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    f * ess for forty je « rs , where they received the taw and were supported by the special providence af God , had a strong bias for solitude . In retired situations , the more studious conld meditate on the divine law , and the

    more virtuous maintain the simplicity of nature , uncorrupted by the luxury and vices of cities and large communities . So early as the days of Elijah , societies of this sort were formed in wildernesses : there they established

    schools and colleges , at the head of which , in successive ages , were the prophets , whose disciples were hence called sons of the prophets ; # nd they prevailed not only in Judea , but also < ki Samaria a » d in Egypt . In the 4 ; ime of o « r Lord these communities

    received the name of Esseans or Esxenes ; and it is an interesting fact , though hardly knewn , that John the Baptist rose among them ami was teaching at their head , when he executed his divine commission as the

    forerunner of Christ . Jesus , by submitting to his baptism , became an Essene , and the school of John , by pointing Inna out as the Messiah , became the primary school of Christ . In this school , which comprehended all the learnieg of the age , and where even the Pharisees applied for

    education As furnishing the best preparation for the Church and the State , the character of the prophets was regarded with the highest reverence , and their writings studied with the utmost diiijgewee . Our Lord , by his precedence of John , became chief of the Essenes ; and he thus secured to his followers

    and to his religion , the support and feputatiom of that community : and though little or nothing is said in the N © w Testament of these great advantages , they operated most beneficially as soon as Christianity was preached as & pure system of Judaism in opposition 4 O the ritual 1 aw . His enemies im

    me--ditfteiy strove to separate him from MoSes and the prophets , holding up his religion as new or recent , and his ¦ followers as heretics , as Christians Had N&zarenes . Against this imputation and these reproaches , the apostles and their adherents 'found broad eliiefci * in the ^ skill and reputation of ^ i&e < fi $ * e * ies « $ > he wisdom of JcaUs ttppea rg ^ nicvery ^ miBion , hih ! I doubt tt&t but one motive with him in sub-Witting to the baptism of John was ,

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    to secure to Hs followers the benefit of that distinguished order of men a ^ airot the calumnies and abuses they would have to encounter . In their effort to promote the gospel they felt that benefit , and continued the

    institution of John , though virtually dissolved by their Divine Master , " as a wise * expedient to secure the reputation of John axrd his seh 6 ol against their enemies . They acted in a similar manner with f £ g * ard to

    drctimcision ; they left the Hebrew concerts to their otvn discretion to practise it , if they pleased , though Chnrllt had already substituted for it the circumcision of trbe heart . It is worthy of

    remark , that Philo and Josepibus furnish signal illustrations of the wi « dom of the Jewish believers in retaining for a season the ? baptism of John . Both these great en en are apologists and historians of the Hebrew Christians

    under the titles of Esseans or Essenes , and that for no other end than to protect the former with the reputation for virtue , learning and high antiquity which distinguished the

    latter I . have further to observe , that the apostles , though they generally practised baptism , seem to have disused and even discouraged it in circumstances where it was unnecessary or where it could be followed by no moral benefit . This is illustrated in

    the case of Philip and the Ethiopian nobleman : " As they went on their way they came to water j and the euimch said , Behold , water ; what hinders me to be baptized ? " Acts viii . 36 . The question in the last dause evidently shews that Philip had evinced

    no design— -had rather evinced some disinclination , to baptize the eunubh . This being the case , the question ^ as natural , ;< * What hinders me to be baptized ? " The Bvatigcrlist clearly considered it in his case as not necessary : yet as the vrish of the eunuch was innecent and even laudable ,

    because he attached some moral importance to it , Philip complied witb it , and baptized him xxi the assttranue that he believed Jesus to 'be the Sdn of Gad 'from his > freart .

    The conduct and tangttiige of the Apoatle "Paul are of themselves « e " ^ Taive as to baptis m being » part ^ the ( Dhrtetian ^ dfapei « 3 at ! on ; W * a » y 3-expresB 4 y / that baptfam by water

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    398 Dr . J . Jones on the Perpetuity of Baptism .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1826, page 398, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2550/page/18/