any ordinary Jew. The holy patriarchs form a distinct head in the history of man. Circumcision, however weak and unprofitable in itself, signifying what it could not realize, was yet the shadow of great things. "It typified* and preached beforehand the grace and power of Baptism. For as he who was circumcised was through that seal accounted among the people of God, so he who is baptized, having the seal of Christ formed in him, is enrolled in the adoption of the sons of God." "It was a symbol also of the faithful, placed in the grace of the Gospel, who, through the sharp word of faith and by ascetic exercises, cut off and kill the uprisings of fleshly pleasures and passions, not cutting the body but the heart, and being circumcised in spirit, not in letter." It cherished the expectation of the things hereafter to be revealed, which it could not bestow what it could not do, "being weak through the flesh," it foretold of. "What else does circumcision signify," says St. Augustine,t "than nature renewed,-its old decay put off? And what else doth that eighth day than Christ, who rose again when the seven were completed, i. e. on the day after the Sabbath? The names of the parents [Abraham and Sarah] also are changed; every thing speaks of renewal;' and in the Old Testament is shadowed out the New. For what else is the Old Testament called than the veiling of the New? What the New than the revealing of the Old ?" And were these shadows, and signs, and expectations, and longing voices of the Old Testament never to have their fulfilment? Is Baptism still to be a mere type, because circumcision was? Has it no power communicated "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,"‡ which the eighth day shadowed forth? Is it nothing that our name is changed, and that we now bear that of the Son of God? Is our adop tion still only to be a temporal people of God? Or has not rather the Incarnation of the Son of God united heaven with earth, filled earthly symbols with spiritual Life, which is Himself, converted the letter into the Spirit, and exchanged the types for the Truth? Circumcision, then, surely held out that the heart should one day be circumcised for God's people; and as the Jewish little one received the symbol, so may we trust that we and our children received the reality, if we and they but hold on "according to that beginning," and become not again" uncircumcised." Levitical Washings. As the prominence of circumcision, the indispensable means of admission into the chosen people, set forth the greatness of Baptism, so did the frequency of the Levitical Baptisms. Ever renewed, on Photius, Ep. ccv. p. 302. quoted by Suicer, v. TepiToph. † De Civ. Dei, xvi. 26. 1 Pet. iii. 21. account of their inadequacy, they, by their very continual repetition, created the longing for that great cleansing which was to be hereafter, the need whereof they so feelingly inculcated. The typical character of their "divers washings or baptisms," as well as their insufficiency, is authenticated by St. Paul; the very name under which he comprehends them, (" baptisms,") guides us the rather to the one act of cleansing, wherein the Blood of Christ is applied to wash away sins. They were of divers kinds; and, beyond the one general notion of cleansing, in order to fit men to appear in the presence of God, they had their subordinate meanings. The brazen laver itself was a type of Baptism.† Placed by God "between the altar and the tabernacle of the congregation," it stood, as it were, a baptistery, without which the atoning blood did not avail for man to approach to God, "that they die not." Before Aaron and his sons. might enter the tabernacle, (the emblem of the Church,) they must "wash with water." The priestly character of the Christian Church, as a whole, may be betokened, in that this laver was especially appointed for Aaron and his sons. Further, in the cleansing of the leper (to the minute account of which St. Paul's words. would naturally direct) there is the remarkable connection of the "blood" and the "living water;" again pointing to the source. whence Baptism derives its efficacy to cleanse our "leprous humanity, "** the loathsome, and by man incurable, leprosy of sin. "As," says Theodoret,tt "the blood of the slain bird was mingled with pure water through cedar wood and hyssop; and the leper, sprinkled therewith, was declared pure and clean, so also doth he who believ-. eth in Christ the Saviour, and is cleansed with the water of all-holy Baptism, lay aside the spots of sin.—Wherefore those who are baptized, are by these freed from the leprosy of the soul." Again,‡‡. "The type corresponds with the shadow, the truth with the sub *Heb. ix. 10. + Cyril. Jerus. Lect. iii. 5. Ex. xxx. 18; xl. 7. "The high-priest first bathes, and then burns incense; for Aaron first bathed, and then was made high-priest; for how might he intercede for the rest, who had not yet been cleansed by water?"-Cyril, Jerus. 1. c. and S. Cyril, Alex. on the consecration of the Levites; "The old law figured this cleansing by shadows, and foreannounced the grace through holy Baptism (quoting Num. vii.,) and what this water of purifying is, the most wise Paul teacheth; Jf the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh, how much more the Blood of Christ! Wherefore the laver effected a cleansing of the flesh through the water of purification; but Christ through Baptism melts away all the defilements of our soul."- -In Is. I. i. Or. i. p. 17. || 1 Pet. ii. 5. 9. Lev. xiv. Theodoret (on Heb. ix.) especially refers to this and c. xv. ** Theodoret, Qu. xix. in Levit. # On Heb. ix. tt 1. c. stance. For the water was the type of Baptism; the Blood of animals, of the saving Blood;-the ashes of the heifer, of the Passion of the Manhood." And St. Chrysostome, on Heb. ix,* where the same instruments of the typical purification are mentioned. "Was not that Blood, and the rest, a sort of type, sketched long before, of the Precious Blood?—And what is the water? It also marketh the cleansing by water-he showeth here that the water and the Blood are the same. For Baptism is the symbol of the Passion itself." "Consider here again," says St. Cyril of Alexandria,† "the whole mystery of our Saviour, and the purification by Holy Baptism. The participation of the very mystic Eucharist contains in it the announcement of the Death and Resurrection of Christ Himself. Which having first induced believers to confess, we bring them to Holy Baptism, and consecrate them in the Blood of the everlasting covenant.' "The laver again shows that the Jewish synagogue" [represented by the leprous house] "could not be otherwise cleansed from the defilement of disobedience, and lay aside the stains of their varied offences, except only through the blessing from Christ, and confession and faith in Him, perfected and sanctified through Holy Baptism. For observe how, by what is said, Christ is wholly depicted to us, and faith in Him, and confession of Him signified. For by the 'living bird,' you may understand the ever-living, and life-giving, and heavenly Word; by the slain,' the Precious Blood of the Temple of His Body which suffered, and by the 'incorruptible wood,' His incorruptible Humanity; by the hyssop,' the Spirit; by the scarlet,' the confession of the Blood of the New Testament; by the 'living water,' the life-giving grace of Baptism, which, in the very Passion, the side of our Saviour excellently indicated, sending forth together blood and water; wherewith, he says, the house must be sprinkled, that it may be purified, according to that 'I will pour clean water upon you, and ye * Hom. 16. § 2. The parallel with our baptism is pursued at length by St. Cyril of Alexandria, Glaph. in Lev. L. 1. p. 356, 7. "Observe how the leper is brought to the priest, when come without the gate,' and aloof from the camp For Christ having our likeness, visited us, outcasts as it were, and abiding without the holy and Sacred city. And having looked upon us, he made us clean through Holy Baptism and His Body. For He was sacrificed for us. The hyssop may be a type of the Holy Spirit, fervent in His operation-for of such nature is hyssop-wherefore this sort of herb is fitly employed with the living water; for we are 'baptized in the Holy Ghost and fire,' as is written.-The leper having been sprinkled seven times, was then freed from all charge of leprosy. And Christ also makes us clean, sanctifying us through Holy Baptism. For this I think is meant by the 'seven times.' And so the blessed Paul, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.' Wherefore the largeness of the grace, and, so to say, its perfectness in cleansing, is signified by the 'seven times.' †1. c. p. 358-68 shall be cleansed."" St. Augustine adds another purification,* "Whoso is rightly washed by the sacrament of Baptism, which was figured by that water sprinkled, is cleansed both spiritually, i. e. invisibly, both in flesh and soul, that he may be clean both in body and spirit." "The Jews," says St. Ambrose,† "had many baptisms, some superfluous, some as a figure. And the figure itself profiteth us, because it is the herald of the truth." As then circumcision pointed out the cutting off of sin itself, and the impeding of its subsequent growth, so did these many washings, the cleansing of its guilt and stains; and in that they were thus incorporated with the life of the Hebrew, they served the more to fix his mind on that grace which was to come, and which God the more blended with these heralds of it, in that when it came, He made water the vehicle of it, as before its symbol. Further Types implied by Analogy with those which Holy Scripture authenticates, and guaranteed to us by the ancient Church. Such are the types of the Old Testament positively authenticated in the New: the flood; the passage of the Red Sea; circumcision; the Levitical washings. It were, however, an arbitrary and unphilosophical proceeding to stop short here, and to refuse to see any other types of Baptism, because Scripture compels us to acknowledge no more; it is a cold, stiff, and lifeless system, so to bind ourselves to take the letter of Holy Scripture, as to refuse to stir hand or foot, even when that Scripture seems to beckon and invite us, and to point the way. If these histories were prophetic, and (as, from the analogy of other Scripture, is probable, minutely prophetic, it is certain beforehand that others were so too; God, who made the end answer to the beginning, and the beginning a harbinger of the end, in the one case, did not surely leave "Himself without witness" in others: He, doubtless, sowed seeds of futurity every where, if we but diligently collect them. If the waters of the flood reflected His image, and the dove was a herald of His purpose of mercy, would the Presence of the Holy Spirit Himself, condescending to brood over the Qu. 33. in Num. § 11. add c. Adv. leg. et proph. ii. 6. fin. † De Sacram. ii. 1. fin. see also above, p. 148, sqq. and add, on the same type, S. Greg. Naz. Orat. 40. in S. Bapt. § 10. "Be we baptized, that we may conquer; partake we of the cleansing waters, more purifying than hyssop, purer than the blood of the bird, holier than the ashes of the heifer sprinkling the unclean, and bringing a temporary cleansing of the body, not a complete removal of sin." Those spoken of Mark vii. 8. "The daily sprinklings of the Hebrews, which were about to be hidden, a little after, by the perfect and wondrous Baptism."Greg. Nyss. in Bapt. Christi, T. 3. p. 375. shapeless mass of waters, and thence to produce order and life, have nothing significant? Or, since the passage of the Red Sea figured our Baptism, why should we restrain that of the Jordan, which transmitted the people of Israel from the wilderness into the promised land, still, indeed, with fresh enemies to subdue, yet guided by Jesus, the Conqueror?* The land of Canaan was a rest from the fruitless, hopeless toils and wanderings up and down in the wilderness; and the Church is a rest from the rewardless, unprofitable struggles of the world; both are comparatively a rest; although the rest, which both in their degrees foreshadow, is yet future, laid up "for the people of God." Or since by our Lord's Baptism in Jordan, "water was sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin," is there nothing remarkable that the Jordan should have been connected with so many miracles, and men's minds fixed upon it beforehand, and "the way prepared," as it were, for that sacred Presence, and the water received a sort of preliminary honor and distinction, by being subjected to the Divine workings? Is it nothing that the leprous Naaman was cleansed in Jordan, "both‡ by the use of water generally, and by the Baptism in that river specially, evidently foresignifying what was to be? For Jordan alone, of all rivers, having received in itself the first fruits of sanctification, and of blessing" [in the Baptism of our Lord,] "became the channel, as it were, to convey, in figure, from the fountain, the grace of Baptism to the whole world." Or does it contain no instructive warning against any selfwilled choice of the " Abanas and Pharpars" of people's own Damascus? Further, it is remarkable surely, that the Jordan was again divided before Elijah's ascent into heaven, when the miracle was wrought, not, as before, in the sight of all Israel, to strengthen the hearts of a whole people, at the commencement of their warfare, and to strike terror into their enemies; but in the presence only of the prophet's solitary successor, and "the fifty men of the sons of the prophets." The mysteriousness of that ascent (typical, as it also is, of the ascent of our Lord; and the "two-fold portion of His Spi *See below, Addenda. "The Hebrew people having (as we have been taught) undergone much, and accomplished the toilsome wanderings in the wilderness, did not attain the land of promise, before, Jesus guiding them, and ordering their life, they were conveyed over Jordan. And it is plain that Jesus, depositing the twelve stones in the stream, ordered the twelve disciples the ministers of Baptism." -S. Greg. Nyss. 1. c. p. 375., 6. "When he [Joshua] began his government of the people, he began at Jordan; whence Christ also, after Baptism, began His Gospel." S. Cyril, Lect. x. 11. See also Coptic Liturgy, below, p. 288. S. Greg. Nyss. in Bapt. Christi, tom. iii. 376, 7.-"Having been cleansed he forthwith understood that the cleansing of any is not of the water but of grace." Ambr. de Myst. c. 3. § 17. add de Sacr. 1. c. 5. S. August. Serm. vol. v. 1154. S. Chrysostom (below,) and Coptic Liturgy, (below, p. 288.) 2 Kings ii. 9. |