No other mention is made of baptism by the Evangelists, until we come to the Commission which the Lord gave to His Apostles after His resurrection from the dead, except in one passage, which occurs in the report of His memorable conversation with Nicodemus, the Jewish ruler, contained in the Third Chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. Nicodemus having come to Jesus with the avowed desire to be instructed by Him, as “a teacher come from God,” “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (v. 3.) Nicodemus expresses his surprise at this saying, and asks, “How can a man be born when he is old?”—evidently shewing that he did not at all comprehend its meaning. Upon which the Lord repeats the asseveration, with some addition to it: “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (v. 5.) In this instance, as in every other, our endeavour shall be, to ascertain what the words of Scripture do really and simply mean. If there had been no intention on the part of Christ to make baptism with water an Ordinance of His Church or Kingdom upon earth, the expressions, “born of water and of the Spirit,” might still have been used by Him with great propriety; as John the Baptist had previously used the words, “He shall baptize you _with the Holy Ghost and fire_:” water being, as well as fire, an appropriate and beautiful emblem of the Holy Spirit. If the “cloven tongues like as of fire,” had _not_ rested upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, the words of the Baptist, just referred to, had yet been strikingly applicable to the operations of the Holy Ghost; and the figure would have lost none of its force and fitness. Water too, in like manner, might have been connected by Christ with the mention of the Spirit, because of the similarity between their effects. But inasmuch as Christ Himself had been baptized, and was about to continue baptism in His Church, (not only during His personal Ministry upon earth, but when, after His return to Heaven, His gospel should be preached among all nations,) and as John’s baptism had been so general, and had drawn so much attention to the subject,—it is reasonable to conclude, that when Jesus spake to Nicodemus of a man’s being “born of water,” He meant his being baptized; and it is probable that Nicodemus, who knew well that baptism had been already used in the admission of proselytes into the Jewish Church, at once so understood His words. For, if not _altogether figurative_, some specific act must have been meant; and what could this be, but baptism? No explanation, therefore, was given to Nicodemus of the terms, “born of water,” because none was needed. Having begun, in v. 3, to speak of _a __birth_, the Lord Jesus continues the same idea, and applies it to the other subject which He wished to introduce, namely, baptism.