Truth Matters: March 2012

Baptism:

I should think it a high sin and treason against heaven, if, believing that baptism signifieth immersion, and immersion only, I should pretend to administer it by sprinkling; or, believing that baptism appertaineth to believers only, I should consider myself a criminal in the sight of God if I should give it to any but those who believe.

Do not make any mistake, and imagine that immersion in water can wash away sin; but do remember that if the Lord puts this outward profession side by side with the washing away of sins it is not a trifling matter.

Infant Baptism:

Truth suffers nothing from free discussion, it is indeed the element in which it most freely exerts its power. We have personally known several instances in which sermons in defence of Infant Baptism have driven numbers to more Scriptural views, and we have felt that if Pædo-baptists will only preach upon the subject we shall have little to do but to remain quiet and reap the sure results. It is a dangerous subject for any to handle who wish their people to abide by the popular opinion on this matter.

Some lying hypocrites tell us that children are regenerated by drops of water. What kind of regeneration is that? We have seen people hanged that were regenerated in this fashion.
I can say that I am not afraid to offer prayer, that my brethren who do not see “Believer’s baptism,” may be made to see it. If they think it is wrong, I wish they would pray to God to set us right; but I have never heard them do that; I have never heard them pray to the Lord to convince us of the truth of infant sprinkling—I wish they would, if they believe it to be scriptural, and I am perfectly willing to put it to the old test, the God that answereth by fire, let him be God, and whichever shall prevail, when prayer shall be the ultimate arbiter, let that stand.

As long as you give baptism to an unregenerate child, people will imagine that it must do the child good; for they will ask, If it does not do it any good, why is it baptized?

I am amazed that an unconscious babe should be made the partaker of an ordinance which, according to the plain teaching of the Scriptures, requires the conscious acquiescence and complete heart-trust of the recipient. Very few, if any, would argue that infants ought to receive the Lord’s supper; but there is no more Scriptural warrant for bringing them to the one ordinance than there is for bringing them to the other.

Refusal of baptism:

I do not question the safety of the soul that has believed, but I do say again, I would not run the risk of the man who, having believed, refuses to be baptized.

I feel shocked when I hear people say, “But it is not essential to salvation.” Thou mean and beggarly spirit! Wilt thou do nothing but what is essential to thine own salvation? A Pharisee or a harlot might talk so. Is this thy love to Christ—that thou wilt not obey him, unless he shall pay thee for it? unless he shall make thy soul’s salvation depend upon it?

“Well,” says one, “I do not think that I shall confess Christ; the dying thief did not confess him, did he? He was not baptized.” No, but he was a dying thief, recollect; and if you are not baptized, I think that you will be a living thief; for you will rob God of his glory, you will rob his servant also of the comfort which he ought to receive.

I once met a man who had been forty years a Christian, and believed it to be his duty to be baptized; but when I spoke to him about it, he said, “He that believeth shall not make haste.” After forty years’ delay, he talked about not making haste. I quoted to him another passage: “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandment,” and showed him what the meaning of his misapplied passage was.

Baptists:

Still, a few historical memoranda as to the Christians commonly called Baptists will not be out of place. Our own belief is that these people are the purest part of that sect which of old was everywhere spoken against, and we are convinced that they have, beyond their brethren, preserved the ordinances of the Lord Jesus as they were delivered to the saints.

Several sects claim apostolic succession, and if any possess it, the Baptists are the most likely, since they practise the ordinances as they were delivered; but we do not even care to trace our pedigree through the long line of martyrs, and of men abhorred by ecclesiatics. If we could do this without a break, the result would be of no value in our eyes; for the rag of “apostolic succession” is not worth warehouse-room. Those who contend for the fiction may monopolize it if they will.

We Baptists like water because our Master has ordained the use of it; but we must also have fire, fire from heaven, the fire of the Holy Ghost.

I always wished that he (a joyful Methodist friend) had been a Baptist; that would have been just the finishing touch to make him perfect, and then we should have lost him, for all perfect people go to heaven at once. But if I mentioned that subject to him,—and sometimes I did,—he was not long before he began to sing, and he asked me to join with him, which I gladly did.

I recollect my mother saying to me, “I prayed that you might be a Christian, but I never prayed that you might be a Baptist;” but, nevertheless, I became a Baptist, for, as I reminded her, the Lord was able to do for her exceeding abundantly above what she had asked or thought, and he did it.

“Ah!” say you, “you Baptists make a great deal of baptism.” We Baptists do not make any more of baptism than the Lord Jesus Christ has done; but I was not talking about Baptists, I was talking about the words of the Lord Jesus Christ as they are recorded in the New Testament. He says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Is not that plain? Someone asks, “Can we not be saved without being baptized?” I am not going to answer such a question as that; my business is to bid you listen to what Jesus Christ says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Give good heed to what Christ says, and raise no questions concerning it. For my part, I am going to run no risks, and therefore I take the whole passage just as it stands.

HT: Spurgeon