308 Dimensions of Baptism
McClendon discusses baptism as one of the 'remembering signs' of Chris-
tian faith.^17 That baptism has to do with Christian memory is not con-
tested. How it so functions, what its memorial dimensions are, though, has
been given little attention.^18 Though he refers to Jewish memory, we do
not err in extending Yosef Yerushalmi's observation to Christian memory.
Two channels of memory exist: ritual and recital.^19 We may see how these
two aspects functioned in the baptismal practices of forebears to the cur-
rent Southern Baptists, for whom memorial dimensions are clearly present.
While they did not explicitly refer to baptism as a memorial, these
forebears intuitively held it to be such.
Earlier Baptists baptized in a context that was memory-rich. Morgan
Edwards recorded a baptismal prayer from the latter quarter of the eight-
eenth century in a church manual to guide Baptist pastors in late colonial
America. It merits quoting at length:Is baptism a symbol of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ; of the
resurrection of the body; and of death to sin, and rising in the newness of
life?... Let us pray, Hear, O Lord Jesus! for he that is risen to be baptized
and maketh no tarrying from obedience, calleth upon thy name! Thou that
didst come from Galilee to Jordan come now also from heaven toand meet
us on the banks of this river; for we repair hither for the sake of fulfilling all
righteousness! Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world meet
thy disciples! We know that thou art present every where, but ah! let it not
be here as at the first on the banks of the Jordan when thou didst stand
among the croud, and they knew it not! O let us find the messiah here! Thou
that comest by water and art witnessed to of the water come by this water.
Let this laver of regeneration bear testimony to thee. And afford us com-
munion with thee in thy baptism; for in the water and in the floods thy
presence is promised!... Behold the suppliant of pardon, sanctification, and
salvation on coming to that which encourages his expectation of the
necessary blessings! Accept his person... Henceforth, be thou his, and he
thine; for it is his will to put on Christ by baptism; to become a Christian
openly; to take thy yoke and burden on his shoulder; and to learn obedience
of the meek and lowly Jesus! Let his life be alike figure to his baptism...^20- Leithart, 'Modernity', p. 329; and J.W. McClendon, Systematic Theology. II.
Doctrine (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), pp. 382-97. Cf. Wolterstorff, 'Remem-
brance', pp. 132-36. - Discussions of Christian memory usually refer more frequently to the eucha-
rist than to baptism. Cf. Wolterstorff, 'Remembrance'; and B. DeConcini, Narrative
Remembering (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1990), passim. - Y.H. Yerushalmi, Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory (Seattle, WA:
University of Washington Press, 1996), p. 11. - M. Edwards, The Customs of Primitive Churches—or—A set of propositions