children of Israel, we read, were "all baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." And, as they lifted up their voices in triumph over their Egyptian pursuers, now lying conquered and dead on the shore, is it too much to say, in like manner, that the baptism through which they thus passed, was a baptism over the dead? Without saying that I feel assured that this is the true view of this passage, I beg to offer these thoughts, just by way of suggestion, to Christians, merely observing that this commends itself to my mind as a very probable interpretation of the Apostle's words Βαπτιζόμενοι ὑπὲρ τῶν Verpov, "Baptised over the dead" (1 Cor. xv. 29). In our translation, it is rendered "for," not "over, the dead." But the primary meaning of the preposition rep, the first indeed which presents itself in the Greek lexicon, and that moreover governing the genitive case, which it does in this passage, is " over," or "above." The common interpretation which refers it to such as were baptised for, or instead of, those who, for Christ's sake, had suffered martyrdom, filling up the place in the ranks of those who had fallen, has, I suspect, never much satisfied even those who have held it, having, I venture to say (and this is a point which should never be lost sight of in the interpretation of Scripture), no moral connection with anything else which we find in the Word; whereas the above interpretation appears to my mind to be fully in harmony with the glorious prospect of those who hope to meet the Lord in the air at His coming, to attain unto "the resurrection from amongst the dead" (eis Tǹv eğaváσTAσiv TŵV VEкpŵv)(Phil. iii. 11), and now, even now, are alive in the midst of a world where death has reigned from the outset. Then there is another point. Knowing that they house in the ark) 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." Here observe, Noah's deliverance by water is the type, the baptism of the spirit the anti-type. With us, water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Ghost are, one of them the type, and the other the anti type. surely shall rise, the saints, in this 15th of Corinthians, are represented not only as passing through the waters of baptism, but also as willing, if needs be, to pass for Christ's sake through the fires of persecution, to die in His cause. "Why stand we," says the Apostle, "in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die" (1 Cor. xv. 30, 32). Here we have a further, a second testimony, in the persons and acts of the saints, to the truth of the doctrine of resurrection. This, I believe, is needful to notice, because we may easily confound the act of being baptised over the dead, in verse 29, with that of suffering for Christ's sake spoken of in the above-cited verses; whereas, I believe, though closely connected, of course, they are distinct things altogether-the one being the first act of the saint in his course (at least, so it should be), the other the continuous suffering, the hourly jeopardy, the dying daily, the refusal to eat and to drink like the world, which, of necessity, follows the confession of the name of the crucified Jesus. And here, in addition to the first part of this subjectnamely, what I have suggested with regard to verse 29let me observe that this victory of the saints over death is in harmony with that which Christ Himself in the end will achieve. He triumphed, we know, when He Himself rose from the grave: He will triumph again when His Church shall be raised: but not till "the last enemy,' Death, is banished for ever beyond the precincts of the new heavens and new earth, will His conquest be perfect. It was defilement in Israel to touch a dead body, a bone, or a grave (Num. xix); and hence, during the millennium, this earth, however pleasant and fair it may be, will not be perfectly pure. No; because Death, the sad witness of sin, will be there: they who shall have no part in the first resurrection, the nations of those who are lost, will continue still to pollute it. But, in the end, this death-defiled world will be wholly dissolved-not annihilated, I say, but dissolved-yes, and in the very act of dissolving (so at least to me it appears), unable to hide them from the allsearching eye of their Judge, it will give up its dead to be finally punished, to be cast into the lake of fire for ever. After which, out of identically the same materials, those atoms of which it was formed at first, now thoroughly purged from the least trace of mortality, even to a dead leaf or an insect, the new everlasting earth will be formed. This I believe to be an explanation of the following passage: "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and Death and Hades (adns) delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works: and Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea" (Rev. xx. 11, etc.) With regard to this passage, if it were otherwise than what I have stated above-if this earth is to be annihilated, instead of being dissolved, and then made anew, as I have said, the power of Christ in redemption would, in this instance, be foiled. But no, it will not; I believe it cannot be so. This earth, just as much as our bodies, is redeemed by His blood; and hence, though dissolved, like the body, when sown in corruption, like the body again, when raised in His likeness, it will know in the end the full power of His resurrection. Hence the new earth, and, let me add, the new heavens, in like manner, will be the very same heavens and earth which we see around us at present, purged by the fires of the last day from every trace of corruption and death. And here, in conclusion, I would offer what to me seems an explanation of the two above passages. First, "Death and Hades (ädns) delivered up the dead which were in them" (Rev. xx. 13): secondly, "Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. xx. 14). Hades, we know, is the place of the soul in its unclothed and separate state-the grave that of the body while under the power of death. This passage then applies, as I take it, to their re-union and final destruction I mean of the bodies and souls of the wicked. The body (Death's prisoner) being called forth from the grave (death here by a figure being put for the grave), the soul, on the. other hand, being summoned from Hades, to be united for ever, and for ever tormented. Such is the doom of this world. Filled, as it is, with itself, its wisdom, its glory, its many inventions, such is its terrible end. Such, however, is not the lot of the righteous. We, even we (blessed thought !) are the children of God, joint-heirs also with Him who is Heir of all things both in heaven and in earth, and, as such, conquerors, like Him, over Death and the Grave. Well, then, may we, as we turn from the thought of the judgment which is to finish the drama of this world's history, and look up to heaven, our birth-place, our home, where we are to dwell for ever with Him-well, then, I say, with such a hope in our souls, may we echo the sweet words of the poet, and sing— His be the victor's name Who fought the fight alone; He, hell, in hell, laid low: Made sin, He sin o'erthrew : And death, by dying, slew. Bless, bless the Conqueror slain, Slain by divine decree; Who lived, who died, who lives again, For thee, His saint, for thee. E. D. No. VII. THE MANNA DESPISED. Numbers, xi. and xxi. TWICE do we read of Israel despising the provision which God in His grace made for their necessities in the desert. The record of both instances, we have in the book of Numbers-the book of the wilderness. The cases, however, are distinct; and while both exhibit the evil of the flesh, it is in different ways that they develop this; and God's treatment of the one is distinct from His treatment of the other. We have the history of the first in Numbers xi. Israel had not then been long out of Egypt: and it was the recollection of Egypt which induced them to despise the manna. A mixed multitude, as we read in Exodus, xii. 38, had accompanied them in their journey. Attached to the redeemed nation by the influence of circumstances and the action of motives natural to fallen man, they were strangers to the grace which had chosen Israel from among the nations, and to the hopes which were theirs as the chosen and redeemed of the Lord. To them, Canaan, and the presence and grace of that God who had promised it to His people as their inheritance, were nothing. All they wished, all they hoped, was to better their own condition by attaching themselves to this wonderful people. And when they found that they had but exchanged the indulgences of Egypt for the toil and travail of the wilderness, with provision, to them tasteless and unsatisfying, they regretted what they had done. And it was with them that the dissatisfaction and murmuring began. "And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting." Would that the evil had stopped there! But" the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick. But now |