A PLEA

FOR THE BAPTISM AND COMMUNION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND THAT WHICH IS OF MATERIAL BREAD, WINE, AND WATER REJECTED AS JEWISH RITES.

CHAP. I.

The law of types was given because of sin.-What man fell from, and what they must be restored to.-John a prophet, and by birth a priest, and in life and restriction, under the law of Moses.-John came to make known Christ to Israel-John preached the baptism of repentance, not water. John was to Christ what Moses was to Joshua.

IN commencing this PLEA I would observe to my reader, the method of my procedure will be after a few remarks, to speak of baptism, &c. by noticing the particular time when, where, to whom, and by whom such rites were received and administered, consequently, one time and subject will be before us at one time, and after that another, until all is investigated.

In speaking of baptism, unquestionably we speak of a type, and as it is a type, it must be considered as one part of the typical law. The apostle Paul informs us that the law "was added," (to the covenant made with Abraham) because of transgression."

The apostle is careful to notice the time which the law was to continue,namely, “Until the seed (Christ) should come, to whom the promise was made." Gal. iii. 19.

We have no reason to believe that there was any typical law committed to man previous to the fall, and reason suggests to us, that if man had abode in that state in which he was first created, the typical law would not have been given to him. -Then, as the fall of man gave place to the law of type, 1stly we are led to inquire: What did mankind lose by the fall? 2dly, what must man be restored to? and 3dly, what did God intend by giving to mankind the typical law?

Firstly: In the beginning God created man upright and holy. "In the image of God created he him, male and female created he them" Gen. i. 27.-As the Divine Being is infinite, he is neither limited by parts, nor definable to that body which he had prepared for man. Then the image must necessarily be intellectual, his mind and soul must be formed after the nature and perfection of God."

When God created man he was preparing a Spirit after his own likeness, and as God is the fountain from which man first proceeded; the stream must resemble the fountain, and man was created in the image of God, and that image, St. Paul tells, consisted in righteousness, true holiness and in knowledge, Eph. iv, 24. Col. iii. 10.-Hence we suppose that

man was wise by the spirit which God had given him, holy in his heart, and unblameable in his actions. This image is that which God was well pleased with, and he never will be pleased with any other. We are not to imagine that state in which man was first created, to be infinite as God, for then the knowledge of sin would not have been detrimental to his happiness. Neither are we to imagine, that the ability of man was too circumscribed to do all God required of him: but as man was not infinite in his creation, so his knowledge was not infinite: if he had been possessed with infinite knowledge, he would not have fallen, sooner than God himself. But as the condition of man was circumscribed, something more need to be done for him, to secure him against the powers of spiritual wickedness, which God knew would be too powerful for the mind and soul of the creature he had made, therefore to secure that image which he had committed to the man, he gave him a command. Pointing out the baneful fountain as if it had been a tree; HE says to him "the day thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die." Thus Adam's happiness was secured to him by his obedience; but no sooner than the man disobeyed, he became as God, to know good and evil, (Gen. iii. 22.) but as his state of creation was circumscribed, he was not able to stand justified after the fall, for his disobedience was an inlet to every other feature of the soul.-When

I say the man could not stand justified after the fall, I would not be understood that man had lost all desire for good, he only lost the power of doing the good that he would. The spiritual vein was let, and spiritual weakness seized the inmost soul. The fall of man was a spiritual loss; as the spirit of God could not dwell in an unclean tabernacle, the communications of God to man became immediately exterior, and the foundation was laid immediately for the dispensations of the law, types and shadows. The consequence of sin upon Adam, was to the soul, what natural disease is to the body. Though the senses of the man may not be disordered, yet the body may be completely unmanned.Adam did not lose all sense of good, he was sensible of his loss, and that without being able to retract what he had done, he brought upon himself (poor man,) that which he little expected. That weakness which resulted to man in consequence of the fall, is fully set forth by the apostle Paul, )Rom. vii. 23viii. 20.) "I see a law in my members, working against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin." This law of sin was the consequence of the fall; to this law man was reduced because he was deceived, therefore it is said, "The creature was made subject to vanity, not indeed willingly." Adam was sensible of what he had done, he knew good by the consequence of evil; his eyes were opened, and he was left

to realize shame, remorse and confusion of soul. The image of righteousness and holiness was gone, and without the Spirit of God there is no covenant between God and man, so the covenant upon the part of man was gone too. I say again that the covenant-union was lost on man's part, and as the object of man's redemption was the thing undertaken in the scheme of grace, man must be restored to the Spirit which he had lost, or his soul must be without the image of God and without that life-giving power which causes the christian to feel with a witness his covenant, restoration and relation to God.

Poor man lost sight of his divine Authorhid himself in the garden, and as that light with which man was created, was not lost in consequence of the fall, it abode with him; and as it is a true principle of light and justice to all men, so it was to Adam; and he passed the sentence of condemnation upon himself before the Lord came to him. This principle of light, is that light which is a law to all men, and such as have not a law of letters, are not without law, but are a law unto themselves, "their conscience also bearing witness, and their thought the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." Rom. ii. 14, 15. Adam, poor man, was left to condemnation for what he had done, and what was worse, he was introduced to a world of spiritual wickedness, with a heart prone to temptation, without being able to resist, or

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