The Doctrine of Baptisms; Reduced from Its Ancient and Modern Corruptions, and Restored to Its Primitive Soundness and Integrity, According to the Word of Truth, the Substance of Faith, and the Nature of Christ's Kingdom (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1837 Excerpt: ...--so the baptism of Christ, for which he was preparing them, was of an inward and spiritual nature, and would effectually destroy the light and corrupt affections, and thoroughly cleanse the floor of the human heart. This baptism too was to be so searching as to be able to penetrate the hardest heart, and to make even the Gentiles the real children of Abraham. " For think not," says John, in allusion to the same baptism, " to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father; for i say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." As if he had said, I acknowledge that you Pharisees can, many of you, boast of relationship to Abraham, by a strict and scrupulous attention to shadowy and figurative ordinances; that many of you can boast of relationship to him by blood, and all of you by circumcision: but it does not follow therefore that you are the children of Abraham. Those only will be able to boast of being his seed, to whom the fan and the fire of Christ's baptism shall be applied. The baptism of him, who is to come after me, and whose kingdom is at hand, is of that spiritual and purifying nature, that it will produce effects very different from those of an observance of outward ordinances. It can so cleanse and purify the hearts of men, that if there are Gentiles in the most distant lands, ever so far removed from Abraham, and possessing hearts of the hardness of stones, it can make them the real children of Abraham in the sight of God. This distinction between the watery baptism of John and the fiery and spiritual baptism of Christ was pointed out by Jesus himself; for he is reported to have appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, and to have commanded them, " that they should not dep...