and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord: but the Lord was not in the wind." There was on this occasion no dipping or overwhelming of any kind, most certainly none in that which was the emblem of spiritual gifts; and therefore there is nothing to favour the notion, that to baptize with the spirit is to overwhelm with the spirit, or to dip in the spirit.

But here, and in all the instances in which the baptism of the spirit is mentioned, there was a purification. On this occasion the apostles were purified and consecrated to their work, though not as were the priests of old, by washing with water, anointing with oil, and arraying with pure garments and costly jewels. Theirs was a better purification; with more precious gifts and ornaments were they introduced to their high office. They were purified from many of the imperfections by which hitherto their characters had been marked, and now by purity of mind, not less than by miraculous powers, were they fitted for their great undertaking. On another occasion, as before mentioned, the event which is in one place referred to as a baptism with the spirit, is in another spoken of as a purification of the heart. In all cases, where the baptism of the spirit is mentioned, there was a purifying with the spirit, but in none was there any dipping or overwhelming, or any thing resembling them. We therefore conclude, that to baptize with a holy spirit means simply, to purify with a holy spirit.

V. The representations given in the Scriptures of the work of Christ favour the interpretation of to purify, and are adverse to the interpretation to dip, or to overwhelm. It is surely most probable, that the term employed to describe the work which the Son of God came to accomplish should be definite in its meaning; and that it should have some correspondence with the terms elsewhere used respecting it. If John said to the Jews concerning Jesus, He will dip you in a holy spirit, or, He will overwhelm you with a holy spirit, he would, by such a statement, have given but little instruction. What were those gifts to be, of which it was merely intimated that their multiplicity or magnitude would be overwhelming? Certainly it is more likely that the nature of the work of Christ would be explicitly stated, than that it should be thus enigmatically set forth; and it is therefore much more probable, that the announcement of John was, he will purify you with a holy spirit, than, he will dip or overwhelm you.

This conclusion is confirmed by the consideration, that this is the general account given of the work of Christ. It is often said that he came to purify men, but never that he came to dip or overwhelm them. This idea is the predominant one in the New Testament declarations concerning the redemption of mankind. "Now ye are pure through the words which I have spoken to you.” κaðapoì. John xv. 3. "Purify them by thy truth." ȧyíaσov. John xvii. 17. "That they may be purified by the truth." yaσμévo. ver. 19.

"And made no

difference between us and them, by faith purifying their hearts." καθαρίσας. Acts xv. 9. "To give you an inheritance among all those who are purified." yaoμévois. Acts xx. 32. "A portion with those who are purified by faith in me." paoμévous. Acts xxvi. 18. "To those who are purified by Christ Jesus." yaσpévois. 1 Cor. i. 2. "Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from all pollution, corporeal and spiritual.” kalapiowμev. 2 Cor. vii. 1. "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might make it holy, purifying it by the cleansing of water.” ἵνα αὑτὴν ἁγιάσῃ καθαρίσας τῷ Xovтpa TOû vdaros. Ephes. v. 26. "Now the God of peace himself completely purify you." ȧyiáσai. 1 Thess. v. 23. "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a peculiar people.” kabapioŋ. Tit. ii. 14. "According to his mercy he saved us, through the purifying of regeneration, and the renewing of a holy spirit." dià λourpoû. iii. 5. are purified." ȧytáčov. Heb. ii. 11. of Christ.... purify the conscience?" kabapieî. Heb. ix. 14. which purpose we are purified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." yaoμévoi. Heb. x. 10. "Wherefore Jesus, that he might purify the people with his own blood." ȧyiáσn. Heb. xiii. 12. 66 The blood of Jesus Christ his Son purifies us from all sin." καθαρίζει. 1 John i. 7. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to purify us from all unrighteousness." xabapioŋ. 1 John i. 9. "Every one who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure. ȧyvíce. 1 John iii. 3.

"He who purifies, and they who "How much more will the blood

"By

To him who loved

us and purified us from our sins with his own blood." λovσavrı. Rev. i. 5. We learn from these passages, that the object for which Jesus came into the world, that for which he prayed, that which his followers were required to seek, that which they are described as possessing in some measure on earth, and that for which their praises are paid to the Redeemer in heaven, is purity of mind. How suitable, therefore, was the announcement of John respecting the Saviour of the world, "I purify you with water, he will purify you with a holy spirit!" 'Happy are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

VI. The effects of the communication of the spirit which are mentioned in the New Testament, coincide with the conclusion that to baptize with the spirit is to purify with the spirit. The term holy, which is associated with the term spirit in connexion with baptism, indicates the character of the effects thereby produced. This term sometimes means venerable and awful, sometimes separated for the service of God, and sometimes pure.* The latter is the sense most suitable to the phrase holy spirit, inasmuch as there was nothing in this exercise of divine power peculi

* For the signification of morally pure for ayos, see Rom. vii. 12, “The law is pure. xi. 16, "If the first fruits be pure. xii. 1, "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, pure, acceptable to God." 1 Cor. vii. 14, "The unbelieving husband is purified by his wife, and the unbelieving wife is purified by her husband; otherwise your children

arly awful. Its design and tendency was to make men holy, and on this account it is called "the holy spirit." The epithet attached to the spirit in these passages shows both the nature of its effects, and the aspect under which it was regarded and exhibited by the sacred writers; and makes it very probable, that to baptize with a holy spirit, is, to purify with a spirit that produces holiness.

In several passages the gift of the spirit is explicitly described as the means of moral purification. St. Peter says of the Gentiles who had received this gift, that God thus "purified their hearts by faith." Acts XV. 9. Kalapíσas. St. Paul speaking of himself as discharging in his καθαρίσας. apostolic office the duties of a priest, and of the converted Gentiles as the sacrifice to be offered, says that they were purified with a holy spirit. Rom. xv. 16. yaoμévŋ èv tveúμarı ayi. In writing to the Thessalonians he says, "God has chosen you from the first, for salvation, by purifying of the spirit, by belief of the truth." 2 Thess. ii. 13. év åуiaσμâ яveúμатOS. St. Peter says, that the Christians dispersed in various lands were "chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the purifying of the spirit, to be obedient, and to be purified by the blood of Christ." 1 Pet. i. 2. év åyiaoμộ πveúμaros. And in the same chapter he addresses them as those who "have purified their minds through the spirit.” ver. 22. ἡγνικότες διὰ πνεύματος.

When terms denoting purity are not used, the effects resulting from the gift of the spirit are still described as a moral purification, "The law by the spirit of life by Christ Jesus, has freed me from the law of sin and death." Rom. viii. 2. "If by the spirit ye put an end to your sensual practices, ye shall live." ver. 13. "Ye have not received the spirit of servitude, that ye should again be in dread, but ye have received the spirit of adoption." ver. 15. In the general accounts given of the effects of this heavenly gift, moral purity is the most prominent feature. "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control. There is no law against these things." Gal. v. 22. Inasmuch as the spirit given by Christ is so frequently referred to, as that by which men are purified, while it is not once referred to, as that in which men are dipped, or by which men are overwhelmed, we conclude that when it was said that Christ would baptize with a holy spirit, the simple meaning of the statement was, that he would thus purify the minds of those who confided in him.

VII. All the figurative expressions, used in connexion with the gift of the spirit, harmonize with the conclusion, that baptism was administered by sprinkling or pouring, but none of them have reference to either dipping or overwhelming. As baptism with water was a symbol of baptism with a holy spirit, it is most likely, that some of the would be impure, but now they are pure." ver. 34, "That she may be pure in body and mind." Eph. i. 4, " According as he chose us through him before the foundation of the world, that we should be pure and blameless. v. 27, "That it might be pure and blameless."

figures, used in reference to the latter, were derived from the former. The rite being most closely associated with the blessing signified by it, would naturally furnish some, if not all, of the metaphors employed respecting it. If then we look to these terms, to learn thence what was the form of the rite from which they were borrowed, we find that they are all such as agree with the affusion of water on the person, and that none agree with the submersion of the person in water. They are all such as would arise from the practice of sprinkling and pouring; but there are none which would arise from the practice of immersion. The spirit is always described as coming to the person; as being within him; and as being poured on him. Never is the person described as going to the spirit, as being within it, as being dipped in or overwhelmed thereby. "They were all filled with a holy spirit." Acts ii. 4. "I will pour forth of my spirit." ver. 17, 18. "He hath poured forth this, which ye now perceive and hear." ver. 33. "Ye shall receive the gift of the holy spirit." ver. 38. "The holy spirit came on all who heard the address." x. 44. "On the Gentiles the gift of the holy spirit was poured forth." ver. 45.

From this examination of the passages in which the baptism of the spirit is mentioned, we learn, that, inasmuch as the associated words commonly denote, with a holy spirit, the meaning of Barrio should correspond to this meaning, and express the effects produced by the spirit; that because baptism with water was a purification with water, baptism with the spirit must be a purification with the spirit, and most probably to baptize with water or a holy spirit, is simply to purify with water or a holy spirit; that to dip in an influence exerted by the agent would be an unsuitable expression for any thing, and to overwhelm with such an influence an unfit expression for any good, while to purify with such an influence is an expression both clear and scriptural; that in all the instances recorded of a baptism with the spirit there was a purification, while in no one was there any dipping or overwhelming, either material, or spiritual, literal, or figurative; that the statement that our Lord would purify is definite, and agrees with the common representation of his work, while the statement that he would dip or overwhelm, is both obscure, and unlike all scriptural declarations on this subject; that the name given to the spirit, and the effects ascribed to it, show that its purifying character was that to which attention was chiefly paid; and that from all these considerations it is highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the work of Christ is exhibited in these passages as a purifying, and that Barrio means to purify. All the words more or less closely connected with it, the nature of the objects to which it is applied, and the general tenor of scripture language, combine to prove, that the term means to purify and not to dip or overwhelm. And all the figurative expressions connected with the baptism of the spirit support the conclusion, that the Christian rite of purification was administered by sprinkling or pouring, and not by dipping or immersing.

FRAGMENTS OF PURITAN HISTORY.

No. IX.

(Resumed from page 623.)

THE sufferings of the Brownists, already briefly noticed, were sufficient to move any heart possessed of the ordinary sympathies of humanity; but their persecutors, with unrelenting severity, continued to inflict upon their victims close confinement, for successive years, in cold and filthy prisons, where great numbers perished. Their moral character and doctrinal views were unexceptionable, their enemies being judges; and they remained stedfast to their principles under protracted and most painful trials; yet, from deep-rooted prejudice, their opinions and purposes were grievously misrepresented. These distinguished sufferers for Christ were therefore induced to publish, in the year 1590, “A Brief Answer to Certain Slanderous Articles and Ungodly Calumniations spread abroad by the Bishops and their Adherents, against divers Faithful and True Christians, her Majesty's loyal and loving Subjects, to colour their ungodly and tyrannical dealing, and bring them into hatred both with Prince and People." This piece contained both the articles and replies, and is here presented to the notice of the reader.

"1. They hold that the Lord's Prayer or any set prayer is blasphemy, and they never pray for the queen as supreme head, under Christ, of the church of Christ.'

66

'We hold that the Lord's Prayer, so commonly called, is sacred and canonical Scripture, containing a most absolute and perfect rule and groundwork, whereby all faithful prayers ought to be framed, given by our Saviour Christ, for the instruction and confirmation of his disciples; that their prayers might be according to the will and glory of God. But that the very form of the words, as they are in those petitions, were given and instituted as a set and stinted prayer, or that our Saviour Christ and his apostles have ever used it in that manner, we find not in the Scriptures. We see their prayers according to their present occasions set down in other words, and no mention made of such prescript and limited saying of this, as they require and enjoin. If our enemies were as ignorant of what belongeth to true prayer, or of the true use of this form of prayer as they seem; yet even their own practice in their pulpit and liturgies doth excuse us, and condemn them. For her majesty we pray both publicly and privately, day and night, at all times and places, according to our duties as becometh us; and, God willing, will not cease so to do whilst our lives do last.

"2. That all set prayers, or stinted prayers, or read service, are but mere babbling in the Lord's sight, and plain idolatry.'

"To this we answer, that we are taught in the Scriptures, that God is a spirit, and will be worshipped in spirit and in truth. We find further in the Scriptures and in ourselves, that God giveth to all his children, and hath given to us, his Holy Spirit to help our infirmities, and to teach us to pray, according to his will in his word. We are also taught, that we need no man to teach us, but as the same anointing teacheth us of all things. We find not any such devised prayers, or stinted service, prescribed to the church by those perfect workmen, the apostles; neither yet any commandment or authority given by them unto the church, to make, bring in, or receive any apocryphal service, where only the word of God, and the graces of God's