door into the ark of Christ's Church, or whether we may all enter in by any way that seems good to us, we will shortly point out the cases, first, of the Saviour Himself, and, secondly, of Nicodemus; and will then explain those words of St. Paul which have sometimes been brought in aid of this notion-"Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the Gospel."

We must, however, be permitted here to repeat what we remarked before, concerning the passages upon which this low notion of the nature and necessity of the rite of Baptism (for in this view it is no sacrament at all) is founded-namely, that it is impossible that passages which represent the members of the Christian community as "being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Pet. i. 23), or as begotten of God's "own will with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures" (James i. 18)—it is impossible that passages like these, which represent God's complete message to man in the Word of the Gospel as the great cause of man's change from a state of nature to a state of grace, can be understood to weaken the importance or dignity of particular portions of that very message, in which special means are appointed by the authority of Christ Himself, and holy Apostles, His messengers, for conducting and ordering that change in a manner acceptable to Himself.

It is true that St. Peter has said—and they are most glowing and edifying words "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead;" and that, before the end of the same chapter, he repeats, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." But will any reasonable person venture to contend that these words in the Epistle of St. Peter, in any degree whatever lessen the weight, or the authority, or the Divine sanction, of those other words of his, when, under the immediate influence of the Holy Ghost, newly poured out upon the Apostles upon the day of Pentecost, he answered the earnest enquiry of those that "were pricked in their hearts" in consequence of the preaching of the Word "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Do we not know and feel that it was under the direction of the Holy Spirit that Peter answered, "Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost?" Would Peter have ventured to promise them the gift of the Holy Ghost as an immediate consequence of repentance and baptism, in the name of Jesus Christ, if he had not been divinely assured that Baptism (the only part of the condition of receiving the gift, the fulfilment of which would be generally known to the multitude) was ordinarily needful to their salvation? It is evident that the general message of the Gospel, just delivered to them from his own lips, having opened their hearts to a desire to know and do the will of their God and their Saviour, Peter proceeded to exhort them to the

use of those special means contained in and under that message, without the adoption and use of which they would not be fully obedient to the Heavenly Word; and their enrolment as Christ's disciples, which they appear to have ardently desired, could not regularly have taken place; and so "they that gladly received His Word were baptised, and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls" (Acts ii. 41); and that, upon these three thousand the gift of the Holy Ghost came, according to Peter's promise-as it would not have done, if they had remained unbaptised, whatever might have been the amount of their faith and repentance-we can no more doubt, than we can that St. Peter was an inspired Apostle and an accredited messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us now return to our case. The question in hand is, whether faith and repentance competently had, do not render it a matter of simple outward decorum and propriety to proceed farther to the celebration of Baptism; whether, if an individual could be furnished with the perfection of lively faith, and the utmost completeness of selfrenunciation, and inward change in repentance, such individual could be swayed by any other motive than a general desire of complying with appointed forms, to become a candidate for the holy rite of Baptism; whether the faith and repentance would not be accepted, and be available to his salvation, just as much without the Baptism as with it; or whether, on the other hand, any precious gift, promotive of salvation, may be confidently expected by him in the use of that ordinance, which he cannot expect without it? The first thing that strikes us is, that this is not wholly an hypothetical case: one instance the holy Gospels relate for our instruction, in which AN INDIVIDUAL, whose faith was absolutely perfect, and who had no need of repentance, inasmuch as He “knew no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth," thought it fitting to present Himself to the appointed minister of preparatory Baptism, in order to be made partaker of that holy rite. This Baptism was, it is true, only the Baptism of John, the Baptism of repentancepossibly not yet connected with an absolute remission of sins,* certainly not blessed with any promise of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the faithful recipients of it; but this only makes the instance the more striking, if any special gift of the Spirit be found to have accompanied this Baptism in the case in question. "Then cometh Jesus

from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptised of him; but John forbad Him, saying, I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered Him. And Jesus, when He was baptised, went up straightway out of the water, and, lo! the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending, like a dove, and lighting upon Him; and,

* Burnet thinks that repentance and remission of sins were not joined together till after the resurrection of Christ. (See Luke xxiv. 47; Burnet, Art. 27.)

lo! a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. iii. 13-17): or, as it is given by St. Luke"Now, when all the people were baptised, it came to pass that Jesus also, being baptised, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, like a dove, upon Him, and a voice came from Heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased." (Luke iii. 21, 22.) The motive with which this Holy Person went to Baptism is distinctly stated: it was not a feeling that Baptism was a very decorous rite, which, to one already in a right spiritual frame, could not be expected to bring any farther benefit, but it was a conviction that it was a part of that whole will of God, made up of ordinances and laws, each portion of which is sure, in its measure, if fulfilled in faith, to bring its special blessing with it: "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." The result, known, no doubt, beforehand to the Holy Person most interested, was such as fully to justify the decision of our blessed Lord in the eyes of John the Baptist: "Jesus being baptised, and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, like a dove, upon Him; and a voice came from Heaven, which said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased."

Now, this is a case of Baptism in which that ordinance being, according to the notions of those to whom we are replying, needless to the introduction of the recipient either into the favour of God or into any spiritual benefits, faith and its accompaniments existing in Him in perfection, the Almighty was, nevertheless, pleased to exhibit to us His high approbation of the observance of His appointed ordinance, by making the celebration of it an occasion of a special and very marked effusion of His Holy Spirit upon Him whose obedience was thus well-pleasing to Him. And this occasion being taken at a Baptism which was, in truth, only a Baptism of repentance, and without promise of any accompanying spiritual blessings, it is, we think, impossible to deny that the argument becomes therefrom yet stronger in favour of the reception of spiritual gifts (those of adoption and remission of sins) in Christian Baptism, the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, by all who rightly receive it, however high, holy, and spiritual their inward frame may already be; or rather, and more correctly, it is impossible not to see that the height, and holiness, and spirituality of the inward frame of the recipient make it more, and not less, probable that he will be spiritually benefited by a due celebration of the ordinance of Baptism.

The Blessed Son received the acknowledgement of his Sonship, in specific words, at Baptism, though He were already the only begotten Son of His Father; He also received the Holy Ghost in an open and visible manner, though there is no doubt that it had ever, in a high measure, dwelt with Him.

What said St. Peter concerning the converts of Cæsarea, in the house of Cornelius, upon whom the Holy Ghost had fallen, even whilst he was preaching the Word to them, so that "they of the circumcision were astonished, as many came with Peter, because that on the

Gentiles, also, was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost; for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God?" (Acts x. 45, 46.) Did Peter consider it unnecessary to baptise those who had now received a plenary effusion of the Holy Ghost? No: his own words are, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptised, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" "And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord."

No doubt, the point of St. Peter's question was, whether these heathens could be denied a reception into that religious community of which the already existing members were all Jews by birth: but it is evident that the question might have been waved, if Baptism had been held to be incapable of conferring any farther privileges upon such as have undeniably received a portion of the blessed influences of the Spirit upon their faith and repentance. The truth and acceptableness of the faith and repentance had been in this instance testified to by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the subjects of them. Some would say, What more could Baptism do for them? We answer, It could sign and seal the adoption; it could be the pledge to them of the remission of their sins; and it could increase faith and grace by special prayer of the Church to God in that ordinance: of which, if the two former be considered as amounting to regeneration, and the latter as an unfailing accompaniment of the former, we have a scheme of the effects of the sacrament equally suitable to what took place in St. Peter's day, and what ordinarily takes place in our own. The new converts who had been blessed with the good influences of the Holy Ghost upon Peter's preaching, were not as yet, previously to Baptism, truly brought into the family and household of God; they were not yet practically called upon to bear the reproach of Christ; they had made no public profession of Him: they had not yet "arisen, and been baptised, and washed away their sins, calling upon the name of the Lord." (Acts xxii. 16.) Consequently, they had received no pledge of the forgiveness of their sins, which is a thing not to be despised by any to whom such pledge is graciously offered; and, however great their faith and grace may have been, there was yet a means of increasing these gifts by prayer of the Church to God for them in Baptism, of which they had not yet availed themselves; in short, they were still heathens. Of this they were rightly sensible; and we can have no manner of doubt that it was with truly grateful and affectionate hearts that they heard the decision of Peter, that they might now "be baptised in the name of the Lord."

In speaking of the value of faith and repentance, previously to Baptism, and independently of it, we must recollect that it is a question upon which the opinion of our blessed Lord has been unequivocally pronounced; for the case of Nicodemus cannot be denied to be one very much to the purpose, in our consideration of this subject. Nicodemus was "a ruler of the Jews," (John iii. 1,) a man therefore of station, and, no doubt, of a certain degree of influence, such as ordinarily accompanies high station; and we may reasonably suppose, also, of

some degree of wealth. It would have been proper for a person in such circumstances, being struck with conviction of the truth of Jesus Christ's Word, and the Divine nature of his mission, (even granting, what was probably the truth, that he had not a just notion of the union of God and man in His person,) to come openly to the Saviour, in such guise as his rank usually required of him; and openly to give in his adhesion to the new revelation from God, with all the weight which his position in society might carry with it. This, however, was not the course adopted by Nicodemus. He appears to have believed in the Divine mission of our Lord, and to have been willing to enroll himself amongst his disciples, if the secret devotion of his heart might be accepted as a sufficient acknowledgement of our Lord's authority. He came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest except God be with him." This secret and partial kind of adhesion, however, could not be accepted: "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Unless a man be the subject of such entirely new views as to be willing to enter upon a completely new life, he cannot see, he cannot appreciate, far less receive, the blessings of the Gospel dispensation; and upon the somewhat astonished enquiry of Nicodemus, how a man can be born again when he is old, the assertion is repeated with amplification and explanation: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Unless a man be influenced by the Spirit both to entertain new views and to intend a new life, and also to seal the same by public profession in Baptism, he cannot enter into the blessings of the Gospel dispensation; short of this, he is not yet new-born. There is every probability that Nicodemus was willing to commit himself to everything short of being baptised in the name of Christ; the ceremony of Baptism was then of course very publicly performed, and made it utterly impossible that the world at large should remain in ignorance of such as had thus professed themselves Christ's disciples; it is in the highest degree probable that Nicodemus, in his good disposition towards the Saviour, whose miracles appear to have convinced him of His truth, had hoped that even the secret adhesion of so important a person as himself might be cheerfully accepted by the messenger of the New Covenant, and that thus he would be enabled to retain his worldly rank, and influence, and estimation, whilst yet he might appease his conscience, by yielding his homage to the truth of God. Our Lord, therefore, began by making it apparent that no such half measures could be accepted; He commenced the conversation on His part by alluding to the entireness of the needful change of views and prospects, and of the absolute necessity of sealing them, of course in public, probably in the river Jordan, by Baptism in the name of Christ; and even though the full benefits of Christian Baptism may not have been as yet developed, which they probably were not, because the Holy Ghost had