Ex Libris C. K. OGDEN GENERAL VIEW DOCTRINE REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. GENERAL VIEW DOCTRINE REGENERATION IN BAPTISM, BY THE RIGHT REV. CHRISTOPHER BETHELL, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF BANGOR. FOURTH EDITION, REVISED. LONDON: FRANCIS & JOHN BIVINGTON, ST. PAULAS CHURCH YARD, & WATERLOO PLACE. 1845. LONDON : RIT.RRRT AND RIV1NOTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. PREFACE THE FOURTH EDITION. THE fourth edition of this work has been carefully revised, and some verbal alterations have been made in it. But in all material respects there is no dif- ference between the text of this edition, and of that (the first) of 1822. An Appendix has been subjoined, containing re- marks on Mr. Faber's volume, published in 1839, which he entitles " The Primitive Doctrine of Rege- neration." Some additions have been made to the Notes, several of which refer likewise to Mr. Faber's Trea- tise. They will be found in pp. 6. 18. 20, 21. 30. 35. 45. 56. 89. 90. 92. 103. 127. 152. 158. 181. I subjoin to this Preface a few remarks, which I had no opportunity of introducing into the Ap- pendix. 1CS6551 VI PREFACE. Mr. Faber translates KCHVI? KT'HJIQ, (2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. vi. 15.) a new creation ; and Mr. Arnold approves of this translation. I have no doubt that the trans- lation in our authorized version is correct ; a new creature. For though, according to grammatical analogy creation may be the more proper meaning of /crtVic, yet in the New Testament, with the exception of one passage, Rom. i. 20. (where the sense is deter- mined by the word which it governs; OTTO KT'KKUQ /coffjuou,) these are the only passages in which it does not unquestionably signify, not the act of creating, but the things created. It may reasonably be con- cluded, therefore, that it has the same meaning in these passages, and that Kaivri KT'KTIQ is equivalent to Kaivog av0>fa>7roc, Eph. i. 24. This is evidently the sense in which Chrysostom understood these passages. In his comment on 2 Cor. v. 17, he says, " If any one has believed, he is a new creature. For he, i. e. the believer, the new creature," has passed " through," or, " has arrived at another formation (ac ereoav r/X0e Sr^uovpyt'av), for he has been born again of the Spirit." In Gal. vi. 15, he explains the word by KOIVI] Tj-oAiTa'a, a new state, or new privileges of citizen- ship ; a new manner of life. In 2 Cor. v. 21, Mr. Faber's comment on the words virep i^uwv afjiapriav iiroir)cfv is, "he has made him a sin-offering for us." But he is, I conceive, mistaken PREFACE. Vll in this interpretation of the passage. Not to insist on Mr. Davison's remark, which I believe to be well- grounded, that the Hebrew word HtfLDn, when used for a sin-offering, is rendered in the N. T. by Trtpt or virtp ajLta/oTtag, the parellelism of this passage leads us to its proper meaning. He dealt with or treated him as a sinner for our sake, or on our behalf, that we might be treated as righteous in God's account in him. So Chrysostom explains the passage. " He suf- fered him to be condemned as a sinner, and to die as an accursed person. He made him who was righteous a sinner, that he might make us who were sinners, righteous. Nor is this all. For he does not say that he made him a sinner only, but sin itself, that we should be made not righteous merely, but righteousness, and God's righteousness. For this is God's righteousness, when we are justified not of works, but of grace, when all sin is abolished (or made to disappear) (Caviar ai). But this at once prevents us from being puffed up, since the whole is God's free gift, and instructs us in the greatness of the gift. For that former righteousness was the righteousness of the law and of works ; but this is the righteousness of God." Mr. Arnold finds fault, not without reason, with Mr. Faber, for speaking of the Evangelists and Apostles, and even of our Lord Himself, as theo- logizing, in the usual sense of that word. Mr. Faber Vlll PREFACE. has probably met with this word (0oXoyi) predi- cated of the Evangelists and Apostles, perhaps of our Saviour Himself, by the Greek Fathers. But in these cases the word has a different import from that in which we use it. Theologizing, when so applied by them, means speaking of our Lord's Divine nature (GtoXoy/a) as it is opposed to the oi/covojuta, the dispensation of his incarnation or human nature. In this sense, the word GsoXoyoc is used in the title prefixed to the book of Revelations: 'An-o- KaXvifjig 'Iwawov TOV OtoXoyov, "The Revelation (as it is translated in our version) of John the Divine''' St. John is so called, because he has spoken of our Lord's divine nature more fully and more parti- cularly than the other Evangelists. PREFACE - TO THE SECOND EDITION. 1836. SOME years have now passed away, since I was in- formed by my late respectable publisher ', that this treatise, published in 1822, was out of print, and was recommended by him to publish a second edition. It is needless to assign the reasons which have hitherto prevented me from acceding to this suggestion. It will be sufficient to say that the delay has not been occasioned by any change of opinion, or any intention of altering or modifying the doctrinal statements which I then submitted to the public. In some of the numerous tracts which have issued of late years from the press, suggesting alterations in the Book of Common Prayer, the revision of the Baptismal Services, with a view to the exclusion of the opinions maintained in this work, has been 1 Mr. C. Rivington. X PREFACE. strongly recommended. The Church of England, however, will not, I am persuaded, consent to erase from her formularies a doctrine which she has received as a Catholic verity, founded in God's word, held by the universal Church from the time of the Apostles till the days of Zuinglius and Calvin, and deliberately retained by the Leaders of her Reform- ation. Of those who advocate the changes to which I am adverting, there are some who do not go the length of condemning this doctrine as unscriptural, or mischievous, but recommend this revision of our services on principles of conciliation and concession. Were this a question of words only, or of things indifferent and of little value, such a proposal might be a fair subject of inquiry and discussion. But if it relates to the very nature and efficacy of a Sacra- ment, and if the alterations suggested involve not merely the mode of stating a doctrine, but that doctrine itself, compromise and concession are in- admissible. If the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism is unscriptural, it ought to be abandoned without hesitation. If it is, as we are persuaded, the doctrine of Scripture, explained and illustrated by the history of the Church of Christ, we dare not expunge it from our service books, or our Articles of Religion, in deference to the opinion of those whom we believe to be in error. Those objectors, who call for this revision of our PREFACE. Xi offices for the administration of Baptism, because they conceive the doctrine contained in them to be unscriptural, must be referred to the body of the following work. How justly it is liable to this objection, and with what show of reason it has been numbered among the errors and corruptions of Christianity, I must leave to my readers to de- termine. I have lying before me an anonymous pamphlet 2 which presents a striking specimen of the prejudices against this doctrine into which men are often be- trayed by the course of reading which they pursue, and the language which they hear from their in- structors. I do not allude to this pamphlet on account of any importance which I attach to it, because the writer, though he throws out assertions with unflinching intrepidity, is evidently unac- quainted both with the state of the question, and with the history of Theological opinion. I shall merely advert to a few passages of this book, as exhibiting a sample of prevailing errors, and of the manner in which gentlemen, who know nothing of the plainest facts of ecclesiastical history, think themselves qualified to censure our service book, and to reform the doctrines of our Church. 3 Reasons for refusing to sign the Lay Address to the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, in a Letter to a Friend. Hatchard, 1834. Xii PREFACE. The writer, assuming the correctness of his own views of the nature of Regeneration, and of the meaning of the word in Scripture, very naturally comes to the conclusion, that the doctrine main- tained by our Church is unsound and unscriptural ; and proceeds to give what he imagines to be an his- torical account of this corruption of pure and primi- tive Christianity. He attributes, for instance, the assertion of this doctrine by the Church of England to the compro- mising policy of Elizabeth and her counsellors 3 ; who, as he informs us, in order to conciliate the Papists, were anxious to retain as much of Popery as they could in the construction of our Liturgy and Articles. In matters indifferent, it was a wise and just policy to retain those ancient and decent usages, to which the people had been accustomed. But the learned and pious Divines to whom the management of our Reformation was intrusted, while they retrenched with an unsparing hand the superstitious practices and unsound doctrines of Popery, did not renounce either the tenets or the usages of the Apostolic and universal Church, merely because they had been held, and in some cases, perhaps, perverted by the Church of Rome, in the days of its ascendancy. They were content to lop off excrescences and to remove corruptions, 3 Pp. 16-20. 27. 54, 55. PREFACE. Xlll without destroying the substance of primitive and Catholic doctrine. Taking for granted that the doctrine of infant baptismal Regeneration is a Popish tenet bequeathed to us by the policy of Elizabeth, the author brings forward as a strong prejudice against it, and as a symptom of its papal origin, the fact that it places the spiritual condition of a human soul at the dis- cretion of a fellow-creature 4 . But he seems to forget that this is in accordance with the state and o circumstances of our common nature ; that the spiritual, no less than the temporal, welfare of children is deeply involved in the care and faith- fulness of those to whom they are intrusted : and that whenever a duty connected with the happiness of our fellow-creatures is imposed on such frail and sinful beings as we are, it may be, and too often is neglected, at the hazard of their best interests. But the Church of England does not put any harsh con- struction on the case of infants dying without Bap- tism. We hold, indeed, that children who are baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved ; but we do not hold that infants dying without baptism are undoubtedly damned : and though we do not venture to speak peremp- torily of their condition, we leave them without despair or distrust in the hands of a merciful Saviour. 4 Page 27. xiv PREFACE. The writer of this Pamphlet, who seems to charge our Church, by implication, with holding the more rigid opinion, speaks upon this subject with his usual confidence and want of correct information. That infants dying unbaptized are not saved, is not, as he supposes, a Popish doctrine, but was the com- mon opinion of the ancient Christians, long before the corruptions of Popery gained ground in the Church. Inferring with good reason the necessity of Bap- tism to salvation, from the words of the institution, from John iii. 5, and from other passages of Scrip- ture, they nevertheless made an exception, on prin- ciples of natural equity and charity, in behalf of those catechumens who suffered martyrdom for Christ's sake, and of those who before their death had expressed a resolution or a desire of receiving that sacrament. But, since infants could neither suffer, voluntarily at least, for Christ's sake, nor entertain a desire of Baptism, they did not extend this charitable limitation to their case, though they endeavoured to soften the harshness of this sen- tence, by representing their condition as a kind of middle state, subjecting them to no positive pain, but shutting them out from such privileges and blessings as are peculiar to the elect. This opinion was held in the Church of Rome at the time of the Reformation; and the schoolmen grafted upon it the fiction of a limbus infantium, a kind of border, PREFACE. XV or out-ground, parted off from the place of torments, in which the souls of these infants are detained. In the first formularies of faith 5 , composed in the reign of Henry VIII., the necessity, in the strict sense, of Baptism was asserted. But that assertion was afterwards withdrawn ; and though our Church has neither pronounced peremptorily upon the case, nor ceased to teach that Baptism is "generally necessary to salvation," her divines have always placed the charitable latitude of construction on the precepts which enjoin it. " For grace (as Hooker 6 expresses their sentiments on this head) is not absolutely tied unto sacraments ; and such is the lenity of God, that unto things impossible he bindeth no man." It was this judgment of charity which induced the compilers of the " Office for the Baptism of those of Riper Years," to qualify the conclusion drawn from John iii. 5, as to the necessity of Baptism, with the words where it may be had ; on which the writer of the Pamphlet makes this edifying reflection 7 . "Had they" (the divines of Charles II.) " possessed either reflection or mo- desty, when they felt it necessary so to qualify our Saviour's words, in order to fit them to their own conjectural exposition of John iii. 5, they would * Formularies of Faith, Oxford, 1825. Comp. pp. xix. 7. 93. with p. 254. 6 Hooker's Eccl. Pol. b. vi. s. 60. 7 Page 66. XVI PREFACE. shrewdly have suspected that they misinterpreted or misapplied the text." The writer appears to take for granted, as a matter too notorious to need any proof, that the metapho- rical interpretation of the word water, in John iii. 5, was the sense uniformly received in the purer ages of Christianity 8 , and consequently that in those days this doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration was unknown to the Church of Christ. Having assumed 8 The metaphorical sense usually assigned to this passage is, " Except a man be born again of the Spirit, acting like water, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." But in the opinion of the writer before us 1 , "water" signifies Repentance, and " Spirit " faith ; so that our Saviour's address to Nicodemus is equivalent to his call to "repent and believe the Gospel." In another place 8 he tells us that repentance and faith are sure signs of spiritual Regeneration ; and infers from hence, that since our Catechism mentions repentance and faith as pre- requisites for Baptism, it does not inculcate the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, and, consequently, is inconsistent with the offices for the administration of Baptism. He evidently does not understand that he is assuming the very point in debate. For they who think that the word " Regeneration " in its strict and Scriptural sense, denotes that peculiar grace which is bestowed in Baptism, do not look upon faith and repentance as signs of Regeneration, but as necessary qualifica- tions, in adults, for receiving that grace. This is the doctrine of our Catechism, which teaches us that faith and repentance are required of persons to be baptized ; but that the inward and spiritual grace of Baptism is " a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness : for being by nature born in sin, and children of wrath, we are hereby (i. e. by baptism) made the children of grace." ' Pp. 39, 40. ' Page 38. PREFACE. XV11 this point, he proceeds to inform us, that what he elsewhere calls the conjectural exposition of the divines who compiled our "Office for the adminis- tration of Baptism to such as are of riper years," was a device of the Papists to magnify the virtue of a sacrament. " The Papists," he tells us, " always anxious to magnify a church ordinance, thought proper, upon a bold misconstruction of John iii. 5, to declare the ceremony of baptizing infants to be salvation, if they died before actual sin; and, cal- culating boldly upon the ignorance of the laity, supported their dogma by texts which are referrible only to the Baptism of proselytes 9 ." " They hoped l to add to the attraction of their communion by raising a rite, highly proper in itself, to the unjus- tifiable pretension of a saving ordinance; and for that purpose understood the word water, John iii. 5, in its literal sense, and insisted that the kingdom of God meant the kingdom of glory 2 ." " To sus- 9 Page 41. J Page 42. 1 The ancients maintained that the kingdom of God in these texts of Scripture* signifies the kingdom of glory, because it cannot be affirmed with truth that no man can see the kingdom of God in this world, " except he be born again." But I do not think that there is much force in this reasoning, because the word "see" may be taken, without any violence to the common usage of language, in a metaphorical sense. But the notion that to " see " or " enter into the kingdom of God," signifies " to become a member of the visible Church, is a very inadequate 3 John iii. 3. 5. XV111 PREFACE. tain this dogma of baptismal salvation 3 , the Papists were driven to assert, that the injunction in St. Matthew to teach the Christian faith and to admi- nister the Baptism of proselytism * to them that received it, was not the application of an old rite to a new faith, but that it was the institution of a new Baptism, foretold and described by our Lord in his conversation with Nicodemus. It did not suit the Papists to recollect that 'water' was fre- quently used, not instrumentally but symbolically, to signify purification or repentance ; and that in representation of our Saviour's language. If the phrase " the kingdom of God " includes, as it well may, the state of grace, as well as the state of glory, to " see " " or enter " into it, mani- festly means to be made partakers of the peculiar privileges, blessings, hopes, and promises of the Gospel kingdom. The writer, while he contends that to be "born of water and of the Spirit " signifies to repent and believe, at the same time tells us that " the kingdom of God" signifies the visible Church. But that none but sincere penitents and true believers, none, in short, but those who are called, in a common and familiar way of speaking, " truly regenerate," can enter into the visible Church, is probably more than he intended to affirm. 3 Page 42. 4 The writer seems to look upon Baptism as nothing more than the continuance of a Jewish rite ; a simple ceremony of initiation into the visible Church. But he cannot expect that the Church of England will change her views and definitions in deference to his opinion, or forget that her Lord, when he adopted a form of initiation not unknown to his countrymen, " added," as Bishop Taylor expresses himself, " the Spirit to the water, and made it a Sacrament or saving ordinance." " Our Saviour Christ altered and changed the same (the Jewish washings) into a profitable Sacrament." Homily on Fasting. PREFACE. XIX some cases, (John iv. 14; vii. 37, 8, 9.) the word occurs without any reference to natural water at all, even as a symbol. The Papists also omit to notice, that there is an inward new birth, (1 Pet. i. 23.) wholly unconnected with water or any out- ward ceremonial." It is not my intention to follow this writer through the reasonings and illustrations by which he has undertaken to prove that his own notions on this question are sound and scriptural, and that the doctrine of the Church of England is "flat Popery." I refer, as I have already stated, to this Pamphlet, only because it exhibits a specimen of popular and current errors, and of the hardihood with which men, in their eagerness to condemn opinions which they have been accustomed to look upon with suspicion and dislike, substitute conjec- ture and imagination for facts and history. A learned divine, whose statements are not built upon hypothesis or fancy, but on a laborious exami- nation of the writings of the ancient Christians, might have taught the writer, " that all the ancient Christians, not one excepted, do take the word ' Re- generation,' or new birth, to signify Baptism, and ' regenerate,' baptized ; and that our Saviour's words to Nicodemus do so stand in the original, and are so understood by all the ancients, as to exclude unbaptized persons from the kingdom of heaven. And that by ' the kingdom of God ' there is meant a2 XX PREFACE. the kingdom of glory, is proved from the plain words of the context, and from the sense of all ancient interpreters 5 ." " All the ancient Christians 6 do understand that rule of our Saviour 7 (John iii. 5) of Baptism : I be- 5 Wall on Infant Baptism, vol. ii. p. 451, 3d Edit. 6 Wall, vol. ii. p. 260, 3d Edit. 7 The author intimates that the Papists, in order to give countenance to the literal interpretation of the word " water," (John iii. 5.) perverted another passage of Scripture by explain- ing " fire " (Matt. iii. 11) of the cloven tongues which sat on the disciples in the day of Pentecost. The fact is, that when Calvin and his followers gave a meta- phorical sense to the word " water," they adduced the Baptist's words in proof of the validity of their interpretation, affirming that as the one passage undoubtedly means spiritus igneus, so the other must mean spiritus aqueus. But it was replied, that this was to support one gratuitous assumption by another. Thus Hooker (Eccl. Pol. b. v. s. 59.) : " By water and Spirit we are to understand in this place (as they imagine) no more than if the Spirit alone had been mentioned, and water not spoken of. Which they think is plain, because elsewhere it is not improbable, that the Holy Ghost and fire do but signify the Holy Ghost in operation resembling fire. Whereupon they conclude, that seeing " fire" in one place may be, therefore " water " in another place is but a metaphor Spirit the interpretation thereof ; and so the words do only mean, that unless a man be born again of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. " Must we needs, at the only show of a critical conceit, utterly condemn them of error, which will not admit that ' fire ' in the words of John is quenched with the name of the Holy Ghost, or with the name of the Spirit ' water ' dried up in the words of Christ ?" The ancients were of opinion that these words contain a prophetical allusion to the cloven tongues. They did not however confine the word to that occurrence, but supposed that it denoted PREFACE. XXI lieve Calvin to have been the first who ever denied this place to mean Baptism. He gives another those effects of the Spirit's agency, of which the cloven tongues were the signs or symbols. They considered them, therefore, as a prophecy of the influence of the Spirit, consigned to the Church through our Lord's baptism, and of the powerful work- ing and effects of that influence 4 . There is something specious in the explanation of Matt. iii. 11, which supposes that the Baptist in the words he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, is speaking of two classes or persons, one of which, corresponding with the " wheat," (v. 12.) was to be baptized with the Holy Ghost ; the other, correspond- ing with the chaff, was to be baptized with fire, i. e. the fire of calamity and destruction. But the structure of the sentence shows that, whatever may be the full meaning of the word " fire," the Baptism intended could be one only, and that the same per- sons were to be baptized both with the Holy Ghost and with fire. There is no force in the Author's remark, that the word " you " means only the by-standers, and therefore cannot denote those on whom the Holy Ghost fell on the day of Pentecost. The words are prophetic, extending to every age of the Christian Church. The writer 5 finds fault with the phrase used in our Liturgy, " the laver of Regeneration in Baptism." He tells us that the word " laver " does not signify washing, but the vessel in which the water is contained ; and that therefore in this passage " the instrument of Regeneration, as it is called by some of our divines, is not water but stone." He does not appear to be aware that the word "laver" (lavacrum) or "bath, "as Hooker renders it, cor- responds precisely with the word of the original (Xovrpov, Tit. iii. 5.) and is capable of being taken in the same latitude. That word signifies either the place of bathing, or the water contained 4 See Scriptural View, Note A. p. 209. row Trupoc 7" atyo^pov KOI dxa.OfkTnv r?;c \cipiToc . Chrys. Homil. ii. in Matthceum. * Page 65. XX11 PREFACE. interpretation, (Inst. 1. 4. c. xvi. s. 35.) which he confesses to be new." After quoting a passage from Justin Martyr, in which to be born again signifies to be baptized, he states his own reasons for adducing it 8 : "Because it shows that the Christians in those days used the word ' Regeneration' for Baptism, and that they were taught to do so by the apostles. And it will appear, by the multitude of places which I shall produce, that they used it customarily, and applied it as much to signify Baptism, as we do the word ' christening.' Because we see by it that they understood that rule of our Saviour, (John iii. 5.) of water Baptism, and concluded from it that without such Baptism no man could come to Heaven." So likewise Hooker 9 . " To hide the general O consent of antiquity agreeing in the literal inter- pretation, they (Cartwright, &c.) cunningly affirm that certain have taken these words as meant of material water, when they know that of all the ancients there is not one to be named, that ever did otherwise expound or allege the place, than as im- plying external Baptism." in it, or the act of washing. In this passage it certainly does not mean, as this gentleman humorously supposes, "the stone font," but either the water with which the child is baptized, or the act of washing or baptizing. 8 Wall, vol. i. p. 22, Ecd. Pol. b. v. s. 59. PREFACE. XX111 These quotations from authors of unquestionable accuracy and authority, will suffice to show how little acquainted the writer is with the history of the interpretation of John iii. 5. which he arraigns as a papistical contrivance, and a corrupt innovation on the pure and primitive doctrine of Christianity. In another part of his Pamphlet 1 he informs us that transubstantiation and baptismal salvation, which he classes together as branches of the same corrupt doctrine, are " the two great subjects of dispute bet wen Protestants and [Roman] Catholics." But the truth is, that the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration or salvation, though it has been called in question by those Protestant Churches .(usually called the Reformed Churches) which have adopted the sentiments of Zuinglius and Calvin, and their off-shoots, the Arminians and Socinians, is the doc- trine not of the Church of Rome only, and of all the Eastern Churches, but of the Protestant Lutheran Churches, and the Protestant Church of England and Ireland. In common with the Church of Rome and the Lutheran Churches, we hold that Regenera- tion or the new birth is the spiritual grace of Baptism, conveyed over to the soul in the due administration of that sacrament. We hold, in common with those Churches, that in adults duly qualified by repent- ance and faith, the guilt of sin, both original and 1 Page 54. XXIV PREFACE. actual, is cancelled in Baptism ; that in infants, who have committed no actual or wilful sin, and can possess no such qualifications, the guilt of original sin is done away ; and that infants, no less than adults, are made in Baptism children of God, mem- bers of Christ, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, and partakers of the privileges, and blessings, and promises of the Gospel covenant. 2 But the Church of Rome contends that not only the guilt, but the very essence and being of original sin is removed 2 Si quis per Jesu Christ! Domini nostri gratiam, quse in Bap- tismate confertur, reatum peccati originalis remitti negat, aut etiam asserit non tolli totum id, quod veram et propriam peccati vim habet, sed illud dicit tantum radi aut non imputari, ana- thema sit. In renatis enim nihil odit Deus, quia nihil in iis est damnationis, qui vere consepulti sunt cum Christo per Bap- tisma in mortem, qui non secundum carnem ambulant, sed veterem hominem exuentes, et novum, qui secundum Deum creatus est, induentes, puri, innoxii, ac Deo dilecti effecti sunt, haeredes qui- dem Dei, cohaeredes autem Christi, ita ut nihil prorsus eos ab in- gressu coeli remoretur. Manere autem in baptizatis concu- piscentiam vel fomitem, hsec sancta Synodus fatetur et sentit, quae cum ad agonem relicta sit, nocere non consentientibus, et viriliter per Christi Jesu gratiam repugnantibus non valet ; quinimo qui legitime 6 certaverit, coronabitur. Hanc concu- piscentiam, quam aliquando Apostolus 7 peccatum appellat, Sancta Synodus declarat Ecclesiam Catholicam nunquam intel- lexisse peccatum appellari, quod vere et proprie in renatis peccatum sit, sed quia ex peccato est, et ad peccatum inclinat. Si quis autem contrarium senserit, anathema sit. Canones et decreta Concilii Tridentini, sessio quinta. Cat. Cone. Trid. pars ii. c. 2. 43. 6 2 Tim. ii. 5. 7 Rom. vii. 7. 13. PREFACE. XXV by Baptism ; the Church of England declares that " this corruption of nature remains even in the regenerate." The Church of Rome has decreed that that " concupiscence [or fuel (fames) as it is called] which remains after Baptism has not, properly speaking, the nature of sin ; whereas we affirm that " concupiscence has the nature of sin," and allege the authority of an apostle in support of our opinion. We believe that sacraments are not only signs of grace, but means or instruments through which God consigns over to the soul the grace which they signify. The followers of Zuinglius and Calvin, with whom the author of this Pamphlet agrees, contend that this is the very error of the opus opera- turn the opinion, that is, that where there is no positive bar, sacraments produce a saving effect without suitable affections on the part of the recipient. We however affirm, as a general truth, that such affections of mind are indispensable, and that where they are wanting, sacraments produce no beneficial effects. But, as we are convinced that the Baptism of infants is a part of our Saviour's institution, we do not conceive that, in their case, the unavoidable want of these qualifications is any impediment to the saving grace of the sacrament. The writer of this Pamphlet, however, after find- ing fault with the interrogatories tendered to, and the answers given by the sureties, in behalf of in- fants, says, that "the declaration that they have XXvi PREFACE. become 'regenerate,' however suited to the com- promising policy of Elizabeth, who wished to con- ciliate the Romanists, has opened a wide door for disunion and controversy in the present day, when, instead of looking to the authority of the Church as conclusive, men think for themselves, and refer to their Bibles 3 ." That "the laity see that the clergy are divided on the subject of Infant Baptismal Regeneration, and are indignant when, instead of texts, they are furnished with tracts replete with arguments borrowed from the Church of Rome, and presenting specimens of logical deduction, which would be disgraceful even to children 4 ;" that " when our Church repudiated the opus operatum of the Papists, it ought to have expunged the word 'rege- nerated,' which properly belongs to it, instead of suffering the expression to remain in its baptismal service and cause disunion among our clergy some of them writing and speaking as if they secretly believed in the opus operatum, and others straining every nerve to show that ' Regeneration' does not mean Regeneration ; by which, after all, they only prove that the word ought to be changed 5 ." It is deeply to be regretted that differences of opinion should exist on the subject before us be- tween members of our communion, whether of the laity or of the clergy ; and we fully recognize the 3 P. 58. * Pp. 68, 69. 5 Pp. 76, 77. PREFACE. XXV11 right of all Christians to " think for themselves, and to refer to their Bibles." But we would remind the author, that the meaning and drift of certain passages of Scripture are the hinge on which this controversy turns ; and we may be allowed to doubt whether he, and the guides whom he follows, are the best expositors of these passages. We may be permitted at least, till we are better informed, to adhere to that interpretation of them which the Church of England, treading in the steps of all Christian antiquity, has adopted and made her own. We are persuaded that the more the doctrine and polity of our Church are examined and sifted, the more they will be approved by fair and unpre- judiced enquirers. But we cannot undertake to reform and remodel our Liturgy in deference to the suggestions of men, however excellent and exemplary, who have departed, as we conceive, in this instance, from the form of sound words deli- vered down to us by our forefathers, and have embraced the opinions of another school of the- ology. Whilst I was revising this work, and preparing it for the press, I was favoured with a copy of Mr. Professor Pusey's " Scriptural views of Baptism." It is highly satisfactory to me to find the views which I had long ago taken of this part of my sub- ject, confirmed by an author not less distinguished XXV111 PREFACE. by laborious research, and an extensive acquaint- ance with Christian antiquity, than by the vein of piety and high Christian feeling, which pervades his Treatise. There are, however, points in which there is an apparent difference between my state- ments and those of the learned Professor, in regard to which, after due consideration, I cannot alter the language which I have employed, nor retract the opinions which I have espoused. The Professor very justly observes, that " our Saviour's words (John iii. 5.) refuse to be bound down to any mere outward change of state or cir- cumstances or relation, however glorious the privi- leges of that new condition may be 6 ." They who deny the connexion between Baptism and Regene- ration, look upon the sacrament as no more than an act of initiation into the visible Church, implying- a change of outward state and circumstances only; but they put no such construction as that adverted to on our Saviour's words. But, without pretend- ing to know who the persons are whose opinions are alluded to, or whether the remark is meant to include Waterland, I still think that the statement which I have borrowed from that eminent Divine, who speaks of Regeneration as a change not " of outward but of spiritual state, circumstances, and relations," supplies a safer and truer account of the c Scriptural View, p. 18. PREFACE. XXIX grace conferred in Baptism, than any definition or representation of this grace which may seem to identify it with conversion, repentance, faith, or any of those Christian virtues or holy habits which are the fruits and evidences of the Spirit's influence. The Church of Rome 7 , indeed, affirms that " the grace bestowed in Baptism is not only that grace by which the remission of sin is effected, but a divine quality inhering in the soul ; a kind of bright- ness and light, which not only effaces all the stains of our souls, but renders them more beautiful and shining ; and that to this grace is added a most noble company of all virtues, which is poured into the soul by God." The Calvinistic divines accom- modated this description of regenerating grace to their own views of Regeneration. It would appear too, from some passages of the Professor's Treatise, that he himself has no strong objections to the notion of such a change being effected in the souls of infants by the regenerating grace of Baptism. But, to my mind, such statements as these seem to 7 Est autem gratia (i. e. gratia baptismatis) quemadmodum Tridentina synodus ab omnibus credendum pcena anathematis proposita decrevit, non solum per quam peccatorum sit remissio, sed divina qualitas in anima inhserens, et veluti splendor quidam et lux, quse animarum nostrarum maculas omnes delet, ipsasque animas pulchriores et splendidiores reddit. Huic autem additur nobilissimus virtutum omnium comitatus, quae in animam cum gratia divinitus infunduntur. Cat. Cone. Trid. pars ii. s. 50, 51. Syn. Trid. s. vi. c. 7. XXX PREFACE. depend rather on imagination and hypothesis, than on Scriptural authority or just reasoning. A trans- lation from a natural state in Adam to a spiritual state in Christ, the forgiveness of sin, adoption, a covenanted title to everlasting happiness, and a new principle of spiritual life consigned over to the soul by a mysterious operation of the Holy Ghost, which we can neither describe in words nor discern by its effects, are the chief particulars which we include in the grace of Regeneration, and which we think are spoken of with much propriety as a change not of outward but of inward and spiritual state, circumstances, and relations. But though that prin- ciple of life contains the germ of those graces which are the ordinary fruits of the Holy Ghost, we do not conceive that any actual development of them, or any conscious conversion of the heart to God, takes place at that time in the souls of infants. In support of the account of Regeneration which I have adopted from Waterland, I would observe, as has been remarked in the body of the work, that this notion of a change of spiritual state appears to agree better with the analogy on which the meta- phor of " a new birth" is founded, than that of a change of affections and inward feelings, or of a creation or infusion of particular moral habits or virtues. For as the natural birth is a change of state and circumstances, and relation to outward things, so is the spiritual birth, or entrance into a PREFACE. XXXI spiritual life, a change of state and circumstances, and relations to God and another world. Again ; it is admitted I believe by all who hold this doctrine, that the grace bestowed in Baptism is one simple act of the Holy Ghost ; that " even in this kind" (z. e. the participation of infused grace) "the first beginning of life, the seed of God, the first-fruits of the Spirit, are without latitude 8 ;" are bestowed equally on all, without degrees or variety. But we cannot conceive of repentance, or faith, or any of those religious graces which are often identi- fied with Regeneration, as existing otherwise than with latitude. They are dispositions or habits of mind which necessarily imply in different subjects different degrees of strength and weakness, pro- gressive improvement or gradual decay. On the other hand, such a change of spiritual state and circumstances as we suppose to take place in Bap- tism, is a simple simultaneous act, which cannot be better illustrated than in the language of Hooker, when arguing against the iteration of Baptism. "For how should we practise iteration of Bap- tism, and yet teach that we are by Baptism born anew ; that by Baptism we are admitted into the heavenly society of saints; that those things be really and effectually done by Baptism which are no more possible to be often done, than a man can 8 Hooker's Eccl. Pol. 1. v. s. 56. XXXii PREFACE. naturally be often born, or civilly be often adopted into one stock or family ? As Christ hath therefore died and rose from the dead but once, so that sacrament which both extinguisheth in him our former sin, and beginneth in us a new condition of life, is by one only actual administration for ever available 9 ." But, in addition to these reasons for adhering to my former statement, conversion of the heart to God, faith, hope, charity, repentance, necessarily suppose some knowledge of God, and, by conse- quence, instruction of some kind or other in the truths of religion. But we know that infants are in- capable of receiving such instruction ; we observe in them no traces or symptoms of such knowledge, and have no reason to believe that it is miraculously com- municated to them. We conclude, therefore, that since they are incapable of those habits and affec- tions of mind which necessarily presuppose some knowledge of God, such habits and affections do not constitute the spiritual and inward grace of Baptism. In the case of adults, indeed, it is allowed that these good qualities or habits, which Waterland classes under the head of renovation, however they may be strengthened and confirmed by the grace conferred in Baptism, must precede that sacrament as qualifications for its due and saving reception ; 9 Eccl. Pol. 1. v . s. 62. PREFACE. XXX111 and consequently, as we contend, must precede their Regeneration. For these reasons, without positively saying that that description of Regeneration which I have es- poused and attempted to illustrate in several parts of the following work, has fallen under the Pro- fessor's animadversion, I must retain my former state- ments of this matter. It is but just to observe, that I have no reason to conclude from the Pro- fessor's writings, that he has any acquaintance with my work upon this subject. There is another point on which my opinion differs from that of the Professor, and where I am not, I confess, convinced that I have been mis- taken. In his remarks on 1 John iii. 9 ', the learned Pro- fessor finds fault with the comment of many able and judicious divines on this passage 2 . He doth not 1 Pp. 166171. 4 Hammond, Grotius, Whitby, Doddridge, Rosenmiiller, qua- lify the passage in this manner. Gataker (Adv. Misc. c. 33.) has a dissertation on this passage, in which he examines and sets aside several expositions of it. He states that it does not speak of the duty of the regenerate (i. e. of what he ought to do), but of his purpose and practice. That it does not speak of the Regeneration of a future life ; nor of any peculiar kind of sin, nor of sin, although committed being covered by charity or not imputed ; but of the manner of sinning : " He does not sin in the same way as the unregenerate." 1. Ante peccandum non peccat, quia non vult peccare. [2. Inter b XXXiv PREFACE. commit sin 8 ; he cannot sin; i.e. "he is not guilty of deliberate or habitual sin ;" " he does not give his mind to sin, nor addict himself to the practice of it ; he cannot be living in a habit of sin." He considers these to be " qualifying expressions, clearly tampering with the word of God, and lowering his teaching." But, with all due respect for the feelings of reverence for Scripture, which have led him to hazard this re- mark, I cannot acknowledge the justice of the censure, nor renounce the exposition which I have adopted. It is agreed on all hands, that some qualification or limitation of the Apostle's language is necessary, because Scripture teaches us that " there is no man that sinneth not," and that " if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us ;" and because we know by experience that the best and holiest of God's children are not free from failings and sins. We find, however, in every part 2. Inter peccandum non peccat, quia non totus peccat : in quantum renatus est non peccat. 3. In peccato, sive in peccati praxi non peccat, quia non dat operam peccato. 4. Post peccatum non peccat, quia non in peccato cubat. He sums up his explanation of the passage in the following words : Vitam peccato immunem, quantum potest, sibi proponit, nee peccato unquam sponte dat operam. Quod si quando praeter nnimi proposition deliquerit, nee in peccatum totus proruit, nee in eodem persistit, sed errore agnito, ad institutum mox pris- tinum quam primum quantumque potest revertitur. ov itoiti, ov Svvarai afj.apTO.veiv. PREFACE. XXXV of Scripture a comparison or contrast drawn be- tween the just and righteous, and the wicked ; which amounts in fact to the same thing as the comparison drawn by St. John in this and the foregoing verses 4 between those who sin and those who sin not ; between those who do righteousness and those who commit sin. But it was not the intention of the inspired writers to describe God's children or saints as perfectly righteous and sinless. They evidently speak of the general tone of their conduct and con- versation, of the bias of their minds, and of the predominance of their religious feelings and habits. It is with the same limitation that St. John teaches us that "whosoever hath been born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him ; and he cannot sin, because he hath been born of God 5 ." And this limitation cannot, in my opinion, be ex- pressed more correctly or more modestly, than by saying, that the child of God "does not give his mind to sin, or addict himself to the practice of it ;" or, in other words, " is not guilty of deliberate or habitual sin." I entirely agree with the view which the Professor takes of the drift and purport of this passage, in his eloquent and impressive expansion of the concise account of it given by Waterland. But in what respect the limitation of its sense, 4 1 John iii. 68. * See Chapter V. of the following work, where these passages are more fully explained. b2 XXXVI PREFACE. which he has taken from Augustine that "we cannot commit sin as far as, or inasmuch as, we are the sons of God" is less liable than the other to the charge of " tampering with God's word and lowering its meaning 6 ," I am at a loss to dis- 6 Chrysostom, quoted by Theophylact in locum, gives the same explanation of the passage. " As often as we sin, we are born of the devil. On the other hand, we are born of God as often as we act virtuously, because his seed abides in us, that is to say, his Spirit, which we receive through Baptism, which, while it abides in us, does not allow the mind to give admission to sin. But, except a man is born of God, he does not receive the Holy Ghost." I cannot, however, subscribe to the interpretation given to the text by these eminent fathers ; for I cannot bring myself to think that the Apostle contemplates the same individual as being at once the child of God in one respect, and the child of the devil in another. Whereas, if both texts, He that committeth sin, is of the devil. Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin ; are understood as speaking of the purpose, disposition, bias of mind, and habits ; the limitation of the words seems to be rea- sonable and natural, and liable to no solid objections. There is a passage quoted from Augustine, in the 9th chapter of this work, which, though not written with a view to this question, appears to me, to give a satisfactory answer to the inquiry, how he who is born of God is righteous, or does not commit sin, without contradicting the Apostle's assertion, 1 John i. 810. " Justification is conferred on us in this life, in three several ways. First, through the laver of Regeneration, in which all sins are forgiven. Then, by the contest which we are carrying on with those sinful dispositions, from the guilt of which we have been already absolved. Thirdly, when our prayer is heard, in which we say, Forgive us our debts Since, PREFACE. XXXM1 cover. It appears to me that both these qualifica- tions of St. John's expressions coincide in meaning, with whatever fortitude we may wage war with these vicious inclinations, we are still men. But, while we continue in this corruptible flesh, God's grace assists us in our conflict in such a manner, that there will never be wanting occasions for his hearing us when suing for pardon." Contra Julianum, 1. i. To the same effect is another passage in his Addresses to the Catechumens. " When you have been baptized, hold fast to a good life, in obedience to God's commandments, that you may keep your Baptism (i. e. baptismal grace) in safe custody. I do not tell you that it is possible for you to live here without sin : but there are some pardonable sins from which that life (i. e. that good life) is not exempt. " Baptism was instituted for a remedy of all sins ; prayer, for the case of those lighter trespasses from which we cannot be free. We are washed once in Baptism ; we are washed by prayer every day. But beware of committing those sins for which you may be separated from the body of Christ. Far be this from you ! For if those whom you see doing penance (i. e. the poenitentes) have been guilty of crimes, or adulteries, or other deeds of great enormity, it is on this account that they do penance. For if their offences had been light, their daily prayers would have been sufficient to blot them out." These passages appear to me to furnish a clue to a more satis- factory explanation of these texts, and a plainer method of reconciling them to one another, than those adopted by Dr. Pusey ; or than Augustine's own mode of solving the difficulty ; for he supposes that the sin which God's children cannot commit is one particular sin, (viz.) the want of love or charity. See Tractatus in 1 Joh. iii. 9. The conclusion to which these passages of Augustine lead us, that the child of God may be said not to commit, nor to incur the guilt of sin, when, after his sins have been forgiven in Bap- XXXvill PREFACE. and that neither the one nor the other is justly exposed to the censure of being a departure from the rules of sober and reverential interpretation. But I prefer the explanation of the passage which I have given to that of the learned Professor, be- cause it is more simple and intelligible, and more in accordance with the ordinary language of holy Scripture. In my Preface to the First Edition, (the larger part of which, being principally occupied with topics and allusions of a temporary nature, I have not thought it necessary to republish,) I took notice of certain objections to the doctrine of Baptismal Re- generation, similar in some respects to those which I have been now examining. I animadverted on the extraordinary assertion of a respectable writer, who had affirmed that in the opinion of those who maintain this doctrine 7 , " the change which takes place in Baptism is the whole of that renovation which the soul requires." I stated likewise, that no divine of the Church of England has maintained that God's grace is so tism, he is contending strenuously against sin, and asking forgive- ness of his daily trespasses and omissions, is equivalent to the solution proposed by those Divines, whose opinion is acceded to in this work. 7 Letter to a serious Inquirer after Divine Truth. By the late Rev. Edward Cooper. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 7 nification, it is used apparently in a figurative manner, to express such a change as seemed to bear some repentance or conversion, though the words had acquired another, and that a proper and determinate sense in ecclesiastical language. The distinction between the remission of sins by Regeneration in Baptism, and by repentance and absolution after Baptism, per- vades the canons and discipline of the Church, and the writings of the ancient Christians. See Bishop Pearson on the Creed, Article X. p. 368. Fol. Edit. 1692, and the authorities quoted by him. The same author, in the history which he gives us of St. John's treatment of a young disciple, who had abandoned his Christian profession, subsequently to Baptism, and become head of a band of robbers, says, Ou Trporepov a'7ri/\0v, we aai, vplv O.VTOV aVorart'oTTjerf TTJ eKKXrjariq., SidovQ /it'ya TrapadeiyfJia. fitraroiaQ a\T)6iviis, Kal /Uf'ya yvwptayza TraAiyyEvtfftae, rpoircuov aVaara'- 0-we /3X7ro/j'7jc. " He did not depart, they say, before he had restored him to the Church, giving a remarkable instance of a true repentance, and a signal example of a Regeneration, a trophy of a visible resurrection." Quis dives salvetur? Here Clemens in his figurative style calls the young man's repentance and restoration to the Church a great example of re- generation, and a trophy of a visible resurrection. The learned Valesius, therefore, translates the passage iteratae Regenerationis documentum. To the same purpose he says, a few lines above, of the young man, Elra rpiputf eK\(f Trtirpwe* TrpofftXQovra $e rov yepovra TrtpieXafiev, a.Tro\oyovp.EvoQ rale o//zwya7f we rfCvvaro, Kal TOIQ ci'tKpven /3a7rrt^d)t/voe (.K Zf.VTf.pov. " Then trembling, he wept bitterly, and embraced the old man as he approached him, ex- cusing himself, as he could, with groans, and being baptized again with tears." So that he seems to call his conversion a new birth, upon the same principle that he calls his godly sorrow, manifested by groans and tears, a second Baptism. ^ In a passage of his history, speaking of the happy effects of B 4 - 8 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE analogy in magnitude and importance to the change effected in Baptism. At the time of the Reforma- the patience of the martyrs of Lyons on those Christians whose fears had led them to renounce the faith, Eusebius says, Irpwae, TOVTOVS u>t>TCtg aTroXayu/SavotKTJj' Si K Euayy\tw 6 Nojuog' q.c)i de ai/rw. ILJe yap ov^t, evoQ OVTOQ aptyoiv ^opijyov rov Kvptov ; 'H yap rot irop- vtvaaaa. rj p.tv TJ\ a/iapr/a, cnridare $ TCUQ tcroXali;' il $ juera- , olov a.vayc.vvr)del(Ta. Kara rf/v f.TTiorpO(j)i]v TOV piov, TraXty- -^EL ^w>/c' Tf.Qvr]Kvia.Q p.iv rJjc iropvrjQ riJQ TraXa/ac, tie fliov $ TTapeXdovffqs avdig rijg Kara rfjv p.rdvotnv yi>/o/ij'je. Stromata, L. II. p. 507. Edit. Potter. " In truth the Law does not differ from the Gospel ; for how can it be otherwise, since the same Lord is the giver of both ? For the woman who has committed adultery lives to sin, but dies to the commandments. But she that has repented, being born again by the change of her former conversation, experiences a regeneration of life, the old adulterous woman being dead, and she that has her being, by means of repentance, coming forth again to life." Here the words born again, and regeneration, (avaytwriQuaa. and TraXiyyei/fffi'a) are used in an improper and unusual sense ; the adulteress being represented as having been born again by DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 1 1 terminate meaning; and they pronounced regenera- tion to be an infusion of a habit of grace, or a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, taking place at the decisive moment of the effectual call. From hence the transition to a sensible change was easy and natural, and what was a theological speculation in the system of scholastic divines, be- came, in the hands of less subdued and less calcu- lating spirits, the stronghold of enthusiasm. If, therefore, the progress of enthusiastic opinions and habits, and of other doctrines by no means honourable to the divine perfections, is connected in any degree with the changes which have taken place in the received use of the w r ord Regeneration, it will not be an unprofitable task to examine the grounds of its more ancient signification, and to point out its correspondence with the scriptural phraseology and doctrine. But though there is an obvious connexion between the right use of words and sound doctrine, it is not the word, but the doctrine implied in it, on which I would principally insist. For it is almost needless to say that many of our Divines, who maintain the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism in its most unadulterated sense, often use the word regenerate, in compliance with popular usage, to signify a man living habitually under the influence of the Spirit of grace; unregenerate, to signify a man not living habitually under that in- 12 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE fluence*. Still it is to be wished that they had avoided this ambiguity of language, and had kept close to the more ancient and more correct usage of the word in question. 5 In this sense Bishop Taylor uses the words regenerate, regeneration, &c. He says, that " an unregenerate man may have received the Spirit of God." That, " to have received the Spirit of God is not the propriety of the regenerate, but to be led by him, to be conducted by the Spirit in all our ways and counsels, to obey his motions, to entertain his doctrine, to do his pleasure : this is that which gives the distinction and denomination." Unum Necessarium, Polemical Works, p. 787. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 13 CHAPTER II. A VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION MAIN- TAINED BY THE FATHERS AND ANCIENT CHRISTIANS. WHEN opinions, founded on current and acknow- ledged interpretations of Scripture, have been re- ceived without doubt or dispute from the earliest times of Christianity to a comparatively late age, the prejudices in their favour, and against the inno- vations which have been made upon them in latter days, are fair and legitimate. There seems indeed to be some presumption in setting up our private opinions and interpretations against the unanimous testimony of the early Christians ; and it is evidently dangerous. For if we will not admit their unvary- ing and uncontradicted testimony in proof of an apostolical and scriptural doctrine, I know not how we shall convince an unbeliever that they are suffi- cient witnesses of the authenticity of sacred writ, or of the authoritv of its canon. 14 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE In modern times we have been taught that Regeneration is a thing quite unconnected with baptism: that it may indeed take place in that sacrament as well as at any other time, but that to suppose it in any proper sense dependent on it, is an unreasonable and unscriptural opinion. But, previous to a more particular inquiry, these asser- tions seem rather to prove that they, who speak in this manner, have affixed improper notions to the word, than that the ancient Christians universally mistook the sense of Scripture, and gave in to an opinion contrary to reason and piety. It has been shown, beyond any reasonable doubt, "that all the ancient Christians, not one man ex- cepted, do take the word, Regeneration, to signify baptism; and all of them do understand that rule of our Saviour, 'Except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven,' of baptism '." After what has been written on this subject, it will be needless to adduce passages of their works in proof of these positions, which are legitimate deductions from plain matters of fact, and a laborious investigation of their writings. Their doctrine has been stated with his usual perspicuity and judgment by Waterland, in his 1 Wall on Infant Baptism, chap. x. 3. ch. vi. 1. The reader may refer to this valuable work for the proofs of these positions of the learned author. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 15 celebrated Sermon on Regeneration; and his state- ment is evidently grounded on a severe examination of their works, and a judicious induction of parti- culars. He first teaches us, in conformity to the opinion of the ancient Christians, that Regeneration is a spiritual change wrought upon any person in the right use of baptism, whereby he is translated from his natural state in Adam to a spiritual state in Christ. That every one must be born of water and of the Spirit ; not once of water, and once of the Spirit, but once of the Spirit in and by water; of the Spirit primarily and effectively, of the water secondarily and instrumentally. That the word Re- generation is so appropriated to Baptism as to exclude any other conversion or repentance, not considered in conjunction with Baptism, from being signified by that name. That in an active sense it signifies our admission into a spiritual state in Christ, in a passive sense our entrance into it ; and that it carries with it the remission of sins, and a covenant claim to everlasting happiness. He then proceeds to lay down the distinction between Regeneration and Renovation 2 . He states 2 When we speak of renovation as distinguished from regenera- tion, we mean that practical and progressive renewal of the inward frame or moral habits, which is die usual sense of the word in Scripture. But the change wrought in man by the Holy Ghost in Baptism is likewise called renovation, or renewal, Titus iii. 5, where the washing of regeneration, and the renewal of the 10 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE that they are always distinct in theory, and often, particularly in the case of infants, in fact and reality. Holy Ghost, seem to be parallel and equivalent phrases; or, perhaps, baptism is called the washing of regeneration and renewal. Hence in the writings of the ancient Christians, men are said to be renewed as well as regenerated in Baptism. So Cyprian de Habitu Virginum, p. 102. Omnes quidem qui ad divinum munus et patrium Baptismi sanctificatione praeveniunt, hominern illic veterem gratia lavacri salutaris exponunt, et innovati Spiritu Sancto a sordibus contagionis antiquae iterata nativitate pur- gantur. This distinction between the baptismal renewal, and that gradual improvement of the inward frame which the word renewal more commonly denotes, has been stated by Augustin, lib. xiv. de Trin. c. 17. Sane ista renovatio non momento uno fit, sicut momento fit uno ilia renovatio in Baptismo, remissione omnium peccatorum. Neque enim vel unum quantulumcunque remanet, quod non remittatur. Sed quemadmodum aliud est carere febribus, aliud ab infirmitate, quae febribus facta est, revalescere : itemque aliud est infixum telum de corpore demere ; aliud vulnus quod eo factum est secunda curatione sanare : ita prima curatio est causam removere languoris, quod per omnium peccatorum indulgentiam fit. Secunda, ipsum levare languorem, quod fit paulatim proficiendo in renovatione hujus imaginis. Quae duo monstrantur in Psalmo ; ubi legitur, Qui propitius Jit omnibus iniquitatibus tuis, quod fit in Baptismo. Deinde sequitur, Qui sanat omnes infirmitates tuas, quod fit quotidianis accessibus, cum hsec imago renovatur. De qua re Apostolus apertissime locutus est, dicens, Etsi exterior homo noster corrumpitur, sed interior renovatur de die in diem. Renovatur autem in agnitione Dei, hoc est justitia et sanctitate veritatis. This distinction between renovation in Baptism, and the renewal of the habits or inward frame, is the same as the dis- tinction stated in the text between regeneration and renovation. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 17 That regeneration is a change of the whole spiritual state ; renovation a change of inward frame or dis- position, which in adults is rather a qualification or capacity for regeneration than regeneration itself. That in infants regeneration necessarily takes place without renovation, but in adults renovation exists (or at least ought to exist) before, in, and after Baptism. Regeneration, he proceeds, is the joint work of the water and of the Spirit, or to speak more pro- perly of the Spirit only ; renovation is the joint work of the Spirit and the man. Regeneration comes only once, in or through Baptism. Renovation exists before, in, and after Baptism, and may be often repeated. Regenera- tion, being a single act, can have no parts, and is incapable of increase. Renovation is in its very nature progressive. Regeneration, though suspended as to its effects and benefits, cannot be totally lost in the present life. Renovation may be often re- peated and totally lost. Afterwards he illustrates this doctrine by applying it to four separate cases. 1. Grown persons coming to Baptism properly qualified, receive at once the grace of regeneration : but, however well prepared, they are not regenerate without Baptism. Afterwards renovation grows more and more within them by the indwelling of the Spirit. 18 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE 2. As to infants, their innocence and incapacity are to them instead of repentance, which they do not want, and of actual faith, which they cannot have: and they are capable of being born again, and adopted by God, because they bring no obstacle. They stipulate, and the Holy Spirit translates them out of a state of nature into a state of grace, favour, and acceptance. In their case, regeneration pre- cedes, and renovation follows after, and they are the temple of the Spirit, till they defile themselves with sin. 3. As to those who fall off after regeneration, their covenant state abides, but without any saving effect, because without present renovation : but this saving effect may be repaired and recovered by repentance. 4. With respect to those who receive Baptism in a state of hypocrisy or impenitency, though this Sacrament can only increase their condemnation, still pardon and grace are conditionally made over to them, and the saving virtue of regeneration, which had been hitherto suspended, takes effect, when they truly repent and unfeignedly believe the Gospel 3 . 8 Mr. Faber has a long note, in which he states his objections to this notion of suspension. What is meant by suspension is simply this. That in the case of persons baptized in a state of hypocrisy or impenitence (and the Fathers extend the same rule to persons baptized in schism and heresy), the inward grace does DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 19 This clear statement of the learned author con- tains a plain account of the grace conferred, and the change which takes place, in Baptism ; and this is what is meant by those Divines, who maintain that regeneration is, in the strict sense of the word, the inward and spiritual Grace of Baptism. The iden- tity, if I may so express myself, of Baptism and regeneration, is a doctrine which manifestly per- vades the writings of the Fathers. It is moreover evident that they did not imagine that Baptism pro- duces any saving effect in adults without faith and repentance, or, in other words, without some pre- vious renewal of the inward frame. Nor do they appear to have supposed that any conscious or active renewal of the soul takes place in infants. Hence it follows that they must have maintained this dis- tinction between regeneration and renovation (con- version, i. e. repentance, or a gradual process of spiritual improvement), which in the present day has been styled a novel contrivance. Sufficient proofs, however, of a positive kind, may be collected from their own writings, that they maintained this dis- tinction 4 . not accompany the outward sign : but that this grace may be obtained by repentance, and that when obtained, it is, in some mysterious manner, connected with the Baptism which had been formerly administered. Sicut autem bono Catechumeno Baptismus deest ad capes- sendum regnum coelorum, sic malo baptizato vera conversio. Qui enim dixit, Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu, non c2 20 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE The cases of adults properly qualified, and of those who fall off after Baptism, are in strict conformity intrabit in regnum ccelorum : ipse etiam dixit, Nisi abundaverit justitia vestra plusquam Scribarum et Pharis&orum, non intra- bitis in regnum ccelorum. Nam ne secura esset justitia Cate- chumeni dictum est, Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu, non intrabit in regnum ccelorum. Rursus ne percepto baptismo secura esset iniquitas baptizatorum, dictum est, Nisi abundaverit justitia vestra plusquam Scribarum et Pharis 4 Col .. 12 5 Rom. vi. 6. Gal. iii. 27. 7 Col. iii. 10. 8 Col. iii. 5. Gal. v. 24. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 43 formable to Christ's death \ to put on Christ 2 , to put off the old, and to put on the new man 3 , are used to signify the practical change to which we are bound over in Baptism, and an habitual conformity to the example and practice of Christ. When, for instance, the converts are reminded that they are dead with Christ, that they have risen with Christ, are crucified with Christ, or have put on Christ, as an appeal to their faith, or by way of motive to gratitude and obedience, they are referred to the mysterious change, and the grace and pri- vileges received in Baptism, or, in other words, are put in mind of their baptismal Regeneration. When they are exhorted to mortify their members that are upon the earth, to put on Christ, or to put on the new man, they are reminded of that practical change to which they were solemnly obliged in Baptism; or, in other words, of the necessity of acquitting themselves of their religious engagements in the renovation of their inward frame. But the mysterious change, considered in itself, is a change in the sight of God, and is the object of our faith only. The practical change is a practical and pro- gressive change of heart and habits, and is an object of experience and consciousness. III. The next head of Scriptural authority to which I shall refer consists of texts of Scripture, 1 Phil. iii. 10. 2 Rom. xiii. 14. 5 Eph. iv. 21, 22. 44 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE which attribute this change to washing or Baptism, without the intervention of figurative language. The first and most conclusive of these texts is that in which our Saviour has enjoined his disciples the use of Baptism, and given it the force of a Sacrament by virtue of his word and promise. Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to all crea- tures. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved 4 . The salvation, which our Lord here promises to baptized believers, is manifestly what we call Re- generation a passage from a state of sin in Adam to a state of grace in Christ the first entrance into a redeemed and justified life, including the forgiveness of past sins, and a conditional grant of final and everlasting salvation. Precisely similar to this is St. Peter's assertion. Baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good con- science toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 5 . The salvation here ascribed to Baptism is equivalent to Regeneration in Baptism. The text contains an allusion to the well-known comparison or analogy between this new birth and Christ's resurrection. And the answer or stipulation of a good conscience toward God, on which this salva- tion hinges, means in effect the same thing as the faith required by our Saviour. To the same pur- 4 Mark xvi. 16. * 1 Pet. iii. 21. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 45 pose the Apostle thus addresses himself to his countrymen : Repent and be baptized every one of you /or the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost 6 . Save yourselves from this un- toward generation 7 . " Use without delay the means of salvation which I have pointed out to you, faith in Christ, repentance, and Baptism." Then, says the historian, they that gladly received the word were baptized. And afterwards : And the Lord added the saved to the Church daily 8 . He added to the Church those persons who used the means of salvation enjoined them by the Apostle received the word gladly, repented and were baptized, and so received remission of their sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Again, in the case of St. Paul, the washing away his sins, and, by necessary implication, his new birth to righteousness, are expressly connected with Baptism. Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins 9 . We have att of us, says St. Paul, been baptized by one Spirit into one body, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit '. " Whether Jews or Gen- tiles, all we who have been baptized have been born again of the same Spirit, and incorporated into 6 Acts ii. 38. 7 Acts ii. 40, 41. 8 Acts ii. 47. roue ffw^o/Jt'vovc- ' Acts xxii. 16. 1 1 Cor. xii, 13. 46 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE one spiritual body 2 ." And the same Apostle speaks of Christ as purifying and sanctifying the Church (that is, the whole body of believers taken compre- hensively, and personified as a religious society) in the water of Baptism, through faith in his word, and the powerful operation of his promise. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it, that he might 2 The whole number of believers are represented in Scripture as being, in the order and design of God's counsels, one body, and one Spirit that is, one body, actuated and informed by one Spirit trvjji^wxpi, TO !' fypovovvT(.Q. Hence I am inclined to think that the two members or clauses of this passage are parallel, expressing in effect the same thing and that in the latter clause we are to supply iv kvl in>tv^.a.TL from the former. We have all of us, (whether Jews or Greeks, bond or free) been baptized by one Spirit into one body i. e. so as to become, or, in order that we may become, one body : and we have all of us been watered or irrigated by one Spirit, or made to drink of one Spirit, into one Spirit i. e. so as to become, or, in order that we may become, one Spirit. So in Eph. iv. 4, St. Paul, I think, speaks of believers, as forming one body and one Spirit. Either, Ye are one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called, fyc. as there is one Lord, one faith, 8fC., or, there is one body, and one Spirit, in the order and design of God's counsels ; in other words, you believers ought to form one body actuated by one Spirit, even as you have been called, &c. The meaning is, that since they have one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, so they themselves, though en- dowed with a variety of gifts, ought to form one spiritual com- munity endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit, unity of affections and sentiments, worship and discipline, in the bond of peace. These two passages are parallel, and enforce the same duty. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 47 sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word '. In the language of Theology the word Sanctifica- tion has been commonly confined to that progressive improvement which the Holy Spirit produces in the hearts and habits of Christians. But Sanctification, when predicated of moral and religious subjects, signifies more properly a cleansing from pollution, and a separation from the world to God's service. Hence the ancients commonly gave the name of Sanctification to Baptism; and this usage of the word is justified by the Apostle's authority, who ascribes the Sanctification of the Church to the washing of water. So in another passage he con- nects the justification and Sanctification of his Corinthian converts with the washing of Baptism. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Then, after enumerating the defilements to which the Gentiles were most prone, he adds, And such were some of you but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God*. The name in which they had been baptized, the water, the Spirit, the outward sign, and the inward grace of Baptism, are here de- tailed and brought back to their recollection in the way of solemn warning and admonition. 3 Ephes. v. 25, 26. 4 1 Cor. vi. 911. 48 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE When, therefore, St. Paul addresses the Roman brethren as beloved of God, called saints 5 , and the Corinthians as sanctified in Christ Jesus, called, saints 6 ; when he speaks of his Ephesian converts as Saints, whom God had chosen before the founda- tion of the world to be holy and without blame before him 7 : and when St. Peter addresses the strangers of Pontus as men elect through sanctification of the Spirit to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ 8 ; they do not merely use a general phrase- ology, and express themselves in the language of hope and charity; but they allude to those privi- leges which had been bestowed on the converts, and certified and assured to their faith in Baptism. For in Baptism every true convert to the faith of Christ was constituted a Saint, and publicly elected into God's household, was sprinkled as it were with the blood of Christ, and sanctified by a special gift of the Spirit, a solemn designation, and a mysterious conveyance of grace, to obedience and a blameless life. Being born again 9 , not of the corruptible seed of human nature, but of the incorruptible l seed of the 5 Rom. i. 7. 6 1 Cor. i. 2. 7 Ephes. i. 1. 4. 8 1 Pet. i. 1, 2. 9 1 Pet. i. 23. 25. 1 To be born of incorruptible seed signifies, I apprehend, the same thing as to be born of God, or born of the Spirit, and the Spirit is the seed spoken of. 'Eic an-opae, *: Qeov, IK irvtvparoe but we are thus born Sia Xoyov 0eou, not as the principal or efficient, but as an instrumental cause. It has been argued DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 49 Holy Ghost by the word of God, (through the instru- mentality of his word, and the efficacy of faith in his promise,) which llveth and endurethfor ever. For the word of God, his promises in Christ, on which the new life and spiritual privileges of believers depend, endurethfor ever. IV. The other passages of Scripture, which allude to the same change, and bear a collateral testimony to the doctrine of baptismal Regeneration, may be comprised under one head. In the writings of the ancient Christians, Baptism is often called, agreeably to St. Paul's language, a Seal, and baptized Christians are said to have been sealed. Theologians have likewise in later times applied the same phrase to Baptism, but in a sense different from the Apostle's usage. For they speak indeed that the seed here mentioned is the word of God, because in the parable of the Sower, the seed is expressly said to be the word of God. But there is no similarity between the cases. In the parable, mankind, or the human soul, is compared to a field, into which the seed or word of God is cast, and either perishes or thrives, according to the soil on which it lights. In this passage, the incorruptible seed is spoken of, by a different figure, as a principle of life, communicating a sort of new exist- ence to the human soul. But this principle is either God him- self as the principal, or, more properly, the Spirit as the efficient cause of the new birth, or entrance into a new state of spiritual existence. Some Commentators maintain that the Word here spoken of is the Son of God, the Word that was made flesh, as in John i. 1, and 1 John i. 1. E 50 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE of it in a legal sense, as a seal annexed or appendant to a charter or covenant; and sometimes enter into discussions upon the virtue of seals annexed to legal instruments, and the nature of the grants confirmed by them. But though Baptism is undoubtedly a token of God's covenant, and a seal of the righteous- ness which is by faith 2 , (that is, a certain sign and solemn confirmation of the forgiveness of sin, and of acceptance with God,) the Apostle does not describe baptism under the figure of a seal annexed to legal instruments, but as a seal affixed to ourselves 3 ; as a ceremony in which we are sealed or stamped with the Spirit, and have as it were a mark set on us in- wardly in the soul, as God's peculiar property, in the same manner that the Jews, under the carnal and typical dispensation, were sealed and marked as God's peculiar property outwardly in the flesh. This baptismal consignation is likewise called an unction, and an earnest of the Spirit 4 ; and the Spirit then be- 2 Rom. iv. 11. 3 So in Ezekiel ix. 4, a mark (that is, a seal or stamp) is set on the forehead of the faithful, and in the Revelations vii. 3, 4, &c., the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. This figure of speech is borrowed from the Eastern custom, where a seal is not an impression made on wax, but a stamp made with the seal worn on the finger, (on which the name of the owner is usually engraved,) blackened with ink. Quis autem illud dubitet, Baptismi esse proprium officium ut per ilium sacris Christianorum initiemur, et in propriam ascri- bamur Christianorum societatem ? Convenit praeterea, quod qui confertur in Baptismo Spiritus Sanctus, is dppa(3iat> (quae et arrha DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 51 stowed on us is called the Spirit of adoption, because when we are bom again of water and of the Spirit, we are born of God, adopted into his family, and publicly declared his children. He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed us 5 , hath set his own seal or stamp upon us, and given us the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts. In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession 6 . Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye have been sealed unto the day of redemption 1 . Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father 8 . Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you 3 . In these passages the Apostles appeal to the re- ceived doctrine of the Church, and the common faith of Christians: and though they may perhaps allude to those miraculous gifts of the Spirit, which were bestowed on many of the first believers, they est scriptoribus Romania) in N. T. appelletur. Erat enim in jure Romano arrha pactorum propria. Propria porro est arrha temporis illius quo primo fcedus inimus. Inde sequitur ut de alia Spiritus collatione praeterquam baptismali nequeat intelligi, Dodwell, Diss. Cyprianicae, D, 13. p. 113. 5 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. B Ephes. i. 13, 14. 7 Ephes. iv. 30. 8 Rom. viii. 15. 9 1 John ii. 20. 27. xptV/ua, that with which you have been anointed, i. e. the Holy Ghost; compare John xvj. 13. 52 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE speak principally of that mysterious change of spiri- tual condition and consignation of the Holy Ghost, which were universally believed to take place in Baptism. Such is the sense which the history and records of the ancient Church affix to these expres- sions, and I am inclined to think that a sober and dispassionate criticism, and a diligent inquiry into the analogies of Scriptural language and doctrine, will confirm this interpretation. In the Epistle to the Colossians, St. Paul speaks of Baptism, and illustrates the spiritual change of which it is the instrument, under another figure of the same import the circumcision of Christ. In whom ye have been circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off" the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ ', by that sacrament of Christ's appointment, which answers to legal circumcision, and supplies its place, in the way of proportion or analogy, under the Gospel dispensa- tion. Having been buried with him in Baptism, wherein also ye are risen again with him, through faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead 2 . In this pregnant passage, the efficacy of Baptism is described, and its nature explained and illustrated by the analogy between the Christian and Jewish ordinances. Circumcision was a federal initiation into Judaism, and made over to the circumcised 1 Col. ii. 11,12. 2 Col. ii. 12. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 53 person a direct interest in the blessings and privi- leges explicitly promised in the Mosaic covenant. Baptism is a federal initiation into Christianity, and makes over to the baptized person a similar interest in the blessings and privileges of the Gospel cove- nant. As every male Israelite was made a member of the congregation, and incorporated into God's chosen people, when he was circumcised ; so in Bap- tism every disciple of Christ, whether male or female, infant or adult, becomes a member of his mystical body, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. For Circumcision bore the same analogy to Baptism which the Mosaic dispen- sation bore to the Christian. It was the shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things 3 ; and it conveyed no direct title to those blessings, which were obscurely shadowed out, but not explicitly promised, in the covenant to which it was appropriated. It has indeed been often maintained in later times, that Circumcision is the same sacrament with Bap- tism 4 ; that it preached the same doctrine, and 3 Heb. x. 1. 4 Quando Sacramentorum utriusque Testament! idem est auctor, eaedem promissiones, eadem veritas, et idem in Christo comple- mentum ; merito dicimus, externis signis inter se differre, in illis autem rebus, quas commemoravi, vel summatim in re ipsa con- venire. Sunt enim doctrinae appendices. Atqui doctrinse eadem substantia. Sequitur ergo id quoque in Sacramenta com- petere. Vulgare est apud Sophistas dogma : Sacramenta Legis 54 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE offered and symbolized the same grace under dif- ferent rites and names ; that the circumcision of the heart was to outward circumcision, what Regenera- tion is to Baptism, and consequently that Regenera- tion and the circumcision of the heart are one and the same thing. But this opinion derives no support from Scripture, nor from the writings of the early Christians ; and seems to have arisen from con- founding the inward grace of sacraments with their moral import, or those duties and obligations which they imply and enforce. The Apostle indeed, allu- ding to the typical ceremony, calls our Regeneration in Baptism a Circumcision not made with hands, and the ancients often denominate it spiritual Circum- Mosaicae figurasse gratiam, nostra vero exhibere. (We shall find in the following note, who these Sophists are.) Nos autem Deum asserimus semper in suis promissis fuisse veracem : nee quicquam figurasse ab initio, quod non patribus re ipsa exhi- buerit : nam sub Moyse constabat circumcisionis veritas. Calvin. Ant. S. Sess. p. 296. But the question is not, whether the doctrine of the Old and New Testament is, or is not, substantially the same ; whether God did really bestow the grace of Christ upon the Fathers ; and whether they looked for something more than transitory promises. But whether any direct promise of forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost was annexed to their Sacra- ments ; and whether the Jews were generally taught to believe that such blessings attended upon them. Whether they were, in their plain and literal sense, instruments of spiritual blessings ; or whether the spiritual promises were only typified by the tem- poral blessings and promises, which they made over by covenant to the Israelites. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 55 cision, but there is no identity between these expres- sions, and the circumcision of the heart mentioned in the Old Testament. The grace, or blessing con- veyed by circumcision, consisted in those national and religious privileges, which were the advantage of the Jew, and the profit of Circumcision 5 ; and these privileges were analogous to those spiritual blessings which are bestowed on Christians in Baptism, and are signified by the word Regeneration. But the circumcision of the heart, spoken of by Moses and Jeremiah 6 ; the mortification of the corrupt appe- tites and froward dispositions, and obedience to the will of God ; was the moral import of circumcision, or the moral lesson which was grounded on it by the Lawgiver and the Prophet, inspired by the Spirit, and speaking in the name of Jehovah. Les- sons of the same kind are suggested by the Christian Sacrament of Baptism, in accordance with the nature and character of the dispensation; and may be called, with much propriety, the moral import of the Ordinance 7 . ' Rom. iii. 1. 6 Jer. iv. 4. 7 It is the constant doctrine of the ancient Christians that Judaism was a typical religion ; and that the Jewish sacraments, strictly speaking, did not, like the Christian, confer, but only signified and foretold the grace of the Gospel. So Tertullian Circumcisio populo Israel data est in signum, non in salutem, in salutis figuram, non in salutis medelam. Ambrose (rather the ancient writer whose Commentaries have been ascribed to Ambrose) in Rom. xv. Circumcisio carnis 56 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE In fine, those passages of the Epistles, which dis- tinguish between the first consignation of grace and data est in figuram circumcisionis cordis, cujus minister est Christus. Augustin, Ep. 19. ad Hieron. says, Sacramenta veterum homines non justificasse, sed gratiam, qua justificamur, prae- nuntiasse, do. In Mem. qu. 5. Si per se attendantur Sacra- menta vetera, nullo modo possunt mederi : si autem res ipsae, quarum hsec sunt Sacramenta, inquirantur, in eis inveniri poterit purgatio peccatorum. Augustin, whose notions of Regeneration have been already stated, calls the circumcision of the heart, puram ab omni illicita concupiscentia voluntatem de Sp. et litera Ambrose Ep. 73. Litera occidens exiguam corporis portionem ; Spiritus intelligens circumcisionem totius animae corporisque custodit, ut superfluis amputatis, id est peccatis avaritiae libidinisque vitiis, frugalitas diligatur, et castimonia teneatur. In the language of Augustin and the schoolmen, res sacra- menti does not signify its inward grace, or immediate and mys- tical effect, but the development of that spiritual principle, its moral and practical effects, which, according to the order of God's counsels and the design of the institution, it is intended to produce. What he means, therefore, is, that though these Sacraments were not, like the Christian Sacraments, means or channels of forgiveness and spiritual grace ; still, if followed up by these things (those graces or virtuous habits, repentance, conversion, Sec.) of which they are signs, cleansing from sin, and consequently forgiveness of sin, may be found in them. There are two circumstances which prove the difference be- tween Circumcision and Baptism. 1. Circumcision was accompanied with no promise of forgive- ness of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost, salvation or eternal life. God indeed declared that the uncircumcised male shall be cut off from the congregation, which was evidently a threat of a DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 57 the duties of baptized persons, or between the initiatory gift and earnest of the Holy Ghost, and his abiding influences and effects, may be consi- dered as so many appeals to the faith of the disci- ples, and indirect testimonies to the truth of this im- portant doctrine. Thus the Roman converts, whom St. Paul had addressed as men who were dead with Christ 8 , who had been justified by faith, and had received the Spirit of adoption, are exhorted to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, to cast off the works of darkness, and to put on the armour of light. Thus the Corinthians, who had been washed 9 , sanctified, and justified, sealed, and anointed, and endowed with the earnest of the Spirit, are called upon to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. Thus the Apostle beseeches God to bestow the Spirit of wisdom and revelation l on those Ephesians who had been already sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, and calls upon the temporal nature. It follows, therefore, that the privileges which it directly conferred, were temporal likewise. 2. It was a ceremony, from which females were excluded. The privileges, therefore, which it directly bestowed were such as are peculiar to males, and consequently were not of a spiritual nature. 8 Rom. vi. 8; v. 1 ; viii. 15 ; xii. 1, 2 ; xiii. 12. 9 1 Cor. vi. 11 : 2 Cor. i. 21, 22 ; vii. 1. 1 Eph. i. 17 ; iv. 30 ; ii. 5, 6. 8 ; iv. 22, 23, 24. 58 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE same men who had been saved by grace, and quick- ened and raised up together with Christ, to be renewed in the spirit of their minds, to put off the old, and to put on the new man. Thus to the Colossians, he says, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God 2 . In these passages there is an evident distinction between privileges conferred and obligations con- tracted; between the mystical and initiatory, and the practical and progressive change of the disciples ; between the earnest of the Spirit, and the increase and development of his illuminating and sanctifying graces. The Apostle distinguishes between the grace which they had already received, and the duties to which they had engaged themselves, ap- peals to their faith, and reminds them of a change, which, as appears from the tenour of his arguments and exhortations, they must have been persuaded that they had actually undergone. But this change was not that practical and progressive improvement, to which he was exciting and encouraging them ; it was not a miraculous transformation of heart and faculties, nor a miraculous infusion of habitual holi- ness : but it was a mysterious change of state and spiritual existence, to which every one of them could refer without doubt or self-delusion, denoted and 3 Col. iii. i. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 59 certified by a visible symbol, exhibited in a Sacra- ment, received by faith, and confirmed by the pro- mise of the Son of God. This is that change which, in conformity with Scripture, has been called in the language of the primitive Christians, Regeneration, a spiritual nativity, a new birth of water and of the Spirit, the washing of regeneration, a death to sin, and a new birth or resur- rection to righteousness, a seal, and earnest of the Spirit, spiritual circumcision, the circumcision of Christ, a circumcision not made with hands. It is a change which the Church has carefully distinguished from conversion, the renewal of the inward frame, and every other change, moral, spiritual, and miracu- lous; and has not ventured to separate from that Sacrament, with which it has been identified by Christ, Such is the result of an inquiry into the principal passages of Scripture, on which this primitive and Catholic doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism is founded. From this detailed review of Scriptural authorities we may deduce a few observations. 1. We may observe that, according to the doc- trine of Scripture, such a change as that which we denominate Regeneration, does actually take place in Baptism. Christians are represented as receiving the remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost in Baptism; as being saved by baptism, wasJied, sanctified, and justified ; as being buried with, Christ 60 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE by Baptism into death ; buried and risen again with Christ, in Baptism ; crucified with Christ, putting on Christ in Baptism, sealed and anointed, endowed with the earnest of the Spirit, and the Spirit of adoption ; and circumcised with the circumcision of Christ made without hands. Now all these expressions terminate in a mysterious collation of grace, and a passage from a carnal state in Adam to a spiritual state in Christ; or in our admission into this latter state, carrying with it the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and a covenanted and conditional title to everlasting happiness. 2. Several of the figures, by which this change is denoted, resemble the expression, Regeneration or the New Birth, and lead us to suppose that they were intended to designate the same change, and to convey the same ideas to our minds. But since these figures speak of a change to which Baptism is instrumental, we reasonably conclude that to be born again of water and of the Spirit, and to be saved by the washing of Regeneration, signify a change effected through the same medium. And this conclusion is confirmed by a comparison of these figurative passages with those texts of Scripture which connect salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost with Baptism, in plain and literal language. We are therefore fully justified in the use which we make of this word Regeneration, and other words of the same family, DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 61 to signify in one comprehensive phrase the spiritual benefits conveyed over to us in the Sacrament of Baptism. 3. In some of the passages recited, Faith (or that Word 3 , which is the object of a Christian faith, and implies faith as its correlative,) and repentance are spoken of in connexion with Baptism, as quali- fications for the saving use of it. But, where these qualifications are not mentioned, they are obviously implied and understood. Hence we con- clude that faith and repentance are necessary quali- fications for Baptism, wherever the subject is capable of them. 4. We must observe that, according to the whole tenour of Scriptural doctrine, Regeneration uniformly implies a strict obligation to newness of life, and improvement in Christian virtues. These are the duties of regenerate man ; not the necessary, but the legitimate and intended effects of the New Birth, depending on the right use of the means of grace and spiritual assistance, and the right exercise of that principle of self-action, which God has implanted in us. For what St. Peter says of our Regeneration in Baptism, and first entrance into the Christian state, 3 1 Pet. i. 23. James i. 18. That/a/^ which is "required of persons to be baptized, whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that sacrament," cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 62 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE applies with equal force to every stage of the life of trial. Baptism doth save us, not the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a .good conscience toward God*. 1 Pet. iii. 21. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 63 CHAPTER V. A REVIEW OF THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO THIS DOCTRINE FROM PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. IT is a received maxim of Christian wisdom and belief, that there can be no real inconsistency be- tween the several portions of Holy Writ ; that they exhibit one scheme and one form of doctrine, and are parts of one great whole, issuing from the same Spirit, and ministering to the same purposes. It happens, however, that in some instances apparent contradictions occur in matters of high import to the soundness of Christian belief. We meet with passages which seem at first sight to militate against other texts, on which the universal Church has grounded established points of doctrine and dis- cipline. We must not be surprised, then, if texts of Scripture are alleged, which appear to some minds 64 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE to contradict and confute this doctrine of Regenera- tion in Baptism. I shall therefore review the most material of those texts, and endeavour to prove, on broad and general principles of interpretation, that they do not in any degree invalidate the doctrine for which I am contending. Upon those passages which speak of the circum- cision of the heart I have already stated my opinion 1 . Though the circumcision of the heart may perhaps more properly signify cutting off its evil lusts, and removing the impediments to obedience, its meaning may be so extended as to denote, without any vio- lence to the figure, a renewed and obedient frame of mind. In this sense it is equivalent to Regene- ration, in the popular way of speaking ; or, in other words 2 , to repentance, renovation, or the change and improvement of the inward frame. This is the great business of the Christian life, the duty to which our Regeneration in Baptism obliges us, and which, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, we shall be enabled to perform. But even upon the principles of the greater number of those who dissent from this doctrine, it can scarcely be maintained that Regeneration and the Circumcision of the heart are parallel and equivalent 1 Particularly Rom. ii. 28, 29. Merdvoia the change of mind, or inward principles of 3 action. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 65 expressions. For Moses exhorts the people to cir- cumcise the foreskins of their own hearts s ; and there- fore, when God promises that He will circumcise their hearts 4 , the meaning evidently is, that He will give them grace to circumcise their own hearts, to reform themselves, to renew themselves in the spirit of their minds. But I presume that they, who are most averse to this doctrine, would scarcely exhort their neighbours to regenerate themselves, or allow that to be born again signifies to be endued with grace to reform or regenerate ourselves. Other passages are alleged, in which men are spoken of as being sons or children of God without any reference to Baptism, and from thence it is con- cluded, that there is no necessary connection be- tween Baptism and Regeneration. Sons of God, indeed, is a phrase employed in a considerable latitude, and used in a lower sense to denote those who resemble God in some quality or other. But in the stricter sense, of men taken into covenant with God, reconciled to Him through Christ, and endowed with the Spirit of adoption, I certainly conceive that to be, or to be made, children of God, includes the notion of Baptism. For in this sense of the phrase the children of God are saved, and since our Lord has declared that he that believeth and 3 Deut. x. 16. Jer. iv. 4. 4 Deut. xxx. 6. F ()6 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE is baptized shall be saved 5 , and since his Apostles have taught us that we are saved by Baptism and by the washing of Regeneration 6 , I do not think the conclusion either forced or unreasonable, that Bap- tism is, in all ordinary cases, necessary to our being made children of God; nor can I persuade myself that our Church teaches us, on weak and insufficient grounds, that we are made children of God in Baptism. But in truth this species of negative proof, which has been so much insisted on, is utterly untenable. It is an undeniable rule of interpretation, that in passages which are plainly parallel, what is wanting in one text must be supplied from others that are fuller and more explicit. Thus, since we are taught that we must be born of water and of the Spirit, that Baptism doth save us, that we are saved by the wash- ing of Regeneration, and that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved 7 , when we meet with passages in which Christians are said to be sons of God, to become children of God, to have been born again, or to have been born of God & , without mention of Baptism, it follows that Baptism is implied, and virtually contained, in these phrases. In fact, if we suppose that our Saviour's precept was strictly com- s Mark xvi. 16. i p e t. iii. 21. Titus iii. 5. 7 John iii. 5. 1 Pet. iii. 21. Titus iii. 5. Mark xvi. 16. s 1 John iii. 2. John i. 12, 13. 1 Pet. i. 23. James i. 18. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 67 plied with, and that the expressions connected with it were familiar to the Church, since such phrases as to be born again, or to be born of God, would naturally suggest the idea of Baptism to the dis- ciples, the express mention of the sacramental action would be unnecessary. When therefore believers are said to have had power given them to become the children of God, and to have been born of God; when God is said to have begotten us with the word of Ms truth, and to have begotten its again to a lively hope ; and when we are said to have been born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God, according to this sure prin- ciple of interpretation, Baptism is implied in these passages, as a subordinate and collateral mean of grace; and the negative argument becomes of no value. But the passages on which the greatest stress is laid are certain texts of St. John's Epistles, which are supposed to confute that connexion which has been thought to subsist between Baptism and Rege- neration. For since the Apostle teaches us that whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin 9 ; * that 9 1 Johniii. 9; v. 18 ; v. 4; v. 1 ; iv. 7. 1 It frequently happens that the indefinite and past perfect tenses of the Greek verb (yeyevvijrai, yWJj0jj, ytycwTj/itVoe) not only signify a past and particular action, but a permanent act consequent upon it ; and imply the natural or moral effects of that action, and a continuance in the state of which it is the com- mencement. So the words ciKcuwQivrtc, K-araXXaytVrse, Xprrw F 2 68 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world ; that every one that loveth is born of God ; and that whoso- ever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God ; from hence it is argued, that they in whom these signs concur are regenerate, whether baptized or not ; that they, on the contrary, in whom these signs are not to be found, though they may have been baptized with water, have not been born again of the Spirit. We may, however, suppose with good reason, that the Apostle did not intend to invalidate his Master's lesson, or to derogate from his institution. Whatever may be the true meaning of the word Regeneration, to be saved and to be born again are t, imply a continuance in that state into which the parties had been admitted. Thus these expressions of St. John not only denote the new birth, but a continuance in that state of new life, of which the new birth is the commencement. This ex- pression, therefore, " he that hath been born of God" is equivalent to the expressions, he that abideth in God, and a child of God, even on grammatical principles. In order to express this sense in our own idiom, we must make use of a periphrasis He that hath been born of God, and continues to be a child of God. We must of course decide from the nature of the argument, and a general view of the passages before us, when the past tense implies continuance, and signifies a permanent act. The grounds on which this sense is assigned to it in the present case, will be seen in the body of the work. Rosenmuller calls this use of the past perfect tense an He- braism : but I am inclined to think that it is a Grecism like- wise. Indeed, it is an usage which, though it may be more com- mon in a tongue which has no present tense, seems to arise out of the general nature and use of language. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 69 parallel expressions in the texts quoted in the last chapter. But since Christ has taught us that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, it seems not very probable that St. John intended to say, that he who believes is regenerated or saved, whe- ther baptized or not; or that those other qualifica- tions can, according to the ordinary tenour of the Gospel Covenant, entitle man to salvation indepen- dently of Baptism. But since these texts have been alleged with much confidence in confutation of the opinion which I am advocating, I shall not content myself with this general reply to the negative proof, but shall explain them more at large, in order to show that they are perfectly consistent with the doctrine which con- nects, and, in a qualified sense, identifies Regenera- tion with Baptism. When we meet with texts of Scripture containing opinions apparently contradictory, they cannot both be assumed as grounds of reasoning, in their simple and literal construction, but they may usually be reconciled to each other upon general and approved principles of interpretation. For instance If the contending passages are both of a controversial nature, an acquaintance with the opposite errors, which the inspired writers were combating, will probably bring them to an agreement. If the one is direct and dogmatical, the other controversial, it is evident that the dogmatical passage must furnish 70 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE the key to the controversial. This therefore is one simple method of reconciling such differences. We must enter into the drift and intention of the writers: we must consider, for instance, whether they are laying down and explaining any particular doctrine, or alluding to it as a well-known and re- ceived opinion; or are combating errors which had been grafted on it. And we must attend to the circumstances and positions of the parties, to whom they originally addressed themselves. On this ground, if I mistake not, notwithstanding what St. John has written, we may safely adhere to the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, which was maintained by the ancient Christians. For those passages, which they assumed as grounds and first principles, are either intended to propound and ex- plain the doctrine directly and dogmatically, or to remind the disciples of what they had already learned and believed, for purposes of practical improvement. On the other hand these texts of St. John appear from the contents and texture of the Epistle to be of a controversial nature, intended to combat a perni- cious misconstruction of what our Saviour and his Apostles had taught. Though we cannot exactly determine what per- sons and opinions the Apostle was combating, it appears certain, to use the words of an eminent Di- vine, " that he has written a large part of his first Epistle to confute some men of his own time, who DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 71 boasted that they had been born of God, while they took no care to maintain good works 2 ," Men who perverted the received and orthodox notions of Re- generation to the worst purposes, and laid claim to the privileges and blessings of the Gospel Covenant, while they were dispensing with its obligations, and despising its sanctions. Little doubt can, I think, be entertained that this is a true statement of the general drift of the Apostle's letter, and that what he has said on this particular subject was intended to correct a dan- gerous misconstruction of a current and catholic doctrine. But if Christ and his Apostles had taught that Regeneration is a radical and entire change of the mind and moral nature, and consequently, that in the eye of reason, and the nature of things, a sound faith and habitual holiness are the only evi- dences of a new birth, the misconstruction would have been almost impossible, and the heresy would have confuted and condemned itself. If, on the other hand, their doctrine was the same which we find in the writings of the early Christians, men of corrupt minds would easily be induced to separate the grace and privileges of Baptism from the qualifi- cations which they pre-suppose, and the duties and obligations which they imply. They would endea- vour to persuade themselves and their fellow Chris- 2 Waterland on Regeneration. 72 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE tians, that he who has been once mystically grafted into Christ, will abide in Christ for ever; that he who has once known God, will know Him to the end intimately and vitally; and that he who has been born of God in a sacramental and mysterious manner, will never cease to be the child of God. The Apostle therefore secures the sound part of his converts against the infection of this heresy, by carrying their thoughts from the blessings and privi- leges to the duties and obligations of Christianity, and insisting on their inseparable union. To have fellowship with the Father and the Son, to abide in the light, to abide in the Father and the Son, to know Christ, to have, to see, to know the Father, and to be the sons of God \ are different phrases which express in significant language the great privilege of our reli- gion; a mysterious union with the Deity, and a spiritual relationship to God and Christ. But since this union implies and requires a moral resemblance, it will necessarily go to decay and expire without the exercise of the corresponding duties. These are, a sincere faith in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God 4 , and a resolute confession of the Father and the Son 5 ; a stedfast attachment to the word * 1 John i. 3. 7 ; ii. 10 ; ii. 24. 27, 28 ; iii. 6 ; iv. 13. 15, 16 ; ii. 23. 2 John 9. 3 John 11.1 John ii. 4 ; iii. 24 ; iv. 7 ; iii. 1 ; v. 20. 4 1 John v. 1. 5. 4 1 John iv. 2, 3. 15. 2 John 7. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 73 of truth 6 , love and fellowship with each other 7 , walking as Christ walked 8 , an unfeigned obedience to the commandments of God and Christ 9 , and a life of righteousness and purity '. As therefore the whole tenor of the Epistle shows that St. John is not teaching us how we are to acquire our Christian privileges, but how we are to preserve them, so it will satisfy an attentive reader that, in the passages which bear upon this question, he is not pointing out to us the tests of Regenera- tion, but the criterions by which we must learn whether we are indeed God's children in a practical point of view, walking in the light, and abiding in the Father and the Son. In other words, whether the principle of new life bestowed on us in Baptism, is expanding and developing itself in a virtuous and godly conversation. With this clue to our enquiry we shall find that these passages are so far from con- tradicting the doctrine of baptismal Regeneration that they evidently imply and pre-suppose it. 1. It forms a strong presumption in favour of this view of the texts before us, that the points on which they insist are the substance of the baptismal 6 1 John ii. 5. 14. 22, 23. 27. 7 1 John ii. 9, 10; iii. 14. 16. 23; iv. 8. 11. 16. 20, 21; v. 1, 2. 8 1 John ii. 6. 9 1 John ii. 3, 4 ; iii. 22. 24 ; v. 3. 1 1 John ii. 29 ; iii. 3. 7. 74 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE engagements, which were required of Catechumens, and assented to in the name of Infants, in the earliest ages of the Church a profession of faith in Christ, a renunciation of the devil, and, by implication, of the world, and a promise of subjection to the will and commandments of God. But these engagements, solemnly undertaken in Baptism, extend to every portion of the Christian and probationary state. Whilst they are faithfully kept, the spiritual life, commenced mysteriously in the Sacrament, advances practically and experimentally. When they are neglected and broken, the salutary effects of the new birth cease, till they are recovered by repent- ance; and we are no longer numbered with the children of God. 2. It must be remarked that the same effects which the Apostle attributes in these passages to our having been born of God, are ascribed by him in other places of the same Epistle to our abiding in the light, knowing God 2 , abiding in God 3 , dwelling in God, and God in us 4 . If he teaches us that whoso- ever hath been born of God does not commit sin 5 , he likewise teaches us that whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not 6 . If he teaches us that whosoever hath been born of God does not commit sin, because his seed (i. e. his Spirit) abideth in him, he likewise 2 1 John ii. 10. i J hn ii. 4 ; iii. 24 ; ii. 6, &c. 4 1 John iii. 24 ; iv. 12. 15, 16. ' 1 John iii. 9. " 1 John iii. 6. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 75 teaches us that he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in God and God in him 7 , and that hereby we know that he abideth in us, by his Spirit (by the fruits and evidences of his Spirit) which he hath given its. If he teaches us that whosoever loveth hath been born of God 8 , he teaches us that he that loveth abideth in the light 9 ; and that he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him '. If he teaches us that he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ hath been born of God 2 , he likewise teaches us that whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dweUeth in him and he in God 3 . Since then in this Epistle the phrase to "have been born of God" signifies the same thing as to " abide in the light," to " know God," to " abide in God," to " dwell in God and God in us," we must either so far identify the commencement and conti- nuance of the Christian life, the spiritual birth and the spiritual life, as to affirm that the one is the in- separable and indefectible consequence of the other a position contrary to the whole tenor of our religion, to the Apostle's doctrine, and to the express drift and purpose of this Epistle or we must allow that the phrase is here used in an enlarged sense, (expressing the continuance as well as the com- mencement of the spiritual life,) with a view to a 7 1 John iii. 24. * 1 John iv. 7. 9 1 John ii. 10. ' 1 John iv. 16. 3 1 John v. 1. 3 1 John iv. 15. 76 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE particular controversy, and the correction of a dan- gerous error ; that consequently the effects which he ascribes to the mystical new birth are not its neces- sary and inseparable, but its legitimate and intended consequences ; and that the tests to which he remits us are not, strictly speaking, the criterions of our Regeneration, or new birth, but of our continuance and advancement in the spiritual and new life, of our abiding and dwelling in God, and of his abiding and dwelling in us. 3. But a brief explanation of the texts in question will render this assertion still more evident. Whosoever hath been born of God 4 , to any salutary and lasting purpose ; he who has not only been born again of water and of the Spirit, but is still the child of God by a spiritual union and relationship in other words, he who dwelleth in God and God in him, doth not commit sin, doth not give his mind to sin nor addict himself to the practice of it, because his seed (the same Spirit, whose mysterious earnest was bestowed on him in Baptism) abideth in him 5 , leavening the whole lump, and transforming the whole inner man: and, when this is the case, he cannot sin 6 , morally speaking, because he hath been * 1 John iii. 9. * The Spirit is said to dwell in us, when he is working in or exerting a saving influence upon our souls. He cannot be living in a habit of sin, or commit any such sin as is unto death. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 77 born of God. For as abstinence from sin is the duty of the new born creature, so a life of sin is contrary to the purposes and obligations of the new birth, and is a state directly opposite to the state of a real Christian, and destructive of every Christian privi- lege. Whatsoever hath been born of God 7 , profitably and effectually, overcometh the world; is strenuously engaged in combating and overcoming the world; and this is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith. For Regeneration in Baptism always sup- poses a renunciation of the world ; and that victory over the world, which is wrought by faith, is the legitimate and intended consequence of having been born of God, and an obligation which the new birth imposes on every Christian. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ 8 , and whosoever loveth, hath been born of God ; he is leading that spiritual life which is the proper effect of the new birth in the order of God's counsels ; or, in other words, he abideth in the light, and abideth in the Father and the Son. For, since faith in Jesus, as the Christ and the Son of God, is a main qualification for the salutary effects of Baptism, and a material branch of the sacramental profession and promise; and since the love of our brethren, comprehending one great division of God's commandments, is 7 1 John v. 4. 1 John v. 1 ; iv. 7. 78 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE another part of our solemn vows and engagements ; if our faith in Christ should become unsound or unfruitful, or if our love to our brethren should wax cold, we cannot, with any show of reason, lay claim to the privileges, nor even to the name of God's children. This, I conceive, is a just view of these passages of Scripture ; and they are so far from contradicting the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, that they appear to me to imply and pre-suppose it, and to give evidence of its reception as an established article of faith in the days of the Apostle. Upon the whole, then, we may conclude, 1. That the phrases, to be born again, to be born of God, and the corresponding expressions, are used in their appropriate sense, when applied to the Sacrament of Baptism, both as a sign, and as a means or instru- ment of grace, symbolical of our mystical death and resurrection, and actually conveying over to us our spiritual nativity, the pardon of sin, and the myste- rious earnest of the Holy Ghost. 2. That there is nothing in the Apostle's words which can allow us to separate Regeneration from Baptism, or to affirm of any living disciple of Christ that he has been born again, born of God, or born of the Spirit, previously to this Sacrament. 3. That in the passages which have been exa- mined, the phrase, to have been born of God, is used in an enlarged sense to signify the continuance as DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 79 well as the commencement of the spiritual life, in order to confute the pernicious tenets which had been grafted on the doctrine of Regeneration, and to fix the attention of the disciples on the duties and obligations of their baptismal covenant. For in those passages of Scripture, in which this or similar phrases are used in their appropriated and restricted sense, the doctrine is stated and explained, and the solemn rite to which Regeneration, as a covenant blessing, is tied down, is either insisted on, or plainly alluded to. In these texts nothing is said of the outward means or instrument of Regeneration, which were well known to the disciples, and were necessarily implied and understood ; but our atten- tion is drawn to the qualifications which it requires, to its moral import, and the practical effects which it was intended to produce ; without which, as is allowed on all hands, it will lose its virtues, and be- come a savour of death unto death 9 . Ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins ; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not : whosoever sinneth, hath not seen him, nei- ther known him. Little children, let no man deceive you : he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he. might 9 2 Cor. ii. 16. 80 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the Devil: whosoever doeth not righte- ousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother 1 . 1 1 John iii. 5, &c. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 81 CHAPTER VI. A VIEW OF THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION TAUGHT BY THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. WHEN our Reformers settled the discipline, reviewed the doctrine, and compiled the liturgy of our national Church, they wisely determined to make no unne- cessary changes, nor to introduce any novelty in religion, but to place every thing, as much as possi- ble, on the same footing on which it stood before the corruptions, which they were removing, had found their way into the Church of Christ. Hence they did not sit down to the study of the Scriptures with a view of extracting from them a new form of doctrine or discipline, but they brought every ques- tion in debate to the test of Scripture, and allowed no conclusion to be valid, unless it was, as they were persuaded, fully borne out by the authority of the Sacred Volume. They likewise diligently enquired G 82 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE into the writings of the ancient Christians, and having satisfied themselves upon the common principles of experience and investigation, that the doctrines uni- versally received in the Churches in their days were agreeable to the truth, they were so far from refusing the assistance which they furnished them in the compilation of our Articles and Liturgy, that they avowedly acted on the principle of conforming as much as possible to their opinions and phraseology *. The doctrine of Regeneration maintained by the early Christians has been already stated. That Regeneration is made over to us in baptism, in the ordinary course of the Gospel dispensation, is an opinion which the universal Church and all orthodox writers had held without any doubt or variety of sentiment, till the era of the Reformation. We may therefore expect to find the same doctrine taught in our Articles and Liturgy : and we have reason to think that our Reformers would have rejected at once any novel opinions 2 , " which the Accessimus autem, quantum maxime potuimus, ad Eccle- siam Apostolorum et veterum Catholicorum Episcoporum et Patrum, quam scimus adhuc fuisse integram nee tantum doc- trmam nostram, sed etiam Sacramento,, precumque publicarum formam ad illorum ritus et instituta direximus. Inde enim putavimus instaurationem petendam esse, unde prima religionis initia ducta essent. Juelli Apologia, p. 184, Ench. Theol. 8vo, 1812. Imprimis vero videbunt concionatores, ne quid unquam doceant pro concione, quod a populo religiose teneri et credi velint, nisi quod consentaneum sit doctrinae Veteris aut Novi DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IX BAPTISM. 83 Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops had not gathered from the doctrine of Scripture." Accord- ingly, when we consult these documents, we find that they make use of their phraseology, and adopt their opinions, which are in fact plain and obvious deductions from Scripture, unwarped by fanciful interpretations and religious prejudices 3 . The first Article 4 which alludes to this doctrine, is that which treats of original or birth sin. In this Article we are taught that " this infection of nature doth remain, yea in them that are regenerate :" and that "although there is no condemnation to them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle doth confess that concupiscence or lust hath in itself the nature of sin." In this sentence the word renatis (or regenerate) in the Latin copy answers to the Testament!, quodque ex ea ipsa doctrina Catholic! Patres et Veteres Episcopi collegerint. Canons, 1570. On this Canon it may be remarked that the Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops did uniformly collect from Scripture that doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, which our Articles and Liturgy appear to common understandings to inculcate : and that they never did collect from Scripture the doctrine which has been substituted for it, and which its advocates have attempted to re- concile to the plain statements of our Liturgy. 3 Many of the prayers contained in our Service-book are the same, or nearly the same, as were in use previous to the Refor- mation. It appears that the compilers of our Liturgy were anxious to retain such portions of the ancient services, as were consistent with sound doctrine, and free from the corruptions of the Church of Rome. 4 Article ix. G'2 84 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE word baptized in the English, which plainly shows that our Reformers, in conformity to the ancient doctrine, identified Regeneration with Baptism. We arrrive at the same conclusion from considering the state of the controversy. For this part of the Article is pointed at the doctrine of the Roman Church, established by the Council of Trent, that the whole infection of original sin is washed away and the soul rendered altogether pure in Baptism 5 . The fifteenth Article, speaking of Christ alone 5 Si quis per Christi gratiam, quae in Baptismo confertur, reatum originalis peccati remitti negat ; aut etiam asserit non totum tolli id, quod veram ac propriam peccati rationem habet, sed illud tantum dicit radi, aut non imputari, Anathema sit. Veterem hominem exuentes, et novum, qui secundum Deum creatus est, induentes, innocentes, immaculati, puri, innoxii, ac Deo dilecti, effecti sunt Dei haeredes, &c. Concupiscentiam, quam aliquando Apostolus peccatum vocat, Sancta Synodus declarat Ecclesiam Catholicam nunquam intellexisse peccatum appellari quod vere ac proprie peccatum sit, sed quia ex pec- cato est, et ad peccatum inclinat. Primum Decretum Quintae Sessionis. Paolo tells us that the Theologians of the Council agreed, that original sin is effaced by Baptism, which renders the soul as pure as it was in the state of innocence, though the penalties of that sin remain to serve as exercises to the faithful. 1. 2. 65. The opinion of the ancients is conformable to the doctrine of our Church. Lex ista peccati, quae in membris est corporis mortis hujus, et remissa est regeneratione spiritali, et manet in corpore mortali. Remissa, quia reatus solutus est sacramento ; manet autem, quia operatur desideria, contra quae dimicant et fideles. Augustin contra Julianum. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 85 without sin, says, "All we the rest, although bap- tized, and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things :" evidently speaking of our Regeneration in Baptism. In the next Article likewise, which treats of sin after Baptism, it is assumed, in conformity to the doctrine of the universal Church, that "we receive the Holy Ghost in Baptism." In the twenty-fifth Article Sacraments are defined to be " not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather certain sure witnesses and efficacious signs of grace, and God's good will to- wards us." This is precisely the doctrine which the ancient Christians held that Sacraments are not only signs significant or symbolical, but signs accom- panied with a conveyance of grace, and a saving efficacy upon the soul ; and that they are sure wit- nesses, testimonies, pledges, and securities, of God's present and actual, and lasting good will toward us. In the twenty-seventh Article we are taught that Baptism is not only a sign of profession, or " a mark of difference, but also a sign," an efficacious sign, " of Regeneration or new birth," a sign through means of which the inward grace of Regeneration is actu- ally bestowed on us, in virtue of Christ's institu- tion and promise ; " whereby, as by an instrument," after the manner of a legal instrument, which makes over to a man the freedom of a public body, or his 86 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE title to any property or privilege, " they that receive Baptism rightly," from the proper hands and with proper qualifications, " are grafted into the Church ; the promises of forgiveness of sins, and of our adop- tion to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed," are openly ratified and made good to us, as it were by the signing and sealing of a deed or instrument. " Faith is confirmed and grace is increased," in those recipients who are capable of an increase of faith and grace, " by virtue of prayer unto God. The Baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the Church as most agreeable to the institution." .In this part of the Article there can be no rea- sonable doubt that the meaning of the Church is (a point never doubted among orthodox Christians pre- vious to the time of the Reformation), that every in- dividual Infant, receiving " Baptism rightly," partakes of those graces of which Infants are capable the new birth, incorporation into Christ, forgiveness of sin, and adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost. For, independently of the argument for Infant Bap- tism drawn from the analogy between Christian Bap- tism and Jewish Circumcision, Baptism was instituted for the salvation of sinners ; and since Infants are born in sin and stand in need of forgiveness, and are capa- ble of grace and salvation, it is most agreeable to the institution that they should be baptized, in order DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 87 that they may partake of the Gospel promise, and be saved or regenerated, without respect of persons, in the way which Christ has appointed. In the different offices for the Administration of Baptism, the same doctrine is taught with particu- larity and plainness, and a studied conformity to the language and opinions of the ancient Christians. Previous to the sacramental act, the person to be baptized is represented as not regenerate ; but from the moment that the ceremony has been performed, he is pronounced regenerate, without a hint or suspicion of any reserve, or of any doubt existing in the minds of either the Minister or the Congrega- tion. We are first told that "all men are conceived or born in sin," and that " none can enter into the kingdom of God unless they be regenerate, and born anew of water and of the Spirit ;" and are therefore besought to call upon God that the Infant "may be baptized with water and with the Holy Ghost." Accordingly, the Congregation joins with the Minis- ter in praying, " that he, coming to God's Holy Bap- tism, may receive remission of his sins by spiritual Regeneration, and that God will give his Holy Spirit to him, that he may be born again, and made an heir of everlasting salvation :" and God is intreated to "sanctify the water to the mystical washing away of sin." As soon as the Child has been baptized, and received into the Congregation, the Minister solemnly pronounces him " regenerate, and 88 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE grafted into the body of Christ," and the Congrega- tion returns thanks to God, for having been "pleased to regenerate him with his Holy Spirit, to receive him for his own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into his Holy Church." In the office for receiving Children privately bap- tized into the Church, instead of praying God to " give his Holy Spirit to the Infant that he may be bora again," we beseech Him to "give the Infant his Holy Spirit, that he, being born again," that is, having been already born again, when he was bap- tized, "may continue his servant and attain his promises:" plainly expressing our firm persuasion that Baptism is the point in which the new birth takes place. In short, these Offices, from one end to the other, unequivocally exhibit that same doctrine of Regene- ration in Baptism, which has been stated in a pre- ceding chapter ; and are compiled in strict conformity to the language and sentiments of the ancient Churches. Indeed, the views which they present to us of the connexion between the Sacrament and the new birth, and of the opinion of our Reformers on this head of doctrine, are most clear and explicit, and appear scarcely to leave any opening for cavils and disputes upon the subject. In the Catechism it is affirmed that we " are made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven in Baptism :" that a DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 89 Sacrament is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us," and that this sign or sacrament is " ordained by Christ him- self as a means," that is, an instrumental cause, or instrument of conveyance, "whereby we receive the same" inw r ard grace, " and a pledge to assure us" of its collation; and that the inward and spiritual grace of Baptism is "a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness ;" the forgiveness of sin, implying the promise of power to resist and over- come it, and the gift of the Holy Ghost as the prin- ciple of the new life of righteousness. In proof of this, we are reminded that " being by nature born in sin, and children of wrath, we are made children of grace," children of God, and partakers of his grace, by Baptism. For if we are born in sin and children of wrath, we cannot become children of grace by Baptism, unless we receive the forgiveness of sin and a new principle of righteousness, in the right use of that Sacrament. In the Office of Confirmation 6 , the Regeneration 6 There are some passages in the writings of Cyprian, which would seem to imply that, though forgiveness of sin and spiritual Regeneration are conferred in Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost is, more properly speaking, bestowed by laying on of hands. But since in other passages of his works he positively states that we are born again of the Spirit, and renewed by the Spirit, in Bap- tism, he can only mean that the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is bestowed in Baptism, is increased and strengthened by imposition of hands. He uses indeed a phrase, which shows the great im- portance that he attached to this ceremony Sacramento utroque 90 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE of the parties before the Bishop, and the forgiveness of their sins in Baptism, are directly and unequivo- nascuntur intimating that, in his opinion, the new birth could not be deemed complete without Episcopal imposition of hands, or, as it is commonly called, Confirmation. Quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur, ut qui in Ecclesia bap- tizantur, prsepositis Ecclesiae offerantur, ut per nostram orationem et manus impositionern Spiritum Sanctum consequantur, et signaculo dominico consummentur. Afterwards, expressing his disapprobation of the opinion that heretics might be received into the Church by imposition of hands only, without Ecclesiastical Baptism, he says : Ideo baptizari eos oportet, qui de haeresi ad Ecclesiam veniunt, ut qui legitimo et vero et unico Sanctse Ecclesiae Baptismo ad regnum Dei Regeneratione divina praeparantur, sacramento utro- que nascantur, quia scriptum est : Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu, non potest intrare in regnum Dei. Ep. ad Jubaianum, 73. Upon this dictum of Cyprian, Mr. Faber makes this extraor- dinary comment : " Cyprian scruples not to speak of the Sacrament of Baptism as being a two-fold Sacrament : that is to say, as being a Sacra- ment including in its Ideality two distinct Sacraments, which might or might not be received simultaneously, Regeneration from water, or a federal change of condition ; and Regeneration from the Spirit, or a moral change of condition." It is difficult to understand how Mr. Faber could stumble on this strange mistake. Nothing can be more evident than that Cyprian does not here speak of Baptism as a two-fold Sacrament, but by Sacramentum utrumque means Baptism, and the impo- sition of hands. The same argument occurs in his Epistle to Stephen, 72. Dr. Hammond observes : Nobis extra omne dubium ponitur Spiritum Domini in Bap- tismo dari, (nee enim aliter verum esset ex aqua et Spiritu nasci,) DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 91 cally asserted : " Almighty God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these thy servants by water and the cujus tamen largioribus rivis homines in Confirmatione prolui ac perfundi aeque non dubitamus. De Confirmatione, vol. i. p. 892. The following passage he quotes from Eucherius de Guber- natione Dei, as expressing the common sentiments of the ancient Christians. Spiritus Sanctus qui super aquas Baptismi salutifero descendit illapsu, in fonte plenitudinem tribuit ad innocentiam, in Con- firmatione gratiam praestat ad augmentum. In Baptismo rege- neramur ad vitam, post baptismum confirmamur ad pugnam. In Baptismo abluimur, post baptismum roboramur. Regene- ratio per se salvat mox in pace beati saeculi recipiendos : Con- firmatio armat ac instruit ad agones mundi hujus et praelia reservandos. p. 895. Besides the passages quoted in Chapter 8, from Cyprian, to show that in his opinion the Holy Ghost is given in Baptism, the following are decisive of his sentiments : Per baptisma enim accipitur Spiritus Sanctus, et sic a bapti- zatis, et Spiritum Sanctum consecutis, ad bibendum calicem Domini pervenitur. Ep. 63. ad Caecilium. Peccata purgare, et hominem sanctificare aqua sola non potest, nisi habeat et Spiritum Sanctum. Quare aut et Spiritum necesse est concedant esse illic, ubi baptisma esse dicunt ; aut nee bap- tisma est, ubi Spiritus non est, qiu'a baptisma esse sine Spiritu non potest. Ep. 74. Pompeio. In the same Epistle, speaking of receiving the Holy Ghost by the imposition of hands, he says : Porro autem non per manus impositionem quis nascitur quando accipit Spiritum Sanctum, sed in Baptismo, ut Spiritum jam natus accipiat, sicut in primo homine Adam factum est. Ante enim Deus eum plasmavit, et tune insufBavit in faciem ejus spiritum vitae. Nee enim potest accipi Spiritus, nisi prius fuerit qui accipiat. But though there is an apparent inconsistency in these pas- 92 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE Holy Ghost, and hast given them forgiveness of all their sins ; strengthen them, we beseech thee, with the Holy Ghost the Comforter 7 ." And precisely in the same manner, we intreat God in the Collect for Christmas Day, that "we being regenerate," that is, having been born again, and made his chil- dren by adoption and grace, " may be daily renewed by his Holy Spirit." For, since our Liturgy every where teaches and assumes our adoption and Rege- neration in Baptism, and never uses the word ex- cept in reference to Baptism, the supposition that in this prayer the congregation is contemplated as unregenerate, and that we are praying for some other Regeneration and adoption, is totally incon- sistent with sound and just principles of interpreta- tion. We find, then, that our Liturgy, in strict con- formity to the doctrine of the universal Church, sages, it was always the doctrine of the Church, grounded on plain texts of Scripture, that the Holy Ghost is received in Baptism. 7 This prayer is one of great antiquity, and is found in the Sacramentary of Gelasius (A.D. 494), of Gregory, and many of the Western Churches. Palmer's Origines Liturgicae, vol. ii. p. 203. Consequently, it was used when Confirmation immediately followed Baptism, and was considered as a kind of supplement to that Sacrament. Martene tells us that this custom, though still retained in some places, had gone into general disuse about the beginning of the thirteenth century. Martene de Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus, vol. i. c. 2, p. 86. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 93 makes no mention of Regeneration except in con- junction with Baptism ; and that its compilers were so far from attempting to separate what had been intimately connected in the faith and discipline of their forefathers in Christianity, that they have never introduced the word into these services even in a popular sense. The learned Archbishop of Cashel has investigated the genealogy of these Offices, and shown that this doctrine pervades all those documents from which we can infer their true drift and import, on legitimate principles of analogy and induction. He has traced the doctrine which they exhibit to the writings of Cranmer, the two books of Homilies 8 , the paraphrase of Erasmus, the 8 In the Homilies this doctrine is evidently assumed, and often asserted and alluded to. Insomuch that Infants, being baptized and dying in their infancy, are by this sacrifice (i. e. the sacrifice of the death of Christ, on which the efficacy of Baptism, and all other means of grace, ultimately depends) washed from their sins, brought to God's favour, made his children, and inheritors of his kingdom of heaven. And they which in act or deed do sin after Baptism, are by this sacrifice washed from their sins. Homily on Salva- tion, p. 1, 17. London Edition, 1817. Here it is assumed that Infants are, in virtue of Christ's sacri- fice, washed from their sins in Baptism ; and the distinction between the forgiveness of sins in Baptism, and subsequently to it, is laid down. So again at the latter end of the First Part of the same Homily : And therefore we trust to obtain thereby God's grace and remission, as well of our original sin in Baptism, as of all actual 94 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE works of Luther, and the public services of the Lutheran Church. As we ascend higher, the line of testimony continues unbroken, and the doctrine of Regeneration in and through Baptism, as a ne- cessary Article of Christian faith, grounded on our Saviour's express declaration, may be traced back- ward without interruption from the time of the Reformation to the days of the Apostles. It is true that we find many Divines of our Church departing more or less from the language or sin committed by us after Baptism, if we truly repent and turn unfeignedly to Him again, p. 23. " The fountain of our Regeneration (Xourpov ira\iyytvf.aia.Q) is there presented unto us." Homily of repairing of Churches, p. 251. Our Saviour Christ altered and changed the same (i. e. the Jewish washings) into a profitable Sacrament, the Sacrament of our Regeneration, or new birth. Homily on Fasting, p. 266. We be therefore washed in our Baptism from the filthiness of sin, that we should live afterward in the pureness of life. Homily on the Passion, p. 385. By holy promises, with calling the name of God to witness, we be made lively members of Christ, when we profess his reli- gion, receiving the Sacrament of Baptism. Homily on Swearing, p. 62. These passages of the Homilies present us with exactly the same view of the effects of Baptism which pervades the writings of the ancient Christians. Baptism is called the Fountain and Sacrament of our Regeneration, and we are said to be washed from the filthiness of sin, and made lively members of Christ in Baptism. But at the same time the necessity of living in pure- ness of life, and of repenting truly of sins committed after Bap- tism, are distinctly insisted on. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 95 the doctrine of these formularies, and led by the fashion of the day, and their deference to the opi- nions of some foreign Theologians of eminence, to relinquish the sentiments and phraseology of Chris- tian antiquity. But the greater number of those Divines, who have been most distinguished for their intimate acquaintance with the history of ecclesias- tical opinion, a sound judgment, and a vigorous understanding, though they may have sometimes used the word Regeneration in an enlarged and popular sense, have adhered to the primitive doctrine, and enforced it with the whole weight of their learning, talents, and eloquence 9 . From a review then of our Articles and Liturgy we may derive the following conclusions. 1. They maintain the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism in the most decided manner, grounding it on the same texts of Scripture, from which the ancient Christians had deduced it ; including under it forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven: and never introducing the word itself except in conjunc- tion with Baptism. 2. They teach, in common with the writings of 9 I would refer the reader to the 4th, 5th, and 6th Chapters of Archbishop Laurence's Doctrine, &c. Part 1st especially to the 5th Chapter, in which Cranmer's opinion is stated at length. Of the Divines to whom I allude, I need only mention, Jewel, Hooker, Andrews, Taylor, and Barrow. 96 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE the ancient Christians, the necessity of faith and repentance as qualifications for the salutary effects of Baptism. But they never contemplate any per- son, however qualified, as regenerate, till he is actually baptized. 3. They suppose that infants, who are necessarily free from actual sin, are duly qualified for Baptism, and are looked on by God precisely in the same light as penitents and believers : and they unequi- vocally assert that every baptized infant without exception is born again. 4. They suppose that all baptized persons, whe- ther infants or adults, contract a solemn engagement to holiness and newness of life : and that their con- tinuance in a state of salvation depends on their future conduct. 5. They lay down a very plain and broad distinc- tion between this grace of Regeneration, and con- version, repentance, renovation, and such Christian virtues and changes of the inward frame, as require the concurrence of man's will and endeavours, imply degrees, and are capable of increase. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 97 CHAPTER VII. A VIEW OF THE ATTEMPTS WHICH HAVE BEEN MADE TO INVALIDATE THE LINE OF ARGUMENT PURSUED IN THE LAST CHAPTER. WE have seen in the preceding Chapter that the Church of England, treading in the steps of the primitive Christians, and of the universal Church, teaches with the greatest perspicuity the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, and confines the word to that single occurrence in her Articles and Liturgy. Some of her members, however, having adopted a notion, that Regeneration necessarily implies habi- tual holiness, that it is a turning point from evil to good, including an entire change of mind, a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, or an implantation of such a habit of grace as must, in the very nature of things, produce a corresponding effect upon the life and manners, and, consequently, H 98 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE that it can have no immediate dependence on Baptism, have endeavoured to set aside the line of argument that has been pursued, and to reconcile their own opinions to the clear and unambiguous statements of those formularies. It may seem a difficult business to make the language, which was meant to express one theory, correspond with another of a very different kind. Yet with the aid of a few subtle distinctions, arbitrary suppositions, and seeming analogies, ingenious men will easily satisfy themselves that they have accomplished this task, and will probably persuade others, whose views and opinions coincide with their own, that they have succeeded in their undertaking. If our theories are sound, the difficulties which seem to embarrass them must be solved on such general principles, as are strictly applicable to the cases in question. If we are obliged to resort to experiments and temporary expedients, to analogies which have no real points of agreement, or to prin- ciples which do not bear upon the matters in debate, we have good reason to doubt the soundness of our opinions, and to suspect that the difficulties may possibly originate in the faultiness of our own theories. Several solutions have been proposed in order to get rid of this discordance between the language of our own Church, and the opinions of some Churchmen. But in the mean time it seems to DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 99 have been forgotten, that the true sense of these compositions must be ascertained by investigating their genealogy, and endeavouring to discover the opinions of their compilers, and the principles on which they were really constructed. Some of our Calvinistic Divines *, who maintained the doctrines of an effectual call 2 , the implantation 1 Etsi remissio peccati originalis in infantia morituro sit effec- tus praedestinationis, tamen non necesse est ut sit in omnibus infantibus baptizatis supravicturis effectus praedestinationis. Etsi enim parvulum non electum in eo statu ponat, ut sufficienter ordinet eum ad vitam aeternam pro eo statu : tamen cum idem parv ? ulus adoleverit, haec sola remissio originalis reatus non suffi- cit ut idem sufficienter ordinetur ad vitam pro statu adulti : nisi enim impleverit votum Baptismi, non justificatus erit pro modo adulti. Cum itaque multi baptizati infantes in adulta aetate nunquam actu impleant votum Baptismi, ac proinde nunquam ad salutem pertingant : sequitur istius modi remissionem originalis peccati esse effectum communis providentiae divinse supernaturalis, et non effectum prsedestinationis. Dr. Samuel Ward. This is quoted from a curious treatise, de Infantilis Baptismi vi et efficacia, inserted in the works of the learned Gataker. It contains a discussion between Dr. Ward, who was Margaret Professor, and Master of Sidney College, and one of King James's deputies to the Synod of Dort, and Gataker, upon the question, whether all infants are justified in Baptism? Large references are made in it to the writings of the most eminent Cal- vinistic Divines, from which I have borrowed several quotations. To the quotations which I have borrowed from this tract, I have subjoined the letter G. 2 By an effectual call is meant, in the language of these Divines, what Augustin styles a call according to God's purpose ; that is, a call which necessarily implies perseverance to the end, and eternal salvation. H 2 100 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE of a habit of grace, and the indefectibility of that habit, had too much learning and candour to suppose that the services of the Church had departed from the ancient doctrine, or that they were written in a strain of equivocation and subterfuge. They there- fore allowed that the Church, in common with Augustin and the ancient Christians, explicitly teaches the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism; and readily granted that every baptized infant re- ceives forgiveness of sin, and is born again of water and the Spirit. But they endeavoured to salve their own system by maintaining that the effectual call and saving special grace are the effects of God's firm predestination, whereas Regeneration in Baptism is only the effect of his supernatural Providence. What grounds there are for this distinction, is a question which may be safely left to the judgment of my readers. A Calvinistic Prelate 3 of some note has endea- voured to reconcile his own opinions to the language of the Church, by laying down a distinction between ecclesiastical and spiritual Regeneration. He con- tends that as there is an external and relative as well as an internal Sanctification, so there is an ex- ternal as well as an internal Regeneration. But this analogy has no ground to rest upon. For Sancti- fication is a word of large compass, comprehending the outward separation of things and persons to 3 Bishop Hopkins. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 101 God's service, and the removal of bodily and legal uncleannesses, as well as the inward purification of the soul. But Regeneration uniformly signifies a spiritual change, and Regeneration in Baptism is expressly called by our own Church " spiritual Re- generation," "a new birth of w r ater and the Spirit" " a mystical washing away of sin" " a washing and sanctifying with the Holy Ghost" These expedients however are so manifestly mere experiments, that they appear to have met with little approbation or encouragement. But the favourite method of solving this difficulty consists in an endeavour to show, that when our Church pronounces the baptized person regenerate, this de- claration proceeds upon the ground of charitable supposition 4 , or generalized language; and we are * This judgment of charity is alleged by Bishop Carleton, in his Examination of Montague's Appeal, 195. " Israel was called to be a people of God, but all that were so called, were not so in truth : so all that receive Baptism are called the children of God, regenerate, justified : for to us they must be taken for such in charity, until they show themselves other." But Bishop Carleton argues professedly on the Calvinistic grounds, that none but the Elect (i. e. those who are infallibly predestinated to eternal life) are ever truly justified and regene- rate, and that the regenerate can never fall from grace totally and finally. He afterwards admits that the objections to the Calvinistic doctrine drawn from our Service Book, may be solved by the distinction between those who are regenerate sacramento tenus 102 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE taught that these principles pervade every part of our Liturgy. Here then is an attempt to get rid of this difficulty professedly upon general principles: but I apprehend that these principles, with whatever confidence they are relied upon, will fail in the application. It is universally allowed, indeed it is plainly taught in our office for the Baptism of those of riper years, that the baptized adult is declared regenerate upon the supposition of his sincerity. But in the case of infants no such supposition can possibly be made ; and consequently this principle of charitable supposition 5 fails, upon the common grounds of analogical reasoning. But it is urged, that because sincerity is supposed in the case of adults, some- thing like sincerity is supposed in the case of in- fants : or, what is more tangible ground, and appears to be the upshot of the argument, that the infant is pronounced regenerate, on the presumption that his vows and promises will be performed. Here again, if I mistake not, this principle of charitable sup- position totally fails. We pronounce an adult re- generate not upon a presumption that his promises only, and those who are so according to God's purpose and calling. P. 107. This is equivalent to the distinction maintained by Dr. Ward. In fact the judgment which we pass upon adults can scarcely be called a charitable supposition. For after they have been instructed and examined, and their motives and principles scruti- nized, we have no right to form any other judgment. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 103 will be performed, but upon the supposition that his professions are sincere. His performing his pro- mises and continuing God's servant are the objects of our hope, our prayers, and our exhortations : but we are too well acquainted with the weakness of our nature, and the condition of a life of trial, to act upon the presumption of such contingencies. Precisely in the same manner we pronounce the infant regenerate, not upon the supposition of an imaginary sincerity, but because we know that he cannot be insincere, and are convinced that there can be no other bar to his Regeneration : whilst, with respect to the performance of his vows and pro- mises, w r e hope, we pray, we remind the sponsors of their duty, but we form no presumptions of his future conduct. The adult is bound to keep his engagements from the moment that he enters into them; the infant, when he is of an age to under- stand and perform them. But neither party is declared regenerate upon a presumption that he will acquit himself of his obligations. The same plea, however, is brought forward in a somewhat different shape. It is contended that our Offices, when they pronounce baptized persons re- generate, merely make use of a generalized lan- guage 6 . This, we are told, is the principle on which 6 By generalized, or, as Mr. Faber now denominates it, generic language, he seems to mean such terms as may be affirmed of 104 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE all public documents proceed, and on which our Common Prayers are necessarily compiled. For instance, the Confessions of the Church are couched in general terms, without leading us to suppose, that every person who joins in them really feels the weight of his sins. The same generalized language pervades, we are taught, the whole body of the Epistles, in which all the Converts are addressed as Saints, Elect, beloved of God, and sanctified in Jesus Christ, though there can be no doubt that many of their number could have no just claim to these appellations. Upon the same principle, since it is not denied that some persons are regenerated in Baptism, and we cannot distinguish those who receive this blessing from those who are excluded from it, in this generalized language we declare every bap- tized individual regenerate. Undoubtedly public documents addressed to, or framed for the use of, large bodies of men must employ language of this kind ; and Common Prayers can be composed only on the supposition that they who join in them enter on the duty with sincerity and devotional feelings. Nor will it, I apprehend, be contended that all those who join in the prayers and confessions of our Church are truly devout and contrite ; or that all the members of the Apostoli- classes, or bodies, or communities, but cannot be affirmed of all the individuals of which they consist. Upon this term, generic, some remarks will be found in the Appendix. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 105 cal Churches were such persons as their Christian profession implied and required. But I do not per- ceive what analogy there is between public docu- ments and proclamations, the Common Prayers of a Church, or the Epistles of the Apostles to consider- able bodies of converts, and an authoritative decla- ration pronounced by the minister upon particular individuals. We know that in the case of adults this declaration proceeds upon a persuasion of their sincerity; but since infants are not capable of insin- cerity, if we once allow the validity of their Bap- tism, it follows that the judgment which we pronounce upon them is absolute and unrestricted. For it can scarcely be doubted on any grounds of either reason or Scripture, that if one infant is qualified to receive Regeneration in Baptism, all infants are equally qualified. It is contended, however, that since all men are born in sin, and children of wrath, and since infants are children of wrath up to the moment of their Baptism, we cannot pronounce them worthy recipi- ents without a palpable contradiction. This objec- tion appears to be built on a verbal fallacy. For by worthiness we do not mean any kind of desert, or positive congruity to receive grace, but such qua- lifications for Baptism and Regeneration as God is mercifully pleased to accept. But the same objec- tion presses with equal force on the case of adult 106 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE Baptism. For the Scriptures, our own Church, and those members of it who allow that worthy adults are born again in Baptism, consider them likewise as children of wrath up to the moment of the Sacrament; and believe that faith and repentance are habits of mind, which God requires in the children of wrath, previously to their being made children of grace in Baptism. Infants, therefore, in this respect stand precisely on the same footing with worthy adults ; and there is no more reason for supposing that God discriminates between different infants, than that He discriminates between adults, who are equally endowed with faith and repentance. Our Saviour at least seems to have allowed the worthiness of young children to partake of God's grace, when He blessed them, and affirmed that of such is the kingdom of heaven 7 . And our Church openly acknowledges it, when she exhorts us not to doubt of their being "favourably received 8 ," in other words, " regenerated by God," on the very ground that our Saviour had " blessed them, and exhorted all men to follow their innocency." Those pious writers ap- pear to have reasoned more justly, who have argued that, if God regenerates the greatest sinners when they repent of their sins, much more will He regene- rate those infants who have no actual sins to repent 7 Mark x. 13. 8 Office for Public Baptism Exhortation upon the Gospel. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 107 of, and are only involved in the consequences of another's transgression 9 . Attempts have been made to defend this mode of explaining the language of our baptismal offices from other passages of the Liturgy, in which the same principle is said to be acted upon. We have seen already that examples taken from the Common Prayers of the congregation are altogether inap- plicable to the case before us. Indeed the only pas- sages alleged, which bear any appearance of analogy to the language of these offices, are taken from the Catechism and the Burial Service. In the Catechism the Child is taught to say, that he learns from the articles of his Creed to "believe in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth him, and all the elect people of God." "If then," it is urged, "it is absurd to imagine that our Church deems every child who repeats his Catechism really one of God's elect people, and truly sanctified by the Holy ' Caeterum si homines impedire aliquid ad gratise consecuti- onem posset, magis adultos et provectos et majores natu possent impedire graviora peccata. Porro autem si etiam gravissimis delictoribus, et in Deum multum ante peccantibus, cum postea crediderint, remissa peccatorum datur, et a Baptismo atque a gratia nemo prohibetur : quanto magis prohiberi non debet infans, qui recens natus nihil peccavit, nisi quod secundum Adam carnaliter natus, contagium mortis antiquse prima nativi- tate contraxit? qui ad remissam peccatorum accipiendum, hoc ipso facilius accedit, quod illi remittuntur non propria sed aliena peccata? Cyprian, Ep. 65 ad Fidum, p. 161. 108 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE Ghost, it is no less absurd to contend that it sup- poses every baptized infant to be actually regene- rated. Consequently both these passages must be explained on the principle of general language." The truth is, that our Church considers every child who repeats this sentence as one of God's elect people, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, upon the assured persuasion that he was regenerated, or made a child of God, and declared one of his elect people, in Baptism: and it reasonably supposes that a Christian of that age, who is enjoying the benefits of religious instruction, has done nothing hitherto to deprive him of that state of salvation to which he was then called, and that sanctification of the Spirit, of which he was then made partaker. The passages quoted from the Burial Service seem to be strangely misapprehended. We yield thanks to God "that it hath pleased Him to take to Himself the soul of our departed brother, and to deliver him from the miseries of this sinful world :" and " we commit his body to the earth, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life." We may, therefore, it is said, contend with as good reason, that in the opinion of our Church every brother committed to the earth has passed into a state of happiness, and will partake of the resurrec- tion of life, as that it supposes every baptized infant to be actually regenerate. And these are produced as examples of generalized language, completely DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 109 parallel to the passages that have been quoted from our baptismal offices. But the fact is, that the Church passes no judg- ment whatever upon the state of our departed brother. We declare our own full persuasion of the truth of the Christian doctrine of the resurrection to eternal life, and we thank God in the language of pious and grateful submission that He -has taken to Himself the soul of our brother, and delivered him out of the miseries of this sinful world: but the only allusion which we make to his present condition is a charitable hope that he rests in Christ T . But it will scarcely be contended that there is any analogy between a charitable hope, and an unequivocal and authoritative declaration, or a thanksgiving for mercies actually received. If, indeed, the compilers of our Liturgy had thought that only some infants are born again in Baptism, they were men of too much honesty and simplicity of character to employ what cannot be called ambiguous, but delusive and dangerous lan- guage. They were not tied down to technical forms, or what has been called baptismal phraseology, 1 " We meekly beseech thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, that when we depart hence, we may rest in him, as our hope is this our brother doth." Burial Service. If there is any ambiguity in the other expressions quoted from this Service, it appears to be sufficiently cleared up and removed by this passage. ]10 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE but were at full liberty to frame these offices upon their own principles, and to couch them in such language as was best calculated to express their real sentiments. This they have done with perfect simplicity and good faith, and have set forth their own belief, and the belief of their forefathers in Christianity, without verbal ambiguity or mental reserve. It is contended likewise that the Prayers of our Church for the circumcision of the spirit, and for the creation of a new heart, are in point of fact Prayers for Regeneration; and, consequently, that it is as reasonable to maintain that the Church con- siders all Christians unregenerate, as that she con- siders all baptized persons regenerate. But it has been sufficiently shown that in Scripture and in the doctrinal language of the Church, Regeneration and the circumcision of the heart are spoken of as graces entirely distinct in theory. The word Re- generation, in the popular sense which it has ac- quired, is indeed equivalent to those phrases ; but the word is never used in our Liturgy otherwise than in its strict theological acceptation. Much stress has been laid upon a passage of the Homilies, in which the words Regenerate 2 and Re- 2 Homily for Whitsunday, 430. See Archbishop Laurence's Doctrine, &c. part i. c. vi. p. 75, &c. The Archbishop of Cashel observes, that in this passage " the word regeneration is used loosely and largely as blended with its DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 1 1 1 generation are introduced without any immediate reference to Baptism. But in this passage, ex- usual effects, the object of the writer being to treat of regeneration and sanctifcation united comprehending not only the commence- ment, but also the completion of sanctification, and even the miraculous operation of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of the Prophets and Apostles." The Homilies of the Church, with the exception of the Homily of Salvation, which is composed in a more scholastic- form, and was intended to give a correct statement of a controverted doc- trine, are popular discourses, written for the edification of the people in a rhetorical way, and therefore must be read with those allowances which are due to popular compositions. Bishop Montague, in his Appeal to Caesar, has some just and sensible remarks on these writings of our Church. " First, I willingly admit the Homilies as containing certain godly and wholesome exhortations to move the people to honour and worship Almighty God ; but not as the public dogmatical resolutions of the Church of England. The 35th Article giveth them to contain godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary for these times : which they may do though they have not dog- matical positions, or doctrine to be propugned and subscribed in all and every point ; as the Books of Articles and Common Prayer have. They seem, secondly, to speak somewhat too hardly, and to stretch some sayings beyond the use and practice of the Church of England ; and yet what they say may receive a fair construction and mitigation. In very Scripture there are many hyperbolical sayings, that, being literally taken, will not hold weight in the balance of the Sanctuary. In the writings of the Fathers there are dogmatical conclusions for resolution in points, and rhetorical enforcements to edify affections, disposed for and according to the auditory. Now our Homilies are popu- lar sermons, fitted to the capacities of the common people, to edify them, to work upon them, ever strong in passion, but weak in understanding. We may do well to consider them, why, 112 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE tracted from a popular discourse, the word is used in a popular and rhetorical manner, including the miraculous and extraordinary operations of the Holy Ghost upon the human soul. Nothing however will be gained in the way of legitimate inference, by arguing from the popular to the strict signification of words, and attempting to neutralize their plain and unambiguous meaning through the medium of their figurative usages. wherefore, when, and to what manner of men these popular sermons were made and did speak ; and not press every passage hand over head, for advantage. I rest in that judgment which our Church has passed upon them, where it is said, in terminis They contain a godly and a wholesome doctrine, necessary for these times, the times in which and for which they were especially made." Appeal, p. 260. It has been contended that our Church does not maintain that all infants are regenerated in Baptism, because in the same Homily all its members are directed to examine themselves whether they are regenerate or not. But this is not the fact. For though the word Regenerate is used loosely in this Homily, the distinction between the new birth and the abiding influence of the Spirit is nevertheless laid down, and men are not taught to inquire whether they have been born again, but whether the Holy Ghost is dwelling in them. "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 that they were before. " Neither doth he think it sufficiently inwardly to work the spiritual and new birth of man, unless he do also dwell and abide in him" Then, after proving this point from Scripture, it adds, " O but how shall I know that the Holy Ghost is in me ? some man perchance will say : Forsooth as the tree is known by its fruits, so is the Holy Ghost." DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 113 Having now shown that the attempts which have been made to accommodate the Services of our Church to a theory which dissolves the connexion between Regeneration and Baptism will not bear the test of examination, but are merely expedients to get rid of a difficulty which presses upon the advocates of another system, I will, before I close this Chapter, add a few considerations, which may be useful to my younger brethren in the Ministry, and to those who are Candidates for the Sacred Function. The Services of our Church, connected with this question, are formed on the principles and expressed in the language of the ancient Christians, and assert in the most unequivocal manner their doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism. That every baptized person, with the exception of unworthy adults, is born again of water and of the Spirit in this Sacra- ment, and receives forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Ghost, is an opinion which they affirm in a way level to every capacity. If therefore the Ministers of our Church should propagate from the pulpit opinions widely different from those which they teach, when they are ministering the Sacra- ment of Baptism, let them consider what confusion they will produce in the minds of their hearers; what distrust in themselves, and in the Church whose Ministers they are. But, what is perhaps still worse, the desire to reconcile these services to opi- i 114 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE nions at variance with them, will tend to impair the sincerity and simplicity of their own minds, by giving them a taste for that unnatural and artificial mode of interpretation, to which an attachment to preconceived opinions too frequently gives enter- tainment. We are told that these services make use of a general phraseology, or of hypothetical language, and expressions of hope and charity. But plain sense, sober criticism, and historical research, refute these artificial attempts to affix to them a meaning, very different from that which they bear at first sight, and foreign from the views and principles on which they were originally constructed. Our Liturgy speaks a plain, simple, and ingenuous lan- guage, "adapted to popular comprehension and in- struction 3 :" and the attempts, to which system has had recourse, to wrest it from its genuine and native meaning, may act as beacons and warnings to the inexperienced, and teach them that it is a dangerous experiment to tamper with its literal construction. " There is nothing," says Hooker, " more dangerous than this licentious and deluding art, which changeth the meaning of words as alchymy doth or would do the substance of metals, maketh of any thing what it listeth, and bringeth in the end all truth to nothing." 3 Archbishop Laurence. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 115 CHAPTER VIII. THE THEORY OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM CONSIDERED. IN inquiring into the doctrinal views of our Church on the subject of Regeneration in Baptism, we have seen to what conclusions we are led by the direct and unsophisticated meaning of its Public Offices, and what kind of machinery has been employed in order to invalidate these conclusions. On the one side, the construction of the Offices, and the sense which results from them, are obvious to the plainest understanding. On the other, they are subjected to the ordeal of a forced and unnatural interpretation, principles are resorted to which are inapplicable to the cases before us, and analogies are insisted on, which have scarcely the shadow of any proportion or point of agreement. We have seen likewise that the doctrine which our services contain, according to the most obvious and legitimate principles of inter- I 2 116 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE pretation, is precisely what we might have expected from the views and professions of their compilers. For it is in complete accordance with the opinions of Catholic Christianity, from the days of the Apo- stles to the time of the Reformation. It came before them, not as a doubtful and disputed point, but as a fundamental and established truth; not asserted and defended by a few Doctors and Apo- logists as their own private opinion, but recorded or alluded to, as a doctrine received without contra- diction in the Church of Christ, by the whole body of Fathers, Councils, and Ecclesiastical Historians. And we have seen on what strong and pregnant testimonies of Scripture this doctrine depends, and how little support its opponents derive from those texts which they have brought forward to contro- vert it. Here then the question might well rest. For when the debate relative to the sense of our Offices has been brought to such an issue as appears to amount to a moral demonstration, and the Scriptural view of the doctrine has been investigated and as- certained, it may seem superfluous to inquire farther into the theory of this doctrine, or any other views and theories of Regeneration. Since however this opinion has been often charged with unreasonable- ness, and loaded with a strange variety of absurd and formidable consequences, I shall enter a little more particularly into its theory; explaining the DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 117 nature of the change implied by the word Regenera- tion, and endeavouring to point out some probable grounds and reasons of our Saviour's institution, and of the close connexion which He has established by his word and promise between Baptism and spiritual Regeneration. That every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights*, is a truth not less agreeable to reason, than plainly in- culcated in Scripture. But the spiritual gifts and blessings, which we refer back to God as their author and giver, are of two kinds, distinct in theory, and separated by a broad line of demarcation. Some are pure acts of God's special grace and bounty, which, though they usually require certain qualifica- tions on man's part to prepare him for the recep- tion of them, exclude at once every notion of human co-operation. To these acts of grace we can assign no parts nor latitude, for they appear, at least to our judgment, to take place at some determinate point of time, and to be incapable of increase. Such appears to be the nature not only of the forgiveness of our sins, but of that justification in the sight of God which accompanies it. Faith, repentance, the renunciation of our sins, resolutions of obedience, and the forgiveness of other men's trespasses, are qualifications which we must possess to prepare and 1 James i. 17. 118 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE fit us for these blessings. The necessity of faith is moreover pressed upon us, not only as a qualification for pardon and acceptance, but as that act of mind which closes with God's offers and terms of grace, pleads in our behalf his merciful promises, and the atonement and merits of our blessed Saviour, and renounces all other grounds of confidence and de- pendence. But forgiveness itself and justification in God's sight are pure acts of grace : for, as the Jews justly argued, none can forgive sins but God only 2 , and none but God can place a reprieved sinner on the same footing with a righteous man. Arguing like- wise from the analogy of human proceedings, we have reason to think that pardon, and the imputa- tion of righteousness which is annexed to it, are grants of mercy bestowed upon the sinner at some particular point of time, and that though the jus- tified person must grow in grace, must advance more and more in God's favour and those spiritual accom- plishments which correspond to it, forgiveness itself is a simple act, without parts or latitude, and in course incapable of increase. But there are other gifts or blessings of a spiritual kind, emanating from God, and referred upward to Him as their principal cause, which imply in their very nature increase and progressive advances, pro- ceeding onward from potential principles and dispo- 2 Mark ii. 7. Luke v. 21. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 1 19 sitions to active principles and habits, and requiring in all their stages the co-operation of man with the grace and inspiration of God. They are, therefore, spoken of in Scripture sometimes as the gifts of God, sometimes as the duties of man ; and this way of treating them plainly signifies that, as our endea- vours to attain and perfect these Christian virtues will be ineffectual without the grace of God, so in the ordinary course of his dispensations, he will Jiot continue his gifts to us, unless we endeavour to make a right use of them by exercising them in their proper spheres and functions. Hence, in the language of promise and encouragement, and of devotion and gratitude, these Christian habits or virtues are spoken of as exclusively the gifts of God: in the language of exhortation and religious instruction, and in the systematic exposition of Christian doctrine, they are spoken of as duties which God, if man is not wanting to himself, will enable him to fulfil. Of this sort are faith, hope, and charity, mortification and self-denial, the circumcision of the heart, and the renewal of the spirit of the mind in short, all those virtues or graces, which have their seat in the intellectual and moral nature of man, admit of degrees, and are capable of improvement. For these are (to use the language of Waterland) " the joint work of the Spirit and the man :" and therefore in Scripture they are , sometimes promised us as gifts, or spoken of as 120 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE the issues of God's bounty ; at other times they are expressly required of us as duties, which we owe to God and our own souls. Such being the broad line of distinction between those blessings, which are pure and unmixed acts of God's special grace, and those Christian habits or virtues in whose formation and increase man must bear his part, it is scarcely necessary to say that, according to the principles of our own Church and of the ancient Christians, Regeneration is a pure act of God's special grace, immanent in Himself and terminating in man, limited and determined to a particular time, and incapable of latitude. For according to these principles Regeneration consists in the forgiveness of sin, 3 the gift, or earnest, or covenanted consignation of the influence of the Holy Ghost, considered as a potential principle of 3 Plane eadem gratia spiritalis, quse aequaliter in Baptismo a credentibus sumitur, in conversatione atque actu nostro post modum vel minuitur vel augetur. Cyprian, Epist. ad Magnum, 69. P. 187. Again, in the same Epistle, in which he is defending the bap- tism of those who were called Clinici, that is, who were baptized in their beds, when their lives were in danger, he says An con- secuti sunt quidem gratiam dominicam, sed breviore et minore mensura muneris divini ac Spiritus Sancti ? Quin imo Spiritus Sanctus non de mensura datur, sed super credentem totus effun- ditur. Nan si dies omnibus aequaliter nascitur, et si Sol super omnes pari et aequali luce diffunditur, quanto magis Christus, Sol et dies verus, in Ecclesia sua lumen vitae aeternae pari aequalitate largitur ! DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 121 new life, independently of its moral operations, and legitimate effects; and a title to eternal life de- pending on the performance of certain stipulated conditions. Now, though no adult can partake of these blessings without being previously qualified by faith and repentance, it is certain that they are mere acts of free grace and mercy, which must, as far as we can judge, be made over to the soul at some de- terminate moment, and are not the effects of any immediate exercise of the moral nature of man, and of that principle of self-action which God has implanted in us. But our own Church, in confor- mity to the doctrine of Scripture, and the opinion of Christian antiquity 4 , determines this grant of grace to the season of our Baptism, under a full conviction that when this Sacrament is administered 4 Neque enim parva res haereticis et modica conceditur, quando a nobis baptisma eorurn in acceptum refertur : cum inde incipiat omnis fidei origo, etpurificandis et sanctificandis Dei servis divina dignatio. Nam si baptizari quis apud haereticos potuit, utique et remissam peccatorum consequi potuit. Si peccatorum remis- sam consecutus est, et sanctificatus est et templum Dei factus. Cyp. Ep. 73. ad Jubaianum. Et quoniam Stephanus et qui illi consentiunt contendunt dimissionem peccatorum, et secundam nativitatem in haereticorum baptismo procedere posse, apud quos ipsi confitentur Spiritum Sanctum non esse, considerent et intelligant spiritalem nativi- tatem sine Spiritu Sancto esse non posse. Firmilianus, Cypriano, Ep. 75. Stephanus concedit illis non modicam sed maximam gratiae potestatem, ut dicat eos per baptismi sacrarnentum sordes veteris hominis abluere, antiquae mortis peccata donare, regeneratione 122 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE agreeably to Christ's institution, man receives the forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Ghost through its intervention and instrumentality. Theo- logians, indeed, both ancient and modern, some- times describe this change in strong language, and make use of expressions which must be taken in a qualified sense. But when divested of rhetorical amplification, they will be found to convey the same notions and to exhibit the same view of the doctrine of baptismal Regeneration, as are the result of sober inquiry and dispassionate discus- sion. This view of the nature of Regeneration cannot ccelesti filios Dei facere, ad aeternam vitam divini lavacri sancti- ficatione reparare. Id. Si baptisma haereticorum habere potest lavacrum secundae nativitatis, non haeretici sed filii Dei computandi sunt, qui apud eos baptizantur. Secunda enim nativitas, quae est in baptismo, filios Deo general. Id. The argument of Cyprian and his adherents against the validity of heretical baptism, proceeds upon the assumption that Chris- tians are born again, and receive forgiveness of sin and the Holy Ghost in Baptism. Augustin's opinion on this question has been already alluded to. Augustin referring to 1 Cor. iii. 1. 16, says, Vide qua? dicat mala de ignorantiae malo venientia. Et puto quod non de Catechumenis ista dicebat. Parvuli quippe in Christo quo modo essent, nisi jam renati essent ? Quod si nondum credas, quid eis post pauca dicat attende. Nescitis quia templum Dei estis, et Spiritus Sanctus habitat in vobis ? An adhuc du- bitabis vel negabis, non eos potuisse esse templum Dei, in quo habitaret Spiritus Dei, nisi baptizatos 1 DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 123 be better expressed than in the words of Hooker. " Baptism is a Sacrament which God hath instituted in his Church, to the end that they which receive the same might thereby be incorporated into Christ ; and so through his most precious merits obtain as well that saving grace of imputation, which taketh away all former guiltiness, as also that infused divine virtue of the Holy Ghost, which giveth to the powers of the soul their first disposition towards future newness of life 5 ." Later systems indeed 4 Hooker's Eccles. Polity, B. v. 60. This passage has been sometimes quoted to prove the very reverse of what Hooker teaches : viz. that Regeneration precedes Baptism in qualified adults. Hooker, however, without exclud- ing the preparatory action of the Holy Ghost on the soul, affirms, in common with all the ancient Christians, that his divine virtue is first infused into, or consigned over to, the human soul in Baptism. Nor does he mean by future newness of life the whole change of the inward frame, which must commence in adults previous to Baptism, but that newness of life, or covenanted state of holiness, which commences with the forgiveness of sin. For the new life of Christians is always supposed to date from their New Birth, that is, from their Baptism. Archbishop Laurence's observation, that the word disposition is a Latinism, and signifies the arrangement, or setting in order of the parts of the soul, may be illustrated by a quotation from Thomas Aquinas, which occurs in the Apology for the Augsburgh Confession. Peccatum originis habet privationem originalis justitiae, et cum hoc inordinatam dispositionem partium animce, unde non est pri- vatio pura, sed quidam habitus corruptus. Melancthonis Opera, vol. i. folio, p. 61, Hooker seems to be expressing himself in the same figurative way as Aquinas. He contemplates the divine virtue of the Holy 124 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE have obtruded upon us very different notions of Regeneration, excluding from its definition, what the ancients principally insisted on, the forgiveness of sin, and substituting for this earnest of the Spirit or infusion of the divine virtue of the Holy Ghost, the scholastic fancy of an implantation of habits or of a turning point from evil to good, attended with such a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul as must necessarily terminate in holiness of life and conversation. But these speculations are inconsistent with Scriptural truth and simplicity, the experience of human nature, and the frame and constitution of the human soul. Three things are to be considered in Baptism The qualifications which it requires, the act of grace which it conveys, and the engagements and obligations which it imposes. In adults faith and repentance are required as qualifications, and these spiritual acts necessarily suppose the preventing and co-operating grace of God. It is however the de- cided doctrine of the Church that the convert is regenerated in Baptism, and then, and not till then, receives remission of his sins, and the covenanted grant or infused virtue of the Holy Ghost: and Ghost, infused into the soul in Baptism, as beginning from that time to arrange and restore to order those parts of it which had been thrown into disorder and confusion by the fall. Perhaps, however, his phraseology may be grounded on the common ethical dictinction between dispositions and habits. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 125 that infants, who can possess no positive qualifi- cations, partake in their measure and proportion of the same blessings ; receive remission of their sins by spiritual Regeneration, and are washed and sanctified with the Holy Ghost 6 . But though in- fants are endowed with this infused virtue and mys- terious earnest of the Holy Spirit, his active in- fluences and operations appear to be commensurate with our natural faculties. In enlightening the understanding and forming the moral habits, he follows the order of intellectual and moral causes, proportioning his effects to the expanding and elastic qualities, and the corresponding exertions and activity of the human mind 7 . In the case of 6 Dicimus ergo in baptizatis parvulis, quamvis id nesciunt. habitare Spiritum Sanctum ; sic enim eum nesciunt, quamvis sit in eis, quemadmodum et nesciunt mentem suam, cujus in eis ratio, qua uti nondum possunt, velut quaedam scintilla sopita est, excitanda aetatis accessu. Augustin, Ep. 57. Hsec gratia baptizatos etiam parvulos corpori suo inserit dat etiam sui Spiritus occultissimam fidelibus gratiam, quam latenter infundit et parvulis. De Peccat. Mer. et Remiss, c. 9. 7 Having quoted a passage from Augustin Oportet igitur ut Sacramento regenerationis, ne sine illo male de hac vita exeat, etiam parvulus imbuatur : quod non fit nisi in remissione pec- catorum. Dr. Ward adds, Ex hoc loco constat juxta Augustinum primitias renovationis habere parvulos a remissione peccatorum in Baptismo ; ipsam vero renovationem, quae gradatim perficitur, et sanctificationem non habere. Certe videtur statuere adaequatum Baptismi ef- fectum in parvulis esse illam renovationem quae fit sola remissione peccatorum : alteram autem renovationem, quae fit ad 126 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE infants, therefore, the Spirit of grace, which is de- signed to be a principle of spiritual life, is a poten- tial principle: or, to speak perhaps more properly, the Holy Ghost does not, as it would seem, begin to act upon the soul by calling into play its latent good dispositions, till there are materials on which to act ; and, so far as we can judge by experience, till those means of grace are resorted to on man's part, to which his abiding and practical influences are promised and tied down. Hence, when reli- gious instruction and moral discipline are neglected, Regeneration in Baptism is productive of no prac- tical effects. The infused virtue of the Holy Ghost is, to speak in the mildest terms, dormant, and inactive: the soul continues in its natural state of darkness and ignorance, and that infection of nature, which remains in the regenerate, experiences no check from the supernatural and remedial principle. At other times, as children advance onward in life, evil dispositions and unruly passions, or the in- fluence of worldly customs and bad examples, counteract the effects of discipline and instruction, imagmem Dei, non incipere nisi eo tempore quo fit conversio cordis. But we have seen in the last note, that Augustin holds that the Holy Ghost is bestowed on infants in Baptism, though his prac- tical effects upon the heart and habits do not, and cannot, as it would seem, in the nature of things, commence till after- wards. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 127 and that power of the Spirit which attends upon them. If indeed it were a self-evident truth that Rege- neration is an implantation of a habit of grace 8 , containing in it the habits of all Christian graces or virtues, and necessarily terminating in them, or that it is a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, it might be absurd to suppose that those infants who, as they grow up, exhibit no signs of spiritual habits or dispositions, have been regenerated in Baptism. But that sound and mascu- line theology which our Church has adopted, knows nothing of these speculations. It is to be regretted indeed that those writers who have descanted on the unreasonableness of our doctrine, have not been at the pains to inquire what those opinions are, which they have taxed with so many absurdities and contradictions : and that they have never been tempted to look a little more narrowly into the reasonableness of their own theory. We find indeed in the writings of the Fathers glowing and animated descriptions of the effects of Baptism on adult converts 9 . But they contain 8 The implantation of a habit of grace may perhaps mean the same thing as the infused virtue of the Holy Ghost, or a poten- tial principle if not considered as necessarily terminating in active habits of holiness. 9 Ego cum in tenebris atque in nocte caeca jacerem, cumque in salo jactantis seculi nutabundus ac dubius, vestigiis oberrantibus 128 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE nothing inconsistent with the simple Scriptural truth, nor with the moral nature and rational faculties of man. For it is reasonable to suppose that when the Spirit is consigned over to sincere converts, He will exert an influence on their inward frame proportioned to their faith and charity, and the sincerity and zeal of their Christian purposes. fluctuarem ; vitas meae nescius, veritatis ac lucis alienus ; difficile prorsus ac durum pro illis tune moribus opinabar, quod in salutem mihi divina indulgentia pollicebatur, ut quis renasci denuo possit ; utque in novam vitam lavacro aquae salutaris animatus, quod prius fuerat, exponeret ; et corporis licet manente compage hominem animo ac mente mutaret. Qui possibilis, aiebam, est tanta conversio, ut repente ac perniciter exuatur quod genuinum situ materiae naturalis obduruit, vel usurpatum diu senio vetustatis inolevit ? Sed postquam undae genitalis auxilio superioris aevi labe detersa, in expiatum pectus ac purum desuper se lumen infudit; postquam ccelitus Spiritu hausto, in novum me hominem nativitas secunda reparavit ; mirum in modum protinus confirmare se dubia, patere clausa, lucere tenebrosa ; facultatem dare quod prius difficile videbatur ; geri posse quod prius impossibile putabatur ut esset : agnoscere terrenum fuisse quod prius carnaliter natum delictis obnoxium viveret ; Dei esse ccepisse, quod jam Spiritus Sanctus animaret. Scis ipse profecto et mecum pariter recognoscis, quid detraxerit nobis, quidve contulerit mors ista criminum, vita virtutum. Cyprian ad Donatum, p. 2, 3. Cyprian is not speaking of these sensible changes in his intel- lectual and moral nature as constituting his new birth, but as its effects or consequences following the operation of the regene- rating water, and his second nativity. He describes the reno- vating process that ensued after the light had been poured into his soul through the aid of the regenerating water, and the second birth had formed him into a new man. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 129 And we may easily persuade ourselves that the con- vert himself, who returns from the laver under a full conviction that his sins are washed away, that he has been sealed with the Spirit as God's child and peculiar property, and that the Holy Ghost has been bestowed upon him for a helpmate and sojourner, will feel as it were a load removed from him, and a spring and elasticity communicated to his whole soul ; and that he will enter on the discharge of his Christian duties with tenfold vigour and activity. But these descriptions, when stripped of rhetorical colouring, do not convey the notion of the instan- taneous transformation of the moral nature, an infusion of habits, or a radical change of the parts and faculties of the soul. The maxim of these Christians was according to thy faith be it done unto tliee ' and they believed, with equal wisdom and 1 Nostrum tantum sitiat pectus ac pateat : quantum illic fidei capacis afferimus, tantum gratise inundantis haurimus. Cyprian ad Donatum, p. 4. Caeterum si tu innocentiae, si justitiae viam teneas, si illapsa firmitate vestigii tui incedas, si in Deum viribus totis, ac toto corde suspensus, hoc sis tantum quod esse ccepisti : tantum tibi ad licentiam datur, quantum gratiae spiritalis augetur. Ibid. p. 3. i. e. tantum potes, quantum credis. Fell. The word licentia here means freedom or power of action. Quales nos fecit secunda nativitate, tales vult renatos perse- verare. Cyprian de Or. Dom. p. 149. Hoc etiam secundum fidem Catholicam credimus, quod accepta per Baptismum gratia, omnes baptizati, Christo co- operante et adjuvante, quae ad salutem pertineant possint ac K 130 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE piety, that the moral effects of the Holy Ghost upon the soul, both in and after Baptism, are pro- portioned to the faith and religious exertions of the convert himself. As to the engagements which are contracted in Baptism, they are equally binding on all recipients, whether baptized in infancy or riper years, for they are the conditions on which our continuance in that state of salvation, to which we have been called, absolutely depends. But no one is pronounced regenerate on the presumption that those engage- ments will be performed. It has, indeed, been con- fidently affirmed, in opposition to the tenets of our Church and Scripture, that true grace is indefectible ; that no man, therefore, is regenerated in Baptism who does not keep his baptismal contract; and, consequently, that habitual holiness is the only test of spiritual Regeneration. We, however, do not imagine, that God regenerates our infants on princi- ples of favoritism and caprice, because Baptism is too frequently unproductive of practical and saving effects : but we ascribe this failing to human negli- debeant, si fideliter laborare voluerint, adimplere. Cone, Aurisiacum. Expressing the general sense of the Christian Churches. Sit tantum timor innocentise custos, ut qui in mentes nostras iridulgentise coelestis allapsu clementer Dominus infulsit, in animi oblectantis hospitio justa operatione teneatur : ne accepta securitas indiligentiam pariat, et vetus dcnuo hostis obrepat. Cypr. ad Don. p. 3. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 131 gence and default. Though the stipulations of the sponsors, as proxies for children, are rather a pious and salutary custom of the Church, than a necessary part of Baptism, every baptized person virtually contracts the engagements which those stipulations contain ; and parents and guardians of infants are bound, withoul any formal professions, to second and promote the good work which God has begun in them, by religious instruction and moral discipline. For the child of God is necessarily trusted in his early years to the care and institution of human parents, and it depends much on their vigilance and faithfulness to their trust, whether that Spirit which has been consigned over to him in Baptism shall remain dormant, or be brought forth into play and activity ; whether he shall be spiritually born only, or shall grow up in habits of spirituality and holi- ness. There are, however, persons who think that this necessary connexion between Baptism and Regene- ration, which results from the obvious construction of Scripture and our baptismal Offices, is untenable upon principles of reason. In their opinion, common sense forbids us to suppose that Baptism, which is the work of man upon the body, is ordinarily accom- panied with Regeneration, which is the work of God upon the soul ; or that the sprinkling of the human body with water can be followed by a change of this magnitude and importance. But surely it K -2 132 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE becomes us rather to accept God's boons and boun- ties, in the way which He has prescribed, with humility and thankfulness, than to bring his ordi- nances and revelations to the standard of our own reason. If a doctrine has no foundation in Scripture, or is only built on a few obscure passages, whilst it is contradicted by the whole tenour and current of Holy Writ, these are good grounds for its rejection ; and we shall generally find that the support which it seems to derive from Scripture, may be removed by the aid of received and general principles of inter- pretation. But where a doctrine is in no sense contradictory to reason and experience, where it harmonizes with the whole system of revealed reli- gion, and where the language in which it is contained is plain and intelligible, it has every claim to our assent, and ought not lightly to be called in ques- tion. For my own part, I am at a loss to discover, why this doctrine is more unreasonable than the doctrines of original sin, the incarnation of the Son of God, atonement by his blood, or the resurrection of the body ; and why it is not to be received with the same assurance of faith, and the same freedom from sceptical doubts and ambitious curiosity. Yet it often happens, that where we are unable to penetrate into the nature of the truths revealed to us, or to trace out the connexion between causes and effects, we can discover some probable pre- sumptions and grounds of reason, which so far as DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 133 our benefit is intended, and our interest concerned, furnish us with a clue to their propriety and suit- ableness. Some presumptions and probabilities of this kind may be assigned for this institution of our Saviour, and for the close union which He has established by his word and promise between out- ward Baptism and spiritual Regeneration. In the first place, this institution is founded upon known principles, and appears to be a benevolent accommodation to the weakness of human nature, and the customs of common life. In all ages and countries, the transfer of property and the convey- ance of grants, privileges, and offices have commonly been attended with some outward signs or sym- bolical actions. Personal freedom, the freedom of cities, magistracies, and even royalty itself, have been conferred in this manner. The sealing or stamping of public or private property, legal instruments, inves- titures, and inaugurations, are forms and ceremonies familiar to the minds of mankind. The same cus- toms had been introduced into the religions of the world. External symbols were tokens of initiation into the mysteries of the pagan deities; and were used by the Jews in the reception of their proselytes : and God had sanctioned them, by admitting the Israelites to the privileges and promises of the old covenant through the medium of circumcision. When, therefore, our Saviour adopted the same mode of initiation and investiture, conveying to his 134 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE disciples the forgiveness of their sins, and the privi- leges, blessings, and promises of the covenant of grace through means of an outward sign which was already familiar to their minds, and the import of which they well understood, this institution fell in with the views and customs of those persons for whose use it was intended, and was a merciful con- descension to the feelings and habits of mankind. In the next place, we must observe, that the leading parts and peculiar doctrines of Christianity are addressed almost exclusively to our faith. Christ's hearers were required to believe, upon the strength of those evidences that were before them, and in direct opposition to their popular prejudices and prepossessions, that he was the Messiah, or he that should come into the world. In the same manner, the doctrines which relate to his person and the purposes of his mission, his Godhead and incarnation, redemption, atonement, sanctification by his Spirit, the resurrection of the body, and the circumstances of the last judgment, are proposed to our faith ; and the benefit which we are to derive from them de- pends in a great measure upon the stedfastness of our belief in their certainty. What is the exact nature of the union between God and man in our Saviour's person ; how the death of Christ atones for our sins, and purges our consciences from dead works ; by what process the Holy Ghost acts upon the human soul; are questions with which we have DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 135 no concern. If the truths themselves are plainly revealed in Scripture, and the contents of Scripture are the word of God, we must receive them with the same assurance as if we could analyze and ex- pound them with the most minute accuracy, and penetrate into the secret parts of the divine economy. But the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism stands precisely on the same footing with these weighty truths, and harmonizes with the whole scheme of revealed religion. It is proposed to our belief, and is intended to be a test and exercise of it : it de- mands of us the same kind of assent, which we owe to the other peculiar doctrines of Christianity ; and it is our business to believe it in the simplicity with which it is taught us, without attempting to unravel God's mysterious operations on the soul, and without being offended at the meanness of the instruments, through which pardon and grace are made over to us. But farther. Our Regeneration in Baptism, im- plying this close connexion between the grace bestowed and the sign which denotes it, is an act of tenderness and mercy, not less worthy of God's infinite benevolence, than analogous to the whole course of his dealings with man. Goodness, indeed, seems to be the leading feature of his government, and the key to his mysterious dispensations : and those theological systems which straiten his good- ness, and depend principally on abstract views of 136 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE his sovereignty and glory, will be found on investi- gation to have no foundation in his word, nor in the history and experience of mankind. But if man, considered as an alien from God and a child of wrath, had been left to collect the assurance of adoption into his family and restoration to his favour, in the best way that he was able, without any spe- cific form or positive consignation of these privileges and blessings, he would have been placed, as it were, without chart or compass, in a troubled sea of doubt, suspense, and anxiety, and would have been tempted to resort to fanciful and fanatical criterions of sonship and reconciliation. But on the principles which our Church deduces from Scripture, he receives in the sacrament of Baptism such comfortable assurances of God's favour and loving-kindness, as are sufficient, if duly prized and religiously pondered, to bring peace to his mind, and to invigorate his soul to duty. For, on these principles, the convert to the faith of Christ, who receives Baptism rightly, may assure himself, that as certainly as God is true, and his promises in Christ are yea and amen \ so surely he is released from the bond and penalty of his sins, endowed with the earnest of the Holy Ghost, as a principle of new life and holy endeavour, and enrolled among the children of God, and the inheritors of the kingdom 1 2 Cor. i. 20. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 137 of heaven. On the same principles, the parent will "not doubt but earnestly believe" that his child, who was "born in sin and in the wrath of God, is by the laver of Regeneration in Baptism, received into the number of his children, and heirs of ever- lasting life." Here we rest on sure ground. And the very fact that our Regeneration in Baptism, as stated and believed by the Church, is a strong evi- dence of God's goodness and condescension to fallen man, amounts to a presumption of its truth, since, whilst it cannot be charged with unreasonableness, it shows that it is suitable to our wants, and analogous to the general course of the Divine economy. Since then this theory of Regeneration, independ- ently of the paramount authority of Scripture, is raised on a foundation of sound sense and sober argument, and is free from every suspicion of unrea- sonableness and absurdity; and since, without at- tempting to fathom the depths of this mystery of godliness, we can discover some probable grounds and reasons of the connexion which our Saviour has established between Baptism and Regeneration, we shall not act wisely if we renounce the faith of our forefathers in Christianity, upon " the mere show of a conceit ;" and exchange it for any of those novel and discordant theories, which the ingenuity of modern theologians has substituted for it. Having learned that lie that believeth and is baptized shatt be saved, that Baptism doth save us, that we are saved 138 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE by the washing of Regeneration, and that except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, we shall do well to be contented with the plain and literal interpretation, which our own Church and the ancient Christians have put upon these texts, and the simple and obvious conclusions which they have drawn from them. Some minds may be captivated with the theories to which they have attached themselves, and others may find a pleasure in solving problems and difficulties of their own creation. But the plain straightforward path of Scriptural truth, whilst it presents us with no such objects as can fascinate the imagination, or pamper the vanity of the under- standing, is beset with no toils, and presents few perplexing difficulties to a believing and humble mind. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a work- man that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (i. e. keeping the straight path and beaten road of) the word of truth 3 . 3 2 Tim. ii, 15. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 139 CHAPTER IX. AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRINCIPAL CHANGES WHICH HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE DOCTRINE OF REGE- NERATION AND IN THE USE OF THE WORD. SUCH is the weakness of human nature, that the greatest blessings bestowed on us through the agency of uninspired men, are commonly accom- panied with a mixture of evil. The most salutary changes are often carried beyond their proper limits : and principles, which are sound and just under the control of prudence and moderation, when pushed to extremities, and acted upon without discretion, are pregnant with dangerous consequences ; and some- times produce errors almost as pernicious as those which they are intended to counteract. We find proofs of this position in the history of the Reformation. A spirit of opposition to the Church of Rome, originating in the best causes, and 140 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE intimately connected with the vital interests of religion, was sometimes carried to an excess, incon- sistent with truth and sobriety. In combating the errors of that Church, theologians lost sight of the landmarks which had been transgressed, and swept away with an unsparing hand opinions and customs, which had been universally received in the best ages of Christianity. Released from the bondage which had been imposed on the human understand- ing, men of pious and ardent spirits seemed to think that Scripture was a book from which every man was at liberty to deduce his theological system, and paid little regard to the testimony of their fore- fathers in the faith, and the most received interpre- tations of Holy Writ, if they interfered with their own favourite opinions. For they appear to have forgotten, that though tradition is of no value when opposed to the plain sense of Scripture, or entirely independent of Scriptural arguments and conclu- sions, the testimony which the primitive Church bears to the received doctrines of Christianity, and the received interpretation of Scripture, is, on prin- ciples of common sense and critical investigation, of great weight and importance. This cause seems to have operated in alienating the minds of many Protestant Divines from those doctrinal views of the Sacrament of Baptism, which had been maintained in the Church from its earliest DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 141 days, since it led them to confound the true theory of Baptism with the errors which the Romish Church had engrafted on it. For this departure from the sound and primitive doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, was in great measure owing to an inordi- nate jealousy of that pernicious doctrine of this Church, that Sacraments confer Grace, (to use the language of Schools,) ex opere operate. For the doctrine of the Church of Rome was, that Sacra- ments operate upon the soul by a divine virtue com- municated to the elements, and that, where there is no positive obstacle of wilful sin, they confer grace without any corresponding act on the part of the recipient. Not to mention the practical conse- quences of this doctrine in the case of the Lord's Supper, it gave an impress of superstition to the Sacrament of Baptism, and led to absurd and mis- chievous practices. For the Ministers of that Com- munion thought themselves justified in baptizing heathens, who were ignorant of the first truths of Christianity, even those who were compelled by violence to profess a faith, which they renounced and hated in their hearts. But the divines of whom we are speaking, in the warmth of their opposition to this pernicious error, were induced to reject the truth on which it had been grafted. They contended that the notion, that baptized persons are actually regenerated and 142 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE justified in Baptism ', is the identical heresy of the Romanists ; that Baptism is indeed a seal of Rege- neration, either already bestowed, or to be bestowed perhaps at some future season, but that none except actual believers are really justified or regenerated. But the true doctrine of the Church was, not that " Christ and the Holy Ghost are in the water or font 2 ," nor that they are given promiscuously to all comers ; " but that they are given in the ministra- tion to them that be duly baptized in water ;" that adults are not duly baptized, unless qualified by belief and repentance : that Regeneration itself is a pure act of God's grace, limited by his word to a particular rite, and connected with a symbolical action; and that though it implies and requires, it does not necessarily suppose, that future newness of life, which is the joint act of man and the Holy Spirit. 1 Apage hunc errorem operis operati. Incipit baptismi fructus ab eo momenta quo fides incipit, quae interdum prsecedit Bap- tismum, interdum subsequitur. Beza G. Ad infantes quod attinet in Ecclesia natos et divinitus Electos, et antequam usum intelligendi nacti sunt, morituros, facile ex- istimarim, verbo Dei fretus, nascendo insert Christo. De caeteris vero quid aliter statuere nisi apertissima temeritate possum^ quam turn demum regenerari cum fide vera ex auditu donantur ? Beza G. p. 103. This is certainly more reasonable and consistent doctrine, than that view of Regeneration which supposes that some infants are regenerated in Baptism, and others not. 2 Archbishop Cranmer. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 143 Another cause of this departure from the doctrine of the Church, was the great stress which these divines laid upon faith, as an instrument of salvation, independently of all other moral qualifications, and collateral and subordinate instruments. Arguing from those passages of Scripture, in which faith is insisted on without any allusion to Baptism, they concluded that every believer, whether baptized or not, is justified and regenerated; and that Baptism is nothing more than a kind of appendage to belief, and a certificate to the soul of the believer, of grace already received. On the same ground they con- tended that no one baptized in infancy is justified or born again till he has acted an act of faith, and applied Christ to himself. But they seem to have forgotten that negative arguments cannot invalidate positive proofs and testimonies. If Christ has or- dained Baptism as a sacrament through which sal- vation that is, pardon of sin, and the gift of the Holy Ghost is to be made over to us, the binding force and virtue of this ordinance cannot be shaken or extenuated by passages of Scripture in which faith alone is mentioned and insisted on. Many of these passages record circumstances which took place, and sayings which were uttered before the solemn and authoritative institution of Baptism ; and the preceding law must be qualified and ex- plained by the subsequent statute. And when the 144 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE Apostles insist on faith as the great requisite to salvation, they could not intend to annul their Lord's ordinance, nor to deny the necessity or to call in question the virtue of this sacrament. " They draw very near to this error," (the error of the Valentinian heretics,) "who fixing wholly their minds on the known necessity of faith, imagine that nothing but faith is necessary to the attainment of grace. Yet it is a branch of belief, that sacraments are in their place no less required than belief itself. For when our Lord and Saviour promiseth eternal life, is it any otherwise than he promised restitution of health unto Naaman the Syrian, namely, with this condition, Wash and be clean 3 ?" Another reason which induced many Theologians of the reformed Churches to renounce the ancient doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, was their attachment to an opinion of late growth in the Church, that true grace is indefectible. The ancient predestinarians never questioned the certainty of Regeneration in Baptism, because this doctrine was consistent with their theory. For though they maintained that only the elect or predestinate are endued with the gift of perseverance to the end, and will be finally saved, yet they believed that God bestows at his pleasure every other kind and measure of grace on those persons, from whom He 3 Hooker, Eccl. Pol. 1. 5. c. 60. p. 249. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 145 withholds this special grace of perseverance 4 . They therefore held, in common with the rest of the Church, that the forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Ghost are generally bestowed in Baptism, because they did not conceive that there is any necessary and indissoluble connexion between Re- generation and eternal salvation. This was Augus- tin's doctrine, whose opinion was, that grace, however limited in its operation and duration, is nevertheless true grace, and the exact counterpart of a decree of predestination enacted before the world began. This doctrine had its defenders and opponents both among Romish and Protestant divines. It was adopted by Luther, at least in the early part of his career, but was disliked and discountenanced by Melancthon 5 , and was rejected by the Lutheran Church. And it certainly received no favour nor encouragement from those great men who took the leading part in the Reformation of our own Church. But it was so little disliked by the Church of Rome, that it was acknowledged in the Council of Trent, that in the matter of predestination there is nothing Mirandum est quidem multuraque mirandum, quod quibus- dam filiis suis, quos regeneravit in Christo, quibus fidem, dilec- tionem dedit, not dat perse veranti am. Augustin, De Corr. et Gratia, c. 9. 5 Nimis horridae fuerunt initio Stoicae disputationes apud nostros de Fato ; et discipline nocuerunt. Melancthon, Ep. ad Cranmer. 146 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE unsound in the writings of Luther, and the ad- herents to the Augsburg Confession ; and the decrees of that Council are framed in such a manner as not to offend the schoolmen, who were of Augustin's sentiments 6 . But the Calvinistic doctrine of indefectible grace was incompatible with the received notion of Rege- neration in Baptism. For it is evident, that final salvation is no necessary consequence of Baptism. But according to the principles of Calvin and his followers, no one, who has been washed from his sins, and endowed with the Holy Ghost, can possibly fail of everlasting happiness 7 . They therefore re- 6 On this head, they found nothing to censure in the writings of Luther, nor in the Augsburg Confession, nor in the Apologies and Confessions. But they found much to censure in the writings of the Zuinglians. Paolo, 1. 2. s. 80. Nemo, quamdiu in hac mortalitate vivit, de arcano divinae prsedestinationis consilio usque adeo prsesumere debet, ut certo statuat se omnino esse in numero praedestinatorum : quasi verum esset quod justificatus amplius peccare non possit, aut si pec- caverit, certam sibi resipiscentiam promittere debeat. Nam sine speciali revelatione sciri non potest quos Deus sibi elegerit. Con. Tri. Sess. 6. c. 13. Similiter de perseverantise munere nemo sibi certi aliquid absoluta certitudine polliceatur. C. 14. 7 Fieri non potest, ut qui Spiritus Sancti ope ita Christo unitus fuerit, ut unus cum illo Spiritus evaserit, in Christum credere suo tempore vel negligat, vel deinceps etiam desinat. Gataker, p. 150. Cui non Orthodoxo mirum, si non horrendum dictu, videatur, aliquem in Christi mortem sepultum, Christo incorporatum, DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 147 jected the doctrine of the universal Church, in deference to their own theory a theory flattering to the pride and presumption of the human heart, but manifestly at variance with the whole truth of Scripture, and the first principles of natural re- ligion. But besides, in their zeal for this tenet of absolute election and infallible perseverance, they were too ready to overlook the means through which the decree of predestination, whatever may be its na- ture, must be carried into effect; or, at least, to think little of those means which, in the opinion of sober judges, are subordinately instrumental to sal- vation. This is an error which has been treated with his usual judgment and good sense by Hooker. But his mode of arguing did not satisfy the zealous Calvinists. For finding no mention of Baptism in that text of Scripture, which they looked upon as the charter or golden chain of man's salvation 8 , Christo indutum, in aeternum posthac exitium devenire ? Idem, p. 157. 8 Rom. viii. 28, 29, 30. This passage is evidently intended to point out, not the necessary and infallible event, but the order, design, and intention of God's counsels. In fact, the aorist, or indefinite tense, often denotes the frequency and customary occurrence, and the order, design, and regular or legitimate event of things, and in the idiom of our language may be more correctly rendered by the present tense Whom he foreknows, &c. So Luke i. 51, 52, 53. The words, whom he justifies he glorifies, have been commonly quoted as decisive of the doctrine of indefectible grace and necessary perseverance. But it seems L 2 148 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE they extenuated its importance, and were far from regarding it as an immediate and ordinary means of life. " There are," says Hooker, " that elevate 9 too much the ordinary and immediate means of life, relying wholly upon the bare conceit of that eternal election, which, notwithstanding, includeth a subor- dination of means, without which we are not actually brought to enjoy what God secretly did intend. Predestination bringeth not life without 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, to have been forgotten, that a large part of the New Testa- ment is taken up in calling justified men to the performance of those duties through which they must attain to glory ; in warn- ing them of the danger to which they were exposed of falling away from grace, and exhorting them to seek for glory, honour, and immortality by patient continuance in well-doing. In this passage, the Apostle encourages the Roman Christians to per- severance, by assuring them that the whole plan and order of their salvation has been laid down and appointed by God from eternity ; and that as their call and justification are plain proofs of their predestination to life, so they are pledges of the con- tinuance of God's favour, and of eternal glory, if they on their part remain stedfast in the faith, and continue to love God, to suffer with Christ, and to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. 9 The word elevate is here used in the classical sense of the Latin word elevo ; and signifies to undervalue, or take off from the force of. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 149 but by Baptism, which both declareth and maketh us Christians. In which respect we justly hold it to be the door of our actual entrance into God's house, the first apparent beginning of life, a seal perhaps to the grace of election before received, but to our sanctification here a step that hath not any before it 1 ." For these reasons the theologians of whom we are speaking relinquished the opinion of Catholic Chris- tianity on this subject, and brought forward several propositions, directly opposed to the creed which had been maintained for so many ages. 1. That Baptism is not, properly speaking, a means or instrument of grace, but merely a sign or seal of regeneration and forgiveness. 2. That believers in Christ receive remission of their sins and are born again, previous to the Sacra- ment of Baptism. 3. That infants, though baptized with water, are not baptized with the Spirit, till they are endowed with faith and with effectual and indefectible grace. 4. That none but the Elect are ever regene- rate ; that the Elect, when effectually called, are regenerate without Baptism ; and that every elect and regenerate person must necessarily be saved. 1 Hooker, Eccl. Pol. b. 5. s. 60. p. 247, 248. 150 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE 5. That Infants, who are the children of be- lievers, are not received into covenant with God in Baptism, but are baptized because they are already within the covenant of adoption 2 . Regeneration, therefore, being thus separated from Baptism, was invested with a new character and new definitions, and a different place was assigned to it, according to the new theory, from that which it had obtained in the creed and practice of our forefathers. 2 Sancta ideo nascitur ex fidelibus progenies, quod adhuc utero Inclusi eorum liberi, antequam vitalem Spiritum haurirent, co- optati tamen sunt in fcedus vitae aeternse. Nee sane alio jure per Baptismum aggregantur in ecclesiam, nisi quia ad corpus Christ! jam ante pertinebant, quam in lucem ederentur. Bap- tismum praecedat adoptionis gratia necesse est, quae non dimidiae tantum salutis causa est, sed earn ipsam salutem in solidum affert, quae Baptismo deinde sancitur. Calvin, Vera Eccles. Reformandae Ratio. Opuscula, p. 325. This is the common doctrine of the Calvinistic writers, and they ground it on God's promise to Abraham, that He would be a God to him and his seed after him. Infantes nostros antequam nascantur se adoptare in suos pronuntiat Deus, quum se nobis in Deum fore promittit, seminique nostro post nos. But even allowing the justness of this argument from Abraham's case to our own, God's promise to his seed implied and included circum- cision. That the children of Christians have a title to Baptism and its benefits by birthright, as Abraham's descendants had to Circumcision, and that it is the duty of parents to see that they are baptized, is readily allowed. But I apprehend that our Church speaks more consonantly to Scripture, than Calvin and his followers, when it determines that we are made children of God and children of grace, or made his children by adoption and grace, in Baptism. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 151 But, before I proceed to inquire into the value of this theory, I shall enter a little more particularly into the history of those variations in language and opinion upon this subject, to which I briefly alluded in an early part of my inquiry. The word Regeneration is used by Melancthon in his public and private writings, as equivalent to justification, in the sense which this latter word bears in the controversial parts of St. Paul's Epistles, and in the controversial writings of the early Protestants. This sense of the word repre- sents the true theory of Regeneration, but it gives it a latitude inconsistent with the usage of Scripture, and the more correct statements of the ancient Christians 3 . For, instead of confining it to that 3 Justificari significat, ex injustis justos effici, seu regenerari. Melancthon, vol. i. p. 66. Ex his omnibus apparet, quod sola fides justificat et quod sola fides regenerat. Nam sola fide concipitur Spiritus Sanctus. p. 71. Qui hanc fidem consecuti sunt, hi renati sunt, ut bene operen- tur, et legem faciant. p. 78. Fides consequitur remissionem peccatorum, et justificat nos, et regenerat, et aflfert Spiritum Sanctum, ut deinde legem facere possimus. p. 64. Haec est regeneratio, de qua hie concionatur Christus, (John iii. 5.) cum hoc modo fiducia Filii Dei in pavoribus sustentamur, et liberamur a terroribus peccati, et ab aeterna morte. Vol. iii. p. 94. Disputatio est (John iii. 3, &c.) de discrimine justitise legalis, 152 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE reconciliation which takes place in Baptism, the first translation from a state of wrath into a state of grace and acceptance, it makes it include the recon- ciliation of the sinner to God in every part of his religious life. Justification, like Regeneration, is distinct in theory from conversion, or the renewal of the inward frame, and does not, strictly speaking, consist in a change of mind, (for in adults that change, i. e. repentance, must precede it,) but in a change of relative condition to God, and a free grant of privileges and mercies; including in its definition the forgiveness of sin, the acceptance of the person, and a conditional title to eternal life. Thus far, therefore, it agrees with Regeneration; and every worthy recipient, according to the constant et justitiae fidei, qua vere tollitur peccatum et mors, et fit regene- ratio, et inchoatio vitae seternae. Idem. This appears to have been the current doctrine of the Lutheran divines ; or rather they speak of faith as the effect of Regene- ration. " Propria et maxime genuina et hodie apud Theologos praeci- pue usitata (hujus vocis) significatio est, qua fidei perductionem denotat. " Baddeus Inst. Theol. Dogm. 1. iv. c. 3. 15. But they distinguished between the act and state of Regenera- tion ; i. e. between Regeneration and Renovation. Ne vero distinguenda confundamus, discrimen inter actum et statum regenerationis minime est negligendum : sed et quae ad gradus et incrementa novi hominis, adeoque ad renovationem spectant, a prima ejus productione quae fit in regeneratione, probe sunt discernenda. c. 3. 23. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 153 doctrine of the Church, is not only regenerated, but justified in Baptism. But in many respects Justification differs from Regeneration 4 . In Regeneration God is considered as a father, adopting us for his children, and bringing us into a state of new life. In Justification He is spoken of as a judge or moral governor, passing sentence upon us, and pronouncing us just and righteous. Regeneration is a single act of God's grace, con- veyed over to us at a determinate time, and in a form specially appointed by Christ. Its privileges and good effects may be suspended, and in the end utterly forfeited ; but cannot, humanly speaking, be totally lost in this world, because every person, who has been born again of water and of the Spirit, is, till he dies, within the covenant of repentance. But, if we except the case of infants, the being accounted just and righteous in God's sight is a blessing which depends on the actual condition of the heart and habits ; and no man is justified who has not forsaken his sins, and is not living in a state of habitual belief and holiness, and compliance with the will of God. Hence, as Augustin * has well remarked, man is jus- * See Water-land's Sermon on Justification. 5 Justificatio porro in hac vita nobis secundum tria ista confertur. Prius lavacro regenerationis quo remittuntur peccata omnia. Deinde congressu cum vitiis, a quorum reatu absoluti sumus. Tertio, cum nostra exauditur oratio, qua dicimus, Dimitte nobis debita nostra quoniam quamlibet fortiter contra ]54 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE tified in Baptism, and continues to be justified whilst lie is contending strenuously against sin, and praying for the forgiveness of his daily trespasses. But the same qualifications that are required of adult converts, in order to their Justification in Baptism, are required of the Christian sinner who has departed from grace, in order to forgiveness and justification. Justification, therefore, is a blessing which may be lost by man's sin, and recovered through God's mercy. For as our Church teaches us, in perfect conformity to Scripture, " The grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin : and by the grace of God, we may rise again, and amend ourselves 6 ." But though Melancthon and the Lutheran divines used the word Regeneration in this latitude, and in the more popular sense of conversion or renovation 7 , they maintained with steadiness the doctrine of vitia dimicemus, homines sum us ; Dei autem gratia sic nos in hac corruptibili carne adjuvat dimicantes, ut non desit propter quod exaudiat veniam postulantes. Augustin, contra Julianum, lib. ii. ed. Paris, vol. vii. p. 1555. 6 Article XVI. 7 Cum de tali fide loquamur, quae a morte liberat, et novam vitam in cordibus parit, et est opus Spiritus Sancti, non stat cum peccato mortali, sed tantisper dum adest bonos fructus parit. Quid potest dici de conversions impii, seu de modo regenerationis clarius ? Melancthon, vol. i. p. 65. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 155 Regeneration in Baptism 8 . They taught, consist- ently with the language and doctrine of our own Church, that the guilt or formality of sin is removed in Baptism, though the material part of it, (to use the language of the schools,) that is, concupiscence, or proneness to evil, still remains : and that the Holy Ghost is given to us at the same time, to mortify our concupiscence, and to produce new and godly motions within us. The opinions delivered by Calvin on this subject do not appear altogether steady and consistent. He identifies Regeneration with conversion, re- pentance, or renewal 9 . According to this defini- 8 See Archbishop Laurence, Part i. c. 4. Semper ita scripsit Lutherus, quod Baptismus tollat reatum peccati originis, etsi materiale, ut isti vocant, peccati maneat id est, concupiscentia. Addit etiam de materiali, quod Spiritus Sanctus per Baptismum datus, incipit mortificare concupiscentiam, et novos motus creat in homine. Mel. vol. i. p. 61. Quod Deus approbat baptismum parvulorum, hoc ostendit, quod Deus datSpiritum Sanctum sic baptizatis. p. 83. Deducit Christus nos (John iii. 5.) ad ministerium Evangelii, quasi dicat Intelligo te, Nicodeme, offendi novis concionibus meis et Baptistae, quod dicimus vestris exercitiis et discipline! non tolli peccatum : sed hoc prorsus affirmo, teque ad hoc novum ministerium deduce. Renasci te oportet per hoc novum minis- terium Baptismi, qui fit aqua et Spiritu. Vol. iii. p. 641. 9 Regenerationem dico esse veram ad Deum vitae nostrae conversionem, a sincere serioque Dei timore profectam, quae carnis nostrae veterisque hominis mortificatione, et Spiritus vivificatione constat. Calvin, Inst. 1. iii. c. 3. Uno ergo verbo pcenitentiam interpreter regenerationem, cujus 156 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE tion, Regeneration is a true conversion of the soul to God, proceeding from a sincere and serious fear of Him, and consisting of the mortification of the flesh and the old man, and of the quickening or renewal of the Spirit. This change is necessary that the image of God, which had been obliterated in Adam, may be formed again in the soul of man. And this renewal, or Regeneration, is not completed in one moment, or day, or year ; but God abolishes the corruptions of the flesh in the elect, by continued and slow advances. But he affirms, that Baptism is the ordinary instrument of Regeneration . and renovation ! ; that non alius est scopus, nisi ut imago Dei, quae per Adae trans- gressionem fcedata, et tantum non obliterata fuerat, in nobis reformetur. Idem. Proinde ista regeneratione in Dei justitiam Christi beneficio instauramur. Atque haec quidem instauratio non uno momenta, vel die, vel anno impletur, sed per continues, imo etiam lentos interdum profectus abolet Deus in Electis suis carnis corrup- telas. Idem. 1 Sacramenta nihil sunt quam instrumentales conferendae gratiae causae, quae turn demum prosunt suumque effectum habent, cum fidei inserviunt. Calv. Antid. C. T. Opuscula, p. 296. Nee fideles modo astringimus ad ejus observationem : sed ordinarium quoque Dei instrumentum esse asserimus ad nos lavandos et renovandos, ad salutem denique nobis communi- candam. p. 298. . In baptismo Deus Filii sui sanguine nos abluit, suoque Spiritu nos regenerat. p. 297. Hac tessera voluntatem suam Dominus nobis testificatur, DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 157 it is an instrumental cause of conferring grace; that in Baptism God washes us with the blood of his Son, and regenerates us with his Spirit; that in this sacrament He effectually fulfils what it figures out and represents. And He declares his total dis- approbation of the sentiments of those persons who deny that sacraments contain the grace which they symbolize. At the same time, He strictly confines this grace of Regeneration to the elect, that is, to those persons whose salvation is secured by an absolute and unconditional decree; and asserts, that the man who does not know that the Spirit of Regeneration is only conferred on the elect, is totally unacquainted with Scripture 2 . Yet in other passages, he seems to confine the office of sacraments neque tantum nudo spectaculo pascit oculos, sed in rem prae- sentem nos adducit, et quod figurat efficaciter simul implet. Inst. 1. iv. c. 15. Si qui sunt qui negant Sacramentis contineri gratiam quam significant, improbamus. Opusc. p. 296. Quum autem vera sunt quae nobis Dominus dedit gratiae suae testimonia et sigilla vere procul dubio praestat intus Spiritu suo, quod oculis et aliis sensibus figurant sacramenta. Consensio Min. Eccl. Tigur. et J. Calvin. Opusc. p. 7o3. 2 Sedulo docemus, Deum non promiscue vim suam exercere in omnibus qui Sacramenta recipiunt, sed tantum in electis. Consensio, s. 16. Hoc interest in Dei vocatione, quod omnes promiscue invitat verbo suo, electos autem solos intus docet. Quemadmodum ait Christus, Quicquid mihi dedit Pater, ad me veniet. Denique* regenerationis Spiritum non dari nisi Electis, quisquis ignorat nescio quid in Scripturis teneat. Ant. C. T. Opusc. 291. 158 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE to sealing and testifying ; and declares, that God re- generates those who have been baptized in infancy, sometimes in childhood, sometimes in youth, some- times in extreme old age 3 . This was one of the earliest attempts to separate Regeneration from Baptism 4 ; and these opinions are consequences of his favourite notions of pre- destination, and of the indefectibility and necessary activity of true grace. But though Calvin seems to have departed with reluctance from the received doctrine and language of the Church, the opinions, which he advanced with some caution and reserve, were avowed and defended by the great body of his followers. According to the doctrine of the Church, the sacramental phraseology is founded on s Hie prsecipuus Sacramentorum usus est, ut per ea nobis gratiam suam testetur Deus, figuret, repraesentet. Consensio, 753. Tametsi in contextu verborum Baptismus remissionem pec- catorum hie praecedit, ordine tamen sequitur, quia nihil aliud est quam bonorum quae per Christum consequimur obsignatio, ut in conscientiis nostris rata sint. Quia autem Baptismus sigillum est, quo Deus hoc nobis confirmat, adeoque arrha et pignus adoptionis nostrae, merito dari in remissionem peccatorum dicitur. Calv. in Act. 2. 38. Qui in prima infantia baptizati sunt, eos in pueritia, vel ineunte adolescentia, interdum etiam in senectute regenerat Deus. Consensio, s. 19. 4 The attempt had been made in an earlier period of the Reformation by Zuinglius, who seems to have maintained these opinions with greater decision and consistency than his successor, Calvin. See Dr. Pusey's Scriptural view. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 159 the conjunction and simultaneous presence of the sign and the thing signified 5 ; and sacraments not only denote, but confer grace, in a subordinate and instrumental manner. But the Calvinistic divines put a different interpretation on these phrases. For they affirmed, that sacraments confer grace in a manner peculiar to themselves, not as means whereby grace is transmitted to the recipient, but as signs or seals of grace already received 6 . They 5 Sacramentales locutiones fundantur in conjuncta collatione et exhibitione rei signatae cum signo, in usu legitimo ex in- stitutione Christi. Ward, p. 101. G. 6 Baptismus filios Dei non facit, sed qui jam ante filii Dei sunt, filiorum Dei testimonium signum vel tesseram accipiunt. Zuinglius, prior to Calvin. G. p. 96. Baptismus est obsignatio promissionis acquisitae et sigillum jam impetratae regenerationis. Peter Martyr. G. Sacramenta in adultis nisi renatis jam et renovatis non appli- cant Christi meritum. Gat. Consentiunt Sacramenta esse signa exhibentia id quod signi- ficant. Nam quae diplomata in membrana sunt, fiunt efficacia, sortiunturque effectum suum. Chamier, Panstr. G. 93. Baptismatis aqua neque ut causa efficiens, neque ut instru- mentalis, requiritur, sed duntaxat ut obsignatorium sigillum. Danaeus. G. p. 92. Contrarium dogma ex fcetidis Scholasticorum lacunis haustum est, qui causativam, ut loquuntur, vim Deo principalem, instru- mentalem Sacramentis tribuerunt. Beza. G. 105. Adultus fidelis quivis ad fontem sacrum accedit, peccatorum retro commissorum omnium remissionem plenariam, et internam regenerationem jam consecutus. Gat. p. 95. 160 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE considered what St. Paul says of Abraham's circum- cision as a complete definition of a sacrament 7 . For as Abraham received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised, so, in their opinion, every be- liever receives the sign of Baptism, the seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had yet being unbaptized. They did not, however, remark that there can be no analogy between the case of Abra- ham, whose faith, as we learn from Scripture, was counted to him for righteousness long before he received the covenant of circumcision, and of Chris- tians, the express words of whose charter are, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But since this theory and definition of Baptism could not cover the case of infants, to solve this difficulty they resorted to a distinction arising out 7 Vix puto ullum locum extare in sacris literis, quo tarn breviter et explicate natura Sacramentorum explicatur, quam his Pauli verbis ubi Circumcisio appellatur signaculum. Pet. Martyr, in Rom. iv. 11. G. Porro hie habemus insignem locum de communi Sacramen- torum usu. Sunt enim, teste Paulo, sigilla ; quibus Dei pro- missiones cordibus nostris quodammodo obsignantur, et sancitur gratise certitude. Calv. in Rom. iv. 11. Nee vero Baptismo plus tribuere fas est, quam Apostolus circumcisioni tribuit, quod vocat sigillum justitice fidei. Calv. Inst. 1. iv. c. 14. 25. Non hie circumcisionis tantum, sed Sacramentorum in genere definitio habetur. Whitaker. G. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 161 of the nature and use of seals 8 . " Seals," they said, ** are sometimes affixed to legal instruments in con- firmation of grants already bestowed ; sometimes in testimony of grants which are to be made good at some future time. It is in the latter way that Baptism confers grace on elect infants, because it is a seal of that grace which God will bestow on them in his own season." Had it, however, been certain that this figurative expression, in Scriptural usage, is borrowed from seals affixed to legal instru- ments, it is reasonable to suppose that it would not have been taken from the accidental and occasional, but from the ordinary use of legal seals. Now, though seals are sometimes affixed to grants or conveyances of property, of which the party is already in full possession, and sometimes to con- veyances of reversionary or contingent interests, the ordinary use of legal instruments is to convey and give present possession of property or privileges ; and these instruments have no legal validity till they are sealed. Hence, if Baptism is a seal of grace, in the sense to which we are alluding, it is 8 Moralis signi usus est promiscuus, ad effecta turn praeterita, turn futura. Sigilla in rebus politicis confirmant turn pacta jam statuta, turn promissa in futurum. Chamier, Panstr. G. 95. Obsignatur remissio, vel collata baptizato, vel conferenda deinceps : sive cum adultus actualiter conversus crediderit, sive priusquam hinc discesserit, si parvulus adhuc obierit. Gataker, p. 96, speaking of infants. M 162 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE more natural, and more consistent with the common principles of figurative language, to consider it as a seal of grace conveyed and made over by the act of sealing, than of grace already bestowed, or only promised and contingent. But though Calvin used the word Regeneration rather in a popular than in its strict and appropriate meaning, his notions of the thing itself were sober and moderate. For he supposes that Regeneration proceeds from the fear of God, and includes in its definition the whole conversion of the life to God, commencing either in Baptism, or in some other season, without speculating on the nature and ex- tent of this turning point, or commencement of Regeneration. But his followers confined the act of Regeneration to a determinate time, and took their description of it from the scholastic doctrine of justi- fying grace 9 . For, according to the schoolmen, man, when he is baptized, is- endowed with a habit of justifying grace, containing in it the habits of faith, hope, and charity, and of all Christian virtues. In ipsa justificatione haec omnia simul infusa accipit homo, spem, fidem, caritatem. Cone. Trid. Sessio Sexta, S. 5. 8. Grace is said by the schoolmen to be a spiritual quality, created by God. They maintained that the perfection of Adam con- sisted in an infused quality, which adorned his soul, and ren- dered it perfect ; that God, through the merits of Christ, gives to those who are born again in Baptism another quality, which is called justifying grace, which, by purifying the soul of all its stains, renders it as pure as that of Adam. Paulo, 1. ii. c. 64. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 163 But the scholastic Calvinists asserted that Regene- ration consists in such a habit of grace bestowed on the elect in the moment of the effectual call. Regeneration, according to their statement, "is the implanting the habits and principles of grace, or the framing the complexion or body of grace in the heart. It is a constellation of all the several graces of the Spirit in the heart ; and all these graces of the Holy Spirit are implanted in us at once in the very instant of our Regeneration, for they are all linked together, and whoever receives one grace receives them all. It is a change of the whole man, in every part and faculty thereof, from a state of sinful nature to a state of supernatural grace, whereby the image of God, which was defaced and lost by our first transgression, is in some mea- sure restored. This image of God, which is restored to us in Regeneration, has a perfection of parts, though not of degrees, and it can never be totally lost and effaced as the other was : for though the sins of the elect may blot the evidences of their Regeneration, they cannot annul the certainty of their salvation V In the next Chapter I shall examine particularly the grounds and reasonableness of this theory, and 1 This statement i taken from Bishop Hopkins, vol. ii. p. 475, &c. London, 8vo. The doctrinal works of this prelate are a kind of digest of Calvinistic common places. See Cat. Syn. Trident, part ii. c. 2. 50, 51. M 2 164 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE inquire whether it has any advantage over the theory of our Church and the ancient Christians. At present I shall only observe, that this scholastic notion of a habit of grace involves two innovations on the known and received use of words. The ancient moralists make a just and reasonable distinction between faculties or dispositions, and habits ? . Faculties or dispositions are potential principles of action, which must be elicited by edu- cation, or opportunities, and formed into habits by use and exercise. Habits are the same principles in a state of activity, and of readiness and aptness for use. But, according to the doctrine of the scholastic divines, those principles which are said to be infused into the soul when it is regenerated, do not follow the order of moral causes, but are at once in a state of activity, and produce free acts as soon as they have an opportunity of exerting them- selves. But we shall see by-and-by that there is no ground of reason or Scripture for supposing that spiritual causes differ from moral in the order of their operations, or in the manner in which they produce their practical effects. The other innovation upon language consists in the sense which they have affixed to the word grace, considering it as a habit or quality inherent in the soul of man 3 . Grace is a word used in a 9 Aristotle, Nicom. Ethic. 1. ii. c. 1 and 4. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 165 variety of senses in Scripture: but, whenever it is applied to the renewal and spiritual improvement of the human sou 1 , it always signifies some favour or mercy proceeding from God, of which man is the object. In popular language, those virtues and good qualities which we refer upward to God, as their principal cause, are often called, by a common figure of speech, graces. But the schoolmen built a meta- physical distinction on this figure of speech, and distributed grace into real and relative, objective and subjective: relative grace, of which man is the object adoption, for instance, and the forgive- ness of sins which alters the relation in which he stands to God : real grace, of which man is the subject, which is a quality inherent in himself, and consists in the creation or infusion of new habits, and an entire change of the inward frame and dispositions. This is what the schoolmen call justi- fying grace ; the scholastic Calvinists regenerating grace, or Regeneration. But as this distinction has no foundation in Scriptural language, so we shall see that the doctrine which it insinuates has no foundation in the reason of the thing, experience, or Scripture. There are some divines, who, using the word Regeneration much in the same sense, and at all events separating it from Baptism, do not think it necessary to confine the change signified by it to any turning point, or particular moment of time. But 166 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE there does not seem to be any material difference of opinion between them and the divines, whose senti- ments have been just now stated. A gradual renewal of the mind and formation of habits, a change from evil to good, or from good to better, is often called Regeneration, in an enlarged sense of the word, by theologians, who still adhere, if not to the phraseology, to the doctrine of the ancient Christians, in the matter of Baptism. But I do not apprehend that the divines, to whom I allude, con- sider Regeneration as a moral change, produced by causes operating in a moral manner. If by this word they denote the whole process of renovation 4 , necessarily advancing onward, without any material or fatal interruption, from some determinate point, of which reason and conscience can take no cogni- zance, this notion involves the unscriptural doctrine of the indefectibility of true grace. If it is only meant that the entire change of mind, or infusion of habits, does not necessarily take place in a particular instant, but may be extended to a larger compass and period of time, this variation implies some deference to common sense, but, in the most mate- rial respects, coincides with the opinion of the scholastic Calvinists. Some writers, indeed, who speak of Regeneration as a gradual process effected by the Spirit of God, 4 This, as we have seen above, is Calvin's doctrine. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 167 appear, nevertheless, to make a distinction between Regeneration and conversion, and contend that Regeneration is the immediate operation of the Holy Ghost upon the soul, conversion the voluntary act of the mind turning itself to God. But as neither conversion, nor any other moral and religious change can be effected without the operation of the Holy Ghost, so I find no ground for supposing that the renewal of the inward frame takes place, in the ordinary course of God's dealings with us, without the agency of man's will and faculties. Certainly this subtle attempt to split the joint act of the Spirit and the man into two separate acts, indepen- dent of each other in theory, cannot be defended on Scriptural principles. But though the Calvinistic theology had sepa- rated Regeneration from Baptism, and described it as an infusion of habits, an implantation of grace, or a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, it did not represent it as immediately and necessarily discernible, but left it to be dis- covered by its moral effects, or by certain criteria which it laid down as the best and most infallible signs of true grace. Men of warm constitutions, however, often spoke of this change as something sensible and palpable; and the definitions which were given of it, combined with those notions of faith which were entertained by many of the early Protestants, naturally betrayed them into this error. 168 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE For when it is once supposed that faith is a certain knowledge and full assurance of our own individual favour with God 5 , or of our own absolute predes- tination to eternal life, and that Regeneration is an infusion of (what is called) habitual grace, or an entire change of soul, effected at some turning point, * It was the common doctrine of the Lutherans, maintained even by Melancthon himself, that the faith which justifies is an assured persuasion of our own personal forgiveness and favour. Calvin adopted this opinion, and incorporated with it his own doctrine of the indefectibility of grace ; so that accord- ing to him the faith which justifies is an assured persuasion of our personal and everlasting salvation. See Inst. 1. iii. c. 2. Many of his followers saw the absurdity of this definition, and its pal- pable contradiction to Scripture, which teaches us that faith must precede justification. They therefore made a distinction between justifying and special faith, and supposed that the one depends upon the other in the way of logical conclusion. Dr. S. Ward* treats the doctrine of justification by a special faith, or persuasion of our own personal forgiveness and acceptance, as a Lutheran error. This notion of justification by a special faith, or a persuasion of our own personal forgiveness and acceptance, is a leading doctrine of Whitfield, Wesley, and all the Methodistical sects, and exactly coincides with their views of Regeneration ; which in their system is separate from justification in theory and the order of thought, though not in fact or the order of time. * Samuelis Ward, S. T. D. Opera nonnulla. Tractatus de fide justificante et speciali, c. 23, p. 201. Operas pretium duximus eorum opinionem oppugnare, qui fiduciam de peccatorum remissione esse ipsam fidem justifi- cantem contendunt : quae fere est assertio Lutheranorum. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 169 or, at the utmost, within a short compass of time, the barrier between these opinions and enthusiasm, however firm it may appear to speculative Theo- logians, is weak and inconsiderable. Hence the theoretical error of these divines, when it fell into the hands of the unthinking, the injudicious, and the passionate, naturally slided into a practical error and a fanatical conceit ; especially when it was set off in the exaggerated colours of eloquence, or exhi- bited to the understanding in the incongruous form of rhetorical definitions. A new birth, distinctly perceivable by the conscience and feelings of the individual, accompanied with throes and agonies, and bearing in every respect a close analogy to the natural birth, has become, as might have been expected, the favourite tenet and strong hold of fanaticism. Indeed the theory of those who contend that this new birth is sensible, and of those who speak of it in more guarded language, is precisely the same ; and there is no difference in their views of the nature or necessity of that change which they designate by this term. But the more sober- minded advocates of this opinion maintain that the change is not perceived at the very moment when it takes place, because it is not expected. Whereas, in the system of the enthusiasts, it is expected, and therefore, as they contend, is perceived. The mind of the aspirant is postured into the different stages of spiritual parturition, and he is brought to the 170 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE birth (to use their own phraseology) sooner or later, if we will believe themselves, as the Spirit listeth ; as thinking and observing men will probably judge, in proportion to his credulity or vanity, the live- liness of his imagination, or the strength of his natural passions. There is another signification of this word, to which I have frequently alluded, which speaks of the legitimate effects of the new birth, the prac- tical and progressive change which the Holy Ghost effects in believers, by a popular and common figure, under the name of Regeneration. The word is often used in this sense by sound and orthodox divines of our Church. Maintaining in its full force the con- nexion between the outward sign and inward grace of Baptism, they do not adhere with strictness to the phraseology of the Liturgy, and of the ancient Christians. Some writers use the word indifferently, either for the spiritual grace of Baptism, or for that inward change which is more properly denominated renovation; or, whilst they acknowledge that the former is its strict and accurate sense, use it occa- sionally in a more enlarged and popular manner. Some, with greater deference to the popular use of words than to accuracy of doctrinal language, style the inward grace of the Sacrament baptismal Rege- neration, and give the title of spiritual Regeneration to the progressive renewal and change of the inward frame. But this distinction has no foundation in DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 171 the language of Scripture, and does not appear alto- gether safe. For though the doctrinal views of these writers appear to be sound, and in unison with the sentiments of our Church, the verbal distinction which they have laid down seems to imply, what was probably far from their intention, that Regeneration in Baptism is not spiritual Regeneration. Others, again, without denying the virtue and efficacy of Baptism, use the word almost exclusively in the popular signification. But the Arminian divines contended that what is here called the popular, is the only true and proper sense of this expression 6 . For, in their Regeneratio facit nos Dei filios, id est Deo similes, et, ut diximus, perficitur verbo Evangelii. Quando se componit ad vitam juxta illius praescriptum instituendam, Patris imaginem sensim exprimit : at postquam actu ipso ostendit se verbo illo regi, turn totum patrem refert, seque genuinum illius filium ostendit. Ad novura itaque effectum respicitur : modus, quo ille peragitur, phrasibus illis non continetur, sed ex aliis locis petendus est. Limborch, Theol. Christ. 1. iv. c. 14. 14. It is in this sense that Archbishop Tillotson uses the word, in his Sermons on the nature and necessity of Regeneration. But in his Sermons on the ordinary influences of the Holy Spirit, he decidedly states his opinion that the Holy Ghost is given in Baptism, and defends the language of our Church, in the office of Baptism for children, as agreeable to Scripture, the ancient fathers, and the Liturgies of the Reformed Churches. And no one who is acquainted with the Archbishop's sentiments, will suspect him of supposing that some infants receive the Holy 172 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE opinion, the figure relates solely to effects, without taking into the account the mode in which they are produced, or the instruments by which they are effected. We may, indeed, they tell us, learn from other passages of Scripture, that this moral and practical change is effected by the Word and Spirit of God. But it is called Regeneration only when completed; and men are not said to be regenerate in the Scriptural sense, till their whole conduct shows that they are governed by God's word, and till they resemble their heavenly Father, and show them- selves to be his genuine children. Hence they positively deny that there is any connexion between Baptism and Regeneration 7 , and find fault, not Ghost in Baptism, and others not. Sermon 200. Vol. x. p. 345, 6. Octavo edition. 7 Sacramenta in nobis operantur, tanquam signa repraesen- tantia menti nostrae rem cujus signa sunt. Neque alia in illis quaeri debet efficacia. Limborch, Theol. Christ. 1. iv. c. 66. 31. Contraremonstrantes valde intricate sententiam suam pro- ponunt, nee distincte satis concipi potest quid sibi velint. Idem, 30. Baptismus ritus est, quo fideles, tanquam sacra tessera, confirmantur de gratiosa Dei erga ipsos voluntate, remissione peccatorum, ac aeterna vita, seque ad vitae emendationem, et praeceptorum obedientiam obstringunt. C. 67. 5. Baptismum non esse lavacrum regenerationis satis ex iis, quae antea de sacramentorum efficacia disputavimus, constare potest. C. 67. 10. Contraremonstrantes affirmare non audent omnes fidelium DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 173 without reason, with their Calvinistic opponents, who pretended to maintain this connexion by the help of verbal ambiguities and ingenious equivoca- tions, while they virtually denied it in the whole tenour of their doctrines and peculiar opinions. But here again, though their arguments are sound and reasonable, supposing their definition to be correct, the theory of Regeneration is mis-stated, and the popular sense of the word substituted for its strict and appropriate meaning: the efficacy which the Church has assigned to the right use of its Sacraments is enervated; and the -language of Scripture itself is frequently subjected to such liberos fcedere divino comprehend!, et per Baptismum fcederis divini sigillo obsignari, sed solos electos. Hinc affirmare non dubitant, infantes fidelium baptizatos, si progressu aetatis impia ac profana vita sua ostendant, se non habere Spiritum regene- rationis, eum non amisisse, sed nunquam habuisse : baptizari autem, quia ex judicio charitatis pro foederatis habendi sunt. Qua sua doctrina revera necessitatem Paedo-baptismi evertunt, utpote qui fallax tantum fcederis divini signum sit. Quodque gravius est, doctrina haec cum maxima Dei injuria conjuncta est. Quia enim Baptismus, ut fcederis divini sigillum, solemniter administratur in nomen Patris, Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus invocantur tanquam testes in testi- monium, quod dubium, incertum, ac fallax est, multorumque respectu falsum. Hinc Zanchius, ut incommodum illud vitet, consentanee doctrinae suae docuit, Baptismum non esse adminis- trandum, nisi sub hac conditione, si electi sint : neminemque baptizandum, nisi hac particula vel expressa vel subintellecta, Ego, O Deus, hunc baptizo secundum electionem et propositum divince vohmtatis tuce. C. 68. 14. 174 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE modes of interpretation as are disclaimed by a sound and judicious criticism. In these subjects, whilst we keep close to the established theory and doctrine of the Church, one passage of Scripture throws light upon another ; and where different texts appear to disagree, they may be reconciled upon general and approved rules of interpretation. But error is manifold, and every error has its difficulties to encounter, and its solutions- to pro- pound. The view which our Church takes of Re- generation in Baptism is in accordance with sound sense and experience, with just ideas of the reasonable faculties and moral nature of man, with the general truth of religion, and the par- ticular theory of Christianity. But every departure from it is more or less at variance with one or other of these principles, and, consequently, with the true sense and sound interpretation of Scripture itself. It will be needless to inquire farther into all the variations from the truth which have been detailed in this Chapter. But in the following Chapter I shall examine more at length the grounds of that theory which has been opposed with the greatest confidence to the doctrine main- tained in this Treatise. If it is founded in reason and Scripture, we must retrace our steps, and endeavour to discover the weak points of our own theory. If it is built upon scholastic para- DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 175 cloxes, or exaggerated views of any part of Christian truth, we may be contented to tread the highway which our Church has pointed out to us, and our ancestors in the faith have trodden, without turning aside to the right hand or the left. I7fi A GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHAPTER X. AN EXAMINATION OF THE CALVINISTIC THEORY OF REGENERATION. i WE have seen that according to the theory stated in a preceding Chapter, Regeneration is a pure act of God's special grace, immanent in himself and terminating in man, limited and determined to a particular time, and not admitting latitude and in- crease. But the theory, whose merits we now pro- pose to examine, proceeds upon totally different principles. For it represents Regeneration as a kind of general revolution in the moral nature and reasonable faculties of man, effected by the sole power of God's Holy Spirit, in the way of creation or miraculous operation ; as an implantation of new qualities or habits; or as that turning point from evil to good, in which a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul takes place. Such DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 177 a change, however confidently asserted and inge- niously defended, will be found, if I mistake not, on a more exact inquiry, to be inconsistent with the reason of the thing, the experience and history of mankind, and the drift and purposes of natural and revealed religion. That those changes which have their seat in our intellectual and moral nature, so far as they are effected through the medium of religious instruc- tion and exercises, are the joint work of the Holy Spirit and of that principle of self-action which God has implanted in man, is a truth to which Scripture and our own reason and conscience bear a concurrent and consistent testimony. We learn from Scripture that the aid of the Holy Ghost is requisite to the illumination of our understandings, and the renewal and reformation of our hearts. But, at the same time, it presses upon us the neces- sity of intellectual and moral discipline, and exhorts us to do for ourselves, in our own place and pro- portion, the very same things of which it speaks in other passages as the work of God and the Holy Ghost. Reason and conscience likewise teach us, with an evidence which cannot be contradicted, that according to the common tenour of God's dispen- sations, no sensible change takes place in the dis- positions and habits of the mind without our own active co-operation. Whether, therefore, we refer ourselves to the word of God, or follow the track N 178 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE which reason and conscience mark out to us, there is no cause for supposing that the Holy Ghost, when He is carrying on the work of enlightening and reforming the human soul, acts otherwise than in the order of intellectual and moral causes, accom- modating his influences to the intellect and moral nature of free and accountable agents, not creating new qualities, nor implanting new faculties, but working upon materials which, though deranged and disordered by the fall, and impaired by our own sins, are nevertheless inherent in our consti- tution. It is true that these changes take place in various ways, and differ materially in times and seasons, degrees and measures ; but they present no appear- ances inconsistent with the usual relation between causes and effects. The same varieties occur in the operation of moral and intellectual causes, where the special agency of the Spirit is confessedly excluded. For though the changes effected by those causes are usually gradual and imperceptible, yet it frequently happens that the powers of the mind and the moral principles are strongly deve- loped at particular seasons, and that important changes, so far as they come within the cognizance of our conscience and memory, may be traced back with great probability to particular occasions. These are matters of frequent occurrence, and are not thought to be miraculous; and it is natural to DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 179 suppose, that the causes which have led to these striking developments have been working their way in silence, and combining and preparing their effects. But there is no reason to think that those changes which are brought about by spiritual causes, and the supernatural and remedial power ' of the Holy Ghost, are effected in another manner, or that they are to be referred to the class of miracles or literal creations. Indeed, such a supposition appears in- consistent with the freedom and responsibility of man, and seems to resolve religious improvement into necessity and fatalism. But this theory, which contemplates Regeneration as an implantation of habits, or a mystical and miraculous change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, rests on a metaphysical notion, that the change which the Holy Spirit produces in the inward frame of man must commence in all its parts, at some turning point, or precise and definite moment. To analyze the workings of the Holy Spirit, and assign to Him a particular time and measure of action, appears, at first sight, an im- prudent and hopeless undertaking. But if this 1 We cannot either will or do without God's help : He work- eth both in us ; that is, we by his help alone are enabled to do things above our nature. But then we are the persons enabled : and therefore we do these works as we do others, not by the same powers, but in the same manner. Bp. Taylor, U. N. p. 675. N2 180 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE change is, as we learn from Scripture, the joint produce of divine and human, of spiritual and moral causes, and is, therefore, brought about not in the order of miraculous but of moral effects, the hypo- thesis is unfounded, and the metaphysical data on which it rests are necessarily erroneous. Our acquaintance with the operation of moral causes is altogether practical and experimental, and no arguments can be valid and conclusive which are not borne out by an induction of facts and the his- tory of human nature. But uniform experience contradicts the theory which we are examining. For it proves that we have such faculties and prin- ciples in our nature as we might expect to find in the frame and constitution of religious and respon- sible creatures; that they must be brought into action by instruction and moral discipline ; and that habits of holiness and spiritual discernment are not infused into us, but are formed and matured in the same manner as our other moral and intellectual endowments. The same imperceptible transition from evil to good, the same fusion and absorption of habits, the same process of causes operating in silence, and elements of reformation working their way, till they acquire, we know not how, some shape and consistency, characterize those changes which are purely moral, and those which are, pro- perly speaking, religious and spiritual. The reason is obvious. For this is the only method of spiritual DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 181 and supernatural agency which will allow man to work out his own improvement and salvation, as a free and voluntary agent. The Holy Spirit, there- fore, is not bestowed on him 2 to give new properties to his soul, nor to supersede his own faculties and endeavours, but to excite, encourage, and strengthen them, to prevent and correct his will, and to give a right turn and bias to his affections. It is, indeed, generally allowed that evil is not extinguished at any turning point or decisive period, nor mastered by violent and miraculous remedies, but must be encountered and subdued by moral and religious discipline. Nor does analogy or experience justify us in supposing that good principles are developed, or good habits formed in any other manner 3 . 2 It has been a subject of dispute, whether the grace of the Holy Spirit is moral suasion or power. The truth seems to be, that it is both. Preventing grace is that influence which the Holy Ghost exercises upon the soul, in turning it from evil, giving a right bias to the will and affections, and bringing into play the good principles of our nature ; and this change must be wrought through the medium of moral instruments. Co-ope- rating grace is that power of the Holy Spirit superadded to our natural faculties, which enables us to do those things, to which the will, when prevented and rectified, prompts and determines us, and to form our good principles into habits by use and exercise. Preventing grace requires on man's part consent, or the yield- ing himself to the influence of reasonable evidences and moral arguments and persuasions ; co-operating grace, the active exertion and diligent use of those faculties with which God has endowed him. 3 It has been already stated, that the grace conferred by Baptism 182 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE But if this theory of Regeneration is inconsistent with the reason of the thing and the history and experience of our nature, it is no less inconsistent with the genius and purposes of natural and re- vealed religion. For religion, whether natural or revealed, is a moral instrument of improvement and salvation, requiring a moral subject, acting by moral means, tending to a moral end, and producing moral effects. By natural religion, I mean, with- out any reference to the source from whence we derive our knowledge, those first truths and prin- ciples of religion which are addressed to the plain sense and reason of mankind, and when fairly stated and deliberately examined, carry with them the assent of the understanding and conscience. Such are those truths which relate to the difference between good and evil, the nature and will of God, and the duties and responsibility of man. By re- vealed religion, I mean those truths which are addressed principally to our faith, and depend upon testimony ; those especially which are of a remedial nature, and are connected with the fall and recovery of the human soul. It is evident, at first sight, that the moral and intellectual improvement of mankind is the end of natural religion, and that it operates by moral means, is a potential principle or latent power, which must be developed by the right use of the means of grace, and by moral and religious discipline. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 183 and in a moral manner. Nor can there be any reasonable doubt that revealed and remedial reli- gion operates in the same way, and in the same order of causes. It fuYmshes new sanctions to God's will and man's duty, and new motives to exertion and improvement. It gives spring and elasticity to the soul, by relieving it from the weight of guilt and the fear of punishment ; and it engages to supply it with spiritual and supernatural assist- ance in framing and perfecting its moral habits, and w r orking out its own salvation. But it does not supersede the obligations of natural religion, nor destroy the established relation between moral and religious causes and effects. For though reve- lation gives a new turn and a supernatural impulse to moral instruments, such as example, instruction, prayer, study, and meditation, it produces no effects in the ordinary and settled course of God's dispensa- tions, without their intervention. But the theory which we are examining assumes an entire change in all the parts and faculties of the soul as a first step to religious improvement; it supposes that habits of belief and holiness are not formed by moral means and discipline, but im- planted in the soul by a literal creation, or miracu- lous action of the divine power ; that previous to this change man is utterly incapable of any spiritual exertion, or any movement of the soul to God and holiness ; that this revolution of the inward frame 184 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE takes place at some turning point, or at least within some particular compass of time ; and consequently, that habitual godliness is not the moral and legiti- mate, but the necessary consequence of Regenera- tion. In short, it substitutes a scheme of necessity for that system of intellectual and moral discipline in which all the parts and branches of religion, whether natural or revealed, whether addressed to our faith or our reason, uniformly centre. But the metaphysical paradoxes of this system depend on some particular views of the doctrine of the fall, and the original and inbred depravity of our common nature. Though the doctrine of ori- ginal sin is plainly deducible from Scripture, it is a subject on which it touches with a moderate and sparing hand ; and it certainly does not warrant the exaggerated descriptions of our natural and neces- sary condition as fallen creatures, which are to be found in the writings of Divines, and in some popular systems of theology. Scripture uniformly speaks of the sinfulness of man in a practical and experimental manner. It lays before us a series of observations arising out of particular facts and oc- casions, or out of a general view of the conduct and character of that portion of mankind with which the inspired writers were conversant. But besides the conclusions which are deducible from Scripture by means of analysis and induction, and the brief but pointed account of the fall recorded in the book of DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 185 Genesis, there is one passage of St. Paul's Epistles * in which the origin of evil is referred back in express terms to Adam's transgression, and the prevalence and universality of sin are; accounted for upon the principles of an hereditary infection. Man is there considered as lying under a sentence of condemna- tion, and tainted with moral evil, in consequence of the guilt of our first parent. The Apostle speaks of this doctrine as an acknowledged truth, and infers, in the way of analogy, the universality of our recovery and redemption in Christ from the univer- sality of our fall and condemnation in Adam, as a principle which he might safely assume for a medium of comparison and illustration. But he does not tell us what is the precise nature of that condemna- tion which has been brought upon us by the fall, independently of our own personal sins ; nor does he attempt to define the extent and virulence of that infection of nature which has been entailed upon us by descent and derivation. The ancient Christians handled the fall of man with the same reserve and moderation, treating this original infection of his nature not as a speculative but a practical doctrine, and resolving that state of condemnation, in which he is placed previously to his call, election, and Regeneration, into the just but incomprehensible judgment of God. Calvin indeed 4 Rom. v. 12, &c. 186 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE finds 5 fault with them for not delivering their opinion on this subject with sufficient decision and perspicuity. But they acted soberly and wisely, for they acknowledged the fact, but did not at- tempt to explain it systematically, or to define the nature of the evil with precision, because they knew that such an attempt was not warranted by Scrip- ture. But the theologians, whose theory we are now canvassing, have pronounced their judgment upon this question in a tone of dogmatism, to which neither Scripture nor experience give any sanction, and have painted out the nature and character of original sin, and the necessary and universal conse- 5 Postquam in Ada obliterata fuit ccelestis imago, non solus sustinuit hanc pcenam, ut in locum sapientiae, virtutis, sanctitatis, veritatis, justitia?, teterrimae succederent pestes, caecitas, impa- tientia, impuritas, vanitas, injustitia : sed iisdem quoque miseriis implicuit suam progeniem ac immersit. Haec est haereditaria cor- ruptio, quam peccatum originate veteres nuncuparunt, peccati voce intelligentes naturae antea bonae puraeque depravationem. Qua de re multa fuit illis concertatio, quum a communi sensu nihil magis sit remotum, quam ob unius culpam fieri omnes reos, et ita pecca- tum fieri commune. Quae videtur ratio fuisse vetustissimis Ec- clesiae doctoribus, cur obscure tantum perstringerent hoc caput, saltern minus dilucide quam par erat, explicarent. Calv. Inst. 1. ii. c. 1. s. 5. What their doctrine on this head was, may be learned from Wall's Infant Baptism. It is most certain that they uniformly acknowledged this truth, and grounded upon it the necessity of redemption and Regeneration in Baptism. See likewise Bp. Tomline on the 9th Article. Elements, vol. ii. p. 235. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 187 quences of the fall, in aggravated colours 6 . Ac- cording to their system, the immediate consequence of the fall was the obliteration of God's image from the soul of man. Hence 1 ' he became an unmixed mass of depravity and corruption, without one spark or remnant of goodness ; necessarily deter- mined to evil in every choice and action, cankered and rotten to the very core, utterly averse from God, and reduced to a state of confusion, disorder, rebellion, blindness, and impotency, without one 6 Quicquid ingenium nostrum concipit, agitat, instituit, molitur, semper malum est. Ita ex omni parte vitiata corruptaque est voluntas, ut nihil nisi malum generet Anima non ex vitiis modo laborat, sed omni bono prorsus vacua est Non dicit (Job. xv. 1.) nos esse infirmiores, quam qui nobis sufficiamus ; sed nos ad nihilum redigendo omnem vel exiguae facultatulae opinionem excludit. Inst. 1. ii. c. 3. s. 9. Stet ergo nobis indubia ilia veritas, quae nullis machinamentis quatefieri potest. Mentem hominis sic alienatam prorsus a Dei justitia, ut nihil non impium, contortum, fcedum, impurum, flagi- tiosum concipiat : cor peccati veneno ita penitus delibutum esse, ut nihil quam corruptum fcetorem efflare queat. Quod si quip- piam interdum boni in speciem ostendat, mentem tamen semper hypocrisi et fallaci obliquitate involutam, animum interiore per- versitate illigatum manere. c. 5. s. 19. The image of God was blotted out, so that man is no longer a free agent : hence his unregenerate state is a state of mere confusion, disorder, rebellion, blindness, impotency, and aver- sion from God Not so much as one good thought could ever yet escape to heaven free from it. Bp. Hopkins, vol. ii. p. 479. 188 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE redeeming principle, or counteracting tendency. Such, they tell us, is the extent of this depravity, that even an infant is necessarily odious and abomi- nable in God's sight, because he contains within him the seeds and principles of every kind of wickedness 7 . Sometimes they attempt to account for this de- pravity, and for the sentence of condemnation which has passed upon fallen man, by borrowing from the schoolmen a fabulous account of a certain compact between God and Adam, in which he was supposed to covenant for all his descendants, and to bind them down to the consequences of his own conduct, as their federal head and representative. Hence, we are told, the sin of Adam became legally and forensically their own sin, and they were, on prin- ciples of justice and natural equity, as deep in the transgression as Adam himself, and as liable to the pains and penalties denounced against it 8 . 1 Tota eorum (infantium) natura quoddam est peccati semen : ideo non odiosa et abominabilis Deo esse non potest. 1. ii. c. 1. s. 18. 8 This history of imputation was proposed to the Council of Trent by Catharin, one of the most eminent of the schoolmen of those days, as a solution of the doctrine of original sin. It afterwards became a fashionable doctrine among the scholastic Calvinists. Dr. S. Ward has a treatise on the subject, in which his arguments are avowedly borrowed from the writings of Catharin *. The same scheme of imputation was maintained by * Praelectiones de peccato originali, c. 13 & 14. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 189 Sometimes they account for this utter corrup- tion of our nature on principles of philosophical analysis. Man, they tell us, by transgressing the divine law, became liable lo punishment: he.nce, he contracted a deep enmity against God, as the avenger of sin, and, in consequence, became hostile to the very principle of holiness, and tainted to the core with moral and spiritual corruption. They teach us, with a great show of metaphysical precision, in what way the intellect, the will, and the affec- tions of fallen man are darkened, distorted, and polluted, by the action of the intellect upon the will, and of the will upon the affections. In this state of utter depravity, natural antipathy to holi- ness, and deep-rooted hatred of God Himself, he cannot be restored by the ordinary operation of spiritual remedies and moral discipline, but must undergo an entire change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, before he can experience any desire of improvement, or any movement of the soul to God. For if the image of God is obliterated in man, if his understanding is entirely darkened, his will altogether perverse, and incapable of choosing any thing but sin ; if his affections are totally depraved, if there is no spark or relic of good in his Bishop Davenant on the authority of the schoolmen, (Preface to Whitby on the five Points,) and is stated with perfect confidence as evangelical doctrine by Bishop Hopkins in his Sermons, which he entitles " The Doctrine of the Two Covenants." 190 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE whole inward frame 9 , if he is a mere compound of beast and devil, if he is actuated by a real and literal hatred of God, and a fierce aversion to his holy law, man cannot be restored to his favour, nor to any capacity for holiness, without a new creation, in the strict sense of the word, and a miraculous infusion of new faculties and habits. Regeneration, therefore, is described as that turn- ing point and broad line of demarcation, which se- parates two essentially different and diametrically opposite states of mind ; and is said to consist in a radical change of the parts and faculties of the soul, and an implantation of a habit of grace and holiness. Such are the theological principles on which this theory of Regeneration is founded ; and I would ask, what warrant we have in Scripture or experience for these aggravated descriptions of human depra- vity, considered as the natural and direct conse- quence of the fall ? or upon what basis of Scriptural truth and simplicity either that history of imputa- tion, or that philosophical scheme and analysis of original sin, have been constructed ? It is a danger- ous thing to attempt to improve upon Scripture, to venture upon hypotheses, and indulge ourselves in 9 From that time every man who is born into the world, bears the image of the devil in pride and self-will the image of the beast in sensual appetites and desires. John Wesley. Southey's Life of Wesley, vol. ii. p. 169. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 191 philosophical systems and speculations, where Scrip- ture confines itself to practical observations, and instructs us in the way of induction. This theory confounds in one coarse and undis- tinguishing picture all the various degrees of wicked- ness which the history of mankind exhibits to us, and assumes the most corrupt and degraded state of intellect and morals, of which man is capable, as the standard and pattern of our fallen nature. Man, indeed, since the fall, is " very far gone from original righteousness," and has contracted a strong bias to evil in his will and affections, and a visible tendency to decay both in intellect and morals. But the most degenerate condition of the most ignorant and most profligate of his kind is not his natural state, nor the immediate and universal consequence of the fall. In the midst of his debasement and inhe- rent bias to evil, he inherits many relics of his better self, principles of moral goodness, and distinct linea- ments of that image of God in which he was created ; and, whatever his practice may be, the judgments of his understanding, and the decisions of his con- science are usually on the side of virtue and morality, unless his intellect has been degraded by ignorance and bad education, or his conscience seared by habits of profligacy, and an universal corruption of manners. Nothing is more evident to common sense than the progress and increase of vicious habits in indivi- 192 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE duals. So far as fallen man is acquainted with his duty, St. Paul's personification of his own country- men, or perhaps of the natural man, whether Jew or Greek ', describes the contest which exists within him in an early stage of his sinful courses, between concupiscence and evil affections, and the dictates of reason and conscience "\ But habits of sin, unless 1 Or, as Barrow says, " He speaketh in the person of a man endowed with natural strength, abstracting from the subsidiary virtue and operation of the Holy Ghost." In fact, what St. Paul is led by the tenour of his argument to say of the Jews in parti- cular, applies by analogy to all persons who are in the same or similar circumstances. 2 Romans vii. 7 25. It has been contended that St. Paul in this passage is speaking in his own person as a servant and apostle of Christ, or to use a popular expression, as a truly rege- nerate man. This view of the passage, which is contrary to the main current of ancient opinion, is not the result of investigation, analysis, comparison, or any received ground and principle of in- terpretation ; but is built on a conceit, that the man who is not living under the influence of the grace of Christ, necessarily hates the law of God, and the principle of holiness, and therefore cannot will what is good, nor delight in, that is, approve and admire, his law. It is totally irrelevant to the Apostle's argument, and inter- rupts the thread and context of his discourse. It is inconsistent with one main end and design of the Gospel : which is, to deliver men from the dominion of sin, and to enable them not only to will but to do what is good ; not only to delight in, or to approve, the law of God, but to delight to do his will. It is in opposition to the whole tenour of the New Testament, to the drift of the Apostle's arguments and reasonings in this DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 193 counteracted by sound instruction and moral disci- pline, gain ground upon him, till he abandons him- self to them without constraint or reluctance, keeps out of sight all obligations to duty, and silences the warnings and visitations of conscience. And expe- rience teaches us that the corruption of public morals, and the increasing degeneracy of our com- mon nature, proceed onward in the same order and analogy. Hence, those passages of Scripture which describe in glowing colours the lamentable igno- rance, the idolatrous habits, and the corrupt morals of the heathen world, or the degenerate state of the inspired writers' countrymen and contemporaries, and are pictures of the increase and predominance of evil, and of the worst men in the worst times, must not be construed into descriptions of human nature in the abstract, or, to use a common phrase, of unregenerate man. For we are no more justified in forming our estimate of human nature from the principles and characters of the most abandoned of our fellow-creatures, than in forming our estimate of the general condition of believers in Christ from what we hear and see of the holiest and best of God's servants. Epistle, and to the scope of the controversy in which he is engaged. It is not merely irrelevant to, but overthrows and destroys the course of argument, exhortation, caution, and encouragement which St. Paul is pursuing in the 6th, 7th, and 8th chapters of this Epistle. O 194 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE History, indeed, teaches us that the ignorance and moral corruption of the heathens were most deplorable : and St. Paul accounts for the sad state of the great mass of mankind from the natural pro- gress of evil habits, considered not merely as the effect of the fall, but as the judicial consequence of idolatry and apostacy from the primitive and patri- archal religion. But even here there are some bright spots and examples of better principles and morals, sufficient to refute an hypothesis which confounds all degrees and varieties of evil, and expunges from the soul, by one sweeping sentence, every tendency to good, and every lineament of its original resemblance to God. In fact, there are few of those good dispositions which, when nurtured by the grace of God, and formed into habits by religious instruction and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, are justly denomi- nated spiritual accomplishments, of which we do not discover some imperfect traces in the history of the heathen world. It is easy to assert that all their virtues were sins, and equally damnable with their worst vices. Many of what they deemed virtues were in reality sins; their virtues were at the best exceedingly imperfect, and fell far short of the Christian standard; and they could have no value in God's sight, nor any claim to an everlasting reward. Still, as far as they proceeded on right principles, and aimed at good ends, and especially DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 195 when they had an obscure reference to the will of a sovereign and supreme Being, they were, properly speaking, virtues, and plain indications of the pur- poses of our creation, ancf of the original fashion and tendencies of our nature. St. Paul, therefore, justly argues, that when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts 3 : and seems to intimate that some of their number may have attained to peace and glory through God's great goodness and uncovenanted mercy. Glwy, honour, and peace to every man that workeih good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile : for there is no respect of pei'sons with God*. It is almost needless to examine that metaphy- sical system, which ascribes the taint and corruption of human nature to man's hostility to the principle of holiness, and then attributes this hostility to his inveterate hatred of God, as the avenger of sin; or that account of original sin, which refers back the corruption of the affections to the perverseness of the will, and the perverseness of the will to the absolute darkness and distortion of the intellect. For these notions have no colour of Scriptural au- thority, and are not borne out by the history and ex- perience of human nature. Man, indeed, when his * Rom. ii. 14, 15. 4 Rom. ii. 10. O 2 196 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE conscience upbraids him with his sins, endeavours to silence its reproaches, and withdraws his mind, as much as possible, from the thought of God, and from the fear of the consequences; but he does not naturally hate God as the avenger of sin. His habits are too often directly opposed to the prin- ciple of holiness, in consequence of the corrupt state of his affections ; but he is not naturally hostile to the principle of holiness itself. In the system of which I am speaking there are no paradoxes more common, and at the same time less conformable to the fact, or to the truth of Scripture, than that man naturally hates God, and has a fierce antipathy to his laws, or rather to the very principle of holiness. If by hating God we mean, according to the Scriptural phraseology, not loving Him as we ought, and preferring our own passions and devices to his will and wisdom, in this sense man, in his natural state, before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, may be said, with great propriety, to hate God, and his whole history bears witness to the truth of this Scrip- tural lesson. Nor is it less true that man has an antipathy to God's laws, if by antipathy we mean an inherent unwillingness to attend to them and obey them, and a dislike to their restraints and pro- visions. But the theory before us speaks of " fierce antipathies" and "inveterate hatred," and repre- sents man as hating God, and resisting his will, on DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 197 principle and system : not as disliking and fretting against the restraints which are imposed upon his sensual and selfish desires, but as actuated by a determined animosity to these principles of holiness, to which God's laws are conformed : as hating God because he is God; and goodness in the abstract, because it is goodness; and loving evil for evil's sake. But the truth is, that if man ever does positively hate God, and the principles on which his laws are grounded, this state of mind is so far from being natural, that it can only be the effect of great degeneracy, of deplorable and brutal ignorance, or of confirmed habits of wickedness and impiety. The history of our nature furnishes us with ample proofs of our weakness and vanity, our low views, our supineness and self-sufficiency, and our dislike of serious exercises and self-inquiry; of the perverse- ness of our wills, and the corrupt state of our affec- tions ; of our proneness to evil, and unwillingness to submit to wholesome restraints and moral discipline. But it does not bear us out in affirming that the natural man is actuated by a settled hatred of God, or a fierce antipathy to holiness. We shall there- fore speak more consistently with the fact, if we allow that the corruption of human nature, when aggravated by habits of sin, leads men by degrees to an hostility to the principle of holiness, and that this hostility to the principle of holiness may, in 198 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE extreme cases, end in a direct hatred of God Him- self; and if we affirm, generally speaking, that the passions and will of fallen man, instead of being misled by the intellect, impair the faculties, darken the vision, and pervert the judgments of his under- standing. Some of those divines, who ground the necessity of such a change, as this theory of Regeneration exhibits, on these views of the depravity of human nature, allow, nevertheless, that there may be, com- paratively speaking, different degrees of moral good- ness in unregenerate men; but they contend that they are all equally deficient in spiritual goodness. If it is meant that man cannot of himself attain to those kinds and degrees of goodness which must, upon Scriptural principles, be wrought in him by the power and inspiration of the Holy Ghost, this is a truism which no one will attempt to controvert. For all parties to this debate confess, with our Church, that " the condition of man after the fall is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God : and that, therefore, we can have no power to do good works, pleasant and accept- able to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will 5 ." s Article X. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 199 But there seems to be some confusion in the notion which these divines entertain of the difference between spiritual and moral habits and actions 6 . For this difference does not consist in the order and nature of the things themselves, the manner of acting, or the faculties of the agent, but in the law or rule to which they are conformed, in their effi- cient and instrumental, and in their final causes. Moral habits and actions, though they have not that perfection which can render them pleasing and acceptable to God, and are not necessarily conformed to his declared will, but to the rules of right reason and experimental wisdom, are, nevertheless, so far as they go, good in themselves, because they are conformed to a moral law, (and every moral law is, in a certain sense, an express of God's will,) and imply a right choice and a voluntary principle of action. But if there are still some good principles and remains of moral goodness in man's constitution, though they require religious discipline and instruc- tion, and the preventing and co-operating power of the Holy Ghost, to bring them into play and mould them into spiritual habits, they plainly contradict the more exaggerated representations of man's natural 6 Spiritual goodness is, in fact, the perfection and improve- ment of moral goodness wrought in the human soul by the help and instrumentality of the Holy Ghost, having God's will for its rule, and God's glory and the happiness of a life to come for its end. 200 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE depravity, and remove the necessity of such a change as this theory designates by the word Regenera- tion a creation of new faculties and habits, and a miraculous transformation of the whole inward frame. We are told, however, that the broad and deci- sive distinction laid down in Scripture between nature and grace, and between natural and spiritual men, necessarily implies and involves this spiritual change. The distinction between nature and grace appears to be a scholastic rather than a Scriptural distinction, and is, I apprehend, somewhat inaccurate. For the true distinction does not seem to lie be- tween nature and grace, but between nature left to its own bias and counsels, and nature reformed and invigorated by God's Word and Spirit. But the Scriptural distinction between spiritual and natural 7 7 1 Cor. ii. 14. ^i/^tcof. The word Trvev/iam'oe, in this passage of Scripture, is equivalent to rlXeioc, and signifies a Christian well advanced in the knowledge and practice of his religion, and is not only opposed to unbelievers, whom St. Paul calls here, by a comparative and degrading expression, i//v^(jcov, but to Christian novices, or babes, whose schismatical conduct showed that they had made small progress in religious knowledge and practice, and whom he calls, by a similar figure, ffOpKlKOVQ. ^i/X'/ properly signifies the animal principle opposed to VOVQ, or the reasonable principle the kinQv^TiKov to the riyepoviKov. But St. Paul considers the unbeliever, who had not received the Spirit of God, as no better than ^V^IKOC a mere animal man ; and then contemplates the weak, imperfect Christian, who was DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 201 (animal or carnal) men is altogether practical. For it does not imply any precise instant in which the understanding is enlightened, the will reformed, and the affections purified, -but points out the real and practical difference between believers and un- believers, between those men who had been in- structed by the Gospel and enlightened and purified by the Spirit of Christ, and those men who were following the bent of their natural passions and propensities, or, at the best, had no better guides than their unassisted reason, or the wisdom of the schools and the philosophers. It is easy to bring together passages of Scripture which describe in strong and glowing figures the lamentable state of the unconverted Gentiles, and the happy change which had taken place in the converts to the Gospel, and by the help of rhetorical colouring and comments to make them bear upon an opinion to which they have, in fact, no relation. But I am persuaded that Scripture, explained on just and legitimate principles, gives no countenance to this theory. not walking after the Spirit, as no better than crapKiKoc, still walking after the flesh, the natural or animal principle of action. But he calls these converts carnal, not in the strictest sense, as men utterly devoid of the Spirit of grace, (for he afterwards speaks of them as temples of the Holy Ghost,) but in the way of comparison and reproof, on account of their intestine divisions, and the small progress which they had made in spiritual know- ledge and habits. 202 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE It has been contended, likewise, that man, being, subsequently to the fall, spiritually dead, cannot perform any spiritual acts whatever till he is spiri- tually regenerated. This argument is put forward in various forms. Sometimes we find it stated in the shape of a dilemma; sometimes as a postulate, which no reasonable man can call in question. For it is contended, that as no natural acts can be per- formed previous to the natural birth, so, on prin- ciples of analogy, no spiritual acts can be performed previous to the spiritual birth. Upon this ground it is affirmed, that every adult recipient who is duly qualified for Baptism, must necessarily be rege- nerated before the Sacrament, because no man can believe, or repent, or perform any other spiritual acts, till he has been ' born again. Thus, St. Paul was regenerated before his Baptism 8 , because he This notion that St. Paul was regenerated before Baptism, though directly opposite to the plain sense of Scripture, has been strenuously maintained by Calvin and his followers, and urged as an example to prove that all believers are regenerate before Baptism. Jam erant dimissa Paulo peccata : non igitur baptismo demum ablutus est, sed novam gratise quam adeptus est confirmationem accepit. Calvin ad Act. xxii. 16. Dicimur accipere, obtinere, impetrare, quod quantum ad fidei nostrae sensum nobis a Domino exhibetur ; sive id turn primum testatur, sive testatum magis ac certius confirmat. Hoc itaque tantum voluit Ananias. Ut certus sis, Paule, remissa tibi esse peccata, baptizare. Promittit enim Dominus in Baptismo remis- DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 203 prayed, and his prayer was accepted; Cornelius, because he was a devout man and feared God, and \aaprmfen and alms had gone up for a memorial before God. But we cannot argue from the literal to the metaphorical use of a word, any farther than the point of comparison extends. Hence this ana- logical argument is, to place it in the most favour- able point of view, evidently inconclusive, because it assumes the very question in debate what is the point of comparison in which the resemblance between the natural and spiritual, or, in other words, between the literal and metaphorical birth consists f But, according to the established theory of the Church, grounded, as I apprehend, on plain and unexcep- tionable Scriptural authority, this point of compari- sionem peccatorum, hanc accipe et securus esto. Calvin, Inst. 1. iv. c. 15. 15. Dr. Ward, speaking of the passages of Scripture to which Calvin and his followers gave this turn, (Acts ii. 38 ; xxii. 16 ; Mark xvi. 16,) says, Quid ante baptismum Deus fecerat arcana sua voluntate pro talibus baptizandis Apostoli nee judicare, nee praesumere potuerunt ; sed in ipso baptismo dari remissionem, ac fieri ablutionem peccatorum virtute sanguinis Christi omnibus in Christum credentibus, et praesumsisse et docuisse videntur Apostoli. Atque hac spe nixi ad Baptismum accedebant Chris- tiani, atque in hunc sensum veteres haec loca intellexerunt. Diss. p. 108. This is the plain sense of Scripture ; and there can be no doubt that such was not only the phraseology and apparent doc- trine, but the firm belief and feeling of the ancient Christians. See Archbishop Laurence, part ii. p. 72, 73. 204 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE son is the passage from one state of existence to another. That passage from a state of death and condemnation in Adam to a state of life and jus- tification in Christ, which Scripture represents as taking place in Baptism, is compared with the pas- sage of an infant from the darkness and confinement of the womb into the light of day and freedom of motion. But according to this view of the phrase, and the doctrine which it implies, it is so far from being true that spiritual acts such acts, I mean, as centre in God, and are performed by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost cannot take place previous to the new birth, that in the case of adult converts spiritual acts must necessarily precede Regenera- tion. If by spiritual acts we mean such habits and actions as are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and have the promise of the life to come, according to the tenour of the Christian covenant, such acts, speaking in general terms, cannot be per- formed previously to Regeneration. For the Scrip- tures teach us that no man is released from his sins and reconciled to God till he is grafted into Christ, and, consequently, that no acts can be con- sidered as Christian acts, or acts of covenanted holiness, till this change of spiritual condition has taken place. But our Church very properly con- cludes from the same Scriptures, that this change takes place in Baptism ; that " a death to sin and DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 205 a new birth to righteousness is the inward and spiritual grace of this sacrament ;" and that we who "are by nature born in sin and the children of wrath, are hereby made children of grace" or, in other words, " members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven." Having now examined at some length the theory which has been opposed with the greatest confi- dence to that doctrine of baptismal Regeneration, which has been explained and defended in this Treatise, I will leave it to the judgment of the reader, whether it is more consistent with reason, experience, and Scripture, than the theory univer- sally maintained by the ancient Christians, and adopted by our own Church. But this theory, connected as it is with aggravated notions of the depravity of our common nature, and systematic and metaphysical views of the effect of the fall, is encumbered with some difficulties and leads to some consequences, to which it will be necessary to advert. '206 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHAPTER XI. A REVIEW OF SOME DIFFICULTIES WITH WHICH THE THEORY OF REGENERATION, EXAMINED IN THE PRECEDING CHAPTER, IS ENCUMBERED, AND OF SOME CONSEQUENCES WHICH IT INVOLVES. WE have seen that the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, in its simplest and most unsophisticated form, was universally received in the Catholic and Apostolical Churches, till it was altered and under- mined, and either virtually annihilated, or openly ex- punged from the list of orthodox doctrines, in defer- ence to that scheme of necessity, which superadded the doctrine of the indefectibility of true grace to the system of the ancient Predestinarians. This theory of Regeneration, therefore, is an integral part of what is commonly called the Calvinistic system, and is encumbered with the difficulties to which DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 207 that system is subject, and the consequences which it involves. Natural and revealed religion are, as has been observed, moral instruments of reformation and im- provement, and are intended to promote the wel- fare of man, as a rational and moral agent. A reli- gion, therefore, which considers life and death, happiness and misery, as the consequences of dif- ferent moral habits; of belief and unbelief, virtue and vice, holiness and wickedness, obedience and disobedience to the will of God; is, in the very nature of the thing, probationary, and must be looked upon as a sort of touchstone to prove and try the tempers and understandings of those men, to whom it is sufficiently propounded. Such is the drift of that religious system which the Scriptures exhibit to us ; and they give us no reason to think, that the remedial and supernatural branches of religion are intended to supersede or alter its ori- ginal essence and constitution. Thus, the truths and promises of the Gospel are proposed to the faith of mankind. But though man cannot believe the Gospel to any saving purposes, without the grace of God preventing him and working with him, still, the grace of God and the power of the Holy Ghost suppose an honest and ingenuous use of his own faculties, and a disposition to assent to the truths and rely upon the promises, when he has sufficient evidence that they proceed from God. Thus the 208 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE Gospel presses upon him the necessity of moral improvement and obedience to God's will. But though it supplies him with motives and encourage- ments to well-doing, and promises of supernatural assistance, it uniformly supposes a free choice and a principle of self-action. So that the Gospel is in truth not only the salvation, but the trial and proof of fallen man ; and always supposes principles of action analogous to his trial, and the right use of faculties which he already possesses. But the theory before us contemplates man, in his unregenerate state, as totally devoid of all those principles and faculties, which the religion of the Gospel requires ; and then supposes that the Rege- neration, without which he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, consists in the creation or infusion of new habits, or a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, effected by an act of omni- potence. Thus that probationary scheme of reli- gion which Scripture, in its plain and unsophisticated sense, inculcates, is superseded by a system of pure necessity. For in this theory, where the same word is preached, and the same sacraments are ministered, the. Spirit is given or withholden, life and death, salvation and condemnation, are dealt out to the several individuals of mankind, not according to the plain terms of the charter, but according to some secret determination of the Divine counsels. The regenerate must necessarily believe and be saved. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 209 The unregenerate (those, that is, who live and die in a state of unbelief and impenitence) are precluded from belief and salvation by a decree which cannot be infringed, and a concatenation of causes and effects which it is impossible to suspend or inter- rupt. The history of ecclesiastical opinion shows that this theory is a branch of that system of necessity, which supposes that true grace and all the qualities and virtues which it implies, are in their very nature indefectible; that when man has been once justi- fied in God's sight, he cannot fall from this state of salvation; and that the principle implanted in him in his Regeneration cannot be extinguished, but must necessarily produce the fruits of holiness. There are, however, some divines who reject the Calvinistic system of predestination and indefectible grace, and yet maintain this theory of original sin and regeneration. Their notion is, that in conse- quence of the state to which man is reduced by the fall, he cannot repent, or believe, or perform any acts of a spiritual kind, without first experiencing a new creation of habits, or an entire and radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul; and, consequently, that habitual holiness, being the necessary effect, or rather the very essence, of this change, is the sole criterion of Regeneration. But they allow, that after he has been born again he is in the same condition with Adam in his state of p '210 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE uprightness, and may depart from grace given, and relinquish the habits of holiness which have been planted in him. Yet, even under this modification, this theory of Regeneration still hinges upon necessity, and ex- cludes the voluntary agency of man from any share in believing the Gospel, and the conversion of the soul to holiness. Where the same word is preached, and the same sacrament is ministered, Regeneration is still supposed to be bestowed on some men, and withholden from others, not according to the plain sense of the promise, but upon some unknown grounds of particular selection or special favourit- ism. Some men believe and are saved, because they are born again. Other men do not believe and are damned, because they are not endowed with this special gift of Regeneration. Scripture, however, speaks of the rejection of the Gospel, not as the consequence of our hereditary impotence, and the depravity of our common nature, but as the personal sin of the unbeliever; not merely as the effect of that spiritual blindness which is derived to him from Adam, and, as is con- tended, can only be removed by a radical change of the intellectual faculties, but of a wilful indisposi- tion to receive the truth, and surrender himself to sufficient evidences. When our Saviour commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel to all nations, He did not add that he who is born again shall believe, DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 211 and he who believeth and is baptized shall be saved ; but only, that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved : implying certainly, upon common principles of interpretation, that every one to whom the Gospel is preached, may, if he will, believe and be saved. He does not say, that he who is not regenerated, will not believe and will be damned ; but simply, that he that believeth not shall be damned : inplying that unbelief is an act of personal default, and voluntary opposition to God's testimony and Spirit. But this theory of Regeneration is not only encum- bered with the difficulties which result from the substitution of necessity for probation, as the hinge and pivot of religion ; but it is built on such views of the depravity of human nature, as can scarcely be cleared from the imputation of making God, by plain and necessary consequence, the cause and author of our sins. Sober and Scriptural notions of original sin are in no respect contrary to God's justice and equity, and the analogies of his moral and providential government. That fallen man should have forfeited his favour, and be lying, in some sense or other, under a sentence of condemna- tion, even previous to all actual transgressions, is a doctrine which, while we content ourselves with the simplicity of the Scriptural statement, and do not attempt to explain the nature, and describe the particulars of this condemnation, contradicts no p 2 212 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE principle of reason. That man's nature should have been tainted and enervated by the sin of his first parents, and should have contracted a bias to evil, and a tendency to decay, is what experience and analogy would obviously lead us to expect. These views of original sin are sufficient to convince us of the reasonableness and necessity of a dispensation, which ensures to us redemption from guilt and con- demnation, and supernatural assistance to enable us to gain ground upon the infection of our nature, and to counteract our propensity to evil, and our ten- dency to decay. But it is not the natural effect of sin to wipe out at once all good from the soul, and to reduce the sinner and all his posterity from a state of purity and uprightness to a state of total corruption and unmixed depravity, of antipathy to God, and enmity to the principle of holiness. If then such a change as this did really take place at the fall, it must have been effected by an act of Omnipotence: for nothing less than an act of Almighty power could have produced at once such an universal revolution in all the faculties of the soul, and swept away from it every good principle and every lineament of its resemblance to God. But if God, by an act of sovereignty, converted all the children of Adam into a race of such corrupt and degraded beings, and rendered them incapable of any good whatever, till they are regenerated by a similar act of Omnipotence, it would seem that God DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 213 is, by plain consequence, the principal cause of all wickedness, and that man, on grounds of common sense and natural equity, is no more responsible for his sins, than a wild beast is responsible for that instinct of nature, which we sometimes call cruelty or ferocity. Calvin indeed goes further 9 , and strenuously con- 9 Non dicam cum Augustino, in peccato sive in malo nihil esse positivum, sed aliud mihi principium sumo. Quae perperam et injuste ab hominibus fiunt, eadem recta et justa esse Dei opera. De Sterna Dei Praed. p. 725. Nee vero commentum illud recipio, Deum, quia lege solutus sit, quicquid agat reprehensione vacare. Deum enim exlegem qui facit. maxima eum gloriae suae parte spoliat, quia rectitudinem ejus et justitiam sepelit. Non quod legi subjectus sit Deus, nisi quatenus ipsi sibi lex sit Nondum tamen soluta est objectio : si Dei arbitrio geruntur omnia, nee quicquam homines, nisi eo volente et ordinante, designant, esse igitur malorum omnium authorem. Vera est ilia, quae in Scholis obtinuit, distinctio, malum poenae, non culpae a Deo proficisci, modo dextre intelli- gatur : sed imperite quidam, quasi verbulo uno rem de qua agitur obruere liceret, hoc ipsum, de quo maxime ambigitur, secure praetereunt : quomodo extra culpam sit Deus in eodem opere, quod in Satana et reprobis tarn damnat ipse, quam damnatum ab hominibus pronuntiat Quomodo igitur a culpa eximetur Deus, cujus Satan cum suis organis reus erit ? Nempe si inter hominum facta discrimen a consilio et fine sumetur ; ut ejus damnetur crudelitas, qui cornicum oculos configit, judicis autem laudetur virtus, qui scelesti hominis caede manus suas sanctificat; cur deterior erit Dei conditio, ne sua eum justitia ab hominum maleficiis separet ? Ergo cum justa de causa, licet nobis ignota, a Domino procedant, quae scelerate ab hominibus maleficia perpetrantur : etiamsi rerum omnium prima causa sit ejus 214 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE tends that God concurs positively and directly in the sins of mankind, by ordaining their commission, and influencing the will to commit them. But he en- deavours to prove that, even on this supposition, God cannot be deemed the cause and author of sin. For he maintains that those actions, which are sinful in man who performs them, are not sinful in God who ordains and concurs in them, because actions are denominated sinful in respect to their voluntas, peccati tamen esse eum Authorem nego. De Sterna Dei Praedestinatione, p. 728. Melancthon, and the more sober and judicious Protestants, whilst they fully believed that God's providence disposes all human events, and over-rules the counsels of the wicked, em- ploying them as his instruments in the execution of his righteous decrees, still maintained that God does not impel man to sin by any ordination or active concurrence, but withdraws his grace from them, and permits them to follow their own counsels. But Calvin arraigns such just and moderate sentiments as barking against God, and nothing better than pride and blasphemy. Crelestibus oraculis sinistras ignominiae notas inurere non dubi- tant. Coelum sputis impetunt. Adversus hanc doctrinam rabido ore latrant. In ccelum evomunt blasphemias. Inst. 1. i. c. 13. The position that actions are denominated good or bad, right- eous or sinful, with respect to their final causes, is grossly incor- rect, and the examples by which the author has attempted to illustrate it, are pretty plain proofs of its weakness. Actions, indifferent in their own nature, are rendered good or evil by their final causes actions, which are good in themselves, are conta- minated and rendered evil by a bad end but no end, however good, can sanctify an evil action, or denominate it good, either in the actor or the adviser. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 215 final causes, and God's end in contributing to these actions is his own glory. But surely it must be acknowledged that God is the principal cause of those actions, to which He disposes the will, and in which He positively concurs. If therefore we justly refer backward to God, as their principal cause and author, all holy desires, good counsels, and just works, without taking into the account any second- ary or subordinate causes, it will be difficult to prove to the satisfaction of plain minds, that He is not the cause of man's sins, if He positively concurs in sinful actions, in order to promote his own glory by the punishment of the sinner; or if, as this theory of Regeneration implies, He has, by an act of sovereign and Almighty power, made men incapable of doing any thing but sin. There is another consequence resulting from this theory of Regeneration, inimical to the main pur- poses of religious instruction and discipline. For religious instruction is intended to operate on the inward frame and moral principles of man through the medium of his conscience, by bringing home its admonitions and reproofs, its pictures of human nature, its general views and special descriptions of sin, to the heart and bosom of the individual. But it is impossible that those exaggerated representa- tions of the depravity of our common nature, which are the props and supports of this theory, can be brought home to the conscience of the sinner. When 216 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE his evil habits are described and delineated, and the several specialities of his transgressions pointed out to him; when he is charged with an inherent proneness to sin, and an aversion from holiness and moral discipline, and on these grounds is impleaded as a sinner and a fallen creature ; the appeal is made to his conscience, and he acknowledges the truth of the indictment. But when he is taught that he is a compound of beast and devil, and a mere mass of depravity and loathsome corruption, that he is utterly devoid of all good principles and affections, and entertains a fierce and bitter hatred of God, and a violent antipathy to the principle of holiness; and when the necessity of Regeneration is placed upon this footing, his conscience cannot acquiesce in these charges, because they do not contain a true statement of the case. And such exaggerations necessarily tend to weaken the force of Christian doctrine, and the conviction which results from the internal and practical evidences of its truth. But this is not the whole extent of the evil. For unfortunately these exaggerated descriptions of human corruption, whilst they fail of acting upon the conscience, have a powerful effect on the passions of the weak and unreflecting, and naturally serve to kindle and encourage the maladies of religious en- thusiasm and self-imposture. For when men are taught that a sense of their own utter and unmixed DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 217 depravity is the first, or rather the sole qualification for Regeneration, they endeavour to throw themselves into that posture of mind, which the lesson that they have heard seems to require. Hence they give themselves up to certain vague and desultory feel- ings of unworthiness, which they mistake for re- ligious convictions, and establish within themselves a kind of factitious conscience, which, whilst it over- looks the specialities of sin, taxes them with utter depravity and a determined hatred of God ; and thus calls them off from the task of self-inquiry, and the pursuit of self-knowledge. But the transition from this state of mind to a state directly opposite to it, is easy and natural. For he who can persuade himself that he is exactly such a creature as these views of original sin represent him, will find no difficulty in persuading himself, that he has experienced that mystical change and revolution of soul, on which the corresponding theory of Regeneration insists. Such in fact is the history of the most prevalent kinds of enthusiasm ; and it confirms an observation made in a former part of this treatise that the spe- culative errors of divines naturally slide into practical errors and fanaticism, when they fall into the hands of the weak, the passionate, and the injudicious. One other consequence of this theory is, that it ministers to the pride and vanity of the human heart, by shifting its religious convictions and self- condemnation from a consciousness of personal un- 218 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE worthiness to feelings or confessions of natural un- worthiness and necessary sinfulness. Where just views of religion are entertained, a sense of natural unworthiness is the result of clear and deep convic- tions of personal faultiness. But in a system which contemplates every man as utterly depraved by the necessity of his nature, and devoid of every spark and remnant of goodness, the idea of personal un- worthiness will be merged in a vague feeling of natural depravity. It is easy to say, what has been confidently asserted by many Calvinistic divines, that this necessity of sinning is an aggravation of man's personal guilt, and is therefore the strongest ground that can be laid for humility and self-abase- ment. Common sense revolts against this assertion, and experience unequivocally refutes it. With re- spect to pious and sober-minded men, and many such there are among the speculative advocates of this opinion, sound sense and the power of religious principles neutralize the effects of an erroneous theory. But, with the exception of a comparatively small and fluctuating body of novices and aspirants, the great number of those who entertain these views of human nature, imagine themselves already regenerated; and the contrast between themselves and the unregenerate part of mankind, gives an irresistible fascination to the opinions which they have adopted. And they are well contented to place their former state in the blackest point of view, in DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 219 order that they may derive the greater satisfaction from contemplating their regenerate condition. Upon the whole, then, I am persuaded, that this theory of Regeneration, resting, as it does, on these exaggerated views of the Depravity of our common nature, involves in it consequences highly unfavour- able to the simplicity and genuine character of the Gospel dispensation. But in addition to these consequences, and the opposition which the theory presents to the plainest principles of natural and revealed religion, the defi- nition of Regeneration, which it commonly assumes, is inconsistent with those sober and just views of our nature, in its renewed and improved state, which we may collect from Scripture and experience. At all events it is not such a definition as can be pro- pounded with safety to the great body of our Christian brethren. A prudent divine, who understands the true force and meaning of words, will be cautious of pro- nouncing that change which is effected in the act of Regeneration, an entire change of heart or mind, or a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the sold. Nay, a prudent divine, though he will allow that these expressions may be applied, in a qualified and comparative sense, to highly improved Chris- tians, will rather choose to abstain from the use of them. Well advised and humble men will not readily appropriate such terms to themselves, be- 220 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE cause, though they cannot be too thankful for the change which they have undergone, they are aware that it is far from being entire either in parts or degrees. And we are too well acquainted with the mischievous effects of such language on weak and passionate minds, and know by experience how well calculated it is to inflame the vanity of the human heart, and to give birth to every species of enthu- siasm, and every degree of self-sufficiency. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 22.1 CHAPTER XII. CONCLUSION CONTAINING SOME REMARKS ON THE HARMONY OF THE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM WITH THE DRIFT AND PRINCIPLES AND MORAL EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION. I HAVE now pursued my researches into the grounds and theory of the doctrine of Regeneration through the several heads of inquiry, which I proposed in the outset of this treatise. After premising some remarks on the obvious advantages of adhering as much as possible to the strict and determinate usage of words, in the different branches of human know- ledge, and particularly in theological inquiries and controversies, I proceeded to lay before my readers a statement of the opinions of the ancient Christians on this subject of Regeneration, and of the principles on which their usage of the word seems to depend. 222 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE After this I investigated the Scriptural authorities for this doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism, and examined the principal exceptions which have been taken to it from other passages of Holy Writ. I then pointed out the strict conformity between the ancient Christians and our own Church in this head of doctrine, and noticed the attempts which have been made to extract a different opinion from our public writings. Afterwards I inquired more at large into the theory of this doctrine, the several variations which have been made from the language and opinions of the Church, and the theory which has been opposed to it with the greatest confidence : and I have pointed out some difficulties with which this latter theory is incumbered, and some conse- quences which obviously flow from it. In the conduct of this inquiry it has been my object to show, 1. That in Scripture, Baptism is considered as the commencement of a new period, as an epoch of the religious life, from whence the Christian dates a new state of spiritual existence, carrying with it new privileges, capacities of action, and expectations ; or, in other words, a state of salvation. 2. That the Sacrament of Baptism is not only the symbol and seal, but the channel and organ of that inward grace, of which it is, in a strict and sacra- mental sense, the outward and visible sign. 3. That the grace conferred in Baptism, and DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 2*23 expressed in Scripture by a variety of phrases and figures of speech, is not, strictly speaking, a practical change, such a change, I mean, as must be tested by consciousness, and experience, and results, but a change of state and relative condition, accompanied with an earnest or first principle of new life, and a promise of such spiritual power, as may enable the recipient to continue in this state of salvation, and to carry on that moral and practical change, which this mystical change implies and requires. 4. That the change which has been stated and described in the course of this treatise, was, in strict accordance with the language of Scripture, usually denominated Regeneration by the whole body of the ancient Christians. 5. That in this head of doctrine our Church has kept close to the language and sentiments of Chris- tian antiquity, distinguishing the sacramental grace from the qualifications which it requires, and the effects which it is intended to produce; and using the word Regeneration, in its Articles and Liturgy, to signify solely and singly the grace conferred on Christians in Baptism. 6. That the Scriptures uniformly contemplate the moral and practical change of the human soul as effected through the medium of moral instruments ; and never suppose that spiritual habits are formed in another manner, or follow another order, than such habits as are purely and exclusively moral. 224 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE 7. That, consequently, the theory which contem- plates Regeneration as an infusion or implantation of habits, or as a turning point from evil to good, attended with an entire change of mind, or a radical change of the parts and faculties of the soul, is not only inconsistent with the reasonable and moral constitution of man, but at variance with the nature and purposes of revealed religion. And that it is built on metaphysical positions which will not bear the test of examination, and on such exaggerated views of man's sinfulness and degraded condition, as have no foundation in experience or Scripture, and involve consequences injurious to the cause of truth, and the interests of pure and unadulterated Chris- tianity. Nothing now remains but to add, by way of con- clusion, a few remarks on the harmony of the doc- trine of Regeneration in Baptism with the drift and principles of revealed religion, and its consistency with the internal evidences and moral tendencies of the Christian dispensation. The Christian revelation, considered apart from the principles of natural religion, which it supposes and adopts, is a remedial dispensation, framed for the benefit of creatures in a fallen and diseased state : and is intended to counteract such evils as could not be subdued by the ordinary means, or did not fall within the scope of reason and natural religion. Previous to the preaching of the Gospel, DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 225 and the more extensive dissemination of the know- ledge contained in the Holy Scriptures, man's igno- rance of God's nature, and his own duty, of his origin and business in this world, of the ends of his creation, and of his future prospects, showed the great need of a particular revelation, accompanied with sufficient evidence, and calculated for general instruction. For it could not be expected that reason and natural religion, which had not prevented him from falling into this state, would prove suffi- cient remedies for his ignorance, or relieve him from his difficulties and distresses. It is true that the human understanding was never so totally and universally darkened, as not to perceive at times the reasonableness and excellence of many of the first truths of morality and religion. Still, however, the uncertainty under which the wisest of the heathens laboured in their views and notions of these sub- jects is a convincing argument of the necessity of a more explicit communication of religious knowledge ; and is a convincing internal evidence of the truth of that revelation, which has brought this knowledge within the comprehension, and rendered it familiar to the minds, of the uneducated and illiterate. The advantage, therefore, and necessity of an explicit revelation of the main truths and principles of religion, are clearly made out from the history of mankind, and from that ignorance of the truth which was universally prevalent, and was acknowledged and Q 226 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE lamented by the wisest and most thinking of the heathens. But if this revelation had been nothing- more than a republication, or a clearer and more exact development of the truths of natural religion, it would not have corresponded with man's wants, nor satisfied his feelings and conscience. For the more clearly the principles of natural religion are explained, and the consequences of violating its obligations set forth, the more forcibly will man feel the imperfec- tions of his own performances, the guilt which he has contracted, and the punishment to which he has exposed himself. Man, contemplating himself as a religious and responsible creature, discovers that he is a sinner, and that the principles of natural religion, and the authority of conscience, are insuffi- cient to stimulate him to duty, and to curb his evil affections and propensities. Arguing then from his own experience, and the general appearances of the moral world, he will probably conclude, inde- pendently of positive revelation, that this bias to sin is inherent in his nature, and will from thence justly infer, that he cannot be an object of his Maker's favour, whilst he continues in this state of guilt and corruption. But here natural religion can do nothing for him, or at least offers him no suffi- cient means of quieting his fears, or healing his inherent maladies. He may perhaps build some hopes or presumptions of forgiveness on the sup- posed efficacy of repentance, or on his natural DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 227 notions and revealed knowledge of God's benevo- lence. But these presumptions are insufficient to quiet his apprehensions, because they do not furnish him with such a remedy for the effects and do- minion of sin, as can satisfy his understanding, and compose his conscience. Hence arises the necessity, or at least the expediency and manifest advantage, of a revelation of a remedial nature, and of a promise of forgiveness, established on sufficient grounds and satisfactory evidence. But at the same time man must be sensible that the forgiveness of his sins, and his restoration to God's favour, cannot supersede the principles of natural religion, and his obligations to obey the will of God. He will therefore look to reve- lation for assurances of some new and supernatural powers, to enable him to resist and counteract his inherent bias to evil and tendency to decay, and to give spring and elasticity to his moral and religious endeavours. But it is a strong internal evidence of the truth of the Gospel dispensation, that it pro- fesses to supply mankind with such a remedy for sin, and such spiritual assistances, as the acknow- ledged and experimental evils of their situation seem to demand. But the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism tallies and harmonizes with this scheme of revealed religion. Assuming the inspiration of the Scrip- tures and the truth of every article of natural and revealed religion contained in them particularly Q2 228 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE the divinity and incarnation of our Saviour, the atonement and satisfaction which have been made to Almighty God for the sins of the whole world by his death upon the cross, and the infallible cer- taintv of that promise of the Holy Ghost, which He has made to his whole Church, and to every faithful member of it it enforces the authority of God's word, and brings home the truths of revealed reli- gion to every man's bosom, by assuring us that God consigns over to the individual Christian his share in the saving effects of his Redeemer's sufferings, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost, in a form and order of his own appointment. But this doctrine contents itself with the simplicity of the scriptural statement. It does not pave the way for its own reception by such exaggerated descriptions of man's natural and necessary depravity, as are inconsistent with his history and experience, and therefore cannot be brought home to the real conscience of the sinner. Nor does it indulge in any such exag- gerated accounts of the act of Regeneration itself, and its immediate and necessary effects, as can fascinate the understandings, and minister to the vanity of the weak and injudicious. The sum of what it teaches us is, that the forgiveness of sins, purchased for us by the death of the Son of God, the gift or earnest of the Holy Ghost, which He has promised to us, and a conditional title to eternal life, purchased by his death, and issuing from the DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 229 free grace of God, are made over in Baptism to in- fants and adults duly qualified, without any distinction or respect of persons ; and that Baptism is, according to the plain lesson of Scripture, the ordinary instru- ment of Regeneration. In this theory, therefore, those remedies for sin and sinfulness, which the Gospel of Christ proffers to mankind, are contemplated as made over to us individually, through the medium of an outward sign, and certified to our faith in a simple and affecting ceremony, and in a way excellently calcu- lated to enhance the mercy and free grace of God, and to minister to our comfort and improvement. It does not presume to inform us in what way, or to what extent, the Holy Spirit acts upon the soul in Baptism, nor how He stamps and seals us as God's property : but it looks upon our Regeneration as an entrance into a state of Christian life, which is a life of trial and education; and therefore considers that change of disposition and habits, and that complete renewal of the soul which some divines speak of as the very essence of the new birth, as its legitimate and intended, but not as its necessary consequence. Man is brought into a state of salva- tion and a covenant of repentance in Baptism, but his final salvation depends on the issue of a state of trial. But if the satisfaction of Christ salves the honour of God's laws, and composes and relieves the sinner's conscience, and if the promise of the Holy 230 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE Ghost is a comfort and encouragement to weak and sinful creatures, we may reasonably believe (and we are firmly persuaded that Scripture affords ample grounds for this article of belief) that our interest in these blessings is made over to us at some definite point of time, and through the medium of a sensible action, to which we can refer back with an assurance of faith, without being left in a state of doubt and suspense, or being tempted to have recourse to fallible and uncertain criterions. It is true that many strange and lamentable con- sequences have been supposed to flow from this doctrine by writers, who appear to think that the essence and spirituality of religion are intimately connected with their own views of Regeneration; and have in consequence been more studious to maintain their own principles than to acquaint them- selves with the merits of the opposite theory. But these consequences do not flow from the opinions and statements of the advocates of this doctrine, but from opinions, which exist no where (so far at least as any parties to this controversy are concerned) but in the warm imaginations and jealous fears of its opponents. That no man, who has not been baptized, can possibly enter into the kingdom of heaven ; that hypocrites and profligate men are delivered from their sins, and endowed with the Holy Ghost in Baptism, no less than true penitents and sincere believers; and that the baptismal action is always DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 231 accompanied with a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, are indeed fearful proposi- tions, and pregnant with absurd and mischievous consequences. But since they are propositions which no one has advanced, and represent opinions which no one entertains, ^hey may be safely left to their own fate. In fact, the question at issue has been completely shifted, and placed upon a new bottom, by the advocates of the theory of Regeneration which has been canvassed. The real question is, whether, according to the doctrine of Scripture, the primitive and constant tradition of the ancient Churches, and the decided sense of the Church of England, Rege- neration is the inward and spiritual grace of Bap- tism. The question argued by the other party has been whether a thorough change of heart, an im- plantation of grace, an entire change of mind, or a radical change of all the parts and faculties of the soul, always take place in this sacrament. But this mode of stating and arguing the question can be productive of no good effects, nor lead to any just conclusions ; for it either assumes the very point on which the controversy hinges, or has recourse to the most paltry of all sophisms, a mere verbal equivoca- tion. Had indeed those descriptions and definitions of Regeneration, which I have had such frequent occa- sion to cite, occurred in writings of an oratorical 232 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE cast, or in pathetic appeals to the feelings of the reader, though I could not have approved the Au- thor's judgment, every just allowance would have been made for rhetorical exaggeration. But when they occur in treatises, or argumentative and con- troversial discourses, which profess to handle the theory and doctrinal parts of religion, and to treat the subjects under review systematically ; especially when the authors substitute their own definitions for the words used by their opponents ; they can have no claim to indulgence on this score : and probably the writers themselves would be the first to disclaim any interpretations, which would palliate their expressions, or soften down and extenuate their opinions. Several reasons have induced me to pursue my inquiries, and arrange and publish my sentiments on this subject. Many excellent and orthodox statements of this doctrine have been given to the world, and it has been touched upon, professedly or incidentally, by several of our most eminent divines. But I know of no book which contains a general and systematic view of its bearings and authorities, of the objections which have been made, and the theories which have been opposed to it. I could not but apprehend that much danger must accrue to the evidences of religion, from setting up novel opinions and private interpretations of Scrip- ture in opposition to the received doctrine and DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 233 unanimous testimony of the whole Church of Christ, from the days of the Apostles to the time of the Reformation. I perceived the evil consequences which would result both to the Ministers of our Church, and to their congregations, from the at- tempts which have been made to explain away the clear and unequivocal language of our baptismal offices. And I saw with regret, that the theory, which is principally opposed to this doctrine, sub- stitutes a scheme of necessity for the probationary system of scriptural religion, removes the appeal which the Gospel makes to mankind from the con- science to the passions, fascinates the human under- standing, and flatters the vanity of the human heart, and naturally slides into such a shape as generates enthusiastic notions, and leads the way to habits of self-delusion. But I have insisted the more largely on this sub- ject, because it is closely combined with just and scriptural views of the great importance and spiri- tual effects of Baptism, which almost every other statement of the doctrine of Regeneration either invalidates or annihilates : and because it is of much moment to a right conception of the general scheme and nature of the Christian covenant. For accord- ing to the terms of this covenant, He that lelievcth and is baptized shall be saved ', and he that is bap- 1 Mark xvi. 16. 234 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE tized, must observe all things whatsoever Christ com- manded his disciples 2 . The Gospel covenant, there- fore, is a covenant of grace on God's part, and of belief and obedience on the part of man ; and, con- sequently, it contemplates the Christian life as a real and unsophisticated state of probation, in which free grace and free obedience, justification in God's sight, and repentance and holiness of life, are correlatives, and imply each other ; and man, who has been redeemed, and pardoned, and endowed with the Holy Ghost, has duties to perform, and conditions to fulfil, must continue stedfast in the faith, and must endeavour to walk in all the commandments of the Lord blameless 3 , and to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man 4 . ^/ But the doctrine of Regeneration in Baptism fixes the commencement of the Christian life in the right place, and secures the doctrine of universal grace within the pale of the Church, and the com- prehension of the covenant, against every system which savours of necessity or favouritism, of absolute decrees, or capricious preferences. Without pre- tending to account for the gradual development of the truth, and the partial propagation of the Gospel, or for remarkable instances of God's special grace, which must be resolved into his unsearchable pur- poses, it teaches us, that such baptized adults as are 3 Matt, xxviii. 20. 3 Luke i. 6. 4 Acts xxiv. 16. DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 235 believers and penitents, and baptized infants, who can present no bar of unbelief and impenitence, receive in this sacrament the forgiveness of sins, and the gift or earnest of the Holy Ghost, as a principle of new and spiritual life ; and are placed in a state of salvation, of which nothing but human negligence and default can deprive them. Still, however, it teaches us that this state is not only a state of grace, but a state of discipline and trial; and that the child of God and inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, if he is wanting to his own soul, or is neg- lected and undone by the guardians of his early days, will become the child of the devil, and the inheritor of everlasting misery. We may collect, indeed, from the passages of St. John's first Epistle, which have been referred to in a former part of this treatise, that this doc- trine was soon perverted to bad purposes, and the history of the Church will furnish us with other instances of its misapplication and perversion. And it may be asked, what doctrine has not in its turn been corrupted and abused? But I am confident that no man who really understands this doctrine, and is not prejudiced against it either by a strange misapprehension of its drift and nature, or by an attachment to some favourite hypothesis, can dis- cover in it any dangerous or immoral tendency, or any aptness to produce formality, security, pre- sumption, or self-conceit. With us at least, in 236 A GENERAL VIEW OF THE our public formularies, it is guarded against every misconstruction, and intimately connected with the probationary life, and the necessity of religious exertion and growing holiness. Such too is the use to which it is applied by the ministers of our Church in public and private, in the school, the pulpit, and all their pastoral instructions. A variety of practical lessons are built upon it in their ad- dresses to parents and children, to the young, the old, the sinner, the penitent, and the confirmed Christian ; and it is pressed on the memories and consciences of their hearers, as a motive to vigi- lance, self-jealousy, resistance to temptation, re- pentance, exertion, and perseverance. They firmly believe and thankfully acknowledge that the chil- dren whom they have baptized have been grafted into Christ's body, and constituted and declared children of God; and their labours are directed to these points that they may be reared and educated as spiritual and immortal creatures: that the chil- dren of God may not become children of wrath and children of the devil ; and that those Christians who have fallen away from God's grace, and forfeited the hopes and privileges of their calling, may be renewed again to repentance, and restored to the household and family of Christ. Whilst the Christian minister makes this use and practical application- of it, he need not fear to advocate a doctrine grounded on the sure basis of DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION IN BAPTISM. 237 Scripture, witnessed by all antiquity, and unequivo- cally asserted by our own Church. Security, pre- sumption, self-conceit, and the other vices which have been strangely characterized as its natural consequences, he must expect to find in abundance. They are owing to the wajit of that religious educa- tion which forms an important part of our Christian trial, where the interests of the young are intrusted, according to the known analogy of God's natural and moral government, to the care of other persons ; and their spiritual welfare, without the continual interference of miraculous causes, must necessarily be involved in the good conduct and fidelity of their parents and instructors. They are occasioned by evil habits and bad examples, by the cares of this world and the lusts of the flesh, by inattention to the concerns of religion, and by an imperfect ac- quaintance with the nature of Christianity, and of the privileges and obligations of the baptismal cove- nant ; and, not unfrequently, by those fanatical notions of Regeneration, which are no uncommon fruits of a departure from orthodox opinion. But I am persuaded that he will seldom, I may almost say, will never, within the sphere of his own duties, find them grounded on any misconstruction of this important doctrine. The minister of the Church, therefore, who has no wish to sacrifice the simple and plain meaning of its public offices to refined speculations and subtle 238 A GENERAL VIEW OF REGENERATION, &C. evasions, whilst he yields hearty thanks to God in the prayers of the Church, " that it hath pleased him to regenerate" the child that has been baptized " with his Holy Spirit," and " humbly beseeches him to grant that he may thenceforth crucify the old man, and in the end utterly abolish the whole body of sin," will speak the same language, and inculcate the same doctrine in his discourses. He will follow up in his ministerial labours the tenour of those sound and pious exhortations, with which he has dis- missed the sponsors and guardians of the infant, and will look forward with a mixture of hope and fear to his future renovation and improvement : " Remem- bering always that Baptism doth represent unto us our profession, which is to follow the example of 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 righteous- ness, continually mortifying our evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living 5 ." 5 Office for public Baptism (concluding exhortation). APPENDIX, CONTAINING REMARKS ON MR. FABER'S PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE OF REGENERATION. \ APPENDIX. SINCE the publication of the third edition of this work, in 1839, Mr. Faber has published a volume, which he calls "The Primitive Doctrine of Regene- ration ;" the object of which is to support the opinions which he had maintained on this subject, in a volume of Sermons, published many years ago, by the authority of the fathers of the four first centuries. As Mr. Faber appeared to me to have entirely failed in his attempt to identify his own statements with those of these pious and primitive writers ; as my own views of the question remained unaltered, and as I had no wish to embark any further in this controversy, I abstained from making any observa- tions on his work, at the time of its publication. I did not even think it necessary to disclaim the opinions which he has ascribed to me, or to correct his misconception of my real sentiments. But I had noticed the erroneous principles on R 242 APPENDIX. which Mr. Faber has relied, and several mistakes into which he has fallen, owing partly to the medium through which he has viewed the question ; partly to the hasty manner in which his collections have apparently been made, and the eagerness with which he has seized on such passages of the writings of the fathers as seemed favourable to his own opinions. Some of these have since been pointed out by Mr. T. K. Arnold in his Remarks on Mr. Faber's treatise. Mr. Arnold has likewise drawn my attention to other inaccuracies which had escaped my notice ] . Since, however, a fourth edition of my work is now called for, I think it necessary to make some remarks on Mr. Faber's volume, principally, as re- gards its leading principles, and the erroneous view which he has taken of the language and opinions of the writers whom he has cited as witnesses. Mr. Faber, in his first book, treats of what he calls the " Ideality of Regeneration." He tells us, "that modern theologians have pro- pounded three systems, claiming to exhibit the true sense of Scripture, respecting Regeneration and Baptism." " In the first of these systems, Regeneration is not considered as an internal change in the fallen soul of man, but only as an external change in man's relative state towards God. 1 Inaccurate translations, especially, a part of the work which I seldom looked into. APPENDIX. 2-J3 " In the second system, it is considered as a moral change of disposition, associated with a federal change of relative condition, always accompanying Baptism, except in the case of impenitent and hypocritical recipients." " In the third system, Regeneration is considered as a moral change of disposition, associated with a federal change of relative condition ; and Baptism is, by divine appointment, its outward and visible sign. This change is identical with conversion, renovation, or repentance, and may take place either before, or at, or after Baptism." Whether any theologians, ancient or modern, have maintained the first of these systems, I will not undertake to affirm or deny. At all events, it differs widely from Waterland's doctrine, as stated and explained by himself, and from the opinions of the writer of this work, whom Mr. Faber mentions as one of its advocates. In fact, there is scarcely a chapter in this book, which does not show that the system there adopted, if system it may be called, is very different from that which Mr. Faber supposes him to have espoused. (Note A.) I will, therefore, substitute for Mr. Faber's state- ment, the following account of the real opinion of those writers whom he considers as the advocates of the first system ; keeping as closely as I can to his form of expression. Regeneration is a change in the spiritual state of R2 '244 APPENDIX. fallen man, wrought in him by the operation of the Holy Ghost, carrying with it and implying the re- mission of sin original and actual, and a first principle of new life imparted to the soul, and thus producing a change in his relative state toward God. And Baptism is, by God's appointment, not only its out- ward and visible sign, but a sure witness, and effectual sign of the grace then given, by which He does work invisibly in us 2 . This is the system (to adopt Mr. Faber's expres- sion) which the writings of those fathers of the Church, whom he has endeavoured to press into the service of his own opinions, appear to me to exhibit. It is the system which Waterland has derived from their works, and which has been followed, as must be obvious to every one who has read his book with common attention, by the writer of this treatise. Those fathers, likewise, constantly observed that distinction which Mr. Faber has attempted to con- trovert and set aside, between Regeneration, which properly denotes the inward grace of the sacrament of Baptism, and those other graces and fruits of the Spirit (repentance, conversion, and the growth and Article XXV. Signum efficax ; a sign which effects, in a subordinate manner, that which it signifies. Those writers who quote the XXVIIth Article, to prove that Baptism is only a sign, and not a means or channel of Regeneration, usually omit all re- ference to this definition of a sacramental sign in the XXVth Article. APPENDIX. 245 progress of the new or Christian life) which Water- land and other divines designate by the term reno- vation. But this is not, as Mr. Faber seems to think, a mere verbal distinction, but a distinction of things essentially different both in theory and in fact. It is not denied that the word Reno- vation, in its primary and more extensive meaning, may be applied to Baptism as well as to those other spiritual changes, or that it is one of the terms by which Baptism is often denominated by the ancients: but it has been used in the second- ary and restricted sense with great propriety, because it is the sense in which it is almost always used in the New Testament. The distinction itself, inde- pendently of the term employed to denote it, per- vades not only the writings of the fathers, but the services of our Church, and the scriptures of the New Testament. In fact, those changes which Mr. Faber calls Moral Regeneration, and which, as he contends, are both the essence and evidence of the new birth, are what those divines, whose opinions he seems to be opposing, call Renovation. The passages, therefore, as might be expected, which he has quoted from the fathers as vouchers for the doctrine, that Regeneration is neither necessarily nor ordinarily connected with Baptism, are irrelevant to his purpose. For they either speak of that spiritual change, or first disposi- tion to newness of life, which they believed to take 246 APPENDIX. place in Baptism ; or else they describe the deve- lopment of the spiritual principle, and that progress and advance of the new life, which is, or rather ought to be, the consequence of the new birth. This substitution of the term Moral Regeneration for Renovation (repentance, conversion of the heart, spiritual edification and improvement) is a paralogism which runs through Mr. Faber' s wort, and obscures and perplexes the question at issue. It assumes that the grace of Regeneration is not a mysterious and potential principle of new life ; but either that pro- gressive and conscious change which the word Moral properly denotes, or something equivalent to it ; a change which is always either attended or followed by discernible effects. From hence, the conclusion follows, that there is no necessary nor ordinary con- nexion between the outward sign and the inward grace of this sacrament. But this is not the primi- tive doctrine of Regeneration, nor the doctrine taught by those writers of the four first centuries, to whom Mr. Faber appeals : for they teach with one accord, that the new birth or grace of Regeneration is, according to the ordinary tenor of God's dispensa- tions, conveyed to the soul through the medium of water in Baptism 3 . The passages quoted by Mr. Faber (p. 30, &c.) Mr. Faber has perplexed the question, and probably misled himself, by adopting this term, Moral Regeneration. Regenera- APPENDIX. '247 from Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, (with the exception of that relating to the adulteress, of which notice is taken in another part of this volume,) Tertullian, Athanasius, 4 Cyril of Jerusalem, and Augustine, are exactly such as those advocates of the _*. tion is a spiritual grace ; and, in a certain sense, every spiritual grace may be said to be moral, because it effects a change in man's moral nature. But the word Moral, to speak more properly, implies choice and consciousness and self-action, and faculties or dispositions expanding themselves into habits ; and hence moral graces or virtues are, as Waterland expresses himself, " the joint work of the Spirit and of the man." This is the sense in which Mr. Faber seems to use the word Regeneration ; and consequently, it is in his system equivalent to what Waterland calls (using the word in a secondary and restricted sense) Renova- tion, and, in strict conformity with the doctrine of the Church and of Christian antiquity, carefully distinguishes from Regenera- tion. 4 In his quotation from Cyril, Mr. Faber has mistaken the meaning of his author. He does not, as Mr. Faber evidently supposes, distinguish between an outward Regeneration of the body, and an inward Regeneration of the soul. He is exhorting the Catechumens to put off their sins, by partaking of the spiritual grace of Baptism. After calling upon them to prepare them- selves through faith for the new birth into freedom and adoption, he says, " Come for the mystical seal, that you may be well known to the Master ; be ye numbered with the holy and spiritual flock of Christ ; so shall ye be set on his right hand, and inherit the life that is prepared for you. For they who are yet encom- passed with the rough covering of their sins, have their lot on his left hand, because they come not to the grace of God which is given through Christ at the new birth of the bath. I speak not of a new birth of our bodies, but of the spiritual new birth of the soul. For our bodies are born by means of parents, but our 248 APPENDIX. doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, whom Mr. Faber supposes himself to be controverting, but whose real opinion he has altogether mistaken, produce as their witnesses. For they hold, in common with these fathers, that Regeneration is not merely a federal change of relative condition, but a spiritual change wrought in the soul of man. The quotations from Cyprian and Lactantius de- scribe the development of the spiritual principle, and the change wrought in the habits and lives of regenerate men, subsequently to, in some degree, perhaps, concurrently with Baptism. The quotation from Jerome, when taken with its context, is in no respect at variance with the opinions of the divines in question. The passages produced by. Mr. Faber to show that the fathers considered Regeneration as a federal change of relative condition, do not contemplate this as merely a change of outward circumstances and condition, but as a spiritual change, a work of the Holy Ghost, acting upon the soul. The extraordinary opinion (p. 53) that the fathers souls are born again by means of faith." Oxford Library of the Fathers. Mr. Faber translates this passage, / speak not of a mere Rege- neration of their bodies, as if the object of Cyril had been to teach that there may be a new birth of the body in Baptism, where there is no new birth of the soul. Whereas, what Cyril says, is, that he is not speaking of a new birth of the natural body, but of the spiritual new birth of the soul. APPENDIX. 249 viewed Baptism in the light of a double sacrament, intended to convey a twofold new birth, is founded on a misconception equally extraordinary of the pas- sages adduced in its support. So far were they from entertaining such a notion, that, though they con- stantly held that in the case, not only of hypocrites and impenitents, but of persons baptized in heresy or schism, no saving grace is communicated in Baptism, they did not even then shut out the Spirit from that ordinance, but conceived that the person so baptized was born again to a greater condemna- tion, and continued in that state till changed by Repentance, but that he was neither illuminated, nor sanctified, nor renewed by the Holy Spirit. Mr. Arnold has pointed out the mistake into which Mr. Faber has fallen, in the view which he has taken of the quotation from Augustine, (p. 60.) that a man " may be baptized with water, and not born of the Spirit ;" being, as he shows, not Augus- tine's doctrine, but the absurd conclusion following on his opponent's premises 5 . How Mr. Faber could have imagined that Cyprian (pp. 56. 60.) was speaking of the sacra- ment of Baptism as a two-fold sacrament, it is diffi- cult to conjecture. Had he attended to the state of the question in debate, and to the scope and object of the Epistle from which he makes this quotation, 5 I have examined the passage, and find that Mr. Arnold's view of it is quite correct. 250 APPENDIX. he must have perceived that that father was not speaking of a two-fold Baptism, but of the two sacraments, as he calls them, of Baptism and Imposi- tion of hands 6 . Since it appears, then, that Mr. Faber has mistaken the opinions both of those writers, whom he supposes to have been the advocates of what he calls the first system, and of the fathers whom he has cited in his first book ; it seems scarcely necessary to enter into a very particular examination of the subsequent parts of his volume. In fact, most of his statements and arguments have been answered by anticipation in the treatise to which this appendix is sub- joined. But I may be allowed to doubt whether there are any theologians of our Church, who hold those views of " inseparability," which Mr. Faber attributes to the advocates of his second system. Mr. F. allows that they exclude hypocrites and impenitents from the spiritual benefits of Baptism. But is there any rea- son for supposing that they exclude from the king- dom of heaven, those persons dying, whilst unbap- tized, in whose favour the primitive Christians made exceptions, on grounds of what Hooker calls "natural" equity ? those, i. e., who were prevented from being baptized by causes, over which they had no controul. Martyrs, for instance, who were said figuratively to r> Some remarks on this passage will be found in the treatise, c. 6. p. 86. third edition. APPENDIX. 251 be baptized in their own blood, (Note B.) and those Catechumens who, having a full purpose of being bap- tized, were prevented by death or other unavoidable accidents. Probably too, like our own Church, they would not venture, with Augustine and the Church of Rome, to exclude from that kingdom the infants of Christian parents, dying without Baptism. It will be found, if I mistake not, that the only systems advocated by divines of our Church, are that which considers Baptism to be, according to the ordinary tenor of God's dispensations, the appointed means or channel of Regeneration, and that w r hich maintains, that though it may sometimes, and in some sense or other take place in Baptism, that sacrament is not, either by institution or in point of fact, the necessary, or even the ordinary means of Regeneration. Mr. Faber, in his second book, considers "Bap- tism, a devout reception of Christ, and the word of God," as three distinct channels, through either of which the new birth may be conveyed, independently of the other. Probably, however, he will not insist on the distinction which he lays down between the word of God, and a devout reception of Christ ; i. e. faith in that word. In proof of this position, he cites passages of Scripture, in which the new birth is attributed to the word, or to faith in the word, without any mention of Baptism. But they who take what I conceive to be a more correct view of APPENDIX. this question, while they believe that the word of God, joined with faith in that word, confers a saving efficacy on the waters of Baptism, sanctifying them to the mystical washing away of sin, and the mys- tical renewal of the human soul, believe likewise, that Baptism, according the ordinary tenor of God's dispensations, is the appropriate means or channel of the new birth. On the one hand, they hold, that, when Regeneration is ascribed to Baptism, the word and faith in that word are supposed, or implied ; on the other hand, that, when men are said to be born aofain of the word, or, what amounts to the same O thing, through receiving Christ, or faith in that word ; water and Baptism are, in virtue of our Lord's insti- tution, implied and understood. Thus, though the word sanctifies the water ; and faith in Christ, and in his promises, is required in Baptism ; still Baptism is the channel through which the special grace of Regeneration is conferred. Hence, since the word, and faith in the word, and Baptism are, so to speak, concurrent causes of the new birth ; we must supply from one passage of Scripture what is implied, though not expressed in another ; conceiving that in this case, neither the word is to be separated from the water, nor the water from the word, nor the word and the water from faith 7 . Mr. Faber, in the course of his arguments, affirms 7 See c. v. p. 62 of this treatise. APPENDIX. 253 that in the language and doctrine of the early Chris- tian writers, Circumcision and Baptism were consi- dered as identical (p. 94) ; and this identity he calls a ruled case. It is almost needless to say, that he has totally mistaken their opinion, and that the ruled case (to adopt his own phrase) is the reverse of what he states it to be. For, even the passages which he brings forward in support of this paradox 8 , are a sufficient confutation of it, and show that they did not look on Circumcision as identical with Bap- tism, but as analogous to it, as a type, shadow, simi- litude, &c. of the evangelical sacrament 9 . (Note C.) Enough, perhaps, has been said, in this treatise, of the system adopted by Mr. Faber, (bk. ii. c. 5.) which 8 Mr. Faber is pleased to attribute the denial of this identity of Circumcision and Baptism to certain speculative and para- doxical moderns. They are, however, the speculations and para- doxes of the writers whom he brings forward as his witnesses. See c. iv. p. 49, &c. of this treatise. 9 My view of the texts quoted by Mr. Faber, from St. John's Epistles, are stated at some length in the treatise. In the pas- sages which he has quoted from Augustine's Homilies on these Epistles, the same line of argument is pursued. The reasonings of the Apostle, and of the father who has trodden in his steps, resemble those of St. Paul in the text on which Mr. Faber dwells at some length. (Rom. ii. 28, 29.) The object of the writers in both cases being to call men off from dwelling on the privi- leges that had been bestowed on them, to the present and actual state of their hearts and lives. See also John viii. 37 40. It is a mode of arguing, which resembles those comments on, and applications of Scripture, which divines call " tropological," which give, i. e., a moral turn to its literal sense. (Note D.) 254 APPENDIX. resolves the plain and unambiguous statements of the fathers, and the authoritative declarations of the Church, into the language of charity ; or into what he calls, in the present volume, official declarations, technical phraseology, and general language. But this system is widely different from that of the witnesses whom he cites. They held, as has been observed, that no saving grace is communicated to those who are baptized in hypocrisy, impenitence, heresy, or schism. But they believed that the grace then withholden, might be obtained through repentance. They did not, how- ever, even in such cases, identify Repentance with Regeneration, but supposed that the grace thus received was in some mysterious manner connected with, or dependent on, the sacrament of Baptism. (Note E.) Neither did they look upon the event, i. e. the future conduct and character of the baptized person, as the test of his having been born again, because they considered Regeneration as a principle which was to be developed by the right use of the means of grace, and moral and religious discipline. In illustration of his own theory, Mr. Faber quotes a passage from Clemens Alex. (Paedag. 1. i. c. 6.) as "exhibiting the precise principle, on which the Church has always officially acknowledged the duly baptized to be also morally regenerated." The princi- ple, he tells us, was this, " that no other actual moment could be ascertained with a sufficiency of tangible APPENDIX. 255 distinctness, to warrant an official declaration, that this or that person had been morally regenerated." The words, therefore, which he has printed in capi- tals, " truly you cannot determine the exact time," he looks upon as a full solution of one of the diffi- culties which embarrasses his system, a key, as he calls it, to unlock the meaning of the fathers and of the Church. Mr. Faber has strung together a number of shreds and patches from a long discourse occupying several folio pages in the original, which in the work, from whence they are taken, have no immediate con- nexion with or dependence on each other, and then produces those words ', as being a key to the mean- ing of the primitive Christians, and the precise prin- ciple on which the Church officially acts, when it appears to identify Regeneration with Baptism. But we do not, I conceive, think very honourably of the Church, when we suppose that her official declarations are widely different from her real doc- trine ; that she speaks positively when she thinks, to say the least, doubtfully ; in other words, that she is constantly practising deceit and delusion on the understandings and faith of her unlearned and simple children 2 . It seems, too, somewhat strange to make choice of 1 Ov yap av t\otc tiirtiv TOV 2 'Aypa'/Lt/Lianit rat icitirai, Acts iv. 13. 25() APPENDIX. a few words from an obscure passage of a single writer, as a key to the meaning of the sufficiently plain and intelligible language which pervades the services of the Church, and the works of those writers to whom Mr. Faber makes his appeal. But, in fact, this passage lays down a doctrine sub- stantially the reverse of that which Mr. Faber collects from it. What Clemens affirms is, that that parti- cular knowledge of which he is speaking, is not con- veyed, like the knowledge which prepares the candidate for Baptism by catechetical instruction, but is taught him at his Baptism by the Holy Ghost ; that it comes not by instruction, but by inspiration. " But since this knowledge (that knowledge, i. e. of which he had been speaking) springs up together with illumination," (^wrttrjua being one of the terms by which Baptism is commonly designated,) "at once flashing upon the mind, we, who were unlearned, are at once called learners or disciples. Are we then so called because this learning has been added to that which we had before acquired? (i. e., because we have acquired this additional knowledge through the same means as our former stock.) (No.) " For you cannot mention the time when it was so acquired." (i.e. had it been taught you in the usual way, you might have mentioned the time.) " For catechetical instruc- tion leads to faith, and faith at Baptism" (ana ^aTTTto-juaTj, at the very time, i. e. of Baptism,) "is in- structed by the Holy Spirit." (Note F.) APPENDIX. 257 Thus, this discovery, to which Mr. Faber appears to attach so much importance, turns out to be a groundless fancy ; and he is equally mistaken in the view which he takes of those passages of the fathers, and those statements of our own Church, to which he has applied this principle, and which he has, as he supposes, unlocked with this key. The passages quoted in c. 7. are in entire accord- ance with the opinions of those writers whom Mr. Faber supposes himself to be controverting. Those taken from the Pseudo-Athanasius, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustin, c. 8. prove that these writers carefully distinguished Regeneration, which is the spiritual grace of Baptism, from post-baptismal repentance, conversion, &c. The view which Mr. Faber gives of the grounds, on which the primitive Christians received the lapsed as penitents, without speaking of them as being born again on that occasion, is, to use his own language, " speculative and paradoxical." They looked on them as persons who had fallen from grace, and soiled their baptismal robe, and could only be restored to communion with the Church, through a course of penitential discipline. They considered the grace of Regeneration in Baptism, and the grace bestowed on penitents, as having indeed some analogy each to other, on which account they sometimes call penitence a Baptism with tears, but as distinct in kind and degree. 258 APPENDIX. Thus Gregory Nazianzen, insisting on the danger of breaking the Baptismal covenant, says 3 ; "And this too, seeing that there is no second Regeneration, nor restoration to the former state, O though we seek it ever so earnestly with groans and tears; from which, indeed, there does result (with difficulty indeed, yet nevertheless, there does result) a skinning over of our wounds," i. e. the scar re- maining after the wounds have been healed. So likewise, in a passage which Mr. Faber quotes from Athanasius (p. 1 89), he makes use of the same language, and lays down, in connexion with other fathers of the Church, a plain and palpable distinction between Regeneration and repentance. " St. Paul does not say," (Hebrews vii. 4, 5, 6.) " that it is impossible for man," (so circumstanced,) " to repent, but that it is impossible for us, under the plea of repentance, to renew again such persons" (i. e. to bestow on them again the grace of Regene- ration 4 ). " For there is a wide difference between their cases. For he who repents ceases indeed from sinning, but retains the scars of his wounds. But Oratio xl. de Baptismo : Kat raura OVK ov&ng trfpag avayev- vfi(Twg ou^e aVaTrXafftwc, av on /zaXtora ev 7roXXo7g ffTevayfjiolf c 3v trvvovXwais ep^trai yap. It may mean, " It is impossible to renew us again ;" but the translation which I have given seems preferable. It is to be observed that Athanasius has omitted the words tt'c " to repentance." APPENDIX. 259 he who is baptized puts off the old man, and is re- newed, as being born again by the grace of the Holy Spirit," They were indeed very far from receiving back their penitents to communion without speaking of them as being then born again, because they put the milder constructions on their case, and might hope, on principles of charity, that they had been regenerated in Baptism. For their whole system of penitential discipline went not on the presumption, but on the conviction and assured belief that they had been born again in that sacrament. It was framed for men who had fallen from a state of grace and forfeited the baptismal privileges, and could only recover the blessings which they had lost, (and that too, as was then generally believed, tardily and imperfectly) by a severe and searching course of penitential disci- pline. The Catechumeni and Poenitentes were dis- tinct classes. The one, whatever might be therr moral and religious state, had not been born again, because they were unbaptized ; the other had been born again in Baptism, and had therefore incurred a greater guilt, and subjected themselves to a greater condemnation. I am not expressing my unqualified approbation of the whole of that discipline, which seems to have defeated itself by an excess of severity. I am only stating what the principle was on which that disci- s 2 2(30 APPENDIX. pline proceeded ; a principle, as appears to me, quite inconsistent with Mr. Faber's theory. The passage of St. Paul, (Gal. iv. 19, 20,) is irre- levant to the question. The Apostle there speaks of himself as the spiritual parent of his converts, and tells them that he is again (as it were) " travailing in birth with them," is experiencing anxieties, fears, doubts, &c., resembling those which he underwent when he first brought them to Christ, "till Christ was formed in them ;" till they had attained (i. e.) to a better knowledge of Christian truth, and a more consistent practice of Christian duties. The passage which Mr. Faber quotes from Atha- nasius, part of which I have already adduced, is directly opposed to his theory. In his explanation of Matthew xii. 32, that father asserts the possibility of a post-baptismal repentance, but distinguishes it most plainly and positively from Regeneration. He is combating the opinion of Origen and Theognostus, that the sin or blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which was unpardonable, consists in falling into sin after Baptism. After quoting their words and re- futing the grounds on which they based this opinion, he proceeds to argue the question in the passage which Mr. Faber adduces. " If this saying had been uttered with an eye to those who sin after Baptism, and their offences are unpardonable, how could Paul confirm his love to APPENDIX. 261 the penitent in Corinth ? how could he travail in birth with the Galatians who had fallen away, till Christ was formed again in them? For when he uses the word 'again; he shows that they had been already perfected in the Spirit. And why do we condemn Novatus, who annihilates repentance, and asserts that they who sin after Baptism can never be forgiven, if this saying was uttered with reference to those w T ho sin after Baptism ? More- over, what is said in the Epistle to the Hebrews, does not exclude the repentance of those who sin, but shows that in the Catholic Church there is only one, and not any second Baptism. For he is writing to the Hebrews ; and lest they should think, accord- ing to the custom of their law, that we too had, under the plea (Trpo^aaa) or on the ground of repentance many Baptisms ; on this account, he exhorts them, indeed, to repent, but demonstrates that there is one renewal only by Baptism, and not a second, as he says in another Epistle. There is one faith, one Bap- tism." (Note G.) The passages quoted from the fathers in b. ii. c. 9, are for the most part irrelevant, and at all events give no countenance to the conclusion which Mr. Faber has drawn from them ; that in the opinion of these primitive writers, men are ordinarily born again, either before, or after, or without Baptism; and that the connexion between Baptism and Rege- neration is rather an official declaration, than a real 262 APPENDIX. fact. But the quotations from Athanasius (pp. 216, 217, 218,) are specimens of the manner in which he presses into his service passages which have no bearing whatever on the question in debate. In the quotation from the first Epistle to Serapim, Athanasius is proving from Scripture the unity and joint agency of the Three Persons of the Trinity, and describing the relations which subsist between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. " The Father (he says) is called the Fountain, and Light. The Son too, in relation to the Father as the Fountain, is called the River ; in relation to him as Light, he is called his Brightness. The Father, therefore, being the Light, and the Son his Bright- ness, (for in matters of this kind we must not be weary of repeating the same thing often,) we may see likewise in the Son the Spirit, wherewith we are enlightened; and when we are enlightened by the Spirit, it is Christ who enlightens us in him (or by him). Again, the Father being called the Foun- tain, and Christ being called the River, we are said to drink of the Spirit. But when we drink of the Spirit, we drink of Christ. And again, Christ being the true Son, we, when we receive the Spirit, are made sons, are adopted as sons (vloTrotovntOa). But when we are made sons by the Spirit, it is manifest that we are made the sons of God in Christ." (Note H.) This passage has not the slightest bearing on the question in debate; the means, /. *., or channel APPENDIX. 263 through which the Spirit of adoption is received, or the time of that occurrence. Mr. Faber, indeed, takes occasion from the words Light and Illumination, to assert (pp. 222, 223), or to repeat a former assertion, that in the early Church the regular and technical name of Regeneration was Illumination. What he means by a technical name, I do not profess to understand. But if he means that Illumination and Regeneration were used as synonymous terms in the early Church, his assump- tion is inaccurate. One of the numerous terms by which Baptism was denoted is ^(uricr^a, illumination. But it was under different aspects that it was deno- minated by these several terms. They who were born again of the Spirit, were likewise considered as enlightened by the Spirit. But neither were these operations of the Spirit looked upon as iden- tical, nor the words by which they were denoted as synonymous. In fact, they are plainly distinguished in this passage of Athanasius 5 . The other quotation from Athanasius, Contra 5 In his translation of this passage, Mr. Faber has made some mistakes, which entirely destroy Athanasius's train of reasoning. The parenthetical words (TO. yap aura irtpi TOVTW fid\iaTaovK oKvririov \iyuv TTO\\O.KIQ a manifest reference to Philippians iii. 1.) he translates, " We should not grudge to use the same phraseology respecting them both," and then follows up this mistake by rendering the next words, " Thus we may see, &c." Again, the words Trd\iv re row Ilarpoc OVTOS 7rijy/C, TOV tie. YfoiJ noTap.ov \yop.ivov, wivttv \f.yop.iQa TO Ilvevpa, he translates, " Since the Father is the Fountain, and the Son is called the 264 APPENDIX. Arcanos, Oratio ii. (not iii. as misprinted in Mr. Faber's book,) is equally irrelevant. He is arguing against the Arians, who called the Logos indifferently, Troika, /crttrjua, and -yt w^m, " one made, created, or begotten," under the plea that these words were synonymous. His object is to prove, that in Scripture these words are constantly used to denote different things; the word ywvav, "to beget," (and its homonymes,) being uniformly restricted to, and implying sonship ; so that it did not follow from the Word having been begotten, that He had been likewise made or created. He confirms and illustrates this position from the use of the word " begotten," in the case of those who were God's sons, not by nature, but by adop- tion. In their natural state they are said to be made or created ; but when they are made sons of God by adoption, they are said to be begotten. He then dwells on this distinction between the true son by nature, and the adopted sons who have " received the Spirit of adoption, whereby they cry, Abba, River, we are said to drink the Spirit," as if Athanasius had been assigning the reason why we are said to drink the Spirit. Again, vloTroiovp.Ei'r>i tie rig Ilvcis/zan, SrjXoi'OTi tv Xptorw -^^.ari^o^ev viol Qtov, he translates, " Wherefore, being made sons by the Spirit, we are called in Christ the sons of God," a translation, which, like the others, destroys the chain of reasoning. In my translation of this passage, in order to give a clearer view of the argument, I have omitted the passages quoted from Scripture, in proof of the positions laid down by the writer, those passages being parenthetical. APPENDIX. 265 Father. In other words, he says, they are made sons when having received the word, (not the word preached or spoken, but the Word that was made flesh,) they have power given them to become the sons of God. For they who are by nature creatures, could not otherwise become sons than by receiving the Spirit of Him, who is the Son by nature, and the true Son." (Note I.) This is the sum of the argument contained in the words quoted by Mr. Faber, and in the preceding passage. But they contain no allusion to the means or channel through which the Spirit of adoption is received. The inference, probably, which Mr. Faber would have us draw from this quotation is, that because the words begetting, &c., are used without any mention of Baptism, therefore, in Athanasius's opinion, Baptism is not the ordinary means of Rege- neration ; but that men are " begotten again," indif- ferently, before, or after, or without Baptism. Equally, or rather still more irrelevant, are the passages quoted from Clemens Rornanus 6 , and Igna- tius 7 , which cannot, with any show of probability, be supposed to relate to the questions at issue. What Tertullian 8 asserts is, that men must repent before Baptism, an opinion which no one disputes. The inference drawn from Irenaeus 9 depends on the 6 Clemens Romanus, Epistle ii. 1, 2. 7 Ignatius, Ep. ad Eph. s. 9. 8 Tertullian de Poenit. s. 7. 9 Irenaeus, adversus Haeres. 1. v. c. 17. 266 APPENDIX. erroneous principle that Regeneration and renovation are identical, and the terms both synonymous and co-extensive. It is needless to enter upon any lengthened exami- nation of Mr. Faber's dissertations on Infant Baptism, or of the results at which he has arrived. For they are built on the same grounds as the opinions ad- vanced in the former parts of his volume. We find here, as there, the term moral substituted for spiritual Regeneration ; the same erroneous position that the word, a saving reception of Christ, and Baptism, are three distinct and separate channels through which the grace of Regeneration is conveyed to the recipient ; the same endeavour to identify Regeneration with conversion, repentance, and moral and spiritual im- provement ; and the same notion, that whether a per- son has or has not been regenerated in Baptism, must be determined by the evidence of experience. But as it has been constantly held, that in the case of hypocrites (impenitent and unbelieving reci- pients) no saving grace is conferred in Baptism, because they oppose an obstacle to it, so it was the unvarying doctrine of the Catholic Church, that since infants can present no obstacle to it, they always receive the grace of Regeneration in Baptism. For the Church has believed that it is not the infection of our common nature which is an obstacle to the recep- tion of this grace, but wilful and presumptuous sin. This doctrine, however, is opposed to Mr. Faber's APPENDIX. 267 views, who maintains that no persons are regenerated in Baptism, except their Regeneration is afterwards attested by their lives and conversation. He there- fore contends that original sin is an obstacle to the grace of Baptism ; that as repentance and faith are required in adults, so something analogous to them is required in infants, to qualify them for the right and saving reception of Baptism; and that we can only judge from results, whether any individual infant has been thus qualified, and so born again through the means or channel of this sacrament. Mr. Faber, by framing arguments for his opponents, and answering them on his own principles, appears to have satisfied himself that this is both primitive and sound doctrine. But I may venture to affirm that it is at variance with the doctrine of the Church and of the witnesses whom he cites in his behalf. That qualifi- cations, of which they are incapable, or any thing analo- gous to them, are required of infants to qualify them for the remission of sin, (i. e. of original sin,) and for receiving the grace of the Holy Ghost in Baptism ; that they, who, when they grow up, exhibit no signs of the turning of their heart to God, are therefore not born again in Baptism ; and that the fruits of holiness are the only tests of Regeneration, are opin- ions unknown to those pious writers. Their doctrine, and the doctrine of the Church, has always been that Baptism was ordained for the remission of sins ; that where no obstacle is thrown in the way by the recipient, 268 APPENDIX. his sins are forgiven, and he receives the gift of the Holy Ghost ; that since infants can throw no obstacle in the way, they are considered in the light of peni- tents and believers, so that in their case (as Augus- tine says) the sacrament of faith (i. e. Baptism) sup- plies the lack of faith. When reviewing the case of Infant Baptism, Mr. Faber repeats his assertion, that in the primitive doctrine Circumcision was identical with Baptism; that the Circumcision of the heart was the inward grace of Circumcision, and identical with Regene- ration : and that the conversion of the heart in Augustine's language is likewise identical with it. It will be sufficient to repeat what has been already stated ; that Circumcision was not deemed identical with, but only analogous to Baptism ; a type, figure, or shadow of it ; that the Circumcision of the heart is not spoken of as the inward grace of that ordi- nance, but as a moral duty expressed in terms bor- rowed from it ; and that the conversion of the heart is not identified with, but evidently distinguished from Regeneration in the very passage which Mr. Faber has cited from Augustine. (Note K.) In the fourth chapter of his third book, Mr. Faber states the question in debate, with respect to Infant Baptism, to be : Whether moral Regeneration always and invariably attends on Infant Baptism. Now according to the principles laid down by Mr. Faber, no such question could ever be asked. For APPENDIX. 269 the question then would be : Do they who are bap- tized in infancy always prove, by the evidence of their lives and conversation, that their hearts have been converted and circumcised ? or, in other words, " that their hearts and all their members being mor- tified from all worldly and carnal lusts, they are in all things obeying God's blessed will ?" But the real question is: Does Regeneration in their case always attend on Baptism? Do infants then receive forgiveness of sins, and that grace of the Holy Ghost, which God pours secretly and mys- teriously even into these little ones l ? The case of the slaughtered infants, which Mr. Faber adduces as an instance of persons regenerated without Baptism, is irrelevant to the question. We may readily conceive that they, as well as the patri- archs and prophets of old times, belonged, by a secret and mysterious dispensation, to the New Testament. But they had no concern with the law of Baptism, nor with the doctrine that the kingdom of heaven must be entered through means of that sacrament. Mr. Faber, indeed, argues from John iii. 3, that since without Regeneration it is impossible to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and those infants had never been baptized, it must have been believed in the primitive Church, that under certain circum- 1 Occultissimam Spiritus sui gratiam quam latenter infundit et par v ul i s . Augustine. 270 APPENDIX. stances infants might be regenerated without Bap- tism. But he seems to forget that there is no difference in our Lord's teaching between the term born again in the 3rd and in the 5th verses, that the latter verse is only an explanation and expansion of the former; that to be born again, and to be born again of water and of the Spirit are here really identical, and, consequently, that the being born again of water and of the Spirit is that Regeneration without which men cannot enter into, or see, the kingdom of heaven. But rules of this kind, which prescribe any particular action; a particular means or channel, in the present case, through which grace is conferred ; always admit of such exceptions as necessity, or, to adopt Hooker's language, "natural equity," obviously requires. The principle stated by Mr. Faber, as that received by the primitive Christians, that the beneficial ef- fect of Baptism depends on the faith and sincerity of the sponsors, was not their principle. Nor do the passages quoted by him give any real counten- ance to this assertion. In the Qusestiones ad Orthodoxos 2 the question asked is: " If children who die in their infancy can deserve neither praise nor blame on account of their works, what difference will there be in the resurrection 2 Qusestio Ivi., printed with Justin Martyr's Works. APPENDIX. '21 \ between those who have been baptized by others and have done nothing, (nothing either good or bad,) and those who have not been baptized, and, in like manner, have done neither good or evil ?" The answer is : "The difference between those who are and those who are not baptized is this, that they who are bap- tized partake of the benefits of Baptism, whereas they who are not baptized do not partake of them. But they are deemed meet to partake of these bene- fits through the faith of those who offer them to Baptism." These words afford no ground for supposing that infants were thought to lose the benefits of Baptism through lack of faith in their parents or sponsors; nor does this principle receive any countenance from Augustine's words, quoted in p. 298. For infants were considered as being offered to Baptism, not merely on the faith of their parents and other sponsors, .but on that of the whole Church : and it was (to use Mr. Faber's words) a ruled case, that a want of faith in those who presented them for Baptism and acted as their sponsors, was no bar to the benefits of Baptism. Thus, in his Epistle to Bonifacius, Augustine says 3 , in answer to the question put to him : 3 This passage is quoted by Wall, Infant Baptism, Part I. c. 15. I have followed Wall's translation of it, with the exception of a few words. 272 APPENDIX. "Let not that disturb you, that some people do not bring their infants to Baptism with that faith (or purpose) that they may, by spiritual grace, be regenerated to eternal life, but because they think they do preserve or procure their bodily health by this remedy. For the children do not therefore fail of being regenerated, because they are not brought by those other persons with this intention. For infants are offered for the recovery of spiritual grace, not so much by those in whose hands they are carried, (though by them, too, if they be good and faithful Christians,) as by the whole society of saints and faithful men. For they are rightly said to be offered by all those whose desire it is that they should be offered ; and by whose holy and undivided charity they are assisted towards obtaining the com- munion of the Holy Spirit (or 'towards having the Holy Spirit communicated to them')." On this passage Wall makes this just re- mark : "Neither did the Baptism (i. e. the beneficial effects of Baptism) depend on the holiness, or right faith, or intention of those that brought the child. But it was supposed to be done by the order, and at the desire of the Church, and particularly of those who assisted with their prayers at the offices." On the remaining quotations here made from Augustine, it is needless to make any observations. They are irrelevant; and their supposed relevancy APPENDIX. 273 depends on principles, the unsoundness of which has been sufficiently pointed out. On the quotation from his Homilies on the first Epistle of St. John, I have spoken in another place. Mr. Faber is equally mistaken in another matter in which Augustine is concerned. He allows that with the (imaginary) exception just mentioned, (the case of infants losing the benefits of Baptism through lack of faith in their sponsors,) Augustine invariably taught the concomitancy of Regeneration and infant Baptism. But he contends that by Regeneration that father means not any spiritual or internal change, but only a relative change of federal state. I have already observed that no such notion was enter- tained by the fathers, who always considered the change wrought in Baptism as a work of the Spirit, and a real change wrought in the inward state of the recipient. The very fact, that they believed that original sin was forgiven and washed away in Baptism, and that they alleged the custom of Infant Baptism in proof of the existence of original sin, is a sufficient intimation that they did not confine its benefits to a mere relative change of state. Such a notion as that of sin forgiven without any internal and spiritual action upon the soul, never entered into their minds. Stronger language in confutation of this misconception of Augustine's doctrine can scarcely be imagined, than that which Mr. Faber has adduced in support of it. For instance, when prov- T 274 APPENDIX. ing against the Pelagians the doctrine of original sin, from the fact, allowed by them, that infants are born again in Baptism, he says : "As the Spirit of Christ regenerates them as be- lievers," or, 'into the number of the faithful,' "so the body of death in Adam had generated them as sinners. For the one is a carnal, the other a spi- ritual generation: the one makes children of the flesh, the other children of the Spirit : the one chil- dren of death, the other children of the resurrection : the one children of wrath, the other children of mercy : and thus the one leaves them under the load of original sin, the other sets them free from the chain of all sin V Again : " Let Adam," he says, " be recognized in those little ones who are born but not yet baptized ; Christ in those who are born and baptized, and there- fore born again 5 ." Again: "Behold infants, as far as regards their own works, are innocent, having nothing in them but what they have derived from their first parents, who nevertheless stand in need of Baptism, (i.e. of the grace conferred in Baptism,) that they who are dead in Adam may be made alive in Christ; that they who are by generation defiled, may be cleansed by Regeneration 6 ." 4 Augustine, de Pecc. Mer. et Remissione, 1. iii. c. 2. 5 Augustine, de Verb. Apos. Sermon, viii. c. 8. Augustine, de Verbis Apost. Serm. vii. c. 6. APPENDIX. 275 In the passage which I have cited from the Epistle to Bonifacius, he tells us, " that infants are brought to Baptism that they may by spiritual grace be regenerated to eternal life," and that the Holy Spirit is communicated to them in Baptism. In the Epistle to Dardanus, likewise quoted by Wall, he says: "It is a wonderful thing to consider how God dwells in some that know Him not, and in some that know Him He does not dwell. For they who when they know God glorify Him not as God, neither are thankful, do not belong to his temple ; and infants sanctified by the sacrament of Christ, being regenerated by the Holy Spirit, do belong to it. We affirm, then, that the Holy Spirit dwells in baptized infants though they know it not. For after the same manner that they know Him not, they know not their own mind : whose reasoning faculty within them, which they cannot yet make use of, is like a spark lulled to rest (or smothered), to be kindled as age advances 7 ." Mr. Arnold quotes another passage to the same effect : "But little children have committed no sin of their own in their life. There remains, therefore, original sin, by reason of which they are cap- tives under the power of the devil, unless they T Augustine, Dardan. Epist. 57. T 2 276 APPENDIX. are released from this captivity by the laver of Regeneration and the blood of Christ, and pass into the kingdom of the Redeemer; the power of him who held them captive being frustrated, and a power being given them, by which, from the sons of the world, they may become the sons of God 8 ." Another passage must be cited from the writings of this father, which not only disproves Mr. Faber's assertion, but shows what his opinion was (and, we may safely add, what was the opinion of the Church in his days,) of the nature of the grace bestowed in Baptism, and particularly in Infant Baptism. Con- tending against the Pelagians that original sin does not consist in the following or imitation of Adam, after granting that they who sin voluntarily follow Adam's example, he says : "But that which is an example to those who sin voluntarily, is one thing, that which is the origin (origo, the principle of inborn sinfulness) of them who are born with sin cleaving to them, is another. For the saints, too, imitate Christ in following his righteousness. Whence the same Apostle says, Be ye followers (jiupjrai imitators) of me, as I am of Christ 9 . But, besides this imitation, his grace works in us our illumination and justification through that operation of which his same preacher (or, the same preacher of Christ) says, So neither is he that planteth 8 Augustine, de Nuptiis et Concupiscentia, 1. i. c. 22. 9 1 Cor. xi. 1. APPENDIX. 277 anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase 10 . For this grace grafts into his body even those infants who are baptized, who as yet certainly are not able to imitate any one. As, therefore, he in whom all shall be made alive, besides giving Himself as an example of righteousness to those who imitate Him, bestows also on the faithful the most hidden grace of his Spirit, which He also pours into those little ones in a secret and concealed manner (laten- ter), so likewise he in whom all die, besides having given an example for imitation to those who trans- gress the Lord's commandment voluntarily, has also infected all who spring from his root with the hidden infection of carnal concupiscence V It must be observed that Augustine, in order to refute his opponents who denied the doctrine of original sin, is here arguing from acknowledged principles, from doctrines received and maintained by the whole Church ; from the secret and myste- rious nature and operations of the grace infused into infants in Baptism, (as was held by the Pelagians, as well as by the Orthodox,) to the equally secret and mysterious nature and operation of the infection derived down to us from Adam. Many other passages of this father might, I have no doubt, be easily adduced, directly opposed to Mr. 10 l Cor. iii. 7. 1 Augustine, de Peccat. Meritis, et Remissione, 1. i. c. 9., the latter part of this passage is quoted in the treatise, p. 125. 278 APPENDIX. Faber's assertion. But it is fully confuted, even by passages which he has cited in its support, and which I have inserted in these " Remarks." If Mr. Faber had not viewed this question through a false medium, he might have learned from these pas- sages that Augustine does not consider the Regene- ration of an infant in Baptism as merely a relative change of federal condition, and that he does not identify Regeneration with repentance, conversion of the heart, and such other spiritual acts or qualities as imply, together with the grace of the Holy Spirit, choice, and consciousness, and self-action. In his fourth book, Mr. Faber gives a statement of what he conceives to be the doctrine of the Church of England, concerning Regeneration. My views of our Church's doctrine having been already given, and the opinions which Mr. Faber advocates, discussed in this treatise, I shall not have occasion to make many remarks on this part of his volume. I agree with Mr. Faber, that "the resemblance of the Anglican to the primitive doctrine, is in every particular so perfect, that no one who knows how to value the judgment of the early Apostolic Church, could wish that the baptismal offices, and other allied documents of the Church, should ever be made to experience the officious hand of ignorant and unskilful innovation 2 ." But since my view of 2 B. iv. c. 1, p. 328. APPENDIX. 279 the primitive doctrine of Regeneration differs mate- rially from Mr. Faber's, we shall of course differ in assigning the features in which this perfect resem- blance consists. Mr. Faber contemplates the declarations con- tained in our baptismal offices, not as announce- ments of the judgment and faith of the Church, setting forth to the congregation a fact, humanly speaking, unquestionable, and a great and comfortable truth, but as technical, official, generic declarations. The Church, he tells us, after having received an answer to the legitimate interrogatories, charitably hopes that the answer given, is " the answer of a good conscience toward God;" and, therefore, pronounces the baptized person regenerate genericaUy, but not specifically. (Note L.) He adds, somewhat hastily, that the Church will neither baptize, nor undertake to pronounce a person regenerate, without a satisfactory reply to these in- terrogatories. Here he forgets that the Church in certain cases allows Private Baptism without the intervention of these interrogatories; and that when infants who have been privately baptized, are received into the Church, they are declared to be regenerate before these interrogatories are put to the sponsors. " I certify that in this case all is well done and in due order, concerning the baptizing of this child, who being born in original sin, and in the wrath of God, 280 APPENDIX. is now by the laver of Regeneration in Baptism, re- ceived into the number of the children of God" "Give thy Holy Spirit to this infant, that he being (i. e. having been) born again, and being made an heir of everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, may continue thy servant, and attain thy promise 3 ." The fact is, that though the use of such interro- gatories may be traced to a very early age of the Christian Church, they form no part of the sub- stance of the sacrament. Repentance and faith are required of persons to be baptized ; and the Church would naturally take proper steps for inquiring into the qualifications of adult candidates for Baptism. But questions thus put, and answered in the face of the Church, were an obvious method of ascertaining their mind, and giving publicity to their resolutions. It was a method likewise, well calculated both to edify the congregation, and to make a lasting im- pression on the recipients themselves ; and it was a security given to the Church for their good behaviour and further advancement in righteousness. One of the principal reasons for putting these questions to the sponsors, as the representatives and 3 See the Form for the Private Baptism of Infants. In the Office for Public Baptism, where this prayer is used before the infant is baptized, we pray that he may be born again; here, where the infant has been baptized, we pray that he being, or having been, born again, may continue God's servant. APPENDIX. 281 guardians of infants, seems to be, that it is a security given to the Church, that the child offered for Baptism shall be instructed in the nature of the covenant in which he is concluded, and brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The very forms, however, used in the ministration of Baptism, and the whole structure of the services, exclude Mr. Faber's hypothesis of the systematic official adoption of what he calls generic, as opposed to specific phraseology. Every thing here done is specific, or, more properly speaking, particular. It is re- strained and limited to the individuals presented at the font. We pray, before they are baptized, that these persons may be born again ; we declare, after they have been baptized, that they are regenerate. It would be a solemn mockery to use language so precise and particular, if the fact announced, and the true meaning of the declaration, depended on the future behaviour of these persons ; and amounted to no more than a vague and general assertion, which might or might not be verified in the parties con- cerned. In this case, the declaration made corresponds with that used in absolving a penitent. Like that, there is nothing in it generic (using that word, in what appears to be Mr. Faber's usage of it). It is ap- plied, like the form of absolution, specifically and particularly to individuals. The professions of the adult catechumen, and of the person seeking absolu- 282 APPENDIX. tion, may be hollow and insincere ; but that is an affair between them and God who searches the heart. If we are satisfied of their sincerity after due inquiry and examination, we have no right to speak doubtfully. And we do not make use of official phraseology or charitative language, but de- clare the faith and doctrine of the Church, when we pronounce the one absolved from his sins, and the other regenerate. Mr. Faber, reverting to the opinion avowed by him in the proceeding book, that original sin is an obstacle to the reception of the grace of Baptism ; and, in consequence, that as faith and repentance are required of adults, so something analogous to faith and repentance is required of infants, to qualify them for Baptism, affirms that the denial of such a prevenient act necessarily leads to gross Pelagianism. If so, Augustine and the other fathers who com- bated the errors of Pelagius fell unawares into the very heresy which they were strenuously opposing. For though they did not deny in terms an opinion which never entered into their thoughts, what they have said relative to infant Baptism in the course of that controversy, virtually denies it. And it must be remembered, that the question of Infant Baptism is handled at large in Augustine's writings against that heresy. The Pelagians denied the doctrine of original sin, but professed to believe that infants re- ceive forgiveness of sin, and are bora again in Bap- APPENDIX. 583 tism. Augustine, on the other hand, contended that the baptizing of infants for the remission of sin, was a proof of the existence of original sin, because they could not have been guilty of actual sin. He likewise speaks again and again of infants not being capable of such acts as believing and repenting, and maintains that the sacrament of faith (i. e. Baptism) supplies their want of actual faith. But if he had known of any such qualification for their Baptism as Mr. Faber imagines, he would not have looked merely to the sacrament for the remedy of this defect, but to the prevenient act which prepares infants for its right reception. Our own Church, too, if Mr. Faber's assertion is well-grounded, must fall, I fear, under the same heavy charge of Pelagianism. For she holds no such opinion, as that propounded by Mr. Faber, but re- gards the case of baptized infants in a very different light. After it has been stated in our catechism, that " repentance whereby they forsake sin, and faith whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that sacrament," are required of persons to be baptized; the question is asked, " Why then are infants baptized, when by reason of their tender years they cannot perform them?" in other words, are incapable of repenting and believ- ing ? and the answer is, " Because they promise them both by their sureties, which promise, when they come to age, themselves are bound to perform. 284 APPENDIX. Thus, in the judgment of our Church, infants are baptized; not because they are presumed to have experienced a prevenient act, analogous to faith and repentance, but because their sureties have promised them in their name and behalf; giving this kind of security to the Church, that they shall be so in- structed and brought up, that when they come to age, they shall themselves perform this promise, by professing the faith and practising the repentance that have been promised for them. But if Mr. Faber's opinions are the real doctrine of the Church ; it follows, by necessary consequence, that in the Church's judgment, Baptism is not a means, or instrument, or channel ; but, as the fol- lowers of Zuinglius and Calvin held, a sign only of Regeneration. It is agreed on all hands, that adults cannot partake of the grace, whatever it may be, of this sacrament, without faith and repentance ; but according to Mr. Faber, repentance and Regenera- tion are identical ; therefore, every regenerate adult is born again before Baptism. So likewise, accord- ing to Mr. Faber, infants must have repentance, according to the measure of the recipient, something that is analogous to repentance, previous to Baptism ; and therefore must have Regeneration pro modo reci- pientis, or something analogous to Regeneration before Baptism. Consequently, since both regenerate adults and regenerate infants are regenerated, according to the measure of the recipient, before Baptism, neither APPENDIX. 285 one nor the other can be born again in or through Baptism. I will not ask how far Mr. Faber is consistent with himself, or perceives the consequences of his own positions, when, on the one hand, he identifies repentance and Regeneration; and, on the other hand, states that Baptism is one channel of Re- generation, and classes himself among the advocates of the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration. But I will ask whether any one, who will read our Liturgy and Articles in a plain straightforward manner, can persuade himself that these positions of Mr. Faber are the doctrines taught by the Church of England ? Mr. Faber, indeed, contends that the Church of England, like the early Church, to whose testimony he has appealed, though systematically adopting a generic phraseology, saw the danger of her purely generic phraseology being interpreted specifically, and thence, in like manner, resorted to limitation and explanation. But these explanations and limitations, as Mr. Faber chooses to call them, have no bearing on the question of generic and specific language, nor is there reason to suppose that they were intended to meet any such danger as he imagines. They merely an- nounce a truth that was always taught by the primitive Christians, and seems obvious to common sense ; that Baptism, like all Divine ordinances, is a means of grace and salvation only, when "rightly (or 286 APPENDIX. worthily) received *." The words of the 27th Article, rightly received, allude in all probability to cer- tain erroneous tenets of the schoolmen and the Church of Rome. But they are not intended to convert the solemn and authoritative language of our Liturgy into a technical and generic phraseology. Nor do they mean to assert that infants do not receive the sacrament of Baptism rightly or worthily, unless prepared for its reception by such a prevenient act as Mr. Faber deems, in their case, absolutely necessary. On Mr. Faber's comment on the passage of our Catechism which defines a sacrament to be "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given to us, ordained by Christ Himself as A means whereby we receive the same," which he alleges as another example of the limitation and ex- planation of generic language, I shall make no re- mark. Mr. Arnold has shown how entirely ground- less this distinction is between a means and the means; and I must express my surprise that Mr. Faber should have condescended to resort to such an argument. After all that has been said, it is scarcely neces- sary to remind the reader, that the prayers that God will grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit, and that He will create and make in us new and con- trite hearts, are not prayers for Regeneration, but 4 Article XXVth. APPENDIX. 287 are offered up by and for persons, each and all of whom the Church has declared regenerate, and be- lieves to have been born again of water and of the Spirit. They are prayers not for Regeneration, but for grace and strength to mortify our hearts and members from all worldly and carnal lusts, and for that contrition and change of heart of which every regenerate person stands more or less in need. They serve to remind us of our sinful state, and of our need of spiritual aid to enable us to get the better of the "infection of nature" remaining in us. But they are not intended to explain or limit any sup- posed generic phraseology in what Mr. Faber calls the Church's official and technical declarations. In the passage quoted from the Homily on Whit- Sunday, though taken from a popular discourse, in which accuracy of statement and illustration are scarcely to be looked for, the distinction between the new birth of the Spirit, and his abiding and renovating influences, is laid down with sufficient plainness and precision. And it then calls upon us to learn from the actual state of our inward disposi- tions and outward conduct, not whether we have or have not been born again of the Spirit, but whether the Holy Ghost is abiding in us. " Neither doth He think it sufficient inwardly to work the spiritual new birth of man, unless He do also dwell and abide in him." " O ! but how shall I know that the Holy Ghost 288 APPENDIX. is within me ? Forsooth, as the tree is known by its fruits, so is the Holy Ghost." " Here, then, is the glass wherein thou must be- hold thyself, and discern whether thou have the Holy Ghost within thee, or the spirit of the flesh V Agreeing with Mr. Faber that our "baptismal offices and other allied documents ought not to be tampered with or altered," I likewise think that these offices, if allowed to speak for themselves, present us with a correct and faithful representation of the scriptural and primitive doctrine of Regenera- tion. They establish, as plainly as language can, the distinction between Regeneration and those spiritual graces, which, viewed in another light, are religious duties, and have been classed, (using the word in a secondary and restricted sense,) under the general term renovation. Explained on Mr. Faber's prin- ciples, they resemble what are called legal fictions ; and lead us to suspect that their compilers, and the Church that has adopted them, had thought that a main use of language is to enable us to disguise our sentiments. Indeed, the phrases to which Mr. Faber has had recourse in delivering his judgment on this topic, technical phraseology, generic language, technical and official declarations, seem to subject both the fathers and the Church to a charge of this kind ; 4 See the Treatise, c. vi. p. 110, 111 ; and Archbishop Lau- rence, Doctrine, part i. c. 6. APPENDIX. 289 and if he had not seen the question through a dis- coloured medium, might have led him to suspect the soundness of his theory. I am constrained to avow my opinion, that what he calls technical and generic, is inartificial, undis- guised, and specific language; that what he calls official declarations, exhibits a faithful representation of the doctrine and belief of the Church ; that what he calls the paradoxes and speculations of certain modern divines, is, in fact, primitive doctrine, and that what he calls primitive doctrine, is made up, in sub- stance, of the paradoxes and speculations of a com- paratively modern school of theology, the school of Zuinglius and Calvin and their followers. Nearly twenty-three years have passed since the first edition of the General View, fyc. was published ; and from that time to this I have left it to itself, without defending the opinions maintained in it, or entering further into the controversy. But as a fourth Edition is now going to the press, I have felt myself called on, and I have obeyed the call very reluctantly, to make these remarks on Mr. Faber's volume, not for the sake of disputation, but out of regard to what I conceive to be the truth. I trust that nothing will be found in these pages incon- sistent with the respect due to Mr. Faber, with fair and dispassionate controversy, and with the laws of Christian charity. Feeling, as I very sincerely do, a high respect for u 290 APPENDIX. Mr. Faber, I regret that he has come forward as the advocate of such a system. My knowledge too of the regard and respect, and, I may add, the reverence which his great talents, his unwearied industry, his extensive acquirements, his professional character, and his private worth have earned for him, makes me fear that the opinions which he has advanced on this subject, will carry with them a degree of weight which they would not have obtained had they pro- ceeded from a person less honoured and respected. Mr. Faber has persuaded himself, and would fain persuade his readers, that there are no Clergymen of our Church who do not hold the doctrine of Bap- tismal Regeneration. I will not here inquire how far the system which he has advocated has a claim to that appellation. But within the last two or three years, I have seen more than one pamphlet, bearing the names of Clergymen, in the title-pages of which it is deliberately announced that Baptismal Regeneration is not the doctrine of the Church of England. I have read, too, in a periodical, an ex- tract from a publication of a London Clergyman, in which he affirms that no serious Christian believes this doctrine. My attention has been lately drawn to the title pages of two publications, written by a beneficed Clergyman, who acknowledges that Baptismal Re- generation is the doctrine of the Church of England, but at the same time denounces it as unscriptural. APPENDIX. 291 These title-pages are, "Baptismal Regeneration Sa- tan's Second Lie," and "A Minister's Plea for re- maining in connexion with the Church of England, whilst openly protesting against that which is un- scriptural in her practice and her principles." Another extraordinary case bearing upon this question has been just now brought to my know- ledge s . In a publication called the Children's Friend, the author, a respectable Clergyman of our Church, when describing the happy death of a child of four years of age, says : " Early was he devoted to God in the name of his holy Child, Jesus. The water which set him apart from the world, and admitted him into the Church of the first-born, was laid upon his unconscious brow by his father's hand." " The baptismal rite he had understood in its full meaning, and it freed his soul from every lingering desire, every trembling fear. It taught him self- surrender. It bowed his young heart to the will of God. It bade him ascend on the wings of a willing spirit to the bosom of the Father. It pledged to him the ever-seeing, all-surrounding love of a cove- nant-keeping God, in the world of light, and glory, and joy." For this passage he is called to an account in the 5 Irish Ecclesiastical Journal, Oct. 29, 1844. u2 292 APPENDIX. columns of a newspaper. But instead of either silently disclaiming the jurisdiction of this tribunal, or defending himself on the ground that he had said nothing but what is agreeable to the teaching of his own Church, and of the Church Universal from the time of the Apostles, and what, if Infant Baptism is, as he himself professes, most agreeable to the insti- tution of Christ, is a legitimate conclusion from Christ's own words ; he pleads guilty to the indict- ment, and quails before this arbiter of sound doc- trine. lie informs the editor, that "the passage as it stands is calculated to convey the impression that he had changed his long-avowed sentiments on essen- tial points of religion, and drank in the mischievous spirit of the day. I thank," he proceeds, " and bless God, that I have never for a moment been shaken in my religious views, or tempted in the least degree to think that we may turn with profit to the Tracta- rian party for amendment in our sentiments and practice in any way whatever. I truly believe that Tractarianism is the work of him who is mysteriously permitted to transform himself into an angel of light, and that it comes as the saddest and most fearful blow to the best interests of true religion that has been known, in my days, at least." What the opinions which the writer is so eager to retract have to do with Tractarianism, I do not understand, unless he is anxious to exonerate him- APPENDIX. 293 self from the suspicion of any lurking belief of the doctrine of Regeneration in and through Baptism. But I do know that it has become a fashion with some religionists to brand with the name of Tracta- rianism, every doctrinal statement and every practice which differ from their own system. It may not have been judicious to speak of a child of four years old as understanding the rite of Baptism in its full meaning. But the language with which he seems to reproach himself, coincides with that of the Church whose Minister he is, when it teaches us " that it is certain, by God's word, that children who are baptized and die before they commit actual sin, (and such a child as the one described in these para- graphs can scarcely be supposed to have sinned a sin unto death,) are undoubtedly saved ;" or, as the Ho- niily on Salvation expresses the same universally re- ceived opinion, "Insomuch that infants, being bap- tized and dying in their infancy, are by this sacrifice 6 washed from their sins, brought to God's favour and made his children, and inheritors of his Kingdom of Heaven." A word respecting Tractarianism. It would be well if those who talk so glibly of Tractarianism, and brand with that name whatever either in practice or doctrine happens to differ from their own views, would remember, that as every thing taught by those 4 i. e. the sacrifice of Christ. 294 APPENDIX. who acknowledge the Pope's supremacy is not Po- pery, and every thing taught by Calvinists is not Calvinism, so every thing taught by Tractarians is not Tractarianism. Those truths which they have learned from the teaching and testimony of our own and of the Universal Church, and from the best and worthiest of our Divines, and have defended against misrepresentations and innovations, do not lose any of their value from the errors into which they, or at least more than one of them, have fallen, and the devious course which they have pursued in other matters. If the doctrine which this gentleman seems so anxious to disclaim is Tractarian, I must avow myself to have been a Tractarian, I will not say before the known writers of these Tracts were born, but, at all events, when they were children or school-boys. The advocates of the Zuinglian and Calvinian system have usually denied the doctrine of Regene- ration in Baptism, on the ground of its being un- scriptural ; not in accordance, that is, with their own views and interpretation of Scripture. Some of them, too, have at different times undertaken to vindicate our own Church from the imputation of holding that doctrine. But they have usually dis- claimed all reference to the writings of the fathers, as having no weight or authority in the decision of the question. Mr. Faber, however, who knows what kind of authority is due to their testimony, produces APPENDIX. 295 them as his witnesses, and undertakes to prove that their opinions on this question are in accordance with his own. But the medium through which he has viewed their writings is manifestly the system which he had adopted, before he began to collect their evidence; and his conclusions, whatever ap- pearance they may present of logical deduction, are, if I mistake not, altogether erroneous, because grounded throughout on untenable premises. For the terms which he affirms to be synonymous wdth Regeneration, have in fact a very different meaning in the writings of the fathers of the four first centuries, denoting states of mind, qualities, &c., distinct from Regeneration, in both fact and theory. For instance, there are four passages, or at the utmost five; two of them occurring in the writings of Clemens Alexandrinus, where repentance is called, manifestly in an improper and analogical sense, Regeneration. But in all other parts of their works, Regeneration either signifies the inward grace of Baptism or the whole sacrament, the outward sign and the inward grace combined and united. So familiar, indeed, is this language to them, that Regeneration and Baptism are used as convertible terms ; and in their view of the question, to be baptized, was to be born again; to be born again was to be baptized ; a way of speaking which evidently supposes the concurrence and joint operation of the outward sign and the inward grace. Mr. Faber, 296 APPENDIX. however, has endeavoured to invalidate the conclu- siveness of this induction, and to convert those wri- ters into witnesses on his own behalf by a sort of logical Alchymy 6 , which by transmuting the sense of words at its pleasure, arrives at conclusions satis- factory to the writer, and to those readers who wish to be satisfied ; and calculated to bewilder and mis- lead those who do not perceive the precarious and untenable nature of the premises on which those conclusions depend, Mr. Faber has entered as little into the views of the persons whose opinions he supposes himself to be controverting, as into those of the witnesses whom he cites. No small portion, therefore, of his argu- ments and citations is irrelevant to the real question. He has perplexed that question, by substituting the term M&ral for that of spiritual Regeneration. He has stated, what is in fact contradicted by the very passages which he quotes, that it was a ruled case with the primitive Christians, that Baptism and Circumcision, and Regeneration and the Circumcision of the heart are identical, and that Regeneration is identical with Repentance and conversion ; that it is conveyed, in the ordinary course of God's dispensa- tions through three separate and distinct instruments or channels, and takes place, as it may happen, either before, or at, or after, or without Baptism ; and that 6 Hooker's E. P. 1. v. 59. APPENDIX. 297 all baptized infants are not born again of water and of the Spirit, but such only as give evidence of their having been born again by their future conduct. Those principles were, I believe, maintained by Mr. Faber, long before he thought of citing the fathers as witnesses. He allows, indeed, Baptism to be in some sense a means of Regeneration; but in all other respects his opinions coincide with those of the Zuinglian and Calvinian school of theology. But I am not acquainted with any former writer, who has undertaken to trace up these opi- nions to the Christian writers of the four first cen- turies. Some principles he has likewise found in their writings, which have hitherto, I believe, remained undiscovered. For instance, that their ideality of Baptism, implies what, as he tells us, Cyprian has not scrupled to call a double sacrament ; a sacrament of water, and a sacrament of the Spirit : that the primi- tive Christians associated Regeneration with the rite of Baptism, because they could not assign the pre- cise time when it took place ; that the saving effects of Infant Baptism depended, in their opinion, on the sincerity of the sponsors : that they too made use of what he calls a generic language ; and that in their penitential discipline, they put the mildest construc- tion on the case of the penitents, contemplating them as having lapsed from a state of grace, rather than as having not been born again. 298 APPENDIX. Mr. Faber is undoubtedly at liberty to put what construction he pleases on writers to whom we attribute no other authority than what is due to them on the grounds of sound reason and judicious criticism. But the case is widely different when he undertakes to apply the same or similar principles to the interpretation of the formularies of our own Church. In the Treatise itself, I have dwelt at some length on the danger of tampering with the plain language of these documents; and I wish I could say that the remarks which I then made are inapplicable to Mr. Faber's volume. When I find the plain and decisive language of our Baptismal Offices resolved into technical phrase- ology, generic language, and official declarations, I will ask one simple question. When the Church, having previously prayed that the person to be bap- tized may be born again, and receive remission of his sins by spiritual Regeneration, as soon as he has been baptized declares, in a solemn and public manner, by the mouth of her Minister, that he is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christ, and gives hearty thanks to God that He has been pleased to regene- rate him with his Holy Spirit, is she disguising her real sentiments under the veil of a technical and official phraseology, or speaking the truth in love ? NOTES. [A.] I SELECT a few passages from the treatise, which show that I consider this change as something very different from a merely relative change of condition. " Sometimes it (Regeneration) signifies the inward grace in its most comprehensive sense. Sometimes that part of it only which consists of a principle of new life." " The grant and earnest of the Holy Ghost as a principle of new life." " A determinate change of spiritual and religious condition." " In Baptism they are made partakers of a principle of new life." " In Baptism every convert was sanctified by a special gift of the Spirit." " The initiatory gift or earnest of the Spirit." " The spiritual life commenced mysteriously in the sacra- ment." " Conveying over to us our spiritual nativity, pardon of sin, and the mysterious earnest of the Holy Ghost." " Signs accompanied with a conveyance of grace, and a saving efficacy upon the soul." " The gift of the Holy Ghost as a principle of a new life of righteousness." " Regeneration uniformly signifies a spiritual change, the gift, or earnest, or covenanted consignation of the Holy Ghost. ' 300 NOTES. " The earnest of the Spirit and the infusion of the divine virtue of the Holy Ghost." " The covenanted grant and infused virtue of the Holy Ghost." " Infants are endowed with this infused virtue and mysterious earnest of the Holy Ghost." " In infants the Spirit of grace, which is designed to be a princi- ple of new life, is a potential principle" (the very term which Mr. Arnold, who seems not to have read my book, uses). " A supernatural and remedial principle." [B.] The Primitive Christians, when they spoke of martyrs as being baptized with blood, had an eye, in all probability, to our Lord's conversation with the Apostles, John and James and their mother. (Matthew xx. 20, &c.) " Are ye able to drink the cup that I shall drink ? or to be baptized with the Baptism that I am bap- tized with." " Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the Baptism that I am baptized with." [C.] Mr. Faber, adopting the opinion of divines of the Zuinglian and Calvinian School, asserts that Circumcision under the Legal, and Baptism under the Evangelical dispensation, are one and the same sacrament ; and this, he adds, was a ruled case with the primitive Christians. And he contends that Regeneration and the Circumcision of the heart, being the inward graces of these sacraments, are likewise identical. I have already stated that the witnesses whom he cites, give evidence against him, affirming Circumcision to be a type only, or figure of Baptism '. But there 1 Chrysostom takes a far narrower view of Circumcision, considering it merely as a mark of difference. " But consider, I pray you, God's love and good-will towards man, and his ineffable beneficence to us. For in their case (i. e. the case of the Jews), what was done was attended with pain and suffering, and no other ad- vantage attended on Circumcision, except that they were by it distinguished t,-, discernible) and separated from the rest of the nations. But NOTES. 301 is nothing in Scripture which gives any countenance to the notion that these ordinances are identical, and not, as was always under- stood to be the case, analogous. There is no mention in Scripture of Circumcision having been ordained as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given to the circumcised. It was an initiatory rite through which the Israelites were made partakers of God's old covenant, and stamped as his peculiar people, separated from the idolatrous tribes and nations of the earth. It was a sign or memorial, both of the obedience which they owed Him, and of the blessings which He promised them as its reward. But it is never spoken of as the channel of any spiritual grace communicated through it to the human soul. It was appropriated to males only ; consequently, had it been ordained as a means of grace, one-half of the nation would have been excluded from the benefits of it. It assured to them likewise, on God's part, the fulfilment of the promises which He had made to their Church and nation, including doubtless, though under the veil of mysterious and unaccomplished prophecy, the promise given to Abraham, that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. But Mr. Faber contends that Circumcision and Baptism are identical, because they have the same moral import. It is not, perhaps, correct to say that they have the same moral import ; though it will readily be allowed that their moral import, (the moral and religious lessons, that is, which have been grounded on them,) is similar. But the moral import of religious ordinances, our Circumcision, I mean the grace of Baptism, has a remedy free from pain, and procures us ten thousand blessings, and fills us with the grace of the Holy Ghoet." Chry. Horn. 40 in GenesSn. He speaks in the same strain in his homily on the 17th Chapter of Genesis. 'AXXd OKOirii poi, ayaTrijroi, rov Ofov r>}v QtXavQpwiriav, KOI rrjv afarov C t/fias ivipytaiav tail yap otivvi] rai irovof U rov ftvopivov, tat oiitlv trepov if Trie 7Tpro/ii)c 50Xoe rjv TJ rovro povov, ri> iia rov arj^iiov TOVTOV yvfc/pi>oi)c aiirove tlvai roi rwv Xotiriiv iOvuv Ktxuf)iffOai. 'H dl ;/ztrpa vipiroftfl, n rov /SaTrnV/iarot Xsyw xP*C, dvwcvvov i\ti rffv larptiav, Kal pvpiuiv a-faQiav Trpo&i/oe yivirai, rai rfc row Il jriVX^m xapirot;. Chry*. Horn. 40 ' Genesla. 302 NOTES. whether sacramental or not, and the inward grace of a sacrament, are things perfectly distinct. The moral import means the pre- cepts which are grafted on them, and the moral and religious duties to which they oblige us, implying always a promise of grace to help us in fulfilling them. The inward grace is the gift of God, bestowed on us freely through the channel of a visible sacrament in Baptism, for example, the grace of the Holy Spirit as a principle of mortification and new life in other words, a death to sin and a new birth to righteousness. The moral import of an ordinance, is the applying of it to some moral or spiritual purpose, through the medium of some analogy, some partial or imaginary resemblance, between the outward rite and the duty prescribed. Thus, in allusion to the washings and purifications required by the law of Moses, the Prophet com- manded the Israelites to wash and make themselves clean ; and on the other hand, God promises that He will cleanse and wash them, and sprinkle them with clean water, (language which con- tains a promise of the preventing and sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost), and in their turn, God's worshippers beseech Him to wash them, that they may be clean. St. Paul makes use of the same figurative adaptation of an ordinance to a moral purpose, when he exhorts the Corinthians to " purge out from among them the old leaven, that they might be a new lump :" and to keep " the feast of Christ their passover, sacrificed for them, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and wickedness ; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." In like manner, Moses gives a moral turn to the rite of Circumcision, calling on the people to " circumcise the foreskin of their hearts ;" and on the other hand, God promises to "cir- cumcise their hearts," examples of that correspondence between grace promised, and duties performed, which pervades the volume of the Scriptures. Similar lessons are grounded on the ordinance of Baptism ; the analogy between physical and moral purification being obvious, and, so to speak, natural. But the inward and spiritual graces of the two sacraments the death unto sin, and new birth unto righteousness, of the one, the mystical body and blood of Christ of the other, are not NOTES. 303 duties, but altogether free gifts : requiring indeed suitable quali- fications in those who receive them, but in themselves partaking in no respect of the character of duties. Man must wash, and cleanse, and circumcise his own heart ; but he cannot, in any sense, regenerate himself. It does not, therefore, follow that Circumcision and Baptism are identical, because they have the same, or, more properly speaking, a similar moral import ; and the notion that Regenera- tion and the Circumcision of the heart are identical, is equally groundless. It has no foundation in Scripture ; it forms no part of the doctrine of those primitive Christians, to whom Mr. Faber appeals ; nor is it, as he has persuaded himself, the doctrine of our own Church. After having produced what he calls the official declarations of our Church, Mr. Faber cites some other passages of our Liturgy, which, in his opinion, were intended to explain and modify her technical phraseology, and to prevent our being misled by her generic language. For instance, when we pray that God will grant us the true Circumcision of the Spirit, and that He will create and make in us new and contrite hearts ; we, as He assumes, pray for Regeneration, and the Church teaches us to pray for Regeneration. But since the Church considers all her members as having been born again, not technically and officially, but really and truly in Baptism ; and it is granted that there can be, strictly speaking, no second new birth, Regeneration and the subject matter, whatever it may be, of these prayers cannot be identical. They are, indeed, distinct, both in theory and in fact. But the church confesses that the infection of nature remains in the regenerate, and knows that all the children whom she has brought forth are more or less sinners. She, therefore, bids us pray for those things of which we have all need ; "the true Circumcision of the Spirit, that our hearts and all our members being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey God's blessed will ;" and the " creation in us of new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of the God of all mercy perfect remission and forgiveness." 304 NOTES. Mr. Faber has perplexed the question in debate, by substituting the word " moral" for the word " spiritual " Regeneration ; and thus confounding Regeneration with those qualities and operations of the human soul, which are, properly speaking, moral. But at the same time he has expunged the true and primitive doctrine of Regeneration from the list of Christian credenda. CD.] Mr. Faber quotes a long passage from Augustin's Trac- tates, on St. John's Epistles, and infers from it, that in that father's opinion those persons who were living in habits of sin, or were without the grace of love or charity, though they had been baptized with water, had not been baptized with, or born of, the Spirit. There can, however, be no doubt that Augustine, in common with the Universal Church of those days, believed that with the exception of the cases already mentioned, the in ward grace always accompanies the outward and visible sign in Baptism ; always in the case of infants. Had he, therefore, on the present occasion, asserted that the spiritual birth necessarily develops itself in a spiritual life, and that none were even born of the Spirit who did not afterwards bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, he would have contradicted himself and the doctrine of the Church as it was taught in its services, and exhibited in its penitential discipline. It is evident, not only from the tenor of Augustine's writings on this subject, but from the very passage that has been alleged, that it was not his intention to affirm that he who does not pos- sess the grace of charity, had never partaken of the grace of the sacrament, nor that the actual state of his heart and habits of life was the criterion by which it must be judged, whether he had or had not been born again in Baptism. His discourse, like the passage of Scripture on which he is enlarging, is not dogmatical, but practical, and its object is to establish certain tests by which men must judge of their present spiritual state, and present rela- tionship to God. " Behold," he says, the man who has been " baptized has re- NOTES. 305 ceived the sacrament of his new birth. He has the sacrament, a sacrament great, divine, holy, ineffable. Consider what kind 'of sacrament such an one as makes a man new by the forgiveness of all his sins. Let him look, however, to his heart, and see whether that which was wrought on his body, has been carried to perfection there. Let him see whether he has charity ; if not, he has the mark or seal (characterism), it is true, but has wan- dered abroad as a runaway from Him, whose mark he bears ; and then let him not say, I am born of God. Let him have charity ; otherwise, let him not say that he has been born again." He then proceeds to reconcile the apparent contradiction of 1 John iii. 9, and i. 8, 9, 10, by assuming that in the former passage, St. John is speaking of a particular sin, viz. the want of charity, and concludes that it is love alone which makes the dis- tinction between the sons of God and the sons of the devil : that they who have charity afe born of God ; they who have not charity, are not born of God. " Let not him who offends against charity and brotherly love, say that he is born of God. But there are certain sins which he who is in a state of brotherly love cannot commit ; this especially, that he cannot hate his brother. And what is he to do with those other sins, by reason of which it is said, If we say that we have no sin, &c. Let him hear his warrant of security in another place of Scripture. Charity covereth the multitude of sins. Have what you will, if you have not charity, it will profit you nothing. Though you have nothing else, have this only, and you have fulfilled the law. Whoever offends against this law, is guilty of that heinous sin into which they fall, who are not born of God." From this passage, extracted from a popular and practical dis- course, it cannot be inferred, with good reason, that in Augustine's opinion, they who want the grace of charity, have never partaken of the grace of the sacrament. For he speaks of that sacrament of which they did partake, as something great, holy, divine, ineffable ; terms which he would scarcely have used, had he looked upon it as extending no further, in their case, than to the outward washing ; and he speaks of the person who had not charity, as X 306 NOTES. one who had received the mark or character, but was a deserter or runaway from him, whose mark he bears. What he means is, as he in other places expresses himself, that they who had not charity, had not retained the grace given them in Baptism, by leading a good life in obedience to God's commandments 2 . That the grace then given had not been called into action, and forfeited by exercise and experience ; that men must not call themselves children of God, nor boast of being his children, when they have not love, and therefore do not resemble Him who is love 3 . This is the same view of the question which the Apostle has taken, in the passage on which Augustine is commenting ; and it is equivalent to the answers which have been given to the following question 4 . " If, according to St. John, he that is born of God does not commit sin, because his word abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God ; and if he who has been born of water and of the Spirit, has been born of God, how happens it that we, who have been born of God in Baptism, are nevertheless able to sin ?" This mode of treating the question is analogous, as I have elsewhere observed, to what divines call the tropological inter- pretation of Scripture, giving it (i. e.) a moral turn, or grounding a moral and practical application on its literal sense. St. Paul expresses himself in a like manner, when he says : " He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh." There can be no doubt, that they, of whom he speaks, were Jews, and that the Circumcision of their flesh was Circumcision. But what he asserts is, that while they were not living as Jews were bound to live, and while their hearts were uncircumcised, they could lay no claim to the advantage of being Jews, or the profit of being circumcised. In the same manner our Saviour tells the Jews, that if they had been Abra- ham's children, they would have done the works of Abraham ; 2 Cum baptizati fueritis tenete vitani bonam in prseeeptis Dei, ut Baptis- raum custodiatis usque ad finem. Avgustinus ad Catechumenos. 3 1 John iv. 8. * 'Epwrijffie Ma %ifiov. Catena in Eplst. Cath. p. 125. Oxford, 1840. NOTES. 307 thus, denying that they were Abraham's children in a moral and spiritual sense, though He had acknowledged them to be such by natural and lineal descent 5 . As, therefore, St. Paul does not mean to affirm, that they of whom he was speaking, were not Jews, and had not been circum- cised ; and as our Lord does not deny, that the men who were disputing with Him, were the natural descendants of Abraham ; so there can be no reasonable doubt that neither St. John nor his commentator intended to assert, that those persons who had fallen into sinful habits, and lost the grace of charity after Bap- tism, had not been born of God, or born of water and the Spirit, when they were baptized. What they really affirm is, that such persons had not retained the grace then given, and that the seed, i. e. the Spirit, was not abiding in them ; and that on this account they had no claim to the name, and no right to glory in the name of God's children 6 . There is nothing, therefore, in the passages which have been examined, which can, on just principles of interpretation, bring us 5 John viii. 3739. 6 St. Augustine supposes that the seed here spoken of, is the word of God. But the explanation of the Greek Commentators gives, I think, the true sense of the phrase airspfjia Qtov. I shall quote the comment of Severus from the Catena in Epistolas Catholicas, edited by Dr. Cramer, in 1 John iii. 9. " He speaks not this, as if our natui-e had undergone such a change, as to have become incapable of sinning, and exempt from passions and infirmities. But because, so far as he who has been born of God retains the grace of his (new) birth by a pure conversion, he cannot sin. And he adds the reason why he cannot sin, because his seed abides in hitn. What then is the seed of God which abides in the faithful ? The access, or superinvention (lirioi- rjjffte) of the Holy Spirit through which we were born again ; which does not depart from us unless by shameful deeds we grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ice hare been sealed unto the day of revelation (o7roeaXvi//wg)." The printed text in the beginning of this quotation is corrupt. Ov TOVTO tiTTtv ug tif TO kirtciKTOv a/jLaoriag icai cnraQtias r)^u5v Trtptarafftj^ Trjc rjaiv, OTTOV Ot'Xfi irvtl' airo avlpov, pijai, ^aVOaj/e TO. va' 6 yap avifiog, TOVTOV yap ivTavQd tirjffi Trvtvpa, onov TTVSl, KOi TOV ^\OV (IVTOV CLKOUElf, ClXX' fyfW OVK olSoQ T^f 0opav auroi;, amflffcTOc ya'p eort cat a'cwXuroc, icat (ftwiKfj itovoiq rijv OTrov^r/Trore opp.ijv X t * ovv TOV avE/iov, TOVTO STJ TO aiadt'icrei viroiriTTTOf Trvevfia, dyvotis TTWC Kal irov irvii, TTWC Ttjv aVo TOV Qeov dvayivrr^aiv Treptepya'^jj ; Ei TOVTO TO irvtvua. ov carao-XTjQ^vai, TroXXJ pd\\ov r/ TOV 'Ayiov Ut'evpaTOg rofJLoiq 0UCTwc ou'x vTreve-^dt'ifftTai. Theophylact in locum. DH Mr. Faber has a long note upon the word Suspension. Those, however, who have employed this term, do not enter into any metaphysical inquiries into the subject. What they mean is, that the spiritual grace which did not attend on Baptism, in conse- quence of a moral obstacle, when obtained through repentance, must be considered as connected in some mysterious manner with the sacrament which had been formerly administered. [F-] That the knowledge of which he is speaking, is not acquired through the ordinary means of instruction, but springs up in the mind in Baptism, is what Clemens Alexandrinus is insisting on from the commencement of this chapter, in which he is answering those persons (Gnostics), who supposed that Christians being called children or babes, implied their being as yet acquiring only the first elements of knowledge. 3 1 NOTES. " Immediately after our Regeneration, (i. e. our Baptism,) we received that perfection which we were eager to obtain ; for we were enlightened ; but this is (in other words) to know (or to acquire a clear knowledge of) God (iiriyvuva.C). He, therefore, cannot be imperfect who knows that which is perfect." 'A.va.yvvr)QivTg yovv tvQiwQ TO TtXeiov aireiXtyapev ov i>Kv emrf.vdour' ffywTirTdrjpev y f ' l p' TOVTO SI tart f.inyvwva.1 TOV Qtor* OVKOVV ClT\fjQ O yVWK6tC TO TtXtlOV. He then adduces in proof of this, the example of our Saviour, of whom he says, that in order to form an economical precedent (oiKovoptK^v Trpo^tarwTrwo-tv), a precedent that is connected with his incarnation and human nature, it was necessary he should be perfectly regenerated. " Did he then become perfect immediately after being baptized by John ? Certainly. Did he then acquire any additional know- ledge from John ? By no means. Was he perfected by the laver (Baptism) alone, and sanctified by the descent of the Holy Spirit ? So it is. The very same thing happens to us likewise, whose pattern our Lord was. Being baptized, (i. e. regenerated,) we are enlightened, being enlightened we are adopted, being adopted we are perfected, being perfected we are made immortal. He that is born again, and illuminated, (as the very term implies,) is immediately set free from darkness." ovv bpoXoyfjaovffiv O.KOVTQ TOV Koyov TtXtiov K TOV Ilarpoc, Kara TT\V oiKovop.LKr)v Trpo^tarvTrwcrtv Qf]vai reXetwc ? Kal tl rt'Xetoe %v, ri ejtfaTrri'fcro 6 rt'Xaoe ; t'^fi, wrioy*ari, irepiaarpaTrrovffa TOV vovv, Kal tvdlwe aKovoutv padrjTal ol d/xaOtTc' irortpov iron r>;c paOi] atfinff Trpoffyevo/ieVj/c 5 ov yap av t\ 01 ^ *'"'**' y Xpoi'ov' / /lev yap Kari'i^rjaiQ tig iriariv irepia'yei' irtorte / TtLv irXripfjitXrffia- TW CIKTI, Trdtg rw pev ei' Kopn-flw /xeravoovrn Kvpol rqv av-rjv dyaVijv o 'ATroaroXoc, rove Cf FaXaVac 7raXtv^po/uj}]v Trpore^ay it- rw HvtvfJ.aTt rsXeto-r/ra. T< ^e Kal Navdry f-i^(pupt6a aVatpourn /xerai-otav, KCU dffKot>ri firf^epiav avyyvta^v "tyiiv rove ^fra ro Xourpoi' d^aproVojTac, ^td roue yutra ro Xourpo> d/tapraVoyrac ftpjjrat ro pijTOv; Kat yap 70 iv rrj Trpoc *E/3pat'ouc eipij/ie'voy, ouv cKKAetov eort rwy d/iapra- rt)i' fieTiiroiay, dXXa ctiKvvov tv ilvat TO rqc Ka0oXt:7c /3aVrtir^ja, cat ( u) ?Evrepov. 'E/Bpatotg yap typa^t* ra 7i'a /j^ vop.it>)(Ti vpoc TTJV iv rw vouw o~vi'T)dttav irpod.irei p.(.ravoia^ eli'ai iroXXa Kat /ca0' ijp.ipav fiairTiffpara, ?ia TOVTO ^itravoCiv per Trapatret, /.aar e etvui r^v d'ak'atfto - t>' eta row paTrrioyiaroc, Kai )u^ ^tiTtpavdva^atVerat" we cat ey fTtpa tirtoToXrj (brjffi' pia Tritrrtg, "tv ftaTT-rifffia. Ovc) ya/j tlTrei', d^uvarov ptravotlv, dXXa a^vraruv ravoiag avaKaivifciv fjudg' t\ei St. iroXX/)v rq*' ia0opaV yap p.Tavou>v irauerat /zev row d/iaprdi'tti/, tx^t C TW>' rpav- rag ouXaV 6 ^e ftaim^ouErof TOV p.iv iraXaiov aico^iCvaKf- raC avaKaivlfcTai If. uvwdtv ytvvqQtic TIJ TOV ttvevuaToe \dpiTt. Athanasius, Epistola iv. ad Serapionem, 13. pi.] n?;y^ TQIVVV Kal ig Xe'ytrai 6 flar^o Xe'yerat Ce Kal b Ywroe oVroe, row ^e Ytow KaTavyaauaTOs' TO. yap irtpl TOVTWV ^dXtora OVK oKvq-iov \iytiv TroXXdoc" t&aTiv opyv Kal iv rJ Yty TO Uvtvp.a iv y wri6pt6a' rw ce flyev/iart (f>wTioutiuv wv, 6 Xptoroe eoriv o avrw ^wr/^wy* TrdX/y re row Ilarpoe OTOC 3 1 2 NOTES. , TOV ^e Y(Tiv Etc rag Kapclaf TO Hvtvpa TOV Ytov aurov cpa'^ov, 'A/3/3a o Ilarj/p. Oirot tte' tl dfjtevoi TOV Aoyov t\a(3ov ifiovotav Trap' auroi) TtKva Qiov C ciXXwe yap ou/c ay yivoivro viol, OVTZQ fyvati KrtVjuara, EI yu^ rov OKTOC fyvati KO.I aXrjdivov Yioi) ro n^EUjua VTro^f'^wvrat, Athanasius, contra Arianos, Oratio ii. 59. [K.] Mr. Faber and myself have more than on one occasion quoted the same passages from the writings of the fathers, in order to establish widely different conclusions. Mr. Faber, for instance, has quoted a passage from St. Augustine 7 , with a view of showing that, in the opinion of that eminent father, Regeneration and the conversion of the heart, are identical ; which I had quoted many years before, as an example of the very clear and decided manner ia which he distinguishes Regeneration from Conversion, &c. The following is the passage : " As in Abraham the righteousness of faith preceded, and Circumcision, the seal of the righteousness of faith, followed; and in Cornelius, spiritual sanctification preceded in the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the sacrament of Regeneration followed in the washing, or laver, of Baptism. And as in Isaac, who was circum- cised on the eighth day after his birth, Circumcision, the seal of the righteousness of faith preceded, and since he imitated his father's faith, that righteousness, the seal of which had preceded in the infant, followed as he grew up : so likewise in infants who are baptized, the sacrament of Regeneration precedes ; and, if they 7 Augustine de Bapt. contra Donat. 1. iv. c. 24. NOTES. 313 hold fast their Christian piety, that conversion in the heart follows, the sign of which had gone before in the body. By all of which things, it is manifest that the sacrament of Baptism is one thing, and the Conversion of the heart another : but that the salvation of men is completed by both 8 ." This appeared to me to be a direct example of the manner in which the fathers distinguished between Regeneration and Con- version, &c. ; i. e. according to Waterland's division between Regeneration and Renovation ; the sacrament of Baptism and the sacrament of Regeneration being in the language of Augustine synonymous terms. Mr. Faber, however, maintains that Regene- ration and the Conversion of the heart are identical ; and that, therefore, the distinction made by Augustine is not between Regeneration and Conversion, but between the sacrament of Baptism and spiritual Regeneration. Having given my opinion on this subject in the preceding work, I leave this question to be decided by those who are acquainted with the language and sentiments of Augustine, without feeling any apprehension of an adverse decision. But Mr. Faber does not appear to have observed that this passage of Augustine, according to his interpretation of it, proves too much, more (i. e.) than suits Mr. Faber's purpose. For Mr. Faber does not deny that infants may be regenerated in Baptism, being duly qualified by a prevenient act ; and contends that the fact of their being regenerated must be determined by the evidence of experience. But if in Augustine's language the conversion of the heart and Regeneration are identical ; his doc- trine must be that infants are never regenerated in Baptism. For he does not affirm that the conversion of the heart (which does not here signify turning from sin, but a right state of heart towards God) sometimes accompanies, and sometimes follows Infant Baptism, but that it never accompanies it. Consequently, if by Conversion of the heart, he means Regeneration, he must have believed that Regeneration never accompanies Infant Bap- tism. But since Augustine has constantly asserted that Regeneration 8 See Treatise, c. ii. Y 3 1 4 NOTES. does accompany Infant Baptism, it follows by necessary conse- quence, (unless we suppose that he has contradicted himself,) that he did make that distinction, which this passage, if allowed to speak for itself, evidently establishes between Regeneration and the Conversion of the heart. [L.] Generic language. Mr. Faber is fond of unusual and uncouth words, to which, I suspect, he does not always assign a definite and distinct meaning. He has here adopted the word generic, which he employs in a sense foreign from its real signification. By generic language he appears to mean such as may be applied, in a loose and popular way, to a genus, or class, or community, but cannot be applied to all the individuals comprised in them. In this sense, he con- siders generic to be opposed to specific language. But this sense of the word is very different from its proper and really technical meaning. " A Generic or Generical name in natural history, is the word used to signify all the species of actual bodies, which agree in certain essential and peculiar characters, and therefore all of the same family or kind ; so that the word used as the generical name equally expresses every one of them ; and some other words equally expressive of the peculiar qualities or figures of each, are added, in order to denote them singly, and make up what is called the specific name 9 !" The words generic and generical seem to have been coined by natural historians for the purpose of avoiding the ambiguities of the more usual word, general. That language is generic, which defines or describes the genus, to the exclusion of those dif- ferences which distinguish, one from another, the several species and individuals comprised in it. But whatever is predicated of a genus, may be predicated of all the species and individuals which belong to it. In other words, generic language necessarily extends and applies to every species and every individual in- 9 Encyclopaedia Britannica. NOTES. 315 eluded in the genus ; while specific language distinguishes, one from another, the several species, and, subordinately, the indivi- duals comprised in it. But since every species is said to contain the genus ; because the definition or description of the genus is included in, and forms part of that of the species ; specific language is not opposed to generic, but adds something to it, and what is true or certain generically, cannot be false or doubtful specifically. But if the word generic, as adopted by Mr. Faber, has any meaning, it is synonymous with general in its loose and popular sense ; and with him generic language is that which expresses what may be affirmed, in the long run, usually, commonly, often, not unfrequently, or what may be affirmed of a multitude of persons considered collectively, but cannot be affirmed, with any certainty, of the individuals of which it consists. Mr. Faber, however, seems to disclaim this interpretation of the word, and to have persuaded himself that it has some very precise and stringent meaning, in his own vocabulary. For in his comment on the statement of the Catechism, that Christ has " ordained two sacraments only, as generally necessary to salva- tion," he tells us that the word generally does not mean ple- rumque, " for the most part, usually, commonly," &c., but gene- rically as opposed to specifically. What Mr. Faber here means by these sacraments being neces- sary to salvation generically, but not specifically, after this com- ment, I will not attempt to conjecture. But I agree with him, that the word generally in this place is not used in the popular sense ofplerumque, " for the most part," &c. ; but in its more strict and proper signification. For the meaning of this answer is, that though there may be other ordinances which have been called sacraments, and have somewhat of a sacramental character, though some of these may be necessary to the salvation of particular persons, under parti- cular circumstances, there are only two sacraments ordained by Christ in his Church, as generally necessary to salvation ; i. e. always, universally, to the salvation of all persons. For the exceptions which have been already noticed, are not, properly 316 NOTES. speaking, o priori limitations of the doctrine, or the rule of duty, but exceptions made a posteriori, by natural equity and Christian charity, in behalf of persons who have been pre- vented from receiving these sacraments by circumstances over which they had no control, where the will was ready, but the opportunity was wanting. What is false or doubtful specifically cannot be true generally. Mr. Faber asserts that the Church pronounces the baptized person regenerate generically, but not specifically. Taking these words in their appropriate and technical sense, the assertion is absurd and impossible ; for if the baptized person is regenerate generically, he must of necessity be regenerate specifically. But if we use the words in the loose and inaccurate sense which Mr. Faber evidently assigns to them, the fact is directly contradictory of his assertion. For the Church in her declaration applies the general rule or general truth to the particular case of the individual to whom she is administering this sacrament. Nothing can be conceived less liable to the charge of vagueness and generality, (properly speaking,) nothing can be more precise and particular, than her language. THE END. GILBERT & RIVINGTON, Printers, St. John's Square, London. ERRATA. Page 112, line 29, read sufficient inwardly 250, last, c. 6. pp. 89, 90. 252, last, c. 5. p. 6G. 253, 19, _ c. 4. pp. 52, 53. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 8 3 1158 01031 4895 A 000085193 1