Two modes of B. are practiced: by immersion or dipping, and by aspersion or sprink ling, concerning which there has been much controversy in the early period of the church's history, as well as in recent times. effusion, or pouring, the common practice of the Church of Home, may be regarded as essentially the same with sprinkling. The advocates of sprinkling universally admit the validity of B. administered in the other mode, but the advocates of dipping generally refuse to acknowledge that B. by sprink liug can be true Christian baptism. The opponents of infant B., almost without excep tion, insist upon immersion; whilst aspersion or effusion of water is general, except in the eastern churches, wherever the B. of infants prevails. The argument upon which Baptists depend most of all is from the word B., and the verb baptizo, to baptize, which also, in classic Greek, signifies to immerse. On the other side, it is contended that a strict limitation to this sense does not well accord with its character as a "frequentative" form of bapto; and instances are adduced from the New Testament itself, in which this signification cannot easily be attached either to the noun or to the verb, as 1 Cor. x. 2, where Paul says that the Israelites were " baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;" and lIeb. ix. 10, Mark vii. 4, and Luke xi. 38, where both verb and noun are employed concerning the washings of the Jews, and the noun even of their washing of " cups. and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables."—To the argument in favor of immer sion, derived from the phrases employed when B. is mentioned in Scripture, as when we are told (Matt. iii. 6) that John the Baptist baptized "in Joedan," that our Lord after his B. (Matt. iii. 16) "went up out of the water," that Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts viii. 33) " went down both into the water;" it is replied that all the passages of this description, even if their meaning were certainly as precise and full as Baptists suppose it to be, are iusutlicieut to sustain the weight of the conclusion as to the necessity of a particular mode of B.; that, however, it is far from being clear that these passages must be interpreted or the meaning of the Greek prepositions so strictly defined as the argu ment requires; and further, that there are instances mentioned in Scripture which afford a presumptive argument in favor of another mode of B., as where we are told of great numbers added to the church in one day; whilst we have nowhere any intimation of converts being led to-any pond or river to be baptized. To the argument drawn from the language of Paul iu Horn. vi. 4. Col. ii. 12 (see BAPTISTS), it is replied that it depends upon a fanciful interpretation of these texts.—According to most of the advocates of B. by sprinkling,. the great error of their opponents is that of attaching too much impor tance to the question of the mode of baptism.
It is, however, indisputable that in the primitive church the ordinary mode of B. was by immersion, in order to which baptisteries (q.v.) began to be erected in the 3d, per haps iu the 2d c., and the sexes were usually baptized apart. But B. was administered to sick persons by sprinkling; although doubts as to the complete efficacy of this clink (sick) B. were evidently prevalent in the time of Cyprian (middle of 3d c.). B. by sprinkling gradually became more prevalent: but the dispute concerning the mode of B. became one of the irreconcilable differences between the eastern and western churches, the former generally adhering- to the practice of immersion, whilst the latter adopted mere pouring of water ou the head, or sprinkling on. the lace, which practice has generally prevailed since the 13th c.; but' ot universally, for it was the ordinary practice in England before the reformation to immerse infants, and the fonts (q.v.) in the churches were made large enough for this purpose. This continued also to be the practice till the reign 'of Elizabeth; and the change which then took place is ascribed to the English divines who had sought refuge in Geneva, and other places the continent, during reign of To this day the rubric of the church. of England that if the gbtiftuhers and godmothers shall certify him that the 'child may well endure it," the officiating priest " slialfdip it in the water discreet] y'and warily?" and it is only, "if they shall.certify that the child is weak," thht "it shahl suffice to ponr water upon
it," which, 'however, or sprinkling, is now the ordinary practice. • .
B. was accompanied, from An, early period:in the history 'of the church, with various forms and 'ceremonies, besides the simple rite of Washing with water and the pro nouncing of the formula which declares it be " in the name of the Father, and of the Sop, and of the Holy Ghost." These ceremonies are almost all retained in the church of Home, and also generally the oriental churches, but have been entirely or almost entirely laid aside by Protestants. The church of England retains the sign of the cross made upon the after B., but the other Protestant churches in. Britain reject it. It was an ancient custom that the trtechumeitS, as candidates for' B; Were_ called whilst receiving instruction with a view to that sacrament, when they were to:be baptized, publicly made a profession of ,their faith and a renunciation of the devil and all his works. The profession of faith is. still retained by ProteStant churches as the formal ground of the administration of B. ;' the rerniodiation. of, the devil and his works is required by the'ehurch of England of the person haptized, if an adult, or of the spinsers or " sureties" of a cliild,—Sponsors (q.v.) were early admitted to answer for those who could not answer for themselves, and particulArly for infants. The belief in the absolute neeessitY of B. to salvation led even to B. of the dead among the Montanists in Africa, in sponsorship was also introduced. Presbyterian and independent churches generally reject all sponsorship, and regard the profession made by parents :is simply a profession of their ,own faith, which entitleA their infants to baptism. The ancient practice of exorcism (q.v.) immediately before B. has been rejected as supersti tious by almost all Protestant churches; as have Also that of immersing three times (trine immersion), or sprinkling three times, with reference to the three persons of the Godhead—that of breathing upon the baptized person, "to signify the expulsion of the devil, and to symbolize the gift of the Holy Spirit-411A of anointing with oil (chrism, q.v.) to.symbollie the same gift, or to indicate that the baptized person is ready, as a wrestler in the ancient pines, to fight the good fight of faith—that of giving him milk and honey, in token of his Spiritual youth, and 9f his reception of spiritual gifts and graces—that of putting a little snit into his mouth, to signify the wisdom and taste for Heavenly things proper to a ChriStian—that of toweling his nostrils and ears with spittle, to signify that his ears are to be ever open to truth, and that he should ever feel the sweet odor of truth and virtue—aud that of clothing hint after B. with A white robe (the ehrysome), in token of the innocence of soul, which by B. he was supposed to have acquired. The white robe and the anointing with oil were retained in the church of England for a short time after the Reformation.—The giving of a name in )3. (see the article NA3tgs) is no essential part of it, but is a custom apparently derived from that of the Jews In circumcision (Luke i. 59-63).—The church of Rome prefers the use of holy water (q.v.) in B., but regards any water as fit for the purpOse in case of necessity.— According to an _ancient usage, long obsolete, the ordinary administration of B. was limited to the two, great festivals of Easter and Whitsuntide.—Whether B. may be administered in private, has been much debated, both in ancient and modern times. The administration of B. in private houses, and not in the presence of a congregation, was one of the things earnestly contended against by the Presbyterians in Scotland in the first half of the 17th e.; their opposition being grounded, not only upon hostility to what they deemed usurpation of authority, but upon the danger 6f superstitions views of baptism. And apparently upon this latter ground, B. in private houses is also dis couraged, even while it is allowed, if there is "great cause and necessity," 1w the church of England; yet it has become very frequent both in the church of England and among the Presbyterians of Scotland.