A LECTURE OS Till: SCRIPTURAL 
 
 DOCTRINE OF THE BES0ERECT10N 
 
 By the Rev. W. Woodman, of Kersley. 
 
 In Svo. Is. stitched. 
 
 2? PRINCETON, N. J. *" 
 
 Presented by Mr. Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Agnew Coll. on Baptism, No. O^ L*2 
 
 /g y?3 
 
 G.J 
 
 CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 
 
 Explained, Demonstrated, and Vindicated from Vulgar Err. 
 Being a Series of Lectures. 
 By the Rev. S. Noble. 
 8vo. 8s. cloth, lettered. 
 
 Hofhon, 22, Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn. 
 
LIFE, 
 
 IN ITS ORIGIN, GRADATIONS, FORMS, AND ISSUES. 
 
 By the Rev. George Bush, A.M. 
 
 Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3d stitched. 
 
 HEAVEX: 
 
 A Sermon. By the same Author. 
 
 With a Biographical Sketch and Portrait. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 9d. sewed. 
 
 LETTERS TO A MAN OF THE WORLD 
 DISPOSED TO BELIEVE. 
 
 Translated from the French of J. E. Le Boys des Guays. 
 
 A New Edition, containing the Two Series, Revised and Corrected 
 by George Bush. 
 
 Crown 8vo. 
 
 cloth, lettered. 
 
 PRINCIPAL POINTS OF DIFFERENCE 
 
 BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 
 
 By Mrs. W. Turner, of New York. 
 
 Revised by the Rev. D. Howarth, of Salford. 
 
 Foolscap 8vo. Is. cloth. 
 
 Hodson, 22, Portugal Street, Lincoln'* Inn. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from * 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/baptismitstruenaOOwood 
 
BAPTISM; 
 
 TBDE NATUBE, OBJECT, NECESSITY, AND USES, 
 
 £)tte of tfie &atmttmm 
 
 APPOINTED BY OUR SAVIOUE, AT THE ESTABLISHMENT 
 OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 KEV. WOODVILLE WOODMAN, 
 
 OF KEESLET. 
 
 What mean ye by this service ?"— Exodus xii. 26. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JAMES S. HODSON, 22, PORTUGAL STREET, 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
 1850. 
 
J. S. HODSON, PRINTER, PORTUGAL STREET, 
 LINCOLN'S INN. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The object for which the following pages have 
 been written, is sufficiently indicated in the title ; and 
 what relates to the subject itself has been, it is be- 
 lieved, pretty fully entered on in the work : little, 
 therefore, remains to be said by way of preface. In 
 entering on the investigation of a subject which has 
 so recently caused an excitement of no ordinary kind, 
 it would be nearly impossible altogether to pass over 
 the circumstances out of which that excitement arose. 
 Indeed, it has not been attempted. It is hoped, how- 
 ever, that the few allusions that have been made to the 
 controversy which has given so great prominence to 
 the subject of this pamphlet, will be found free from a 
 sectarian spirit ; and that, where the author has felt it 
 necessary to point out what appeared to him the diffi- 
 culties connected with the doctrines of others, and that 
 of the Established Church in particular, he has done so 
 in a spirit of fairness and Christian charity. 
 
 The importance of the subject, no one, it is pre- 
 sumed, will call in question. How far the explanation 
 given of it here may be satisfactory, the reader must 
 decide for himself. One thing which, in the estima- 
 tion of the writer, ought to have its weight, is, that 
 the investigation in these pages does not turn on the 
 external points so often raised on the subject of Bap- 
 tism, such as the respective merits of sprinkling and 
 immersion, but on the more momentous questions, of 
 
ix PREFACE. 
 
 its nature, necessity, and uses. So far as this relates 
 "to infant baptism, it can hardly fail to have a deep 
 interest, not only in a theological aspect, but with pa- 
 rents also, from its direct bearing on the welfare of their 
 offspring. Perhaps one of the most interesting phases 
 under which it is presented to parental feelings, is, 
 that in consequence of its representative character, and 
 the nature of the laws according to which it is insti- 
 tuted — those of correspondence — that the validity of 
 the rite, and the benefit imparted to the child in the 
 ordinance, are not affected by the amount of know- 
 ledge on the subject possessed by those who adminis- 
 ter it. 
 
 The writer may perhaps be excused for adding, that 
 he feels indifferent as far as regards any thing that 
 may accrue personally to himself from this publication, 
 either favourable or otherwise. He has been induced 
 to enter on the task, from the consideration that what 
 has been effectual in removing the difficulties of him- 
 self and the body he is connected with, may be the 
 means of doing so in the case of others : and he feels 
 assured in his own mind, that the views here presented, 
 if he has succeeded in presenting them in an intelligible 
 form, cannot fail to have a similar effect on those who 
 will take the trouble to understand them. He, there- 
 fore, once for all, commends them to the candid atten- 
 tion of those into whose hands this book may fall, in 
 the fervent hope that, under the divine blessing, it 
 may prove beneficial to the true interests of Christian 
 truth. 
 

 :• %# 
 
 BAPTISM. 
 
 Whoever seriously reflects on the " signs of the 
 times/' must feel that the present state of the 
 Christian world, as regards doctrine, is in the 
 highest degree anomalous and unsatisfactory. 
 Nothing, perhaps, presents its condition in a more 
 striking point of view, than the fact, that, among 
 the other controversial topics which divide Chris- 
 tians, the operation and effect attending the first 
 ordinance, whereby admission is given into the 
 Christian body — that of Baptism — is a matter of 
 dispute. 
 
 In the Romish and Anglican Churches,* it is 
 held to be a u direct instrument of grace ;" in other 
 
 * In classing the views of the Romish and English Churches on 
 Baptism under one heati\ it is not intended to affirm that they are in 
 every respect identical : the chief point of difference is, that the 
 Anglican Church holds the guilt of original sin to be done away by 
 Baptism ; whereas the Romish holds, that not only the guilt, but the 
 very essence of original sin, is thereby removed.— See Bishop Bethel 
 on Regeneration, Preface. 
 
 1 
 
"Z BAPTISM. 
 
 words, that the application of water, by a properly 
 qualified functionary, confers regeneration. 
 
 The view generally held by the Reformed 
 Churches on the continent, is, that it is not the 
 "instrument" but the "seal" of grace: divine 
 blessings being thereby, not communicated, but 
 confirmed. 
 
 A third view, that of the Baptists, is, that it is a 
 " token of regeneration/ ' to be received only by 
 those who give evidence of being really re- 
 generated. 
 
 The Congregationalists hold generally, that it is 
 a " symbol of purification," and its use, simply to 
 announce that the religion of Christ is a purifying 
 religion. 
 
 The views taken by the Socinians, is, that it is 
 neither " an instrument " nor a " seal " of grace, 
 but simply a ceremony of initiation into church 
 membership.* 
 
 In examining the preceding views, it is difficult 
 to decide which has the preference. To call 
 Baptism a " token," or even a " seal," defines no 
 intelligible spiritual use ; and to resolve it into a 
 " ceremony of initiation," is to reduce it to a mere 
 matter of form. It is difficult to see in what in- 
 telligible sense Baptism is a " token of regenera- 
 
 * The preceding outline of the different views of Baptism, is sub- 
 stantially extracted from Kitto's Biblical Cyclopaedia. See Baptism. 
 
BAPTISM. 3 
 
 tion," when those who regard it as such, demand, 
 previous to the administration of the ordinance, 
 the evidence of regeneration having taken place in 
 the person to be baptized; and thus in reality 
 demand a token of a higher and more valid nature 
 than the one they confer. A similar objection lies 
 against the view of those who bold it to be a " seal 
 of regeneration," since in this case it is merely the 
 superaddition of a human seal to a divine work, 
 which can give neither additional sanction nor 
 validity. The symbolical character of Baptism 
 will come under consideration in a future part of 
 this pamphlet : for the present, suffice it to remark, 
 that, unless something more than a symbol is in- 
 volved in this ordinance, it is, in reality, notwith- 
 standing its symbolic reference, a mere form or 
 ceremonial. 
 
 The doctrine of baptismal regeneration, pro- 
 pounded in the liturgy and articles of the Church 
 of England, is characterized by a degree of obscu- 
 rity, sufficiently indicated in the fact, that it not 
 only is, and ever has been, a subject of dispute, 
 whether regeneration is effected by the sacra- 
 mental application of water, or by some " pre- 
 venient act of grace;" but appears as far from 
 being decided as ever. More than this ; present 
 symptoms indicate the widening, rather than the 
 healing, of the breach, as witness the question 
 
4 BAPTISM. 
 
 now at issue between the Bishop of Exeter and 
 Mr. Gorham. The manner in which it is stated in 
 the liturgy, leaves the question undecided, if indeed 
 it does not equally favour both sides. In the bap- 
 tismal service, for instance, the prayer beseeches 
 the Most High to "sanctify the water to the 
 mystical washing away of sins;" whereas in the 
 thanksgiving with which the service concludes, re- 
 generation is declared to have been effected by the 
 Holy Spirit : — " We yield thee hearty thanks, most 
 merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to re- 
 generate this infant with thy Holy Spirit." Thus 
 the question, whether the infant is regenerated by 
 the water and the Holy Spirit conjointly, or, 
 whether, as Mr. Gorham maintains, even infants 
 " cannot receive any benefit from Baptism, except 
 there shall have been a prevenient act of grace," * 
 is left altogether undecided. Nor do the catechism 
 and articles place the subject in any greater degree 
 of certainty. The former defines Baptism to con- 
 sist of "the outward and visible sign, and the 
 inward and spiritual grace," — the " water wherein 
 the person is baptized" constituting the sign, and 
 the grace being a a death unto sin and a new 
 birth unto righteousness." The article f declares 
 
 * Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury from the Bishop of 
 Exeter, p. 48. Seventeenth edition, 
 t Art. xxvii. 
 
BAPTISM. 
 
 it to be " a sign of regeneration or new birth, 
 whereby, as an instrument, they that receive Bap- 
 tism rightly are grafted into the church, and the 
 promises of our adoption to be the sons of God by 
 the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed, 
 faith is confirmed, and grace increased by virtue of 
 prayer unto God." The phrases employed in the 
 preceding extracts to describe the effects of Bap- 
 tism, are exceedingly vague. How far they are 
 used synonimously, or stand for different things, is 
 left to conjecture ; and yet nearly the whole ques- 
 tion at issue turns on this point. When the mi- 
 nister, in one instance, prays that the water may 
 be sanctified "to the mystical washing away of 
 sins/' and in another, offers up the thanks of the 
 congregation to the Lord, "that he has been pleased 
 to regenerate the infant with his Holy Spirit ;" it 
 needs no argument to shew how much depends on 
 the ideas attached to these two expressions — 
 whether the " mystical washing away of sins," and 
 " regeneration," are to be regarded as identical, or, 
 whether two things, distinct from each other, are 
 to be understood thereby. The statement in the 
 article, on the subject of the benefits resulting from 
 Baptism, lies open to the same objection. The 
 manner in which the ordinance is spoken of in the 
 Baptismal service, certainly favours the idea of its 
 being an instrument of regeneration, effecting " a 
 
6 BAPTISM. 
 
 death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness;" 
 in the article,, on the other hand, it is merely said to 
 be " a sign of regeneration," and an "instrument" 
 of engrafting those who receive it rightly, into the 
 church; of visibly signing and sealing the pro- 
 mises of forgiveness of sin, and of adoption to be 
 the sons of God ; and of confirming and increasing 
 faith and grace, by virtue of prayer to God ; whilst 
 every one is left to determine for himself how far 
 he ought to understand the terms "sign," and "in- 
 strument" synonimously, or otherwise. To render 
 the perplexity still greater, the benefits here par- 
 ticularized are intelligible only so far as they are 
 understood as applying to adults. The restriction 
 of the blessings resulting from the ordinance, to 
 " those who receive it rightly" if intended to refer 
 to infants, would be absurd. The " confirmation 
 and increase of faith and grace," are blessings of 
 which only such as are of riper years can be the sub- 
 jects. No sooner, however, are the spiritual effects 
 resulting from baptism rightly received, thus de- 
 fined, than the article abruptly adds, without at- 
 tempting any explanation, — " The Baptism of young 
 children is in any wise to be retained in the church, 
 as most agreeable with the institution of Christ." 
 Who, that reflects, can escape the difficulty, na- 
 turally arising from the blessings communicated by 
 Baptism being defined to be of such a nature as can 
 
BAPTISM. 7 
 
 only be received by those possessed of rationality, 
 when at the same time the baptism of infants is 
 insisted on as an institution " in any wise to be 
 retained in the church," without offering any so- 
 lution, beyond affirming that it is " most agreeable 
 to the institution of Christ? " The mode in which 
 some have attempted to escape the difficulty is thus 
 described by the present Primate of all England:* 
 "Unquestionably there is much difficulty, much 
 mystery in the case, as regards the Baptism of 
 infants — a difficulty which many divines have 
 solved (?), by supposing that the spiritual benefit of 
 Baptism, 'a death unto sin and new birth unto 
 righteousness/ is only received where there has 
 been an antecedent act of grace on the part of 
 God." (!) So that it appears, the views respectively 
 espoused by the Bishop of Exeter and Mr. Gorham, 
 are the Scylla and Chary bdis of the church, and 
 that there is no other mode of avoiding the one, 
 than by rushing into the jaws of the other : to 
 take the illustration of scripture, it is "as if a man 
 did flee from a lion and a bear met him."f 
 
 The effects of such a conflicting state of opi- 
 nions on the interests of religion, cannot be other- 
 wise than injurious. So great a diversity of views 
 must produce the impression that the greatest 
 
 * As quoted ia the Bishop of Exeter's Letter, p. 27. 
 f Amos, v. 19. 
 
8 BAPTISM. 
 
 uncertainty surrounds the subjects of religious 
 faith. When so many uses, for the most part 
 differing in their nature, are assigned to the 
 ordinance of Baptism; — when by one body of 
 Christians it is regarded as a " seal of grace ;" — 
 by another, as a " token of regeneration," which 
 is to be administered to those alone who have 
 given evidence that they are the subjects of the 
 new birth ; — by a third, that it is simply a " sym- 
 bolical rite," symbolizing and announcing " the 
 purifying character of the religion of Christ;" — 
 by a fourth, that it is no more than a " ceremonial 
 of initiation into church membership ;" whilst the 
 Church of England, not only holds a view distinct 
 from any of the preceding, but is divided in her- 
 self on the sense in which that view is to be un- 
 derstood : — many, it is to be feared, will be led to 
 question the existence of any real benefits whatso- 
 ever in connection with it. The sceptical — and 
 there are but too many such — will confirm them- 
 selves in the idea, that the act of pouring or 
 sprinkling water on the head of an infant, cannot 
 contribute any thing to salvation; and in the 
 denial, that any sanctity belongs to this ordi- 
 nance, except what has been attributed to it by 
 church authority.* 
 
 * See Chapter on Baptism in The Universal Theology of the Neio 
 Church; No. 667. 
 
BAPTISM. 9 
 
 In coming before the public, the writer may 
 perhaps be met by the objection, that, instead of 
 lessening, he is increasing the difficulty, — that by 
 adding to the number of conflicting views already 
 entertained, he is only rendering the subject more 
 complicated. He begs to reply, that Baptism is 
 either a divinely appointed ordinance, or it is not ; 
 and, as such, possesses a use commensurate there- 
 with, or it does not. Those who take the affirma- 
 tive, must feel how desirable it is that a clue 
 should be discovered which could extricate the 
 church from its difficulties, without the danger of 
 a Scylla on the one hand, or a Charybdis on the 
 other; — that an intelligible solution should be 
 found such as the mind can rationally grasp.* 
 Few sensible men, it is supposed, will adopt the 
 sentiment of the Bishop of Exeter, in his letter to 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury. f " In dealing 
 
 * It is not intended by this remark, to intimate that human 
 reason, of itself ', can arrive at just conclusions on this, or any other 
 subject; but reason, when enlightened by revelation. Revelation 
 and reason stand in a relation to each other analogous to that of 
 light to the eye. Both are indispensable to physical vision. The 
 rational faculty is the eye of the mind : without it we could no more 
 enjoy mental sight, than we could possess physical vision without its 
 corresponding organ in the body ; whilst revelation alone can supply 
 the light, as indispensable to the exercise of the spiritual faculty, as 
 are the rays of the sun to the bodily organ. 
 
 t Page 18. 
 
10 BAPTISM. 
 
 with the great mysteries of our religion — such as 
 the grace of our Lord's Sacraments most undoubt- 
 edly is — I am not in the habit — and pardon me 
 when I say that others ought not to be in the 
 habit — of referring the judgment of them to 
 human reason. ' To the Law and to the Testi- 
 mony/ and to the Church's interpretation of that 
 Law and Testimony when it be doubtful — is the 
 rule by which I hope always to direct myself in such 
 matters." With due deference to his Lordship, 
 we urge the views about to be propounded in this 
 pamphlet, on the ground that they are intelligible, 
 and founded on a rational analysis of the doctrine 
 of scripture on the subject. What is unintelligible 
 can never really become a matter of faith. We 
 believe, in the exact proportion that we understand, 
 and no further.* A faith in what is not under- 
 
 * As this may appear a somewhat startling assertion to some of 
 our readers, a brief illustration of its truth is offered. Those who 
 hold the dogma, that what is unintelligible may become the object of 
 faith, usually support it by arguments, of which the following is a 
 type : "I believe that the grass grows, and yet I do not know how 
 it grows." The slightest, reflection would suffice to convince such 
 from their own illustration, in which two facts are put together, the 
 one intelligible and the other not, that the fact believed is that which 
 is understood. The fact which is believed is, " that the grass 
 groics" — a fact not only comprehensible, but palpable to the senses. 
 That which is not understood, viz., " how the grass grows" is not 
 believed. Any one may convince himself of this, by attempting to 
 explain what he believes as respects the " how 7 ." 
 
BAPTISM. 11 
 
 stood is a faith in name only — a mere persuasion. 
 Hence we contend, that the genuine view of the 
 nature of Baptism and its uses, will be found to 
 be an intelligible one ; and that, though many 
 views are already in existence, which are either 
 unintelligible, or suggest uses w r hich, when ex- 
 amined, involve no real spiritual benefit, it is no 
 reason why the research should be given up in 
 despair, and ought not to deter the candid and 
 sincere from seeking for the desired satisfaction 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Another claim we beg to prefer in favour of the 
 views about to be offered, is, that they stand on 
 grounds altogether distinct from those on which 
 others rest. In addition to being founded on 
 well-defined general principles, and having the 
 support of the letter of the Sacred Scriptures, still 
 further light is thrown on the subject by the de- 
 velopment of the spiritual or internal meaning of 
 the Holy Bible. Some may probably be disposed 
 to regard this claim with suspicion; and others 
 may be inclined at once to reject a view which 
 supposes the existence of a spiritual meaning in 
 the Sacred Oracles, without examination. We 
 however intreat the patience of the reader ere he 
 forms his decision. We would first demand, if 
 the views deduced from what is commonly called 
 (or rather miscalled) " the plain meaning " of 
 
12 BAPTISM. 
 
 Scripture, have been successful? "We would in- 
 quire whence all the perplexities which surround 
 the subject have arisen? These are not the re- 
 sults of a spiritual interpretation, but the reverse ; 
 having grown out of an interpretation professedly- 
 based on purely literal principles. In so dis- 
 tracted a state of religious opinion — one which it 
 is scarcely possible to render worse, we earnestly 
 recommend to the reader, for his own sake, not to 
 suffer himself to be diverted from the pursuit of 
 truth by prepossessions, howsoever widely enter- 
 tained, against any particular mode of acquiring it. 
 It is only one of the many modifications of the 
 scepticism of all ages in regard to divine things : 
 — one of the forms under which the old question 
 re-appears, " Can any good thing come out of Na- 
 zareth ?" Let him bring what amount of caution 
 he pleases ; we are quite willing to leave the sub- 
 ject to his candour, assured that the cause of truth 
 cannot suffer by the strictness of the scrutiny to 
 which it is subjected. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter on the question of 
 the divine origin of Baptism. The Lord gave his 
 own divine sanction, when he commissioned his 
 apostles to " go and make disciples * of all nations, 
 baptizing them in (or more properly, " into ") the 
 name of the Father and the Son and the Holy 
 
 * See marginal reading. 
 
BAPTISM. 13 
 
 Ghost."* The question which really interests, as 
 it has unfortunately divided the church, is, in 
 what the Use and Necessity of the ordinance con- 
 sist ? Why introduction into the Christian Church 
 could not have been as effectually accomplished 
 by some other means? What is the efficacy of 
 the water, when sacramentally applied? It cannot, 
 and indeed is not attempted to be denied, that 
 Christian Baptism is the medium of some im- 
 portant use. Had it not been so, it would not 
 have been given to the church under the divine 
 auspices. 
 
 Two uses have been suggested for the appli- 
 cation of water, in the views we have briefly 
 stated, — one symbolic, and the other purificato- 
 ry: the former maintaining that the object con- 
 templated therein is, to set forth symbolically 
 the purifying character of the Christian religion ; 
 and the other, that the mystical washing away 
 of sins is effected thereby. That one of the uses 
 of Baptism is symbolical, we see no reason to 
 doubt, as we shall shortly more fully explain. 
 As regards the dogma, which holds that sins 
 are washed away by the sacramental application 
 of water, candour constrains us to say that it is 
 opposed alike to the rational perceptions of the 
 mind, and the general tenor of scripture. " Not 
 
 * Matt, xxviii. 19. 
 
 2 
 
BAPTISM. 
 
 that/' saith the Lord, on the occasion of the Pha- 
 risees accusing his disciples of eating bread with 
 unwashen hands, — " not that which goeth in at the 
 month defileth the inan*;" rnnch less can that 
 which is only applied to the surface of the body 
 cleanse "the man." It requires no great depth 
 of thought to see that water, even though applied 
 in Baptism, can no more purify the spirit, than 
 could the " carnal ordinances" of the Mosaic law, 
 "which stood in meats and drinks and divers 
 washings/' make "him that did the service per- 
 fect as pertaining to the conscience." t They 
 might sanctify " to the purifying of the neshJ/ , 
 but beyond that they could not go. 
 
 The chief argument in favour of the mystical 
 washing away of sins in Baptism, is taken from the 
 Lord's declaration to Nicodemus§, " Except a 
 man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot 
 enter the kingdom of God." But the advocates of 
 this doctrine appear to have overlooked, what is 
 the fact, that the word here translated "Spirit," 
 means literally "wind," and is the same which 
 occurs in verse 8, where it is rendered, " The wind 
 bloweth where it listeth, and thou nearest the 
 sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh 
 nor whither it goeth : so is every one that is born 
 
 * Matt. xv. 11. f H eb. ix. 9, 10. 
 
 + Ytr. 13. § John iii. 5. 
 
BAPTISM. 15 
 
 of the Spirit [literally, wind]" The genuine 
 meaning of this passage will come under our con- 
 sideration hereafter; for the present suffice it to 
 observe, that to take one of the terms in its literal 
 acceptation, and the other in its metaphorical sense, 
 which is done by those who regard it as affirming 
 the doctrine of Baptismal regeneration, is to violate 
 every sound principle of interpretation.* 
 
 It has been previously intimated, that some 
 knowledge of the spiritual sense of the sacred 
 volume is essential to the right understanding of 
 the nature and use of Baptism : a few words on 
 this subject will therefore be necessary. 
 
 By the Scripture having a Spiritual Sense, is 
 meant, that under every part of the letter there is 
 an internal meaning, in which it refers solely to 
 heavenly and divine things. It possesses this pe- 
 culiarity by virtue of its being the Word of God ; 
 since that which was spoken by God himself, must 
 be the divine truth, and necessarily contain within 
 it all heavenly and divine wisdom.f For whatsoever 
 proceeds from God, must bear on it a transcript of 
 
 * The minds of some of our readers may revert to the injunction 
 of Ananias to Paul, (Actsxxii. 16,) "Arise and be baptized and wash 
 away thy sins."' The consideration of this passage will more con- 
 veniently occur in another place. 
 
 | See Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Serip- 
 ture : n. 2. 
 
16 
 
 BAPTISM. 
 
 the divine mind and attributes. That such is the 
 case with the visible creation, is attested by the 
 apostle Paul, who declares, that "the invisible 
 things of God are clearly seen" there, " being un- 
 derstood by the things that are made, even his eter- 
 nal power and godhead."* If such be the cha- 
 racter of outward nature, the Word must possess 
 the same character in a supereminent degree. 
 Both nature and revelation, being outbirths from 
 Deity, are embodiments of the divine love and 
 wisdom for the use of man : the former, for the 
 uses which affect the welfare of the body; the 
 latter, for those which relate to the welfare of the 
 soul. In both, are found the same consummate 
 order, dependence, and concatenation : in the one, 
 it is the mutual dependence of created subjects; 
 in the other, the concatenation of divine truth. 
 The same divine love and wisdom are brought 
 nigh, and made available to man, in both; the 
 difference being, that, in nature, they have clothed 
 themselves with material forms in sensible objects, 
 whereas, in the Word, they are veiled under the 
 drapery of natural ideas and language. God is 
 moreover equally omnipresent in both : in nature, 
 by that stupendous chain of cause on cause, 
 through which the operation of his love and wis- 
 dom is conveyed, as from link to link, to the 
 
 * Romans i. 20. 
 
BAPTISM. 17 
 
 ultimate effects of the visible world ; in his Word, 
 by its truths, which flow down from him in one 
 unbroken series, and in their passage, as so many 
 rays of the Sun of Righteousness, bear the image 
 of their Divine Fountain to both angelic and 
 human intelligences. In other words, God, l< who 
 dwelleth in the light which no man can approach 
 unto, and whom no man hath seen, nor can see*/' 
 cannot in his naked Divinity become the object of 
 any finite thought, however exalted. His trans- 
 cendent brightness must be veiled over ere it can 
 become appreciable to human apprehension. Re- 
 velation, therefore, consists in the successive cover- 
 ings thrown around the divine character, whereby 
 its brightness is successively softened, and accom- 
 modated to the perceptions of angels; and ulti- 
 mately, by means of the letter, to the grosser 
 apprehensions of men. The letter is frequently 
 spoken of in scripture under the symbol of " a 
 cloud" and the spirit, as iC glory." The apostle 
 Paul describes the gross ideas under which the 
 Jewish people laboured by saying, " Moreover, 
 brethren, I would not have you ignorant that all 
 our fathers were under the cloud f:" for although 
 he here unquestionably alludes to the " pillar of a 
 cloud," whereby Grod directed their movement? 
 through the wilderness, he nevertheless obviously 
 
 * 1 Timothy vi. 16. r 1 Tor. x. K 
 
18 BAPTISM. 
 
 recognizes in it, as lie did in the circumstance of 
 Moses wearing a veil over his face*, a typical re- 
 presentation of the obscurity in which their minds 
 were involved, in consequence of resting in the mere 
 types and shadows of their law, and not being 
 able to look steadfastly to the end of that which 
 was to be abolished. f He adds, in his spiritual 
 application of Moses putting a veil over his face, 
 that until that day remained the same veil untaken 
 away in the reading of the Old Testament : — " but 
 even," he says, "unto this day, when Moses is read, 
 the veil is on their hearts." Of those, on the 
 other hand, who were " not in the letter that 
 killeth," but in " the spirit that giveth life," he 
 he says, " But we all, with open (or unveiled) face 
 beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are 
 changed into the image of the same, from glory to 
 glory." J 
 
 The key, whereby the spiritual meaning of the 
 Scriptures can alone be unlocked, is " the Science 
 of Correspondences," or, of the mutual relation- 
 ship in which all things are linked together, and 
 whereby they depend on their great First Cause ; 
 and the consequent analogy they bear to each 
 other, and primarily to Deity. It will be obvious, 
 on candid reflection, that such a science, when 
 understood, must open up all the arcana in the 
 
 * 2 Cor. iii. f v. 13. J v. 18. 
 
BAPTISM. 19 
 
 works of God, as well as in his Word; for the 
 laws involved in the relationship of created things 
 to each other and to the Creator, emanating as 
 they do from the Divine Wisdom, embrace all the 
 truths in existence. It is, therefore, by the aid of 
 this science, that the mind will be enabled to rise 
 into universal principles of thought; that the 
 disjointed facts and principles, which now lie scat- 
 tered among the physical sciences like the dry 
 bones in the valley of EzekiePs -vision*, will be 
 gathered up, and resuscitated into new and living 
 forms of truth; and that every department of 
 knowledge and reason will be brought into alliance 
 with, and rendered the willing handmaids of, reli- 
 gion and revelation. Correspondence, therefore, is 
 not merely a science, but " the Science of 
 Sciences," and cannot fail to be hailed as such, 
 in the degree that it becomes known and under- 
 stood. The same mutual relationship and adapta- 
 tion exist necessarily in the Word, since in no 
 other mode could the divine wisdom be embodied 
 in the natural expressions of human language ; the 
 letter and the spirit of the Word are therefore 
 united with each other, and make one also with 
 the divine wisdom, by virtue of the correspondence 
 between the natural sense and the spiritual, and 
 between these and the wisdom of God which is 
 
 * Ezek. xxxvii. 1 — 10. 
 
20 BAPTISM. 
 
 their inmost essence.* The doctrine of corres- 
 pondences, consequently, throws light on the "dark 
 savings'^ of the letter, and brings forth trans- 
 cendent beauty from the portions, which, in con- 
 sequence of the ignorance prevailing on corres- 
 pondences, have furnished weapons to the enemies 
 of revealed truth, and been a source of difficulty 
 to its friends. J 
 
 It was by virtue of all things in the Jewish 
 tabernacle and temple, and the worship offered in 
 them, being based on the correspondence which 
 natural things bear to spiritual, or earthly to 
 heavenly, and arranged according to its laws, that 
 the divine presence could be visibly manifested, 
 and rest there. For this reason, Moses was so 
 strictly enjoined to make all things according to 
 the pattern which was shewn him in the mount §, 
 in order that they might thus truly represent hea- 
 venly and divine subjects. It was also from the 
 
 * See Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Sacred Scrip- 
 ture ; n. 6. 
 
 ■f Psalm lxxviii. 2. ' 
 
 J The reader may obtain further information on the subject of cor- 
 respondences by consulting Noble's Plenary Inspiration of the Saip- 
 iures; Hindmarsh's Letters to Dr. Priestley ; ClissohVs Letter to the 
 Archbishop of Dublin ; Madeley On the Science of Correspondences; and 
 The Arcana Cozlestia, Apocalypse Explained, Apocalypse Revealed, and 
 Universal Theology, of Swedenborg* 
 
 § Heb. viii. 5; Exodus xxv. 40.; xxvi. 30. 
 
BAPTISM. 21 
 
 same cause that the Holy of Holies became the 
 dwelling place of the visible symbol of Jehovah's 
 presence, and that so many miracles were per- 
 formed by the Ark of the Covenant, on the mercy 
 seat of which the Shekinah of the divine glory 
 rested : that when, for instance, the feet of those 
 who bare it touched the waters of Jordan, the 
 river opened a passage for the Israelites to pass 
 through on dry ground*; that, when carried rouud 
 Jericho, the walls fell down, and admitted the Isra- 
 elites to walk straight up into the cityf; that when, 
 being captured by the Philistines it was placed 
 in their temple, Dagon, their god, fell from his 
 seat, and severed his head and hands in his fall J; 
 that, at its presence, the Ashdodites, and Ekronites, 
 were smitten with emerods, and their land overrun 
 with mice§; that so many of the Bethshemites, 
 through looking into it, were slain. || That Uzzah, 
 when he touched it, was smitten dead^[; and that a 
 blessing rested on Obed-edom, through receiving 
 it into his house.** 
 
 The knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Holy 
 Scriptures will therefore explain the representative 
 
 * Joshua iii. and iv. f Chap. vi. 1 — 16. J 1 Samuel iv, and v. 
 
 § Chap. v. and vi. || Ver. 19. f 2 Samuel vi. 6, 7. 
 
 ** Ver. 11. The spiritual signification of the previous miraculous 
 circumstances connected with the ark is fully explained in The Apoca - 
 lypse Explained, vol. iv., n. 700. 
 
22 BAPTISM. 
 
 rites and ceremonies of the Israelitish Church, the 
 majority of which would otherwise be unintelligible. 
 The Israelitish people, and their history, have a 
 place in the letter of Sacred Writ, because they 
 are employed there to represent and signify the 
 true Spiritual Church and Kingdom of the Lord ; 
 whence all the statutes and laws given them in 
 the Levitieal code, symbolize what relates to the 
 spiritual states and experience of the regenerate 
 man. Two things are in general involved in the 
 observances enjoined in the Jewish ritual, — the 
 Purification, and Spiritual Sustenance of the 
 soul. Circumcision, by which the Jews were dis- 
 tinguished from all other Asiatic nations, and 
 which was the rite of initiation into their church 
 and worship, was instituted to represent the re- 
 moval of depraved appetites, and sordid desires 
 from the character, or the rejection of the concu- 
 piscences of the flesh, whereby, purification from 
 evils is effected, and man, from being natural 
 and carnal, is made spiritual. This is clearly indi- 
 cated in the following injunction of the prophet : 
 " Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take 
 away the foreskins of your hearts, ye men of 
 Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem : lest my 
 fury come forth like fire, and burn that none 
 can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.*" 
 
 T er.c w. 4, See also Deut. x. 1,6, 
 
BAPTISM, 23 
 
 The expiatory sacrifices were also instituted as 
 symbols of purification ; and the observances, so 
 frequently spoken of as making an atonement, 
 in reality involve either the idea of consecra- 
 tion, or of purification. The atonement made 
 for Aaron and his sons on their inauguration 
 into the priest's office*, that made for the altarf, 
 and the atonement made for the Levites, when 
 they were to be offered up to the service of the 
 temple:^ involved consecration and dedication to 
 the offices and uses of the tabernacle, — the cere- 
 monial cleansing and sanctifying, preparatory to 
 the one being employed in such uses, and to the 
 other entering on their functions in the priest- 
 hood. The same remarks apply with equal force 
 to the atonement prescribed for leprosy, whether 
 in a human subject, or in a house §; likewise to 
 the offerings enjoined for the atonement of a 
 woman after child-birth ||: the object contemplated 
 in Jdieir institution is expressly stated to be the 
 cleansing of the subject for whom they were 
 made. In short, the Jewish observances, taken 
 as a whole, embody the two leading features, of 
 spiritual purification from evils, and spiritual sus- 
 tenance by the appropriation of the heavenly prin- 
 
 * Exodus xxix. 31 — 33. Levit. viii. 31, to the end. 
 
 f Exodus xxix. 36, 37. 
 
 ± Numbers viii. § Levit. xiii. xiv. fl. Levit. xiL 
 
24 BAPTISM. 
 
 ciples of the good and the true. It is around 
 these' two points that every thing connected with 
 the sacrificial code, and the rites and ceremonies 
 of the Israelitish worship, revolves : hence, accord- 
 ing to the testimony of the apostle, the observ- 
 ances themselves " stood in meats, and drinks, and 
 divers washings."* 
 
 Among the purificatory observances of the Jews, 
 the various ablutions they were commanded to 
 practise, have the most direct bearing on our sub- 
 ject. Besides those they were directed to perform 
 on special occasions, in particular cases of unclean- 
 ness, or by reason of positive defilement; the priests 
 were commanded, and that on pain of death, to 
 wash their hands and their feet, whenever they 
 went into the tabernacle of the congregation, or 
 came near the altar " to minister, to burn offering 
 made by fire unto the Lordf;" and that, in the 
 case of their induction into the sacerdotal office, 
 they should wash the whole body in water.f 
 
 * Heb. ix. 9, 10, 13. It would be foreign to our purpose on this 
 occasion to offer a disquisition on the object and meaning of the 
 Jewish sacrifices, except so far as they bear on our present enquiry : 
 those who desire to pursue the subject further, are referred to the 
 section, On the Atonement, Sacrifice, and Mediation of Christ, in No- 
 ble's Appeal; to Noble's Plenary Inspiration, p. 490 ; Madeley on the 
 Science of Correspondences, p. 132; Arcana Ccelestia, vol. iiL n. 2830, 
 and numerous other places, more particularly in vol. xi. xii. 
 
 f Exodus xxx. 18 — 21. % Chap. xl. 12. 
 
BAPTISM. 25 
 
 That the ablutions of the Jews were symbolical, 
 is generally admitted. Indeed the whole of the 
 Israelitish economy consisted of a comprehensive 
 system of types, symbols, or, more correctly speak- 
 ing, correspondences, wherein heavenly and divine 
 things are representatively exhibited to the church. 
 This is repeatedly insisted on by the apostle 
 Paul, especially in his Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 After describing the various parts of the taber- 
 nacle, and its furniture*, he adds that the whole 
 was " a figure for the time then presentfj" and, 
 speaking of the whole of the Mosaic ritual, under 
 the comprehensive term <e law," says that it had 
 "r shadow to good things to come," though it was 
 "not the very image of those things." J 
 
 They were not, however, mere types. As the 
 power resident in the ark of the covenant, and the 
 stupendous phenomena manifested in its presence, 
 according to what has already been remarked, had 
 their origin in all things of the Jewish tabernacle 
 and worship being arranged in the most perfect 
 agreement with the laws of correspondence ; in 
 like manner, the observance of certain mystic rites, 
 or representative acts, in consequence of the laws 
 of correspondence then operating spontaneously 
 into nature, were followed by certain specific phy- 
 sical results : on the other hand, the deviation 
 
 * Heb. ix. 1 — 7. t Verse 9. ± Chap. x. l. 
 
 3 
 
26 BAPTISM. 
 
 from any of the representative ordinances pre- 
 scribed under the Jewish dispensation, was at- 
 tended with consequences of the most appalling 
 nature. The Philistines, for instance, stayed the 
 plague of emerods inflicted on them, and of mice 
 with which their land was infested, by making five 
 golden mice, and an equal number of golden 
 emerods, to be placed in the ark for a trespass- 
 offering.* Balaam, also, when solicited by Balak, 
 to employ his arts of incantation against Israel, 
 directed that seven altars should be built, and that 
 a bullock and a ram should be offered on each.t 
 In the trial, likewise, between Elijah and the pro- 
 phets of Baal, when the Israelites agreed to accept 
 the God that should " answer by fire J;" and when, 
 at the prayer of Elijah, fire descended and con- 
 sumed "the sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, 
 and the dust, and licked up the water that was in 
 the trench;" the preparations made by the pro- 
 phet were in accordance with the laws on which 
 the representatives of the Jewish Church were 
 founded : otherwise, instead of the fire consuming 
 
 * 1 Samuel vi. 1 — IS. The reader will find a full explanation of 
 what is involved in the circumstance adverted to in the text, together 
 with the other observances attended to by the Philistines on the occa- 
 sion, in Nobles Plenary Inspiration, p. 192; and The Apocalypse 
 Explained, n. 700. 
 
 t Numbers xxii : . See also Noble's Plea. Ins;,, p. 191. 
 
 X 1 Kings xviii. 21 — 39. 
 
BAPTISM. 27 
 
 the sacrifice, some terrific catastrophe would have 
 been the consequence. Such was actually the 
 case on several occasions. When Nadah and 
 Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord, fire 
 went out and devoured them.* When the Betli- 
 shemites approached the ark without observing 
 the prescribed rules, they were smitten dead by 
 thousands. Uzzah, also, when he unguardedly put 
 forth his hand to stay it, experienced a similar 
 fate. On this account, the directions given 
 through Moses for the regulation of the priest- 
 hood, extended to the very minutiae of the sa- 
 cerdotal vestments, " that when the priests went 
 in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or 
 went near unto the altar to minister in the holy 
 place, they might not bear iniquity, and die."i 
 Even the enchantments of the magicians of Egypt, 
 originated in the perversion of the knowledge they 
 possessed of the nature of correspondences, by the 
 application of it to magical purposes. 
 
 It is not however to be inferred, that the per- 
 fection of the ritual of representative or correspon- 
 dent observances communicated to the Israelites, 
 was of an absolute kind; the whole is rather to be 
 considered as a temporary provision, suited to the 
 spiritual exigences of the world at that period, till 
 a more perfect dispensation could be established. 
 
 * Levit. x. 1, 2. + Exodus xxviii. 43. 
 
28 BAPTISM. 
 
 Its very comprehensiveness indicates the depth of 
 the degradation into which the human mind had 
 fallen in spiritual things. Man, having sunk below 
 the restraints of spiritual and moral considerations, 
 had thus severed all the internal bonds which 
 bound him to heaven and God; and the only re- 
 maining link of the chain, was, the external commu- 
 nication, still possible, between earth and heaven, 
 by virtue of worship founded on representative 
 rites, significant of spiritual and heavenly things. 
 Hence arose the necessity for the Mosaic code of 
 divine symbols, and hence originated the minute- 
 ness of its details, as well as the extent it embraced; 
 for unless such communication be maintained by 
 some means, neither man nor the earth could con- 
 tinue in existence. This fact is frequently insisted 
 on by the apostle Paul. " Wherefore, then," he 
 asks, in writing to the Galatians, " serveth the 
 law ? " The reply is, — " It was added, because of 
 transgressions, till the seed should come to whom 
 the promise was made."* He enforces the same also 
 on the Hebrewst; where he speaks of the "gifts and 
 sacrifices" of the tabernacle, as " carnal ordinances, 
 imposed on them until the time of reformation" 
 
 When, t( in the fulness of time," the Lord, as 
 the Great Antetype, by his assumption and glorifi- 
 cation of the human nature, abolished all the types 
 
 * Galatians iii. 19. t Chap. ix. 9, 10. 
 
BAPTISM. 29 
 
 and symbols in which his coming had been fore- 
 shadowed, he did not sweep away representatives 
 from the church altogether, — for the church can 
 no more exist independently of representatives, 
 under the Christian, than it could under the 
 Jewish, dispensation; — but instituted two repre- 
 sentative ordinances, in which all the types and 
 symbols spread over the whole of the Jewish ritual, 
 are concentrated and epitomized, and thereby ren- 
 dered suitable to the genius of the Christian reli- 
 gion : and to shew the importance of preserving 
 the series of representatives unbroken in the 
 church, the Holy Supper was instituted by him 
 whilst in the act of partaking of the passover with 
 his disciples, whereby the symbols of the Christian 
 and Jewish churches were interwoven and blended 
 with each other. The two Christian sacraments, 
 then, stand, in the Christian church, as the epitome 
 into which are collated all the representative rites 
 of the former dispensation : — all the ablutions, and 
 purificatory observances, being collated into the 
 Christian symbol of purification — Baptism; — 
 and all the sacrifices, which in one word are called 
 "the Bread of God*," being concentrated into the 
 Christian passover— the Holy Supper. 
 
 This view places the two ordinances of the 
 Christian religion in a new and more interesting 
 
 * Levit. xxi. 6. &c. ; Mai. i. 7. 
 
 3* 
 
30 BAPTISM. 
 
 light. If it be correct that the Christian sacra- 
 ments are not so mnch to be regarded as supersed- 
 ing the symbolic observances of the former dispen- 
 sation, as being the concentration and epitome of 
 them, it follows that, in addition to the rending 
 of the mystic veil, and the " opening of a new 
 and living way," all the benefits resulting from the 
 symbols of the one, are preserved in the other. 
 Properly speaking, they are reproduced there in a 
 fuller and more perfect manner. The concentra- 
 tion in these of what was previously spread over a 
 broad surface of ceremonial observances, adds to 
 their potency; and this is again increased seven- 
 fold, by the direct reference they bear to the Great 
 Immanuel, as the direct mediums of his peculiar 
 presence and operation in the church. It is true, 
 the elements of the Christian sacraments do not, 
 like the ark of old, divide rivers ; lay prostrate the 
 defences of walled cities ; hurl idols, the work of 
 human hands, from their thrones; or smite the 
 profaner with physical death : they nevertheless do 
 more : — to the truly penitent, they are mediums, 
 the one of opening the gate of the church, the 
 other, the gate of heaven. 
 
 The necessity of these representative rites in the 
 church, may be inferred from the fact of their 
 having been instituted by the Lord. The ground 
 of such necessity arises out of this fundamental 
 
BAPTISM. 31 
 
 law connected with the divine operations, — That 
 every thing exists in its greatest fulness and power 
 when in its ultimate form, or most external de- 
 velopment ; since the ultimate degree or principle 
 of whatsoever exists, contains within it all interior 
 things.* This is true of human, as well as of the 
 divine, activities. The powers of both the mind 
 and body, are, for example, in their greatest ful- 
 ness, when in actual operation. Worship, which 
 is an act of the mind or spirit, is more full, when 
 the worshiper is in the exercise of oral prayer, 
 than when his devotion consists in mental aspira- 
 tions alone. There is an effort in every state of 
 mental activity, in proportion to its intensity, to 
 express itself by its appropriate bodily act, or ges- 
 ture. Those acts in which both body and mind 
 concur, are also more deeply impressed on the 
 character, and, thereby, rendered more permanent. 
 It is on this account that the Lord so strongly in- 
 sists on the necessity of the outward life of reli- 
 gion, as the proper basis of its interior states, and 
 that he compares the religion of one who is both 
 a hearer and doer of his words, to " a house built 
 
 * The subject of degrees is fully developed iu Part Hi. of tke Wis- 
 dom of Angels concerning tke Divine Love and Wisdom. See also the 
 Section in the same work, where the proposition, " That the Ulti- 
 mate Degree is the Complex, Continent, and Basis of the Prior De- 
 grees," is demonstrated ; n. 209, et sub. 
 
32 BAPTISM. 
 
 on a rock," whilst the religion of those who neglect 
 its life, is likened by him to " a house built on the 
 sand."* It is hence that outward forms of religious 
 worship are indispensable to the existence of the 
 church ; since, without these, religion itself would 
 fall away, like the house built on sand, and would 
 be dissipated, in like manner as the interior forms 
 of the human body would be, were they not 
 bound together by their common and specific 
 coverings. The sacraments being the most ulti- 
 mate forms of religious worship, the blessings at- 
 tendant on worship are more fully experienced in 
 them, than in any other devotional exercise. The 
 blessing of the divine presence which is promised 
 to all worshipers, — wheresoever even " two or three 
 are gathered together in the name of the Lord," 
 is then in a peculiar manner brought nigh. The 
 opening of heaven to the soul, and the descent 
 thence of heavenly influences, are more full. The 
 spirit of the sincere, humble, member of the Lord's 
 Kingdom, who is spiritually fed every Sabbath, 
 when the Word of life is dispensed, is fed in an 
 especial manner, whilst, as in the Holy Supper, the 
 refection of the body also takes place, as an act of 
 devotion, — the Christian then partaking of the 
 symbols of the body and blood of the Lord, in 
 obedience to the divine injunction, — " This do in 
 
 * Matt. vii. 24 — 27. 
 
BAPTISM. 33 
 
 remembrance of me." An influence equally power- 
 ful attends the ordinance of Baptism ; the differ- 
 ence being, that Baptism is the divinely appointed 
 means of introduction into the communion of the 
 Christian Church, whereas the Holy Supper is the 
 medium, by which those who receive it worthily 
 are introduced as to their spirits into heaven, 
 being thereby incorporated more and more into 
 Christ's mystical body, and their souls sustained 
 with goodness and truth, which are what really 
 constitute the body and blood of the Lord. 
 
 The sacraments may be regarded both as signs, 
 and mediums to the church. Considered as a 
 medium, Baptism is the means of conveying and 
 securing a series of spiritual uses and benefits, of 
 which the ordinance itself is the ultimate corres- 
 pondent form. The first use of Baptism, and one 
 involved in the terms of its institution by the Lord, 
 and recognised in every age of the Christian dis- 
 pensation, is, as has been already briefly hinted at, 
 that of introduction into the Christian Church. 
 This admission or introduction, in its external 
 form, is the recognition of the persou baptized, as 
 belonging to the body of professing Christians 
 among whom he has been baptized. At the time 
 that the subject of the ordinance is thus admitted 
 into the communion of the Lord's church on earth; 
 by the internal use of Baptism, he is introduced, as 
 
34 BAPTISM. 
 
 to his spirit, into tlie communion of the invisible 
 church, or the mystical body of the Lord. Jn 
 agreement with this view, we find it declared by 
 the apostle to the Corinthians, " By one spirit are 
 we all baptized into one body, whether we be JeAvs 
 or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free."* He 
 remarks, likewise, to the Galatians, " As many of 
 you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on 
 Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there 
 is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor 
 female : for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. "t 
 From these passages it is clear that an introduc- 
 tion is effected, by means of baptism, not only 
 into the external, visible, Christian Church, but 
 also as to the spirit, into communion with Chris- 
 tians in the unseen or spiritual world : — in other 
 words, into the universal kingdom of the Lord, 
 involving both the church below and the church 
 above. 
 
 In the Articles, and Baptismal Service, of the 
 Established Church, this is called " a grafting into 
 the body of Christ's Church." This may in some 
 measure be seen to be the case in adult baptism, 
 by reason of the devotional uses resulting from 
 it, where the subject of the ordinance intelli- 
 gently takes part in the service. The difficulty, 
 
 * First Epistle, Chap. xii. 13. 
 f Chap. Hi. 27, 28. 
 
BAPTISM. 35 
 
 however, surrounding the matter, as correctly 
 stated by Dr. Sumner, is not so much as re- 
 spects the baptism of adults, but that of infants. 
 The problem to be solved is, "Of what use baptism 
 is in the latter case, where there is an absence of 
 all devotional benefit to the subject?" The satis- 
 factory solution of this problem is a subject of 
 deep concernment to the church, not only in a 
 theological point of view, but even more so, when 
 it is considered in its bearing on the welfare of 
 the children of Christian parents; for unless 
 some definite idea of this use be made evident, 
 many, it is to be feared, may fall into some such 
 view as that of the Rev. J. Martineau (in the 
 Westminster Review,) who represents the question, 
 as turning on the way in which " the washing of 
 new-born babies according to certain rules, pre- 
 vents God's hating them;" or come to the con- 
 clusion of a minister of the Church of England, 
 mentioned by the same writer, — "that the admo- 
 nition of parents, rather than any mystic opera- 
 tion on the child, constitutes the essence of the 
 rite."* Assuming that an efficacy does exist in 
 connection with infant baptism, it follows that 
 those who neglect the administration of the or- 
 dinance to their infant offspring, inflict on them 
 
 * See Article on the " Church of England," in the Westminster 
 Review, April, 1850, p. 168, 169. 
 
36 BAPTISM. 
 
 (it may be in ignorance, but they nevertheless 
 inflict on them) a serious spiritual injury.* 
 
 It is not denied that the remarks of the apostle, 
 quoted above, are more applicable to adults, and 
 the benefits conferred on them by baptism ; and 
 as adult baptism would necessarily preponderate 
 in point of numbers, in the first ages of the Chris- 
 tian church, it is but natural that, under these 
 circumstances, he should, in treating of the sub- 
 ject, do so more in respect to its bearing on the 
 great majority of those he addressed, who had 
 been proselytes to Christianity, and, as such, bap- 
 tized after having attained to years of maturity, — 
 few, if any, of those living when he wrote, having 
 been born into the Christian Church. This cir- 
 cumstance does not, however, afford any just ar- 
 gument against infant baptism, if it can be shewn 
 that the ordinance, so administered, has a well- 
 defined use. The idea of "baptismal regenera- 
 tion," especially in relation to infants, is one 
 against which all the rational perceptions of the 
 mind revolt. To suppose that regeneration is 
 effected in such case, by the application of water, 
 whether by sprinkling, or even immersion, is 
 preposterous. The supposition, also, that an in- 
 fant is, by baptism, " grafted into the body of 
 Christ's church/' in the same manner as one who 
 
 * See Job Abbott, p. 14. 
 
BAPTISM. 37 
 
 is the intelligent subject of Christian influences 
 and graces, which appears to be involved in the 
 service of the Anglican Church, must be seen, 
 on calm reflection, to be equally so. There must 
 be a difference in the immediate internal results 
 respectively experienced by infants and adults; 
 and it may be rationally concluded, that the dis- 
 tinction in this respect is somewhat analagous to 
 the difference which exists in the external use : — 
 that is to say, that the spiritual engrafting in the 
 case of an infant, is as distinct from that in the 
 case of the adult, as the bare recognition of the 
 former as belonging to the Christian community, 
 is distinct from the actual introduction of the 
 latter into the privileges of church communion 
 and membership. Notwithstanding, however, this 
 difference, there must also exist an analogy be- 
 tween them ; since the final use of infant baptism 
 must necessarily be similar to that contemplated 
 in adult baptism : viz., the introduction of the 
 infant so baptized, when he has attained to riper 
 years, into the privileges of Christian communion; 
 and unless it can be shewn that infant baptism 
 more effectually accomplishes this object than 
 adult baptism, we freely admit that its necessity 
 and use must be given up. Whether there is a 
 use in infant baptism, and in what that use con- 
 sists, we therefore proceed to inquire. 
 
 4 
 
38 BAPTISM. 
 
 The introduction of infants into the church, 
 by baptism, considered in an external point of 
 view, may be regarded as an earnest that they 
 will be surrounded by external influences fa- 
 vourable to Christianity. In short, this is one of 
 its obvious uses. The internal use of infant bap- 
 tism, we may fairly infer to be analogous. It is a 
 fact, abundantly testified in the Sacred Volume, 
 that the church into which all, whether infants or 
 adults, are thus introduced, constituting as it does 
 the mystical Body of Christ, is not confined merely 
 to those who are its members here. Introduction 
 into the Christian Church, according to the 
 apostle, involves introduction to angels : — c< Ye are 
 come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the 
 living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an 
 innumerable company of angels, to the general as- 
 sembly and church of the First-born which are 
 written in heaven, .... and to the spirits of 
 just men made perfect.* It is also evident, on 
 the same authority, that the closest communion 
 exists between the church above and the church 
 below. The Lord's beloved disciple was privi- 
 leged to witness the mingling of the worship of 
 angels with that of men, under the symbol of 
 incense offered from a golden censer with the 
 prayers of the saints, by an angel standing at the 
 
 * Heb. xii. 22, 23. 
 
BAPTISM. 39 
 
 golden altar which was before the throne.* So 
 deep is the sympathy of angel-bosoms with what 
 concerns the welfare of man, and so intimately are 
 they affected by what passes on earth in connection 
 with it, that the Lord declares, and emphatically 
 repeats the declaration, tbat " there is joy in 
 heaven over one sinner that repenteth."f It is 
 clear, then, that the inhabitants of the Lord's king- 
 dom above, feel the most lively interest in all things 
 pertaining to His kingdom here, and are associated 
 with it in all its efforts in behalf of the salvation of 
 the human race, whether involved in the great 
 work of extending the boundaries of the Lord's 
 kingdom among others, or as " ministering spirits, 
 sent to minister for those who shall be heirs of 
 salvation J " in the process of their individual re- 
 generation. They are also present with, and aid 
 the church in the worship of her members, whether 
 in the private devotions of the closet, or when 
 their united praises and supplications arise in the 
 house of prayer. 
 
 Angels being thus, according to the teachings 
 of scripture, associated with the members of the 
 church in all their religious exercises, whether 
 individually or collectively, it follows that they are 
 more immediately present, and the intercom- 
 munion between them and man more full, in the 
 
 * Rev. viii. 3. f Luke xv. 7, 10. J Heb. ii. 14. 
 
40 BAPTISM. 
 
 ordinances which the Lord has instituted as the 
 ultimate, and at the same time the fullest, acts of 
 worship. Indeed this is the very object for which 
 the sacramental ordinances were instituted. That 
 even infants are not beneath the care of angels, is 
 evident from the fact that they are not beneath the 
 care of the Lord himself, who, when on earth, said, 
 " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and 
 forbid them not."* More than this: from the sub- 
 sequent declaration of the Divine Speaker — "For 
 of such is the kingdom of heaven ff — it appears, 
 that there is a peculiar congeniality between the 
 state of infancy and that of angels ; so much so, 
 that meetness for heaven depends on becoming as 
 little children, and advancement in the greatness 
 of heaven is proportioned to the growth of this 
 child-like disposition : — " Except ye be converted 
 and become as little children, ye shall not enter 
 into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore 
 shall humble himself as a little child, the same is 
 greatest in the kingdom of heaven." % From this 
 affinity between the innocence of infancy and the 
 innocence of heaven, the highest ministrations of 
 that kingdom are connected with watching over, 
 and protecting, the tender germs of the infant 
 character : — " Take heed that ye despise not one 
 of these little ones ; for I say unto you, That in 
 
 * Luke xviii. 16. f Ibid. % Matt - xviii - 3 > 4 - 
 
BAPTISM. 41 
 
 heaven their angels do always behold the face of my 
 Father which is in heaven*;" where it is taught, in 
 the most explicit manner, that infants are actually 
 committed to the care of angels who hold the most 
 exalted rank among the blessed. Whilst, then, 
 Baptism, externally considered, is the recognition 
 of the infant baptized as belonging to the Lord's 
 visible church, and an earnest that it shall be sur- 
 rounded with influences favourable to the growth 
 of Christianity in after-years ; internally, it is the 
 medium whereby influences from " the church of 
 the first-born in heaven," are brought around the 
 spirit of the child, and thus of keeping the mind 
 interiorly disposed towards the favourable recep- 
 tion of the religious instruction and training, it 
 receives from its natural parents, or its " spiritual 
 pastors and masters." 
 
 From this view of the subject it follows, that 
 uses of the most important kind attend infant 
 baptism. The only channel whereby religious 
 influences can reach the infant mind, previous to 
 the development of its intellectual perceptions, is 
 from within, and consequently from those guar- 
 dian angels, to whom the care of infants is com- 
 mitted by their heavenly Father. If then it be 
 true, that infant baptism is the medium of bring- 
 ing infants more immediately under the religious 
 
 * Matt, xviii. 10. 
 
 4* 
 
42 BAPTISM. 
 
 influences of spirits and angels who have gone 
 from the Christian world, and of separating them 
 from the religious influences which operate into 
 the Gentile world, and flow from those who have 
 departed thence, the use is as intelligible as it 
 is important. The power of early impressions 
 on the mind is universally recognized. Some 
 carry this doctrine to so great a length as to main- 
 tain that the character is altogether formed by 
 them. Though this position cannot be main- 
 tained, their influence is nevertheless undeniable. 
 And, if the first impressions, communicated from 
 without, through the senses, are thus fixed so 
 deeply and permanently on the character, much 
 more the influences that reach it from within, 
 and consequently by a more direct way than the 
 former, — those having to pass through the gross 
 veil of materiality. 
 
 It might perhaps be supposed that, if the case 
 be as stated above, the Christian rite of Baptism 
 would be a boon to the children of Mahometan 
 and Pagan parents, as a disposition interiorly 
 favourable to Christian doctrine and faith would 
 thereby be communicated. In that case, however, 
 there would ensue an intermixture of influences 
 injurious to the subject ; the Christian influences 
 flowing from within, would be met by the 
 idolatrous influences from without, and the asso- 
 
BAPTISM. 43 
 
 ciation of that which is sacred with that which is 
 profane, and the consequent profanation of the 
 interior sanctities of the Christian Religion, would 
 be the result. It is better, therefore, that the 
 children of such as are out of the pale of Chris- 
 tianity, should remain under the internal religious 
 influences which are in accordance with their 
 religious state and education, and suitable to the 
 promotion of the Gentile good their religion teaches. 
 From the preceding observations, it is presumed, 
 the necessity of some distinctive mark, whereby 
 those belonging to one form of religion may be 
 distinguished from those that belong to another, 
 is evident. Baptism, as an introductory rite, is 
 peculiar to the Christian Church ; and was insti- 
 tuted by the Lord himself to supply such distinctive 
 mark, in order that the church established by 
 him, and founded on the acknowledgment and 
 worship of him, might thereby be distinguished 
 from all others. Moreover, as we have already 
 shewn, the ordinances of the church below are 
 participated in by the inhabitants of the Lord's 
 kingdom above. The incense arising from worship 
 offered in his courts here, penetrates into the sanc- 
 tuary of heaven, and is mingled with the incense 
 of angel- worshipers there. In the two ordinances 
 instituted by the Lord, and into which all the 
 sanctities of Christian worship are collated, as into 
 
44 BAPTISM. 
 
 their appropriate ultimate forms, this intercom- 
 munion of the saints above with the saints below 
 takes place in a fuller and more perfect manner. 
 And, being instituted, as was just observed, for the 
 express purpose of preserving such an intercourse 
 between heaven and the church, they were so 
 framed that the Lord himself, together with the 
 inhabitants of his kingdom in both worlds, might 
 act simultaneously in them, his church and king- 
 dom co-operating with him in the respective uses 
 contemplated in their establishment. We infer, 
 accordingly, that baptism is designed to be a sign 
 which is preceptible to angels as well as to men, 
 indicating that the subjects of baptism, whether 
 infants or adults, belong to the Christian Church ; 
 so that at the time they are introduced into the 
 church on earth they are brought under the spi- 
 ritual influences proper to Christianity, and flowing 
 from the beatified spirits of those w r ho have de- 
 parted out of the Christian world, whereby they 
 are protected from the influence of Mahometan or 
 Pagan spirits, who might otherwise instil a secret 
 inclination in favour of their own religion, and 
 thereby distort their spiritual states, and alienate 
 them from Christianity, which would disturb and 
 destroy spiritual order.* Infants, from the mo- 
 ment of their birth, are doubtless under the guar- 
 
 * Universal Theology, n. 678. 
 
BAPTISM. 45 
 
 dianship of ministering angels, and encompassed 
 with a sphere of heavenly protection; but this 
 sphere is especially directed against the injury 
 they would otherwise sustain from the kingdom of 
 darkness. The sphere of protection which ope- 
 rates against the malignity of the infernals is, 
 there can be no doubt, experienced by all infants 
 without exception ; whereas Baptism was instituted 
 in order that a discrimination might exist, and 
 that such as belong to the Christian Church, might 
 be placed under the care of those guardian angels, 
 by whose ministration they are kept in a state 
 favourable to the receiving of faith in the Lord. 
 
 The rite of circumcision was in like manner 
 instituted to distinguish the Jewish Church from 
 all other contemporary Asiatic Churches, and to 
 serve as a means of introduction into it. The 
 apostle, in addressing the Judaizing Christians of 
 his day, w r ho, " to make a fair shew in the flesh 
 and to avoid persecution/' advocated circumcision 
 in connection with Christianity*, accordingly in- 
 sists, that every one w T ho submitted to be circum- 
 cised, made himself, in consequence, a debtor to do 
 the whole of the ceremonial law f; shewing thereby, 
 that circumcision was both the introductory rite to 
 all the other representative observances of Judaism, 
 and an earnest that the person circumcised would 
 
 * Gal. vi. 12. t Chap. v. 3. 
 
46 BAPTISM- 
 
 duly observe theni. But Stephen states of the 
 law, that it was " received by the disposition of 
 angels." * The testimony of the apostle Paul is 
 similar, who states that it was " ordained by angels 
 in the hand of a mediator." t In other words, the 
 ceremonial law, as we have previously shewn, was 
 the medium under the Jewish dispensation of pre- 
 serving a spiritual intercourse between heaven and 
 the church. % Whilst, therefore, an introduction 
 into the Jewish Church was effected by circum- 
 cision, there was an intromission, as to the spirit, 
 of the party on whom the rite was performed, 
 among those spirits and angels, by whom the 
 things of the law were thus " ordained" or pre- 
 served in due order, and by whose ministration 
 the minds of such as were circumcised, were pre- 
 served in a state favourable to the acknowledgment 
 of the verities of the Jewish worship. On the 
 introduction of Christianity, after the Jewish 
 Church had come to its end, it was necessary that 
 a new introductory rite should be divinely insti- 
 tuted, to distinguish it from all idolatrous churches 
 on the one hand, and from the Jewish Church on 
 the other. Whence, therefore, the ordinance of 
 Baptism succeeded to that of circumcision, as the 
 means of distinguishing Christianity from Judaism; 
 as being also more suited to the genius of the 
 
 * Acts vii. 53. f Gal. iii. 18. J Pp. 20, 27, 28. 
 
BAPTISM. 47 
 
 Christian dispensation, and the epitome of both 
 circumcision and all the other Jewish symbols of 
 purification; and, we may add, as applicable to 
 both sexes, the former being applicable to males 
 only. 
 
 The baptism of John, likewise, in addition to 
 being the appropriate symbol of the doctrine of 
 Repentance which he enforced, was also a medium 
 preparatory to that of Christian Baptism, and 
 possessed of a similar use. It is to be observed 
 that, besides being spoken of, as the " messenger of 
 the Lord" sent to prepare his way before him*, it 
 is predicted of John, under the type of Elijah, that 
 he should come, " lest the earth should be smitten 
 with a curse." The words of the prophecy are, 
 " Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before 
 the coming of the great and dreadful day of the 
 Lord, lest I come and smite the earth with a 
 curse." t The efficacy of the baptism of John to 
 avert the calamity impending over the earth con- 
 sisted in this : — that, as by Christian Baptism, in- 
 troduction into the Christian Church, or the church 
 founded on the acknowledgment that the Lord 
 had come in the flesh, was effected; so the baptism 
 of John was a medium whereby mankind were 
 introduced into the Church of the Lord then in the 
 process of formation, inserted amongst those who 
 
 * Mai. iii. 1 ; Matt. xi. 10 ; Mark 1, 2, &c. f Mai. iv. 5, 6, 
 
48 BAPTISM. 
 
 were in the desire, and immediate expectation of 
 the Messiah, and thus guarded by angels against 
 the assaults and destructive machinations of the 
 spirits of darkness. * And when the overwhelming 
 force their influence had acquired at the period of 
 the incarnation, is considered, the necessity of such 
 a provision is obvious. The demoniacs, whom the 
 evil spirits were in the continual effort of des- 
 troying, and of making the instruments of des- 
 troying others, faintly exhibit the awful nature of 
 the curse that would have fallen on the human 
 race, had there not been a provision made, whereby 
 the influence of heaven could be brought to coun- 
 teract that of the opposite kingdom. Had not the 
 legions of darkness been thus restrained, the soli- 
 tary instances of such as the man among the 
 tombs, whom no art could tame, and no fetters 
 bind, would have been the condition of the whole 
 human family, and men would have become the 
 instruments of mutual destruction. f We may 
 
 * Universal Theology, 689. 
 
 f It may perhaps be objected, that this view, so far from being 
 borne out, is contradicted by the passage adduced in the text above. 
 In reply we beg to remark, that in the letter of the Word many things 
 are spoken according to appearances. All that is evil, or injurious, 
 in reality, has its origin in the kingdom of darkness, notwith- 
 standing its wearing, in many instances, the appearance of being an 
 infliction from God. The letter of the Word, in accommodation to 
 the ideas formed on such appearances, speaks of evil as though God 
 
BAPTISM. 49 
 
 remark, further, concerning the baptism of John, 
 that, being only introductory to the ushering in of 
 Christianity, it ceased on the full establishment of 
 the latter, being ultimately superseded altogether 
 by Christian Baptism*; and it is not improbable 
 that where, in the apostle's emphatic declaration 
 of the unity of every thing connected with the 
 Christian Church, he affirms that there is " one 
 baptism f 9 " he may allude to some disputes in 
 the Primitive Church respecting the validity and 
 necessity of the baptism of John. 
 
 The uses of Baptism, so far as they consist of 
 introduction into the Christian Church, and into 
 a sphere of influences favourable to Christianity, 
 flowing from the invisible world, are only pre- 
 paratory to others of a more important kind. The 
 next use of Baptism is, that the person baptized 
 may receive instruction, whereby he may know 
 and acknowledge the Lord, and follow him ; and 
 its final, and, at the same time, essential use is, 
 that he may be regenerated. The importance of 
 
 were actually the author of it. To adduce one instance of this kind 
 which occurs in the book of Job, — the narrative states, that Satan 
 obtained permission to despoil Job of all his possessions, and that he 
 accordingly bereaved him of his children, and deprived him of his 
 wealth. Notwithstanding all this, in the 16th verse of the first 
 chapter, God is represented as the agent, — " the fire of God fell from 
 heaven," and burned up his sheep, servants, &c. 
 
 * Acts xix. 3 — 5. f Eph. iv. 5. 
 
 5 
 
50 BAPTISM. 
 
 instruction in early life is generally regarded as 
 incontrovertible. If it is an advantage where it 
 turns on secular things, or the natural sciences, it 
 must evidently be a much greater blessing, where 
 it has relation to the Lord, to heaven, and eternal 
 felicity. Another ground which renders instruc- 
 tion in religious knowledge indispensable, is, that 
 all truth has an ultimate reference to goodness, 
 and that goodness receives from it the peculiar 
 quality it possesses ; so that without a knowledge 
 of the Divine Head of the Christian Church, and 
 of the truths that form geuuine faith in him, that 
 degree of goodness of which the spiritual man is the 
 subject, or those excellences of character, known 
 as the Christian graces, could not exist : — the ca- 
 pacity of becoming spiritual, or of acquiring such 
 spiritual good, being alone imparted by the truths 
 of Christianity. Where these are wanting, the 
 character cannot rise above the moral virtues, 
 such as exist among well disposed Mahometans 
 and Pagans. 
 
 The influence the knowledge of spiritual things 
 exerts on the Christian character being so great, 
 the use effected by Baptism, as the means of pre- 
 disposing the mind to the spiritual discernment 
 and reception of such knowledge, is sufficiently 
 obvious, to vindicate the Divine goodness and wis- 
 dom in giving it the sanction of Divine authority 
 
BAPTISM, 51 
 
 in its institution. For although it is not to be 
 understood, that the attainment of knowledge 
 whereby man may be made spiritual, is impossible 
 without this ordinance; no one, it is presumed, 
 can regard it as a medium of bringing the mind 
 within the operation of spiritual influences, which 
 keep it in a state favourably disposed to the re- 
 ception of religious truth, with the view to its 
 becoming the subject of Christian faith and re- 
 generation, and protect it against influences that 
 might alienate it from Christianity, without being 
 sensible that the end contemplated is sufficiently 
 great, to justify the appointment of the means. 
 
 Some may object, that it is not possible to point 
 out any visible or tangible difference between one 
 who is baptized in infancy, and one who is not. 
 It may be so. It is not denied that no apparent 
 difference may be found. It does not, however, 
 follow that no difference exists, because it is not 
 perceptible on the surface of the character. When 
 it is considered how short-sighted the human mind 
 has become, and how little it is capable of pene- 
 trating beneath the exterior, in addition to which, 
 the general tendency of education and society is to 
 produce the concealment of the real character and 
 sentiments under external amenities, and simu- 
 lated virtues ; it is quite possible that differences 
 of vast import may exist in the inner depths 
 
52 BAPTISM. 
 
 of the soul which do not become visible on the 
 surface of the character. From all that has been 
 said, notwithstanding any appearances to the con- 
 trary, it follows, that with a person baptized in 
 infancy there is a capacity for the reception of re- 
 ligious truth in a deeper ground, than with one 
 who is not, — the influences which form the first 
 rudiments of the future Christian character, coming 
 in the first case from within, penetrate more deeply 
 into the mental constitution, than in the latter case. 
 The second use of Baptism therefore arises out of 
 the first, and is preparatory to its final use ; the 
 mind being disposed thereby to receive the instruc- 
 tion necessary to enable it to become the subject 
 of faith, grounded in the acknowledgment of the 
 Lord, and ultimately of the new birth. 
 
 Most of the difficulties which have beset this 
 question, have arisen from confounding the rite 
 with that which it is designed to be the medium 
 of promoting, and which is signified by it. We 
 have already seen, that no distinct line of demar- 
 cation has been drawn between Baptism and Re- 
 generation, and that, as one of the necessary results, 
 the ideas entertained on these subjects are most 
 confused. Nevertheless, to the unsophisticated 
 perceptions of the mind, nothing can be plainer, 
 than that Baptism and the New Birth are perfectly 
 distinct tilings. Whatever the relationship may be 
 
BAPTISM. 53 
 
 in which they stand to each other, the things 
 themselves are not to be confounded. Equally 
 self-evident is the position, that regeneration does 
 not, and cannot, result from the application of 
 water ; but must depend on the use a man makes 
 of the spiritual means within his reach. So long, 
 therefore, as the doctrine, that regeneration is 
 effected by Baptism, is maintained, the rational 
 perceptions will revolt against it. Now there are 
 many instances in Scripture, in which the term 
 Baptism is used in a manner that would be alto- 
 gether unintelligible, if the mere external rite alone 
 were understood. When the mother of Zebedee's 
 children, for example, besought the Lord to confer 
 on them the distinction of sitting the one on his 
 right hand and the other on his left, the nature 
 of the questions he put, and the remarks with 
 which he accompanied them, shew that, in speak- 
 ing of Baptism, he did not refer to the outward 
 ordinance : " Are ye able to drink of the cup that I 
 shall drink of, and to be baptized with the Baptism 
 that I am baptized with ?" When they answered 
 that they were able, he added, " Ye shall drink 
 indeed of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized 
 with the baptism that I am baptized with," &c* It 
 is sufficiently evident that, in these observations, 
 the Lord did not allude to baptism by water ; but 
 
 * Matt. xx. 20—23. 
 
 5* 
 
54 BAPTISM. 
 
 to a spiritual baptism he had to experience, to 
 which all his sincere followers likewise must sub- 
 mit, in their degree, in imitation of him as their 
 divine pattern, and of which he therefore speaks 
 as future. Again, when he exclaims, " i" have 
 a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I 
 straitened till it be accomplished *" ; it is clear 
 that the Baptism of which he speaks in this 
 instance also is an internal one, and, consequently, 
 distinct from the outward ordinance; for what 
 straitness, adequate to call forth such an exclama- 
 tion, could arise from the simple application of 
 water ? Moreover, this declaration is subsequent 
 to his having been baptized by John, and there 
 is no intimation of his ever being re-baptized. 
 Most evidently then the Divine speaker, in these 
 instances, refers to an inward process, which was 
 symbolized by the outward rite, but not the 
 outward rite itself. The apostle Paul, likewise, 
 referred to this process when he penned the 
 following striking remarks in his Epistle to the 
 "Romans : " Know ye not that so many of us as 
 were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized 
 into the likeness of his death ? Therefore we are 
 buried with him by baptism into death ; that 
 like as Christ was raised from the dead by the 
 glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in 
 
 * Luke xii. 50. 
 
BAPTISM. 55 
 
 newness of life : For if we have been planted to- 
 gether in the likeness of his death, we shall be also 
 in the likeness of his resurrection."* To say, as 
 some do who contend for the administration of 
 Baptism by immersion, that the Christian is 
 bnried with Christ by Baptism into death when 
 his head is put under water, and that, when he lifts 
 it out again, he rises in the likeness of his resur- 
 rectionf, really appears too pnerile to be seriously 
 refuted. To affirm also that the impressive re- 
 marks which follow, — " Knowing this, that our old 
 man is crucified with him, that the body of sin 
 might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not 
 serve sin ; " and again, — " If we be dead with 
 Christ we believe that we shall live with himj;^ 
 have reference to the immersion of the body in 
 water, and thus in effect saying that the old man 
 is crucified when such immersion takes place, is to 
 shock the common sense of mankind, and to turn 
 the whole doctrine into a subject of ridicule. The 
 testimony of Peter agrees with this view, where he 
 states, that Baptism does not save us "by the 
 putting away of the filth of the flesh," but " by 
 the answer of a good conscience towards God." § 
 It follows, then, that Baptism, besides being a me- 
 dium of a series of uses bearing on the new birth, 
 
 * Chap. vi. 3—5. f See Job Abbot, p. 14. 
 
 % Romans vi. 6, 8. § First Epistle iii. 21. 
 
56 BAPTISM. 
 
 stands also in Scripture, and in the church, as the 
 symbol of regeneration ; and that regeneration is 
 spoken of in the Sacred Oracles under the type of 
 Baptism. This fact, when known, explains the 
 force and meaning of the Lord's injunction to his 
 disciples, and the declaration accompanying it, 
 " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
 every creature : he that believeth and is baptized 
 shall be saved ; but he that believeth not shall be 
 damned *" : — the Baptism here spoken of, re- 
 fering to regeneration, — and the passage teaching, 
 that whosoever acknowledges the Lord and is 
 regenerated, will be saved. 
 
 Baptism not only stands in the church as a 
 symbol of regeneration, but likewise as a memorial 
 of the necesssity there exists for man to be re- 
 generated. For man, by natural birth, inherits, 
 all kinds of evil propensities, or tendences to evil ; 
 whence arises the necessity of his being born again, 
 in order that new principles may be brought forth 
 within him. Baptism is a memorial of this ne- 
 cessity, to which it points both in the whole and 
 in detail. If we consider it as the medium 
 whereby a series of positive uses is effected, — First, 
 of introduction into the church, and at the same 
 time of bringing around the young a sphere of 
 heavenly influences; Secondly, of thereby disposing 
 
 * Mark xvi. 15, 16. 
 
BAPTISM. 57 
 
 them to the favourable reception of such instruc- 
 tion as may lead them to the acknowledgment of 
 the Lord as the Redeemer and Saviour, and to 
 follow him ; and thus, in the third place, of pre- 
 paring the way for their Spiritual Baptism or Re- 
 generation : — it is easy to recognize the reference 
 which each of the preliminary uses bears to the 
 final one. All the blessings that are potentially 
 communicated in the one, are made actual in the 
 other; so that, from being surrounded, through 
 Baptism, with a circle of influences predisposing 
 the person baptized to the acquisition of the 
 means for developing the Christian character, he 
 passes on, till, by regeneration, where he becomes 
 the subject of it, there is a citizenship obtained in 
 heaven, and an actual incorporation into, and com- 
 munion with, the mystical body of Christ, — whence 
 those influences first flowed. The uses of this or- 
 dinance thus proceed in an orderly and progressive 
 circle, beginning from heaven and terminating 
 there; the sphere of influences, first brought thence 
 by its instrumentality, becoming, in the New Birth, 
 an actual intercourse, as to the spirit, with the 
 Church of the First-born there. 
 
 But regeneration is spoken of as being effected 
 by means of " water" and the " Spirit," which has 
 led many to suppose, that in Baptism the operation 
 of the Holy Spirit, in some mysterious way, concurs 
 
58 BAPTISM. 
 
 with the operation of the water, and produces a 
 renewing of the whole man. In entering on the 
 investigation of passages where this doctrine is 
 propounded, as, for example, the declaration to 
 Nicodemus, " Except a man be born again of water 
 and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God," 
 it is obviously necessary in the outset, to enquire, 
 what is involved in this new birth? and whether any 
 effect produced by the application of natural water 
 to the person is equivalent to it ? otherwise, having 
 no distinct understanding of the term, it is not 
 possible to possess any clear apprehension of the 
 subject. In the first place we may remark, that it 
 is but reasonable to suppose that a real analogy 
 exists between the two births of which man is the 
 subject. To call that a " new birth" which bears 
 no analogy to the first birth, would be a mis- 
 application of words, calculated only to mislead 
 the mind. It is true, man does not literally 
 "enter a second time into the womb;" never- 
 theless, there must be a resemblance distinctly 
 perceptible in the general features of the two. In 
 the first birth, for example, there is a progressive 
 formation ; and in the new, or second birth, if it 
 be really what the name implies, there must be a 
 series of stages answering to those connected with 
 man's natural birth, in that he is conceived, carried 
 in the womb, and brought forth. The spiritual 
 
BAPTISM. 59 
 
 man is not only declared to be " born of God */' 
 but also to be begotten of God f," and to have 
 been carried from the womb by him, — " Even to 
 hoar hairs will I carry you ; I have made, and I 
 will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you." J 
 Again, "As soon as Zion travailed, she brought 
 forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, 
 and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord. 
 Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb ? 
 saith the Lord. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and 
 be glad with her, all ye that love her ; . . . . that ye 
 may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her 
 consolations, that ye may milk out, and be delighted 
 with the abundance of her glory." § The church 
 is here represented as a spiritual mother; the 
 heavenly principles which grow out of her are also 
 described as spiritual births, and their progress 
 marked by stages similar to those which occur in 
 natural birth. 
 
 To be born again, involves a process whereby 
 the whole mind is actually formed and created 
 anew. One of the difficulties connected with the de- 
 claration which affirms the necessity of being " born 
 again of water," arises, as we have briefly hinted 
 before ||, from a confusion of ideas attached to the 
 general mode of interpreting the passage where 
 
 * John 1. 13. f James i. 18 ; 1 Peter i. 3. 
 
 X Isaiah xlvi. 3, 4. § Isaiah lxvi. 8 — 11. || See above, p. 15. 
 
60 BAPTISM. 
 
 the expression occurs, in consequence of taking 
 some of the terms in the literal, and others in a 
 figurative sense. The genuine, or spiritual mean- 
 ing of water in Baptism, and likewise in the pas- 
 sage under consideration, has not been attended to. 
 The professing Christian Church has unfortunately 
 overlooked what is involved in the declaration of the 
 apostle, " When I was a child, I thought as a child, 
 I spake as a child, I understood as a child; but 
 when I became a man, I put away childish things." * 
 The present state of religious knowledge gives but 
 too plain evidence, that childish things are not yet 
 put away. There is a clinging to sensible im- 
 pressions, which can only be accounted for on the 
 ground, that either the church has not yet out- 
 grown, her pupilage, or else, is verging on a state 
 of second childhood. The doating fondness for the 
 "beggarly elements" of forms and ceremonials, 
 but too strikingly indicates the absence of that 
 spiritual vigour, which, "leaving the principles," 
 is able to "go on to perfection." f Had not this 
 been the case, the gross ideas of the ordinances of 
 religion and of the new birth, would have been 
 long ago repudiated, as unworthy of that spiritual 
 discernment by which divine subjects can alone be 
 apprehended. J The declaration of the Lord re- 
 specting the water, of which he says we must be 
 
 * 1 Cor. xiii. 11. f Heb. vi. 1. % 1 Cor. ii. 14. 
 
BAPTISM. 61 
 
 born again, has been understood as having re- 
 ference to the physical element belonging to the 
 world of nature ; whereas instances abound in the 
 Divine Oracles, proving that the scriptural meaning 
 of the Word is quite distinct. Witness the Lord's 
 discourse with the Samaritan woman. Her first 
 impressions were like " the thoughts of the child/' 
 — formed according to the apprehension of the 
 senses. When she was told, that if she knew the 
 gift of God, and who it was that was then convers- 
 ing with her, she would have asked, and he would 
 have given her living water, her thoughts were not 
 raised above sensible objects, and she answered 
 accordingly : " Sir," was her reply, " thou hast 
 nothing to draw with, and the well is deep ; from 
 whence then hast thou that living water?" The 
 Lord answered, " Whosoever drinketh of this 
 water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh 
 of the water that I shall give him, shall never 
 thirst; but it shall be in him a well of water 
 springing up unto everlasting life." * It is a 
 subject calculated to excite both grief and wonder, 
 that theology is still where the Lord found the 
 woman of Samaria, — forming its conclusions ac- 
 cording to the appearances presented by the senses. 
 What can be plainer than that, by the " living 
 water" promised to this woman, the Lord meant 
 
 * John iv. 9 — 14. 
 
 6 
 
f>2 BAPTISM. 
 
 the knowledge concerning himself — the truths that 
 teach his character and his divinity, and which 
 alone can satisfy the immortal longings of the son! 
 after intelligence ? When he speaks of himself as 
 the fountain at which this thirst is to be slaked, — 
 when, as in the last great day of the feast, he cried, 
 " If any man thirst, let him come nnto me and 
 drink; he that believeth on me, as the Scripture 
 hath said, ont of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
 water*;" and when, too, Jehovah calls himself 
 "The Fountain of living Waters f;" — blind indeed 
 must be the intellectual vision of those who cannot 
 see that, in these instances, water has a meaning 
 distinct from that of the letter. The spiritual 
 signification of water is Truth, — a signification so 
 obvious to the mind, when it exercises reflection, 
 that scarcely any thing is more common than to 
 speak of the Divine Oracles as a well, and to de- 
 signate the instruction communicated by them as 
 streams and rivers of water. In fact the Bible 
 itself supplies the meaning : — " The earth shall be 
 
 full Of THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD, as the 
 
 w t aters cover the sea." J The internal acknow- 
 ledgment of the Lord, is " a well of water" within 
 the mind, " springing up unto everlasting life" — 
 a perennial source of intelligence and felicity. 
 Jehovah, as the Divine Truth itself — the infinite 
 
 * John vii. 37, 38. f Jer. ii. 13. J Ts. xi. 9. 
 
BAPTISM. 63 
 
 source of all knowledge and instruction, is the 
 "Fountain of living Waters;" and the Lord also, 
 when he cries unto all who thirst to come to him 
 and drink, identifies himself with that Divine 
 Fountain. 
 
 When it is seen that by water, as just explained, 
 is spiritually signified truth, and that by being 
 " born of water," is meant, being formed anew 
 through the instrumentality of truth, the difficulty 
 vanishes ; and the interpretation of the passage — 
 * Except a man be born of water .... he 
 cannot see the kingdom of God," is placed on an 
 intelligible basis, since it teaches, that without 
 truth as a means, it is impossible for regeneration 
 to take place, — in other words, for man to be 
 made spiritual. Truth is the spiritual formative 
 principle, and not only gives shape and colour 
 to the thoughts, but is likewise indispensable in 
 the formation of the character. Every thing that 
 is true, in either a moral or religious sense, 
 is the form of some moral virtue or Chris- 
 tian grace; whence, as previously shewn, it is 
 truth which gives to goodness its distinctive pro- 
 perties. 
 
 The word rendered " spirit," in a clause of the 
 passage partially quoted in the preceding para- 
 graph, and where also the spirit is described as an 
 agent in the new-birth, is, in other parts of the 
 
64 BAPTISM. 
 
 chapter where it occurs, rendered wind*: "The 
 wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest 
 the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
 cometh, nor whither it goeth : so is every one 
 that is born (according to the literal rendering) 
 of the wind." -\ Water, as shewn above, is the 
 symbol of truth; wind or breath, in consequence 
 of the presence of animal life being indicated by 
 respiration, is taken in the Scriptures to symbolize 
 life; and every order of sentient life, whether 
 physical or mental, natural or spiritual, is included 
 under the term, as used in the letter of the Word. 
 We find it employed in relation to Deity J, to 
 indicate that he is the self-existent source of all 
 being, certainly not to represent him as an unsub- 
 stantial extension ; and the communication of life 
 to the soul, by influx from the Divine life, is 
 spoken of, as " God breathing into man's nosti'ils 
 the breath of life, and man becoming a living 
 soul."§ We have another striking instance of 
 this signification of wind, in connection with 
 Ezekiers vision of the dry bones. || After the 
 prophet had been commanded to prophesy to the 
 dry bones, and bone had come to its bone, had 
 
 * See above, p. 15. f John iii. 8. 
 
 % John iv. 24, where it reads, in the authorized version, " God is 
 a Spirit." 
 
 § Gen. ii. 7. Q Ezek. xxxvii. 9, 10. 
 
BAPTISM. 65 
 
 next been covered with sinews, these succeeded by 
 flesh, and the whole clothed with skin; he was 
 further commanded to prophesy to the wind: — 
 "Prophesy unto the wind; prophesy, son of man, 
 and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, 
 Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe 
 upon these slain, that they may live." The 
 prophet continues, " So I prophesied, as he com- 
 manded me, and the breath came into them, and 
 they lived" To be born of the wind, or Spirit, 
 then, obviously signifies, to become the subject of a 
 renewed life ; and the two expressions — " born 
 again of water, and of the Spirit" — taken together, 
 indicate that the new-birth can only be effected by 
 the truths appertaining to a living faith, and a life 
 in agreement with them : — in other words, that 
 the new-birth involves a twofold operation, the first 
 consisting in the discovery of evils by means of the 
 truths of holy writ, accompanied by self-compul- 
 sion, through power derived from God, in resisting 
 them, and thereby effecting the reformation of the 
 character ; and the second, consisting in a person 
 becoming the subject of spiritual life, or of a new 
 animating principle breathed into the soul from 
 the Lord, which properly constitutes regeneration. 
 Reformation, being chiefly effected through the in- 
 strumentality of truth, or the understanding, is 
 indicated by being "born again of water;" andre- 
 
 6* 
 
66 BAPTISM. 
 
 generation, consisting of a new life breathed into 
 the man, is indicated by being (( born again of the 
 Spirit." John the Baptist also describes this twofold 
 process connected with the new-birth, where he says, 
 " I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance ; 
 but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, 
 whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall 
 baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."* 
 Reformation involving, also, the shunning of evils 
 as sins in the sight of God, or repentance, John 
 speaks of this first stage of the new-birth as being 
 represented in his baptism ; and the second stage, 
 in which the regenerating person is imbued with a 
 new vital animating principle, is described as an 
 interior baptism — the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. 
 That this second baptism consists in the reception 
 of a new principle of life breathed into the new 
 man when it is formed, or rather re-formed, is 
 evident from the Lord's communicating the Holy 
 Spirit to his disciples by the act of breathing on 
 them : — u he breathed on them, and saith unto them, 
 Receive ye the Holy Ghost." f That the apostles, 
 when speaking of " the Spirit," mean thereby this 
 new life, is evident from the manner in which they 
 refer to it. It is spoken of as an indwelling prin- 
 ciple in each individual bosom; as, for instance, 
 (< Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be 
 
 * Matt. Hi. 11. f John xx. 22. 
 
BAPTISM. 67 
 
 that the Spirit of God dwell in you j Now if any 
 man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none 
 of his*:" and likewise as the spirit, or principle 
 animating the whole church, or mystical body of 
 Christ. It is to this indwelling principle the 
 apostle refers in the following passages : — " There 
 is one body, and one spirit \ ;" "Endeavour to 
 keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace J;" 
 " We both [viz. Jews and Gentiles] have access by 
 one spirit unto the Father." § This receives fur- 
 ther illustration from the First Epistle to the 
 Corinthians || , where the apostle speaks of their 
 having "all drunk unto one spirit." The whole 
 passage is very striking : — " By one spirit are we 
 all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or 
 Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have 
 been all made to drink into one spirit." 
 
 This is still more forcible, when taken in con- 
 nection with the context, where the church is con- 
 sidered as one body, composed of many members, 
 yet nevertheless animated by one life — the life 
 imparted from the glorified person of Christ. The 
 Saviour's invitation to all those who thirsted, to go 
 to him to drink, and the promise to whomsoever 
 should believe on him, that " out of his belly should 
 flow rivers of living water," refers to this Spirit, 
 
 * Rom. viii. 9. t Eph. iv. -i. % Ver. 3. 
 
 § Chap. ii. 18. || Cbap xii. 13. 
 
OS BAPTISM. 
 
 for it is expressly added, that "he spake this of 
 that Spirit which they who believed on him should 
 receive." * The baptism of the Spirit, then, is that 
 phase of the new-birth which relates to the im- 
 partation of a renewed life, or, as designated by 
 the apostle Paul, " the renewing of the spirit of 
 the mind." f The whole passage, indeed, contains 
 such a lucid exposition of the nature of regenera- 
 tion, that it is adduced : — " Ye have not so learned 
 Christ, if so be that ye have heard of him, and 
 have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus ; 
 that ye put off, concerning the former conversation, 
 the old man, which is corrupt according to the 
 deceitful lusts ; and be renewed in the spirit of your 
 mind ; and that ye put on the new man, which after 
 God is created in righteousness and true holiness." J 
 Tn the declaration of John the Baptist we have 
 quoted, it is said that the Lord shall " baptize 
 with the Holy Spirit and with fire." § Two 
 terms are here used, to mark the twofold character 
 of the life imparted by regeneration; the Holy 
 Spirit, which is on some occasions called "the 
 Spirit of Truth || ," denoting the life of truth, and 
 fire, the life of love. % 
 
 Baptism further stands as the representative of 
 
 * John vii. 39. t Eph. iv. 23. % Ver. 20—24. 
 
 § Matt. iii. 11. || John xiv. 17. 
 
 % ArcanaCoelestia,n.98lS. See also Clowes' Matthew's Gospel, in loco. 
 
BAPTISM. 69 
 
 Regeneration, considered as the means of spiritual 
 purification. The word itself signifies washing, 
 and the ordinance of baptism, being used by 
 Divine command, symbolizes spiritual washing, or 
 the inward purification of the thoughts and affec- 
 tions. The instances in which spiritual purifi- 
 cation is spoken of in the Scriptures, as w r ashing, 
 are so beautiful, that although somewhat numer- 
 ous, I cannot forbear quoting the majority of 
 them. David exclaims, " I will wash my hands in 
 innocency, and so will I compass thine altar, 
 O Lord*;" again, "Wash me throughly from 
 mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin ... . 
 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; wash 
 me, and I shall be whiter than snoiv." f In 
 Jeremiah it is written, " O Jerusalem, wash thine 
 heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. J" 
 In the book of Isaiah we have the following 
 striking illustration of the reference the Scripture 
 meaning of " washing," has to this inward purifi- 
 cation : " Wash you, make you clean ; put away 
 the evil of your doings from before mine eyes : 
 cease to do evil ; learn to do well ; . . . . though 
 your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
 snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be 
 as wool" § The symbolic character of the ablu- 
 
 * Ps. xxvi. 6. f Ps. li. 2, 7. 
 
 % Chap. iv. 14. § Chap. i. 16—18. 
 
70 BAPTISM. 
 
 tions prescribed in the Jewish law, has already 
 been hinted at. * The narrative of Naaman's 
 leprosy, and its cure f, is equally significant. It 
 would be profanity to affirm, that the sending of 
 Naaman to dip himself seven times in Jordan was 
 a mere caprice of the prophet : and, if not caprice, 
 it must rest on some tangible ground. In fact, the 
 whole narrative points so obviously to the purifi- 
 cation of the heart from the leprosy of sin, by 
 means of spiritual washing; and the objection of 
 the Syrian to a remedy so simple, presents in such 
 a striking light the repugnance of the unrenewed 
 mind to humble itself to the mode of purification 
 prescribed in the Gospel ; that it is difficult not to 
 recognize the spiritual lesson couched beneath it. 
 There is, again, the Lord's act of washing his dis- 
 ciples' feet J , the significant character of which is 
 sufficiently indicated by the question, — "Know 
 ye what I have done to you?" and the application 
 which follows, — " If I, your Lord and Master, have 
 washed your feet; ye ought also to wash one 
 another's feet. " § What renders the significance 
 of the act more striking, when Peter protested 
 against the Lord's washing his feet, the answer 
 w r as, u If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with 
 me || ;" and when Peter, after hearing this, said, 
 
 * P. 25. f 2 Kings v. J John xiii. 
 
 § Ver. 14. || Ver. 8. 
 
BAPTISM. 71 
 
 ° Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and 
 my head/' the reply was, " He that is washed 
 needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean 
 every whit." * Nothing can well be more distinct 
 and clear, than the reference this act of the Lord 
 bears to the purification of the internal character 
 by means of truth : — water being the symbol of 
 truth, and washing of purification thereby. The 
 epistolary writings furnish instances equally to the 
 point. In writing to the Hebrews, the apostle 
 says, " Let us draw near with a true heart, in full 
 assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from 
 an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure 
 water." f To the Corinthians, " But ye are washed, 
 but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the 
 name of the Lord." J In his eloquent description 
 of what Christ has done for his church, which 
 occurs in his Epistle to the Ephesians, where he 
 enforces tenderness on the part of the husband 
 towards the wife, the apostle says, " Husbands 
 love your wives, even as Christ also loved the 
 church, and gave himself for it, that he might 
 sanctify, and cleanse it, ivith the washing of water 
 by the Word, that he might present it to himself, a 
 glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any 
 such thing ; but that it should be holy and with- 
 
 * Ver. 10. f Chap. x. 22. 
 
 "I First Epistle vi. 11. 
 
72 BAPTISM. 
 
 out blemish. "* It needs no observations to prove 
 what is so evident, — that the washing mentioned in 
 this quotation, is spiritual washing. This is plain, 
 indeed, from its being described as the object the 
 Divine Bridegroom had in view when he gave him- 
 self for the church. When writing to Titns, the 
 apostle speaks of this washing as the " washing of 
 regeneration :" — " Not by works of righteousness 
 which we have done, but according to his mercy he 
 saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renew- 
 ing of the Holy Ghost. " f In his Second Epistle 
 to the Corinthians, likewise, it is written, " Having 
 therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us 
 cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
 spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." J 
 The apostle Peter also declares, that baptism 
 et saves us, not by the putting away of the filth of 
 the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience to 
 God." § 
 
 It is somewhat surprising that the spiritual sig- 
 nification of washing, and its bearing on Baptism, 
 as the symbol of inward purification in the new- 
 birth, should, to so great an extent, have been over- 
 looked, when the whole of the Lord's teaching goes 
 to shew, that the Christian religion is essentially 
 internal in its character and operations ; and only 
 
 * Eph. v. 25—27. f Chap. iii. 5. 
 
 X Chap. vii. I. § First Epis. iii. 21. 
 
BAPTISM. 73 
 
 so far external as is necessary for the existence and 
 fulness of the internal. The declaration that " not 
 that which goeth in at the mouth defileth the man, 
 but that which cometh from within" has been pre- 
 viously noticed.* His very kingdom is an internal 
 one — " The kingdom of God is xoithin you. }, f The 
 denunciations against the pharisees, were on ac- 
 count of their cleansing merely the outside of the 
 cup and platter, whilst within they tvere filled with 
 all kinds of defilement : the injunction is added, 
 " cleanse first that which is within the cup and 
 the platter, that the outside may be clean also."% 
 From these quotations it is also evident, that 
 the invitation of Ananias to the apostle Paul, 
 "Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins§," 
 does not, when rightly considered, favour the idea 
 of baptismal regeneration, — in other words, that 
 the water, or aught else, in the mere rite of bap- 
 tism can remove sins ; since the washing of the 
 Christian is an internal washing, — a cleansing of 
 those parts of the man that water cannot reach. 
 But baptism, symbolizing, and indeed standing as 
 a perpetual memorial of, regeneration, in the 
 church, is frequently used in a sense comprising 
 regeneration. The injunction of Ananias, there- 
 fore, included both the introductory rite, and the 
 
 * P. 14. 
 
 f Luke xvii. 21. 
 
 t Matt, xxiii. 25, 26. 
 
 § Acts xxii. 16. 
 
 
 7 
 
74 BAPTISM. 
 
 process of which the external ordinance is the re- 
 presentative, — the new-birth, which can alone be 
 effected by shunning evils as sins in the sight of 
 God, and " the inward renewing of the spirit of 
 the mind." 
 
 In some parts of the sacred volume, also, we read 
 of being washed with the blood of Christ, — a doc- 
 trine, it is true, bearing on Baptism in an indirect 
 manner only; but which, from its reference to 
 spiritual purification, may, nevertheless, justify a 
 brief digression. Whatever is involved in it, its 
 import is evidently spiritual, not literal. If the 
 literal sense be claimed for " blood" or a natural 
 idea attached to the word, it is undeniable that the 
 " washing" is mystical, and that it involves interior 
 purification. Now the medium of spiritual purifi- 
 cation, is the divine truth communicated through 
 the Word of God, or the Scriptures. We accord- 
 ingly read of the Lord, that, in one place, he said 
 of his disciples, "Sanctify them through thy truth*-" 
 again, of himself as their great exemplar, "For 
 their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be 
 sanctified through the truthf;" and, in another place, 
 "Now are ye clean through the Word ivhich I have 
 spoken unto you%\" and to shew the connection be- 
 tween the two, he adds to a declaration previously 
 
 * John xvii. 17- t Ver. *9. 
 
 % Chap. xv. 3. 
 
BAPTISM. 75 
 
 quoted, " Thy Word is truth."* Both water 
 and blood are symbols of the divine truth, and 
 were used as such under the representative wor- 
 ship of the Jews ; the former as the type of truth 
 in its lowest or ultimate form, and the latter as the 
 type of the interior, living truth. The " blood of 
 Christ/ 5 that is of his glorified, or deified body, is 
 the divine truth itself; and the reception of it 
 effects both purification from spiritual defilement, 
 and imparts spiritual life : whence it is written, 
 that "the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sinf;" 
 and that " whosoever drinketh thereof has eternal 
 life." J 
 
 Another result arising from the present unsatis- 
 
 * Chap. xvii. 17. t l John i. 7. 
 
 J John vi. 54. The passage referred to in the text, reads as fol- 
 lows : — " Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal 
 life." To enter fully on the subject propounded in this passage, would 
 lead to the investigation of the nature and meaning of the Holy 
 Supper. Suffice it, therefore, to remark, that the Lord, by glorification, 
 made his humanity the divine good and the divine truth. By the 
 former, which is spoken of as his flesh, man's will and its life are 
 sustained ; and by the latter, which is called his blood, his understand- 
 ing and the life appertaining to it are supported. The bread and 
 wine in the sacrament, are the symbols of these two ; and, according 
 to the laws of correspondence, which we have briefly adverted to, 
 whilst man, as to his body, partakes of the natural elements of that 
 divine ordinance, his spirit is actually fed with the " body and blood " 
 of the Lord's Humanity — or with those things that constitute them, — 
 the divine goodness and truth. 
 
76 BAPTISM. 
 
 factory state of knowledge in the professing church 
 respecting the ordinance of Baptism, its meaning, 
 and uses, is, that theologians have been divided on 
 questions of the most external nature, such, for 
 instance, as the respective claims of sprinkling 
 and immersion : — whether, for example, it is suffi- 
 cient, in the administration of the ordinance, that 
 the water be sprinkled, or poured, on the party 
 baptized, or, whether it is essential to the validity 
 of the rite, to plunge the whole person under 
 water. This is only an illustration of the fulfil- 
 ment of that prophetic declaration, which says, 
 " Wheresoever the carcase is, thither will the eagles 
 be gathered together*:" in other words, — when the 
 essence of a religious ordinance is lost sight of, the 
 church begins to dispute about the form : whereas, 
 on the other hand, if the church possessed a distinct 
 perception of the genuine use and meaning of the 
 symbols appointed by the Lord, the mode of their 
 administration would be regarded as comparatively 
 unessential. It would then be seen, that sprinkling 
 equally represents regeneration, and consequent 
 purification, as does immersion, as is evident from 
 the following passage in Ezekiel, — " Then will I 
 sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be 
 clean from all your filthinessf;" and from the ex- 
 pression which occurs in a passage already quoted 
 
 * Matt. xxiv. 28. f Chap, xxxvi. 25. 
 
BAPTISM. 77 
 
 from the apostle Paul, — " Having our hearts 
 sprinkled from an evil conscience."* 
 
 From what has been advanced it is plain, that 
 water is used in baptism as a symbol of the truths 
 of faith ; and that baptism itself was instituted to 
 be the representative of spiritual washing, that it 
 might stand in the church as a memorial of regen- 
 eration, and of the purification from evils and false 
 principles effected by regeneration. In another 
 point of view, baptism symbolizes temptations. 
 This signification of the ordinance arises from the 
 circumstance, that all regeneration is effected by 
 means of temptations t, and, because baptism re- 
 presents the new-birth under all its phases, and, 
 consequently, all that is included in it, whether 
 considered in reference to the reformation of the 
 outward man, or the " inward renewing of the 
 spirit of the mind." This explains why, in speak- 
 ing of his own temptations, and those of his dis- 
 ciples, the Lord designates them a baptism : " Can 
 ye drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and be 
 baptized with the baptism I am baptized with ? . . . . 
 Ye shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized 
 ivith the baptism I am baptized with%-" — " I have a 
 baptism to be baptized with, and how am I 
 straitened till it be accomplished." § In what may 
 
 * Heb. x. 22. f Arcana Coelestia, n. 10,239. 
 
 % Matt. xx. 22, 23. § Luke xii 50. 
 
 7* 
 
78 BAPTISM. 
 
 be termed the supreme sense, that is, when spoken 
 of in reference to the Lord, baptism denotes his 
 glorification, or the whole process whereby his 
 humanity was made divine, including his conflicts 
 with the powers of darkness even to his final 
 temptation, or the passion of the cross, which was 
 the crowning act, whereby lie fully accomplished 
 the great work of "leading captivity captive" and 
 glorifying his human. The regeneration of man 
 is an image of the Lord's glorification, and the 
 result of regeneration is, to transform the Christian 
 into the image and likeness of the Man Christ, or 
 of the Lord's glorified nature.* On what other 
 intelligible ground could the Lord speak of this 
 rite, as he spoke of it to John, when he said, in 
 reference to his own baptism, — " Suffer it to be 
 so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righte- 
 omnessf?" It could be for no other reason, than 
 that grounded in its spiritual significance as the 
 type of all that relates to the regeneration of 
 man and the glorification of himself. The obser- 
 vations of the apostle Paul to the Romans on 
 baptism, which have been previously quoted, also 
 connect with it the crucifying of the old man, 
 and, of course, the temptations involved therein, 
 in a manner that would be unintelligible, except 
 baptism be recognized as the representative of such 
 
 * Eom. viii. 29; Eph. iv. 13. f Matt. iii. 15. 
 
BAPTISM. 79 
 
 spiritual crucifixion, or temptations: — "Know ye 
 not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus 
 Christ, were baptized into his death ? There- 
 fore we are buried ivith him by baptism into 
 death : . . . . that, like as Christ was raised from the 
 dead, .... even so we should ivalk in newness of 
 life. For if we have been planted together in the 
 likeness of his death, we shall be also in the like- 
 ness of his resurrection : Knowing this, that our 
 old man is crucified ivith him, that the body of sin 
 may be destroyed, that we should no more serve 
 sin."* This appears even plainer from the context. 
 The chapter commences with the question, — 
 " Shall we continue in sin, that grace may 
 aboundf?" To this the apostle replies, by ask- 
 ing, fi How shall we that are dead to sin, live any 
 longer therein % ?" and then, in the subsequent 
 verses, which have been adduced just above, refers 
 his readers to baptism, in a manner that would be 
 utterly meaningless, unless it be regarded in the 
 church as both the representative and memorial of 
 regeneration, and all that pertains to it. The 
 question, " Know ye not that so many of us as 
 were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into 
 his death?" &c., intended, as it is, to remind the 
 Roman Christians, that they were to hold them- 
 selves to be " dead unto sin, but alive unto God;" 
 
 * Romans vi. 3 — 6. f Ver - *• t Ver - 2 - 
 
80 BAPTISM. 
 
 that they were not to let " sin reign in their mor- 
 tal bodies to fulfil the lusts thereof, neither to 
 yield their members as instruments of unrighte- 
 ousness unto sin, but to yield themselves unto 
 God as those that were alive from the dead*;" 
 plainly shews that it was so recognized in the apos- 
 tolic age : wherefore it is here put as typically in- 
 volving the whole of the new-birth, or that pro- 
 cess whereby the old man, together with its lusts, 
 being crucified, becomes dead to sin, and the 
 Christian is resuscitated into newness of life. 
 
 There are some who appear to hold the idea, 
 that a degree of sanctity, in some way or other, 
 attaches to the water that is used in the ordinance. 
 This also is one of the results growing out of the 
 present imperfect state of knowledge in the church 
 on the subject. "Whenever the interior spiritual 
 uses of a religious service are lost sight of, the 
 religious feelings become concentrated in the ex- 
 ternal rite. Such being the case, as respects 
 baptism, the real ground of its sanctity is not 
 seen. Instead of being recognized as the outward 
 symbol, or representative of regeneration, and 
 holy by virtue of the heavenly and divine things 
 involved in such representation; it is, by many, 
 confounded with that of which it is only the type, 
 and held to be identical, or nearly so, with the 
 
 * Ver. 11—13. 
 
BAPTISM. 81 
 
 new-birth; whence also it is regarded as having 
 some intrinsic holiness, and the water itself as the 
 depository of some mysterious latent sanctity. It 
 is, nevertheless, one would suppose, sufficiently 
 evident, at least to those who give themselves the 
 trouble to exercise reflection, that no inanimate 
 thing can be the subject of sanctity, and that no 
 form of consecration can make it so. "Whatever 
 sanctity may exist in connection with any of the 
 services of the church, it has its residence in the 
 human breast, which, so far as man becomes the 
 subject of regeneration, is transformed into a 
 living temple of the Most High. It is not that 
 water is the seat of any Christian influence or 
 grace, or that it can be made to impart any, that 
 its use is ordained in baptism ; but simply to 
 supply to the ideas of those present an ultimate 
 symbol, and thus to impart to the representation 
 connected with this ordinance of introduction into 
 the Christian church, an actuality, and consequent 
 fulness : whereas without it the representation 
 would have no actual, but only an imaginary 
 basis.* 
 
 * The necessity of such an actual symbol or representative as that 
 supplied by the water in baptism, arises from the nature of the laws 
 which regulate the intercommunion between the church below and the 
 " church in the skies," or, as we have called them in the text, the 
 laws of coi respondence. The organization of angels, not being material, 
 is no more adapted to take cognizance of the things of this world, than 
 
82 BAPTISM. 
 
 Among the subjects connected with this sacra- 
 ment, the formula prescribed by its Divine Founder 
 demands our notice. The Lord directed that 
 
 are the physical organs of our earthly body suited to take cognizance 
 of the things of theirs. The medium through which the inhabitants 
 of that world become acquainted with what passes in this, is the 
 mental part of man, that is to say, it is reflected from the thoughts 
 of those on whom they are attendant as ministering spirits : so that 
 they only become acquainted with what occurs within the church, 
 through the minds of those who constitute the church, and take part 
 in its worship. Moreover, the intellectual plane of angelic ideas in- 
 calculably transcends that of mortals below. The things heard by the 
 apostle, when he was caught up into paradise (2 Cor. xii. 1 — 4), so 
 far transcended human thought, that he could not find language to give 
 them utterance. In short, the ideas of angels are essentially spi- 
 ritual, whilst those of men are natural; but, by virtue of the corres- 
 pondence, or analogy, which exists between what is spiritual and what 
 is natural, the natural ideas inseparable from man's state here, are 
 transmuted into spiritual ideas as they pass on to angelic intelligences; 
 so that what is seen after a natural manner by the one, is perceived 
 after a spiritual mode by the other. It has been proved, it is pre- 
 sumed satisfactorily to those who have candidly examined the subject, 
 that a communion with heaven actually existed in the Jewish Church, 
 by virtue of the symbolical observances prescribed in the law, since 
 it has been shewn on the plain statement of Scripture that such was 
 the case. It is not, however, to be supposed, that the angels, by whose 
 " disposition," or ministry, the law was " ordained," were in the least 
 interested in the outward, carnal ordinances of the Jewish worship, 
 consisting as they did " in meats and drinks, and diverse washings ;" 
 in the shape and fashion of the priests' garments, and other matters 
 of a similar nature. Indeed the apostle states (2 Cor. iii.) that the 
 Jews might themselves have seen much further into the nature and 
 meaning of their observances than they did, had not "their hearts been 
 
BAPTISM. 83 
 
 baptism should be performed " in the name of the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit/ 5 The signi- 
 ficance of name, in Scripture, is very striking; 
 and a right understanding of this subject will 
 greatly assist in elucidating the nature of bap- 
 tism. Names, as they occur in Holy Writ, indicate 
 qualities. The divine names found there, are ob- 
 viously expressive of the divine characters and 
 qualities. The name Jehovah, formed as it is 
 from the verb of existence, presents the Most High, 
 as essential, underived Being. Again, the names 
 God, Almighty, Creator, Former, Redeemer, 
 Father of Eternity, Wonderful, Counsellor, 
 
 so blinded," that even Moses was obliged to put a veil over his face. 
 What the Jews saw after a natural manner, the angels saw spiritually ; 
 the ideas of the former being transmuted into what is spiritual, when 
 seen by the latter as they were reflected thence. So that what they 
 saw in them was the heavenly and divine things to which their sym- 
 bols referred, the external symbol serving to fix the mind of the wor- 
 shiper in some thing thus actually presented to the senses, which could 
 form the basis of the spiritual idea. The water serves a similar pur- 
 pose in that Christian sacrament, into which the Jewish symbols re- 
 lating to purification are collated and epitomized. Whilst it presents 
 an actual type or representative before the senses, and thus fixes the 
 thought, it is perceived in the church of the first-born after a spiritual 
 manner, being seen there in its reference to regeneration, and thus as 
 a sign that the child baptized is to be regenerated. See Universal 
 Theology, n. 685. More may be seen on this subject in the Arc. 
 Cod., in connection with sacrifices. Professor Bush has also illus- 
 trated how natural ideas are transmuted into spiritual, in his " Rea- 
 sons,'" &c, to which the reader is referred. 
 
84 BAPTISM. 
 
 &c, carry on the face of them their meaning and 
 force. In addition to these, we have the positive 
 testimony of the Scripture, in such passages as the 
 following: " Thus saith the High and Lofty One, 
 whose name is Holy*;" where, also, it is said of 
 him whom John saw riding on the white horse, 
 that "he had a name written which no man kneiv, 
 but he himself j-;" also, that "He hath on his vesture 
 and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, 
 and Lord of Lords.^J Moreover, the quality of 
 the church is indicated by name ; for example : 
 " Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art 
 dead."§ The new quality acquired by regeneration 
 is described, by its being said, "Thou shalt be 
 called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord 
 
 shall name Thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah 
 
 [My delight is in her] and thy land, Beulah [Mar- 
 ried] : for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy 
 land shall be married/' || In the Revelation, it is 
 declared to the Philadelphians, " Him that over- 
 cometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my 
 God .... and I will ivrite upon him the name of 
 my God, and the name of the city of my God, 
 which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of 
 heaven from my God ; and I will write upon him 
 my new name."! There is also the significant 
 
 * Isaiah lvii. 15. f R ev - x i x « 12 - 
 
 % Ver. 16. § Chap. iii. 1. 
 
 3 Is. lxii. 2, 4. f Rev. iii. 12. See also chap. ii. 17. 
 
BAPTISM. 85 
 
 fact that, when the Lord called Abram to be the 
 father of many nations, he changed his name, by 
 the addition of a letter taken from the divine name 
 of Jehovah, into Abraham, To Jacob likewise was 
 given, on a memorable occasion, the name of 
 Israel, — this being formed from the original of the 
 name, God. From all that has been adduced, then, 
 it is evident, that when, at the institution of the 
 Christian sacrament of introduction into the 
 church, the Lord directed his disciples to baptize 
 "in," or, more correctly and expressively rendered, 
 " into" the name of the Father, and the Son, and 
 the Holy Spirit; the name most clearly refers to the 
 quality involved in regeneration, and imparted 
 from the Lord by its instrumentality — Baptism, 
 as abundantly shewn, standing as its representative 
 or symbol in the church. 
 
 One circumstance, however, demanding our at- 
 tention, is, that although the Lord enjoined his 
 disciples to baptize into the name of the Father, 
 Son, and Spirit, nevertheless, from the few in- 
 stances mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, it 
 appears that their practice was, to baptize into the 
 name of the Lord alone.* Peter, on the day of 
 
 * The author is aware, that what is involved in the disciples' bap- 
 tizing in the name of the Lord, and what is to be understood by it, 
 has been a disputed point in the church. It would, however, be 
 entirely beside his object, to enter into the merits of that discussion 
 in this pamphlet. Suffice it to observe, that very early authorities 
 
 8 
 
86 BAPTISM. 
 
 Pentecost, urged those whom he addressed, to re- 
 pent and be baptized, every one of them, in the 
 name of the Lord Jesus*-" the Samaritans were also 
 baptized into the same namefi Peter likewise com- 
 manded the household of Cornelius to be baptized 
 in the name of the LordX', and Paul directed that 
 the Ephesian converts should be baptized into the 
 name of the Lord Jesus. § It is worthy of remark, 
 that the name used by the apostles when baptizing, 
 is one that does not occur in the formula given by 
 the Lord : he enjoined the use of the name of 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; whereas they used, 
 instead, the name Lord, or Lord Jesus, — a name 
 which, it appears, was held by them to be equiva- 
 lent to those particularized by the Lord at the in- 
 stitution of the ordinance. The ground of this is, 
 because the name Jesus, is that of God in his mani- 
 festation in the flesh. || — or, as the Immanuel, God 
 with vs% — in other words, because Jesus is the 
 name of that nature, in which " all the fulness of 
 
 hold the view we have taken ; and, for the rest, the reader is recom- 
 mended to form his own judgment, on the evidences he will find in 
 the text. 
 
 * Acts ii. 38. f Chap. viii. 16. 
 
 £ Chap. x. 48. § Chap. xix. 5. 
 
 11 See 1 Tim. iii. 16. "Great is the mystery of Godliness, God 
 was manifest in the flesh," &c. 
 
 r Matt. i. 22, 23 : where this name is applied by the Evangelist 
 to the Lord's human nature. 
 
BAPTISM. 87 
 
 the Godhead dwells bodily."* Therefore the name 
 of Jesus is declared to be " above every name, — 
 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow 
 of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
 under the earth/'f This view is confirmed by the 
 testimony of the apostles, especially that of the 
 apostle Paul, who, when adverting to the subject 
 of baptism, emphatically declares it to be, a bap- 
 tism, not merely into the name of Christ, but 
 actually into Christ, and to involve likewise the 
 putting on of Christ : — ' ' As many of you," he says, 
 "as have been baptized into Christ, have put on 
 Christ %■" — where, by the putting on of Christ, is 
 meant, the putting on, by regeneration, of which 
 as we have seen baptism is the type and memorial, 
 a new nature, from the glorified human nature of 
 the Lord, wherein the distinctions of country and 
 race are lost in Christian brotherhood, — where 
 " there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free.""§ 
 This putting on of Christ, or becoming the sub- 
 ject of a regenerated nature from him, is some- 
 times called, "the putting on of the new man\" 
 and, at others, this new nature is called, " the new 
 creature^!";" whilst the unregenerated nature, or 
 
 * Col. ii. 9. f Phil. ii. 9, 10. 
 
 X Gal. iii. 27. § Gal. iii. 28. 
 
 || Eph. iv. 24. % 2 Cor. v. 17 ; Gal. vi. 15. 
 
88 BAPTISM. 
 
 humanity is called, " the old man.-"* In every 
 instance, this new nature is referred to Christ, as 
 its source ; whence he is declared to be, a the head 
 over all things to the churchy" "from whom the 
 whole body maketh increase unto the edifying of 
 itself in love J;" or, as, if possible, more forcibly put 
 in his Epistle to the Colossians, where the Lord is 
 called, "the head, by which all the body by joints 
 and bands having nourishment administered, and 
 knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." 
 Passages bearing on this subject abound through- 
 out the writings of the apostle Paul. We select 
 some of the most striking : " I am crucified with 
 Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me."§ "Lie not one to another, seeing 
 ye have put off the old man with his deeds ; and 
 have put on the new man, which is renewed in 
 knowledge, after the image of him that created 
 him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, cir- 
 cumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, 
 bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all"\\ 
 In a quotation which occurs just above, Christ is 
 spoken of as u the head from which all the body 
 increaseth with the increase of God;" in another 
 of his Epistles^", he declares that "all things are 
 
 * Rom. vi. 6 ; Eph. iv. 22, &c. f Eph. i. 22. 
 
 % Chap. iv. 16. § Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 || Col. iii. 9—11. ^ 2 Cor. v. 18. 
 
BAPTISM. 89 
 
 of God/' and this, notwithstanding his having 
 stated in another quotation, that " Christ is all, 
 and in all f but then he explains this, by adding 
 that u God was in Christ*," meaning thereby, that 
 the " manhood" of Christ was actually " taken into 
 Godf/' as is evident from his denning the in- 
 dwelling of divinity in the Lord's person, as the 
 indwelling of " all the fulness of the Godhead 
 in him bodily." He moreover places this doc- 
 trine of the supreme and exclusive divinity of 
 Christ, at the head of what he states to the Colos- 
 sians respecting baptism. His words are, "As ye 
 have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so 
 walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and 
 stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught. 
 Beware lest any man spoil you through phi- 
 losophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, 
 after the rudiments of the world, and not after 
 Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the 
 Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, 
 which is the head of all principality and power: in 
 whom also ye are circumcised with the circum- 
 cision made without hands, in putting off the body 
 of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of 
 Christ : buried with him in baptism, wherein ye 
 are risen with him through faith of the operation 
 
 * 2 Cor. v. 18. t Athan. Creed. 
 
 8* 
 
90 BAPTISM. 
 
 of God (i. e. Christ's indwelling divinity) who hath 
 raised him from the dead." % * 
 
 There cannot, then, we should suppose, remain 
 any doubt about the sense in which the Apostles 
 are said to have baptized in the name of the Lord, 
 or the Lord Jesus. Being the name of that na- 
 ture, wherein the whole fulness of the Godhead 
 has its bodily residence, and by which it is present 
 with men, — which is, moreover, the source of the 
 new nature or humanity received by the new- 
 birth; — it was held by them to be equivalent to 
 the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; 
 since, whatever is to be understood by these, 
 must be included in the name Jesus, which is the 
 appellation of that nature where the whole of the 
 divine fulness dwells; and employed by them in 
 the formula of baptism, as, probably, most suitable 
 to direct the minds of the early Christian converts 
 to the fact so emphatically insisted on, that put- 
 ting on the Christian character, which they en- 
 gaged to do at baptism, was putting on Christ, 
 his humanity being the source whence the new 
 man was communicated; so that he being the 
 Author and Finisher of their faith, the Alpha and 
 Omega of all Christian perfection, was to be their 
 all and in all, of faith, love, and worship. It is 
 further, a significant circumstance, that notwith- 
 
 * Col. ii. 6—12. 
 
BAPTISM. 91 
 
 standing the Lord's injunction to baptize into the 
 name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, he does so on 
 the very ground of his humanity having, by glorifi- 
 cation, become the seat of the divine attributes : 
 " All power" he says, "is given unto me in heaven 
 and in earth*;" and immediately adds, " Go ye, 
 therefore, and make disciples of all nations, bap- 
 tizing them into the name of the Father, and the 
 Son, and the Holy Spirit." "All power," is the 
 Divine attribute of omnipotence. This, as the 
 words, "given unto me" imply, was communicated 
 to something that did not possess it previous to 
 such communication. That " something " was 
 the Humanity, which has become the seat of all 
 the perfections of Deity, by virtue of its perfect 
 union, and identity thence resulting, with the 
 Divine Essence ; so that the Divine and the Hu- 
 man exist in the glorious person of Christ, infi- 
 nitely more closely united than the soul and body 
 of man, — the Human, being the only medium, 
 whereby man has access to the Divine, and whence 
 he receives the blessings of redemption and 
 salvation, t 
 
 * Matt, xxviii. 18. 
 
 f That the Lord's human nature became, by its glorification and 
 consequent union with the divine essence, the seat of the divine 
 attributes, is demonstrable from numerous passages of Holy Writ. 
 The passage quoted above in the text affirms the truth of this in 
 regard to omnipotence. He claims the divine attribute of eternity, 
 
92 BAPTISM. 
 
 The force and meaning of the name, Jesus, 
 when used by the apostles in the baptism of 
 Christian converts, as indicating the new quality 
 received from the Lord's humanity by the new- 
 birth, of which the ordinance was instituted to be 
 the type and memorial ; are now, it is presumed, 
 sufficiently apparent. It may, however, be neces- 
 sary to add a word or two on the meaning involved 
 in the injunction of the Lord. It is unnecessary 
 to repeat what has been advanced in illustration 
 of the plenary nature of the indwelling of the 
 divinity in the Lord's person, except merely to 
 remark, that we have already shewn that, whatever 
 is meant by the Father, Son, and Spirit, they must 
 be inseparable from, and dwell within him, in 
 
 where he declares, " Before Abraham was, I AM" (John vi. 58); also, 
 in the promise, " Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in 
 my name, there AM I in the midst of them" (Matt, xviii. 20) ; and 
 likewise in the following — " Lo, I AM with you always even to the 
 end of the world" (Matt, xxviii. 20). In the two passages last 
 quoted he claims both eternity and omnipresence. Omniscience is 
 ascribed to him by Peter (John xxi. 17), " Thou, Lord, knowest all 
 things, thou knowest that I love thee ;" and claimed by him in his 
 address to the church of Thyatira, where it is written (Rev. ii. 18, 
 
 23), "These things saith the Son of God All the churches 
 
 shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts." For a 
 fuller investigation of the subject of the Lord's divinity, the reader is 
 referred to Hindmarsh's Letters to Dr. Priestley; and Seal upon the 
 Lips; Clowes's Reply to the Abb6 Barruel; Noble 1 s Appeal; Clissold's 
 End of the Church, &c. 
 
BAPTISM. 93 
 
 whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead. 
 We have also explained, that the Holy Spirit is 
 nothing more than the effluent life proceeding 
 from the Lord's glorified person, having been 
 breathed by him on his disciples, and being still 
 breathed into every regenerated Christian, and 
 constituting that life of which the apostle speaks 
 to the Galatians, where he says, " I am crucified 
 with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not 2, but 
 Christ liveth in me."*' As regards the Father, 
 the Lord invariably describes him as dwelling in 
 himself :—" The Father that dwelleth in mef"- 
 is a declaration emphatically enforced by him on 
 more than one occasion. To those who have been 
 in the habit of thinking of the three names found 
 in the formula of baptism, as applying to three 
 divine personalities, and of speaking of three persons 
 in the Godhead, the following important scriptural 
 fact is suggested for their candid consideration : — 
 that it is no where stated in the Bible that there 
 are persons, or even a single person, existing in the 
 the Godhead ; but that, on the other hand, it is, in 
 a very precise and emphatic manner declared, that 
 the Godhead exists in one person (not the person in 
 
 * Chap. ii. 20. 
 
 f John xiv. 10. See the whole of the Lord's reply to Philip's 
 request, "Lord, shew us the Father and it sufficeth;" verses 
 8—10. 
 
94 BAPTISM. 
 
 the Godhead),, and that that person is Jesus 
 Christ. Another expressive fact is, that although 
 the Lord commands to baptize in three, the name 
 is one : He does not say the names, but the 
 name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, shewing 
 thereby that the three constituted but one Divine 
 name or quality. The Trinity, then, existing as it 
 does, according to the testimony of the apostle, in 
 the single person of the Lord, consists of the Divine 
 Essence, the Divine Form, and the Divine Pro- 
 ceeding; no other Trinity could exist in one 
 person. The inmost Divine Essence, or, if the 
 expression may be allowed, the inmost ground of 
 the Divine Being, is Love*; the Divine Form or 
 manifestation is Wisdom, the Logos or Word; 
 and the Divine Proceeding is the effluent life, 
 operating into the Christian the virtues and graces 
 of spiritual life.f The image of God, which 
 man lost by the fall, is restored by the new-birth, 
 for " the new man is renewed in knowledge after 
 the image of him that created him J ; " and the 
 Christian only attains, in his degree, "to the 
 measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, as 
 the Divine qualities, or perfections which center in 
 his Divine Human Person, are transcribed on the 
 character. His disciples must be baptized, i. e., 
 
 * l John iv. 8. " God is love." f Gal. v. 22 — 25. 
 
 X Col. iii. 10. 
 
BAPTISM. 95 
 
 regenerated into the divine love, the divine wisdom, 
 and the divine life ; in other words, these must be 
 received into them from their infinite source, and 
 reproduced there, in man's degree, the finite image 
 of the infinite Original. And as they are but one 
 name in Deity, they must be harmonized into 
 one heavenly life, disposition, or quality in the 
 creature. This concentration of the graces which 
 flow from him who is " full of grace and truth," 
 into the Christian character, and is indicated by 
 the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Spirit, is also strikingly presented in the Lord's 
 promise to the Philadelphians — l( I will write on 
 him the name of my God, and the name of the city 
 of my God, and my neiv name." 
 
 In closing these remarks, the writer ventures to 
 hope, that they may not have been altogether 
 without use, in throwing light on the subject of 
 these pages. As regards the views of which he 
 has been the humble expounder, whatever may be 
 thought of them by others, he feels constrained to 
 express his conviction that they are capable of being 
 substantiated in all their bearings, and that no valid 
 objections can be brought against them. Whilst 
 they draw a clearly defined distinction, between 
 Baptism and the New-Birth, so that it is impos- 
 sible to mistake the one for the other, they, at the 
 
96 BAPTISM. 
 
 same time, shew, in a manner equally clear, the 
 reference which the ordinance, in all its parts and 
 under all its aspects, has to the process of re- 
 generation, of which it is the type and memorial 
 in the church. 
 
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