cidedly at issue with him, and feel ourselves imperatively called upon to state our conviction of the total inadmissibility of his premises, and consequently of the conclusions at which he arrives. With respect to the Greek word Bari, after having read almost every work that professes to throw any light upon it, and carefully examined all the passages in which both it and its derivatives occur in the sacred volume, and a very considerable number of those in which it is found in classical authors; we are free to confess, we have not yet fallen in with a single instance in which it can be satisfactorily proved, that it signifies a submersion of the whole body, without, at the same time, conveying the idea, that the submersion was permanent, i. e. that the body thus submerged, sunk to rise no more. So far as has yet been ascertained, the word is never used by any ancient author in the sense of one person performing an act of submersion upon another; yet it is necessary that we bring this idea with us to the reading of the New Testament before we can affix to Barris, as there occurring, the sense of immersion. That it is used in the sense of pouring upon or into, every one must be convinced, who will be at the pains to consult the important article in Ewing's Greek Lexicon, under Barrilu, 3. 4. 5., where, indeed, the whole philo logical question is treated with an accuracy and ability, which we have not met with in any other work. Even Barw, from which Barril is generally allowed to be derived, does not primarily signify to dip, or immerse; but to dye, stain, tinge, wet, irrespective of the mode, which may be either by affusion or immersion. In proof of its use in reference to the former of these modes, see Rev. 66 "veste xix. 13, where we read iμáriov Beßaupérov aiuart, properly rendered in the Vulgate, aspersa sanguine," and not as in our common version, a vesture dipped in blood;" this having no relation to the blood-stained robe of the victorious warrior, which the exigency of the passage evidently requires. But see, by all means, Ewing on this word also. In his appeal to the versions, we cannot but deem Mr. Greenfield peculiarly unfortunate. Notwithstanding what is adduced from the Lexicons in favour of immersion, we must express our conviction, that no positive evidence is furnished by these authorities from which it can be concluded, that ,sas, the word employed by the ancient Syriac translator, means to plunge or dip. Such a sense cannot be proved to attach either to the etymology of the word, or to its actual use in any part of the New Testament. In regard to its etymology, nothing can be more certain, than that the idea of throwing down, dipping, or plunging, is the very opposite of that conveyed by it. Like its cognate Ty, in Hebrew, it signifies to stand up, stand erect; and obviously suggests the idea of a person's taking his station at, or in the water, in order to have the act of baptism performed upon him, and not that of his being laid flat on his back below the water, or in any way plunged into it. The same may be said of the Arabic as, which primarily means to sustain, uphold, keep, or hold any thing in an erect posture, and only secondarily to baptize. What, in our judgmeut, decides the point, as it regards the Syriac, is the fact, that in Matt. xxvi. 23; Mark xiv. 20; Luke xvi. 24; and John xiii. 26, where a word signifying to dip is required, the reatu peccati, Baptismus.- dip, or put into water, or any other element, for the purpose of wetting. The reader of the Syriac New Testament has only to consult the passages in which baptism is spoken of, and he will find, that this ancient and venerable version, so far from yielding any support to the hypothesis, that immersion of the body in water is the mode in which John and our Lord's disciples performed that rite, goes, on the contrary, to establish the opinion, that it was performed by the application of water to the body in a standing posture, such as we find in the ancient representations.* The definitions produced from the Lexicons of Ludolf and Woide are altogether insufficient to prove, that in the Ethiopic and Coptic Versions, the words employed for βαπτίζω, signify to immerse. It does not appear, that in application to Christian baptism, they ever have this signification. In his second edition, Ludolf thus gives the definition of the word: oup: Equipollet Græco Barrie, et (1.) in genere significat Abluit. Aquâ mundavit pocula, lectos. Marc. 7. 4. (2.) Baptizavit hominem, Matthew iii. 11. Johannes አጥመቀ በማይ baptizavit aquà, seu intinxit in aquam more Judaico, &c. (3.) In specie Initiavit aliquem Christianis sacris, &c. Matt. xxviii. 19. And the substantive Barrioμos, he thus defines quot Ablutio in genere, &c. Marc. vii. 8. (2.) In specie ablutio à See the plates in Robinson's History of Baptism. up: gupt: ጥምቀት፡ Lavit, abluit aqua baptismali. Enc. 4. August. As it regards the Gothic dia- Ger. taufen mit Wasser; Swed. döpa með Vatn ; Dutch doopen met water; i. e. "with water," and not, in wasser; in water; i vand; i vatn :—which phraseology is as foreign to these languages, as the practice which it would sanction is unknown to the inhabitants of the countries in which they are spoken. Even the Mennonites in Holland, and other parts, though they reject infant baptism, administer the ordinance by pouring, and not by immersion. In giving dyppan, as the AngloSaxon word for dip, Junius, as quoted by Mr. G. is perfectly correct; but the reader must not suffer himself to be misled by the idea, that it is used in reference to baptism. It is never thus used in the New Testament; but is there given as the proper translation of ẞaw, Luke xvi. 24; John xiii. 26. The word employed for baptize, is fulligan, to full, cleanse, wash; John the Baptist is called the Fulluktere, or "Fuller;" and baptism, Fulluht, cleansing or purification. That the Gothic daupjan, signifies to immerse, is not denied, though this action is more properly expressed in that language by ufdaupjan. If, then, we exclude the Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Arabic, German, Dutch, Danish, and Swedish Versions, from the number specified by Mr. Greenfield, as favouring baptism by immersion, are we not entitled to ask, Where are the public translations, besides those made by the Baptist Missionaries at Serampore, in which a word expressive of immersion is employed as the rendering of Barri? The Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanese, English, &c. retain the original word. The Slavonic, Russ, Polish, Bohemian, Wallachian, and Servian Versions use a word which designates the rite, but determines noN. S. NO. 63. thing as to the mode of its administration. In the Icelandic New Testament, skira is employed, which signifies to cleanse, purify. The Malay mandi, the Canarese and Tamil T snana, and the renderings of all the other versions of the East, made by Pædobaptists, so far as we have been able to ascertain, mean to bathe; with the exception of the Mahratta translation, executed by the American Missionaries at Bombay, in which afy bāptismā is retained. The terms employed in these versions are simply expressive of ablution or cleansing, and do not, as some have supposed, restrict the meaning to immersion. We have it on the best authority, that they are used both for ablution by pouring, and ablution by immersion, but the former of these modes of bathing is more common in India than the latter. It is generally performed in a part of the house appropriated to the purpose, or in the open yard or garden. A large vessel, containing perhaps twenty gallons of water or more, is filled, and another person with a smaller vessel, containing three or four pints, pours the water on the head and body of the person to be bathed, till the ablution is completed. The Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society need not, therefore, be at all alarmed at the formidable consequences, which are pictured as likely to result from the withholdment of their aid from the Serampore translators, in case these translators persist in employing the obnoxious word in question. They may with perfect consistency persevere in giving circulation to the word of U God in all the various translations no Pædobaptist in Bengal uses that have otherwise been approved Dr. Carey's Versions on this very for their fidelity; and, if they be ground. Now, if the agency of compelled, as, if we be rightly Pædobaptists in the distribution informed, they now are, to with- of the copies be suspended, and hold further assistance from those the Calcutta Bible Society refuse who have shared largely in their (as we understand they do) to bounty, the responsibility does not sanction the Serampore Versions, rest with them; but must be are the Committee at home to be charged to the individuals, who re- blamed, because they cannot exfuse to make their versions con- pend the money with which they formable, in this point, to the res- are entrusted, in enabling the Misdering of the New Testament as sionaries at Serampore to print currently circulated in the world. editions which lie open to ᏚᏅ Against a deviation from this line serious an objection, and from of conduct, we enter our most which so little public benefit can solemn protest. Is it candid, we result? would ask, is it equitable to require, that Pædobaptists should assist in giving universal currency in India, to translations which flatly condemn their practice, and are diametrically opposed to their views? Is it fair to forestall the opinion of the natives of India, or any other heathen country, in reference to a subject which is still matter of so much doubtful disputation among good men? And, especially, to endeavour to forestall that opinion, under the wing of the Bible Society? We cordially adopt the language of Mr. Greenfield, though with a bearing diametrically opposite to that which he gives it: "Should a faction so far prevail over the good sense of the Committee, and the sound and Catholic principles upon which the Society is founded, and which have ever been its boast and glory, as well as the most powerful means of its extraordinary success, then its 'honour will be laid in the dust," and from a splendid temple, in the service of which the whole Christian world could cordially unite, it will dwindle into a contemptible edifice, dedicated to party feelings, motives, and views. The broad basis upon which it is founded, is its strength and security; contract this within narrower limits, and it falls into ruin."--p. 45. We are credibly informed, that In It gives us pain to state, but we may not conceal the fact, that it is now common for the Baptist native preachers to annoy native converts belonging to other communions, with the reproach, that they have not been baptized; and, on being told that the mode is not essential, to appeal to the New Testament, in one of the Serampore translations, which, of course, at once decides the matter. consequence of the disputations which have thus arisen, and are still carried on in some parts of Bengal, the work of conversion, which was going delightfully forward, is unhappily interrupted, and the devoted missionary, who is determined to know nothing among the heathen, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified, is under the painful necessity of appropriating part of his invaluable time to the task of defending even a particular mode of what the Apostle Paul declares formed no part of his commission. "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel." 1 Cor. i. 17. We insist not, that a word or words should be substituted, signifying to pour or sprinkle; but simply simply that the original word should be retained, or that a generic term should be employed expressive of washing or ablution. In either case, we do not place our Baptist brethren in India on a worse footing than those of the same persuasion are in England, and should then be at perfeet liberty to unite with them, band in hand, in giving universal circulation to that word, which is able to make men wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. There are several other points of interest in Mr. Greenfield's pamphlet, such as the Sangskär, or Hindu ceremony of initiation, the use of the words Dharmátmá and Paramātmā, as proper to express rò άywv пvevμа, &c.; but we have already drawn too largely on the patience of our readers. We beg to assure the worthy author, that though compelled to differ from him entirely on what constitutes the main subject of investigation, our sincere respect for his character and talents remains undiminished. Library of Ecclesiastical Knowledge; No.1, On Free Inquiry in Religion, pp. 48. No. 2, Christ the only King of his Church, pp. 48. Westley and Davis, for the Society for promoting Ecclesi astical Knowledge." 1830. THE supplementary number to our last volume contained some remarks on the great inertness of Dissenters, in propagating, maintaining, and defending their own peculiar principles, when compared with those which have long been making, and are still assiduously made, by the members of the established church. One society alone (that for promoting Christian Knowledge) expends, as was there proved in detail, upwards of £62,000 per annum, in printing, publishing, and circulating books, carefully selected, or expressly written, with a view to diffuse, explain, and enforce the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England, an object to which two other societies (those for distributing prayer books, and homilies, and tracts) also exclusively devote their attention and resources. At that time, what were the Trinitarian Dissenters doing in the same way? Literally nothing; though, if the grounds upon which they differ from the religion of the State are, as they ought to be, matters of principle and conscience, there cannot exist any valid reason why they should not be as anxious for the prevalence of their principlesas the prevalence of what they honestly and forcibly feel to be the truth-a -as are the supporters of the faith from which they so dissent. With these sentiments deeply impressed upon our minds, and formally recorded upon our pages, it is impossible for us not to hail with satisfaction the establishment of a Society expressly intended to supply what we have long considered a very great deficiency in our nonconformist churches, in such of them at least as hold Trinitarian sentiments, as the Socinians, "wiser in their day and generation," have not neglected so pow erful engines as the press, and the tracts issued from it, in scattering wide abroad their construction of "the faith once delivered to the saints," though there are peculiar reasons of policy why church government, and other matters of discipline, should form no prominent feature in their tracts. The Society whose publications we now gladly introduce to the notice of our readers, commenced its operations with the new year, having for its object the publication of tracts and treatises, original and select, very much resembling in form and style of execution those printed by the Society for promoting Useful Knowledge, but intended to produce a series of cheap, yet neat and respectable |