is that by which the Saviour produces a certain change in the minds of his disciples. To effect this change is to baptize them with the spirit. We have, therefore, now to inquire what is the signification of Barrica when employed to describe that change, which, by means of this spirit, Jesus Christ effects in the hearts of his people. What is meant when it is said, that he baptizes with a holy spirit those who confide in him?

The passages in which the spirit is expressly mentioned in connexion with baptism are few, and those in which water is expressly mentioned are not many. It must not be supposed wherever the word is used alone, that baptism with water is referred to, rather than baptism with the spirit. Only by a consideration of the whole context and scope of each passage can it be ascertained, whether what is named refer to the body or the mind, to the sign or the thing signified. These seven passages, some of which have been adduced before, are all in which the term "spirit" is used in connexion with baptism.

"I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who succeeds me is my superior, his sandals I am not worthy to bear; he will baptize you with a holy spirit, and with fre.” Ἐγὼ μὲν βαπτίζω ὑμᾶς ἐν ὕδατι. . . . αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματί ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί. Matt. iii. 11.

"I baptized you with water; he will baptize you with a holy spirit." Ἐγὼ μὲν ἐβάπτισα ὑμᾶς ἐν ὕδατι· αὐτὸς δὲ βαπτίσει ὑμᾶς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. Mark i. 8.

"John said, addressing them all, I baptize you with water; but my superior is coming, the ties of whose sandals I am not worthy to loose; he will baptize you with a holy spirit, and with fire." Luke iii. 16.

"He who sent me to baptize with water, even he said to me: On whom thou seest the spirit descend and remain, this is he who is to baptize with a holy spirit." John i. 33.

"John baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with a holy spirit, ere many days have passed." Acts i. 5.

"John baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with a holy spirit." Acts xi. 16.

"For even as the body is one, though it has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, compose one body; so also is Christ. For with one spirit we all are baptized to be one body, whether Jews or Greeks, bondmen or freemen; and we all have imbibed the same spirit. ἐν ἑνὶ πνεύματι ἡμεῖς πάντες εἰς ἓν σῶμα ἐβαπτίσθημεν. 1 Cor. xii. 13. I. To illustrate the meaning of Barrio in this connexion, it may be observed, that the ordinary use of the associated words agrees with the sense, to purify, and opposes the sense, to dip. In the phrases év πνεύματι, and ἐν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, the preposition ἐν is never used for in, to express figuratively the existence of a person within the spirit; but it is used in many, if not in all passages, for with, or by, to indicate that the spirit is that, with, or by which, something is done. "If I

by the spirit of God expel demons." év пveúμati. Matt. xii. 28. "How then did David [directed] by the spirit call him Lord." Matt. xxii. 43. "He shall go before him with the spirit and power of Elias." Luke i. 17. "He came [directed] by the spirit to the temple." Luke ii. 27. "Jesus being full of a holy spirit returned from the Jordan, and was led by the spirit to the downs." Luke iv. 1. "I speak the truth as a servant of Christ, I do not lie, my conscience attests this, with a holy spirit." & πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. Rom. ix. 1. "Righteousness, and peace, and joy, by a holy spirit." xiv. 17. "That the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, being purified by a holy spirit." yaoμévy év tveúμatı åyiş. xv. 16. "No one speaking with the spirit of God." 1 Cor. xii. 3. "Through him, we both have access with one spirit to the Father." Ephes. ii. 18. "Be not drunk with wine; be filled with the spirit." "The Gospel did not come to you with speech only, but also power, and with a holy spirit, and with full conviction." 1 Thess. i. 5. "Who have preached the Gospel to you, with a holy spirit sent from heaven." 1 Pet. i. 12. Praying with a holy spirit." Jude 20. The common meaning of these phrases, therefore, renders it highly probable, that when they occur with Barrigo, the meaning is, to be baptized with the spirit, or with a holy spirit. Then it necessarily follows, that Banтily cannot mean to dip, since to dip with the spirit, or to be dipped by a holy spirit, would be unmeaning. To purify with the spirit, or to be purified by a holy spirit, is most appropriate. The verb must have a signification corresponding to the connexion; and must consequently express the effect, and not the mode of action.

v. 18.

with

II. The way in which baptism with water, and baptism with a holy spirit, are associated, supports the conclusion, that as the former is a purifying of the body, so the latter is a purifying of the mind; and that the terms applied to both exhibit them under this character, as purifications. It is admitted by all, that the baptisms of the Jews, and the baptism of John, were rites, symbolical of the cleansing of the mind from sin. Whatever may be supposed to be the meaning of Christian baptism, it cannot be denied that this, and this only, was the sig nification of all the baptisms known before the time of our Lord. When, therefore, John associated his baptism with the baptism performed by Jesus, he could not but mean, that while he only purified externally with water, the Saviour would purify internally with a holy spirit. It may be contended that he meant more than this, that he designed also to intimate, that there would be such an abundance of sacred influence, as would in some manner correspond to the abundance of water, into which some imagine he was accustomed to dip people. The fact that he did dip any is denied, and the fancied allusion to the quantity of water might well be questioned, even if a large quantity were used. The fact that he did purify the people who came to him, cannot be denied, and the allusion to the meaning of his

baptism cannot well be questioned. It has been already observed, that the rite of baptism being closely associated with mind, by the purity of which it was the sign, the term baptism could not properly be applied to mind with any different sense. When applied to corporeal objects, the word baptism was never used by the sacred writers but for purifyings; and, therefore, when applied to spiritual objects, its use must be similar, and it must designate purifyings. As the word used in connexion with the sign, was restricted to services of outward cleansing; so, when used in connexion with the thing signified, it must take up and carry with it the ideas by which the sign and its object were united. If the baptism of the body by John was a purifying, then the baptism of the soul by Christ must also be a purifying. Whatever else was involved in the signification of the word, this was, at least, a part of its meaning. Circumcision being a rite symbolical of spiritual cleansing, the circumcision of the heart naturally denoted the purifying of the heart. The sprinkling of the person with a victim's blood was a service of similar meaning; and the sprinkling of the conscience with the blood of Christ, in like manner, denoted its purification. In both cases it is clear, that when the terms for these rites are applied to the mind, the sense they bear is the meaning of the rite, and that there is not the least reference, in either instance, to its mode. Reasoning from these examples, as well as from the nature of the case, we are led to the conclusion, that whether the phrase, to baptize with a holy spirit, be a literal or figurative expression, the sense is the same, and the meaning simply, to purify with a holy spirit. To dip in a holy spirit, or to overwhelm with a holy spirit, would be such strange expressions for the meaning, to purify with a holy spirit, that we conclude, that neither was ever used to express these ideas; but that the meaning of the phrase is the literal signification of the words employed. Scarcely any thing could be more incongruous to Jewish modes of thought, as well as to English, than the statement with such a signification, I dip you in water, he will dip you in a holy spirit; or this, I overwhelm you with water, he will overwhelm you with a holy spirit. But nothing can be more suitable than the statement, I purify you with water, he will purify you with a holy spirit.

III. The phrase, to dip in a holy spirit, is unlike any thing to be found in the Sacred Scriptures, and is most unnatural; the phrase, to purify with a holy spirit, is scriptural and natural. The first mode of expression is, of course, figurative, like the expression to pour out the spirit. It is not imagined that any literal dipping or pouring is meant, when such expressions are employed. No objection can be made to the phrase to dip in a holy spirit, on the ground of its being figurative; but objection does lie against it, on the ground of its figurative impropriety. The holy spirit is that which proceeds from Christ, and which is within his disciples. The communication of this purifying influence

was very simply and beautifully expressed by a metaphor, derived from the pouring out of water. To pour out an influence on the minds of men, is a most appropriate figure for exerting an influence upon them. But to dip the minds of men in an influence, proceeding from the agent, is a figure hardly to be paralleled. As John was not talking poetry to the people, nor seeking after strange metaphors, we conclude that he never used a figure so obscure and harsh as this, to dip in a holy spirit. We read in the Bible of persons being taught by the spirit, made free by the spirit, comforted by the spirit, strengthened by the spirit, purified by the spirit; but we never read of their being dipped, or immersed, in the spirit. The spirit is always spoken of as being within the Christian, and not without him. He is not in the spirit, but the spirit is in him.

IV. The facts mentioned in connexion with the baptism of the spirit, accord with the sense to purify, but have no accordance with the sense to dip. It is supposed, that to dip in the spirit is a figurative expression, for to communicate much spiritual influence, so that the subject should be immersed in, or overwhelmed with supernatural gifts. To this supposition, both philology and history are opposed. Such a meaning would neither suit the words used, nor the facts referred to. To immerse, commonly, denotes a continued subjection to a liquid, and in this agrees with the classic sense of Banricw. But to dip denotes only a transient subjection. There is only a momentary subjection to the water when baptism is administered by dipping. Now such a dipping is no appropriate sign of great and lasting effects, for in general, it may be supposed the effect of the rite thus performed is superficial and transitory.

It is common for those who imagine that Barrigo means to dip, when used in reference to the body, to change this signification to that of to overwhelm, when it is used in reference to mind. Now the mode of action is as much excluded from this signification as it is from that of to purify. The first and third of the objections, here brought forward against the sense of to dip, would not apply against the sense to overwhelm, but it is liable to others equally formidable. The expres sions, to baptize with the spirit, and to baptize with water, are so connected, that if the one means to overwhelm with the spirit, the other must mean to overwhelm with water. But if this be the signification, then to dip cannot be the meaning of the word, and dipping is not a Christian duty. Besides, this signification is utterly unsuitable to many passages in which the word is found. And further, as before mentioned, to overwhelm, both in the classics and in the Sacred Scriptures, is a figurative expression appropriate only to afflictions. Men may properly be described as overwhelmed with every kind of evil, but they cannot properly be described as overwhelmed with any kind of good.

That the facts of New Testament history do not favour the interpretation of dipping or overwhelming is equally obvious. It should be observed, that the statement that Jesus would baptize with the spirit, was not made exclusively in reference to the apostles. In some of the passages in which the word occurs it applies to all believers. It expresses the communication of the ordinary influence which all Christians receive, and is not confined to the communication of the manifold and extraordinary endowments possessed by a few. "With one spirit we are all baptized to be one body." Now, inestimable as is the gift of the holy spirit, there is nothing in its presence in the heart to suggest the notion of much water; nor is there any thing in its peaceful and purifying influence to be compared to an overwhelming with water. The excellence, rather than the magnitude, of this gift, is set forth by the sacred writers. It is spoken of as something of a precious quality, rather than as something of a large quantity. It could not with propriety be said even of St. Paul, though he excelled in spiritual gifts, that he was immersed in them, or overwhelmed by them. With still less propriety could it be said of Christians in general, that they were dipped in, or overwhelmed with, that heavenly influence which imparts light, and purity, and joy to their minds.

It has been thought, that, in the account of the baptism with the spirit which took place on the day of pentecost, some support is given to the sense of overwhelming. The historian says, in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, "When the day of pentecost had come, all were with one mind at one place; when suddenly there came from heaven a noise, as of a rushing and violent wind; and it filled the house where they were sitting. And tongues as of fire were seen distributed to them. And one rested on each of them; and they were all filled with a holy spirit, and they began to talk in other languages, as the spirit enabled them to speak." It has been very strangely supposed, that the apostles were immersed in the wind, and overwhelmed with the fire; and that this was the reason why the communication of the spirit was styled a baptism, they being, as it were, dipped into the symbols of the spirit. To all this it is replied, that the baptism of the day of pentecost is never described as a baptism of fire. The appearance of a tongue of fire on the head could never be styled an overwhelming with fire. The language of the historian intimates that it was the noise which came from heaven that filled the house, and not the wind. There could be no dipping into the noise. And if we suppose that the wind is said to have filled the house, there is no reason for regarding this wind as a symbol of the spiritual gifts. received by the apostles. Of these the fiery tongues were the expressive sign. The noise of a rushing and violent wind indicated the approach of some extraordinary communication from heaven, but was not its symbol. It was thus when Elijah stood on Mount Horeb, "a great