Bertha and Her Baptism

N >> Nehemiah Adams >> Bertha and Her Baptism

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13

_Mr. M._ How kind it was in God to remind Jacob of that pile of stones,
and to call himself the God of Bethel! O, how he loves marked exercises
of consecration and love!

_Mrs. K._ My husband always said, "Let him offer himself for baptism
when he grows up, and understands the meaning of it." I told him that
when I was admitted to the church I was not baptized, but I had this
pleasant feeling, that I had a baptism in infancy by my dear good mother
to think of now, and to seal by my own acknowledgment. If Henry had died
without being baptized, or should now be hindered from it, I should
never cease to grieve.

_Mr. M._ You think, however, that he would be saved, nevertheless.

_Mrs. K._ O, saved! that is not all. I do not think merely of his
getting into heaven. Though we are saved wholly by grace, is there not
something implied in "washing our robes, and making them white, in the
blood of the Lamb?" I do not believe in justification by works nor by
sacraments, yet I do believe in their wonderful effect, through grace
alone, upon our character and future condition. I do believe, Mr. M.,
that there is a difference between children whose parents, impelled by
love to God, make public offering of their children to him, with solemn
vows, and daily perform their vows, treating their children as baptized
in the name of the Trinity, and children whose parents either carelessly
baptize them, or feel no such spiritual desires for them as to seek the
use of any public ordinance, nor any special private consecration. I
believe that God regards them differently. He has placed his mark on the
baptized. I must go with my son to God's house, as Hannah did, and with
her feelings. How strange! She prayed for that son, and then, as soon as
he was weaned, she gave him away to God; for it is beautifully said, you
know, "And the child was young." Well, I think I understand that. I
could leave Henry in the temple, if the service of God's house required
him; for, when he was sick, I gave him up to God, and as long as he
liveth he shall be the Lord's. How did cousin Bertha feel about the
baptism after your little boy died?

_Mr. M._ It was often the chief topic of her conversation. Her father
wrote a full statement of his views, which helped her greatly. We have
read it over since we lost our child. I will send it to you, if you
wish. You can read it, with Mr. K.'s books, and I wish you to show it to
him if he cares to see it.

All this was done. Kind feelings prevailed; there was not much
discussion, and, one Sabbath morning, little Henry Kelly was brought to
church. But the mother was without the father. He was called to a
distant place on business; but he allowed his wife to act her pleasure
in the case during his long absence. More of this in its place.

Chapter Fourth.

IS THERE ONLY ONE MODE OF BAPTISM?

Were love, in these the world's last doting years,
As frequent as the want of it appears,
The churches warmed, they would no longer hold
Such frozen figures, stiff as they are cold;
Relenting forms would lose their power, or cease,
And e'en the dipped and sprinkled live in peace;
Each heart would quit its prison in the breast,
And flow in free communion with the rest.

COWPER.

Opening my entry door, on my return, several faces looked out to welcome
me, all in the house having waited till a late hour, with surmises as to
the cause of my long absence, and then all dispersed, except the
venerable, and not yet aged, grandmother of little Bertha. With her it
was always pleasant to talk.

_Mr. M._ Have you had no company this evening? I was in hopes that the
Moores would come in, as they promised to do.

_Mother._ They have been gone nearly an hour. Mr. Moore wished to read
husband's letter, so Bertha lent it to him.

_Mr. M._ Father will be glad to know how much good his letter is doing.
Cousin Eunice would be glad to see it, and I wish to read it again, for
I find that I am likely to need more instruction, if I am to discuss the
subject as I did this evening with Mr. Kelly.

_Mother._ Was he at home? I hope you did not get into a controversy
about baptism; for, of all things, nothing dries up religious feelings
like that.

_Mr. M._ The subject has taken too practical a hold upon my feelings to
have that effect. I find myself more and more led to believe that God
gave his church an appointed form of baptism, and that that form was
sprinkling; for I search the New Testament in vain for a single case
where immersion seems to have been practised. I believe that, under the
operation of early tendencies, of which Paul writes to the
Thessalonians, the church began to prefer immersion as more sensuous,
making a stronger appeal to the passions. But I believe, with the New
Testament for my guide, that immersion was not practised by the apostles
themselves. The word baptize had, even in the Saviour's time, to go no
further back, come to mean a thing done irrespective of the mode. How
would it sound, "I have an immersion to be immersed with, and how am I
straitened?" &c. "Are ye able to be immersed with the immersion that I
am immersed with?" I believe that sprinkling was the original mode of
Christian baptism. And it seems to me unlikely that God would appoint an
ordinance, and not appoint, by precept or example, the mode of it. I
believe that the mode of baptism was appointed, as well as the rite
itself, and I see no instance of baptism in the New Testament by
immersion. Pouring, whether more or less copiously, has this probability
in its favor, in addition to the impression which the narratives make,
viz., The Lord's Supper typifies the death of Christ. Burying in
baptism, then, would be superfluous; it is more likely that the form of
this other sacrament would represent something else, and that is, the
Holy Spirit's cleansing influence, because Christ speaks of being "born
of water and of the Spirit," thus associating water with the Spirit. We
moreover read of "the water and the blood," water thus being
distinguished from blood. Now, the Holy Spirit is always named in
connection with being poured out. We are baptized with, not in, the Holy
Ghost. It would do violence to our feelings to hear one speak of our
being immersed in the Holy Spirit. So that I fully believe in sprinkling
as the original New Testament mode of baptism. And, still, I am inclined
to agree with your friend, the professor, who spent New-year's evening
with us, and has just published a book on baptism.

_Mother._ What ground does he take?

_Mr. M._ He writes somewhat in this way: As to the mode, I believe it to
be unessential; for it seems to me contrary to the genius of
Christianity to make a particular form of doing a thing essential to the
thing. What else is there in Christianity, if we are to except baptism,
in which modes are regarded or made essential? It is not so, he says,
with the Lord's Supper, surely; the upper room, night, sitting or
reclining, unleavened bread, a particular kind of wine, and all such
things, are not regarded by any as necessary to the ordinance. It is
very interesting, he says, to notice, that, whereas the old dispensation
prescribed the mode of every religious act, minutely, and a departure
from it vitiated the act itself, Christianity threw off everything like
prescriptive modes altogether. Considering the attachment of the human
mind to forms and ceremonies, he knows of nothing in which Christianity
shows its divine origin and supernatural power more, than in its sublime
triumph, so immediately, in the minds of great numbers, over forms and
ceremonies. We can hardly conceive, he says, what a revolution a Jew
must have experienced in giving up Aaron, and altars, and times, and
seasons, and all the minute regard for his religious ceremonies, at
once. Even if it were the original practice to baptize only by
immersion, he cannot think that Christianity could have enjoined it as
the only proper mode of applying water, in signifying religious
consecration. Bread and wine, eaten and drunk decently and in order, in
any way whatever, constitutes the Lord's Supper; water, applied to the
person, by a proper administrator, in the name of the Trinity,
constitutes Christian baptism; but, had the New Testament required us to
recline, and lean on one arm, and take the Lord's Supper with the other
arm, insisting that this posture is essential to that sacrament, or had
it specified the quantity of bread and wine, he thinks it would have
been parallel to the uninspired requirement of a particular mode in
applying the water in baptism.

"Baptize," he further remarks, it is said, means immerse. Suppose that
it does. Supper means a meal; therefore, one does not "eat the Lord's
Supper," unless he eats a full meal; for, if baptize refers to the
quantity of water, supper refers to the quantity of food and drink in
the other sacrament. He then seems to exult, and says, "I am glad that I
am not in conscientious subjection to any mode of doing anything in
religion, as being essential to the thing itself."

_Mother._ What answer can be made to this?

_Mr. M._ It is a very common ground, and a convenient one, to answer the
argument from _baptizo_, and the early practice of immersion in the
Christian church after the apostles. No doubt the early Christians
satisfied themselves with this reasoning, in departing from the
apostolic practice of sprinkling. But I prefer to adhere strictly to the
New Testament model. There is no immersion there. Now, is it allowable
to depart from the original mode? This could not be done in the first
initiating ordinance of the church,--circumcision. A departure from the
prescribed rule would have vitiated the ordinance. But, does not
Christianity differ essentially from the former dispensation in this
very particular, that it does not make the mode of doing a thing,
essential? Yet, it may be said, Human ordinances are all strictly
binding in the very forms prescribed. For example: "Hold up your right
hand," says the clerk, or judge, to a witness; "you solemnly swear--."
Let the witness, instead of holding up his right hand, if he has one,
and can move it, capriciously say, "I prefer to hold up the left, or to
hold up both. I wish to show that modes and forms are unimportant." He
would be in danger of contempt of court. If so small a departure from
the mode of swearing would not be allowed, much less would he be
permitted to kneel, or to lie on his face, unless he were some devotee.
No; there is a prescribed form, and he must yield to it. It is also
said, that, if there were cases in the New Testament in which it were
doubtful, at least, whether immersion were not practised, we might argue
in favor of mixed modes. But immersion is baptism, in my view, because a
person who is immersed is sure to get affused; and, affusion with water
is all of the baptism which seems to me essential. Leaving those who
first departed from the apostolic mode of baptism by sprinkling, to
answer for themselves, no one, of course, will deny that those who
conscientiously think that they ought to be baptized by immersion, are
acceptable with God, as well as others who are of a contrary persuasion.
Paul speaks of "divers baptisms." There began to be such in his day. He
speaks also of the "doctrine of baptisms" (plural), showing the same
thing.

But I came near forgetting one thing, which I wished to say, which is,
that, in reading the Bible last evening, I found a new encouragement in
taking infants to the house of God.

_Mother._ I should like to hear anything new on that point. I thought
that everything had been exhausted which referred to that subject.

_Mr. M._ I mean that it was new to me. Luke says that the parents of
Jesus brought him to Jerusalem "to present him to the Lord," and that,
arriving there, they brought him into the temple to do for him after the
custom of the law. Now, I always carelessly thought that this meant
circumcision.

_Mother._ Of course it does; I always thought so.

_Mr. M._ No; for he had already been circumcised, when he was eight days
old. "And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the
child, they called his name Jesus." Then the next verse speaks of a
subsequent act: "When the days of her purification were accomplished
they brought him to Jerusalem." Mary could not have come to Jerusalem on
the eighth day; but, on the second occasion, she was present; for Simeon
addressed her. So that we have the example of the infant Saviour, in
bringing our infants into the temple; and, if we are scrupulous as to
following the Saviour in ordinances, we may as well begin by following
him into the temple, with our infants.

_Mother._ It is beautiful to think of Jesus, even in his infancy, as an
example, and that he was forerunner to the infants of his people, while
yet in his mother's arms.

Chapter Fifth.

SCENES OF BAPTISM--HENRY KELLY.--THE YOUNG PARENTS AND THEIR BABE.--THE
LOST MARINER'S FAMILY.--THE FEEBLE-MINDED YOUTH.--THE REASONABLENESS,
POWER, AND BEAUTY, OF CHILDREN'S BAPTISMS.--HUSBANDS SHOULD COME WITH
THEIR WIVES AND CHILDREN.--MOSES IN THE INN.

Since, Lord, to thee
A narrow way and little gate
Is all the passage; on my infancy
Thou didst lay hold, and antedate
My faith in me.

GEORGE HERBERT.

The parent pair their secret homage pay,
And proffer up to Heaven the warm request,
That He, who stills the raven's clamorous nest,
And decks the lily fair in flowery pride,
Would, in the way his wisdom sees the best,
For them and for their little ones provide,
But chiefly in their hearts, with grace divine, preside.

BURNS.

In all men sinful is it to be slow
To hope: in parents, sinful above all.

WORDSWORTH.

In a few Sabbaths from this time we had a most interesting scene at our
church.

Little Henry Ferguson Kelly was brought, and offered up in baptism by
his mother. We all felt deep respect for her as a woman of decided
character, and a devoted Christian. We saw that she wept much during the
service. The father was not there. She held the little boy upright on
her arm, and he turned his face over her shoulder, looking all about the
church, above and below. He then undertook to apply his little palm to
his mother's cheek, with several decided strokes, to rouse her usual
attention, which he seemed to miss. She took his hand in hers, and held
it, and he then rested his cheek, and his chin, alternately, upon her
shoulder.

A sweet little girl, two months old, was also brought by a young couple
to be baptized. Few things are more interesting than the sight of a
young couple, with their first-born child, standing before God. A world
of thought and feeling passes through their minds in those hallowed
moments. Not much more than a year had gone since they stood before God
to take the vows of marriage from those same lips, perhaps, which now
lead their devotions, and bless them out of the house of the Lord. The
little child is an offering which gathers about itself more of rich joy
and gratitude, recollection, present bliss, and anticipation, than any
gift of God; it is itself an ordinance, a little rite, a sign and seal
of covenants and love to which earth has no parallel. The light of
nature almost teaches us the propriety of infant dedication, in the use
of the prevailing religious rite. The only wise God manifested his
goodness and wisdom, in establishing his covenant with the children of
those who love him, as really as in creating a companion for Adam.

There were other sights, on this baptismal occasion, besides Henry
Ferguson and his mother, and the young couple with their child.

A woman, in the habiliments of the deepest mourning, went up the aisle,
leading with her finger a little boy between two and three years old,
followed by a noble son of fifteen, and his sister of twelve. Our
pastor's rule, as to the limit of age within which children may be
admitted to baptism, is this: So long as a parent, or guardian, or next
friend, has the immediate tutelage of a child, so as to direct its
instruction and government, and thus continues to exercise parental
authority, he may properly offer the child for baptism; and therefore,
as children differ as to degrees of maturity within the same ages, no
express boundary of time can be prescribed to limit those baptisms which
are by the faith of another.

The father of these three children had been lost at sea on a whaling
voyage. The seaman's chest had come home, and so the last star of hope
as to his return had set. The mother had become a Christian; she felt
the need of a covenant-keeping God for her children. There she stood, a
sorrow-stricken woman, and her household with her, to receive for them
the sign of the covenant from the God of Abraham.

There was another sight in that group: A man and woman, honest, good
people, in humble circumstances, had had bequeathed to them, by a
widowed sister of his, who was not a professor of religion, a
feeble-minded youth of about ten years; and this uncle and aunt had
adopted him as their child. They also came, the husband leading the boy
along, with his arm over the boy's shoulder to encourage his hesitating
steps, and the wife behind them. He was a member of a Sabbath-school
class; by no means an idiot, yet deficient in some respects. He was
entrusted with affairs about a farm which did not require much
responsibility.

Little Henry Ferguson began to coo and crow, as they came successively
and stood, in a half-circle, round the table with the silver basin upon
it. The feeble-minded youth was mostly occupied with the actions of
Henry, who, on seeing his face covered with uncontrollable expressions
of interest in him, began to reach after him, and respond to his pleased
looks; nor did he cease his efforts to go to him, till he felt the
minister's hand upon his forehead from behind, when he turned his large,
beautiful eyes into the face of the minister, with silent wonder at
being apparently spoken to with so unusual a manner and tone. A hush
went through the congregation.

The young couple next presented their little Alice, and gave place to
the widow's household. Was there a dry eye in the house? Signs of
weeping came from all sides. Mortimer was led by his arm in his mother's
hand, and was baptized. Sarah loosened her straw bonnet, and let it fall
back from her head, to receive the simple rite; when the widow lifted
the little boy, who had never known a father's love, and the pastor,
after waiting a moment to control his emotions sealed him in the name of
our redeeming God.

After an involuntary pause for a few moments, owing to the deep emotion
in the congregation, poor Josey was led forward. Minister and
congregation seemed to make but slight impression upon him; Henry
Ferguson was the charm throughout; he even turned his head, while the
minister's hand was on it, to smile at the child. The promise was not
only to those believing parents, all of them, and to their own children,
but to him that was afar off; his new parents having availed themselves
of the large covenant of grace, to invoke its promised blessings upon
him, on the ground of their faith. "May these parents," said the pastor
in his prayer, "remember, in all times of solicitude and trouble with
this dear dependent child, that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, in whose
name he is baptized, can have access to his mind, 'making wise the
simple;' and may that blessed Spirit make him his care."

Part of the time, while the hymn following the baptism was read and
sung, I found myself pursuing some thoughts which the interesting scene
just witnessed had suggested.

Why, I asked myself, could not these parents have been satisfied with
dedicating these children at home, without this public and special act
of consecration?

I was at no loss for an answer. The same reason applies as when one
seeks admission to the church of Christ, by a public profession of
religion, either by appearing before a congregation and assenting to a
covenant, or to be confirmed, or to be immersed in water. Offering a
child in baptism is making a public profession of religion with regard
to it. Some say to us, What need is there of joining a church? Why may I
not be a Christian by myself? We know what we say, in reply to such
questions. We are aware how much the public act helps the private
feelings and conduct, besides being required by our feelings when they
are deep and strong. I thought of this illustration: In the wakeful
moments of the night, upon a lonely bed, one feels a special nearness to
God. He can think of God, as he lies upon his pillow, both with prayer
and meditation; but suppose that he rises from his bed and kneels at the
bedside, and, with oral prayer, prevents the night-watches, and cries?
His voice at that midnight hour affects his mind; the darkness and
stillness impress him with a sense of the presence of God, and though
his ejaculations on his pillow were acceptable, has he not probably done
that which, through Christ, is peculiarly acceptable to God, and is
profitable to himself as his child? He who was always in communion with
the Father, the man Christ Jesus, nevertheless, sometimes withdrew into
a mountain, and continued all night in prayer, and, rising up a great
while before day, he went into a solitary place, and there prayed. These
special acts of worship, no true Christian needs to be told, are good
and acceptable to God, and profitable for men. We do not refrain from
them, pleading that they are nowhere commanded in the New Testament, or,
that, so long as we pray at stated times, or strive to live in a praying
frame, these special devotions are superfluous. So, while it is our duty
and privilege to dedicate our children to God in private, it is
acceptable to him, and profitable to us, if we take them, and bring an
offering, and come into his courts.

The baptism of the feeble-minded youth furnished me with an illustration
of the suitableness of parents and guardians doing for children, in
religion, that which they are constantly doing for them in common
things, that is, conferring privileges and blessings upon them without
their consent. There seemed to be such an illustration of the riches of
free grace, in the baptism of this poor child, such a comment on that
passage, "I am found of them that sought me not," it corresponded so
much with the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man, that we
all felt instructed and softened by it, and, at the same time, we all
had feelings toward that helpless boy, such as we, perhaps, never could
have had but for his baptism. Never will a member of that witnessing
congregation see him, without a feeling of tenderness and something
bordering on respect; he will not be merely "Silly Joe" to them; that
element of truth in the heathen superstition, which leads heathens and
pagans to regard an idiot as something sacred, will have its
verification with regard to him; the children of that assembly will be
restrained from rudeness and cruelty, in their sports with him, by that
transaction, while the prayers offered for him at the time, and the many
ejaculations which the sight of him will occasion in the hearts of good
people, will make his baptism one of his richest blessings. O, what a
loss it is to have a child baptized at home, or anywhere and at any
time except among the public services of the Sabbath in the sanctuary of
God! Necessity, indeed, controls our choice, many times, in this thing;
and we are accepted of God irrespective of time and place, in yielding
to his providence.

Since my mind has been deeply interested in this subject, leading me to
converse with parents and with ministers, and to make observation with
regard to it, I have seen and heard many things relating to the
providences of God, in connection with the baptism of children, which,
while we ought to be slow in confidently interpreting providences, make
us do as Mary is said to have done, in regard to things relating to her
child,--she "kept these things and pondered them in her heart." We
cannot say, for example, that the death of that little girl, whose
father refused to let his wife enjoy the privilege of going, alone, with
the child, to the house of God for baptism, or to invite the pastor to
his house for the purpose, was a judicial consequence of his conduct;
but we know that his own thoughts trouble him, and that he has a sorrow
bound upon his heart, which he will carry with him to his grave.

Neither is it certain that the little one, who was raised to life from
a sickness which baffled the physicians, was spared to her pious mother
for her Christian behavior, in taking it, a few months before, to the
house of God, and offering it in baptism, with no help from her husband,
but with many sad thoughts that the father of the child--he on whose arm
she and the child needed to rest--refused her gentle and affectionate
pleadings with him, to support and cherish her at an hour so precious to
her heart. Nor will we say that the kind and obliging husband, not a
professor of religion, who served his wife so manfully, and with such a
cheerful spirit, on such an occasion, would not have acquired, in other
ways, the respect and love of the people, or that he could trace to it,
absolutely, great prosperity in business, through the assistance of
prominent members in that church. Sure we are that no such motive
influenced him; but it is equally true that we cannot link ourselves to
God's service, nor to his friends, in any way, without receiving his
blessing. "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good." "Blessed is he
that blesseth thee." In the eyes of estimable people, and of all whose
good opinion and best wishes are most desirable, the man who overcomes
any little pride, or sensitiveness, or fear of man, and goes with his
pious wife and child to the house of God, and offers the child, for her,
to be baptized, is more of a man than before, gains reputation for some
desirable qualities, excites respect for self-reliance, the quiet
performance of a duty from which certain feelings might lead him to
shrink, and in the increased love and esteem of others, to say no more,
he has his reward.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13