Three in One.--Spirit, water, and blood-the three elements of baptism--were combined in the person of Jesus when he was baptized by John in the Jordan. Standing upon the river's brink, his sacred form dripping with the waters from which he had just emerged, he was crowned with the Holy Ghost, descending upon him from above. Yet it was necessary that his blood should be shed, that the Spirit might come unto his disciples. Not until the Mediator had hung between heaven and earth, did the Holy Ghost, as the witness of his consummated sacrifice, appear upon the scene. Not till then were the apostles endued with power from on high. Not till then did the Spirit of God move upon the waters of this world, coming, as in the first instance, that there might be a creation, a new birth, a regeneration for the human race. The Fathers Understood.--The Greek fathers of the Christian Church held correct ideas concerning baptism. This is shown in the terms used by them to describe it--"initiation," from its introductory character; "regeneration," from its being regarded as a new birth; "the great circumcision," because it was held to have superseded the circumcision of the Mosaic law; "illumination," and "the gift of the Lord," with reference to the Holy Ghost. Other synonyms for the sacred ceremonial were "consecration" and "consummation." Those baptized were understood to have consecrated their lives to God, and to have consummated or completed their preparation for communion with the Church of Christ. Only to such as had been baptized was the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper administered. Early Greek Christians.--The Greek Christians of the early centuries, like the Saints of New Testament times, baptized for the remission of sins. They have been censured by modern critics for magnifying the importance of water baptism, and at the same time insisting on the purely ethical or spiritual nature of the rite; for confounding the sign with the thing signified, the action of the water with the action of the Spirit, in the process of regeneration. But they were not any more insistent upon these points than the apostles themselves. Augustine's Theory.--St. Augustine is complimented by the same critics for formulating the first strict scientific theory of the nature and effects of baptism. He drew a sharp distinction between what he called "the outward sign"--water baptism--and the inward change of heart resulting from the operation of the Holy Ghost. Yet even he is charged with laying too much stress upon the value of "the outward sign," which he held to be essential to salvation. Protestant theologians have been commended for keeping the "sign" in due subordination to "the thing signified," for justifying themselves by faith, and ignoring to a great extent outward ordinances.