then be excluded from baptism, and so for the most part will adults be, and no persons can be baptized at all; for such “teaching” comprehends the entire gospel, and can be afforded only by long continued pastoral instruction. The conduct of the apostles in executing the commission, is, however, the best interpretation of its language; and they considered that a single sermon to the three thousand, and a single conversation with the eunuch, and a few words to the jailor, were quite sufficient to precede baptism; and it was not till after baptism, that the principles and duties of the gospel were more fully taught; nor was it till after baptism that they expected to perceive the fruits and the influences of knowledge and of faith. Instruction has therefore precisely the same relation to baptism that it had to circumcision. It follows rather than precedes. It does so, principally, in the case of adults; it does so, entirely, in the case of children. Baptism is merely an initiatory rite. It introduces the disciple into the school; and it places him there, that he may be “instructed in the way of God more perfectly,” and taught not only to understand, but also “to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded.” Long before the time of John the Baptist, “divers baptisms” had been practised by the Jews. They appear to have been in the habit of baptizing, as well as of circumcising, the households which were proselyted from heathenism to Judaism. They had therefore become familiar with the ceremony, and consequently expressed no surprise that John should come among them baptizing with water. John indeed baptized unto repentance, and he refused this baptism to none by whom it was requested. The apostles baptized unto Christ; and therefore unto his death, his burial, and his resurrection—unto all that he had done and suffered as the mediator between God and man. And when they go forth to make disciples of all nations, how exactly their practice corresponds with the principles I have stated. These apostles were Jews. They rejoiced in the exceeding great and precious promise which God had made to Abraham and to them, “I will be a God unto thee, and unto thy seed after thee.” Authorised and encouraged by this promise, they had been accustomed to disciple and to dedicate their children by circumcision, which one of them calls “a yoke upon the neck of _the disciples_.” On the day of Pentecost, they began their work by declaring that the same promise that had been the hope of Jews, was now given to the Gentiles also, and to their children. They made the same distinction between the children of Christian parents and other children, that they had been accustomed to make between the children of Jews and of heathens; for they called the one class “unclean,” and the other class “holy;” “else were your children unclean, but now are they holy;” that is, externally and ceremonially holy—holy as all children are who are discipled and