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V. The Scripture Doctrine concerning Baptism with the Holy Ghost, as distinguished from His ordinary Influences.

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A cheap tract, illustrating six points-namely: Baptism with 'the Holy Ghost, (1) means something more than regeneration, 'or what are termed the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit; (2) does not appear to have been conferred in the act of baptism ' with water, and is therefore not to be confounded with the ordinary grace of baptism; (3) was not a mere invisible grace, but manifested immediately in effects that came under 'the cognisance of the senses, and therefore left no doubt on the ' minds of the by-standers as to the reality of the gift; (4) implies an extraordinary communication of spiritual knowledge and power, whereby those thus baptized are enabled to know things beyond the reach of the natural faculties of man, and to do things which cannot be done by his natural powers; (5) was not the exclusive privilege of the Apostles or the apostolic age, but is the distinguishing promise to the church in all ages; and (6) was conferred either immediately by the Lord himself, or mediately by the hands of the Apostles." The following remarks, under the fifth head, appear to plain and scriptural reasoning, practical and appropriate application:

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The Prophet Joel limits baptism with the Holy Ghost to no particular class of men, but promises it to all, old and young, male and female, yea, to all flesh; which does at least signify that this gift was not to be confined to the Jews, but also to be bestowed upon the Gentiles. John the Baptist, in his annunciation, makes no restriction; but promises that 'it should be as general as the water-baptism of which he was 'the minister. Our Lord promises it to all who should believe, ' without any respect to time: "He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that 'believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." This passage can be referred only to the extraordinary effusion of the Spirit; for the ordinary influences had been already given 'before our Lord's glorification; as was evidenced by the 'faith of all who had believed in our Lord before his crucifixion, and by the holy lives of the Old-Testament saints. 'Certain it is, that the extraordinary works, which we have already shewn to be the effects of baptism with the Holy 'Ghost are promised to all who believe, Mark xvi. 16. Here the promise of these extraordinary gifts to faith, is as 'general as that of salvation. "He that believeth shall be saved:" "These signs shall follow them that believe." He

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'that restricts the latter, may with equal propriety limit the ' former promise, and assert that some may believe and yet be 'lost. If any should attempt to explain away the latter clause as a general promise to the church, which does not include every individual believer, he will find in John xvi. 12 a special 'promise to every believer, confirmed with an oath: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, ' because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the 'Son." St. Peter in his sermon makes the promise quite as large: Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus 'Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of 'the Holy Ghost. For the promise is to you, and to your children, ' and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God 'shall call." St. Paul appears to have considered it as a privilege ' of those baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus,and as something 'to be expected in all who believe. So much at least is implied ' in his question to the disciples at Ephesus; "Have ye received 'the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" And when they answered 'him in the negative, he asked them, with an air of astonish'ment, "Unto what then were ye baptized?" Yea, he makes this gift of the Holy Ghost, this extraordinary effusion (as appears from ver. 6), to be the essential difference between the ⚫ baptism of John and Christian baptism: "John verily baptized 'with the baptism of repentance,' &c."

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Now, Christian reader, what would you answer, if St. Paul's question were put to you: "Have you received the Holy 'Ghost since ye believed?" You would perhaps reply, I hope I have received the ordinary graces of the Holy Spirit.' I ask 'then, How do you differ from one of John's disciples? Do you think that none of John's disciples enjoyed the ordinary influences of the Spirit ? To what, then, did John baptize? Unto repentance. And is not repentance one of the ordinary works ' of the Holy Spirit? You may have received the gift of repentance, be instructed in the way of the Lord, and do your utmost ⚫ to promote the knowledge of the Saviour amongst those that are ignorant, and yet be destitute of that very privilege which 'constitutes the essential difference between a disciple of John ' and a disciple of Christ. Apollos was a man "instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake ' and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John" (Acts xxviii. 25). What difference is there between you and this disciple of John? And if baptism with the Holy Ghost, as described in the preceding paragraph, has ceased, what difference is there between the Christian church and a congregation of John's disciples? And where is the 'testimony that Christ has left? And where is the truth of

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'John's record; "I baptize with water, but He shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire?" Nay, we go still further, and assert, that if the promise of the Father be not universal 'for all times and for the whole church, the church is in a worse state under the Christian than it was under the Mosaic 'dispensation: and if so, must not the language of the Apostle 'be reversed, and the Law be called the "ministration of the Spirit?" For, from the time of Moses to Malachi, a period of 1000 years, the Holy Spirit was pleased to manifest himself in the prophet, by signs and wonders and prophecy; and the high priest was able, by the power of the Spirit, to give a cer'tain answer from the Lord in time of need. Whereas, according to the received system, the church under the Gospel dispensation has had no miraculous gifts since the second century! To which dispensation, then, would an impartial Jew or Heathen give that glorious title, "The ministration of "the Spirit?""

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But, if we grant that this promise of baptism with the Holy 'Ghost is to the whole church, the glory of the Christian dispensation, as "the ministration of the Spirit," is at once mani. fest. Under the Mosaic dispensation the Spirit was given to a 'few, in the Christian it is promised to all: so that the Jew 'himself must confess*, that Christ has realized what Moses 'could only wish; "Would that all the Lord's people were 'prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them.” (Numb, xi. 29.)'

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VI. "Have ye received the Holy Ghost ?" (Acts xix. 2.).
VII." Try the Spirits." (1 John iv. 4.)

We recommend these two tracts to equal attention, agreeing as they do in the main points of the truth involved in the texts appropriately selected for titles, though differing in their mode of treatment; the former being bold and uncompromising, whilst the latter is cautious and reserved, in advocating the general doctrine, or defending the particular cases at issue. Possibly, in the pamphlet first mentioned there are a few minor statements, made in an early period of the controversy, which the zealous author would now qualify; and, probably, in the other there are a few litigious surmisings, which the jealous author would now abandon. From the honest reproofs of the one, and from the gentle expostulations of the other-both of which are still suitable and necessary-we select the following:

The reasoning of the writer is not (as rashly censured by many) a modern invention; the Fathers of the church argued thus: "With us the prophetic gifts remain even to this day; whence ye ought to understand, that they, though formerly in your nation [writing to the Jews], are transferred to us". "With us also are to be seen both men and women having gifts from the Spirit of God."-Justin Martyr. Dialog. cum Tryphone, pp. 308, 315.

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'The church of Sardis receives a severe rebuke from our 'Lord, because it had a name to live yet was dead. It was a church of great profession, without any open denial of truth; 'it had a professed avowal, with a practical denial. I say it in 'great sorrow, with love unfeigned, yet in sober and deliberate conviction, that at the present time the vast majority of reli'gious professors, of those most esteemed and followed in the churches, do practically deny the existence, or, if not the existence, the functions, of the Holy Ghost, as a Person actually pleading with every man, and actually manifesting Christ in every saint. He is doubtless in the minds of many. Nay, there is such a form and semblance of good things, that a 'skilful reasoner may be often able to confound into silence a 'simple man of honest soul, who feels the destitution of life, the blight of a universal cold, uncharitable, world-conciliating, 'truth-extinguishing leanness. There is hardly such a thing in the church as the knowledge of the Spirit as the Spirit of the Christ of God, or as any thing but some impersonal, mys'terious, and almost fabulous influence from Deity in the ab'stract, not from God in Christ....The Holy Ghost is neither an object of their worship, nor recognised as the personal ' inhabitant of their persons: one who is degraded into being the nominal coadjutor of reason in the study of the Scriptures, 'which are now worshipped in His place, instead of wielded as 'his sword and who is willingly set aside, because He de'monstrates, not a set of propositions, but the personal Christ; while the church prefers the propositions, and openly acts on the ' awful principle that orthodox doctrine has a meaning and value apart from the knowledge of God and the confession of Jesus 'Christ. His gracious and personal work is denied in Christ, being ascribed either to the omnipotence of the Son, or the 'constitution of the creature ;-is denied in the minister, being ' ascribed to the favours of nature, and honoured-that is, in'sulted as an ability, or adaptation of the flesh;—and is denied in the people, being supplanted by seriousness of views, pious 'habits, religious principles, gracious aids, self-command, interest, animation, or due preparation for death. While the 'distinction between things natural and things spiritual is a 'continual topic, neither in conduct, nor even in opinion, is it any thing more than a distinction between different kinds of things natural. The idea seems to be, that whenever a man 'thinks at all of God, and of God's deeds and words, he must be a Christian; entitled to all that reputation at the hands of men which stamps him as unlike his Lord; but to none of that confident and holy joy in God, which does and must attend a likeness to him. There has been got up in the church a simi'litude of the new man, which quite well assorts with old things being allowed to stay. All things are dealt with as before,

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' only a little less carnally. The matter has become a question of less or more, not of new and old; and the new man just a better old man, not a crucified and risen man. Men have ⚫ become too civilized to relish, too slavish to receive, too eager ⚫ for safety and for mammon to declare, the holy and true mind of the Spirit; and it is somehow contemplated as possible, by education, and reading, and meditation, and duties, and sundry ' other devices, to ripen the natural into the spiritual; whilst a 'set of empty changes are rung upon the character of that Spirit who alone knoweth (and revealeth) the deep things of God.' Have ye received, &c. pp. 29-31.

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Dear Christian brethren, to whomsoever these pages may come, suffer the word of exhortation from one of the lowest and meanest in the church of Christ. Let no man deceive you ' with vain words, after the philosophy of this world, tempting you to believe that the Lord hath forsaken his church or made his promise void. The promises of God in him are yea, and in 'him amen: and the gifts received for his people are without repentance. The Holy Ghost, once bestowed on the church as her Comforter, to abide with her for ever, shall never depart from her; and the belief that the gifts of the Spirit were only ' intended for the first believers, standing as it does without one syllable of warrantry from Holy Scripture, seems to me a compound of the fables of the dark ages, and the neology of the now Laodicean slumbers of the church. Do not receive this 'fatal error, so dishonourable to God and so injurious to man. Remember that Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; "and rest assured, that the anointing, the sealing, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, so often promised, and yet so partially received, are now in His hand, ready to 'be poured out on every humble believer who draws near to his ' throne of grace to ask for them. Oh! let the cry of the church then go up in the agony of prayer; let each believer, and each family and each congregation of believers, lift up their petition ' to him, that he will manifest himself again evidently, and with power in his church; that he will grant signs and wonders to 'be wrought through his name; and that his Spirit may speak, ' not only in our hearts, but also in the church. He hath said, "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." Let us take and plead this promise; let us concur ' in asking for those precious gifts for which, in our sloth and 'blindness and self-conceit, we have not hitherto implored: " and "the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobe'dience" must have gained a fearful supremacy amongst us, if 'the Spirit of God do not straightway flow from the church as ' rivers of living water.'

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