Baptists hold to a unity of the ordinance, as well as to a oneness of the faith; insisting that as there is but one Lord, and one faith, so there is but one baptism. And the dipping in water of a professed disciple of Christ is that one baptism. Neither sprinkling a person with water, nor pouring water upon him can by any possibility be Christian baptism. That this position is the true one, we appeal to the New Testament, and the best extant historical and philological authorities to establish.
Let it be distinctly understood, however, that all the eminent names and learned authorities hereafter cited are Pedobaptists. Baptist authorities are wholly omitted, not because they are less accurate or less valuable, but because we prefer to allow our opponents in this controversy to bear witness for us, rather than to testify in our own behalf.
The word _baptize_ is, properly speaking, a Greek word (_baptizo_), adapted to the English language by a change in its termination. This is the word always used by Christ and His Apostles to express and define the ordinance. What does that word mean as originally used? For it is certain that our Lord, in commanding a rite to be observed by believers of all classes, in all lands, and through all ages, would use a word of positive and definite import, and one whose meaning would admit of no reasonable doubt. What do Greek scholars say? How do the Greek lexicons define the word?
SCAPULA says: "To _dip,_ to immerse, as we do anything for the purpose of dyeing it."
SCHLEUSNER says: "Properly it signifies to _dip,_ to immerse, to immerse in water."
PARKHURST says: "To dip, _immerse,_ or plunge in water."
STEVENS says: "To merge, or _immerse,_ to submerge, or bury in water."
DONNEGAN says: "To _immerse_ repeatedly into liquid, to submerge, to soak thoroughly."
LIDDELL AND SCOTT say: "To _dip_ repeatedly."
GRIMM'S LEXICON _of the New Testament,_ which in Europe and America stands confessedly at the head of Greek lexicography, as translated and edited by Professor Thayer, of Harvard University, thus defines _baptizo:_ "(1) To dip repeatedly, to immerse, submerge. (2) To cleanse by dipping or submerging. (3) To overwhelm. In the New Testament it is used particularly of the rite of sacred ablution; first instituted by John the Baptist, afterward by Christ's command received by Christians and adjusted to the contents and nature of their religion, viz., an _immersion_ in water, performed as a sign of the removal of sin, and administered to those who, impelled by a desire for salvation, sought admission to the benefits of the Messiah's kingdom. With _eis_ to mark the element into which the immersion is made; _en_ with the dative or the thing in which one is immersed."