tising them with HIS SPIRIT. Hear what the Holy Spirit says of this unity: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard; that went down to the skirts of his garments: As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore" (Ps. cxxxiii.) And mark how graciously Christ is set forth as the Head of His body, baptised with the Spirit, "without measure," and through Him, the essential baptism, running down and diffusing His precious unction and fragrant odour to the very skirts, to the humblest member of Christ's mystical body, who is by Him baptised into the one body. He says, "how good and how pleasant it is." It is good; for it is God's will that His children should dwell together "as one," having one heart, one spirit, one mind, one interest, one hope, one joy, one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; and Christ prayed for it," that they may be one, Father, even as we are ONE." It is pleasant; for believers, who keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, have much foretaste of heaven while they tabernacle here below. These truths are evidenced in that heart which, under the unction of God the Spirit, is saved by the antitypical baptism testified to by the apostle Peter under the plenary inspiration of the Holy Spirit; for in the third chapter of his first Epistle to the saints, after referring to the saving of Noah and his family in the ark, he says, "The like figure whereunto" (or as it would read more

clearly, and which is the literal translation, "the antitype of which")" baptism now saves us." And, to prevent men being deceived by Judaizing teachers, he goes on to testify that the baptism which now saves us is the antitype (antitupon) of the saving of Noah and his family from the deluge of water when they were shut up in the ark. For, as Noah and his family were in the ark, and saved from the deluge when the ark was lifted up above the earth (Gen. vii. 17); so believers in Christ were in Christ when He was lifted up and baptised with suffering (John xii. 32, 33). This is the baptism which now saves us, not water-baptism, or the washing away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Believers are circumcised together with Christ, and crucified together with Christ, buried together with Him, quickened together with Him, and are made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And may the reader and writer of this tract live in the enjoyment of "a man in Christ" (2 Cor. xii. 2).

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Due consideration of these truths, under the unction of the Spirit of truth, would have prevented the unprofitable and sharp unchristian-like controversy between the Pædo and Anti-pædobaptists, respecting the subjects and the mode of water-baptism; and there would have been no such awful assertions made respecting the one essential baptism, whereby believers are baptised into Christ and into the one body.

• Rom. vi. 4; Col. ii. 12. Sunthaptomai.

But what must be their state who consider the revelation which the Most High hath made of Himself is merely in names assumed, hereafter to be laid aside? And what must their water-baptism, and the administration thereof, be in the sight of Him from whom no secrets are hid, who hath purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity but with abhorrence?

The Lord God of Israel is a God of truth, and without iniquity (Deut. xxxii. 4). His greatness is unsearchable, and His understanding is infinite (Ps. cxlv. 3; cxlvii. 4). His word is truth, and through His truth He sanctifies His people (John xvii. 17). His word is the infallible testimony of the God that cannot lie, and His Spirit is an infallible witness to its truth, for His Spirit is Truth (1 John v. 6). The revelation which the God of truth hath made of Himself, is and must be incontrovertibly true, and without controversy, a great mystery, for He is Truth in the abstract; and His essential attributes are all pledged that the revelation He hath made of Himself is true, even as truth itself, which can never lose its nature. As it is the revelation of God Himself, it is infinite, and therefore incomprehensible to all finite creatures. Neither is the revelation of the "mystery of GOD" given for the comprehension of man's reason, but for the acknowledgment of our faith. And they who "hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience" (1 Tim. iii. 9) have the riches of the full assurance of UNDERSTANDING (of the fact) to the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the MYSTERY of GOD, and of the FATHER, and of CHRIST (Col. ii. 2). They have the truth dwelling in them, and it shall be with them for ever

(2 John 2). As through grace they love the truth, so through the same grace by which they love it, they are found"walking in the truth" (2 John 4).

It was TRUTH itself who commanded His servants to "teach all nations," "baptising them (not in water, but eis) into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. xxviii. 19). He did not command them to teach merely assumed names, baptising in the sames (as in the plural), but in the name (as in the singular), for the Three which bear record are One; for there is one JEHOVAH, and His NAME One (Zech. xiv. 9). Neither did He command them to teach in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; for then, unbelievers might say there was, in the above verse, no positive revelation of the Three which bear record in heaven; but He commanded His disciples to teach, baptising into the name of the FATHER, and of the SON, and of the HOLY GHOST; for the prepositive article (tou) "of the," is set before the word " Son," and also before the words " Holy Ghost," as well as before the word "Father," which it would not have been if three distinct Recorders, or witnesses, had not been set forth in the above Scripture.

No man (or none), hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. The words "bosom" and "onlybegotten" do not allow a spiritual man to give a carnal interpretation of them. The words "only-begotten," applied to the Son of God, will not allow us to believe Him begotten in a carnal sense, or a created being, for the Son created the world, and upholds all things by the word of His power

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(Heb. i. 2, 3); and therein are clearly seen His eternity, power, and Godhead (Rom. i. 20). Neither can the word ONLY-begotten" be applied to His Sonship in a covenant way, for there are many begotten sons in a covenant way. It is, therefore, to be interpreted as we do the" bosom " of the Father; namely, that as the word "bosom" signifies love, &c., an ONLY-begotten son amongst men is not an adopted son, or a son by marriage, but is an only son, in every respect, of one and the same nature with his father; so the Son of God is essentially the only Son of the Father, in truth and in love (2 John 3), and there is no other; for He is the Builder of the house of God, and He that built all things is God (Heb. iii. 1—4). Again, when He condescended to become incarnate the Angel Jehovah proclaimed His birth, and all the heavenly host worshipped the ONLY-begotten Son, and sung "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good-will toward men." "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not on the Son, shall not see life: the wrath of God abideth on him, he hath not the faith of God's elect" (John iii. 36).

Will any professor of the Christian religion declare, that He, who is the truth, really meant His disciples should teach baptising into the name of the Father as GOD, and of the Son as MAN, and of the Holy Ghost as an attribute or emanation from God? Let such a professor remember, that by such a declaration he accuses our Lord with directing His disciples to commit an impious breach of the first commandment, by joining a creature with the Creator in the same doctrine, and by separating GOD the