We must not choose a word or two out of it,—caught by the sound,—and affix a meaning to them, which is inconsistent with the context and other plain portions of revealed truth. If baptism be the washing here spoken of, it is accompanied with regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, shed on the baptized abundantly; and this cannot be without the exhibition of the fruits of the Spirit in the life and conduct. And if this be Christian baptism, where these things are not, Christian baptism is not. And this is incontestably established by the testimony of St. Peter, in the text about to be noticed. Let it only be farther observed, in connection with this passage in St. Paul’s Epistle to Titus, that a no mean authority in the interpretation of Scripture (Mr. Joseph Mede) thinks, that the Apostle here alludes to the cleansing of the new-born infant from the pollutions which attend its birth: and he refers to the description given in the beginning of the xvith Chapter of the Book of the prophet Ezekiel in confirmation of this:—“Neither wast thou washed in water.” (v. 4.) Here, then, _life_ is first found, and then there is _the washing_ for purification. The text, already referred to, in St. Peter, is the 21st verse of the iiird Chapter of his First Epistle. This perfects the proof of the view hitherto taken of the Christian Sacrament of baptism; and is _a key_ which would unlock any difficulty which other portions of Scripture might present;—if indeed such assistance were needed. St. Peter is speaking of the days of Noah, and he says, that “the long-suffering of God then waited, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water;” and then he adds, “The like figure whereunto,”—the corresponding type with it, and the antitype of it—(as was observed before respecting circumcision) “even baptism, doth now save us,”—but before he completes the sentence, he breaks off to tell us what this baptism, of which he speaks, is, “_not_ the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God,” and then he finishes what he had begun to say,—“by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Now if the two things here spoken of in relation to baptism were always found together, the words of St. Peter would be without meaning; for none, possessing them both, could be so blind as to imagine that it is the outward washing which saves them, and not “the answer of a good conscience;” though _it is possible_ (as experience shows) that men might be satisfied with the outward sign, and look no farther, as the Jews had done in the case of circumcision. The Holy Spirit, therefore, by the pen of St. Peter warns against this error, and assures us, that the baptism which is unto salvation consists of, not only, nor chiefly, the application of water to the body, but “the answer of a good conscience toward God.” It is thought by some, that a _reference_ is here made to