13 Then cometli Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ?
15 And Jesus answering said unto
1 6 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon liim :
17 And lo, a voice from heaven,
him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus ^ saying, This is my beloved Son, in it bccometh us to fulfil all righteous- I whom I am well pleased, ness. Then he suffered him. j
You have here the account of our Lord Jesus Christ's baptism. This was His first step, when He entered on His ministry. When the Jewish priests took up their office at the age of thirty, they were washed with water. When our great High Priest begins the great work He came into the world to accomplish, He is publicly baptized.
Let us learn from these verses to regard the sacrament of baptism with reverence. An ordinance of which the Lord Jesus Himself partook, is not to be lightly es- teemed. An ordinance to which the great Head of the Church submitted, ought to be ever honorable in the eyes of professing Christians.
There are few subjects in religion on which greater mistakes have arisen than baptism. There are few which require so much fencing and guarding. Let us arm our minds with two general cautions.