THE
DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM,
AS TAUGHT IN THE
HOLY SCRIPTURES,
AND HELD BY
THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH.
WRITTEN FOR THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL SOCIETY FOR THE
PROMOTION OF EVANGELICAL KNOWLEDGE.
NEW-YORK:
PIROTESTANT EPISCOPAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF
EVANGELICAL KNOWLEDGE,
11 BIBLE HOUSE, ASTOR PLACE.
1854.




JOHN A. GRAY,
STEREOTYPER AND PRINTER,
95 & 97 Cliff street, N. Y.




THE
DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
THE E!NISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT.
"GOD is a Spirit; and they that worship Him, must worship
Him in spirit and in truth."*
SucH was the teaching of Him who spake as never
man spake. In the midst of a people, blinded by
carnal prejudices, inflated by self-righteousness, confident in their descent from Abraham, proud of their
divinely-given religion, superstitiously rigid in their
adherence to its rites and ceremonies, but sadly
ignorant of the nature of true holiness, the Lord Jesus
Christ bore witness to the truth. He stood forth
among His' countrymen, not less as a reprover than
a Messiah. He vindicated the spirituality of religion
in an age of formalism, exposed the worthlessness
and hollowness of mere external obedience, de*nounced the prevailing confidence in ritual observances as a refuge of lies, called- men from the shell
of religion to the substance, traced sin through all
* John 4: 24.




4          THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
its disguises, unveiled the hidden corruption of the
heart, and would tolerate no plausible substitute for
the faith, repentance, and love of the soul itself.
Such doctrine was new, surprising, offensive, intolerable to a people whose boast was, " The temple of
the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord are we;" -and the malignant enmity and envy
of Priests and Pharisees was insatiate until Jesus
Christ was crucified.
In the study of the new religion which names him
as its Author, and for a right appreciation of his
teachings, it is most important to bear in mind this
marked characteristic of his ministry. The Saviour
was constantly opposing an excessive reliance upon
the ritual of religion, to the neglect and oblivion of
its spirit and reality. And while he disencumbered
the ancient faith of the corruptions and traditions
wherewith it had become encrusted and hidden, he
revealed the new faith, related to the former as is
the substance to the shadow. The new and better
covenant, which he sealed with his own blood,
presented heavenly truth, not under the cumbrous
drapery of Levitical institutions, but in its native
clearness, simplicity and beauty.  The object of
his mission from God was not merely to ordain
new ceremonies, substitute sacraments for sacrifices,
a symbolic church for a symbolic temple, a Gentile
instead of an Aaronic priesthood.  Christianity was
not to be Judaism reproduced, with a ritual outwardly
modified, but a character not essentially changed.
It should be light contrasted with obscurity, liberty




THE MINISTRATION OF THE SPIRIT.        5
as opposed to bondage, simplicity instead of gorgeous
and complicated ritualism, freedom of access to the
Holiest instead of distance and barriers, a light yoke
and easy burden in place of that system which,
however indispensable as a preparation for the Gospel,
proved to the Jews, St. Peter being witness, a yoke
which neither they nor their fathers were able to
bear. The Gospel, contrasted with the Law, is "the
Ministration of the Spirit," and therefore preeminently "'glorious."@*
Inr place, therefore, of the multiplied, burdensome,
and imposing ceremonies of the former dispensation,
the Saviour instituted two simple and impressive
rites, and enjoined them upon all his disciples.
These were in some degree parallel to the two symbolic Jewish ordinances, Circumcision and the Passover. In the case of each, the acts prescribed, and
invested with religious significance, were not -previously unknown. Like the two previous ordinances,
one was initiatory and single, applied to individuals,
and not admitting repetition. The other was constant
and social. Besides their other important-uses, they
visibly represented and exhibited two cardinal doctrines of the new faith: the cleansing of the soul
from the pollution of sin by the Holy Ghost, and
the taking away of guilt by the atoning sacrifice of
the Lamb of God, offered once for all. Thus were
held up before man the two great essentials to salvation, pardon and holiness.  "This is He that came by
water and blood."t
* 2 Cor. 3;,       t.l John 56 6.




6          TEE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
BAPTISM.
THE first of these ordinances, that which is parallel
to Circumcision, the badge of discipleship, the initiation into the visible fold of Christ, is known as
Baptism. It was practised during the Saviour's
personal ministry, by his disciples acting under their
Lord's direction,* and was by him  enjoined, in his
parting commission to his Apostles to evangelize the
world, with the utmost solemnity.t  From  the occasional notices found in the Acts of the Apostles,
and in the Epistles, we can not doubt that this command was invariably and scrupulously obeyed.
From the Scriptures may be gathered the following
particulars respecting this holy rite.
1. Its universal obligation upon all who would be
Christians.
2. The requirement in the case of adults of spiritual qualifications, namely, repentance and faith, prior
to the reception of the rite.:
3. The unprofitableness thereof to such as received
it without suitable dispositions.~
4. That Baptism was the outward visible sign of
spiritual regeneration.jl
5. That Baptism is the seal of the forgiveness of
sins to the penitent.[ Not the actual channel of
* John 4: 1, 2.          t Matt. 28: 19; Mark 16: 16.
$ Acts 2: 38; 8: 37; 10: 47; 16: 14, 15, 30-33.
~ Case of Simon, Acts 8: 21.
John 3: 5; Rom. 6: 3, 4; Col. 2: 12.
~ Acts 2: 38; 22: 16.




BAPTISM.                       7
pardon, but the pledge of a pardon already granted
to the believing.*
6. That the ordinance, and the  grace which it
exhibits and symbolizes, are not inseparable.t
7. That infants are proper'subjects of baptism.
"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and
forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God."t
We must understand "the kingdom  of God" here,
either of the Church of God on earth, or of the
heavenly state. If the former be meant, the question
is settled at once in favor of infant baptism.  If the
latter, is it credible that they, who are the proper
heirs of heaven, were to be excluded from the Church
below?-that they who.are admissible into the inner
sanctuary, can not be received into the vestibule and
outer court of the temple? Congruous with this interpretation of our Saviour's words was the language
of the Apostle Peter at Pentecost.  "The promise is
to you and to your children;"~ that of St. Paul, that
when one parent is a Christian, the children are
"holy;"II the record of the baptism of households in
* John 5: 24; 5: 40 compared with 6: 35. Acts 11: 15-17;
16: 31;. Rom. 4: 1-12; 5.
f Simon received the ordinance, but not the grace. Cornelius and
-his friends were baptized with the Holy Ghost, before being baptized
with water. 1 Cor. 10: 1-5, compared with verse 11.
M Mark 10: 14.
~ Acts_2: 39.
1 Cor. 7: 14. The word holy here is understood to mean not
inherent but relative holiness, capable of dedication to God in his
covenant.




8          THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
three instances;* the usage in the Jewish Church,
under the parallel rite of circumcision, and the prac.
tice of the Christian Church in the primitive ages.
REGENERATION.
To understand the true nature of Baptism, as it is
presented in the Scriptures, and held by the Protestant Episcopal Church, it is indispensable to have
clear, definite, and Scriptural views of Regeneration.
Much confusion and contradiction, in relation to the
sacrament, may be ascribed to unsettled or erroneous
opinions on this point.  "Except a man be born
again," said our Lord Jesus Christ, "he can not see
the kingdom of God." The absolute necessity of
this new birth cannot therefore be questioned by
one who credits the word of God. It is also evident
from the Scriptures that to be blessed hereafter, men
must be the subjects, in this life, of a thorough
spiritual change, a transformation of character, a
new creation in righteousness and true holiness.
This necessity is also absolute, and arises from the
innate sinfulness of men, the fault and corruption of
our common nature. Man lost, at the Fall, the holy
image of his Maker, the moral and spiritual likeness
to God, and perfect conformity to the Divine will in
which he was originally created. In the account of
the birth of Seth, it is written, "Adam begat a son
in his own likeness, after his image."  Adam  was
~Acts 16: 15, 33; 1 Cor. 1: 16.




REGENERATION.                9
himself created in the image of God. But Seth was
born in the image of his fallen parent. And this is
true of every one born since into the world, except
the holy child Jesus. But it is a truth as conformable to reason, as it is plainly taught in Scripture,
that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord."
For the enjoyment of His presence, and admission
into his kingdom of glory, our unholy souls must be
new created, and "as we have borne the image of
the earthy,"'  the first Adam," we must "bear the
image of the heavenly," "the second Adam, the
Lord from heaven."  To restore us to holiness and
everlasting life was the object of our Saviour's mission into' this sinful world.  And by the moral
transformation and sanctification of our souls, is his
merciful design eventually accomplished. " He gave
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
iniquity,.and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works."* The Agent through whom
the Lord effects this change in the hearts of sinners
is the Holy Spirit.
Upon these points there is no difference of opinion
among members of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
But when we come to the manner of this new creation,
and the application of this grace to the soul, there
is very material and important difference.  The
question whether the above moral and spiritual
transformation takes place in the sacrament of baptism, is one that has for years greatly divided and
* Titus 2: 14.




10        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
agitated the Church. It is felt, on the side of those
who affirm, and of those who deny this proposition,
to be of the very highest importance. The point
in dispute is radical. There can be nothing gained
by glossing it over with ambiguous phraseology. It
must be met. It ought to be understood. Every
intelligent Episcopalian should acquaint himself with
this controversy, should form an opinion upon it, and
should have fixed and well-defined views of the teaching of the Scriptures, and of the formularies of his
own Church on this subject. The object of the present essay is to assist the inquirer in answering this
exceedingly important question: Is it the doctrine of
the Bible and of our own Church that the change of
our sinful nature, without which we can not enter
heaven, takes place invariably in Baptism? Or does
it then take place invariably in the case of infants?
For the more cautious advocates of this opinion seem
now disposed to narrow the assertion to the case of
baptized infants, admitting that in adults the blessing
is contingent and conditional. Is then the moral
transformation of the soul by the Holy Ghost inseparable from the baptism of infants?
Of this question the affirmative is taken by the
Church of Rome, and by a portion of the Church of
England, and of the Protestant Episcopal Church in
the United States. Instances in proof of this assertion will be hereafter adduced.
An essential preliminary to the discussion of this
question is to ascertain previously the meaning of
the word, Regeneration. Is it that moral and spiritual




REGENERATION.              11
change, of which we have already spoken? Is it
the implanting of that new and holy nature without
which we can not be saved? Is the new birth synonymous with "the death unto sin and the new life
unto righteousness," with "the renewing of our
minds," with "the new creation in Christ Jesus?"
"Except a man be born again, he can not see the
kingdom of God."  "Without holiness no man shall
see the Lord."  Do these passages point the same
way?  And is regeneration the commencement of
holiness in the soul? Or is regeneration something
distinct from the spiritual renewal; an ecclesiastical,
not a moral change? a transition from the world to
the Church, accompanied with new privileges, helps
and responsibilities, but not involving any change
in the character of the soul? The latter was, a few
years since, the meaning usually given to the word
by those who called themselves High Churchmen, and
upon this was based their explanation of the baptismal service of the Church. The assertion that they
confounded the outward transition with the inward
transformation, was often denied as a misconception
of their system, and resented as a calumny. The
spiritual change they called Renovation, distinguished
it from the ecclesiastical change to which alone they
would restrict the word Regeneration, and often insisted with much earnestness and faithfulness upon
the necessity of spiritual renewal in case of the baptized. This explanation seemed to reduce the bap* Heb. 12: 14.




12           TiHE DOCTRINE OF BAPTIS{M.
tisinal controversy to a question of words, and
fostered the very common opinion that the difference,
after all, was but nominal, the two parties being
substantially agreed.* But the misapplication of
* Bishop Hobart's Sermons on Titus 3: 5, Works, vol. 2. " The
benefits of baptism and its final efficacy are suspended on conditions,
which may be all summed up in the two of repentance and faith. All
baptized persons, therefore, must exercise repentance and faith, or
they forfeit the privileges of baptism. Now, the renunciation of sin,
and this lively faith producing holy obedience, constitute that spiritual
change which our Church enforces, particularly in the baptismal office,
when she prays concerning those who are baptized, that'the old
Adam may be so buried that the new man may be raised up in them,"
etc. "It is worthy of remark how admirably, on this subject, the
Church employs and amplifies the language of Scripture in which this
spiritual change is denoted by'being transformed by the renewing
of the mind; by crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts; by
walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;'' by putting off the
old man with his deeds, and putting on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created him.' This
is the change of heart which is called, in Scripture,'the renewing of
the -Holy Ghost,' becoming'a new creature;' and in the correct
language of systematic divinity, renovation or sanctification." pp. 469,
471.
To this most important change Bishop Hobart denies the just application of the word Regeneration. He censures Dr. Barrow and
Tillotson for such use of the word. " From a want of precision, indeed,
in the use of terms, these divines use the term regeneration as synonymous with sanctification and renovation; and thus afford an opportunity to the adversaries of baptismal regeneration of enlisting them in
their cause, by quoting those passages in which the word is used in
its popular but erroneous signification." p. 468.
" Regeneration is a change of our spiritual condition, a translation
into a state in which our salvation is rendered possible. Renovation
is that change of heart and life by which salvation is finally attained."
p. 472.




REGENERATION.                    13
scriptural language is not a harmless and indifferent
things. Words are things. The selection of certain
words by the Holy Spirit to express divine truths
is not to be deemed immaterial, neither is inspired
phraseology a matter of indifference. We are not
safe in giving up the nomenclature of Scripture,
under the impression that we retain the substance
of its teaching. The history of the baptismal question may warn us, how much the cause of truth may
be jeoparded and damaged by what were supposed
to be mere verbal concessions. Of late, there has
been a tendency to interpret the word, Regeneration
in the broadest sense, as including both a change of
state and a change of nature.  Many probably who
adopt the extreme view of this subject are not aware
of the magnitude of this change.*  Whether the
advocates of baptismal regeneration were formerly
always consistent with themselves, I do not now
propose to inquire. My own impression is that they
were by no means so. But the explanation above
named greatly nullified or diminished objection to
the doctrine. The present aspect of the case is, however, materially different. The conviction has been
* When Bishop Mant's Tract on this subject, propounding the
dogma of inseparable baptismal regeneration, and stating that, " If the
work of regeneration is not effected in baptism, it is almost impossible
for any sober man to say when and by what means it is effected," was
published by the " Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge," it was
found necessary to change very materially the language of former
publications of the same Society in order to avoid the manifest contradiction of their teaching.




14        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
growing that, both in the Scriptures and in the
Prayer-Book, the meaning of the word can not be
restricted to a mere ecclesiastical change. And the
ground is now broadly taken, and advocated in
books, catechisms, tracts, etc., prepared by societies
calling themselves general societies of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, that every baptized infant is in the
highest sense spiritually regenerate, and that no such
thing as regeneration is to be required or looked for
after baptism. To question this dogma, it is alleged
by some of its advocates, is a heresy. It is to discard the true interpretation of our baptismal service,
and to deny an' article of the Nicene creed.
The question is of the most important and practical character, mingling itself with pastoral instruction
and parental duty. And if the view, which identifies
the spiritual renewal with the baptismal washing be
untrue and unscriptural, then we can easily perceive
that it must be an error disastrous in its consequences. Multitudes must be thereby deceived, filled
with false confidence, rendered secure of their future
happiness while still dead in trespasses and sins, and
live and die unconscious of that great change without
which our Saviour declares that a man can not enter
the kingdom of God.
We return to the question, What is Regeneration?
Regeneration is, in its true Scriptural sense, a spiritual change, a new creation of the soul, a death unto
sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, a radical
heart-transformation, the introduction into the de



REGENERATION.                   15
praved soul of a new principle of holiness, a participation in the Divine nature.*
There can be, I conceive, no fairer and better
mode of ascertaining what regeneration really implies, than by making St. John his own interpreter.
In his Gospel is found the distinct and emphatic
enunciation of this truth by the Saviour of the
world.  There the doctrine is propounded with clearness and authority, and all who listen to the teachings of Christ are assured that, "Except a man be
born again, he can not see the kingdom of God." St.
John, who, alone of the four Evangelists, has narrated this important and instructive conversation of
our Lord with Nicodemus, must be supposed to have
rightly understood his own language. Had he been
an uninspired writer, this would be a reasonable inference. But as one who was guided and illuminated
by the Spirit of Truth, it can not be gainsaid.  It
is not a little remarkable that the phrase which was
introduced by our Lord in this conference with the
Jewish Rabbi, is used by St. John, in his first epistle,
with unusual frequency. The use of it is one of the
marked features of that Epistle, and relied on by
critics as one of the strong evidences that the Gospel
and the Epistle are from the same author.t The
expression is employed also in the Epistle in a very
* "Yet the infection of nature doth remain in them that are regenerated." Article 9. Hence the life-long conflict in the renewed
heart, between the flesh and the Spirit; and sanctification progressive,
and this side the grave imperfect.
f Horne's Introduction. i. 108.




16        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
particular, discriminating, and practical manner.
Regeneration is presented in connection with certain
dispositions and conduct; so presented that Christians may be enabled to apply to themselves the passages in which it occurs, in the duty of self-examination, and thus ascertain whether they are Or are
not regenerate. Now, if it be true that our Lord
teaches that baptism implies and conveys regeneration, it would be enough for the Christian to know
that he was baptized by one authorized to administer the sacrament. But the language of St. John in
his Epistle is as different from any thing like this as
possible. Among all the tests which he lays down
of a regenerate state, there is not a word touching
the sacrament of Baptism.  Let us compare his
teaching in the Epistle, with his record of the words
of Christ in the Gospel:
"If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that
every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."
1 John 2: 29.
" Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin;
for his seed remaineth in him; and he can not sin
because he is born of God. In this the children of
God are manifest, and the children of the devil."
3:9, 10.
"We know that we have passed from death unto
life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not his brother abideth in death."  3: 14.
"Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." 4: 7.




REGENERATION.               17
"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is
born of God."  5: 1.
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world: and this is the victory that overcometh the
world, even our faith."  5: 4.
"We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth
himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."
5: 18.
From this Epistle, then, we learn these marked
characteristics of the regenerate. They do not sin,
(deliberately and habitually.) They are deterred
from sin by the holy principle, the. incorruptible
seed received in their new birth. They are animated
with fervent love towards the Saviour and his people. Their faith in the Saviour is genuine, living,
and of power to overcome the temptations of an
ensnaring, and the terrors of a persecuting world.
They keep themselves, through Divine grace, against
the wiles of the Wicked One.
Can we doubt, after such an exposition, the meaning of the word? Could more emphatic language
be employed?
Compare St. John's description of Regeneration
with the language of Bishop Hobart: " It is much
to be lamented that many divines of the Church of
England have fallen into the modern error, which
originated in the Calvinistic school, of applying the
word, Regeneration, to denote the work of grace on
the heart, the operations of the Divine Spirit in forming holy affections in the soul, and in leading us to




18        THIE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
newness of life. This most important and essential
change, which in Scriptural and primitive language
is termed the renewing of the Holy Ghost-renovation-many excellent and orthodox divines of our
own Church, following, unfortunately, the fashion of
the times, style, " Regeneration."*
How came the Apostle John to fall into this mo'
dern error of the Calvinistic school?
The definers of regeneration, in the sense given in
the above quotation, urge upon the baptismally
regenerate the necessity of a subsequent conversion
or renovation.  "In order to this renovation, it is
requisite that every baptized person should cherish
a strong and lively sense of his need of this change
of heart and life. A deficiency in this sensibility is
a fundamental and most dangerous defect."t
But while Christians need daily repentance, daily
forgiveness, and constant recoveries from lapses into
sin, (for "in many things we offend all,") what need
is there of a thorough change of heart and life to
one who already truly believes in Christ, doth not
yield himself as the servant of sin, resists the
tempter, whose faith worketh by love, and overcometh the world, and who is already passed from death
unto life?
At the risk of being classed with modern errorists
of the Calvinistic school, we prefer to hold with St.
John in his estimate of what Regeneration really
signifies. We accept him as the best possible com* Hobart's Works, ii. 465.     f Vol 2. 498.




REGENERATION.               19
mentator on the words of his blessed Lord-words
which St. John himself was selected to communicate to the Church. And, following his instruction,
we are irresistibly drawn to the conclusion that Regeneration, or the New Birth, is precisely that great
spiritual and moral change whereby alone the soul
of fallen man can be fitted for the presence of God
and the kingdom of: glory. The new birth, and the
renewal of the soul in righteousness, are equally
indispensable, because they are one and the same
thing. And the other signification of the word
seems to have been accepted in order to harmonize
the language of the Fathers upon the subject of baptism with truth and Scripture; and to obviate a supposed difficulty in the offices of our Church.
Other passages bearing upon this subject, which
will be presently considered, will be found, on careful examination, to confirm this view. And if any
other texts appear, at first glance, obscure, or even
favorable to the other interpretation of the word, (as
it is claimed by Bishop Hobart that Titus 3: 5, is,)
let it be borne in mind that the language of St. John's
Epistle is positive and unambiguous. His words can
not be tortured into a different sense. Text upon
text, each alike clear and definite, exhibit his view
of Regeneration. They are susceptible of no other
natural and consistent interpretation. And since
Scripture can not contradict itself, we are bound to
interpret other texts, (like that in the Epistle to
Titus,) so as not to conflict with the incontrovertible
teaching of St. John.




20         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
The Tractarian advocate for baptismal regeneration, at the present day, does not usually deny that
regeneration implies the moral and spiritual change,
the new creation of the soul. But his position is,
and it is the key-note of his whole system, that this
change takes place invariably and exclusively in
baptism. The more cautious maintainers of this
system, however, finding it impossible to parry the
thrusts of such writers as Mr. Faber, are now disposed to limit the assertion to the case of infant baptism. This limitation is, in fact, inconsistent with
much of their reasoning.  It compels them to adopt,
in the construction of the office for baptism of adults,
the very hypothetical explanation, to which they
object, as dishonest and evasive, when applied to the
office for infant baptism. But, in spite of this inconsistency, they now, in most cases, admit that the
baptized adult is not invariably regenerate. They
resort to the old subtlety of the schoolmen, that the
adult may, by positive unbelief, place an obex or hindrance in the way of the efficacy of the ordinance.*
Some there are, indeed, who do not scruple to assert
that Simon Magus himself was spiritually regenerate
in baptism. But the more moderate, and because
more moderate the more plausible and dangerous
theory, restricts the invariable regeneration to the
case of infants. Adults can not become regenerate
* This obex does not appear, according to them, to be the absence
of living faith, but a willful, determined rejection of the extended
blessing, a positive turning away from Christ and his grace.




REGENERATION.                      21
except in baptism. They may or may not be regenerated  in  baptism.   Infants certainly  are.  Not
being morally responsible, they can not interpose the
obex, and therefore the rite is to them infallibly accompanied with the new-creating energy of the Holy
Spirit.
So much importance is attached to this view  of
Baptism by its maintainers, that the denial of it is
considered by the present Bishop of Exeter, Dr.
Philpotts, a sufficient reason for not consenting to the
induction of a clergyman into a cure in his Diocese.
And although his decision has been overruled by
the highest judicial tribunal known to the Church
of England, yet is it still, by himself, and by a large
party who sympathize with him, adhered to with
undiminished  tenacity.   The  present Bishop  of
Ripon, Dr. Longley, has, it would seem, made assent
to the same dogma a test of fitness for ordination.*
* Questions proposed to the Rev. Mr. Heyward by the examining
chaplain of the Bishop of Ripon.
"Are you prepared to teach as the doctrine of the Church,
"1. That regeneration is the grace specially conferred in and by
baptism, and that the term is not applicable to any grace bestowed
before or after baptism?
"2. That regeneration is in such a manner attached to baptism,
that it is withheld from no person baptized according to the due order
of the Church, unless in case of willful impenitence and unbelief?
"3. That infants being incapable of willful impenitence and unbelief,.... every infant baptized is in and by baptism regenerated?"
Mr. Heyward was refused orders because not ready to answer these
questions affirmatively.
" The very thing a Heathen moralist would most desire, such as
the mortification of the flesh, the death unto sin, the creation of a new




22           THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
The doctrine, therefore, is not only strongly maintained, but enforced, when its holders have the
power, with the utmost intolerance.  Had men like
spirit within us, the enlightenment of the mind, the admission into a
noble spiritual polity, the cleansing of the conscience, the forgiveness
of sins and restoration to the favor of God, or union with his nature,
-all these are described in the Bible as effected by baptism already.
It is something past and done, and the subsequent struggle, for struggle there must be, is to defend what we have received, to recover
ourselves from falling from the high estate in which we have been
placed."-Sewell's Christian Morals, p. 211.
The sermon of Bishop McCoskry, on the celebration of the Jubilee
of "the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts,"
derives additional importance from the occasion of its delivery. It
contains a very unequivocal and thorough-going enunciation of the
extreme theory of Baptismal Regeneration. God " has given his own
Son to be the head of a new family on the earth, the descendants of
which are bound together by stronger ties than blood. They are, in
the higher sense, brethren. They are connected through the Son of
God. It becomes an important matter to inquire, in what manner
are we admitted into this family, and thus made brethren? It is'by
baptism. This is the initiatory rite. No amount of personal holiness,
(if it can be ever acquired out of this family,) or inward experiences,
or raptures, can make us members of the Church of Christ. We must
enter through the door which its Divine Head has opened, and we
must enter by receiving, from those whom he has constituted, as his
earthly representatives, the right to enter, and this right, we have
observed, is baptism. In this ordinance every child is made a new
creature in Christ Jesus. They are born again, both of water and of
the Spirit. For this great, this mighty, this heavenly work, there are
no, qualifications required; and to guard against failures, the Spirit of
God is given to every child in baptism, without any exception, not
only to begin, but to carry on and complete the great work of their
salvation. The relationship thus created will remain. It never can
be shaken off in this world; however unworthy the members of this
family may become, they will still remain the children of God.
"In adults, the terms are different. There is actual sin in connection




REGENERATION.                        23
the Bishops of Exeter and Ripon the control of the
Church, hard indeed would be the condition of those
who can not, with a good conscience, assent to this
extravagant assumption.   A   large portion of the
Church of England, and of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in the United  States, feel bound to deny its
truth, and to protest against it as false, unproved by
Scripture, and eminently dangerous.
The object of the present Tract is to examine this
tenet; and to subject it to the test:
I. Of the Word of God;
II. Of observation and experience;
III. Of the Articles,  Homilies, and  Offices of the
Protestant Episcopal CIhurch.
with the sad inheritance of a fallen nature. Hence,Y there must be
previous qualifications, and these are repentance, faith, and obedience,
or, in other words, conversion. But this is not regeneration, or the
new birth."  See Sermon by Bishop McCoskry, and Appendix, C., p.
39, of Bishop De Lancey's Report of the Mission to the Jubilee.
"One may then define regeneration to be that act whereby God
takes us out of our relation to Adam, and makes us actual members
of his Son, and so his sons, as being members of his ever-blessed Son,
and if sons, then heirs of God through Christ. This is our new birth,
an actual birth of God, of water and the Spirit, as we were actually
born of our natural parents; herein then also are we justified, or both
accounted and made righteous, since we are made members of Him
who is alone righteous; freed from past sin, whether original or
actual; having a new principle of life imparted to us, since having
been made members of Christ we have a portion of his life, or of him
who is our life..... The view then here held of Baptism, following
the ancient Church and our own, is that we be engrafted into Christ,
and thereby receive a principle of life, afterwards to be developed and
enlarged by the fuller influxes of his grace."-Dr. Pusey, Tracts for
the Times, vol. 2, p. 24.




24          THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
I. THE  TRACTARIAN  DOCTRINE  OF BAPTISMAL
REGENERATION TESTED BY THE WORD OF GOD.
The texts most relied on by its advocates are
John 3: 5, 6, and Titus 3: 5.  The former first
claims our attention. "Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the
kingdom of God."  " That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
To be born of water is assumed at once to mean
Baptism.  It is then argued that our Saviour speaks
of- but one new birth, and hence that whosoever is
baptized is born both of water and of the Spirit, and
that when born of water in the sacrament, he is also,
ex necessitate, born of the Holy Ghost, and made a
new creature in Christ Jesus.
Granting that being born of water is to be literally
understood, and denotes the sacrament of baptism,*
it is a most unwarrantable assumption to deduce
therefrom the certainty that every baptized person
is born again of the Spirit. If our Lord introduces
here an allusion to baptism, he refers to it as an
emblem of the spiritual new birth, an outward visible
exhibition of that which must take place in the souls
of his people.  But what is the point, the object of
* This interpretation has the sanction of antiquity, and appears to
be favored by. our Church in the baptismal office. A passage remarkably parallel, however, Matt. 3: 11, "He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire," would seem to favor the figurative interpretation of the word water, as indicative of the cleansing and purifying influence of the. Spirit upon the heart. Compare also Ezekiel
36: 25-27.




JOHxN 3.                25
this conversation? Is it to impress upon the mind
of a Jewish Rabbi the indispensable necessity of an
outward rite, or of inward holiness? Let us take
into consideration the usual character of these men.
How prone were they to exaggerate external observances! How greatly, in thein overweening estimate
of the ceremonial and ritual, had they lost sight of
what was spiritual and holy! Such an one, coming
to Christ for instruction in the great things of his
kingdom, is emphatically assured that to see, to
enjoy, or to enter that kingdom, " a man must be
born again."  There would be a marvellous descent
from the beginning to the close of our Lord's address,
one wholly opposed to his usual style, if all that our
Lord meant was, that to enter his visible Church, a
man must be baptized. (Hobart's Works, Vol. II.
p. 456.) Or if we understood him with the Tractarian as testifying, " In order to be true subjects of
my kingdom and enjoy its eternal blessings, you
must receive the sacrament of baptism, in which, of
course, your soul will be new-created by the Holy
Spirit, your unholiness purged, and yori sins forgiven."
Surely, here is presented to the inquiring Jew a
degree of virtue and efficacy in an outward rite,;which Scribes and Pharisees never surpassed in their
exaggeration of the Mosaic ceremonies. If this be
our Lord's meaning, why is Nicodemus reproved for
his want of acquaintance with the nature and blessings of this new ordinance? What opportunity had
he enjoyed, as " a master of Israel," of knowing the
2




26        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
importance and efficacy of Christian baptism? This,
we may reasonably suppose, was the first time the
Gospel had been unfolded to him. If our Saviour
meant to convey the idea that his kingdom must be
entered by a new rite, the application of water, with
a certain form of words, and that the reception of
this rite was to be' of course accompanied with such
a spiritual blessing that the recipient became a child
of God and an heir of his kingdom, this need not so
much surprise and startle him, for it was very much
what the Scribes taught concerning circumcision.
The difference between them and Jesus would then
consist in little else than the substitution of baptism
for circumcision. If, as some learned men tell us,
the Jews at that period admitted proselytes from
among the Gentiles by a water baptism, and called
such proselytes new born, this custom must have been
familiar to the Rabbi, and what was there then in
Christ's address to occasion his evident astonishment
and perplexity?  The expressions of Nicodemus
indicate a mind startled by some new and amazing
proposition. Yet the truth which had thus affected
and surprised him was one, our Saviour assures
him, which ought to have been familiar to his mind,
as a master of Israel. Would our Saviour speak
thus of any truth which was not plainly taught in
the Old-Testament Scriptures?  Would he, who
was so constantly and severely reproving the Jews
of his day for neglecting and forsaking the word of
God, and rendering it of none effect by their traditions, would he have drawn his language and illus



.JOHN 3.                 27
trations from modern Rabbinic usage, and rebuked
Nicodemus for his ignorance thereof? Either of
these interpretations is plainly derogatory to our
Saviour's character, and contradictory to the whole
tenor of his teaching.  But the doctrine of the
necessity of a moral and spiritual change to fit sinful
man for the favor, presence, and enjoyment of God,
was one, however, overlooked by the Jews at that
time, which was plainly taught in their own Scriptures. This change from sin to holiness was represented in the Old Testament as something not
necessarily included in their outward rites, but as
being the substance which they shadowed out.
(Deut. 30  6; Ps. 51; Isa. 1: 11-18; Jer. 31: 33;
Ezek. 11: 19; 18: 31; 36: 25-27.)  The devout
student of the Psalms and Prophets could not fail to
find it there. -And the universal corruption of the
nation was imputable to the ignorance of their professed guides and teachers of this and similar great
verities.
The main thing, therefore, which our Saviour
proposed to the inquiring Rabbi, was the indispensableness, to the enjoyment of his spiritual and eternal
kingdom, of a new creation of the depraved and sinloving soul. Upon this necessity he insisted as of
universal application, and his whole demeanor and
language are perfectly consistent with the magnitude
and importance of his theme. If in his mention of
water in connection with this new birth, he refers to
the sacrament of baptism, he does so incidentally,
inasmuch as the rite, which he had adopted for




THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
entrance into his visible Church, was designedly
emblematic of the inward cleansing of the soul. In
this view, the allusion is obviously appropriate.
" Just as the proselyte to my religion is to be admitted
into the company of my disciples by a sacramental
ablution, so must every one, who shall here enjoy
the first fruits, and hereafter fully inherit my salvation, be inwardly cleansed and purified by the Holy
Ghost, and receive through its transforming energy
a new nature." Our Saviour accordingly goes on to
contrast the carnal nature and disposition of the
unregenerate, with the spiritual capacities and character of those who have experienced this new birth.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh"; the
natural man is unholy, sinful, and sensual.  "That
which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The new man
is spiritually minded, and partakes of the holy tendencies of the Divine Regenerator.  This doctrine
ought not, continues our Lord, to excite your astonishment and surprise, for the presence of a Holy
God, and the enjoyment of a holy kingdom, require
a holy nature on the part of man. The new birth is
to you in many respects inscrutable, for the Spirit,
like the wind, "bloweth where it listeth." Its secret
operation is beyond your control, or observation, or
cognizance, while yet the effects are perceptible and
observable.  "You hear the sound thereof, but
can not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth."
But if the new-creating Spirit accompany, as a matter
of course, every ministration of the baptismal rite,
then, so far from resembling the wind, which bloweth




JOHN  1 AND 3.                    29
where it listeth, the Spirit is brought within the con
trol, direction, and disposal of man. For man has it
in his power to give or to withhold the baptismal
rite. The reception of it in the case of infants depends upon the will of parents and sponsors, and of
the officiating minister.  And in this connection we
can not but refer to John 1: 12, 13, "' The sons of
God" are " born again, not of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God."  But if all the
baptized are ipsofacto born again, and made the sons
of God, are they not born of the will of man? Their
new birth depended, in the case of adults, on their
own will, and in both adults and infants on the will
of the dispenser of the ordinance.*  Thus in direct
contradiction to these emphatic assertions of Scripture, the dogma of the inseparable connection of
spiritual regeneration with- baptism makes man the
dispenser of the Holy Ghost, and renders the new
birth of the sons of God dependent on the will or
caprice of a fellow-sinner. On the theory of inseparable baptismal regeneration, the blessed Trinity
have so fettered and bound themselves, that they
can not renew  a soul in holiness until the priest
ministers the baptismal ablution.  Surely a consequence so replete with irreverence and blasphemy,
* Suppose, as in the case on Pitcairn's Island, in the midst of the
Pacific Ocean, but a single ordained minister accessible to a community. On this interpretation of John 3, connected with the usually
concomitant theory of the sole validity of sacerdotal baptism,'tle
priest has under his control the salvation of the whole people. They
can only be born againpf his will.




30           THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
ought to make men cautious in embracing a theological system which inevitably issues in it.*
Our Saviour pursues farther the discourse with
Nicodemus, but not one syllable more do we hear on
the subject of baptism.  But, let it be noted, we do
hear very much of salvation by faith in him.  " As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
eternal life." Are we not at liberty, are we not bound
by fair interpretation, to consider our Lord's subsequent language as connected with, and illustrative of,
his previous affirmation? His subsequent words
contain  no  allusion whatever to water or baptism,
and in no way harmonize with the interpretation
which makes- baptismal regeneration the key-note of
his discourse. But they do most perfectly harmonize with the opposite view, which makes the moral
* In perfect consistency with this arrogation to man of the power
of dispensing the Divine Spirit, we find the following very exceptionable language occurring in a Tract which advocates this theory of
Baptismal Regeneration. "As finally, we believe that from their
first birth, they belong to human-kind, contain in themselves the germs
of its distinctive character, and share mysteriously in its sin and woe,
so we believe that, even at that unconscious age, WE CAN MA:KE THEM
CERISTIANS BY A SECOND BIRTH, can impart to them in germ that
sacred gift, which, duly tended and.fostered, will counteract the poison
of their nature, and transform them into the image of God. It is ouR
PRIVILEGE, through the benefit of their second, to anticipate the
growing evils that result from their first birth, and overcome them
with good."-Tract No. 171. —Protestant Episcopal Tract Society,
New-York.




JOHIN 3.                  31
and spiritual change, irrespective of outward rites,
his great topic.
In verses 3-8 he testifies the necessity to salvation
of a new birth bythe Spirit. In verses 14-18, he
declares that the manner of salvation is, through
faith, directed towards himself, faith which might be
compared to the gaze of the dying Israelite upon the
serpent of brass. He affirms, most explicitly, the
salvation of every sincere believer, and the condemnation of every unbeliever, and this without any
reference whatever to any outward ordinance or
observance. And the tenor of this discourse is also
in perfect harmony with the passage just cited,
John 1: 12, 13, where, while the privilege of being
sons of God by a new birth is declared to be the
free gift of God, not dependent on the will of
man, yet is it also assured to all that believe on the
name of Christ.  The two passages taken together
present this new birth in inseparable union with
faith. We can not but gather from them that the believer is regenerate; that the unbeliever is unregenerate;
for as the new birth is indispensable to entrance into
God's kingdom, so is faith in Jesus indispensable to
salvation. And inasmuch as St. John testifies that
the Saviour gave to such as believed on his name
power to become the sons of God, he virtually denies this privilege to all others.
Compare also John 5: 24; 1 John 5: 1.
Aside, then, from the general testimony of Scripture, the fair interpretation of the first and third
chapters of St. John's gospel is not consistent with




32         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
the dogma that is attempted to be extorted from the
single expression, " Except a man be born of water."
And if our Saviour here introduces the necessity of
an outward profession of his religion, in connection
with an experience of its transforming power, as in
Mark 16: 16, "IHe that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved," it would no more follow that regeneration is inseparable from baptism in the one case,
than that faith is inseparable therefrom in the other.
The utmost that can be justly inferred is, that God
requires both.  That the requirement in the one
case is absolute, but not in the other, is further evident from the concluding words, "He that believeth
not shall be damned." But no such awful penalty
is annexed to the absence of baptism.
There is not the least difficulty in harmonizing
with the above interpretation, Titus 3: 5, "H e saved
us by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing
of the Holy Ghost."  Many commentators of note
refer the former clause to baptism, and some prefer
to render it " the laver of regeneration." Admitting
this sense, the sacramental emblem is presented in
connection with the spiritual change. But how is
it that it saves us?  Let St. Peter answer: "The like
figure whereunto, even baptism, doth also now save
us, (not the pputting away of the filth of the flesh, but the
answer of a good conscience towards God,) by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. 3: 21.*
* Note, moreover, that the Apostle denies salvation to " works of
righteousness which we have done," and attributes it, in contrast with
such works, to the mercy of God, extended through the washing of




EPH. 5: 25-27.                       33
But while the passage presents no difficulty, if we
understand;ovTpov to signify the baptismal washing
or laver, another interpretation suits better the parallelism between the two clauses of the sentence, so
marked a feature of Scripture style. " The washing
of regeneration, and the renewing of the Hlol&
Ghost."  In  the latter clause, the Holy Ghost is the
efficient cause, the renewing the effect.  The usage
of parallelism  would require us to regard the regenev'ation as the cause the washing as the effect, in the
corresponding clause. Then the phrase here must
be understood, not of the sacrament, but of spiritual
regeneration, washing, and cleansing the soul.  Another washing than that of water would then be
meant.
EPiH. 5: 25-27.
In this passage is evidently contemplated the complete sanctification  and glorious presentation of the
regeneration, etc. Are not sacramental observances to be reckoned
among the works of righteousness, or good actions of the Christian?
For his own baptism by John, the Saviour gave as the reason, "Thus
it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness." No actions connected with
religion can be indifferent.  Performed as God requires, they are
works of righteousness. If not so performed, they are sins. The
Apostle has evidently in his mind the highest attainments of Christian holiness, for this gives force and emphasis to his denial. Either,
then, the baptism of a sincere penitent is not a work of righteousness, an acceptable and holy act on his part, or the washing of regeneration here does not intend -baptism. For what is just before denied to the works of righteousness, is affirmed of the washing of
regeneration. Of course, the best actions of the Christian are devoid
of merit, and are only acceptable through the mediation of Christ.
2*




34        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
Bride of Christ to her Divine Spouse. The Church
here spoken of is "the mystical body" of Christ,
" the blessed company of all faithful people,"* "the
general assembly and Church of the first-born, whose
names are written in heaven."  The cleansing of
this sanctified body is an ablution of which the Word,
not the sacrament of baptism is the instrument. As
this washing is effectual, not only to the cleansing of
the Bride of Christ, but to present her a glorious and
immaculate Church to her Lord, which will be accomplished at the marriage supper of the Lamb, we
must admit the final salvation of all to whom it is
applied. The strenuous advocates for baptismal
regeneration are hardly prepared yet to maintain the
universal salvation of the baptized, however their
doctrine may gravitate in that direction.
ACTS 22: 16.
"And now, why tarriest thou? Arise, and be
baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the
name of the Lord."
We have already remarked, among the inferences
from Scripture, that baptism was the appointed public pledge and seal of forgiveness to the penitent
believer. Thus is he "baptized for the remission of
sins," professing his penitence and renunciation of
sin, and his faith in the pardoning mercy of God
* Collect for All-Saints' Day, and prayer in Post-Communion service.




ACTS 22: 16.               85
through Christ. Thus before men and angels, the
baptized person, giving " the answer of a good conscience," may be said to wash away his sins. But
shall we gather from the text that St. Paul's sins
were not forgiven by God until the moment of his
baptism? If so, he expresses himself very strangely
in the Epistle to the Romans, ch. 4. If he knew
himself to be justified in and by baptism, it is inconceivable that he should be so solicitous to prove that
all Christians are justified by faith alone, and espe-cially that he should write as he did concerning the
parallel ordinance of circumcision, and take such
pains to prove that "Abraham's faith was reckoned
unto him for righteousness, not in circumcision, but
in uncircumcision,!' and that "he received the sign
of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the
faith which he had yet, being uncircumcised: That
he might be the father of all them that believe,
though they be not circumcised, that righteousness
might be imputed unto them also." Circumcision
was, as well as baptism, the sign of spiritual regeneration, and the seal of the righteousness of faith.
Yet the Apostle considers it very important to his
exhibition of the grace of the Gospel, to impress
upon his readers that the thing signified in the case
of Abraham preceded the sign. He had the grace
before the ordinance. His faith was counted for
righteousness, that is, he was justified before God,
previously to his circumcision. And in this he was the
father, the example, the pattern of future believers,
Gentiles as well as Jews. Now, if the Apostle's




36        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
reasoning did not apply under the new dispensation,
as, well as the old, to baptism as well as circumcision,
it would be wholly irrelevant. He is certainly speaking of the justification of Christians, and in so doing,
he argues that justification by faith, instead of being
a new doctrine, was from the beginning. Is it possible that St. Paul, while insisting so strongly upon
this great truth, and proving that Abraham was justified not in, or by virtue of, or at the time of his
circumcision, but previously thereto, even as soon as
he exercised genuine faith, knew all the while that
he himself was not justified until the very moment
of his baptism; that God's pardoning mercy was
suspended in his own case until the sacramental
washing; that he continued in his sing up to the instant of his baptismal regeneration? Such a fact,
if fact it was, nullifies the whole of his reasoning
from the example of Abraham, and renders that
example altogether inapplicable to his Christian
readers. The mention of it in this connection could
only mislead and deceive them. What modern
advocate of Baptismal Justification, reasoning thereupon, would take pains to show that the father of
the faithful was as truly and fully justified before his
circumcision, as he was after? Aside, therefore,
from other obvious objections to the meaning which
is attempted to be put upon Acts 22: 16, the Apostle's own statements and reasonings in Romans 4,
decisively refute it, Unless he knew himself justified before his baptism-and justification includes
forgiveness-he could not, with a good. conscience,




TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE.            37
have penned his exposition of that great doctrine of
justification by faith in the Epistle to the Romans.
When Ananias invited him to baptism, Paul was
already blessed with the pardon, which was to be
thus publicly and solemnly signed and sealed; and
Ananias accordingly addresses him before his baptism
as a brother.
Nothing is more common and natural, in addressing a body of men, than to take them to be what
they profess to be, and to appeal to them by motives
drawn from this profession. Such motives they
can not gainsay or evade, but by discrediting their
own solemn act. The Apostles, in addressing Christian churches, act upon this reasonable and prevalent
principle.  The converts to whom their epistles were
written, had made a profession of their sincere repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and this at a time
when such an act exposed them to injury, contempt,
and persecution. This profession was made in their
baptism. We might expect to find the Apostles frequently reminding them of this solemn transaction,
urging them with its whole weight of meaning, and
appealing to them as really possessed of the spiritual
qualifications demanded for that rite, and the spiritual blessings promised. Such is the easy, obvious
import of such passages as Romans d6: 3, 4; Gal.
3:'27,* and Col. 2: 12, wherein Baptism is introduced
* In Gal. 3: 26-29, the Apostle is showing the equality of all that
are in Christ, and denying any superiority to the Jew over the Gentile. "Ye are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus."




38         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
in connection with the privileges, hopes, and duties
of Christians. As the faith which united the soul
to Christ, and made it partaker of his grace, was
avowed in this ordinance, the Apostles very naturally address their baptized converts as sincere believers. in a state of grace and acceptance, and urge
upon them the'Christian obligations which they had
publicly and voluntarily assumed. But, in so doing,
they frequently interpose cautions against putting
undue confidence in their outward privileges, and
call them to faithful scrutiny of the heart and conduct.
But while all the texts on which the advocate for
the inseparable connection of spiritual regeneration
with baptism relies for scripture proof, are susceptible
of a very natural and unconstrained explanation
upon the evangelical view, that baptism is the sacra.
mental sign and seal of regeneration, there are many
passages that can not be harmonized, upon any fair
principles of interpretation, with the former opinion,
and which teach a doctrine plainly contrary thereto.
To John 1: 12, 13, and John 3, I have already adverted. All the spiritual blessings attributed to baptism are in other places clearly ascribed to faith, to
prayer, and to the word of God as the instrument.
The maintainers of the dogma against which we
protest assert that spiritual life is only communicated
in baptism.
" For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ."
" There is neither Jew nor Greek," etc.




TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE.          39
Saith our Lord Jesus Christ, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed
from death unto life."* And St. John, "But these
are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God: and that believing ye might
have life through his name."t  "To whom coming,"
saith St. Peter, "as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious, ye
also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood," etc. 1 Peter 2: 5, 6. The component parts, therefore, of this spiritual house are
quickened, made living stones by coming to the
chosen corner-stone-coming, that is, in faith.
They affirm that the Holy Ghost is ex opere operato,
given in baptism.
Saith our Lord,- "If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as
the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. But this spake he of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive,
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that
Jesus was not yet glorified.":  "If ye, then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"~
It was announced as the peculiar prerogative of
our Saviour that he should "baptize with the Holy
* John 5: 24.          1 John 20: 31.
4 John 1: 37-39.       ~ Luke 11: 13.




40         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
Ghost."  Has he made over this right to any mortal
plenipotentiary?  If so, when and in what terms?
Until we have plain warrant for the stupendous
grant, we must believe that the Lord retains, as head
over all things to his Church, this divine prerogative.
St. Paul asks, "This only would I learn of you,
Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or
by the hearing of faith.?"  "That the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ; that we might receive the promise of the
Spirit through faith."*
The purifying of the heart they attribute to baptism. Saith St. Peter, "God bare them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto
us: and put no difference between us and them,
purifying their heartsby faith."t
They say that baptism washes away sins. The
forgiveness of sins is part of our justification. It
would be superfluous to cite the numerous texts
which establish the doctrine of justification by faith
alone. Neither is it in the mouth of a member of
the Protestant Episcopal Church to deny it, without
the grossest inconsistency with his own standards.
But if justified by faith alone, then are our sins forgiven when we turn to God through Christ in faith,
and not before.
If it be urged that St. Peter exhorted the converts at
Pentecost to be "baptized for the remission of sins,"::
* Gal. 3:2, 14.        t Acts 15: 8, 9.: Collect for All-Saints' Day, and prayer in Post Communion Service.




TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE.           41
so was the baptism of John for the remission of sins.*
Were all baptized by John spiritually regenerated?
If so, why were his disciples rebaptized?t
It is not baptismal water, but the blood of Christ,
which washes away our sins,4 and the application
of that blood to our souls is by faith.
Baptism, it is said, makes us children of God.
This is granted in one sense, inasmuch as it brings
us into covenant with our Father in Heaven.  So
Israel, as a people, was God's son. But in the truest
sense, we are made the children of God by faith in
Jesus Christ. "But as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name: which were born
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God."~ "For he is not a Jew
which. is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which
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."ll
The proof of sonship is the spirit of adoption in
the heart, and a walk after the Spirit.  "For as
many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the
sons of God."~
Again, baptism is represented as the exclusive
means of our union with Christ.
Such is not the teaching of the Saviour himself:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man
* Mark 1: 4.   t Acts 19: 5.    i 1 John 1: 7.
~ Johh 1: 12, 13.  11 Rom. 2: 28, 29.  ~[ Rom. 8: 14, 15.




42        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to
him, and will sup with him and he with me."*  Nor
of St. Paul; "That He would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with
might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith."t Nor of St.
John: "And he that keepeth his commandments
dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we
know that he abideth in us, by the spirit which he
hath-given us."$
Our Saviour's words in John 6: 56, "He that
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in
me, and I in him," are applied by the Church of
Rome to the Eucharist; by Protestants almost universally to faith. In arguing with Protestants we
may reasonably rely on this text to prove that union
with Christ is the result not of baptism, but of.faith.
Baptism is sometimes represented as the instrument or title of our resurrection to eternal life.
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the
life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth, and believeth
in me, shall never die."~
Without undertaking to limit the sovereign grace
of God, or denying that he may new create the soul
of an infant at the very moment of baptism, from
Scripture testimony it is plain that the ordinary instrument of regeneration is not the sacrament, but the
word.
* Rev. 3:20.         t Eph. 3:16, 17.
4 1 John 3: 24.      ~ John 11: 25, 26.




TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE.         43
The following are decisive texts.
John 17: 17. "Sanctify them through thy truth;
thy word is truth."
2 Peter 1:4. "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these
ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust."
Participation in the divine nature is certainly regeneration. This is effected through the great and
precious promises of the Gospel. How are promises
to produce this effect in us but by being believed;
that is, we become partakers of the Divine nature
through faith in the promises; and so the Apostle
continues —"Add to your faith, virtue."
James 1: 18. "Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth."
1 Peter 1: 22, 23. "Seeing ye have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto
unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one
another with a pure heart, fervently: being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible,
by the word of God which liveth and abideth for
ever."
1 Cor. 4: 15. St. Paul tells the Corinthians,
"Though ye have ten thousand instructors in
Christ, yet have ye not many Fathers; for in Christ
Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel."
If the Corinthians were born again in baptism, we
should gather, of course, from these words, that the
Apostle meant to say that he had administered to




44        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
them this sacrament. But in chapter 1: 14, 17, he
tells them, "I thank God that I baptized none of
you but Crispus and Gaius; lest any should say that
I had baptized in mine own name." "For Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel."
Could St. Paul have thus expressed himself if he
considered the spiritual new birth inseparable from
baptism?  iis words can only be explained by the
supposition that the Corinthians were regenerated
through his preaching unto them  CGhrist crucified.
And from this passage we may gather also St.
Paul's estimate of the comparative importance of
the word and the sacraments in the economy of the
Gospel. If spiritual life is only or chiefly communicated and sustained through the sacraments, then
the sacramental functions of the Ministry are immeasurably the most important; and the proclamation of divine truths and promises is of very inferior
moment.  And this is the undeniable effect of
Romish and Oxford theology. Every thing tends to
aggrandize the sacramental functionary, and to disparage the preacher. A thorough Tractarian could
never bring himself to write as the Apostle did in
this Epistle. But St. Paul knew not this sacramental
regeneration and justification, or knew it only to
condemn its essential principles as they were advanced by the Judaizing teachers of his day. While
he doubtless regarded every part of the Evangelic
system, its rites, as well as its doctrine~,.with entire
reverence, and rated each at its just point in the
seale, he evidently judged his office as a preacher of




TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE.         45
the cross by far the most important entrusted to him,
and in this he preeminently gloried. Not as a baptizer, but as a preacher of the unsearchable riches of
Christ, he had begotten the Corinthians in the Gospel.
Romans 10: 13, 14, implies the same truth. " For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom
they have not believed? and how shall they believe
in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall
they hear without a preacher?"'
There the steps in the way of life are recounted,
and conjoined-Salvation with prayer, prayer with
faith, faith with the preached word, the word with
the ministry, the ministry with the mission.
The frequent warnings in the New Testament
against the tendency to substitute formal compliances
for genuine holiness have an important bearing on
this question; for such warnings certainly imply that
the grace is not inseparable from the sign. Gal. 5: 6.'For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which
worketh by love." Note particularly 1 Cor. 10: 1-5,
compared with verse 11, "and these things are writted for our admonition.'
The whole congregation of Israel were baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and the sea, ate the same
spiritual (sacramental) meat, and drank the same
spiritual drink; yet with many of them God was
not pleased. How can this be an admonition to
Christians, except as warning them that, in spite of
participation in the ordinances of Christ, they may




46         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
still be subject to divine displeasure, and also
perish?
The allegation that the spiritual new birth is inseparable from baptism is also disproved: 1. By
scriptural examples of persons regenerate without
baptism; 2. By scriptural examples of persons unregenerate after baptism.
The penitent thief was undoubtedly regenerated,
or he could not have entered Paradise. Cornelius
must have been, before his baptism, a regenerate
person. It is hard to believe that the Roman centurion, (Matt. 8: 10,) whose faith exceeded all that
the Saviour had found in Israel, or the pardoned
weeper, (Luke 7: 47,) or the Syro-Phocenician woman,
were unregenerate persons.
Then, as a proof that every one born of water is
not also born of the Spirit, we have the notorious
example of Simon Magus, (Acts 8.)
There is a manifest, and I think insuperable difficulty, presented by the case of holy men who lived
before the coming of Christ, to this theory of inseparable baptismal regeneration. How could they be
saved without regeneration? As the language of
John 3: 3, 6, is without limitation or exception,
those who deduce from it the necessary union of
baptism and regeneration have no right to interpose
any qualification of their own.  Pious Israelites
before the institution of Christian baptism, could
not, on their theory, be regenerate, and, unless
regenerate, we insist, they could not enter the kingdom of God. If it be answered that the like blessing




TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE,          47
was conveyed under the old dispensation in circumcision, then they must admit the perfect application
to baptism of St. Paul's assertion respecting the
inefficacy of circumcision without a new creation,
and this admission is fatal to their theory. And
they must farther explain why circumcised persons,
if already regenerate, were baptized at all, for there
is but one new birth. The assertion is positively
made, in the Tract before referred to, (No. 171
N. Y. Tract Society,) that " Regeneration was delayed
till the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh." " There
had never been a birth of the Spirit."  "One great
misconception on the subject of regeneration has
been the supposing it a grace known to the sons of
men before the Gospel dispensation." The servants
of God under the old dispensation, then, were never
made his children by spiritual regeneration. They
entered the kingdom of God without being born
again; "for many shall come from the east and from
the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven."* Thus we
are brought to a downright contradiction of our
Saviour's words in John 3: 3, "Except a man be
born again, he can not see the'kingdom of God."
The Scriptures make the fruits of the Spirit the
only infallible sign of spiritual regeneration.
Gal. 5: 22-25; 1 John, throughout.
Matt. 7: 17-20.
"In this the children of God are manifest, and the
* Matt. 8: 11.




48         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
children of the devil-whosoever doeth not righteous.
ness is not of God." 1 John 3: 10.
1 Peter 3: 21, is a positive assertion that the
baptism which saves us is not the external rite, but
"the answer of a good conscience towards God."
The baptized person, therefore, who is really advantaged by the rite, is one who is able, with a good
conscience, to make the profession of repentance and
faith, and the promise of obedience which.are then
required. But in order to do this sincerely, he must
be already "transformed by the renewing of the
mind," his understanding enlightened, his will brought
into submission to the will of God, and his desires
enkindled after holiness and heaven. It would seem
as if, in this passage, the Holy Spirit designed to
rebuke the very error which became in later ages so
prevalent and pernicious, the substitution of the form
of godliness for the power. The advocate of baptismal regeneration reads the beginning of this passage
with joy and triumph. "Baptism doth also now
save us."  This is just his theory. But hold! St.
Peter has not finished the sentence-" Not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a
good conscience towards God." Not the outward
ablution, but the sincerity of the profession, the
spiritual disposition, the new and contrite heart,
willingly yielding itself to the service of God.
This denial is a death-blow to his theory. For
the outward washing includes, he has maintained,
the internal change and the complete blessing.




TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE.         49
II. THE THEORY OF INSEPARABLE BAPTISMAL
GRACE TESTED BY OBSERVATION AND EXPERIENCE.
Against this test its advocates strongly object.
With them it is reckoned commendable faith to
reject all such appeals. The more opposed their
theory is to what we witness, to the testimony of
our senses, the more room, according to them, for
the exercise of faith. In this, as in some other points,
there is a marked resemblance between them  and
the supporters of the dogma of transubstantiation.
In either case, we are urged with the duty of unquestioning, implicit belief, and are warned against the
presumption of attempting curiously to pry into the
operations of God's Spirit.
But the distinction we must maintain to be clear
and marked between the humble, reverent submission of faith to what God has revealed, and the prostration of the intellect in blind credulity to what man
has superadded. The demands of the Scripture upon
our faith are perfectly consistent with the exercise
of our judgments, and the evidence of our senses.
The service to which God calls us is truly a " reasonable service." There are doctrines, indeed, which
*exceed the capacity of the human, perhaps of the
angelic intellect to grasp and fathom, which, being
sufficiently attested as parts of a Divine revelation,
it is our bounden duty to receive without cavil or
doubt. These doctrines are not against reason, biot
above it. But matters of fact may be within the
cognizance of those faculties wherewith God hath
endowed us. And in regalrd to themn experienqe;is
3




50         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
never at variance with Scripture. Our Lord and his
Apostles did not require men to believe in their
miracles barely upon their word, but placed them
before their senses, so that they could satisfy themselves of their reality. And truths of his religion
meant to have practical influence, are never at variance with the testimony of experience. Christ calls
himself " the light of the world"; and we find it an
undeniable fact that those parts of the world in
which his Gospel is known and received in its
purity, are, as to their intellectual, moral, and
religious state, in light, compared with other portions
of the globe. He foretold, in the parable of the
Sower, the different reception of his word by different classes of hearers; in that of the tares in the
field, the mixed condition of his visible Church:
and past history and the actual reality abundantly
confirm  the predictions.  Let the distinction be
carefully noted between doctrine and existing fact,
and it will greatly help to disembarrass this subject.
Doctrine really contained in Scripture we are bound
to receive in humble, unquestioning faith. Alleged
fact we may examine and inquire into; and if such
it be, fair, candid, and searching inquiry will confirm and establish it. That all men are by nature
corrupt and fallen, is at once a revealed doctrine and
ascertainable fact. And the more closely the fact is
examined into, the more clearly is the doctrine vindicated. But if the Bible should affirm that the skin
of the Ethiopian was white, and that of the European
black, here would be a statement not of religious




TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE.          51
doctrine but of fact, and when it was found contrary
to the evidence of our senses, and to the common
experience of mankind, with all our reverence for
Scripture, we could not believe it. We could not,
however reluctantly, but admit the testimony of our
senses. Now, facts in morals are not as palpable to
sense as in physics, but they are just as real, and as
capable of ascertainment by the appropriate means.
And the Scriptures, so far from discouraging, constantly appeal to this proof. To shut our eyes to
such evidence, may expose us to be led blindfold in
the path of error, or render us blind leaders of the
blind, but is no proof of reverence or faith. Our
Lord, for instance, warns his disciples, "Beware of
false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall
know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes
of thorns, or figs of thistles?"  Here our Saviour
directs his people to exercise their own observation
and discernment respecting religious teachers. And
he gives them a test whereby to discriminate between
the faithful and trust-worthy guide and the plausible
hypocrite; a test which he pronounces reliable and
sufficient.  Now, if a man surrender his reason and
judgment to his spiritual guide, and refuse to examine into the truth of his pretensions by the test to
which Christ hath directed, on the plea of exceeding
reverence for the sacred office, and distrust of his
own judgment, is his conduct that of reverential
faith, or of superstitious credulity? Is it any mark
of honor for the clergy to decline subjecting them to




52         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
the test which the Saviour required? Close scrutiny
may strip the sheep's clothing from the wolf, but it
will only increase the claims of the upright and
faithful to confidence and affection. Truth will
always abide the test of examination,'as gold comes
out the purer and brighter from the furnace.
Now, the alleged new creation of the soul of every
baptized infant, if it be so, is a fact, and a fact not
rare and occasional, but very frequent; and a fact
not far removed from our observation, but taking
place under our very eyes. On the theory which
we are considering, the fault and corruption of our
nature, the seminal principle of all the wickedness
that is in the world, is eradicated, or a new and more
powerful principle of holiness is implanted. If such
be indeed the case, we may expect to see the change
exemplified in the tempers, dispositions, and conduct
of baptized children. We may look for a marked
contrast between children who have been and who
have not been brought to the baptismal font. If the
latter are self-willed, stubborn, froward, undutiful,
averse to salutary restraint, to holy duties, to religious instructions, we may yet expect to see the
former docile and amiable, pure and dutiful, averse
from evil and inclined to good, manifesting an early
interest in heavenly things, and cherishing childlike
confidence and love toward their heavenly Father.
In their case we may anticipate that the religious
instructions imparted to them will be eagerly welcomed and truly followed. As their minds unfold,
and they grow in stature and knowledge, we may




TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE.                53
look to see them growing in grace, and in favor with
God and man. There are undeniable instances of
children manifesting pious dispositions at a very
early age. If all baptized children are temples of
the Holy Ghost, as we are assured,* then we may
reasonably look for such evidences of the Spirit's
presence and power. For we have our Saviour's
express word for it: "Make the tree good and his
fruit will be good, for the tree is known by his fruit."
But according to the advocate for Baptismal Regeneration, in the modern sense, the borrupt tree of our
human nature is made good invariably, (in the case
of infants,) at the baptismal font.  If this be so, our
Lord being witness, it will produce good fruit.
"' That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The
fruits of the Spirit are plainly described in Holy
Writ. Gal. 5: 22-24.
If the theory be correct, therefore, we shall have
the grateful evidence thereof before us. In our households, our schools, our churches, we shall have the
delightful task of training up holy children in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord. The difference between a family baptized, and one unbaptized,
will be like that between an Israelitish and an
Egyptian dwelling, when Egypt was smitten with
the ninth plague. Parents, teachers, and pastors
* "Born carnal, he has now a spiritual constitution, with spiritual
faculties, faculties which he could never have inherited by his first
birth, and whereby he can apprehend heavenly truth, and discern,
obey, and love the spiritual law." " This covenanted presence of the
Spirit in each baptized man is the only presence of the Spirit of which
we at all know in any man." Tract No. 171, pp. 14, 15.




54         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
will have constant opportunities of realizing the
happy and holy effects of Divine grace. And the
country where all are brought to the healing waters,
the abode of a nation of regenerate souls, will almost
correspond with the bright prophetic delineations of
that period, when " the knowledge of the Lord shall
cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."
Such expectations I maintain to be not extravagant or unwarranted, but such as we might reasonably
indulge from the Scriptural delineations of the great
change which the Holy Spirit effects in its subject.
" The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth."  " The new man, after God, is
created in righteousness and true holiness." One of
the chief causes of imperfect religion among regenerate adults is the previous growth of evil habits that
have become fixed and inveterate with years. But
this unfortunate fruit and effect of a corrupt nature,
if the theory we are considering be founded in truth,
will have been obviated and escaped by infant regeneration.
But we are answered that grace may be lost; that
there are cases of adults baptized upon their own
apparently sincere profession, who fall away; that
there is a neglect on the part of parents, etc., to cherish the implanted baptismal germ, and that "the
infection of our fallen nature doth remain, even in
the regenerate."
I am not disposed here to controvert the position
that grace may be irrecoverably lost, while, at the
same time, there is great reason for thinking that our




TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE.        55
Baptismal Service was framed by those who were of
a different opinion. But, in a world of sin and temptation, we have sad and frequent cases of deplorable
falls of those who once seemed to run well; and
whether they ever recover themselves or not, is beyond our knowledge. Since we can not pronounce
with infallible certainty, in our own case or another's,
whether we be really new creatures in Christ, or
whether, if we fall away, we shall ever be renewed
again unto repentance, it is our wisdom to fear and
deprecate any approach to declension and apostacy.
But are we to believe that, in the dispensation of the
Spirit, apostacy is the rule, and perseverance in grace
the exception? Of our baptized youth, how large
is the proportion who grow up from the cradle,
"blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without
rebuke, shining in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, as lights in the world?" Baptismal grace ought to show itself in early godliness.
Examples we occasionally meet with of children,
who, from the first developments of reason, give indications of unfeigned piety. There is no impossibility in such manifestations of youthful religion.
Why are they so rare? They ought to be the vast
majority of those dedicated to the Lord in his ordinance, particularly where the parents are pious, perhaps priests and baptizers. Conversion, even in
youth, is not the evidence which we require. The
godly parent, who has no belief whatever in the invariable regeneration of baptized children, labors
with and prays for his baptized offspring, reminds




5 6        THIE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
them of their solemn introduction into God's covenant, and pleads before God that transaction, and
his promise to be a God not only to his people, but
unto their children, and he receives at length a gracious answer in the conversion of his offspring. But
the change, even in the-youthful heart, is discoverable, the change from  selfishness, indifference, and
aversion to holy duties, to penitence, faith, and love.
That change the parent can not doubt is from above;
he may count it an answer to the prayers offered at
the baptismal dedication of his child to God, as well
as continually since; but he is fully persuaded that
it did not take place in baptism, but years after. A
period more or less extended, of folly and unholiness, intervened between the baptism of the child,
and his experience of the Spirit's power. I do most
devoutly believe that Infant Baptism, rightly appreciated, and followed bythat assiduous care and instruction which are promised by parents and sponsors, will ordinarily issue in youthful piety, and that
it is one great means, under the blessing of God, of
bringingour youth to the early knowledge and acceptance of the Saviour's grace.  But I am  equally
persuaded that this most desirable object will be hindered rather than promoted by unscriptural, exaggerated, and unreal exhibitions of the sacrament.
Similar means may be employed by parents holding
these widely different views of baptism. [But in the
one case, the child will be taught the necessity to
his salvation of a thorough and radical change, and
be encouraged to seek it from the Holy One, into




TESTIMONY  OF EXPERIENCE.                  57
whose covenant he hath  been  introduced, and be
made to feel himself guilty and endangered until his
heart be given to God. In the other case, he will
be naturally led to flatter himself that all is well, and
exhortations to improve his baptismal grace will be
comparatively cold and pointless.
The fact is not to be denied, even by the most
strenuous maintainers of Baptismal Regeneration,
that the large majority of those baptized in infancy
do not give any evidences of piety in childhood and
youth*-   But it is said, they were indeed spiritually
changed, but the grace which they then received has
been lost or forfeited.  The seed of grace is so insecurely  deposited, on this theory, that, as a general
thing, it is speedily lost. But the Scripture not only
declares, "Whosoever is born  of God sinneth not,"
but moreover adds," For his seed remaineth in him,
and he can not sin, because he is born of God."t  So
* "Blessed are they who cherish and improve their baptismal
grace, and by fulfilling their baptismal vows, preserve inviolate their
title, through the mercjr of God in Jesus Christ, to their baptismal
privileges. But, alas I this is not the case with the bulk of those
who were baptized in infancy. They have neglected their baptismal
vows, and forfeited their baptismal privileges."-Bishop gobart's
Works, ii. 489.
" Why is it that so many who, in baptism, were made the children
of light, live as the children of darkness? Why is it that so many
who, in baptism, were made the heirs of glory, live as if their portion
was a perishing world?  Why is it that so many who were marked
in baptism as the soldiers and servants of Jesus Christ, forsake this
Divine leader for the ranks of that rebellious host which the great
Adversary is leading to perdition?" —Ibid, ii. 501.
f 1 John 3: 9.
3*




58         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
that the "incorruptible seed," introduced by spiritual
regeneration, is not so weak and perishable a thing,
so easily up-rooted and withered. If we admit that
it may be utterly lost by long resistance of the Spirit, we can not, in the face of this plain declaration,
believe that it is ordinarily inefficacious and unfruitful.
The seed withers, we are told, because there is no
subsequent care and nurture. The baptized chilc
resists the holy tendency, and refuses to be led by
the indwelling Spirit. But is not one most important office of the Holy Spirit the changing and sanctifying of the will?  Thus, doth not God " order our
unruly wills and affections," that " we may love the
thing which He commands, and desire that which he
does promise"?  Doth not his grace prevent us "that
we may have a good will," as well as " work with us
when we have it?"  We require, as an evidence that
baptized children are spiritually and morally regenerate, the fruits of the Spirit. It is answered, they
have not been willing to cherish the holy principle
imparted to them at baptism. They were disinclined
to godliness. Aye, and why were they so disinclined?
Because "that which is born of the flesh is flesh,"
and they are still " in the flesh."  Had they been
new created by the Spirit, they would have been
willing to serve God and follow after holiness; for
one effect of the blessed Spirit is to change and subdue the perverse will.*
* See Collect in the "' Order of Confirmation."




TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE.         59
Observe, further, that before children arrive at an
age to be influenced by instruction or example, they
give evidences of a fallen nature. Evil passions,
such as anger, jealousy, envy, covetousness, and
stubbornness betray themselves in the infantile conduct. Ought there not to be a palpable contrast between the tempers and dispositions of the new-born
heirs of heaven, and of those who are yet " children
of wrath"? These rising passions and unholy tempers were not imbibed from companions or pernicious
examples. They are innate. They are evidences of
the real nature, as much as the claws of the tiger's
cub. And yet we are expected to believe that this
nature is now altogether changed, and is like unto
that of Adam before the Fall.
To evil examples and corrupting influences is
traced the want of holy dispositions and conduct in
so many of our baptized youth. But to what shall
we ascribe the tendency on their part to follow evil
examples, and yield to corrupting influences?  Why
are such children so much more easily drawn to
what is evil than to what is good? Is it not the
depravity of. our fallen nature that is so powerful an
auxiliary to what is pernicious, and such an obstacle
to what is holy? But could this be so, if that depravity had been overcome by the regenerating
Spirit? Would there not be manifested, in those
healed of the hereditary plague of sin, a strength of
holy principle that would not yield so readily to the
assault of temptation?
It is one of the characteristics of creative wisdom




60         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISMAT.
that its products are adapted to the condition and
circumstances into which they are to be introduced.
The animal and the plant are suited to the climate,
the means of subsistence, the soil, and other influences to which they will be subjected. God forms
them not in vain, nor launches them out into the
world devoid of hardihood, endurance, and aptness
to their lot. But what works of God are so precious
in his sight as regenerate souls, on which his own
holy image hath been restamped? And yet they are
ushered into a world of temptation and sin, on this
theory, with so much feebleness, imperfection, and
inability to resist the poison circulating around them,
that they die ere they can be ascertained to live.
Surely, such a hypothesis is most incongruous with
the infinite wisdom and goodness of the Almighty.
If the analogy of the natural birth be urged as a
reason why we may not expect that all should survive, surely the same analogy might lead us to the
conviction that the larger portion should withstand
the dangers to which they are exposed, and brightly
evidence their heavenly birth. And when to this
reasonable deduction from the works of God is added
his own explicit declaration that the Divine "seed
remaineth in him that is born of God," so that he
can not be a willful and habitual sinner, that expectation is strengthened into confidence.
The original infection of our fallen nature doth
remain indeed in the regenerate, but it remains not
as the controlling principle in their hearts. A new
and more powerful principle is at work there. "Sin




TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE.          61
shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not
under the law, but under grace."* And where the
whole temper and conduct breathe that carnal mind,
which is enmity against God, how can we really believe that corrupt principle to have been subdued
and transformed.
The advocates for the moral regeneration of all
baptized infants often impute the absence of those
effects which ought to result from it to the prevalent
unbelief on this subject. Baptized children do not
grow up pure and holy, because they are not
explicitly taught that they are God's regenerate
children. They are considered, and taught to consider themselves, as destitute of this new birth, and
thus it is supposed the aspirations of their souls after
God and holiness are discouraged and chilled, and
they live according to the lower standard of unsanctified nature. But if a new heart were really given
them in baptism, would it not so early manifest itself
as to convince and persuade the most skeptical?
The strong native bias of the child will make itself
perceived and felt. There is an exceeding variety
in the tastes, dispositions, capacities, and talents of
the young. Parental influence may be exerted to
encourage or repress the peculiar tendency, but the
parent can not well be ignorant of it. Now, if the cast
and bias of the mind show itself in every other
respect, whether it be encouraged by the parent or
not, how happens it that there is no manifestation of
*Rom. 6: 14.




62        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
the new and divine nature implanted by the Holy
Ghost? Surely, this ought to be the most obvious
of all qualities of the unfolding mind. The lovely
and attractive traits of youthful piety should expand
under the gentle breathings of the Spirit, like the
flowers of spring when the south wind blows softly.
And the most worldly-hearted or indifferent parent
should be constrained to notice the fair promise and
pleasant growth. Neither will unbelief, ridicule, or
opposition prevent the appearance of these spiritual
blossoms. Instances are not unknown of the development of early piety in the most unfriendly circumstances, such as to show us the vigor of the genuine
plant, and lead us, where no such flower or fruit
appears, to question the existence of the plant itself.
If the common incredulity on the subject of Baptismal Regeneration be the cause why its evidences
are nipped in the bud, or presume not to bud at all,
we may expect to find, where no such unbelief exists,
a full and happy development of its results. The
dogma of Baptismal Regeneration is undoubtedly
held with the fullest confidence by the Romish
Church, and the baptism of children is universal.
In Italy, and Spain, and Mexico, no Protestant
doubts or cavils prevent their full exhibition of the
fruits of this system. If the incredulity of parents
and friends extinguish the heavenly spark in countries professing the doctrines of the Reformation, we
may look in Papal regions for the happiest evidences
of its truth. The children are not only all regenerate
in baptism, but they are taught themselves to believe




TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE.           63
it. No incredulity on this subject disturbs their
minds. They are not called to the painful and troublesome task of searching for the fruits of the Spirit
in their hearts and lives. Does the moral condition
of these countries strengthen much the argument of.
the advocate for Baptismal Regeneration? Are the
fruits of holiness there so manifest and abundant,
that the observer is constrained to say, I" God is with
you of a truth"? Do not the prevailing vices, the
moral darkness of lands over which is cast the shadow
of the Papacy, witness with an overwhelming testimony, that the animating spirit is not the HIoly
Spirit of God? And yet how can this be, if the
inhabitants, with scarce an exception, have all been
new-born in the laver of regeneration, and acquiesce
with the most implicit and unquestioning faith in
this consolatory impression? The palpable moral
inferiority of regions degraded by Romish superstition is unaccountable, on the theory of Baptismal
Regeneration. Either the theory is false, or the
regeneration thus conferred is valueless and inefficacious. It is a most unwarrantable disparagement
and contempt of God's gifts, to make that, in its
practical effects and issues, so worthless and unavailing, which his word represents as so unspeakably
precious. Are we, indeed, required to believe that
these hordes of the dissolute, vicious, and profane,
are the sons of God by spiritual regeneration? Are
these masses of the frivolous and the false, the
deceitful and the unchaste, the multitude of deluded
image and demon-worshippers, and their crafty and




64         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
blind guides, all "partakers of the Divine nature"?
Have they been " born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible," and " translated from the kingdom of darkness into that of God's dear Son"? I do
not see why one who can accredit this, need hesitate
at transubstantiation, or any of the miracles recorded
in the legends of the Church of Rome. Yet there
seems to me no escape from this consequence of the
system.  All baptized infants are regenerate, ipso
facto, we are assured. But in Papal countries, all
children are baptized. The vast numbers of illegitimate infants born therein are not allowed to want
the sacrament. Neither is doubt suffered to prevent
the full operation of grace received. But when we
seek the manifestations of this grace, what do we
find?  St. John tells us,  IHe that committeth sin is
of the devil."  "Whosoever is born of God doth not
commit sin. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil." Shall we believe
with the Tractarian, that these workers of iniquity
are the children of God, or, with St. John, that they
are the children of the devil? Or if it be said that
there is or may be some vicious element in Romanism
(to kill in the bud the grace universally received in
baptism) which does not exist in our Church; is it
found that the children nurtured in those parts of
our Church which are freest from unbelief in bap-.
tismal regeneration, decidedly exhibit a greater
amount of the fruits of the Spirit?
The theory of inseparable baptismal regeneration
doos not abide the test of facts. It is contradicted




TESTIMONY OF EXPERIENCE.         65
by experience. There is no such product of the
fruits of holiness as we are warranted to expect. We
demand as evidence the legitimate and necessary
effects of Divine grace, the fruits of the Spirit. And
we do not find them. That baptized youth, who
are trained by those who know the truth as it is in
Jesus, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,
will ordinarily manifest the happy and beautiful
influence of early piety, is indeed a truth to which
we fondly and trustingly cling. In such case, the
covenant relation is followed by the performance of
those duties of religious nurture, vigilance, and
prayer, which it properly exacts. And in such cases
the Divine blessing will not be withheld. God will
bless his truth, presented by godly parents, sponsors,
and pastors to the youthful mind, and render it
effectual to the renewal of the soul in righteousness.
Christian education is one of the most precious and
powerful of all instrumentalities, and infant baptism
is intended to impress upon those who have the care
of youth, the importance of the duty. The devout
and conscientious parent will be encouraged and
stimulated, by the dedication of his offspring to the
Lord, to the faithful use of the appointed means. In
the morning he will sow his seed. By example and
instruction, by shielding the young from pernicious
associations, and placing them under holy influences,
by line upon line, and precept upon precept, he will
endeavor to train them in the way that they should
go. And through the help of God, the labor will
not be in vain, nor the prayer unanswered. The




66        THE DOCTRINE: OF BAPTISM.
baptized youth who give evidences of piety, are,
with very few exceptions, religiously-educated youth.
And to attribute the renewal of such unto holiness
to grace imparted at the moment of baptism, overlooking the important element of Christian nurture,
and the promised blessing of God thereupon, is
unwarrantable assumption. The advocate for inseparable baptismal grace maintains that all baptized
children are spiritually regenerate. The more moderate defender of the practice of infant baptism, while
not questioning what God may see fit to do in his
unsearchable wisdom, finds spiritual regeneration
ascribed in the Scriptures to the truth of God as its
instrument, and looks believingly for the Divine
blessing upon Christian nurture. As a matter of
experience, neglected youth, although baptized, grow
up in sin. Religiously-instructed youth grow up in
the fear of God. And of this there are not infrequent
instances, even among the unbaptized. On which
side is the evidence of facts? And be it remembered,
just theory as well as sound theology is never at
irreconcilable war with realities.
III. THE TRACTARIAN THEORY TESTED BY THE
STANDARDS OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
But we must proceed to the third test to which
the theory under consideration was to be broughtnamely, the standards of the Protestant Episcopal
Church. And here the advocate of that theory
fancies himself in his strongest ground, and gladly
turns from unfavorable texts of Scripture, and un



STANDARDS OF THE PROT. EPIS. CHURCH.  67
yielding facts, to what he considers his citadel, the
Baptismal Service. This whole towering structure,
indeed, of sacramental theology, rests upon a few
liturgical expressions; a base most narrow and insecure for so prodigious an edifice. These expressions,
especially the declaration in the Baptismal Service,
"Seeing now, that this child is regenerate and grafted
into the body of Christ's Church, let us give thanks,"
etc., are brought forward with an air of triumph, on
every occasion, as if conclusive and unanswerable.
That they are greatly misinterpreted and abused,
will, I think, be evident to the candid inquirer into
the whole scope and spirit of the Church formularies,
and into the views and doctrines of the men by whom
those formularies were compiled. The use made of
this phraseology by the advocate of the system is
strikingly similar to that made by the Roman controversialist, in the defense of transubstantiation, of
our Saviour's words-"This is my body." There is a
constant repetition of the one phrase, and a claim that
the words must be taken in the narrowest literal
sense, irrespective of arguments from Scripture and
reason. Indeed, the argument for the Romish view
of the Eucharist, from the literal interpretation, is
far stronger than that for inseparable baptismal
Regeneration from the expressions in the Baptismal
Office. The words of our Saviour, in the institution
of the Supper, are not less plain and definite than
the expressions of the Liturgy. If the literal sense
of an isolated passage be of necessity the true one,
then there can be no sufficient answer to the Romish




68        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
theologian. Certainly, the words of Christ are not
entitled to less reverence than a human composition.
Let those who build so confidently upon the occurrence of this expression in the Baptismal Service,
and denounce as unsound and dishonest their brethren, who can not subscribe to the interpretations put
upon it by Bishop Philpotts and others of his school,
enquire whether all their artillery can not be seized
and turned upon themselves by their Romish adversary.
In the enquiry as to the doctrine of the Protestant
Episcopal Church on the point before us, we naturally turn, first, to the Articles of Religion. In them
we have the precise definitions, the authentic evidence of what the Church holds upon the subjects
embraced therein. We decidedly maintain that for
the ascertainment of her doctrinal views, the Articles
are preeminently the standard of appeal. To know
what the Church teaches upon a controverted subject,
shall we not first recur to those formularies in which
she professes to teach-wherein she defines her faith
and proposes it to the acceptance of all who would
seek at her altar permission to minister in holy
things?  If thtere be any difficulty in harmonizing
different portions of her formularies, to which shall
we attribute the chiefest weight and importance-to
the fervent utterances occurring in a devotional
office, or to the studied, unimpassioned, and guarded
language of an Article, designed to embody and
exhibit her belief, and produce consent among her
children? Do we not reasonably expect in the latter




THE ARTICLES.                     69
a precision and perspicuity, a care and judgment in
the selection of terms, for which in the former there
ts no necessity. The Church on her knees before
the mercy-seat, or pouring forth her praises and
thanksgivings to God, is not presumed to be so much
occupied with niceties of language, as, when she sits
in  Moses' seat, and authoritatively announces the
truths and doctrines of her faith.  To know what
the Church teaches, must our attention be concentrated on her professed teaching, or on her prayers
and praises? It might seem superfluous to insist
upon so plain a point, but as a matter of fact we find
the advocates for inseparable baptismal grace, endeavoring to make the baptismal office the chief or
sole arbiter of the question in dispute. There they
claim to find the key to the doctrine of the Church.
Interpreting certain expressions therein-occurring in
the most unqualified and unlimited sense, they would
make every thing else give way to {his interpretation.
If the Articles appear to teach differently, then the
Articles must be conformed to this explanation, or
must be left out of view.*
* As an illustration of the little regard paid to the dogmatic teaching
of the Church in the Articles, it may be mentioned that in an elaborate
discussion of this subject in the Church Review, (Art. II. July 1853,)
in which the writer believes " that the great mass of Churchmen, who,
unwedded to metaphysical speculations, are content to let Holy Scripture be its own interpreter, and who see in God's covenant in all ages
and dispensations, more than an empty sign, etc., will say that the
interpretation which we have presented is in harmony with God's
word, with the whole system of the Church, with universal experience
and observation, and with the greatest and best teachers in the Church,




70          TIHE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
Now, it is a claim founded upon the obvious principles of justice and reason, that, if there be a discrepancy between devotional and dogmatic standards,
the greater weight in settling a controverted point,
be given to the latter. For the very object of the
latter is to speak the mind of the Church upon the
subject in question. To ascertain the opinion of the
Church upon the question whether original depravity
be total or not, we should not concentrate our whole
attention upon the confessions, and because the
Church requires her worshippers, when bending low
before the throne of a holy God, to affirm —" there
is no health in us," thereupon consider the point as
settled, without taking into consideration the 9th
Article. The calendar appoints chapters from Apocryphal books to'be read on certain days, and among
the sentences to be read at the Offertory in the Communion Service, there are two from the same source.
How shall we determine what degree of reverence
the Church accords to the Apocrypha, and whether
or not she reckons it as Canonical Scripture?  Certainly by referring to Article VI., in which she precisely defines the Canon of Scripture, and from which
we learn with what intent the Apocryphal portions,
introduced into her services, are employed.
in every age;" in a discussion for which the writer anticipates such
general and unqualified acquiescence, there is not a single allusion to
the Articles on Baptism. The doctrine of the P. E. Church on this
sacrament is supposed to be satisfactorily settled, and yet the very
Article in which the Church defines her doctrine thereupon is unnoticed.




THE ARTICLES.               71
If, then, there did exist (which is by no means
admitted) an evident opposition and contradiction
between the language of the Baptismal Service and
that of the Articles, it would be our duty to give the
preference, in determining controverted points, to
the latter. For, first, the very object and design of
the Articles is to define, with clearness and precision,
the doctrines of the Church, They constitute preeminently the symbol and standard, the definition
and exposition, of her views. And, secondly, the
Articles are of later date than the baptismal office, so
that we are bound to consider that if there be any
thing doubtful or obscure in the former, it is elucidated and explained by the latter. Coming after
the liturgical forms, they must be considered as the
mature and settled judgment of the Anglican Church
upon the subjects therein embraced.
But it is far from us to attribute to the different
portions of the Prayer-Book diversity and contradiction. We suppose them all capable of harmonious
explanation. But we do maintain that the view of
baptism, against which we here object, and which
makes the sacrament to confer grace " ex opere operato"
is contradictory to the sacramental Articles.   Ve
must do violence to the plain and definite teaching
of the latter, if we acquiesce in the Tractarian interpretation of the former. In the ascertainment of the
truth, we first examine the Articles, and determine
what they fairly teach. Then we inquire whether
the Baptismal Service admits of an interpretation
consistent with the doctrine deduced from the




72         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
Articles, and such an interpretation presenting itself,
we do not hesitate to receive it as satisfactory and
true.
In Article XXV.-" Of the Sacraments," we first
meet with the declaration, applied indifferently to
both sacraments, that "in such only as worthily
receive the same, have they a wholesome effect and
operation." What is a worthy reception, is plainly
set forth in the offices and the Catechism, namely, repentance and faith. So indispensable are these that
before the Church allows baptism to be administered,
they must be professed, personally, by the adult applicant, and through the mouth of sponsors by the
infant.
"Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and
mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is
also a sign of regeneration or new birth, wherebjr,
as by an instrument, they that receive baptism
rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of
the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the
sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed
and sealed; Faith is confirmed, and Grace increased
by virtue of prayer unto God."
"The baptism of young children is in any wise to
be retained in the Church as most agreeable with the
institution of Christ."
"Baptism is a sign of regeneration or new birth."
But the difference is too plain for argument between
the sign of a thing, and the thing itself. Yet the
view against which we object confounds the sign and




THE ARTICLES.              73
the thing signified.  Baptism, according to the
Tractarian theory, is not the sign -of regeneration.
It is regeneration.  According to writers of that
school, it is unscriptural and absurd to enforce upon
baptized persons the necessity of being born again,
or of testing the supposed fact of their regeneration
by the fruits of the Spirit. If baptized, it is considered a matter of course, that they are regenerate
and born again, not only of water, but of the Spirit.
If such were the view of the Church, we should
surely expect it to be declared in this explicit statement-" Baptism is regeneration" would have settled
the matter. If it were left to the advocates of this
theory at the present day to draw up an article on
the subject of baptism, should we not have one of a
very different tenor from Article XXVII?
"Baptism is a sign of regeneration, a symbol and
outward representation of the new birth. Each
sacrament is verbum visible, a sermon addressed to the
eye-truth brought out in life and action before the
senses. "Ye must be born again," is the emphatic
language of the one. "Except ye eat the flesh of
the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no
life in you," proclaims the other. In ordinary language, the sign and the thing signified may be used
interchangeably, without confusion or erroneous impression. The Lord's Supper is commonly spoken
of as " the Communion." Yet is there no communion of the body and blood of Christ therein to the
unbelieving. For " the wicked, and such as be void
of a lively faith, are in no wise partakers of Christ."
4




74          THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
A portrait or a statue is the sign of the man, and
may be called by his name, and yet there is no danger of misapprehension. The bended knee and the
uplifted eye are the sign of devotion. But whether
or not there is real prayer, the converse of a supplicating soul with God, is only known to the Searcher
of hearts. When the Article testifies that Baptism
is "a sign of regeneration," (a sign, the article indefinite, not the sign, the one exclusive inseparable index,) it uses language with the utmost precision, and
furnishes a key to other passages in which the sign
and the thing signified may be used interchangeably.*
If the latter by themselves might lead to error or
occasion perplexity, the former clear and accurate
definition is at hand to obviate the doubt or danger.
"Whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive
baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption
to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, and grace
increased by virtue of prayer unto God."
If words are intended to convey meaning, this
language makes evident the presumption of the
Church that the applicant for baptism is a spiritually
renewed person. To receive baptism "rightly" is to
* Thus in Article XV., "Of Christ alone without sin." "But all
we the rest, although baptized and born again in Christ, yet offend in
many things."
And Article XVI., "Of sin after Baptism." "After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into
Sin."




THE ARTICLES.               75
receive it "truly repenting, and coming unto God
by faith."* It is not affirmed that sins are then forgiven, and the baptized person then adopted as one
of the sons of God. but that the promises of forgiveness and adoption are then visibly signed and sealed.
To the already pardoned and adopted, the sign and
seal of these inestimable blessings are in this solemn
transaction openly extended. "I Faith is confirmed and
grace increased, by virtue of prayer unto God." But
faith, to be confirmed, must be in previous existence,
and grace, to be increased, must have been already
enjoyed. What, then, is the condition before God of
the applicant for baptism who truly corresponds with
this representation? The word of God being the
judge, he is spiritually regenerate, and " born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible."  "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word,
and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting
life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is
passed from death unto life."t " Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein ye stand, and rejoice in
hope of the glory of God."t "Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."~ And with
this explicit, unambiguous testimony of the Divine
word, the witness of the Protestant Episcopal Church
is perfectly in accordance. The great truth that we
are justified by faith only, is declared to be a most
* Office for baptism of adults.  f John 5: 24.
Rom. 5: 1, 2.            ~ 1 John 5: 1.




76         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.* In
"the declaration of Absolution, or Remission of
Sins," in her stated service, she testifies that "God
pardoneth and absolveth all those who truly repent,
and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel." And in
the Homilies, we find " a true and constant faith,"
called "the root and well-spring of all newness of
life."t
"The gift of faith" is testified to be " the first entry
into the Christian life."T  "Almighty God commonly worketh by means, and in this thing he hath
also ordained a certain mean, whereby we may take
fruit and profit to our soul's health.  What mean is
this? Forsooth, it is faith. Not an inconstant and
wavering faith, but a sure, steadfast-grounded, and
unfeigned faith.  God sent his Son into the world,
saith St. John.  To what intent?  That whosoever
believeth ifn him should not perish, but have ltfe everlasting.  Mark these words, That whosoever believeth in
him.  Here is the mean whereby we must apply the
fruits of Christ's death unto our deadly wound.
Hi[ere is the mean whereby we must obtain eternal
life, namely, Faith."  "By this, then, you may well
perceive that the only mean and instrument of salvation required of our parts is faith; that is to say,
a sure trust and confidence in the mercies of God;
whereby we persuade ourselves, that God both hath
and will forgive our sins, that he hath accepted us
* Article XI.
f Page 405, second part of the Sermon concerning the Sacrament.
t Page 432, Homily for Rogation Week; third part.




THE ARTICLES.                 77
again into his favor, that he hath released us from
the bonds of damnation, and received us again into
the number of his elect people, not for our merits
or deserts, but only and solely for the merits of
Christ's death and passion."* The penitent believer
is justified before God.  He is alive unto God.  He
hath passed from death unto life. He is pardoned
and released from the condemnation of all his sins.
He is born of God. All this is plain, incontrovertible deduction from the above-cited texts and quotations. Such was the conviction of the men who
framed our standards, for the Homilies are their
work.  The great Scriptural doctrine, that the exercise of genuine faith is the transition from spiritual
death to spiritual life, is confirmed by the most
clear and energetic statements.
But on the theory that regeneration and baptism
are inseparable, the penitent believer, before the
sacrament is administered, is still unregenerate,'unforgiven, not a child of God, but a child of wrathan alien, still under condemnation. The new birth is,
on either side, maintained to be the beginning of spiritual life. And if the candidate is baptized in order
to his regeneration, he is, up to the moment of baptism, dead in trespasses and sins. Had the framers
of our Articles and Homilies a particle of this theory
in their minds? Was this startling proposition a
part of their theology, that a true penitent, a sincere
believer, one who can willingly renounce all sin, and
yield himself to the service of God, is an unregene* Page 382, Second Sermon of the Passion.




78         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
rate person? Can a man exercise faith in Jesus, and
yet be destitute of spiritual life? Can a man possess grace, and yet be unrenewed? But in Baptism,
testifies the Church by this Article, "Faith is confirmed, and grace increased."  Whence can a man
derive penitence and faith but from the Spirit of
God?  And can the Spirit of God dwell in the soul,
and there be no life there? So far, then, from the
Sacramental system, which insists that spiritual life
is communicated only through Baptism, being countenanced by the Article, its teaching is directly the
reverse. It demands spiritual life as the preliminary.
to the sacrament. The sacramental seal is to be
affixed only when all the assurance is had, which the
imperfection of our mortal state admits, that the soul
is already quickened and justified. Instead of the
Church teaching that we become spiritually regenerate only in and by baptism, she teaches that to the
spiritually regenerate alone is the privilege of baptism
to be extended. They alone receive baptism rightly.
They alone can render that " answer of a good conscience," wherewith the salutary effect of the sacrament is inseparably connected. Having already embraced in faith the promises of forgiveness and adoption, and having received through divine mercy,
pardon and sonship, they are entitled to the visible
signs and seals of these promises. Having received
of God grace to repent and the gift of faith, they
may look for this faith to be confirmed, and this grace
increased in this impressive ordinance. Yet even this
confirmation of faith and increase of grace is expected,




THE ARTICLES.               79
not simply as the consequence of the ministration of
the rite, but " by virtue of prayer unto God."
Such is the teaching of this article, plain, definite,
and susceptible of proof by most certain warrants of
Holy Writ.  For in like manner do the Scriptures
require the exercise of penitence and faith, as the
preliminary to the right administration of baptism.
" Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the
name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins."*
"See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou. believest with all
thine heart, thou mayest."t  " Then answered Peter,
Can any man forbid water, that these should not be
baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as
well as we?"t With this plain testimony of Scripture the Article perfectly harmonizes.
The Article indeed has in view the baptism of
adults. This necessarily arises from its close adherrence to the Scripture, which is wholly silent respecting the effects of infant baptism, while it presents
several instructive examples of the ministration of
the rite to adults. Although we deduce arguments
from various parts of Scripture in favor of the practice of baptizing infants, yet we find there no positive
precept on the subject, and no express information
as to the benefits therewith connected. And this
silence is well worthy of note. The Scriptures are
instructive, both in what they say, and in what they
leave unsaid. They teach by omission, as well as
*Acts 2: 38.    t Acts 8: 36, 37.  Acts10: 47.




80         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
by express declaration. And in bringing the sacramental system, which rests upon the presumption
that, after the Church is once established, her members, with very little exception, receive spiritual life
-in unconscious infancy at the baptismal font, to the
test of Scripture, we might well be surprised to find
that there is not a single text which contains this
most important proposition.  The base for this prodigious structure is altogether wanting.  We are
required to believe, under. strong denunciations of
unbelief and rationalism if we presume to doubt, that
all baptized infants are new creatures in Christ Jesus.
They are declared to be, without exception, the subjects of the most remarkable transformation of which
the human soul.is capable.  And yet, when.we
search the Scriptures, with this theory in mind, we
do not find a solitary text that conveys it, or even
an express direction to baptize infants at all. Our
Church imitates this cautious reserve of Scripture,
and does not undertake to define farther than Scripture warrants. That rash dogmatism which grows
most bold and positive where the Divine word is
most reserved; which seeks to impose its own un*founded deductions as indubitable articles of faith,
and which brands all who can not receive them as
heretics and unbelievers, is not derived from her.
Its parentage is too evidently to be sought in another,
and very different communion.;
The Article, therefore, in accordance with Scriptural example, when it would teach concerning
baptism with preciseness and solidity, contemplates




THE ARTICLES.               81
the case of adults. Adult baptism is the first and
principal idea of baptism. It is baptism as presented
in Apostolic practice. From this we must argue,
and to this we must refer. In this we are to search
for doctrine, and here we are to seek the key and
explanation of all that pertains to the subject. And it
is upon this principle that the Church has proceeded
in the construction of her offices.
The Twenty-seventh Article does not overlook the
case of infant baptism, but the notice given to it is
very different. from that which might be expected
upon the sacramental theory.'' The baptism of young
children is in any wise to be retained in the Church,
as most agreeable with the institution of Christ."
Certainly this is not the language of a Church which
attributes to the baptism of infants the certain infusion of a new nature, which considers it as the divine
and sovereign remedy for the ruin of the Fall. On
the sacramental theory, "the baptism  of young
children" is not merely "to be retained as most
agreeable with the institution of Christ," but because
it is the great means of healing the plague of sin, and
of recovering lost and depraved beings to holiness.
The young are to be brought to the life-giving waters,
before they can oppose their own unruly wills to the
reception of the grace imparted, They are, early
and in advance of the power of temptation, to be
transformed and new-created, that so they may grow
up in holiness and meetness for heaven. Instead of
looking to the Word of God and the various means
of moral discipline for effecting the new birth, or
4*




82         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
trusting to the uncertain issue of baptism in riper
years, when, peradventure, the want of proper qualifications may interpose an insurmountable hindrance
to its salutary effects, all the most precious and desirable fruits of a death unto sin and a new birth unto
righteousness are to be secured in infancy. Then,
with comparative ease, and infallible certainty, the
children of wrath are to be made the children of God,
and that incorruptible seed is to be implanted which
distinguishes the heirs of salvation from the heirs of
hell. It can not be conceived that a Church which
had such conceptions of the virtue of infant baptism,
should make no allusion to them under such circumstances; much less in giving a reason for its observance, should employ language so tame and disparaging.  Contrast the tone of this article with that
employed by Tractarian writers upon the sacrament,
and is not the difference most obvious and noteworthy? So far from dogmatizing upon the subject,
from pronouncing positively upon the effects of
infant baptism, from imposing her charitable hopes
upon the consciences of men as doctrines of the faith,
she is content with the modest assertion of the conformity of her practice "with the institution of
Christ." She occupies no ground that is not tenable
and firm, and is content to stand, humbly, but immovably, upon the word of God.




THE BAPTISMAL OFFICES.           83
TH E  BAPTIS MlAL  OFFICES.
THE teaching of the Articles being thus clear and
definite, it is to be presumed that the Baptismal
Offices are not contradictory thereto, their language
being allowed " such just and favorable construction,
as in common equity ought to be allowed to all
human writings.'* And if the offices are susceptible
of two diverse interpretations, one of which harmonizes with, and the other is opposed to, the teaching
of the Articles, we are required, on every principle of
fair reasoning and equitable construction, to prefer
the former.  We can not suppose that what the
Church declares and defines in one part of her
formularies, she denies and subverts in another.
We must believe that she intends to be consistent
with herself, and that one system of doctrine pervades
all her authoritative compositions. In ascertaining
what this doctrine is, we are bound, for the plain and
obvious reasons previously stated, to refer first to her
own dogmatic expositions, her positive enactments,
put forth for the very purpose of establishing her
principles, wherein, of course, her expressions are
most carefully studied and precisely worded. We
look then to the Offices to ascertain whether, fairly
interpreted, they admit of a sense harmonious with
the plain import of the Articles. And this reasonable
expectation is not disappointed.
We notice, in the outset, a close resemblance
* Preface to Prayer-Book.




ti4        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
between the two offices, that for the baptism  of
infants, and that intended for persons of riper years.
There is the same preface, the same prayers, the
same promises, and the same call to thanksgiving,
with only such variation as is indispensable on account of the different ages of the subjects of baptism.
The principal variation is in the Gospel appointed to
be read, the exhortation following, and the postbaptismal prayers. The two services are constructed
on a common principle, and we must infer, therefore,
are subject to the same mode of interpretation. The
office for adult baptism presents comparatively little
difficulty.  The qualifications  required  for the
ordinance are sincere repentance and living faith.
"' Doubt ye not, therefore, but earnestly believe that
he will favorably receive this present person, truly
repenting and coming unto him by faith." The
applicant is therefore, as has been, shown, already
spiritually regenerate. The Holy Spirit hath convinced of sin, led him to a heart-felt repentance, and
willing renunciation thereof, and enabled him  to
look to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer and faith.
Thus he is born of God; he hath passed from death
unto life. He has that quickening principle of faith
which is called, in the Homilies, "the root and wellspring of life." Of this faith and penitence he now
makes an open, unequivocal profession. He engages
to renounce all iniquity, and to follow Jesus in a
new and holy life. And thereupon he is, after the
performance of the baptismal rite, pronounced regenerate. For now there is added to the belief of the




THE BAPTISMAL OFFICES.          85
heart, the profession of the mouth. The secret covenant between the penitent soul and the Saviour is
now confirmed by the public covenant, the solemn
transaction between the applicant for salvation and
the Almighty Saviour.  Until the man was thus
openly grafted into the visible Church, the Church
had no right to pronounce him a regenerate person.
Whatever he might be in the sight of God, she could
not recognize him as one of Christ's, until he made
this good profession, and received the appointed sign
and seal of his engrafting into Christ. The fact that
prayer is previously offered that the candidate may
be born again, and receive remission of his sins by
spiritual regeneration, is no more a proof that God
has not already bestowed these blessings, than the
daily use of the Lord's Prayer, in which Christians
supplicate for the forgiveness of their trespasses, is
an evidence that none who use it are already forgiven. The Church is henceforth to know and consider him as a regenerate person, and what prayer
more suitable, before the baptismal washing, than
that he may be such in reality and truth? Unless
we admit the unscriptural and unwarrantable idea
that the true penitent, the sincere believer, the man
willing to renounce the world, the flesh, and the
devil, willing to take up his cross and follow Jesus,
is still dead in trespasses and sins, we must believe
that the blessing of pardon and adoption is already
his. The inward and spiritual grace already received
is the warrant for the Church to impart the outward
-visible sign. Let those who attach regeneration to




86         THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
the very moment of baptism, and deny that it is
separable therefrom, tell us what is the spiritual
state of a penitent believer, yet unbaptized. Is he
still under the condemnation of his sins? Is he the
child of wrath, and heir of perdition? Is he under
the guidance of Satan, or of the Holy Ghost?  Or
do these emotions of contrition, fear of God, trust in
Jesus, and abjuration of iniquity, spring spontaneously from his own heart? If so, the natural state
of the heart is very different from that which Scripture represents. Instead of being "deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked," it is strongly
inclined, in some men at least, to holiness and God.
But if it be granted that the candidate who is in
truth what the Church supposes, is "led by the
Spirit," then he is already a " child of God." (Rom.
8: 14.) And how a child of God, unless born again
of the Spirit? The Romish Church, which does hold
that sacraments confer grace, ex opere operato, which
knows no other than baptismal regeneration, the real
parent of this dogma of inseparable sacramental grace,
is perfectly consistent with herself in not exacting
the previous qualification of a living faith. She
naturally and necessarily considers a dead faith to
be all that is needed. Indeed, if spiritual life only
come through this channel, it can be only a dead
faith which precedes the rite. And if our own
Church agreed with Rome in the doctrine, as the
Bishop of Exeter affirmed, she would equally agree
in the qualifications required for baptism.
To combine this Romish doctrine with our Articles




THE BAPTISMAL OFFICES.           87
and Offices, we must confound the great and radical
distinction between a dead faith and a living, since
on this theory they may both equally exist in an
unregenerate person. We must consider that penitence, faith, and the purpose of full obedience are
not the fruits of the Spirit. And thus we must adopt
rank Pelagianism, and believe that man is not by
nature corrupt and very far gone from original
righteousness, for a corrupt tree can not bring forth
good fruit. And who can deny that the dispositions
required of the applicant for baptism are good fruit?
If it be contended that these are holy dispositions,
and implanted by the Spirit in the soul, but that
they are not the grace of regeneration, which is only
conveyed in baptism, we reply that there is no scriptural warrant for any such distinction. We have
yet to learn from the Bible how a man can exercise
holy dispositions without being born again. There
we find that the tree is known by its fruit-and that
"the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth."  "That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is
Spirit." There we learn that they who "have purified their souls, by obeying the truth through the
Spirit," are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the word of God." "Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God."
This sophistical distinction can not bear the light of
God's word. It is without Scripture, as it is without
reason to support it. It confounds the marked opposition between sin and holiness, between the carnal




88        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
and the spiritual mind, between the works of the
flesh and the works of the Spirit, between nature
and grace. According to this theory, all the prominent and lovely lineaments of the Christian character
can exist and flourish without the new birth-and
by parallel perversion of the truth, in the case of
those baptized in infancy, all the sinful propensities
and unholy dispositions of our nature can abide
unchecked and dominant in the regenerate. Is not
this like calling evil good, and good evil, putting
darkness for light, and light for darkness: bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter?
The Office for the baptism of adults fully sustains
the view deduced from the Article that the applicant
is supposed to be already spiritually regenerate.
Such is the purport of his profession. That profession is presumed to be sincere. The Church gives
it full credit, and thereupon, after imparting the
appointed seal of the covenant, does not hesitate to
pronounce the baptized person regenerate.  The
subsequent recognition of the regenerate state and
character of the newly-baptized person, is founded
upon the supposed sincerity of the profession. The
Church can not construct offices of public worship
on any other ground. Her worship and sacraments
are not intended for hypocrites and self-deceivers,
but for the believing and spiritually minded. If
hypocrites and self-deceivers do intrude into them,
they come unbidden and unblessed. They are
warned against the presumptuous act, and taught to
expect no benefit therefrom. (Art. XXV.) But it




THE BAPTISMAL OFFICES.           89
is evidently possible that such persons may come to
Christian ordinances. Our Saviour, in several impressive parables, gives us reason to suppose that
this will be the case. Persons will come to baptism,
as Simon Magus did, devoid of the qualifications
which God requires: what then? Are they regenerate? So far from it, that we have scriptural warrant
for the assertion that they have " neither part nor
lot in the matter," but remain after their baptism,
still "in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity."
And yet such persons were pronounced regenerate
by the minister who baptized them. For it was not
his prerogative to search the heart. The right profession was made to him, and he acted on the presumption of its truthfulness. Had he certainly known
the unfitness of the applicant, it would have been
his duty to reject him. Had he reason to suspect it,
he would, as a faithful dispenser of the word and
sacraments, have admonished, instructed and cautioned the applicant. But the appearance being fair,
the judgment must be that of charity. And inasmuch as the necessary profession is made and the
obligations of the Christian covenant are fully
assumed, it is right and proper to declare the baptized
person a partaker of its blessings. He knows, or if
he does not, the minister is unfaithful to his trust,
what manner of person he ought to be. And on the
supposition that such he really is, he is pronounced
regenerate. This declaration is therefore conditional.
There is pre-supposed the spiritual fitness of the baptized person. Although absolute in its terms, it is




90        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
hypothetical in reality. The connection is close and
inseparable between the profession of faith before the
baptism, and the declaration and thanksgiving thereafter. Any other view involves the strange, unscriptural, and absurd inference, that the hypocrite and
the self-deceiver derive the same blessing from the
sacrament, with the believing, penitent, and sincere.
THE OFFICE OF BAPTISM FOR INFANTS.
THIS office is, as has been remarked, almost
identical with that provided for adults. The baptism  is not administered until after the very same
profession of penitence, faith, and obedience, as in
the case of persons who have come to years of discretion. The solemn promise and vow is the same
for each. Although, in the office for infant baptism,
this profession is made by the mouth of sponsors,
yet it is regarded as the act of the child. The infant
and not the sponsor "renounces the devil and all
his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world,
with all covetous desires of the same, and the sinful
desires of the flesh," and promises, " by God's help,
not to follow nor be led by them."  The infant, not
the sponsor, "desires to be baptized in this faith"for the sponsor is already a baptized person, and
does not present himself for the sacrament. The
infant, not the sponsor, promises "obediently to keep
God's holy will and commandments, and to walk in
the same through life."  Thus the infant makes the
very same profession which the adult makep




THE OFFICE OF BAPTISM FOR INFANTS.  91
which only the adult who is spiritually regenerate
can make in sincerity and truth. After this profession, treating it as a reality, assuming its sincerity
and truthfulness, just as in the case of adults, the
infant is pronounced regenerate. Andy that, upon
this profession, and this alone, is predicated the subsequent declaration and thanksgiving, is confirmed
by the language of the Catechism.
Q. "What is required of persons to be baptized?
A. "Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and
faith, whereby they steadfastly believe the promises
of2!God made to them in that sacrament.
Q. " Why then are infants baptized, when by reason of their tender age they can not perform them?
A. "Because they promise them both by their
sureties; which promise, when they come to age,
themselves are bound to perform."
Here, then, is the explanation given by the
Church, of the grounds of infant baptism. If the
Church held the Romish and Tractarian view of the
spiritual regeneration, or new creation of all baptized
infants, ex opere operato, how could she avoid giving
that, as the reason why they should be brought to
the baptismal font?  Their inability to exercise
repentance and faith is no difficulty with the holders
of this theory. It is enough, they tell us, that infants
can not, by positive infidelity, oppose any obex or
hindrance to the work of the regenerating Spirit.
Their tender age, disqualifying them for acts of moral
responsibility, instead of being an objection to ministering the ordinance, is on this supposition the very




92        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
reason of all others why it should be then imparted.
For while, in the case of adults, the efficacy of the
ordinance is contingent and conditional, with unconscious babes it is supposed to be necessary and
inevitable. The holder of this theory never, therefore, could ask such a question as the Church asks
in this Catechism, or render such an answer. The
believer in this theory, and the Church, look at the
subject from a very different stand-point. For the
very fact to which the Church refers, as possibly
constituting a valid objection to infant baptism, is
with the Tractarian its great argument and recommendation. And the Church is very far from giving
any such reason for her usage as the Tractarian
would give. She presumes nothing respecting the
influence of the Holy Spirit upon the infant soul at
the moment of baptism, because on that subject she
knows nothing. The Scripture is silent, and she
does not undertake to be wise above what is written.
But she gives it as the explanation of infant baptism,
that the child ostensibly enters into the covenant, by
the agency of his sponsors, and incurs thereby solemn
obligation to perform, at a subsequent period, the
promises made in his behalf. We can not but notice,
then, what weight and importance is attached in the
Catechism to this part of the Baptismal Service. It
is made the very ground of administering the sacrament. Infants may be baptized, as well as adults,
because they make the same previous profession of
repentance and faith. Now, we must insist that the
subsequent language of the Office: "Seeing now,




THE OFFICE OF BAPTISM FOR INFANTS.   93
dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate,
and grafted into the body of Christ's Church, let us
give thanks unto Almighty God for these benefits,"
etc., and the similar language of the thanksgiving,
are to be taken in connection with the previous profession, just as in the case of adults. And we must
insist that the same principle of interpretation be
applied to the two parts of the service. It is doing
violence to the laws of fair interpretation to apply
an entirely different principle to different portions of
the same instrument. If the former part can not be
construed literally, and the attempt involves absurdity, it is unreasonable to impose the literal construction on the latter part. Yet this is the palpable and
glaring inconsistency of the advocate of the necessary
spiritual regeneration of all baptized infants. We
must believe it, he argues, because the Church positively declares all baptized infants to be regenerate.
Aye, but before this, does not the Church just as
positively demand from these same infants a profession of faith, and a vow of obedience i Do not these
very babes declare just as positively their renunciation of sin, and their desire to receive the sacrament?
The sponsor is but the mouth-piece. The child is
the actual party to the covenant. The repentance,
faith, purpose of obedience, and desire for baptism,
are those of the child, not of the sponsor. This,
every one knows, is not a reality. But it is taken to
be a reality. The Church treats it as such, and upon
the strength of it proceeds to administer the Sacrament. Now, the Tractarian interprets these two




94        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
portions of the service on entirely opposite principles.
He understands the previous profession to be of the
nature of a legal fiction-a transaction real indeed,
and solemn in one view, but unreal and fictitious in
another. For common-sense forbids him to suppose
the infant of a few weeks old to be intelligently
desirous of holy baptism. But if he be the child's
sponsor, he declares this positively and unequivocally.
He makes use of language to which he can not possibly attach the literal meaning. And then, a few
minutes after, he seizes upon other language, occurring in the very same service, part and parcel of the
identical transaction, connected with it intimately
as consequent with antecedent, inference with premise, and he insists that this latter language shall be
taken in the most strict and literal sense. He makes
it expressive of absolute fact and indubitable reality,
will hear not a word of hypothesis or explanation,
and taxes all his brethren, who can not assent to the
same assumption, with inconsistency and treachery.
Nay, when he has the power, he is ready to drive
away from the altars of the Church faithful and good
men, who can not discard their convictions of the
truth of God, or put upon the formularies of their
Church a Romish interpretation which they were
never meant to bear. Let the Tractarian apply to
the complete service one explanation, either take the
whole literally, or consent to such explanation as is
fair and reasonable of all its parts. We deny his
right to explain one portion as fictitious and hypothetical, and then fasten upon the other the most




THE OFFICE FOR BAPTISM OF INFANTS.  95
strict and unqualified literal sense. The demand to.
apply to the expression, touching the regeneration
of the baptized infant, the same mode of explanation
to which he is compelled to resort in the same service, is perfectly just and reasonable. We claim that
the service be viewed as a whole, that the same laws
of interpretation be applied to one part as to another;
that no sweeping deductions be made from isolated
expressions; that the two offices for adults and infants
be compared together, and that particular weight be
given to the article expressly designed to convey the
doctrine of the Church on this very subject. Thus
it is that we proceed in interpreting the Holy Scriptures. Isolate a text, separate it from the context,
shut out all light from other parts of Scripture, and
you may arrive at any conclusion you choose, except
the truth. Thus the Romanist proves the supremacy
of the Papacy from the words, 1 Thou art Peter, and
upon this Rock I will build my Church," and judicial
priestly absolution from John 20: 23, and justification by works from James 2:  24.
With no less force and plausibility does the
Socinian argue from such a passage as John 14: 28,
"My Father is greater than I."  In precisely the
same way is the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration,
in the most extravagant sense, proved from the
expressions in the post-Baptismal service; and this
assumption being regarded as an axiom, the remainder of the Office, Articles, Homilies, Scripture, all
must give way, and be bent and twisted into conformity with this foundation fallacy.




96        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
In the baptismal service for infants, as in that for
adults, the covenant of salvation between God and
man is brought out very distinctly and emphatically
The conditions of that covenant on the part of man,
and the blessings promised on the part of his Maker
are presented, as well as the connection between the
two. The intimate nature of this connection is shown
by making the one a preliminary to the other. The
Church will not consent to the administering of the
rite, until after the profession and the promise of the
conditions. She first demands evidence of the death
unto sin and the new birth unto righteousness; then
affixes the seal of the covenant, and returns thanks
to God for the vouchsafement of his grace. Repentance and faith are judged by her so indispensable to
the reception of the baptismal blessing, that the
unconscious babe must profess them, before being
washed with the sacramental water.  When the
condition is actualized, at a subsequent period, in
the personal belief and penitence of the baptized
child, then all the dependent benefits are rendered
actual also. The transaction is like to the conveyance of an estate upon condition to an infant, the
guardian engaging in the infant's name the prescribed
conditions, but the actual vesting of the estate taking
place when the conditions are actually performed.
The Church indulges the charitable and confident
expectation that these conditions will assuredly be
performed. The language is that of elevated faith
and charity. And she not only presumes, therefore,
the regeneration of the baptized child, but his ulti



THE CATECHISM.               97
mate salvation.  "Doubt ye not, therefore, but
earnestly believe that he will likewise favorably
receive this present infant; that he will embrace him
with the arms of his mercy, that he will give unto
him the blessing of eternal life, and make him partaker of his everlasting kingdom."  So that the
language of the Church is confident respecting the
final salvation of the baptized infant, as well as his
regeneration. And if we must understand the Office
as teaching that all baptized infants are spiritually
regenerate, I know not why we are not equally bound
to gather therefrom that all baptized infants are
finally saved.
THE CATECHISM.
THE answer to the second question of the Catechism is nearly as much relied on by the advocate
for inseparable baptismal regeneration as the Office
for Infant Baptism. A fair and candid examination
of the whole formulary will no more sustain these
enormous inferences than in the case of the Baptismal
Offices. It is important to observe, first, the state of
mind expressed by the Catechumen. The Catechism is connected with the Office for Confirmationi.
It is entitled, "A catechism, that -is to say, an Instruction to be learned by every person before he be
brought to be confirmed by the Bishop."  The,
spiritual qualifications of the candidate for Confirm.ation are the same with those required of the applicant
for adult Baptism, and of the co'mmunicant,  Fo.




98        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
Confirmation is the door of entrance, the solemn and
public admission to the privilege of the Lord's table.*
Repentance and faith are demanded in each case, and
are supposed to exist in the worthy participant in these
rites. The Catechumen, in the view of the Church,
is consequently a believing penitent, and therefore,
in the highest and truest sense, a regenerate person.
Such an.one is certainly " a member of Christ, a child
of God, and an inheritor of the kingdonmof heaven,"'born both of water and of the spirit. But inasmuch,as Baptism was the Divine attestation of this covenant,'When the promises of God were visibly signed and
sealed, the early dedication to God in his blessed
covenant, of one who now with a good conscience
assumes its vow and obligations, there is a natural
retrospect to that transaction. Connecting together
the symbol and the grace now actually enjoined, the
Catechumen looks back to his baptism as the occasion
of imparting to him the seal of these precious benefits.
And there is here presented, in that usual and inseparable union to which reference has been already
made, the conditions of the covenant on the one
hand, and its blessings on, the other. The question
immediately follows, - "What did your Sponsors then
for you?"  And the answer recites the terms of the
promise and vow-the penitent renunciation of sin,
the profession of faith, and the promise of obedience.
We have no more right to dissociate the two parts
of the transaction in the Catechism, than in the Office.
* Rubrics after Offices for Adult Baptism and Confirmation.




THE CATECHISM.              99
In each case are exhibited to us conjointly, the promises and the conditions. They are inseparable.
The conditions failing, the promises and blessings
are made void. The conditions being made actual,
the blessings are fully received and enjoyed. The
Catechumen is supposed to be one in whose case the
conditions are realized. Of this there is conclusive
proof; as well in the readiness to receive the laying
on:of hands, as in the answer to the question —" Dost
thou not think that thou art bound to believe and
to do as they have promised for thee?  Answer.
Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will. And I
heartily thank ourt Heavenly Father that he hath
called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus
Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give
me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto
my life's end." Here is the heart believing unto
righteousness, and the- mouth making confession
unto salvation.  But suppose this answer to be
utterly false, and that the Catechumen does not sincerely recognize the obligations assumed in his
behalf by the Sponsors. Suppose that there is in
reality no thankfulness to God for being called to a
state of salvation, and no sincere prayer for his grace
to enable the baptized child to continue therein. In
such a case is the Catechumen a member of Christ,
a child of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom?
Having come to an age to understand the nature of
the transaction, having been taught what a solemn
vow, promise, and profession has been made in his
name, and profanely despising, like Esau, his birth



100       THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
right, may he apply to himself the holy titles and
unspeakable privileges of sonship and reconciliation?
Is not the disobedient, impenitent, ungrateful, prayerless youth in the gall of bitterness and in the bond
of iniquity? And will he not continue, until brought
to repentance, an, enemy to Christ, a child of the
devil and an heir of hell?  If the Catechism, as is
alleged, requires us to believe every baptized Catechumen regenerate, it equally requires us to believe
him to be sanctified. "I learn to believe in the Holy
Ghost, who sanctifieth me and all the people of God."
The one is just as strongly affirmed as the other.
The language there,. as in the Baptismal Office, proves
too much for.the theory which is built upon it. The
only consistent explanation is that which considers
it as the utterance of a truly converted and accepted
person, one actually exercising holy dispositions, and
claiming with loving faith the blessings of the new
covenant. This view harmonizes the whole language
of the Catechism. The Catechumen was baptized in
infancy; because repentance and faith, of which he
was then incapable, were promised for him by his
Sponsors; not that he might as a matter of course
receive a new nature at the font. Arrived at an age
to appreciate the mercies of God in Christ, he has
felt, as a sinful being, his need of pardon, and has
applied in penitence and faith to the Saviour of
the soul. He recognizes, with devout gratitude, the
distinguishing goodness of God in his early introduction into the visible Church, his dedication to the
Redeevier through his own appointed ordinance, his




JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.         101
access to Christian privileges, and his nurture under
holy influences. And he presents himself, with a
ready heart, to ratify and confirm the covenant of
salvation. Hence he uses, and has a right to use, the
language of appropriating faith, and lays hold upon
the promises which were visibly signified and sealed
to him at his baptism. Such is claimed to be a fair
and reasonable interpretation of this formulary.
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.
THOSE who insist upon the universal application
of the second answer to every baptized child, are
bound to carry the principle through the whole. It
must hold good as certainly of the subsequent answers. It will prove the holy disposition expressed
in the fourth answer to pertain to all, and require
us to believe that every baptized child is sanctified
by the Holy Ghost, and is numbered among the
people of God. It would seem difficult, after this, to
question the salvation of all the Baptized.
The view of Baptismal Regeneration here opposed,
can not be that of our Church, because it is wholly
inconsistent with the doctrine of Justification by
Faith. There is a palpable incongruity between the
two. This is felt by many of the more consistent
and thorough maintainers of the Sacramental theory,
and hence their repugnance to Justification by faith
is either openly manifested or very imperfectly concealed. Regeneration and Justification are not separable. A child of God, a partaker of the Divine na



102        THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
ture, a new creature in Christ, can not be in a state
of condemnation. Baptismal Regeneration necessarily
draws after it Baptismal Justification.* But here the
Sacramentarian comes into direct collision with our
Church.  If any thing is indubitable, it is her sanction of the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone.
Her Articles declare and define it in the clearest and
most emphatic terms.  Her Homilies are full of it.
Her Liturgy is pervaded with it. Her reformers suffered and bled for it.  We must make our choice
between the two principles. They are each master
principles in theology. They give their coloring to
the whole system of faith. They are utterly opposed
in their practical tendencies. For pardon and peace
with God, the one sends the sinner to the Saviour
on his mediatorial throne, the other to the priest, at
the font and the altar. The one assures the baptized
that he hath already passed from death unto life.
The other warns him, that if he be carnally minded,
he is still in the flesh-that if he have never yet
come to Jesus Christ in hearty repentance and true
faith, there is no life in him; and in such case testifies unto him, that except he be born again, he can
not see the kingdom  of God.  No sophistical comments, or labored ingenuity, can reconcile these two
systems. The one was the key-note of the Reformation, was dear to the hearts, enshrined in the symbols,
* This is the consistent doctrine of Rome. "The instrumental
cause of our justification is the sacrament of Baptism, which is the
sacrament of Faith, without which no one ever obtained justification."-CQuncil of Trent, Sess. vi. Cap. viii.




JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.        103
and sealed with the blood of its Martyrs. The other
gave shape and coloring to the Tridentine system.
We must choose between them. We can not fairly
and permanently make them coalesce.
We leave the consideration of the standards of
the Protestant Episcopal Church with a few brief
quotations from the Homilies. He who undertakes
to reconcile them with the theory, that all baptized
persons are spiritually regenerate, may well be admired for his boldness.
"For it is the Holy Ghost, and no other thing,
that doth quicken the minds of men, stirring up good
and godly motions in their hearts, which are agreeable to the will and commandment of God, such as
otherwise of their own crooked and perverse natures
they should never have. That which is born of the
flesh, saith Christ, is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit. As who should say, man of his own
nature, is fleshly and carnal, corrupt and naught, sinful
and disobedient to God, without any spark of goodness in him, without any virtuous or godly motion,
only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds. As
for the works of the Spirit, the.fruits of faith, charitable and godly motions, if he have any at all in
him, they proceed only of the Holy Ghost, who is
the only worker of our sanctification, and maketh
us new men in Christ Jesus."
"Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to regenerate men, and as it were bring them forth anew, so
that they shall be nothing like the men that they
were before."




104       THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
"Neither doth he think it sufficient inwardly to
work the spiritual and new birth of man, unless he
do also dwell and abide in him."
"Oh! but how shall I know that the Holy Ghost
is within me? some man perchance will say. Forsooth, as the tree is known by his fruit, so also is the
Holy Ghost. The fruits of the Holy Ghost, according to the mind of St. Paul, are these, (Gal. 5: 22, 23.)
Contrariwise the deeds of the flesh are these, (Gal.
5: 19-2 1.) Here now is that glass wherein thou must
behold thyself and discern whether thou hast the
Holy Ghost within thee, or the spirit of the flesh.
If thou see that thy works be virtuous and good,
consonant to the prescript rule of God's word, savoring and tasting not of the flesh, but of the spirit,
then assure thyself, that thou art endued with the
Holy Ghost; otherwise, in thinking well of thyself,
thou dost nothing else but deceive thyself."*
CONSEQUENCES.
THERE are consequences, it is conceived, necessary
and unavoidable consequences of the dogma, that
spiritual regeneration takes place invariably in infant
baptism, and takes place in adults as well as infants,
only in baptism, so revolting that they are enough
to condemn it.
1. Whereas the Holy Scripture attributes the
bestowment of spiritual life to the good pleasure and
* First part of the Sermon for Whitsunday.




CONSEQUENCES.              105
sovereign will of the Holy Spirit, this theory subjects his most important operation under the Gospel
dispensation to the will of man. If, as the sacramental theory asserts, the new birth is coincident
with baptism; and may not take place except in baptism, then the new-creating energy of the Spirit is at
the absolute disposal of man. The Infinite and
Mighty God can not regenerate a soul until the priest
perform the outward rite. And he must, regenerate
the soul of an infant whenever the priest shall see fit
to baptize it with water.
Another consequence is the perdition of all the
unbaptized.. Regeneration is absolutely and universally necessary to salvation.,, "Except a man be
born again, he can not see the Kingdom of God."
"Ye must be born again."  The holy kingdom demands of all its inhabitants a new nature. And this
nature is.only- attainable, on the theory we are considering, in Baptism. I have before adverted to the
condition of those who lived: under the old dispensation,- and its virtual denial of hope to them. There
would seem no escape to the holders of this opinion,
from the universal condemnation of the Heathen
world, infants as well as adults. And unbaptized
infants who die in their childhood, in Christian lands,
are subject to the same pitiless doom., This will be
denied by, the charitable and kindly, who yet adopt
the theory from which it. is a necessary deduction.
But how can they deny it consistently with:-their
interpretation of the 3d chapter of John?  "If baptism and'being born again' be terms of the same
5*




1t06       THE DOCTRINE' OF BAPTISM.
meaning, or if the one invariably accompanies the
other, so that all who:are rightly baptized are regenerate, and none else; then all -who die unbaptized, even infants, as well as all others, all over the
earth, and in every age of the world, without exception, are shut out of heaven! -A proposition far
more dreadful than any held by the most unfeeling
and presumptuous Supralapsarian Calvinist."*
It will be hard, if not impossible, if this theory be
correct, to vindicate our own Church from the charge
of great inhumanity in imposing such restrictions as
are found in her rubrics on the ministration of baptism to infants. How can she be justified in setting
any limitations to so unspeakable a blessing?: For
every infant presented at the font, she requires three
sponsors.  And baptism must be administered in
the Church, except in cases of real necessity. These
requirements diminish very considerably the number
of those who receive the sacrament.: If the performance of the rite by the priest of course regenerates
that: infant, the greatest possible liberty and encouragement should be afforded thereto. So far from
obstructing the work by" exacting rubrics, let the
regenerator be sent into- the highways, and let him
go from  house to- house, dispensing with open
hand -the inestimable gift, of a new and holy nature.
Let him not, on account-of the: objections of parents
and guardians, hesitate to make their children new
creatures in Christ, and inheritors of the kingdom




CONSEQUENCES.               107
of heaven. Why should he.refrain from saving the
infant's soul, because the parent is obstinate and
unbelieving? Why should he not, like the Jesuit
missionaries in China, sprinkle the crowds as he walks
through the streets and market-places, with consecrated water, muttering the.baptismal formula?
Such a course, instead of being extravagant and
absurd, would be the natural prompting of faith in
this dogma. The unconscious infant can interpose
no obex or -hindrance. IGo out, then, on your mission of love, and suffer not a babe to perish in its
unblessed and unregenerate state.! The requirements
of our Church are reasonable and justifiable, if the
rite be regarded as the dedication of the offspring of
Christian parents to the Lord, in prayer and faith,. to
be trained up, by those who:have presented them,
in the way of holiness; an impressive introduction
to a Christian education, wherefrom we look in due
time for the Divine blessing. But on the supposition
that the grace of regeneration is inseparable from the
sacrament, any restrictions whatever are indefensible,
inhuman, and unchristian.
The theory, therefore, that makes spiritual regeneration (a change not ecclesiastical, but internal and
moral) inseparable from baptism, or at any rate, from
infant baptism, is untenable. If the preceding reasoning be:correct, itis-shown: 
1. Not to be the teaching of Scripture. Regeneration is thereby-ascribed to the Holy Spirit as theAgent, and to the Word of God as the instrument,
apprehended on our part by faith.




108       THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
2. It is not confirmed by observation and experience, but is perpetually contradicted by them.
3. It is not the teaching of the Articles of Religion
of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
4. It is not the sense of the Baptismal Offices,
interpreted fairly as a whole, and in harmony with
the Articles.
5. It is contradicted by the Homilies.
6. It is irreconcilable with the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, which is undoubtedly held by
our Church.
7. It draws with it consequences of an irreverent
and revolting character, arrogating to man what is
the sole prerogative of God, and making spiritual
regeneration dependent on the will of man.
8. It leaves no hope for unbaptized infants, of
whom hundreds are hourly passing into eternity.
9. It tends to produce very low and inadequate
views of the nature of the change wrought by the
Holy Spirit in our regeneration. In order to make
doctrine agree with undeniable fact, it reduces the
great spiritual transformation, the new-creation of
the soul, to something undiscernable.. The. mass of
frivolous, undevout, giddy, or profane youth,'who
have been baptized, are, on this theory, born again,
made new creatures in Christ Jesus. They have
experienced a death unto sin, and a new birth unto
righteousness. They are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit. They have passed from death unto life; are
turned from darkness to light; are partakers of the
Divine nature; are temples of the Holy Ghost. But,




CONSEQUENCES.                  109
alas! how little in many cases do their tempers, dispositions, and lives correspond with this elevated
description! There is nothing to distinguish them
from the ungodly and unbelieving world, except this
one thing.*
Either the theory of baptismal regeneration must
be given up, or the standard of a regenerate state
must be exceedingly lowered. Christian holiness
must be brought down to the level of worldly or less
than worldly morality, with the superaddition of
compliance with  the rites of the Church.   The
spiritual mind, the tender conscience, the sensitive
dread of sin, the longing for the light of God's
countenance, the affections set on things above, the
hungering and thirsting after righteousness, the joy
and peace in believing, the glowing expansive charity
-all the lovely lineaments of the new creature in
Christ Jesus will be disparaged and overlooked.
Doubtless there are and will be individual instances
of happy inconsistency, when  such views of the
efficacy of the baptismal rite are united with a truly
spiritual and heavenly mind.  Such  cases occur
even in the Church of Rome. And where there is
* If the hypothesis be adopted of a latent germ of spiritual life,
deposited at baptism, but inert and inoperative until a subsequent
conversion, to which some maintainers of this theory resort to get rid
of obvious' difficulties, then we must admit the existence of life which
does not vivify, of light which does not shine, of grace that does not
sanctify, of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit without producing
holiness, of the tree being made good and yet the fruit remaining
corrupt. Where is the syllable of Scripture to support a theory so
extravagant?




110       THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
not only the witness of conscience within, but that
of an open Bible without, and the constant use of a
fervent scriptural liturgy, it can not be but that the
religion of many, who hold these exaggerated notions
of sacramental grace, will be of a deeper tone and a
more genuine character than their own system would
produce or foster. But the tendency of the system
toward a low standard of holiness and a lifeless
formalism is inevitable. Let it prevail extensively in
our Church, and we shall have a worldly sanctuary,
and a people making parade of the form of godliness
while denying the power thereof. The pure and
elevated ethics of the Gospel will sink, as its distinguishing doctrines are obscured.: There will be
the, easy and common transition from the communion-table to the ball-room, the theatre and the cardtable.  The hallowing of the Lord's day will be
counted as Puritanical strictness. The worship of
God in -the family will -become a rare thing. The
supreme devotion of the -young to the fashions and,
follies of the world will be deemed no impediment
to their confirmation, and the holy ordinances of the
Church will be intruded upon without rebuke, by
those who are lovers of pleasures more than lovers
of God. Missionary efforts will degenerate into mere
proselytism; and if sea and, land be compassed, it will
be in the spirit of: the Pharisees, rather than of the
Apostles. No unprejudiced reader can fail to notice,
in the prominent authors of this school, the depreciation of spiritual religion, the confounding of those
evidences of a state of grace which the Scriptures,




'CONSEQUENCES..111
especially the Psalms and Epistles, make so prominent, with the vagaries and assumptions of enthusiasm. Let the cry be raised, "all the congregation
are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among
them,"*.and holiness will be soon reduced into
something very different from that which shines
with such heavenly lustre in the teaching of Paul
and John.
Connected with this depreciation of the magnitude
of the change effected by the- Spirit, and this low
standard of holiness, will be a fearful amount of selfdeception. The multitude of undevout and carnallyminded:persons. who have received baptism will be
taught to think themselves perfectly safe. Instead
of being admonished by their spiritual guides to
"examine themselves whether they be in the faith,"
to-"prove their own selves," to ascertain whether
"' Jesus Christ be in them," or whether "' they be
reprobates;"' they are assured that the great change
indispensable -.to salvation has already taken -place
in-their hearts.'They are relieved: from anxiety on
this all-important point.: They will feel no necessity
of-:seeking God's renewing and converting grace.
And in too many instances, they will pass into eternity with a lie in their right'hand, confident: of their
acceptance, until: the awful truth burst upon them
in the withering words, "I never.knew you, depart
from me all ye workers of iniquity."t' Oh! let the
teachers of this theology take heed that the blood of
*.Numbers 16-: 3.   t Matt. 7: 23.




112       THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM.
souls, deceived and lost for ever, be not found on
their skirts.
10. Another tendency of this theory will be ultimately to dishonor and degrade the very ordinance
which it aims to magnify. The fruits of exaggeration
and unreality are always pernicious. Sooner or later
comes the recoil. There is no surer way to bring
a matter into contempt and suspicion, than to exalt
it above measure. It is no benefit to the Church,
the- ministry, or the ordinances, to put them in the
place of Christ and his Spirit, and to ascribe to them
capacities which Scripture and reason do not warrant.
The sober representations of the word of God can
alone endure the test of time and experience. The
only safety for aught pertaining to religion is truth
and reality. Fictitious attributes may procure to a
Christian ordinance, for a limited period, a sort of
superstitious reverence; but when these borrowed
garments are stripped off, there is great danger that
the substance itself will be undervalued or discarded.
To maintain the sacraments of the Gospel in their
true position of privilege and sacred obligation, it is
important to divest them of human exaggerations
and misconceptions. To preserve the whole beautiful and perfect religion which the Lord hath revealed, and insure to the world its priceless benefits,
it is of the utmost moment to adhere to the proportion
of faith. Let each doctrine and each precept, each
truth and each duty, occupy its proper place, as
taught by Apostles and exhibited on the sacred
page. And then all will point to Jesus, all will




CONSEQUENCES.            113
converge in Christ crucified, and whatever be the
immediate text or subject, men will be summoned
to " behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the
sins of the world." They will be brought to "believe in the Son of God, and believing, they will
have life through his name."