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 Here
we conclude our quotes from Archibald McLean’s “The
Commission Given by Jesus Christ to His Apostles” first
published in 1786. Our sincere thanks to bro. Claude Hewitt,
Marion, Indiana; who loaned us his edition, published 1848, by
H.P. Gatchell. Vedder (Short History of Baptist) says McLean was
founder of the Scotch Baptist churches, but thinks he remained
tainted with “Sandemanian notions” as “plurality of elders
in every church” and “weekly... Lord’s Supper.” Seems he
had much truth on baptism — also!!
“That
baptism also signifies the resurrection of the saints from the
dead to inherit eternal life with Christ, is plain from 1 Cor.
15:29: “Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead,
if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the
dead?” Some among the Corinthians denied the resurrection of
the dead. This error, the apostle shows, subverts the whole
gospel which he had preached unto them; implied that Christ
himself was not risen, consequently, that they were yet in their
sins; and that they who are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished. In the words above quoted, he intimates that by
denying the resurrection they set aside the crowning design of
their baptism, and rendered it of no consequence, making it
merely a baptism for the dead; i.e., for or in the name of
Christ, considered only as in the state of the dead, without any
reference to his having risen as the first fruits of them that
slept, or to their own resurrection in consequence thereof;
whereas baptism represents not only Christ’s death and burial,
but also his rising
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again from the dead, and our
resurrection by him.
The
resurrection is a regeneration in the most proper sense, and is
that to which our baptism and spiritual regeneration ultimately
refer; for “he saves us by the layer of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost (hina) to the end that we should be
made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus
3:5-7)
Thus
I have endeavored to set forth the import or signification of
baptism; and from the various passages of Scripture where it is
mentioned, we have seen, that it is the sign of spiritual
regeneration, or the new birth, without which we cannot enter
into the kingdom of God; of the washing away of sin, both as to
its guilt and pollution, or justification and sanctification;
and especially that it represents the death, burial, and
resurrection of Christ as the ground of hope — the believer’s
union and communion with him therein — his spiritual
conformity to him, in dying unto sin and rising to a new life of
holiness — and his full and complete conformity to him in the
death of his mortal body, and in his resurrection of a heavenly
and immortal life from the dead. So that this divine ordinance
is pregnant with the richest meaning, and is wisely and
graciously appointed as a means for strengthening the faith,
confirming the hopes, exciting the love, and promoting the
holiness and consolation of believers, for whom only it is
intended, and who alone can reap any benefit from it.”
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