Bapto

CLASSIC BAPTISM

Bapto, p 137; It has been confidently affirmed that bapto has but two meanings to dip and to dye. Usage will show that this latter position is as untenable as the earlier one which denied that it had more than one meaning - to dip. But it is unnecessary to particularize; the quotations will speak for themselves. To dip has been placed first in order among the meanings of bapto; but whether dip or dye be regarded as the primary meaning, the meaning is dip and not plunge, or sink, or any other word whose meaning characteristically differs from dip. By “dip” is meant a downward movement, without violence, passing out of one medium into another, to a limited extent, and returning without delay. Plunge differs essentially from this word in that it demands rapidity and force of movement; and, more especially, in that it makes no demand for a return. In critical, or controversial writing no word can, fairly, be substituted for dip, which has characteristics alien from and contradictory to its nature. I know of no instance where bapto is used to put an object into a fluid to remain there permanently, or for an unlimited time. Nor do I know of any instance, where this word is used to draw up anything out of a liquid which it had not first put into it. Dr. Carson gives more than fifty quotations from Hippocrates, in which he says, “there can be no doubt but we shall find the characteristic meaning of bapto.” In all these cases there is the double movement of intrance and outrance. Whether this twofold movement be the result of the explicit demand of the word, or consequential on that which is immediately expressed, the result is the same; both find place in the “characteristic” use of the word. To dye is now acknowledged to be a secondary meaning without any necessary dependence upon dipping. This doctrine was long and strenuously opposed by Baptist writers, who contended then that bapto had but one meaning as now they contend that baptizo has but one meaning; and that dyeing was a mere appendage to dipping, and an accident consequent upon a dipping into a coloring element. This position is, at length, thoroughly abandoned, and the admission made that dyeing by sprinkling is as orthodox as dyeing by dipping. In other words, it is now...unreservedly admitted, that while bapto to dip expresses a sharply defined act; bapto to dye expresses no such act; but drops all demand for any form of act, and makes requisition only for a condition or quality of color, satisfied with any act which will meet this requirement. This being true, it is obvious that the difference between dip and dye, and dip and plunge, is not a difference of measure and form, but a difference of nature. Dip and plunge express forms of act to be done; dye expresses a condition or quality to be secured. Thus we secure a stepping-stone toward the truth which we would like to establish; to wit, that baptizo, unlike bapto to dip, but like bapto to dye, does not express a form of act, but a condition - condition of intusposition primarily, and condition of controlling influence, secondarily. Bapto, in one of its aspects, demands a movement which carries its object, momentarily, within a fluid element; and in another of its aspects demands a condition which is met by flowing, pouring, or sprinkling: Baptizo, in one of its aspects, demands a condition which may be effected by flowing, pouring or sprinkling; and in another of its aspects, demands a condition which may be effected by anything, in any way, which is competent to exercise a controlling influence over its object. The two leading meanings, to dip, to dye, have modifications in usage...refusal to accept any farther modification in the meaning of this Greek word is not well grounded.

MEANING ESTABLISHED BY USAGE

Primary - To Dip

P 139; Dipping the crown into ointment. AElian, lib. xiv, cap. 30

Dipped its feet into the wax. Aristophanes, Nubes, i,2.

I will dip-in, the torch, having taken it. Aristophanes, Peace, 960.

If any one should dip into wax. Aristotle, On the Soul, iii, 12.

It is necessary to dip and then to draw up. Aristotle, Mech. Quest. c. 29.

He dipped a vessel into water. Constantine. Epigr. of Hermolaus.

Dipping the spear into the breast. Dionys. Hallic. Ant. Rom. lib.v.

If a vessel has...dipped. Euripides, Orestes, 705.

Dipping it, bring hither of the salt sea. Euripides. Hecuba, 608.

To dip is to let something down into water or some other fluid. Scholium, Hecuba, 608.

Nor to dip-into the periranterium. Iamblichus, Vit. Pythag. c. 18.

Dipping pleasure with foreign vessels. Lycophron, Cassandra, 1365.

Will dip the sword into the viper’s bowels. Lycophron, 1121.

Dip honey with a pitcher. Theocritus, Idyl v, 127.

TO WET

Wetting the hollow of his hand he sprinkles the judgment seat.

Bapsas koileen teen keira, prosrainei teen dikasteerian. Suidas, de Hierocle.

TO MOISTEN

Being pressed it moistens and colors the hand.

Thlibomenos de baptei kai anthizei teen keira. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. v, 15.

Bapsai, the poet has called to moisten.

To bapsai, dieenai kekleeken ho poieetees. Plutarch, Sympos, Prob. 8,6.

 TO WASH

Washed head and shoulders of the river.

Potamoio ebapsato...omous ek kephalees. Aratus, 220.

Cloudless, washes of the western flood.

Anephelos, baptoi hroou hesperioio. Aratus, 858.

Washed himself, going upon the river.

Ebapse heouton bas epi ton potamon. Herodotus, Euterpe, 47.

They wash with warm water.

Baptousi thermoi. Aristophanes, Eccles. 216.

SECONDARY - TO DYE

They dye the robe of Venus.

Baptousin Aphroditees ton peplon. Achil. Tat. II, 87.

The drug with which it is dyed.

To pharmakon hoi baptetai. Achil. Tat. II, 89.

The lake was dyed with blood.

Ebapteto d’haimati limnee. AEsopi, Phry. Fab. Batr. 218.

Lest I dye you a Sardinian dye.

Hina mee se bapso bamma Sardianikon. Aristophanes, Achar. I, 112.

A dyed bird.

Ornis baptos. Aristophanes, Aves, 526.

And the garments which are dyed from it.

Kai ta ap autees baptomena himatia. Barker’s Class. Rec. p. 418.

Some say that you dye your hair.

Tas trikas, ho Nikulla, tines baptien se legousin. Bentleii, Ep. Coll. 139.

Thou may’st dye thy head, thy old age thou canst not dye.

Teen kaphaleen bapteis, geeras de son oupote bapseis. Bentleii, Epigr. Coll.

 To drug was called to dye.

Kai pharmassein to baptein elegeto. Eustathius ad Il, x. 32.

When it drops upon the garments they are dyed.

Epeidan epistaxeei himatia baptetai. Hippocrates.

As dyers cleanse beforehand.

Kathaper hoi bapseis proekkathairontes. Iamblichus Vit. Pyth. xvii.

 You will call bapsee color, paint.

Ereis de bapsee krosis, katakrosis. Julius Pollux, vii, 30.

And I will dye.

Kai bapsomai. Menander, Frag. 2, Anger.

Whether one dye other colors, or whether these.

Ean te tis alla kromata bapteei ean te kai tauta. Plato, de Repub. iv 429.

TO STAIN

Is it well that thou hast stained thy sword with the army of the Greeks?

Ebapsas egkos eu pros Argeion stratoi. Sophocles, Ajax, 95.

TO SMEAR

Playing the Ludoi and the Pseen, and smeared with frog-colored washes.

Ludizon, and pseenezon, kai baptomenos batrakeiois. Aristoph. Equites, 523.

TO GILD

Having gilded poverty thou hast appeared rich.

Kai penieen bapsas, plousios exephanees. Jacob’s Antho. iii, 145.

TO TEMPER METAL

Temperers of brass?

Kalkou bapsas. AEschylus, Agam. 612.

To lose temper.

Bapseen aphienai. Aristotle, Pol. 7,14.

Working...tempers with cold water.

Ein hudati psukroi bapteei...pharmasson. Homer, Odys. ix, 392.

As iron by tempering.

Bapsee sideeros hos. Sophocles, Ajax, 651.

Tempered by oil it is softened.

Theelunetai bebammenos hupo elaiou. Scholium, Ajax. 663.

TO IMBUE

The soul is imbued by the thoughts, imbue it, therefore, by the habitude of such thoughts.

Baptetai gar hupo ton phantasion hee psukee, bapte oun auteen teei sumekeieei ton toiouton, phantasion. Antonius. M. v, 17.

Imbued by integrity to the bottom.

Dikaiosuneei bebammenon eis bathos. Antonius M. iii, 6.

Beware of Caesarism, lest you be imbued by it.

Hora mee apokaisarothees mee bapsees. Antoninus M. vi, 25.

He first imbued the Muse with viperish gall.

Mousan ekidnaia protos ebapse koleei. Bentleii, Epig. Coll. p. 156.

Arrows imbued with the gall of serpents.

Koleei bebamenois opheon distois. Strabo. xvi, p 1117.

Should adopt the character of one imbued.

Analabeei to pathos tou bebammenou. Epictetus, Arrian, xi, 9.

The Baptae.

Hoi baptai. Eupolis.

BAPTO-PRIMARY TO DIP

All the quotations showing the primary, literal use, confirm what Aristotle says, that the act expressed is one which carries its object, superficially, into a fluid and brings it out. The act is, emphatically, one of limitations. - limitation of force, limitation of extent of entrance into the element, limitation of time of continuance within the element, and by consequence, limitation of influence. It is also noticeable that the objects are limited in magnitude, although there is not other necessity for this that the limitation of human strength, in its ordinary exercise, by which objects are usually dipped.

“If a vessel has...dipped” by Euripides, “the dipping of a sailing vessel; but it is not the entire vessel that is dipped, but merely the rising and falling produced by the wind. The case, more fully stated is this: ‘Has a ship with sheet hauled close, struck by the wind, dipped? She will right again if the sheet be loosed.’...The dipping is...involved in the ‘righting’ (of the ship).” Others translate, “if a vessel has sunk.” Dale says to the contrary, “This case proves that a part only of an object may be dipped, although there be no express limitation in the statement.” He continues, “The vessel is dipped (by a sudden blast) into the sea without being “dipped all over” (the words of Carson).

MEANINGS GROWING OUT OF DIPPING INTO WATER

P 145 1. To Wet.- This is the unavoidable consequence of dipping anything into water; and it would be in perfect harmony with the laws of language to use the word, whose act produces the effect, to express such effect when not produced by its form of act. It is difficult, if not impossible, to translate dip in the passage from Suidas, (wetting the hollow of his hand he sprinkles the judgment seat) and it seems to be a necessity to translate by wet.

2. To Moisten.- In the quotation from Aristotle dip is out of all question, and dye seems to be as much so, in consequence of the use of “anthizei.” Two words are not needed to express dyeing; while the moistening by the juice of the berry pressed is essential to dye, stain, or color the hand. We the more readily adopt this meaning as Plutarch expressly says that the word is used in this sense.

3. To Wash.- Aratus speaks of a crow washing itself “of the river.” The phraseology indicates that dipping is not intended. The scholiast omits the limitation (“head and shoulders”) in the text and says, “washes itself” - baptei de heauteen hee kornikee - including the whole, while a part only is washed. In the second quotation from the same writer the form of the phraseology is similar, and is indicative of a similar use. The importance of the form of expression is obvious in the translation of Carson - “if the crow dips his head into the river.” “Into” has no existence in the text and whatever Carson may think, others will be likely to judge that “into the river” and “of the river” are phrases of very different value. The quotation from Herotodus is thus translated by Carson: “The Egyptians consider the swine so polluted a beast that if any one in passing touch a swine he will go away and dip himself with his very garments, going into the river.” Unless the text of Dr. Carson differed from that before me, we have here another of those broad discrepancies so often found in the translations of this writer as compared with the original. There is nothing said about “going into the river;” the text is “going upon” (the bank of) “the river.” If however, it be assumed as an unstated fact that after having come upon the river he also “went into the river” and then “dipped himself,” we learn from Dr. Carson that after all, the dipping of the head and shoulders may be accepted as the dipping of the man “himself” into the river. The same writer tells us... “Here is a religious baptism, and it is by immersion.” As depicted by Carson this Egyptian “baptism” into the Nile is a perfect model for those more modern “religious baptisms” with which he is familiar. “Going into the river,” “with clothes on,” dipping the head and shoulder; these are the necessary elements...But the equanimity with which this transaction is referred to as a solution of the mode of baptism must be disturbed. It is not called a “baptism” by Herodotus, but by Dr. Carson, and with self-inconsistency, for elsewhere (p.48 of Carson’s book) he says that this word should never be used with bapto. Dr. Carson attempts in vain to bridge over the gulf between these two words by saying; “The person dips himself; therefore it is bapto to dip, and baptizo to cause to dip.” The attempted distinction has no real existence...Besides this reasoning is nullified by (Carson) himself when he speaks of Naaman, finding no embarrassment from the presence of baptizo; but makes him, by this word, “dip himself,” entirely oblivious of the necessity arising from (his interpretation of) this word, that somebody else should be there “to cause him to dip.” It remains then classically true that “Bapting is dipping and Dipping is bapting;” but this truth throws the rite of our (Baptist) friends entirely out of range of Scripture phraseology. What this swine-polluted Egyptian did, whether he went into the river and dipped his head, or remained on the bank and washed, has some bearing on the meaning of bapto; it has none on baptizo. It...has no bearing on the baptism of Scripture.

Aristophanes.- “They wash the wool with warm water.” Carson admits that this translation “gives the sense, but not the exact version of the words; what is asserted is that they dip, or immerse, or plunge the wool into warm water.” I am sorry that I cannot say that his translation either “gives the sense or is an exact version of the words.” Of what use is it for a controversialist to translate baptousi thermoi, “they dip into warm water”? And of what use are grammatical forms, if such as that before us is to be converted...into another essentially different? The form and the nature of the case unite in sustaining the conclusion that the dative is instrumental and that there must be a corresponding modification in the use of the verb. Some things may be washed by dipping but a greasy fleece of wool is not among the number; a dipping therefore, is not the thing that is here called for, but a washing. It is admitted (by Carson) that “Suidas and Phavorinus interpret baptousi by plunousi;” but “it argues shallow philosophy to suppose that on this account the words are perfectly synonymous.” The “shallowness” may be found in Dr. Carson’s examination of the case;...I leave it to lovers of truth to determine...the results bear more strongly on general truth than on the specific issue before us.

BAPTO-SECONDARY

TO DYE

Dr. Gale, representing Baptist writers up to that time, says: “The Greeks apply the word to the dyer’s art, but always so as to imply and refer only to its true, natural signification TO DIP.” This position was tenaciously held for more than a hundred years, notwithstanding all the mass of evidence accumulated against it. At length Dr. Carson arose and sharply rebuked his friends for attempting to advocate so untenable a position. He boldly affirmed that bapto, “from signifying mere mode, came to denote dyeing in any manner. This serves to solve difficulties that have been very clumsily got over by some of the ablest writers on this side of the question. Hippocrates employs bapto to denote dyeing by dropping - ‘When it drops upon the garment they are dyed’ - this surely is not dyeing by dipping.”

 This reasoning is presented by Dr. Carson as unanswerable, and it has been accepted from him by Baptists as truth...Yet, when identically the same argumentation is adduced to prove that bapto may mean to wet - Nebuchadnezzar being bapted by drops of dew - it is rejected as a mere nullity, and bapto can mean nothing else but dip! ‘Bapting by sprinkling’ was once regarded as a very fair subject for the exercise of the powers of ridicule; but that time has passed”...the time will also soon pass for “making doubly ridiculous ‘baptizing by sprinkling.’”

Bapto to dye has a far more practical and instructive relation to baptizo than has bapto to dip; because the former meaning is not, like the latter, a demand for an act, but for an effect, and there is a consequent harmony in grammatical forms, and measurably, of thought branching out of it... As a dyed condition may be effected in almost endless variety of ways, even including the paradox, “dipping by sprinkling,” so, a baptized condition may be effected in ways no less numberless, even including “the absurdity” baptizing by sprinkling. We might decline to use dye to express the modified meaning of bapto and retain dip throughout, as the Greeks retain bapto. There would be a propriety in doing so; because, 1. It would perfectly reflect the Greek practice. 2. Because dip, in English, also has the meaning to dye. 3. Because thrown on to the sentiment and the syntax, to learn the modification of the primary meaning, there would be some equalization of the case with that of baptizo, when it is compelled to vindicate its claim to modified meaning under uniform use of a single word through all its usage. But we will not insist on putting a similar burden on bapto; but cheerfully assume the unequal task, believing that the word is able to vindicate its rights even under such favorable circumstances.

“THE LAKE WAS DYED WITH BLOOD”

It would be quite unnecessary to dwell upon any of these quotations if the only purpose was to establish the meaning to dye; this has been thoroughly done and is universally accepted; but there are other reasons connected with grammatical structure, modified translation, varied agencies, the introduction of distinct words to express the form of the action, as they bear upon and illustrate kindred peculiarities in the usage of baptizo, which make a rapid survey of particular passages desirable. The above passage from AEsop, attributed to Homer, is instructive by reason of the manner in which it has been treated in the earlier period of this controversy (over baptizing) as well as for the reasons prompting the abandonment of the ground then taken. Dr. Gale says: “The literal sense is, the lake was dipped in blood. And the lake is represented by hyperbole as dipped in blood.” (Fellow Baptist) Dr. Carson replies to this: “Never was there such a figure. The lake is not said to be dipped, or poured, or sprinkled, but dyed with blood. The expression is literal, and has not the smallest difficulty.” It is desirable to note several particulars ruling in Dr. Carson’s interpretation:

1. The repudiation of Gale’s view on the ground of extravagance in the figure.

2. The rejection of all figure by the introduction of a secondary meaning.

3. The denial that the act by which the dyeing takes place is expressed by bapto. “The blood was POURED into the lake,” but “bapto does not therefore signify TO POUR.”

4. The rejection of the local dative and the substitution of the instrumental.

5. The necessity for this as grounded in the meaning of the verb as modified. So long as Gale insisted on the act dip, he was compelled (whatever might be the amount of violence done to the construction ...) to make the dative represent that in which the act took place, for “blood” could not be instrumental in a dipping; in like manner, when Carson rejected the act (dip) and took the condition (dye), he was shut up to the necessity of interpreting the dative as instrumental; for “blood” can dye while it cannot dip.

6. The dative is made instrumental, notwithstanding that it represents a fluid element (blood) in which (its nature only considered) a dipping could readily take place.

All these elements which enter into the rejection of Gale’s interpretation (who in this matter does not stand as a simple individual, but as representative of the entire Baptist body) come into frequent play in the exposition of other passages where Carson will be found attempting to sustain a similar position in relation to baptizo with that of Gale to bapto...One more point in connection with this passage and we may leave it. Bapto, from signifying mere mode, came to be applied to a certain operation usually performed in that mode. From signifying dip it came to signify dye by dipping. And, according to this interpretation, and elsewhere, it came by yet another step to signify to dye without dipping; to dye in any manner. That is to say, the original peculiarity of the word, though the name remains the same, is entirely lost sight of:

1. to dip;

2. TO DYE by dipping;

3. to dye without dipping.

Apply now, this developing process to baptizo and we have,

1. To intuspose within a fluid.

2. To influence controllingly by intusposition within a fluid.

3. To influence controllingly without intusposition.

In the first process (the word) bapto remains, in all its literal integrity, but dip is wholly eliminated from its signification. In the second process, (the word) baptizo exhibits every letter in wonted position, while it has bodily come forth from intusposition in water or anything else. However much it may be denied that this latter word has such development...it is beyond denial that such development may be...and if it may be, then the cry of “absurdity” is absurd ...

“The garments which are dyed from it are called bysinna.” The use of the genitive (ap autees) excludes all idea of dipping which might be forced upon the dative. Even Gale could not say here, “the garments are dipped in it.” Although the garments should have been dyed by dipping, still, bapto in this construction, could have neither part nor lot in any such dipping. If this act should be desired to appear, and appear under the auspices of bapto, this word as signifying to dip must be called into requisition; as it means to dye in this passage, its power is exhausted, and the dipping must be supplied from some other quarter. No word can have, at the same time, two meanings. No word can mean, in the same passage, both dip and dye.

“And I will dye.” No regimen is expressed. “I, also, was once young; but I was not washed, then, five times a day; but now I am; nor had I then a fine mantle; but now I have; nor had I ointment; but now I have; and I will dye.” To dye himself did not require that he should dye his whole person, but the hair and beard - “crines et barbam pingebant,” a commentator observes. (The process of dyeing in India is recounted, green leaves smeared with black stuff are bandaged onto the beard until the color had well dried on the hair, and such dyeing was a usual custom.) We here learn how absolutely dipping has disappeared from dyeing. The Christian missionary (J.H. Orbison) repeats what Nearchus said two thousand years ago - “the Indians dye their beards.” The mode as well as the custom probably remains the same.

“When it drops upon the garments they are dyed.” This statement goes beyond the others in the exclusion of dipping, in that while they expressed this by construction and by sentiment, here we are expressly furnished with a word (epistaxe) expressing an act of an entirely different character, by which the coloring material is brought in contact with the material to be dyed. Professor Wilson remarks: “The great critical value of this example consists in its stripping bapto completely of all claim to modal signification, by employing another term to denote the manner in which the dye was applied to the garments.” We have here a favorable opportunity to indicate and make the attempt to correct an error constantly outcropping in the controversy. No Baptist would say that bapto in the phrase “to dye by dropping,” expressed the act to drop; no such person should say that bapto in the phrase, “to dye by dipping,” expresses the act to dip; and yet there is a constant identification of baptizo with the act (whatever it may be) by which its demand is effected. It is possible that it may yet be confessed that it is quite as facile and fully as legitimate to baptize by sprinkling as to baptein by dropping; while in so doing, although the sprinkling effects a baptism as truly as that the dropping effects a bapting, yet baptizo has just as little responsibility for the expression of the act of sprinkling as bapto has for giving expression to the act of dropping.

“Whether one dye other colors, or whether these.” “No matter what dye they are dipped in,” is the translation of Gale and Carson, and is surely loose enough when used as an element for a critical judgment. It shows no regard to the syntax. The comment of Halley is just: “Whether the kroma was the dye into which the wool was dipped, or the color imparted to it is not the question. Be it which it may, it is the object of bapteei; it has gained in the syntax the place of the material subjected to the process; and therefore, pleads a law of language that bapto in the passage does not and cannot mean to dip, as the color cannot be dipped, whatever may be done with the wool.

“Lest I dye you a Sardian dye.” “Lest I dip you a Sardinian dye.” (Carson.) Such translations makes a recast of the syntax. And by so doing opens the way for the introduction of the primary meaning, in contradiction to the principle laid down by Buttman and Kuhner - “when the verb is followed by the corresponding or kindred abstract substantive,” - which would necessitate the translation, “dye a Sardian dye,” or “dip a Sardian dip.” The apology offered by Carson for his translation is: “As the reference is to the art of dyeing, so the expression must be suited to the usual mode of dyeing.” Against such reasoning we protest. There is nothing whatever suggestive of “the usual mode of dyeing.”... If Aristotle had a right to speak of dyeing by pressing a berry, and if Hippocrates had a right to speak of dyeing by drops falling, why is Aristophanes to be interdicted from speaking of dyeing by bruising?

MODIFIED MEANINGS, OUTGROWTHS OF DYE

TO STAIN

p 156

“Is it well that thou has stained thy sword with the army of the Greeks?” Ajax is represented by Sophocles as dipping his sword into the army of the Greeks;” so says Carson. Had any one else translated pros by into none would have frowned upon the extravagance more indignantly than Dr. Carson. And such unwarranted translations to force in dip, by an opponent, would have brought down coals of fire on his head...As swords are not properly dyed with blood, but only stained temporarily, this and other passages may be regarded as exemplifying that modified idea.

TO SMEAR

“Playing the Ludoi and playing the PSeen, and smeared with frog-colored washes.” Magnes, an old comic poet of Athens, used the Lydian music, shaved his face, and smeared it over with tawny washes.” (Gale and Carson.) The Lydian music and shaving the face are introduced through some misconceptions. The passage alludes to two plays, as above designated. What however, especially claims attention is the translation of baptomenos by smear, with the remark: “Surely, here, it has no reference to its primary meaning. The face of the person was rubbed by wash. By this example it could not be known that bapto ever signified to dip.”

 TO GILD

“Having gilded poverty thou hast appeared rich.” The intimate relation between dyeing and gilding is obvious. In this passage, and in others, the thought expressed seems to have passed into this modification. It is the case of a person who had become wealthy from a state of poverty.

TO TEMPER

“Working...tempers with cold water.” It might at first be thought that “to temper,” as a meaning of bapto should be traced to dip rather than to dye; but the tempering of metals is regulated not by the act of dipping, in contradistinction from other modes of using water and oil, but by the color and dye of the metal; I, therefore, trace this meaning to dyeing rather than to dipping. “The razor blade is tempered by heating it till a brightened part appears as straw color. The temper of penknives ought not to be higher than a straw color. Scissors are heated until they become a purple color, which indicates their proper temper.” - Ency. Amer., Art. Cutlery. A friend connected with one of the most highly esteemed edge-tool manufactories in the country, having come into my study, confirms the above statements.

As the tempering of metals is not the performance of any modal act, but the inducing of a peculiar condition of the metal, in the accomplishment of which water and oil are used as agencies; it follows that these fluids should be spoken of, in this connection, as instrumental means by which an end is to be secured, and not as elements into which an object is to be dipped. Carson says: “No one who has seen a horse shod will be at a loss to know the mode of the application of water in this instance. The immersion of the newly formed shoe in water, in order to harden the metal, is expressed by the word baptein.” If bapto means to “harden the metal,” to temper, nothing is more certain than that it neither does, nor can, express the immersion of the metal; supposing that an immersion took place. The admission is made that the immersion is in order to harden; how facile the transition to express directly the effect - to temper. Such transition is most common; why not exemplified in this word? As for the necessity of dipping, I have seen, in a blacksmith’s shop, in routine work, sprinkling, pouring, and dipping, all used within about ten minutes.

“Tempered by oil it is softened.” “Dip by oil” is an impossible translation; “dye by oil” is equally so; temper by oil is an every day-transaction. We seem to be shut up to this translation. Whatever plausibility there may be in a plea for dipping, when the dative, especially with a preposition is used, there is none with the genitive. And if in this case the oil must be an instrumental means to an appropriate effect, then we are justified in similar circumstances in arguing that the dative is used instrumentally. It is clear that if in this passage bapto signifies to temper, and the tempering should be by dipping into oil, yet, this bapto cannot express such dipping. Plain as this is, the contrary is so often assumed that the statement needs repetition. In any case the oil is spoken of as instrumental means. The tempering of metals by water, or by oil, results in characteristic differences. The result is not determined by the mode of application of these fluids, but by their peculiar qualities; hence the tempering is by water and by oil, whether it be in water, or in oil, or otherwise.

TO IMBUE

p 159

“The soul is imbued by the thoughts; imbue it, therefore, by the habitude of such thoughts” “Imbue” is perhaps somewhat too strong to meet the requirements of the passage, and yet seems to be the word most suitable, on the whole, to this and kindred cases. (On the other hand) to dip involves a very extravagant figuring by which “the thoughts” receive personality, and seizing the soul dip it into the dye-tub! Is this any less a “perversion of taste” than “the lake” dipping? Gale gives an active form to the phraseology, “the thoughts dip or tincture the mind”; but he has excluded himself from the use of “tincture;” and besides, this mode of translating and defining by “dip or tincture,” “dip or immerse,” is very unsatisfactory in a critical controversialist. Carson, as not infrequently, exercises a sovereign license in the treatment of the passage. His substitution is, “the thoughts are tinctured by the mind,” a statement not calculated...to enhance in any very eminent degree his reputation. Carson has not cut himself off from the use of dye as has Gale, but has he any better right to employ “tincture” here than his friend? Is “tincture” used as entirely synonymous with dye? If so, why not use dye? Those who insist on single, barren ideas running through the whole compass of a language for long ages should magnify their work by illustrating it in their practice. “Tincture” is as far from being used as the mere equivalent of dye as is smear, stain, color, and it is just because of its difference that Dr. Carson uses it here, to the rejection of dye; we cannot allow such rigidity of definition and such looseness of translation. “Tincture” does not necessarily involve color, much less dye. A pharmaceutist informs me that some “tinctures” are colorless. A passage before me speaks of “water being tinctured by a little lemon-juice.” Is this dyeing, or coloring, or the imparting of a colorless quality, - acidulation? So, in the passage under consideration it is not the communication of color which is spoken of, but of quality, character. A habitude of thinking imparts a quality of character to the soul kindred to its own.

“Imbued to the bottom with integrity.”... Dip is out of the question. Dye is as little in place. Integrity, justice, has no dyeing qualities any more than has pure water. Its glory is to be void of color, to exhibit a transparent pureness. Gale is again hampered and confused by his erroneous conception of the word; “dip’d, as it were, in and swallowed up with Justice; that is perfectly just; as we say, persons given up to their pleasures and vices, are immersed in or swallowed up with pleasures or wickedness.” All this mixing up of things that differ shows, 1. The error of limiting bapto to dip. 2. The error of supposing that bapto can mean at the same time to dip, and also to swallow up, and to immerse. And, 3. The error of confounding the usage of bapto and baptizo, now transferring dipping from the former to the latter, and now claiming in return mersing to be handed over from the latter to the former. No passage can be adduced in Greek where bapto, or in English where dip, signifies to be “immersed or swallowed up in pleasures, or wickedness,” or anything else. This explanation is not satisfactory to Carson while he offers nothing better. “I would not explain this, with Dr. Gale, ‘dip’d, as it were, or swallowed up with justice.’ Justice is here represented as a coloring liquid, which imbues the person who is dipped in it. It communicates its qualities as in the operation of dyeing. The figure can receive no illustration from the circumstances that ‘persons given up to their pleasures and vices are said to be immersed or swallowed up with pleasures or wickedness.’ The last figure has a reference to the primary meaning of bapto, and points to the drowning effects of liquids; the former refers to the secondary meaning of the word, and has its resemblance in the coloring effects of a liquid dye. The virtuous man is to be dipped to be dyed more deeply with justice; the vicious man is drowned or ruined by his immersion.” Carson speaks as though the honest man were to be dipped “to the bottom” of the dye-tub, instead of imbued to the bottom of his own soul. Such extravagant interpretations, manifestly groundless and framed to meet the case, will prepare us to appreciate others of like characteristics in connection with baptizo.

“Beware of Caesarism, lest you be imbued by it.” “Don’t make the former emperors the pattern of your actions, lest you are infected or stained, or as it were dipped and dyed, namely in mistakes and vices.” - Gale. “This road to dipping through “infection” and “staining” is rather roundabout, and hardly worth the trouble of passing over, inasmuch as after thus reaching “dipping” the Doctor makes no tarrying, but passes on to “dyeing.” This is another illustration of the inconsistency of Baptist writers in affirming that a word has but one meaning through Greek literature, and then availing themselves of the use of half a dozen different meanings whenever the exigency of the case requires it. Carson is never embarrassed by any difficulty, the knot which his principles cannot untie is always resolved by the edge of his knife. When neither dipping nor dyeing will answer his purpose, he...adds to or takes from these agencies at will. He says; “He uses the same word, also, when dye injures what it colors. He cautions against a bad example, lest you be infected.” The notion of a dye injuring the fabric is that of Carson, not of Antonius. To make injury to the fabric the basis of interpretation is to go entirely beyond the record... “To infect” is a translation to which Dr. Carson has no right so long as he says that bapto has but two meanings, to dip, to dye; “to infect” is neither the one nor the other...Infection is a consequence of being imbued with Caesarism. There is no dyeing, but a transference of moral qualities. The idea of color is lost...Imbue expresses this modification of thought and is applicable to any quality, good or bad.”

“Adopt the character of one imbued.” The interpretation of this passage has caused no little embarrassment and given rise to various translations and expositions...Attention has been directed, so far as I am aware, exclusively to the primary meaning of bapto, or to a meaning (connecting it with baptism of which it is not possessed. The clue to the interpretation lies, I think, in the secondary meaning and its modification. I would translate: “When one takes up the character (state or condition) of one imbued and convinced, then, he is in reality and in name a Jew.” When the passage is considered alongside of those already examined can there be a reasonable doubt that this is the true interpretation? Usage sanctions the translation and the passage is made luminous by its application ...

“That they may receive the laws in the best manner, as a dye.” Plato, having described the great pains taken by dyers in order to secure a dye which would be unchangeable and ineradicable, applies this to the pains taken in training soldiers, which he says is in order to their receiving the laws or ordinances like a dye which cannot be washed out by pleasure, grief, fear, &c. By this comparison made between a military training and dyeing Plato does not represent the soldier as either dipped or colored, but indicates the thorough preparation which is practiced in both cases and the similarity of results, so far as inducing a permanent color in the one case, and permanent soldierly character in the other ...

 “Baptai” - (Dale gives a lengthy discussion of Baptai, the title of a play written by Eupolis. He lists possible meanings for this class of people, the dipped, the washed, the dyed, the imbued and takes the last, the imbued, as the correct translation.)

This investigation as to the meaning of bapto appears to justify the following conclusions:

1. The severe limitation of this word to the two meanings to dip, to dye, is no better grounded that the limitation to a single meaning, to dip.

 2. The natural and prevailing syntax used with bapto to dip is to place in the element, into which the dipping takes place, in the accusative with eis; while bapto to dye, as naturally and prevailingly, requires the element, by which the coloring influence is to be exerted, to be put in the dative, usually without a preposition.

 3. Bapto, after having exercised its powers in communicating the quality of color through dyeing, staining, painting, passes on a step farther, and expresses the communication of qualities devoid of color. And in this extreme development bapto makes its nearest approach to assimilation with baptizo.