318 Dimensions of Baptism
Thus may thy mighty Spirit draw
All here to love and keep his law...^59All ye that love Immanuel's name,
And long to feel th'increasing flame.Baptists sang in the closing years of the eighteenth century and on through
the middle of the nineteenth,Tis you, ye children of the light!
The spirit and the bride invite.^60A baptismal chant provides us a fitting conclusion and summary of our
survey of the memorial dimensions of baptism from an earlier period in
Baptist life:And walking in Thy Name in the communion of Thy people,
In the joy of our faith we will thankfully obey Thee.
As in the likeness of Thy resurrection we are raised with Thee,
So in union with Thy life may we live with Thee.^61- Contemporary Practice: Memory Lost?
The richness of the earlier practice has given way to a seeming absence of
memorial content in Southern Baptist baptismal practice. Most Southern
Baptist baptismal acts are quite liturgically spare. Rather than a prayer
such as recorded and commended by Edwards, the extent of the words
currently spoken is often a monologue in the baptistry. '(Name), in obedi-
ence to the commands of our Lord Jesus Christ, and upon your profession
of faith in him as Savior and Lord, I baptize you in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.'^62 Baptismal hymns and
chants are utilized less commonly.^63 What are the implications of this con-
dition from the perspective of memory?- The Baptist Hymnbook (1871), hymn 772, p. 414.
- Clay, Hymns, hymn 260; Stowe and Smith, Psalmist, hymn 816, pp. 426-27.
Cf. Buck, Hymnbook, hymns 788, 802, pp. 416, 464. - E. Turney (comp.), Baptismal Hymns (New York: Sheldon, 1862), p. 72.
- F.M. Segler, The Broadman Minister's Manual (Nashville: Broadman Press,
1969), p. 13. - One may trace a reduction of baptismal hymns in Southern Baptist hymnals
throughout the twentieth century until the most recent, Forbis, Hymnal, contains only
three baptismal hymns.