Baptism

Baptism, the Christian rite of initiation into the membership of the Church, identified by St. Paul (Rom. vi. 4) with that No to the world which precedes or rather accompanies Yea to God, but a misunderstanding of the nature of which has led to endless diversity, debate, and alienation all over the Churches of Christendom.

Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)