Mosaic ordinances, so the baptized Christian proselyte becomes, by Christian baptism, the avowed disciple of Christ, entitled to all Christian ordinances. The Jewish baptism was intended for none but believers in Moses, the Christian baptism is intended for none but believers in Christ. As a change of opinions and habits preceded an introduction to the society of Jews, so a change of heart and life ought to precede an introduction to the communion of saints.

We may, further, be led to conclude that none but believers should receive baptism by considering the administration of baptism by John the Baptist. John came as the forerunner of Jesus, to bear witness to him and to lead men to repentance as a preparation for the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. The Almighty, by Isaiah and by Malachi, thus predicted his ministry: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God," Isaiah, xl. 3. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse," Mal. iv. 5, 6. According, then, to the Old Testament, John was to be a great reformer, and to preach with great success. The same was predicted by the angel who appeared

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to his father Zacharias in the temple: "Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord," Luke, i. 16, 17. And his father himself predicted, "Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins," Luke, i. 76, 77.

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At length John began his ministry, and called men to repent, because "the kingdom of God was at hand," Matt. iii. 2. Thus he required two things: first, a thorough change of mind and life, expressed by the word "repentance;" and faith in the Redeemer to come, to whom, indeed, he repeatedly bore witness; John, i. 6-8, 23-36. A disciple of John, therefore, was one who repented of his sins, and believed that the promised Christ was about to appear. The prophets predicted that he was to make many such. But what evidence have we of the fulfilment of their predictions, except that numbers were baptized by him? "Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan." I know no other proof that the ministry of John corresponded to the predictions concerning him; and the value of this proof depends upon the conditions of his baptism. If he baptized all applicants indis

criminately, then there is no proof whatever that he "made ready a people prepared for the Lord," because superstitious or sordid motives may have induced numbers to apply for baptism. But if he baptized those only who solemnly professed to repent and to believe in the Christ shortly to come, then the multitudes who were baptized by him show that he signally fulfilled the prophecies concerning him. It is, therefore, probable,-since he certainly fulfilled those prophecies, and the sacred narratives record no other proof of the fulfilment,—that these numerous baptisms furnish that proof, and that those who were baptized by John made a solemn profession of their repentance and faith.

It is improbable that John would baptize on lower terms, because he declared that the approach of the kingdom of heaven called for repentance (Matt. iii. 2); and as he was the herald of Christ, appointed to lead men to a more spiritual dispensation than that of Moses, he would not be satisfied with lower qualifications for baptism than those which were demanded by the Jewish priests. If a heathen wished for Jewish baptism, he must renounce his idols, profess his belief in the divine authority of Moses, and promise obedience to the Mosaic laws: would John, then, baptize a Jew unless he renounced his sins, and professed belief in the approaching advent of Christ, with his intention to keep the commands of God? What he had ever seen demanded in the initiatory rite of the more carnal religion, he would not dispense with in the initiatory rite which was to

enrol men under his ministry as expectants of the Messiah.

The narrative shows that he did enforce these conditions of baptism. In Mark, i. 4, we read, "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins," Luke, iii. 2; Acts, xiii. 24. If we suppose, with the advocates of indiscriminate baptism, that this expression means a baptism which demanded repentance and less than this assuredly the words could not mean—then his baptism must have involved a profession of repentance on the part of the baptized. For to apply for a baptism which pledged them to repent, while they were avowedly impenitent, would be mockery. Imagine a person coming to John to be baptized, declaring that he did not repent of his sins and had not turned to God, but that he wished to be instructed, and allowed the necessity of repentance, of what use would such baptism be? He could be instructed just as well before baptism, and since baptism signified the necessity of a total renunciation of sin, to receive it without being grieved for sin, or intending to renounce it, was to violate the baptismal instruction while receiving it. The repentance, moreover, to which John called them was connected with the expectation of Christ, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus," Acts, xix. 4. If, therefore, any one

asked for baptism while disbelieving the near advent of the Redeemer, he was rejecting the doctrine of John, and John would certainly not baptize as one of his disciples any one who rejected his doctrine. The character, therefore, of John's baptism renders it probable that he administered it to none but those who professed to be penitent believers in the Saviour

to come.

Such

And the evangelists declare that this was the profession of those who came to be baptized by him. Matthew relates, that they "were baptized of him in Jordan, uchoyouμevo, confessing their sins."1 Those who were baptized by him did not own their sins reluctantly but earnestly, not slightly but fully, as the word, ouohoyouμevor, here used means. confessions make the penitent accept the Gospel fully. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," Matt. v. 3. Such confessions were like those of the publican who was declared by Jesus to receive pardon, Luke, xviii. 13. David knew their value when he wrote, "I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin," Ps. xxxii. 5. Paul recognised it when he wrote, "Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation," 2 Cor. vii. 10. And the promise to them is ample and explicit: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all

1 66 Ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, fully confessing their sins; ouoλoysopas, to confess in full."-Liddell. "Libere diserteque-freely and copiously."-Bengel.