reprefent as given or imparted, under the Figure of SPRINKLING or POURING. Thus, when David prays- Purge me with Hyflop * (alluding to the Rite of SPRINKLING with Hyffop) and I shall be clean. He means the very fame Thing, viz. Pardon, or Juftification, which is fignified by the baptifmal Water, correfponding to which are the words of Ananias, Alts xxii. 16. Arife, and be baptized, and wash away thy Sins. When Ezekiel + fpeaks of God's gathering the Jews from among the Heathen, purging them from their Uncleanness, and forming them into a Church, or peculiar People under his Protection (the very Things which are intended to be reprefented by Christian Baptifm) what Figure does he ufe? I will SPRINKLE clean Water upon them, and they fhall be clean. So when Ifaiah defcribes the Bleffings of the MESSIAH'S Kingdom, or of the Chriftian Difpenfation (when the Blessing of Abraham, even the Promife of the SPIRIT, was to come upon the Nations he does it under the fame Figure-He fball SPRINKLE many Nations . And, I will

POUR WATER upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry Ground; I will POUR MY SPIRIT upon thy Seed, and my Blessing upon thine Offspring §. Now from thefe, and other like Paffages, it may be fairly rgued thus-Forafmuch as the Water in Chriftian Baptifm applied to the Body, is confeffedly but an emblematical or figurative Thing, and was intended to reprefent fome spiritual Bleffing to be imparted to the Soul; and forafmuch as this fpiritual Bleffing, which is intended to be reprefented by it, is in the old Teftament often spoken of, as to be given when the new should take place,

*Pfal. li. 7. Ezek. xxxvi. 25. Gal. iii. 14. Ifai. lii. 15. § xliv. 3.

place, under the Emblem of Water Sprinkled or poured out; it follows, that if the Word Cal to baptize will at all admit of this Senfe, then it is perfectly agreeable to the Analogy of Scripture to adminifter the baptifmal Water by Sprinkling or Pouring.

IT further strengthens this Argument to obferve-That these very spiritual Blessings, of which the baptifmal Water was the appointed Emblem or Figure, are in the New Teftament also spoken of as actually imparted to us under the Figure of Sprinkling or Pouring. Thus, we are faid to have our Hearts SPRINKLED from an evil Confcience * or a consciousness of Guilt. To be come to the Blood of SPRINKLING . To be chofen through Sanctification of the Spirit, and SPRINKLING of the Blood of JESUS 1. And to have an Unction, or Anointing, from the Holy One, poured on usNow what, I ask, is meant by all these emblematical and figurative Expreffions? Is it not Remillion, Juftification, or the Holy-Spirit: the very Things which the Water, in this chriftian Ceremony, was intended to be an Emblem of ?

BUT it is objected-John was baptizing in Ænon BECAUSE there was much Water there §. Does not this very clearly and certainly imply that he baptized the Multitudes by Dipping? I apprehend, not at all. For there were other necessary and important Uses for ** a udala many Waters befides Dipping the Multitudes; other weighty and juft Causes why John fhould chufe this well-wa. tered and fruitful Country for the scene of his Ministrations; and not that defert and barren Region, where

πολλα

* Heb. x. 22. + xii. 24. +1 Pet. i. 2. || 1 John ii. 20, 27. § John iii. 23. και τα πολλά ύδατα many Rivu

lets, a well-watered Country.

where he before fojourned; that dry and thirsty Land (as the Pfalmift * calls it) where no Water is. Let it be confidered-How valuable and scarce Water was in thofe Parts-How bot the Climate

How numerous the crouds which flocked to John's Baptifm-From how diftant Parts they came-How long they tarried to hear his Doctrine and Inftructions; for the mere act of Baptizing was the leaft part of John's Miffion and of the People's End in flocking to him-Let thefe be confidered, and there will appear fundry good Reasons for his chufing this well watered and fruitful Country for the place of his Preaching, without any regard had to the convenience of Dipping. That THIS therefore was the Reason of his making this Choice, does by no means appear. So 2 Chron. xxxii. 4. They flopped all the Fountains and Brooks-Saying, why should the Kings of Affyria come and find MUCH WATER? For what? Why, to drink and refresh their Army.

AND here it cannot be improper to afk- If thefe multitudes were all dipt; How was it done? Were they naked? This Modefty forbids. Had they all Change of Raiment, to undress, and put on dry Apparel, when they came out of the Water? This the Vaftnefs of the Multitudes, the Openness of the Country, and the great Distance whence they came, will not eafily admit. And that they flood in their wet Garments, and hearkened to John's Doctrine; or travelled in them many Miles to their Homes, feems equally improbable. I pretend to no Certainty that John did not dip at all. But, as he had seen, by the exprefs Appointment of GOD, Water applied both Ways to the human Body,

Pfal. lxiii, 1.

for

for ceremonial Purification, viz. by Sprinkling and Dipping; and both thefe are by the SPIRIT, which fent him to baptize, actually called Baptifms, it is poffible, he might ufe both ways of Adminiftration, according as the circumftances of Time, Place, and Perfons required *.

So

*It seems an Obfervation of fome Weight in this Debate That as Water was used by divine Appointment under the Jewish Law in a figurative and facramental Manner, or as an Emblem of moral Purity; and the Chriftian Geremony of BAPTIZING is, undoubtedly, adopted from this Ufage under the Larv; fo the only Way, in which one Person (the Prieft) was ever directed or known to use it upon A NOTHER, for this fymbolical or facramental Purpose, was by Sprinkling or Pouring it on, NEVER by Dipping him into it.

There were diverse Baptifms under the Law: Heh. ix. 10. Thefe Baptifms were generally performed by the Prieft; but the Pricft amongst the various Rites he is directed to use, to fantify and cleanse a Perfon, and receive him into the Church, is never once directed to dip or plunge him in Water, but only to sprinkle or pour it upon him.

The Prieft's PLUNGING a Perfon, in order to his Separation or Cleanfing, is a Ceremony quite frange, and abfolutely unheard of through all the facred Records. Perfons were, indeed, on fome Occafions, directed to plunge or bathe themfelves; But that one Man fhould take another, and plunge him under Water, is a Thing utterly uncommanded, unprecedented, and unknown, throughout the whole Conftitution and Hiftory of the Jewish Church. It may, therefore, ftrongly be prefumed, not to have been the Practice either of John or of Jefus Chrift when the Chriftian was fet up.

For John being of the priestly Race; and beginning his ministrations agreeable to their Law, at thirty years old; and ufing, like them, an Application of Water to the Body as an Emblem of moral Purity; it is left to any impartial judgment- -Whether he is, moft rationally, fuppofed to have plunged Men under Water ( a Thing unpractifed amongst them) Or, whether he only fprinkled or poured Water on them, (a Rite divinely instituted, and every Day familiarly practifed in that Church.)

If

So, that the Jaylor + and his whole Family; who were all taught, converted and baptized about Midnight without any previous Thought of, or Preparation for this Ceremony; had it done by DippingAs, likewise, that Saul afterwards St. Paul, having neither eaten nor drank ‡ for three Days before; and being greatly enfeebled, by the mighty Shock which he received from the Vision in the Way, as well as by the great Remorse with which he reviewed, and repented of, his Crimes; and it being now alfo in the Depth of Winter §; as the learned have fuppofed; that, in this weakly and feeble State, I fay, be arofe and was baptized, by being totally put under Water. And finally, that the three thousand * also, who were converted at Jerufalem, and baptized in one Day, were all overwhelmed - feems, to fay the leaft, to have scarce an Air of Probability.

NOR will the Circumftance of Philip and the Eunuch going down (es) UNTO †† the Water; and coming up (Ex) FROM it **, with any certainty prove, that he there dipt him. For as waters run in the Valleys, they might go down from the Chariot s to, or unto, the Rivulet (for Geographers find

E

but

If it be faid But that Question of the Jews "Why baptizeft thou, if thou art not that Prophet ? implies there was fomething new and unprecedented in John's Baptifm. The answer is obvious. 1. That it could not be his mere ufing the ceremony of Baptizing which occafioned this enquiry, becaufe it was, confeffedly, a Ceremony perfectly well-known and familiar amongst them. But, 2. It was his ufing this Ceremony upon the Ifraelites or Jewish Nation; who looked upon themselves as a People already HOLY, and in Covenant with GOD; and therefore not to need this Ceremony of cleanfing or feparation, under which the Gentiles were wont to pass, when received into the Church.

+ Acts xvi. 33.

ix. 9, 18. § About the 25th of January. *Acts ii. 41. tt viii. 38. 39.

** Note, The greek Particles es and ex are thus rendered unto, and from, the one feveral hundred, the other above a hundred times in the new Testament.