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 Presented by Mr Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Agnew Coll. on Baptism, No. 
 
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COMPANION 
 
 THE FONT AND THE PULPIT, 
 
 THE RIGHT REV. WILLIAM MEADE, D. D, 
 
 BISHOP OP THE P.E. CHURCH OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 J. AND G. S. GIDEON, PRINTERS. 
 
 1846. 
 
Entered according to the act of Congress in the Clerk's Office of the 
 District Court for the District of Columbia, April 21, 1846. 
 
 The proceeds of this work are for the use of the Society 
 for the education of pious young men for the ministry of 
 the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 

 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 — - ^s*4. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE* 
 
 I. Reasons for putting forth the treatise. False views of the 
 subject imputed to the Church. True method of ascer- 
 taining the doctrine of Scripture and the Church - 5 
 
 II. Scriptural view of circumcision and baptism. Both of them 
 seals of the same covenant. God's promise and good will 
 is to children and believers, previous to the application of 
 the seal. The term regenerate, applied by the Jews to 
 converts from heathenism and their children. The same 
 applied either to Jewish or Pagan converts to Christianity 
 by the early Christians - - - - 20 
 
 III. The view taken of this substantiated by high authorities — 
 
 Dean NoelPs catechism, Calvin's, Hooker, Philpot, Hoo- 
 per, Thomas Becon - - - - - 32 
 
 IV. Views of the Church as set forth in her baptismal offices, 
 
 catechism, articles, and homilies - - - 40 
 
 V. Errors and extravagances into which some have fallen on 
 the subject. Comparative view of the doctrine of the 
 Church, as understood by the author, and of that imput- 
 ed to it by some - - - - - -54 
 
 VI. The view advocated in this treatise agreeable to the senti- 
 ments of the early Church generally, and of the Episco- 
 pal Church in America - - - - 75 
 
 VII. On sponsors and the interrogatories in baptism - - 85 
 
 VIII. Practical improvement of the foregoing, with prayers and 
 
 meditation before and after the baptism of children - 96 
 
 Appendix. On the kind of sermons which the Church contem- 
 plates when she directs the sponsors to "call upon their 
 children to hear sermons." How baptized children as 
 they grow up are to be regarded and addressed by minis- 
 ters, according to some modern writers — Gresley, Paget, 
 Faber, Newman, &c; how, according to the Scriptures, 
 the Homilies, and writings of the Reformers. Extracts 
 from the Homilies ; from the Articles ; from King Ed- 
 ward's Primer; from Latimer, Coverdale, Reynolds, Wil- 
 kins, Barrow. Sentiments of Bishop Moore, of Virginia 107 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Some apology is due for the great imperfections of 
 style, and the needless repetitions sometimes occurring 
 in the following treatise. That apology is to be found in 
 the feeble health of the writer and the brief time allow- 
 ed for the execution of the task. He was unable even 
 to copy his first draught of it with a view to improvement 
 and condensation . For the correctness of the views pre- 
 sented, and the documents adduced, he does not plead 
 any apology , as they have been well considered and ex- 
 amined. The tract has assumed far more of the argu- 
 mentative, and even controversial form, than the author 
 desired, and has been extended much beyond his origi- 
 nal design. The circumstances of the times seemed to 
 render this necessary. Should life be spared, and ability 
 granted, the author may see fit, at some future period, to 
 reduce the treatise on baptism to a much smaller form, 
 giving it a more practical and devotional character, for 
 the use of parents and sponsors. 
 
V 8 
 
 THE FONT AND THE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The following treatise has been designed, and even prom- 
 ised by its author, for some years, and its execution only 
 prevented by duties which left no leisure for it. Amongst the 
 departments of the pastoral office, none have been more deep- 
 ly interesting to him, during a ministry of no short duration, 
 than the performance of baptism, especially where children, 
 were the subjects. Never has he felt himself to be more 
 the minister of Christ, than when taking little children in 
 his arms, and in compliance, as he verily believes, with the 
 will of God, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
 of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. He has felt himself 
 called upon, oftentimes, both in private and public, to take 
 •great pains, and use many words, in endeavoring to present 
 what he deemed correct views of the ordinance, and to im- 
 press the minds of all present at its performance, with a deep 
 conviction of its important bearing on the interests of true 
 religion. This was especially called for at the time of the 
 nrst efforts to resuscitate the church of Virginia, by reason 
 of the contempt and neglect into which the ordinance had 
 fallen, through its lamentable profanation. With many it 
 was the mere giving of a name to the child by an authorized 
 minister, just as persons were given in marriage by the 
 same. Both of these ceremonies were often performed at 
 the same time and place, not, however, the time and place of 
 prayer, but amidst scenes of levity and dissipation, illy ac- 
 cording with an ordinance of Heaven for the religious benefit 
 of a poor child of sin and death. The sponsors, also, who 
 were called in to the aid of parents in the performance of 
 their most solemn trust, were frequently the most light- 
 minded of the company, who had, perhaps, never spent a 
 serious thought on their own baptismal vows, or been even 
 1* 
 
reminded of the same. It is not to be wondered at, that an 
 institution, so abused as this was, should not only sink into 
 contempt with some, but even cease to be observed by many, 
 unto whom plausible arguments against its very use were 
 earnestly addressed. To the later ministers of the Episco- 
 pal church in Virginia, there has, in this respect, been left a 
 sad inheritance by their predecessors in office. Through 
 the blessing of God, however, they have succeeded in effect- 
 ing a great change in the sentiments and conduct of the 
 members of the church. But few of the children now born 
 within the pale of our communion are ever withheld from this 
 gracious privilege ; though it is to be feared that here, as else- 
 where, many are brought to it without those earnest desires, 
 those just views, and that assured confidence of God's bless- 
 ing, which ought to be in the hearts of all who present them. 
 The author has long thought that a simple treatise, having 
 for its title that placed at the head of this, and for its object 
 the better preparation of parents and sponsors for the pious 
 performance of their part in the solemn transaction, might be 
 prepared somewhat after the manner of treatises for the com- 
 munion, not merely setting forth right views of the ordi- 
 nance, and removing prejudices, but containing some medi- 
 tations, or prayers, to be used before and after the solemn 
 service. If a man should always examine himself before 
 he presume to partake of the Lord's Supper, lest he should 
 do it unworthily; if he should prepare himself for days be- 
 forehand, that he may come piously and joyously to that 
 feast which is so often spread before him ; surely, in relation 
 to this solemn act, to be performed but once, there ought to 
 be some especial previous consideration on the part of those 
 permitted to present their children to the Lord in baptism. It 
 may be, that a want of due preparation and proper qualifications 
 on the part of those presenting, may not a little hinder the 
 future efficacy of this sacrament. On the part of adults re- 
 ceiving it, previous fasting and prayer are enjoined by the 
 Church, in order to their better observance of it; and as those 
 who bring children to it are required to make such solemn 
 promises in their name, and at the close of the service are 
 so earnestly enjoined to perform a faithful part in training 
 the baptized ones for Heaven, it is plain that they should 
 
not only be sincerely pious themselves, but that their piety 
 should be put into active exercise on this occasion, seeing 
 that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth so 
 much. As circumcision may become uncircumcision, so 
 baptism may prove a mere form, unproductive of any parti- 
 cular benefit to the recipient, through the future abuse of its 
 privileges; and who can tell how much the neglect of those 
 to whom the children are entrusted may contribute to this, 
 and how far this neglect may have been promoted by the 
 want of right views and feelings at the time of the present- 
 ment. In order to the faithful performance of our part in this 
 transaction, it is important that we come to it in no doubtful 
 state of mind, but verily persuaded that God favorably allow- 
 eth this charitable work, and that a blessing belongs to it if 
 done according to his will. It is very desirable that we have 
 a just view of those scriptures which speak of it, that we 
 may know what is promised, and ask the same in faith, 
 nothing wavering. Nor only this, but we should also duly 
 understand what are the views of the Church, as set forth in 
 her articles and services, that we may use the same heartily and 
 approvingly. It is very certain that different meanings have 
 been and are ascribed to those scriptures, and those words 
 of the Church, which bear on this subject; nor is it to be ex- 
 pected that there should be a perfect agreement here, seeing 
 that, in all ages, there has been such diversity of sentiment 
 on other parts of Divine truth. Nevertheless, it is very de- 
 sirable to arrive at the highest attainable degree of unity, and 
 of course it is right to seek after the same by all proper 
 means. 
 
 Amongst the considerations leading to the present effort, 
 though not suggesting it in the first instance, there may be 
 stated the fact, that the design and efficacy of baptism, espe- 
 cially as regards children, has, within the last few years, 
 been the subject of much discussion, during which the lan- 
 guage and doctrine of the Church has been brought under 
 more critical examination. In consequence of this some 
 minds, hitherto not very attentive to the subject, have been 
 not a little perplexed by the variety of sentiment existing 
 even amongst those who, from their office and studies, ought to 
 be able to declare the true meaning of the Church. The old 
 
8 
 
 charge of Romanism has also been revived, on the ground 
 of some strong expressions in our baptismal services, which 
 seem to savor of the doctrines of that corrupt church. The 
 effect has been to awaken, in some minds, an apprehension 
 that there was still something of the old leaven of falsehood 
 permitted to remain in this part of our prayer-book. It ap- 
 pears to some that if certain expressions, introduced into our 
 baptismal services, are to be understood in their commonly- 
 received acceptation, then too much is ascribed to this one 
 ordinance — that God is made to concentre almost all his 
 spiritual gifts around this one ordinance — that he has even 
 debarred himself from any communication of the Spirit, 
 whether to adults or infants, until the very moment and act 
 of baptism — that, before this, the subjects are only objects 
 of his displeasure, the children of wrath, who cannot see the 
 kingdom of Heaven ; but that immediately after, and by the 
 very act, they become new beings, their natures being 
 changed, themselves being henceforth children of grace and 
 heirs of glory. In confirmation of this it is alleged, that 
 while the Episcopal Church, in several places, most empha- 
 tically declares her belief, that all baptized children dying in 
 infancy, and all adults who believe and are baptized, shall 
 oertainly be saved, she nowhere as expressly says, that any 
 can be saved without baptism. From hence it is inferred, 
 that she at least so far doubts the fact that she dares not as- 
 sert a belief or hope of it. Such, say some whose minds are 
 uneasy on the subject, and others who raise this as an ob- 
 jection to our Church, derive support from the fact, that, in 
 the writings of some of her divines, it is positively affirmed 
 that such are her real views, drawn from the scriptures as 
 interpreted by the early church. Within the last few years, 
 especially, there have appeared those who maintain that our 
 standards, if honestly interpreted, must speak sentiments on 
 the subject of baptismal regeneration and justification, which 
 to many of us appear most extravagant, and unsupported either 
 by scripture, reason, or experience. On these accounts some 
 persons, not satisfied to observe the mere formality of bap- 
 tism, in relation either to themselves or children, are unable 
 to approach it in that state of mind which is so much to be 
 •desired when about to perform a religious act, and publicly 
 
to invoke theblessing of Heaven. It is the humble hope of 
 the writer to say some things, which may not only aid the 
 pious in obtaining a devout frame of mind, but in some mea- 
 sure remove uncomfortable doubts as to the meaning of cer- 
 tain words used in our impressive offices for baptism. 
 
 It may be as well at once to remark, before entering on 
 this subject, that the Scriptures themselves, written as they 
 were at sundry times and divers manners, and on various 
 subjects, though all tending one way, are in some places hard 
 to be understood, and difficult to be reconciled with each 
 other, though doubtless there is a perfect harmony through- 
 out. By a careful and candid comparison of the different 
 parts, comparing scripture with scripture, very much of this 
 apparent difference is removed ; though, after all, some 
 learned and pious persons differ not a little as to the precise 
 meaning of some passages. Is it then to be wondered at, 
 that the Church, in drawing up her services for the admin- 
 istration of a divine ordinance, so emphatically enjoined of 
 ■God, and spoken of by the inspired writers in such strong 
 terms of commendation, and doing it in words whose mean- 
 ing is always liable to vary somewhat in the minds of men 
 from the lapse of time and the changes of language, and de- 
 siring to use as much as possible of the language of scrip- 
 ture, and yet express herself in the fewest words which 
 would answer — is it, I say, to be wondered at, that in at- 
 tempting this, she should not entirely succeed in conveying 
 to the minds of all her members and ministers, in all time to 
 come, perfectly clear and satisfactory views of the meaning 
 of all the terms she uses, especially when we know that 
 they cannot always agree as to the meaning of those very 
 Scriptures which she has interwoven with her services ? The 
 very brevity which she must necessarily seek in services so 
 frequently and publicly to be used, rendered it almost impos- 
 sible to meet the demands of some as to clearness and expli- 
 citness of doctrine. Nevertheless, it becomes us, in a sin- 
 cere desire for truth, to examine the words of Scripture and 
 the Church ; and when we cannot see, as it were, face to 
 face, be content to see through a glass darkly, and not be 
 ashamed to acknowledge that there are some things too high 
 for us, and some things so secret, that God only can see into 
 
10 
 
 them. But while we must admit that there is a difficulty 
 in ascertaining, to our perfect satisfaction, w T hat is the pre- 
 cise meaning of certain expressions, whether in the Scrip- 
 tures or the services of the Church, it is pleasing to be able 
 to say, positively, that some things which are imputed to 
 them are not to be found there, because we can show that 
 they are plainly contradicted by other places, about which 
 there can be no dispute. One principle then is clearly set 
 forth in Scripture, and most faithfully copied into our prayer 
 book, which I would present to the minds of my readers, as 
 opposed to undue and extravagant views of baptism, or of any 
 positive ordinance, such as are sometimes taken of them — I 
 mean the distinction so clearly made by God himself be- 
 tween certain things belonging to his Kingdom — some things 
 being more important than others, though all must needs be 
 important, else God would not have ordained them. There 
 are those who speak as if it were most presumptuous and 
 criminal in man to make any such distinctions or compari- 
 sons, or to affirm that any of God's institutions might be dis- 
 pensed with, for any cause whatever, without imminent 
 danger to the soul, if not certain loss of it. It is most true, 
 that man must not dare to make exceptions, and to dispense 
 with any of the divine appointments; but when God gives 
 us clear intimations of his preference of one over another, 
 and does actually, for certain reasons, dispense with some 
 and not with others — who are we, that we should refuse to 
 allow and thankfully receive the distinction ? We do not 
 honor, but dishonor God, when we refuse to follow where 
 lie leads the way, and maintain exceptions which himself 
 has made. Much has our holy religion been misrepresented 
 and dishonored by departing from this principle, and hesi- 
 tating to admit into our systems exceptions which God him- 
 self has established in the government of his Church, and the 
 Jbestowment of his grace. Now, God has most clearly distin- 
 guished between positive institutions and moral principles, de- 
 claring that mercy is better than sacrifice ; that there are some 
 matters of the law weightier than others, though none must be 
 neglected, not even the least, without due cause. In an- 
 swer to the Scribe, who asked, which was the greatest com- 
 mandment, our Lord, instead of rebuking him for an im- 
 
11 
 
 proper question, readily answered; establishing the principle 
 of an essential difference, and declaring that love was the 
 very soul of all the commandments. On the same principle 
 we are told, that "without holiness, no man can see the 
 Lord;" and that "without faith, it is impossible to please 
 God!" But is it thus that God speaks of outward ordinan- 
 ces ? Does he assure us that the omission of them, no mat- 
 ter for what cause, is absolutely fatal to the soul ? Have his 
 own dealings with the Church sanctioned such a supposi- 
 tion ? Let us see whether, in regard to the two initiatory 
 ordinances, circumcision and baptism, we have a right to? 
 draw such a conclusion. 
 
 In a most special manner, God appointed circumcision a& 
 a token of the covenant with Abraham and his posterity, 
 commanding young and old to observe it, and saying, that 
 whosoever was not circumcised had broken the covenant, 
 and must be cut off from Israel. As to the extent of that 
 penalty, how far it deprived them of Jewish privileges— when 
 it was due to the young Israelite, whose parents or master 
 neglected, and who continued to neglect it himself — as to its 
 supposed bearing on the future condition of the soul, the 
 Jewish Rabbis, in the absence of all clear declarations from 
 God, expressed their own opinions, but differed not a little, 
 though, as we shall see hereafter, some rules were adopted on 
 the subject, in the way of church discipline. We must neces- 
 sarily suppose that the heavy displeasure of God was incurs 
 red by those who unnecessarily neglected it ; and that the 
 Jew, who through life wilfully despised this ordinance of 
 God, had nothing to hope from him in another world. But 
 that it was, under all circumstances, absolutely necessary, irt 
 order to any connexion with the people of God, or the cove- 
 nant with God, or to salvation hereafter, how can we believe, 
 when for forty years in the wilderness, during a period when 
 they were so peculiarly the people of God, as to his protect- 
 ing providence, it was permitted to be laid aside. Must there- 
 not have been, during the continuance of the Jewish dis- 
 pensation, thousands of instances in which children, pre- 
 vented by necessity from being thus entered into the Jew- 
 ish Church on the eighth day, died before it could be done ; 
 and who can bring himself to believe that such were lost for- 
 
12 
 
 ever? Who can believe that the thousands of infants, des- 
 troyed at their very birth by the command of Pharaoh, to 
 keep down the increasing numbers of the people of God ; 
 or the little innocents whom Herod destroyed, in order to 
 ensure the death of the Babe of Bethlehem, none of whom 
 were circumcised, must therefore be numbered among the 
 lost ones ? It is true that we hear of some, in the days of 
 the Apostles, saying, "Except ye be circumcised, ye can- 
 not be saved;" but they were not the words of God, or of 
 his inspired penmen. God's word ever lays the emphasis 
 on the circumcision of the heart, without which nothing else 
 could avail. As to baptism, when our Lord appeared upon 
 earth, establishing his kingdom, or rather continuing and en- 
 larging that which he already had, he substituted it for cir- 
 cumcision, enjoining the observance, with expressions of 
 great strength — "Except a man be born of water and of the 
 Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God." " He that be- 
 lieveth and is baptized, shall be saved." Such words appear 
 to be absolute, and it may be asked, how can any unbaptized 
 person hope for Heaven, seeing that no exception is made; 
 but that faith and baptism, being born of water and the Spirit, 
 are coupled together on seemingly equal terms, and both re- 
 quired. Who shall undertake to separate them, and in any 
 one instance dispense with either? Certainly none but he 
 who gave the law, and joined them together. But if he does 
 ever make a difference, and separate them, who are we that 
 we should forbid, and say it is impossible? The guilt of 
 presumption is with him who doubts and refuses to acknow- 
 ledge most cheerfully whatever God seems plainly to inti- 
 mate. Now, it is evident, that in many places of Scripture 
 they are spoken of separately. Faith, and the being born 
 of the Spirit, are repeatedly declared to be effectual to salva- 
 tion, without any mention, at the time, of baptism with wa- 
 ter; wherea3 baptism with water is never spoken of as % suf- 
 iicient or effectual, without being connected with the word, 
 or Spirit, or faith, or repentance. This surely could not have 
 been an oversight in the sacred writets, but must have been 
 designed by the Holy Ghost. What would have been the 
 effect of a single instance of salvation even seeming to be 
 ascribed to baptism, without the addition of faith and repen- 
 
13 
 
 tance, seeing that such undue power is ascribed to it, even 
 now made dependent as it is for its efficacy in the hands of 
 God on those things which are connected with it ? One of 
 the sacred writers (St. Peter) seems, as it were, on the point 
 of making the mistake, when he says : " The like figure 
 "whereunto baptism even now saves us ;" but he immediate- 
 ly adds, " not the working away the filth of the flesh, but 
 the answer of a good conscience towards God," lest he 
 should be misunderstood. If any demand some act or de- 
 claration, on the part of our Lord, shewing that this is the 
 right construction to be put on the language of Scripture, 
 that can be afforded. I know not who, of all the sinners of 
 this earth, had better assurance of salvation, than he to whom 
 our Lord, in his last agony, said: "This night shalt thou 
 be with me in Paradise ;" and yet he had neither been bap- 
 tized, nor had he partaken of the Lord's Supper, having 
 only faith and repentance. 
 
 That baptism is not so essential to salvation but that there 
 may be exceptions, has ever been the general sentiment of 
 the Christian Church. There were, it is true, in some of 
 the earlier and in some of the darker ages, those who 
 doubted it, and those who denied it ; but one of the most 
 thorough enquirers into the sentiments of the primitive chris- 
 tians— the learned Bingham — informs us, that when in the 
 third and fourth centuries some began to speak in such 
 doubtful terms of the possibility of salvation to the unbap- 
 tized child, it was often done in order to induce parents to 
 bring their children to baptism ; some being backward in 
 doing it. It was generally agreed that martyrs, executed 
 before they could bebaptized, and infants who could not re- 
 ceive it, though through no fault of their own, would be saved 
 without it ; and that only the wilful contempt of it by the 
 adult would be visited with the Divine displeasure, and ex- 
 clusion from Heaven. Such may truly be said of our own 
 Church, and of all the churches of the Reformation. In 
 protesting against many of the doctrines of the Romish 
 Church, they did not fail to let it be known, that they sym- 
 pathized not with her in the cruel belief that the want of bap j 
 tism was the loss of Heaven to the babe of yesterday, who 
 dies in its mother's arms, unable to ask for, or even think of ? 
 2 
 
14 
 
 the needed grace. If it be asked, why our Church does not 
 more expressly, and at the very time of baptism, make the 
 exceptions, and protest against the hateful doctrine, we an- 
 swer, that in this, as in other things, she has carefully copied 
 after God's word. First, she solemnly sets forth the com- 
 mand of C hrist ; then the sure promise to those who believe 
 and are baptized ; then she is careful, after the example of 
 scripture, to set forth, in various places, the promises to 
 faith and repentance, the new birth by the word and Spirit,, 
 without any allusion to baptism ; and then, lest this should 
 not su ffice, as our Lord in his last agony made an excep- 
 tion, she honors the principle ; for, in her catechism, she says, 
 as to both the sacraments, that they are only "generally 
 necessary to salvation" allowing for exceptions, though it 
 was not her part to specify them. In the baptism of adults 
 she is more express, for immediately after quoting those 
 very words of our Lord, which some think forbid us to make 
 an exception — after declaring that, except a man be born of 
 water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
 Heaven — she immediately adds, as a comment on the 
 words, " Whereby ye may perceive the great necessity of 
 this sacrament, w T here it may be had." As to the Lord's 
 Supper, also, in the same spirit, she says, that when pre- 
 vented by sickness from receiving the appointed memorials 
 from the hands of a minister, the pious believer may with- 
 out them, by the exercise of a true faith, partake of the body 
 and blood of Christ, in the only way in which the Church 
 understands that participation — that is, after a heavenly and; 
 spiritual manner. In like manner, as to baptism, she holds 
 that those who have been born again of the word and Spirit, 
 and have come to true faith and penitence — thus dying — will, 
 according to God's promise to true believers, be saved, al- 
 though they may have been prevented from Christian bap- 
 tism. Nor shall we go beyond numbers of the most learned, 
 pious, and devoted sons and ministers of the Church, (al- 
 though it was not to be expected that she herself should un- 
 dertake formally to make such exceptions,) in expressing 
 our conviction that there have been, at different periods in the 
 Christian Church, some pious but mistaken persons, who 
 have so misunderstood the design of our Lord as to suppose 
 
15 
 
 that the only baptism required was the baptism of the Spirit, 
 and have therefore sought and received only that. This 
 conviction having been carefully instilled into the minds of 
 their children, they have grown up among Christians in the 
 firm belief that it was unnecessary, and have neglected this 
 seal of Heaven. Thus obeying their earthly parents, they 
 have thought that they were also honoring their heavenly one. 
 Who among us can question the piety and salvation of num- 
 bers in the society of Friends, who were never baptized with 
 water ? Although we must at the same time not only deeply 
 lament, but most strongly condemn, the false and dangerous 
 method of interpreting Scripture adopted by this society, 
 and which by leading to the disuse of so many external ob- 
 servances, has, we doubt not, by the just judgment of God, 
 and, in the very nature of things, been the chief cause why 
 so many of them, beginning with the neglect of outward 
 baptism, have ended in the denial of the inward, and in the 
 shipwreck of all true faith. 
 
 While on this subject, it may not be amiss to allude to 
 another difficulty in the way of those who hold that in bap- 
 tism only is found the regeneration, or first beginning of sanc- 
 tification in the heart, and that without it there can be no- 
 thing with which to work, and on which parents and others 
 rnay operate. There are those amongst us, who, while 
 highly exalting baptism, and dwelling much on the mere 
 mode of it, yet sincerely believe that it should not be admin- 
 istered to infants, but postponed until the actual exercise of 
 faith ; and yet they think it proper to endeavor to prepare 
 their children for it by a pious education, in dependence on 
 the divine blessing. Some of these are happily successful, 
 and see the fruits of their prayers and efforts in the early 
 piety of their children, though not baptized in infancy ; while 
 numbers who were baptized, and have received some pious 
 nurture and admonition, never exhibit such evidences. God, 
 therefore, does not restrict the first gift of his Spirit to bap- 
 tism, else the unbaptized could never take the first step in 
 religion, whether in early youth or at any later period ; un- 
 less, indeed, we should adopt the theory of some amongst 
 us, who, in this respect, much resemble the Romanists, in 
 maintaining that a living, saving faith is not required fo y 
 
16 
 
 baptism; that is, such a faith as can only be put into the 
 heart by the Holy Ghost ; but that a mere assent of the mind 
 to Christianity, as a fact, is sufficient; and that if we come 
 to baptism with that, then, and for the first time, the Holy 
 Ghost will be given unto us, and we shall be born again, 
 exercising true faith and repentance unto salvation. Surely I 
 need not say how contrary to all the teaching of our church 
 such a theory is. The only faith which she knows and re- 
 quires is a lively faith ; the only repentance, one so deep 
 and strong as to enable us to forsake sin and lead a new life. 
 These are required most positively of the adult before bap- 
 tism, and the faithful promise of them demanded of the child. 
 On this subject we shall speak more fully hereafter. 
 
 And now, should any suppose that we mean to leave it to 
 the decision of man, whether or not he is to observe this di- 
 vine ordinance, as may seem necessary or important to him 
 — that he may at pleasure dispense with positive institutions 
 and outward forms, because moral principles and inward af- 
 fections are more important, we can assure them that nothing 
 can be farther from our belief or design. It is most suitable 
 to our nature, not only that there should be outward things— 
 visible words, as the Fathers called the sacraments — address- 
 ing themselves to our souls through the senses, and thus be- 
 coming the channels of divine grace, but that there be posi- 
 tive precepts, as tests of our obedience, even though we may 
 not see any natural and necessary connexion between them 
 and the divine blessing promised to tlie proper observance of 
 them. Thus it was from the beginning, when God com- 
 manded man to refrain from a certain tree of the garden, and 
 when one act of disobedience brought so much evil on man- 
 kind. In that case there was no necessity for transgression, 
 no impossibility of performance ; but the spirit of disaffection 
 arose in the bosom of our first parent, and he was banished 
 the blissful abode, though not left without hope of regaining 
 the divine favor. In relation to the command to be baptized, 
 so plainly given, where no invincible prejudice against it is 
 instilled into the youthful mind — where the duty is admitted, 
 the call made, the opportunity afforded, the salvation pro- 
 mised — who can hesitate to say that any one, wilfully and 
 deliberately refusing to comply, and continuing so to do while 
 
17 
 
 the Saviour's words are ever sounding in his ears, cannot be 
 .saved. It is only to say that a rebel against the authority of 
 Heaven, thus living, thus dying, cannot be admitted to its 
 honors and joys. Such conduct proves a heart destitute of 
 piety. Such an one is condemned already. A precept or 
 ordinance, much less emphatically urged in Scripture than 
 this, thus violated, were certain loss of the soul. Any re- 
 quirement, however comparatively trivial, wilfully contemn- 
 ed, and habitually neglected, must prove fatal to the soul. 
 Let it be remembered, also, that the neglect of baptism 
 through life, is not merely one act of disobedience, but a long 
 series of acts, continuing from day to day, and forming a regu- 
 lar habit of disobedience. If it could only be performed at 
 one particular time in the course of our lives, and we should 
 permit that time to pass by without it, we might plead that 
 the penalty was too severe ; but such is not the case, for this 
 is a standing command from day to day, and we are ever dis- 
 obeying it while we continue unprepared for it, and do not 
 ask for it. He who offendeth in one point is guilty of all, for 
 he shows that he is not subject to the law of God, but is a 
 rebel; and can only be treated as such. 
 
 On this subject let me add one word to parents. If it be 
 God's will that you present your children to him in baptism, 
 that he may receive and bless them, and you fail to do it, 
 although it be far from us to say or believe that, for this very 
 neglect, of which they are guiltless, God will, should they 
 die unbaptized, destroy their poor bodies and souls in hell ; 
 yet, according to God's established laws, you know not how 
 much you may offend him, injure yourselves, and hinder the 
 spiritual welfare of your children. This neglect on your 
 parts may be only the first of a series of neglects, each con- 
 tributing to the other, and all contributing something to your 
 children's ruin. Your neglect of it, while they are children, 
 may operate as an argument and example for their neglect 
 when they come to years of discretion. Even unnecessary 
 delay on your parts in bringing them to Christ's ordinance 
 may lead to other delays, and all may contribute to the delay 
 of their conversion, until it be too late, forever. The indif- 
 ference and dilatoriness of many, in this respect, can only be 
 .ascribed to a want of deep feeling as to the necessity of di- 
 . 2* 
 
18 
 
 vine grace for the renewal of the corrupt natures of our chil- 
 dren, and want of faith in the capacity of our children, at an 
 early age, to receive the same, although it be not tied to the 
 moment and act of baptism. It is impossible to say how 
 much the needless delay and heartless performance of our 
 part in this ordinance may injure the best interests of the 
 child, by displeasing God, and leading to other neglects and 
 failures in his education. One of the Fathers, in urging a 
 speedy bringing of little children to the Loid, enumerates 
 a number of trivial and unworthy excuses which some make 
 for delay, as the want of fine clothes, in which it may ap- 
 pear well to the eyes of men, or the weather, or such like 
 things. It is to be feared that too many parents, as well as many 
 of the congregation, have their thoughts more engaged about 
 the appearance and behavior of the child on that occasion, 
 than on the solemn duty itself. Were they to bring their 
 children at the earliest period which prudence would allow, 
 it would seldom happen that their minds, or the minds of 
 others, would be diverted from the devotions of the occasion 
 by the cries or misconduct of the little ones. 
 
 Having thus endeavored to remove some unjust imputa- 
 tions from our Church, and uncomfortable feelings from the 
 minds of some who might fear that she was liable to these 
 imputations; having in few words affirmed that not only the 
 Church, but the Scriptures, were opposed to certain extra- 
 vagant and very painful views on the subject of baptism, 
 which from time to time have been maintained by some, I 
 now conclude the chapter by commending to the readers 
 what, all surely must admit to be the best method of coming 
 to a satisfactory conclusion on this subject. 
 
 As the Word of God is our only infallible rule of faith; as 
 baptism is just what God's word makes it, and not what the 
 Fathers, the Reformers, or the Prayer Book make it ; so, if 
 any one truly desires to form a right estimate of it, either in 
 itself, or relatively as to other things, let him take up the 
 New Testament, and read it over carefully and prayerfully; 
 as he proceeds, let him particularly attend to what is said of 
 baptism, and also of faith, repentance, the word, the Holy 
 Ghost. Let him mark them in their connection with each 
 other, and when they are spoken of separately. Let him 
 
19 
 
 notice what is the frequency and the emphasis with which 
 each is mentioned; what the effects ascribed to them, either 
 separately or in their connection. Let him attend to the con- 
 text, which often sheds light upon the text. He may some- 
 times derive aid from a commentator, in finding out the mean- 
 ing of some figurative expression, or some allusion to ancient 
 usages; and, therefore, such reference is not to be forbidden. 
 By so doing, I am confident that, though a clear and satisfac- 
 tory view of the meaning of every passage relating to bap- 
 tism may not be had, yet the candid inquirer will not fail to 
 attain to a sound view of the design and relative position and 
 importance of baptism, as subsidiary to those absolutely es- 
 sential conditions of salvation — faith and repentance. 
 
 The same mode also would I recommend for ascertaining 
 the sense of our church in her formularies. Let both of her 
 baptismal services be carefully studied in connection with 
 the catechism, the articles, the homilies, and the whole pray- 
 er book, and compared together ; and though the inquirer 
 may be unable to understand and reconcile every word, he 
 will scarcely fail to arrive at a conclusion which ought to sat- 
 isfy him. He will perceive that the Church faithfully aimed 
 at a strict conformity with Scripture, as to language and doc- 
 trine, and has set forth none of those extravagant and most 
 unscriptural doctrines held by the Church of Rome, and 
 which were denounced so strongly in the sermons and writ- 
 ings -of the Reformers. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Scriptural view of Circumcision and Baptism. 
 
 It will be a leading object in this treatise to show how 
 Crod is pleased to select, as a channel through which to pour 
 forth his mercy and grace, that which is also permitted to 
 be the means of entailing sin and misery on man — I mean 
 the connection between parents and their offspring. If Eve 
 was bone of Adam's bone and flesh of his flesh, so are chil- 
 dren of their parents — partakers of their nature, deriving their 
 existence, soul and body, through them, and for a while en- 
 tirely dependent on them. It was the promise of God to 
 our unhappy fallen parents, that the seed of the woman 
 should bruise the serpent's head. Accordingly, when Cain 
 was born, they exulted in the thought that in him the bless- 
 ing was come. How sadly must they have been disappoint- 
 ed when they saw in him the murderer of his brother, and 
 how deeply affected at thought of their own sin must they ever 
 have been when perceiving, in any of their children, the ex- 
 hibition of that sinful nature which they felt working in 
 their own members, and which they had been the means of 
 communicating to others. How deeply should this affect 
 •all parents, and how earnestly and speedily should they ap- 
 ply to God for his grace to prevent the fatal effects of it. 
 Though disappointed in their first hope, yet we read that, in 
 process of time God gave them another son in place of Abel, 
 even Seth, in whose line was Enoch and Noah. His chil- 
 dren and descendants were called sons of God ; they called 
 on the name of the Lord ; they were the righteous, until 
 they intermarried with the daughters of men, the ungodly 
 ones, and became corrupt. At length, God saw that the 
 wickedness of man was so great on the earth that he must 
 purge it by a deluge. He chose eight only from all the mil- 
 lions which swarmed on the earth, and they were all of one 
 family. God blessed the children of Noah, and chose them 
 to be the means of replenishing the earth and fulfilling his 
 promise. Again, when the children of men had become so 
 corrupt that all trutli and godliness was perishing from the 
 earth, God chose from among them the patriarch Abraham 
 
21 
 
 to be the father of the faithful, in whose line the promised 
 Saviour should be born. The reason assigned for it was— I 
 know my servant Abraham, that he will command his house- 
 hold after him. He could trust him with this great work, 
 for he would, by godly discipline and instruction, train up 
 his children and servants in the service of the true God, and 
 in the hope of a Saviour to come. The promise of God was 
 to him and his seed after him, that he would be to them a 
 God, and they be to him a people ; he a father, they sons 
 and daughters. Many years after this, and after God had 
 given proofs of his faithfulness to Abraham, and Abraham of 
 his faithfulness to God, the Lord appeared to him and re- 
 newed his promise, and then appointed circumcision, to be 
 applied to himself and his household, as a sign and seal, or 
 token of the covenant, whereby they might be the more as- 
 sured of his faithfulness and truth, and be known to be his 
 peculiar people, and become bound to keep his command- 
 ments. Although God had not only promised once, and 
 then sworn to it, saying — Surely, blessing I will bless thee — 
 thus, as the apostle says, by two immutable things, giving 
 them strong consolation; yet he was pleased, also, to add 
 another confirmation, even a mark on their bodies, on their 
 first coming into the world, as soon as they had a visible 
 existence, in order that they might be the more assured of 
 his love, and also reminded of their obligations. In connec- 
 tion with this rite, and in order to give it efficacy in after 
 life, God gave laws to his people, and enjoined it upon them 
 to see that these were most carefully inculcated upon their 
 children, and obedience required. At sundry times, and di- 
 vers manners, God spake to the fathers by the prophets, and 
 caused all the words to be written for the study of his peo- 
 ple, that by his perfect law he might convert their souls, and 
 make them wise unto salvation. By his Spirit he opened 
 the eyes of their minds to see wondrous things in that law; 
 wherefore, the apostle, in answer to the question — "What pro- 
 fit there was in circumcision, or what advantage there was 
 to the Jew?" says — "much every way; chiefly that unto them 
 were committed the oracles of God; 1 ' they had the know- 
 ledge of the truth. If they did not embrace the truth when 
 capable of understanding it, their circumcision virtually be- 
 
22 
 
 came uncircumeision ; it profited not unless they kept the 
 law ; though they were in a sense of Israel, yet still were not 
 Israel. He only was the Jew, who was so inwardly ; that 
 only was circumcision, which was of the heart. That the 
 Jews thus regarded it, as only effectual for good if owned 
 and ratified when they came to years of discretion, is evi- 
 dent from the fact, that, though there was no such command 
 given of God, yet at the time of their circumcision certain 
 persons called sponsors were required to promise the same 
 in their name, and at a certain age they were expected to 
 come forward and renew these promises, and then partake 
 of the passover ; and, on a failure so to do, they were con- 
 sidered as renouncing or breaking the covenant. It is a no- 
 torious fact that the Jews, beyond any nation on earth, have 
 always been most particular in teaching the precepts of their 
 religion to their children, and in making them accurately ac- 
 quainted with the contents and meaning of their sacred books ; 
 hence their firm adherence to the same. As to the design 
 and use of circumcision, surely the pious and enlightened 
 Israelites could have been at no loss. It was a sign or seal 
 ©f a covenant between God and the family of Abraham, in 
 which God made certain promises to the posterity of Abra- 
 ham. " I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee," 
 contained everything which man could need. In it was es- 
 pecially found the precious promise of that seed of the woman 
 who was to bruise the serpent's head, that Saviour who was 
 to overcome the wicked one, that forgiveness of sins which 
 poor sinners needed. And as no one could come to Christ 
 except he was drawn by the Spirit of God, as no one could 
 be made meet for the Heaven purchased by Christ, except he 
 was sanctified by the Holy Ghost, so the promise of the Spirit 
 was also contained in it. These two things are the sum and 
 substance of the promise to Abraham and his posterity, viz., 
 the forgiveness of sins through the atonement of Christ, and 
 the gift of the Holy Ghost to make us meet for Heaven. 
 The whole Jewish dispensation was appointed to prepare 
 for this ; the whole law, moral and ceremonial, was a school- 
 master to bring us to Christ. The moral law was designed 
 to convince of sin ; the ceremonial law, with all its sacri- 
 fices, to show us that, without shedding of blood, there 
 
23 
 
 could be no remission of sin. All the purifications with 
 water were designed to show us how our hearts must be 
 washed from sin by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The 
 pious Jew understood this, and delivered it to his children;. 
 He looked for a Saviour to liberate from sin, and sought 
 the aids of the Holy Spirit to circumcise his heart. Cir- 
 cumcision was to each child, as soon as he entered the world, 
 a seal of these promises ; an assurance to each one, of those 
 promises which were made generally to all, before they had 
 any existence. Circumcision did not first cause God to have 
 pity on the child, and to promise favors on certain conditions, 
 butonly certified and sealed what was felt in the bosom ofGod, 
 and promised long before. Circumcision did not first create 
 duties and obligations on the part of the child not before ex- 
 isting, but only set them forth most impressively. It was, 
 on the part of God, a recognition of the child as a child of 
 promise and of the church ; and an union of it to the 
 people of God by an appointed ordinance. Sometimes God 
 anticipated this recognition and designation of them, by 
 sanctifying them, or setting them apart for holy purposes 
 before they were born — as in the case of Jeremy and John 
 the Baptist. But however God's good will may have been 
 towards them while in the mother's womb ; and as the sanctifi- 
 cation of them — whatever that may have been — it is evident 
 that the child must have a being among us ere it can be 
 added to a visible church, and receive the promises, or any 
 seal of them. As the promises were, before the existence of 
 the child, so they must be his, as soon as he begins to ex'st ; 
 though they can only be publicly made over to him, by 
 the sealing of the same, when he has a visible being, or 
 is borne into this world. So soon as this takes place the in- 
 strument is completed, and the seal set. Hence God's com- 
 mand, that even on the eighth day, as soon as it could be 
 safely done, the child must be entered into covenant. The 
 promise of the forgiveness of sin, and the gift of the Spirit, 
 must be sealed unto him ; and thus an assurance is given 
 that the evil nature he brings with him into the world shall 
 not be his condemnation, nor his actual sins either, provided 
 he uses the Holy Spirit, now pledged to him as a sanctifier 
 of his nature, and trusts to the covenant mercy of God 
 
24 
 
 in Christ; otherwise all is frustrate, the covenant is broken? 
 the soul is cut off from God and happiness forever.* 
 
 Such is the object of eircumcision in relation to the pos- 
 terity of Abraham, in whose line all the families of the earth 
 
 * On early dedication of Children. — It may not be amiss to dwell par- 
 ticularly on this point. Not only was the determination to be merciful 
 to man, through his Son, and by his Spirit, in the mind of God from all 
 eternity, but in his word, this good will towards infants, as exhibited 
 by Christ when he took them in his arms, was set forth in repeated 
 promises, generally, to all who should have being. As soon as any 
 soul should begin to exist, the good will and the promise of God had an 
 object on which to act. We read of some who were sanctified, or set 
 apart for some holy purpose, even before they were born into this world; 
 which shows that they were recognised by God before they were even 
 born — of course before either baptism or circumcision. But all will per- 
 ceive that they must have a visible existence before the visible Church 
 can recognise them, or they become subjects of any ordinance appointed 
 for the visible Church. As soon as they are born however, they be- 
 come proper subjects, and it seems to have been the design of God, by 
 the appointment of circumcision at so early a period as the eighth day, 
 to show to men, that his promises were theirs, as soon as it was possi- 
 ble to do so ; that is, as soon as they had any visible existence. The 
 admission into his Church, by the appointed seal, was almost contem- 
 poraneous with its birth, being as soon after as was practicable without 
 danger of life. Some of the Jews considered the eighth day as the first 
 day of the child's life, believing that a child was not perfect until one 
 Sabbath had passed over it. It was only in case of the sickness of the 
 child, that they felt themselves at liberty to postpone the initiatory rite, 
 knowing that God preferred mercy to sacrifice. The Christian Church 
 has ever been urgent on this point, wishing that the application of the 
 seal of God's promises should be as nearly as possible contemporaneous 
 with its existence ; not even waiting, oft-times, for the mother to regain 
 the health and strength with which to bear it in her arms to the Church 
 of God ; so that God is not obliged to suspend his love until the parents 
 shall choose to bring their children to him for a blessing. His good 
 will and promise is to them ere they are born ; and as soon as they are 
 born, he bids them be brought to him, to receive the seal and assurance 
 of it. If the beginning of the Christian life seems to be identified with 
 baptism, it is because God and the Church would have baptism to be at 
 the very beginning of their visible existence. So, as to adults, it is evi- 
 dently the will of God, that as soon as they truly believe in Christ, and 
 renounce all sin, they ought to be baptized — baptism and their Christian 
 life should be contemporaneous ; so it was at the first. See how imme- 
 diately the jailor, the eunuch, those on the day of Pentecost and others,, 
 were baptized after their conversion. So the Church would have it to 
 be with confirmation ; as soon as they have resolved to fulfil their bap- 
 tismal vows, they are fit subjects for confirmation, though it is not al- 
 ways practicable to have it administered. 
 
25 
 
 were to be blessed. But it was not restricted altogether to 
 the children of Abraham. From the first it was extended to 
 servants and strangers born among them, or coming and liv- 
 ing among them, and thus enjoying the means of knowing 
 th£true God. These, and any others from surrounding na- 
 tions, becoming converts to the Jewish religion, were, to- 
 gether with their children, by express command of God, 
 taken into covenant. These were called of God in another 
 way— not by birth, but by the word of instruction. When 
 these were introduced into covenant, it was not by circum- 
 cision only, but by baptism with water, and by sprinkling 
 the blood of some animal sacrificed on the occasion ; so that 
 the promises of sanctification by the spirit, and forgiveness 
 through Christ, were set forth by these ceremonies. Indeed, 
 the Jewish Rabbis say, that their fathers also, entered into 
 covenant by circumcision and baptism and the sprinkling of 
 blood ; the two latter being with them only attendant circum- 
 stances, a part of the ceremony, just as the use of oil and 
 salt among the Romanists are parts of the ceremony of bap- 
 tism. But in relation to proselytes from the heathen, as all 
 other nations were reckoned unclean, they were thus washed 
 from their fllthiness. They were also said to be baptized 
 into Moses — that is, into the Mosaic religion or dispensation. 
 All who were thus baptized, were said to be regenerate or 
 new born, as a child is new bom.* Renouncing their Gods, 
 their country, and all their kindred, old things passed away 
 from them, and all things became new. It is thought St. 
 Paul alluded to this when he said, " henceforth know we no 
 man after the flesh." As we often say, christen instead of 
 
 * Heathen proselytes, though baptized without any command of God, 
 were said to be regenerate and born again, because taken out of the 
 idolatrous world where they were "sinners of the Gentiles, aliens from 
 the commonwealth of Israel," and put into the Jewish Church, the fam- 
 ily of God, and thus made the sons of God by adoption. When Christ 
 appointed baptism, he bid his apostles go into all the world, making 
 proselytes from the whole heathen world — adopting them into his family 
 — grafting them into his Church. Those thus proselyted or discipled — 
 thus taken out of the Heathen world, were still said to be regenerated 
 or twice born. The same ternis were applied to their children, when 
 baptized ; for the promise was to those who believed and their children— 
 they were all thus the children of adoption. 
 
 3 
 
26 
 
 baptize, so the Jews said of their Gentile converts, that they 
 were regenerate, instead of baptized. We are also informed 
 that a convert, if of age, made profession to a court, (which 
 consisted of three grave men,) that he would keep the law 
 of Moses. In the case of minors, the court itself did pro- 
 fess, in their name, the same thing, (just as in the Christian 
 Church the godfathers do,) if their parents were not there to- 
 do it for them. The court was called the house of judgment, 
 and became a father to the child. Male children of such con- 
 verts, under thirteen years and a day, and females under twelve 
 years and a day, were baptized as infants, at the request, and by 
 the consent of the parents, or the authority of the court — the 
 child not being regarded as yet a son of assent, that is, ca- 
 pable of giving assent. An Israelite might also adopt a Hea- 
 then child, and baptize him. We have been thus particular in 
 mentioning these facts, because they have a bearing on what 
 will yet be said, as to the meaning of certain words now in 
 use, and on certain forms and rules peculiar to our Church 
 touching baptism. Having thus seen what were the prom- 
 ises of God to the posterity of Abraham, and to all who should, 
 from the nations around, come to the knowledge of the true 
 God, together with their children, let us inquire into the 
 continuation and consummation of the covenant under the 
 Christian dispensation. The Church and covenants of God 
 have been the same in every age, the promises the same, the 
 end and object the same."' The Lamb slain from the foun- 
 
 * Jewish and Christian Church one. — The Jewish and the Christian 
 Church were one stock, or tree ; the unbelieving Jews were cut off from 
 the tree by reason of unbelief; the believing Gentiles were grafted into 
 it, by reason of faith. The believing Jews continued in it, only laying 
 aside some things no longer required The firm belief of the identity of 
 the Church in the minds of many of the Jews, was evident from their 
 reluctance to relinquish many things in the Jewish dispensation, as cir- 
 cumcision and the Sabbath ; although they used baptism, and observed 
 the Lord's day, still, for a long time many of them, especially those in 
 Jerusalem and Judea, observed circumcision and the Jewish Sabbath 
 also. We are told that even a number of the bishops of Jerusalem were 
 both circumcised and baptized — in infancy, no doubt. We know how 
 much trouble this subject gave the Apostles ; how they were obliged to 
 yield to existing prejudices, allowing the Jews to practice it, though for- 
 bidding the yoke to be imposed on the Gentile converts. Even Timo- 
 thy was circumcised by St. Paul, because one of his parents was of 
 Hebrew extraction. 
 
27 
 
 dation of the world for the sins of men was Jesus Christ, 
 who, in the latter days, came by his death to deliver us from 
 our sins. All who believe in him, together with their chil- 
 dren, are the children of the covenant — the promises are to 
 them. Though in one sense they are children of wrath, 
 because inheriting evil natures which must be offensive to a 
 holy God, whose nature is opposed to all sin ; yet, in another 
 sense, they are children of grace, because children of the 
 promise. As an earthly father may, at one and the same time, 
 be grieved at, and angry with, a child of an evil disposition 
 and conduct, yet pity and love him, and be doing all in his 
 power to reform him, that he may make him his heir and 
 bequeath him his blessing; so God may, at the same time, 
 frown upon the sinful nature and evil actions of his covenant 
 childen, and yet love them, and resolve that nothing shall be 
 left undone on his part, consistent with his attributes and 
 their free agency as rational beings, to save them from their 
 sins ; thus are they, at one and the same time, children of 
 wrath by nature, and children of grace by promise and God's 
 tender mercy. Under the Christian, as under the Jewish 
 dispensation, all this is by a seal assured to children, as well 
 as adults. As to Abraham, the promise was to him and his 
 children, and the sign put upon them at their birth, to show 
 that their interest in the covenant began at once. So on the 
 day of Pentecost, when the spirit was so largely poured out, 
 it was again repeated, that "the promise is to you and to your 
 children, and to as many as the Lord shall call;" that is, to 
 as many as shall hear that sound of the Gospel which was 
 to be preached through all the world. Our Lord had before, 
 in the most touching manner, declared of little children that 
 they belonged to the kingdom, taking them in his very arms 
 and blessing them, and assuring his disciples that they could 
 only enter the kingdom as little children, as children of the 
 promise, as objects of grace, as the purchase of his blood — 
 who could do nothing to merit Heaven, but must receive it 
 as a free gift. St. Paul also tells us, that even when one of 
 the parents only was a believer, that their children were 
 holy; that is, the children of promise, to whom the kingdom 
 belonged, by right of the promise made to parents and their 
 seed. One change was made in the form, though not in the 
 
28 
 
 substance of the covenant. The seal, the public ratification 
 of it, was changed from circumcision to baptism, as the Pass- 
 over was changed into the Lord's Supper. Baptism, an em- 
 blematical mode of initiation into many of the schools and 
 systems of the Pagan world, and which, as we have seen, 
 was used for the introduction of Pagan converts into the Jew- 
 ish church, and which John the Baptist, the forerunner of 
 Christ, used to prepare his disciples for Christ's coming, 
 and to which Christ himself submitted in order to fulfil all 
 righteousness, was now appointed as the seal of the cove- 
 nant, the public designation of each child of promise, as the 
 object of God's love, the incorporation of it into the Church 
 of Christ; the fellowship of his people, called the body of 
 Christ. Those promises, which before had been general to 
 all, even before they had any existence, and which were 
 sure as God's word, were now sealed to each one so soon as 
 it had a visible existence; for the Church enjoins that they 
 be brought as soon after their birth as is practicable, not from 
 any superstitious view of the ordinance as indispensable to 
 salvation, but as a thing most natural and consistent, and 
 agreeable to God's institution under the former dispensation. 
 And as we have seen that the Jews styled these converts 
 from Paganism, who were baptized into Moses, the regenerate, 
 or new born, because they, for themselves and their children, 
 had renounced their gods and chosen Jehovah ; so it is be- 
 lieved our Lord, in allusion to this, and adopting the language 
 in common use, said to Nicodemus, "except a man be born 
 of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of Hea- 
 ven ;" and St. Paul also calls it, "the washing of regenera- 
 tion," for the same reason ; these terms being used some- 
 times as a substitute for baptism. Those who were baptized, 
 were said to be baptized not into Moses but into Christ — to 
 have put on Christ — to have embraced and professed his 
 religion. It is to be observed that, although the covenant, 
 the promises, and the seal, are all of the Lord's appointment—- 
 for he alone has the right to make them, and the power to 
 execute them — yet the seal being put on our bodies, he must 
 assent to it, for ourselves and children, and thus it becomes 
 a joint act; and so also must we receive the promises by 
 
29 
 
 faith, and apply them, or they will be unavailing. Although 
 the seal is only applied in baptism, yet the promises were 
 before baptism. Baptism did not create them, did not first 
 awaken pity in the Divine mind, and induce God to offer 
 forgiveness and his holy spirit; neither did it first bring us 
 in debt to God, and put obligations on us; all these existed 
 before, and were only set forth in baptism, so as to assure 
 us, that through Christ's death neither our sinful natures nor 
 actual sins, if repented of, shall be our ruin; and that 'the 
 Holy Ghost which was promised has adopted us, and will 
 do all that is needful in order to prepare us for Heaven. To 
 be thus assured of forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, to be put 
 into the bosom of the Church for training, instead of being 
 left to perish in our sins, is surely sufficient to justify the 
 title of regenerate, by comparison with our natural state of 
 death. It is not necessary, in order that baptism may be of 
 any avail, that at the moment it is administered a new soul, 
 heart, or nature, be formed within the child. The forgive- 
 ness of original sin, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, may 
 be granted to the child on its very birth, or before it, in its 
 previous state, and yet no moral 'change take place at the 
 time ; just as an estate may be left or given to a child, though 
 lie cannot use it at the time, and may abuse and lose it after- 
 wards. So with the soul of fallen man ; the Spirit promised 
 may properly be said to be given to it in its unconscious 
 state ; and then as its faculties and affections unfold, it may, 
 through the word and other means, bring the child to faith 
 and repentance ; may, by an effectual operation, renew it in 
 the spirit of its mind. The one is the estate given, the 
 other the estate used and enjoyed. The gift of the Holy 
 Ghost, and being renewed in the spirit of our minds, are 
 very different things — the one the cause, the other the effect 
 —and should not be confounded together, since they may 
 not be identified as to time ; and indeed one may never take 
 place, for we may always resist the Holy Spirit until it be 
 taken from us, and the work be left undone. 
 
 Nor must we confound together the seal with the cove- 
 nant 'or promised mercies — making the seal every thing, 
 and, of course, indispensable to salvation. A seal is the 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 completion of some instrument which contains a contractor 
 promise, and is sometimes, though not always, made neces- 
 sary to the validity of the contract, or the legality of the 
 title. The main point is the promise. A man of truth 
 will perform his promise, even though for some cause there 
 has been an omission of the se*al, all else being right. And 
 shall we suppose that when God has made solemn promises 
 to believers and their children, adding a sign or token of the 
 same, and requiring it to be put upon their bodies, that if, 
 through unavoidable necessity, the believer or the child dies 
 without this mark, though having all else, that God will in 
 anger banish them from his presence, and shut them up in 
 hell ? Or shall we, even if shrinking from this dreadful 
 supposition, say, that we judge not, but leave them to the un- 
 covenanted mercies of Heaven, that we have no right to God 
 to go further ? Shall we thus say, because the appointed 
 seal could not be applied, the adult perhaps desiring it, and 
 the infant unable even to desire ? Were not the promises 
 to believers and their little ones before the seal is applied ? 
 Is not that only a confirmation of the same, and a mode of 
 publicly applying them to the living ? Is it an honoring of 
 God and his ordinance to suppose, that he cannot or will not 
 perform his promises, because a form that could not be ob- 
 served was wanting? What man of honor would not feel 
 insulted by such an insinuation against himself ? God 
 appointed the sign in addition to his word and oath, in 
 condescension to our weakness of faith ; and do we honor 
 him by yielding still more to our unbelief, and doubting 
 whether he can or will save unless the sign be added, when 
 that is impossible, and all else is complied with ? God de- 
 clared, most solemnly, that although man was exceedingly 
 corrupt, he would no more deluge the earth ; and, that he 
 might see as well as read this promise, he put his bow in the 
 cloud, and bid man look at it, and not fear another deluge. 
 Should any one contemptuously turn away from it, and re- 
 fuse to look, he may well suppose that God would be 
 angry. But what if one had been born blind, and could never 
 see it, would God's anger kindle also against him? So, if 
 any despise and refuse baptism, he may well fear, or rather 
 
31 
 
 be assured, that God will not fulfil his promise of the Spirit 
 to sanctify him, or of the forgiveness of his sins through 
 Christ.* 
 
 * Forgiveness of Sins. — We may err as much in making forgiveness de- 
 pendent on the application of the seal of baptism, as in regard to its purify- 
 ing effect, When the instrument itself, God's word, solemnly promises 
 it to believers and their children, shall God, the author of that instru- 
 ment, make the forgiveness of original sin to children — the children of 
 promise — depend on the caprice or inability of parents, so that if the 
 child dies without baptism, it shall lose all that is promised in the writing 
 or instrument? Shall he make the forgiveness of original and actual sin 
 to a pious and believing adult depend on something he may be unable to 
 obtain ? Be this far from God , to be such an hard taskmaster, reaping 
 where he has not sown. If St. Paul could say that he found mercy to 
 his persecution and sin, because he " did it ignorantly in unbelief," how 
 much more shall we be assured that God will not refuse mercy to a true 
 disciple, because he could not comply with one of those outward things 
 which are enjoined upon believers in order " to fulfil all righteousness." 
 To doubt this, seems to cast great dishonor on our Lord. What man. 
 of honor, justice, humanity, would refuse to fulfil his part of a contract, 
 merely because, from unavoidable necessity; or some great cause, the. 
 seal could not be put, and the legal title completely made out, when all 
 the other conditions had been complied with ? Such a supposition does 
 great injustice to our Lord and our blessed religion. If God will not 
 fay on man more than he will make him able to bear, if he does not 
 reap where he has not sown, surely he will not be severe on an infant, 
 but, as a generous creditor, will have patience until he pay all ; and, 
 should he die before that is possible, will freely forgive him all. If any 
 say, as I have heard some say, that we must have God's positive word 
 for it, before we can say certainly that)? even unbaptized infants can be 
 saved, might not the argument be turned against them by those who 
 ask, where is the express word commanding this baptism? Both are in- 
 ferences, but very plain ones, to the author's mind. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The foregoing views substantiated by high authorities. 
 
 The first which I shall adduce is that of Dean Noell's 
 catechism, which was set forth by authority in the reign of 
 Edward the Sixth, as an explanation of the doctrines of the 
 Church, as then established. The next is that of the cate- 
 chism of the celebrated Calvin, whose sentiments on the 
 subject of baptism have been often quoted, as establishing 
 the interpretation put upon those pas-sages in our catechism 
 and baptismal services which relate to baptism. It will be 
 perceived that there is a striking resemblance between the 
 two as to the order observed, the language used, and the 
 views set forth. If our own short catechism be compared 
 with both of them, it will be seen clearly that it is either an 
 abridgement of the same, with the entire omission of those 
 parts of Calvin which treat of predestination and church 
 government, or else that Calvin's and Noell's were only en- 
 largements of ours. 
 
 o' 
 
 Extract from NoelVs Catechism. 
 
 " Since by nature we are the children of wrath, that is, 
 aliens from the Church, which is God's family, baptism is a 
 kind of entrance into it, by which we are admitted ; whence 
 we receive a full testimony that we are now in the number 
 of the sons of God." "The use of baptism consists in faith 
 and repentance ; for we should first be fully persuaded, in 
 our own minds, that we are purged by the blood of Christ 
 from all impurities, and are acceptable to God, and that his 
 Spirit dwells in us. In the next place, we must endeavor, 
 with all our might, to mortify the flesh, and live righteously 
 in the sight of God, and show to all, by a pious conduct, 
 that we have put on Christ at baptism, and are furnished 
 with his Spirit. But that faith and repentance should pre- 
 cede baptism, is exacted only of those who are grown up, 
 whose age is capable of both ; but the promise of Christ unto 
 
33 
 
 the Church, in whose faith infants are baptized, is sufficient 
 for them for the present; when they grow up they are bound 
 to acknowledge the reality of their baptism, and to feel its 
 power on their minds, and to evidence it by their lives and 
 manners." It then states, " that God declared himself to be 
 the father of the Jewish children, and admitted them to cir- 
 cumcision, and that our Lord declared the kingdom of Hea- 
 ven belonged to little children, and that ' it would then seem 
 to be the highest injustice' to prohibit their access into the 
 porch whom God himself designed to accept into his heaven- 
 ly palace, and for men to exclude them in a measure from 
 the Christian commonwealth." 
 
 Extraut from Calvin's Catechism. 
 
 "Baptism is the appropriate way of entrance into the 
 Church. For in this we have the'^testimony, that we who 
 were before strangers and foreigners, are received into the 
 family of God, and numbered among his household." " The 
 right use of baptism is in faith and repentance, that is, that 
 we first determine, by a sure confidence of soul, that we are 
 cleansed from all spots by the blood of Christ, and are ac- 
 ceptable to God ; then, that we believe that his spirit dwells 
 in us, and that we make this manifest by our works among 
 others; and also that we assiduously exercise ourselves in striv- 
 ing for the mortification of the flesh, and obedience to the will 
 of God." As to the objection, that these things are impossible 
 to infants, he says : " They are not required of infants be- 
 forehand ; it is sufficient if they, after they come of age, pro- 
 duce the fruits of their baptism ; that they are admitted to 
 baptism for the same reason that infants were admitted to 
 circumcision ; that it would be taking from them a most ex- 
 cellent consolation, which the Church enjoyed from the be- 
 ginning. They are baptized," he says, "that they may 
 have the visible seal that they are the heirs of the blessings 
 promised to the seed of believers, and that, after they come 
 to years of discretion, the substance of their baptism being 
 acknowledged, they may. from it. receive and bring forth 
 fruit." 
 
34 
 
 Extract from Hooker. 
 
 Hooker speaks of children being born within the bosom 
 of the Church, and therefore having a right to baptism, which 
 he says, "is a seal perhaps to the grace of election before 
 received." Holding the doctrine of predestination, he says : 
 " Predestination bringeth not to life without the grace of ex- 
 ternal vocation, wherein our baptism is implied. For, as 
 we are not naturally men without birth, so neither are we 
 Christian men in the eye of the Church of God, but by new 
 birth ; nor, according to the manifest ordinary course of 
 divine dispensation, new born, but by that baptism, which 
 both declareth and maketh us Christians. In which respect, 
 we justly hold it to be the door of our first actual entrance 
 into God's house, the first apparent beginning of life, a 
 stal, perhaps, to the grace of election before received, but 
 toour sanctification here a step which hath not any before it." 
 
 Although in the above passage there are expressions which 
 seem to magnify baptism beyond due bounds, yet if they be 
 well weighed, and compared together, and so understood as 
 not to contradict each other, they will lose much of their force. 
 Although he says it is "the first step to our sanctification 
 here," yet it must" be understood, by what goes before, 
 " the first apparent beginning of life, and the seal, perhaps, 
 to the grace of election received before." 
 
 Mr. Hooker most unequivocally protests against its being 
 necessary to salvation, but maintains that God often works 
 without -it.* 
 
 * On the Calvinistic objection to regeneration. — There have always been 
 those who were willing to apply the term regeneration to some children 
 at their baptism, whether they regarded it as an incipient moral change, 
 or only the adoption of the child, with a view to it ; while they would 
 not apply it to all infants, because their doctrinal system excluded some 
 infants from the election of grace. At the Savoy conference the objec- 
 tion, by the dissenting ministers, was to the use, in our service, of the 
 term regeneration in relation to all baptized children, even where the 
 parents were not themselves Christians. They said that it was, at any 
 rate, a disputable point, and therefore wished it omitted. Some of the 
 followers of St. Austin, if not St. Austin himself, in the early ages, 
 holding that none could be saved without baptism, maintained that 
 none of the elect infants would be permitted to die without being bap- 
 tized ; so that the omission to baptize a child, from whatever cause, was 
 proof that it was not one of the elect. 
 
35 
 
 Extract from Philpot, one of the early reformers. 
 
 " But the Catholic truth, delivered unto us by the Scrip- 
 tures, plainly determineth, that all such are to be baptized as 
 whom God acknowledged for his people, and voucheth them 
 worthy of sanctification or remission of their sins; there- 
 fore, since infants be in the number and scroll of God's 
 people, and be partakers of the promise by their purification 
 in Christ, it must needs follow thereby, that they ought to 
 be baptized as well as those that can profess their faith — for 
 we judge the people of God, as well by the free and liberal 
 promise of God, as by the confession of faith. In the Gospel 
 he saith of infants, (that is, such as yet believed not,) ' let 
 thy little ones come unto me, and forbid them not, for of 
 such is the Kingdom of Heaven.' Again, * it is not the will 
 of your Father in Heaven, that one of these little ones 
 perish;' also, * he that receiveth one such little child in my 
 name, receiveth me. Take heed, therefore, that ye despise 
 not one of these babes, for I tell you their angels do contin- 
 ually see in Heaven my Father's face.' And what may be 
 said more plainer than this ? It is not the will of the 
 Heavenly Father that the infants should perish. Wherefore, 
 we may gather that he receiveth them freely unto this grace, 
 although as yet they confess not their faith. Since, then, that 
 the word of the promise, which is contained in baptism, per- 
 taineth as well to children as to men, why should the sign 
 of the promise, which is baptism in water, be withdrawn 
 from children, when Christ himself commandeth them to be 
 received of us, and promiseth the reward of a prophet to 
 those that receive such a little infant, as he for an example 
 did put before his disciples. P. 275, Parker edition. Again, 
 p. 276, the Gospel is more than baptism. But children be re- 
 ceived by the doctrine of the Gospel and not refused; there- 
 fore, what person being of reason may deny them baptism, 
 which is a thing lesser than the Gospel. Again, p. 280, in 
 answer to the objection, that they cannot believe, he says, 
 "Children are accounted of Christ in the Gospel among the 
 number of those who believe, as it appeareth by these words: 
 4 He that offendeth one of these little babes, which belie veth 
 in me, it were better for him to have a millstone tied about 
 
36 
 
 his neck, and to be cast into the bottom of the sea ;' where 
 plainly Christ calleth such as be not able to confess their 
 faith believers, because of his mere grace he reputeth them 
 for believers. And this is no wonder to be so taken, since 
 God imputeth faith for righteousness unto men that be of 
 riper age; for both in men and children, righteousness, ac- 
 ceptation, sanctification is of mere grace, and by imputa- 
 tion, that the glory of God's grace might be praised. And 
 that the children of faithful parents are sanctified and among 
 such as do believe, is apparent from 1st Corinthians, 7th 
 chapter, which declareth, ' that they are holy.' " Although 
 we may not be satisfied of the correctness of the interpreta- 
 tion put on all the passages of Scripture quoted, yet it is 
 most evident, that he strongl) affirms the views we have pre- 
 sented as to the interest of children in the promises previous 
 to baptism. 
 
 Extract from Bishop Hooper, one of the martyrs. 
 
 He calls a sacrament "the seal and mark of acceptation 
 into God's grace, received before by faith." "All sacraments 
 appertain unto none but unto such as first receive the prom- 
 ise of God, that is to say, remission of sin in Christ's blood ; 
 of the which promise these sacraments be testimonies, wit- 
 nesses, as the seal annexed unto the writing is a stablish- 
 ment and making good of all things contained and specified 
 within the writing." P. 133. Again: "The ungodly opin- 
 ion which attributeth the salvation of man unto the receiving 
 of an external sacrament, doth derogate the mercy of God, as 
 though his Holy Spirit could not be carried into the penitent 
 and sorrowful conscience, unless it rid always in a chariot 
 and external sacrament." P. 131. This is his account of 
 the sacrament of baptism, p. 129. "I, the minister, by the 
 commandment of God, and in the place of Christ, do chris- 
 ten thee, that is to say, do testify by this external sign, thy 
 sins to be washed away, and that thou art reconciled unto 
 the living God of our Mediator Jesus Christ." "His friends, 
 he by these means sealeth in the assurance of remission of sin, 
 which thou hast first received by faith, and for the promise 
 made unto thy father and his posterity. For the promise of 
 
37 
 
 God, the remission of sin, appertained unto the father, and 
 also to the seed and succession of the father ; as it was said 
 unto Abraham, 'I will be your God, and the God of your 
 seed.' It is ill done," he adds, "to condemn the infants of 
 Christians that die without baptism, of whose salvation we 
 are thus assured," that is, in the above promises. P. 129. 
 Another passage, on p. 74, while it establishes the same 
 principle, renders it probable that he believed even in a moral 
 change effected in infants before baptism: "Such as be bap- 
 tized must remember, that penance and faith preceded this 
 external sign; and, in Christ, the purgation was inwardly 
 obtained before the external sign was given. So that there 
 be two kinds of baptism, and both necessary: the one inte- 
 rior, which is the cleansing of the heart, the drawing of the 
 Father, the operation of the Holy Ghost ; and this baptism 
 is in man, when he believeth and trusteth that Christ is the 
 only author of his salvation. Thus be the infants examined 
 concerning repentance and faith, before they be baptized with 
 water; at the contemplation of the which faith, God purgeth 
 the soul. Then is the exterior sign added, not to purge the 
 heart, but to confirm, manifest, and open unto the world, that 
 this child is God's." 
 
 The sentiments of Cranmer have been quoted on both 
 sides of the baptismal controversy, and with some show of 
 truth, as they may on other subjects. In the treatise on the 
 sacraments, he reckons absolution as one, and uses language, 
 as to the power of the priest to forgive sins, which no true 
 Protestant would venture now to use. The truth is, that his 
 writings on several points show great changes, as the refor- 
 mation progressed. 
 
 Extracts from Thomas JBecon, chaplain to Archbishop 
 Cranmer. 
 
 "The children of the Jews were counted, for the promise 
 sake, the sons and heirs of God, and were circumcised; so 
 should the infants of the Christian be baptized, as God is 
 the God of Christians and their children. God," he says, 
 "blessed the children of the Jews even in their mother's 
 womb, and gave them his Holy Spirit; and is it thought that 
 4 
 
38 
 
 his hand is now shortened, that he neither can nor will show 
 like merciful kindness to the children of Christians ?" The 
 children of the Old Testament; after they had received the 
 Holy Ghost, even in their mother's womb, were admitted 
 unto circumcision ; yea, and that by commandment of God; 
 and shall the children of the New Testament be barred and 
 shut out from baptism, which have received the Holy Ghost, 
 no less than they did under the Old Law ? The best and 
 chiefest baptism is given to the children, and shall we deny 
 them the inferior and baser baptism." He adduces the in- 
 stances of Jeremiah and John the Baptist, to prove that chil- 
 dren are led by the Spirit of God even before they are born* 
 He quotes St. Paul as saying, "the children of believers are 
 holy," and of our Lord, who " pronounced them to belong 
 unto the Kingdom, and said their angels do see the face of 
 the Heavenly Father." Although we cannot assent to all 
 the reasons and illustrations of the author, yet he certainly 
 condemns the doctrine, that the children must wait till their 
 baptism to receive any blessing from God. P. 208, his 
 Catechism, Parker Library. Also p. 216-' 17, he says, "God 
 does not save us for this outward baptism, but for his gra- 
 cious promise. He will receive the children of the Chris- 
 tian to everlasting life, because they be members of his 
 Church, though it chance that they die without baptism." 
 " God by his grace, for his merciful promise sake, saved the 
 infants of the Hebrews, although they departed before the 
 8th day, and so were uncircumcised." He frequently speaks, 
 of children of believers as members of the Church, as being^ 
 contained in the covenant of grace. " St. Paul (he says) 
 called not circumcision the self-righteousness, or the right- 
 eous making, but a seal of righteousness— of the righteous- 
 ness which Abraham had, yet being uncircumcised. Foras- 
 much, therefore, as baptism is unto the Christian even of 
 the same effect as circumcision among the Jews, I mean not 
 the self -righteousness or righteous-making, but only a seal 
 of righteousness, and a' sign or token of God's favor towards 
 us." He proceeds again to affirm, that if infants die with- 
 out it, and even pious adults, if they do not despise and re- 
 fuse it, they will be saved. Again, p. 220: " Is it to be 
 thought (he says) that the want of a little water (which ne^ 
 
39 
 
 cessity compelleth) can make God so fall from his truth, and 
 this promise to be both vain and void, so that without the 
 water he cannot save the infants whom he hath promised 
 to save?" "The grace and Spirit of God cometh when and 
 where it pleaseth God; they be not bound to any external 
 ceremony, which is nothing else but to bring God into bond- 
 age of his creatures, and to make him not master of his own. 
 Hereof then we may learn, that the sacraments be an out- 
 ward witness to all the congregation of the grace which is 
 given privately unto every man; so that through baptism the 
 congregation of God receiveth the infant into the Church of 
 Christ, which was received before through the grace of his 
 promise." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Views of our Church on the subject. 
 
 We have already said that diversity of sentiment exists as 
 to her teaching on the subject of baptism, and that some 
 minds are uneasy concerning certain expressions in her for- 
 mularies. In order to understand them aright, it is proper 
 that we first carefully read over and compare together her 
 two baptismal offices — the one for infants, the other for 
 adults. There is one feature in them which at first sight 
 must appear strange; that is, the almost entire sameness of 
 the two, notwithstanding that the subjects of them differ so 
 widely as to age and maturity of character— the one an un- 
 conscious child, the other in full possession of all his devel- 
 oped faculties and affections. Still the child is sometimes 
 treated as a man, and the man sometimes prayed for as 
 though he were a child, and needed the first blessing from 
 God. The very same faith and repentance are required in 
 both as qualifications for baptism; the same spirit is invoked 
 and in the same words for both; the same new birth is prayed 
 for for both; the same regeneration is declared to have been 
 effected in both, and thanks are returned for it, as something 
 certainly received. There is only this difference, that 
 whereas faith and repentance are required at once of the 
 adult, time is allowed to the child, by reason of his tender 
 age, to perform this condition. But then baptism is not 
 granted to the child without a solemn promise, made through 
 the voice of another, that he will perform it at the earliest 
 period in which it is practicable. On that condition the 
 Church grants the privilege, believing that, by God's bless- 
 ing on the means used, the child will fulfil the promise. It 
 is here, just as in many earthly contracts, where certain 
 property is sold and given into the possession of another, 
 on his solemn promise, either by word or writing, that he 
 will at a certain time pay the price thereof. If he does not, 
 then the property is forfeited. As to this faith and repen- 
 tance, which are required at the time of adults, and which 
 
41 
 
 must be faithfully promised by the child, I surely need not 
 stop to prove that the Church, deriving her view of them 
 from the scriptures, regards them as the sum and substance 
 of true piety — the Only things absolutely necessary to salva- 
 tion, being that great moral change in man, that holiness, 
 without which no man can see the Lord; and that the inspi- 
 ration of God's spirit is indispensable to the attainment of 
 them — that they are the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Having 
 noticed this identity in the two services,- and asked the read- 
 er's careful study of them both, i now proceed to re- 
 mark, that the things contained in them may be divided into 
 three classes. The first class speaks of the reasons for bap- 
 tism, and the qualifications for it. The second, the particu- 
 lar blessings sought for in baptism, declared to be received, 
 and for which thanks are returned. The third, the graces 
 and blessings to follow after, and which are prayed for and 
 enjoined. As to the first class, the reason for baptism is- 
 laid in the corruption of our nature and the command of God. 
 The qualifications have been already mentioned. About this 
 first class there is no diversity of sentiment ; neither is there 
 as to the third class, wherein we pray, both before and after 
 baptism, that all sinful affections may die in them, and all 
 things belonging to the spirit may live and grow in them ; 
 that they may triumph against the devil, the world, and- the 
 flesh ; that they may ever remain in the number of faithful 
 children ; that they may crucify the old man, and utterly 
 abolish the whole body of sin ; that they may die from sin, 
 and daily proceed in all virtue and godliness of living, and 
 finally come to everlasting life. These petitions evidently 
 relate to the subsequent life, to progressive sanctification; and 
 the Holy Spirit is prayed for to enable them to do these 
 things. About this class, also, there can be no difference of 
 opinion, nor any difficulty whatever. Now, let us examine 
 the second or intermediate class. Before the baptism of the 
 child we pray thus: "Give thy Holy Spirit to this infant, 
 that he may be born again, and made an heir of everlasting- 
 salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." Before the bap- 
 tism of the adult we pray in the very same words, that he 
 may be born again, &c. After the baptism we say, in the 
 :eame words, "seeing this child, or this person, is regenerate 
 4# 
 
42 
 
 and grafted into Christ's Church." We also thank God that 
 it hath pleased him to regenerate this infant with water and 
 the Holy Ghost, and that the adult has now been born again. 
 Here, then, after having admitted the adult to baptism, on 
 the supposed reality of that faith and repentance which is 
 the substance of true piety — the moral renovation of our na- 
 ture by the spirit of God — and agreed to accept the faithful 
 promise of the child for the same, we pray for something 
 entitled regeneration, or a new birth; we declare it has been 
 given, thank God for it, and then proceed to pray that God's 
 Spirit may be given to these same persons, to enable them to 
 crucify the old man, and finally come to everlasting life. 
 Now, the only thing we have to do, is to find out what the 
 Church actually means by this regeneration, which is some- 
 thing beside faith and repentance, which were required be- 
 forehand, and from subsequent progressive sanctification. 
 The difficulty lies in ascertaining the meaning of two scrip- 
 tural words, regeneration and bom again, which are evi- 
 dently figurative terms. Has she explained her understand- 
 ing of them in any other part of these services ? We look 
 in vain for such light. Has she any where else given a key 
 to her understanding of them? We think she has, and 
 a most definitive one. Beside these devotional services, 
 in which she has in scriptural words sought to honor God's 
 ordinance, she has a set of articles, drawn up by the same 
 persons who prepared the offices, in which she has most 
 carefully, and in less figurative terms, defined her views of 
 the doctrines and the sacraments of our religion. In the 
 27th article, which is devoted entirely to baptism, she has 
 most explicitly set forth her belief as to the design and effect 
 of baptism. Let any one read over the intermediate part of 
 the baptismal services, wherein regeneration is prayed for, 
 and declared to be granted as the effect or concomitant of 
 baptism, and then, if desirous to know what it is, read the fol- 
 lowing article, the 27th, " Baptism is not only a sign of pro- 
 fession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are 
 known from those who are not christened, but it is also 
 a sign of regeneration, or new birth, whereby, as by an in- 
 strument, they that receive baptism rightly are grafted 
 into the Church ; the promises of forgiveness of sin, and of our 
 
43 
 
 adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visi- 
 bly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, and grace increas- 
 ed, by virtue of prayer unto God. The baptism of young 
 children is, in anywise, to be retained in the Church, as most 
 agreeable with the institution of Christ." Here we are 
 plainly told what is the effect of baptism in the opinion of 
 the Church, viz : that by it we are publicly joined to Christ's 
 Church or people, as by an instrument; that the promises 
 of the forgiveness of sin and adoption to be the sons of God 
 by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed, (not now 
 for the first time given,) but visibly signed and sealed. The 
 covenant contained in God's mind and word is now exhibit- 
 ed and completed by his mark put on us, and our assent given 
 to it. Forgiveness through Christ, and also the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost, called adoption to be the sons of God by the 
 Holy Ghost, are sealed and ensured to us. By this solemn 
 act, faith is confirmed and grace increased, not by virtue of 
 the ordinance, but of prayer unto God. It is not said that 
 faith is first produced in us, or grace first given to us, for 
 these are already supposed to exist in the adult, and the pro- 
 mise of them, at a future time, is accepted of the child. 
 When the article says that faith is confirmed and grace in- 
 creased, it must be limited to the adult, unless the Church 
 be supposed to look forward to the faith and grace of the 
 child when come to years of discretion, and having them in- 
 creased by looking back with prayer to this pledge of God 
 in baptism. Neither are there any words used in the article 
 recognising a moral change effected, a new nature bestowed, 
 the old man of sin destroyed, but only a sign and seal of 
 these promises, and of a public engrafting into the Church- 
 Christ's body. The article is a simple answer to the ques- 
 tion, what is meant by that effect of baptism entitled "rege- 
 neration by water and the Holy Ghost, and grafting into the 
 body of Christ's Church ?" I know that there are those 
 who are very fearful of the use of the terms new birth and 
 regeneration in any other sense than as setting forth the great 
 moral change, the being renewed in the spirit of our minds, 
 lest it should interfere with that, and lower the doctrine of 
 conversion. Nor is this to be wondered at, for many have 
 so understood and used them as to do away entirely, or in a 
 
44 
 
 great measure, with* a true conversion of the soul after bap- 
 tism in infancy. Great care, therefore, is required to cor- 
 rect this erroneous view of it. While the fathers, refor- 
 mers, and the Church in her homilies and elsewhere, do 
 certainly use regeneration and new birth sometimes to set 
 forth the grace of baptism, they nevertheless use them as 
 well as kindred terms, to express the great moral change 
 which those experience who, by the spirit, have faith and 
 repentance. Gradually the terms applied to baptism have 
 been almost entirely appropriated to the moral change, and 
 hence the frequent misunderstanding of the doctrine of the 
 Church. If it be now asked, what does the Church mean 
 by these promises of forgiveness and adoption, which are 
 visibly signed and sealed to us in baptism, we refer to what 
 we have before said in our chapter on the Scriptural view of 
 the covenant, and to the sentiments of the authors as quoted 
 in the third chapter. The remission of original sin, through 
 Christ's death, is promised to the children of the covenant, 
 and of both original and actual sin, to the penitent and be- 
 lieving adult ; the gift of the Hoiy Ghost to purify our na- 
 tures, according to the promises, are herein visibly sealed to 
 us; we are grafted into the Church, the body of Christ, and 
 thus united to him. All that is necessary for our souls is 
 now ensured to us. Christ's death has removed one great 
 barrier between us and Heaven. The Holy Ghost is ready 
 to remove all others, if we will allow it, and co-operate with 
 it. As God created all things by Christ, and redeems sin- 
 ners by him, so he adopts us as his children by the Holy 
 Ghost, and places us under his special care to sanctify and 
 jnake us meet for Heaven. Let us see if there be no trans- 
 action among men which may aptly illustrate this, our adop- 
 tion by God. When some generous man adopts a poor 
 child, be it an orphan or not, he becomes its father — he de- 
 signs and perhaps engages to make him his heir, or to give 
 him some portion ; but it is on a specified condition that, at a 
 certain age, he shall prove worthy of it. He promises that 
 nothing shall be left undone to render him worthy of it, 
 and is true to his promise. The child has thus received, 
 as it were, another father— perhaps calls him by that endear- 
 ing title — it may be, assumes his name — he becomes the 
 
45 
 
 child of adoption. And yet he may never truly love that bene- 
 factor — may disappoint all his hopes — frustrate all his endea- 
 vors to make him worthy to be his heir, and the estate may be 
 lost to him. This good man could neither alter the nature of 
 the child at the time of his adoption, nor afterwards ; for he 
 resisted all his efforts to that end. So it is with our adop- 
 tion to be the sons of God, whereby we become children of 
 grace, are born again, taken from poverty, and wretchedness, 
 and sin. God, for Christ's sake, had determined on this as 
 to all who should be born in the bosom of his Church. As 
 soon as they come into the world, he commands them to be 
 brought to him by the Church, and have this certified to each 
 one by a visible mark. He puts them in the care of the 
 Church; the Holy Ghost superintends their nurture, and 
 aids by its holy influences. It is not indispensable that a 
 new nature shall at once be put into them, in order to make 
 them sons of God by adoption. This is to be the effect of 
 that adoption, and the means appointed to prepare the child 
 for its inheritance. The Holy Ghost may be given to the 
 child, and surely belong to it, and the moral effect of it not 
 take place at once, or at any future time. The child may 
 always resist the Holy Ghost until it is taken away from 
 him. We may understand what is meant by the Holy Ghost 
 being given, and yet not effecting the object for which it is 
 given, by considering what is meant by the Holy Spirit be- 
 ing taken away from us. Does it mean that God takes away 
 from us a good nature, changes us from holy to unholy, har- 
 dens our hearts, hitherto tender and loving? No one for a 
 moment supposes this. Nor must we confound the gift of 
 the Holy Ghost with a view to our renovation, with the fact 
 of our being renewed in the spirit of our minds. The one 
 is the agent, the other the work done ; but the two are not 
 always inseparable. "My spirit shall not always strive with 
 man," says the Lord; it is often most unsuccessful.* 
 
 *" Our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy' Ghost." — This phrase 
 is worthy of particular notice. No one can read the New Testament 
 without perceiving that ours is peculiarly the dispensation of the Spirit. 
 Though the Spirit was always in the world, striving with man ; though 
 the Jews are charged with having always resisted the Holy Ghost, yet 
 still so much more abundantly was he poured out upon the Church of 
 
46 
 
 Understanding the meaning of regeneration, as the 27th 
 article explains it, who can object to its use, except on ac- 
 count of its liability to be misunderstood ? The very ves- 
 sels of the sanctuary were called holy, sanctified, clean, 
 because set apart for sacred purposes, though no change in 
 their substance took place. Children were called holy, be- 
 cause born of believing parents ; and why not baptized per- 
 sons be called regenerate, for the reasons above mentioned, 
 without supposing or affirming a moral change. But if we 
 go beyond this, and affirm that a new nature is put into the 
 
 Christ, that our Saviour says he must needs ascend to Heaven to send 
 him down to carry on the work which he had begun, and thenceforth 
 take special charge of the redeemed. This accounts for what some dis- 
 ciples, of .whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles, said of their never 
 having heard whether there be any Holy Ghost, although they had 
 doubtless, under his influence, been led to embrace Christianity. They 
 had never heard of such wonderful gifts as those which the Holy Ghost 
 now so freely poured out upon the Church. Divers were the gifts of 
 the Holy Ghost. He appointed overseers to the churches ; he sepa- 
 rated Barnabas and Saul to their work. It is the Holy Ghost, rather 
 than the Father or the Son, who speaks after Christ's ascent, as may be 
 seen throughout the Acts and Epistles. The whole Church, and of 
 -course each member, is under his special care. He adopts each child 
 
 "S.S his own, and watches over it, and strives with it, for its xenewal and 
 
 salvation. Baptism, according to our article, is a visible sign and seal 
 of "this our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost." The 
 faith and grace of the adult is confirmed and increased by this sign, if 
 the virtue of prayer be faithfully used. And if the infant, when com- 
 ing to years of discretion, shall believe and repent, his faith and grace 
 shall be confirmed and increased by thinking on his baptism, with prayer 
 for the divine blessing. Thus may we be truly said to be born again, 
 not of water only, but of the Holy Ghost, who adopts us, takes us 
 away, as it were, from our earthly parents, and puts us into the family 
 which he has charge of. In other places our Church recognises this 
 special agency of the Holy Ghost. In the ordination of ministers it is 
 required that they be moved to take upon themselves the holy office, by 
 the Holy Ghost; and, in the conferring of the office of priesthood, one 
 of the forms allowed to be used by the Bishop runs thus : " Receive the 
 Holy Ghost for the office of a priest in the Church of God, now com- 
 mitted unto thee by the imposition of our hands." At first sight and 
 sound these words would seem to declare that the Bishop actually con- 
 ferred such influences of the Holy Spirit as the priest needed in his of- 
 fice, but a more particular attention to the peculiar phraseology would 
 of itself lead a careful observer to question this. The meaning, how- 
 ever, is placed beyond all doubt, by the other form immediately follow- 
 ing, and which was doubtless introduced in order to remove the objec- 
 
47 
 
 child at the moment and in the act of baptism, we involve 
 ourselves in inextricable difficulties. Well may we hesitate 
 to use these words, if such be their only meaning. Unless 
 there was some plain and positive assurance in God's Word 
 that such an effect is produced in every child or adult at the 
 moment of baptism, and at no time before or after, as some 
 affirm, would the Church feel justified in requiring her min- 
 isters and members thus positively to affirm it, and thank 
 God for the blessing, and bid sponsors cherish the gift ever 
 after? Would she do this, when no proof can possibly be 
 afforded at the time ; and when, even if there should be art 
 
 tions; which latter form is, I believe, always used. It runs thus: 
 " Take thou authority to execute the office of a priest in the Church of 
 God." From which it seems ,that the gift of office, the authority to> 
 minister in holy things, is meant by "receive the Holy Ghost for the 
 office of a priest." Such is the explanation of it given by Hooker, 
 Bishop Hobart had occasion to defend our Church against an attack on 
 this point, wherein it was declared that she was guilty of something ab- 
 surd, and little short of blasphemy. In a charge to his clergy, in 1815, 
 he quotes the following passage from Hooker, as expressive of his own 
 and the Church's view of the subject : " A thing much stumbled at, in 
 the manner of giving orders, is the using the memorable words of our 
 Lord and Saviour Christ, 'receive ye the Holy Ghost.' The Holy 
 Ghost, say they, we cannot give, and therefore we foolishly bid men 
 receive it. He says that " the Holy Ghost may be used to signify not 
 the person alone, but the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that we know 
 that spiritual gifts are not only abilities to do things miraculous, as to 
 speak with tongues that were never taught us, to cure diseases without 
 art, and such like ; but also that the very power and authority which is 
 given men in the Church to minister in holy things — this is contained in 
 the number of those gifts whereof the Holy Ghost is author; and there- 
 fore he which giveth tins power may say, without absurdity or folly, 
 receive the Holy Ghost, (that is) such power as the Spirit hath en- 
 dowed the Church withal, such power as neither prince nor potentate,, 
 king nor Caesar, on earth can give." If such be the true interpretation 
 of the Church's meaning in this place, may we not, also, when she, at 
 the command of Christ, and under the superintendence of the Holy 
 Ghost, brings children to baptism, admits them into her society — the 
 body of Christ — puts on them the seal of God's promises of forgive- 
 ness and adoption as his sons ; thus giving them a full title to the bless- 
 ings of the covenant, then say that they have received the Holy Ghost, 
 or been born of it, although she cannot know what, or that any, reno- 
 vating influence has been exerted over their souls at the time The 
 priest has received the Holy Ghost, that is, the great honor, privilege, 
 authority to minister, although perhaps, at the time, he had not the 
 Holy Ghost in its higher sense, and never may admit it into his heart*. 
 
48 
 
 early exhibition of piety, it would be impossible to say that 
 it proceeded from the supposed grace of baptism, or subse- 
 quent operation of the Spirit ? It is said, that though there 
 be never any evidences of it, yet we ought not to doubt the 
 fact, that the children may have soon lost it — that even Cy- 
 mon Magus was probably renewed in heart, but fell away 
 and became reprobate immediately. But is there not some- 
 thing most distressing in the thought, that the Holy Ghost 
 should at baptism put a new heart into the unconscious 
 child, and though undertaking to watch over it, when nei- 
 ther parents nor friends should be able to do any thing for 
 its preservation, nor the child be able to cry for help, yet 
 permit the devil at once to come and take it away ? And if 
 there be this new nature among the promises of the covenant 
 to children, does it not seem strange that God should so 
 trammel himself as to be hindered from bestowing it on 
 children until the caprice, or delay, or indolence of parents, 
 which often puts off baptism for years, should allow him to 
 bless one of the children of promise ? As to the argument 
 in favor of this great blessing, this spiritual change, which, 
 it is thought, he has confined to baptism, that we ought to 
 have faith in God, with whom nothing is impossible, that 
 faith is the evidence of things not seen ; I have only to say, 
 that we are indeed bound to believe all that God has said 
 and done, but are not called on to believe what he has 
 not said, and that of which there is no evidence that he hath 
 done it. As we must not believe less than God has revealed, 
 so must we not believe more. The latter has filled the 
 Church of God with superstition and corruption in ages 
 past. Let it also be remembered, that if, on the authority of 
 those words in our service, we must believe this moral 
 change in infants, we must believe the very same of all 
 adults, for the same change is ascribed in the very same 
 words to adults and infants. Now adults are capable of 
 testing it by their own consciousness. If there be some 
 great moral change different from that contained in faithand 
 repentance, which gifts they had before baptism, surely 
 adults, coming to baptism prepared to expect some mighty 
 operation of the Spirit, anxiously looking for it at the very 
 time the water was applied, could not fail to be sensible of 
 
49 
 
 the effect in their souls. Now, is this the testimony of the 
 thousands of pious believers, who are continually coming to 
 the baptismal font ? But let the view taken of it in the 27th 
 article be received, and all is reasonable and agreeable to the 
 experience of the pious candidates. When they come with 
 faith and grace in their hearts, in obedience to the divine 
 command, then that very faith and grace with which they 
 come is confirmed and increased. The sacrament is an ef- 
 fectual sign and witness by which God worketh invisibly in 
 them, and they are hereby certified of God's love, and, being 
 engrafted into his Church, thus receive the fulness of his 
 grace — the title complete ; they are thus born of water, as 
 well as of the Spirit. In relation to young ones baptized 
 when a few years of age, might we not look for very striking 
 and immediate evidences of this great moral change ? It is 
 said that as adult converts often fall away from grace received, 
 so children may, and do, fall away from baptismal holiness. 
 But let us suppose that adult converts did as generally and 
 greatly fall away, gave as little evidence of piety, the result 
 of conversion, as children do of their supposed baptismal 
 change, who would place confidence in the doctrine of con- 
 version ? There is also this difference between them, that 
 adults are conscious both of the reception and the loss of 
 God's grace, and can testify of it, while children cannot. 
 
 If the Church had, in the words whose meaning we have 
 been considering, intended to set forth a moral renovation, 
 surely she would have used language which could not thus 
 have been misunderstood. Why did she not thank God 
 that our hearts had been changed — our spirits renewed — the 
 old man crucified — the new man raised up in him? There 
 would have been then no doubt of her meaning. These 
 things she prays for, and bids the baptized seek more and 
 more, but she does not thank God that they have been grant- 
 ed. Moreover, in the catechism, she says, baptism is a 
 means of receiving this grace, and a pledge to assure us 
 thereof. Now, if we have received these new hearts, we 
 have the very thing itself, and need no pledge to assure us 
 of it ; but if the assistances of the Spirit, and the conditional 
 forgiveness of sin, and title to Heaven, be meant, then we 
 need a pledge to assure us that they will be given. On a 
 5 
 
50 
 
 •careful examination of this subject, we can find no other con- 
 sistent explanation than that furnished by our 27th article, 
 and others alluding to it. We are aware that it is said by 
 some that our articles were designed for the clergy, and are 
 more obscurely worded than the offices. As to the latter 
 assertion, viz., that they are more obscurely worded, we 
 take the very contrary to be .the fact. They were not in- 
 tended for devotional purposes, but to explain the doctrines 
 of the Church, as contained in her services, and serve as 
 protests against any Romish interpretations of those services. 
 As to the former, if they were designed for the clergy, it was to 
 assist them to explain the doctrines of the Church to the peo- 
 ple, and, as such, we have used them. If it be objected to the 
 view which we have taken of baptism, which supposes 
 God's grace of adoption to precede baptism even in infants,, 
 that it represents the church as thanking God for their 
 regeneration in baptism, when they had been regenerated 
 before, we reply, that, as it \s not folly but truth to say, 
 that we exist, and for months, before we are born into this 
 world, so it is not folly but truth to say, that we are loved 
 and adopted of God before baptism ; but are then, according 
 to the article, publicly sealed and marked as the sons of 
 God, our title to the promises fully made out, and we en- 
 rolled among his people ; and this according to God's own 
 command. 
 
 But now it may be asked whether, beside these interesting 
 circumstances belonging to baptism, and this grafting into the 
 Church, and sealing of the promises, in which all must agree,, 
 there is not some other special blessing which hovers over 
 the baptismal font, and enters into the soul of the child ► 
 When the child is sealed as the adopted one of God, is there 
 no incipient act of the Spirit, making a first impression on 
 the soul — no beginning of the work of sanctification — no 
 seed deposited — no germ implanted, which are to be fostered 
 and increased by successive operations, and aided by a pious 
 education ? Some pious and learned divines have thus ex- 
 pressed themselves, modestly and doubtingly of course, for 
 it must of necessity be conjecture and hope, nothing more. 
 The author would respectfully submit to his readers, whe- 
 ther there be not this serious objection to all such specula- 
 
51 
 
 tions, that they are on a subject which God has placed be- 
 yond the range of the human mind. What passes in the 
 soul of an infant, cannot be ascertained by any discovery re- 
 vealed to us, or made by the mind of man. What God can 
 do, or may do, is not told to us. Secret things belong to the 
 Lord. Here, I humbly conceive, is the source of more dis- 
 putation in the Church of God, than any other whatever. At- 
 tempting to be wise above what is written, reaching at things 
 too high for us, thinking that we see clearly what is only dimly 
 seen, as through a glass darkly, we run into much error. And 
 how often is it the case, that men are positive, dogmatic, and 
 anathematizing, in proportion as the subjects are but faintly al- 
 luded to in Scripture, and are in themselves dark and difficult. 
 Witness the disputes about the Divine decrees. Witness this 
 discussion as to what takes place in the soul of the child, at 
 the moment and through the act of baptism. And what 
 have the Scriptures revealed to us on the subject ? What a 
 silence is there as to the condition of infant souls, from their 
 birth until they become responsible beings ? If men undertake 
 to speak much and positively where God is silent, will there 
 not be in the multitude of their words much folly? What 
 follies have not been broached on this subject. How their 
 speculations as to infant souls have been adapted to their dif- 
 ferent systems of religion. Some have supposed them anni- 
 hilated. Others have invented some middle region for the 
 half sanctified, half unsanctified souls. Some have sup- 
 posed that it was absolutely necessary that a beginning be 
 made in baptism, or else it could not be carried on — that 
 there would be no foundation to build upon — nothing to cul- 
 tivate — as if the faculties and affections of our nature were 
 not still left us, though corrupted, on which to act; and as 
 if the gpirit of God could not begin its work either before 
 orafter baptism. If there is force in this objection, thenit 
 operates against the conversion of any adults who have not 
 been baptized in infancy, except we receive them to baptism 
 without faith and penitence, that the seed may be deposited. 
 But our chief objection to the adoption of this theory, 
 and laying it at the foundation of a system, is drawn from 
 sad historical experience. When once we assume the prin- 
 ciple, that there is, and must be, some actual effect produced 
 
52 
 
 on the soul of the child at baptism, no bounds will be set to 
 conjecture and superstitious belief. He who ascribes most 
 virtue to it, will have most faith — will most honor the ordi- 
 nance of God ; and all will vie with each other in their 
 praises of it. The history of some of the early ages, and 
 of the Church of Rome, abundantly testify to this. No vice 
 of the soul, no disease of the body, no demoniacal posses- 
 sion, no evil that afflicted humanity, but might in the opi- 
 nion of some be exorcised by the sacrament of baptism. 
 These things should make us hesitate, before we adopt as a 
 certain truth, what is no where revealed, and what is so lia- 
 ble to perversion. On this subject, I think our Church has 
 acted wisely. She has • indeed said that there are some 
 things which by nature we cannot have — that by reason of 
 their tender age, children cannot have faith and repentance, 
 for God has not formed them so as to be capable of these 
 things. Those who evade this by saying, that the first 
 principles and beginning of faith are implanted in baptism, 
 are at variance with her teachings. She does not allow 
 them to be attainable until a later period. While she thus 
 affirms that the infant mind is incapable of these things, she 
 most carefully avoids any thing which should even seem to 
 exclude the Spirit of God from an early operation, through 
 the truth, on the youthful mind. She enjoins it on all con- 
 cerned with the children to instruct them in the nature of 
 our holy religion, and in the knowledge of their own sinful 
 state. As their faculties and affections open, we may rea- 
 sonably expect that the Holy Spirit, which is ever at hand, 
 will seek to influence them aright. We do often per- 
 ceive very early indications of a state of mind so much 
 like that of the pious convert at a later period, that we are 
 fully justified in ascribing it to the same heavenly influence. 
 Beyond this, the history of God's church proves, that it is 
 dangerous to go. Whenever we take it for granted, as a 
 certain fact, that at baptism, a great purification of the na- 
 ture takes place, the inevitable result has been, and will be, 
 the supposition that but little remains to be done. The 
 more of the old man is destroyed in baptism, the less re- 
 mains to be destroyed; the more of the new man is raised 
 up, the less remains to be raised up. This will be seen in 
 
53 
 
 the following chapter, where we shall exhibit some of the 
 -extravagancies into which the principle has led, and com- 
 pare them with the excellence of what we conceive to be 
 the system of the Bible and the Church. 
 
 5* 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 On the errors and extravagancies into which the positive 
 belief and assertion of a moral change in baptism has 
 led. A comparative view of it with the system set forth 
 by the Episcopal Church. 
 
 However this doctrine may appear to some to be a harm- 
 less hypothesis, at least one which seems to honor God's 
 ordinance and prevent its being a vain ceremony, and that 
 therefore it should not be condemned, unless positively de- 
 nounced in the Scriptures, we ought to remember that there 
 is a solemn anathema against those who add to God's word. 
 We must not teach for commandments of God the doctrines 
 of men. Nor must we insist on that which after all may be 
 but conjecture. This hypothesis has with some, in all ages 
 of the Christian church, grown into a positive certainty, and, 
 after having been enlarged to a most marvellous degree, been 
 made the groundwork of a religious system, which so chang- 
 ed the blessed religion of Christ as to require a tremendous 
 revolution to overthrow it, and therefore ought to be watch- 
 ed and dreaded in its first symptoms of resuscitation. Let 
 us trace its history. 
 
 St. Cyprian, one of the early Fathers, speaks of being 
 " succoured by the life-giving waters — having the stain of 
 former years washed away in them — being quickened into a 
 new life in them — putting off his natural self — being chang- 
 ed in heart and soul." St. Ambrose says " that children in 
 baptism are reformed back to Adam's state of purity." Ter- 
 tullian, answering those who objected to ascribing so mar- 
 vellous a power to the water of baptism, says : "Its very 
 marvellousness should be our reason for believing it." After 
 speaking of the various uses God has made of water, and the 
 reverence due to it, he says : "no wonder, then, in baptism 
 it has the gift of quickening." This principle, that God 
 could and did, by natural things in the sacraments, operate a 
 
m 
 
 moral effect through the body on the soul even of an infant, 
 was carried to such an extent that it led to the administration 
 of the rite of confirmation and the Lord's Supper, not only 
 to children, but to insensible persons in the article of death. 
 Bishop Jewell says, that St. Bennett caused the sacrament 
 to be laid on a dead woman's breast, thinking that the out- 
 ward ceremony thereof without faith, or the inward motion 
 of the party, might be sufficient for good. In one of the an- 
 cient churches a canon was necessary to prevent administer- 
 ing baptism and the Lord's Supper to dead corpses. It was 
 required in some places that for every baptism fresh water 
 must be put into the font, because that used was defiled by 
 the original sin of the child previously baptized therein. 
 Some had such confidence in its effect to wash away sin, 
 that they put off their baptism till the hour of death, that 
 there might be the least possible danger of losing the effect 
 of it, which they thought could scarcely be regained. Many 
 thought it a dishonoring of God to suppose that a child could 
 possibly be saved without it, and therefore encouraged the 
 performance of it by any one at the very moment of its birth, 
 if there was the least danger of death. Others there were, 
 and those not a few — perhaps the whole Greek church — who 
 believed that unbaptized infants go neither to Heaven or hell, 
 but to some middle place. There were connected with the 
 rite of baptism a number of imposing ceremonies, such as 
 the use of oil, salt, candles, the white robe, the exorcism, 
 all designed to magnify the ordinance in the esteem of men. 
 The Romish church makes great use of them in order to en- 
 force her high views of the ordinance, which she declares to 
 be necessary to salvation — not generally necessary to salva- 
 tion, as our Church does. She declares that it confers grace 
 by its own power (ex opere operato) on all who only place 
 no obstacle in its way. Children of course can put no obsta- 
 cle in its way, and are therefore fully operated on. The child 
 is, according to many of their writers, made by baptism just 
 what Adam was before the fall, pure, holy. If he retains 
 this state, it is his justifying righteousness ; if he loses it, 
 with great difficulty, if ever, can it be regained. There are, 
 however, very many venial sins which he may commit with- 
 out losing baptismal grace, and which Adam might have com- 
 
56 
 
 mitted without forfeiting God's favor. Against such views of 
 the effect of baptism, and the justification connected with it, 
 our Reformers strongly protested.* 
 
 Nevertheless, the removal from our baptismal service of 
 the corrupt appendages of the Church of Rome, and which 
 were designed to promote the belief of an entire change of 
 nature in baptism, was gradual. In the baptismal services 
 which were adopted in the reign of King Edward, there were 
 two ceremonies retained, which were afterwards left out, 
 viz: the ceremony of exorcism and the white garment. By 
 the former, the minister authoritatively commands the un- 
 clean spirit to depart from these infants, and prepare to burn 
 in everlasting fire. "Presume not hereafter to exercise any 
 tyranny towards these infants, whom Christ has purchased 
 with his precious blood, and by this his baptism calleth to be 
 of his flock," are some of its words. In the latter, a white 
 vesture is put upon it, and these words addressed to it — 
 "Take this white vesture, for a token of the innocency which 
 by God's grace in this holy sacrament is given unto thee ; 
 and for a sign whereby thou art admonished, so long as thou 
 
 *Wall, in his learned work on infant baptism, in which we have a full 
 history of the opinions which in different ages have been held as to its 
 efficacy, says, that a divine of the Church of Rome has outdone all, "for 
 he supposes the child at the time of his baptism to have one strong actu- 
 al motion of love to God. One single instant, he says, is sufficient for 
 the exercise of that act of love. Concupiscence is as it were mortified 
 in that one moment. It should not be thought strange that children 
 should love God with a love of choice at their baptism." Mr. Wall 
 quotes "very aptly against him one of his own sayings — "That learned 
 men are sometimes most subject to error, and to lead others into error ; 
 that common people are not so apt to fall into great mistakes for various 
 reasons" — to which Mr. Wall adds another, viz : "That common peo- 
 
 Ele, having no assistance from learning and philosophy, have nothing 
 ut common sense to trust to ; so they generally keep close to that." 
 The above is the best excuse for the errors of the new school which has 
 risen up. The sentiment of St. Austin, as quoted by Wall, may also be 
 applied to such — "if we should go about by discourse to prove that in- 
 fants, which as yet have no knowledge of human things, have knowledge 
 of divine, I am afraid we should offer an affront to our senses, when, let 
 us say what we will, the evidence of truth overpowers all the force of 
 our talk." St. Austin (says Wall) does not pretend that infants, who 
 are baptized, have in any proper sense faith, or repentance, or conver- 
 sion of the heart. 
 
57 
 
 livest, to give thyself to innocency of living, that after this 
 transitory life thou mayest be partaker of the life everlasting." 
 See King Edward's Liturgies, Parker edition. After a cer- 
 tain period, under the auspices of Archbishop Laud and oth- 
 ers, there seemed to be a return to some of these high views; 
 so that at the time of the Savoy conference, in the reign of 
 James the Second, what with the remaining influence of 
 Laudian principles and hostility to the dissenters, whose ob- 
 jections to the Liturgy were in some things very trivial and 
 provoking, we find the Bishops, and others acting with them, 
 countenancing the idea "that only some relics of sin remained 
 after baptism;" and that, "notwithstanding some frailties 
 and slips of their childhood, they may not have totally lost 
 what was given to them in baptism," using a language very 
 apt to mislead in forming our estimate of the true condition 
 of children, although there may not be a positive assertion 
 of a radical change of nature in baptism. See Cardwell's 
 History of the Conferences on the Common Prayer. 
 
 If it now be asked — why thus dwell on doctrines re- 
 nounced long since at the Reformation, and of whose return 
 there can surely be no danger ? We reply, that a few years 
 since, and we should have seen no sufficient reason for so 
 doing ; but unhappily there is now but too much cause for it. 
 These doctrines are again revived in full force by some, and 
 with modifications by many others in our Protestant church. 
 Books, tracts, and sermons, advocating them, have for the 
 last twelve years been industriously circulated amongst us. 
 In some of them the principle is maintained that it is most 
 natural that God should choose to dispense his grace through 
 the material emblems of the sacraments, rather than through 
 the faculties and affections of the soul exercised in faith and 
 repentance ; that in truth faith and repentance derive their vir- 
 virtue from one of them, (baptism,) and deserve not the name be- 
 forehand. One of them declares that "a miracle is performed 
 in every baptism." Another of them* says, " no change of 
 the heart or of the affections, no repentance however radical, 
 no faith, no love, come up to this idea of a new birth from 
 above. It takes them all in and comprehends them all, but 
 
 * Dr. Pusey. 
 
58 
 
 itself is more than all." "As the child is created and nour- 
 ished in and by the womb of the mother, so is the new soul 
 begotten and nourished in the waters of baptism," is his fa- 
 vorite comparison. He upbraids Christians with having less 
 faith than some among the Jews, at the baptism of Pagans 
 into their church, " who had higher notions, and figured 
 that a new soul descended from the region of spirits on the 
 admitted proselyte." It is difficult at times to form any 
 conception of the kind or degree of change supposed by 
 these writers to be effected by baptism. Sometimes it is 
 described as an union with Christ, like that supposed to take 
 place in the Supper among the Romanists, when the receiv- 
 er partakes of the actual body and blood of Christ, and 
 thus is incorporated into him. At others, a sudden and 
 great moral revolution is effected in the soul even of the 
 infant, of which it may perhaps be conscious. One of 
 them, some of whose writings have been published and cir- 
 culated in this country — thus addresses the child : 
 
 * " Dear Christian child! was it the power 
 " That in those gifted waters came, 
 " Which stirred thee at that solemn hour, 
 " And thrilled thro' all thy trembling frame? 
 " Oh, was it keen and fierce the smart, 
 " When the old root within thee died, 
 " And the new nature in thy heart 
 " Rose like the swell of Ocean's tide?" 
 
 It is however to be hoped that there are but few who would 
 regard this in any other light than poetry ; and yet there are 
 many others who freely advocate views on the subject more 
 likely to be injurious, because more likely to be received and 
 acted on. There are those who advocate a baptismal regen- 
 eration, most seriously interfering, as we think, with the 
 scripture doctrine of repentance or conversion, superseding 
 the necessity of it altogether in some, and of course making 
 a very great reduction of it in others. In proof of this we 
 adduce the following passages from the writings of Mr. Gres- 
 ley, an English divine of some distinction, two of whose 
 volumes have been published and circulated in our country.! 
 
 * Frederick Faber, recently gone over to Rome. 
 
 t One of the volumes is on the subject of preaching, and is addressed, 
 to candidates for the ministry, a#.d contains the doctrine objected to 
 
59 
 
 In one of them he says, baptismal regeneration "is the 
 beginning of the life of God in the soul" — " it is the im- 
 planting in the heart the seed of divine grace." P. 133. 
 " God does then and there implant the principle of faith in 
 the child's, heart." P. 135. " The Church takes each child 
 into her arms, and by the use of Christ's holy ordinance 
 she confers on him a new nature by water and the Spirit." 
 As soon as they are able to understand what things were re- 
 nounced in baptism, she exhorts them " not to turn from 
 them and repent, but renounce — that is y to have nothing to 
 do with them from the beginning." P. 246. " Those who 
 have fallen from their baptismal purity, are to be reminded 
 of the privileges they have lost, and the imminent danger 
 they are in." P. 132. He acknowledges that the majority 
 fall from their baptismal grace, but that the Church holds 
 out to such the hope of repentance." P. 247. " The 
 evangelical, he says, dwells almost entirely on conversion." 
 " The churchman preaches baptismal regeneration, and, to 
 those who have fallen, repentance." P. 248. We should 
 not thus have noticed a work of this kind, did it not, we fear, 
 but too faithfully represent the sentiments of many as exhib- 
 ited in sermons, tracts, and essays, becoming more and more 
 common in the Episcopal Church of England and America. 
 The very fact of the publication of this, and similar works, 
 and the favor they find, is evidence of it. It is plain, that 
 there is a wide difference between Mr. Gresley and those 
 thinking with us on a subject of great importance. Mr. 
 Gresley believes, to use his own language, " that every things 
 is given in baptism" — that the object of education is only to 
 preserve that purity which is infused at baptism — that some 
 do retain it, though the majority lose it — that the Church* 
 assured that they have received it, and that they can by 
 means of a pious education preserve it, does not exhort 
 them to turn from the things renounced and repent, but to 
 renounce — that is, to have nothing to do with them from the 
 beginning. Now, even supposing that renounce alluded 
 
 though in a slighter degree ; the other is a fictitious work, entitled Ber- 
 nard Leslie, whose object throughout is to hold up to odium the evan- 
 gelical clergy of England, and to object to. their doctrines. The quota- 
 tions are from this volume. 
 
60 
 
 only to things with which we have never yet had to do, and 
 not to things also with which we have had to do— a perfect- 
 ly new idea — we might ask if God, in commanding us to be 
 perfect — to do no sin — thereby meant to encourage the be- 
 lief that there ever yet was one man on earth who was free 
 from sin, and needed no repentance ; but rather to show his 
 condemnation of all sin, and to bring in all men guilty. 
 And where has the Church, in any of her other services, 
 furnished the shadow of a belief or hope, that one of her 
 baptized members needed no repentance — seeing that in alt 
 of them she has provided most penitential exercises, and 
 actually gave baptism only on the faithful promise of a re- 
 pentance in after years whereby we forsake sin, and will 
 not admit any to confirmation and the Lord's Supper, with- 
 out the fulfilment of the promise — that is, a true repentance. 
 It did, indeed, not become the Church, any more than our 
 Lord, to use language which might even seem to allow of 
 sin at all ; but as St. Bernard said of the injunction to be 
 perfect, " it did not escape the notice of the giver of the 
 precept, that the weight of the precept exceeded man's 
 strength ; but he judged it expedient, that man should be re- 
 minded of his insufficiency in this very way, and know what 
 extent of righteousness he should aim at with all his might. 
 In commanding impossibilities therefore, he did not render 
 men prevaricators, but humble, that every mouth might be 
 stopped." A similar use has been made of another pas- 
 sage in the baptismal service, wherein the Church is called 
 on to pray, after his baptism, that " the child may lead the 
 rest of his life according to this beginning." It is main- 
 tained that this beginning means the holy nature put into the 
 child — the new current given to its faculties and affections, 
 which are only to be continued ; instead of being referred 
 to the solemn vows made, the faith and repentance promised, 
 the prayers offered up. It had just before been declared that 
 hewas signed with the sign of the cross, in token that here- 
 after he should not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ 
 crucified — be Christ's faithful soldier and servant to his life's 
 end. After the baptism it is prayed, not that the child may 
 preserve this new nature, this purity given, but that he may 
 crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of 
 
61 
 
 sin. In the final exhortation, instead of the sponsor being 
 exhorted to remind the child of the new heart which he has 
 received, and to enjoin it upon him to hold it fast, they must 
 teach what a solemn vow, promise, and profession, he has 
 made — that is, of repentance and faith, which, by reason of 
 its tender age, it could not perform before baptism ; and that 
 he who is baptized should die from sin. Let any one read 
 over the service and ask, if it be possible that the Church, 
 if desiring to set forth the fact of the child's positive re- 
 newal, could have expressed herself in terms so illy calcu- 
 lated to make that impression, and convey that idea. 
 
 Having thus seen to what extravagancies and corruptions- 
 the theory of a positive change in the yet undeveloped fac- 
 ulties and affections of the unconscious babe has led, let us 
 for a moment consider the theory for which we plead, and 
 the probable effects thereof. According to the promises of 
 the covenant, forgiveness of sin, (of course original sin in 
 children) and the aids of the spirit, belong to our children. 
 These are solemnly sealed to each one in baptism at his 
 birth. They are washed from original sin, or the corrup- 
 tion of their nature — not from the existence and stain of it 
 in the soul, but through the atonement of Christfrom the 
 condemnation of it. It shall not be permitted, except through 
 their own wilful choice and actual sin, to exclude them from 
 Heaven. If they die in childhood — that is, during any part 
 of that time lying between their birth and the age of discre- 
 tion — even though we may see symptoms of an unrenewed 
 nature, we may be assured that God in his mercy will re- 
 ceive them ; and that he is full able, in his own way and time, 
 to effect whatever change may be necessary to fit them for 
 Heaven. As they are not yet able to discern their real con- 
 dition, and to choose between good and evil, we trust in 
 God's mercy and his promises. But when that fearfully in- 
 teresting period comes — the age of discretion — at that mo- 
 ment they are under a most solemn promise to pay the debt 
 contracted on entering the Church — that is, heartily to em- 
 brace the religion of Christ; in other words, to believe and 
 repent, which in baptism they faithfully promised. They 
 now, regarded as adults, are required to determine whether 
 they will accept or reject the religion of Christ. Yea orr 
 6 
 
62 
 
 nay it must be. The repentance and faith which they have 
 promised, are precisely the same required of adult converts. 
 They must, by the Holy Spirit, through the word, be con- 
 vinced of sin, original and actual — must see that they are 
 lost sinners without a true repentance and genuine faith in 
 Christ — must renounce the Devil and all his works, by a 
 deliberate act of their own will, and declare war against all 
 the sinful lusts of the flesh— must experience the renewing" 
 influences of the Spirit— -must be able by it to say, Abba 
 Father—must say, in the words of the Catechism, I heartily 
 thank God who has put me into this state of salvation, and 
 I feel that the Holy Spirit has sanctified me. These are not 
 things which they have preserved from their baptism onward; 
 for the Catechism says, they cannot by reason of their ten- 
 der age perform them ; it is something which they now do, and 
 which the Church consented to wait for until this very time ; 
 that which the adult must do before baptism — precisely the 
 same thing, and nothing else. Now, how shall we recon- 
 cile with this the views of those who say, that some retain 
 their new nature given in baptism, so as to need no repen- 
 tance ; and others only a slight repentance for some sins, but 
 no radical change, no conversion — that is, turning of the 
 soul to God in faith and repentance. The Church teaches 
 us but one kind of repentance and one faith — both of them 
 deep, thorough, transforming. She requires but one in bap- 
 tism. If there be any who need none, who, when they 
 come to years of discretion are so pure as not to need the 
 only repentance which the Church acknowledges and re- 
 quires, then she has made these children at their baptism 
 solemnly promise a falsehood, and if they renew those vows 
 in confirmation, they renew the falsehood ; and, moreover, 
 such, according to her terms, have no right to the Lord's 
 Supper, for she deems none worthy, except they come truly 
 repenting of their sins, and steadfastly purposing to lead a 
 new life ; and if they do come, they must be guilty of hy- 
 pocrisy while using all those deeply penitential prayers 
 which she has provided for them on that occasion.* 
 
 *If we can and if some do, live to the age of discretion, so as to need 
 no repentance — so that their angels need never blush for them (as one 
 
63 
 
 In saying, however, that they are in the condition of adults' 
 who seek admission to the Church for the first time in bap- 
 tism, and who must come truly repenting and believing, I 
 make one great difference between them. Those who have 
 been baptized in infancy, and whose baptism has been fol- 
 lowed up, and improved by their sponsors and themselves, 
 are much more likely to choose the offered salvation. They 
 are the more likely to be born again of the word through 
 the Spirit — that word in which they have been instructed — 
 that Spirit for which they have been taught to pray, and 
 which has been striving with them. They have been edu- 
 cated for this very thing, if rightly educated. But then, 
 there must be a time of decision — an act of choice — there is 
 a line of division ; unless, indeed, we suppose that there be 
 some other place, or places, beside Heaven and hell, whith- 
 er persons in various degrees of preparation may be permit- 
 ted to go ; or, unless we suppose that the ascending seats of 
 Heaven, and the descending steps of hell, are so near to 
 <each other, and are so graduated as to happiness and misery, 
 that there is but little choice between the highest of the one, 
 and the lowest of the other ; or, else resort to the doctrine 
 of purgatory, in order to make up the deficiency in the im- 
 perfectly prepared. Against such theories, surely I need 
 say nothing. At what precise period of life, the fearful 
 moment of discretion and accountability comes, God has 
 no where revealed. It doubtless varies in different persons. 
 For the same reason that God makes uncertainty to rest on 
 
 has expressed it) before their Father in Heaven ; then surely we may- 
 expect that many will continue so to live as never to need it ; and then 
 what have they to do with our confession, and other parts of the service. 
 Instead of being constructed for the righteous, all our services must 
 have been intended only for the most wicked, when just awakened 
 to a sense of great guilt — especially the communion office. It is declar- 
 ed in a previous address, that those only receive it worthily, who do it 
 with a true penitent heart and lively faith. Those, therefore, who come 
 not thus, partake unworthily, and therefore to their condemnation. 
 The invitation is only to those who truly and earnestly repent them of 
 heir sins, steadfastly purposing to lead a new life., 
 
 " Hungry and naked, this is all the plea, 
 
 "All the desert is helpless misery. 
 
 " He died for sinners — if we come not thus, 
 
 " Whate'er our claims, he did not die for us." 
 
64 
 
 •the time of each one's death, he conceals from children and 
 parents the particular time when accountability begins, that 
 they may with fear and trembling hasten the duty belonging 
 to it. Painful has been the anxiety of some parents on this 
 subject, when thinking on the number of young persons dy- 
 ing about the period where it must be found. What anguish 
 has wrung the hearts of others whose children have died 
 about that period, giving no sign on which to fasten the hope 
 of a gracious change, and yet they dare not certainly expect 
 their salvation on the ground of childhood. From the mo- 
 ment they reach that critical period, come when it may, if 
 they refuse to be convinced by the Spirit, through the word, 
 that they are sinners by nature and practice — to be humbled 
 under the sense of sin — to ask, what must I do to be saved — 
 to accept the salvation of Christ — to live unto God ; then, 
 henceforth, and as long as they continue thus, they are re- 
 bels, and can have no hope. The hope which we once had, 
 that God on account of their tender age would, for Christ's 
 sake, accept them, though unable to exercise true faith and 
 repentance, and would make whatever change was necessa- 
 ry to fit them for Heaven, is now gone. As to the Church, 
 •they virtually renounce their connexion with her, having 
 violated those solemn vows, the conditions on which she 
 admitted them on equal terms with adult believers. If adults 
 had asked for baptism, but refused the terms of faith and re- 
 pentance, of course she would not have granted them bap- 
 tism ; and could she have foreseen that these would have 
 proved false to the promises made, would she have been jus- 
 tified in receiving them ? At any rate, their circumcision 
 has become uncircumcision. The mere form of Godliness 
 has been gone through, the power of it has never been felt. 
 At this eventful age of discretion then, they have not to 
 hold fast a holiness received in baptism, but to do that which 
 they promised in baptism, by the help of that Spirit prom- 
 ised of God before baptism, and sealed tothem in baptism, and 
 which has ever been striving with them, as they needed and 
 could use it. They have now to choose between good and 
 evil — now to believe and repent. If they do, they are re- 
 newed, converted ; they have turned unto God. If they do 
 not, the old man, which was to be crucified, is still in them ; 
 
65 
 
 all the means of God's appointment have been lost upon 
 them — all the strivings of the Spirit have been resisted, and 
 they have been as so many tares growing among the wheat, 
 as so many bad fish in the Gospel net. They did not be- 
 come tares after they were sown in the field, or bad fish af- 
 ter they were caught in the net; they were so from the first, 
 and have never been changed ; they are yet in their sins.* 
 
 If this be not the doctrine of the Church in her baptismal 
 service and catechism, then ought there to be an entire change 
 as to what she requires of children by way of promise, in 
 order to baptism, and, of couse, in the way of fulfilment 
 when they come to age ; for she certainly does require of them 
 all, at that time, without exception, the same faith and re- 
 pentance as of adults, even that faith and repentance which, 
 throughout God's word, constitute the sum and substance of 
 Christianity. I hope I shall not be misunderstood on this 
 point. I am very far from supposing that the mind is inca- 
 pable of acting at all on the subject of religion, until it has 
 reached that point of maturity when the learful question is 
 decided, for or against God's service, for the present at least. 
 Long before this, the Spirit of God may, through the means 
 
 *The distinction between the visible and invisible Church. — It becomes us 
 ever to bear in mind a distinction which is often made by divines be- 
 tween the visible and invisible Church. Some object to it, saying the 
 terms are not found in the Scriptures or the prayer book. If 'the same 
 words are not, the fact intended to be declared by them certainly is. 
 Our nineteenth article says, "the visible Church of Christ is a congrega- 
 tion of faithful men, in the which the pure word of God is preached," 
 •etc. ; but, in the twenty-sixth article, it is said: " Although in the visi- 
 ble Church, the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the 
 evil have chief authority," etc. It is evident, then, that by the faithful 
 in the first of these passages must be meant those who are baptized 
 into the Church, and profess to believe in Christ, though some of them 
 be not good, but evil — false professors. God only knows who the really 
 faithful are. They compose the Church invisible to mortal eye, as dis- 
 tinct from the whole body. The Lord only knows who are his. This 
 painful truth, that some are evil, runs through all our services ; although 
 we, being unable to distinguish, must sometimes speak of all who pro- 
 fess as, being the children of God. So it is with the Scriptures. While 
 the Apostles sometimes, addressing the Churches as such collectively, 
 call them saints, faithful, elect, holy, because they so professed, and 
 most of them at that time doubtless were ; yet at others, they speak of 
 some individuals as being most certainly so, and others as most certain- 
 ly the very reverse ; although they had just before been included in the 
 
66 
 
 used, have been preparing them for it. At a very early age 
 some have exhibited blessed signs of a gracious change ef- 
 fected, especially in the hour of death. Such has ever been 
 the belief of the Church. It may be well to advert to some 
 of the evidences of this. 
 
 Amongst the Jews, we are told, that life was divided into 
 five parts.* According as they came within these divisions, 
 they were called infants, little ones, children, young men, 
 fathers or men, or else mothers or women. The first period 
 was, from the birth to three or four years of age. The sec- 
 ond, from that to six or seven. The third, from that to thir- 
 teen. The fourth, to eighteen or twenty. The fifth, to the 
 end of life. At three years of age their names were entered 
 in the genealogy of their family, if they had been circumcised 
 at any time previously ; if not, they were, by being refused a 
 registry, supposed to suffer the punishment of being cut off 
 
 general terms of holy, beloved, faithful, etc. The Scriptures are full o 
 passages declaring that "all is not Israel which is called Israel," some 
 are " Israelites indeed," "the circumcised in heart," "the true-heart- 
 ed," " the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus," " the Spirit bears 
 witness with their spirits that they are the children of God." They 
 can say "Abba Father," in sincerity and truth. While others "have 
 only a name to live," " take the covenant of God within their mouths," 
 and yet " it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting." These are in the 
 visible Church as tares in the field, and bad fish in the net ; the great 
 day alone can separate them. At baptism, adults join the visible Church, 
 but if true believers, they have joined the invisible Church before. 
 
 Infants at baptism join the visible Church, and the invisible one when 
 they become true believers, although if they die before they are capable 
 of faith and repentance, we have reason to hope and beheve God will 
 receive them to himself. The Church in every age, has been pleased to 
 bestow on children who were baptized, the same titles of holy ones — 
 the faithfuls — that are applied to adults, not knowing which of them 
 might prove holy or faithful, should they live, aud seeing that in bap- 
 tism they have promised these things. Interesting epitaphs taken from 
 the tombs of little children, in the earliest ages, setting forth this, have 
 come down to us. Being baptized and dying at an early age, their 
 parents have recorded the fact, and given them the title of " faithfuls," 
 mentioning how long since they were numbered among the faithful — 
 that is, since baptism. 
 
 *The author is much indebted for what he has said here, and else- 
 where, on the subject of the Jewish estimate and treatment of children, 
 and admission of Pagans into the Church, to the works of Isaacs on the 
 ceremonies of the Jews, and Taylor on Apostolical baptism. 
 
67 
 
 for breaking the covenant. At three years of age they were 
 allowed to enter, with their parents, into the house of the 
 Lord, and be present at the services ; the children of the 
 priests to partake of the sacrifices. At the age of six or 
 seven, when they had learned to read the books of Moses, 
 they were considered as capable of some responsible acts. 
 Thus Joash was, by the instrumentality of Jehoida, made to 
 enter into covenant with the Lord, and with his people. At 
 thirteen years of age there was something like the rite of 
 confirmation, or renewal of the covenant of circumcision, af- 
 ter which they partook of the Passover. Our Lord entered 
 the Temple for the first time one year before this, at twelve 
 years of age, going up to Jerusalem, it is supposed, for this 
 purpose. In all these regulations we see a continual recog- 
 nition of children, as the subjects of early religious training. 
 Is there not reason to believe that the aged St. John, in his 
 affectionate epistle, where he addresses himself to little chil- 
 dren, young men, and fathers, has reference to some of these 
 divisions. He does not write to infants, for they could not 
 understand him, but begins with children. They, moving 
 on towards thirteen years of age, could understand his sim- 
 ple and affectionate admonition. He wrote to them, he says, 
 because their sins had been forgiven them. For them a Sa- 
 viour died. For them the Holy Ghost had come, and was 
 striving with their hearts. To them the promises of God 
 had been sealed in baptism, when they were grafted into 
 Christ's Church. He wrote, also, to young men, because, as 
 he says, " ye are strong, and have overcome the wicked one." 
 These, from thirteen years and upwards, had deliberately re- 
 nounced the Devil, and were engaged in a resolute and suc- 
 cessful contest with him. Such is the view which has been 
 given of this interesting passage, and which is surely more 
 than probably correct. Let us, also, notice our Lord's con- 
 duct as to children. Those whom he took into his arms are 
 called by one of the Evangelists, infants; by two others, chil- 
 dren ; perhaps they were approaching the line which divided 
 the two classes. On another occasion, when our Lord wished 
 to rebuke the ambition of his disciples, he took a little child 
 and set him in the midst, and bid them to imitate him; doubt- 
 less alluding to their freedom from those ambitious desires 
 
68 
 
 which animated the disciples. But he goes on to speak ten- 
 derly of such children, as little ones who believed in him. 
 Now if the child were passed the age of three or four, and 
 perhaps the age of seven, and was advancing towards thir- 
 teen, our Saviour might very properly speak of such as be- 
 lieving in him. Children of that age, piously brought up, as 
 Timothy was from a child, might know the Scriptures. All 
 these instances of attention to children among the Jews, so 
 agreeing with God's directions as to their early and faithful 
 instruction, and these acts of our Lord, surely commend them 
 to our care as susceptible of religious influence. It is utterly 
 impossible for the Church to determine positively at what 
 age the decisive choice must be made — on which life or death 
 depends. God only knows that. The Jewish Church, for 
 the purpose of discipline, seems to have fixed on thirteen for 
 the Passover. Our Bishops in England have determined 
 that it was inexpedient to confirm under fourteen years of 
 age, of course ; meaning thereby to declare that, at that time, 
 on an average the young must surely be capable of true faith and 
 penitence ; not but that many were fully capable before, and 
 might be lost if not prepared. There is no rule in our Ameri- 
 can Church. I have confirmed a few under that age, of whose 
 piety I had no reason to doubt at the time, nor since.* 
 
 * Jige of discretion.-r-At five years of age, (said one of their Rabbies,) 
 a child should study the Scriptures — at ten, the Mishna, their book of 
 traditions — at thirteen, he is bound to observe the precepts. If a boy ar- 
 rives at the age of thirteen, then, the next Sabbath after, he goes to the 
 Synagogue, and reads publicly at the desk, next to where the reader is 
 stationed, and chants a portion of Scripture; if not capable so to do, one 
 is read for him by the reader; and after going through many ceremonies, 
 the father of said son, if living, but if deceased the godfather of the boy, 
 or nearest relation, who has had the charge of him, goes to the desk, 
 lays his two hands upon his head, and gives him this blessing — May 
 you follow the same steps of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; amen and amen. 
 He likewise says, "this day you have arrived at manhood, and from 
 this day and henceforth, I am free from all your sins which you may com- 
 mit hereafter, and you have to answer for your own deeds ; from this 
 day, and henceforth, you are reckoned among the congregation ; be strict; 
 keep the laws and the precepts ; then the blessings of the God of Abra- 
 ham will be your shield and guide through life." Sometimes, in order to 
 make up a Congregation, which required ten persons over thirteen years 
 of age, when they became men, or young men, if there were only nine, 
 
69 
 
 What, then, is the difference between the two systems ? 
 The one supposes, that in baptism a change is positively ef- 
 fected in the corrupt nature of man, which makes the child 
 meet for Heaven, otherwise unmeet, and without which some 
 think there is no promise, and but little reason for hope. 
 This meetness has only to be preserved, may be preserved, 
 and is preserved in some, so as not to need those exercises 
 of mind called by some conversion ; no, not even repentance, 
 though solemnly promised. When come to years of discre- 
 tion, they have only to go on thus, holding fast what they re- 
 ceived. Should they have lost it, or so far as they have lost 
 it, they must seek to regain it by penitence, On the other 
 system no change of the evil nature is supposed to take place, 
 the infection, as our article says, still remaining, but the Holy 
 Spirit promised before to the children, and pledged, and as- 
 sured in baptism, is given to assist, as it is enabled to use it 
 in order to produce this meetness.* 
 
 A pious education uses its best efforts to the same end. 
 At the critical period spoken of, the question to be decided 
 
 they would take a boy, if only one day over twelve, and putting him in 
 the midst of the congregation with an Hebrew Bible under his arm, and 
 thus constitute him a man, for the purpose desired. Our blessed Sa- 
 viour at twelve years of age entered the Temple itself, and took a place 
 among the Doctors, asking them questions. 
 
 *The 9th and 15th articles throw light upon this subject. In the 9th, 
 original sin is declared to be the "fault and corruption of every man 
 that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam." And "this 
 infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated." It 
 does not say that some relic of it continues in the baptized, but that 
 every fault and corruption, or infection, which we bring into the world, 
 and which "deserveth God's wrath and damnation." In the 15th 
 article, it is said, that Christ alone was without sin. He was not natu- 
 rally, but supernaturally, engendered of the offspring of Adam, and 
 was " clearly void (of sin) both in his flesh and spirit." " But all 
 we, the rest, although baptized and born again in Christ, yet offend in 
 many things ; and, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, 
 and the truth is not in us." From which, it would plainly appear, that 
 a sinless nature, either before or after baptism, in any of the descendants 
 of Adam, since Adam's fall, is recognised in none, but in the holy child 
 Jesus, the second Adam. The infection of sin, by which as the 9th ar- 
 ticle expresses it, " man is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that 
 the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit," still remains, but grace 
 is given to contend against it, and bring us to faith and repentance ; and 
 to those who have these, there is no condemnation. See the 9th, 15th, 
 16th articles. 
 
70 
 
 by the youthful candidate is this — Shall I come to God the 
 Father by a true repentance, to Christ by a living faith, 
 drawn to each by the Holy Spirit? He is not called on to 
 hold fast something possessed, but to seize upon something 
 held up to the view. If he does not choose life, death is his 
 portion. Previous to that period, if taken out of this world, 
 there is sweet hope, not from a change effected, but from the 
 mercy of God through Christ; and as St. Paul found mercy 
 because he sinned through ignorance and unbelief, so these, 
 because of their undeveloped faculties and tender years, will 
 yet be received, and God can prepare them for such a mea- 
 sure of glory as may await them. This we present as the 
 most probable inference to be drawn from the Bible and the 
 language of the Church. All the preparatory steps of a re- 
 ligious education — all the efforts of parents and others to in- 
 struct their young ones, to restrain them, to bring them up 
 in virtuous habits, are directed to this object — not to keep a 
 supposed purity within, which shall supercede the necessity 
 of penitence, which leads by faith to Christ, but to bring 
 them at the earliest age to deep humility and faith, as in- 
 dispensable to salvation. Constitutional temperament, not 
 baptismal purity, will make a difference in the pains of the pen- 
 itence of some — some having been greater sinners, will in- 
 deed have a deeper penitence ; but all must repent ; the law 
 must slay them. What must I do to be saved, must be the 
 cry of all. Now all this, which we affirm of the two sys- 
 tems, is sustained by facts. The experience and observa- 
 tions of parents and ministers tend to this. How often is it 
 the case, that those most piously educated, and who have 
 been most docile, most obedient, who seem to be most pious, 
 and who actually have been, no doubt, under the influence of 
 grace, yet when theycome to age, are by the word and Spirit 
 convinced of sin, are deeply humbled, find it hard to cherish 
 hope, think none can be worse than themselves, refuse for a 
 time to be comforted. These are not the persons to be looking 
 back to find out how much baptismal purity they have kept, 
 how little repentance they need, how little their white robe 
 has been sullied. They rather say, " mine eye seeth thee, 
 O God ; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and 
 ashes," " Who can tell how oft he offendeth." " Make 
 
71 
 
 me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me." The 
 children of pious parents, if piously educated, are those who 
 are most frequently brought to this penitent state. The bur- 
 den of a pious parent's prayer is, that their children may b& 
 brought to see their exceeding sinfulness — to repent and be- 
 lieve. This was the promise made in their name — this the 
 great object sought for. The evidence of it, is the great joy 
 of the parent's heart. Now, and now only, can he have 
 hope. Timothy was thus brought up from a child, in the 
 knowledge of the Scriptures, which were able to make him 
 wise unto salvation — but how ? by faith in Christ Jesus, to 
 whom, as a poor sinner, he was led for salvation. Then 
 come good works, and not till then. All previous works, 
 how moral soever, must not be called good before God, 
 Without faith, it is impossible to please him. They 
 are the works of Cain, who brought of the fruits of the 
 ground in a self-righteous spirit — not of Abel, who came in 
 faith with a sin offering. Our articles declare that those 
 only are good works, which are the " fruits of faith" — 
 " which spring necessarily out of a true and lively faith." 
 "Works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration 
 of the Spirit, are not pleasant unto God, forasmuch as they 
 spring not of faith in Jesus Christ." See articles 12th and 
 13th. 
 
 If the above view of the subject be correct, how danger- 
 ous the proposal of some to look upon baptized children as- 
 little angels, and to deal with them as such, to keep them in 
 their Paradise as Adam in his first estate — not regard them 
 as fallen, banished spirits, who must be told how to recover 
 their lost Eden. This false system will, in practice, lead 
 to various errors. Some will adopt the distinction be- 
 tween venial and mortal sins, the former of which, some 
 think, Adam might have committed without losing God's 
 favor, and which the baptized may commit without for- 
 feiting their baptismal grace. Parents, while seeing many 
 things in their children which are certainly not conforma- 
 ble to God's holy will, yet still desiring to hope that they 
 have not forfeited the divine favor, will be tempted to this 
 distinction, and will thus reduce the standard of holiness low 
 indeed. Others will substitute for true holiness mere natu- 
 
72 
 
 Tal goodness, instinctive kindness, and will think of their 
 children very differently from what God's word would 
 have them do. We know the partiality of parents — how 
 blind to children's faults they are. Thus will many desire 
 to bring their children to confirmation, not because they have 
 now obtained the faith and penitence promised, but rather 
 because they do not need them, because they have never lost 
 the grace of baptism. Others will cherish the hope that 
 their children have still baptismal grace enough left, though 
 much be lost, to come to confirmation, in order to secure the 
 grace the Church has to give in that rite, and thus to strengthen 
 the grace of baptism that remains, but which is ready to die. 
 Who does not see the perplexity into which this system 
 must again bring the Church. Already has evil enough 
 grown out of it. Ministers have trouble enough now with 
 some parents, who are anxious to have their children pre- 
 sented to the Bishop for Confirmation, although they know 
 nothing of true faith and repentance. How much more of 
 such difficulty on this system. The young, thoughtless, 
 and pleasure loving ones, if not notoriously wicked, will be 
 brought forward in the hope of some undefined good, or 
 because others come, and that they may not seem to renounce 
 their baptism. But thus coming, it will be found that many 
 of them do not receive grace sufficient to carry them a step 
 farther. They will not approach the Lord's Supper. They 
 will fear to bind themselves by that awful bond ; and thus the 
 Church will be filled with a description of persons, some- 
 what more than half members, who have received one sac- 
 rament and the intermediate rite, but for fear of being ob- 
 liged by a sense of shame, even before the ungodly, to aban- 
 don some things unbecoming persons in full communion, 
 will go no farther. This is no caricature or misrepresen- 
 tation, but sad reality — a reality likely to increase upon us, 
 if the views against which we have contended shall be adopt- 
 ed. Already are there fearful symptoms of this, to be seen 
 in books and other things. This system, however it may in 
 some minds, and in the conduct of some individuals, be con- 
 nected with mortification, and sadness, and despair, lest the 
 grace of baptism be lost forever, is nevertheless very sus- 
 ceptible of adaptation to those of an opposite character, and 
 
73 
 
 has ever been found acceptable to the pleasure loving and 
 worldly. Among the signs in our Mother Church of a re- 
 turn under the auspices of this system to corrupt practices con- 
 demned and abandoned by the pious at its reformation, we may 
 mention the proposition of one of the leaders among the Laity, 
 who advocates, in a treatise on the subject, the renewal of 
 some of those Sabbath spoits which the Reformers abolished* 
 but which have more than once, by persons sympathizing 
 with such views, been sought to be restored. 
 
 We quote, as an instance of the manner in which such 
 things are treated, a few lines from one of the leaders in this 
 school, who has written popular tales for the young, to re- 
 commend its doctrines. His popular tales have been print- 
 ed and industriously circulated in this country, with the 
 same intent. To those who desire to mingle something of 
 religion, with more of earthly pleasure, his work will be 
 acceptable. Thus does he speak of merriment on one of 
 our most joyous festivals, grieving over the change produced 
 in it by other views of religion : 
 
 " England was merry England, when 
 
 " Old Christmas brought his sports again; 
 
 " 'Twas Christmas broach'd the mightiest ale, 
 
 " 'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale : 
 
 " A Christmas gambol oft would cheer 
 
 " The poor man's heart through half the year." 
 
 Now, when we recollect how this ancient and favorite fes- 
 tival has been perverted to purposes of ungodly mirth, so 
 that with many, its very original design is not thought of, 
 perhaps not even known ; how its opponents have adduced 
 its corruption as an argument against its observance ; how 
 its friends have mourned, and been forced to acknow- 
 ledge, that through the fraud and malice of the evil one it is 
 often the most licentious season of the year, and when 
 the Ministers have sometimes almost dreaded its approach 
 on account of the dissipation attending it, is it not to be 
 lamented that a Minister of the Church, addressing the 
 young, should regret that such scenes have passed away, 
 thus weakening the hands of God's Ministers. And espe- 
 cially how strangely inconsistent such language in the mouth 
 of one, who maintains that it is almost indispensable to the 
 sustenance of our soul's joy, to partake of the communion,, 
 7 
 
74 
 
 at least every Sabbath ; whereas one merriment at Christ- 
 mas will comfort the heart of a poor man for half the year. 
 Such language from a Byron, or a Moore, were not sur- 
 prising ; but this comes from the chaplain* of the late Bishop 
 of Oxford, writing for young Christians. 
 
 ♦Mr. Paget's tales. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The view advocated in this treatise agreeable to the se?iti- 
 ments of the early Church generally, and to those of the 
 Episcopal Church of America. 
 
 In a previous chapter we have spoken of the extravagant 
 opinions held by some of the Fathers, and of the final issue 
 of them in the established doctrine of the Church of Rome, 
 on the subject of baptism. It is due to them and to both to 
 say, that the learned Bingham, whose work on the antiqui- 
 ties of the Christian Church is held in high esteem among 
 those most strenuous on this subject, mentions many excep- 
 tions made by them to the necessity of baptism, and that they by 
 no means restricted the regenerating grace of God to that 
 sacrament, saying " that the ancients had not generally that 
 rigid opinion about the absolute necessity of baptism (barring 
 the neglect and contempt of the sacred institution) which some 
 %vould father upon them." As to the case of infants, Bing- 
 ham acknowledges that the language of many of the Fa- 
 thers is very unfavorable to the hopes of salvation to those 
 who die unbaptized ; but others speak more encouragingly; 
 and quotes a book ascribed to St. Ambrose, in which he says 
 *' that the reason why this doctrine, about the necessity of 
 baptism for the salvation of infants, was so earnestly pressed 
 upon men, was that parents might not be so remiss or negli- 
 gent in bringing their children to baptism ; which they cer- 
 tainly would be, if they were once possessed with an opin- 
 ion that there was no necessity of baptism to salvation." 
 This author presses the necessity of baptizing infants, as all 
 good Christians do, upon the supposition of some benefits 
 which the parents' care may bring the child; and contrariwise, 
 an irreparable damage and loss which the child may sustain 
 by the parents,' default and negligence."* 
 
 In addition to this, it is sufficient to adduce the testimony 
 of another learned divine of our church, who has most care- 
 
 *See Bingham, ch. 2, book 10- 
 
76 
 
 fully examined the opinions of the ancients, on the subject of 
 infant baptism and its effects — I mean Mr. Wall, who has 
 written two volumes concerning it. 
 
 After showing at length the sentiments of St. Austin, 
 which however strong in some points, were entirely opposed 
 to the idea of any inward change in baptism, and clearly distin- 
 guished between the sacrament of baptism and the conver- 
 sion of the heart, which he said were often separated — he 
 thus concludes : " Most of the Pcedo Baptists go no further 
 than St. Austin does ; they hold that God by his Spirit does, 
 at the time of baptism, seal and apply to the infant that is 
 there dedicated to him the promises of the covenant of which 
 he is capable, viz : adoption, pardon of sin, translation from 
 the state of nature to that of grace, etc. ; on which account 
 the infant is said to be regenerated of (or by) the Spirit. 
 Not that God does by any miracle at that time illuminate or 
 convert the mind of the child. And for original sin, or the 
 corruption of our nature, they hold that God by his covenant 
 does abolish the guilt of it, receives the child to his mercy 
 in Christ, and consigns to him by promise, such grace as 
 shall afterward, by the use of means, if he live, be sufficient 
 to keep it under, but not wholly extirpate it in this life. It 
 is left as the subject of trial, and of a continual Christian war- 
 fare. And this is the opinion of St. Austin, and of the an- 
 cients generally." See vol. 1, ch. 15. 
 
 Doctrine of the Episcopal Church in this country. 
 
 There is no special exposition of the views of the Church 
 on this subject set forth by the general convention. The 
 nearest approach to this, is to be found in the explanation of 
 the Church Catechism, published by the Episcopal Sunday 
 School Union, and most generally adopted throughout the 
 church. By referring to that catechism, it will be seen that 
 the church is far from ascribing to the ordinance of baptism 
 all that some suppose. It says " that baptism is called the 
 washing of regeneration, because we are thereby born into 
 a state of grace and salvation," which it explains to be "a 
 state in which, in God's church, we enjoy the means of be- 
 ing freed from sin, and a title to eternal happiness." But then 
 
77 
 
 k proceeds to say, " that in order to pass out of this state of 
 grace or salvation, or kingdom of God on earth, into the 
 state of glory, we must become new creatures ;" thereby de- 
 claring, that another change beside that which takes place at 
 baptism, must pass on our souls before we can be saved." 
 In answer to the question " what is meant by our being 
 made children of grace in baptism," it is said, " as children 
 of grace we enjoy a title to that immortality which was for- 
 feited in Adam," and "that we enjoy through Christ, and by 
 his Holy Spirit, the means and the promises of deliverance 
 from the power of original corruption, and from the conse- 
 quences of actual sins — the present and everlasting displea- 
 sure of God." 
 
 If the sentiments of the Bishops of the Church at any 
 given time, and the same so far sanctioned by the house of 
 clerical and lay delegates, as to be laid before the whole 
 church for consideration is worthy of respect, that can also 
 be furnished in the support of the above. 
 
 In the year 1836 certain changes were proposed by the 
 house of Bishops as to the reading of the service and lessons, 
 and together with them the following is found, concerning a 
 prayer in the confirmation service: " And to correct the in- 
 jurious misapprehension, as to the meaning of certain terms, 
 in the first collect in the office of confirmation, the Bishops 
 tmanimously propose the following resolution : Resolved, 
 That after the first collect in the office of confirmation, the 
 following be inserted, to be used at the discretion of the 
 Bishop, instead of the first collect : " Almighty and ever liv- 
 ing God, who hast vouchsafed in baptism to regenerate these 
 thy servants by water and the Holy Ghost, thus giving them 
 a title to all the blessings of thy covenant of mercy in thy 
 son Jesus Christ, etc." 
 
 By turning to the Confirmation service, we find that the 
 prayer for which this may be substituted reads thus : " Al- 
 mighty and ever living God, who ha^t vouchsafed to regene- 
 rate these thy servants by water and the Holy Ghost, and 
 hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins," &c. It 
 will be perceived that the words, " thus giving them a title 
 to all the blessings of thy covenant of mercy in Christ Jesus," 
 are additional, and evidently explanatory, designed to fix the 
 
78 
 
 meaning of the words "regenerated by water and the Holy 
 Ghost," which are used in the baptismal service, and repeated 
 in the confirmation service, but without explanation. This ad- 
 dition would have answered the same purpose as the 27th arti- 
 cle, with whose doctrine it coincides. That teashes that bap- 
 tism is the seal of adoption ; this, that it is a conditional title 
 to salvation. As the adoption did not necessarily alter the 
 nature of the child, and might prove unavailing, so the title 
 gave no new nature, and might be forfeited by a failure on 
 the part of the baptized to fulfil his part in the engagement. 
 It will be seen that the bishops, in proposing this change, 
 urge as a reason that it was to " correct injurious misappre- 
 hensions as to the meaning of certain terms." Now, what 
 could this be, but some high views of a moral change effected 
 in baptism, which are often imputed to our Church, and 
 which seem to be expressed by [the term, regenerated by 
 water and the Holy Ghost. Of this the author entertains 
 not the shadow of a doubt.* 
 
 * On the design of the proposed substitute. — That such was the object in 
 the proposed substitute, may be inferred from the fact that it was pro- 
 posed by Bishop Hobart, and exactly corresponds with his sentiments 
 as set forth in his explanation of the Catechism, and more fully enlarged 
 on in his tract on Confirmation ; bcth of which documents have been 
 generally received by the Church as expressing her views. But the 
 matter is placed beyond doubt by the following extract from a private 
 letter of Bishop Hobart, addressed to myself and a particular friend. 
 "The expressions in the prayer are liable to be misunderstood, and 
 create serious objections on the part of many, I have found, to using the 
 ordinance. The object of the proposed prayer was not to relinquish 
 the expression of regeneration, as applied to baptism, but to guard 
 against the misconstruction that would make this synonimous with re- 
 novation, sanctification, conversion, or any other term by which the re- 
 newing of the Holy Ghost might be denoted." It appears, then, that 
 the object of the house of Bishops in proposing it, and of the other house 
 in acceding to it, was to fix the meaning of this passage, and to declare 
 that other meanings considered injurious to the Church were not cor- 
 rectly ascribed to her. 
 
 This proposition was connected with sundry others relative to the 
 abridgment of the Liturgy, which excited uneasiness in the minds of 
 many who feared any thing like innovation, and therefore the whole was 
 withdrawn at the next General Convention, though the author does not 
 remember, or believe, that any objection was made to this alteration. 
 What occurred, however, was sufficient to show the general sense of the 
 Church on the subject: What was thus proposed by the bishops and 
 
79 
 
 The next document which we shall adduce, is a report on 
 the subject of education to the, General Convention of 1841, 
 by a committee appointed in the previous Convention of 
 1838, "to take into consideration the subject of the Chris- 
 tian education of the youth of both sexes, in accordance with 
 the principles of the Church." Being referred to a commit- 
 tee of the house of Bishops and approved, it was, by a joint 
 vote of both houses of Convention, "referred to the Execu- 
 tive Committee of the Board of Managers of the Sunday 
 School Union of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to be 
 printed and distributed," which was accordingly done. 
 The following extracts will show its general character: 
 The depravity of our nature is the great point insisted on. 
 " In the subject of education she does not see an infant angel, 
 but a child of fallen man going astray from the womb. For 
 an emblem of the unfolding of man's moral nature, the Church 
 does not look to the oak, which, as soon as it has left its 
 germ, begins to expand its sturdy trunk, as by an inherent 
 
 clergy at that convention, was afterwards spoken of by Bishop Gris- 
 wold in one of his sermons, shewing the difference between regenera- 
 tion, as used by the Church, and renovation. After explaining and jus- 
 tifying the doctrine of the Church, he remarks, "In the present state of 
 religion, there is, we have observed, some confusion in the use of theo- 
 logical terms. Christians hear them, every one in his own language, 
 and in the tongue wherein he was born. This makes it necessary for 
 us frequently to make these explanations. An alteration in some few 
 expressions in our Liturgy would make these explanations less neces- 
 sary, and would remove one great obstacle to the success of our labors. 
 But till such alteration, by the permission of God and the wisdom of his 
 Church, shall be made, let us be careful rightly to understand her lan- 
 guage, and to embrace her sound scriptural doctrine:" 
 
 One word is added as to the opinion of Bishop White. Although he 
 contends most strenuously for the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, 
 and would have that word applied only to baptism, and is very strong 
 in his affirmation that the grace of baptism may, if used, render unne- 
 cessary that deep repentance for which we contend, and is entirely op- 
 posed to the doctrine of sensible conversions, and objects to the use of 
 the word conversion as to the baptized, yet still declares that "no 
 considerate person supposes that in infant baptism any moral change is 
 wrought in the mind of an infant," and speaks of some who regard "re- 
 generation as a species of mechanical operation on a being without 
 ideas, and incapable of the exercise of the intellectual faculty." See his 
 work on the Catechism, p. 214 — 222. The necessity of baptism, ill 
 ■order to the salvation of those dying in infancy, he utterly rejects. 
 
80 
 
 power, and to rear its head aloft, as though its sympathies 
 and its alliances were with the Heavens ; but to the vine, 
 the degenerate plant of a strange vine, which has no sooner 
 burst its seed, than it begins to droop its head and shew its 
 earthward tendency, and can mount upward only as some 
 object is kindly interposed to which it may cling, and by 
 which it may ascend." By bringing this sinful child and 
 entering it into the Church of Christ, " he acquires a claim, 
 a covenanted claim, to those great and precious promises, 
 whereby we become partakers of the divine nature. God 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in whose sacred name he 
 was baptized, is pledged to bestow his blessing on the means 
 used for his improvement. The Church recognising his 
 adoption, commits him to the care of suitable teachers, and 
 assigns to him his lessons." "A sinner has not taken the 
 first step in the salvation of his own soul till he has come to 
 Christ. All his future goings depend on that ; it is the germ 
 of his Christian life." " Now the office of a parent for the 
 passive babe committed to his charge, is precisely that of a 
 sinner for his own soul." " The mode of bringing a soul 
 to Christ is two-fold : the first in order is, by exercising a 
 true faith in prayer to God in his behalf immediately on his 
 birth, yea, even before his birth. But this is not all. There 
 is still another way — a more visible way — of exercising the 
 same faith and the same prayer unto the same great end, 
 which the parent must observe, if he would fulfill all right- 
 eousness. Every sinner who trul) repents and unfeignedly 
 believes in Jesus Christ unto salvation has come to Christ; 
 but there is a visible act, an outward expression of faith and 
 repentance and obedience, in which, according to his mas- 
 ter's law, he is to come to him, and before men to confess 
 to him. His faith and obedience are both defective until he 
 has done that. That act is baptism. By baptism he puts 
 on Christ professedly, as by faith he puts on Christ spiritu- 
 ally. He is baptized into Christ." " So when the Chris- 
 tian parent would fully bring his child to Christ, besides do- 
 ing it in the spirit, he must do it also in the outward act." 
 Baptism is "placing the little one immediately in the nur- 
 sery of the Lord — into fellowship with the family of his peo- 
 ple — surrounding him with all the means of grace; binding 
 
81 
 
 him by solemn covenant with God to live as becometh the 
 Gospel; receiving in his behalf every prayer that any believer 
 may offer up for the Church of God." The report dwells 
 much on the duty of seeking", by means of a religious edu- 
 cation, the earliest possible piety in the child. Some of the 
 last sentences just quoted from the report, are taken from 
 the preface of Bishop Mcllvaine to a volume of sermons by 
 English divines. In that preface, of which we purpose to 
 make further and larger use in another chapter, the duty of 
 seeking, by the means of faithful religious training, in reli- 
 ance on the Divine blessing, the earliest possible piety, is 
 most impressively set forth. Of course it need not be stated 
 that he did not ground this duty and hope on the belief of a 
 moral change wrought in the child at baptism, nothing being 
 more contrary to the well known sentiments of that writer. 
 The extracts, however, will serve to shew, that those who 
 reject the assumption of the fact of such moral renovation, 
 are not on that account the less zealous in urging an early 
 attention to the souls of children, on the ground of a firm be- 
 lief of their capability of receiving benefit thereby. 
 
 The author would also take the liberty of referring to a 
 treatise of his own, published fifteen years ago, and repub- 
 lished four or five times since, in which he set forth the same 
 views advocated now. He is particularly induced to this, 
 from the fact that the treatise, in an abridged form, has been 
 adopted by one of the largest tract societies in our Church,* 
 as setting forth the true doctrines of the Church. As this 
 chapter is employed in shewing, as accurately as can be as- 
 certained, the general sentiments of the Church hitherto, he 
 will introduce some passages from it. The treatise referred 
 to is one on Confirmation. In it the following passages may 
 be found: "Our Church never lets go her hold on her bap- 
 tized children— never willingly — never, but through the un- 
 faithfulness of sponsors, parents, or ministers, or the per- 
 verseness of children when they come to age. It is not her 
 doctrine — let them be baptized, then turned adrift on the wide 
 world, and regarded even as the children of foreigners and 
 strangers — perchance at some future daythey may flee to 
 
 *The Protestant Episcopal Tract Society located in New York. 
 
82 
 
 the ark of safety. It says to those who undertake for them, 
 bring up these little ones, not as the children of a king, but 
 as the adopted and beloved children of the King of Kings 
 and Lord of Lords. Shew them tenderness and reverence as 
 those for whom a Savior died, and who may one day be an- 
 gels of light in the kingdom of glory." "We must keep our 
 eyes and our hearts ever upon them; we must watch each 
 opening faculty and budding affection, and seek to train them 
 towards Heaven." "Holy indeed is the relation which God 
 has established between parents and their children. Great 
 is the influence which he has given the former over the latter, 
 and great must be the guilt of neglecting to use it. There is 
 a docility and credulity implanted in the minds of the young, 
 which inclines them to receive, believe, and do, whatever 
 shall be taught them by those to whom Providence has en- 
 trusted their education. And woe be to those who shall ne- 
 glect to make the best use of this wise and gracious consti- 
 tution of their nature." "The Church seeks to do her part. 
 At baptism she solemnly dedicates them to God ; then con- 
 fides them to the arms of parents, or other suitable persons, 
 to be trained up for Heaven, with most positive injunction 
 to do their parts faithfully. In confirmation, she sends one 
 of her chief ministers to see how those duties have been per- 
 formed, and what has been the fruit thereof. As to the chil- 
 dren, the Bishop thus speaks: This rite of the Church is 
 designed to speak in the most emphatic language to the 
 young, and tell them that God expects them to seek him 
 early, and promised that they shall find him. There is to 
 each one of us a fearfully interesting period when responsi- 
 bility begins. We know not what that period is, and our 
 ignorance of it ought to make the young most anxious to 
 enter into God's service at the very first moment they are 
 capable of it. I come this day, not to call upon those who 
 have reached, not the age of fourteen, of thirteen, of ten, or 
 of any lesser age, to give themselves to the service of God 
 —for I dare not specify any age, lest God should have ap- 
 pointed an earlier, and lest I should encourage any to put off 
 this first of duties a moment beyond the time when it be- 
 comes practicable, and when God demands it. I come to 
 say to all, however young, who are capable of understand- 
 
83 
 
 ing our holy religion, that it is their duty to embrace it 
 heartily, and that every moment's delay is danger and crime. 
 My dear young friends, when you find that your minds are 
 capable of understanding, and your hearts of loving so many 
 things here below, ought you not to tremble when you find 
 that you do not understand and love the best of all things? 
 Many at an early age have become truly pious, and truly 
 happy in their piety; and should not this make you very 
 fearful, lest if death now seize you, your immortal souls 
 should be lost forever?" On the subject of baptism being 
 a means of grace, it says: " Who shall say how, even at 
 some distant day, according to the economy of grace, the 
 faithful dedication of him to God, his baptism in the name 
 of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the fervent prayers offered 
 up, the pious instruction delivered in his early years, may 
 have contributed to his late conversion ; and will he not take 
 pleasure in reverting to these holy exercises ? The times 
 and the seasons, and the hearts of men, are in the hands of 
 God, and he can and does make the prayers of the faithful, 
 and the instructions of the pious, effectual just when and how 
 he pleases; and that which appears to be lost is often found, 
 though after many days. I find that some of the most emi- 
 nently wise and pious have ever been disposed to ascribe 
 their conversion, which took place at a later period, to the 
 revival of some impression made on their almost infant mind 
 by the instruction of pious parents, or else have considered 
 it as the answer to prayers long since offered, and now made 
 effectual. Nor can I, in this, see any thing either unreason- 
 able or unscriptural." 
 
 In another tract — on religious education — the author thus 
 expressed the same sentiment: "The seed sown in the heart 
 of a child may lie long without vegetating, and yet without 
 perishing." "Why may not the word of truth, deposited 
 in the mind at an early period, and remembered and thought 
 upon afterward, be the means of conversion, as well as that 
 heard at a later period ?" 
 
 This chapter will be concluded, by referring to some ex- 
 tracts in an address of the author to the convention in 1844, 
 in which it was shewn, thaj the other churches of the Refor- 
 mation, m their Confessions of Faith, used the same terms 
 
84 
 
 in speaking of baptism with those which are objected to in 
 our services. "Archbishop Tillotson speaks of the prayers 
 in those churches, in their offices for baptism, saying that 
 the language used is the same with ours, and that we need 
 not scruple to use what is provided in our own. But then 
 he utterly condemns those extravagant meanings that are 
 given to the words objected to ; for he says that the Church, 
 in saying that the children are regenerated in baptism, means 
 that, by entering into this covenant, they are put into a state 
 and capacity of all the blessings of the Gospel, if they do 
 not neglect the conditions which that covenant requires on 
 their part." Such is the very view presented by the docu- 
 ments of our church in this country, which have been ad- 
 duced above. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 On sponsors, and the interrogatories i?i baptism. 
 
 In the foregoing treatise we have presented it as a leading 
 idea or principle, that the children of Christians are children 
 of promise, of many and precious promises, by receiving 
 which they may become partakers of a divine nature, es- 
 caping the corruption of this world through lust. That 
 these premises, made generally to all before they began to 
 exist, are of course really theirs as soon as they have any 
 being ; that they are signed and sealed to each one in baptism ; 
 that, as the apostle said, if any one of the parents were be- 
 lievers, their children were holy — that is, had a right to be 
 entered into the church in order to become holy in the high- 
 est sense ; that therefore, all children born of Christian pa- 
 rents have a right to baptism, the promise being to Abraham 
 and his seed, and to the converts on the day of Pentecost and 
 their seed. This is not a principle peculiar to us as Chris- 
 tians. It runs through the whole economy of God's appoint- 
 ments for man — belongs to the very constitution of our nature. 
 Children, originally a part of their parents, afterwards pro- 
 perly called bone of their bone, flesh of their flesh, are for 
 a long time most dependent on them — the most helpless and 
 dependent of all animals on earth — have always under every 
 dispensation, human or divine, been made subject to the will 
 of parents, who had a right to act for them, and choose for 
 them, and contract for them, as might seem best for their 
 temporal or spiritual interests. These are rights which pa- 
 rents have over their children, in acting for them, even as 
 over themselves. These are privileges also, which children 
 have by reason of their birth, of which no man should de- 
 prive them. They have always been secured to them by 
 the laws and usages of every age and country. The privil- 
 ege of church membership, and the inheritance of God's 
 promises, are secured by God himself to the children of Chris- 
 tians now, as they once were to the children of the Jews. 
 Whatever sign or token of this may have been appointed, is 
 
86 
 
 theirs also. But here a question arises which has caused 
 some difference of sentiment. What constitutes children the 
 children of promise, entitling them to be enrolled among the 
 people of God. Is real piety in one or both of the parents 
 required in order to this ; and if this be wanting, must the 
 children be deprived of the seal of the covenant ? Must they 
 though in a Christian land be, as it were, out of the Church 
 of God, until and unless at a future period they seek admis- 
 sion for themselves ? On seeking the will of God on this 
 point in his word, we find that provision was made not only 
 for the children of the Jews, but also for servants bought 
 with money, and strangers — that is, persons of other coun- 
 tries, coming in among them, and placed in circumstances 
 favorable for the acquirement of truth ; that these also might be 
 admitted into covenant ; that Abraham circumcised his whole 
 household of servants and their little ones. We have also 
 seen what was the understanding and practice of the Jews 
 on the subject; that they allowed any pious and charitable 
 persons to adopt the children of the heathen, or such as were 
 orphans among them, and to enter them into covenant; they 
 .also permitted the court or consistory, composed of grave 
 persons, to have this done for any such children,— of course, 
 making it a condition that they be trained up in the Jewish 
 faith, that being the great object of the appointed rite of ini- 
 tiation. The advantages of such a provision are obvious. 
 The same course was adopted by the Christian Church from 
 the first. All children born of parents professing to believe 
 in the Christian religion, whether truly pious or not — a point 
 impossible often times to be ascertained — all born amongst 
 Christians, so that they might be brought up in the Christian 
 faith, were considered as proper subjects for baptism. If 
 their parents were not truly pious, or even not believers^ 
 they might have grandfathers or grandmothers, or other near 
 relatives who were, and who were chiefly interested for 
 these children ; and if the parents were willing, who would 
 deny this privilege to the children and those who would un- 
 dertake for their religious instruction ? Moreover, it was 
 ever considered that the whole church — the faithful — were 
 considered as the mother of all children born in her bosom, 
 or of such as might be placed under her care, just as the 
 
87 
 
 children born, in Greece or Rome were considered as chil- 
 dren of those republics, and were subject to the laws they 
 made for them. 
 
 Thus St. Austin says: "For infants are offered, not so 
 much by those in whose hands they are brought, (though by 
 those, too, if they be good, faithful Christians,) as by the 
 whole congregation of faithful men ; for they are rightly said 
 to be offered by all those whose desire it is that they should 
 be offered, or by whose united charity they are assisted to- 
 wards the communication of the Holy Spirit. So that the 
 whole Church of the Saints does this office as a mother* 
 For the whole Church brings forth all her children, and the 
 whole brings forth each particular." Again. "Whereas 
 you see that a great many are offered, not by their parents, 
 but by any other persons, as the infant slaves are some- 
 times offered by their masters. And sometimes, when the 
 parents are dead, the infants are baptized, being offered by 
 any who can afford to shew this compassion on them. And 
 sometimes infants, whom parents have cruelly exposed to be 
 brought up by those that light on them, are now and then 
 taken up by the holy virgins, and offered to baptism by those 
 who have no children of their own, nor design to have any. 
 And in all this there is nothing else done than what is writ- 
 ten in the Gospel, when our Lord asked, who was neighbor 
 to him that was wounded by thieves, and left half dead in the 
 road ? And it was answered, he that had mercy on him.'* 
 The Church, therefore, adopts the children presented to God 
 in baptism. And here we see one of the reasons why she 
 requires it to be done in the congregation, because it is a 
 joint act of the faithful, and should be done with united 
 prayer. God only commands the ordinance, and says in 
 whose name it must be done, and with what object in view, 
 leaving the Church to see that it be performed in a proper 
 manner, as to prayers and the persons who take a prominent 
 part in it. In the Jewish Church grave persons were cho- 
 sen, whether parents or others, who presented the children; 
 and at the time there was set forth the true nature of the 
 transaction — what it looked forward to. Solemn promises 
 were also required in behalf of the recipient of the rite. So 
 It was in the Christian Church. And it was most impor- 
 
tant that such an exhibition of the design of the ordinance 
 should be made, showing that its efficacy depended on the 
 right use made of it in after years.* Otherwise it might 
 have been supposed, that all was done in a moment by the 
 very act, and as by magic. Notwithstanding all the pro- 
 visions to the contrary, supersition and ignorance have too of- 
 ten regarded it in that light. 
 
 It will be perceived from the foregoing remarks, thatwe 
 highly esteem that arrangement in our Church which admits 
 the baptism of all children as children of the Church, (even 
 though their parents be unsuitable to present them,) when 
 proper persons are appointed for the purpose. It is the 
 duty of the Church not merely to see that pious ministers be 
 provided for receiving them, but pious persons for presenting 
 them — the parents, if such, always to be preferred. The 
 propriety of this is most evident, from the questions pro- 
 pounded to the child, and which must be answered by its 
 representative. I need not dwell on the inconsistency of 
 appointing persons to utter such solemn answers who neither 
 feel nor believe, and of enjoining it on them to see that these 
 children be trained up according to those principles and pre- 
 cepts which they themselves neither believe nor heed. Even 
 earthly courts, in choosing guardians for orphan children, 
 feel bound to have reference to such qualities as will pro- 
 
 *St. Paul, in answer to the question supposed to be put to him, 
 ""what advantage, then, hath the Jew, or what profit is there in circum- 
 cision?" replies, "much every way. Chiefly because unto them are com- 
 mitted the lively oracles of God." This is the chief blessing, because it 
 is the instrument chiefly used by the Spirit for the salvation of man. 
 Thus at circumcision, the Jews blessed God for sanctifying them with 
 the commandants. Thus David said, "the law of the Lord is perfect, 
 converting the soul." Thus our Lord said, "sanctify them through 
 thy truth, thy word is truth." Thus the Church, in the communion 
 service, prays God to bless and sanctify the elements with the word as 
 "well as Spirit. Thus one of the Jewish Rabbis says, "beloved are Is- 
 rael, in that they are called the children of God." And it was an addi- 
 tional love that acquainted them with their being actually called the 
 children of God. As it is said, "ye are the children of the Lord your 
 God." " Beloved are Israel, to whom was given that delectable instru- 
 ment wherewith (that is, according to which) the world was created;" 
 alluding to the wisdom, the good doctrine of which Solomon speaks, 
 and which is to be found in God's word. 
 
89 
 
 mote the best interests of the children. Sometimes, indeed, 
 these courts exercise the right of taking children out of the 
 hands of unworthy parents and guardians, and appointing 
 others in their stead.* 
 
 The Interrogatories. 
 
 And this brings me to the second point proposed to he 
 €onsidered in this chapter, viz : the interrogatories to chil- 
 dren. There has always been some difference of opinion as 
 to the expediency of this part of our baptismal service, 
 Some of the Reformers themselves were doubtful about it, 
 perhaps opposed to it, and hoped it would one day be abol- 
 ished. The Puritans were much opposed to it, and made 
 efforts, at different times, for its removal. It was alleged to 
 be contrary to fact — to be a mere fiction, and ought not to be 
 admitted into so grave a service — that children, who were 
 unconscious of any thing which was said, were addressed 
 ■even as men, and supposed to answer through their spon- 
 sors, and promise what many would never perform. 
 
 * Among the Jews, when a male child was born, it was customary 
 for a God-father to be chosen from amongst his relations or friends, if 
 they were able to incur the expenses, which consisted in presents and a 
 rich breakfast. As to the poor, they either got rich persons to be 
 sponsors, or else applied to a society, which appointed one of their num- 
 ber to become such, and appropriated a certain sum of money for pres- 
 ents and a breakfast. No doubt this custom was much abused, and 
 laid the foundation for a similar practice at the baptism of Christian 
 children. As soon as the God-father entered the Synagogue with the 
 «hild, the congregation cried out "Blessed is he that cometh to be cir- 
 cumcised, and enter into the covenant on the eighth day." During the 
 performance of the ceremony, the person officiating says, "Blessed art 
 thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hath sanctified us 
 with his commandants, and commanded us circumcision." The ex- 
 pression, "sanctified us with his commandments," is a very common one 
 in their religious services. Again he says, "Blessed art thou, Lord, 
 who hath sanctified his beloved from the womb, and ordained an ordi- 
 nance for his kindred, and sealed his descendants with the mark of his 
 holy covenant." Again: "Let the father rejoice in them that go forth 
 from his loins, and let the mother be glad in the fruit of her womb.'* 
 And again: "1 passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thy blood, and. 
 I said unto thee, in thy blood shalt thou live." Again: "This little 
 one, may he live to be great; and as he hath entered into the covenant, 
 .-30 may he enter into the law, the canopy, and good deeds." 
 
90 
 
 This difficulty did not first arise at the Reformation. We 
 read of it in the early ages, where the same method pre- 
 vailed. At that time, indeed, it was expressed in a more 
 imposing manner ; whereas, now, it is asked, M Dost thou, 
 in the name of this child, renounce the devil and all his 
 works?" etc.; then, it was asked, "Does this child re- 
 nounce?" " Does this child believe ?" and so on. The an- 
 swer in each case was, " He does." 
 
 This appeared then, as now, strange and improper to 
 some. A bishop, by the name of Boniface, addresses a 
 letter to the celebrated St. Austin, on this subject, stating 
 the difficulty thus : " Suppose I set before you an infant, 
 and ask you whether, when he grows up, he will be a chaste 
 man, or whether he will be a thief. Your answer, doubtless, 
 will be, I cannot tell. And whether he, in that infant age, 
 have any good or evil thought. You will say, I know not. 
 Since, therefore, you dare not say any thing concerning his 
 future behaviour, or his present thoughts, what is the mean- 
 ing, that when they are brought to baptism, their parents, as 
 sponsors for them, make answer and say, that they do that 
 which that age can have no thoughts of, or, if they have, 
 nobody knows what they are ? For we ask those by whom 
 they are brought, and say, does he believe in God? Con- 
 cerning that age which has no knowledge whether there be 
 a God or not, they answer, he does believe. And so, in 
 like manner, answer is made to all the rest. So that I won- 
 der how the parents do, in those matters, answer so confi- 
 dently for the child, that he does this or that, which the bap- 
 tize! demands at his baptism. And yet if, at the same time, 
 I ask, will this baptized person prove chaste, or not prove a 
 thief, I question whether any one dare so answer he will 
 or will not be such or such an one ; as they answer, without 
 any hesitation, that he does believe in God — that he does 
 turn to God." 
 
 To this St. Austin thus replies : " You know we often 
 express ourselves so, as that when Good Friday is nigh, we 
 say, to-morrow, or next day, is our Lord's passion, though 
 it be a great many years ago since that he suffered, and his 
 passion never was performed but once. So on the Lord's 
 day. This day our Lord arose, though since he arose it be 
 
91 
 
 so many years. Why is there no one so silly as to say we 
 lie, when we so speak ? but for this reason, because we give 
 names to those days from the representation they make us 
 of those on which the things were indeed done ; so, as that 
 is called the very day which is not the very day, but an- 
 swers to it in the revolution of time ; and that which is not 
 on that day, but was done a long time, is spoken of as done 
 on that day, because the sacrament (that is, sign) of it is 
 then celebrated. Was not Christ, in his own person, offered 
 up (or sacrificed) once for all ? And yet, in the sacrament, 
 he is offered in the church, (or in, or to, or among the peo- 
 ple,) not only every Easter, but every day; nor does he lie 
 Avho, being asked, says he is offered. For sacraments would 
 not be sacraments, if they had not a resemblance of those 
 things whereof they are sacraments; and from this resem- 
 blance they commonly have the names of the things them- 
 selves. As, therefore, the sacrament of Christ's body is, 
 after a certain fashion, Christ's body, and the sacrament of 
 Christ's blood is Christ's blood, so the sacrament of faith 
 (so baptism was called, because faith was required) is faith, 
 and to believe is nothing but to have faith. And so, when 
 an infant, who has not yet the faculty of faith, is said to be- 
 lieve, he is said to have faith because of the sacrament of 
 faith, and to turn to God, because of the sacrament of con- 
 version, (another name applied to baptism,) because that an- 
 swer belongs to the celebration of the sacrament. So the 
 Apostle, on the same subject of baptism, says, ' We are. bu- 
 ried with Christ by baptism unto death;' he does not say 
 we signify a burial, but he uses the word itself — we are bu- 
 ried.* So that he calls the sacrament of so great a thing by 
 
 *There are some figurative expressions used in the scriptures, and in- 
 troduced into our baptismal services, which, except understood by a re- 
 ference to the facts from which they are drawn, are apt to confuse the 
 mind. I mean those of being baptized into the death of Christ; being 
 planted in the likeness of his death; being grafted into the body of 
 Christ's church; being buried with him in baptism, 
 
 A learned writer (Taylor on Baptism) has given, we think, the most 
 satisfactory explanation of them. He says, that when St. Paul speaks 
 of our bodies being washed with pure water, and St. Peter of the wash- 
 ing away of the filth of the flesh, both of these in connexion with bap- 
 tism, they speak of that part of the ceremony of baptism which in those. 
 
92 
 
 the name of the thing itself. So an infant, though he be not 
 yet constituted a fidel (that is, a faithful Christian) by that 
 faith which consists in the will of believers, yet he is, by 
 the sacrament of that faith; for as he is said to believe, so is 
 he called a fidel, not from his having the thing in itself in 
 his mind, but from his receiving the sacrament of it. And 
 when a person begins to have a sense of things, he does not 
 repeat that sacrament, but understands the force of it, and 
 by consent of will squares himself to the true meaning of 
 it. And till he can do this, the sacrament will avail to his 
 preservation against all contrary powers ; and so far will it 
 
 days preceded the solemn act of the minister's pouring water on the can- 
 didate in the name of the Trinity; they spoke of something more tho- 
 rough as to the purifying of the body, performed either by the persons 
 themselves, or others, whether in a large vessel or running stream, and 
 refers to the custom which has ever existed of washing dead bodies be- 
 fore their interment, and then wrapping them in white garments. This 
 was being " baptized for the dead," as St. Paul says. Our Saviour, co- 
 vered with his own blood, was thus washed, and then clad with white 
 linen clothes. This was a part of what was called the burial or funeral 
 ceremony. They who were baptized into Christ, were baptized into 
 his death. They were washed, as if they were dead persons. They pro- 
 fessed thereby to die unto sin, as dead men die to the things of this life; 
 and to rise again to newness of life, as Christ rose from the dead on the 
 third day. So are we to understand the terms crucified with Christ ; as 
 he became dead in his body to all earthly things, so they must crucify 
 the old man, and continually mortify their members. The Apostle 
 bids those who had been baptized into Christ's death to reckon them- 
 selves dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God, through Christ. In 
 answer to the slanderous charge brought against them, that they held the 
 abominable doctrine of doing evil that good might come, of sinning 
 that grace might abound, he says, God forbid; how shall we, who are 
 dead to sin, live any longer therein ? — that is, how can we, who profess 
 in baptism to be dead to sin, live purposely and professedly in sin, as 
 we are charged, in the hope of abounding grace, maintaining a doctrine 
 so contrary to our profession and our principles. 
 
 To put off the old man and to put on the new man, or to put on 
 Christ, is another figure also in connexion with baptism, and most pro- 
 bably refers to the tearing away the old garments from the dead person, 
 and putting on the new white garment in which the dead are clothed. 
 Being planted in the likeness of his death, is supposed to refer to the 
 practice of grafting, by which a branch is cut ofF from some tree, re- 
 nouncing all connexion with it, dead to it, planted or grafted into ano- 
 ther stock, from which it receives life, and rises again into a new exis- 
 tence, bearing more abundant fruit. So shall we resemble Christ, both. 
 in his death and resurrection. 
 
93 
 
 avail, that if he depart this life before the use of reason, he 
 will, by this Christian remedy of the sacrament itself, (the 
 charity of the church recommending him,) be made free 
 from that condemnation which by one man entered into the 
 world." 
 
 In these last words we see the high view he had of the 
 power of baptism; for he was one who believed that infants 
 were lost without it, although he disbelieved any present ef- 
 fect on the mind of the infant. Whether the foregoing ex- 
 planation was satisfactory to the enquirer, or has been so to 
 others since his day, it is certain from it, and other writings 
 of St. Austin, that he entirely rejected the doctrine of the sa- 
 craments, as held in the church of Rome, and by some sym- 
 pathizing with her, whereby the sign and the thing signified 
 are confounded together. He recognises no principle of 
 faith, as existing in the child at its coming to baptism, or be- 
 ing imparted to it by baptism. That was something yet to 
 come. 
 
 It appears, then, that as now, so of old, among the Jews 
 and the early Christians, the hypothetical principle, or the 
 principle of anticipation, if I may so call it, prevailed in 
 their initiation of children into the church. The church, 
 cherishing the hope that by God's blessing on the means 
 used they would surely come to that faith and repentance, 
 of which baptism is a sign and seal, grants to them before 
 hand the same sign and seal, and addresses them as though they 
 had already obtained the same blessing. Some there are, 
 who carry this hypothetical principle yet farther, and under- 
 standing the term regeneration as used in oar baptismal ser- 
 vice, only in its higher sense as signifying a moral change, 
 suppose that the church, still retaining the principle, goes 
 forward to the age of discretion, and on the supposition and 
 the condition that the child fulfils its promises, thanks God 
 that it has pleased him to regenerate the same by his Holy 
 Spirit. The church might indeed have extended the princi- 
 ple thus far, and only been liable to the same complaint now 
 made against her, for the admission of it into the service ; 
 but as may be seen in the foregoing treatise, we do not think 
 she has so extended it, but using the word regeneration in 
 another sense from that now generally attached to it, thanks 
 
94 
 
 God for something actually bestowed in baptism — that is, 
 union with the church or body of Christ, and a seal of the 
 promises of God — the promises of redemption through 
 Christ, and sanctification by the Spirit. 
 
 As to the wisdom and advantage of the interrogatories, 
 without denying that there is something satisfactory in the 
 explanation of St. Austin, we think a better justification of 
 this may be derived from the common practice of mankind 
 in relation to contracts for children, by guardians and others 
 acting for them. One of our American bishops has very 
 happily illustrated and defended it in the following manner :* 
 " Take, for example, the common case where orphans or 
 destitute children are bound to a master or mistress by the 
 overseers of the poor. The indenture by which this is done 
 is an instrument of writing, containing a mutual agreement, 
 in which the infant promises obedience, faithfulness and in- 
 dustry, and the master or mistress promises to feed, clothe, 
 instruct, and provide for the infant. Now, in this case every 
 man who has seen such an instrument knows, that the over- 
 seers undertake the duties to be performed by the child, and 
 sign their names for him, and on his behalf; and yet no one 
 ever supposed that this signing makes them accountable in 
 their own persons — because the duties belong to the infant, 
 the whole transaction is for his benefit, and the law holds 
 him bound to fulfil his part of the contract as soon as he is 
 able to understand it, and punishes him if he refuses to obey. 
 The same principle occurs when parents bind their own 
 children as apprentices. They undertake for, and in the 
 name of their sons, all the duties which belong to that part 
 of the covenant ; and if their children fail to perform them, 
 the parents are never held personally liable, for the same 
 reason, because it is the children's contract and not the 
 parents', although the parents sign it in their name. 
 
 Nor is this principle of law confined to these cases alone. 
 On the contrary, it applies to every other transaction of im- 
 portance, in which the interests of children are involved. 
 Thus a father, desirous of leaving an estate to a son, appoints 
 
 ^Bishop Hopkins, of Vermont. 
 
95 
 
 guardians by his will ; or, if there be no will appointing" 
 guardians, the courts of law will appoint such as the judges 
 think proper, and all the business of the infant must be con- 
 ducted through his legal representatives until he come of 
 age. These guardians buy and sell, lease and release, pay 
 and receive ; and all their acts, if legally done, bind the in- 
 fant on the very same ground — the law allowing them to act 
 for the child's benefit, because he has not understanding 
 enough to act for himself. Here then we see an universal 
 principle of law, which has never yet been called an absur- 
 dity, but admitted by all reflecting men to be reasonable, just, 
 and necessary. And in no case can it operate with greater 
 force, than in the solemn covenant on which is founded the 
 ordinance of baptism ; for no covenant can be more perfect- 
 ly conditional than the covenant of salvation. The Lord 
 indeed grants to the infant the privilege of adoption forth- 
 with ; accepting on his behalf the repentance and faith of 
 those who present him, which suffices until he is able to ful- 
 fil the appointed duties of his profession in his own person. 
 All this, however, is on the express condition, that he will 
 be faithful and obedient in due time ; for if he be not, baptism 
 will not save him, but he will be cast out of his Heavenly 
 Father's favor, disinherited, and his spiritual birth-right will 
 be forfeited forever. Where then is the absurdity of spon- 
 sors in infant baptism ? What arrangement could set before 
 our eyes, more clearly or more strongly, the indispensable 
 conditions, on our performance of which the assurance of 
 an immortal inheritance depends ? And how, I beseech ye^ 
 could the church more carefully provide for the piety of her 
 children, than by thus connecting with the very ordinance of 
 their initiation the terms of the covenant which these spon» 
 sors promised on their behalf, and which it was to be their 
 first duty and their highest interest faithfully to fulfil ?"* 
 
 *The Church, in granting baptism to infants, believing it to be God's 
 will, and yet desiring to do it in such a manner as to set forth the abso- 
 lute necessity of faith and repentance unto salvation, has only acted, as 
 is often done in many earthly transactions, where a certain property is 
 sold, a privilege granted, for a certain price, on a certain condition; but 
 the price not being in hand to pay down, or the condition impracticable 
 at present, a promissory note, endorsed by some friend perhaps, is given,. 
 
96 
 
 Having thus given the history and design of the inter- 
 rogatories made to children, I would say of them, and of the 
 term regeneration, that the Church doubtless might set forth 
 her true meaning and object in the use of them, in other lan- 
 guage less liable now to be misunderstood ; but, as she has 
 not deemed it expedient to change old forms and words, so 
 as to keep pace with the variations of language, it becomes 
 the duty of all her members, especially her ministers, care- 
 fully to find out her true intentions, and explain the same to 
 others. In the very obscurity of them, and their liability to 
 be misunderstood, there may be found the same advantage, 
 as in the parables of Scripture, that, requiring to be studied 
 with an earnest desire to find out their true meaning, they 
 thereby, when understood, make a deeper impression than 
 if expressed in more common terms. As to the term regen- 
 eration, since our Lord and St. Paul borrowed it from the 
 common language of the Jews, and not from the Old Testa- 
 ment, we ought not to object to its use, provided we do not 
 misunderstand and misapply it. And, as to the questions 
 addressed to children at their baptism, demanding something 
 which they cannot then perform, although there appears 
 something strange, and even false in it, yet a more effectual 
 method could not have been adopted whereby to show that 
 the Church does not regard baptism as of the nature of a 
 charm, or a miraculous operation, producing an effect with- 
 out the co-operation of the recipient, and due qualifications 
 of heart ; seeing that she will not even baptize infants with- 
 out requiring a solemn promise of that faith and repentance 
 which she says belong to baptism, and are necessary for its 
 due efficacy. The only difference which she makes be- 
 tween adults and infants is, that of the one she demands a 
 
 and, on the strength of that promissory note, sometimes the property is 
 surrendered, and it may be a receipt given, as if the money had been 
 paid. The promissory note is all the assurance the creditor has of pay- 
 ment ; but yet, if that is not paid according to law, the property or privi- 
 lege may be withdrawn, and sold for the payment of the note. So in 
 the baptism of infants, although the baptism would be valid without it, 
 yet the Church requires a promise of the fulfilment of those things, with- 
 out which baptism would be of no avail, thinking that the promise 
 might the more move them to the performance of that vow. 
 
97 
 
 previous possession of these qualifications, while she allows 
 to the other, by reason of their tender age, due time for the 
 attainment. Like a generous creditor, she has patience with 
 the child until it can pay all the debt. But, if the child fail 
 to fulfil its part, then the baptism will be of no more avail 
 than to the hypocritical adult, but will only be to its greater 
 condemnation. There is another use which may laAvfully 
 be made of that feature in our service which requires posi- 
 tive promises of the children through their sponsors, which, 
 however, I reserve for the commencement of the concluding 
 chapter. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Practical improvemei-U of the foregoing, with prayers and 
 m editations before and after the baptism of children. 
 
 I proposed to open this with the mention of another 
 use which may lawfully be made of the positive promise 
 of the sponsors in the name of the children. Although it is 
 evident that the promise is that of the child, not of the spon- 
 sor, the voice of the sponsor only being used, yet, when we 
 consider the connexion established by God himself between 
 infant membership and religious education, how parents and 
 others presenting them are expected and enjoined to believe 
 and feel the things promised by children, how solemnly they 
 are commanded in Scripture and by the Church to teach 
 these things to the children ; when we remember the pre- 
 cept to train up children in the way they should go, and the 
 promise that when they are old they will not depart from it ; 
 when we remember the immense power of pious parents 
 and guardians over children, how the children will believe 
 almost any thing told them by parents, and may be made to> 
 do almost every thing they are commanded ; when we see 
 throughout the whole world children adopting the religious 
 faith of their parents, may we not believe, that the Church* 
 in this peculiar mode of receiving children, meant to ex- 
 press this immense influence of parents and others over chil- 
 dren, and to let them see, that if they would only be faith- 
 ful to their duty, they might fully expect that, with God's 
 blessing, these children would not fail to realize the hopes 
 and expectations of those presenting them. A more em- 
 phatic method of setting forth the faith of the Church in the 
 power of religious education could not be devised than we 
 iind in these interrogatories. And in them also we may see 
 the true character of that education which they are to endea- 
 vor to give to the children entrusted to their care. As to that, 
 I shall offer as far better than any thing of my own a part 
 of that report, alluded to before, which, coming with the 
 
99 
 
 sanction of the Church, will I hope have the weight which 
 it deserves on the minds of all her members.* 
 
 * Let us proceed, then, with the case of parents who are 
 now supposed to have brought their offspring to Christ in the 
 sacrament of baptism, and in the spirit we have described. 
 What is now to be done? Nurture in the Lord has com- 
 menced. How is it to be carried on? 
 
 " Understand, and fully recognise, the relative state of that 
 baptized child. He is a member of the Church of Christ, be- 
 cause 'baptized into Christ,' and because he has thus 'put on 
 Christ.' The Church is the Lord's family. It includes the 
 babes, and those of full age — some confined to the limitations 
 of the nursery — others, by reason of growth, allowed all the 
 privileges and liberties of the whole house ; but all members 
 alike of the same family. But connected with church mem- 
 bership are necessarily a certain profession and responsibility. 
 They may be assumed personally, or by a lawfully authorized 
 substitute. As when, of old time, parents stood for and with 
 their children, in that covenant transaction wherein the people 
 of Israel solemnly took the Lord for their God, and he took 
 them for his peculiar people ; so, in the present case, the par- 
 ents of the child, being his divinely authorized guardians, 
 covenanted and professed in his name ; and, whether words to 
 this effect were used or not, and however the ordinance may 
 have been administered, the obligation entered into by that 
 child, in such transaction, contained necessarily the renuncia- 
 tion of the world and of all sin, and the adoption of the whole 
 will of God. So that the relation of a baptized child to the 
 world, to the Church, and to God, as to spiritual duty, in pro- 
 portion as he becomes capable of understanding and perform- 
 ing it, is precisely that of any other member of the Church of 
 Christ. His profession, represented and made in baptism, is 
 'to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to be made 
 like unto him ; that as he died and rose again for us, so should 
 we, who are baptized, die from sin and rise again unto right- 
 eousness ; continually mortifying all our evil and corrupt af- 
 
 *This part was from the pen of Bishop Mcllvaine, who was one of 
 the committee for drawing it up. 
 
100 
 
 fections, and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of 
 living.' 
 
 " Now, let the parent remember always, and be regulated in 
 every thing by the remembrance, that such is the profession he 
 has chosen for his child, and to which, as his spiritual guar- 
 dian, he has solemnly and irrevocably committed him. He 
 had a right to do so. It was his duty to it. It was for the 
 child's best interest that it should be done. But let that 
 parent fully and deeply realize the position in which he has 
 placed the child, and consequently his own responsibility for 
 all that a heart of prayer and a hand of diligence can do, to 
 bring it to good effect. Now, all his efforts must be based 
 upon, and shaped according to, that relation and profession. 
 The child is a member of the Church ; his training must be as 
 becometh such a connection. Nothing that would be incon- 
 sistent with the essential spirit of a member of the Church of 
 any age must be allowed in it. We say the essential spirit, 
 because, in many things which are not wrong in themselves, 
 a difference of age makes an entire difference of propriety. 
 An innocent playfulness of the child, consistent with the 
 sweetest spirit of piety, would be folly, and levity, and time 
 wasting in the man. 
 
 " We are dealing now with a main principle, obvious, in- 
 deed, but probably as often forgotten and neglected, or not 
 understood, as any thing else in this whole matter. We 
 venture to say, that, however the relation and responsibility 
 of baptized children as Church members may be acknow- 
 ledged in every one's catechism, it is for the most part over- 
 looked and neglected, or far from having its legitimate con- 
 trol in their practical training. The fact that they are es- 
 poused to the Lord, that they belong to his Church, are in 
 covenant for a holy life, and solemnly bound, by the bap- 
 tismal profession, to live as becometh the gospel, is not, as 
 it should be, the great principle on which to determine what 
 is proper or improper in the things to be taught them, in the 
 indulgences to be allowed them, in the purposes for which 
 to educate, or the companions with which to associate 
 them. Many a parent, were his son a communicant, would 
 at once perceive the inconsistency of his partaking in what 
 he encourages, or at least cheerfully tolerates, while he is 
 
101 
 
 only baptized; as if communion involved ihe duty of any- 
 more spiritual character than baptism. Let parents see that 
 in such things they 'walk circumspectly.' The covenant 
 faithfulness of their child is in their care. They brought 
 him to the Lord, and then received him again, with the 
 charge, « Take this child, and nurse it for me.' Let them 
 see that they do, indeed, nurse it for the Lord. Let the holy 
 affections, principles, and duties, to which he is pledged, be 
 the mark at which to direct his aim ; let the solemn and ir- 
 revocable engagement he is under, with all its responsibility, 
 be made to bear directly upon his heart and conscience. 
 Such is the plan pursued in the scriptures — such should be 
 the plan with all baptized children. The whole scheme of 
 nurture and admonition should be constructed on the ground 
 of their relation to God, as united with his Church, and cove- 
 nanted to his service. To establish them in all the spiritual 
 grace, and lead them to all the duties implied in this relation, 
 should be the inspiring object of all their training. Admo- 
 nition, instruction, exhortation, should each take its text from 
 this chapter. Parental prayer should obtain therefrom both 
 its pleadings and its earnestness. The child should, as soon 
 as possible, be made to know and understand it. 
 
 " The success of parents, in their great office, depends 
 very greatly upon the views with which they undertake it. 
 Inadequate conceptions of the object to be attained, of its 
 relative importance, and of the great principles of action on 
 which alone its accomplishment may be expected, will ex- 
 plain a great many of the failures which the unwise and 
 unstable are so apt to interpret to their great discouragement ; 
 and the surest guard against such misconceptions consists in 
 having right views of the nature, the privileges, and the ob- 
 ligations of the baptismal relation. Do not these plainly 
 show that the object to be attained in Christian education is 
 not that children maybe so far imbued with religious know- 
 ledge, and so far brought under the influence of religious 
 principle, as to be secured against those corruptions, both of 
 doctrine and life, which they must encounter in their subse- 
 quent passage through the world? Is it only that they may 
 be so restrained from what is usually regarded as positive 
 irreligion in opinion and practice, and so instructed in what 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 is true religion, that bye and bye, at some indefinite period 
 in the future, before their day of grace is over, they may turn 
 to the Lord, and be ready to die ? Such views are wholly 
 inadequate. Nothing less than positive piety — actual devo- 
 tion of heart and life to God — just such piety as the Gospel 
 Tequires of parents, must parents seek for their children — 
 and that, not merely for their blessing bye and bye, when 
 they shall have ceased to be children, but now, while they 
 are the lambs of the flock, and ' unspotted from the world.' 
 We are not to train them merely for the nurture, but in the 
 nurture of the Lord. We are commanded to bring them 
 now, while little children, to Christ, that he may take them 
 in his arms, and bless them ; and, when we do so, it must 
 he with the object of putting them, not only into his care, 
 against evils in the world, butin to his possession, and adop- 
 tion, and service, for all the present and eternal gifts of his 
 grace ; not that they may be kept for some future dedication 
 of themselves to his will, but that now, under his blessing, 
 a work of grace may begin in their hearts, which will be 
 carried on in them ' unto the day of Jesus Christ.' 
 , *' It is of the utmost importance that this matter be well 
 understood. The half-way mark is as much short of our 
 duty, and God's blessings, when we seek them for our chil- 
 dren, as for ourselves. Parents must make a definite and 
 positive decision, whom they will serve, in this matter as in 
 every thing else ; and whom, so far as they can settle the 
 question, their children shall serve. Here, as elsewhere, 
 *ye cannot serve two masters.' The world and religion 
 cannot be joint partners in the nurture of the Lord. There is 
 as little promise of a blessing to that kind of training which 
 contemplates for children only a partial influence of religion, 
 instead of the entire mastery of religion — a future work of 
 sanctification, with only a present work of instruction and 
 restraint, instead of the present in-dwelling, in-working, and 
 all-subduing power of the Spirit of God — as there is to that 
 land of Christian who thinks to divide his heart between 
 God and the world, and live unto himself now, without los- 
 ing heaven hereafter. 
 
 " Then let it be considered a first principle, in the reli- 
 gious training of children, that the object on which the 
 
103 
 
 parents set their hearts, the mark at which they level their 
 aim, is not merely good instruction, but the ingrafting and 
 experience of positive piety — not merely good feelings and 
 morals now, and piety afterwards, but positive piety now, as 
 soon as possible ; that their offspring may, from infancy on- 
 ward, be ' followers of God as dear children,' and ' walk in 
 all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blame- 
 less.' In other words, that precisely what the preacher of 
 the Gospel should seek for those to whom he is sent, they 
 must seek for the little flock which the Good Shepherd has 
 entrusted to their care."* 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 And now are there still those who will say we make bap- 
 tism nothing by the view we take of it ? To such we reply: 
 Is it nothing to be met, on our first entrance into this world 
 of sin and misery, with the wide opened arms of Christ, by 
 his Church bidding us come to him? Is it nothing to have 
 all the precious promises of God to children signed and 
 sealed to us by an ordinance of Christ's appointment? Is it 
 nothing to be baptized in the name of Father, Son, and Holy 
 Ghost by a minister of God, amidst the prayers of the faith- 
 ful into whose fellowship they are received? Is it nothing 
 to be put into the Church of Christ to be trained for heaven? 
 Is it nothing to be adopted of the Holy Ghost, and to have 
 its fostering care pledged to us? Is it nothing to have our 
 Christian profession thus faithfully represented to us in so 
 expressive an ordinance, and to be bound by such solemn 
 vows to the performance of our part in the solemn covenant? 
 If there be any who regard these evidences of God's good 
 will — these pledges of God's gracious assistance, as nulli- 
 ties unless something more be done at the very time of bap- 
 tism — except a new soul, as it were, be put into the child— 
 we know not how to speak of them, except as ungrateful 
 and presumptuous. What? When God thus condescends to 
 take our children into his arms, and to bless them, and com- 
 
 *" Preliminary Address to Select, Family, and Parish Sermons." By 
 the Bishop of Ohio. 
 
104 
 
 mend them to his Church, and promise all needful acts of 
 his Spirit, and surround them with so many advantages, shall 
 we say to him, that unless he will do something far better 
 for them at once, and put a new nature into them, that he 
 has done nothing? Instead of being most thankful for all 
 these condescending and tender manifestations of God's love, 
 and these promises of all needful grace in times to come, 
 and wonder that he should be thus kind, shall we demand 
 more on the very spot? Who shall say in how many thou- 
 sand ways that which is done shall contribute to the future 
 sanctification of the soul, although it is not effected at the 
 time? The times and seasons are in the hands of God. After 
 we have done the will of God, we have need of patience to 
 inherit the blessing. 
 
 It was the author's design to add to the foregoing some 
 prayers and meditations to be used by parents at the birth 
 of their children, and by parents and sponsors before and 
 after their baptism ; but the want of time and health has 
 prevented it for the present. He can, therefore, only en- 
 treat that such meditations, prayers, and resolutions, as 
 would be suggested by the principles of the treatise, may 
 not be neglected. 
 
 A few sentences, containing remarks which have suggest- 
 ed themselves to the author since the foregoing was written, 
 will conclude the work. 
 
 On the use of the term regeneration, 
 
 In saying that there is no objection to the use of the term 
 regeneration, in connexion with baptism, when rightly inter- 
 preted, we would not be understood as advocating the use of 
 it in conversation, or sermons, or tracts, except where it can 
 be easily explained, and is explained at the time, so as not 
 to be misunderstood. Such a cautious use of words, whose 
 original meaning has become obsolete, and which are so liable 
 to be misunderstood, is justified by sound sense and the prac- 
 
105 
 
 lice of men in every age. Let a few instances in proof suf- 
 fice. In the Old Testament the term gods is applied to 
 princes or rulers by Moses ; and our Lord alludes to the pas- 
 sages himself. But would it be wise in us now to use such 
 language ? In England certain persons are called Lords ; 
 but would it be proper in Americans to use the same? In the 
 English marriage service the bridegroom is made to say to 
 the bride, " With my body I thee worship," to signify the 
 respect and love he bears her ; but no one among us would 
 wish to see this word now applied, in common language, to 
 the affection borne to a creature. Variations in language will 
 take place, and we are obliged to pay due regard to them. 
 
 The Romish doctrine of baptismal regeneration* 
 
 Having alluded to the sentiments of the Romish Church 
 on the subject of baptism, it may be well to state them in the 
 words of some of their formularies. In one of the latest 
 works containing the forms of administering the sacraments 
 in the Romish Church in our country, approved by the Pope, 
 and used in the Diocess of Baltimore, we have the follow- 
 ing language on the subject of baptism: "Baptism is the 
 first and most essential of the sacraments, and absolutely ne- 
 cessary for salvation." " By this holy ceremony we are 
 purified from that original guilt which has been transmitted 
 by our first parents to all his posterity, and from every other 
 sin that may have been committed before its reception. It 
 imparts to the soul a new and spiritual life, which consists 
 in an intimate union with God by faith, hope, and charity, 
 and imprints on it a character which consecrates it in an es- 
 pecial manner to his service, and entitles it to all the bless- 
 ings that have been purchased for us by the sufferings of 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 On the treatment of baptized children, 
 
 A pious and eminent divine, whose opinion in favor 
 of the moral regeneration of some children at their bap- 
 tism has been sometimes quoted, nevertheless declares, 
 that it is proper to treat all children as unregenerate 
 
106 
 
 until evidences of regeneration appear. By which it is of 
 course meant, that they must be addressed as those who 
 must be born again — must be called on to repent — the word 
 of God must be engrafted on their. hearts, as that by which 
 they are to be made wise unto salvation — the Holy Spirit is 
 to be invoked on them — they are to be exhorted to pray for 
 its regenerating influence. Now, let us suppose all this done 
 faithfully for the child, and that at a certain age it gives signs of 
 a gracious change. Must that change be necessarily ascribed to 
 the time of baptism ? What, then, becomes of the effect of a 
 pious education ? How much more probable that this early 
 piety is the result of God's blessing on the faithful effort of 
 parents or others to bring up the child in the nurture and admo- 
 nition of the Lord? In order to magnify the effect of baptism, 
 we must thus seriously interfere with the efficacy of an early 
 training of the soul. God only can know whether the com- 
 mencement was at or before baptism, or as the effect of the 
 Spirit's influence in connection with truth, as instilled into the 
 young mind. The latter appears far more probable. 
 
COMPANION TO THE PULPIT, 
 
 AN APPENDIX TO THE 
 
 COMPANION TO THE FONT, 
 
 Being designed to show how the Preacher should address himself to the 
 baptized, and all others, so as to be consistent with the word of God 
 and the doctrines of the Church. 
 
 Among the directions given to the sponsors, as to the 
 pious training of the baptized child, is this, "That he may- 
 know these things the better, ye shall call upon him to hear 
 sermons." Of course the Church must mean such sermons 
 as she thinks are in accordance with the doctrines set forth 
 in her services; but as she professes to take these doctrines 
 out of the Holy Scriptures, so she directs the ministers to 
 take their sermons from the same, saying, that "as they can- 
 not compass the doing of so weighty a work, as that pertain- 
 ing to the salvation of man, but with doctrine and exhorta- 
 tion taken out of the Holy Scriptures, they should be most 
 studious in reading and learning the same." She makes 
 them solemnly promise to "teach nothing, as necessary to 
 salvation, but what they are persuaded may be concluded 
 and proved by the scriptures." There is, therefore, an in- 
 timate connexion between the doctrine of the pulpit and the 
 ordinance of baptism, according to our Church. So did our 
 Savior decree, when the apostles were directed, first to preach 
 the Gospel, and then baptize those who believed it. No 
 reason, therefore, need be assigned for this addition, except 
 that necessary connexion ordained by Christ and enjoined 
 by the Church. The author, however, may be allowed to 
 add, that besides his official connexion with the clergy of the 
 diocese of Virginia, making it his duty to be ever guarding 
 them against error, he also presides over a seminary for train- 
 ing young candidates for the ministry, and devotes a small 
 portion of his time to their preparation for the weighty work, 
 
108 
 
 and of course must feel a special anxiety that they should go 
 forth knowing well how rightly to divide the word of truth. 
 A mistake on this subject is most dangerous to preacher and 
 hearer. The preacher must be wise to win souls — to turn 
 them from sin to righteousness — to convert them unto God. 
 The salvation of his own and his people's souls depends 
 upon his taking heed to himself and the doctrine. A physi- 
 cian who treats his patient as being well, or only slightly in- 
 disposed, when a dangerous disease is in his body, contri- 
 butes to his death. Thousands perish under such ignorance 
 and wrong treatment. As to our souls, if any of them be 
 whole, then they need no physician. Only they which feel 
 themselves to be sick within, will call for the remedy. "To 
 know ourselves diseased, is half our cure." Not to know 
 that there is a plague in our hearts, when there is one doing 
 the work of death, and to speak peace, peace to ourselves 
 when there is no peace, is the most hopeless of all conditions. 
 How dreadful when the minister of the Gospel shall con- 
 tribute to such deception. None can deny, that if the effect 
 of baptism upon the soul of a child be overestimated, or be 
 esteemed something different from what it really is, that 
 there must be great danger of regarding the child as it grows 
 up as in a different state from what it really is, and of treat- 
 ing it differently from what it would be treated if no such 
 effect had been produced. If there be such an instantaneous 
 and thorough effect on the soul of the child in baptism, as 
 only to require that the same shall be preserved — if children 
 are not only required to renounce all evil, that is, as ex- 
 plained by some, never have any thing to do with it; but if 
 some have very little to do with it, and others nothing at all 
 — if, as some maintain, we are by baptism invested with the 
 very righteousness of Adam before his fall, then where, in 
 point of fact, and as to the treatment of the child, will be the 
 great difference between such and Pelagius, who maintained 
 that we came into the world without sin as Adam did, and 
 that we only sin by following Adam. I know there is, doc- 
 trinally, a difference; but I fear, as to the treatment of the 
 subject, there will not be much. The act of baptism puts 
 both on the same footing, and both must now keep what they 
 have — the one what it has by nature 5 the other what it has 
 
109 
 
 by grace, but the same in both— the original righteousness 
 of Adam. As to those who keep the deposite, whether of 
 nature or of grace, of course they need no repentance ; and 
 what have they to do with the Scriptures enjoining repent- 
 ance, or those prayers and confessions of the Church which 
 suit only miserable sinners, in whom is no health? If such 
 be the doctrine held, then shall we again have need of such 
 canons as we find in the early church, (the African code,) 
 anathematizing those who said, that it was in humility not 
 in truth or reality, that they acknowledged themselves sin- 
 ners, and maintained that the saints said for others, not for 
 themselves, ''Forgive us our trespasses." 
 
 There have been from time to time individuals, and some- 
 times great numbers both in the ministry and out of it, who 
 have held sentiments very much resembling this. They have 
 utterly opposed themselves to the doctrine of conversion, or 
 change of heart, or renewing of the mind, or deep repen- 
 tance, such as for some time has been preached amongst us* 
 The author can well remember the time, the conclusion of a 
 long and dark period in the church of Virginia, when all 
 such terms were reprobated, and not merely the terms, but 
 the doctrine expressed by them, and a correct moral con- 
 duct, with the observance of the forms of religion, was all 
 that was required, of the baptized. 
 
 I do not mean here to advocate all that was condemned bjr 
 them, in what was held by their opponents. Much that 
 was then, has been, and is now set forth in connexion with 
 conversion, change of heart, the evidences of the same, and 
 the means of promoting them, is much to be lamented. 
 But let us not run into the opposite error. 
 . There are those now who object to the term conversion, 
 as applicable to any change required of a baptized person, 
 no matter how much he has sinned, and even say that re- 
 pentance is not at all required of some, and but partially of 
 others; that the moral change effected in baptism is all the 
 regeneration, or new birth, which can take place. Besides 
 the quotations already made in the foregoing treatise, the 
 following passage from a volume of Mr. Newman's sermons, 
 published a few years since in our country, and but too 
 much patronized, will show the correctness of mv assertion ; 
 10 
 
110 
 
 " Of those who have been saints, we must suppose the 
 greater number are such as, more or less, have been pre- 
 served in holy obedience from their baptism onwards ; the 
 few are those who, after their baptism, have sinned griev- 
 ously and repented ; but still therefore may, if St. Paul's in- 
 stance be in point, rise to be as great saints as the many who 
 after baptism needed no repentance.'' 
 
 "O, my brethren, make much of your original state, if 
 you possess it, and be careful not to lose it. Lose not the 
 opportunity of that special blessedness which none but they 
 can have who served God from their youth up in constant 
 obedience. What is passed cannot be recalled. Whatever 
 the heights of holiness to which repentant sinners obtain, 
 yet they cannot have this pearl of great price, not to have 
 sinned."* 
 
 On this and every subject an appeal must first be to the 
 oracles of God. Did our Lord thus address himself to the 
 circumcised Jews ? Did the Apostle thus write to the bap- 
 tized Christians ? Did they thus preach, either to Jews or 
 Gentiles ? 
 
 Let the following references to the New Testament speak 
 for themselves : 
 
 John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord, introduced 
 his kingdom, by calling all those who had been circumcised 
 to repent, baptizing them unto repentance for the remission 
 of sins, recognising none as standing in no need of it. 
 
 When our Lord came, he addressed himself in like man- 
 ner to all men. In the parable of the sower, he speaks of 
 some ground as being good, into which the seed is sown ; 
 but how does he explain it ? " But he that received seed 
 into the good ground, is he that heareth the word and un- 
 der standtth it." Vide Matthew, 13th ch. 
 
 In the 5th chapter he gives a general description of the 
 human heart, out of which " proceed evil thoughts, mur- 
 ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphe- 
 mes." 
 
 Although, in a certain sense, all of these were children of 
 
 * Vide second sermon of the last volume published by Mr. H. New- 
 man. 
 
Ill 
 
 Abraham and sons of God by adoption, yet in the 8th of 
 St. John he says to some, that though they were Abraham's 
 seed, they were not his children, but the devil was their father. 
 
 In the 15th, he says to his disciples, " Ye are clean, 
 through the word which I have spoken unto you." 
 
 In the 16th, he promises the Spirit, that it may convince 
 the world of sin, because they believe not on him. 
 
 In the 17th, " This is life eternal, that they may know 
 thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast 
 sent." In the same, •' Sanctify them through thy truth." 
 
 Thus did our Lord preach, before his crucifixion, resur- 
 rection, and the sending down of the Holy Ghost, which 
 were subjects to be more fully dwelt on by the Apostles af- 
 ter their occurrence. 
 
 Let us see how they preached, and what was the effect of 
 the same. In the second chapter of the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, we have a sketch of the first sermon. It was on the 
 death and resurrection of Christ. And when they heard it, 
 M they were pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and 
 the rest of the Apostles, men and brethren, what shall we 
 do ? Then said Peter unto them, repent and be baptized 
 every one of you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall re- 
 ceive the Holy Ghost." On the next occasion, recorded in 
 the 3d chapter, he concludes thus : " Repent ye, there- 
 fore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, 
 when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence 
 of the Lord;" both words being used. 
 
 In the 8th chapter, we have the words spoken to Simon 
 the Sorcerer, who had been baptized : " Repent, therefore, 
 of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the 
 thought of thine heart be forgiven thee. So I perceive that 
 thou art in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity." And 
 again, the 13th chapter, he thus speaks of him : " O, full 
 of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou 
 enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert 
 the right ways of the Lord '?" 
 
 In the 10th chapter, we find that when Peter was preach- 
 ing the word, the Holy Ghost fell on those who heard it; 
 "And Peter said, can any man forbid water, that these should 
 not be baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well 
 
112 
 
 as we?" Here, as in other places, the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost went before baptism, without any question. 
 
 In the 13th chapter we have a specimen of St. Paul's 
 preaching. " Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that 
 through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of 
 sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things, 
 from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses." 
 
 In the sixteenth, we have the account of the conversion 
 of the Jailor. In answer 'to the question, what must I do to 
 be saved, Paul and Silas said, " Believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ;" and then the same night he and his house were 
 baptized. 
 
 In the 26th chapter, St. Paul says he was called to preach 
 unto the Gentiles, " that they might receive forgiveness of 
 sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith." 
 if That they should repent and turn to God, and do works 
 meet for repentance." 
 
 Let us now come to the Epistles, which were addressed 
 especially to believers, and at a time when it is to be pre- 
 sumed, from all the circumstances of their case, and the evils to 
 which they were subjected by professing Christ, they were 
 for the most part sincere. The most of them were adult 
 converts ; yet some who had been baptized in infancy were 
 old enough to be addressed. We find accordingly that the 
 sacred writers address them as saints, the faithful, elect, 
 children of light, etc. Yet even in these epistles we find 
 many passages, showing that our address must be such as to 
 include all in sin, and some of them as needing a thorough 
 conversion, notwithstanding their baptism and profession. 
 
 In the first of these documents, the Epistle of St. Paul to 
 the Romans, we have his view of justification. In the 3d 
 chapter he says, " Being j ustified freely by his grace, through 
 the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God hath 
 set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to 
 declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are 
 past, through the forbearance of God. To declare at this 
 time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justi- 
 fier of him which believeth in Jesus." He says, "It is one 
 God who shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the un- 
 circumcision through faith." In the 5th chapter it is said, 
 
113 
 
 41 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ." In the previous chapter^ 
 it was said that faith shall be imputed to us for righteous- 
 ness, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus from the 
 dead, who was delivered for our offences, and raised again 
 for our justification. 
 
 In the 10th, it is written : " If thou shaltconfess with thy 
 mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
 God hath raised hirft from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 
 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and 
 with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the 
 Scripture says, whosoever believeth in him shall not be 
 ashamed;" that is, to confess him before men, whether in 
 baptism or any other way. 
 
 In the 7th chapter, 2d Corinthians, we have these words : 
 ** Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse our- 
 selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holi- 
 ness in the fear of God." 
 
 In the Epistle to the Galatians, 3d chapter, this question 
 is asked : " Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, 
 or the hearing of faith ?" In the same it is said : " The 
 law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we 
 might be justified by faith." " For ye are all the children 
 of God by faith in Jesus Christ. For as many of you as 
 have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." 
 
 In the 4th : "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth 
 4he Spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba Father." 
 
 In the 5th : " For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision 
 ^vaileth any thing, nor uncircumcision ; but faith, which, 
 workethby love." 
 
 In the 6th : " For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision 
 availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision ; but a new creature." 
 
 In the Epistle of the Hebrews, 6th chapter, we have these 
 words : " For it is impossible for those who were once en- 
 lightened, and have tasted of the Heavenly gift, and were 
 made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good 
 word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they 
 shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing 
 they crucify to themselves the son of God afresh, and put- 
 .him to an open shame." 
 10* 
 
114 
 
 In the Epistle of St. James, 1st chapter: "Of his own 
 will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should bea 
 kind of first fruits of his creatures." 
 
 In the first Epistle of St. Peter : " Being born again, not 
 of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, 
 which abideth forever." 
 
 Second Epistle of St. Peter, 1st chapter: " 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 which is in the world through lust." 
 
 First Epistle of St. John, 1st chapter: "If we say that 
 we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not 
 in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteous- 
 ness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a 
 •liar, and the truth is not in us." Chapter 5th: "Whoso- 
 ever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." 
 
 Let any one compare the foregoing language addressed to 
 those who had been baptized either in infancy, or at a later 
 period, to the language which some would now have us use 
 in speaking to the same persons. Where is the doctrine of 
 justification by baptism and a moral change only to be pre- 
 served, and by many in a great measure preserved, and by 
 sorae altogether, so as to dispense with conversion or repen- 
 tance ? 
 
 Testimony of the book of Homilies on this subject. 
 
 If there be any document to which we may look for the 
 very pattern given us by the Church after which to model 
 the doctrine of our sermons, it must be of course the book of 
 Homilies. These were wrtten in the time of Edward the 
 Sixth and of Queen Elizabeth, and it is believed chiefly, if not 
 -entirely, by Cranmer and Jewell. They were designed to aid 
 the more ignorant of the clergy, and to be a guide to others. 
 They were commanded to be read in all the churches, not 
 only in the reign of Elizabeth, but again in that of King 
 James, her successor ; and in the directions given it is said, 
 that " they were not only for a help to the non-preaching, 
 but with all for a pattern and a boundary, as it were, for the 
 
115 
 
 preaching ministers," who were directed to read over and 
 peruse diligently the book of Articles and the two books of 
 Homilies. In one of the articles of the English Church, 
 they were declared to " contain a godly and wholesome doc- 
 trine." In the American Church the same is declared in her 
 thirty-fifth article. " The second book of Homilies, the sev- 
 eral titles whereof we have joined under this article, doth 
 contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, necessary for these 
 times, as doth the former book of Homilies, which were set 
 forth in the time of Edward the sixth." The reading of 
 them was suspended until a revision could be made clearing 
 them of absolute phrases and local references ; but they were 
 especially appointed by the House of Bishops to be studied 
 by all candidates for the ministry, as containing a body of 
 sound Christian doctrine, and the knowledge of their con- 
 tents indispensably required at their examination. Making, 
 as they do, an octavo volume of five or six hundred pages, it 
 is not to be expected that every argument, illustration, and 
 exposition of Scripture passages, is to be regarded as of the 
 same authority with the articles ; whereupon it is generally 
 conceded that they are binding only so far as the godly and 
 wholesome doctrine contained in them is set forth, and as to 
 their obvious and general design on whatever subject they 
 treat. Much is it to be desired, that not only every minis- 
 ter, but every family in our church, had a copy of these ser- 
 mons, more especially at this time, when doctrines and prac- 
 tices so contrary to them are attempted to be introduced 
 amongst us. Three editions have been published, and it is 
 hoped more will be called for. 
 
 I now proceed to show, by extracts from these discourses, 
 that I have not mistaken the doctrine of the Church as to 
 baptism, faith, and repentance, and the proper mode of ad- 
 dressing the baptized. 
 
 First, let me exhibit their view of the position of faith, and 
 the sacraments in the scheme of redemption. 
 
 The first homily is on the misery, that is, the sinfulness 
 •of man. In it man's dreadful condition is set forth, and 
 God's mercy to him in Christ. At the close of it are these 
 words : " Now, how these exceeding great mercies of God, set 
 abroad in Christ Jesus for us, be obtained, and how we be 
 delivered from the captivity of sin, death, and hell, shall 
 
116 
 
 more at large, with God's help, be declared in the next ser- 
 mon. " To that sermon, then, we must look for an account 
 of the way in which we take hold of this deliverance, and 
 how it is imparted to us. " It is entitled a sermon of the sal- 
 vation of mankind, by only Christ our Saviour, from sin and 
 death everlasting." Its subject is justification by faith only, 
 as set forth by St. Paul, whose words and reasonings are 
 quoted, and who it is said " declareth here nothing on the 
 behalf of man concerning his justification, but only of a true 
 and living faith; which nevertheless is the gift of God, and not 
 man's only work without God. And yet that faith doth not 
 shut out repentance, hope, love, dread, and the fear of God, 
 to be joined with faith in every man that is justified, but it 
 shutteth them out from the office of justifying." In the next 
 homily we have a description of this faith, which is called a 
 ■" true, living, and christian faith." It begins, " The first 
 coming unto God, good christian people is, through faith, 
 whereby (as it is declared in the last sermon) we be justified 
 before God." It then proceeds to show what this faith is, 
 distinguishing it from a mere historical belief. " The very 
 sure and living christian faith is not only to believe all things 
 of God which are contained in scripture, but also is an 
 earnest trust and confidence in God, that he doth regard us, 
 that he is careful of us, as the father is over the child whom 
 he doth love, and that he will be merciful to us for his only 
 son's sake." " As the light cannot be hid, but will show it- 
 self at one place or other, so true faith cannot be kept secret; 
 but, when occasion is offered, it will break out and show it- 
 self by good works."* 
 
 * No one can read these passages, and those describing faith in the 
 -catechisms of Noel, Calvin, and others, used in England at the time of 
 the Reformation, and in the other writings of the Reformers, without 
 seeing that by a true faith they meant not a mere reception of Christi- 
 anity as a gift of God to man, however sincere, but a personal appropri- 
 ating faith — an acceptance of the terms of salvation on our part — a belief 
 that we are accepted — a witness of the spirit that we are God's children. 
 This is the true meaning of these words in our catechism, " faith, where- 
 by we steadfastly believe the promises of God made to us in that sacra- 
 ment;" that is, we steadfastly believe that the promises of forgiveness 
 and sanctification have been fulfilled in us. Whoever will read the long- 
 er catechisms, of which ours is an abridgment, will be well persuaded 
 that such is the true design and meaning of this part of our short cate- 
 chism. 
 
117 
 
 Our next quotation is from the second sermon on the Pas- 
 sion, wherein man's hopeless condition is set forth without 
 a Savior, and then it proceeds: "Now it remaineth that I 
 show unto you, how to apply Christ's death and passion to 
 our comfort, as a medicine to our wounds, so that it may 
 work the same effect in us wherefore it was given, namely, 
 the health and salvation of our souls. For as it profiteth a 
 man nothing to have salve, unless it be well applied to the 
 part infected, so the death of Christ shall stand us in no 
 force, unless we apply it to ourselves in such sort as God 
 hath appointed. 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 that 1 Forsooth it is faith — not an uncertain 
 or wavering faith, but a sure, steadfast, grounded, and un- 
 wavering faith. God sent his Son into the world, saith St. 
 John. To what end? That whosoever believeth in him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life. 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. Here is the mean whereby we must obtain 
 eternal life, namely, faith." After quoting a number of in- 
 stances from scripture, where salvation is ascribed to faith 
 only, it adds: "By this, then, you may well perceive, that 
 the only mean and instrument of salvation required of our 
 part, is faith ; that is to say, a sure trust and confidence in 
 the mercies of God, whereby we persuade ourselves that 
 God both doth and will forgive our sins — that he hath ac- 
 cepted us again into his favor — that he hath released us from 
 the bonds of damnation, and received us again into the num- 
 ber of his elect people, not for our merits and deserts, but 
 only and solely for the merits of Christ's death and passion." 
 Again: "Thus have we heard, in few words, the mean 
 whereby we must apply the fruits and merits of Christ's 
 death unto us, so that it may work the salvation of our souls, 
 namely, a sure, steadfast, perfect, and grounded faith. For 
 as all they which beheld steadfastly trie brazen serpent were 
 healed and delivered, at the very sight thereof, from their 
 corporal diseases and bodily stings; even so all those which 
 behold Christ crucified with a true and lively faith, shall 
 
118 
 
 undoubtedly be delivered from the grievous wounds of the 
 soul, be they never so deadly or many in number." The 
 foregoing are only a few out of many passages which might 
 be adduced, showing how faith in Christ — such a faith as 
 they described — is exclusively the instrument of justification, 
 according to the sentiment of the writers, appealing to, and 
 quoting the word of God. No language could be used 
 which would more effectually shut out from the office of jus- 
 tifying, not only baptism, which is not mentioned as accom- 
 panying it, but hope, love, penitence, and all virtues and 
 good deeds, however much they are enjoined. 
 
 Let us now see how differently the sacraments are spoken 
 of, and what a different office is assigned them. 
 
 The homily on the common prayer and sacraments begins 
 thus : "Among the manifold exercises of God's people, dear 
 Christians, there is none more necessary, for all estates, and 
 at all times, than is public prayer and the due use of the 
 sacraments. For, in the first, we beg at God's hands all 
 such things as otherwise we cannot obtain; and in the other, 
 he embraceth us and offereth himself to be embraced of us." 
 What is meant by this, is shown by quotations from St. 
 Augustine on the nature of prayer and the sacraments. Ac- 
 cording to St. Augustine, the homily says, a sacrament is 
 "a visible sign of an invisible grace, that is to say, that set- 
 teth out to the eyes and other outward senses, the inward 
 working of God's free mercy, and doth, as it were, seal in 
 our hearts the promises of God." It says there are two 
 sacraments, baptism and the Lord's supper, "whereunto is 
 annexed the promise of free forgiveness of our sins, and of 
 our holiness and joining in Christ." 
 
 Baptism is expressly mentioned in the homily on salvation 
 or justification, immediately after the most explicit declara- 
 tion, that the merits of Christ, embraced by faith, are ac- 
 cepted of God "for our full and perfect justification" in 
 the following manner: "Insomuch that infants, being bap- 
 tized and dying in their infancy, are, by this sacrifice, 
 washed from their sins, brought to God's favor, and made 
 his children, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. 
 And they which, in act or deed, do sin after their baptism, 
 when they turn to God unfeignedly, they are likewise washed 
 
119 
 
 from their sins, in such sort that there remaineth not any 
 spot of sin that shall be imputed to their damnation." In 
 the second part of the same sermon it is also written, that 
 renouncing all our own virtues and good deeds, for remis- 
 sion of sins and justification, "we must trust only in God's 
 mercy, and that sacrifice which our high priest and Savior 
 Jesus Christ once offered for us on the cross, to obtain there- 
 by God's grace and remission, as well of our original sin in 
 baptism, as of all actual sin committed by us after baptism, 
 if we truly repent and unfeignedly turn unto him again." 
 There is still another passage in the third sermon on salva- 
 tion or justification, upon which great reliance has been 
 placed, for the doctrine of baptismal justification. It is found 
 in the following quotation : 
 
 " Here you have heard the office of God in our justifica- 
 tion, and how we receive it of him freely, by his mercy, 
 without our deserts, through true and lively faith. Now, 
 you shall hear the office and duty of a Christian man unto 
 God again, for his great mercy and goodness. Our office is 
 not to pass the time of this present life unfruitfully and idly, 
 after that we are baptized or justified, not caring how few 
 good works we do." 
 
 This passage, " after we are baptized or justified," has 
 been often triumphantly quoted by those who advocate the 
 doctrine of baptismal justification as sustaining their system* 
 and authorizing the use of the term baptism as synonymous 
 with justification. It is well that they should make the best 
 use of this one passage, as it is the only one in the whole 
 Book of Homilies making a volume of more than five hun- 
 dred octavo pages, which even seems to countenance it, and 
 because there is not one to be found throughout all the offices 
 of the Prayer Book which has been attempted to be used in 
 favor of the identity of the terms baptize and justify. Not 
 only this, but we affirm that there is a most careful avoid- 
 ance in our articles, offices, and homilies, of such a connec- 
 tion of justification with baptism as might afford the shadow 
 of a countenance to the doctrine. The emphasis is exclu- 
 sively laid throughout on faith, as that act in man with 
 which God has connected justification. Could the Reform- 
 ers have forseen the revival of the doctrine of baptismal jus- 
 
120 
 
 iification in the Church, and wished to condemn it be- 
 forehand, they could not have been more careful in their 
 language, unless this one passage be an exception. But, in 
 opposition to all our other standards, to the whole volume of 
 homilies, where we are so often said to be saved, to be justi- 
 fied, by faith only, and not even in part by penitence, or love, 
 or hope, or any thing else, must we put this interpretation 
 on the expression we are now considering; when we remem- 
 ber, too, that the smallest of our stops omitted or introduced 
 decides the sense ? When it is said " after we are bap- 
 tized or justified," must we needs understand the homily to 
 say, that they are the very same things, or so identical as to 
 time, that the one may be used for the other, they being in- 
 separable ? Does the copulative word or, in our language, 
 always equalize or identify the two things on either side of 
 it? If we consult our great master of words, Dr. Johnson, 
 we find that it is sometimes used as expressive of opposition, 
 instead of identity; at others as a substitute for the word 
 either. The homily, therefore, may have intended to say 
 that " we are not to pass the rest of our life idly after we are 
 baptized, and thus united to the visible church; or after we 
 are justified by faith, and have thus realized the design of 
 baptism. To live idly is inconsistent with both of these, 
 and therefore must be condemned. But, as the true way of 
 understanding scripture is by comparing scripture with 
 scripture, and thus ascertaining its true scope and tenor, so 
 would we ask the reader to turn to this homily on salvation, 
 with those on faith, and good works following after it, and 
 on the sacraments, in another part of this volume, and care- 
 fully and candidly see for himself whether the writer there- 
 of meant to teach the doctrine of baptismal justification. If 
 they be not satisfied by these, then let them read over the 
 articles on the subject; and if they be not thus convinced, I 
 need not spend words in the effort. 
 
 If, indeed, these passages in the homily place baptism on 
 a higher footing in common with faith than we have assigned 
 it, then must the same place be assigned to alms-giving, to 
 which the homily, in a certain sense, ascribes the forgive- 
 ness of sins. 
 
 After quoting various passages from God's word, contain- 
 
121 
 
 ing great promises to alms-giving and mercifulness, saying 
 that they purge from sin and deliver from death, the homily 
 shows that these things are only the fruits of grace, the evi- 
 dences of justification, just as good fruit grows on a good 
 tree, and proves that it is good. " The meaning, then, ci 
 these sayings in the Scriptures, and other holy writings- 
 alms-deeds do wash away our sins, and mercy to the poor 
 doth blot out our offences — is that we, doing these things 
 according to God's will and our duty, have our sins, in- 
 deed, washed away, and our offences blotted out, not for the 
 worthiness of them, but by the grace of God which worketh 
 all in all; and that for the promise that God hath made to 
 them that are obedient to his commandments, that he, (that 
 is God,) which is the truth, might be justified in performing 
 the truth due to his true promise." There certainly is the 
 promise of forgiveness to those who are merciful and for- 
 giving, just as there is of remission of sins to baptism; but 
 have we a right to say that we are justified by our alms 
 deeds or mercifulness ? There are those who maintain that 
 there are different justifications*— justification by the sacra- 
 ments, justification by good works, justification, also, by 
 faith; and various degrees of justification. Our Church, fol- 
 lowing St. Paul, and the whole tenor of the Scriptures, and 
 not thinking that St. James taught any other doctrine, con- 
 fines it to faith, without derogating from the promises made 
 to baptism, alms-giving, or any other duty; for she well 
 knew the confusion and mischief which has ever resulted 
 from extending the application of it to any thing else than a 
 living faith in Christ, as the instrument by which we lay 
 hold of the merits of Christ, through which alone we are 
 justified or accounted righteous before God. We might ap- 
 ply the term justification to baptism in the same sense in 
 which St. James applies it to the works of Abraham, as the 
 evidences of that faith by which alone we are justified, the 
 effect being put for the cause or instrument; but such is not 
 the use made of the word in our articles. As Bishop Jewell 
 was the author of most of the Homilies, it may not be amiss 
 here to insert his opinion on the subject of remission of sins, 
 in connexion with absolution and baptism, as given in his 
 
 11 
 
122 
 
 apology, which was set forth by authority in the reign of 
 Elizabeth, as the exposition of the doctrine of the Church. 
 
 " Touching the keys wherewith they (the ministers) may 
 either open or shut the kingdom of heaven, we with Chry- 
 sostom say, ■ they be the knowledge of the Scriptures.' 
 "With Tertullian, we say, * they be the interpretation of the 
 law;' and with Eusebius, we call them ' the word of God.' *? 
 
 The American annotator on Jewell says, that he explains 
 the meaning of Eusebius thus : " That duly receiving the 
 sacrament ordained by Christ, we receive also the remission 
 of sin, is not any way denied. For the substance of all sa- 
 craments is the word of God, which St. Paul calls ' the word 
 of reconciliation.' This word is the instrument of remis- 
 sion of sin. The sacraments are the seals affixed to the 
 same. The priest is the mean. Augustine saith, in the 
 water is the word of God that maketh clean. Take away 
 the word, and what is water else but water." 
 
 Jewell elsewhere says, " that the key, whereby the way 
 and entry to the kingdom of God is opened unto us, is the 
 word of the gospel, and the expounding of the law and scrip- 
 tures." " The sacraments," he says, " are certain holy 
 signs and ceremonies which Christ would we should use, 
 that by them he might set before our eyes the mysteries of 
 our salvation, and might more strongly confirm the faith which 
 we have in his blood, and might seal his grace in our hearts." 
 With the fathers, he calls them " visible words, seals of 
 righteousness, and tokens of grace." " The grace of God 
 (he says) is given us in the sacraments, because it is repre- 
 sented and laid before us in the sacraments ; we use them 
 humbly, as instruments of the grace of God." See chapter 
 6th, and notes. Again he says: "The sacraments serve 
 specially to direct and aid our faith ;" calling them, with Au- 
 gustin, " visible words, and seals and testimonies of the gos- 
 pel." 
 
 Having thus shown the doctrine of the Church on the 
 subject of justification, as set forth in the homilies, I pro- 
 ceed to that which is the leading object of this appendix, 
 viz : to see what is the proper mode Of address to baptized 
 children, as they grow in age. Shall we speak to them as 
 if some have so preserved their baptismal purity — the new 
 
123 
 
 nature supposed to be given them in baptism — that they 
 either need no repentance, or only require to have renewed 
 in them " whatsoever has been decayed by the fraud or ma- 
 lice of the devil, or by their own carnal will or frailness" 
 according to the language of the service for the sick, which 
 has been adduced in proof of the doctrine, though we can- 
 not see why the fraud or malice of the devil may not cause 
 to decay a holiness acquired after baptism, as well as at bap- 
 tism. Or shall we address them all as needing that repen- 
 tance which accomplishes true faith and turning unto God, 
 when they come to years of discretion, and which is the 
 same with conversion, change of heart, renovation, new 
 creature, or regeneration, as generally used among Christians ? 
 
 There are two homilies— the one on falling from God, 
 the other on repentance — in which we shall surely find 
 out the true sense of the Church on this subject. 
 
 In the homily on falling from God, the word baptism is 
 not once mentioned, nor any allusion that we can perceive 
 to any condition into which it places us, from which we fall 
 from God. Man is throughout treated as a sinner turned 
 away from God, and only turning to him by faith in Christ ; 
 but who may, after this, fall away from God. Let the fol- 
 lowing sentence be adduced in proof: " For whereas God 
 hath showed to all them that truly believe his gospel his 
 face of mercy in Jesus Christ, which doth so lighten their 
 hearts that they (if they behold it as they ought to do) be 
 transformed to his image, be made partakers of his heavenly 
 light and of his Holy Spirit, and be fashioned to him in all 
 goodness requisite to the children of God; so that if they, 
 after, do neglect the same, if they be unthankful to him, if 
 they order not their lives according to his example and doc- 
 trine, and to the setting forth of his glory, he will take away 
 from them his kingdom, his holy word, whereby he would 
 reign in them, because they bring not forth the fruit thereof 
 that he looketh for." Let any read over this homily, and 
 then ask whether any one at this time, holding the views 
 against which I am contending, would pen such a sermon, 
 in which there is not the least allusion to baptismal grace 
 from which to fall. 
 
 We proceed to the sermon on repentance, which begins 
 
124 
 
 thus : " There is nothing that the Holy Ghost doth so much 
 %bor in all the Scriptures to beat into men's heads, as re- 
 pentance, amendment of life, and speedy returning unto the 
 Lord God of Hosts. And no marvel why — for we do daily 
 and hourly, by our wickedness and stubborn disobedience, 
 horribly fall away from God, thereby purchasing unto our- 
 selves (if he should deal with us according to our justice) 
 eternal damnation. So that no doctrine is so necessary in 
 the church of God as the doctrine of repentance and amend- 
 ment of life." In this sermon is considered that doctrine which 
 is condemned in our articles — that of the impossibility of re- 
 pentance to those who commit some deadly sin after baptism. 
 It is remarkable, however, that they do not once mention 
 the word baptism, but use language which shows that they 
 consider the persons treated of as not merely baptized in in- 
 fancy, but having come to God through faith in Christ after- 
 ward. " Whereupon, we do not without just cause detest 
 and abhor the damnable opinion of them which do most 
 wickedly go about to persuade simple and ignorant people 
 that ifive chance, after we be once come to God and graft- 
 ed in his son Jesus Christ, to fall into some horrible sin, 
 repentance shall be unprofitable to us, there is no more hope 
 of reconciliation, or to be received again into the favor of 
 God." After quoting various scriptures on the subject, it 
 says : " It is most evident and plain that these things ought 
 to be understood of them that were with the Lord before, 
 and by their sins and wickedness were gone away from him. 
 For we do not turn again unto him, with whom we were 
 never before, but we come unto him." Again, it uses the 
 same words : " Whereupon, it followeth necessarily, that 
 although we do, after he be once come to God and grafted 
 into his son Jesus Christ, fall into great sins," etc. That 
 grafted into Christ means much more than mere baptism in 
 infancy in these places, is evident from the whole discourse. 
 Immediately after, it speaks of " David being by the same 
 faith justified and grafted into Jesus Christ to come," and that 
 "Peter was grafted into Jesus Christ," but that both of these, 
 who fell after a known and professed piety, were pardoned, 
 on repentance. Throughout the three sermons into which 
 this homily is divided, there is neither mention of baptism 
 
125 
 
 nor any recognition of a baptismal purity to be preserved or 
 lost. If any should still say that " our coming unto God r 
 and being grafted into Christ," must be the condition in 
 which children are placed by baptism, and that it is here 
 meant, we refer them to the first words of the homily on 
 faith, where it is written : " The first coming unto God, 
 good Christian people, is through faith, whereby we be jus- 
 tified before God." 
 
 The Homily on the Resurrection. 
 
 This homily throws light on the last quoted. After speak- 
 ing of the glorious effects of Christ's death and resurrection 
 in taking away sin and malediction and death, it says: "If 
 thou doubtest of so great wealth and felicity that is wrought 
 for thee, man, call to thy mind, that therefore hast thou 
 received into thine own possession the everlasting verity, our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ, to confirm to thy conscience the truth 
 of all this matter. Thou hast received him, if in true faith 
 and repentance of heart thou hast received him, if in pur- 
 pose of amendment thou hast received him, for an everlast- 
 ing gage, or pledge of thy salvation." A little farther on it 
 says, quoting the words of St. Peter : " For what shall it 
 avail us, to be escaped and delivered from the filthiness of 
 the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, if we be entangled again therewith, and be 
 overcome again? Certainly it had been better," saith he, 
 "'never to have.known the way of righteousness, than, after 
 it is known and received, to turn back again from the holy 
 commandment of God given unto us; for so shall the pro- 
 verb have place in us, where it is said, ' the dog has returned 
 to his vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wal- 
 lowing in the mire again."' It then proceeds: "What a 
 shame it were for us, being thus so clearly and freely wash- 
 ed from our sin, to return to our filthiness again ! What a 
 folly it were, thus endowed with righteousness, to lose it 
 again ! What madness it were to lose the inheritance that 
 we be now set in, for the vile and transitory pleasures of 
 sin !" After pursuing this same strain for some time, speak- 
 ing to those who, by true faith and penitence, had come to> 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 God, and warning them against falling away from him, it then 
 quotes a passage from -St. Paul on the resurrection, in which 
 reference is made to our profession in baptism : " If ye de- 
 light in this article of our faith, that Christ is risen again 
 from death to life, then follow you the example of his re- 
 surrection, as St. Paul exhorteth us, saying, ' as we be 
 buried with Christ by our baptism into death, so let us 
 daily die to sin, mortifying and killing the evil desires 
 and motions thereof And as Christ was raised up from 
 death by the glory of the Father, so let us rise to a new 
 life, and walk continually therein, that we may likewise, 
 as natural children, live a conversation to move men to 
 glorify our Father which is in Heaven. If, therefore, we 
 be risen with Christ, by our faith, to the hope of everlast- 
 ing life, let us rise also with Christ, after his example, to 
 a new life, and leave our old. We shall then be truly 
 risen, if we seek for things that be heavenly, if we have 
 our affections on those things that be above, and not on 
 things that be on earth." It then exhorts, in the language 
 of scripture, to all the virtues of religion, and says : " If 
 these, and such other heavenly virtues ye ensue in the resi- 
 due of your life, ye shall show plainly that ye be risen with 
 Christ, and that ye be the heavenly children of your Father 
 in Heaven, from whom, as from the giver, cometh these 
 graces and gifts; ye must consider that ye be therefore 
 cleansed and renewed, that ye should from henceforth serve 
 God in holiness and righteousness all the days of your lives, 
 that ye may reign with him in everlasting life." 
 
 Homilies for Good Friday and Whitsunday. 
 
 There are a few passages in these homilies which bear on 
 the subject we have in hand, and must not be omitted. In 
 the sermon for Good Friday it is written : " For Christ hath 
 not so redeemed us from sin that we may safely return to it 
 again, but he hath redeemed us that we should forsake the 
 motions thereof and live to righteousness ; yea, we be there- 
 fore washed in our baptism from the filthiness of sin, that we 
 should live afterward in the pureness of life. In baptism we 
 promised to renounce the devil and his suggestions ; we 
 
127 
 
 promised to be as obedient children, always following God's 
 will and pleasure." And a little after it is said : " For such 
 power is given us to be the children of God, so many as be- 
 lieve in Christ's name." 
 
 In the above extracts there is a passage which is sometimes 
 quoted to prove a moral change in baptism, which may su- 
 persede any other in afterlife : " Yea, w r ebe therefore wash- 
 ed in our baptism from the filthiness of sin, that we should 
 live afterward in the pureness of life." If such be its mean- 
 ing, then we say of it, as of a preceding passage, that there 
 is not only none supporting it in the whole book of homilies, 
 or in the prayer book, but that the whole tenor of both is op- 
 posed to it. But may we not understand the words " wash- 
 ed from filthiness," as used in scripture and by the Church, 
 in some other sense than as signifying a moral purification of 
 the nature, so radical as not to require renewing? The 
 Scriptures certainly sometimes use them in a figurative and 
 sacramental sense, as shewing what is professed and design- 
 ed, not what is actually possessed. The Church, in the bap- 
 tismal service, speaks of the " mystical washing away of sin" 
 as something different from a radical washing of the heart. 
 It is evidently used in this homily to signify what is professed 
 and sought for in baptism. The context shews this. We 
 are there represented as redeemed by Christ from sin, "that 
 we should forsake the motions thereof, and live to righteous- 
 ness," " In baptism we promised to renounce the devil and 
 his suggestions." " For such power is given us to be the chil- 
 dren of God, so many as believe in Christ's name." Again, 
 we refer the reader to the whole tenor of the homilies, and 
 especially to the one from which the disputed passage is 
 taken. 
 
 Homily for Whitsunday . 
 
 In this we have a full account of the operations of the 
 Holy Ghost. We shall perceive by some passages in it that 
 the word regeneration was not confined to the act of sealing 
 the promises of God in baptism, and grafting us into Christ's 
 body, the Church ; but was used sometimes in its higher 
 sense. 
 
128 
 
 ii The office of the Father, it says, is to create ; of the Son," 
 to redeem ; of the Holy Ghost, to sanctify and regenerate. 
 Whereof the last, the more it is hid from our understanding, 
 the more it ought to move all men to wonder at the secret 
 and mighty working of God's Holy Spirit which is within 
 us. For it is the Holy Ghost, and no other thing, that doth 
 quicken the minds of men, stirring up good and godly mo- 
 tions in their hearts, which are agreeable to the will and 
 commandment of God, such as otherwise of their own crook- 
 ed and perverse nature they should never have." 
 
 After mentioning the instances of the working of this 
 Spirit in David and Matthew, and Peter and Paul, it says : 
 " Such is the power of the Holy Ghost to regenerate men, 
 and as it were to bring them forth anew, so that they shall 
 be nothing like the men they were before." And the true 
 rule by which to know whether the Holy Ghost dwells in 
 •us, it declares to be, by our having its fruits, u love, joy, 
 peace, long suffering, gentleness," etc. 
 
 It concludes thus : " Let us, (as we are most bound,) 
 give hearty thanks to God the Father, and his son Jesus 
 Christ, for sending down his Comforter into the world, hum- 
 %ly beseeching him so to work in our hearts by the power 
 of this Holy Spirit, that we being regenerate and newly 
 born again, in all goodness, righteousness, sobriety, and 
 truth, may in the end be made partakers of everlasting life 
 in his heavenly kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Lord and 
 Saviour." That these passages refer to some marvellous 
 •change in children at their baptism, I presume no one will 
 maintain. If it were so, it is most strange that there should 
 be not a word about it in the homily. To say that children 
 4t are regenerate and newly born at their baptism in all good- 
 ness, righteousness, sobriety, and truth" is what scarcely 
 any one will affirm as the doctrine of the church. It must of 
 course refer to adults, who have by faith and repentance, the 
 work of the Spirit, become new creatures in Christ. 
 
 We shall make no further use of the homilies than to 
 show, by a few extracts, how they address themselves to all 
 men as sinners, and how they use the law in order to bring 
 them to a knowledge of sin ; and then, how faithfully they 
 condemn all manner of sins, and exhort to all virtuous and 
 
129 
 
 good deeds ; thus shewing what kind of sermons the Church 
 would have us preach to the young baptized persons, when 
 she directs the sponsors to see that they hear sermons. 
 
 In the first part of the homily on the misery — that is, sin- 
 fulness of man — David is spoken of as mourning over his 
 sins : " How well weigheth this holy man his sins, which 
 he confesseth they may be so many in number, and so hid 
 and hard to understand, that it is in a manner impossible to 
 know, utter, or number them ? Wherefore he having a true, 
 earnest, and deep contemplation and consideration of his 
 sins, and yet not coming to the bottom of them, he maketh 
 supplication to God to forgive him his privy, secret, and hid 
 sins — the knowledge of which he cannot attain unto. He 
 weigheth rightly his sins from their original root and spring- 
 head, perceiving inclinations, provocations, stirrings, sting- 
 ings, buds, branches, dregs, infections, tastes, feelings, and 
 scents of them to continue iri him still. Wherefore he says, 
 mark and behold, I was conceived in sins — he saith not sin, 
 but in the plural number, sins ; forasmuch as out of One, as 
 a fountain, spring all the rest." Here was David, the man 
 after God's own heart, deeply repenting not of one great sin, 
 but of many ; and is it not dangerous to hold out now the 
 idea that there be some baptized persons who need no re- 
 pentance, and many who need but little, and none of them a 
 thorough conversion of soul — that having taken place in the 
 baptism of unconscious infancy. 
 
 In the second part of the homily, on the same subject, it 
 is said, "Forasmuch as the true knowledge of ourselves is 
 very necessary to come to the right knowledge of God, ye 
 have heard in the last reading how humbly all good men 
 have always thought of themselves ; and so to think and 
 judge of themselves, are taught of God, their creator, by his 
 holy word. . For, of ourselves, we be crabtrees which can 
 bring forth no apples. We be of ourselves of such earth 
 as can bring forth but weeds, nettles, brambles, briers, cockle 
 and darnel. Our fruits be declared, in the fifth chapter to 
 the Galatians, we have neither faith, charity, patience, hope, 
 chastity, nor any thing else that is good, but of God ; and 
 these virtues he called them the fruits of the Holy Ghost, 
 and not the fruits of man." And now, instead of saying, 
 
130 
 
 that having been baptized in infancy, our natures were 
 changed, and some, unlike Adam, have never fallen from 
 our new state, and others but little, it proceeds to speak to 
 all as miserable and wretched sinners, who should humble 
 ourselves before God and cry for mercy. "Let none of us be 
 ashamed to say with holy St. Peter, / am a sinful man. 
 Let us say with holy David, We have sinned with our fa- 
 thers, we have done amiss, and done wickedly. Let us all 
 make open confession with the prodigal son to our Father, 
 and say with him, We have sinned against heaven, and be- 
 fore thee, O Father; we are not worthy to be called thy sons. 
 Let us all say with holy Baruch, O Lord, our God, to us is 
 worthily ascribed shame and confusion; but to thee righte- 
 ousness. We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have 
 behaved ourselves ungodly in ail thy righteousness. Let us 
 all say with the holy prophet Daniel, O Lord, righteousness 
 belongeth unto thee; unto us belongeth confusion. We 
 have sinned, we have been naughty, we have offended, we 
 have fled from thee, we have gone back from all thy precepts 
 and judgments. So we learn of all good men, in holy Scrip- 
 tures, to humble ourselves, and to exalt, extol, praise, mag- 
 nify, and glorify God." 
 
 In the homily on the nativity, in the second book of hom- 
 ilies, we have a picture of man, both before and after the fall. 
 •"He was made according to the image and similitude of God; 
 he was indued with all kinds of heavenly gifts ; he had no 
 spot of uncleanness in him ; he was sound and perfect in all 
 his parts, both outwardly and inwardly; his reason was un- 
 corrupt ; his understanding was pure and good ; his will obe- 
 dient and godly; he was made altogether like unto God, in 
 righteousness and holiness, in wisdom and truth ; to be short, 
 in all kind of perfection." 
 
 Thus perfect was man, as he first came from the hands of 
 God. But now, some say, that justifying righteousness was 
 a subsequent gift, and that this was lost by the fall, and can 
 be restored only in baptism, which justifies us, and places us 
 on the same footing with Adam; and that we must see and 
 not lose it, or else it is doubtful whether we ever regain it. 
 Against this doctrine one of our articles protests. 
 
 Let us now see his picture after the fall, as set forth in the 
 
131 
 
 homily just quoted. "Whereby it came to pass, that as be- 
 fore he was blessed, so now he was accursed; as before 
 he was loved, so now he was abhorred ; as before he was- 
 most beautiful and precious, so now he was most vile- 
 and wretched in the sight of his Lord and master; instead 
 of the image of God, he was now become the image of the 
 Devil ; instead of the citizen of heaven, he was now become 
 the bondslave of hell; having in himself no one part of his 
 former purity and cleanness, but being altogether spotted and 
 defiled, insomuch that now he seemed to be nothing else but 
 a lump of sin; and, therefore, by the just judgment of God, 
 was condemned to everlasting death. This, so miserable a 
 plague, if it had only rested on Adam, who first offended, it 
 had been so much the easier, and might the better have been 
 borne. But it fell not only on him, but on his posterity and 
 children forever, so that the whole brood of Adam's flesh 
 should sustain the self-same fall and punishment which their 
 forefather, by his offence, most justly had deserved." Again, 
 in the same sermon, it is said, "Before Christ's coming into 
 the world, all men, universally in Adam, were nothing else 
 but a wicked and crooked generation, rotten and corrupt 
 trees, stony ground, full of brambles and briers, etc. But 
 after he was once come down from heaven, and had taken 
 our frail nature upon him, he made all them that would re- 
 ceive him truly, and believe his word, good trees, mid good 
 ground, fruitful and pleasant branches, children of light, 
 citizens of heaven, sheep of his fold, members of his body, 
 heirs of his kingdom, his true friends and brothers, sweet 
 and living bread, the elect and chosen people of God. ,T 
 After quoting both St. Peter and Paul, on the condition of 
 man in his fallen state, it then says, in the words of the lat- 
 ter, "But after the loving kindness of God, our Savior offer- 
 ed to save mankind, not according to the righteousness which 
 we have done, but according to his great mercy, he saved us 
 by the fountain of the new birth, and by the renewing of the 
 Holy Ghost, which he poured upon us abundantly through 
 Jesus Christ our Savior; that we being once j testified by his 
 grace, should be heirs of eternal life, through faith and 
 hope in his blood.'''' It would appear, that those who "re- 
 ceived him truly and believed in his word, were the persons 
 
132 
 
 who were made good trees and good ground;" not infants at 
 their baptism. 
 
 Let us now see how the authors of our homilies proceed, 
 in order to bring men to a proper sen&e of that lost condition 
 . which they set forth throughout the volume. 
 
 In the homily for Good Friday, when they desire to 
 make all men feel their desperate condition without a Saviour, 
 they show that all the sacrifices which could be offered are 
 utterly ineffectual to atone for sin, and then ask " what should 
 he then do ?" Should he go about to serve and keep the 
 law of God divided into two tables, and so purchase to him- 
 self eternal life ? Indeed, if Adam and his posterity had been 
 able to satisfy and fulfil its law perfectly, in loving God 
 above all things, and their neighbor as themselves, then 
 should they have easily quenched the Lord's wrath and es- 
 caped the terrible sentence of eternal death pronounced 
 against them by Almighty God ; for it is written, do thus 
 and thou shalt live ; that is to say, fulfil thy commandments, 
 keep thyself upright and perfect in them according to my 
 will, then shalt thou live and not die. Here is eternal life 
 promised on this condition, and so that they keep and ob- 
 serve the law. But, such was the frailty of mankind after 
 his fall, such was his weakness and imbecility, that he could 
 not walk uprightly in God's commandments, though he 
 would never so fain, but daily and hourly fell from his 
 bounden duty, offending the Lord his God divers ways, to 
 the great increase of his condemnation, insomuch that the 
 prophet David cried out in this wise: " All are gone astray, 
 all are become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, 
 not one." In this case what profit could we have by the 
 law? None at all ; for so St. James saith, ' he that shall ob- 
 serve the whole law, and yet faileth in one point, is become 
 guilty of all.' And in the book of Deuteronomy it is writ- 
 ten, " cursed be he, saith God, which abideth not in all 
 things that aie written in the law to do them." Behold, the 
 law brought a curse with it and maketh it guilty, not because 
 it is of itself naught or unholy — God forbid we should so 
 think — but because the frailty of our sinful flesh is such that 
 we can never fulfil it according to the perfection that the 
 Lord requireth. Could Adam, then, think you, hope or trust 
 
133 
 
 to be saved by the law ? No, he could not. But the more 
 he looked on the law, the more he saw his own damnation 
 set before his eyes, as it were in a clear glass. So that 
 now, of himself, he was most wretched and miserable, desti- 
 tute of all hope, and never able to pacify God's heavy dis- 
 pleasure, nor yet to escape the terrible judgment of God, 
 whereunto he and all his posterity had fallen by disobeying 
 the strait commandment of the Lord their God. But O the 
 abundant riches of God's great mercy ! O the unspeakable 
 goodness of his heavenly wisdom ! When all hope of 
 righteousness was past on our part, when we had nothing in 
 ourselves whereby we might quench his burning wrath, and 
 work the salvation of our own souls, and rise out of the mis- 
 erable estate wherein we lay ; then, even then, did Christ, 
 the son of God, by the appointment of his Father, come 
 down from Heaven, to be wounded for our sakes, to be re- 
 puted for the wicked, to be condemned unto death, to take 
 upon him the reward of our sins, and to give his body to be 
 broken on the cross for our offences." 
 
 Such is the use we are taught to make of the law. By it 
 the ministers of God must endeavor to make the knowledge 
 of sin come into their people's hearts. No minister, who does 
 not understand this jight use of it, can hope to awaken sin- 
 ners to a sense of their lost state, or to keep christians very 
 humble at sight of the sins even of their most holy things. 
 Our Church, in perfect consistency, sets forth this in two 
 other places. In the catechism, after making our children 
 repeat the commandments, she gives a short but most com- 
 prehensive explanation of them, applying them to the very 
 thoughts and intents of the heart, though some of them seem 
 only addressed to the outward act. Let a minister or parent 
 only take that as his rule of interpretation, and enlarge on it, 
 by the help of the Scriptures, and he will make a faithful use 
 of the moral law. On another occasion, also, does the 
 Church adopt a most effective method of preaching the law, 
 so as to convince of sin. She bids her ministers, in the most 
 solemn manner, read these laws to the congregation on their 
 bended knees, and pausing after each one, requires the peo- 
 ple thus prostrate before God to cry out " Lord have mercy 
 upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law." Why 
 12 
 
134 
 
 cry for mercy, that is, for pardon, if they had not broken each 
 one. Why pray, incline our hearts to keep this law, if each 
 law was not addressed to the very heart, and forbid every 
 improper thought and feeling, and required all within us to- 
 love and keep the same. 
 
 It is to be feared that too many, even on their bended 
 laiees, hear these laws, and repeat the prayer, who, never- 
 theless, do not understand how broad the commandment is, 
 I know not a more useful subject for a small tract than an ex- 
 planation of this part of our service. Let each command- 
 ment be sustained by some of the many precepts of scripture, 
 showing that it reached to our thoughts and feelings, and te 
 things leading to its transgression, so as to prevent its being^ 
 understood only in the letter, and applied only to the out- 
 ward act. Then let the sinner, crying for mercy, specify 
 some of these in an enlargement of the prayer. Then let him 
 enlarge, also, the petition that God would incline his heart 
 to keep this law, by specifying some of the many ways in: 
 Avhich it should be kept by the heart. In fine, let them be 
 only a paraphrase of the commandment and of that short 
 prayer, and it might be an useful help to the penitential ex- 
 ercises of the sincere and humple worshipper, and even in the 
 hands of an unawakened sinner an instrument of conviction* 
 
 To conclude with the Homilies. 
 
 The minister of our Church will not do them justice, un- 
 less he imitate not only their sound exposition of man's 
 guilty state and deep depravity, their clear exhibitions of the- 
 plan of salvation, their right use of the law, but also their 
 bold and faithful condemnation of all vices and follies, and 
 their zealous exhortation to every virtue and good work^ 
 Herein do they copy after the example of our Lord and his 
 Apostles. While they set forth justification by faith only, it 
 "was not by a faith without good works, which is dead and 
 unprofitable. While they set forth salvation by grace only, 
 they did not allow sin that grace might abound. In the 
 "whole compass of preaching, from the Apostles' day to the 
 present, bolder rebukes of sin cannot be found. They spared 
 ^nothing. Extravagance in dress, excess in eating as well; 
 
135 
 
 as drinking, and certain vices which, though now and al- 
 ways practised, and which now will scarce bear to be men- 
 tioned, except when read in the word of God, they publicly 
 xebuked. They descended to particulars as to the things to be 
 avoided and things to be done, and thus proved that they 
 did not make void the law through faith ; that the grace of 
 God which they preached was that which taught that, deny- 
 ing ungodliness, and all worldly lusts, we should live sober- 
 ly, righteously, and godly in this present evil world. 
 
 In this, my dear brethren of the ministry, for whom this 
 appendix is chiefly designed, to stir up your pure minds by 
 way of remembrance, though you knew these things before, 
 let us also faithfully follow them; for our duty is to tell the 
 people both the things they are to do and to forbear, as well 
 as what they must believe and how they must feel. 
 
 In drawing to a close these extracts from the homilies, we 
 must repeat our assertion, that these, together with our arti- 
 cles, are to be regarded as explanations of the language of 
 the Church in her offices, being of later date than those 
 •expressions in the offices which have been the subject of 
 dispute. Those expressions were retained, when the offices, 
 coming down from more ancient times, were adapted to the 
 reformed Church, on the principle of retaining whatever was 
 rendered dear by long use, that was not evidently false, espe- 
 cially when the language was scriptural. The articles and 
 homilies, taken as a whole, were certainly more modern as 
 to their language, and, for that very reason, should be re- 
 garded as explanatory of the former; just as a comment is 
 more modern than the text, and is explanatory of it. There 
 are those who are disposed to elevate the offices above the 
 articles and homilies, on account of the greater antiquity of 
 some parts of them, and because they seem most to favor 
 some of the high views lately advocated in the Church of 
 England and America. The author, believing that the fram- 
 ers of all of them intended that they should speak the same 
 sentiments, and that those expressed more entirely in their 
 own language should define the meaning of the others, de- 
 sires to make no difference between them, and to institute 
 no invidious comparison. 
 
 Before dismissing this subject he cannet but refer to 
 
136 
 
 an unauthorized attempt to weaken the force of some of 
 the homilies, by a passage introduced into the American 
 edition of them. Who the author of the passage was, 
 he knows not. It is as follows : ' k In addition to the above, 
 it should be recollected, that, in estimating the homilies, 
 as evidence of the opinions of the Reformers, a differ- 
 ence should be regarded between the two books. The 
 first of them was made a public document in the reign of 
 Edward the Sixth. The other was prepared in the same 
 reign, but not published until about four years after the ac- 
 cession of Elizabeth. That they were then reconsidered, 
 and somewhat altered, is reasonable to be supposed ; and 
 indeed there is internal evidence of the fact." Now, the 
 35th article, both of the English and American Church, 
 adopts them both, as containing a godly and wholesome doc- 
 trine, without intimating that there is a shadow of difference 
 between them. The English Church caused them all to be 
 used in the congregations throughout the kingdom. The 
 American Church suspended the reading of them " until a 
 revision of them may be conveniently made, for clearing of 
 them as well from obsolete words and phrases as from the 
 local references." 
 
 The author of the above unauthorized remark does not of- 
 fer a word showing why it is reasonable to suppose that the 
 second book of homilies was reconsidered and altered, or 
 what is the internal evidence of the fact. 
 
 In reading over the homilies, with a view to the prepara- 
 tion of this treatise, the author of it was not unmindful of the 
 above statement, and was careful to observe wherein the dif- 
 ference consisted. He could perceive no new doctrine, but 
 only that in some of the latter the evils of the fall, and the 
 necessity of repentance to all men, were more enlarged 
 upon than in the brief discourses of the first volume. To 
 some such language savors of what is called Calvinism.* 
 
 * An effort is sometimes made to excite prejudice against the old evan- 
 gelical portion of the English clergy and their successors, by represent- 
 ing them as Puritanical Calvinists. Truth ought to be stated on this 
 subject. Amongst them, as amongst the Reformers, and probably in 
 lesser numbers, there certainly were those who held the Calvinistic sys- 
 tem. The broad platform laid down in our articles easily admitted 
 
137 
 
 It becomes us, in these times, most watchfully and resolutely 
 to hold fast to all the authorized expositions of the doctrines 
 of the Reformation, for there are those who would cast some 
 of them into an inferior position, and explain away others, 
 so as to neutralize their effect. It cannot be disguised that 
 a leaven of doubt and hesitation as to the full acceptance and 
 observance of the doctrines and usages of the Church, as es- 
 tablished at the Reformation, has been for some years spread- 
 ing through England and America. It is not the apostacy of 
 the few who have gone over to Rome, but the wavering and 
 uncertainty of the many, which is most to be feared and 
 most to be opposed. Amongst the latter are doubtless many- 
 pious persons, who should be treated with all tenderness, 
 and reasoned with in a spirit of meekness. If the author 
 has ever departed from this spirit, he asks forgiveness. 
 
 Some other authorities. 
 
 The importance of the subject will justify the addition to 
 Ihose adduced from the Scriptures and homilies, of a few 
 other authorities of weight. 
 
 them,- and those differing from them on this subject. When the author 
 "was in England a few years since, it was his happiness to meet with 
 the old and venerable Mr. Gisborn, one of the early leaders of the 
 ^evangelical party, whose house was a place of rendezvous, not only 
 for the clergy, but for such persons as Wilberforce, the Thorntons, 
 Grants, and Hannah More.' Speaking on this subject, he stated that, 
 though there was a great diversity of sentiment in regard to it amongst 
 them, there being Calvinists and Arminians of various grades, yet it 
 never in the slightest degree interrupted their harmonious action and de- 
 lightful intercourse. The old man was himself a decided Arminian, 
 and presented me with a little volume of his own composition in de- 
 fence of the system. The most prominent representatives of the Evan- 
 gelical party among the laity were Wilberforce and Miss Hannah 
 Moore ; but whoever complained of either the Calvinism or Arminian- 
 ism of their most admirable writings ? The Christian Observer has now 
 for more than fifty years represented the opinions of both the clergy and 
 laity of that school ; but whoever charged that moderate and excellent 
 work with puritanical Calvinism? If we trace the school, as some pre- 
 fer to do, but not with sufficient reason, to Mr. Wesley and Mr. Whit- 
 field, in their pious zeal while at Oxford, we find that these eminent men 
 differed entirely on the Calvinistic points, and that Arminianism has, 
 .among their successors, prevailed greatly over its opposite. 
 
 12# 
 
138 
 
 One more only from the highest standards of our Church— 
 our articles. There are those who, disgusted with some ex- 
 travagant accounts of inward exercises, of bright manifesta- 
 tion, of rapturous hope in some of those who profess a con- 
 version of soul unto God, or else from very inadequate views 
 of man's state by nature and actual sin, are much disposed 
 to reduce religion to the mere use of forms, a correct moral 
 life, and an unconscious embracing of the Lord who bought 
 us. To them we would present a description of the religion 
 of the heart, in its rise and progress, from one of the articles 
 of the Church, which we hope they will attentively consider. 
 It is a passage in the seventeenth article, and that part of it 
 about which there can be no difference of opinion as to its 
 meaning. Speaking of our election in Christ, it says : 
 "They which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God, 
 be called according to God's purpose, by his Spirit working 
 in due season; they, through grace, obey the calling; they 
 be justified freely; they be made the sons of God by adop- 
 tion; they be made like the image of his only begotten son 
 Jesus Christ; they walk, religiously in good works, and at 
 length, by God's mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity." 
 Can any words more accurately describe the manner in 
 which true piety begins, continues, and ends ? The article 
 also proceeds to speak of such persons as "they who feel in 
 themselves the working of the spirit of Christ, mortifying 
 the works of the flesh and their earthly members, and draw- 
 ing up their minds to high and heavenly things." Now of 
 all this the subjects must be conscious. This is only ano- 
 ther mode of expressing what takes place in the heart when, 
 by the word and Spirit, true faith and repentance are wrought. 
 Both of these are only varied modes of expressing what is 
 contained in their baptismal vows, which are renewed in 
 confirmation. To renounce the Devil and all his works — 
 the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sin- 
 ful lusts of the flesh; to believe all the articles of the 
 Christian faith, and to feel determined to serve God all our 
 days. What is all this but true repentance and faith. Those 
 who truly feel and believe, and resolve thus, are the persons 
 described in the seventeenth article. In reply to any persons 
 who ask, does the Church require conversion, or a new 
 
139 
 
 heart, in order to confirmation and full communion; we 
 may simply ask, can any but a truly converted person re- 
 nounce the Devil and all his works, the world and all that is 
 evil in it, and all sin in his members ? Can any but a con- 
 verted soul believe all that the apostles believed, and resolve 
 to do all God's will 1 Our Church, instead of simply ask- 
 ing are they converted or not, adopts a more special and 
 heart-searching method, and publicly demands whether they 
 do feel and believe what is contained in those solemn ques- 
 tions — requiring parents and ministers faithfully to instruct 
 the candidates in the true meaning thereof, and be satisfied 
 of their sincerity and worthiness, before they present them 
 to the bishop. 
 
 King Edward's Primer. 
 
 The following quotations are from a book containing les- 
 sons from scripture and prayers set forth by authority, in the 
 reign of Edward Sixth, and designed for the use of families. 
 In it there are prayers which clearly show, that they recog- 
 nised no such regeneration in baptism as superseded the ne- 
 cessity of what we now understand by conversion or the 
 new birth. 
 
 The following prayer for the Holy Ghost will plainly 
 show this: "So frail is our nature, so vile is our flesh, so 
 lewd is our heart, so corrupt are our affections, so wicked 
 are all our thoughts, even from our childhood upwards, that 
 of ourselves we can neither think, breathe, speak, or do any 
 thing that is praiseworthy in thy sight, O Heavenly Father ; 
 yea, except thou dost assist us with thy merciful goodness, 
 all things are so out of frame in us, that we see nothing pre- 
 sent in ourselves, but thy heavy displeasure and eternal dam- 
 nation. Vouchsafe, therefore, O sweet Father, to send thy 
 Holy Spirit unto us, which may make us new creatures — 
 put away from us all fleshly lusts — fill our hearts with new 
 affections and spiritual motions, and so altogether renew us, 
 both in body and soul, through his godly inspiration, that we 
 may die unto old Adam, and live unto thee in newness of 
 life, serving thee, our Lord God, in holiness and righteous- 
 ness, all the days of our life." Amen. 
 
140 
 
 The following is a prayer for the true knowledge of our- 
 selves : "It is written in thy holy Gospel, most loving Sa- 
 vior, that thou earnest into this world, not to call the righte- 
 ous, that is, such as justify themselves, but sinners unto 
 repentance. Suffer me not, therefore, O Lord, to be of the 
 number of those justiciaries, which, boasting their own righ- 
 teousness, their own works and merits, despise that righte- 
 ousness which is by faith — which alone is allowable before 
 thee. Give me grace to knowledge mine own self as I am, 
 ■even the son of wrath by nature, a wretched sinner and an 
 unprofitable servant, and wholly to depend on thy merciful' 
 .goodness with a strong and unshaken faith, that in this world 
 thou mayest continually call me to true repentance, seeing I 
 continually sin; and, in the world to come, bring me to ever- 
 lasting glory." Amen. 
 
 Another for faith : "Forasmuch as nothing please th thee 
 'that is done without faith, appear it before the blind world 
 never so beautiful and commendable, but is accounted in thy 
 sight sinful and damnable, yea, the self sin and damnation ; 
 this is most humbly to desire thee, O Father, for Christ's 
 sake, to breathe into my heart, by thy Holy Spirit, this most 
 precious and singular gift of faith, which worketh by char- 
 ity^whereby, also, we are justified and received into thy 
 favor; that I, truly believing in thee, and fully persuaded of 
 the truth of thy holy word, may be made thy son and in- 
 heritor of everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 Amen. 
 
 Now, let it be remembered, that these prayers were set 
 forth to be used in families where all had been baptized in 
 infancy; for, at that time, there was not even a service for 
 the baptism of adults, nor for a considerable period after- 
 wards, there being no occasion for it. Not a word in them 
 supposes any thing like a moral regeneration in baptism, but 
 the very contrary. The prayer for faith shows that nothing 
 was recognised as acceptable to God, until that entered the 
 heart, by the inspiration of the Spirit, and that it was the sole 
 instrument of justification. 
 
141 
 
 The sentiments of some of the early reformers. 
 
 From which it is evident, that even at that time the word 
 regeneration was used in two senses, as it evidently was 
 sometimes by the fathers : the one, the sense which we have 
 supposed belongs to it in the baptismal service ; the other, 
 the renewing of the mind, when faith and repentance take 
 place. 
 
 Bishop Latimer's opinion. 
 
 In one of his sermons, preached before Edward Sixth,* 
 wherein he sets forth the efficacy of preaching the word, he 
 says : " Beware, beware you diminish not this office, for if 
 you do, ye decay God's power to all who do believe. Christ 
 saith, consonant to the same, 'except a man be born again, 
 from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' 'He must 
 have a regeneration,' and what is this regeneration ? It is 
 not to be christened in water, as these firebrands expound it, 
 and nothing else. How is it to be expounded then ? St. Peter 
 showeth, that one part of scripture declare th another. It is 
 the circumstance and collation of places that make scripture 
 plain. Saith St. Peter, 'we be born again.' How? Not by 
 a mortal seed, but by an immortal. What is this immortal 
 seed? 'By the word of the living God' — by the word of 
 God preached and explained. Thus cometh our new birth* 
 Here you may see how necessary this office is to our salva- 
 tion. This is the thing that the Devil wrestleth most against. 
 It hath been all his study to decay this office. He worketh 
 against it as much as he can. He hath prevailed too much, 
 too much in it." "It were too long to declare unto you, 
 what deceit and means the Devil hath found to decay the of- 
 fice of salvation — this office of regeneration." Latimer's 
 Sermons, p. 202, Parker edition. 
 
 Bishop Coverdale. 
 
 This is the fruit and the end which followeth out of the 
 preaching of the word of God; that they whose hearts God 
 toucheth are so sorry for their sins that it even pierceth them. 
 
142 
 
 For God's word is even a sharp two-edged sword, and en- 
 tereth through to the depth. Blessed are all they which so 
 Tead and hear the word of God, that they begin to be 
 ashamed of their sins and wickedness, being repentant and 
 sorry therefor. A blessed and wholesome sorrow is that 
 which riseth and groweth out of the truth — which is opened 
 unto the heart by the Holy Ghost—which Spirit, in the 
 heart, giveth hope upon the mercy of God, and driveth away 
 all despair. Then beginneth a man to ask, what shall I do? 
 Then inquireth he after the will of God ; and such a man, 
 that so asketh is easy to be helped. Soon is he healed, that, 
 knowing his disease, would fain be made whole." As to 
 the sacraments, he says : " Here also we may learn how 
 faithful believers use themselves in the outward sacraments. 
 They that being moved by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost 
 in their hearts do hear the eternal word preached, giving 
 credit unto it, and gladly receiving it, then do not afterward 
 despise the outward sacraments, which God hath instituted 
 for the welfare of his Church, but use the same with all obe- 
 dience, good will, and reverence." "They know also that 
 sacraments are evidences of the promise and grace of God^ 
 which they, after a visible and palpable manner, do set forth 
 and represent unto us. These tokens of grace doth no man 
 use more devoutly, and with more reverence, than he that in 
 himself is certified and assured of the gracious favor of God; 
 as we see in Cornelius, in Paul, and Queen Candace's 
 chamberlain." 
 
 It is evident that, instead of making the grace of the sacra- 
 ments go before the renewing of the mind by the Spirit, 
 through the word, that he considers the sacraments as only 
 rightly used after this. Though baptism be administered to 
 infants, it is on the promise of faith and repentance, and it is 
 not until they have those, that they use the baptism profitably. 
 
 Bishop Reynolds. 
 
 Coming down to a later date, we find Bishop Reynolds 
 using the word regenerate in the higher sense. " The un- 
 sregenerate are of several rates and stamps. Some are appa- 
 rently, and in the sight of men, outrageous sinners, upon 
 
' 143 
 
 whom every man that sees them may, without breach of 
 charity, pass this sentence — There goes a man who declares 
 himself in the eyes of the world to be a servant of siru 
 Others there are of a more civil, composed course — men 
 much wiser, but not a dram holier, than those before. In 
 those men there appeareth not so sovereign and absolute 
 a dominion of sin as hath been spoken of, inasmuch as they 
 seem to live in a fair external conformity to the truths which 
 they had learned. These more moderate sort of unregene- 
 rate men seem to shift off from themselves the charge of be- 
 ing subject to the reign of sin, inasmuch as the) abhor many 
 sins, and do many things which the rule requires." The- 
 above is taken from Mr. Faber's work on regeneration. 
 
 Opinion of Bishop Hopkins, one oj the Irish Bishops, in 
 which regeneration is used in the same sense. 
 
 Very difficult it is to persuade men against the prejudices 
 of their corrupt hearts. This great change, they say, is 
 more than need. Regeneration begins now to be decried 
 by as great masters in Israel as ever Nicodemus was. Many 
 understand not to what end the fabric of corrupt nature 
 should be demolished, and men, as it were, turned out of 
 themselves. They think if they are but baptized, whereby, 
 as they suppose, the guilt of original sin is washed away r 
 that a sober religious life, keeping from gross actual sins, is 
 sufficient for the obtaining of Heaven, without those hard 
 and inexplicable notions of regeneration. I shall therefore 
 endeavor to convince you of the indispensable necessity that 
 there is of being born again ; that when you are persuad- 
 ed of it, you may give no rest unto yourselves, nor unto 
 God, till he cause his Spirit, which is that Spirit which blow- 
 eth where it listeth, to breathe spiritual life into you, with- 
 out whuh it is impossible that you should inherit eternai 
 life." 
 
 " The seminal virtue, or means by which this new birth 
 is effected, is the word of God. So you have it expressly- 
 in St. James : « Of his own will begot he us by the word of 
 truth.' The preaching of the word is the great means 
 which God hath appointed for regeneration. Rom. x, 17> 
 
144 • 
 
 * Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God/ 
 When God first created man, it is said he breathed into his 
 nostrils the breath of life. But when God now creates man,, 
 he breathes into his ears. This is that word that raiseth 
 the dead, calleth them out of the grave, opens the eyes of 
 the blind, turns the hearts of the disobedient and rebellious. 
 Such an energy is there in the word of God, when the 
 Spirit of God clothes it with power, that it breaks in upon 
 the conscience, ruinates and demolishes the power of sinful 
 nature, and in an instant conveys spiritual light and warmth 
 and quickening into the soul." — Faber's sermons on regene- 
 ration. 
 
 Bishop Wilkins, 
 
 This prelate advises us to pray earnestly to God " that 
 he would give us a new heart, and put a new spirit within 
 us, that thus we may be regenerate, and become new crea- 
 tures, being born again of that incorruptible seed, the word 
 of God." — See the same. 
 
 Dr. Isaac Barrow. 
 
 We are naturally void of those good dispositions in under- 
 standing, will, and affections, which are" needful to render us 
 acceptable to God, fit to serve and please him, capable of 
 any favor from him, and of any true happiness in ourselves . 
 To remove which bad dispositions, and to beget those con- 
 trary to them, God in mercy doth grant to us the virtue of 
 his Holy Spirit ; who, first opening our hearts, begetteth di- 
 vine knowledge, wisdom, and faith in our minds, which is 
 the work of illumination and instruction. Then, by con- 
 tinual impressions, he bendeth our inclinations, and molli- 
 fieth our hearts, and tempereth our affections to a willing 
 compliance with God's will, and a hearty complacence in 
 that which is good and pleasing unto God — which is the 
 work of sanctification, another great part of his office. Both 
 these operations together enlightening our minds, and sanc- 
 tifying our wills and affections, do constitute and accomplish 
 that work which is styled the regeneration, renovation, 
 •vivification, new creation, resurrection of a man — the 
 faculties of our souls being so improved, that we become as 
 
145 
 
 it were other men thereby, able and apt to do that for whick 
 before we were altogether indisposed and unfit." — The same. 
 Mr. Faber quotes many other writers, such as Tillotson, 
 Horsely, Barrington, &c, showing that they understood and 
 used the terms regenerate and unregenerate in the same 
 sense as those quoted above. 
 
 Sentiments of Bishop Moore, of Virginia, on the subject* 
 
 Within the last few years, since this doctrine of baptismal 
 regeneration has been brought into discussion, and different 
 views of it have been set forth than those hitherto held, Bishop 
 Moore has been quoted in their support. The author of this 
 tract feels bound, in duty to his beloved predecessor in office, 
 as well as to the cause of truth, to present this matter in its 
 just light before the public, and especially before the Church 
 in Virginia. It is true that there are expressions in one of 
 his sermons, and in a letter, which give countenance to an 
 higher view of the subject than that here affirmed to be the 
 general sentiment of the Church, though not to the extrava- 
 gances of the tractarian school. 
 
 Bishop Moore opened the general convention of 182© 
 with a sermon, in which he used some expressions which 
 have been frequently adduced in behalf of the high view now 
 taken by some. Being myself present at that convention, I 
 say, without fear of contradiction, appealing to others for the 
 accuracy of the statement, that they were generally disap- 
 proved of, not only by those who sympathized most with him 
 in their general views of religion, but by those to whom he 
 had ever been opposed. The latter said that he went beyond 
 them in his doctrine of baptismal regeneration. A circum- 
 stance most decisive on this subject can be adduced if neces- 
 sary. But, after all, nothing more can be made of his ex- 
 pressions than that a principle of grace was imparted in bap- 
 tism, and that the Holy Spirit was connected with baptism. 
 He does not affirm that actual moral change which super- 
 sedes any other, for in that very sermon he says, »* when the 
 Church, in her solemn service, speaks of baptismal regener- 
 ation, she doe* not deny the necessity of conversion in an 
 adult sinner. Conversion forms a distinct principle, and 
 13 
 
146 
 
 whoever violates the law of God must experience its trans- 
 forming power, or perish in his sin ; for, except we be con- 
 verted, and become as little children, we cannot enter into 
 the kingdom of God." And that he held that all men do 
 violate the law of God, so as to need this conversion of heart, 
 will soon be seen. We might appeal to all the clergy, and 
 all the people of Virginia, to whom he preached for more 
 than thirty years, whether he was ever heard to base his 
 addresses to them on the ground of baptismal purity, which 
 they had only to preserve, or, should they have lost it, seek 
 to regain so far as they had lost it. We appeal to all those 
 on whom he laid his hands in confirmation, and to those 
 who witnessed this act, whether, in his affectionate and touch- 
 ing appeals to them, on such occasions, he ever reminded 
 them of that supposed moral change, ever hinted at the 
 thought of one of them not needing any thing different from 
 what was bestowed on them in baptism. His appeal ever 
 was to the vows then made, and the prayers and anxieties 
 of the parents. But we do not mean to rely on the recol- 
 lection of the whole diocess of Virginia. Seventeen of the 
 sermons preached in Virginia are published with his me- 
 moirs, and let them speak and declare how he regarded the 
 baptized. I am confident that the advocates for baptismal 
 regeneration, as now set forth by some in our Church, will 
 not call for aid from those sermons. 
 
 A few out of the many passages which might be adduced 
 will suffice. In sermon 3d, page 374, he says " the conver- 
 sion of a soul to God is its resurrection from death to life. It 
 then begins to live, when it begins to live to God, to breathe 
 after Heaven and holiness, to move towards the Almighty, 
 and to make preparation for that eternity towards which we 
 are rapidly hastening." 
 
 Sermon 9th, page 411. •• It is thought by the world that to 
 speak of the conviction of sin is an evidence of mental weak- 
 ness, a principle unknown to any but to poor and illiterate." 
 " Jehovah, remember, has but one mode of procedure with 
 mankind. The law of repentance is equally binding upon 
 all ; the rich and the poor must, in this particular, meet to- 
 gether; for unless we repent we must all likewise perish." 
 
 Sermon 10th, page 426. " The terms of the covenant of 
 grace consist in repentance towards God and faith in our 
 
147 
 
 Lord Jesus Christ. The moment in which the penitent 
 complies with those principles, that instant his request will 
 be granted, and he will stand justified and acquitted before 
 God. Study the sacred volume, and you will find the Sa- 
 vior was called the Savior of sinners. ' I come not, said he, 
 to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.' 
 
 Sermon 12th, page 447. " When, by conversion of heart, 
 he becomes a new creature, and is made an heir of God, 
 and joint heir with Christ; when, from that change, he dis- 
 covers in his life and conversation, he can say that his soul 
 is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler ; when he 
 becomes a partaker of that peace of God which passeth all 
 understanding, what supreme cause has he for pious exul- 
 tation." 
 
 Sermon 14th, pp. 468-'9. "When he discovers by the 
 word of God that has drawn his likeness, ' that he is poor 
 and miserable, and blind and naked ;' when he finds that, 
 from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet there is 
 no soundness in him, and that he is covered with wounds, 
 and bruises, and putrifying sores, he stands amazed. Can it 
 be possible, he cries out, in an agony of grief, that my situ- 
 ation is so awfully alarming, and that I have remained so 
 long insensible of it? ' Oh, wretched man that I am, who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death.' He flies for 
 refuge, perhaps, under his first alarms, to the law of God, 
 and perceives that the law, to which he has flown for secu- 
 rity, proclaims, in a voice louder than the seven thunders of 
 Asia, the soul that sinneth it shall die." 
 
 I ask, do such passages as these accord with the preaching 
 now recommended by the advocates of baptismal regenera- 
 tion, as understood by them? 
 
 I feel it my duty to add, in relation to the views of Bishop 
 Moore, that, when the doctrines of the Oxford school con- 
 cerning baptismal justification were preached, he was the 
 very first to sound the alarm and warn his clergy and people 
 against them. And I will add, further, that when I read to 
 him some of their statements about the change of nature ef- 
 fected in the infant, he emphatically said, that he held no 
 such views ; that he went no further than Bishop Hobart, 
 whose sentiments have been already set forth. 
 

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