"Since, then, it was chosen in preference to other places in the neighbourhood because of its waters, it is very unlikely that it was chosen to supply the multitudes with drink. This is the less likely, because the numbers which were baptized at this place were so much reduced that the disciples of Jesus were now baptizing more than John baptized (John iii. 22; iv. 12); so that the disciples of John were filled with jealousy (John iii. 26).

"Further, this reason for the selection of Enon is rendered the more improbable by the circumstance that Jesus is never said to have chosen the places where He preached for their supply of water, although numbers from every part of the country flocked to Him. It is a mistake to suppose that while John preached in the wilderness Jesus preached only near towns and villages. In Mark i. 45, we read that He preached in desert places.' The miracles of the five loaves and of the seven loaves were wrought in desert places for five thousand and for four thousand men (Mark vi. 35; viii. 4). And the cure of a demoniac was wrought in the presence of great multitudes, at the foot of the mountain of transfiguration, no neighbouring village being mentioned (Mark ix. 14).

"It is not a satisfactory reason for the choice of Ænon that John was poor, and could not obtain access to wells and tanks; some tanks were public, John iv. 6, 7; v. 2-4; ix. 7. Our Lord was as poor as John, and John was the most popular. Jerusalem and all Judea went out to hear him preach; Scribes and Pharisees came to him, influenced apparently by self-interest; multitudes thought that he was a prophet (Matt. xiv. 5; Mark xi. 32). All the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not (Luke iii. 15). To suppose that the persons who came to hear him preach could not beg or buy water in the villages of Judea is unreasonable. Still, therefore, we have reason to conclude that John immersed his disciples, because he chose non as a place in which to baptize on account of its 'many waters'" (pp. 68-71).

Instead of quoting many Pædobaptist writers, we refer the reader to those already cited. See Casaubon (p. 90), Le Clerc, Lampe, and Bossuet (p. 91), Curcellæus and Vossius (p. 139), Alting (p. 140), Calvin (p. 141), Bossuet (p. 142), Towerson (p. 143), Hammond (p. 145), Poole (p. 148), Wall (p. 157), &c. Some of those who speak of baptizo as meaning to immerse, refer to this passage; others refer to it when speaking of primitive practice. All who, like Calvin and others, believe that John and Christ administered baptism "by plunging the whole body under water," believe assuredly that John "was immersing in non, near to Salim, because there was much water." Let these be compared with the unfounded and deceiving suppositions to which in others we have adverted, and let the reader judge whether we have not a sufficient argument for immersion from the meaning of the word baptizo, from historical evidence of immersion as the apostolic practice, and from every word with which baptizo in the inspired writings is associated. We shall conclude on this with the following Pædobaptist testimony.

CALVIN." From these words (John iii. 23) it may be inferred that baptism was administered, by John and Christ, by plunging the whole body under water." Bp. BOSSUET.- "The baptism of St. John the Baptist, which served for a preparative to that of Jesus Christ, was performed by plunging. The prodigious multitude of people that flocked to his baptism, made St. John the Baptist choose the places about Jordan, and among those places the country of non near to Salim, because there was much water there, and a great facility of dipping those who came to consecrate themselves," &c.

BENGEL"So the rite of immersion required."-Gnomon, on John iii. 23.

Dr. TOWERSON.-"For what need would there have been of the Baptist's resorting to great confluxes of water, were it not that the baptism was to be performed by an immersion? A very little water, as we know it doth with us, sufficing for an effusion or sprinkling."-In Booth's Pædob., vol. i., p. 209.

Dr. WHITBY.-"Because there was much water there. In which their whole bodies might be dipped.”—Com., on John iii. 23.

Dr. A. CLARKE.-"As the Jewish custom required the persons to stand in the water, and having been instructed and entered into a covenant to renounce all idolatry, and take the God of Israel for their God, then plunge themselves under the water, it is probable the rite was thus performed at Enon. The consideration that they dipped themselves, tends to remove the difficulty expressed in the note on Matt. iii. 6." We accept the Dr.'s admission of immersion, and instead of the fancy of their dipping themselves, his own admission on the preceding verse that what was done by John's disciples under his government and direction, may be attributed to John, according to the common custom of all countries and languages. R. MIMPRISS.- "Polla hudata. 'Abundance of water.' 'A multitude of waters.' 'Many waters.'"-Treas. Har., p. 131.

J. GLYDE.- "Such a passage as this before us, which seems at any rate to imply that immersion was the prevalent mode of baptism in the days of our Lord and His apostles" (Memoir and Remains, p. 414).~ He believed that sprinkling was valid, though immersion might "be deemed more regular, and in close conformity with Scriptural precedent."

But

Dr. DODDRIDGE." At Enon,--because there was a great quantity of water there. It is exceedingly difficult to determine the true situation of this place. nothing surely can be more evident than that polla hudata, many waters, signifies a large quantity of water, it being sometimes used for the Euphrates (Jer. li. 13). Sept. To which, I suppose, there may also be an allusion (Rev. xvii. 1). Compare Eze. xliii. 2; and Rev. i. 15; xiv. 2; xix. 6; where the voice of many waters does plainly signify the roaring of a high sea." In the Paraphrase he writes: "And John was also at that time baptizing at Enon, which was a place near Salim, a town on the west side of Jordan; and he particularly chose that place, because there was a great quantity of water there, which made it very convenient for his purpose: and they came from all parts and were baptized by him."

OLSHAUSEN."John also was baptizing in the neighbourhood, because the water there. afforded convenience for immersion."--Com., on John iii. 22-36. Dr. W. SMITH.-There was non, near to Salim, to the north, where St. John was baptizing upon another occasion, because there was much water there' (iii. 23). This was during the summer, evidently (comp. ii. 13-23), that is, long after the feast of the passover, and the river had become low, so that it was necessary to resort to some place where the water was deeper than at the ordinary fords" (Bib. Dic., Art. Jordan. Sig. E. S. Ff.). Subsequently the writer speaks of Ænon, "where there was not generally so much of a ford, but, on the contrary, where the water was still sufficiently deep, notwithstanding the advanced season." Under Enon, we read "Enon, a place near to Salim,' at which John baptized. It was evidently west of the Jordan, and abounded in water." Signed G., i.e., George Grove, Sydenham.

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Dr. MACBRIDE.-"The spot chosen by the Baptist on the banks of the river, and the observation that he baptized at non because there was much water there,' seem to prove that he administered it by immersion."-Lec. on the Diat.

§ 9.-FUTILITY OF OBJECTIONS TO THE IMMERSION OF THE MULTITUDES BY JOHN.

W. JAY."It is better to let the text speak its own language naturally and glowingly, than to use coercive measures, and torture out the meaning, or bombard it into submission."-Autob., by Dr. Redford and Rev. J. A. James.

Dr. CARSON,-"It is utterly unphilosophical, as well as unscriptural, to reject testimony on views of probability; on this very ground all the doctrines of the Gospel have been rejected."

Dr. BARNES.-"One reason why we do not understand the plain doctrines of the Bible is our prejudice (ver. 17-19. Our Saviour plainly told His disciples that He must die. He stated the manner of His death, and the principal circumstances. To us all this is plain: but they did not understand it Luke. They had filled their heads with notions about His earthly glory and honour, and they were not willing to see the truth as He stated it."--Com., on Matt. xx., in Remarks, x.

Dr. R. VAUGHAN.-"It is the injunction of an inspired instructor-Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good.""-In Er. Hall Lec., by H. M. Villiers, p. 270. 1851.

Dr. HALLEY.If we allow the exigencies of controversy to create a new sense of phrases, we may prove anything we please from Scripture."-Cong. Lec., vol. xv., pp. 27, 28.

It is objected to immersion as the meaning of baptism, that such an action is incompatible with the numbers said to have been baptized by

John. As John baptized "by divine appointment, and baptized the Lord Jesus, the consideration of His baptism may afford some assistance in the more important inquiry respecting the nature of Christian baptism" (Dr. Halley, p. 130), especially respecting the action or the meaning of the word, because the same word is afterwards and invariably used wherever in the New Testament we read of baptizing. Let it ever be remembered that the proof of a secondary meaning of the word baptizo, as of a secondary meaning of every other word, devolves on those who maintain it. This needs to be repeatedly mentioned, because some entirely overlook it, and others act occasionally in defiance of it. The conduct of some seems to intimate that their cause would sink by its consistent adoption. Our belief is, that to pour, and especially to sprinkle, are words of mode so vastly different from to immerse, and so destitute of proof as the meaning of baptizo, that if the Word of God had stated that double or treble the number had been baptized by John, we should have believed that they were immersed by him. But let us examine this difficulty, and some of the hypotheses to which this supposed difficulty has given birth.

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Mr. Thorn says: From the best calculations I can obtain from Josephus, the number purified by him could be little less than two millions of people, consequently he must have purified more than twelve thousand per day. To have dipped them was impossible-even a tithe of them would soon have overwhelmed the strength and vigour of a giant. But as all these might have been sprinkled with ease, a doubt can hardly exist that such was the method pursued by him" (p. 20). While meditating on this unproved, but confidently-believed hypothesis, think also what will remain in God's Word that is worth keeping, if every one is at liberty to alter the meaning of words and phrases because of some difficulty imagined by himself.

Dr. Guise says: It seems, therefore, to me, that the people stood in ranks near to, or just within the edge of the river; and John, passing along before them, cast water upon their heads or faces, with his hands, or some proper instrument; by which means he might baptize many thousands in a day" (Note on Matt. iii. 6). If Mr. Wesley and others had not felt embarrassed, would they have been the humble transcribers of Dr. Guise? (See Wesley's Note on Matt. iii. 6.) How does it accord with "the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion," of which Mr. W. speaks on Rom. vi. 4? and with immersion as "the custom of the first church," of which he speaks when recording the baptism of Mary Welch ? The eminent Lutheran, Buddeus, says: "Though a great multitude was baptized by John, yet thence it does not follow that they could not be baptized by immersion; seeing nothing hinders but they might be baptized separately, one by one."-Theol. Dogm., 1. v., c. i., § 5.

* We rather wonder that the fact of John's baptizing in the wilderness has not been more dwelt upon as an objection to immersion, notwithstanding the testimony of every one who explains it being similar to that of Wesley, who says that generally "in the New Testament it means a common, or less cultivated place, in opposition to pasture or arable land;" or of Dr. D. Davidson, who says that "the original word signifies not a desert, but a pasture, or thinly-inhabited country:" or of Ingram Cobbin, who says: "Wilderness, an open, uncultivated country, thinly inhabited."-See Com., of these and others.

Dr. Paxton says: "In sacred language, a mountainous or less fruitful tract, where

Mr. Ralston, an American Pædobaptist, supposes it impossible for John "to baptize one million, or near one million of persons" in "eighteen months" "by immersion. But it was practicable by affusion, and on supposition that a number of them stood before him in ranks, and that he poured the water upon them from his hand, or from some suitable vessel" (p. 57). On this Dr. A. Campbell remarks: "To this most absurd hypothesis of a wholesale baptism, or a baptism of crowds in the mass, by means of some suitable squirt or vessel which might extend to fifty or one hundred at one discharge, we know not what to say. It appears to me an act of degradation to notice such puerilities. I had really thought that no man in the nineteenth century could have demeaned himself so far as to introduce such a miserable salvo. Did we ever hear of two, ten, or twenty persons being baptized by one discharge of water!! Oh, Pædobaptism, how art thou fallen!!"

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Mr. Jacob Stanley, in a pamphlet in defence of infant sprinkling, issuing from the Wesleyan Connexion Book Depôt, London, says: "But suppose John's baptism to have resembled the baptism of Israel in the sea, and in the cloud, that is, baptism by sprinkling; then there is neither impossibility, nor difficulty, nor danger, nor indelicacy in it. In this case it was not even necessary for John to stand in the river Jordan at all; neither did it require the people, either male or female, to change their dress; all that in this case was necessary would be for the baptizer to stand at the edge of the river, and the baptized [he does not say, those to be baptized] to stand in a row upon its banks, whilst with a switch dipped in the water he could, without any great exertion, baptize thousands in a few hours." If the reader does not inquire whether switch" was used in connection with the cloud and the sea in which the children of Israel were baptized, about which, if we are not mistaken, the Word of God says as much as in the case of those baptized by John, we may mention that God's Word, which is also equally silent respecting John's standing "at the edge of the river," and those to be baptized standing "in a row upon its banks," expressly states that they were "baptized of him in the river of Jordan." We think also that instead of a switch, which, according to more dictionaries than one, means a small, flexible twig, a mop might have been used with varied advantage over the switch. But the record of inspiration which we have quoted is equally opposed to both hypotheses, whether they be regarded as the tissues of absurdity or the flights of genius.

Dr. Halley also begs us to weigh the difficulty involved in John's immersing the numbers that came to him to be baptized. He says: "Mr. Thorn estimates the numbers baptized by John at two millions; and although I do not know that he can be controverted, I dare not make the estimate so large, but am content with a fourth, or a tenth, or even a twentieth of it." He then states a fact, and adroitly draws from it a most unwarrantable inference, attempting no manner of proof, but immediately leaving it as if it were true as the Gospel, and clear as a sunbeam.

the towns and villages are thinly scattered, and single habitations few and far between, is distinguished by the name wilderness.' "Such places, therefore, were not absolute deserts, but thinly peopled or less fertile districts.”—Illus, of Serip., vol. i., p. 439.

If some persons had thus acted, we might have supposed that they regarded their ipse dixit as sufficiently oracular. He says: "Jesus baptized not, but His disciples,' is said in contrast with the practice of John, who was himself the baptizer." We firmly deny that this is either proved or probable. Dr. H. afterwards modestly inquires, respecting these crowds that John baptized: "Did they go in their usual clothes? or did they return to their homes in them? or did they carry change of raiment from their several cities into the wilderness, and undress and dress on the banks of the river in the midst of the vast crowds? or did they go naked into the water?" &c. (p. 315). These are questions proposed by the Christian and learned gentleman, who not only candidly wishes us to deduct what discount we "may think all the uncertainties of the case may fairly justify" (p. 313); who says, "Let the difficulties have their full weight, but always with the reserved possibility of a solution, could we learn more of the particulars and minute incidents of the relation" (p. 344); but who also says, "I feel bound in candour to admit that the Jewish baptism of proselytes was by immersion. Of this there can be no reasonable doubt whatever" (p. 309); and who says, "The apostles might have baptized their Jewish proselytes according to the previous usage of their nation, because that mode was the MOST EXPEDIENT and USUALLY THE MOST CONVENIENT. In our age and climate, however, expediency would rather be a reason for sprinkling or pouring (p. 309); who admits that baptizein eis "is to immerse into" (p. 324); who says, "I have no objection to the translation, into Jordan' (p. 386); and who repudiates the version of en to Iordane, with the Jordan, instead of, in the Jordan (p. 326). The change of dress supposed to be requisite we shall subsequently notice.

The customs of the East in regard to bathing we have already noticed. On the climate of Palestine, Dr. R. Jamieson remarks: "Warm and genial weather can generally be reckoned on until the twelfth of December, when the winter sets in; even after that period, except during the prevalence of certain winds, the season is comparatively mild, and, indeed, is so far from ever partaking of the inclement character of winter in more northern latitudes, that in a calm and settled state of the atmosphere a kind and exhilarating warmth is felt. While the mornings and evenings are excessively cold, the weather at noon is so hot that the inhabitants at that period of the day constantly keep their windows open, take their meals and recreations out of doors, and on the ground, then covered with a carpet of the richest green, and with the beautiful tints of the hyacinths and violets, which are not afraid to open their leaves during the greater part of the season. Jerome, alluding to this mild character of the winter in Palestine, in a letter to a friend at Rome, wrote thus: 'I buy no wood, and am warmer than you at Rome with the greatest abundance of fuel.' And a modern traveller speaks of having taken his meridian repose on the flat roof of his caravansary, and finding

* Dr. A. Clarke having stated on John iv. 2 that what the disciples of Christ did, "by His authority and command, is attributed to Himself," adds: "It is a common custom, in all countries and all languages, to attribute the operations of those who are under the government and direction of another to him by whom they are directed and governed."- Com., on John iii. 22.