THE

QUESTION.

Is Chriftian-Baptifm to be administered ONLY by Immersion, or Dipping the Body under Water? or, may it not ALSO, by Sprinkling, or Pouring Water on it?

T

HE following Tract is intended to prove,

FIRST, That Dipping the Body under Water, was not the only antient and fcriptural way of Baptizing. And

SECONDLY, That, if it was, yet a ftrict adherence to it, is not obligatory upon us: but that this Circumftance may, very lawfully and properly, be now exchanged for that of Sprinkling or Pouring.

B

SECT

SECTION I.

Tis, Firft, to be fhewn That Dipping the Body under Water, was not the only antient and fcriptural way of Baptizing. To which purpofe, the three following Things are premised; in which all are agreed.

I. That Baptifm (i. e. Water-Baptifm) is but an emblematical, or figurative Thing.

II. That the general nature or defign of this Emblem or Figure, is-by the application of Water, to fignify or betoken a Perfon to be holy or clean; appropriated to, and fit for the divine Service. And,

III. That Baptifm was really a divine Institution; and, by the exprefs command of God, practifed as a religious Rite in his Church; both long before, and at the time of John's and CHRIST's appearing, and beginning to baptize.

THIS laft Propofition is not, perhaps, fo careFully attended to, as it ought. We are wont to confider Baptifm, as a purely Chriftian Inftitution; and to trace it to no higher Origin than JESUS CHRIST, or John the Baptift. But this is certainly wrong. Baptifm was, unquestionably, a divine Inftitution; practised as a religious and facred Ceremony, in the Church of God, Ages before. There were Jacopo Baloμo diverse kinds of Baptifms, the Apostle exprefsly fays*, in which the WorShip of God food, under the Jewish Difpenfation. Neither

Heb. ix. 10.

Neither John, nor our Saviour, did properly inAitute this Ritet: but only took this antient, standing, religious Inftitution, and applied it to a particular Purpose, in their Miffion : namely, By the application of Water, to betoken to certain Perfons, that they should be accepted of GOD, as boly and pure; fit for his Service, and for a place in that Church, or Kingdom of the MESSIAH, which was then going to be fet up

THEY made no alteration in it's general Nature or Defign. Baptifm, under the New Teftament, has the very fame general Meaning, Purpofe or Intent, with Baptifm under the Old: And is but an application of Water to fignify or betoken a person to be holy, or confecrated to the fervice of GOD. It is a ceremonial, and but a ceremonial, Washing in both.

Now, forafmuch as neither CHRIST, nor John the Baptist, did properly inftitute, but only borrowed or continued this before-inftituted Ceremony; and forasmuch, as it has the very fame general meaning and defign under the Chriftian Scheme of Worship, as it had under the Jewish; it follows, that to look back to the MANNER of it's administration under the Old Testament, will be of great ufe to direct us, as to the MANNER of it's administration under the New.

WHAT, then, was the MANNER, in which Baptifm was wont to be administered; that is to B 2 fay,

It is a great Truth (fays Grotius) what the moft learned Broughton notes, That Chrift inflituted no new Rites. Vid. Tract concerning Communicating, &c.

* Our Lord took (fays Dr. Lightfoot) into his Hands Baptifm, fuch as he found it: adding only this, that he exalted it to a nobler Purpose, and to a larger Ufe. Hor. Heb. Matt. iii. 6.

fay, in which Water was wont to be applied, by GOD's exprefs Command, to Perfons or Things, to betoken them holy, and confecrated to his Service; at that Time, and in that Church, in which both John and JESUS CHRIST were born, and brought up? Was it ONLY by Dipping wholly under Water? Or, was it not ALSO by Sprinkling, or Pouring it on? I reply-Undoubtedly by both.

That it was fometimes by Dipping, there is no difpute. And that it was alfo, fometimes, by Sprinkling, or Pouring on, the Cafe is equally clear. Amongst a multitude, I fhall mention but the following Texts.

LEVIT. xiv. When a Leper, who had been put out from the Camp of Ifrael (the then Enclofure, or Church of God) as being unclean or unholy, was again to be taken in, and received to the Communion of Saints, (i. e. of the Ifraelites, the holy People) and to a free access to GOD; by what Ceremony was it done? SPRINKLING Water on him, was one of the principal Rites by which he was thus received. Verfe 7. And He, the Prieft, fhall SPRINKLE upon him, that is to be cleanfed from the Leprofy, and fhall pronounce him clean. By the fame Rite alfo, of SPRINKLING, the infected Houfe was to be purified, i. e. declared boly or clean. Verses 51, 52.

NOTE, It ought carefully to be remembered, that the LAW is exprefsly faid to be a Shadow or Exemplar of the CHRISTIAN Difpenfation; and the then Scheme of Worfhip, was intended to be a facred Figure or Type of the prefent *.

NUMB. viii. When the Levites were to be feparated from the rest of the Tribes, and confecrated a boly Priesthood to GOD (a Figure of Chriftians,

* Heb. viii. 5. ix. 9. x. 1. Vid. Peirce in Loc.

Chriftians, who, at their Baptifm, are separated 'from the rest of the World, and are confecrated a boly Priesthood, to offer up spiritual Sacrifices +.) How was it done? Verses 6, 7. Take the Levites, from among the Children of Ifrael, and cleanfe them: And thus fhalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them, SPRINKLE Water of purifying upon them.

NUMB. xix. 11. If a Man had touched a dead Body, and was thereby become unclean, unfit to approach GOD, and to ftand before him in his Sanctuary; by what Rite was he to be declared clean, and readmitted to the divine Prefence? The Water of feparation was to be SPRINKLED upon him, and upon his Tent, and upon his Veffels.

FINALLY, When the Ifraelites were called out from among the idolatrous Egyptians; and were fanctified and fet apart as a boly People or Church to GOD; they were all baptized, the Apoftle fays, by the Cloud, and by the Sea, v n νεφελη, και εν τη θαλασση; i. e. by the Cloud pouring down Water on them, and by the Sea Sprinkling them with it's Surges, as they paffed through. And when they were, in the moft folemn manner, entered into covenant with JEHOVAH at Sinai, and formed into a Church; by what Token or Rite did Mofes, the Mediator, initiate or admit them? When Mofes had spoken every precept to all the People, according to the Law; and they had publickly confented and promised to obey; He took the Blood of facrificed Beafts, and Water, and SPRINKLED both the Book and all the People 1.

HENCE, then, it is indifputable; that SPRINKLING, or POURING ON Water, was one of the principal