was there concealed. What a change it effected in the cha- racters of men may be seen by its operations on the day ot Pentecost: how was the lion instantly transformed into a lamb! and how did the noxious qualities, which had so lately rendered men like incarnate fiends, immediately subside and disappear! And such are the effects which it invariably pro- duces wheresoever it is bestowed.]
Infer —
1. How awfully are they mistaken who rest in the outward form of baptism !
[I would on no account depreciate baptism, or detract in the least from its importance. It is necessary for all who em- brace the faith of Christ : and is replete with blessings to all who receive it aright. Even the outward ministration of it gives us a title to the blessings of the Christian covenant, ex- actly as circumcision gave to the Jews a title to " the adoption" of sons, and to " the promises" which God had made to his peopled But if we receive it not aright, we are still, like Simon Magus, " in the gall of bitterness and the bond of ini- quity ^" To receive any saving benefit (for, if it be rightly received, "baptism does save us^") we must have not o\\\y the sign, but the thing signified, a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness ; or, in other words, we must be " baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire." For the truth of this I will even appeal to the consciences of the ungodly themselves. Who does not feel at times that he needs somewhat more than he has ever yet received, in order to fit him for death and judgment? There is in every man at times, I say, this con- viction : and this which is so wanted, is the very gift which Christ alone can bestow, namely, the baptism of the Spirit, as contrasted with, and superadded to, the baptism of water: it is " the renewing of the Holy Ghost" superadded to " the washing of regeneration'^." If we have received this spiritual baptism, it will infallibly discover itself by its effects upon our heart and life. " As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on ChristV seeking daily to be clothed with his righteousness, and to be transformed into his image. So also, if we have been " baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body," with the holy Apostles and the primitive saints, we shall have been " made to drink into one spirit with them''." " Now it is easy to see whether such a change have been wrought upon our heart and life, by our being altogether like-minded with them : and I wish you all to judge yourselves, that you may not be judged of the Lord."
'' Rom. ix. 4. f Acts viii. 13, 18 — 23. g 1 Pet. iii. 21.
^ Tit. iii. 5. * Gal. iii. 27. ^ 1 Cor. xii. 13.