ONE POINT GAINED.
In their discussion on the next morning Dorothy remarked: "Mr. Sterling,
let me tell you what I did. I looked up the passages that had the word
'baptize' in them and in each case I put the word 'sprinkle' in the
place of the word 'baptize' and it surely made curious reading."
"Good for you, daughter," said Mr. Page. "That was an ingenious
procedure. Let us have the passages to see how they sound. It ought to
be a perfectly fair method, because if baptize means to sprinkle then
you ought to be able everywhere to put the word 'sprinkle' for the word
'baptize' and it would read all right. That's a fine idea, and now for
the passages."
Dorothy began with the account of Christ's baptism: "'Then cometh Jesus
from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be sprinkled of him'."
"That sounds all right," said Sterling.
"Here is the next one," said Dorothy: "'I have a sprinkling to be
sprinkled with and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!' Just
imagine Christ speaking of his sufferings in that way, Mr. Sterling. His
sufferings were not a sprinkling. But here is another: 'And John also
was sprinkling at Aenon near Salem because there was much water there.'
"Again: 'John truly sprinkled with water, but ye shall be sprinkled with
the Holy Ghost not many days hence.'"
"That doesn't sound natural," said the father, "to be sprinkled with the
Holy Ghost. That would have been a rather light affair."
"Mr. Sterling," said Dorothy, "you remember you said the baptism on the
day of Pentecost was by pouring. Suppose you put the word 'pour' in this
passage and read it, 'John truly poured with water, but ye shall be
poured with the Holy Ghost not many days hence'. You could not speak of
anybody being poured. You could speak of water or the Spirit being
poured, but not of a person being poured. It would not be proper to say
you shall be poured with anything. Something could be poured upon you,
but you could not be poured with something. That is another reason why
the baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost could not have had reference to
pouring, because from this passage, you see, it would not make sense to
put the word 'pour' in it. And besides, Mr. Sterling, I think you are
uncertain whether baptism is by pouring or sprinkling."
"Give us another passage," said the father; "they are quite
interesting."
Dorothy continued: "'And they went down into the water, both Philip and
the eunuch and he sprinkled him."
"Let us have another passage," said the father.
Dorothy continued: "'Therefore we are buried with him by sprinkling into
death.'"
"Oh, my," said Mr. Page, bursting into a laugh, "where did you ever see
anyone buried by sprinkling a few drops of earth upon him? Say, Friend
Sterling, how did this idea of sprinkling get into so many churches? It
certainly does not seem to have a single leg to stand upon."
"I can give you some passages where the word sprinkle would sound
natural; for example this passage: 'Go ye into all the world and preach
the Gospel unto every creature, and he that believeth and is sprinkled
shall be saved.' That sounds just as natural as if it read 'he that
believeth and is immersed shall be saved'."
"Maybe so," said Mr. Page, "but it sounds just a little limp to me.
Besides, you could hardly put the word 'pour' in that passage. If you
want to make a real point you must give some passage where the word
'sprinkle' would sound natural and the word 'immerse' would seem out of
place."
"Yes," spoke up Dorothy. "Can you give us such a passage, Mr. Sterling?"
"I have such a passage and it will show that immersion could not have
been the mode of baptism."
"Out with it," said Mr. Page.
"It is the words spoken to Saul. It reads: 'Arise and be baptized.' Now
that baptism could not have been an immersion. Saul was evidently seated
and he was told to arise or to stand up. What was he to stand up for? To
be sprinkled, of course. You would not ask a man who was seated to
stand up to be immersed."
"He would have to stand up before he could be immersed," said Dorothy.
"Why could it not read, 'Arise and be immersed'? Maybe they went off to
be immersed. And notice the first part of the verse. It reads: 'Now why
tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on
the name of the Lord.' Those first words 'why tarriest thou' explain the
other part. In the first place, he had to arise; that is, to get up in
order that he might go off to some place where he could be immersed. In
the next place, he tells him not to tarry, not to wait, but to arise and
be baptized."
"Good for you, daughter. It does look as if you were telling him not to
delay his baptism, but to get up and attend to it."
There was a lull in the conversation for a moment, and then the father
asked: "What kind of baptism did they have in the churches just after
the apostles died? Don't we find anything in history about the kind of
baptism that was practiced?"
Dorothy spoke up promptly: "I was reading in the library yesterday in
some of the encyclopedias about baptism and I copied something about
that very point you mentioned. Let me get it."
She hurried to her room, brought the book and read as follows: "'Not
less than sixty of the ancient baptisteries are found in Italy alone, of
which seven belong to the fourth century, four to the fifth, eleven to
the sixth and fourteen probably to the seventh.' Then after describing
these baptizing pools found in these ancient church buildings the writer
continues: 'Now baptisteries such as described above are found in all
parts of ancient Christendom, and their presence makes it impossible to
doubt the form of baptism in the patristric and medieval churches. Such
structures were plainly intended for immersion. Their size and form and
arrangement entirely preclude the idea of their use for sprinkling or
pouring.'"
"That is a great point. What were those baptizing pools doing there in
the churches if they were not for immersion? If the churches in the
fourth century baptized by immersion, it surely must have been because
that mode had been handed down to them from the beginning."
"There is one argument against immersion that I have not mentioned,"
said Sterling.
"Exactly," said the father with a smile. "You are going now to bring out
your Imperial Guards. You've been holding them back for the last
assault, I suppose. All right, trot them out, Sterling."
"Oh, father, what awful figures you use about these Bible matters."
"That's right, daughter, call me down. I will jump the traces every now
and then, and I beg pardon. And now, Sterling, what is that argument
against immersion that you have not mentioned?"
"It is this: Immersion cannot be right, for it would make infant baptism
impossible."
"Infant baptism," exclaimed Dorothy with a very puzzled look. "You
don't mean that you baptize infants?"
"Certainly."
"Why do you baptize infants?" asked Dorothy, with an expression almost
of horror on her face.
"It is one of the sacred ordinances of the church and is really one of
the most beautiful and effective."
"Do you mean little children just two or three years old?" asked
Dorothy.
"Yes, indeed, and often only a few weeks old. Where have you been that
you have never heard of infant baptism?"
"I never heard of it. You know I have been to church very little in my
life and have known almost nothing about church matters and have had no
one to tell me. I am very sorry it has been so, for I feel I have missed
a great deal. But, Mr. Sterling, I do not remember seeing anything in
the Bible about sprinkling infants. I must have overlooked it."
"You must have overlooked it, for it is taught very plainly."
"Infant baptism?" she said in a questioning, puzzled tone. "Mr.
Sterling, the little infants do not know what you are doing to them. I
thought the baptism of a person was a picture of what had already taken
place in that person. It looks strange to baptize an infant, and besides
I should think you would drown the little things to put them under the
water."
"Ha, ha," exclaimed Mr. Sterling with a laugh. "Not too fast. We do not
put them under the water; we sprinkle them."
"Of course. I ought to have known that, for you baptize by sprinkling.
But do tell me some more about it. Why do you do it, Mr. Sterling?"
"It is one of the most sacred ordinances of the church. I wish you could
witness the ceremony. But I see we will not have the time to go into the
subject as we ought. It is a great subject, and if you do not object we
will take it up tomorrow night. I hear no objection and so the motion is
unanimously adopted."
Sterling felt as if the battle had been going against him so far as
winning Dorothy was concerned. But he did not despair. He girded himself
afresh for his task. He decided, however, that instead of attempting
single-handed to defend the doctrine of infant baptism, he would seek
reinforcements and call in his pastor, Dr. Vincent.
The Doctor was regarded as an encyclopedia of Presbyterian lore.
Sterling visited him and told him that Dorothy Page, the daughter of his
friend and neighbor, had recently been converted and was concerned about
the subject of baptism, and that she was strongly turning towards
immersion. "I am dreading, Doctor," said Sterling, "that if she insists
on immersion she will be drawn into the Baptist church and we would all
regard that as a disaster."
"Did you mention infant baptism to her?" inquired the Doctor. "You know
the Baptists would deny to infants this rite and would deny to parents
the privilege of such dedication of their children in baptism. That fact
ought to keep her from the Baptist heresy, and if that fails to save her
from it then surely their doctrine of close communion will settle the
business with her."
"We are to take up the subject of infant baptism tonight. We began it
last night, but were interrupted before we got fairly launched upon the
discussion, and yet not before Miss Dorothy had made some remark about
infant baptism showing she thought it a curious practice. I am sure,
Doctor, you could set her right."
"I will come if you think I can be of service," he said, for he saw an
anxiety on Sterling's face that he could not understand.