Christian baptism is a sacrament instituted by Christ himself. The authority and obligation of baptism, as a universal ordinance of the Christian Church, is derived from the commission of Christ, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." That baptism is obligatory is evident from the example of Christ, who, by his disciples, baptized many that by his miracles and discourses were brought to profess faith in him as the Messiah, from his command to his apostles after the resurrection, and from the practice of the apostles themselves. That it was administered to all Gentile converts, and not confined to the Jews, appears from Matthew xxviii, 19, 20: "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world;" and from Acts x, 47: "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we;" and that the baptism of the Spirit did not supersede water baptism appears clearly to have been the judgment of Peter and of those that were with him. _As to the design and benefits of baptism_ various views are held by different bodies of professing Christians. The following are the principal ones: 1. _That it is a direct instrument of grace._ This is the view of the Roman and Eastern Churches, and of what is known as the High Church Party in the Protestant Episcopal and Lutheran Churches, and also of the Reformers or Campbellites, who regard baptism as the remitting ordinance of the Gospel, or the appointed means through which the penitent sinner obtains the assurance of that remission of sins purchased by the death of Christ. 2. That held by the Socinians; which is, "_That baptism is neither an instrument nor seal of grace, but simply a ceremony of initiation into Church membership._" 3. _That it is a token of regeneration_, to be received only by those who are really regenerated. This is the view held by the Baptists. 4. _That it is a symbol of purification_, the use of which simply announces that the religion of Christ is a purifying religion. This opinion is held generally by Congregationalists. 5. _That it is a rite of initiation into the visible Church, and that, though not an instrument, it is a seal of grace._ This is the view taken by a majority of the confessions of the Reformed Churches.