SERMONS. SERMON I. ON BAPTISM. 1 PETER iii. 21. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A SLIGHT transposition in one or two of the clauses of this verse will, I think, for our immediate use, give a clearer and more simple expression; we will take it therefore thus-" The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, B not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God." The main purpose of this epistle, at least of the part of it which stands in immediate relation to the passage before us, appears to have been to strengthen the minds of those whom the apostle was addressing, against some present or expected persecution. In the course of his reasoning he incidentally alludes to the preservation of the family of Noah from the flood which overwhelmed mankind: the means of this extraordinary delivery was water, the same element that, in its rapid and irresistible progress, carried terror and dismay to the hearts of the guilty, the same element, obedient to the providence which directed it, received into its bosom and protected the innocent. As inhabitants of the earth, it is natural we should take a deep interest in an event which affected the whole human race; but in a higher point of view connecting ourselves more closely with our common author, our feelings assume an even deeper and more anxious character: in the one case, we consider it as a grand era in history, approaching which all is glimmering, beyond which all is dark; we know it only as something that is past and gone, and can never recur again: in the other, we look at it not as a mere isolated tradition, but as one in a series of remarkable events, which, apparently complete in themselves, in reality had reference to a period then remote, and a person hitherto unrevealed. The Christian eye, gifted with intenser brilliancy, sees, in the family thus wonderfully rescued, the ark the instrument of their preservation, the element that assisted in the work, the no less wondrous rescue of a larger family, the possession of a better ark, the co-operation of a holier element: to him, the family-is the family of Christ; the ark-the faith that is in Jesus; the water-the water of baptism; the lustration once performed, he believes that he is admitted into the community of Christ, and that he will be saved, if he be not neglectful of himself, from those appalling floods man's imagination. fails to paint, which will inevitably overwhelm the obstinately hardened and impenitent: in this sense, (connecting the latter part of the twentieth with the twenty-first verse)" the ark" which " was a preparing in the days of Noah, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water," was "the like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us"by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." The resurrection of our Lord from the dead is the foundation stone on which the whole edifice of Christianity is built up; and, happily for us, to quiet all our apprehensions and remove all our doubts, there is not a single fact |