Note 88 — Part XI. CHRIST THE GREAT BAPTIZER. (continued 2)

Ellicott’s Commentary, on Eph. v, 26. On the mode of baptism, circumstances detract greatly from the authority of divines of the English church. The doctrine of that body on the prerogative of the church to ordain rites and ceremonies has a double effect. On the one hand, it takes away the motive to a thorough study of the Scriptural evidence on the subject. On the other, it induces a sense of satisfaction in admitting that the apostolic mode of baptism was by immersion, and then pointing to the contrary form now in use, as an illustration of the exercise of the church’s authority over the matter. When to this is added the veneration cherished for “the primitive church” of the third and fourth centuries, in which immersion had gained extensive footing, and the recognition of that form in the rubric for baptism, hereafter quoted (below, p. 354), we will be justified in looking farther before accepting, as conclusive, the judgment, however pronounced, of divines of that church.