Water Baptism | Page 4

Baptist as well as a Jewish rite in which they and their fathers were educated. They had no thought of Christ's command as authority for water baptism.
Paul said plainly that he had no such authority. Christ sent him not to baptize but to preach the Gospel.[39]
Paul thanked God that he had baptized so few.[40] He could not have spoken thus slightly of Christian baptism. It must have dawned upon him that in the fulness of the Christian dispensation there was no place for water baptism; otherwise how could he thank God that he had baptized so few? What dispenser of water baptism could give such thanks in this day? Paul circumcised Timothy, and perhaps Titus, because of the Jews. Did he not baptize those few with water for the same pacific purpose, or did he not at first receive full light upon this subject?[41]
Some assume that Christ gave others authority to baptize which did not extend to Paul.
We cannot believe that all Christ's ministers to the end of the world were commissioned to baptize with water, Paul only rejected.[42] This reflects unjustly upon Paul, the great apostle to us Gentiles.[43] Is it not a mere evasion of the gospel truth here and elsewhere inculcated, that Christ gave no commission to baptize with water?[44]
John the Baptist was sent or commissioned to baptize with water and the Holy Spirit once descended as John baptized with water.[45]
The apostles were commissioned to go preach the Gospel after they should be endued with power from on high.[46]
We read that the Holy Spirit descended as the apostles preached the Gospel. [47] Neither the apostles nor disciples were ever commissioned to baptize with water; and so far as we read, the Holy Spirit never descended as they did baptize with water.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 31: 1 Cor. 1.17; Acts 13.47; Rom. 1.16]
[Footnote 32: Luke 24.47; Luke 24.49]
[Footnote 33: Mat. 28.19; Mat. 3.11; Mark 1.8; Luke 3.16; Jon. 1.26, 33; Acts 11.16; 1 Cor. 1.17; Acts 10.42]
[Footnote 34: Acts 2.38; Acts 8.16; Acts 10.48; Acts 19.5; Acts 8.12, 13]
[Footnote 35: Acts 8.38; Acts 9.18; Acts 18.8, 25; Acts 16.15, 33]
[Footnote 36: Jon. 4.2]
[Footnote 37: Acts 18.25; Acts 19.3, 5]
[Footnote 38: "The Ante-Nicene Fathers"; "The teachings of the twelve Apostles"; Ecclesiastical History Vol. 1, P. 164]
[Footnote 39: 1 Cor. 1.17]
[Footnote 40: 1 Cor. 1.14]
[Footnote 41: Acts 16.3; Gal. 2.3, 5; 1 Cor. 1.14]
[Footnote 42: 1 Tim. 2.7]
[Footnote 43: 2 Tim. 1.11]
[Footnote 44: 1 Cor. 1.17]
[Footnote 45: Jon. 1.33; Mark 1.10; Luke 3.22]
[Footnote 46: Luke 24.47, 49; Acts 1.4, 8; Acts 10.42, 45; Acts 11.15, 16]
[Footnote 47: 1 Cor. 2.4; 1 Thes. 1.5; 1 Peter 1.12]

WATER BAPTISM IN HISTORY AS A PAGAN AND JEWISH RITE.
From the writings of Grotius we gather that some ancients baptized with water in memory of the world being saved from the waters of the deluge.
Bancroft says: It is related by all the old Spanish historians that when the Spaniards first visited Yucatan they found baptism administered to both sexes between the ages of three and twelve: It was the duty of all to have their children baptized, for by this ablution they believed they received a purer nature and were protected against evil spirits and misfortune. None could marry without it.[48]
Some baptised their children with ceremonies, which in many points resembled those in use among Christians.[49]
Smith in his Bible dictionary[50] says: It is well known that ablution or bathing was common in most ancient nations as a preparation for prayers and sacrifice or as expiatory of sin.
There is a natural connection in the mind between the thought of physical and spiritual pollution. In warm countries this connection is probably closer than in colder climates; hence the frequency of ablution in the religious rites of the East.
The history of Israel and the law of Moses abound with such lustrations. The consecration of the high priest deserves special notice. It was first by baptism then by unction and lastly by sacrifice.
From the gospel history[51] we learn that at that time ceremonial washings had been greatly multiplied by traditions of the doctors and elders. The most important and probably one of the oldest of these traditional customs was the baptism of proselytes.
These usages of the Jews will account for the readiness with which all men flocked to the baptism of John the Baptist.[52]
Sch��rer in his history of the Jewish people[53] devotes several pages to giving reasons for believing that the Jews baptized proselytes long before the coming of Christ.
Dean Stanley says baptism is inherited from Judaism.[54]
Many other good authorities might be quoted to support the belief that water baptism and other ordinances were greatly multiplied among many Jews during the last few hundred years before Christ. There are no Scripture writings which cover this period.
Tylor says: The rites of lustration which hold their places within the pale of Christianity are in