4. On the day of Pentecost, this, precisely, was the preaching and baptism of Peter. “Repent, and be baptized every one of you, for the name’s sake of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of sins.”—Acts ii, 38.
5. Peter had already proclaimed that the Lord Jesus, “being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”—Ib. 33. A few days afterward, he explained more precisely to the rulers, the significance of this great fact.—“Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give to Israel repentance and (aphesin hamartiōn) remission of sins.”—Ib. v, 31.
From these things it irrefragably follows, (1) that whereas, Christ’s baptizing office is fulfilled by shedding down his Spirit upon his people, the baptisms of John and the disciples prior to the day of Pentecost, as well as that administered by Peter and the twelve on that day, were all proclaimed symbols of this the great reality; (2) that, while the intent and end of Christ’s baptism is, through the bestowal of the Spirit, to give repentance, faith, and the remission of sins—the other baptisms and conspicuously, that of the apostles on Pentecost, were designed to signify and bear witness to that very thing. Not only are these conclusions manifest and incontrovertible; but by them and the facts on which they rest the idea of the burial of Christ, as included in the symbolism of baptism, is not merely ignored, but utterly excluded, as incongruous and unmeaning, in that connection.
This impregnable conclusion is further fortified by the fact already shown, that in this meaning of the rite and in it only can be reconciled the two forms of expression, “Baptizing into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” and,—“into the name of the Lord Jesus.” Baptism shows forth the Triune Godhead united in the salvation of man, and uniting the saved with that blessed Godhead.
Section XCV.—The Mode of the ritual Baptism on Pentecost.
As to the mode of the baptism of that day the evidence is not doubtful. The assembled throng were “Jews, devout men out of every nation,”—men whose cherished faith and hopes all centered on Moses and the covenant made and sealed with their fathers at Sinai. The baptismal seal of that covenant, perpetuated in the sprinkled water of separation, was familiar to them everywhere. They were conversant with the prophecies which assured them that in the latter days God would “sprinkle clean water upon them,”—that the Messiah would “sprinkle many nations,” and “pour out of his Spirit upon all flesh.” They are now told by the apostles that these prophecies are announcements of the baptizing office of the Lord Jesus,—that he, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, had, in the exercise of his baptizing office, shed forth this, which they saw and heard. And, in response to their penitent cry, they are required to be “baptized for the name’s sake of the Lord Jesus.” Is it possible to avoid the conclusion that the baptism thus propounded was the sprinkled baptism which was familiar to them all? Or, are we to accept the opposite assumption? Then must Peter have explained to the multitude.—“Our fathers, at Sinai, were sealed to the covenant with the sprinkled blood and water. In all generations of our race, the same seal has been familiar, in the same office; as it is, this day, to you. The prophets have explained the affusion of water as being a symbol of the official work of the Messiah. In that office and work, the reality of the Sinai rite is to-day fulfilled. And now, ye are to be baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus; but with another baptism,—a baptism dislocated from all relation to the past,—a baptism severed from all analogy, even, or association of ideas with that of the Spirit, which is this day dispensed by the Lord Jesus. He baptizes by outpouring; but ye must be dipped. He baptizes by a pouring out of the Spirit, of which, in the prophecies, and in the baptisms of our fathers, living water was the constant symbol; but to you, dipped in that living water, it is to become the symbol of the sepulchre of Joseph, in which the body of Jesus was laid. His baptism gives repentance and remission of sins; and the baptism to be received by you might seem to mean this very thing; for it is conditioned upon repentance and is ‘unto remission.’ But it means not that; but the burial of the dead body of Jesus.”
And now, where shall the water be found, for the immersion of these thousands? And by what miracle shall the rite be performed, “decently and in order,” within the hours of that day? For, not only is the record specific, which limits the time,—but the supposition of a delay implies the encumbrance of after time, of which each day had its own duties and labors, its own converts and baptisms. It is demonstrably possible for the twelve apostles to have baptized the entire multitude by sprinkling in the ordinary manner in which we administer the rite within four or five hours. But such was not, as I conceive, the manner of the administration. No mere rite could without disparagement endure such repetition for hour after hour. The reiteration must obscure and obliterate the spiritual significance of the rite. The attention of the witnesses would become exhausted and diverted, and the monotony of the form would inevitably become a weariness and an offense. By such a manner of observance, the very intent of the ordinance would be lost, and this as much in one form, as in another.
But we are not reduced to the necessity of encountering these obvious embarrassments. We have seen the millions of Israel baptized by Moses, in the hours of one morning, they receiving the rite either collectively in one body, or by tribe-families or tribes. It is very probable that this was the manner in which the rite was ordinarily administered by John to the throngs that attended on his ministry, and by the disciples of Christ, when he “made and baptized more disciples than John.” The Jews were familiar with the use of the hyssop bush as appointed in the law, for administering the rite. There was nothing in the nature of the ordinance, nor in the circumstances of the occasion, to render inappropriate or improbable a resort to that mode. On the contrary, every consideration, of convenience, of dignity, propriety and edification, united to commend it as the most suitable way, the water being sprinkled with a hyssop bush, and the recipients of the rite presenting themselves in companies of suitable size, by scores or by hundreds. Thus was set forth by a joint baptism the doctrine of Paul. “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.”—1 Cor. xii, 13.
Such is the conclusion to which the analogy of the Scriptures points. Such, I doubt not, was the form of administration that day. For the present purpose, however, this much is clear and sufficient,—that the record of Pentecost contains nothing incongruous to the previous history and doctrine of baptism,—that on the contrary, the Spirit-baptism of that day and all the circumstances, concur to the same conclusion which the foregoing history indicates. “Not immersion; but affusion”—is the unambiguous voice of Pentecost.