| 1083 left exposed;-hence the difference between sprinkling and immersion in baptism. If an Israelite, says Maimenides, finds a Heathen infant and baptizes him for a proselyte, he becomes a member of the church, and baptism was always administered by persons regularly ordained, or appointed for that purpose, and witnesses and written testimony were necessary to prove the fact. Proselytes however were unwillingly made at all times, for many were tenacious of their old customs, and fell again to idolatry, so that finally Baptism was gradually abandoned, and it is only now practiced when a christian female desires to become a Jewess, and then under very considerable restrictions and ceremonies.
You will thus perceive that the rite of baptism dates from the time of Jacob, and by the wisest interpreters of the law, was pronounced a Jewish rite and followed circumcision.
"A Proselyte of the Gate," is the next point about which you ask for information. There were two kinds of proselytes-the first of the covenant-the second of the Gate. The first, though of gentile birth, were admitted to all the privileges of the Jews; they worshipped in the same Court of the Temple with the Hebrews, while others were prohibited, and were partakers of all privileges, Divine and human. The proselytes of the Gate were Gentiles, who were admitted to the worship of the God of Israel, and the hopes of a future life, but who were not circumcised. These proselytes, although permitted to worship in the Temple, could not enter the same Court with the Proselytes of the covenant, but were deemed unclean and a special court assigned to them, called the "Court of the Gentiles"-they had a distinct place where the law was expounded to them, they were not denizens of Jerusalem. In the New Testament, Proselytes of the Covenants are called merely Proselytes, and Proselytes of the Gate are called worshipers [worshippers]; and it is a curious fact, and but little known, tha the first proselytes to christianity were the Proselytes of the Gate. Their condition being free and unconstrained, mere semi-Jews, the transition to another faith was easy and natural, and as they were most numerous in the Roman States, they were the first cause of the spreading of the gospel; although Jesus of Nazareth never addressed himself to them, but always to his brethren who, like himself, were born Jews, and were not so by adoption.
The seven precepts of the sons of Noah, of which, as you say, Masonry knows only three, commonly called the Noachides, are as follows:
I. A Renunciation of all Idols;
II. The worship of the true and only God;
III. To commit no murder;
IV. Not to be defiled by incest;
V. To avoid rapine, theft and robbery;
VI. To administer justice;
VII. Not to eat flesh with blood in it.
This was the Common Law that prevailed from the time that Noah left the ark unto the arrival of the Jews at the foot of Mount Sinai. The law of Moses is the codification of the Common Law, as given by the sons of Noah, amplified, extended, and made to apply in justice and in mercy, in good faith and principle, to the whole civilized world which now live under those laws, with some immaterial local amendments.
I am, dear sir, Yours, &c., &c.
M. M. N.
REMARKS.
There is so much said about the essentials for salvation, that we cannot well pass an article like the foregoing without remarks. The world, in its age, or dotage, seems to have lost the true points of salvation. Paul said to Timothy: "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of t e gospel, according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purposes and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
Now if "life and immortality was brought to light through the gospel," according to the purpose of grace, which was GIVEN TO US BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN, all righteous men must have been partakers of the same glory. By reading and comparing the world of God we find that the ordinances of salvation never vary, though there may have been sundry temporal rites, and sacrifices, by the law, which were instituted in the days of the rebellion of Israel, and others, to act as a schoolmaster to bring persons back to the simplicity of the gospel.
The gospel, or tidings of salvation has never changed: Repentance and baptism for remission of sin; and the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands, as a comforter to guide unto all truth, are just as necessary to eternal life as the elements are to compose the globe. Paul very wisely says:
And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would
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