coming after me, or pretend to his baptism of the Spirit. We find also, that no less than three times in eight verses, when he speaks of his own baptism, he takes care to add to it the word "water," to distinguish it from the baptism of Christ. As the baptism of John cleansed the body from the filth of the flesh, so that of Christ was really to cleanse the soul from the filth of sin. Thus John, speaking of Jesus Christ in allusion to this baptism, says, "whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire t." By this he insinuates, that in the same manner as the farmer with the fan in his hand winnows the corn, and separates the light and bad grains from the heavy and the good, and in the same manner as the fire afterwards destroys the chaff,-so the baptism of Christ, for which he was preparing them, was of an inward and spiritual nature, and would effectually destroy the light and corrupt af John i. 25-34. Matt, iii. 12. fections, fections, and thoroughly cleanse the floor of the human heart. This baptism too was to be so searching as to be able to penetrate the hardest heart, and to make even the Gentiles the real chil dren of Abraham. "For think not*," says John, in allusion to the same baptism, "to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."-As if he had said,I acknowledge that you Pharisees can, many of you, boast of relationship to Abraham, by a strict and scrupulous attention to shadowy and figurative ordinances; that many of you can boast of relationship to him by blood, and all of you by circumcision: but it does not follow therefore that you are the children of Abraham. Those only will be able to boast of being his seed, to whom the fan and the fire of Christ's baptism shall be applied. The baptism of him who is to come after me, and whose kingdom is at hand, is of that spiritual and purifying nature, that it *Matt. iii. 9. will produce effects very different from those of an observance of outward ordinances. It can so cleanse and purify the hearts of men, that if there are Gentiles in the most distant lands, ever so far removed from Abraham, and possessing hearts of the hardness of stones, it can make them the real children of Abraham in the sight of God. This distinction between the watery baptism of John and the fiery and spiritual baptism of Christ was pointed out by Jesus himself; for he is reported to have appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, and to have commanded them, "that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which," says he, " ye have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence *" St. Luke also records a transaction which took place, in which Peter was concerned, and on which occasion he first discerned the * Acts i. 4. baptism . baptism of Christ, as thus distinguished, in the words which have just been given: "And as I began to speak," says he, "the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the begin ning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John, indeed, baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized by the holy Spirit." A similar distinction is made also by St. Paul; for when he found that certain disciples had been baptized only with the bap tism of John†, he laid his hands upon them and baptized them again,—but this was with the baptism of the Spirit. In his Epistle also to the Corinthians we find the following expression: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body ‡." *Acts xi. 15, 16. + Acts xix. 1 Cor. xii. 13. SECTION SECTION III. Question is, which of these two baptisms is included in the great commission given by Jesus to his apostles, of baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost-Quakers deny it to be that of John, because contrary to the ideas of St. Peter and St. Paul-because the object of John's baptism had been completed—because it was a type under the law, and such types were to cease. It appears then that there are two baptisms recorded in Scripture, the one the baptism of John, the other that of Christ; that these are distinct from one another, and that the one does not include the other, except he who baptizes with water can baptize at the same time with the Holy Ghost. Now St. Paul speaks only of one * baptism as effectual; and St. Peter must mean the same, when he speaks of the baptism that saveth. The question therefore is, which of the two baptisms, that have been men VOL. II. * Ephes. iv. 5. 2 A tioned, |
