there has been no proof of insincerity. Brighter views, clearer evidences, more elevated joys, and a richer and maturer christian experience followed, but these, though they far exceed, and indeed throw into the shade the first glimmer of christian knowledge and feeling enjoyed by the now more perfect christian, do not present a sufficient reason to repeat an ordinance intended to be initiatory, and to be administered in the outset of our christian course. Simon Magus, who was certainly without the belief he professed, was told to repent of his wicked this, or that has not these attributes, is not the ordinance enjoined by our Lord. Sprinkling, or pouring is not baptism, nor is the administration of plunging to an unconscious infant, the ordinance of Christ. There may be the figment of sponsors, or persons to speak for the infants who are incompetent to understand and answer for themselves. But as no contract amongst men performed under such circumstances would be regarded as otherwise than trifling and impertinent, we cannot consider this form as having any claim to consideration. The absurd, irrational, and impiousness, but not to be re-baptized. Many dogma which teaches that in such a foolish ceremony the infant's soul is regenerated, however it may be patronized by prelates of the papal and other anti-christian communities, merits only our most cordial reprobation. When, therefore, such as have received this human and unauthorized ceremony come to a knowledge of the truth, and submit to the ordinance of our Lord, they are not re-baptized. The ceremony performed on them had none of the attributes and essentials of christian baptism, and even if there were present some of the forms of it, yet as they were not voluntary and intelligent recipients, the rite itself is a perfect nonentity. Cases have, however, occurred, in which persons who have been baptized on a credible profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus, have subsequently believed that they were not at the time of their baptism, truly converted, and they have therefore been anxious to be re-baptized: and there have been instances in which their wishes have been complied with. But we doubt whether this was the correct course. A person would not be received into any Baptist community who did not profess to believe in Jesus Christ. And though at the time of his baptism he might be comparatively young in years, and in knowledge, and weak in faith, yet in the instances which have come under our knowledge, of the early christians, after having run well, were hindered,' and 'left their first love,' and while it may be hoped that they 'repented and did the first works,' there is no evidence that they were ever re-baptized. On the whole, therefore, though we would hesitate to condemn any one whose scruples on this question were great, if to satisfy them, he sought for such a reception of the ordinance, as he believes is in accordance with the mind of Christ, we should hesitate to encourage any thing that looked like a re-baptism of a professed believer, and would endeavour to lead him to regard his first profession, as it was voluntary and sincere, as unnecessary to be repeated. The baptism of believers, while it is scriptural and significant, secures the voluntary and spiritual character of the christian church. It strikes at the root of the errors of popery; and while it is observed in obedience to the supreme will of Christ, it has a useful moral influence on the recipient, on the church, and on a careless and unthinking world, who see in it the voluntary act of consecration to God, and a significant symbol of the christian religion. It is an interesting fact, and worthy of being recorded, that many persons now in the church, both on earth and in heaven, have dated their first religious impressions from their attendance at a christian baptism. J. G., L. THE DIGNITY OF CHRIST. Je THE meanness of Christ's human origin and earthly condition was one of the principal arguments urged by the adversaries of christianity against its truth and authority. It was the cause of Jewish prejudice and scorn, and was deemed a sufficient reason for at once rejecting the Saviour's claims. In Christ, the lowly one, the expectations of the Jews were unfulfilled-their brilliant anticipations were unrealized. hovah will yet exalt us.' This idea pervaded the nation. A Messiah will come to build up the waste places of Zion, to reign gloriously in Jerusalem, to gather the tribes of the people to battle, and to lead them forth from conquering to conquer. At his voice Egypt will tremble, and the nations of the East will bow; to him the mighty power of Rome will submit; and around his standard the shout of victory and the song of triumph will be heard. Their future kingdom was carnal, and their golden age was one of worldly blessedness, in which their ambitious aspirations should be responded to, and their national vanity gratified. The Christ for whom they waited was an illustrious earthly monarch, a great conqueror. They mistook the object of the Messiah's mission; they misconstrued the prophecies respecting him; they misinterpreted the symbolic and typical institutions of their nation; they failed to recognize the great truth, that while the Promised One would confirm and fulfil all that was spiritual in the law, he would, at the same time, abolish all therein that was carnal and ceremonial. What sympathy can the true Messiah, the founder of a spiritual kingdom, have from them, for he appears with far less outward grandeur than the ordinary messengers of royalty? He bears the form of a servant. might be expected, when his claims As ་ are made known, the prejudices of the Jews are excited. He is up braided for the meanness of his parentage, the obscurity of his birth, and the extremity of his poverty.. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, whose father and mother we know?' Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' We see here an instance of the fearful effects of prejudices and prepossession. How they lead men from the truth! How they distort their spiritual vision! How they prevent them from receiving with meekness the words of celestial wisdom, and induce them to turn resolutely away from beholding the most sublime and wonderful proofs of God's mercy and grace! The Divine precepts which the Saviour uttered; the stern withering remonstrances with which he opposed the hypocrite; the graphic parables which proceeded with living freshness from his lips; the acts of mercy which he performed in raising the sick, the dying, and the dead; all he spoke and all he did to attest his personal dignity, and the truth of his Messianic mission, was opposed by suspicious interrogations and surmises. Will not the Gentiles also scorn the news of Christ the Saviour, when told that he was a carpenter, the son of Mary, and was born in an obscure village in Judea? This part of his history must be kept silent. It must not be known that he lived in poverty and sorrow, and that he died an ignominicus death. Nay; all is told. The apostles take the message to the most refined cities of Greece-to the schools of philosophers-to the seats of learning and civilization in Africa and Italy. Similar contempt is there poured upon it. To the Jews Christ is a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. We can conceive of one of the sages of antiquity thus replying to the appeals of an apostle Must he lead out a Messiah from among the princes, the priests, or the philosophers? Must he invest him with earthly insignia, and surround him with a brilliant retinue? So the Jews thought. So we may think. But God's ways are not as our ways, neither his thoughts as our thoughts.' Who are we that we should so severely scrutinize the means which he uses to accomplish his ends, and dare to express our disapproval of the agency which he employs? The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.' The methods which appear to us the most unworthy, may seem to God the wisest and the most effectual. The apostle so remarks, of the Lord, Who is your prophet | by means of an instrument like this? that I should believe in him? As you yourself show, he was scorned and despised by your own nation; he was born under circumstances the most suspicious; he belonged to the poorest of the people, and he was even condemned at your own tribunal and suffered as a malefactor. He was a carpenter, too, the son of Mary.' This is the reason why, in succeeding ages, the christian religion has been repeatedly contemned and rejected. It assails the haughty prejudices and prepossessions of those to whom it is presented. Its author was too lowly, too unpretending. I cannot receive your Saviour,' says the objector. If God had sent a messenger from heaven, he would have appeared among men much better accredited; he would have afforded to all nations, at the first moment of his appearance, unmistakeable proofs that he was a Teacher sent from heaven: he would have given a dignity and importance to his embassy which would have made a deep impression on his own, and all succeeding ages. How can I believe in him? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?' But Jehovah effects his purposes by means which appear to men quite inadequate. In creation he accomplishes them by the agency of the simplest laws. In providence he can overthrow, in a moment, the best schemes of human contrivance, and can make a single event, apparently insignificant, instrumental in turning the entire current of human affairs. Thus he works in effecting his purposes of redeeming mercy. After the prophetical part of the scheme is completed, the time arrives when the top stone must be placed thereon. Jesus appears, as predicted, but the Jews when they hear his words and see his deeds, cry out, in angry disappointment, 'Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?' And what if he is the carpenter? Cannot God work We preach Christ crucified; to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them who believe, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God.' We admit that this Jesus was a carpenter, the son of Mary. He was not ranked with the mighty; he had neither fleets nor armies at his command, with which to subjugate the world; he had neither wealth nor influence to enable him to effect a moral renovation in the minds of men; he received neither support nor countenance from the civil or ecclesiastical authorities. These facts, however, do not disprove his Messiahship. If we examine his character more closely, we shall find, notwithstanding these apparent disadvantages, he has claims on our regard, which are peculiar to himself, and infinitely more satisfactory than those of which he was declared to be defective. To no other person than this the prophecies pointed, and all other persons but this would have failed to fulfil the Divine intentions. The carpenter, the son of Mary, was born in the circumstances, came at the time, and discharged his work in the way precisely foreappointed. Not one jot or tittle of the prophetic word relating to his coming, remained unfulfilled. God then gave to the world all he had promised. One of this low degree was predicted. The chosen messenger of the Father was to be a fugitive, a child of poverty, an outcast from the abodes of men, 'a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.' If we compare the prophecies with their fulfilment, if we consider that all that was glorious in him was not carnal but spiritual, instead of being startled by his poverty and humiliation, we shall discover that these confirm rather than disprove the truth of his mission. But if Christ had appeared in greater outward splendour, would mankind have believed in him more readily? We think not. His presence would have given rise to conjectures and surmises innumerable, and would have afforded far greater occasion for the scorn of the infidel. Suppose he had come as a temporal prince: posterity, we conceive, would have looked on his embassy with grave suspicion. It might have been regarded as a political intrigue, as a plan of the Jewish powers to magnify the importance of their little state in the eyes | of surrounding nations; and though the existence of such a prince might have been believed, his Divine origin, his intrinsic dignity, and his wonderful works would have been regarded as mere fables, the inventions of an enthusiastic and devoted people. Besides, how could his great expiatory work have been effected under such circumstances? The rise of the Messiah from among the poor was far more satisfactory. It removes all suspicion from our minds, that the establishment of christianity was a plot of statesmen, a system formed to keep the lower orders of society in subjection, and intended to strengthen and perpetuate the tyranny and dominion of the few. Rising up from a class which was regarded as of the smallest political importance, the Messiah appears to elevate and save them, but the truth which he comes to proclaim and establish will not be received by them alone. Its influence will gradually ascend higher and higher, until all ranks of men will be pervaded by it. But we must not infer, that because Jesus appeared in this humble position he is devoid of all claims upon our attention. Even supposing he had come in outward pomp, we can scarcely conceive of greater works than those which he performed. Do men wish for a Messiah who can achieve great wonders, and draw towards him self the eyes of all nations? Here he is. The carpenter, the son of Mary, is the ruler of the spheres. He appeases the raging of the elements with a word, nay, with the stretching forth of his hand. He speaks-the channel of sound is cleared, and nature's music bursts upon the soul with a joyous surprise. He speaksthe organ of vision recovers its power, and pictures of living freshness and beauty are presented to the gaze of the spirit. He speaks-the raging fever relinquishes its power, the nerves and sinews of the paralytic receive strength, the scales of the leper fall off, and a formidable host of disorders leave their suffering victims. In some the sunlight of intelligence only glimmers feebly. At the command of Jesus their souls are instantly released from Satanic thraldom, and restored to liberty. 'O Death where is thy sting?' At the gate of the city, in the chamber of the maiden, and at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus asserts his power over thee. The accounts of his miracles, from our familiar acquaintance with them, may perhaps fail sufficiently to interest us, but they are, nevertheless, unparalleled in the history of any age and nation. If we search most diligently the records of the various existing systems of religion, if we examine their evidences, or if we scrutinize the characters of those by whom they were first established, and by whom their early propagation was aided, we shall find amongst them no God, no hero, no saint, no missionary like this; no one invested with such power, and clothed with such majesty; no one who has performed deeds so marvellous; no one who has, consequently, so great a claim to the attention and reverence of mankind. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? Yes. But why should he be despised for this? Listen to his teachings. What revelations he makes of the unseen and unknown. He brings life and immortality to light. He reveals the inviolability and spirituality of the Divine law. He exhibits to us the character of God more fully. He points us to the awful realities yet to come. He fixes the mental gaze of his audiences on a world of exquisite happiness or of overwhelming misery. He directs their thoughts to the great white throne of judgment, on which he himself shall sit. He speaks of the Eternal One as his own Father, and assures his hearers of his tender care and love to those who trust in him. Whilst he confirms all the Divine declarations of hatred to sin, previously uttered, he ratifies the promises of mercy and grace, given for the en couragement of the penitent, and bids them approach to Himself, that they may enjoy the rest they are so anxiously seeking. He speaks of the atonement which he shall make, of the Spirit, the promise of the Father, whose quickening influences he shall bestow, and gives to his disciples occasional hints of the glory with which he is yet to be invested, and the blessings which will accrue to the world from his mission. 'He speaks as one having authority;' as one thoroughly acquainted with all the counsels of heaven; as if he were higher in dignity than the highest archangel, and had been permitted to approach nearer to the heavenly throne; as if he were acquainted with all those secrets and mysteries, which, for ages and generations, had been hidden from the most favoured intelligences. He speaks as God manifest in the flesh. Compare his mission with that of the other prophets. How transcendently illustrious the True Light shineth. No dark spot of sin obscures it. No clouds hang over it. It beams forth always with the same steady lustre. Out of the Divine fulness all other spiritual messengers had received. Here is the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The prophets were like ourselves, subject to the same infirmities, liable, when uninspired, to the same errors and prone to the same misgivings. Their visions and spiritual illuminations were fitful and transcient. They often exhibited similar unbelief to those to whom they were sent, and by their perversity they frequently incurred God's anger, and suffered from his judgments. It was not so with Jesus. regarded as the greatest of all prophets, and he sustains these claims not only by the works which he performs, and by the discourses he delivers, but also by the purity and undeviating consistency of his public and private conduct. Though without worldly riches, without the exterior productions of science, he was,' as a profound writer says,* 'infinitely great in the sublime order of holiness. was humble, patient, pure before God, terrible to evil spirits, and without spot of sin. O with what illustrious pomp, with what transcendent magnificence did he come attended, to such as beheld him with the eyes of their heart, and with those faculties which are the judges and discerners of true wisdom.' He claims to be He Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?' Yes; but he is God, too. The rich, the wise of this world, and the mighty, beheld him only as a poverty-stricken Jew, a houseless wanderer, a despicable Nazarene, a blasphemous impostor, a friend of * Pascal. |
