle Paul. The house of Cornelius. The jailer. None of these look to immersion, | [451] |
| Section XCVII. “Baptized into Moses.”—Moses and Israel were types. Dr. Kendrick contradicts the record. By this baptism Israel were brought into a new state of faith and obedience, | [457] |
| Part XVI. | |
| THE FAMILY AND THE CHILDREN. | |
| Section XCVIII. Christ and the Children.—A retrospect. Christ’s attitude toward the lambs. Peter’s commission. The Jews predominant in the church. The Sinai covenant recognized the children and made place for the Gentiles, | [461] |
| Section XCIX. “Now are they Holy.”—Unclean, and holy. Israel a holy nation. “The saints.” The Baptist exegesis of the language, | [466] |
| Section C. Household Baptisms.—Not “infant,” but “family baptism.” Lydia’s house. The jailer and all his. The house of Stephanas. These, in the light of fifteen centuries preceding, and of the everlasting covenant, | [471] |
| Conclusion. | |
| Christ’s real baptism with the Spirit is the criterion of all baptismal doctrines and rites. Baptismal regeneration tried and rejected. The evidence against immersion cumulative and overwhelming, | [476] |
INTRODUCTION.
The history of the ritual ordinances of God’s appointment is full of painful interest. Passing any reference to the times preceding the transactions of Sinai,—the institutions then given to Israel constituted a system of transparent, significance, perfect in the congruous symmetry and simplicity of the parts and comprehensive fullness of the whole, as setting forth the whole doctrine of God concerning man’s sin and salvation. Designed not only for the instruction of Israel, but for a light to the darkness of the surrounding Gentile world, its truths were embodied in symbols which spake to every people of every tongue in their own language. Copied in imperfect and perverted forms into the rites of Gentile idolatry,—although distorted, veiled and dislocated from their normal relations, they shed gleams of twilight into the gloom of spiritual darkness, and prepared the world for the dawning of the Sun of Righteousness, when he rose upon the nations. To multitudes of Israel, those ordinances were efficient means of eminent grace. With gladness, they saw therein,—as through a glass, darkly, it may be, but surely,—adumbrations of the salvation, grace and glory of the Messiah’s kingdom. And, if the fact be considered that at one of the darkest crises in Israel’s history, when the prophet cried,—“I, even I am left alone,”—God could assure him,—“Yet have I left seven thousand,”—we may possibly find occasion to revise our preconceptions concerning the history of the gospel in Israel. Still, undoubtedly there were multitudes in every generation of that people to whom the gospel preached in the ordinances brought no profit, for lack of faith. In their earlier history, indifference and neglect, and in the later, a self-righteous zeal for the mere outward rites and forms, were equally fatal. The splendor of the ritual, and the superfluous variety and frequency of the observances, were a poor substitute for faith toward God, and rectitude of heart and life. The result was that when Christ came, who was the end of all the rites and ordinances of the law, those who were the most strict and zealous in their observance were his betrayers and murderers.
When the Lord Jesus ascended the heavens, assumed the throne, and sent forth the gospel to the Gentiles, it was accompanied by two simple ordinances, which were eliminated out of those of the Levitical ritual, by the omission of the element of sacrifice. In them was symbolized and set forth the whole riches of that salvation which was represented in the more cumbrous forms of the Levitical system. By the supper, was signified the mystery of his atoning sufferings, and of the nourishment of his people by faith therein. By baptism, was shown forth the glory of his exaltation, and the sovereignty and power with which he sheds from his throne the blessings of his grace. But very soon, these ordinances, so beautiful and instructive in their simplicity, were corrupted through the misconceptions and ignorance of the teachers of the church. The Mosaic ritual, instead of being recognized, as Paul describes it, as a pattern or similitude of the things in the heavens, was regarded as a type of the New Testament church and of the ordinances therein administered. This one error became the inevitable cause of corruption and apostasy. Respecting the impending defection, Paul assured the Thessalonians, that the mystery of iniquity was already at work; and forewarned the elders of Ephesus of the coming of grievous wolves to rend the flock, and of apostasies among themselves, through the lust of an unhallowed ambition.
We have not the means, from the scanty and corrupted records which remain, of the age immediately following the apostles, of tracing the process of defection. But when, at length, the church emerges into the light of history, it is found to have realized a fatal transformation. The pastors and elders of the apostolic churches, from being simple preachers of the word, have become priests ministering at the altar, and offering better sacrifices than those made by the Aaronic line. For, while the latter offered mere animals, and the worshippers fed upon mere carnal food, the former, in the sacrament of the supper, the supposed antitype of those offerings, were believed to offer the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, and the people, in those elements, imagined themselves to receive and feed upon that very body and blood. So, too, while the “type baptisms” of the ancient ritual accomplished a mere purifying of the flesh, the baptism of water by the hands of the Christian ministry was regarded as the antitype of these, and considered effectual for accomplishing a spiritual regeneration, a renewing of the heart of the recipient.
The same error which thus corrupted the doctrine of the sacraments, was equally efficient in changing their forms. As they were held to be the antitypes of the Old Testament rites, it was sought to develop in them features to correspond with all the details of those rites, and to give them a dignity, a pomp and ceremonial, proportioned to their relations as fulfilling the things set forth in the splendid ritual of Moses and David. The rite of baptism, particularly, was corrupted by alterations and additions which left scarcely any thing of the primitive institution, save the name. The Levitical purifyings were especially observed in connection with the annual feasts at Jerusalem. In like manner, the administration of baptism was discouraged, except in connection with two of those feasts,—the passover, and the feast of weeks, or of firstfruits,—transferred into the Christian church, under the names of Easter, and Pentecost, or Whitsunday; the latter being named from the white garments in which the newly baptized were robed. The administration was connected with an elaborate system of attendant observances. First, was a course of fastings, genuflections, and prayers, and the imposition of hands upon the candidate. Then, he was divested of all but a single under garment, and facing the west, the realm of darkness, was required, with defiant gesture of the hand, to renounce Satan and all his works. This was followed by an exorcism, the minister breathing upon the candidate, for expelling Satan, and imparting the Holy Spirit; then the making upon him of the sign of the cross; anointing him with oil, once before and once after the baptism; the administration of salt, milk and honey, and three immersions, one at the name of each person of the Trinity. Such was the connection in which baptism by immersion first appears. For its reception, the candidate, of whatever sex, was invariably divested of all clothing, and, after it, was robed in a white garment, emblematic of the spotless purity now attained. The rite of baptism by bare sprinkling, however, still survived. And the question is entitled to a critical attention which it has not yet received, whether, always or generally, the more elaborate rite consisted in a submersion of the candidate. Against this supposition, is the practice of the Abyssinian, Greek, Nestorian and other churches of the east. In them, the candidate, in preparation for the rite, is placed, or we may say, immersed, naked, in a font of water, the quantity of which neither suffices, nor is intended, to cover him. The administrator then performs the baptism, while pronouncing the formula, by thrice pouring water on the candidate, once at the mention of each name of the blessed Godhead.[[1]] To the same effect, is the evidence of numerous remains of Christian art, which have been transmitted to us from the early ages. Among these are several representations of the baptism of the Lord Jesus by John; one, of that of Constantine and his wife, by Eusebius; and others. The baptism of Constantine precisely corresponds with the description above given. The emperor is seated naked in a vessel, which if full would not reach to his waist; and the bishop is in the act of performing the baptism by pouring water upon them. In the representations of the baptism of Jesus, he sometimes appears waist-deep in the Jordan, and sometimes on the land. But in all cases, the rite is performed by the baptist pouring water on his head out of a cup or shell. Such is, in fact, the invariable mode represented in these remains of ancient art.