description of our Lord, here given by John the Baptist, has received three very different interpretations.
Some think that it means, " Tliis is He who shall institute Christian baptism, with which the gift of tl^e Holy Ghost shall be connected. His baptism shall be like mine, a baptism of water. But it shall not be a baptism of water only, as mine is, but a baptism accompanied by the regenerating grace of the Spirit."
Some think that it means, " This is He who shall baptize with the Holy G-host on the day of Pentecost, and confer miraculous gifts on the church."
Some think it means, "This is He who shall baptize the hearts of men, which neither thou canst do nor any other human minister. He has the prerogative of giving spiritual life. He is the giver of- the Holy Spirit to all who believe on Him."
I am decidedly of opinion that this third view is the correct one. It is the only one which seems at all answerable to the majesty of the person spoken of, the dignity of the speaker, and the solemnity of the occasion. — To say, "This is He who shall institute Christian baptism " seems a very lame and impotent account of the expression. — To say, " This is He who shall bestow miraculous gifts at the day of Pentecost," is a degree better, but gives a picture of our Lord's office confined to a single generation. — But to say, " This is He who, in every age of the church, will baptize the hearts of his people by the Holy Ghost, and by this baptism continually replenish the ranks of His mystical i3ody," is saying that which exactly suits the occa- sion, and describes our Lord's work in the world in a worthy manner.
Musculus, on this verse, remarks, " What is it to baptize with the Holy Ghost ? It is to regenerate the hearts of the elect, and consecrate them into the fellowship of the sons of God." Again, he says, "It is Christ alone who baptizes with the Holy Ghost, a power which, as divine, He keeps in His own hands and never communicates to any minister."
The view T have maintained is ably set forth in Bucer's com- mentary on this place. He s-ays, " By the baptism of water Ave arc received into the outward Church of God ; by the baptism of the Spirit into the inward Church." The opinion of one who Wivs Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, in the reign of Edward the Sixth, and the personal friend and adviser of Cran- mer and the other English reformers, deserves much considera- tion. It proves, at any rate, that the doctrine of inward baptism of the Spirit, which Christ alone gives to every beUever, and the identity of this baptism with conversion or new birth, are not