Vol. 2

328 ST. LUKE.There is more difference betwixt the baptism ofJohn and that of Christ, than there is betwixt waterand fire. Nothing but the Spirit of God can washthe soul from all its impurities, and consume all itsfilth. Every thing is little before Jesus Christ, andthe greatest saints are not worthy to be at his feet.Where then ought a great sinner to cast himself?and how could he dare present himself before him inprayer, had not he himself pressed him to come tohim, and to hope every thing from him ? He didnot himself in person baptize the Jews, to whomJohn makes this promise ; but it is He who baptizesboth all Jews and Gentiles who are baptized, becauseit is his baptism which is given by his ministers, becauseit is in his name, by his authority, throughhis merits, by his invisible hand and Spirit, thatevery sinner is baptized, every heart is purified, thatall sins are remitted, and every Christian is consecratedto God." 17. Whose fan is in his hand, and he willthroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheatinto his garner ;but the chaff he will burn with fireunquenchable. 18. And many other things, in hisexhortation, preached he unto the people."In the church, the good and bad shall be mingledtogether till the last judgment : we must, in imitationof the patience of God, preserve peace and charitywith all the world till that time. Every agepasses away in this kind of separation of the chafffrom the wheat ;but the visible and universal separationshall not be till the end of all ages. Johnjoins the separation made by the word of Christ,received or rejected, practised or contemned, with