"And what is it he says about his sufferings? Read it again, daughter."
She read it once more.
"You say, Sterling, that Christ here speaks of his future sufferings and said he was to be baptized in them?"
"No, he does not say he will be baptized "in" them, but "with" them, thus showing that he was not to be immersed but sprinkled."
"You mean, then," said Dorothy, "that Christ said he was to be sprinkled with his sufferings?"
"Yes."
"But is it not far more impressive to think of Christ being immersed in his terrible sufferings than simply of his having a few drops of suffering sprinkled on him?"
"Certainly," said Mr. Page; "we often speak of people being plunged, overwhelmed, in sorrow or suffering, and that is nothing but an immersion."
"But," said Sterling, "if he had meant immersion, why did he not say he had a baptism that he had to be baptized "in"? But no; he said he had a baptism to be baptized "with"."
"I don"t think it makes any difference whether you use the word "in" or "with"," said Dorothy. "When a person is immersed he is baptized "with"
water as well as "in" water, and when Christ said he had a baptism to be baptized with--and Mr. Sterling says he referred to his sufferings--why, it is far more natural to think he had in mind an immersion, an overwhelming, rather than a mere sprinkling."
"Have you any more pa.s.sages, daughter?"
After some examination she answered: "Here is a strange pa.s.sage, Romans 6:4: "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.""
"Isn"t that a wonderful pa.s.sage?" exclaimed Dorothy; ""buried with him by baptism". That looks like immersion."
"That verse seems to be against you, Sterling," remarked Mr. Page.
"Not at all. Christ is not talking here about water baptism."
"What is that?" asked Mr. Page quickly; "not talking about water baptism? Have you got still another kind of baptism?"
"Certainly. The Bible speaks of a baptism of the Spirit. It is mentioned in several places."
"All correct," said Mr. Page, "and now proceed with your argument to show that the pa.s.sage just read about baptism does not mean water baptism."
"Paul here speaks of a spiritual baptism."
"Why do you say that?" asked Dorothy.
The fire of questions seemed to stun Sterling somewhat. He had never had these pa.s.sages pressed upon him in this fashion, but all his life he had had an open track for his Presbyterian tenets. He continued his explanation of the pa.s.sage:
"Paul is here writing to people about their conversion and he is trying to show them that if they have been truly converted they must forsake sin. He says here in the verse: "We who died to sin, how shall we longer live therein?" You see he speaks of dying to sin, and that brings him to the idea of a burial. He wants to show them that when they were converted--if they were really converted--that their conversion was a baptism of the Spirit; that just as Christ died, was buried and rose to a new life, so the converted soul through the work (or the baptism) of the Spirit on him died to his old life and rose to a new life, and therefore such an one must not sin. The pa.s.sage therefore reads: "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also must walk in newness of life.""
"Well, now, let me see," said the father. "You say the writer compares the conversion of a soul to a baptism of the Spirit?"
"Yes, he speaks of it as a spiritual experience; not a mere outward reformation, but an inward spiritual experience, and when he says buried with him by baptism he means a baptism of the Spirit."
"Why does he call it a baptism?" asked Dorothy.
"That"s the point exactly," said the father. "Sterling says the writer is not talking about a water baptism. Well, I don"t see why it may not be a water baptism. It says nothing about a spiritual baptism. But anyhow let it be a spiritual baptism; the important point in this argument is that he calls it a baptism, and note carefully he calls the baptism a burial. No matter whether it is a water or a spiritual baptism that he is talking about, he shows what his idea of a baptism was. It was like a person being buried and being raised again."
"I think, Mr. Sterling," said Dorothy, "that the verse shows that the important thing about baptism is the way it is performed; that it is not water that makes the baptism; that it may be water, or it may be the Spirit, or possibly it may be something else; but that the important thing is the way it is performed. In other words, it must be like a burial and a rising again. It looks to me as if Paul is showing what a wonderful experience a person"s conversion is."
"Exactly," said the father, "and I suppose the writer could not express that spiritual change in conversion better than to call it a baptism by the Spirit, and he showed mighty clearly his notion about baptism; to him it was a burial and a rising again."
"I think there is something more wonderful still about that pa.s.sage,"
said Dorothy. "I think you can see two baptisms in the verse, the water baptism and the Spirit baptism. Paul draws a picture of the conversion of a soul. It is a change worked in the soul by the Spirit, and as the Spirit works on the soul the soul dies to his old life and rises to a new life. But that is just like what takes place when the person is baptized in water. He is buried out of sight in the water and then rises again, and the water baptism is an exact picture of the spiritual baptism. Surely Paul must have had the two baptisms in mind when he wrote this."
"It looks mightily that way," said Mr. Page.
"Another thing," said Dorothy, all aglow with her interpretation of the pa.s.sage, "doesn"t this show why Christ commanded baptism? You see, he knew that every true Christian must pa.s.s through this spiritual experience at conversion--the baptism of the Spirit--and he decided to give his people an outward ceremony that would be a sign, or picture, of the inward spiritual change that they must have, and so he commanded immersion, as if he would say: "Here is a picture of what I command of everyone--this burial in the water and rising again; it is the picture of that spiritual change that must occur in everyone that would be my follower". He commands two things, a spiritual burial and rising and a material burial and rising; two baptisms, one of the Spirit to come first and a baptism of the water to come second as a sign of the first baptism."
"If that is true, Friend Sterling," said the father, "then it would seem a pretty serious thing to change the form of the baptism. If the founder of Christianity commanded these two baptisms, one a picture of the other, then it looks to me mighty risky to tamper with either of them.
Now, if you put sprinkling in the place of immersion you destroy the whole meaning in the work of conversion. The two don"t go together at all. You don"t have a burial by sprinkling a few drops of dirt on a person. It is not a matter of much water or little water. The important thing is that it be a burial and rising again."
It was a new experience for Sterling, He had begun the discussion with the thought that Dorothy would be delighted with the doctrines of his great church. She had seemed on the point of joining. He was irritated that the conversation had been hung up on the baptismal controversy.
Besides, the pa.s.sages in favor of immersion bewildered him. His religious life had been spent largely among close adherents of Presbyterianism and he had rarely heard his doctrines called in question. Whenever he had heard allusions to the Baptists and their beliefs it was generally accompanied with a smile or a sneer and he had come to regard the dippings of the Baptists as a joke. The pa.s.sages which they had just considered unveiled New Testament baptism before him in a new light, and while he could not believe that immersion was Bible baptism, yet he felt that he could never as formerly treat immersion in a joking manner.
The discussion was becoming exciting for him. He saw that the battle was on. As he thought of Dorothy drifting away from his faith and his church he had a sinking of heart, and yet he also felt that if he could not win her by the truth to his position he would not win her in any other way.
Consequently he warmed to the fray.
He had promised to join the family circle on the next evening and resume the discussion. His work kept him closely confined at his office during the morning. He hurried home for a tennis game in the afternoon, and promptly that evening he appeared in the library at the Page"s ready for the contest.
CHAPTER V.
HANDLING THE THREE THOUSAND.
That evening Sterling opened the discussion: "Miss Dorothy, I have listened in these discussions to what are evidently stock pa.s.sages of the immersionists. But let us go deeper into the matter."
"But why do you call them stock pa.s.sages of the immersionists?" asked Dorothy in surprise. "I did not get them from any immersionists. I told you I thought I saw pa.s.sages in the Bible teaching immersion and you said no. I was asked to show these pa.s.sages and I have been showing them."
"Very well, we will not dispute on that point, my fair debater, but I will try now to show you that it was impossible that immersion could have been intended in these Bible pa.s.sages. I think I can show you that certain baptisms could not have been immersions."
"Good for you," said the father. "Now the contest is getting spicy. Show that immersion was impossible and you have won the day."
"Father, you speak as if Mr. Sterling and I were engaged in a battle. My only desire is to learn what the Bible teaches about baptism, and I shall certainly follow its command as nearly as I can, cost what it may. Why do you say immersion was impossible, Mr. Sterling?"
"Because in the account of the baptisms on the day of Pentecost we are told that three thousand persons were baptized and that of course could not have been done by immersion in one day."
"Were they all baptized in one place?" asked Dorothy.
"Yes, all were baptized at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost after a great sermon by the Apostle Peter."