with the Holy Ghost and fire; and while the astonished multitude were many of them pricked in the heart, and crying, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter, under this divine energy, addressed them, saying, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." ACTS 11. 88, 39. Here observe, Peter did not exhort them to be baptized, and then repent at some future period; nor does he make any promises to them, but what are connected with repentance. The promise mentioned in the 39th verse, I am inclined to think, either referred to the gift of the Holy Ghost, mentioned in the preceding verse; or to the ancient promise made to Abraham, thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be bless.ed." GEN. XII. 3. Which SEED was Christ. GAL. III. 16. Although the apostle seems to be very general in urging this promise as an encouragement, yet he is particularly careful to limit its blessings, to as many as the Lord our God shall eall. These, whether old or young, whether Jews that were nigh, or Gentiles afar off, should be alike blessed; provided the Lord should call them by his grace, and make them willing in the day of his power.

"In

There is a very obvious reason, for the apostle's noticing children in the above connection. He was now addressing the men, who, with wicked hands, had been guilty of crucifying Jesus. And it will be remembered, that they had imprecated his blood, that is, the guilt of it, upon themselves and their children, when Pilate sought to release him. order, therefore, to remove every discouragement which might arise from the above, imprecation, he assured them, that the promise was to all that the Lord our God shall call.

In

* Dr. Campbell renders the preposition in water, and in the Holy Ghost, and fire. MATT. iii. 11.

As further proof of the correctness of this statement, permit me to invite your attention to the subsequent part of this account. VERSE 41.-". Then they that gladly received his word were baptized." Is it possible to believe, that there were any infants, or unconverted children included in this account? Is there not abundant evidence to the contrary? The candidates are said not only to have received the word, but to have "received it gladly." That is, with the whole heart and soul. And the same day there were added unto them about 3000 souls." Here we have further evidence that none of this number were infants; for those who baptize infants, do not add them to the church, nor consider, or treat them as church members. But what follows, will, as we should suppose, put it beyond all reasonable dispute.. VERSE 42. And they continued stedfastly in the apostle's doctrine, and fellowship; and in breaking of bread and in prayers." Surely this could not be the work of mere babes. Read to the end of the chapter, and you will find, that every word goes to prove, that the 3000 who were baptized, were adults, and not children who were incapable of knowing any thing about the gospel.

We meet with nothing more on the subject, until we come to the 8th chapter. Here we are told, that Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them, and there was great joy in that city." The preaching of Christ faithfully has usually produced this effect. At the 12th verse it is said, When they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and No mention is made of children; the conclusion is irresistible, that there were none baptized. The probable reason is assigned in the text. They believed what Philip preached concerning the kingdom of God; that it was to be composed of believers only. The time was now come, when God's bouse was to be built of lively stones: so that it might be a spiritual

women.

house, capable of offering up spiritual sacrifices to God by Jesus Christ. 1 PET. ii.

In this same chapter, we have an account of the baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch. When he propos ed himself as a candidate, Philip replied to him, "If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest." But

can any reason be assigned, why Philip should require such a confession of faith from the Eunuch, and baptize others without any confession at all, which he must have done, provided he baptized infants? Can you, my Friend, believe him guilty of such inconsistency? I am persuaded you cannot. But this account is highly interesting to us in another point of light. It shows, beyond a reasonable doubt, the mode of baptism, if we may so speak. When the Eunuch had declared his faith in Jesus, as "the Son of God," -they went down both into the water, both Philip and the Eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the Eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. Thousands of others have travelled the same delightful road, and found their joys the same.

The foregoing passage is so decidedly in favour of immersion, and bears such a manifest resemblance to the baptism of Jesus, that those who endeavour to maintain a different practice, have always appeared to be extremely embarrassed to know how to dispose of it with any tolerable plausibility.

Sometimes recourse is had to Greek prepositions ; and we are told, that going down into, means no more than going down "unto;" that is, to the was ter's edge: and that coming up out of the water, should be rendered coming up "from" the water.

A late author has given us a new exposition, i. e. that "into Jordan, means any where within the banks of the river." In reply to what is said, Mark i. 5, that John baptized in the river of Jordan, he says, "he might be in the midst of Jordan, and not be in the water!" And all this is proved to demonstration,

B

from Joshua iii. 17, &c. where we have the account of the priests' bearing the Ark into the midst of Jordan; and that the waters were parted, so that the people passed over on dry ground. This, it will be acknowledged, was one of those astonishing miracles which God wrought, in carrying the tribes of Israel to the promised land. So, in like manner, if John could for a moment stand in the midst of Jordan upon dry land, it must have been by a miracle; but to suppose this, during the whole of his baptizing, must have been to suppose a miracle much more astonishing than that wrought for the Israelites. But it should be remembered, that John did no miracle: that is, no miracle attended his administration. What credit ought to be given to the reasonings of a man, who has recourse to such absurdities, the public will judge.*

Again, It is sometimes argued, that they had nothing to carry water in. Admitting this to be true, (which, however, is not at all probable,) if no more was necessary than for Philip to wet his fingers and put them on the Eunuch's forehead, surely they needed not both to have gone down INTO the water for this? But, if the Eunuch was to be immersed, this was absolutely necessary. It could not be decently performed without. Let precisely such an account be given of a baptizing at the present day, and there is not a person of any denomination who would hesitate a moment, in determining to what denomination of christians they belonged. It must be a peculiar satisfaction to know, that our practice so perfectly resembles that of the primitive christians, as not to be distinguished from it. Or, in other words, that in describing theirs, we identify our own. If there be a doubt upon the mind of any in what manner we ought to be baptized, it will be always safe to follow the example here given us, of apostolic practice. Practising as they did, we can

* See Cat. on Baptism, page 4.

not be wrong; liable to err.

but in differing from them we are

In the 10th of Acts we have the account of Peter's being called to the house of Cornelius; of his preaching, and of the wonderful effects of the gospel upon this assembly of Gentiles. In this discourse the apostle gave a brief account of the character, preaching, miracles, life, death, and resurrection of Christ. "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell upon all them that heard the word." Perceiving

:

* The public have lately been entertained with a work from the pen of the Rev. Reuben Emerson, A. M. which he calls a "Catechism; exhibiting in a plain and concise manner, the scripture account of baptism." The Author has enriched his work with a considerable number of plates, so that the eyes of his "common readers," as well as their intellects, may assist them in understanding his subject. But after all, we think that some of them must be exceedingly puzzled fo he has unfortunately represented the act of baptizing in a manner, which, we believe, neither he nor any other person ever saw performed. The first plate represents Christ and John standing in the water ancle deep. The Saviour stooping forward, and John pouring water copiously upon the back of the head or neck! A similar description is given of Philip and the Eunuch, and several others, excepting that they are all standing safe on dry land. The author, it seems, perceived his unhappy blunder, of pouring water on the back of the head, before his book had got wholly through the press. But in correcting the error, he is equally unfortunate. He has still represented baptism in a light as completely at variance with his own practice, as it is with apostolic baptism. In representing the baptism of the jailor, he presents the administrator, standing with a large waterpot by him; the jailor standing erect before him, and the water trickling from his nose and chin. But the plate, after all, appears extremely deficient to answer his purpose. Why had he not thought to have placed a babe in the mother's arms advancing to receive baptism? He might have done it as well as not. As he has presented none but adults, his "common readers" may, after all, be led to doubt whether any others were baptized. But all his fanciful representations look extremely unlike any thing we have ever seen practised among Pædobaptists. This reminds us of a guide-post, that directs the traveller in a way which it never goes itself.