makes the fifty days complete, and was called, "the day of the first fruits," namely, of wheat-harvest. But as the Jews reckoned their days evening and morning, this fiftieth day began Saturday-evening, but was not fully come, or compleated, till the first day of the week, when the Holy Ghost fell on them in the morning ". When the Holy Ghoft did not defcend, but was communicated by the laying on of hands; it is called, the giving and receiving the Holy Ghost, and the miniftering of the Spirit, and imparting fpiritual gifts! I cannot tell whether the confideration of these two different ways, by which the Holy Ghost came on believers, either immediately, and in the fymbol of cloven tongues as of fire, or by the laying on of hands; will not help us through a difficulty that occurrs Heb. vi. 2. where the doctrine of baptifms, and of laying on of hands, are reckoned among the firft principles of chriftianity. May not the fenfe of that place be this; namely, the meaning of the doctrine of baptifms be the baptifm of water by which all believers, and the baptifm of the Holy Ghoft and fire be the baptifm by which the first difciples among the Jews, and the first converts among the • Numb. xxviii. 26. Q 4 Acts ii. 15. * Gal. iii. 5. devout devout and idolatrous Gentiles, were initiated? And the meaning of the laying on of hands, fignify the conferring these gifts on believers, who had not received them immediately (by the Holy Ghoft's coming down upon them with fire) by the laying on of the hands of the apostles: and fo both thefe doctrines be the first principles of christianity, inafmuch as baptifms are the first entrance into it, and the laying on of hands the great evidence of it; as faith and repentance are the fubftance of it, and as a refurrection to eternal judgment is the great motive to induce mankind to embrace it? The most remarkable things which feem to attend the conferring the Holy Ghoft by the laying on of hands, are, 1. That none but apoftles could confer it. But I fhall do no more than mention this here; referring the reader to the fecond Effay, to which this head more properly belongs. 2. The next thing remarkable in the conferring of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the apoftles hands is, that they seem to have communicated it to none but believers (I mean believers unto righteoufiefs), and to all believers where they came: whereas, the Holy Ghost fell down but on a few, and very rarely. That the apoftles gave it to none but believers, appears from hence; that they al ways ways conferred it after baptifm, when with the mouth, "confeffion was made of what 66 66 they believed in their heart; making the "anfwers of a good confcience." So we find it was, Acts ii. 38-42. viii. 12—18. xix. 5-8. And Acts ii. 38, Peter tells the Jews, in answer to their question, "What shall we "do? Repent and be baptized every one of 66 you, in the name of Jefus Chrift, for the "remiffion of fins, and ye fhall receive the "gift of the Holy Ghoft." And because the Spirit was always imparted after baptifm (the cafe of Cornelius only excepted), therefore are believers faid to be "baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews or Gen"tiles, bond or free "." And hence came the ancients to talk of the illumination conferred at baptism, as I have already mentioned on another occafion. From hence it is that St. Paul places the washing of regeneration, and of the renewing of the Holy Ghost, together (λετρον τῆς παλιγγενεσίας καὶ ἀνακαινώ σεως πνεύματα αγίς "). And Afts ii. 32. Pe ter and the other apostles tell the council, that "they are Chrift's witneffes, and fo is the "Holy Ghost, whom he hath given to them "that obey him." And St Paul tells the Galatians, that it is because "they are fons, "that God hath fent forth the Spirit of his "Son into their hearts." And becaufe "Si"mon Magus's heart was not right with God, "but that he was in the gall of bitterness, " and the bond of iniquity; therefore he had "neither part nor lot in that matter P." And St. Jude joins mens being fenfual, and not having the Spirit, together. That the communication of the Spirit, fome way or other, was to be very general, appears from the ancient prophecies of this matter. David fpeaks of Chrift's fcattering his gifts, and loading us with his benefits. And Ifaiah, foretelling various circumftances of the Meffiah's kingdom, adds, " And all thy "children fhall be taught of God." Which our Saviour applies to himfelf", who was to teach the world by the Holy Spirit. Jeremiah alfo, prophecying of thefe days, fays, "Behold the days come, faith the Lord, that "I will make a new covenant with the house "of Ifrael, and with the houfe of Judah. "Not according to the covenant which I "made with their fathers, in the day that I "took them out of the land of Egypt. But "this fhall be the covenant that I will make "with the house of Ifrael after those days, • Gal. iv. 4. P Acts viii. 23. Jude 19. John xiv. 17, 21, 23. 1 John iii. 24. iv. 4, 6, 13. Pfal. lxviii. 18, 19. Ifa. liii. 4, 5. "John vi. 46. Ibid. liv. 13. "faith the Lord, I will put my law in their "inward parts, and write it in their hearts; " and they fhall teach no more every man "his neighbour, and every man his brother, 66 99 saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all "know me from the leaft to the greatest of "them, faith the Lord w.' The promise is here very general; "all, all from the leaft to "the greateft, fhall be fo taught of God as to "want little affiftance from others." Which St. Paul refers to his times, Heb. viii. 8-12. and perhaps alluding to it 2 Cor. iii. 3. The words of Joel are likewise as extenfive; for he fays, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all "flesh." And thus John Baptift fpeaks in a manner to give us to understand, that Chrift's baptifm by the Holy Ghost and fire fhould be as extenfive as his by water. All this fhews, that the communication of the Spirit was to be very general and diffusive, some way or other. How far it was communicated immediately, we have seen already. And that it was given, or miniftered, by the apostles" to all believers where they came," who had not received it before, may appear from the following inftances. Peter conferred the Holy Ghoft on the three thousand fouls that were added to the church at the feaft of Pentecoft. For when they, being pricked to the heart by his discourse, say, w Jer. xxxi. 31-35. * Joel ii. 28. "Men |