Baptism

(băp'tizm.) [From Gr. ba pto, I dip.] (Theol.) The rite of initiation into the community of Christians, ordained by Christ himself, when he commi ioned his apostles to go and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (St. Matt. xxviii. 19). It is recorded by the Evangelists, that our Saviour himself received B. from John; and the ceremony which the Baptist performed is allowed generally to have been an imitation of a rite in common practice among the Jews, who appear to have admitted proselytes by circumcision and B. Lustration, however, by water, as an initiatory rite, is of great antiquity in the East; and Christian B. may be considered as an adaptation of a form which was generally understood to have a symbolical meaning. Accordingly, it has been recognized by all Christian communities admitting B. as a sacrament, although they have differed in their explanation of its nature and meaning. Baptistery,(bap'tis-te-ry.) [From Gr. baptizo, I baptize.] (Arch.) Abuilding destined for the purpose of administering the rite of baptism. The B. of Florence is nearly 90 feet in diameter, octagonal, and covered with ado me. The celebrated bronze gates by Lorenzo Ghiberti, which Michael Angelo said were fit to be the gates of Paradise, enclose it. The B. at Pisa was finished abt. 1160. It is octagonal, abt. 129 feet in diameter, and 179 fee thigh. [s. 72]