for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.' For he wist not what to say.' While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him: And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." Matt. and Mark. The concluding charge had allusion to the, completion of the vision, when Jesus, or his spiritual dispensation, was to be left alone, and not till that time was it seasonable, to impress its mystical application.

"As he assumed that divine glory, as seen in his transfiguration, Moses and Elias were seen talking with him, for to him thus glori

fied they pointed and bore testimony. And as they still appeared, that active disciple, though a little bewildered in his ideas, wished to continue that state of things and perpetuate it by building three tabernacles, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elias. But while he yet spake, the error was corrected. For a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.

"And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.' Moses and Elias were gone: they had done their office, and Jesus alone remained. Moses and Elias, who represented the law, and the baptism of John, had done their office, when the Son of Man was risen again from the dead, and they passed away. How vain would it then be to attempt to go back to a state in which God was not all, and build tabernacles for those who must disappear!

"And thus it is with many pious minds since that day; they wish to tabernacle with Jesus, but they want also the company of Moses and John the Baptist; they see that

H

these have been honoured with the presence of the master in great glory, and that access to him has been gained through them: but that instructive voice remains to be heard:

This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.' And he is to remain alone.

"Here Moses and Elias appeared together talking with Jesus, which was verified in the continuance of the law, and the introduction of John's ministration, and both in their full force, at the same time, after our Lord made his appearance. And as Moses (or the law) disappeared, so did John (or waterbaptism.) And Jesus and his spiritual dispensation remains alone."

Lu. How instructive those remarks are! I never before understood the transactions on the mount of transfiguration, as designed to represent the different dispensations.

FA. That John understood his baptism did not pertain to the christian dispensation, seems evident, because he explicitly declared to those who came to be baptized of him, "I indeed baptize you with water, but he

that cometh after me," or, whose ministration shall succeed mine, "is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire; whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." John here shows the true distinction between his baptism, and that of our Saviour; the first with water, the last with the Holy Ghost. And afterwards John told his disciples, when they were speaking to him of Jesus, "Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him." "He must increase, but I must decrease." Indicating that as the spiritual ministration of Christ should advance, his watery one should recede, not be joined with it. Neither was the regenerating baptism of the spirit consequent upon it, when it was administered, for the Samaritans received the Holy Ghost some time after water-baptism. Acts viii. 16, 17. Cornelius and his friends received it before, and Simon the sorcerer received it

not at all, though he was baptized with water. The baptism of the Holy Ghost, therefore, is not connected with water-baptism, nor at all dependent upon it. The baptism of the Saviour is complete in itself, without exterior form, or shadow. By its renewed impressions on the believing and attentive soul, the new birth of the spirit is brought forth therein, and in proportion to its growth and increase, the old man with his corrupt deeds becomes crucified, and the soul delivered and raised up into newness of life.

AN. Where any of the apostles baptized with water, father, when they became the disciples of Jesus Christ?

FA. There is no mention made of their having been thus initiated into the Christian church. When Jesus called any to follow him, those who obeyed his call, became his disciples without any ceremonial. We find he accepted Peter, Andrew, John, James, Levi, Philip, Nathaniel, and Zaccheus, without either baptizing them, or directing them to be baptzed with water. As it was then