the altar as they came in, and before they approached the sanctuary, always washed themselves. This vessel was called in Greek louter, and the water in it loutron, though sometimes the vessel that holds the water is called loutron. In English the vessel was called laver, and the water in it loutron, or bath. The bath of purification was the literal import of this vessel and its use. Paul, more than once, alludes to this usage in the tabernacle in his Epistles, and once substitutes Christian immersion in its place that is, Christian immersion stands in relation to the same place in the Christian temple or worship, that the laver or bath of purification stood in the Jewish, viz. between the sacrifice of Christ and acceptable worship. In the Jewish symbols the figures stood thus: 1st, the brazen altar; 2nd, the laver or bath; and 3rd, the sanctuary. In the antitupoi or antitypes, it stands thus: 1st, faith in the sacrifice of Christ, the antitype of the altar; 2nd, immersion, or the bath of regeneration, the antitype of the loutron or bath of purification; and 3rd, prayer, praise, and vocal worship, the antitype of the priests approaching the holiest of all. Now all Christians being made priests to God, and made to worship in the place where the Jewish priests stood, Jesus Christ having now, as our great High Priest, entered into the most holy place, he has "consecrated a way" for us Christians. He has authorized us Christians to draw nigh to that place where stood the priests under the law. Paul's exhortation to the Hebrews, taken in the whole context, (chapter x.) stands thus:

Brethren, we believing Hebrews are authorised to approach much nigher to God, in our worship, than were the saints under the former economy. The people worshipped in the outer court, the priests officiated at the same time in the holy place; but we Christians stand not in the outer court, but in the sanctuary.

Since Jesus, as our great High Priest, passed into the heavens, the true holy place, he has made it lawful for us, or "consecrated a way new and living for us" to approach as priests to the entrance of the true holy place, having had our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience by faith in his sacrifice, and having had our bodies washed with clean water in the bath of regeneration, we are now to draw near, with a true heart, in the full assureance of faith, and address Jehovah through the mediation of our great High Priest, in our prayers, praises, and thanksgivings." Such, I say, in general terms, is the import of Paul's exhortation to the Hebrews, based upon the fact that Christian immersion stands in the place of the bath of purification in that most instructive system of types or figures, which God instituted to prepare the way of this new and perfect economy.

But Paul, in connecting the bath of regeneration* with the renewal of the Holy Spirit, goes no farther than the Lord Jesus himself when he said, Except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

Paul reasons well, for most certainly when a man is born of water there is the bath of regeneration. He is consistent with himself and with his Lord and Master. But it is not only for this that commendation is due to the apostle, for he carries out this matter to its legitimate issue in Ephesians when he says, in the language of the Presbyterian translator Macknight, that the Lord Jesus gave himself for his bride, the church; and that she might be worthy of his affection, he had "cleansed her with a bath of water, and with the word."† Instead of the bath of regeneration, and the renewal of the Holy Spirit,

* As the Presbyterian Doctor Macknight, and many others have rendered, instead of "the washing of regeneration."

+ Macknight, in his comment, substitutes baptism for the bath of water.

Titus iii. 5, he has it here "a bath of water and the word," because here he speaks without a figure, and teaches the church, that it is by the word that the spirit of the living God renews the spirit of the children of God.

Christian reader, put these three sayings together in your mind, and meditate upon them till next I address you, and I think I will be able to open to your view this wonderful and gracious institution of "Christian immersion," which you never did understand, if you know no more about it than what the Pædo-Baptists, the Old Baptists, or the New Baptists, I mean the baptised Calvinists and the baptised Arminians, have taught These sayings are found in you. Ephesians v. 26, Titus i. 5, and Hebrews x. 13. To these sayings of Paul I ought to have added, and you must add, the saying of Jesus to Nicodemus. They have read thus in the new translation:

"Unless a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." "He cleansed the church with a bath of water and the word." According to his mercy he saved us through the bath of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." "Therefore having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, let us worship him." Amen!

(To be continued.)

A. C.

outrage, and murder, in the strife for gold. Many men have made shipwreck of their faith, their peace of mind, and their happiness, in the mad struggle for the coveted distinctions of wealth, and the riches that so often take to themselves wings and fly away. And after the chase is over-the desire accomplished, in the accumulation of great riches, it is not always that they bring the most happiness, or give birth to the surest comforts. Their pleasures

are not certain or secure. Do the multitudes

who strive so earnestly, and even madly to be rich, always succeed? Or having succeeded,

are the pleasures of wealth full and without alloy? Let those whom God has entrusted with this world's goods give answer. It is for the Christian to give search for the gold that

never cankereth, and to secure wealth that can never be destroyed. There are such riches,

imperishable and eternal, beyond all vicissitude and changes; a heritage with God, upon which

no shadow comes, and over which no fire passes. The riches of Christ are such-the

wealth and worth of religion, the untold and unconceived treasures and glories of heaven. These are unsearchable and immortal. Such were the riches proffered to the acceptance of the Gentiles and the world by the great apostle, and such is the wealth to be secured by the wise and good of all generations. The unsearchable riches of Christ were preached by Paul, and became the burden of all his labors. He was a man of strong intellect and great attainments, but there were few charms for him in the science or knowledge that did not centre in, or were in some way connected with, the cause and the cross of Christ. To philosophers and statesmen, martial heroes and mighty princes, he bore the same message, and pressed his way to the throne of the Cæsars, preaching and proffering to all the riches of Christ and him crucified.

THE RICHES OF CHRIST. MEN thirst of gold. They buy, bargain, and sell, “do, dare, and die," that they may be rich. They will forsake their homes and families, traverse oceans and deserts, dwell in deadly atmospheres and under burning suns, brave all dangers, endure all sufferings, and sacrifice all ease, to secure wealth. It is the great master passion of the human race. The great hive of the human family is filled with strife, toil, anxiety, anguish, fraud, deception,

volumes of human history shall have been stereotyped for ever. But, alas for the unfaithful stewards, the inconsiderate and presumptuous sentinels of Zion, who instead of guarding the ark of the covenant, set about allegorizing, mystifying, and nullifying its sacred contents!

The infidel Jew and the pagan Greek first withstood its claims, resisted its evidence, and denied its authority. They alike conspired to hate, to revile, and to persecute its friends. But vanquished in debate, overcome by its advocates, many of them at length formally admitted its pretensions, abjured their errors, and bowed in homage to its dictates. Still, influenced more or less by their former opinions and early associations, they mystified its doctrine, corrupted its simplicity, nullified its precepts, and encumbered it with the traditions of the world. Thus, by degrees, a vain and empty philosophy beguiled its friends, neutralized its opponents, and secularized its institutions.

In a little more than three centuries from the birth of its Founder, the doctrine of the cross was so perverted and corrupted, as to ascend the throne of the Roman Cæsars in the person of Constantine the Great. The sword of persecution was then sheathed, and, by an imperial ordinance, toleration vouchsafed to the Christians, and their confiscated estates restored.

This event was, most fallaciously and unfortunately, contemplated as the triumph of the cross over the idolatries of pagan Rome; because, forsooth, the Emperor of Rome, while commanding its armies, had seen, or dreamed that he had seen, at high noon, a golden cross standing under a meridian sun, inscribed, in hoc signo vinces-" under this symbol you will triumph." Thus, as a military chieftain, he was converted to the faith, and, under the banner of a painted cross, led his armies to a final triumph.

The paganizing of Christianity in the person and government of Constantine, and in his Council of Nice, inflicted upon the church and Christianity a wound from which they have not yet wholly recovered. This early defection, obscuring and paralyzing the understanding, and corrupting the heart of the Christian profession, also greatly influenced Bible interpretation, and by degrees introduced a new theological nomenclature, of which sundry monuments, both Eastern and Western, afford melancholy proof. Down to the first Oecumenical Council, the Christian Scriptures were translated into various dialects. They were not only read, in whole or in part, in Hebrew, Greek, and Syriac, but also in Latin, Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Persic, and other tongues.

The spirit of translating is as old as the celebrated day of Pentecost. When first the gospel was announced by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, it was spoken in all the languages then represented in Jerusalem. "How is it," said the immense concourse, we do hear, every one in his own native tongue Parthians, Medes, Persians ; inhabitants of Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Proconsular Asia; Phrygians, Pamphylians, Egyptians, Cyrenians, Africans, Roman strangers, Cretes and Arabians-we hear them speaking, in our own tongues, the wonderful works of God!" Ask we any other warrant or example to inspire us with the spirit of translation, or to guide and authorize our efforts in this great work?

The inscription upon the Saviour's cross was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; and certainly, for reasons at least equal, if not superior to those which called for this inscription, his resurrection, and all its consequences, should be given in tongues as numerous and as various as the languages of those to whom this glorious message of salvation is delivered.

No