Dorothy PageHatcher, Eldridge B. (Eldridge Burwell)
Religion
Dorothy Page
Hatcher, Eldridge B. (Eldridge Burwell)
Christian fiction
"That doesn't sound natural," said the father, "to be sprinkled with the
Holy Ghost. That would have been a rather light affair."
"Mr. Sterling," said Dorothy, "you remember you said the baptism on the
day of Pentecost was by pouring. Suppose you put the word 'pour' in this
passage and read it, 'John truly poured with water, but ye shall be
poured with the Holy Ghost not many days hence'. You could not speak of
anybody being poured. You could speak of water or the Spirit being
poured, but not of a person being poured. It would not be proper to say
you shall be poured with anything. Something could be poured upon you,
but you could not be poured with something. That is another reason why
the baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost could not have had reference to
pouring, because from this passage, you see, it would not make sense to
put the word 'pour' in it. And besides, Mr. Sterling, I think you are
uncertain whether baptism is by pouring or sprinkling."
"Give us another passage," said the father; "they are quite
interesting."
Dorothy continued: "'And they went down into the water, both Philip and
the eunuch and he sprinkled him."
"Let us have another passage," said the father.
Dorothy continued: "'Therefore we are buried with him by sprinkling into
death.'"
"Oh, my," said Mr. Page, bursting into a laugh, "where did you ever see
anyone buried by sprinkling a few drops of earth upon him? Say, Friend
Sterling, how did this idea of sprinkling get into so many churches? It
certainly does not seem to have a single leg to stand upon."
"I can give you some passages where the word sprinkle would sound
natural; for example this passage: 'Go ye into all the world and preach
the Gospel unto every creature, and he that believeth and is sprinkled
shall be saved.' That sounds just as natural as if it read 'he that
believeth and is immersed shall be saved'."
"Maybe so," said Mr. Page, "but it sounds just a little limp to me.
Besides, you could hardly put the word 'pour' in that passage. If you
want to make a real point you must give some passage where the word
'sprinkle' would sound natural and the word 'immerse' would seem out of
place."
"Yes," spoke up Dorothy. "Can you give us such a passage, Mr. Sterling?"
"I have such a passage and it will show that immersion could not have
been the mode of baptism."
"Out with it," said Mr. Page.
"It is the words spoken to Saul. It reads: 'Arise and be baptized.' Now
that baptism could not have been an immersion. Saul was evidently seated
and he was told to arise or to stand up. What was he to stand up for? To
be sprinkled, of course. You would not ask a man who was seated to
stand up to be immersed."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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