Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/349



APTISM by water is representative of purification from evil; for as water cleanses the body, truth, to which water bears an analogy, cleanses the soul from internal impurity: hence the force and beauty of the Lord's words, "Sanctify them by thy truth, thy Word is truth." Spiritual baptism, as it regards man, must have reference to his regeneration, to that purification of soul without which no man can see the Lord. But what is the baptism here alluded to, and why was the Lord straitened till it was accomplished? It undoubtedly relates to the Lord's glorification; but to see this, we must attempt to follow the Redeemer's progress from His birth to the final temptation, when He exclaimed, "it is finished." The Lord took upon himself human nature, for a high and holy purpose; nothing less, indeed, in addition to the redemption of man, than rendering it divine, and uniting with His Divinity the humanity in which that Divinity dwelt. The humanity He assumed from the mother was feeble and infirm, in all respects like unto ours; but by virtue of the Divine within Him, He was enabled gradually to put away all infirmity, and as gradually to assume all power, until in heaven and on earth He had so opened a door of communication to His divine presence, that to Him every knee should bow, every tongue confess, that He was Christ the