the service of the first tabernacle. We may learn what they were by referring to the Old Testament, Exod. xxix. 4; "And Aaron and his sons then shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water." Exod. xxx. 19; "For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat, when they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord, so they shall wash their hands and their feet that they die not."* Numb. viii. 5; "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them; and thus shalt thou do unto them to cleanse them. Sprinkle clean water of purifying upon them." Numb. xix. 20; “But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the Lord: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean." Such were the principal, if not the only baptisms alluded to by the apostle, for he does not refer to baptisms in general, any more than to "meats and drinks" in general, but only to those connected with the service of the tabernacle. There is nothing to show that one immersion of the whole body was ever required, or ever practised, as a part of the service of the tabernacle; or that in any case whatever, unclean persons were required to be dipped, or to dip themselves. No terms which any Hebrew scholar will pretend had the signification of dipping, are ever used in reference to any one of the ceremonial purifications of the person. For those connected with the service of the tabernacle, and for all besides, words are employed denoting, to wash, to purify, to sprinkle, but none signifying to dip are ever used. It is superfluous to remark, that even if there had been many immersions, these could not be styled diapópot. The dipping of various things, would not be various dippings. The word Barrioμo is here applied to purifications effected by washing the hands or feet, or by sprinkling the whole person. These are the only baptisms of Scripture-and the meaning of the word by which they are designated, must be purifyings. It is most natural to speak of these, as various purifyings, in as much as they might be effected either by dipping the hands and the feet, or by pouring water upon them, or by sprinkling the priest and the offerer; and of such purifying the apostle immediately afterwards makes mention, v. 13. "If the

* It does not appear that any special ablutions were required by the law, for all persons who came to sacrifice or worship, though some were practised. None, however, of these ablutions were immersions. Judith xvi. 18; "And when the people were purified, they brought their burnt offerings," víxa éxaðaplan, Philo. Lib. de. Vic. "He who offers, having washed his hands, should place them upon the victims head," árovalάuevos τàs Xeîpas. Ps. xxvi. 6; "I will wash mine hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar Ο Lord,” νίψομαι τὰς χεῖρας.

blood of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, make holy in respect to the purity of the body." The argument may be concisely expressed thus:-Baptisms were rites performed in the Jewish temple in connexion with the worship of God. Immersions were never performed in the Jewish temple in connexion with the worship of God; therefore, these baptisms were not immersions. The apostle states that these baptisms were appointed by God. Immersions of the person were not appointed by God in any part of the ceremonial law-therefore these baptisms were not immersions. They were purifications with water, which might be effected in various ways. Only in one instance in the whole Mosaic law, is there a direction to put the object to be purified in water. Lev. xi. 32; "And upon whatsoever any of them, i. e. a weasel, a mouse, a tortoise, a ferret, a chamelion, a lizard, a snail, a mole, when they are dead doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; so it shall be cleansed." This is the only law requiring that any object should be immersed in water; but here there is no reference to persons, nor to the service of the tabernacle, nothing that could possibly be meant by various baptisms. Of various immersions of things, still less of various immersions of persons, and still less of various immersions of persons in the tabernacle service, the Jewish law said nothing; but of various purifications with water it makes frequent mention. We conclude, therefore, that the various baptisms of which the apostles speaks as well known ordinances of the law concerning the service of the tabernacle, were not dippings of various objects, but purifyings in various ways; and that as the Jews at the time of the apostle used in reference to these ablutions, the Chaldee word denoting to purify, so it was with the same sense that the apostle referred to them as Βαπτίσμοι, or purifyings.

VIII. There is one passage, which, though it does not refer to rites of baptism, speaks of a baptism of the Jews, and may properly be noticed here. "I am unwilling that you should be ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under [the guidance of] the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized for Moses by the cloud and by the sea." 1 Cor. x. 1.*

The apostle, in this passage, reminds the Corinthians of the early history of the Jews, in order to guard them against the danger of

* Καὶ πάντες εἰς τὸν Μωϋσῆν ἐβαπτίσαντο ἐν τῇ νεφέλῃ καὶ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ. The preposition eis is used in the following passages, and in very many more, with the signification of for. Matt. v. 13, It is good for nothing. x. 10, No bag for your journey. Verse 41, He who receives a prophet for a prophet's name. xxvi. 10, She has performed a good work for me. Verse 13, This which she has done shall be related for her memorial. v. 28, shed on behalf of many for the remission of sins.

apostacy. He says, that all the Israelites at first shared in the same deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and enjoyed the same privileges in their journey; but that afterwards those who forsook the service of God were destroyed. "With many of them God was displeased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness." The baptism here mentioned was something effected by the pillar of cloud which accompanied the Israelites in their march from Egypt, and by the waters of the Red Sea. They were baptized by this cloud and this sea; but we are expressly told that they were not immersed in the sea, nor overwhelmed by it; and from the narrative it is also quite clear that they were neither immersed in the cloud, nor overwhelmed by it. The sacred historian says, that the Egyptians were immersed and overwhelmed, and that the Israelites were not. "For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea." Exod. xv. 19. The cloud did not cover them so that they might be said to be immersed in it, but it went before to guide them, or stood behind to protect them. St. Paul declares, that the Israelites were baptized both by the cloud and by the sea; but from the history of Moses we learn that they were neither dipped, nor immersed, nor overwhelmed by either the one or the other; therefore, to baptize cannot here mean either to dip, to immerse, or to overwhelm. What, then, does it mean? To answer this question, we have merely to inquire what was done to the Israelites on the occasion alluded to, both by the cloud and by the sea. In Exod. xiv. 19, it is said, "And the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them; and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these; so that the one came not near the other all the night." At this time, then, they were separated by the cloud from the Egyptians, and on the morrow they were more widely separated from them by the intervening waters of the sea. Now this separation was a separation of the people of God from the impure habits and idolatries of Egypt: it was a separation of them from the idolatrous Egyptians, and from all other nations, that they might be peculiarly devoted unto the Lord. It was therefore most naturally and properly styled a purification. We are accustomed to

xxvii. 10, They gave them for the potter's field. Mark i. 38, Because for this end I have come. Luke ii. 34, This child is set for the fall and the rising of many. Acts x. 4, Thine alms have ascended for a memorial. Rom. i. 5, For obedience. viii. 28, All things work together for good. xiii. 14, He is the minister of God for thy good. xv. 26, To make a collection for the poor saints. xvi. 6, Who laboured 1 Cor. i. 13, For the name of Paul. xi. 7, Not for the better, but for 2 Tim. ii. 14, Profitable for nothing. So also the common expression,

much for us.

the worse.

eis perárolav, for repentance.

think of purity as consisting in a separation from unclean things; but the Jews were taught to regard it as consisting, in an equal degree, in a separation from unclean persons; and their language proves that they were accustomed to conceive of purification as a separation from whatever was unholy. They were then purified both by the cloud and by the sea; and this, if not the only effect produced by both, is the one most likely to be referred to by the apostle; for with this the context and scope agree. They were purified for Moses, they were by this separation placed under his instruction and rule; they were separated from the degradation and the impurities of the land in which they had been bondsmen; and they were now to be the followers and subjects of Moses. Such is the view of this passage which appears to be in itself most natural; and it coincides with the narrative of the sacred historian, as well as with the apostle's language. Moses exhibits the event as a visible separation of the people of God from the heathen, as the means of producing in the minds of the Jews confidence and submission towards himself. "Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed; thou guidest them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation: the people shall hear and be afraid." Exod. xv. 13. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses." Exod. xiv. 31. There was in this case no dipping or overwhelming, nor anything resembling them; consequently, to be baptized cannot here mean to be dipped or overwhelmed. There was a purification, a separation from what was unholy; this purification was effected by the cloud and by the sea; this, if not the only common effect, was the one most likely to be named; thereby the Israelites were introduced to the instructions and rule of Moses; and the mention of this purification is most appropriate in the enumeration of those religious privileges which they received, but which, through their disobedience, became ultimately of no advantage to them. Because the sense of purification thus suits, as no other does, the subject, the context, and the scope, we conclude it to be the only true signification of Barrio in this passage.*

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On a review of these passages which relate to the baptisms of the Jews, it appears that there is no evidence (excepting that of the supposed radical meaning) that in any one instance there was immersion. It is impossible in some, improbable in all. There is nothing in the context or scope of any one of these passages to favour the signification of dipping; and it has no support from the oldest versions. On the

* In this, and in all the passages in the New Testament, where Barrige or its derivatives occur, it is translated into the Syriac by and its derivatives; and in the three passages which relate to Jewish baptisms, the Syriac is translated by Schaaf as expressing the end and not the mode of the action-cleansing and purifying, not dipping or immersing. Here, and in most other places, he merely gives baptizo.

contrary, it is certain that, in all the cases referred to, there was a purification with water; the words and ideas belonging to each passage present some coincidences with the sense of purifying; and the oldest versions, the Syriac, and the Vulgate, give their testimony in favour of the same conclusion-that this is the Scriptural signification of the word.

ON THE SPECIAL INVOCATION OF CHRIST.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL MAGAZINE.

MY DEAR SIR,-The remarks of a Presbyter in your valuable periodical, "On the duty of directing worship to Christ," reminded me of a passage in the "Diary" of an eminently holy man, whose spirit has long since been estranged from the imperfections which attach to our most perfect acts of homage on earth, and prostrated itself, in blissful adoration, at the feet of the glorified Redeemer in heaven-I mean the late Mr. Joseph Williams, of Kidderminster. "I have been frequently in doubt, of late," writes this sainted individual, "whether I should pray to the Lord Jesus Christ, or not. It has been my prevailing opinion that I should, and accordingly I have done it frequently, for many months, in my secret retirements, with lively emotions of soul; and, I think, I should do it more in family prayer, and more in public; but it is with some difficulty I bring myself to it; and I still find in myself a shyness of doing it."

Amongst the causes which operated to impose a restraint upon this specific kind of devotional exercise, he refers to the fact that no ministers, in the circle of his acquaintance, were accustomed to pray expressly to the Lord Jesus, with the exception of the late Mr. Bradshaw, who, on one occasion, in discoursing of the manner of transacting a covenant with each of the persons in the sacred Trinity, urged the following formula :-"Blessed Jesus! assert thy right, erect thy throne in my soul, and bring every power thereof, and every member of my body into subjection, to thy law." Besides this, he could not call to mind a single instance of direct address to Him in prayer.

Now it is extremely probable, Sir, indeed, the writer's past consciousness, and observation attest the fact, that others have entertained a similar doubt, respecting the propriety of such direct appeal. May I therefore be indulged with a brief space in your valuable pages, for the purpose of conveying my own conviction on this important subject, with the steps that led to it; and that, not so much with the view of enforcing my sentiments, as of ascertaining their correctness, or, otherwise, by eliciting the opinion of honoured brethren.

My own conviction, as the result of serious and prayerful investigation, is, that the Scriptures most explicitly warrant such a mode of