A Plain and Scriptural View of Baptism (Baker)
Description
Who should be baptized—professing believers only, or professing believers and their non-professing children? In what way should they be baptized— by being dipped under water, or by having water put on them by pouring or sprinkling? As the gospel of Jesus Christ spread across the American frontier in the 19th century, these questions were much disputed— as they are today. Daniel Baker, a Presbyterian evangelist in the 19th century, was used mightily by God to draw many of His elect to Himself. In this short work he offers succinct and clear answers in a straight-forward, simple, and eminently Scriptural manner. Readers of A Plain and Scriptural View of Baptism will gain a better understanding of the doctrine of baptism, specifically why the baptism of infants and baptism by modes other than immersion are in accord with God’s word.
Endorsements
“Many know Daniel Baker as the pioneering evangelist of the nineteenth-century American frontier. But many do not know that Baker was also a careful theologian who labored to see the biblical doctrines of the Westminster Standards embraced within the Church. A Plain and Scriptural View of Baptism is a master class in explaining the Scripture’s teaching on baptism plainly, practically, and profoundly. Whether you are looking to learn more about what the Bible says about baptism or to find a resource to help you explain that teaching to others, this reprint merits a place on your shelf.”
—Guy Prentiss Waters, Ph.D., James M. Baird, Jr. Professor of New Testament and Academic Dean, Reformed Theological Seminary.
“Daniel Baker, a native of Georgia, was a graduate of old Princeton Seminary. He was a fervent and effective evangelist and church planter. I think his writing on the practice of baptism is one of the clearest I have ever read from any point of view. He shows that as children were included in the covenant of grace in circumcision, so also they are included in the same covenant when baptism replaces circumcision (see Colossians 2:11). Following 1 Corinthians 7:14, he shows that the children of even one believing parent are counted as holy. Thus, they have the right to baptism."
—Douglas F. Kelly, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Reformed Theological Seminary.
About the Author
Daniel Baker (1791–1857) was a Presbyterian pastor and evangelist. Originally from Midway, Georgia, he graduated from Princeton College in 1815 and then studied theology with William Hill in Virginia. His ministry traversed the American South, and his gospel preaching was instrumental in the conversion of over two thousand people. His last seventeen years were spent in Texas, where he founded Austin College in Huntsville, TX.