James H. Moon

“ Among obscure dissenters whom the ruling church called heretics may we expect thereafter to find the nearest approach to Christianity as Jesus taught it upon the Mount and elsewhere.
Mosheim says: No sooner had Constantine abolished the superstition of his ancestors than magnificent churches were erected for the Christians, which were richly adorned with pictures and images and bore striking resemblances to the Pagan temples both within and without. [214]
The simplicity of the Gospel was clouded by the prodigious number of rites and ceremonies which the bishops invented to embellish it. ”

“ Those of every land who never saw the Scriptures nor ever heard of Jesus with outward ear may be baptized with this saving baptism and be born again without instrumentality. [134]
There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God. [135] Our Saviour left us not dependent on book, man or water for salvation. His love is universal and unbounded; he tasted death for every man. ”

“ Water is not to be understood whenever baptism is named; neither is baptism to be understood whenever water is named. There are many baptisms without water mentioned in Scripture and elsewhere.
The four evangelists and Peter each define two different and distinct baptisms following closely after each other. First John's baptism of water, then Christ's baptism of the Holy Spirit. Our Saviour also testified to these two independent baptisms but to no other baptism as the result or successor of these two. He speaks of one as past and of the other as yet to come. ”

“ The great diversity in the form of expression used by each of the evangelists and Peter in defining Christ's commission to his apostles is positive evidence that they understood him to prescribe no formula for baptism and it is confirmation that no formula was given that they and the first Christians for ages adhered to no one set form of words when baptizing with water. ”

“ We must be crucified upon a cross which we may often carry but with outward eyes can never see. We must be circumcised in Christ and buried with him in baptism. We must be baptized into Christ. Put on Christ. We must be circumcised of heart in the Spirit by the circumcision of Christ. [160]
As instructed by Scripture we accept this circumcision without hands, and this baptism and washing without water, and do most firmly believe that our Saviour never commanded nor intended any other. ”

“ There is a natural connection in the mind between the thought of physical and spiritual pollution. In warm countries this connection is probably closer than in colder climates; hence the frequency of ablution in the religious rites of the East.
The history of Israel and the law of Moses abound with such lustrations. The consecration of the high priest deserves special notice. It was first by [Pg 16] baptism then by unction and lastly by sacrifice.
From the gospel history [51] we learn that at that time ceremonial washings had been greatly multiplied by traditions of the doctors and elders. ”

“ Neither is Christ's fan material nor his axe at the root of the tree, nor are the waters which he said should flow from the bodies of believers, nor the waters which he promised should be in them a well of living water springing up unto everlasting life; [156] nor the living fountains of water, where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes. Neither shall we be tried and refined literally as gold and silver ”

“ Upon the day of Pentecost he came again as the angels had said and as he had often promised his apostles and disciples. [111]
He came as the comforter, the Holy Spirit to teach us all things and to abide with us forever. [112]
By this one spirit are we now all baptized into one body, Jews and Gentiles, Bond and Free, male and female, all one in Christ Jesus. [113] All flesh, sons and daughters, servants and handmaidens, old and young.
By no other baptism can we all be baptized into one body. Water baptism diverts from this, one baptism into one body. ”

“ Let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or in regard to an holy day, or the new moon, or the sabbath days which are shadows of things to come. [186]
Without claiming perfection for Paul, should we not all as believing Gentiles [Pg 48] accept his teaching about meat, eating, water, baptism, etc., that Christ did not send his apostles to baptize with water, but preach the Gospel, and that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. [187]
After Pentecost, believers were baptized presumably with water. ”

“ Shall we sell our lands, live in common, frequent Jewish temples and break bread daily from house to house? We see as much authority for doing so as for baptizing with water.
If the example of apostles and believers is Scripture authority for water baptism, it is also Scripture authority to sell our lands, live in common, frequent Jewish temples, etc. ”

“ And again, because the apostles and first Christians did continue to baptize with water, sometimes without formula but mostly in the name of Jesus Lord or Christ. This they would not have done in defiance of Christ's command to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Upon these and many other grounds we claim that Christ never did command his disciples to baptize with water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, nor in any way whatever. [15]
According to Peter's account of the commission, Christ commanded his apostles to preach to the people. ”

“ Grace is mentioned in the New Testament more than one hundred times but water baptism is never once alluded to in connection with Grace in any way whatever.
[Pg 42] We cannot believe that our Saviour ordained water baptism as a means or sign of Grace to his children forever, when neither He nor his disciples ever mentioned it or even remotely alluded to it—so far as Scripture informs—in all of those one hundred texts wherein Grace is so variously and impressively commended to us.
We are forced to believe that this whole theory of baptismal grace was conceived by man ”

“ Divine condescension to the dawning belief of this Jewish proselyte in those transition times established no precedent which should induce us to linger in the border land of Judaism.
We hear some wonder why many apostles and believers adhered so tenaciously [Pg 51] to circumcision, abstinence from certain meats, etc.
Future generations may still more wonder why many believers in our day hold so persistently to water baptism, etc.
The day is surely dawning, the ranks are filling with those who realize that these shadows are all foreign to the Christian dispensation. ”

“ We cannot believe that we are required by Scripture or otherwise to do all things which the apostles and believers did, however good and proper it may have been for them at that time. Much less should we gratify our own predilections [Pg 49] by electing to follow their example in water baptism and to reject it in other particulars.
By Peter's preaching the household of Cornelius was baptized with the Holy Spirit. [189] Peter then asked his Jewish brethren if any could forbid water that these Gentiles should not be baptized as well as we Jews. ”

“ As we read: Pagans of old baptized the face. Under the law of Moses the hands were baptized. John the Baptist baptized the whole body. Our Saviour baptized the feet. [57] Now Christians complete the cycle and again as of old baptize the face.
Some early Christians deferred water baptism to middle life or old age and many were never so baptized. Now Christians insist upon infant baptism.
Some early Christian said: If only one [Pg 18] finger remains above water the baptism is not valid. Now Christians say: "A few drops of water are as good as a river." ”

“ Power from on high is not yet necessary to administer water baptism but it is indispensable to preaching the Gospel.
Altho' this power came in fulness at Pentecost, yet Paul and legions more have received this power since Pentecost.
Farrar says [244] : This miracle is not transient but is continuously renewed. Not to a narrow apostilate in an upper chamber at Jerusalem. It is a vivifying wind that breathes henceforth in all ages. It revived a world. It is the power of an endless life. ”

“ At Antioch and other places Gentile Christians evidently soon gained the ascendency and discouraged, even Jews from circumcision and other offensive Jewish customs, while water baptism and other usages not repulsive to Gentiles were generally continued and in time modified to suit taste and convenience. ”

“ He now stands at every door and knocks; if we open the door he will come in and sup with us. [139] If we love him he will abide with us; but we must heed his gentle knocks, his still, small voice, and open the door. ”

“ Altho' Paul ostensibly yielded to the elders and apostles at Jerusalem, yet his subsequent epistles indicate that he remained firmly indifferent or opposed to circumcision, water baptism, and other ordinances, all of which he called carnal, weak and beggarly elements when applied to Gentiles. Paul said he was made all [Pg 46] things to all men that he might win some. ”

“ They imagined the Pagans would receive Christianity with more facility when they saw the rites and ceremonies to which they were accustomed adopted in the church. So the religion of the Christians was made to conform very [Pg 57] nearly to that of the Pagans in external appearance. ”

“ Paul. [223]
His followers were sometimes called Macedonians but were generally known as Paulicians altho' they preferred to be called Christians.
It appears that these Paulicians existed centuries before under the other names given them by their enemies and that the drooping sect was revived by the powerful preaching of Constantine.
Neander says [224] the Paulicians wholy rejected the outward observance of the Sacraments and maintained that by multiplication of external rites and ceremonies in the dominant church the true life of religion had declined. ”

“ The Ante-Nicene Fathers and Eusebius inform us that water baptism was a pro [Pg 66] lific cause of bitter discord and division among the early Christians. It still sorrowfully distracts the loving children of our one Father and impedes the spread of his kingdom in the earth. ”