Cylchgronau Cymru

9> No. 20. AUGUST, 1865. Price 2n. (Bm ^Baptism. tERE is one well-defined line of demarcation between the p£J| ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. In the latter, I the communicant is active, according to the command to " do this." Although the token of remembrance implies that which was done for him, yet in the ordinance itself he acts in eating the bread and drinking of the cup. In the ordinance of Baptism, the subject is passive, whether he be an adult or an infant, and whether the ordi¬ nance be administered by immersion or sprinkling. No one baptizes himself. And no command was given authorizing anyone to do so. Not even Christ baptized himself, but he came to John to be baptized of him. Although John himself felt the anomaly of being requested to baptize him, yet Christ knew that it would have been a greater anomaly still had be baptized himself. This difference between the two ordinances is practically acknowledged by all amongst whom they are administered, whatever difference of opinion may exist amongst them respecting the sub¬ jects and mode of administration. In the atonement of our Saviour, the active portion represented by the wcrd obedience, and the passive, represented by the word suffering, formed one stupendous network. He himself described the two by words which have a representation in these two ordi¬ nances. Matthew 20. 22. " Are ye able to drink of the cup thab I shall drink of?" Drinking the cup represents him in action. " And to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ?" Being baptized by another, represents him as passive. In the appli¬ cation of the Gospel to the heart of man, the whole is made up of that which is done in man, and of that which man himself does. The two paTts cannot be separated by such a line of division that it