often given of it; for then the watery element would have acted as the preservative against itself, which were absurd, and the persons saved are expressly said to have been saved by the water, and not from it. From what then were they saved? Unquestionably from that, which, before the coming of the deluge, formed the real element of danger, the corruption, enmity, and violence of ungodly men. By the combined operation of these, the church of God had already been reduced to the greatest extremities, and stood, we may say, upon the verge of utter extinction. The irreligious principles, pernicious example, and outrageous proceedings of the wicked portion of Adam's family, had succeeded in drawing within its wild vortex nearly the entire human race. One single family was headed by a man, who remained steadfast in the faith and worship of the living God, and he, "like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city,"-the object of a world's envenomed malice and profane scorn,-taunted, reviled, buffeted, plied in short with every weapon that was likely to overcome his constancy, and if not in his own person, at least in his family, in the utmost danger of being carried headlong with the swelling tide of wickedness, and making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience. It was to save him, and with him the interest of God in the world from this imminent danger, that the flood was sent; and it could only do so by completely separating between him and the seed of evil-doers,―engulfing them in ruin, and sustaining uninjured the ark in which he resided

*I am aware many eminent scholars give a different turn to this expression in Peter, and hold the proper rendering to be, "saved through (i. e. in the midst of) the water," the water being considered as the space or region, through which the ark was required to bear Noah in safety. So Beza, who says, that "the water cannot be taken for the instrumental cause, as Noah was preserved from the water, not by it;" so also Titmann, Bib. Cab. Vol. XVIII. p. 251; Steiger, in loco, with only a minute shade of difference; Robinson in Lex., and many others. But this view is open to the following objections. 1. The "water" is here introduced, not as made up of parts, as a space or region to be traversed, but simply as one whole, an agent or instrument. Had the former been intended, it would have been, not "through water," but "through the waters." But as it was, it mattered nothing whether the ark remained stationary at one point on the surface of the waters, or was borne from one place to another; and so, through, in the sense of passing through, or through among, is not suitable. That Noah needed to be saved rather from the water, than by it, is a superficial objection, proceeding on the false ground, that the water had the same relation to Noah, that it had to the world at large. For him the water stood in a necessary connexion with the ark, which without the water would have been but a foolish idea; it took both to make up the means of his deliverance. In the same sense, and on the same account, we might say of the Red Sea, (as the apostle, indeed, virtually says of it, 1 Cor. x. 2,) that the Israelites were saved by it,-for though in itself a source of danger, yet, by God's appointment, it became the occasion and instrument of deliverance. 2. The application made of Noah's preservation to baptism by the apostle, requires the agency of the water as well as of the ark to be taken into account. Indeed, according to the best MSS., (which read o xai,) the reference to the antitype is specially to the water. And even apart from that, baptism is spoken of as a saving, in consequence of its being a purifying ordinance, which implies, as in the deluge, thit the salvation is made good along with, and through means of, a destruction. This is substantially admitted by Steiger, who, though he adopts the rendering "through the water," yet, in explaining the connexion between the type and the antitype, he is obliged to view the water as instrumental to salvation: "the flood was for Noah a baptism, and as such saved; the same element, water, also saves us now, not however as mere water, but in the same quality as a baptism."

as his home. So that the deluge, considered as Noah's baptism, or the means of his temporal salvation, was not less essentially connected with a work of judgment, than with a work of deliverance; indeed, it was properly by the one that the other was accomplished, and the support of the ark on the bosom of the waters was not so directly the object of the deluge, as the execution of judgment on that wicked race, whose hardened and hopeless impenitence was the real danger from which the elect seed of God needed to be protected and saved.

The same twofold process again becomes prominent in the history of God's people, at the next great crisis of deliverance-the rescue of Israel from the bondage and oppression of Egypt. It were easy to conceive how this might have been accomplished in peace and quietness, at least with no farther violence done to the adversary, than what might have been necessary to overawe his heart, and constrain him to allow Israel to retire from his dominion. But instead of this, and no doubt for the purpose of rendering the mode of procedure a correct representation of what was afterwards to be done in Messiah's kingdom-an embodiment of its great principles, we see God ordering every thing from the first concerning it, so as to insure the infliction of signal judgment on the adversary, and through that to work out the deliverance of his people. Hence, while many signs and wonders were to be wrought before Pharaoh, these were to be produced in such a manner as to admit of, or rather to contribute to, the hardening of his heart, that Israel might not obtain his release without the experience of a dreadful overthrow on the part of his oppressors. And so one stroke of judgment after another alights upon the land of the adversary, until by the very accumulation of woes no power is left to resist any longer. The people, whom the Lord had chosen for his peculiar treasure, are brought out from their house of bondage, when the arm of those who held them captive was broken, and their heart melting like wax before the fire, under the severity of God's rebuke. And, as if even that had not been enough to show that the very head of the serpent must be bruised before the work of deliverance could be completed, Pharaoh was permitted to rally his forces for a little and renew the conflict, that he might be overwhelmed in destruction at the very moment that the Israelites escaped for ever beyond his reach. Hence it is written of them, in language similar to that employed of the deluge, that "they all passed through the sea, and were baptized unto Moses in the sea;" its waters were the instrument of their temporal salvation, not simply by opening for them a way of escape, but also and chiefly by returning to immerse their enemies in irrecoverable perdition. It was only, when they saw from the other side, "the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians," saw "the horse and the rider thrown into the sea, that they could take up the song of victory and triumph as the subjects of a perfected deliverance.

But there was another class of enemies, with which those Israelites had to contend, even after they had become personally free

enemies who held possession of the inheritance to which they were destined, and barred the way of their access to it. Here again the work of salvation or deliverance had to be carried into effect by a process of destruction; and it is not till the powers of the adversary are broken in pieces and dispersed, that the full dowry of promised blessing is enjoyed. The fall of the one is the rise and glory of the other. And when, at a subsequent period, Israel was again, on account of sin, driven from his inheritance, and again needed to be delivered from the hands of the enemy, we find the deliverance achieved by a like process of destruction. The captives in Babylon were not to be released by a simple change of mind on the part of the reigning monarch, loosing of his own accord the chains of bondage and letting the prisoners go free. No, Babylon herself was first to be brought down from her pride of strength, and given into the hands of another, that a way of escape might be opened for the Lord's people. When the prophets foretold to the afflicted exiles a gracious return of the Lord's favour in that house of bondage, they constantly did so by proclaiming judgment and wrath upon the king and city of Babylon; the day of vengeance upon her was to be the day of redemption for them; and the commission to Cyrus to open the two-leaved gates and abase the pride of the Chaldean's excellency, was expressly said to be given by the Lord, "for the sake of Jacob his servant, and Israel his elect," that it might be "said to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid." (Isa. xliv. xlv. Jer. xxv., and especially ch. 1. and li., where we find the destruction of Babylon constantly alternating with the redemption of Israel.) Thus the purpose of mercy and deliverance to the chosen, carried along with it the execution of a doom upon the adversary, and in this received its accomplishment.

In seeking for the new and higher manifestation of this twofold process in the kingdom of Christ, the language of prophecy already leads us to think of the work of Christ himself; for it was foretold of him, that he should at once "proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God," and this day of vengeance should also be the year of the redeemed, (Isa. lxi. 3, lxiii. 4.) So Christ himself declares, that the end of his work in the flesh was to judge and cast out the prince of this world, (John xii. 31, xvi. 11;) and it is elsewhere said, that by dying he spoiled principalities and powers, and destroyed him that had the power of death, (Col. ii. 14, Heb. ii. 14,) thereby bringing deliverance to those who were in fear and bondage. The truth of God, therefore, is, that redemption carries along with it a work of judgment, as well as of deliverance; it is made up of the double process, salvation with destruction, the one being effected through the execution of the other. While Christ's death upon the cross provided an atonement for the guilt of sin, it at the same time bruised the head of the serpent, and brought Christ's spiritual seed out of the reach of those formidable and otherwise overwhelming, destroying evils, which the adversary had prevailed to bring into their condition.

Not that the adversary had any proper right to lord it over man, even when fallen, and make him the prey of his mischievous and cruel purposes. Man was still God's creature; none but God had any right to exercise dominion over him, to direct his course, and regulate his condition; and if another interfered to do so, it could only be as a thief and a robber, intruding where he had no right, and usurping what was not his own. But sin having entered and broken up the relation between man and God, an opportunity was given for Satan also entering in that thievish character, and setting up his unrighteous and cruel dominion over men, as God's permitted scourge on account of sin, and the executioner of that sentence of death, which was decreed against it. Hence the redemption that was to be provided must at once destroy and save-save, indeed, by destroying cast this cruel oppressor down from his ill-gotten supremacy, and so, relieve the besieged, enthralled, devil-possessed nature of man, and raise it anew into the blessedness and freedom of life which belong to God's dear children. How was this done? Simply by Christ's bearing the curse, which separated between us and God, and so allowed Satan to get a footing for his dominion and prosecute his work of destruction. Sprinkled with the blood of Jesus, the house of our humanity, which he seized for his lawful prey, is placed upon a new and better foundation; it is sanctified and made holiness to the Lord; by faith made one with Christ in his work of infinite value, the spoiler cannot harm us; nay, he is himself spoiled of the ground on which his usurped dominion was based; the hand-writing of condemnation that was against us, has been nailed with Christ's body to the cross; the adversary has lost his bill of indictment, his weapons of war have perished, he has been bound and cast out by one mightier than himself; so that we are escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler, recovered from that territory of sin and death, where alone he had any power to injure or destroy, and placed within the blessed region of the Spirit, whose working is unto holiness and life everlasting.

Should not this be hailed as glad tidings by all to whom the knowledge of it comes? Is it not a joyous thing for the captive to know and feel that the power which enthralled him is laid low? But surely for none so much as the poor victim of sin, when effectually convinced by the Spirit of God, that the prince of this world is judged and cast out, so that there is no longer any curse to pour on him its bitterness, no hostile power in the universe entitled to do him harm. For him, the dark night of condemnation is past, and the clear light of heaven shines. The love and faithfulness, even the justice and power of God are on his side, pledged for Christ's sake to save him from the paw of the lion, and deliver him no more into the hand of the strong. Why should any fear or gloom settle upon his heart? What room is there for him to doubt of a happy and triumphant issue? Let him but enter, as he is invited, into the spoils of Christ's victory, and cling, in the simplicity of faith, to him who has prevailed in the conflict, and nothing can disappoint him of his reward; he, too, shall bruise Satan un

der his feet, and receive the crown of righteousness prepared for those that overcome.

But the application made by Peter to baptism, of the things which happened to Noah, suggests to us another way in which this twofold process appears in the kingdom of Christ-one that has for its field of operation the personal experience of believers. Indeed, even without any special information from the pen of inspiration we might have concluded such to be the case, as we know it to be a settled principle in the divine procedure, that Christ's people must be all baptized with his baptism, and tread substantially in his footsteps. Only, having become themselves personally subject to the evil, the enemy having obtained a footing in their very natures, the destruction, as well as the salvation, must in their case take place upon themselves; they must have experience of both parts of the process.-But now for the apostle's explanation: "The like figure whereunto (or literally: the antitype to which, viz. Noah's salvation by water) even baptism, doth also now save us;-not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God-by the resurrection of Jesus Christ," (1 Pet. iii. 21.) Christian baptism is here plainly declared to be the antitype to Noah's; in other words, the deliverance effected for him by means of the circumstances of the deluge, was a type or shadow of that higher, spiritual deliverance, which is the object of baptism, as an ordinance in the church of Christ. But what is the baptism which is attended with such results? The apostle explains this in the clause, "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,-not the laying aside merely of carnal defilement, but something farther the answer of a good conscience toward God;". or rather, the interrogation, the inquiry of a good conscience unto God, namely in the matter of salvation-the unfeigned desire and application of the soul to God for an interest in that salvation, of which baptism is the outward scal and token.* The water of baptism of itself can no more save us, than the water of the deluge by itself, and apart from any particular state of mind in Noah, could have saved him. It became an instrument or occasion of deliverance to him, only from his having faith in the word of God, which gave intimation of a coming deluge, and directed him to the suitable method of preparation; his salvation was the result of his faith in the operation of God. And so is it also in regard to baptism, which brings assurance of salvation, only when it is connected in the recipient with such a state of mind, as is sincerely desirous to be purged from pollution, and of possessing an interest in the salvation of God. In that case baptism does save; yet not even then as of itself, but only, as the apostle adds, through the resurrection of Christ. For salvation, as a matter of experience, is the possession of a new, spiritual, and blessed life, in which the soul, freed from the old man of corruption, that is from the power and condemnation of sin, enjoys and exercises the glorious liberty of God's children: and of such a life Christ, in his risen glory, is

* See Elsner, Bengel, Steiger, on the passage.