the FATHER, and of the Son, and of the HOLY GHOST." And in another place he says, In our regeneration it is not nature, but the words of God spoken by the Priest (which words are well known to the faithful) in the bath of water as in the womb, form and regenerate him who is baptized "." And St. Augustin, a Latin writer, "By the washing of regeneration and word of sanctification, all the ills of men who have been regenerated are cleansed and healed." In another passage the same writer says, "Take away the word, and what is water but water? The word is added to the element and it becomes a Sacrament"."

We may therefore understand St. Paul by the expression," the washing of water by the word," to mean precisely the same thing which is thus expressed in the Catechism, where, in answer to the question, "What is the outward visible sign or form in Baptism?" it is said, Water, wherein the person is baptized in the Name of the FATHER, and of the Son, and of the HOLY GHOST." It is indeed no other than our LORD's own sacred ordinance and in

stitution, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the FATHER, and of the Son, and of the HOLY GHOST"." It is a word or a saying which, as St. Chrysostom says, the faithful will understand. Or, as it is mysteriously said in the Revelation, A new Name which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it "."

Now many persons think that the Scriptures, and the Church of all ages, attribute such a power to Baptism that it requires much faith to believe it; they " stagger at the promises through unbelief." Indeed this is too much the case with us all, more so than we are aware of. And yet, if we consider, we shall not find the means unworthy of so great an end; on the contrary, that they are in themselves so awfully great, so amazingly vast and mysterious, that nothing less than the salvation of an immortal soul can be an object worthy of them. For consider what an awful thing it is for any creature to be received into the Name of the Most Holy GOD, by CHRIST's own order and command; that this ordinance was the first-fruits of His Passion; it took place after He had paid the penalty for us, and had just risen from the

3 Gal. iv. 28.

De Bap. t. x. p. 298. 6 Matt. xxviii. 19.

5 In Joan. trac. lxxx. 7 Rev. ii. 17.

grave, saying, "All power is given unto ME in Heaven and in earth. Therefore," He adds, "teach all nations-baptizing them."

And first of all, with regard to this most solemn and impressive form which our LORD has appointed of the Three Persons in the Godhead. This is no doubt most intimately connected with the new-birth of the soul. Those who shall be saved will, we are assured, appear at last in the Image of GOD, and in the Divine likeness. To this St. John alludes, "Beloved, now are we the sons of GOD, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like HIM." And this mysterious resemblance to GoD, this likeness even to the Blessed TRINITY, is brought forward with great power in all that appertains to the birth and the new birth of man. Thus, in the first chapter of Genesis it is alluded to with that very short and Divine simplicity which marks all the great works of GOD HIMSElf. When He created this vast world, and every creature therein, the sun and moon and all the stars of Heaven, HE spake the Word only and they were created-created out of nothing, and therefore changeable and perishable. But when He was about to create the immortal soul of man-not out of things that are of naught, and come to naught, but breathing into him His own Breath of life and immortality, though the account is still brief and simple, yet it is described with a very great and remarkable difference. It is as with men when about to enter upon some great undertaking, by deliberating together and taking counsel. The ThreePersons in One GoD are spoken of, if I may venture to say it, as in converse together. "And God said, Let us make man in Our Image, after Our likeness." It is not said in My Image as of one,. but Our Image as of the Ever-Blessed TRINITY. This likeness of GOD is again emphatically repeated. "So GoD created man in His own Image; in the Image of GOD created HE him." And this is again repeated in the fifth chapter of Genesis. "In the day that God created man, in the likeness of GOD made HE him.” But to this is added the melancholy sad sequel: And Adam lived, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image, and called his name Seth." Not in the likeness of GOD, not after the Divine Image in which he had been at first created, but in his

8 Matt. xxviii, 18.

66

91 John iii. 2.

own degraded likeness, and after his own fallen image, sinful, corrupt, and evil; so has it been with all the children of Adam. But now, since this was the case, and men were become such partakers of Adam's sinful nature, that there was hardly any trace left upon them of the Image of God, why should the Holy Scriptures put forth so much of this, his first creation in the likeness of GOD, when he had forfeited and lost it? The reason, doubtless, was because God did intend to hold out to fallen man, that this His own Image should somehow be again restored—that His purposes and His word should not be made void; but that as He said, Let us make man in Our Own Image," so shall it be in His own good time: and that Image shall be infinitely more perfect and Divine than ever it was in Adam: when His redeemed shall be conformed unto the Image of CHRIST, when hereafter they shall arise after His likeness, and shall be satisfied with it.

This is a very serious and holy subject, on which one ought not to speak, but with much awe and caution, lest one should say any thing amiss on what is so infinitely beyond us, so sacred and incomprehensible. But may we inquire with reverence, if there be any thing else in Holy Scripture where God is pleased to reveal HIMSELF to us as the first chapter of Genesis, where, in condescension to our understandings, the Three Persons in One GOD are represented as speaking to each other-in order to set before us the importance of the human soul, as created in the Image of GOD, and its unspeakable value in His sight? For the veil is as it were there uplifted from "the mystery of godliness," and something is disclosed of a nature too high for man to think of.

But now, this which I speak of is again the case-the awful circumstance we have been alluding to does again occur, and that too even in a manner far more distinct and palpable. In the first chapter of Genesis we are told by the inspired writer, that the Persons in the Godhead did thus speak together, "Let us make man in Our Image," when there was no one yet born, who could hear and bear witness to these words. But when man was, indeed, about to be made new in the likeness of GOD, in the regeneration of the soul, then indeed were the Three Persons in One GoD more distinctly revealed to us, and as it were heard and

seen, O the wonderful condescension of Almighty God! heard and seen in discourse with each other. The heavens were opened, and the HOLY SPIRIT was seen descending like a Dove. And CHRIST was seen below arising out of the water and praying. And the voice of the FATHER was heard. Indeed, it almost seems, if we may venture to say so, like a carrying on of that discourse, which was in Genesis; for then it was, Let us make man in Our Image ;" and now it is, as it were, the accomplishing of that purpose, in acknowledging CHRIST as the express Image of His Person, Thou art My Beloved SoN in Whom I am well pleased." But at the creation, it was as if spoken on earth, and the SPIRIT here below moving on the waters; but now the Voice was from Heaven, and the SPIRIT was coming down from above: it is to Heaven and from Heaven that we are called, in order that we may be found in this Divine Likeness.

It is impossible, I think, for any reflecting mind not to connect these two circumstances with our LORD's subsequent declaration, "baptizing them in the Name of the FATHER, and of the Son, and of the HOLY GHOST," and the new birth of the soul in Baptism. And surely it must tend to produce on us some impression of the dignity and importance of it; inasmuch as these are the very highest things that have ever been revealed to man, and the greatness of which no human imagination can conceive: GoD speaking to GOD, of creating man to be partaker of His own eternity. When St. Paul was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter 10, he heard nothing greater than these mysteries of which we read.

There is again another circumstance recorded in the Gospels, which we cannot but notice, together with these. It is evident that our LORD's Baptism sets forth to us, and brings in, the new birth of the soul, “ of water and the Spirit;" what is called the regeneration, and which can only be fully perfected on the last day. It is on this account, that it is the carrying on of the first Creation, the making new in the Second Adam, of that which was shadowed forth in the first. But man is on the last day to be made anew, not only in soul but likewise in body. 'HE shall

10 2 Cor. xii. 4.

:

change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious Body "." There is to be a regeneration of body, as well as of the soul-and our Blessed LORD has been pleased to manifest this also before us in HIMSELF. It was at the Transfiguration on the Mount, when" as He prayed the fashion of His countenance was altered '," "His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light'." It is evident that our LORD intended thus to set forth the change which is to be on the bodies of good men at the regeneration on the last day and it was probably in some way connected with it, as this Baptism is with the new birth which must first take place in the soul. For HE spoke of that His own Transfiguration as the coming of His kingdom. A week before it occurred He said to His disciples, "There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power." That is to say, they shall witness before death that manifestation of CHRIST's glorious Body which others shall not see till after death, for they had then confessed HIм to be the Son of GOD; and thus believing HIM to be GOD, they were baptized as it were in that Cloud which overshadowed them in the Mount. However that may be, the Transfiguration seems to have some connexion with, or some resemblance to, our LORD's Baptism; they both were the coming of the kingdom of GOD with power. But the only reason for mentioning the subject now is this, that there also were manifested in a very remarkable manner, the Three Persons of the Blessed TRINITY. For the SON of GOD was seen in His glorified Body. And the HOLY SPIRIT who had led the children of Israel with a Cloud through the wilderness, and with an awful Cloud had filled the Temple of Solomon, now also had His mysterious presence in a glorified Cloud which overshadowed them : "And they feared," it is said, as they entered into the Cloud". And God the FATHER was also there revealed; for it is added, "And there came a voice out of the Cloud, saying, This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased."

""

We know how much is said in the law, and repeated in the Gospels, of every word being established by two or three wit

11 Phil. iii. 21.

2 Matt. xvii. 2.

1 Luke ix. 29.

3 Luke ix. 34.