"We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Rom. 6:4. "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Gal. 3:27. "Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." Col. 2:12. In this ordinance, commanded of God, the believer is following the example of Christ, who, when baptized by John in Jordan, said, "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." "Thus through the emblematic grave The glorious suffering Saviour trod; Thou art our Pattern, through the wave We follow Thee, blest Son of God." The Form of Baptism The Scriptural form of baptism is shown in these texts: "Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water." Matt. 3:16. "They went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him." Acts 8:38. "Buried with Him by baptism.... For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." Rom. 6:4, 5. While the outward form of a religious service, without the spirit and the experience which the form professes, must ever be unacceptable to God, yet when the Lord prescribes a form, it is imperative that His instruction should be followed. The form of the ordinance as commanded by God emphasizes the divine meaning of the service. Scriptural baptism is a burial "in the likeness" of Christ's burial, as the lifting up of the believer from the watery grave is a likeness of the resurrection of Christ. Of the meaning of the word "baptism," Luther wrote: "Baptism is a Greek word; in Latin it can be translated immersion, as when we plunge something into water that it may be completely covered with water."--_Opera Lutheri, De Sac. Bap. 1, p. 319 (Baptist Encyclopedia, art. "Baptism")._ Calvin, after arguing that the form is an indifferent matter, says: "The very word 'baptize,' however, signifies to immerse; and it is certain that immersion was observed by the ancient church."--_"Institutes," lib. 4, cap. 15 (Baptist Encyclopedia, art. "Baptism")._ Of the practice in primitive times, Neander, the church historian, says: "In respect to the manner of baptizing, in conformity with the original institution and the original import of the symbol, it was generally administered by immersion."--_"History of the Christian Church," Torrey's translation (London edition), Vol. I, p. 429._