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Untitled Article
lowing queries . Does it not appear , from .-such passages as Tit . in . 5 . and especially 2 PeOi . 9 . that baptism was ° originally considered as an external symbol of the baptized person ' s being " P urged from his old sins / ' the sins of his former Jewish
or heathen state ? If so , is there not probably an allusion in this ordinance to the washings which were enjoined upon the Israelites for the removal of various ceremonial pollutions , in which they were commanded to wash their clothes , and bathe their flesh in water ? Is there not , then , some ground for con ^ jecturing that the ancient mode of baptism was something ^ vh ich more exactly resembled a proper washing than any that
is now practised ? It is readily acknowledged , that sprinkling is not properly washing ; but then it must be allowed , that only a very small quantity of water should be used in the baptism of an infant , if the baptizer wishes to keep it ia that state of quieU ness which is necessary to secure the attention of its parents to the service . But I will be bold to ask , is even dipping a pro ^ per washing ? Will the mere putting the hands or feet , or the
whole body under water , be sufficient for their cleansing , unT less something more be , done ? Accordingly , in that instance of baptism of whichthe ndost particular account is given—tha £ of the Eunuch ^ Acts viiiV 38 .- —is it not p lain , that the baptize ing of him was something which followed ., and w % s quite distipqt from , his going with Philip into the water ? On th § whole then , if it be a probable conjecture that the original baptism was a real and proper washing , will it not follow
that both sprinklers and dippers have departed from it , an 4 therefore need not dispute any longer whether of their own modes is the most preferable ? These ideas are advanced with diffidence ; but they have long been fapiiliar to the writer , and are recommended to him by this consideration , that the admission of them would reconcile professing Christians to one another , and dispose them more readily to bear with each others differi ng opinions and practice ^ in respect to the subject of them . anij Sir , your ' sj £ alan $ , Jn 7 i . 10 , 3 806 . J . T ,
Untitled Article
300 Thoughts on B&ptism *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1806, page 300, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1725/page/20/
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