The Rev. Richard Watson sums up very forcibly the arguments against immersion as the sole mode of baptism. He says: "As the word is used to express the various ablutions among the hews, such as sprinkling, pouring, etc. (Het. ix: to), for the custom of washing before meals, and the washing of household furniture, pus, •tc., it is evident from hence that it dews not express the !limner of doing a thing, whether by immersion or effusion, but only the thing done; that is, washing, or the application of water in some form or other. It nowhere signilii s to ay, but in denoting a mode ol, and in order to, washing or cleansing; and the mode or use is only the ceremonial part of a positive institute; just as in the Lord's Supper, the time of day, the number and posture of the com municants, the quantity and quality of bread and wine, are circumstances not accounted essential by any part of Christians. If in baptism there is an expressive emblem of the descending influence of the Spirit, pouring must be the mode of adminis tration; for that is the scriptural term most coin.. moldy and properly used for the communication of Divine influences i Matt. iii: t t ; Mark i: 8, to;
Luke John is 33: Acts 3S, 39: viii: 12, 17; 16), •I lie .ctrinkfin•, is made use din reference to the act of purification (lsa. t Fick. xxxvi: 23; I leb. ix: 13, it); and therefore inapplicable to baptismal purification. But it is observed that John baptized 'in Jordan.' To this it is replied, To infer always a plunging of the whole body in water from this particle would in many instances be false and absurd. The same Greek preposition, tie, is used when it is said they should be 'baptized with tire:* but few will assert that they should be plunged Into it. The apostle, speaking of Christ, says, he came lint. iv, 'by water hut, 'by water and blood.' There the same %void, 4, is translated by; and with justice and propriety, for we know no good sense in which we could say he came in water. It has been remarked that iv is more than a hundred times in the New Testament rendered at; and in a hundred and fifty others it is trans lated with. If it be rendered so here, John bap tized at Jordan, or with the water of Jordan, there is no proof that he plunged his disciples in it."