=3. (2.) The Symbolism of the Baptismal Rite= is preserved in no form other than immersion. The Savior compared baptism to a birth, and declared such to be essential to the life that leads to the kingdom of God.[408] Surely none can say that a birth is represented by a simple sprinkling of water on the face or head. Not the least of the distinctions which have contributed to Christ's pre-eminence as a teacher of teachers, consists in His precise and forceful use of language; His comparisons are always strong, His metaphors ever expressive, His parables convincing; and so inappropriate a comparison as is implied in such a false representation of birth, would be entirely foreign to the Great Teacher's methods. [408] John iii, 3, 5. =4.= Baptism has also been very impressively compared to a burial, followed by a resurrection; and in this symbol of the bodily death and resurrection of His Son has God promised to grant remission of sins. In writing to the Romans, Paul says:--"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore 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. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."[409] And again, the same apostle writes: "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."[410] Among all the varied forms of baptism practiced by man, immersion alone typifies a birth, marking the beginning of a new career; or the sleep of the grave, with subsequent victory over death. [409] Rom. vi, 3-5. [410] Col. ii, 12. =5. (3.) Scriptural Authority= warrants none other form than immersion. Christ Himself was baptized by immersion. We read that after the ceremony, He "went up straightway out of the water."[411] That the baptism of the Savior was acceptable before His Father is abundantly proved by the manifestations immediately following the ordinance--in the descent of the Holy Ghost, and the declaration, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." John, surnamed, because of his Divine commission, the Baptist, baptized in the river Jordan;[412] and shortly afterward we hear of him baptizing in Ænon, near to Salim, "because there was much water there;"[413] yet had he been baptizing by sprinkling, a small quantity of water would have sufficed for a multitude. [411] Matt. iii, 16-17; Mark i, 10-11. [412] Mark i, 4, 5. [413] John iii, 23.