ing influence of a false principle, his language and behaviour had not been those of either friendship or piety, but a forsaking both of what was due to his friend, and of the fear of God. And, that "failing his friend," and disappointing his reasonable expectations, is what Job means to express, is confirmed by what follows in verses 18-20. Nothing can be finer, nothing more exquisitely appropriate and elegant, than the simile here employed. It is derived from the appearances of nature in that part of Arabia; where there were no rivers, and water was so scarce and so precious. At particular seasons, currents came down from hills of ice and snow; rolling on, turbid, dark, rapid, but not permanent. Depending on sudden rains, or melting snows, their supplies soon fail; they pass away; the summer heat diminishes, divides, evaporates, dries them up. Suppose, then, a caravan of travellers passing through the desert, earnestly longing for the refreshment of water; their tongue cleaving to the roof of their mouth for thirst; indulging the sanguine hope that some such stream may not yet have passed quite away; looking out with the intense eagerness of faint and gasping drought. But their hope fails them. They arrive at the place; and, instead of a refreshing stream, they find a channel of dry and burning sand! The points of resemblance are striking. The "stream of the brooks," flowing in full tide, is friendship in prosperity; copious in blandishments, professions, and promises. The dry channel is this friendship in the time of need. It fails when most required; when its supports and consolations would be most precious. The stream has passed away. The dumb despair of the abashed and confounded travellers aptly symbolizes the frustrated hopes of the patriarch. He looked for the seasonable refreshment of friendship's kind and pious consolations, "as cold waters to the thirsty soul." But, alas! his confidence had been misplaced. He was ashamed of his hope. And instead of being relieved, the burning fever of his soul was excited and increased tenfold.

6. In this excited state, he upbraids his friends in still more cutting terms for their selfishness; for which, as he evidently insinuates, other grounds of distance and alienation were but pretexts, verses 21-23. The expression, "Ye are nothing," follows emphatically on the simile he had just used. They were like the empty channel of the stream that had passed. They liked him very well as a friend, he alleges, when all went well with him; but they startled with apprehensions at his downfall; they saw calamity, and were afraid :"

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"Alike my trust in you; illusion all :

Friends while I stood, but starting at my fall:"

And in the 22d and 23rd verses, he explains what he meant by their fears. He more than insinuates their fancying he might be expecting something of them, some eleemosynary aid, some interference in his

behalf; that he might now become a burden upon them. The allusion to his losses and to the manner of them is evident. There is a keen sarcastic severity in this. Allowance must be made for the embittered state of Job's feelings at the time; for there is certainly no evidence that they deserved such an imputation. There is too much of suspicion without proof; too much of a disposition, therefore, to "pay them in their

own coin."

7. He then continues his keen invective in another form, alleging scornfully the unsuitableness, inconclusiveness, worthless insignificance, of such arguments and reproofs as had been addressed to him, ver. 24— 27. He wishes them to be explicit ; to come to the point, from vague generalities to specific facts. He desires to have his indictment in form. "How forcible are right words!"—suitable, seasonable, kind words. "But what doth your arguing reprove?" "What doth the reproof from you reprove?" What is its point?-at what does it aim? Let me know at once what you mean; what it is you reprove me for. Is there any thing you have to say against my conduct? Let me hear it. Or, is it merely my impatient and hasty words that you complain of! He admits they might be too unqualified and strong. But why should they exhaust their reproofs on the unpremeditated and reckless com

plainings of desperation? Why thus critically sift and analyze them! Why be so hard upon them? It may be that I have spoken unadvisedly. But surely you must have something more substantial wherewith to charge me, than the mere random words of a desperate man, empty as the wind! And he sharply reprimands them for dealing so hardly with his words, when their own behaviour to him was so cruel and unjustifiable, verse 27.

8. In a more pathetic and soothing tone he makes his appeal to them, whether there really were discernible about him any of the appearances and symptoms of conscious guilt: verses 28-30. "But come now, look upon me." Have I the manner or the look of a hypocritical deceiver! of such a deceiver suddenly detected and exposed by the intervention of heaven's retributive justice? whose "sin has found him out!" and who stands in all the consciousness of unexpected discovery! verse 29. "Turn again now, let it not be wickedness," (i.e. do not call it wickedness,) "and I will turn again; my righteousness is still in it," that is, the established righteousness of his character was the declarations of his integrity. He was in these the very same tist they had before esteemed him, a sincere, honest, right-hearted man. His meaning is-Turn ye again to me; depart from your unfounded charge; and I will turn to you, in mutually restored confidence and affection; for indeed it is not, as ye suppose, wickedness; I still retain all the righteousness that was the ground of your old attachment. This is much in the style of one who feels that, in his expressions, has gone too far, as Job unquestionably had done, and who comes

down to a gentler and more conciliatory and winning tone. The connexion of the thirtieth verse is clear and immediate, "Is there iniquity in my tongue, and doth my palate not discern the perverseness?" a beautiful figure for a man's uttering iniquity and untruth, and his moral sense, his conscience, not being aware of it. Could that be?

"Was sin upon my tongue, and moral sense

Too dull in me to notice the offence?"

You cannot suppose my conscience so thoroughly seared surely; are there, then, any of the appearances about me of such an inward consciousness of guilt? "Look on me; for it is evident unto you if I lie."

I have already exceeded due limits. The remainder of this first reply of Job, together with the general reflections suggested by the whole, shall form the subject of another paper.

A CRITICAL INQUIRY INTO THE MODE OF
CHRISTIAN BAPTISM.

(Concluded from page 691.)

R. W.

THERE are many words in all languages, which are applied to material and to spiritual objects; the correspondences observed between these two classes of objects, leading to the use of the same terms for both. A word may primarily have represented only that with which the senses are conversant; but when that which was presented to the intellect alone, was noticed resembling thereto, it would naturally receive the same appellation. Such transfer would at first be intended to suggest the observed resemblance, and the secondary application of the word would therefore be metaphorical. But if this usage were frequent, the resemblance would ere long cease to be always suggested, and the object to which the term was secondarily applied, would then be denoted by it, not metaphorically, but properly. The terms sweetness and melting denoted at first certain sensible properties; then they were applied to certain affections of mind, the resemblance of which to these sensible properties was indicated by these metaphors; but now the secondary usage of these words has become as proper as the first, and few when they hear any one described, as possessing sweetness of temper, or as melting into grief, have any ideas suggested to them, of honey and sugar, or of the liquefaction of ice and metals.

Besides the ordinary causes which, in all languages, lead to the use of the same words, with both material and spiritual significations, there were among the Jews some peculiar to them. The objects, actions, and enjoyments of the body, were systematically employed as representatives of the objects, actions, and enjoyments of the soul; the visible world being regarded as the type of the invisible. All the rites, services,

and promises, of the Jewish dispensation, were a veil of imagery, on which the natural mind saw nothing for desire and delight, but worldly pleasures; while through it the renewed mind discerned a holy and heavenly meaning. A Redeemer was foretold, who should free from bondage, suffering, and death. One interpretation wrongly restricted this phra seology to a salvation from physical evil; another rightly referred it to a deliverance from moral evil. Abundance, peace, and felicity, were promised to the subjects of his kingdom. These promises awakened in the minds of some men, the expectation of riches, ease, aud luxury: and in the minds of others, the hope of truth, rectitude, and the favour of God. They who gave a corporeal meaning to the language of the Old Testament, concerning the Saviour of the world, rejected Jesus; because his character and kingdom did not accord with their interpretation. But they who assigned to these predictions and promises a spiritual meaning, were prepared to receive him; for they could see an excellence in the character of our Lord, and a blessedness in his reign, which no imagery of this world could adequately express. Nothing can be more erroneous in the interpretation of ordinary writings, and few things are more pernicious in the interpretation of the sacred scriptures, than the groundless supposition, that, because a term may at first have designated what is material, it is unlikely, in any case, to designate what is spiritual. It is only by a consideration of the state of the language, the character of the writer, and the subject of his composition, that any conjecture can be formed, whether the signification of words will be probably material or spiritual; and all such antecedent probabilities are of very small value, if opposed by direct evidence. They scarcely dese v to be taken into account.

It has been seen in the course of our investigation, that the words βαπτίζω and βάπτισμα are applied both to body and to mind. They sometimes denote what is material, and sometimes what is spiritual. It must not be imagined, because the former application of these words preceded the latter, that therefore in any passage where these words occur in the New Testament, reference is probably made to baptizing the body with water. The spirituality which in all things marks the Gospel dispensation, strongly supports the opposite conclusion. It is far more likely that that which holds a prominent place, as a matter of high importance, in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, is, not the purification of the body, administered with water, by the hands of men, but, the purification of the soul, effected by the truth and the Spirit of God.

Having noticed all the passages in the New Testament, in which the rite of baptism is mentioned, in connexion with particular facts; and also those in which the baptism of the spirit is expressly referred to; we proceed to the consideration of the few remaining passages, in which the terms βαπτίζω and βάπτισμα occur. In the first of these classes of passages, it is sufficiently clear that the baptism of the body is spoken

of; and it is equally certain that in the second, the reference is to the baptism of the mind; but in the last class, which is now to be examined, we must look to the context, scope, and subject of each passage, to ascertain whether what is meant, be, the external figurative purification of the body, or the internal real purification of the mind.

I. "Afterwards, he appeared to the eleven when they were reclining; and he reproved their incredulity and perverseness, because they would not trust those who had seen him after his resurrection. And he said to them, Go forth to all the world, and proclaim the good message to the whole creation. He who trusts to it, and is purified, will be saved; but he who does not trust to it, will be condemned." ὁ πιστεύσας καὶ βαπτισθεὶς σωθήσεται. Mark xvi. 14.

This address of our Lord to his apostles appears to have been made on the day of his resurrection, at Jerusalem. It must, therefore, have been spoken before that recorded by St. Matthew, xxviii. 19, which was made many days after, in Galilee. On this account it may properly be considered first. Many have supposed that the baptism here mentioned, is the baptism of the body with water; but this supposition is supported by very little evidence, and there is much to render it improbable. It should be observed, that there is not the least allusion in the context to the bodies of men, or to water, nor is there any thing to indicate that material baptism is referred to, rather than spiritual baptism. It is, surely, not self-evident that the purification, which our Lord associates with faith and with salvation, is the purification of the body. Should we not rather believe, that the purification which he exhibits in such a connexion, is the purification of the soul? We know, indeed, that baptism with water was appointed by him, for, from the commencement of his public ministry, it was administered by his apostles; and it continued to be performed by them after his ascension, as the initiatory ceremony of the Christian religion. But their practice cannot afford the smallest proof that either this passage, or that which occurs at the close of the Gospel of St. Matthew, refers to the baptism of the body with water, since, in baptizing with water, they certainly obeyed a command which they had received long before. Nor does the permanent obligation to observe this rite, at all depend on the interpretation of these two passages. In baptizing with water, we act

in accordance with what we know was the direction of Christ to his apostles; we maintain a service which he instituted; and we follow the example of the apostles, doing what their conduct, both during the life of Jesus, and subsequently, holds forth for our imitation. On this foundation the authority of the rite of Christian baptism may be safely placed; and it is a foundation precisely similar to that, on which the authority of the Lord's supper rests. But an examination of these, and some other passages, commonly supposed to refer to the outward ceremony, may perhaps show, that the baptism spoken of, is the bap