TRINE IMMERSION: A threefold immersion, consisting in the dipping of the candidate in the water three times-first, in the name of the Father, second, in the name of the Son, and, third, in the name of the Holy Spirit. It is the

Historical practise observed by the Greek, Ar- Situation. menian, and other oriental churches, as well as by the Brethren (bunkers) and some other religious bodies of America, and is more extensively employed than many have been led to suppose. Of the 165,000,000 Christians now living who have been immersed, fully nine-tenths have been baptized by trine immersion. Of the 290,000,000 persons who have received sprinkling or pouring at their baptism, not less than 200,000, 000 had the water applied three times, showing that a very large per cent of the Christian world holds to the triple action in baptism. The advo cates of trine immersion believe that it was the apostolic method of administering the rite, and for their authority they appeal to the formula of bap tism as given by Christ in Matt. xxviii. 19: " Bap tizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." It is held that as there are three persons in the Trinity, so are there three actions in baptism, therefore the three actions symbolize the three persons of the Godhead. How ever, these three actions constitute the " one bap tism," referred to by Paul in Eph. iv. 5, they being regarded as one in the sense that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one.

Speaking of this formula of baptism, Chrysostom (fifth. century) says: " Christ delivered to his disciples one baptism in three immersions of the body, when he said to them, ` Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Ghost ' " (Bingham, Origines, XI., xi., § 7). Jerome (fifth century), commenting on Eph. iv. 5, presents the same view

Patristic regarding the three actions constitu-

Testimony. ting one baptism, for he says: " We are thrice dipped in the water, that the mystery of the Trinity may appear to be but one: . . . though we be thrice put under water to represent the mystery of the Trinity-yet it is reputed but one baptism " (Bingham, ut sup., XI., xi., § 6). Tertullian (third century) also believed that the Lord taught trine immersion, for, speaking of the baptismal formula, he says: " He commands them to baptize into the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, not into a uniperaonal God. And indeed it is not once only, but three times, that we are immersed into three persona, at each several mention of their names " (Adv . Praz., sxvi.; Eng. transl., ANF, iii. 623). The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, written according to Schaff between 90 and 100 A.D. (Schaff's ed. of Didache, p. 122, New York, 1890), is wholly on the side of the triple action in baptism. The rite was to be administered (chap. vii.) " into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, in living water," or, if that could not be had, in other water, cold or warm. If there was not sufficient to immerse, then " pour water thrice upon the head into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." " Three times " applies to the immersion as well as to the pouring. Pouring plenty of water on the head "three times" was the nearest practicable substitute of total trine immersion (cf. Philip Schaff's extended comments in his edition of the Didache, pp. 29-35, New York, 1890). The early Fathers, without a voice to the contrary, believed that triple baptism was the New-Testament form. In his address at the Council of Carthage, 256 A.D., Munnulus. or Monulus, bishop of Girba, said: " The truth of our Mother the Catholic Church, brethren, bath always remained and still remains with us, and even especially in the trinity of baptism, as our Lord says, ` Go ye and baptize the nations, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit"' (G`yprian, " Concerning the Baptism of Heretics," ANF, v. 567). Not one of the eighty-seven bishops present challenged the statement. The fiftieth of the Apostolic Canons shows the views on baptism held by the Church of the second, third, and fourth centuries. It reads thus: "If any bishop or presbyter does not perform the three immersions of the one admission, but one immersion which is given into the death of Christ, let him be deprived; for the Lord did not say, ` Baptize into my death'; but, ` Go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost'" (ANF, vii. 503).

John Wesley thought triple immersion was the apostolic practise (H. Moore's Life of Wesley, i. 425, New York, 1824). Trine immersion was the only form of baptism in general use among the early churches. William Wall says: "The way of trine immersion, or plunging the head of the person three times into the water, was the general practise of all antiquity" (Infant Baptism, i. 592, Ox-

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ford, 1862). Robert Robinson (History of Baptism, p. 148, London, 1790) makes this statement: -" It is not true that dipping was exchanged More for sprinkling by choice before the Modern Reformation, for, till after that period, Opinions. the ordinary baptism was trine im mersion." Wharton Booth Marriott, in DCA, i. 161, says: " Triple immersion, that is, thrice dipping the head while standing in the water, was all but the universal rule of the church in early times." Trine immersion is supported by the testi mony of Basil, 370; Cyril of Jerusalem, 380; Am brose, 390; Augustine, 420; Theodoret, 450; Al cuin, 775, and others of the Fathers. The churches in the East, where Christianity was first estab lished, still retain the trine form in baptism. Rev. Dr. George Washburn, former president of Robert College, in Constantinople, says (Didache, ed. Schaff, ut sup., p. 43): " As to the baptism ques tion, the orthodox authorities here declare that no oriental church not under Roman Catholic or Prot estant influence known any other baptism than trine immersion." On the same page, foot-note, concerning the practise of the Russian Church, it is stated, " Baptism is always administered by dip ping the infant or adult three times into the water." The whole Greek Church, numbering nearly one hundred millions, administers the sacrament of baptism only by trine immersion. This is also the practise of the Armenian church, numbering sev eral millions. Schaff says, "Trine immersion and emersion of the whole body was the general prac tise of the ancient Church, Greek and Latin, and continues to this day in all Eastern churches and sects, and in the orthodox State Church of Russia" (Didache, ut sup., p. 54).

J. H. Moore.

Bibliography: J. Chrystal, HisE. of the Modes of Baptism, Philadelphia, 1881; R. Robinson, Ecclesiastical Researches, chap. on the Greek Church, Cambridge, 1792; A. Campbell, Christian Baptism, Bethany. Va., 1853: G. H. Orchard, Hist. of Foreign Baptists, 2 vols., St. Louis, 1855; Quieter and McConnell Debate, Cincinnati, 1888; J. H. Moore, Trine Immersion Traced to the Apostles, Elgin, Ill., 1874; R. H. Miller, Doctrine of the Brethren Defended, ib. 1878; W. Cathcart, The Baptism of the Ages, Philadelphia, 1878; J. Quieter, Trine Immersion, Elgin,

1888; Miller and Sommer Debate, Mount Morris, Ill., 1889; C. F. Yoder, God's Means of Grace, Elgin, 1908; J. B. Wampler, Biblical and Historical Researches, Grove City, Pa., 1908; the literature cited in the teat, and under Baptism.