third is the same, in the passive form, used by our Lord respecting his sufferings, in Matt. xx. 22, 23, and Luke xii. 50. The last is the Scripture name of the ordinance, baptism; the first sense of which is immersion.

According to this authority, to baptize, is, to plunge, to plunge in water, to dip; and then, figuratively, to plunge or overwhelm, as in sorrow, suffering, or affliction; and also, that baptism is immersion. I refer my reader to the Appendix, at the end of this pamphlet, (Part II.) for a confirmation of the sense here given; and requesting him to associate this sense with the words baptize and baptism, when they occur in future sections of Scripture, in order to observe whether that sense harmonizes with other statements connected with the ordinance, we pass on to notice

II. What mode do the circumstances attending the ordinance, as now administered by John, most evidently favor?

1. We should notice the place where John administered this ordinance. It was "the river Jordan." If, in reference to the people of Jerusalem, a situation where water might be easily obtained for sprink ling or pouring was what John required, we read of our Lord at this place, directing the man that was born blind to go and "wash in the pool of Siloam;" so we read of the "pool called Bethesda," and "the brook Cedron;" all in or near Jerusalem, (and we read of others in the Old Testament); and, without doubt, at some of them the penitent Jews of that city and neighborhood might have received the ordinance, if such were the mode by which John administered it; and it cannot reasonably be imagined he would have required those persons to go the distance of several miles for the convenience of the river Jordan: more reasonable to suppose he would have baptized in every town and village where his ministry had its intended effect; and, especially, at or near the metropolis. This strongly favors the opinion, that IMMERSION was his mode. Thus,

MR. TOWERSON. "For what need would there have been of the Baptist's resorting to great confluxes of water,-were it not that the baptism-was to be performed by an immersion? A very little water, as we know it doth with us, sufficing for an effusion or sprinkling." In Booth's Pædobap. Exam. Vol. I. p. 209. Ed. 2.

2. It is moreover affirmed, that not only was the river Jordan chosen by John for his baptism, but Matthew states, the people "were baptized of him IN Jordan," and Mark adds, "IN the RIVER of Jordan." The idea of going INTO the water of a river for the purpose of baptizing In it, by sprinkling on the face, or pouring on the head, is too absurd to be entertained.

3. John also states himself, "I indeed baptize you (ar dari,) that is, "IN water;" not "with water," as it is rendered in the English authorized version. The passage was translated in water, in some of the early versions of the New Testament into our language. It is in water in the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions; it is so rendered by Montanus, and recently, in our own country, by that pre-eminent scholar, G. Campbell, (Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen,) whose

judicious and, in my opinion, unanswerable note upon the place I will lay before my reader.

MR. CAMPBELL. "So inconsistent are the interpreters last mentioned [i. e. certain Protestant] that none of them have scrupled to render #v roo Iogdan, in Jordan; though nothing can be plainer than that, if there be any incongruity in the expression in water, this, in Jordan, must be equally incongruous. But they have seen that the preposition in could not be avoided there, without adopting a circumlocution-which would have made this deviation from the text too glaring. The word Berria, both in sacred authors and in classical, signifies to dip, to plunge, to immerse, and was rendered by Tertullian, the oldest of the Latin fathers, tingere, the term used for deying cloth, which was by immersion. It is always construed suitably to this meaning; thus it is, Ev iduri, EV TW Icgdavn." (that is, in water, in the Jordan.) "But I should not lay much stress on the preposition a, which, answering to the Hebrew (beth), may denote with, as well as in, DID NOT THE WHOLE PHRASEOLOGY, in regard to this ceremony, CONCUR IN EVINCING THE SAME THING. Accordingly, the baptized are said to arise, emerge, or ascend, ver. 16, and Acts viii. 39, from or out of the water. When, therefore, the Greek word [baptizo] is adopted, rather than translated into modern languages, the mode of construction ought to be preserved so far as may conduce to suggest its original import." Let the reader seriously consider what follows. "It is to be regretted that we have so much evidence that even good and learned men allow their judgments to be warped by the sentiments and customs of the sect which they prefer. The true partisan, of whatever denomination,

ALWAYS INCLINES TO CORRECT THE DICTION OF THE SPIRIT BY THAT

OF THE PARTY." Four Gospels, Note on Matt. iii. 11.

TERTULLIAN, who lived within a century after the apostle John, mentions expressly the people (quos Joannes in Jordane tinxit) "whom John dipped in Jordan." In Stennett's Answer to Russen, p. 144.

Would it not be absurd to render the passage "John baptized with the Jordan?" and if, of necessity, it must be "in the Jordan," then it undeniably follows, it must be "in water;" and baptism in water or in a river, wherever so observed throughout the world, is baptism by immersion. But I hope to satisfy any candid inquirer on this subject in the Appendix.

MR. HERVEY, when contending that signifies in, adds, "I can prove it to have been in peaceable possession of this signification for more than two thousand years." Every one knows," he observes in another place, that with "is not the native, obvious, and literal meaning; rather a meaning swayed, influenced, moulded by the preceding o following word." Letters to Mr. Wesley, Let. X. and II.

LIGHTFOOT AND ADAM CLARKE. "That the baptism of John was by plunging the body (after the same manner as the washing unclean persons-was) seems to appear from those things which are related of him; namely, that he baptized in Jordan, that he baptized in Enon, because there was much water there," &c. In A. Clarke's Commentary, at the end of Mark

Inference. If, then, I am a sincere inquirer after the will of God, and disposed to gather that will from what God has been pleased to reveal in his word for that purpose, I am constrained, from the foregoing Scriptures, to draw the following inference, namely, 'that John baptized none but those who gave him satisfactory evidence of being conscious of their sin and guilt before God, and whom he exhorted to repent and to believe in Jesus; and as to the Mode, that he immersed them in water, in the Jordan.

§ II. The Baptism of Jesus Christ, from the four Evangelists.

OUR Lord's baptism we next find immediately following the foregoing account of John. This place attaches to it infinite interest, by the infinite dignity of the Person baptized.

Matt. iii. 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. 14. But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? 15. And Jesus answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. Mark i. 9. [Thus] Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

Matt. iii. 16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. Mark i. 10. Andcoming up out of the water, Luke iii. 21. and praying, the heaven was opened, 22, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. 23. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age.

John i. 32. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. 29. 36. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world! 34. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. 28. These things were done in Bethabara, where John was baptizing.

What, my pious reader, shall we say of the PERSON baptized in this case! What an honor is hereby attached to the ordinance, and consequently to all that duly follow the example of the Redeemer in it!

Let the man who slights and contemns this sacred institution, calling it "an useless, unmeaning ceremony, incapable of washing away sin, or of effecting any good," let him read these verses, and view the im

maculate SON OF Gon, who had "no sin" to wash away, proceeding from Galilee down to Jordan "to be baptized." Let him see the "Wisdom of God" entering the streams, and bowing beneath them,

"The emblem of his future grave!"

This, we should suppose, would induce a different sentiment of the ordinance, and silence every objection to the practice of it. And if a sight of CHRIST in Jordan had not that effect, let him hear and see the approbation of the FATHER and SPIRIT testified on this very occasion, and immediately upon his submission to this sacred rite. Never was an ordinance so honored! Here is a dignity given to it infinitely exceeding any of the rites of the Old Testament. Each PERSON of the sacred TRINITY is specially present, and each DIVINE PERSON gives it the testimony of his approbation! The blessed REDEEMER Submits to be baptized; the FATHER, at the instant of his rising from the water, calls him his beloved Son, in whose conduct he was well pleased, and the DIVINE SPIRIT, at the same instant, descended upon him in a visible form! O, to have witnessed this scene, how overwhelming! Nothing, since the commencement of time, has equalled in sublimity and glory this wonderful event.

Four things are to be noticed in this place. 1. The Reason why Christ would be baptized; upon which, hear the celebrated and excellent WITSIUS. "Our Lord would be baptized, that he might conciliate authority to the baptism of John-that by his own example, he might commend and sanctify our baptism-that men might not be loath to come to the baptism of the LORD, seeing the Lord was not backward to come to the baptism of a servant-that, by his baptism, he might represent the future condition both of himself and his followers; first humble, then glorious; now mean and low, then glorious and exalted; that represented by IMMERSION, this by EMERSION-and, finally, to declare by his voluntary submission to baptism, that he would not delay the delivering up of himself to be immersed in the torrents of hell, yet with a certain faith and hope of emerging."-In Pæd. Exam. Vol. I. page 147.

2. The Time chosen for fulfilling the promise of pouring forth the Spirit upon Christ. This is noticed and improved by the pious

DODDRIDGE. "Jesus had no sin to wash away, yet he was baptized; and God owned that ordinance so far as to make it the season of pouring forth the Spirit upon him. And where can we expect this sacred effusion, but in a conscientious and humble attendance upon divine appointments?" Fam. Expos. Improv. of the place.

3. The Language of Christ, in answer to John; which is thus explained by an esteemed commentator:

MR. SCOTT. Thus it becometh us, &c. "We never find that Jesus spake of himself in the plural number; and it must therefore be allowed he meant John also, and ALL the servants of God, in a subordinate It became Christ, as our surety and our example, perfectly to fulfil all righteousness; it becomes us to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of God, without exception, and to attend on

sense.

every divine institution-as long as it continues in force. Thus far Christ's example is OBLIGATORY." Commentary on Matt. iii. 13-15. 4. The Circumstance immediately following his baptism, namely, his "coming up OUT OF the water," which evidently implies that he went down into it, (as is expressly said of Philip and the eunuch, Acts viii. 38;) a circumstance required in no mode of baptism but immersion, and hence we infer that Jesus was buried or immersed in the water. To this mode of baptism our blessed Saviour plainly alludes when referring to his overwhelming sufferings, in Luke xii. 50, which we shall come to presently.

CAMPBELL'S Translation. "Jesus, being baptized, no sooner rose out of the water than heaven was opened to him." Four Gospels, Matt. iii. 16.

DODDRIDGE'S. "And after Jesus was baptized as soon as he ascended out of the water, behold, the heavens were opened unto him." In loco.

MACKNIGHT. Jesus "submitted to be baptized, that is, buried under the water by John, and to be raised out of it again, as an emblem of his future death and resurrection.” Apostol. Epis. Note on Rom. vi. 4.

BISHOP TAYLOR. "The custom of the ancient churches was not sprinkling, but immersion; in pursuance of the sense of the word in the commandment and the example of our blessed Saviour." In Pæd. Exam. Vol. I. p. 199.

I never, my reader, can think of the baptism of this glorious and divine Person-the Son of God-the Lord from heaven-the righteous Judge of the last day-the Author of our salvation, and the Giver of eternal life, but with feelings of the deepest interest. We observe him

here proceeding on his long journey, (for Nazareth was three days' journey from Jerusalem, and not less from Bethabara,) the object of which is, "to be baptized." We observe him admitting of no argument against his submission to that rite; and we ought never to forget how he associated his people, his followers, with himself, "thus it becometh us!" the servant as well as the LORD, the members as well as the HEAD, "to fulfil all" practical "righteousness;" all that God enjoins and requires. How strong is the obligation to realize what the Saviour here intended! Who will not concur in the pious decision of Mr. POLHILL? "the pattern of Christ and the Apostles is more to me than all the human wisdom in the world." Nor can any one deny me the following

Inference. The Baptism of Jesus, as an Example, is fulfilled in the baptism of a Believer by Immersion, and in no other case.

§ III. Christ Baptizing, by his Disciples, in Judea.

THIS is the only mention of our Lord's baptizing, or of the disciples by his authority and direction, during his corporeal presence with them; and, conse quently, it claims our very serious attention.

John iii. 22. After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with