announce the advent of the Messiah, declared the whole nation to be spiritually unclean, and demanded that the chosen people themselves should be baptized, if they would have any place in the Kingdom of heaven, the Jews, who knew that Baptism implied admission into a new covenant or faith, were not struck with his proceeding as something unintelligible. They flocked forth unto him from Jerusalem, and all Judæa, and all the region round about (Mtt. iii. 5), and were baptized by him confessing their sins1 (Mk. i. 5), for it was a common belief that the sins of Israel delayed the coming of the Messiah, while their repentance would hasten it2.

6. Baptism of our Lord. But John had not been long engaged in this preparatory mission, before the Saviour Himself came from Nazareth, and was baptized by him in the Jordan, thus submitting to the ordinances of the Law3 (Mtt. iii. 15), inaugurating His public ministry and His office as Redeemer1, and "sanctifying water to the mystical washing away of sin 5."

1 On the questions put to proselytes to test the sincerity of their conversion, see Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. 11. 61.

2 Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. on Mtt. iii. 2; Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, I. 3.

3 As the Jewish high-priest was consecrated by (1) baptism (Ex. xxix. 4—14), (2) unction, (3) sacrifice (Lev. viii. 1— 30), so our Lord was consecrated as our High-priest (1) by baptism in the Jordan; (2) by the unction of the Holy Ghost (Mtt. iii. 16, comp. Acts x. 38); (3) by the sacrifice of Himself. See Heb. vii. 28. Smith's Bibl. Dict. Art. Baptism.

4 "The answer of our Lord to John may have meant that He who had taken upon Him the form of a servant and was boru under the Law was desirous of submitting to every ordinance of God. He had been circumcised in His infancy; He had been subject to His mother and Joseph, He would now go through the transitional dispensation, being baptized by John in preparation for the Kingdom." Smith's Bibl. Dict. Art. Baptism.

5 See the first prayer in the Office for Publick Baptism of Infants.

With this element of water also our Lord baptized (Jn. iii. 22, 28; iv. 1), either in Person or by the hands of His disciples, and with the same element He commanded that they should everywhere baptize1, and so admit proselytes or converts from Judaism or heathenism into the covenant of Grace, as circumcision had admitted to the covenant of works'.

7. The Mode of Administration of this Sacrament of initiation into the Christian Church was in the earliest times undoubtedly by immersion, which St Paul uses as a lively figure of the Christian's burials with Christ by baptism into death, and his rising again to a new life (Rom. vi. 4; Col. iii. 12). In the East and in warm countries this mode would be easy, especially where the recipients were chiefly adults, but there are not wanting indications that baptism by sprinkling may have been practised in Apostolic times, and when the Gospel spread into colder climes sprinkling was deemed sufficient".

1 The Scripture types of Baptism are (1) the delivery of Noah and his family in the ark from perishing by water (1 Pet. iii. 21); (2) the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, when they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. x. 1, 2). See the first Prayer in the Baptismal Service.

2 Bp. Browne On the Articles, p. 622.

3 Compare the Collect for Easter Eve, the afternoon of which day was one of the most favourite times in the early Church for baptizing, Guericke's Antiquities, p. 149, n.

4 Thus we read of the baptism of the family of the gaoler at Philippi on the night of their conversion (Äcts xvi. 33), and of the baptism of three thousand at Pentecost immediately after their profession of repentance (Acts ii. 41). In neither of which cases is it likely that immersion would have been possible. Certainly the baptism of the sick by sprinkling was defended as valid and sufficient as early as the time of Cyprian. See Guericke's Antiquities, p. 232.

5 By the rule of our own Church baptism may be ad

8. The Formula addressed directly to the person baptized, is that directed by Christ Himself, in, or rather, into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Mtt. xxviii. 19). This never was and never may be omitted1, for it is a sacramental declaration of the Christian's union with the nature of each Person in the blessed Trinity (Gal. iii. 27 and comp. Num. vi. 27).

CHAPTER II.

THE INWARD AND SPIRITUAL GRACE OF

BAPTISM.

1. Connection. Having treated of the outward and visible sign or form in Baptism, and the mode of administration, we pass on to consider "the inward and spiritual grace "therein given unto us. Much that bears upon this point has been already anticipated, and it will chiefly be necessary to exhibit it at one view here.

2. Man by Nature. All men, then, as we have seen above, who are naturally engendered of the offspring of Adam, are born in sin. In consequence of the original fault and corruption which infect their nature, they are of themselves disinclined to please God, they are "very far gone from original righteousness," and the

ministered either by immersion or sprinkling. See the Rubric for the Baptism of Infants, and also for Adults. 1 Comp. the Questions in the Office for Private Baptism, With what matter was this Child baptized?

With what words was this Child baptized? And see the quotations from Tertullian and Cyprian in Bingham's Antiquities, Vol. IV. p. 26,

See pp. 62, 102.

3 Quam longissimè; See Art. IX., and Compare (a) Ps. li. 5; Eccl. vii. 20; Isai. liii. 6; Jer. xvii. 9; (b) Mtt. xix. 17; Jn. ii. 24, 25; Mtt. xv. 18, 19; (c) Rom. iii. 19, 23; v. 12; viii. 5-9; Eph. ii. 1-5; Col. ii. 13.

[PT. V. carnal mind1 that is in them is enmity against God, it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Rom. viii. 7). As, therefore, God is a Being of infinite holiness, and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and must of necessity hate all evil, men are truly said to be by nature not only born in sin2, but also the children of wrath 3 (Eph. ii. 3). Hence, as our Lord said to Nicodemus, in their natural condition they cannot see the kingdom of God. For entrance into His kingdom it is necessary that they be born again, or from above3, that they be born of water and of the Spirit (Jn. iii. 3, 5).

3. Man by Adoption and Grace. Of this new birth, this translation from a state of nature into a state of adoption and grace, Baptism is the ordained instrument". For, first, as circumcision admitted the Jew to the privileges of the Old Covenant, so Baptism admits to the privileges of the new and better Covenant, which

1 Τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, “which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire, of the flesh." See Art. IX.

2 Compare the first address in the Baptismal Service.

3 'Opy has here its proper meaning, and denotes not Tiμwpia or Kóλaσis itself, but the moving principle of it, God's holy hatred of sin, which reveals itself in His punitive justice, Rom. i. 18. Bp. Ellicott, in loc.

4 On the various meanings of the Kingdom of God, see above, pp. 114-17.

5. Οἱ μέν, ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, φασιν,οἱ δέ, ἐξ ἀρχῆς. S. Chrysost. Born afresh would be a better rendering than born again, being closer to the meaning of dvw0ev = from the very beginning. Comp. Luke i. 3" Alford in loc. See Stier, IV. 381, &c.

6 See the Collect for Christmas Day, and Waterland's Works, IV. 433.

7 66

Tanquam per instrumentum," Art. XXXVII. "Bucerus agnoscit sacramenta rectè dici instrumenta, organa et canales gratiæ," Retract. in Mtt. “Insuper ibi etiam quasi instrumento quodam operatur et perficit plenam nostri innovationem." See other illustrations in Archd. Hardwick's History of the Articles, p. 393; and Comp. Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. lx. 2.

God has ratified with the whole world in the blood of the Mediator, His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. For His sake, of His bounteous mercy, God grants to us in Baptism that "which by nature we cannot have"," and on His part promises3 (1) the forgiveness of our sins1, (2) the assistance of the Holy Spirit,5, and (3), if we do not forfeit it by neglecting our part of the Covenant, everlasting life.

4. Baptism admits into the Church. Again, by Baptism we are grafted into the universal Church, which is "the blessed company of all faithful people," and which is termed sometimes the Body of Christ', some1 Heb. viii. 7-13; ix. 12. See above p. 8. 2 See the Baptismal Service.

3 Compare the address in the Baptismal Service. "Ye have brought this child here to be baptized, ye have prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to receive him, (1) to release him of his sins, (2) to sanctify him with the Holy Ghost, (3) to give him the kingdom of heaven, and everlasting life. Ye have heard also that He hath promised to grant all these things that ye have prayed for."

4 Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, said St Peter to the multitudes pricked in their heart on the day of Pentecost, for the remission of sins (Acts ii. 38). Arise, and be baptized, said Ananias to Saul of Tarsus, and wash away thy sins (Acts xxii. 16). See Waterland's Works, IV. 433.

5 Be baptized every one of you for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts ii. 38), and compare Acts xix. 2, 6.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, saith our Lord (Mk. xvi. 15, 16), and salvation implies eternal life, as we have seen above pp. 69-72. "Yet it is evident from the whole tenour of Scripture that the promise of eternal life, though sure on God's part, may be made of none effect by us; so that, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, we may come short of it," Bp. Browne On the Articles, p. 628; and see Waterland, Works, IV. 433.

7 See above, p. 8, and p. 55, "As by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church." Art. XXVII.