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The Covenant <strong>and</strong> Baptism<br />
signification of a word is always to be retained,<br />
unless we are restricted to its secondary or<br />
figurative meaning by the connection. When<br />
Christ comm<strong>and</strong>ed his disciples to baptize, we<br />
surely have no reason to suppose, that the<br />
word should not be understood in its original<br />
<strong>and</strong> primary signification. Had he intended<br />
them to practice pouring or sprinkling, or merely<br />
washing, there were words appropriated to each<br />
of these meanings; but when they are<br />
comm<strong>and</strong>ed to baptize, the word must surely be<br />
understood in its natural <strong>and</strong> primary sense.<br />
The Socinians <strong>and</strong> Universalists argue against<br />
the divinity of Jesus precisely in the same way<br />
as those who deny that <strong>baptism</strong> means<br />
immersion. They produce instances, where the<br />
name of God is applied in a figurative or<br />
improper sense to creatures. Hence, they<br />
allege, that Jesus being called God, does not<br />
prove his supreme divinity. As to the duration<br />
of the punishment of the wicked, they maintain<br />
that αιων, eternal, sometimes means a limited<br />
duration: thus, we read of the everlasting hills;<br />
<strong>and</strong> hence they affirm, that the punishment of<br />
the wicked is not eternal.<br />
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