30 thing, and it is 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21. 11 A few (that is eight souls) were saved by water, to which figure, baptism answering, doth now also save us, not that whereby the filth of the flesh is cast away, but whereby a good conscience answers well to God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ;” Peter having said that baptism answers to the flood, and saves the church now, as the flood did the church then ; “yea,” saith he, “ but I mean not the outward baptism, or the washing away of the filth of the body, but the answer of a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christwhich place is difficult, but I thus conceive it; the efficacy of Christ’s resurrection is the gift of the Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ in a believer, rectifies his conscience, and makes it good, so that it can return a sweet answer to God upon every word of his ; for the work of the Spirit in the heart, answers every word of faith spoken from God; particularly it can say to God, I was indeed filthy and unclean throughout, but I am now trashed, and justified, and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of my God: and this Spirit baptism is that which saves; and not the water, which puts away the filth of the flesh only, but leaves the filth of the Spirit as much as ever. So that, in this place, Peter puts an end to baptism in the flesh, as Paul, Rom. ii. 28, puts an end to circumcision in the flesh, saying, “ He is not a Jew that is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew that is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God:” that is, saith Paul, in the kingdom of Christ, where all things are spiritual; circumcision in the spirit puts an end to circumcision in the flesh: and in the same kingdom of Christ, saith Peter, baptism in the spirit puts an end to baptism in the flesh; for he is not a Christian who is one outwardly, neither is that baptism which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Christian who is one inwardly, and baptism is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise also is not of men, but of God. For under the gospel, which is the ministra
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