this:—when the sacred penmen state that a soul has departed, and do not wish to pronounce it has gone to happiness, or to a state of joy, they simply say, "It is gone to hades," that is, to the invisible world, or, as we should call it, the future world; or as we say in more popular phrase, "he has gone to eternity." That is all. The meaning, therefore, of the word which is rendered hell in our version, very often does not imply our meaning at all; indeed, the word hell itself is derived from the Saxon hole, and means simply a hollow, or a cavity; and it has come by us to signify the place of the lost; and yet it does not strictly do so. The word for hell used in Revelation is gehenna, where we are told that "death and hell were cast into gehenna." That is, death and hades, the state of the invisible, were cast into that place of punishment which awaits the lost, and ruined, and guilty, for ever. Do not, therefore, understand by the clause often repeated in the Creed, "descended into hell," that our blessed Lord literally went to the abode of the lost-it simply means that his body was laid in the grave, the place of our dust, and that his spirit went into the unseen world, there three days to remain, till reunited to the body, until he should rise again from the dead.

Now after Peter had thus preached to them, it says, "they were pricked in their hearts." And Peter called upon them to repent, to believe the gospel, and as the evidence of the sincerity of their repentance and their faith, to be baptized, that they might thus obtain the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. And then, we are told that three thousand souls were awakened by his statement, were converted, convinced, and therefore were baptized in one day. I have alluded

in our last reading to the fact, that such baptism could not have been, as some think, immersion, but must necessarily have been affusion or sprinkling; for how is it possible to conceive that these apostles, a mere handful, could have immersed three thousand persons in one day? or how is it possible to suppose that in the midst of Jerusalem, at some distance from the Jordan and the Kedron, it was possible to immerse them? or how is it possible to suppose that they, men and women, could be immersed without the preparation that common sense shows was requisite for such immersion? And therefore the irresistible inference is, though it is not a matter of vital moment, that sprinkling, or affusion, was the mode of their baptism, that they were not immersed. There is not a decisive instance of immersion in the whole New Testament; in the apostles' days sprinkling or affusion was regularly practised. I have. seen a sketch from the Catacombs of Rome, where the early Christians dwelt, of a picture scratched upon the stone by one of these early Christians at the close of the first century, in which our blessed Lord's baptism is described; our Lord is represented as standing in the Jordan up to the waist, and John the Baptist standing on its brink, taking water in his hand, and pouring the water on our blessed Lord's head. The date of this is about the end of the first, or the beginning of the second century; it is an incidental picture, recently found, of what was the form and practice of baptism, in those primitive times.

NOTE.-[Ver. 3.] They were not Tupós, fire, as not possessing the burning power of fire, but only woel Tupós, in appearance like that element.-Alford.

CHAPTER II. 41-47.

EARLY CHURCH-A MODEL SERMON- SCRIPTURAL-EVANGELICAL

PERSONAL PROTESTANT-APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION-THE PREACHER PETER BEFORE AND AFTER PENTECOST-THE AUDIENCE-JEWS AND GENTILES-JOY-BAPTISM-COMMUNION-APOSTLES NOT BAPTIZED.

"THEN they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."-Acts ii. 41-47.

These words are the miniature of the earliest church of which we have the record; a church that, after all, is the proper precedent and model for all subsequent manifestations of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in all ages of the world. I cannot conceive a picture more beautiful, traits more touching, a unity more deep, or a blessing more obvious. They had one accord, they had all things in common, they continued stedfast, they

praised God, they had favour with all the people. And the result was, partly as a divine recognition of so beautiful and so holy a specimen of the Christian church, and partly by the pouring out of his Holy Spirit,-" The Lord added to the church daily increasing numbers of them that should be saved." Now in order to see what was the cause, the human cause, if I may use the expression, of all this, let us notice first of all, the sermon that was preached upon this occasion: not that we can here minutely analyse it, but merely allude to its distinctive and peculiar characteristics. The sermon was, in every respect, a faithful exhibition, in great simplicity, of the distinctive and peculiar facts of the Gospel of Christ. It had a characteristic that too few modern sermons have-it was intensely scriptural. One reads sometimes the most beautiful sermons; those, for instance, of a Chalmers and a Hall, than which nothing can be more eloquent; but how rare is a text in these, from beginning to end, except at the commencement. Our preaching should less be the reasoning of the preacher, more the simple declaration, unfolding, and application of the distinctive and precious truths that are revealed in this blessed book, the Bible. Of all arguments addressed to a Christian, the most conclusive is, "Thus saith the Lord;" and, too true, he that will not be convinced by that argument, will not be convinced by human logic. The apostles, wherever and whenever they preached, referred to what God had written, and the Holy Spirit inspired, as the reason, and the conclusive reason, for all they said. We must make up our minds upon this first outer point, that this Book is from God. Having done so, there is an end of all exterior controversies. Our anxiety must be

to ascertain that a truth is in the Bible. Having ascertained this, we may have done with discussions as to its origin and its character. But, first of all, prove and satisfy your minds-as you may easily do that this Book is the inspiration of God. Lay up this fact in your memory as a thing settled. You must not allow what you have settled on strong grounds to be shaken or dislodged by anybody. Make up your minds that the Bible is true upon grounds that are conclusive; and having done this, do not enter into discussion with everybody as to the origin of the Bible; but say, "I cannot now recollect all the evidence, I cannot now dispose of all your objections; but I have canvassed the subject from beginning to end; I have made up my mind upon it: and therefore I cannot discuss, Is the Bible from God? I can only inquire, Is this in the Bible? and what is in it is true: what is not in it may be true or false it is not essential to salvation."

In the second place, the discourse or sermon of Peter, upon this occasion, was, from beginning to end, strikingly evangelical. It is remarkable to trace throughout it how Christ was all and in all—his birth, his cross, his passion, his resurrection, his ascension, all clustered and grouped together by the inspired preacher, and made the nuclei of great, saving, and sanctifying truths.

This sermon was not only scriptural and evangelical, but eminently personal. Just read it at your leisure again, and you will be struck how often Peter speaks to them. He does not speak at them, he does not preach about them, nor does he preach over them; but he preaches to them. Throughout the whole sermon he speaks thus: "Ye men of Israel;"—" ye