in the apprehension of others, they are apt to be regarded as mere forms, and cease to be considered as services of piety. The discipline of the Church, at the same time, becomes unhing. ed. Negligence in one case begets negligence in another; and thus a general spirit of disregarding this duty takes possession of the Church at large. In this state of things, it is hardly possible, that Christians should improve, or that sinners should feel any strong inducements to enrol themselves in their number.

II. I shall now attempt to show what Baptism is, considered as an external religious rite; or, in other words, in what manner Baptism is to be administered.

Concerning this subject, I observe,

1. Those to whom this ordinance is to be administered, are to be baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

In other words, they are to be admitted into the visible family of God in the world; to have his covenant publicly established on them, by receiving this ordinance, its initiatory seal; to be openly enrolled among his children; and to take his Name upon them as a godly seed.

The reasons, why I suppose persons should be baptized into, and not in, the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, I have alleged in former discourses. It will be unnecessary to repeat them here.

2. They are to be baptized by a Minister of the Gospel.

The proof of this position lies in the fact, that the commission to baptize was given to no other. No others, therefore, are warranted to perform this office.

3. Baptism is to be administered with Water only.

This, only, is mentioned in the Scriptures. Nothing else, therefore, can with propriety be used by us.

4. This water may be administered indifferently, either by Sprinkling, Affusion, or Immersion.

On this subject, the Christian world has, for a considerable length of time, been disturbed by the clashing opinions, and laborious contests, of men, arranged on the two sides of the question concerning Baptism. It is remarkable, that those, who have adopted the doctrine of Infant Baptism, have very general

ly considered sprinkling, or affusion, and that those who have opposed it, have considered Immersion, respectively, as the proper modes of administration. Why this has happened, I am unable to explain. The latter of these classes have founded their opinion, professedly, on the proper meaning of the word Barr, and its root Barrw; and on certain texts, in which, they think, they find proofs, that the proper mode of baptizing was Immersion, or Plunging.

Concerning the former of these subjects I observe,

1. That the body of learned Critics, and Lexicographers, declare that the original meaning of both these words, is to tinge, stain, dye, or colour; and that, when it means Immersion, it is only in a secondary and occasional sense; derived from the fact, that such things as are dyed, stained, or coloured, are often immersed for this end. This interpretation of the words, also, they support by such a series of quotations, as seem unanswerably to evince, that this was the original, classical, meaning of these words.

2. I have examined almost one hundred instances, in which the word Barrigw, and its derivatives, are used in the New Testament; and four in the Septuagint: these, so far as I have observed, being all the instances, contained in both. By this examination it is to my apprehension evident, that the following things are true:

That the primary meaning of these terms is Cleansing; the Effect, not the Mode, of washing:

That the mode is usually referred to incidentally, wherever these words are mentioned; and that this is always the case, wherever the ordinance of Baptism is mentioned, and a reference made, at the same time, to the mode of administration:

That these words, although often capable of denoting any mode of washing, whether by Affusion, Sprinkling, or Immersion, (since cleansing was familiarly accomplished by the Jews in all these ways;) yet, in many instances, cannot without obvious impropriety be made to signify Immersion; and in others cannot signify it at all.

St. Paul informs us, 1 Cor. x. 1, 2, Moreover Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our Fathers were

under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea. Happily for us, we have so particular an account of this transaction, as to be able to determine, absolutely, what St. Paul intended by the Baptism of the Israelites in this instance.

In Exodus xiii. 21, 22, it is said, And the Lord went before them, that is, the children of Israel, by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them in the way, and by night, in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. In the fourteenth chapter, 19th and 20th verses, it is said, And the Angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them; and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these, so that the one came not near the other, all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back, by a strong east wind, all that night, and made the sea dry land; and the waters were divided; and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea, upon the dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. In these passages, we find among others the following facts declared.

First; That God, or the angel of God, went before the Israelites, from the commencement of their journey at Succoth, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, until they were overtaken by Pharaoh and his army, on the margin of the Red Sea beside Pihahiroth.

Secondly; That the angel of God, who hitherto had gone before the camp of Israel, removed, and went behind them, together with the pillar of the cloud; and that this symbol of the Divine presence was a source of peculiar darkness to the Egyptians, and of peculiar light to the Children of Israel; so that the former came not near the latter all the night.

Thirdly; That the waters of the Red Sea were divided, so as to be a wall on the right hand, and on the left.

Fourthly; That the Children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground.

In the whole of this story, it is evident, there is no account whatever of that Baptism of the Israelites, mentioned by St. Paul in the passage quoted from 1 Corinthians. There is not even an allusion to this Baptism, unless it is in the declaration, that the pillar of the cloud went from before the Israelites, and stood behind them. By the waters of the Red Sea, they were not even sprinkled; much less immersed, but went, as Moses expressly informs us, between two walls of water, upon the dry ground. Neither is there here any account, that they were baptized in the cloud, whatever this phraseology may mean.

But what Moses has omitted, Asaph has particularly recorded in the 77th Psalm, in the following words. The waters saw thee O God; the waters saw thee; they were afraid; the depths also were troubled; the clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound. Thine arrows also went abroad; the voice of thy thunder was in the heaven; the lightnings lightened the world; the Earth trembled and shook. Thy way was in the sea, and thy path in the great waters; and thy footsteps are not known: Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. In this account of the passage through the Red Sea, we have the Baptism, spoken of by St. Paul, expressly mentioned; together with several other facts, not recorded by the Historian. The Clouds poured forth water upon them, or descended upon them in rain, while they were journeying through the sea. The marginal and literal translation, is The clouds were poured forth with waters. There is reason to believe from this declaration, that, when the cloud passed from the van of the Israelites to the rear, or when, in the language of the Psalmist, they were poured fourth from before the Israelites to stand behind them, the rain may have descended from the cloud during this passage. Whether this be admitted, or not, it is clear, that this is the only account of the Baptism, mentioned by St. Paul, which is contained in the Old Testament. And it is equally clear, that this Baptism was a Cleansing, accomplished by the sprinkling of rain, and certainly not by Immersion. The fancy of some of my Antagonists, that the cloud in some manner or other, embosomed the

Israelites by resting upon them, and thus enveloping them, as water envelopes a person immersed in it, would appear well, I think, in Poetry; but has an aspect scarcely serious enough to elaim a place in a Theological discussion.

Here then, is one instance, in which this word denotes cleansing by Sprinkling, and not by Immersion.

Another is found in Hebrews ix. 10; Which stood only in meats, and drinks, and divers washings, diapogois Barrioμois, diverse Baptisms. The word apogo, when united with a substantive in the same number, denotes regularly, that the things, signified by the substantive, are different in their nature. Thus in the present case, the phrase, diverse Baptisms, denotes Baptisms, which were different in their nature from each other. Now as the Element, with which all these washings were accomplished, was water, the difference lay, of course, only in the manner, in which the washing was performed. Here, then, is another instance, in which the word signifies something, altogether different from Immersion.

Another example is found in Matthew iii. 11; Where John the Baptist says concerning Christ, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The bare rendering of this passage, He shall immerge you in the Holy Ghost, and in fire, is, one would think, a sufficient exposition of the impropriety of translating Barr, by the word immerge, or plunge. Substitute cleanse for immerge; and the impropriety vanishes.

But we are not left to conjecture concerning this subject. Both Prophecy and History inform us of the manner, in which this Baptism was accomplished. The Prophet Joel, Chapter ii. 28, 29, says, It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons, and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions, and also upon the hand-maidens, in those days, will Ipour out my Spirit. Such is the language of the Prophecy, which St. Peter declares to have been fulfilled on this occasion.

The History is given us in the following words. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord, in one place; and suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rushing, mighty wind; and it filled all the house,