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cordingly this author concedes that the word baptizo, is never but once used, in those very numerous places of the Old Testament, where bathing the person is commanded.' The one instance he mentions is in 2 Kings v. 14, where Naaman is said to have dipped (or baptized) himself seven times in Jordan, for the cure of his leprosy.

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But this one instance is not a just exception from the general concession. *Naaman's leprosy was local. He says, 'I thought surely, he (the prophet) will, strike his hand over the place,' or the part affected. This was the part to be washed. the manner of washing that part was pouring or sprinkling water upon it. The law prescribed, that the leper should be sprinkled seven times. The prophet says, Wash seven times. If the prophet had respect to the law, as it appears he had by his requiring the Syrian leper to wash seven times, then by washing he meant sprinkling, or partial affusion. This example therefore proves, that the word baptizo signifies not to plunge, but to sprinkle.

There is then, in all the Old Testament, no instance of the word bapto or baptizo used for immersion, but examples of both used for sprinkling.

Let us now consult the New Testament. There we shall find clear and direct evidence, that the word baptizo, signifies to pour or sprinkle.

It is said, in the beginning of the 7th Chap. of Mark, That the Pharisees, when they saw some of the disciples eat bread with defiled (that is to say, with unwashen) hands, found fault; for the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not. And when they come from the market, except they wash, (ean me baptizontai, except they are baptized) they eat not. What in the former clause, is called washing the hands, is here called being baptized. The usual manner of washing hands among the Jews, we learn from 2 Kings iii. 11, where it is said, Elisha poured water on the hands of Elijah. Here then you see, persons are said to be baptized, when only a part of the body is washed by the pouring on of water. It is added, Many other things there are, which

they have received to hold, as the washings (baptismous, baptisms) of brazen vessels and tables, or beds, i. e. the seats on which they used to recline at meals, which were so large, that they could be washed only by pouring water on them.

It is said, Luke xi. 37. A certain Pharisee asked Jesus to dine with him. And he went in and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled, that he had not first washed before dinner: Not washed his whole body, but only his hands, according to the Jewish custom mentioned in the before cited passage in Mark. And this is expressed by the same word which is used for baptizing. He marvelled that he had not been baptized (ebaptisthe) before dinner.

The Jews, by divine appointment, observed divers kinds of purifications, the greater part of which were sprinklings. And these are expressly called baptisms. The Apostle, in the 9th chap. of Heb. 10th verse, speaking of the Jewish ritual, says, It stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings, (diaphorois baptismois, divers baptisms.) By these divers baptisms, he plainly means the

various ceremonies of sprinkling; for so he explains them in the following verses. The blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh. Moses took the blood of calves and goats with water-and sprinkled the book and all the people. He sprinkled likewise with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are, by the law, purged with blood, i. e. with the sprinkling of blood. Now as the Apostle speaks of divers baptisms, and then immediately illustrates them by divers sprinklings, and mentions no other purifications, but sprinklings, as instances of these divers baptisms, it is evident, that, if the sacred writer understood Greek, sprinkling is baptism.

And since the word, wherever it is used in scripture for any thing besides the christian ordinance, plainly signifies pouring or sprinkling, we must naturally suppose, it is used in the same sense, when it is applied to the christian ordinance. This conclusion may have the more weight, because it is

deduced from, the concessions of a critical writer on the other side of the question.

There is another Greek word, louo, supposed to be sometimes used for baptism, on which the author of the letters lays more weight: For this, he tells us, is almost the constant word of the Septuagint, in those very numerous places where bathing, or washing the whole body is commanded.

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The word louo is indeed frequently used for washing the body; but not always for washing the whole body. Christ says to Peter, he that is washed,' O leloumenos, 'needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.' Here the Here the person, is said to be leloumenos, washed, when only his feet are washed by a towel wet with water from a bason. If therefore louo were the only word used for baptism, we could not thence infer, that the whole body must be bathed in the ordinance, for we find this very word used to express a partial washing; but it should be observed, that this word is very seldom, if ever used for baptism. The author of the letters has cited about sixty passages in the New Testament, as speaking of

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