CHRISTIAN BAPTISM. MANNER OF THE RITE. The only rational considerations which can guide us in determining the manner of the baptismal rite, are, the use of the word by which it is designated, and the practice of the Apostles. Although Professor Stuart does not rest his arguments on these premises, he nevertheless examines them with considerable minuteness, and his examples of Bapto and Baptizo, which follow with very few additions, occurring, as they do, in every variety of connection, and selected from authors of almost every age, from the earliest period of Greek literature, down to the commencement of the Christian era, must surely be sufficient, with every candid inquirer, to settle their meaning beyond the possi bility of reasonable doubt. Βάπτω. Classical Usage. 1. Bárrw, bapto, signifies to dip, plunge, immerge. 'All lexicographers and critics of any note,' says Prof. Stuart,' are agreed in this,' Homer, Od, 9, 392, describing Ulysses and his compan. ions putting out the eye of Polyphemus by plunging a burn 6 ing stake into it, says: It hissed as when a smith dips, Barry, a large hatchet, or axe, into cold water. Here the connection determines the meaning of the word beyond the possibility of doubt. The dipping a heated axe into water, in order to harden, or temper it, is expressed by bapto. Compare Didymus, on Eccles. 34: 26, "The dipping, rò ßála, of red hot iron in cold water, hardens it." Aristotle, De Anima, 3, 12, If one dips, Balas, any thing into wax, it is moved as far as he dips, Bas. Hist. Animal. 8. 25. In treating the flux in elephants, he says: They give them warm water to drink, and dipping, Bánrovres, hay into honey, give it them to eat. Ibid. c. 2, speaking of a certain kind of fish, he says: They cannot endure great changes, such as if they should, in the summer time, plunge, Bártwo, into cold water. De color. c. 4. respecting the manner in which things are dyed, he says: By reason of heat and moisture, the colors enter into the pores of the things dipped, rv BUTTOμενῶν. Aristophanes, Nubes. 150, Socrates is represented as computing how many times the distance between its feet, a flea could spring at a leap. In order to ascertain this, it is said that he first melted a piece of wax, and then, taking the flea, dipped, ¿véßas, its feet into it, etc. Xenophon, Anab. 2. 2, 9, describes the Greeks and their enemies as ratifying a solemn treaty, by first slaughtering a goat, a bull, and a ram, and then dipping Bártovres, into a shield filled with the blood, the Greeks, a sword, and the Barbarians, a spear. Herodotus, 2, 47, relates that an Egyptian considers the touch of a swine so polluting, that if he happens to come in contact with one, he goes immediately to the river and plunges, Bas, himself, with his very clothes. Bapto is here used precisely like baptizo, to denote the immersion of a person in water. Aratus, Phaenom, 650, speaks of the constellation Ce pheus, which appears at certain times, with his head sunk below the horizon, as plunging, Barrwv, his upper parts into the sea. In v. 758, he says: If the sun plunge, i. e. set, Barro, cloudless in the western flood, it is a sign of fair weather. Again, v. 951, If the crow has dipped, ßálaro, her head in the river, etc. * Plutarch, De Primo Frigidio, speaks of iron dipped, Barroμevov, viz. into water, in order to harden it. Aelian, 14, 39, relates that a Persian king presented to the Spartan ambassador, as a token of friendship, a garland of roses, after dipping it, Bá↓as, into ointment, to improve its fragrance. Plato, De Repub. 4, says, that the dyers, when they wish to make a permanent purple, select the whitest of the fleece, and prepare and wash it with great care, and then dip it, Bártovo, viz. into the dye-stuff. Moschus, Id. 1. 29. Venus advises to beware of the insidious artifices of Cupid, and though he profess the kindest intentions, to shun his gifts, (his bow and quiver), for they are all dipped in flame, πυρὶ βέβαπται. Anacreon, Ode on the "arrows of Cupid." The poet represents Vulcan as forging them, and then, The gentle Venus for her part, In honey dipped (Barre,) each finished dart; And steeped their barbed-points in gall. Hippocrates, De Vict. ration. p. 104. Let the food be cakes dipped, sußarróμavo, hot into sour wine. De Su *The ancients supposed the sun to set in the ocean. Compare Virg. Æn. xi. 913. Ni roseus fessos jam gurgite Phoebus Hibero perfæet, p. 50, To dip, Barrew, the probes in some emollient. Ibid. p. 51, Dipping, Bálada, the rag in ointment. De Morbis, p. 145, Dipping, Surrwv, sponges in warm water, apply them to the head. Hippocrates uses this word, more than sixty times, and always to signify dipping, except in one instance, where it denotes dyeing. Aristotle, Hist. Animal, 8, 29, speaking of the bite of a certain kind of snake in Africa, says: The remedy is said to be a certain kind of stone which they take from the tomb of one of the ancient kings, and dipping, droßá↓avTɛs, it in wine, drink. There is no pouring nor sprinkling here. The stone is plunged into the wine, and then the wine, supposed to be impregnated with the medicinal virtues of the stone, is drunk by the patient. Athenæus, 7, cites from an ancient author, "Ah wretched me, that I should be first dipped, åreßapon, over head and ears in brine like a pickled herring." Bapto can here signify nothing less than a total immersion." Lycophron, Cassand. 1121, The child shall, with his own hand, plunge, Bas, his sword into the viper's bowels. Philippus, in Anthol. 9. 240, The goat thrust, Bas, his whole chin into the belly of the ram. Dionysius of Harlicarnassus, Ant. Rom. 5. 15, says: The one plunged Bátas, his spear into the other's side, who, at the same instant, thrust his into his bowels. *With regard to drò in composition with Barrw, some find a difficulty in harmonizing the apparently opposite meanings of the verb and preposition. The analysis however is perfectly easy. Apobapto corresponds precisely with the Latin demergo,' and expresses departure of the action from the agent, not from the object. The primary meaning of apo, is separation, removal; as in to wash off, anairiw, 'to ask of," to demand.' times, however, the preposition does not practically effect the verb in any perceptible degree; still its use is unquestionably founded in that idea. There is no practical difference between row and arquivo, minish, and diminish, yet the compound clearly conveys the idea of separation. ἀπονίπτω, Some Euripides, Phoeniss. 1594, Taking his scimitar from the dead, he plunged, Bae, it into his flesh. The reader will perceive from the four last examples, that bapto is used to denote plunging into solids, as well as liquids. Prof. Stuart sets this down as a different shade of meaning. It is a different application of the word; but the word has not therefore a different meaning. The idea of plunging is the same, whether it relates to solids or liquids. Prof. Stuart remarks that, so far as he has observed, bapto is exclusively employed where the idea of plunging into flesh, or solids, is expressed. This is however a mistake. Baptizo is certainly capable of a similar application, and is sometimes actually so employed. Josephus, Bell. II. 18, 4, supplies an example. He says that Simon, after killing his father, mother, wife, and children, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, εßarrios, baptized the whole sword into his own throat. This example proves that baptizo means to plunge, or immerse, and that the two verbs, even in such connections, are interchangeable. Aeschylus, Prom. 861, 'For each bride shall deprive her respective husband of life, plunging, Bá↓ara, a two-edged sword in their throats.' Prof. Stuart here assigns another meaning to bapto, and renders the passage bathing the sword by slaughter.' This interpretation is not only forced and unnatural, but violates the established rules of philology, inasmuch as it rejects the usual meaning of bapto, and assigns a new sense, when there is not the least necessity for it. That this verb is frequently employed to denote plung. ing a weapon into flesh, is proved by the examples already cited; and what reason can be given, why it should not be taken in the same sense here? Sphage unquestionably means throat, and not slaughter, in the passage just cited from Josephus; and as this is a precisely similar application, why not accept it in a similar sense? The passage |