circumcision, and that children may be baptized. And these views are
thought to be encouraged by the affectionate saying of Christ, "Suffer
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the
kingdom of God." (Mark 10:14.)

A second argument in favor of infant baptism is derived from the repeated
accounts, in the Acts, of the baptism of whole families. The families
referred to are those of Lydia, a seller of purple in the city of
Thyatira, of the jailer, in the same city, and of Cornelius, the
centurion, of Caesarea. Instances of this kind are not to be considered as
conclusively proving the Scripture authority of infant baptism of
themselves; but they form a presumptive argument, in its favor, of great
weight.

And, further, it may be shown, from ecclesiastical history, that the
baptism of infants was practised in the time of the primitive Christians.
This being the fact, the conclusion seems to follow irresistibly, that
they received the practice from the apostles, and that it was, therefore,
known and recognized by the Savior himself; and, if it were known and
recognized by him, or even introduced, subsequently and solely, by those
he commissioned, it must be received, in either case, as the will of
Christ, and as a law of the Christian dispensation.

Again, they say that the particular mode of baptism can not be determined
from the meaning of the word _baptizo_, which may mean either to immerse
or to lave, according to the particular connection in which it is found.
(See Mark 7:4. Heb. 9:10.)

None of the accounts of baptism, which are given in the New Testament,
necessarily imply that it was performed by immersion. It is true the
Savior and the eunuch, when they were baptized, went up out of, or rather
_from_, the water, but the inference that they went _under_ the water,
which is sometimes drawn from these expressions, does not appear to be
sufficiently warranted.

The circumstances attending the baptism of the jailer and his family are
of such a nature as to render the opinion of its being performed by
immersion improbable. The baptism was evidently performed at midnight, and
within the limits of the prison,--a time and a situation evidently implying
some other mode than plunging. Similar views will hold in respect to the
baptism of the three thousand at the season of Pentecost.

As, therefore, there are no passages of Scripture which positively require
immersion, but various scriptura