A Bible History of Baptism

38

That this altar was the expression of a blind though real groping after the true God, is distinctly attested by Paul. – “Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.” – Acts xvii, 23. To suppose as do some that the altar was erected by one who was uncertain which of the tutelary deities he should propitiate, implies Paul to have resorted to a weak pretense, founded on the mere jingle of words, which, so far from constituting an appropriate and impressive basis for his argument and appeal, would have invited the derision and contempt of his skeptical audience. He adopted no such artifice; but appealed to a recognized and affecting fact.

39

Plato, in Cratylo, xxii.

40

But Herodotus does not “represent” the manner of the purifying of Adrastus. Moreover, the legend of Crœsus and Adrastus, is fabulous, as appears from internal evidence (see Rawlinson’s note on the place); and with it, the theory of Grote, as to the Lydian origin of the Greek purifying rites falls to the ground. See Rawlinson’s Herodotus, Hist. I. 35.

41

Grote i, 29-35.

42

Ib. 530.

43

Smith’s Greek and Roman Antiquities, article, “Lustratio.”

44

Travels of Anacharsis, Introduction.

45

Ovidii Fast. ii, vs. 27-46.

46

Ib. iv, 633-640; 731-736.

47

Ovidii Fast. ii, v, 673-688.

48

Æn. ii, 717.

49

Ibid. vi, 229. – The (novissima verba) last or parting words, were addressed to the deceased, – “Vale! Vale! Vale!” Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!

50

Compare above, p. 138.

51

Euripides in Alcest. 398. See, also, Aristophanes in Eccl. 1025.

52

Rees’s Encyclopedia, article, “Lustration.”

53

Above, p. 175.

54

Κλυζω (klyzō) to besprinkle, to water, to rinse, to dash over. “The sea, besprinkling, washes away all the crimes of men.”

55

Iphigenia in Taur. 1192-1194.

56

Smith’s Dictionary, article “Mysteria.”

57

Smith, article “Eleusinia.” Compare above, p. 144.

58

“Ύδρανος (hydranos), a waterer, a sprinkler with water; from ὑδραινο to water, to sprinkle any one with water, to pour out libations.” – Liddell & Scott’s Greek Lexicon.

59

Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., Book II., Part i, § 18.

60

As this work goes into the hands of the printers, the newspapers announce that “the Rev. Professor Campbell of Montreal has discovered that the Hittite and Aztec alphabets are identical, and by applying the latter to the former, he has been enabled to read inscriptions belonging to the ninth century before Christ.” Should this announcement prove true, it brings the Aztecs into a relation to Israel which the reader will at once recognize.

61

Sahagun. Hist. de Nueva Espana, vi, 37. In Prescott’s “Conquest of Mexico.” Vol. III, p. 385.

62

Tertull. de Baptisma, chapter v.

63

Ambrosii Opera, in Psa. li.

64

Ibid., in Apocal. cap. 6.

65

Ibid. Lit. ad initiandos. c, 7.

66

Carson on Baptism, pp. 265-268.

67

This is not the place to enlarge upon the present obligation of this law. In the above places, the reader will find it, as at first given to Noah, as expounded and perpetuated under the Levitical dispensation, and as again re-enforced upon the Gentile churches by the apostles. When and why was it abrogated?

68

Scrivener’s Collation of the Codex Sinaiticus, Introduction, p. xx.

69

Theodosia Ernest, Vol. I, p. 79. Published by the Baptist Publication Society.

70

Theodosia Earnest, vol. i, p. 80.

71

Jewish war. II. xiv, 3; and VI. x, 3.

72

Platonis Phæd., v.

73

In Smith’s Bib. Dict. article, “Jesus.”

74

Dale’s Christic Baptism, pp. 27, 29.

75

Josephus’ Antiquities, XV, iii, 3.

76

Armstrong on the Sacraments, pp. 48, 49.

77

See above, p. 100.

78

“Christic Baptism,” pp. 53, 56, 57.

79

Ibid, p. 76.

80

Alexander on Matthew.

81

The italics are his own.

82

The Prophets of the Restoration, by Rev. T. V. Moore, D. D.

83

Ebrard, in Olshausen, on the place.

84

Alexander on the Acts, in loco.

85

Augustinus de Nupt. et Concup. II, 29.

86

Alexander on the Acts.

87

Τουτο, in the neuter gender.

88

Ellicott’s Commentary, on Eph. v, 26. On the mode of baptism, circumstances detract greatly from the authority of divines of the English church. The doctrine of that body on the prerogative of the church to ordain rites and ceremonies has a double effect. On the one hand, it takes away the motive to a thorough study of the Scriptural evidence on the subject. On the other, it induces a sense of satisfaction in admitting that the apostolic mode of baptism was by immersion, and then pointing to the contrary form now in use, as an illustration of the exercise of the church’s authority over the matter. When to this is added the veneration cherished for “the primitive church” of the third and fourth centuries, in which immersion had gained extensive footing, and the recognition of that form in the rubric for baptism, hereafter quoted (below, p. 354), we will be justified in looking farther before accepting, as conclusive, the judgment, however pronounced, of divines of that church.

89

Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, article, “Balneæ.” The engravings referred to, will be found on pages 200, 207, above.

90

Βάψας ἀρύταιναν, αὐτος ἑαυτον καταχέασθαι, καὶ ειπεν ὃτι λέλουται. Theophrastus, Char. 16 (9).

91

Athenæus, Deipnosoph. xii, 6 (512).

92

Aristophanes, Nub. 1051.

93

Ἡνώγει ῥυτῶν ὑδάτων ἐνεγκεῖν λουτρὰ. Soph., Œd. Col. 1598.

94

Εἰσόκε θερμὰ λοετρὰ ἐϋπλόκαμος Ἑκαμήδη θερμήνη. – Iliad xiv, 6.

95

Σὺ δ’ ἀλλὰ νεκρῷ λουτρὰ περιβαλεῖν μ’ ἕα. – Eurip., Phoen. 1667.

96

Οὐκ οἶσθα λουτρὸν οἷον αἵδ’ ἡμᾶς ἕλουσαν ἄρτι. – Aristophanes, Lysist. 377, 469.

97

Sophocles, Antigone, 1201.

98

Πατρὸς χέοντες λουτρά. Sophocles. Elect. 84.

99

Οὐδε λουτρὰ προσφέρειν πατρί. Ib. 434.

100

Ἰῶμεν, ἀπολουσάμενοι τόν ἀπο τῆς μαχῆς ἱδρώτα τῷ Δαρειοῦ λουτρῷ. Plutarch, Alexand. 20.

101

Jewish War. VII, vi, 3.

102

The Meaning and Use of Baptizein, p. 88.

103

Review of Dale’s Classic Baptism, in the Baptist Quarterly,

104

“Meaning and Use of Baptizein,” p. 158.

105

“The Two Books of Common Prayer,” set forth by authority of Parliament, in the reign of King Edward VI, edited by Edward Cardwell, D.D., Principal of St. Alban’s Hall, Oxford, 1852.

106

Mr. George Grove, in Smith’s Bible Dictionary, article, “Palestine.”

107

Carson on Baptism, p. 251.

108

Did. Alex. xxxix, 716. In Dale’s Christ. Bapt. p. 342.

109

He alludes to a relation to the Spirit, supposed to be indicated in Gen. i, 2.

110

Tertullianus, De Bapt., ch. iv.

111

That ἡμων, the reading of the Textus Receptus, should be ὑμῶν, “your hearts,” is testified by a number of MSS., among which is the Sinaiticus, and is imperatively demanded by the connection.

112

The “Greeting” (Chairein) Acts xv, 23; is found nowhere else in the New Testament, save in James i, 1.

113

Alexander on Acts, xxi, 20.

114

Eusebius iii, 11; iv, 5, 6.

115

Etheridge’s Jerusalem and Tiberias, p. 71.

116

Etheridge, Ibid. p. 72.

117

Mosheim, Eccl. Hist., Cent. II., Part II., Ch. v, 1, 2.

118

Institutes, Book IV, chap, xvi, § 37.

119

Dale’s “Christic Baptism,” pp. 430, 431.

120

See Alexander on Acts xiv, 5.

121

In Dale, Christic Baptism, p. 205.

122

Christic Baptism, p. 393.

123

Dale’s Christic Baptism, p. 162.

124

“Christic Baptism,” p. 158.

125

Pliny (Hist. Nat. vi, 35) states this kingdom of which Meroe, on an island in the Nile, was the chief city, to have been “now for a long time,” governed by queens, who transmitted to each other the name of Candace.

126

Alexander, in loco.