not see in this world a striking proof of a process of judgment or condemnation on Satan going on, in the fact that ambition, lust, pride, dishonesty, are visited with punishment; fail to answer their purpose, or recoil upon them that accept them? Is it not fact that ambition, pride, dishonesty, evil appetite, do not succeed, but avenge themselves upon them that indulge in them? And, on the other hand, do we not find that right in the long run is might, that humility is elevation, that holiness is strength, that to gain, it is always the best way to give, and to minister to others is the way to be ministered unto ourselves? What are these but indirect lights of the ultimate ascendency of the true, the good, the just, the holy, - incipient proofs that the prince of this world is judge,— light evolving from darkness, beauty emerging from wreck, and foretokens scattered over the experience of man ;-all telling us by premonitions, by experiments on a small scale, that ambition, and pride, and depravity, and sin of every sort, shall ultimately be laid low, or Satan bound and shut up, sin put away, and all its tumults arrested; and that holiness, and truth, and love, and peace, shall spread over all the earth.

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VI.

The Inner Baptism.

ALL that man does, he does as an instrument-God acts as a Sovereign. Delegation is man's-original and underived sovereignty is the attribute of Deity. It is therefore justly said: "John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."-Luke iii. 16.

-the

In the one case we see the baptism of John servant; and in the other the baptism of Jesus-the great Master. John says, "I indeed baptize you with water"-mine is an outward ministry, conferring an outward ecclesiastical sign; but Jesus baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. His is the inner power, imparting to the heart the inward and the spiritual grace. The first is a declaration of the function of the servant - the visible minister, baptizing with visible water; the second is the announcement of the supreme prerogative of the blessed Master, who baptizeth as neither priest, nor prelate, nor presbyter can,-with the Holy Ghost himself. What shows that there is a material distinc tion between the baptism of the minister and the bap

tism of Jesus is, the remarkable fact, that Jesus never Himself baptized with water; and yet, even when an apostle baptized with water, he did not seem to attach to it an inward, efficacious, regenerative power. For if he did, would the Apostle Paul have said, "I thank God that I baptized none of you"? If baptism be in every case regeneration of heart, would an apostle thank God that he did not make men Christians? It ought to be ground for sorrow and regret, not for thanksgiving and rejoicing. But baptism with water is not essentially connected with renewal and regeneration of heart; and the fact that our blessed Lord gave the minister the outward function-baptizing with water, and reserved to himself the inner prerogative— baptizing with the Holy Ghost, shows that He alone has this lofty prerogative, and still keeps it specially and exclusively for himself.

This prophecy, given by John the Baptist, was fulfilled, and we see the visible proof of its fulfilment in the fact that flames of fire rested on every apostle's head: evidence to the people, and no more, that the Holy Ghost had come, and that, therefore, the prophecy was fulfilled. Then the miraculous powers which followed the descent of the Holy Spirit at the day of Pentecost, were not the only fruits of the accession of the Holy Spirit, but proofs to the world, and to the church, that the same Spirit whose descent the flame denoted, also continued to dwell in the hearts of those apostles who originally received him. But underneath the baptism with fire, that was visible on the head, was the baptism with miraculous power, transparent in their acts, producing that inner regeneration and revolution of nature which made the Peter after the day of Pen

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tecost as unlike the Peter that was before that day, as one man can be unlike another. It needs but a comparison between what Peter, and John, and the other apostles were previous to the day of Pentecost, and what they became immediately subsequent to that event, to see that the baptism with the Holy Ghost was not simply the power to speak new tongues, or to do wonderful works, but an inward transformation and renewal of heart and nature, that made them new creatures in Christ Jesus.

The promise of John is often referred to in other parts of the Word of God. It began at Pentecost, and will again appear in richer effusion before the Lord comes. It is first of all, or rather most minutely referred to by Joel: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come." That prophecy of Joel, which Peter quotes, was partially fulfilled at the day of Pentecost, but has not yet been exhausted. The great and terrible day of the Lord is when the heavens and the earth shall be exchanged for a new heaven and a new earth, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. And before that day comes, that great and terrible day of the Lord, when the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, there will be an extraordinary pouring

out of God's Holy Spirit on all flesh, preparatory to the advent of Him whose right and promise it is to reign from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. That this promise was meant by Peter, and described by him to have been partly fulfilled at Pentecost, and that it is associated with John's prophecy also, is evident from what we read in Acts i. 5:-"For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." Then, in the 2d chapter:-"When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Then Peter says, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel"-this is the beginning of it, but not the exhaustion; the commencement, but not the close"It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh."

This baptism with the Holy Spirit of God is the true and essential baptism. Satan will be quite satisfied that we should quarrel about the meaning of baptism with water, if we only fail to see the absolute necessity of baptism with the Holy Ghost. It is most important that we should be upon our guard against dwelling too long upon this or any other outward rite. When men begin to quarrel about ecclesiastical questions, they soon come to lift the Church out of its true place: when they discuss long upon sacraments, they end in