Newspapers / Zion’s Landmarks (Wilson, N.C.) / Jan. 1, 1877, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of Zion’s Landmarks (Wilson, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
36 Zion's l^andmark. or place of passing over near Jericho, where the Israelites, perhaps, crossed over, and where our Ijord was bap tized, and not less than eighty or nine ty miles from outter parts of Judea. From all of which places they came to John anl were liaptized of him in Jordan.—Matt, 3: 5, 6,—Mark 1: 5, 9. “ Then went out to him Jeru- salem and all Judea, and all the re gion round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” Mark says, “And there went out to him all the land ol Ju dea and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan confessing their sins.” The Greek word polamos, according to “ Donegan’s Greek Texicon,” has the three following meanings, viz : river, river-water, drinkable-water.” But, I must pass on. “ Then cometh Je sus from Galilee to Jirf1an, unto John, to be baptized of him ; but John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and com est thou to me ? And Jesus answer ing, said unto him. Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to ful- jill all righteousness. Then he suf fered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water ; and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him,”&c.— Matt. 3:14, 15, 16. Mark says, “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazireth of Galile'', and was baptizefl of John in Jordan. And straightway .coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him : and there came a voice from heaven, saying. Thou art my mon V that the pattern of baptism was made in the river of Jordan that it ap pears useless to cite more. And it appears plain from these passages, that all whom John then baptized, he baptized in Jordan ; for all Judea and all Jerusalem, and all the region round about Jordan, certainly must mean the whole land of Palestine or Holy Land, as the river Jordan di vides the country into two parts, and the south-western [>art of Judea, the most remote from the Jordan of any part of the II ly Land or land of Is rael : and as the river Jordan is the starting point for baptism, I will here stale a few particulars concern ing it: In 1848, under the authority of the United States government, while James K. Polk was President, Lieu tenant Lynch, of the U. S. Navy, ex plored the river Jordan, being furn- isbed with instruments for measuring its depth, width, swiftness, &c., and boats to navigate it with. And he started into it in its outlet, where it ileaves the sea of Galilee, and follow- ei it ilown to the dead sea, a distance of alxmt two hundred miles by the course of the river, and about sixty- five or se/enty on a straight line.— The first measure, where he entered into it, was twenty-five yards wide, the reeond, thirty yards wide and ten feet deep; the third, twenty-five yards wide and ten feet deep ; and the lft.st measure was one hundred flud eighty yard.s wide and three feet deep. I'he interniedJate meaeurcmeiit varied from thirty or forty to seventy or eighty yards wiile, and from two two and a half to eleven or twelve feet deep, and the velccity or swift ness of the river varied from two to twelve miles per hour, being a very rapid river indeed. 'J'iie velocity and swiftness of the Jordan are in proportion to the width and depih of it. As baptism was first admiiiis tered in the Jordan, and is the exam ple to be tbllov\e(l, 1 have given this short sketch and would like to give more, Imt space will not allow it — It appears plain irom the scri})tures that liyptism went forth from the Jordan, and the Jews were baptized in it, and that the church was organ ized at Jerusalem ; and, therefore, we must look to Jerusalem lor tin; pattern of the church, and to the riv er Jordan for tiie pattern of baptism. For Goil said to Moses; “ See that thou make all things aeeordingto the pattern shown thee in the Mount.— Ex. 2o: 9; 40: 26; 30 : 27, 28 — Nntn. 8 : 4, Acts 7 : 44, Meb. 8 : 5; 9 : 23. But we read, “ And John also was baptizing in Enou, near Sa lem, because there was much water there.” Now 1 am aware that the learned differ about what Em n is.— Some putting it down a-S a town, some as a river, but its meaning is dove’s eye or fountain. Now it is near Salem, and Salem is sitvated about two miles west of tlie Jordan, in Galilee. Mitchell puts Eiiou down as a town on the wist bank or side of the Jordan, or the next lo Salem, tints placing it between Salem and the Jordan, but right at the Jordan. Calmet, who puhlislrwl a “ Histor ical and Critical' F^lctionary* of the ble,” says it is between Salem and the Jordan. Holman & Co., the liible publishers of Philadelphia, have a Table in t’ eir bible, beaded, “ Re markable Rivers and Lakes,” in which they have Emm put down as a river, or lake of Palestine, but do not say wliich it is, but merely ) ut it doa-n in their table of “ Remarkable Rivers and Lakes.” Now .some of these authors, or all of them, must be in error ; for it cannot be a town and river ur lake ; for Enou must mean but one thing, and I think I will show that it means neither of them. First; we have no account of John baptizing any where except in the wilderness.—Matt. 3 : 2, 6, 7 ; Luke 3:3, 7. Second; it is affirmed. Matt. 3 : 5, and Mark 1 : 6, that Jerusalem and Judea, and all the re gion rcund about Jordan were all baptized in the river Jordan.—Malt. 3 : 5, 6; Mark 1 : 5. Notwith standing John, 1 : 28, says, “ These things were done in Belhabara, be yond Jordan, where John was bap tizing,” and in the third chapter and twenty-third verse, he says, “John also was baptizing ioEiion, near Sa lem, becatise there was much water there,” &c. Now Bethahara was tlie trommon ford of the river Jordan, not far from Jericho, and was John’s first station for baptizing. He afterwards mov ed a little farther iij) the river to Enon.—See Brown’s Enc. R. K, Art. Bethahara, page 225, and Art. John the Baptist, page 696. Lieut. Lynch of the U. S. Navy Bays, Bethalxira rnwHs the place of passing over the Jordan, or the ford, and was the place, no doubt, where the children of Israel passed over the Jordan into the Promised Land, and the place where the Savior was liaptized.—See Lynch's Explora- of Palestine. Holman & Co., in their “ Pronouncing Bible Dictiona ry,” have the following,* Bethahara, house of the ford where John was baptizing. These authors nearly agree with regard to the meaning of Bethabvra. T.vo say, it is the place of passing over, and the other, that it is the house of the ford. Now, that there might have been a tent there, or a place of shpiter, apjiears probalile, as thi.s was John's station for baptizing; but it seems hardly piobable that there was any house there, inasmuch as John baptiz'-d in the wilderness, which means an nii- iiiliabi*ed place and where people did not live. It is true, “ belli” signi fies a house or tent and may liave taken the name Bettiabara becavise the children of Israel camped there before crossing the Jordan, and tills ford or place of passing over is oppo site Jericho, ami the children of Isra el crossed the Jordan straight against or opposite Jeriolio.—Josh. 3 : 16. And this same Bethahara, ford, or place of passing over the Jordan, is not only the place where the Israel ites passed over the Jordan, hut is the place where it is believed our Lord was baptized. Lieutenant Lynch says the topography of the country goes to confirm the belief that Bethahara was the place where the Israelites crossed the Jordan, and where the Lord was baptized, and /^[lil^inis from every cn^iittmcd tion go to that place to this clay to be baptized, even from our own coun try, and he .saw about eight thomsand dijiped in one day while he was there, and they looked upon it as being a holy place. That there were fords on the Jordan appe^ars very plain, and I will let the almve suffice as regards the Bethahara and pass on now to notice Enon, near Salem. Our strongluJd with regard to Enon will be the scriptures, as others are not agreed as to what Enon means, one putting it down as a town and an other as a river or lake, &c., and therefore cannot be relied on as satis factory evidence; but I think the case is made plain by the scriptures. Now Bethahara was John’s first sta tion for baptizing and was a place nf passing over the Jordan, or a ford.— It seems that Emm was his swond station and that Bethahara and Enon were the only two stations that John ever baptized any one at.— John’s gospel on this subject seems to be to state or define John the Bap- ti.st’s station, on the Jordan, for bap tizing, wiiile it apfiears to be tlie part of Matthew and Mark’s gosjiels to state and define the river that he baptized in, which river, they say, was the river Jordan.—Matt. 3 : 5, 6; Mitrk 1 : 5. Luke’s gives the l> rth and circumcision and limits tlie country of his preaching of the baptism of repentance to the country round about the Jordan. Therefore there i.s a most beautiful ami divine harmony and concord among the four divinely iuspired writers on the sub ject of Jsylm’9 ptraofa’ng and bap* ti.sm, all agreeing that his preaching was in the wjldernc.s.s country ahntu the Jordan, and that he baptized in the Jordan and John only telling hrs stiitions in the Jordan where he !«ip- tized af, namely, Bethahara am? Elion. Now Emm vvas ne?ir Salon> and Salem \va. only about two milm* we.stofthe Jordan. And Matthew says all Judea and Jerusalem, and all the regions rowml about Jordan were all Ixiptized in Jordan. There fore inasmuch as Euou is near Salena it coulfl not liave been oiher than in the region alxuit the Jordan, as John preached and baptized now’here else„ It is rea.sonable to .suppo.se that he would choose a place of ea.sy access^ so that the iimltitnde that he baptiz ed and visited him, would have a •ray or road to get to him, as he did in Bethahara stati*ii bbn.sdf on^ the direct road leading through Jer icho to the Jordan from .Jcnrsalern.. It, is, therefore, highly probable that he stationed himself on the road leading directly from Salem across-^ the Jordan, through Ejion,to JabesE Gilead and other ci'ies and towns on the opposite side of the river Jordan- Now I will recapitulate the evi dence in relation to Emm ami Beth- abara. First : Matthew ami Mark, taken together, affirm that Jndea and ail Jern.salem, and all the regions round about Jordan yvere baptized in the river Jordan. Second : Mat thew, Mark, Luke and John ad agree that John preached ami crieil in the wjfdenvsss. Third : Mark emphatically asserts tlia-t he lioth preached and baptized in the wilder ness. Fourth : Luke confines his- t^ie country alxfut - the^ Jjrdan, and proves in the next by a quotation frotiji Isaiah, that the country about Jordan was a wilderne'sg^ John tells tlie names of the .stations where John the Baptist liajitized at. It was, he savs, in Bctliabara, beymul Jordan, and Enon, Inasnuicb as Betliahara is a place of passing over the Jordan, or a ford, and the Jordan is known to he not less than seventy w eighty yards wide in Bethahara, beyond Jordan, in Bethahara must mean tlie far ther side of Jordan in the fi>nl or place of passing over, as the river was too wide and rapid to ba[itizct only on one side or the other. Inas much as he baptized in Bethabara, or the ford beyond Jordan, or in the ford on the other side of Jordan, meaning the opposide side from Jer usalem or the east side of the Jor dan. In Enon, near Salem, we think, must mean a place in the Jordan where John wa.s baptizing by the name of Enon. I will now notice the case of tlie Eunuch. “ And the angel of tf>e Lord spake unto Philip, saying, arise and go toward the South, un to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is des ert,” &c. “ And as they went on their way they eame to a certain wa ter, and the Eunuch saivl. See here is water, what doth liindsr me to b« baptized. And he commanded the chariot to stand still ; and they weot down into the water, bf'th Philip and the Eunuch and he baptized him,” &0. N*iv imvrk the- langiui^;
Zion’s Landmarks (Wilson, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 1, 1877, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75