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 1 
 
 
 
KEGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
AN EXPOSITION 
 
 THE DOCTRINE 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM, 
 
 COLLECTED FROM 
 
 THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER 
 
 AND THE HOMILIES, 
 
 AND COJU'ARED WITH 
 
 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 
 
 '^1 
 
 BY THE REV. WILLIAMl^APPER, 
 
 Rector of Tamlaght O'Crilly, Diocese of Derry. 
 
 DUBLIN 
 
 WILLIAM CURRY, JUN. AND COMPANY. 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, AND CO., LONDON. 
 
 1843. 
 
DUBLIN. 
 
 PRINTED BY J. S. FOLDS, SOX, AND PATTO.H, 
 
 5, Baclielor's-walk. 
 

 9y 
 REGENERATION AND "BAPTISM. 
 
 Notwithstanding the abundance, perhaps super- 
 abundance, of what has been written on the subject of 
 regeneration and baptisMy the writer of this work is 
 persuaded that there is still much room and need for 
 explanation. It is evident that, after all, there is 
 a great variety of opinions afloat upon the troubled 
 sea of controversy, and also upon the tranquil surface 
 of private and brotherly intercourse. Among these 
 there are at least two of such an extreme but opposite 
 character, that, like ships sailing towards opposite 
 points of the compass, they must ultimately meet in 
 the same meridian, if not in the same point. It is 
 not intended to attempt the reconciling of such differ- 
 ences. It is scarcely hoped even to produce a partial 
 subsidence of the waves ; but the writer trusts that it 
 is his aim and prayer to be enabled to promote the 
 attainment and the love of truth, and to contribute 
 gradually to a right understanding of our more imme- 
 diate topic of discussion. Endeavouring, therefore, 
 to " keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 
 
 B 
 
2 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 peace," he takes the Uberty, without further preface, 
 of announcing his plan as follows : — 
 
 FIRST DIVSION. 
 
 1. An examination of the three baptismal services in the 
 Book of Common Prayer; primarily with regard to the 
 phraseology in which regeneration and the new birth are 
 expressed. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 2. An examination of the same services, primarily, with 
 regard to the mention or omission of " remission of sins."' 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 3. A comparison of the preceding review, with the Articles 
 and Homilies of the Church of England ; and also with the 
 OflSce for Confirmation and the Church Catechism ; and 
 throughout every part appealing, as occasion may require, 
 " to the law and to the testimony."' 
 
 1 . The office for the public baptism of infants, after 
 a question, whether the child has been previously bap- 
 tized or no, begins with an exhortation, stating the 
 necessity of regeneration, " forasmuch as all men are 
 conceived and born in sin ; and that our Sa\iour Christ 
 saith. None can enter* into the kingdom of God ex- 
 
 * It may appear to some, that from this impossibility of 
 entrance, an inference ought to be drawn of the necessity of 
 the new birth to infants. But an answer is found in the pro- 
 gressive nature of the kingdom of God, which is manifest in 
 the history of the New Testament, in the parables of our 
 Lord, and in the petition of the Lord's Prayer — " Thy king- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 3 
 
 except he be regenerate and born anew of water and 
 of the Holy Ghost." Without undertaking, at any 
 length, a discussion upon the institution of infant 
 baptism, it may be sufficient for our purpose to 
 remark, that the necessity is universal. '^ That which 
 is born of the flesh is flesh,^* applies to every age and 
 degree, and the similarity of the disease would lead 
 us to presume a similarity of remedy, so far as the 
 subordinate difference of circumstances may admit. 
 And that there is no difference sufficient to exclude 
 infants from the privilege of baptism, may be inferred 
 from the part of St. Mark's gospel so appropriately 
 quoted in this service. There our blessed Lord plainly 
 declares infants to be capable of being received among 
 his disciples and subjects, for " of such is the king- 
 dom of God." Does it not follow that they are 
 entitled, by the covenant of grace — where the requisite 
 sureties are found for Christian education — to the 
 same seal of the righteousness of faith, which is ap- 
 plied to believing adults ? And that such a measure 
 of the Spirit is bestowed upon them, their parents, 
 
 dom come." Hence infants may be inheritors of the kingdom, 
 and even enter its precincts ; and yet they may be consistently 
 taught, when capable of catechetical instruction, to expect a 
 more abundant entrance by faith in Jesus Christ. In the 
 eighteenth chapter of St. Matthew we read, that even adult 
 disciples (who must have been, in a manner, already within,) 
 were warned by the Lord, that, without conversion, and be- 
 coming as little children, they should not enter into the king- 
 dom of heaven. 
 
4 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 sponsors, and teachers, as is needful for bringing 
 them up '*in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord?" There seems, however, no ground to con- 
 sider the grace of baptism as more than incipient, 
 though it is fully adequate to the intended purpose, 
 of "daily increasing in God's Holy Spirit more and 
 more." 
 
 The baptismal offices present even a marked dis- 
 tinction between regeneration and the new birth, 
 which perhaps begins to appear, in some degree, in 
 the quotation already given from the opening exhor- 
 tation. There the conjunction "«?^fi?" is used, and 
 not the disjunctive " or." The disjmictive might 
 imply that the words "bom anew," explain the term 
 "regenerate;" but '■'■ and"" rather indicates the ad- 
 dition of a more mature and ample gift. No great 
 stress, however, could be laid on this distinction, if 
 not corroborated by language more explicit. But such 
 is not wanting. Let us compare the remarkable 
 gradation w^hich occurs in the three offices : first, that 
 for infants publicly baptized ; second, that for the 
 public reception of any which have been privately 
 baptized ; third, that for the baptism of adults. 
 
 In the first we pray that the infant ''may be bom 
 again ;^ we announce that it is "■regenerate;'' and 
 we offer thanksgi\ang to our most merciful Father, 
 saying — " that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this 
 infant with thy Holy Spirit ;" but there is no affir- 
 mation of new birth, or thanksgiving for it. Still 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 5 
 
 there might be room to allege that we have what 
 amounts to the same thing, if it were not for the 
 gradation before alluded to. 
 
 In the second office, a parallel prayer occurs to 
 that quoted from the first. Instead of "may be born 
 again," we find " that being born again," &c. ; and 
 when we come to the corresponding part of the office 
 for baptizing adults, the difference becomes so very 
 striking, that it appears to have been designed em- 
 phatically to mark the distinction between the pri- 
 vilege conferred upon an unconscious recipient, and 
 that which is consequent in the order of divine grace, 
 upon the actual exercise of repentance and faith, tes- 
 tified by being voluntarily baptized in the appointed 
 way. In this case, on the supposition of sincerity, 
 there can be no doubt of the immediate admission of 
 the baptized to the full privileges of the sons and 
 daughters of the Lord God Almighty. Accordingly 
 we observe a decision here, which is strongly con- 
 trasted with the language of the preceding offices. 
 The prayer which precedes the address to the spon- 
 sors in the baptism of infants, is repeated in the 
 corresponding place for those of riper years, and 
 contains the same petition that they " may be born 
 again." But, after the actual administration of the 
 rite of baptism, and the reception into the congrega- 
 tion of Christ's flock, besides a similar thanksgiving, 
 there occurs a special and appropriate prayer — " Give 
 thy Holy Spirit to these persons^ that being now born 
 
b REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 again, and being made heirs of everlasting salvation 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, they may continue 
 thy servants, and attain thy promises," &c. What 
 can be the reason of giving prominence to the adverb 
 "«02t'" in this connection, which is not elsewhere 
 united with the new birth throughout the whole of 
 the baptismal services? The writer's answer to his 
 own question, Avhich he earnestly submits to con- 
 sideration, is this : — the emphatic now appears mani- 
 festly designed to express, that adult baptism is the 
 only case in which the baptized can be expected to 
 attain, at once, the exalted dignity and rich treasure 
 of being born again ; according to the declaration of 
 the apostle John, in the first chapter of his gospel 
 — " To as many as received him, to them gave he 
 power to become the sons of God ; even to them that 
 believe on his name." Thus we see that faith is an 
 indispensable prerequisite ; and that the Church of 
 England does not teach an inseparable connection 
 between the outward sign and the whole inward grace. 
 Our church indeed entertains a very high estimation 
 of the gift immediately bestowed upon a baptized 
 infant. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, whose vivifying 
 presence is with the appointed means ; and is not a mere 
 form or symbol of an absent thing. No ; he is himself 
 the precious gift, and, at the same time, the divine 
 agent in an incipient stage of his heavenly regene- 
 rating work. It is a progressive work, not an opn^ 
 operatum : or in any sense finished, as to the inward 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. / 
 
 grace or thing signified. It is analogous to the natural 
 creation and growth ; and as natural existence and 
 life begin and proceed before birth, so it is in the 
 Spirit's work of new creation. He regenerates even 
 passive subjects of his grace ; but new birth implies 
 and requires an actual exercise of the breath of life, 
 and of living faith, and its effects become manifest at 
 once ; as it is written — '* The wind bloweth where it 
 listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst 
 not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so 
 is every one that is born of the Spirit." — John iii. 8. 
 It may perhaps be answered that the same Greek word 
 signifies regeneration as well as new birth. True, it 
 does ; but it happens that, in this instance, the 
 English language is more accurate ; and the context 
 enables a translator to decide which term is to be 
 preferred, as conveying the sense in any given place. 
 Thus in the verse above quoted, the comparison to 
 sensible effects, proves that " born " is the right 
 translation. 
 
 If this position, that our baptismal services dis- 
 tinguish between regeneration and new birth, and 
 only pray for new birth in the office for infants as a 
 future blessing, should be strange to the reader, it is 
 hoped that he is at least prepared to see a strong 
 confirmation in the remarkable precision of the words 
 used in the pubhc receiving of a child which had been 
 privately baptized. In that formulary, viz., in the 
 prayer following the Lord's Prayer, and preceding 
 
8 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 the questions put to the sponsors, we pray — " Give 
 thy Holy Spirit to this infant, that he being born 
 again," &c. Is it possible to attribute the accuracy 
 of this variation — *' being born again,"" in its inter- 
 mediate position between the two public forms of bap- 
 tism — to any thing but design in the compilers 1 The 
 first form prays for new birth only as a future bless- 
 ing; the third employs the expression of present 
 time ; the second, or intermediate form, uses words 
 which may be either prospective or retrospective; 
 and why ? Most probably because the reception of a 
 child, which had been privately baptized, might be 
 so long delayed, as to give time for the opening of 
 the faculties, and the exercise of the mind and affec- 
 tions, and so for the possibility of new birth. If 
 such opening has taken place, then it may be that 
 this is one of the " babes and sucklings," out of 
 whose mouths God has "perfected praise ;" and, in 
 that case, the words *' being born again," would be 
 equivalent to having been born again. But, on the 
 other hand, if the unconscious infantine state should 
 still continue, then the same words would only express 
 a prayer for future blessing,* like "may be bom again" 
 in the public baptism of infants. Surely such a 
 marked gradation cannot have been accidental ; and 
 
 * There is a remarkable example of the transfer of the 
 participle being to futurity, in that part of the act of settle- 
 ment, which limits the crown of Great Britain to the Electress 
 Sophia, and the heirs of her body " being Protestants." 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 9 
 
 if any one can show that a design, of the nature im- 
 puted, was not according to the private opinion of 
 some or any of the compilers, then it must be recol- 
 lected, that their duty was to express the common 
 consent of the church, and to use language in which 
 all orthodox churchmen could agree; and that, in 
 aiming at this concord, it may well be supposed, they 
 were favoured with special guidance from above. If 
 Caiaphas, being high priest, was overruled to pro- 
 phesy, is it too much to believe such a superintending 
 care over the minds of the framers of our liturgy, as 
 caused the result to be a manifestation of God's de- 
 sign in the application of the seal of the righteousness 
 of faith, with its various accompaniments ? It is not 
 pretended that such mtist have been the fact. That 
 would be, to assert the monstrous doctrine of infalli- 
 bility. But nothing more is intended, than a pro- 
 bable inference, in this one instance, (though others 
 may be similar,) drawn from the actual state of the 
 phraseology, compared with the doctrine and pro- 
 mises of holy Scripture. How cheering to the Chris- 
 tian parent's heart, to find these promises "to us 
 and to our children," inasmuch as they are " to all 
 that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our 
 God shall call." 
 
 This exposition lays a sure foundation for bringing 
 up children " in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord," and is perfectly agreeable to the true doctrine 
 of grace, which exhibits the love of God as the foun- 
 
10 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 tain from which eveiy blessing flows : so that he gives 
 grace to enable the tender child to understand and 
 embrace parental teaching ; to love the good Shepherd 
 who carries the lambs in his bosom ; and to rejoice in 
 the sweet narrative, telling how the blessed Jesus 
 " took little children in his arms, put his hands upon 
 them, and blessed them." Surely he is *' the same 
 yesterday, to-day, and for ever;" and those who are 
 brought to him in faith shall receive the blessings 
 promised in the forty-fourth chapter of Isaiah — ** I 
 will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods 
 upon the dry ground : I will pour my Spirit upon thy 
 seed, and my blessing upon thine off'spring ; and they 
 shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the 
 water-courses. One shall say, I am the Lord's; and 
 another shall call himself by the name of Jacob ; and 
 another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, 
 and surname himself by the name of Israel." Doubt- 
 less these precious promises belong to the New Testa- 
 ment church, as well as to the Old, for "all are one 
 in Christ Jesus ;" *' and if ye be Christ's, then are ye 
 Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." 
 — Gal. iii. 29. On the same ground, that beautiful 
 simile in the one hundred and twenty-eighth Psalm 
 ought to be evangelically understood — ** thy children 
 like olive plants round about thy table." And from 
 the well-known and general application of oil as a 
 typical emblem, we are taught to interpret it as a 
 promise of grace, suited to the early growth of those 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 11 
 
 who are holy to the Lord, by his own covenant of 
 mercy. 
 
 It is now time to turn to our review of the bap- 
 tismal offices. Let us look at the first collect for the 
 pubhc baptism of infants. It does not appear neces- 
 sary as yet to make any other observation than that 
 it contains a very comprehensive prospective petition, 
 extending through this life and into eternity — that 
 the child "being steadfast in faith, joyful through 
 hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass the waves 
 of this troublesome world, that finally he may come 
 to the land of everlasting life." Hence, it is evident 
 that we are not to limit our views and desires merely 
 to immediate effect and present blessings. This 
 remark, though obvious, is not superfluous ; because 
 some ascribe all that is to be looked for pertaining to 
 regeneration and the new birth, to the very moment 
 of the administration of baptism, and also identify it 
 with justification. The comparison already exhibited 
 of the language of the three offices, ought to make 
 the maintainers of that opinion pause before they 
 venture to put it forward as a doctrine of the Church 
 of England ; and it is hoped that the further we pro- 
 ceed the more clearly their error will be manifested. 
 Perhaps the second collect may be considered by 
 them as giving countenance to their tenets. They 
 may possibly be disposed to quote with confidence — 
 " We call upon thee for this infant^ that he, coming 
 to thy holy baptism, may receive remission of his 
 
12 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 sins by spiritual regeneration." But why may not 
 this be offered as a prospective petition, in like 
 manner with that quoted from the first collect ? 
 Under our second division of the general subject, an 
 opportunity will be afforded of considering more fully 
 the manner in which remission of sins is mentioned 
 or omitted in different parts of the solemn services 
 now being examined, for the purpose of ascertaining 
 their true interpretation. For the present it may be 
 sufficient to take notice, that the jDlural word "sins" 
 is not strictly applicable to an unconscious individual 
 infant, except by anticipation. Most true it is that 
 he is " born in sin," and as such is " a child of 
 wrath ;" but the sin is one ; it is what is called 
 original sin ; it " is the fault and corruption of the 
 nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of 
 the offspring of Adam." Ninth article. Infants "have 
 not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgres- 
 sion ;" they have not committed one actual sin, and 
 therefore (be it spoken with reverence, if not contrary 
 to any part of the word of God,) they are not charge- 
 able severally with a plurality of sins, and need not 
 yet remission of sins^ although they do — of guilt. 
 There is a passage near the beginning of the first 
 part of the Homily of Salvation, which may appear, 
 at first sight, to mihtate against this exposition. It 
 is in these words : — " Insomuch that infants bting 
 baptized, and dying in their infancy, are by this 
 sacrifice washed from their sins, brought to God's 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 13 
 
 favour, and made his children, and inheritors of his 
 khigdom of heaven." But this quotation is entirely 
 expressed in the plural number ; whereas the formulary 
 for the public baptism of infants isapphed individually. 
 Therefore, because in the homily baptized infants 
 are mentioned collectively, the plural form becomes 
 inevitable in speaking of their sins ; even without 
 anticipating their actual transgressions. But it is 
 not so with respect to the original guilt of a single 
 infant. Let it be observed again, that an infant, 
 strictly speaking, does not come to baptism, he is 
 only brought. Is there not a probability that the 
 petition may have respect to a future time, when the 
 baptized may be capable of reflecting on their inesti- 
 mable privileges, and seek to realize an entrance into 
 *' the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost ?" If the question be answered in the affir- 
 mative, it follows that there is an equal probability 
 that the " spiritual regeneration" prayed for is a 
 future blessing, to be coincident with the exercise of 
 faith, and harmonising with the doctrine of St. James, 
 where he says, (i. 18,) " of his own will begat he us 
 with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of 
 first-fruits of his creatures." In this view, there is 
 a perfect agreement with the doctrine of justification 
 by faith, which is clearly inculcated in the sponsorial 
 answers and in our catechism. But it is proper to 
 add, that there could be no objection to pray for 
 spiritual regeneration, as an immediate privilege and 
 
14 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 blessing to infants, except in connection with the 
 remission of sins. 
 
 The idea here presented of coming to Christ's holy 
 baptism, by an actual and intelligent entrance into 
 the name of the ever-blessed Trinity, is consonant to 
 a manner of speaking, which is familiar in the hoiv 
 Scriptures. " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye 
 to the waters." — Isaiah Iv. This is an invitation not 
 to be complied with by any locomotion, but by 
 mental acts and spiritual affections. "I said. Behold 
 me, behold me, to a nation that was not called by 
 my name." — Isaiah Ixv. Accordingly our blessed 
 Lord has proclaimed in his Gospel, " Come unto me, 
 all ye that labour and are heayj laden, and I will give 
 you rest." — Matt. xi. 28. And again — " all that the 
 Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that 
 Cometh to me I will in nowise cast out." "It is 
 written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of 
 God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and 
 hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." — John 
 vi. 37, 45. The analogy of our prayer-book also 
 corroborates the interpretation which has been offered 
 oy the simply spiritual view it presents of the other 
 sacrament, that is, of the Lord's supper, in case of 
 necessity precluding the enjoyment of a participation 
 of the outward signs. It is one of the rubrics annexed 
 to " the Communion of the Sick." 
 
 '* But if a man, either by reason of extremity of 
 sickness, or for want of warning in due time to the 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 15 
 
 curate, or for lack of company to receive with him, 
 or by any other just impediment, do not receive the 
 sacrament of Christ's body and blood, the curate 
 shall instruct him, that if he do truly repent him of 
 his sins, and steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ 
 hath suffered death upon the cross for him, and shed 
 his blood for his redemption, earnestly remembering 
 the benefits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty 
 thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the body and 
 blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul's 
 health, although he do not receive the sacrament 
 with his mouth." 
 
 Is it not equally competent to an expounder of the 
 sacrament of baptism, whether minister, parent, or 
 sponsor, to remind the catechumen, that repentance 
 and faith are required of those that are baptized ; and 
 that infants are baptized in the happy anticipation, 
 through the blessing of the Lord upon their Christian 
 education, that they will be disposed, in mature age, 
 to come to the " fountain opened for sin and for 
 uncleanness," and to seek for that *' heavenly wash- 
 ing," which cannot be realized "by the putting away 
 of the filth of the flesh, but by the answer of a good 
 conscience toward God." — 1 Pet. iii. 21. i\.nd would 
 not this expounder be authorized to add — "You will 
 thus experience an answer to the prayer which was 
 offered up for you at your baptism, that ' coming' to 
 it in heart you should receive remission of your sins ? 
 If you truly understand and value the privilege of 
 
16 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 having been *born of water,' which was accompanied 
 with the invisible agency of the Holy Spirit, employ- 
 ing the outward sign ' as a means of receiving the 
 inward grace,' then you have in some measure * heard 
 and learned of the Father ;' you are drawn by his 
 grace, and you will come in faith, and with a contrite 
 heart, to plead the promises of God, * which he for 
 his part will most surely keep and perform.' Trust- 
 ing in his faithfulness, you will feel filial love springing 
 up in your heart, one effect of which will be to assure 
 you of the remission of your sins ; and there will be 
 no difficulty of seeing how it is received by * spiritual 
 regeneration ;' for this is but another name for ' faith 
 working by love ;' and the happy subject of it, in- 
 creasing in the Holy Spirit more and more, will be 
 prepared to be addressed in the words of the apostle 
 Peter, as ' being born again, not of corruptible seed, 
 but of incorruptible, by the word of God which hveth 
 and abideth for ever.' " Such an address of course 
 could not be understood but by one of considerable 
 ripeness of intellect : it is given only for the sake of 
 illustration, but by no means offered as suitable in- 
 struction for the earliest openings of tender thought. 
 These openings, however, are often such as to sur- 
 prise, as Well as delight a Christian parent ; and to 
 confirm the blessed hope, in which thanksgiving was 
 offered to God, " that it hath pleased him to regene- 
 rate the infant ivith his Holy Spirit.^^ The ground 
 and duty of such gratitude would be justified by the 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 17 
 
 lowest \iew that can be taken by those who adhere 
 to infant baptism "as most agreeable with the in- 
 stitution of Christ." For a change of state, which 
 implies a title of gift to the means of grace, and a 
 covenant relation to the eternal Trinity, is in itself a 
 beginning of a new existence, and a commencement 
 of recovery from the consequences of our fall. It is 
 regeneration begun by Him who " moved upon the 
 face" of the chaotic waters, and who also carries on 
 the whole process of the new creation. But there is 
 abundant warrant for expecting more than a change 
 of state, although it seems impossible to ascertain 
 the degree of influence which the Holy Spirit exerts 
 in various, or in any circumstances. When our blessed 
 Saviour took little children in his arms, put his hands 
 on them, and blessed them, there is every reason to 
 beheve that he imparted to them a spiritual blessing ; 
 and a similar effect is to be expected in baptism; but 
 it does not appear to have been scripturally proved to 
 amount, in any case, to entire renovation of nature. 
 Every proposition which asserts or implies so great a 
 change instantaneously, is inconsistent with the pro- 
 gressive work which the Bible describes, and rather 
 tends to repress than to promote endeavours after 
 spiritual growth and improvement. On the other 
 hand, if we do not believe that the quickening power 
 of the Holy Spirit has actually been working with us 
 in bringing a child to " the laver of regeneration," 
 what encouragement can we derive from the ordinance, 
 
 c 
 
18 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 or how can we persevere in prayer for blessings upon 
 our baptized offspring ? It is surely not the genuine 
 state of a Christian mother's heart to look upon her 
 precious babe as ^'Jlesh'' that must continue flesh, at 
 least for a season, without any hope or possibility of 
 the movements of heavenly life ! Shall the grass 
 grow up, we know not how ? and the bones also in 
 the womb of her that is with child ? and are there 
 no secret operations of the Spirit upon the mental 
 faculties, and the dispositions of the soul ? Why 
 should it be asserted that these operations must be 
 withheld from such a passive subject, although we 
 have a full assurance that " the free gift is come upon 
 all men, unto justification of life." — Rom. v. 18. 
 The truth is, that we have reason to hope for 
 grace in answer to prayer, not only according to 
 the analogy of natural growth, but even contem- 
 poraneously, and pari passu with it ? Why should 
 it be thought a thing incredible, that He, in whose 
 book all our members were written, which in con- 
 tinuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none 
 of them — that he should carry on at the same 
 time, though in secret, a spiritual work of mercy, 
 proceeding from his covenant in Christ, and not 
 more beyond the reach of our conceptions, than 
 the creation and progressive formation of our bodies? 
 Why should it be incredible, that the Holy Spirit 
 purifies and strengthens even natural faculties, which 
 it is better to have than to be without? — which, though 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 19 
 
 injured and defiled by the fall, are not themselves a 
 part of our depravity? For example, that lovely 
 instinct and essential storge or natural affection, 
 the absence of which is reckoned by St. Paul, 
 (Rom. i.) among our worst corruptions ; and con- 
 science, that wonderful witness for God, implanted 
 in the soul, enabling us, in a measure, to discern 
 between good and evil, with the respective degrees 
 of approval and disapproval which are due to each. 
 Besides, that God, who made man "in his own 
 image," has not permitted his image to be utterly 
 destroyed, although it be deformed by sin. It was 
 not totally obliterated, even by the corruptions 
 which called for the judgment of the flood. Other- 
 wise creation, in the image of God, could not 
 have afforded a reason for the law which he deli- 
 vered to Noah concerning the punishment of 
 murder. Hence it is evident, that the work of 
 the Holy Spirit is not the communication of a 
 nature entirely differept from that which existed 
 before ; but is more like the cure of a disease. 
 And who is warranted to pronounce any limits to 
 the grace of our heavenly physician ? What hinders 
 him from sanctifying natural affection in its original 
 elements, so as to prepare it for being subservient 
 to education " in the nurture and admonition of the 
 Lord ?" — and to the reception of " the sincere milk 
 of the word," in the earliest development of the 
 mental powers, parentally watched over in faith. 
 
20 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 and love, and prayer? If such prayer be a duty 
 and a privilege before the child can cry — " My 
 father, or my mother," why should it not be 
 offered even before the birth of a child? There 
 is no cause to render the promise inapplicable — 
 " Ask, and ye shall have," The conscientious 
 faculty may be invigorated — the evil propensities 
 may be weakened — the dispositions may be sweet- 
 ened. And are not these, and such like, regene- 
 rating operations ? They may precede baptism, and 
 be increased thereby; and such an assurance and 
 manifestation may have been given by the adminis- 
 tration of the blessing of the Lord ha^dng been 
 sought, according to his covenant of mercy, that 
 there should be a decisive warrant to say — *' Seeing 
 now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is 
 regenerate." Yet we ought not to conceive the 
 grace restricted to the rite, as if the baptized had 
 been mere flesh before the pouring of the water, 
 and then immediately transformed. The washing 
 of water is a sign and seal — a seal implies the 
 pre-existence of a covenant, and that covenant is 
 not inefficacious, even before the application of the 
 seal. Abraham was justified by faith while yet 
 in uncircumcision ; and his posterity were added 
 to the people of God, in successive generations, 
 as soon as they were bom. This privilege did not 
 wait for circumcision, although it was liable to 
 forfeiture by a wilful omission of the appointed 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPtlSMW'f^ -^ ^ 
 
 sacrament. — Gen. xvii. 14. In like manner, '^the '^j. < 
 child of a believer in Christ is '"holy" to the.Lorc^/ ^ 
 as such. For the apostle Paul says, that aii^Hi;ib^- 
 lieving partner is sanctified by the beUever ; and it is 
 implied, that the issue of such a marriage is sanc- 
 tified by its relation to the believing parent, because 
 it is added — " Else were your children unclean ; but 
 now are they holy." From this it follows, that they 
 are entitled to baptism, and that they are to be 
 baptized — not to begin to be made holy, but because 
 they are holy. The second answer of our church 
 catechism may seem opposed to this conclusion ; 
 but a more convenient opportunity of discussing 
 this objection will be presented under the third 
 division of our subject. In the meantime, what has 
 been advanced may be corroborated by the example 
 of John the Baptist, concerning whom it was pro- 
 mised — " He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, 
 even from his mother's womb." — Luke i. 15. This 
 may remind us also of the case of Sampson, whose 
 mother was charged " Not to drink wine nor strong 
 drink, and not to eat any unclean thing" (Judges 
 xiii. 4) ; by which we are taught a typical lesson 
 of the sanctifying influence of sanctified parents 
 upon their children. But the case of John the 
 Baptist aifords explicit proof of the possibility of 
 the Holy Spirit being bestowed in most abundant 
 measure, even upon the youngest infant. It may be 
 said that the example was extraordinary, and the gilt 
 
22 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 was extraordinary. Still it proves the possibility 
 alleged : for the gift was bestowed from the womb ; 
 and what was done in one instance, is possible in 
 all not decidedly excluded.* It may also be said, 
 that we are not concerned in it, because we are not 
 to expect miraculous gifts. But the fact is very 
 remarkable, that it is expressly recorded ^' John did 
 no miracle ;" so that we have no reason to suppose 
 that the abundance of the Spirit bestowed upon 
 him, was what is called miraculous, in contradistinc- 
 tion to the ordinary operations of the Holy Ghost. 
 The miraculous effusion did not take place' imtil the 
 Lord was glorified ; and on the very day of Pentecost, 
 when the Holy Ghost descended in the likeness of 
 fiery tongues, although it was the purpose of God 
 that tongues should cease (1 Cor. xiii) ; yet on 
 that extraordinary occasion the apostle Peter said — 
 •'The promise is unto you, and to your children, 
 and to all that are afar off, even as many as the 
 Lord our God shall call.*' The same apostle bears 
 witness to the possibility of the gift of the Holy 
 Spirit being antecedent to baptism ; or rather the 
 Spirit himself bore witness while Peter was preaching 
 to Cornelius and his company. Peter, however, 
 asked — " Can any man forbid water, that these 
 should not be baptized, which have received the 
 Holy Ghost as well as we ?" — Acts x. 47. Indeed 
 
 * See Jeremiah i. 5. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 23 
 
 the previous necessity of repentance and faith proves 
 the precedence of some degree of spiritual regene- 
 ration in adults ; why then should we not be 
 prepared to expect such a degree of regene- 
 ration in infants as they may be capable of, even 
 before the administration of the rite of baptism ? 
 It may also contribute to elucidation to recollect 
 that ordinary gifts of the Spirit accompanied the 
 Pentecostal effusion of the extraordinary ; as we read 
 in the proper preface for Whitsunday — *' Giving 
 them both the gifts of divers languages, and also 
 boldness, with fervent zeal, constantly to preach the 
 Gospel unto all nations." But the principle intended 
 to be deduced from the time and order in which the 
 Spirit is recorded to have worked in the cases of 
 John and Cornelius, is one which ought to be very 
 easily admissible, from the whole tenor of the Scrip- 
 tures — namely, that of growth in grace, connected 
 with the plainly-revealed doctrine concerning "the 
 Lord and Giver of life." This teaches that God is the 
 prime mover in salvation, and there is nothing to 
 delay its commencement, either to adult age, or to 
 the rite of baptism. These propositions appear to be 
 abstractedly admitted by many who stumble, notwith- 
 standing, at the thought of considering regeneration 
 in any other aspect than that of a sudden and at once 
 completed effect. But how has the term acquired 
 this fixedness of meaning? Perhaps from some 
 technicality of system ; it cannot be from analogy, 
 or the use and propriety of language. It may illus- 
 
24 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 trate, in some degree, to recollect the meaning 
 of the opposite term " degenerate. ^^ Does any- 
 one regard that as conveying any other idea, 
 than of gradual deterioration, though susceptible of 
 more or less rapidity in a downward course ? And 
 why should not ameUoration be conceived and inter- 
 preted in a corresponding manner ? There is a dif- 
 ficulty arising from the rare occurrence of the term 
 in question in the holy Scriptures. But the passage 
 in which the Lord made a glorious promise to his 
 followers, to be accomplished when he should '* sit 
 upon the throne of his glory," seems strongly to 
 countenance the idea of progression. If we read, 
 "ye who have followed me in the regeneration," it 
 must evidently mean the progressive spiritual work 
 carried on by the Lord in his ministry. But if we 
 take **m the regeneration^^ as the beginning of a 
 clause, and with Parkhurst, should be of opinion that 
 those words " may then be most easily and naturally 
 referred to that greater and more signal renovation^ 
 which commenced after the resurrection and ascension 
 of the Redeemer ;" or if, with others, we think they 
 ought to be understood of the period of his second 
 coming, in either case the propagation of the Gospel, 
 or the process of judgment, and of " the restitution 
 of all things,"* must render the meaning of the term 
 " regeneration^^ progressive. The passage in Titus, 
 also, by connecting " regeneration with washing," 
 unavoidably suggests the idea of progression. For 
 * See Acts iii. 21 . 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 25 
 
 " washing" is an act continued until all filthiness be 
 purged away, and of longer or shorter duration ac- 
 cording to the necessity of the work. The need of 
 spiritual and heavenly washing continues through this 
 life: we ought always to pray — "Cleanse the thoughts 
 of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, 
 that we may perfectly love thee." There is no other 
 place in the New Testament where the word in 
 question occurs. 
 
 It is perhaps from a habit of inseparably uniting a 
 sign with the thing signified, that they are supposed 
 to co-exist with an exact precision, not admitting of 
 any difference of duration either antecedent or sub- 
 sequent. Besides, the first and proper decision of 
 the church, that baptism cannot be repeated, may be 
 taken by some to be applicable to " the inward grace," 
 so as to exclude progression and repetition, even where 
 there has been a falling from grace. But St. Paul 
 did not hesitate to write to the Galatians — " My little 
 children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ 
 be formed in you." — And although the sacrament of 
 the Lord's supper be not perfectly parallel, inasmuch 
 as it is in its nature an ordinance to be repeated, yet 
 it affords illustration of '*the thing signified" extend- 
 ing in duration beyond " the sign." The Lord said 
 — " Do this in remembrance of me ;" not limiting 
 that remembrance to the accompaniment of the 
 external act ; but that this should be a means of 
 remembering the atoning death and love of our 
 
26 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 Redeemer every day of our lives ; and that we should 
 thereby have our souls " strengthened and refreshed 
 by the body and blood of Christ," even in the absence 
 of the symbols which " show forth his death until he 
 come." In like manner, although baptism, as an 
 initiatory and outward rite, is not to be repeated, we 
 may continually come to it in heart and mind, (which 
 we do in confirmation, and in witnessing the baptism 
 of others,) as a means of "increasing in the Holy 
 Spirit more and more, until we come to the heavenly 
 kingdom." * We find the holy Scripture using a similar 
 figure of speech, in reference to the crucifixion of our 
 Saviour, both in a bad and a good sense. The former 
 occurs in that awful passage in the sixth chapter 
 of Hebrews, where the apostle assigns as a reason of 
 the impossibility he had warned of — *' Seeing they 
 crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put 
 him to an open shame." The instance alluded to of 
 a good sense, is in the beginning of the third chapter 
 of the Epistle to the Galatians, where the apostle re- 
 minds them of the great privilege they had enjoyed 
 in the clear declaration of his ministry : " before 
 whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set 
 forth, crucified among you." The atoning sacrifice 
 of Christ admits of no repetition : "nor yet that he 
 should oifer himself often, as the high priest entereth 
 into the holy place every year with blood of others ; 
 
 * See first Rubric of Baptism, and the concluding exhor- 
 tation. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 27 
 
 for then must he often have suffered since the foun- 
 dation of the world ; but now once in the end of the 
 world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacri- 
 fice of himself." — Heb. ix. 25, 26. However, in the 
 preaching of the Gospel, and in the celebration of 
 the Lord's supper, which " shows forth his death," 
 the crucifixion of the Redeemer is vi\-idly exhibited, 
 and the grace of his passion is communicated through 
 faith. So baptism is once administered, but its in- 
 ward part is continued and increased, and it may even 
 be refreshed and revived. Continuance and increase 
 are the happy fruit of believing that the Holy Spirit 
 is given for use, and that he is always near and ready 
 to bless parental instruction, and every means of 
 grace. Refreshment and revival must be the conse- 
 quence of a *' godly sorrow working repentance unto 
 salvation, not to be repented of." But that such 
 mercy is not excluded, and that it is not improper to 
 speak of it as a new birth, or in kindred language, 
 according to various degrees and circumstances, is 
 proved by the strong expressions of St. Paul to the 
 Galatians, conveying his earnest longings and prayers 
 that Christ might be " formed in them." Thus it is 
 hoped that a true and safe middle-way may be dis- 
 cerned and pursued, which is coincident with him 
 and his glory, who alone is "the way, and the truth, 
 and the life;" avoiding, on one hand, an extreme 
 which supposes baptism completed in the adminis- 
 tration ; and, on the other hand, an interpretation 
 
28 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 which reduces baptism to a significant form, only 
 sometimes made at once a means of grace, and conse- 
 quently paralysing thegracious exhortation : — "Doubt 
 ye not, therefore, but earnestly believe, that he will 
 Iike\ivdse favourably receive this present infant." Faith 
 must have an anchor to lay hold of ; and if it be only 
 in some cases that a special blessing is granted, how 
 is it possible to avoid the painful doubt and fear, that 
 the immediate subject may partake of nothing more 
 than the outward sign, though spoken of by the name 
 of the thing signified ? Surely this was not the belief 
 of the composers of the ofiice. They felt a spiritual 
 joy in contemplating the precious sight of little chil- 
 dren in the arms of the Saviour ; and they encouraged 
 an assurance of his loving embrace, because he is 
 *' the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." It is 
 admitted that if the form satisfy, without seeking the 
 power, loss must be apprehended. But if the offici- 
 ating minister's own heart be in harmony with the 
 service, though he may often have causes of grief and 
 humiliation, he need never understand the thanks- 
 giving to God for his regenerating grace, in any lower 
 sense than the words have been asserted to convey in 
 the course of this exposition. No gloomy dread of 
 exclusion ought to be permitted to intrude into "this 
 charitable work" of bringing an infant to his holy 
 baptism ; for all are "his offspring ;" Christ is "the 
 Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world ;" 
 he "tasted death for every man." — Heb. ii. 9. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 29 
 
 *' God was in Christ reconciling the world unto him- 
 self, not imputing their trespasses unto them ; and 
 hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." 
 — 2 Cor. y. 19. Having these assurances in the ad- 
 ministration of baptism, we may be persuaded that 
 we are engaged in the ministry of the Spirit ; that he 
 is himself present in his vivifpng power, and using 
 one of the means of regenerating fallen man, through 
 the redemption that is in Christ. 
 
 Let us then cheerfully pass on from the second 
 collect, to proceed in our survey of the baptismal offices. 
 
 The interesting narrative from St. Mark is very 
 appropriately read, although the recorded act was 
 not an administration of baptism : yet it fully proves 
 all that it is appealed to for ; and it establishes, by 
 inference, the right of infants to be baptized. " For," 
 said the Lord himself, '* of such is the kingdom of 
 God." The word signifies — " of this class of the 
 human race" — not merely, "of such-like in disposi- 
 tion." It is added indeed, " Verily, I say unto you. 
 Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a 
 little child, he shall not enter therein." But this is 
 in the usual manner of our Saviour, deriving instruc- 
 tion from present occurrences, and the objects before 
 him. He did so with respect to the miracles of the 
 loaves and fishes, and the healing of the man who 
 was born blind ; and in many other cases, without 
 disturbing the facts on which the parabolic simih- 
 tudes were founded. We are warranted, therefore, 
 
30 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 to hold fast the happy conclusion, that mfants are 
 capable of being admitted to the privileges of the 
 kingdom of God ; and if so, they are entitled to the 
 seal of the promises which are made in the baptismal 
 sacrament. 
 
 The minister then makes a brief exhortation to the 
 congregation, upon the words of the Gospel, reminding 
 them of the condescending love of the blessed Jesus, 
 and " how by his outward gesture and deed he 
 declared his good will ;" the extension of which to 
 all we ought not to doubt. But it is remarkable that 
 in the enumeration of blessings to be earnestly 
 expected, ''^remission of sins '^ is not mentioned. In 
 the second diiision of the subject, an opportunity 
 will occur of enlarging upon this omission. After 
 this exhortation, thanksgiving and prayer follow ; on 
 which it has been observed already, that the com- 
 pilers of our liturgy, in praying for the new birth, 
 did not venture to go beyond a petition of a quite 
 indefinite nature, in respect of time : — " Give thy 
 Holy Spirit to this infant^ that he may be born again." 
 The natural inference, upon a comparison with the 
 subsequent formularies, has been stated and discussed 
 already. In the next place, the sponsors are 
 addressed. They are reminded of having " brought 
 this child here to be baptized ;" and, among other 
 things, of having prayed our Lord " to release him 
 of his sins :" but as this also is indefinite, the reader 
 is requested to suspend judgment concerning time. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 31 
 
 until the promised opportunity shall arrive. In the 
 meantime it is expected, that a candid consideration 
 of the questions and answers, concerning *'the things 
 required of persons to be baptized," will prepare the 
 way for judging rightly. They are respectively pro- 
 posed and given by anticipation, that is, as if 
 expressly to and by the infant. In this part there is 
 no engagement by the sponsors, except the implied 
 duty (which is indeed an indispensable obligation) of 
 using their best endeavours to realize the Lord's 
 requirements. On this anticipation it is hoped that 
 the third division of our subject may throw some 
 further light. The design appears to have been to 
 make it manifest, that the inward grace of baptism 
 cannot be considered complete, until the baptized 
 has experienced repentance and faith. In this view, 
 it is substantially the same thing in every varying 
 form ; and the covenant of grace shines forth in all 
 its simplicity and beauty. Perhaps some who may 
 be ready to admit the identity, provided the bap- 
 tized infant should live to a proper age for taking the 
 promises upon himself, may be of opinion that the 
 certainty of the salvation of infants, who die before 
 the commission of actual sin, cannot be maintained, 
 without asserting also a fulness of new creation. 
 But ought we not to be satisfied with the consolation, 
 that the Redeemer has embraced them with the arms 
 of his mercy ? and that, as he had called them to a 
 state of salvation, it is impossible that tho privilege 
 
32 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 should be lost by death ? But there is very little 
 revealed concerning the precise condition they are in ; 
 and we must not intrude into things we have not seen. 
 Analogy would lead us to suppose that the spirit of a 
 departed infant is an infant spirit ; and what may be 
 the mode and circumstances of its growing up to 
 maturity, are matters quite out of the reach of our 
 knowledge : so that it is probably impracticable to 
 argue from a case so obscure and difficult, to those 
 effects of baptism with which we come in contact. 
 
 With respect to the alleged design of the sponso- 
 rial arrangement, and the necessity of faith to the 
 perfection of the inward grace of baptism, although 
 Dr. Hook, in the appendix to his visitation sermon, * 
 entitled "A Call to Union," claims our venerable 
 Cranmer as on his side, the very extracts which he 
 has given in that appendix, afford a sufficient refu- 
 tation of what he brings them forward to support. 
 Some of them, if taken in a detached way, do cer- 
 tainly appear to attribute to baptism effects, which, 
 considered all together, and in all their fulness, the 
 preceding pages have argued not to be immediate 
 attendants upon the outward sign. Nay, it is to be 
 presumed, that Dr. Hook himself does not believe 
 such a connexion to exist in any case. For he quotes 
 with approbation, in pp. 97, 98, the opinion of 
 Bishop Bethell, distinguishing between regeneration 
 
 * Fourth Edition : London, 1839. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 33 
 
 and renovation ; and he also asserts that the fathers 
 do not " appear to have supposed that any positive 
 or active renewal of the soul takes place in infants." 
 Now that is taking very low ground indeed! And 
 whosoever adopts it as his own position, cannot 
 understand the following quotation from the arch- 
 bishop's sermon on holy baptism, as agreeing with 
 the doctrine held by himself, and yet to be an enume- 
 ration of instantaneous accompaniments of the rite. 
 The italics, as well as the remaining parts, are copied 
 from Dr. Hook's extracts, p. 90. " And the second 
 birth is by the water of baptism, which Paul calleth 
 the bath of regeneration, because our sins he forgiven 
 us in baptism^ and the Holy Ghost is poured into us 
 as into God's beloved children, so that by the power 
 and working of the Holy Ghost we be born again 
 spiritually, and made new creatures. And so by 
 baptism we enter into the kingdom of God, and are 
 saved for ever, if we continue to our lives' end in the 
 faith of Christ." 
 
 "V^Tiat then could be the meaning of the archbishop ? 
 Let us hear his own explanation from p. 91, in 
 answer to the question of an inquirer. 
 
 " But peradventure some will say, how can water 
 work such great things ? To whom I answer, that it 
 is not the water that doeth these things, but the 
 almighty word of God, (which is knit and joined to 
 the water,) and faith which receiveth God's word and 
 promise." Can any thing be more distinct and ex- 
 
34 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 plicit than this answer? It is scarcely necessary to 
 observe that infants are incapable of faith ; but the 
 inference is exceedingly plain and important, that 
 the archbishop speaks of persons of an age to take 
 a retrospective view of their early privilege, and to 
 consider its precious import, as interpreted by the 
 word of God ; with which they must be supposed in 
 a measure acquainted, because they could not other- 
 wise have that faith of which the passage speaks. If 
 any doubt remain in the reader's mind, it ought to 
 be removed by the extract at the bottom of the same 
 page (91) of the appendix: — "And when you shall 
 be asked. What avaiieth baptism ? you shall an- 
 swer. Baptism worketh forgiveness of sin, it delivereth 
 from the kingdom of the devil, and from death, and 
 giveth life and everlasting salvation to all them that 
 believe these words of Christ, and promise of God, 
 which are written in the last chapter of St. Mark, 
 his gospel — * He that will believe and be baptized 
 shall be saved, but he that will not believe shall be 
 damned.' " Does not this answer suppose a keeping 
 in abeyance of the specified blessings and privileges, 
 until faith take hold of an express promise in which 
 belie\'ing and being baptized are connected together ? 
 To say that baptism works all these things to all them 
 that believe these words, implies that it does not work 
 them in unconscious infants ; and it strongly corro- 
 borates the intei'pretation before given to the prayer 
 for receiving remission of sins by spiritual regenera- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 35 
 
 tion, namely, that it is prospective : nay, it proves it 
 to be agreeable to the private opinion of the compilers 
 of our baptismal offices, at least to that of Cranmer. 
 He addresses the catechumen in a manner equiva- 
 lent to that which this tract has put into the mouth 
 of an expounder ; and he leads his young audience 
 (for he addresses children) to a persuasion that their 
 baptism must be completed by believing, and thus 
 come within the promise recorded by St. Mark. The 
 doctrine of abeyance is asserted also by Bishop Bethell 
 (as quoted in the appendix, p. 97) in the case of 
 " those who receive baptism in a state of hypocrisy 
 or impenitency :" he says — " pardon and grace are 
 conditionally made over to them, and the saving 
 virtue of regeneration which had been hitherto sus- 
 pended, takes effect when they truly repent and uii- 
 feignedly beUeve the Gospel." It is true, he does not 
 apply the doctrine to the case of infants ; but he 
 assumes the possibility of ''the saving virtue of rege- 
 neration" being suspended ; and he so far resists the 
 dogma of the inseparability of the sign and the inward 
 grace. In the preceding section (.S) his lordship 
 seems to approach very closely to coincidence with 
 opinions advanced in these pages. The entire section 
 is short, and is copied verhathn as follows : — " 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." 
 
36 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 From the order in which this section stands, it 
 appKes equally to adults and infants ; and indeed from 
 the manner in which the bishop speaks of renovation, 
 here and elsewhere, this tract appears to have the 
 happiness of diifering but verbally from his lordship 
 on this part of the subject. He says, (97) " Rege- 
 neration comes only once in, or through baptism. 
 Renovation exists before, in and after baptism, and 
 may be often repeated. Regeneration, being a single 
 act, can have no parts, and is incapable of increase. 
 Renovation is in its very nature progressive. Rege- 
 neration, though suspended as to its effects and 
 benefits, cannot be totally lost in the present life. 
 Renovation may be often repeated and totally lost.'* 
 
 But how is it proved that regeneration is a single 
 act ? So far as the writer of this tract knows, the 
 proposition is a mere assumption. It is contrary to 
 the idea of the term in the common use of language ; 
 and to the analogy of natural generation, which is the 
 clue of exposition that Scripture itself has put into 
 our hands. According to these guides it is much 
 more consistent to consider regeneration as the com- 
 mencement and continuance of renovation, up to and 
 beyond that degree of maturity which the- Scripture 
 denominates new hirth; and in this view, the meaning 
 of the terms differ only in a variety of aspects. 
 
 In pp. 92, 93 of the appendix, there is a quotation 
 from Bishop Latimer's sermons too precious to be 
 omitted : — " Now this sacrament of baptism is a thing 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 37 
 
 of great weight ; for it ascertaineth and assureth us 
 that Hke as the water washeth the body and cleanseth 
 it, so the blood of Christ our Saviour cleanseth and 
 washeth it from all filth and uncleanness of sin." 
 
 In returning to the consideration of the baptismal 
 office for infants, it is obvious that the prayers which 
 follow the sponsorial questions and answers are of a 
 prospective character, and imply that sort of pro- 
 gressive operation which has been here advocated, as 
 the blessing meant by the service and its compilers, 
 and which we are taught to look for in the use of it 
 — " that the new man may be raised up" — " that all 
 carnal affections may die" — "that all things belonging 
 to the Spirit may live and grow" — "to have victory, 
 and to triumph against the devil, the world, and the 
 flesh" — "may also be endued with heavenly virtues, 
 and everlastingly rewarded through thy mercy." Be- 
 hold, " the new man" is not expected as an immediate 
 effect ; but according to the analogy of natural growth 
 and maturity, to be "raised up." The dying of 
 carnal affections is a gradual crucifixion, and the 
 opposite life prayed for is such as may consist with 
 the tenderest beginnings ; but abundantly sufficient, 
 by the constant presence and energy of the Holy 
 Ghost, for the bringing up which is enjoined upon 
 Christian parents, " in the nurture and admonition 
 of the Lord." It requires no argument to prove that 
 the third petition can find its answer only in the actual 
 and successful wielding of spiritual weapons ; and the 
 
38 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 fourth comprises tlie whole superstructure of grace, 
 to which the apostle Peter exhorts Christians in the 
 beginning of his second epistle. Then follows what 
 may be called the "Consecration prayer," the ex- 
 planation of which, especially as to "the mystical 
 washing away of sin," may be reserved for a subse- 
 quent division. But it is proper to notice here, that 
 although the adverb of present time now is applied to 
 the baptism in water, it is not applied to the reception 
 of the "fulness" of God's grace, which, in conformity 
 to the antecedent petitions, must be understood to be 
 prayed for as a future blessing. 
 
 The next step completes the administration of the 
 rite, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost." The signing with the sign 
 of the cross is no part of baptism. It accompanies 
 the reception consequent upon baptism, and the in- 
 structive import of it is fully and beautifully explained 
 at the same time. The congregation is then invited 
 to give thanks and pray, as " seeing now" that the 
 child " is regenerate and grafted into the body of 
 Christ's church." For these pri\ileges have now 
 been visibly manifested.* 
 
 As to what remains, the writer can declare, in full 
 
 * This observation may pei'haps explain the clause " ac- 
 cording to this beginning," and remove an objection from some 
 minds. The beginning- referred to is not the first operation 
 of grace within, but the first open exhibition of it in the con- 
 gregation of God's people. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 39 
 
 sincerity, that he is in the habit of offering with joy 
 the thanksgi\ing which follows the Lord's Prayer 
 in this service : — " We yield thee hearty thanks, 
 most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to 
 regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit." He 
 is far from desiring any change in this — nay, he 
 would deprecate any endeavour to procure the 
 slightest alteration. But he (Joes not hmit the 
 meaning of the words to the moment of baptism. 
 He believes that it has pleased our heavenly Father, 
 at least when the child is " holy," to begin the 
 work of grace with that of creation, and to con- 
 tinue it in various degrees, perhaps according to 
 the prayers which have been presented for that 
 blessing. We can neither explain, nor apportion 
 the operations of Him, who worketh all in all — 
 ** the wind bloweth where it listeth ;" but since 
 Christ is *' the light of the world" — since he 
 "hghteneth every man" — and "the free gift is 
 come upon all men," it cannot be too much to 
 hope for, and expect a special blessing upon the 
 offspring of Christian parents, accompanying the 
 very origin of their natural life. If the design of 
 the institution of marriage (as the prophet Malachi* 
 informs us) was that God " might seek a godly 
 seed," surely there must be a peculiar sanctifica- 
 tion pertaining to it, through the Christian dis- 
 
 ♦ Chap. ii. 15. 
 
40 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 pensation ; and while a Christian parent rejoices 
 in beholding " his children like olive branches round 
 about his table," he may be justified in tracing the 
 lovely similitude to the earliest bud, and in praising 
 God that " the unction of the Holy One," is not with- 
 held until its outward emblem is applied. That 
 application is, indeed, a sign and seal of the pro- 
 mises in Christ, and also an instrument in the 
 hands of the same Spirit, for carrying on his blessed 
 work, and a preparation for its continuance. It is, 
 therefore, by no means intended to endeavour to 
 explain away the strong language of the baptismal 
 service, or to exclude the rite from an ample par- 
 ticipation in the work of the Spirit, but to repeat 
 what was before maintained as to the progressive and 
 continued nature of regeneration, instead of holding 
 it, with Bishop Bethell and others, to be a single act. 
 It is true that cases may and do occur of the 
 baptism of infants, who derive no sanctification from 
 their parents, or either of them, in any sense — as 
 when the orphan children of heathens are providen- 
 tially brought into the hands, and under the care 
 of Christians, who wish and endeavour to educate 
 them in the faith of their Lord and Saviour. Such 
 instances, no doubt, demand careful discrimination. 
 No hereditary holiness can be attributed to them ; 
 but that the church is right in adopting children so 
 circumstanced, to the embraces and the nurture of her 
 parental bosom, may be concluded from the exten- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 41 
 
 sion of circumcision — the primitive seal of the righ- 
 teousness of faith to him " that is born in the house, 
 or bought with money of any stranger." — Gen. 
 x\'ii. 12. In similar cases of baptism, we cannot 
 assert any previous commencement of regeneration, 
 as we can where both parents are sanctified, or one by 
 the other — nay, the expression — ^^ Else were your 
 children uncleariy^' seems to forbid the claims of 
 so high a privilege. Yet as Christ is " the Saviour 
 of all men, specially of them that believe," it cannot 
 be inconsistent to hope, that the offspring of heathens 
 are subjects of mercy and grace, in some manner and 
 degree ; so that, even in case of death without 
 baptism, they are not cast into Gehenna^ but saved 
 (according to their measure) by the death and 
 resurrection of the great Redeemer of mankind ; 
 while, as it were a fortiori, we enjoy a more decided 
 and filial persuasion of the salvation of baptized 
 infants, who have been removed to the invisible 
 world before the commission of actual sin. But 
 whatever opinion may be preferred on these unre- 
 vealed topics, it cannot affect that interpretation of 
 regeneration, growing up into new birth and full 
 renovation, which has been maintained as the true 
 and literal sense of our formularies. 
 
 The reply of Bishop Heber,* to questions respect- 
 
 * Third volume of his Journal, page 158, and the follow- 
 ing, in notes. Third edition, octavo. London: 1828. 
 
42 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 ing baptism by the missionaries in Ceylon, appears 
 to harmonize with the views here presented, as to the 
 baptism of the children of heathen parents, in resting 
 admission to the privilege on sponsorial engagements 
 and the prospect of Christian education. In the 
 seventh part of his answer, he says — "It will have 
 been already seen that we have no right to refuse 
 baptism to children actually adopted by Christians, 
 provided those, or other Christians become their 
 securities. This opinion has been ratified by the 
 official acts of Bishop Wilson, who is referred to in 
 the following extract from the Missionary Register 
 for April, 1841, p. 214, &c. ; — '* The bishop paid 
 several visits to Secundra. You are well acquainted 
 with the origin of the Orphan Institution. No 
 fewer than fourteen thousand persons died in the 
 hospital of the Relief Society, at Agra, within six 
 months. This dreadful mortality left hundreds of chil- 
 dren, not only orphans, but entirely destitute." .... 
 " But it must not be forgotten that this is strictly a 
 Christian institution. The education given is based 
 on Christian principles. Some of the children were 
 baptized by our lamented friend and brother, the 
 Rev. Frederick Wybrow, when on a visit to Agra, 
 in 1838; the rest by Mr. Moore." .... "These 
 orphan institutions (page 217) which are now 
 becoming so numerous, form a blessed epoch in 
 the history of missions. If wisely conducted, they 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 43 
 
 may have a most important influence, in a genera- 
 tion or two, on the spread of the Gospel in India. 
 Trained from their earliest years in the knowledge 
 of Christianity, the youths will go forth as teachers," 
 
 &c '* On the 2nd of December, the bishop 
 
 held a confirmation at Secundra, when about sixty 
 of the orphans, male and female, took upon them- 
 selves the vows made for them by their god-parents 
 in their baptism. His lordship also preached a 
 Hindoostanee sermon on "7 am the light of the 
 world.'' I wish I could describe the pleasing 
 scene — the reverent manner in which they joined 
 in responses — the chorus of their treble voices — 
 their marked attention to the bishop's sermon." 
 
 But to return to our re\'iew. The concluding 
 exhortation to the sponsors affords a corroboration 
 of the preceding exposition, where it calls on them 
 to remember, that "baptism doth represent unto 
 us our profession, which is to follow the example 
 of our Sa\'iour 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 
 righteousness," &c. Here is '* the inward and 
 spiritual grace," impressed upon our attention, as 
 following after baptism, and almost in the very words 
 of the definition of that grace, which we find in the 
 church catechism. Are we then to deny, that there 
 is, in any sense or degree, a death unto sin accom- 
 panying baptism ? Certainly not. The death and 
 
44 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 resurrection have begun in the baptized ; but they 
 have not been perfected. If they had been perfected 
 at once, there would be no room for the exhorta- 
 tion — "So should we, who are baptized, die from 
 sin, and rise again unto righteousness." 
 
 We are now arrived at the office for the ministra- 
 tion of private baptism, and the consequent public 
 reception. But it is hoped that, after the compa- 
 rative survey which has been already made, it would 
 be superfluous to enter minutely into the parts of 
 these services. The rubrics might in\dte discussion, 
 but perhaps it would be beside our present purpose. 
 It may, however, be remarked that, although the 
 practice of private baptism ought, as much as pos- 
 sible to be discouraged, the permission of it is not 
 limited to the case of dangerous illness or weakness. 
 The people are to be warned, that " without great 
 cause and necessity they procure not their children to 
 be baptized at home in their houses. But when need 
 shall compel them so to do, then baptism shall be 
 administered " according to the direction of the third 
 rubric. The Lord's Prayer is to be said, and so many 
 of the collects in the Form of Public Baptism, " as 
 the time and present exigence will suffer." These 
 circumstances require the exercise of sound discretion. 
 If there be no probable hope of the child surviving 
 the present extremity, many of the prospective peti- 
 tions would be evidently unseasonable. It would be 
 proper to pray — " Grant that the old Adam may be 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 45 
 
 SO buried, that the new man may be raised up;" but 
 it would not be proper to ask for triumph " against 
 the devil, the world, and the flesh." The first collect 
 is adapted to all circumstances, as far as the words 
 "the ark of Christ's church" inclusive; but the 
 remainder would sound incongruous in a case of 
 imminent danger. Therefore the general liberty of 
 using the second collect, according to time and exi- 
 gence, can prove nothing as to the meaning of receiv- 
 ing "remission of sins by spiritual regeneration." It 
 belongs to the officiating minister to consider whether 
 it is suitable to the immediate occasion or not. 
 
 When a previously-baptized child is brought into 
 the church, and when the prescribed inquiries have 
 been satisfactorily answered, or his own act certified 
 by the minister, then he is further to certify the 
 congregation of all having been done, " according 
 unto due order, concerning the baptizing of this 
 child; who being born in original sin, and in the 
 wrath of God, is now, by the laver of regeneration 
 in baptism, received into the number of the children 
 of God, and heirs of everlasting life," &c. This 
 form, and also that following the reception of the 
 child, appear to have been prepared with great 
 caution, and in exact conformity to that wise and 
 scriptural gradation of phraseology before pointed 
 out in the comparison of our baptismal formularies. 
 We have no assertion of new birth having been already 
 
46 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 accomplished, although there is very perfect accuracy* 
 in saying — "by baptism regenerate ;" nor is new birth 
 implied in the reception of the child " into the number 
 of the children of God ;" for a child must be created 
 and formed before its birth. But the natural birth 
 of the child being *' in original sin, and in the wrath 
 of God," may seem, to some persons, as if incom- 
 patible with the idea of any possibility of incipient 
 spiritual regeneration, through the mercy of God in 
 Christ, antecedent to the actual administration of the 
 rite of baptism. The removal of this difficulty is 
 found in the scriptural examples of double aspects 
 and relations, causing blessing and curse to meet in 
 the same subject. The ground was cursed for the 
 sake of Adam's transgression ; but this did not ex- 
 clude a blessing from the overflowings of Jehovah's 
 love. The Jews, as *' concerning the Gospel, are 
 enemies for our sake ; but as touching the election, 
 
 * The accuracy here consists in an implied caution, not to 
 attribute regeneration to the signing witli the sign of the 
 cross, or to any immediate effect of the sponsorial answers ; 
 for the child has been previously born of water, and incipiently 
 regenerated by the Spirit; the reception is but a supple- 
 mentary consequence. As to the eflfect of the sponsorial 
 engagements, that is in abeyance, until the child can answer 
 for itself. When the baptism and reception are performed at 
 the same time, there is no need of the emphatic distinction — 
 *^ by baptism regenerate," it is therefore omitted : and herein 
 we may justly observe remarkable precision in the compilers. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 47 
 
 they are beloved for the fathers' sakes." — Rom. xi. 28. 
 Apparently, can any thing be more heterogeneous 
 than the justification of the ungodly? Yet God 
 has caused righteousness and peace to embrace each 
 other, through Christ's obedience unto death ! What 
 hinders then that a child should be born in the wrath 
 of God, in respect of original sin, and yet be a par- 
 taker of the free gift which is come upon all men unto 
 justification of life ? 
 
 Perhaps some may be disposed to argue, that the 
 language used is tantamount to an affirmation of new 
 birth. But to assert this is, at most, only begging 
 the question ; especially as we have the very marked 
 contrast of the Form for the Baptism of Adults. To 
 this we may now advance, as the remainder of the 
 ser\ice which has been last under consideration is the 
 same with that for the public baptism of infants, with 
 the exception of the omission of the charge to bring 
 the child to be confirmed by the bishop, which per- 
 haps may have been accidental ; but from whatever 
 cause, it does not at all interfere with our argument. 
 The four short prayers before the consecration, are 
 omitted in the reception-office, as they have a special 
 reference to the administration of baptism. 
 
 OFFICE FOR ADULT BAPTISM. 
 
 The opening exhortation is judiciously adapted to 
 the occasion, but does not appear to present any 
 matter for further illustration. The two following 
 
48 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 collects are the same with those in the beginning of 
 the formulary for the public baptism of infants, except 
 the addition of the words " the element of before 
 "water." Whether the addition was designed or 
 casual, it affords an example of phrases apparently 
 signifying commencement, and yet not excluding a 
 similar antecedent act or effect. The baptism of our 
 Lord in the Jordan sanctified all pure water whatso- 
 ever — " the element of water, to the mystical washing 
 away of sin ;" yet we pray, " sanctify this water," 
 as if no previous sanctification had been conferred. 
 But there is no inconsistency. We pray for a special 
 ratification of the general appointment. The phrase 
 " didst sanctify water," is of the same meaning with 
 the more emphatic words, so that the same remark 
 would be just in either place ; for water generally 
 must be signified. But the prominence of the term 
 " element," seems intended to put it beyond question, 
 that the original sanctification was not limited to the 
 river, or any portion of it, or of its tributary streams ; 
 and the striking emphasis awakened a seasonable idea 
 of corroboration to the interpretation before given of 
 " spiritual regeneration." It is admitted that in the 
 office now under review, an immediate blessing must 
 be sought in praying for this grace. But the believing 
 adult does actually come to holy baptism, and comes 
 in faith ; to him the precious promise, " He that 
 believeth and is baptized shall be saved," is directly 
 applicable ; the consciousness of the application brings 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 49 
 
 a comfort, and a degree of the spirit of adoption, which 
 there was hitherto no scriptural foundation for. Thus 
 is the reconciled penitent brought nigh by the blood 
 of Jesus, and prepared for an increase of filial love, 
 while he humbly opens his heart to receive an answer 
 to the church's prayer — "Give thy Holy Spirit to 
 this person, that being now born again, and made an 
 heir of everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, he may continue thy servant, and attain thy 
 promises," &c. Here is an express petition for the 
 Holy Spirit to be given to one already regenerated by 
 the same Spirit. There is therefore abundant, and 
 even cumulative proof, that prayer for, or asserting 
 a work of the Spirit in any stage of his progressive 
 operations, and in language which may be mistaken 
 for totality, does not imply a negation of antecedent 
 grace from the same divine source. And it hkewise 
 follows, that the supposition of spiritual regeneration 
 being prayed for prospectively in the case of infants, 
 when in connection with the remission of sins, does 
 not at all derogate from the spirituality and force of 
 the thanksgiving at the close of the sersice — " that it 
 hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy 
 Holy Spirit," &c. It is humbly urged upon the 
 reader again and again, that much unnecessary per- 
 plexity has been involved in this important subject, 
 by excluding the clear and intelligible idea of pro- 
 gression, which is also agreeable to the common, 
 literal, and obvious meaning of the terms employed. 
 
 E 
 
50 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 Let us recollect the manner in which our Lord speaks, 
 under varying circumstances, of the kingdom of God, 
 its nature, and its coming. Is it not already set up, 
 even amongst men? And yet we pray continually, 
 " Thy kingdom come." Our Lord said, " the king- 
 dom of God is within you ;" yet he also said, *' there 
 be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, 
 till they see the kingdom of God." Quotations of 
 this sort might perhaps be multiplied respecting the 
 kingdom ; but it ought to be enough to remind the 
 reader of them. They have an appearance of diffi- 
 culty to those who do not understand our Saviour's 
 parables ; but let the progression which the holy 
 Scriptures present be kept in view, and all perplexity 
 will vanish. Such, it is hoped, may be the effect of 
 applying a similar key to the difficulties of the doc- 
 trines of regeneration, new birth, and renovation or 
 renewal. It may further serve the purpose of illus- 
 tration to refer to the recorded opening of hearts and 
 understandings, which cannot be supposed to have 
 been altogether shut until then ; as in the case of 
 the disciples in the last chapter of St. Luke, and of 
 Lydia, in the sixteenth chapter of Acts. But it is 
 time to return to the formulary, in which even the 
 relative position of the prayer last quoted, seems to 
 give one other instance of very remarkable precision in 
 the compilers. Let it be observed that it does not 
 occur until the baptized person has been invited to 
 join in addressing God as our Father in Christ. An- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 51 
 
 tecedent to the actual baptism, the prayer for new 
 birth is still only prospective, as in the case of infants — 
 " Give thy Holy Spirit to these persons that they may 
 be born again," &c. The observation of precision is 
 also borne out by a comparison of the rubrics ; for in 
 the first which follows the invitation, let us pray, all 
 the cono-reo-ation are directed to kneel ; but in that 
 which precedes the Lord's Prayer we find '* all 
 kneeling.,^'' without mentioning the congregation ; and 
 therefore, it is presumed, intending to include the 
 newly-admitted member. " Behold he prayeth," in 
 the language of adoption ; and, hoping his sincerity, 
 we can no longer delay to infer decidedly, and to pro- 
 nounce our conviction of the existence of the new 
 birth. 
 
 We have, however, anticipated considerably, in 
 point of order ; by which we are recalled to the 
 words of the Gospel written by St. John in the third 
 chapter. 
 
 In this visit of Nicodemus we trust there was an 
 incipient fruit of regenerating grace, for he made a 
 good confession of faith ; and we learn from the facts 
 of the subsequent history, that he grew in grace. 
 But it pleased the Lord, who saw his inmost heart, 
 to impress him with a sense of the necessity of a 
 greater change, and a more open confession. Nico- 
 demus, no doubt, was one of those who were waiting 
 for the kingdom of God, though in great ignorance 
 of its nature. How suitable to such a state of mind 
 
52 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 was that solemn declaration, " Verily, verily, I say 
 unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see 
 the kingdom of God !" And for entrance into it, 
 something besides was requisite, which should make 
 a real follower and good soldier of Jesus Christ ; 
 and indicate a victoiy over the fear and shame of man. 
 " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be 
 born of v»^ater, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
 into the kingdom of God." The similitude subjoined 
 gives countenance to the doctrine of progressive rege- 
 neration ; because the wind is air in motion ; and it 
 often increases from gentle beginnings to immense 
 force. But, as the primary design appears to have 
 been to exemplify a manifest effect, produced by a 
 mode of operation unseen and inscrutable, we have 
 perhaps no right to extend the application ; nor is 
 there any need of doubtful support. It may be use- 
 ful, however, to show that there is nothing here to 
 favour the interpretation of instantaneous change. 
 
 Upon this passage from the Gospel by St. John, 
 the address which follows begins with an observation, 
 " Whereby ye may perceive the great necessity of this 
 sacrament, where it may be had." It then proceeds 
 to show *'the great benefit we reap thereby" from 
 the promise connected with our Lord's commission to 
 his disciples, to *' preach the Gospel to every 
 creature ;" supported by a most edifying summary of 
 the principal parts of holy Scripture pertaining to 
 this subject. The next collect is exactly the same as 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 53 
 
 the corresponding one in the office for the piibUc bap- 
 tism of infants. The exhortation to the baptized is, 
 of course, personal, and varied accordingly. The 
 questions are the same, only omitting (as is neces- 
 sary) "in the name of this child." The answers 
 are the same, except the last, which is framed in 
 such language, as an humble man would wish to use 
 in his own person ; but which may be considered 
 superfluous in a representative admission of obliga- 
 tion. The short prayers are the same, except a 
 little verbal variety which seems of no importance. 
 The consecration-prayer is the same ; and we have 
 anticipated observations and inferences from the 
 remainder of the service. One of them is strikingly 
 enlarged and strengthened by the concluding exhor- 
 tation to baptized adults. We are now prepared to 
 pass on to the second general division of our survey. 
 
 SECOND DIVISION. 
 
 An examination of the three baptismal services in the Book 
 of Common Prayer, primarily with regard to the mention 
 or omission of " remission of sins." 
 
 The first phrase which occurs under this head is, 
 " the mystical washing away of sin." This is found 
 in the first collect of the office for the public baptism 
 of infants, where the baptism of Christ is mentioned 
 
54 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 as having sanctified water to " the mystical washing 
 away of sin." And in other places, where such sanc- 
 tification is expressed, whether of ** the element of 
 water," or in a prayer to " sanctify this water," the 
 same term *' mystical" is employed. The question 
 is, in what sense are we to understand it ? It cannot 
 mean the same as if this term were omitted. Let us 
 consult the service for the sacrament of the Lord's 
 supper, and our authorized version of the holy 
 Scriptures. In the introductory exhortation to those 
 who intend to be communicants the officiating minis- 
 ter declares, that " our Master and only Saviour Jesus 
 Christ" . . . "hath instituted and ordained holy 
 mysteries as pledges of his love, and for a continual 
 remembrance of his death, to our great and endless 
 comfort." The words *' instituted and ordained" 
 imply an outward sign and solemn act which the Lord 
 hath commanded to be used and done *'in remem- 
 brance" of his love in '* dying for us, and the innumera- 
 ble benefits which by his precious blood-shedding he 
 hath obtained to us." And the sign and act, or signs 
 and acts, that is, the bread and wine, and the taking 
 and eating and drinking of them, are called " holy 
 mysteries," because of their significance of inward 
 and spiritual things. Thus our Lord calls his para- 
 bles '* the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" 
 (Matt. xiii. 11); and in the first chapter of the 
 Revelation the same Lord is recorded to have com- 
 manded his servant John — "Write the things which 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 56 
 
 thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the 
 things which shall he hereafter ; the mystery of the 
 seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and 
 the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are 
 the angels of the seven churches ; and the seven can- 
 dlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." 
 Thus it is evident that the stars and candlesticks 
 were called "mysteries" in respect of their figurative 
 meaning ; and that the import of the appellation is 
 the same with that of "symbol." Nothing more is 
 requisite to enable us to understand " the mystical 
 washing away of sin :" it is the same as the figura- 
 tive or symbolical washing away of sin; and no 
 doubt intended to guard us against the error of sup- 
 posing that the actual removal of sin is to be attri- 
 buted to the outward rite ; which would contradict 
 the doctrine of the apostle Peter, where, having men- 
 tioned the ark, "Wherein few, that is, eight souls 
 were saved by water," he adds, *'The like figure 
 whereunto, even baptism, doth also now save us (not 
 the putting away the filth of the flesh, but the answer 
 of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection 
 of Jesus Christ." — 1 Pet. iii. 21. In full accordance 
 with this quotation is the address at the begin- 
 ning of the consecration prayer — to Him, " Wliose 
 most dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ, for the for- 
 giveness of our sins, did shed out of his most precious 
 side both water and blood ;" for the glory of the 
 resurrection is the manifestation of the acceptance of 
 
56 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 the sacrifice : He " was delivered for our offences, 
 and was raised again for our justification." — Rom. 
 iv. 25. Here we learn the only meritorious cause of 
 our reconciliation and acceptance ; here we see an 
 all-purifying fountain opened for sin and for unclean- 
 ness. Why then do we pray, that water may be 
 sanctified " to the mystical washing away of sin V 
 Because it is the appointed sign, and one of the 
 means of obtaining " the everlasting benediction" of 
 the "heavenly washing." The dehverance from 
 wrath, as distinguished from the remission of actual 
 sins, has been explained in a preceding part ; and it 
 has been argued that such remission must be pro- 
 spectively prayed for in the case of infants. 
 
 It is now time to point out a remarkable omission, 
 which corroborates the reasoning from clauses of a 
 positive nature. In the exhortation which is 
 grounded on the extract from St. Mark's gospel 
 we read — " Doubt ye not therefore, but earnestly 
 believe, that he will likewise favourably receive this 
 present in/ant; that he will embrace him with the 
 arms of his mercy ; that he will give unto him the 
 blessing of eternal life, and make him partaker of his 
 everlasting kingdom." And in the corresponding 
 exhortation in the office for the public reception of 
 those who have been privately baptized, we read — 
 *' Doubt ye not therefore, but earnestly believe, 
 that he hath likewise favourably received this present 
 infant ; that he hath embraced him with the arms 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 57 
 
 of his mercy ; and (as he hath promised in his holy 
 word) will give unto him the blessing of eternal hfe, 
 and make him j^ar taker of his everlasting kingdom." 
 The very highest blessings are indeed presented to 
 the believing mind in these exhortations ; but it is 
 perhaps the more striking that " remission of sins^^ 
 is not mentioned. It might possibly be supposed 
 that the omission is but casual, and that it is sup- 
 plied by what is expressed, were it not for the con- 
 trast in the personal exhortation provided by the office 
 for adult baptism. In that we read — " Doubt ye 
 not therefore, but earnestly beheve, that he will 
 favourably receive these present persons, truly re- 
 penting and coming unto him by faith ; that he will 
 grant them remission of their sins, and bestow upon 
 them the Holy Ghost ; that he will give them, the 
 blessing of eternal life, and make thetn partakers of 
 his everlasting kingdom." It is plain that " re- 
 mission of sins' stands out as a marked addition to 
 the enumeration of privileges in the preceding quo- 
 tations. And how is this to be accounted for? 
 According to the interpretation which this tract 
 advocates the solution is easy. In the case of 
 adults — "truly repenting and coming unto him 
 by faith," the Lord has promised remission of 
 sins, in immediate connexion with baptism ; for 
 therein — after that, " with the heart the man 
 believeth unto righteousness" — "with the mouth 
 confession is made unto salvation." — Rom. x. 10. 
 
58 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved " 
 (Mark xvi. 16) ; and again — '* Repent, and be bap- 
 tized every one of you for the remission of sins, and 
 ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." — Acts 
 ii. 38. But, in the case of infants who "have not 
 sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression," 
 remission of sins must be looked for as a future gift. 
 "Why not, as well as all the others which are enu- 
 merated, even to the final coming to the land of 
 everlasting life ? If it be thought that the omission 
 is supplied in the second address to the sponsors, 
 where they are reminded that they "have prayed 
 that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to 
 receive him, to release him of his sins," &c. let it 
 be observed, that this refers to the petition in the 
 second collect connected with " spiritual regenera- 
 tion," and makes no difference whatever as to the 
 remarkable contrast which has been already ex- 
 hibited. Let us look also to what follows in this 
 second address — " Ye have heard also that our Lord 
 Jesus Christ hath promised in his Gospel to grant 
 all these things that you have prayed for. Which 
 promise he, for his part, will most surely keep and 
 perform. "Wherefore, after this promise made by 
 Christ, this infant must also faithfully for his part, 
 promise by you that are his sureties, (until he come 
 of age to take it upon himself, y^ &c. Does not this 
 signify that some of Christ's promises are in abey- 
 ance, until the baptized shall be personally endued 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 59 
 
 with the indispensable requisites of repentance and 
 faith ? We do not say that all are in abeyance ; for 
 if so, the undertaking would be impossible ; because 
 without grace we can do nothing. That the Lord 
 will vouchsafe to receive, the slightest doubt ought 
 not to be entertained; that his merits abound to 
 bless, even beyond the removal of the curse entailed 
 by original sin, we have scriptural warrant to expect; 
 but a release from personal sins must succeed both 
 transgression and repentance. An entrance into the 
 kingdom of heaven is granted at once ; for " of 
 such" it partly consists. But there is still ample 
 room to pray for future participation in the glorious 
 inheritance ; and that the highly pri\'ileged infants, 
 " being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and 
 rooted in charity, may so pass the waves of this 
 troublesome world, that finally they may come to 
 the land of everlasting life, there to reign with 
 God world without end, through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord.'^ 
 
 In this view, the baptismal ser\ices may be con- 
 sidered as exhibiting a beautiful and perfect embryo 
 of the entire Christian hfe, even to its consummation 
 in heaven. But it ought not to be mistaken for an 
 immediate creation of the whole aggregate of parts, 
 which in continuance are fashioned according to the 
 wisdom of that eternal Spirit, who is wonderful 
 in counsel, and excellent in working. He gives 
 himself to us and to our children, so that we are 
 
60 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 assured of " all things that pertain to life and 
 godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath 
 called us to glory and virtue;" and neither parents, 
 nor sponsors, nor "habes and sucklings" placed 
 under their Christian culture, have any lack of grace 
 for the effectual and happy discharge of the respective 
 duties to which they are called as members of the 
 church of Christ. The truth of this representation 
 may, perhaps, be admitted as to those who survive 
 the earliest stage of infancy, and are brought up 
 " in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ;" and 
 yet it may be questioned with respect to those who 
 die after having been baptized, and before they com- 
 mit actual sin ; but it is not right to disturb plain and 
 practical conclusions concerning things that are before 
 us because of some difficulties which may be insepara- 
 ble from things unseen. We may be fully persuaded of 
 the salvation of departed infants, and yet ignorant of 
 the degree and mode of their salvation. The writer 
 still wishes to suggest the idea of progression, 
 without intruding into unrevealed mysteries of the 
 invisible world. The suggestion has been repeated, 
 possibly, even to the satiety of some readers ; but it 
 is from a sense of its reality and importance, as well 
 as from having observed a frequent proneness to 
 forget it. May we not affirm without presumption, 
 that all the ways of God, which he has permitted us 
 to behold, are in progression ? And have we not reason 
 to suppose progression, in cases quite beyond the 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. G\ 
 
 cognizance of our senses ? Let us endeavour to 
 recollect whether the holy Scriptures give any coun- 
 tenance to this inference from analogy. It is believed 
 that some light is thrown upon it by our Lord's dis- 
 course in the siixth chapter of St. John. We read in 
 the fifty-third verse, that the Lord declared to his 
 audience, in the most solemn manner — *' Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you. Except ye eat the flesh of 
 the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life 
 in you." Now, whether we assume that this decla- 
 ration has a reference to the Lord's supper, or 
 whether (as the writer would prefer) we interpret 
 the passage as signifying faith in the incarnation 
 and atonement of Christ, and the benefits which 
 we receive thereby, it must be granted to be, at 
 least, probable, that some of his disciples must 
 have departed this life, without explicitly under- 
 standing the propitiatory sacrifice of the Redeemer's 
 blood, or partaking of the commemorative supper, 
 which shows "the Lord's death until he come." 
 How then can we reconcile our hope of their 
 happiness in paradise, with this express assertion 
 of him, from whom no secrets are hid ? It requires 
 a supposition of their learning there what they did 
 not know on earth. The record of what passed on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration may assist our concep- 
 tions in this matter : for Moses and Elijah had 
 evidently clearer views than Peter, James, and John, 
 when they spoke with the Lord "of his decease. 
 
62 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 which he should accompUsh at Jerusalem ; and 
 there is reason to think they had acquired their 
 superior knowledge in the invisible state, and 
 derived effects from it, similar to those which the 
 apostles themselves were conscious of after the day 
 of pentecost. In like manner, it is presumed, that 
 such persons as Simeon, Joseph, and Anna, might 
 have departed in peace, without eating the flesh 
 of the Son of Man, and drinking his blood, and yet 
 have learned afterwards the dependance of their sal- 
 vation and everlasting happiness upon the great facts 
 signified by these expressions ; and so might have real- 
 ized in the Jerusalem above that spiritual eating and 
 drinking of which our Saviour spoke. If, then, it be pos- 
 sible for adults to attain essentially increased know- 
 ledge and experience of the way of salvation in a future 
 world, much more is it possible for infants to pass 
 through a spiritual progress there, without attributing 
 to baptism a change so transcendant as, in the very 
 effect of the administration, to make them fully 
 "meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the 
 saints in light." We may, therefore, be relieved 
 (without any extravagant assumptions) from all tor- 
 menting fear concerning the salvation of infants — 
 yea, we may be consoled by the promises and 
 revealed mercies of God's word, though some should 
 die without baptism who were entitled to the privi- 
 lege, provided that no wilful neglect has occurred, 
 which would justly becloud the mind of any one, 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 63 
 
 who might be guilty in the matter. The infants 
 themselves are not responsible for the omission ; 
 they are supposed to be in that state which the 
 Scripture calls "Ao/y;" and we trust that they do 
 not suffer for a fault of this sort, which they have no 
 power to prevent. Sentiments such as these may 
 account for one wide difference between the office 
 for adult baptism, and those formularies which 
 precede it. In that office it is said, after the 
 passage from the third chapter of Saint John — 
 "Beloved, ye hear in this Gospel the express 
 words of our Saviour Christ, That except a man be 
 bom of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter 
 into the kingdom of God : whereby ye may perceive 
 the great necessity of this sacrament, where it 
 may be had. " No such emphatic notice of 
 necessity is found before. The same part of the 
 Gospel is indeed briefly referred to ; but the 
 same inference is not deduced from it. The passage 
 from St. Mark, and the hortatory address which fol- 
 lows, are full upon the privileges of infants, and the 
 gracious readiness of the Lord to receive them, and 
 to do them good ; but not a word is uttered upon the 
 alarming subject of necessity. Happily, the feehngs 
 of most men are tender in respect of infants ; and 
 (whatever may be the theological system which they 
 consider themselves bound to embrace,) in the case 
 of infants they bear testimony, not only in word, but 
 indeed, to the precious truth, that God's "tender 
 
64 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 mercies are over all his works." Some of the divines 
 alluded to rejoice to find in the offspring of the un- 
 believing world (millions of whom are continually 
 dying in infancy) a majority of mankind saved by 
 redeeming love. The blessed hope deserves all praise, 
 especially wh^n it triumphs over uncongenial tenets. 
 It is presumed that the venerable commentator Scott, 
 and Dr. Dwight of America, may be mentioned with 
 honour as examples of such triumph.* Yet Dr. 
 Dwight held, '' that infant baptism is in the Scrip- 
 tures confined to the children of professing Chris- 
 tians. "j He argues, "from the constitution of the 
 Abrahamic covenant ;" and adds, " It is evident, 
 therefore, that since no children, beside the children 
 of those who publicly professed the religion of the 
 Scriptures, could lawfully receive the initiatory seal of 
 the covenant under the Abrahamic dispensation, no 
 children but such as these can lawfully receive this seal 
 under the Christian dispensation, unless the covenant 
 with respect to this subject can be shown to be altered." 
 Upon the interesting narrative of the children brought 
 
 * He says in sermon clvi. of his Theology : — 
 
 *' There is, I thinly, reason to hope well concerning other 
 children dying in infancy. But thei-e is certainly peculiar 
 reason for Christian parents to entertain strong consolation 
 with respect to their offspring." 
 
 See also Calvin's Inst. Book iv. c. 16, §. 26. 
 " Nondum baptizatum nullibi damnasse comperitur." 
 
 f Sermon clix. of his Theology. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 6.") 
 
 to Christ for a blessing, he remarks, that those who 
 brought them were Jews. This may be true. But 
 the certainty of it may be questionable, when we 
 recollect the Lord's testimony of the centurion con- 
 cerning whom he declared — " I have not found so 
 great faith ; no, not in Israel." The doctor also 
 draws an inference from the definite article — " Suifer 
 the little children" — that the words *' cannot be 
 pleaded as a warrant for bringing to Christ in bap- 
 tism any other children, than such as are in the like 
 circumstances with those mentioned in this passage." 
 It was to be expected that the immediate reference 
 would be to the children present. But if there 
 be no enlargement, there is, on the other hand, no 
 limitation. 
 
 However, he proceeds to assert, that " the text 
 directly declares the same doctrine''' (that is. 
 Acts ii. 38, 39). "The promise," says St. Peter to 
 the Jews, "is to you, and to your children, and to 
 all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our 
 God shall call." Those who were "afar oif" were 
 gentiles, &c. . . "The terms, it is to be remembered, 
 are the same ; and the promise conveys no more, as 
 well as no less, to the gentiles than to the Jews, 
 unless the alteration is declared. Such children, then, 
 among the gentiles, as are born of those who profess 
 the religion of the Scriptures, are included in the 
 covenant, and are to be baptized. But the warrant 
 
66 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 extends to no others."* He says, " the same doctrine 
 is declared still more expUcitly in 1 Cor. vii. 14 — 
 * For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, 
 and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; 
 else were your children unclean, but now are they 
 holy.' " Without entering into the particulars of the 
 several arguments, it seems a sufficient answer to all, 
 to quote from the original institution of the seal of 
 the Abrahamic covenant in the seventeenth chapter 
 of Genesis — " He that is eight days old shall be 
 circumcised among you, every man-child in your 
 generations ; he that is born in the house, or bought 
 with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed." 
 This command expressly confers the privilege of the 
 appointed seal upon others therein described, and 
 specially noticed as not among the natural descend- 
 ants of the patriarch. Granting then all the doctor's 
 premises concerning the identity of the Christian 
 and Abrahamic covenants, we rejoice to have a 
 recorded precedent (reasoning from that very princi- 
 ciple of the one olive tree) which sanctions the bap- 
 tism of any infants providentially brought within the 
 
 * Dr. D wight does not expressly discuss (at least in this 
 sermon) whether the infant children of believers, born before 
 the conversion of their parents to the Christian faith, are 
 entitled to baptism. But the tenor of his argument seems to 
 imply the contrary ; because such children were certainly 
 " unclean" by birth,. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 67 
 
 embraces of the household of faith ; although, by the 
 circumstances of their birth and parentage, they may 
 have been "unclean." That uncleanness implies 
 the absence of all right to baptism ; and it would be 
 inconsistent (if not impossible) while the infants should 
 remain under the authority of unbelievers. But sup- 
 pose the duty of education to devolve upon the 
 church ; can any man forbid water that these should 
 not be baptized, whose new advantages cannot be 
 applied to their spiritual welfare without the Holy 
 Spirit ? 
 
 The sponsorial regulations of the united Church of 
 England and Ireland appear to include the principle 
 of extended privilege which has been here main- 
 tained ; and they render her most happily adapted to 
 be a nursing-mother in various contingencies which 
 may arise, and have in fact arisen, in these days of 
 missionary exertion. * In the discharge of this im- 
 portant duty we trust that she is warranted by the 
 terms of the Abrahamic covenant, by the spirit of the 
 Gospel, and by the express words of the great com- 
 mission for its universal proclamation, to sa}^ to the 
 godfathers and godmothers of every bereaved orphan 
 — " Doubt ye not therefore, but earnestly believe that 
 he will likewise favourably receive this present in- 
 fant ;" and nothing doubting but that he favourably 
 
 * See previous quotations from Bishop Heber's Journal, 
 and from the " Missionary Register." 
 
68 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 alloweth this charitable work of ours in bringing this 
 infant to his holy baptism, let us faithfully and 
 devoutly give thanks unto him ;" for who can conceive 
 that Christ commanded to "disciple all nations," 
 and left a barrier in the way of the infant part of them? 
 While therefore, we cheerfully claim Dr. Dwight as 
 an emineiitly able fellow-advocate in defence and 
 maintenance of infant baptism, and the untrammelled 
 administration of the rite, we trust that he was in 
 error in restricting it "to the children of professing 
 Christians." Was Israel commanded to adopt the 
 children of the stranger ? And yet is the catholic 
 church prohibited from exercising the antitype of 
 such charity ? 
 
 We would almost hope that this learned divine — 
 although he denies that baptism proves regeneration 
 — if he had not understood the term in too strong a 
 sense, would have been ready to join the Church of 
 England in praising God, that it hath pleased him to 
 regenerate infants with his Holy Spirit. 
 
 That Dr. Dwight, if not under the alleged mistake, 
 would have joined in the thanksgiving alluded to, 
 is inferred with much pleasure, from the strong 
 language in which he states the advantages of 
 baptism. In his 146th sermon, he says — 
 "What is true of an adult in these circumstances, 
 is true, probably, in a still more affecting and pro- 
 fitable manner, of parents dedicating their children to 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 69 
 
 God in this solemn ordinance. Perhaps there is not 
 in the world a sight more interesting than that of an 
 infant offered up by beheving parents to God in 
 baptism — the helpless circumstances of the child ; the 
 peculiar tenderness of the relation existing between it 
 and the parents ; the strong expression of their faith 
 in God, in giving up their beloved offspring to him, 
 devoting it to his service, and engaging to train it up 
 for his glory ; the exhibition of their reliance on the 
 blood of Christ, and the agency of the Spirit of truth, 
 to cleanse it from its original pollution ; the affecting 
 manifestation of the divine mercy and goodness, in 
 permitting us thus to offer up our children to God," 
 &c. . . . *' It is here to be remembered, that, 
 as religious education is constituted in the Christian 
 church a primary mean of salvation, so the ordinance 
 of baptism is invested with a peculiar importance, 
 from the intimate and acknowledged connection be- 
 tween the act of devoting a child to God in this 
 manner, and the duty of educating him for the ser- 
 vice of his Maker, and the attainment of eternal life. 
 No two rehgious employments are, in this country at 
 least, and probably in most others throughout Chris- 
 tendom, more universally understood to be inseparably 
 connected, than the act of giving up a child to God, 
 and the duty of educating him for his service. The 
 most solemn sense of the obligations which we are 
 under to train up our children for God, is probably 
 
70 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 derived from the administration of this ordinance."* 
 All this is beautiful and true. But how did it escape 
 the sagacity of this pious and learned divine, that it 
 is incompatible with the absence of regeneration ? 
 He says most trulyf — " the answer of a good con- 
 science," spoken of by St. Peter, " cannot be given by 
 him who is not regenerated." He might have added 
 — " neither can any spiritual act, well pleasing to 
 God, and profitable to the soul, be done by one in 
 such a state of death !" Then what becomes of bap- 
 tismal privileges without quickening grace ? How can 
 parents exercise ** faith in God, in giving up their 
 beloved offspring to him, devoting it to his service, 
 and engaging to train it up for his glory," while they 
 beUeve that offspring to be so completely ^'Jlesh^* 
 that it cannot please God ?" Is not this engaging to 
 train up ** the carnal mind" for God's glory, which 
 '* is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can 
 be?" — Rom. \dii. 7, 8. What is the meaning of the 
 exhibition of their rehance on the blood of Christ, 
 and the agency of the Spirit of truth, if the infant 
 has received nothing corresponding to that exhibi- 
 tion? If the agency of the Spirit be indeed in 
 operation, must it not be employed in a regenerating 
 work ? And is it not our duty to thank God for the 
 
 * Page 229 of vol. v. London edition of 1824. 
 t Ibid, Page 227. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 71 
 
 blessing ? These questions are intended to be put in 
 candour ; and in the hope that this has been done, 
 without any misrepresentation of Dr. Dwight's words. 
 For he goes on to state the duty of Christian educa- 
 tion in as clear and strong terms as any man could 
 use, notwithstanding the manifest inconsistency of 
 such a statement with other tenets which he strenu- 
 ously advocates. He affirms that " religious educa- 
 tion is constituted in the Christian church a primary 
 mean of salvation." To that position this pen most 
 cordially subscribes. But religious education cannot 
 be carried on, unless the Holy Spirit work with both 
 learner and teacher, or at least with the learner ; that 
 is, it is an absolute impossibility without regenerating 
 grace. It is as perfectly impracticable to learn one 
 Christian lesson antecedent to that grace, as it is to 
 give the " answer of a good conscience" of which 
 St. Peter speaks. 
 
 That Doctor Dwight understood the term regene- 
 ration in too strong a sense, may be further evinced 
 by his reply to the answer of an opponent, who 
 is supposed to plead the possibility of " falling from 
 grace." He says — " That no such apostacy is known 
 in the Scriptures.''^ It is happily certain that the 
 '^ sheep'* of Christ " shall never perish." But in 
 that promise a very advanced degree of divine teach- 
 ing is described — " My sheep hear my voice, and I 
 know them, and they follow me." Is it allowable to 
 apply the promise to every stage and effect of the 
 
72 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 drawing of the Father? Those who assert the 
 impossibihty of falHng from grace, seem to forget 
 or deny progression and degrees in the origin of 
 rehgion, and to take it for granted that the passage 
 "from death unto hfe" is absolutely instantaneous. 
 If that be true, what means the solemn warning 
 in the sixth chapter of Hebrews, which describes 
 very high privileges, yet ends with mentioning the 
 possibihty of falling from them, and the inefficacy 
 of all means that can be now employed " to renew 
 to repentance" those who " crucify the Son of God 
 afresh, and put him to an open shame !" What 
 means the admonition of the apostle Paul to beware 
 of the awful guilt of being the cause of a " weak 
 brother" perishing, " for whom Christ died ?" or 
 the charge of the apostle Peter against one who 
 "hath forgotten that he was purged from his old 
 sins ?" These, and such like passages, ought to 
 impress a salutary caution against adopting systems 
 which refuse to admit of any modification. 
 
 Other quotations might be made from Doctor 
 D wight's work, corroborating what has been sug- 
 gested as to the state of his mind on the subject 
 of regeneration, and one probable cause of it ; but it 
 may be better not to delay. 
 
 It is hoped that the principal difficulties have been 
 removed, which might impede our expression of gra- 
 titude and praise, that it hath pleased Almighty 
 God to regenerate infants with his Holy Spirit. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 73 
 
 And while at this season of the year (March 29, 
 1842) we are more especially called upon to offer 
 our fervent sacrifice of thanksgiving to that Great 
 Being, whose never- failing providence " giveth seed 
 to the sower and bread to the eater," we may, at the 
 same time, behold a beautiful similitude, teaching us 
 a spiritual lesson in the matter of our contemplation. 
 We can feel no hesitation in praising God, that it 
 hath pleased him to regenerate the scattered seed, 
 even before it has perceptibly begun to vegetate.* 
 The vital influence is to us invisible ; but it is, 
 notwithstanding, effectually moved by him " in 
 whom we live, and move, and have our being.'* So 
 is the operation of the eternal Spirit " dividing to 
 every man severally as he will." The fowls of the 
 air may devour many grains, the frost may cast out 
 others on the surface of the ground, and even after 
 the tender blade has appeared, a worm at the root 
 may cause it to wither and decay ; but these are 
 motives to excite the diligence, watchfulness, and 
 skill of the husbandman, not to produce despon- 
 dency or neglect. "While the earth remaineth, 
 seed-time and harvest shall not cease." The pro- 
 mise of the Lord is pledged — the token of the 
 covenant appeareth in the cloud ; the rain de- 
 
 • " Though all the soil a genial ferment spreads, 
 
 Regenerates the plants, and new adorns the meads," — 
 Blackmore, in Johnson's Dictionary, under the word 
 "regenerate." 
 
74 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 scencls — the unwearied sun shines forth — " there is 
 nothing hid from the heat thereof." Let us hft 
 up our hearts in gratitude : it is God's good plea- 
 sure to renew the face of nature, and to give us 
 fruits of increase, and to produce continually — first, 
 the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the 
 ear." In like manner, let us trust in the Lord for 
 all that is needful unto spiritual growth, and let 
 us make it our concern not to frustrate his grace, 
 or grieve his Holy Spirit, by our unbelief, or ne- 
 gligence, or disobedience. He has commanded us 
 to bring up our children " in the nurture and admo- 
 nition of the Lord," without any limitation of age or 
 capacity. This command implies a promise of his 
 Spirit, without which it could not be performed. It 
 warrants Christian parents to pray for God's Spirit 
 to be poured* " upon their seed, and his blessing 
 upon their offspring," even in the very first elements 
 of their existence — that they may "spring up as 
 among the grass, as willows by the water-courses." 
 It inspires the precious hope of all means being ren- 
 dered efiicacious by him, "in whom is life, and the 
 life is the light of men ;" who took little children in 
 his arms, " put his hands upon them, and blessed 
 them. With such encouragement every smile on a 
 babe's lips, responsive to a parent's looks of love, 
 may be regarded as a ray from the infinite source of 
 all pure love ; and every letter that is taught will 
 
 * Isaiah xliv. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. /5 
 
 be an ingredient in that knowledge which maketh 
 " wise unto salvation." The excellent professor, so 
 much referred to, draws happy inferences from the 
 eighth psalm as to the future state of infants. But 
 did not the Lord liimself apply it to the children in 
 the temple? There is no one who watches atten- 
 tively and spiritually the opening of the mind, that 
 may not be astonished and delighted, at observing 
 how praise is perfected out of the mouth of babes and 
 sucklings. The pride of man is disposed to wait for 
 a large increase of intellectual power, in order to the 
 perception of truth in the exercise of reason. A 
 glorious gift indeed ! But God anticipates it in 
 various ways. Witness the mysteries of instinct — 
 one of the heavenly guides and preservers of man, as 
 well as of the other animals. Witness the school of 
 imitation, and the acquisition of language. Witness 
 that internal sense which we need not fear to call an 
 inspiration of the Almighty, (Job. xxxii. 8,) which 
 discerns, in various degrees, between good and evil ; 
 and pronounces an immediate sentence of approval or 
 disapproval upon thoughts, and words, and actions. 
 It is by this faculty, when sanctified in a competent 
 degree, that the communications of revelation are 
 embraced, not only as true but as good.* And the 
 application and fruit of it may be perceived in chil- 
 dren before they have been fully practised in their 
 
 * See Hooker, probably in his sermon " on the perpetuity 
 of faith," &c. 
 
76 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 native tongue. Hence it is that they are so soon 
 capable of understanding and loving the inestimable 
 book of God ; hence it is, that by spiritual discern- 
 ment " a Httle child may learn to know it answers 
 to its name," according (in proportional degree) to 
 that most remarkable declaration of our Saviour 
 himself — " If any man will do his will, he shall 
 know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or 
 whether I speak of myself." 
 
 Let us now advert again to that anticipation of 
 repentance and faith, which is declared by the spon- 
 sorial answers in the name of the baptized. These 
 are, or ought to be familiar to every reader ; yet it 
 may be useful to recollect them briefly. The first 
 question is, *' Dost thou, in the name of this child, 
 renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp 
 and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of 
 the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that 
 thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them ?" Answer 
 — "I renounce them all." 
 
 The second question asks, apparently in a more 
 direct manner, " Dost thou believe in God the Father 
 Almighty?" and so proceeds through the creed, 
 commonly called the Apostles' creed. Answer — **A11 
 this I steadfastly believe." 
 
 Third question — ''Wilt thou be baptized in this 
 faith ?" Answer—" That is my desire." 
 
 Fourth question — *'AVilt thou, then, obediently 
 keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. /7 
 
 in the same all the days of thy life ?" Answer — 
 "I will." 
 
 Now what can be the intention of this peculiar 
 form and supposition, which assimilates (as nearly as 
 possible) the baptism of infants to that of adults ? 
 It seems to be for the purpose of intimating, that the 
 way of salvation (revealed in the Gospel) is the same 
 in all cases, namely, this : — " By grace are ye saved 
 through faith : and that not of yourselves ; it is the 
 gift of God." If the doctrine were true, that the 
 whole effect of baptism is at once communicated to 
 baptized infants, because they oppose no obstacle, 
 what need could there be of the sponsorial questions 
 and answers in the name of the child ? They would 
 be quite superfluous and unmeaning. But, according 
 to what is maintained in this tract, they are most 
 important and instructive ; as, it is hoped, will be 
 manifestly proved when we come to the consideration 
 of the Church Catechism. And, in the meantime, 
 be it observed, that the undeniable anticipation which 
 occurs in the sponsorial part of the service, evinces, 
 that there is no absurdity in asserting anticipated 
 remission of actual sins by spiritual regeneration 
 in the second collect for the public baptism of 
 infants ; for approximation to identity with adult 
 baptism, is the very essence of the whole for- 
 mulary. And if it be certain, that there is an 
 anticipation of faith in the answer, " all this I stead- 
 fastly helieve^" what difficulty can there be in the 
 
78 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 supposition of anticipated " coming'^ to holy baptism ? 
 The practice of a solemn anniversary commemoration 
 of baptism, illustrates what is meant by this sort of 
 coming : it is a coming in spirit ; to seek all the 
 privileges and blessings of which the washing of 
 water is a seal and pledge, and to render thanks and 
 praise to the Giver of them all. It is such a coming 
 as is implied in *' remembering always that baptism 
 doth represent unto us our profession ;" and, it is 
 presumed to be very specially exemplified in the rite 
 of confirmation. It is therefore believed, and here 
 repeated, that the remarkable omission of remission 
 of sins in the exhortation to sponsors which follows 
 the gospel of St. Mark, was a designed omission ; 
 and that the whole of what is directly applicable to 
 the infant state, is expressed in the solemn assurance — 
 " I certify you, that in this case all is well done, and 
 according unto due order, concerning the baptizing of 
 this child, who being born in original sin, and in the 
 wrath of God, is now, by the laver of regeneration in 
 baptism, received into the number of the children of 
 God, and heirs of everlasting life." There is wrath 
 due to original sin, " which is the fault and corruption 
 of the nature of every man that naturally is engen- 
 dered of the oif spring of Adam ;" according to the 
 definition and assertion of our ninth article, and the 
 doctrine of St. Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians, 
 where, in reference to '* the children of disobedience," 
 he says, " among whom also we all had our conver- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 79 
 
 sation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, ful- 
 filUng the desires of the flesh and of the mind ; and 
 were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." 
 But in this deserved wrath, mercy undeserved is 
 remembered, through the redemption that is in Christ 
 Jesus. For, "as by the ofl'ence oi owe, judgment 
 came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the 
 righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men 
 unto justification of life." And in this dispensation 
 of mercy " God was in Christ, reconciling the world 
 unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 
 them."— 2 Cor. v. 19. 
 
 In this universahty of redeeming love and grace 
 it cannot be doubted that infants are included. It 
 is, therefore, very true, and agreeable to Scripture, 
 to affirm, that they are justified ; not, however, by 
 baptism, but (as all the world are justified) by the 
 blood of Christ. "For when we were yet without 
 strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 
 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die ; yet 
 peradventure for a good man some would even dare 
 to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, 
 in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 
 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, 
 we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, 
 when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by 
 the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, 
 we shall be saved by his life." — Rom. v. 6-10. 
 Behold, then, an act of grace — of divine, of infinite 
 
80 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 grace and mercy, in favour of all mankind, of every 
 age, of every clime, of every degree, through the 
 atonement which God himself has provided ; and in 
 virtue of which the great commission has been issued 
 to "preach the Gospel to every creature." " Behold 
 the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the 
 world." Behold the justification of "the ungodly" 
 by his blood. But for the actual enjoyment of peace, 
 we must be justified by faith in him, " who was de- 
 livered for [or on account of] our offences, and was 
 raised again for [or on account of] our justification." 
 Rom. iv. 25. "Therefore, being justified by faith, 
 we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." — Rom. v. 1. There is no other propitiation 
 for sin. The original guilt of infants is removed 
 thereby ; and when they are in circumstances to be 
 educated in the faith of Christ, they are entitled to 
 the encouraging, and precious, and spiritual privilege 
 of " the mystical washing away of sin" in the laver 
 of regeneration. 
 
 Thus also the whole congregation of Israel, old 
 and young, were " baptized unto Moses in the cloud 
 and in the sea" (see 1 Cor. x. Exod. and Psalm Ixvii.) ; 
 "and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did 
 all drink the same spiritual drink : for they drank of 
 that spiritual rock that foUov/ed them : and that 
 rock was Christ. But with many of them God was 
 not well pleased ; for they were overthrown in the 
 wilderness." . . . Now these things happened 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 81 
 
 unto them for ensamples : and they are written for 
 our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world 
 are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he 
 standeth take heed lest he fall." One salutary 
 means of support and preservation is found in a con- 
 tinual coming to the inward grace of baptism, which 
 is signified by the outward washing. In this act 
 (that is, in this coming) justification by faith is re- 
 ceived, and its preciousness is felt. The justified 
 drink refreshing streams, and " draw water with joy 
 out of the wells of salvation." They trace the 
 whole supply to their Christian privileges, of which 
 baptism is a sign. They turn to it (as such) with 
 grateful retrospection ; but they rest not in the ordi- 
 nance, nor in the church by which it is administered ; 
 their trust is in Christ ; and walking " in the hght, 
 as he is in the Hght," they experience the efficacy of 
 his blood to " cleanse from all sin." They " stand 
 fast in the hberty wherevdth Christ hath made us 
 free, and are not entangled again with the yoke of 
 bondage." They taste the blessedness of those to 
 whom "the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in 
 whose spirit there is no guile." They do not regard 
 baptism as abating the hope of forgiveness for their 
 actual sins; but rather as testifying — '^if any man 
 sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus 
 Christ the righteous : and he is the propitiation for 
 our sins : and not for ours only, but also for the sins 
 of the whole world." Yet the tendency and fruit 
 
 G 
 
82 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 of all is — holiness. For the apostle says — " These 
 things write we unto you, that ye sin not." Th^re 
 is nothing can "crucify the flesh, with the affec- 
 tions and lusts," but the knowledge of a crucified 
 Redeemer. All other modes of pacifying conscience, 
 must either lead to self-righteous presumption, or the 
 most paralyzing despondency. In a hopeless con- 
 flict, without filial love, no acceptable obedience can 
 be rendered ; an overwhelming sense of guilt must 
 accumulate more and more ; no comfortable answer 
 can be heard to the sad cry of the sinner — '' O 
 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from 
 the body of this death?" until the grace of God 
 shall enable him to say — " I thank God through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." — Romans vii. Then it becomes 
 known, by faith, that there "is now no condemnation 
 to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not 
 after the flesh, but after the spirit." In this as- 
 surance the Christian goes on his way rejoicing ; the 
 joy of the Lord is his strength ; and he finds the 
 ways of wisdom " pleasantness and peace." " For 
 what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
 through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin 
 in the flesh ; that the righteousness of the law might 
 be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but 
 after the spirit." Seeing then, that "it is God that 
 justifieth ; who is he that condemneth?" — Rom. viii. 
 The universality of the justification of mankind by 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 83 
 
 the blood of Christ, has been aheady shown ; and 
 that as he was deUvered on account of our offences, 
 so he was raised again, because the propitiation was 
 made and accepted. This doctrine may, perhaps, 
 appear to some as the same with Mr. Thomas 
 Erskine's system of universal pardon. But the sup- 
 posed identification is earnestly disclaimed. There 
 are beautiful and good things in the work alluded 
 to ; but it is believed that in all his attempts to im- 
 prove our translation of the holy Scriptures, the 
 author has signally failed ; and that, instead of eluci- 
 dation, he has rather contributed to embarrass a 
 plain subject. The universality of justification is 
 simply the all-sufficiency of the atonement, and the 
 precious revelation that " God so loved the world, 
 that he gave his only begotten Son ; that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have everlast- 
 ing life." It is hoped that Mr. Erskine intended no 
 more ; but in his phraseology, he has not adhered 
 with sufficient closeness to the Bible-modes of ex- 
 pression. Let us endeavour to avoid this error. 
 
 That there is a sense in which justification is spoken 
 of as conferred upon the human race, can scarcely 
 admit of doubt. In the text already quoted, at the 
 end of the fourth chapter of Romans, the resurrec- 
 tion of our Lord is considered as a demonstration 
 that the work of justification had been accomphshed. 
 And in the fifth chapter we read of Christ having 
 died for us ''while we were yet sinners f of being 
 
84 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 "justified by his blood ;" and of being, while enemies, 
 "reconciled to God by the death of his Son;" and 
 of the free gift "upon all men unto justification of 
 life." Now in all this accumulation and variety of ex- 
 pression, we have concurring and mutually illustrative 
 evidence, that the apostle was speaking of an effect 
 produced by the sacrifice of Christ, antecedent to all 
 knowledge of it by those for whose benefit it was 
 offered. By this antecedence it is decidedly distin- 
 guished from justification by faith, xlnd may we not 
 thus learn what is meant, in the fourth chapter, by 
 justification of " the ungodly ?" This state of un- 
 godliness exactly corresponds with the "sinners" and 
 "enemies" of the fifth chapter, where we also meet 
 the very term, "ungodly," as descriptive of those 
 for whom Christ, in due time, died. According to 
 the whole context it appears, that in dying for them 
 he procured the justification of the ungodly. And, 
 as to the nature of the blessing, we are led to con- 
 clude, that it is the perfect pro^-ision made by the 
 wisdom and grace of God, to cause "mercy and truth 
 to meet together ;" to " magnify the law and make 
 it honourable ;" " that he might be just and the jus- 
 tifier of those that believe in Jesus ;" and that it is 
 not only suflftcient, but intended for the redemption 
 of all mankind. Of infants being included in this 
 dispensation of mercy there can be no question. 
 And a fortiori we infer the privilege of baptized in- 
 fants ; and, in the universal meaning of the term, 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 85 
 
 there can be no objection to say that they are jus- 
 tified. But it will be necessary to resist the sliding 
 in of any definition, which would make their future 
 justification by faith to differ essentially from the 
 justification of converted heathens. That of which 
 they are unconsciously partakers, is a heavenly act 
 of amnesty, a removal of the attainder, which sin 
 brought upon Adam and his posterity. But they 
 cannot be justified from the guilt of actual sins, 
 before these have been committed ; neither can faith 
 be imputed to them for righteousness before it exists. 
 
 It is also submitted to consideration, that there is 
 no scriptural proof of an imputation of righteousness 
 to the ungodly — remaining such ; and that the ab- 
 sence of that imputation constitutes a most material 
 distinction between incipient justification — that is, the 
 amnesty of grace, wherein " God was in Christ re- 
 conciling the world unto himself, not imputing their 
 trespasses unto them" — and justification by faith, 
 wherein " we have peace with God, through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." It may be argued, that "not im- 
 puting their trespasses unto them" amounts to the 
 same thing as the imputation of righteousness. But 
 there is a non-imputation, which averts the extremity 
 of penal woe, without restoring to favour and paternal 
 approbation. There is no reason to suppose that 
 more was intended in this passage. 
 
 If any one be disposed to contend that private 
 baptism invaUdates the arguments which have been 
 
86 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 drawn from the sponsorial form of public baptism, 
 there is a ready answer in the provision made by the 
 church for supplying the defect; by which we are 
 taught that the full import of the rite of baptism 
 is always the same, whether it be expressed or 
 implied. 
 
 In confirmation of what has been said upon the 
 prospectiveness of prayer, and the retrospectiveness 
 of coming for "remission of sins," a quotation may 
 be given from Archbishop Ussher's eighteen Oxford 
 sermons, as cited in Budd on Baptism :* — " Baptism 
 is not done only at the font, which is a thing that de- 
 ceives many : for it runs through our whole life ; nor 
 hath it consummation till our dying day, till we receive 
 final grace : the force and efficacy of baptism is for 
 the washing away of sin to-morrow, as well as the 
 day past." The erroneous supposition, which is 
 here censured as a frequent source of deception, is 
 also a cause of some of the apparent difficulties with 
 which this subject has been clouded. But the truth 
 is, that spiritual regeneration is not a change instan- 
 taneously complete, but a growth which expands into 
 perfect renewal. It ought not to be identified with 
 the new birth ; nor is it so identified in our church 
 formularies. On the other hand, it ought not to be 
 separated from the progressive renewal of the heart 
 and life, by representing it as communicated at once, 
 
 * See page 167. Second Edition. London : 1828. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 8/ 
 
 in absolute totality, through the administration of the 
 external rite. 
 
 If the language of the address which precedes, 
 and the thanksgiving which follows, the Lord's 
 Prayer, in the public baptism of infants, be objected 
 to these assertions, the following explanation is 
 offered, as being believed to contain a satisfactory 
 answer. Our blessed Saviour speaks of being '*bom 
 of water and of the spirit." The first is a visible 
 and momentary sign ; but it does not follow that the 
 thing signified (which is an internal work of the 
 spirit) is so inseparably connected with the sign, 
 that it must necessarily be finished in the transient 
 act of its application. And accordingly, the thanks- 
 giving is not, that " thou hast regenerated" but 
 *'that it hath pleased thee to regenerate." Now 
 what is this, but to ofFer thanks for the revelation 
 and assurance of God's good pleasure to carry on a 
 work of regeneration by his Holy Spirit. Who could 
 mistake the meaning of similar expressions in any 
 other case ? 
 
 It may, perhaps, subserve the purpose of illustra- 
 tion to adduce a few examples. Let us conceive, 
 that, at the laying of the first stone of the new 
 Royal Exchange in January last, (1842,) a clause had 
 been introduced in the excellent prayer, by which it 
 was sanctified, in the following words : — '* We yield 
 thee hearty thanks that, in great mercy, and in the 
 arrangement of thy good providence, which we are 
 
88 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 permitted to behold in part, it hath pleased thee 
 to give us hope of the restoration of the national 
 mansion of our commerce, and to rejoice that it is 
 begun." Would there be any impropriety in draw- 
 ing such an inference from the assemblage of that 
 day — from the exhibition of prepared plans, and the 
 means provided for the execution ? Assuredly not. 
 Why, then, should the common usage of language be 
 departed from, in expounding the baptismal thanks- 
 giving in question ? Again, let us turn the eyes of 
 our mind to the auspicious departure of the Bishop 
 of New Zealand from the shores of Britain. May 
 we not well imagine him presenting his thanksgivings 
 for the hope, that it had pleased God to send him on 
 such a service for the advancement of the Redeemer's 
 kingdom ; meaning no more than a reference to his 
 appointment and consecration, together with the in- 
 strumentality in progress towards the accomplish- 
 men of its destination ? Such a grateful ejaculation, 
 we trust, would acceptably ascend ; yet various con- 
 tingencies might frustrate the expectation of the 
 individual as to his own share in the glorious pros- 
 pect. But we pray (April 12, 1842,)* that his 
 lordship's life and health may be preserved, and 
 that he may be brought in safety to the haven where 
 
 * What cause have we to rejoice, that our prayers may 
 now (January 18, 1843,) be accompanied with thanksgivings, 
 that they have been heard and answered 1 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 89 
 
 he would be, and to a flock prepared for his episcopal 
 rule and oversight. 
 
 In the anticipation of that happy event, let us 
 again, in imagination, behold the Bishop of New 
 Zealand on his knees, engaged in prayer and praise. 
 What may we suppose, in such a case, to be part of 
 the utterance of his heart ? Would it be unsuitable 
 to say — " We peld thee hearty thanks, most merciful 
 Father, that it hath pleased thee to civilize and bless 
 the inhabitants of these islands, by the establish- 
 ment of a regular, a legitimate, and strong govern- 
 ment, with all the accompanying privileges of British 
 authority and friendship ; but above all, by the in- 
 troduction of Christianity, and of the hght and 
 ordinances of an apostohc church." 
 
 Here, for the purpose of argument and illustration, 
 it is desired to fix attention upon the word civilize in 
 this supposed thanksgiving, in full persuasion of the 
 propriety of sapng — "that it hath pleased thee to 
 civilize;" whereas it would be false to say — "that 
 thou hast civilized." It would be an easy and just 
 transition to add — " that it hath pleased thee to re- 
 generate this people with thy Holy Spirit ;" seeing 
 that adequate means for this end have been put in 
 operation by God's good providence and grace, and 
 already most signally and abundantly blessed. If 
 this be admitted, it will suggest the adoption of a 
 corresponding paraphrase of the disputed form in 
 our baptismal service : — "we yield thee hearty thanks, 
 
90 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 most merciful Father, that thou hast graciously 
 manifested the good pleasure of thy -will, to carrj^- 
 on the inward work of regeneration, in the heart 
 and soul of this infant, by thy Holy Spirit ; that 
 thou hast begun this blessed work, and that it is in 
 progress." 
 
 But it may be said, that even granting this para- 
 phrase to be just, it only applies to the thanksgiving ; 
 while a positive assertion remains unexplained, *' that 
 this child is regenerate and grafted into the body of 
 Christ's church." This objection gives an oppor- 
 tunity of observing, that here we have another in- 
 stance of the very great accuracy and precision of the 
 compilers of our liturgy, by which they have pre- 
 served its offices in conformity with the holy Scrip- 
 tures, and drawn a strongly-marked line, which 
 excludes erroneous interpretation. They teach that 
 the child is regenerate ; not, that it has been, or is 
 regenerated. The verbal difference, it is true, is but 
 a letter. Yet the signification of the adjective is 
 very far distant from that of the participle. Let 
 it not be deemed presumptuous to affirm that this 
 is an observation of the highest importance. For 
 one of the worst errors which prevail at this day, 
 and one which is a fruitful parent of a corrupt off- 
 spring, has no better support than an overlooking of 
 a plain distinction, and making such a confusion of 
 terms, as to represent our baptismal service declar- 
 ing, that every baptized infant has been regenerated 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 91 
 
 fully ; that their regeneration — their new birth — has 
 been completed in the rite. Not so, our venerable 
 reformers ; not so, the spirit by which their minds 
 were enlightened — by which their pens were guided ; 
 although we dare not say — infalhbly. The word 
 employed by them is regenerate ; which signifies a 
 very high and spiritual blessing, but in an incipient 
 degree, and suited to infancy. The analogy of nature, 
 to which the inspired word refers, again assists our 
 thoughts in discerning the path of truth. The 
 child, which was born in sin, is grafted into the 
 body of Christ's church. So some degenerate stock 
 is planted in a rich and well-cultivated nursery ; all 
 things are prepared for the change ; it is in progress 
 even by operations which seem to be destructive. 
 The stock is amputated ; its top is divided ; a fruit- 
 ful scion is inserted ; it is swathed and inclosed in 
 its new position ; the sun, the air, the moisture act 
 upon it ; the sap from the root begins to circulate 
 in it ; it is regenerate ; and its regeneration will ad- 
 vance (if not obstructed by injury) until the expan- 
 sion of leaves announces a new birth, which is to be 
 matured in precious fruit. Thus, as soon as the act 
 of ingrafting is performed, the once degenerate stock 
 may most truly be pronounced regenerate ; but the 
 addition of a single letter would insinuate a false- 
 hood in the place of truth. The similitude of the 
 case of baptism is so obvious, as to supersede the 
 necessity of explanation ; and the beautiful corres- 
 
92 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 pondence of our formularies with the facts of the 
 holy ordinance, which they apply to our comfort and 
 blessing, removes every difficulty from offering up 
 heartily the appointed thanksgiving. For the ap- 
 parent difficulty, which has embarrassed the minds 
 of many, arises only from misconception. 
 
 Perhaps an example, or examples, may be adduced, 
 which some will suppose to prove that the phrase, 
 "it hath pleased thee," is equivalent to the assertion 
 of a finished work. It is admitted that it is so, 
 where it refers to a single act; as in the burial 
 service — *' Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty 
 God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul 
 of our dear brother here departed." The single act 
 is the transition of the soul's departure from the 
 body. Oa this distinction the defence of the para- 
 phrase is rested. Regeneration is a continued act ; 
 and in such cases, the phrase in question does not 
 signify that the act is ended. It may have had a 
 previous commencement, and be in progress ; it may 
 be only then begun. 
 
 The foregoing illustrations are only of a popular 
 nature, and perhaps inadequate. But there are many 
 afforded by the holy Scriptures, which amount to 
 demonstration. Did not the first covenant of promise 
 give full warrant to the parents of the human race, 
 and to all believers in successive generations, to thank 
 God that it hath pleased him to bruise the ser- 
 pent's head, and to destroy the works of the devil; 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 93 
 
 although this great ^dctory be but in progress to the 
 present hour? In the twelfth chapter of Genesis 
 we read, that God gave a promise to Abraham — 
 " In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." 
 This warrants a believer to render hearty thanks that 
 " it hath pleased God to bless all the families of the 
 earth." But it does not warrant a thanksgiving 
 for the actual accomplishment of the blessing, as a 
 thing completed and past. Our Saviour said, at the 
 time that certain Greeks desired to see him — " I, if 
 I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto 
 me." — John xii. 32. Ought not his disciples to 
 praise him, that it was his good pleasure, by his 
 death upon the cross, to "draw all men unto him?" 
 Yet the work of salvation is only in progress ; it 
 would not be according to truth to say — "thou hast 
 drawn." St. Peter assures us, that the Lord "is 
 long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should 
 perish, but that all should come to repentance.'* 
 Similar illustration might be drawn from this precious 
 passage ; or from the blessed truth contained in St. 
 Paul's charge against a despiser of the divine for- 
 bearance : — "not knowing that the goodness of God 
 leadeth thee to repentance. Did God so love the 
 world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
 soever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life ?" Did that beloved Son " bear our 
 sins 'in his own body on the tree ;" and proclaim 
 from the cross — " Look unto me, and be ye saved, 
 
94 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 all ye ends of the earth ?" Did he commission his 
 apostles *' to preach the Gospel to every creature ?" 
 Did he say — "all power is given unto me in heaven 
 and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all 
 nations," (margin: — "make disciples or Christians 
 of all nations,") "baptizing them in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost?" 
 And would it be wrong to say — "We thank thee, 
 O Father, that it hath pleased thee to evangelize 
 and save the world ?" AVhat though a " mystery 
 of iniquity" has retarded the work ? AVhat though, 
 as was predicted, there has been "a falling away 
 iirst ?" " What if some did not believe ? Shall 
 their unbelief make the faith of God vt^thout effect ? 
 God forbid : yea, let God be true, but every man a 
 liar." In like manner, ought not the rich provision 
 which the Lord has made, and the good will he has 
 manifested, constrain us to give thanks, " that it 
 hath pleased him to regenerate our baptized infants 
 with his Holy Spirit ?" Not meaning that the work 
 is entirely done in the rite ; but rejoicing in hope 
 of going forward according to the blessed beginning ; 
 in hope of bringing up sons and daughters to the 
 Lord Almighty, heirs of God and joint-heirs with 
 Christ — through the power of the Holy Ghost - 
 What though some do not believe ? It is to be de- 
 plored ! "O Lord, increase our faith," and "help 
 our unbelief!" It is enough for the comfort and 
 encouragement of believers, that the Spirit declared 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 95 
 
 by Peter on the day of Pentecost — " the promise 
 is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are 
 afar ofF, even as many as the Lord our God shall 
 call.^' Why then should we hesitate to thank God 
 in the appointed manner, who has promised to pour 
 his Spirit on our seed ? He hath surely given mani- 
 fold proofs that it is his good pleasure to do so. If 
 we believe not, there may be failure. "Yet he abideth 
 faithful ; he cannot deny himself." If you suppose 
 your thank sgi\ing to apply exclusively to a thing 
 past, you will be in danger, either of resting in the 
 form, or of erecting a structure of superstition and 
 self-righteousness. But if your heart, O Christian 
 parent, overflows with gratitude for the bestowment 
 of a present blessing, in such measure as it is pos- 
 sible for an infant to receive — and for the promise 
 of continual supplies of grace, according to every 
 season and degree of need, then you will "draw 
 water with joy out of the wells of salvation ;" you 
 will cheerfully devote yourself to the delightful 
 duty of Christian education ; strengthened in " faith 
 working by love ;" " believing all things, hoping all 
 things;" knowing that God hath "given to us ex- 
 ceeding great and precious promises, that by these 
 we might be partakers of the divine nature." It 
 would be most unscriptural to limit such promises to 
 adults, in the face of that gracious manifestation of 
 good will which Christ vouchsafed to infants, when 
 " he took them in his arms, put his hands upon 
 
96 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 them, and blessed them;" and of the act (Matt, 
 xviii.) by which he answered that question of the 
 disciples — "Who is the greatest in the kingdom 
 of heaven ?" — " Jesus called a little child ,unto 
 him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, 
 Except ye be converted, and become as little chil- 
 dren, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this 
 little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of 
 heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little 
 child in my name, receiveth me." It is true, that 
 this child could not have been then a mere infant; but, 
 to suit the purpose of his being thus called, he must 
 have been of very tender age. Yet he appears to 
 have been a disciple of Christ ; the context implies 
 that he believed on him. And such early faith in 
 our Redeemer, we have reason to bless God, is often 
 witnessed in the present day ; which could not be 
 without an incipient spiritual regeneration by the 
 Holy Spirit, enabling these young disciples to know 
 and love their Lord and Saviour. 
 
 To recognise all this, and to co-operate with it, is to 
 receive such little ones " in his name," and accord- 
 ingly to " receive himself." But surely we should all 
 take heed, lest by denying the possibility of infants 
 being the subjects of such grace, we should be putting 
 a stumbling-block in the way of children, and incur 
 the awful judgment denounced against any "who 
 shall offend one of those little ones which believe." 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 97 
 
 To return, however, to the interpretation of the 
 thanksgiving — '* That it hath pleased thee to regene- 
 rate this infant with thy Holy Spirit ;" it is so 
 cardinal a part of the exposition of our baptismal 
 formularies, that it is hoped indulgence may be 
 extended, even to reiterated repetition on the sub- 
 ject. The idea seems to have taken a strong hold 
 of many, that the phrase in question amounts to 
 giving thanks for spiritual regeneration already 
 completed. This is earnestly denied, for the reasons 
 which have been assigned ; and the maintainers of 
 that opinion are respectfully called upon to produce 
 proof, that regeneration is not a continued, but a 
 single act. That such proof cannot be found in 
 holy Scripture, or in the common use of language, 
 the writer of this tract is firmly persuaded : and 
 being also persuaded that the opinion alluded to is 
 a source of confusion and of dangerous error, he 
 takes the liberty of endeavouring to combat it, '^ even 
 in the shape which it assumes in an editor's article 
 of " The Irish Ecclesiastical Journal," for January, 
 1842. In his description of a good churchman, 
 which deservTS great praise, and perhaps no objec- 
 tion, he says, "that a good churchman he con- 
 ceives to be one," &c. ; and again he says, that 
 such a man believes '* that the force and meanina; 
 of the formularies are to be learned, not from external 
 sources of any sort, but from the words of the for- 
 mularies themselves" (in their obvious meaning). 
 
98 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 " He believes, that the only sense which can be law- 
 fully or honestly imposed on the words of these 
 formularies, is the literal and grammatical sense : and 
 that to attempt to impose on them any other, whether 
 as more scriptural, or more catholic, is nothing short 
 of tyranny over his brother's conscience." This is a 
 very true and fair statement, according to the honest 
 sense, in which the editor doubtless intended to lay 
 down his rule. He could not have entertained a 
 thought of excluding the ordinary and indispensable 
 methods of ascertaining the " literal and grammatical 
 sense." Such as the application of grammar rules ; 
 consulting parallel and contrasted passages ; the 
 usages of common parlance, necessary distinc- 
 tions, &c. No ; he intended to exclude the autho- 
 rity of interpreters, private opinions, and such like. 
 But it is wonderful how easily a man may slide 
 into a transgression even of his own good rules. 
 The editor has committed this fault, but assuredly 
 without intention. He appeals for the sense of our 
 baptismal services to the parties on both sides in the 
 Savoy conference ; to the objections of the noncon- 
 formists, and the answers of the bishops. And he 
 sums up thus — ** Such, in the judgment of both its 
 enemies and its defenders, is the obvious and gramma- 
 tical sense of the Common Prayer-book," &c. Now, 
 that is not to discuss fairly what the grammatical 
 sense is, but to put authority in the place of exami- 
 nation. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 99 
 
 Let Us, however, take an example from tlie editor's 
 quotations. "In the collect after baptism, *We 
 yield thee hearty thanks,' &c., the Puritans made 
 this objection to the words, *that it hath pleased 
 thee to regenerate this infant by thy Holy Spirit' — 
 'We cannot in faith say, that every child that is 
 baptized is regenerated by God's Holy Spirit,' at 
 least it is a disputable pohit, and therefore we desire 
 that it may be otherwise expressed.' — Jlist. of None. 
 p. 173. Cardwell, p. 325 The answer of the 
 bishops is in the following words ; * seeing that God's 
 
 SACRAMENTS HAVE THEIR EFFECTS WHERE THE 
 
 RECEIVER DOTH NOT poiiere ohicem^ put any 
 
 BAR AGAINST THEM, (WHICH CHILDREN CANNOT 
 
 DO,) we may say in faith of every child that is 
 baptized y that it is rer/enerated hy God's Holy Spirit; 
 and the denial of it tends to anabaptism, and the 
 contempt of this holy sacrament, as nothing worthy 
 nor material, whether it be administered to children 
 or no.' " — Hist, of Nonconf. p. 305. Cardwell, 
 p. 356. 
 
 It is admitted that this is strong as to the 
 opinions of the parties in the Savoy conference ; but 
 it seems to the Avriter that Archbishops Cranmer 
 and Ussher may be opposed to both. After all, 
 neither authority is decisive ; though all ought to be 
 regarded with deference, and carefully considered. 
 As to the bishops engaged in the conference, 
 while we have great reason to be thankful for the 
 
100 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 conclusion tliey came to in rejecting the proposed 
 changes, we are not bound to assent to the vahdity of 
 their argument. 
 
 After these and other quotations from the con- 
 ference, the editor states his own ^iew as follows : — 
 " In the private baptism of infants no sponsors are 
 required," &c. . . . and the Gospel is then read 
 and commented on, to prove that the child has 
 already in its private baptism received the grace and 
 blessing of which (according to the doctrine of the 
 church) baptism is the " pledge" and the " means." 
 Here is not a violation of the rule before quoted, 
 but an actual misquotation of most material import- 
 ance, although it may appear trivial to inaccurate 
 readers, because it is only putting the definite for 
 the indefinite article. But this substitution involves 
 inferences of very great magnitude, and deeply 
 affecting our present inquiry. 
 
 Our excellent Church Catechism (among other 
 things) describes a sacrament as " a means whereby 
 we receive," and " a pledge to assure ;" so that the 
 definition does not exclude other means or pledges, 
 as the definite article does. The catechism is not 
 expressly mentioned; perhaps it may not be right 
 to impute misquotation. But in either way, the 
 doctrinal error remains the same. As to the argu- 
 ment drawn from the omission of sponsors in pri- 
 vate baptism, proof has been already offered that 
 the usual sponsors are implied. The editor also 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 101 
 
 assierts, that " the doctrine of the church is, that the 
 regeneration of the infant does not depend either on 
 the faith of the minister, or of any one else, but on 
 Christ's institution and promise, by which alone the 
 sacraments are effectual." Surely it may be asked. 
 Did he recollect the possible case of all the adult 
 parties being infidels and hypocrites ? 
 
 It is conceded, that occasion had been given for 
 some strictures ; but it is believed, that those applied 
 by "The Ecclesiastical Journal" (although with ex- 
 emplary mildness and moderation) are themselves 
 also erroneous. 
 
 In one observation, at least, the writer of these 
 pages agrees fiilly with the editor of the journal, 
 that we are discussing "a matter becoming every 
 hour more painfully momentous." Under this solemn 
 impression, let us now proceed to inquire, whether 
 the interpretation maintained in the first and second 
 divisions of this tract, is corroborated by the further 
 appeal proposed to be made in the remaining part. 
 
 THIRD DIVISION. 
 
 A comparison of the preceding review, with the Articles 
 and Homilies of the Church of England; and also with 
 the office for Confirmation, and the Church-Catechism. 
 
 In adopting the rule of interpretation proposed by the 
 editor of *' The Ecclesiastical Journal," it is evidently 
 
102 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 reasonable to understand it as admitting a comparison 
 of all our formularies and standard-documents. It is 
 not, however, intended to insinuate that our baptis- 
 mal services are in actual need of such assistance, in 
 order to ascertain their meaning. They are in them- 
 selves sufficiently clear and explicit. But it is to be 
 presumed from their common origin and authority, 
 that they mutually harmonize ; and it may therefore 
 be expected that they reflect light upon each other ; 
 besides, independently of any such advantage, it is 
 necessary to show their consistency; and, without 
 estabhshing this, the doctrine of the church could 
 not be fully stated. 
 
 Among the formularies to be compared, the last 
 mentioned in the heading of this division seems to 
 claim the first place in natural order ; as it is 
 appointed for the earliest instruction of the bap- 
 tized, and opens with an enumeration of the privi- 
 leges of baptism ; *' wherein" (says the catechumen) 
 " I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, 
 and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Here 
 a sort of difficulty occurs in the first step ; because 
 ' a member of Christ ' is figurative language : how 
 then shall we adhere to the rule of literal interpre- 
 tation ? But it is plain, where a figure really exists, 
 and is so intended, a construction rigidly literal 
 would be a departure from the obvious meaning, 
 and contrary to another branch of the rule. It is 
 therefore, perhaps, almost superfluous to mention 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 103 
 
 such a case as a difficulty, except from abundant 
 caution. And having thus briefly noticed it, will 
 be sufficient to prevent any one from stumbling, 
 for a moment, at an inquiry into the figurative, that 
 is, the real meaning of the first baptismal privilege ; 
 namely, being " made a member of Christ." 
 
 But a more serious question immediately presents 
 itself, as to the mode of ascertaining the import of 
 the figure. Does the prohibition of resorting to ex- 
 ternal sources impose an absolute imprisonment 
 within the limits of the catechism ? That is 
 manifestly not the intention of the rule, except 
 to the extent of excluding human authorities and 
 imaginations. For a good churchman is described 
 to be one " who believes that the constitution and 
 doctrine of the Church of England — developed in the 
 Book of Common Prayer — taking the words of that 
 book in their plain, common, obvious, and gramma- 
 tical sense and construction — are agreeable to the 
 Holy Scriptures and the doctrine of the primitive 
 church." Now without entering into any discussion 
 of the degree of deference, which is due or not 
 due to the primitive church, the necessity of 
 agreement with the holy Scriptures is here dis- 
 tinctly maintained. Consequently it is granted 
 that an appeal to that inspired and perfect standard 
 is open to a good churchman, and that it is his right 
 and duty to make the appeal. Indeed it would avail 
 but little to know the meaning of the church in her 
 
104 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 formularies, if it could not be proved to be in con- 
 formity with the word of God. And as to that 
 meaning itself, since the style and language of the 
 Prayer-book, are formed upon the study of the holy 
 Scriptures and a familiar acquaintance with them, 
 it would be as preposterous to attempt to fix the 
 interpretation of the Prayer-book, \Nithout reference 
 to the Bible, as it would be to boast of understanding 
 an idiom or dialect, ^^•ithout either conversing with 
 the people, to whom they are vernacular, or reading 
 the books, which are the mirror of their thoughts 
 and oral language. ^Vithout this inspired guide, 
 the figurative appellation *' a member of Christ" 
 would be hard to be understood ; and that a jierson 
 should, in any sense, be denominated " a member of 
 a person," might seem harsh and perplexing. But 
 when we learn from Him who " takes of the things 
 of Christ and shows them" to his disciples, that 
 the Lord vouchsafes to regard his church as his 
 body, and that he sustains the relation of its head, 
 then all difficulty vanishes, and it is easily conceiv- 
 able, that admission to the fellowship and privileges 
 of the church of Christ, is to be made a member of 
 his body, a member of himself. 
 
 Among these privileges, the two which are spe- 
 cified, adoption and inheritance, are inseparably con- 
 nected with membership. But high and inesti- 
 mable as all the privileges of the body of Christ 
 unquestionably are, it is of the utmost practical 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 105 
 
 importance to remember that they admit of degrees : 
 and as the elect of God are exhorted to " make 
 their calling and election sure," so ought the 
 disciples of Christ to examine themselves in all 
 points, whether there be a correspondence, in their 
 dispositions and lives, between profession and 
 reahty. 
 
 That there may be a union with Christ, which 
 instead of being permanent, is condemned to dis- 
 severance and burning, is most awfully manifest 
 from the parable of the true vine and its 
 BRANCHES. Somc of thcsc are represented by the 
 Lord himself as unfruitful, and therefore sentenced 
 to excision. Yet he calls them branches in him — 
 a certain degree of union subsisted — these branches 
 were not dead — they were only unfruitful — and it 
 must therefore be inferred, that sap from the root 
 circulated through them, and even furnished them 
 with leaves, though not with grapes. A similar 
 distinction must be made as to the pri\ilege of 
 adoption, and in speaking of the church of Christ, 
 under the figure of a body, of which he is the 
 living head; and accordingly we have that distinc- 
 tion clearly marked in the homilies of our church. 
 In the third part of the sermon of faith, St. John's 
 first epistle is quoted thus : " And moreover he 
 saith. Hereby we manifestly know the children of 
 God from the children of the devil. He that doeth 
 not righteously is not the child of God, nor he that 
 
106 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 hatetli his brother." The first part of the sermon of 
 charity, near the end, says : " Every man may without 
 eri'or know himself, what state and condition he 
 standeth in, whether he be in charity (and so the 
 child of the Father in heaven) or not." And at 
 the end of the same, another like quotation from 
 St. John ; near the beginning of the third part of 
 the sermon against adultery, we read : " Through 
 cleanness of life we are made members of Christ." 
 And in the second part of the sermon against con- 
 tention : " What crackest thou of thy head, if thou 
 labour not to be in the body? Thou canst be no 
 member of Christ, if thou follow^ not the steps of 
 Christ." 
 
 The same distinction which the parable of " the 
 vine" so clearly teaches, and which runs through 
 these quotations from the homilies, appears also in our 
 Prayer-book, in the very address with which the 
 public baptism of infants commences. It exhorts 
 to pray that the child " may be baptized with water 
 and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy 
 church, and be made a lively member of the same." 
 Now if all infants, who are members of the church 
 by baptism, were necessarily living members, it 
 would be sufficient to use the substantive term only. 
 But the adjective distinguishes the entire class into 
 two sorts, that is, into real and apparent members. 
 The chief practical use of the distinction is to lead to 
 self-examination. An affectionate catechising in- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 107 
 
 structor, by whom it is duly recognised, will avail 
 himself of it x^ithout discouraging the catechumen. 
 The very fact of the instruction may be impressed 
 upon the child, as a precious fruit of its baptismal 
 privilege ; and as one proof of the great value of 
 that privilege. But if instruction be neglected by all 
 whose duty it is to afford it, could it be possible to re- 
 gard a baptism so profaned, as equally blessed with a 
 case, where the power of godhness accompanies the 
 form ? Yet it is not for man to draw an exact line 
 in personal application — at least not always — in 
 discharging the duty of teaching ; but rather to 
 follow the example of other modes of address and 
 exhortation in the apostolic epistles. There we find 
 the whole church of Corinth addressed collectively, 
 as *' sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints ;" 
 and yet it is evident that many of them were not 
 individually worthy of such a character (strictly 
 speaking) in the high sense that belongs to living 
 members of the Lord of glory. 
 
 It appears from many parts of the epistles to the 
 Corinthians, that we have no reason to think more 
 favourably of them than of the average standard of 
 our congregations in the present day. There were 
 dinsions among them, from which the apostle infers 
 that they were " carnal and walked as men." This 
 charge he states as very general in its application to 
 the church of Corinth. He even adds an assertion 
 of "envying and strife" existing among them. In 
 
108 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 the same chapter we read of " wood, hay, and 
 stubble," as either probably or actually built upon 
 the one foundation he had laid. In the fifth chapter 
 an individual transgressor is mentioned, whose case 
 is well known. But in the sixth chapter there is 
 another grievous charge, in which we know not how 
 many were involved — '' Nay, ye do wrong, and 
 defraud, and that your brethren." The profanation 
 of the Lord's supper may also be deplored as a 
 matter of notoriety, and it appears by the fifteenth 
 chapter, that there were some among the Corinthian 
 Christians who had not the knowledge of God, and 
 some who even denied the resurrection of the dead. 
 It is unnecessary to dwell upon these melancholy facts ; 
 because the object is not to estimate the magnitude 
 or extent of the alleged evil, either actual or com- 
 parative, but to show that we have scriptural pre- 
 cedent for speaking of the visible church, or visible 
 churches of Christ, according to what they ought to 
 be, and sometimes to describe them, and their pro- 
 fessed members, in terms which can only belong in 
 full reahty to that body which is commonly called 
 the invisible church ; namely, all who are decidedly 
 and spiritually partakers of " the communion of 
 saints" in heaven and in earth. It may be season- 
 able, however, to recollect the e\*idence contained 
 in the seventh chapter of first Corinthians, that the 
 children of believers are " holy," and therefore to 
 be received as members into the "congregation of 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 109 
 
 Christ's flock ;" and that it is consequently right 
 to address them in language, which instructs in the 
 privileges they possess by being *' under grace," 
 together with the duties and responsibilities which 
 arise out of the same. 
 
 The manner in which the Church of England acts 
 upon this principle, in catechising the young and 
 ignorant, as well as in all its worship and ministra- 
 tions, no more precludes subsequent discrimination 
 and appropriate exhortations and warnings, than the 
 opening of St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, in 
 anywise precluded him from writing in another part : 
 *'Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that 
 bread, and drink of that cup ;" and again, "Though 
 I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and 
 have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or 
 a tinkling cymbal." .... " And though I have all 
 faith so that I could remove mountains, and have 
 not charity, I am nothing." And in the thirteenth 
 chapter of his second epistle he thus most solemnly 
 and awfully exhorts, and admonishes, the same 
 baptized and incorporated professors : " Examine 
 yourselves, whether ye be in the faith ; prove your 
 own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that 
 Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates." 
 
 These observations might be corroborated from 
 other epistles, but it seems superfluous. It is only 
 necessary to ask : If such modes of collective address 
 be scripturally applicable to the adult members of a 
 
110 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 professing Christian chiircli, what is there to exchide 
 infants, who are *'holy" by their birth-right, from 
 the same recognition? What is there objectionable 
 in impressing upon such, when capable of catechetical 
 instruction, that they are partakers of the precious 
 privilege of membership in Christ ? And that their 
 baptism was a means of solennily conferring it, and of 
 entitling; them to be received " into the cono;re£;ation 
 of Christ's flock," and to be treated as lambs em- 
 braced in the arms of the good Shepherd ? 
 
 The tendency of being conscious of such grace 
 bestowed, is to inspire them with desires to think, 
 and feel, and walk, in a manner suitable to their 
 heavenly callino-, and, at the same time, with a 
 reverential godly fear of forfeiting their blessings. 
 *' The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; 
 a good understanding have all they that do there- 
 after." The very act of thus catechising is part of 
 the obedience we owe to that fundamental precept — 
 *' Train up a child in the way he should go." 
 This one command implies the truth of all that has 
 been said concerning baptismal privileges ; and it is 
 hoped that it -will bear us out in all that is to follow. 
 For how could such training be possible without the 
 Holy Spirit ? AVe know that it is utterly impossible 
 to renew "the carnal mind;" or to teach one who 
 is destitute of any other nature than the flesh which 
 is born of flesh, to walk in the footsteps of Christ. 
 " Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. Ill 
 
 for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed 
 can be ; so then, they that are in the flesh cannot 
 please God." — Rom. viii. 7, 8. Does it not clearly 
 follow, that the command in Proverbs to " train" 
 children in the right way, and, in the New Testa- 
 ment, to "bring them up in the nurture and admoni- 
 tion of the Lord" — must necessarily presuppose a 
 capacity for such education, which capacity could not 
 exist if it were not the good pleasure of the Lord to 
 "regenerate" children "with his Holy Spirit?" And 
 what is there to limit the commencement or the con- 
 tinuance of this spiritual operation of the Lord's 
 sanctifying grace ? We know of nothing that can do 
 so, until its consummation in glory. 
 
 The reasons for expecting regenerating grace, ante- 
 cedent to the baptism of infants, have been already 
 set forth ; and also the efficacy of the rite, as one of 
 the means which our God has appointed, and em- 
 ploys, and blesses. We may now add what seems to 
 be overlooked by the advocates of an inseparable con- 
 nexion (where there is no obstacle in the subject) 
 between the sign and "the thing signified" — namely, 
 that " the outward part" is also " a pledge to assure 
 us" of the "inward;" and therefore, by the very 
 meaning and force of the term ^'pledge^^ we are 
 taught, not only to expect immediate blessing from 
 God, as far as possible, but also to look forward to the 
 constant and complete fulfilment of promises "which 
 he, for his part, will most surely keep and perform." 
 
112 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 On these the Christian parent, sponsor, and pastor, 
 rest, in carrying on the delightful work of Christian 
 education. 
 
 That there is no absurdity in asserting the conti- 
 nuance of spiritual regeneration after baptism, and 
 even throughout our whole lives, (if they be consis- 
 tent,) we may perhaps have an opportunity of 
 seeing more distinctly, when we come, in regular 
 course, to consider the last part of the church cate- 
 chism, and the homily for Whit-Sunday. In the 
 hope of having sufficiently elucidated, for the present, 
 the first in order of the baptismal privileges which 
 our church maintains and teaches, let us now proceed 
 to the second — which is, " wherein 1 was made 
 
 THE CHILD OF GoD." 
 
 In endeavouring to explain and prove this privi- 
 lege it may be of some use to inquire, whether any 
 reason can be assigned for prefixing the definite 
 article in this case ? Why do we teach our catechu- 
 mens to say ^^ the child," not a child? It must be 
 granted, that the indefinite article appears to accord 
 better with the first and third privileges, and would 
 produce at least verbal uniformity. But when we 
 recollect that holy Scripture pronounces the whole 
 human race to be the *' offspring of God," (Acts 
 xvii. 28,) it will be evident that there is a sort of 
 comparative feebleness in the expression, "« child of 
 God," because it is applicable (from our common 
 divine origin) to every individual of mankind. — 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 113 
 
 Creation gives a universal title to it — hence arises 
 the necessity of a form of speech, suited to distin- 
 guish the corresponding privilege of sanctification. 
 This purpose is effected by the definite article, 
 because it raises the general denomination ^^ child'' ^ 
 to a degree of eminence. It may be objected, that 
 this distinctive elevation is obtained at the expense 
 of truth ; but ought it not rather to be indulgently 
 described as a momentary and figurative illusion, so 
 far as an individual application is concerned ; at the 
 same time that it conveys a most precious reality, by 
 emphatically pointing to the glorious adoption that is 
 in Christ ? The numbers which partake of this in- 
 estimable privilege, transform the figure into sub- 
 stance ; and the idea is resolved into the vmity of 
 God's people, which he has vouchsafed to write and 
 proclaim in these golden characters of revelation — 
 " Israel is my Son, even my first-born." — 
 Exod. iv. 22 ; Hosea xi. 1 . If then, to ancient Israel 
 "pertained the adoption," does it not at least equally 
 belong to the church of the New Testament, which is 
 the nation to which the kingdom of God has been 
 transferred, accordinc; to the words of our Lord him- 
 self, when he denounced the removal of it from the 
 Jews? That kingdom is compared to a "net cast 
 into the sea;" but, notwithstanding its present mixed 
 state, the subjects of it are collectively the " first- 
 born" of God, and every one of them, of every age, 
 adult or infant, is " the child of God, and an inheri- 
 
114 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 tor of the kingdom of heaven." This privilege of 
 adoption is a necessary consequence of the first — 
 " If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and 
 heirs according to the promise." — Gal. iii. 29. 
 
 Perhaps some may be disposed to argue, that the 
 context shows the membership in Christ to arise out 
 of faith in him. We grant that it does. But, from 
 the apostle's reference to Abraham, we reply, that 
 the children of Christian parents are of that patri- 
 arch's seed, by virtue of their parent's faith. They 
 may, alas ! and too often do, sell their birth-right. 
 But this does not annihilate the filial relation, al- 
 though the relation aggravates the sin. '* I have 
 nourished and brought up children, (saith the Lord,) 
 and they have rebelled against me." — Isaiah i. 2. 
 Now, if that were the state of God's church before 
 the birth of our Saviour, the continuance of the 
 Abrahamic covenant, which is written as with a sun- 
 beam in the New Testament, proves that the dignity 
 of sonship belongs, by covenant, by regeneration and 
 adoption, to the visible church of Christ, notwith- 
 standing that many of those who are named his 
 disciples, have only a name to live, while they are 
 dead. 
 
 It is fully admitted, that this inconsistency of pro- 
 fessing Christians produces an ambiguity of language, 
 in speaking of Christian privileges, which is liable to 
 abuse. But what is not liable to abuse ? It is an 
 ambiguity which we find in the holy Scriptures ; 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 115 
 
 which we are, therefore, not afraid to copy to the 
 scriptural extent, while we follow the example of the 
 same word, in exhorting all our brethren to " prove 
 themselves whether they be in faith," and to apply to 
 their own lives, and hearts, and consciences, that 
 great and searching test — "if any man be in Christ, 
 he is a new creature ; old things are passed away, 
 behold all things are become new." It is an ambi- 
 guity which constitutes Christendom, separated from 
 the rest of the world (among other means) by bap- 
 tism, "a city set on a hill which cannot be hid." It 
 is an ambiguity which forms an immense school, in 
 which thousands of the heirs of heaven are educated, 
 while we confess and deplore the fact, that now, as of 
 old, " all are not Israel, who are of Israel." It is an 
 ambiguity which embraces a much larger proportion 
 of " the election of grace," than all exclusive systems 
 put together. It is an ambiguity which arises out of 
 the incapacity of man to search the heart, and which 
 all must experience, in one shape or other, to be ab- 
 solutely unavoidable. It is an ambiguity which enables 
 us to obey the apostolic precept, "judge nothing 
 before the time." It is an ambiguity which obliges 
 genuine Christians to avoid intimate social inter- 
 course with many who have a right, at the same 
 time, to be ecclesiastically acknowledged as brethren, 
 according to that remarkable passage in St. Paul's 
 first epistle to the Corinthians — " I wrote unto you 
 in an epistle not to company with fornicators; yet not 
 
116 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with 
 the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters ; for 
 then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I 
 have written unto you not to keep company, if any man 
 that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or 
 an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; 
 with such an one no not to eat." It is an ambiguity 
 which enables us to understand the apostle's refe- 
 rences in the tenth chapter of the same epistle to the 
 Old Testament history, concluded with instruction 
 most apposite to our purpose : — " Now all these 
 things happened unto them for ensamples ; and they 
 are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends 
 of the world are come." It is an ambiguity strongly 
 exemplified in the epistles to the angels of the Seven 
 Churches of Asia, which the apostle John was com- 
 manded to write. 
 
 Let the reader examine and consider all these 
 topics, for it would detain us too long to discuss 
 them at large in this place. " He that hath an ear, 
 let him hear what the Spirit saithunto the churches;" 
 and, it is hoped, he will see that the mode of answer- 
 ing in the beginning of our church Catechism, is per- 
 fectly conformable to the style, and manner, and doc- 
 trines of the holy Scriptures. 
 
 Having dwelt so much upon the different grades of 
 Christian membership and affiliation, and the conse- 
 quent ambiguity of terms, until proper occasions 
 arise for discrimination and sub-division, it will not 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 117 
 
 be necessary to do the same upon the third baptismal 
 privilege. Illustrations already offered will throw 
 sufficient light upon that without repetition, and it 
 vn\\ be easy to understand what is meant by being 
 
 " AN INHERITOR OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN." 
 
 That kingdom has been very properly distinguished 
 as containing two parts — the kingdom of grace and 
 the kingdom of glory. It is not the kingdom of 
 glory that is primarily intended in the answer under 
 consideration: for the term "inheritor" does not 
 carry the mind forward to futurity, but implies pos- 
 session, or at least present right; the term *'heir," 
 is of the same import. There is an old law-maxim 
 that "no one is heir of a living person;" popular 
 usage, and even some passages of Scripture, may seem 
 to forbid this strictness ; but the well-kno-Hii distinc- 
 tions of " heir-apparent" and "heir-presumptive," as' 
 to the inheritance of the crown, are apphcable to all 
 cases ; and one or other of these adjectives ought to 
 be understood, when we speak or read of an heir to 
 one yet alive : it, therefore, only remains to prove the 
 present existence of the kingdom of heaven. And, 
 in addition to the recollection of many parts of the 
 gospels, this may be done briefly by two quotations 
 from St. Paul : — " The kingdom of God is not meat 
 and drink but righteousness, and peace, and joy in 
 the Holy Ghost." — Rom. xiv. 17. And again, "who 
 hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and 
 hath translated us into the kin2;dom of his dear Son." 
 Col. i. 13. 
 
118 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 We come now to consider objections which are 
 sometimes xery strongly stated against the assertion, 
 *' wherein I was made," &c. These objections are 
 easily removed by a little candid attention to the 
 usage of language. For example — in the tenth 
 chapter of the first book of Samuel we read that 
 Saul was anointed by the prophet ; that he was after- 
 wards chosen of the Lord by the miraculous process 
 of the lot ; that " all the people shouted, and said, 
 God save the king. Then Samuel told the people 
 the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, 
 and laid it up before the Lord." And yet, near the 
 end of the next chapter we read, that '* Samuel said 
 to the people. Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew 
 the kingdom there. And all the people went to 
 Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the 
 •Lord in Gilgal." Now, we see here that Saul had 
 been already king by divine appointment ; and yet 
 the inspired writer feels no inconsistency in recording 
 the subsequent information, that "they made Saul 
 king before the Lord in Gilgal." In like manner. 
 Christian infants are " holy" by the Lord's appoint- 
 ment ; and for that very reason, on the ground of 
 that title, they are made members of Christ by bap- 
 tism ; expressly recognised and received as such, and 
 invested also by Christ's instituted rite with the 
 other privileges, as inseparably connected with the 
 first. Surely this baptismal making of the privileges 
 does not claim to be the origin of them, any more 
 than the making of Saul king before the Lord in 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 119 
 
 Gilgal, can be considered as derogating from his pre- 
 vious anointing by the prophet, and election by the 
 Lord himself. 
 
 The history of David corroborates this illustration ; 
 but as he was anointed in Hebron, over the house of 
 Judah only, let us pass on to the enthronement of 
 Solomon. 
 
 In the first chapter of the first book of Kings, in 
 consequence of the attempt of Adonijah, we read of 
 Solomon being anointed and set upon the throne by 
 the command of his father David ; but we, notwith- 
 standing, read in the last chapter of the first book of 
 Chronicles, twenty-second verse — " And they made 
 Solomon, the son of David, king the second time." 
 It will be enough to request the reader's attention to 
 the repetition of the solemnity, and to the language 
 in which it is recorded, without arguing any further 
 on a case so plain and so exactly in point. 
 
 It may be right, however, to take notice of an ob- 
 jection, sometimes offered to the beginning of the 
 same answer, in which the baptismal privileges are 
 enumerated. Be it observed, at the same time, that 
 this objection arises out of the neglect of the public 
 reception of children who have been privately bap- 
 tized, which is a blameable omission that ought to be 
 corrected as much as possible. Such children have 
 had no special sponsors. In the minds of some per- 
 sons there is hence an apparent falsehood, in putting 
 into their mouths the answer — " my godfathers and 
 
120 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 godmothers in my baptism." For the solution of 
 this difficulty let it be recollected, that the sponsorial 
 professions and engagements are always implied and 
 understood in baptism, whether they be expressed or 
 not ; because they depend upon the divine will, and 
 not upon the option or contract of the human parties, 
 they cannot be dispensed with or modified in the 
 smallest degree. Whosoever does not renounce the 
 devil and all his works, believe in God's word, and 
 desire to keep his commandments, has no claim by 
 promise to the baptismal privileges. Let it be fur- 
 ther recollected, that implied obligations are equally 
 binding with those which are expressed. ^ The com- 
 mon transactions of hfe and the law of the land 
 prove this. If any one direct a tradesman to perform 
 a work, without more said on either side, the em- 
 ployer is bomid to pay the value of the work, as 
 much as if he had made an express contract. Again, 
 it is plain that the duties which God requires of us, 
 devolve immediately upon us from his sovereign 
 authority, and do not await our consent for their 
 existence. The second of his great commandments, 
 on which " hang all the law and the prophets,'* is 
 this — " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:" 
 and one principal clause of this universal law is found 
 in that well-known apostolic precept — "While we have 
 time let us do good unto all men; especially unto 
 them who are of the household of faith." These 
 laws oblige all believers to do all in their power 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 121 
 
 (mediately or immediately) to promote the Christian 
 education, at least of all who are of the household of 
 faith, and to introduce all others into the same 
 blessed fellowship. By this duty the whole Christian 
 church is constituted a universal parent and sponsor ; 
 and those who bring children to baptism, either pub- 
 licly or privately, besides their own personal obliga- 
 tions, are also representatives of the mystical body 
 of Christ. From these plain principles it follows, 
 that no catechumens can be without godfathers and 
 godmothers ; and that none of them need fear a sha- 
 dow of untruth in the second answer of our church 
 catechism — " my godfathers and my godmothers in 
 my baptism." And at the same time we may learn, 
 that the compilers were not men who stuck in the 
 letter {qui hceret in litem, hceret in cortice) ; for the 
 general rule of the rubric is, not to require more 
 than three sponsors in any case. 
 
 As the ground of the obligation acknowledged in 
 the fourth answer has been already stated, Var next 
 step in this survey is, to consider that fervent expres- 
 sion of gratitude — "I heartily thank our heavenly 
 Father, that he hath called me to this state of salva- 
 tion, through Jesus Christ our Saviour." The mani- 
 fold and abundant causes which we have for such 
 thanksgiving, need not here be proved or enumerated. 
 It is sufficient for our present purpose to observe, 
 that " this state of salvatiorl!^ cannot mean an abso- 
 lutely secure or perfect state ; but it must be under- 
 
122 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 Stood in a comparative and incipient sense. If St. 
 Paul in his epistle to the Romans could say — **Now 
 is our salvation nearer than when we believed" — it is 
 evident that there are degrees of salvation, and that 
 the consummation of it is future, not only to bap- 
 tized catechumens, but to all beHevers, even as long 
 as we remain in this world. We must, therefore, 
 never forget the exhortation — " Give dihgence to 
 make your calling and election sure," and to pray in 
 the spirit and language with which the answer now 
 before us concludes. 
 
 This brings us to the answer that follows the creed, 
 and so fully sums the faith into which we are bap- 
 tized, the faith of the ever-blessedTRiNiTY in unity. 
 It also declares the universahty of redemption, as 
 clearly as that of creation, while it ascribes the bless- 
 ing of sanctification only to " all the elect people 
 of^God." 
 
 As every catechumen is taught to say, *' thirdly, 
 in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me," &c., it 
 seems evident, that the collective election of the 
 visible church is to be understood in this answer, 
 even as the whole congregation of ancient Israel were 
 God's chosen people ; and his Spirit was with them 
 in the wilderness, and of course throughout their sub- 
 sequent history, perhaps to the rejection of Christ ; 
 for it is expressly said, after the Babylonish captivity, 
 "My Spirit remaineth among you." — Haggai ii. 5. 
 Nothing less then can be the pri\-ilege of the nation 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 123 
 
 to wlioni the kingdom of God is transferred ; and the 
 very circumstance of Christian training, in the simple 
 learning of the Cateeliism, does of itself warrant the 
 assertion, ** who sanctitieth me ;" so that, although 
 it may he repeated ignorantly or thoughtlessly, or 
 even inconsistently, it never can he said falsely ; for 
 this catechetical instruction is one of the gracious 
 works of the Holy Spirit, and the present tense of 
 tlie word " sanctifeth'^ most happily expresses his 
 incessant energy, whether in patient long-suffering, 
 or in the growth of grace. It is therefore conceived 
 til at there is no just ground, even for the gentle and 
 friendly imputation which occurs in a recent and 
 interesting volume of autohiography. It were to he 
 wished that the excellent lady, who has introduced 
 tlie anecdote alluded to with the hest intentions and 
 most Christian feeling, miglit'he led to reconsider her 
 ohjectious. It is true, they are comparatiyely so few 
 and slight, that they do not disturh her affectionate 
 veneration for the formularies of our church. But a 
 stunihling-hlock in the way of others ought to he 
 removed if possihle. The truth of the answer, 
 ])roperly explained, would apply a most awakening 
 reflection to the conscience of the unha]>py lad who 
 so unworthily uttered it. And all of us have need to 
 l)e taught that, if we helong to "the election of 
 grace," we must he " elect according to the fore- 
 knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification 
 of the Spirit, unto ohedience and sprinkling of the 
 hlood of Jesus Christ." — 1 Pet. i. 2. It would he 
 
124 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 unseasonable to enter into any abstruse discussion ; 
 but perhaps the writer may be permitted to refer to a 
 lecture on the seventeenth article, (which appears 
 in the Church of England Magazine,*) for the view 
 he endeavours to present of its *' literal and gram- 
 matical sense." Upon the whole, may the Lord 
 enable and dispose us, whether children, or young 
 men, or fathers, to consider solemnly, and with 
 self-examination, the apostolic declarations — that "if 
 any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
 his" ; and again — "as many as are led by the 
 Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." — Rom. viii. 
 9 and 14. 
 
 xlfter the rehearsal of the ten commandments and 
 the summaries of duty to God and our neighbour, a 
 most important instruction follows, that we are not 
 able to do these things of ourselves, and how strength 
 is to be obtained ; and next, the Lord's prayer is 
 repeated and expounded. The remainder of the 
 Catechism is more appropriate to our subject ; for it 
 is on the sacraments. It states their number in this 
 answer : "Two only, as generally necessary to salva- 
 tion, that is to say, baptism and the supper of the 
 Lord." It then gives a definition of the word 
 " sacrament :" it answers the question, " How many 
 parts are there in a sacrament?" and it severally 
 describes the outward and inward part of baptism, 
 and "what is required of persons to be baptized," 
 
 * See No. 4 of the part for March, 1843. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 125 
 
 and why infants are baptized, although they cannot 
 perform these requirements. 
 
 As to the answer concerning the number of the 
 sacraments ; perhaps there may be in it some allusion 
 to a more vague use of the term in ancient ecclesias- 
 tical writers. There are only two made necessary to 
 be observed by all Christ's disciples (generally speak- 
 ing), according to his institution, for their spiritual 
 welfare individually, and in order to promote his 
 kingdom and righteousness. Some may choose to 
 call matrimony a sacrament. Be it so : but it is not 
 " generally necessary to salvation ;" although it 
 ought to be '* honourable in all." But that our 
 church does not intend to assert (even in a modified 
 form) an impossibility of enjoying " the inward 
 part or thing signified" by a sacrament, without an 
 actual application of the outward sign, is clearly 
 evinced by a rubric annexed to the offices for the 
 visitation and communion of the sick. Wilful 
 neglect of either sacrament is highly sinful and 
 presumptuous. It is in its own nature a guilty and 
 destructive omission of what ('hrist's command had 
 made necessary to his disciples. And this incontro- 
 vertibly proves what is their duty ; and as such, and 
 in connexion with the promises, essential to the 
 nourishment and health of their souls. 
 
 In the definition of a sacrament, it would seem to 
 do violence to grammar and obvious intention, to 
 refer ^^ given''' to the sign, instead of the word imme- 
 
126 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 diately preceding. The "visible sign" is '* ordained," 
 the " spiritual grace" is "given." If "given" and 
 "ordained" were both meant to have the same 
 reference, they ought to have been united by a con- 
 junction. It may be also useful to observe again, that 
 the sign is ordained, not as the means, but as "« 
 means," &c. that is, as one means among others. 
 And the aspect of the word "pledge," looking to 
 futurity, admonishes us to beware of the error, which 
 appears to have been so strongly and justly censured 
 by Archbishop Ussher, of supposing the entire effect 
 of baptism to be completed in the administration. 
 
 The reader may find this passage quoted, in the 
 sixth letter of Budd on infant baptism, from which 
 the following extract is copied : — 
 
 " Baptism is not done only at the font, which is a 
 thing that deceives many, for it runs through our 
 whole life ; nor hath it consummation till our dying 
 day, till we receive final grace : the force and eflScacy 
 of baptism is for the washing away of sin to-morrow 
 as well as the day past ; the death of sin is not till 
 the death of the body,* and therefore it's said — 'We 
 must be buried with him by baptism into his death.' 
 Now after death we receive final grace, till when this 
 washing and the virtue thereof hath not its con- 
 summation." — See eighteen sermons preached in 
 Oxford, 1640. 
 
 ♦ This must mean, in a sense of complete finality. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 127 
 
 Since then baptism is '* a sign of regeneration,'* 
 and since (according to Archbishop Ussher) "baptism 
 is not done only at the font .... for it runs through 
 our whole life," does it not appear to have been the 
 opinion of Ussher, that regeneration — far from being 
 a single act — runs through our whole life ? Indeed 
 it is perfectly clear, that the author of the homily 
 for Whitsunday most distinctly believed in a rege- 
 neration by the Holy Spirit, which could not possibly 
 take place except in adult persons. For in the first 
 part of that homily, after having quoted the dark 
 question of Nicodemus, it observes, that " he had 
 little or no intelligence of the Holy Ghost ;" .... 
 '* whereas, otherwise if he had known the great 
 power of the Holy Ghost in this behalf, that it is he 
 which inwardly worketh the regeneration and new 
 birth of mankind, he would never have marvelled at 
 Christ's words, but would rather take occasion 
 thereby to praise and glorify God. For as there are 
 three several and sundry persons in the Deity, so 
 have they three several and sundry offices proper 
 unto each of them — the Father to create ; the Son 
 to redeem ; the Holy Ghost to sanctify and regene- 
 rate. Whereof the last, the more it is hid from our 
 understanding, the more it ought to move all men to 
 wonder at the secret and mighty working of God's 
 Holy Spirit, which is within us. For it is the Holy 
 Ghost, and no other thing, that doth quicken the 
 minds of men, stirring up good and godly motions in 
 their hearts, which are agreeable to the will and 
 
128 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 commanclinent of God, such as otherwise of their 
 ovra crooked and perverse nature they should never 
 have." 
 
 It is plain, that in specifying the office of the Holy 
 Ghost, " To sanctify and regenerate" (if not iden- 
 tified) are at least so united, and placed in such order, 
 that, as sanctification is confessedly a progressive 
 operation, regeneration must be understood to be pro- 
 gressive also ; and the act of " stirring up good and 
 godly motions*' is not a single, but a continued opera- 
 tion. A little after these questions are put — " Did not 
 God's Holy Spirit miraculously work in the child David, 
 when of a poor shepherd he became a princely pro- 
 phet ? Did not God's Holy Spirit miraculously work 
 in Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom, when of a 
 proud publican he became an humble and lowly evan- 
 gelist 1 And who can choose but marvel, to consider, 
 that Peter should become of a simple fisher a chief and 
 mighty apostle ? Paul of a cruel and bloody perse- 
 cutor, a faithful disciple of Christ, to teach the gen- 
 tiles?" It then exclaims — *' Such is the power of the 
 Holy Ghost to regenerate men, and as it were to bring 
 them forth anew, so tjiat they shall be nothing like 
 the men that they were before." The great and 
 happy spiritual change here spoken of is not a sudden 
 change, nor is it a change merely wrought in secret, 
 but outwardly and increasingly manifested in the fruit 
 of the spirit. 
 
 It may be somewhat digressive, but it would be 
 unpardonable to overlook the proof which the pre- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 129 
 
 ceding quotations furnish, that our church does not 
 restrict regeneration to the Christian dispensation 
 since the time in which the Lord instituted baptism, 
 and commanded the Gospel to be preached " to every 
 creature." It is taken for granted, as an admitted 
 and unquestionable truth, that David's state, in this 
 respect, was just the same with that of Matthew, 
 Peter, and Paul. And in the first part of the homily 
 for Rogation Week, we read — " Let them all come 
 together that be now glorified in heaven. . . . David 
 would make answer for them all, and say. Know ye for 
 surety, even the Lord is God, he hath made us, and 
 not we ourselves. If they were asked again, who 
 should be thanked for their regeneration ? for their 
 justification ? and for their salvation ? Whether their 
 deserts, or God's goodness only ? Although in this 
 point, every one confess sufficiently the truth of this 
 matter in his own person, yet let David answer by 
 the mouth of them all at this time, who cannot choose 
 but say, Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to thy name 
 give all the thank, for thy loving mercy, and for thy 
 truth's sake." 
 
 But let us return to the doctrine intended to be 
 maintained and illustrated, namely, that oi progressive 
 regeneration, throughout our whole lives, by quoting 
 the concluding passage of the first part of the homily 
 for Whitsunday : — '* In the mean season, let us (as 
 we are most bound) give hearty thanks to God the 
 Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, for sending down 
 
 K 
 
130 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 his Comforter into the world ; humbly beseeching 
 him so to work in our hearts by the power of his 
 Holy Spirit, that we being regenerate and newly born 
 again in all goodness, righteousness, sobriety, and 
 truth, may in the end be made partakers of everlast- 
 ing life in his heavenly kingdom, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord and Saviour. Amen." 
 
 It cannot easily be denied or doubted that pro- 
 gressive regeneration is the doctrine of this passage, 
 since it exhorts adult Christians to pray that the 
 Holy Spirit may so work upon our hearts, " that we 
 being regenerate and newly born again" in graces and 
 virtues, which evidently pertain to mature age, and 
 are of a growing nature, we may attain to everlasting 
 life through Jesus Christ our Saviour. 
 
 Indeed the exhortation to sponsors at the close of 
 the baptismal service, which has been already intro- 
 duced in a former division, inculcates the same view ; 
 and the office for confirmation is at least in full ac- 
 cordance with it, especially the prayer which accom- 
 panies the laying on of hands — " Defend, O Lord," 
 &c. ; ** that he may continue thine for ever ; and daily 
 increase in thy Holy Spirit more and more, until he 
 come unto thy everlasting kingdom." 
 
 The collect for Christmas* teaches the regenerate 
 children of God to pray for the daily renewal of the 
 Holy Spirit : and what is daily renewal, but daily re- 
 
 * See also the collect for Easter evening. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 131 
 
 generation ? " Not by works of righteousness which 
 we have done, but according to his mercy he saved 
 us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of 
 the Holy Ghost." — (Titus.) There is no proof that 
 ** regeneration" and " renewing" are applied to dif- 
 ferent things. It is quite agreeable to the manner of 
 the parallelism so familiar in the holy Scriptures, not 
 only in the Psalms and other poetical portions, but 
 also in prosaic parts, to understand them as very 
 nearly synonymous expressions, although very beau- 
 tifully presenting varied aspects of the same object. 
 " Regeneration" brings before us the idea of our 
 Heavenly Father ; " renewal" reminds us of the de- 
 cay and corruption which sin has produced, and that 
 we must pray for "the true circumcision of the spirit," 
 and that if our conscience accuse us t)f not being 
 indeed rescued from the dominion of sin, we must 
 pray to him " who hateth nothing that he hath 
 made," to "create and make in us new and contrite 
 hearts." Such is the regeneration which is specially 
 prayed for at the beginning of Lent : such was the re- 
 generation which David sought in Psalm li., when he 
 prayed — "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, 
 and cleanse me from my sin."* He confesses his 
 guilt by nature and by practice ; and, to speak in the 
 language of our baptismal services, he supplicates 
 
 * This is an example of the parallelism alluded to ; but 
 examples are innumerable. 
 
132 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 for the remission of his sins *' hy spiritual regenera- 
 tion •'^ he vnplores a returning sense of the divine 
 favour, and renewed enjoyment of the fiUal spirit : — 
 " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity : and in sin did 
 my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth 
 in the inward parts ; and in the hidden part thou 
 shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me vnih. 
 hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall 
 he whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and 
 gladness, that the bones ivhich thou hast broken may 
 rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out 
 all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O 
 God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me 
 not away from thy presence ; and take not thy Holy 
 Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy 
 salvation ; and uphold me ivith thy free spirit." 
 
 In the scarcity of examples of the actual use of 
 the term ^^ regeneratiori^ in the Bible, which, if 
 numerous, would enable us more directly to employ 
 the mode of " concordance" to assist interpretation, 
 it is surely reasonable to expect the frequent occur- 
 rence of equivalent terms ; and we are persuaded that 
 the word ^^ create^* is one of these. There are other 
 words which perhaps cannot be considered as strictly 
 equivalent ; and yet they convey distinct ideas of 
 certain important parts of the same great work of the 
 Holy Spirit, only under various aspects ; such are the 
 words repentance and conversion. The language of 
 St. Paul, repeatedly and habitually in his epistles. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 133 
 
 impresses this conviction deeply upon the mind of an 
 attentive reader. In the twelfth chapter of Romans 
 he exhorts — " And he not conformed to this world ; 
 but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind," 
 &c. ; and in 2 Cor. v. 20 — "We pray yowin Christ's 
 stead, be ye reconciled to God." Thus we see that 
 he feels no difficulty in persuading the regenerate to 
 be "transformed" or increasingly regenerate; nor 
 those already reconciled by incorporation in the true 
 vine — "be ye reconciled to God." In the fourth 
 chapter of Galatians he writes — "x\nd because ye 
 are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son 
 into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Yet we 
 read further on in the same chapter — " my little chil- 
 dren, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be 
 formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, 
 and to change my voice ; for I stand in doubt of 
 you." To the regenerate Ephesians, who were saved 
 by grace, and brought nigh by the blood of Jesus, he 
 writes — " that ye put off concerning the former con- 
 versation the old man, which is corrupt according 
 to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of 
 your mind ; and that ye put on the new man, which 
 after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." 
 The regeneration of the Colossians is described in 
 very strong and copious language — " Ye are complete 
 in him, which is the head of all principality and 
 power: in whom also ye are circumcised with the 
 circumcision made without hands, in putting off the 
 
134 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of 
 Christ : buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye 
 are risen with him through the faith of the operation 
 of God, who hath raised him from the dead." — Chap, 
 ii. 10-12. And in the third chapter he says ; — " Ye 
 have put off the old man with his deeds ; and have put 
 on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after 
 the image of him that created him :" these passages 
 appear fully to justify the exhortation of the Homily 
 for Whitsunday already quoted. 
 
 But we cannot pass on without special observation, 
 that those who were buried with Christ in baptism, 
 are also risen with him ''through the faith of the ope- 
 ration of God'' And yet regenerate children, still 
 in subjection to their parents in the Lord, are ad- 
 dressed in this epistle, and therefore included in the 
 spiritual resurrection through faith, at the same time 
 that the effect is also connected with baptism by the 
 word " wherein^ Here, then, is a scriptural proof of 
 the truth of a position before maintained — that, in un- 
 conscious infants, the full effect of the thing signified 
 is not in immediate connexion with the sign, but 
 partly in abeyance until the exercise of faith. Per- 
 haps this observation may be strengthened by the 
 fact that the article occurs in the Greek of the 
 quoted passage — "buried with him in the baptism, 
 wherein," &c. But it is not necessary to rest the 
 argument upon the presence or absence of an article. 
 And that repentance and faith are required of per- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 135 
 
 sons to be baptized according to the doctrine of our 
 church, it would be almost superfluous to prove, if 
 it were not for the bias which system produces on 
 the mind. However, it is obvious that our church 
 assigns no other reason for the apparent difference 
 which exists in the case of infants, than ** because 
 they promise them both by their sureties ; which pro- 
 mise, when they come to age, themselves are bound 
 to perform." 
 
 We have thus been led to anticipate a little. But 
 we must not forget that the preceding question and 
 answer in the Catechism are most materially connected 
 with this discussion concerning baptism : — 
 
 " Q. What is the inward and spiritual grace? 
 
 ** A. A death unto sin, and a new birth mito 
 righteousness ; for being by nature born in sin, and the 
 children of wrath, we are hereby made the children 
 of grace." 
 
 The exposition of this answer evidently depends, 
 in a great degree, upon the reference of the word 
 ** hereby y Does it lead us to the spiritual grace 
 alone, or to baptism as a whole, including also the 
 outward sign, and the administration of the rite ? 
 By syntax rules it may seem to be more nearly con- 
 nected with what immediately precedes the reason 
 assigned for what the answer asserts : but -wdthout 
 t^py force it may relate to that which is understood 
 in the question, namely — baptism. What then is to 
 decide our choice between these two constructions. 
 
136 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 each of which is verbally admissible ? We must ap- 
 peal to the truth of the doctrine according to the 
 word of God ; and, as to the sense of the compilers, 
 we must be guided by what they have taught us to 
 say more explicitly in another place. 
 
 In the beginning of the Catechism where baptism is 
 first mentioned, it is immediately added — " Wherein 
 I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, 
 and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Now, 
 in whatever sense we have been invested with these 
 privileges in baptism, there can be no doubt that we 
 are likewise invested with the privilege under consi- 
 deration ; that is, according to the "view of those who 
 believe the answer to be true. It is hoped that the 
 language of it has been justified in the opening of 
 this third division, as agreeable to holy Scripture. 
 Consistency, therefore, requires us to believe that by 
 baptism (as a sign and seal of God's covenant mercy 
 in Christ) we are " made the children of grace ;" 
 and that must be the doctrine intended to be taught. 
 And is it not a most scriptural and precious doc- 
 trine? To deny it, is in effect to give up infant 
 baptism ; but we are here supposed to be discussing 
 this subject with those who practise infant baptism 
 as an institution of the Lord. There can be no other 
 source of " a death unto sin, and a new birth unto 
 righteousness," but the knowledge of antecedent 
 grace. Let us weigh attentively the consequence of 
 regarding this death and birth as the cause, instead 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 137 
 
 of the effect of the privilege. In that ease, that is, 
 if the baptized are not children of grace, they must 
 be children of wrath still ; and then how are they to 
 be reconciled? How are they to emerge from the 
 gulph of condemnation ? How are they to obtain "a 
 death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness ?" 
 Imagine a Christian parent endeavouring to instruct 
 such an unhappy child ; to '* train up" such a mere 
 fleshly offspring '' in the nurture and admonition of 
 the Lord !" Surely the truth must be told, or not a 
 single step can be taken in the work ! And what is 
 the miserable child to think or do? Without en- 
 couragement, without promises, without the light of 
 a heavenly Father's countenance. Its state must be 
 death in sin, instead of ''death unto sin." What 
 lesson can even a Christian mother's love impress on 
 such a one ? The direct tendency of the circum- 
 stances in which she supposes herself to be placed is, 
 to lead her to relinquish education altogether, or to 
 confine it to that which is exclusively secular ; to let 
 nature run wild, and bring forth thorns and briars 
 — perhaps with some distant and uncertain hope of 
 future conversion. It is to be feared that the theory 
 we deprecate has been too often realized. But it may 
 be asked — Is there no Christian education to be found 
 among antipaedo-baptists ? We hope and believe that 
 there is ; but we maintain that in such cases it forces 
 its way through a happy inconsistency. It is consol- 
 ing to know that practical principles very frequently 
 
138 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 rise above the barriers of erroneous systems. But 
 how much more happy is the condition of a parent 
 who can speak in faith and hope to a child about 
 a Saviour's love, who commanded children to be 
 brought unto him, and took them in his arms, and 
 laid his hands upon them, and blessed them. He is 
 the good shepherd, who " shall gather the lambs with 
 his arm, and carry them in his bosom." — Isaiah xl. 
 1 1 . How sweetly he draws them by the attractions 
 of his love ! It is an animating, it is a regenerating 
 liberty, to feel warranted to say to our oifspring — 
 " Sin shall not have dominion over you ; for ye are 
 not under the law, but under grace." — Rom. vi. 
 
 Upon this basis of divine mercy our church Cate- 
 chism is formed ; and it encourages those who have 
 been already made recipients of grace, and brought 
 nigh through the blood of Jesus, and assured of the 
 gift of his Holy Spirit, to embrace the promises, to 
 be thankful for the sacramental sign, to use it in 
 spirit as a constantly efficient means, whereby to 
 *' grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord 
 and Saviour Jesus Christ." Thus shall the inward 
 part be more and more perfected from day to day ; 
 the old man shall be crucified with Christ ; and " as 
 many as receive him, to them he gives power to 
 become the sons of God" — *'a new birth unto righ- 
 teousness" — " even to them that believe in his name ; 
 which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the 
 flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 139 
 
 Behold a brief description of the manner in which 
 even the lambs of Christ's flock are sanctified and 
 cleansed " with the washing of water by the word." 
 Let us never forget that " baptism saves us (not the 
 putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer 
 of a good conscience towards God) by the resurrection 
 of Jesus Christ." " Let us draw near with a true 
 heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts 
 sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies 
 washed with pure water." — lleb. x. 22. The Scrip- 
 tures are like what is said in the sixth chapter of St. 
 John's gospel — " They are spirit and they are life." 
 They forbid us to limit the regenerating grace of the 
 Holy Spirit to the moment of the administration of the 
 rite of baptism ; they teach us to conceive its efficacy, 
 extended and active, through all Christian experience ; 
 and the spiritual significance of it as always operative 
 upon the conscience, and upon the whole man — body 
 and spirit, even as the water which Christ gives, is "a 
 well of water springing up into everlasting life." 
 
 Our Catechism thus purely and gently leads " into 
 the glorious liberty of the children of God." It does 
 not teach a physical and inseparable connexion 
 between sacramental signs and the inward parts or 
 things signified ; but that we are to use the signs, 
 and continually to resort to them in spirit, as means 
 of grace and pledges to assure us thereof. The thing 
 signified in baptism is ** a death unto sin, and a new 
 birth unto righteousness :" and these are set before 
 
140 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 the young catechumen, not as fully accomplished 
 already, but to impress a conviction of their necessity, 
 to excite to self-examination, and to prayer for further 
 degrees of the privileges and blessings of "the chil- 
 dren of grace." This filial relation, made known as 
 begun, cheers the young soul, and quickens progress. 
 But the doctrine which, instead of the glad tidings of 
 salvation through the blood of Christ, calls for obedi- 
 ence and hohness, under the terrible announcement 
 that we have no second baptism, no justification by 
 faith after falling into sin, no peace with God in this 
 world — conducts to self-righteousness with one hand, 
 and with the other — to despair ! or to " unclean 
 living, no less perilous than desperation." Let any 
 Christian who walks in the light, and experiences 
 that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, 
 read one of Mr. Newman's sermons, in which he 
 destroys the consolation of Christ (as far as in him 
 lies) from the contrite heart, by asserting that 
 although there may be joy in heaven over a re- 
 penting sinner, there is no echo of it upon earth ; 
 let him read that astounding assertion with others of 
 a kindred spirit, and say, whether the preceding 
 imputation against tractarian tenets be unjust. 
 
 With respect to the light to be derived, in this 
 discussion, from an examination of our church Cate- 
 chism, it only remains to call to the reader's recollec- 
 tion the pre-requisites which are so much insisted on 
 both in the baptismal services, and in the explanation 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 141 
 
 of the sacraments. These pre-requisites are, repen- 
 tance and faith. To inculcate the necessity of them 
 in the most decided manner, a special method is 
 employed in the public baptism of infants, by explicit 
 questions addressed to the sponsors, which they are 
 required to answer in the name of the child. Then in 
 the Catechism the reason assigned for the baptism of 
 infants — notwithstanding the incapacity of their tender 
 age — is this and this only : *' Because they promise 
 them both" (repentance and faith) by their sureties ; 
 which promise, when they come to age, themselves 
 are bound to perform." The reason oi putting no 
 obstacle, which some divines consider of so much im- 
 portance, is never once alluded to. The inference is 
 ine\'itable, that it was rejected as unsound. And the 
 incorporation of repentance and faith in the baptis- 
 mal office, even in the case of infants, proves that the 
 compilers of our formularies, must have regarded bap- 
 tism as incomplete, until the actual development of 
 those graces. The manner in which the fulfilment 
 of God's promises is mentioned, confirms this obser- 
 vation : " Which promises he, for his part, will 
 most surely keep and perform." Following up the 
 suggestion implied in this assurance, the instruction 
 communicated to the baptized inculcates the obliga- 
 tion of performing, in the strength of the Lord, all 
 the sponsorial promises as to faith and practice. 
 Then comes the explanation already quoted, from 
 the last part of the Catechism ; and proceeding, in 
 
142 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 the next place, to the Order of Confirmation^ we 
 shall see distinctly that it harmonized with all that 
 went before, and takes for granted the same view 
 which has been here presented. 
 
 THE ORDER OF CONFIRMATION. 
 
 In the commencement of this office the bishop 
 puts an important question to the baptized who come 
 to be confirmed: "Do ye here, in the presence of 
 God, and of this congregation, renew the solemn 
 promise and vow that was made in your name at your 
 baptism V &c. To which every one of them is re- 
 quired to answer audibly — " I do." Taking for 
 granted that this answer is made in sincerity and 
 truth, there can be no doubt of the regeneration and 
 justification of those who make it : and, on this 
 ground, the bishop prays as follows : — 
 
 ''Almighty and everliving God, who hast vouch- 
 safed to regenerate these thy servants, by water and 
 the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them the for- 
 giveness of all their sins, strengthen them, we be- 
 seech, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost the Comforter, 
 and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts of 
 grace," &c. 
 
 Here are somewhat retrospective terms used in 
 respect of regeneration, which do not occur before in 
 the formularies under consideration. And yet it is 
 well worthy of observation, that it is not said : Who 
 hast regenerated. This is the more remarkable, as 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 143 
 
 the word " regenerated^^ had been used in adminis- 
 tering the unction prescribed by the first Common 
 Prayer-book of King Edward the Sixth. The form 
 may be found in Wheatley, sixth subdivision of the 
 third section of the seventh chapter. 
 
 After mentioning the white vesture formerly put 
 on the baptized, &c. he says : 
 
 " For, by the same book of King Edward, as soon 
 as the priest had pronounced the foregoing form, he 
 was to anoint the infant upon the head, saying : 
 
 " Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesns 
 Christ, who hath regenerated thee by ivater and the 
 Holy Ghost ; and hath given unto thee the remis- 
 sion of all thy sins ; He vouchsafe to anoint thee 
 with the unction of his holy Spirit, and bring 
 thee to the inheritance of everlasting life. Ameny 
 
 It is not intended to be maintained that, in these 
 circumstances, the clause " who hath regenerated^ 
 &c. would be untrue. But there can be no doubt, 
 that the formularies of King Edward's time were 
 before the eyes, or fully in the recollection of the 
 compilers of our Prayer-book in its present state. 
 And yet they have given a remarkable preference to 
 the word '* regenerates^'' not only in the baptismal 
 services, but here in confirmation, where the stronger 
 word would have been less objectionable, than in the 
 earlier stages of the Christian life. If the alteration 
 was not deliberately intentional (which is a supposi- 
 tion scarcely admissible as to men of such accuracy, 
 
144 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 such pious care, and so much reverence for prece- 
 dents), it cannot be wrong to beheve that the change 
 was providentially overruled to render our forms more 
 perfectly consonant to truth. The language actually 
 used is evidently more suited to the petitions which 
 follow for increase of grace, than if regeneration had 
 been spoken of as a thing already passed and completed. 
 On the other hand, the forgiveness of all sins is a 
 blessing most justly acknowledged as already given, 
 because God has promised it to *'all them that truly 
 repent and unfeignedly beheve his holy Gospel." In 
 this, the case of persons prepared to be confirmed, 
 coincides with that of persons baptized in adult age, 
 and strengthens the contrast which was pointed out, 
 in the second division of this tract, between a simi- 
 lar part of the service for that occasion, and the re- 
 markable omissions by which the other baptismal 
 services are distinguished. How cautiously does the 
 Order for Confirmation avoid every thing that might 
 look like a limitation of the effect of baptism to the 
 font, or the time of administration ! What ample 
 room does it afford to those who hold the doctrine of 
 progressive regeneration, and agree with Archbishop 
 Ussher, that the inward and spiritual grace of baptism 
 extends through the whole of a Christian life, " Nor 
 hath it consummation till our dying day !" Nay, this 
 beautifully spiritual office teaches us to pray, most 
 fully and fervently, for such a growth as progressive 
 regeneration signifies. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 145 
 
 We may further observe how justly the bishop re- 
 fers to the example of the apostles, notwithstanding 
 the great difference in our present state, from the 
 absence of miraculous gifts. For St. Paul speaks 
 in the sixth chapter of Hebrews, of "laying on of 
 hands," in close connexion with baptism, as among 
 *'the principles of the doctrine of Christ." *' There- 
 fore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, 
 let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again the 
 foundation of repentance from dead works, and of 
 faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and of 
 laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, 
 and of eternal judgment." The whole tenor of this 
 passage leads us to infer that what we mean by the 
 term *' confirmation" is to be identified here with 
 "laying on of hands ;" and, at the same time, that 
 it was not intended to cease with the cessation of 
 miraculous gifts. Such gifts are not mentioned ; but 
 some of the very elements of Christianity, which are 
 as necessary to be believed and practised at one 
 period as another. The same truth is implied, if not 
 expressed, in St. Peter's address on the day of Pente- 
 cost, where he says — " the promise is unto you, and 
 to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as 
 many as the Lord our God shall call." And it is not 
 to be forgotten that the spiritual gifts, in which the 
 apostles themselves were endued with the promised 
 power from on high, were not miraculous only, but 
 " also boldness with fervent zeal," which our Prayer- 
 
146 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 book unites, iu its thanksgiving, with the gift of 
 tongues. Is it not reasonable to conclude, that 
 afterwards, when the Holy Ghost was given by the 
 laying on of the apostles' hands, the same union was 
 experienced of ordinary and extraordinary gifts ? 
 
 We are naturally led to the recollection of the first 
 recorded instance of this apostolic act, although we 
 may be certain that many others had previously oc- 
 curred. There cannot be two opinions about the 
 absence of the spiritual grace of baptism in the case 
 of that unhappy man to whom Peter so awfully pro- 
 nounced that he had "neither part nor lot in this 
 matter." But suppose a person baptized in infancy, 
 to manifest with equal certainty the *'gall of bitter- 
 ness" and " the bond of iniquity." Can we conceive 
 the same apostle to regard or address such a one as 
 a child of God, a partaker of " spiritual regenera- 
 tion," and born of the Holy Ghost? -Impossible! 
 Every Christian principle revolts against the thought ; 
 and it is directly and expressly at variance with the 
 doctrine of the apostle John — "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 
 righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth 
 not his brother." — 1 John iii. 9, 10, And does the 
 Church of England teach an opposite doctrine to 
 this? God forbid! We thank God, indeed, that it 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 147 
 
 hath pleased him to regenerate our offspring with his 
 Holy Spirit ; we have clear warrants for such grati- 
 tude, and it is our duty and our privilege to express 
 it. The Holy Spirit of God remaineth among us, 
 and is with the administration of his ordinances. 
 He embraces and moves upon the soul and body of 
 every baptized infant, even as he " moved upon the 
 face of the waters," when " the earth was without 
 form, and void ; and darkness was upon the face of 
 the deep ;" aud before '' God said. Let there be 
 hght :" but the world was formed progressively, and 
 so is the new creation. If any man be truly in Christ 
 and abiding in him, "he is a new creature: old things 
 are passed away ; behold, all things are become new." 
 But is this the operation of a moment ? The universal 
 answer (perhaps with some differences of sound) may 
 safely be stated to be — No.* 
 
 How, then, is regeneration excluded from a partici- 
 pation in this gradual process? By a distinction 
 which is not to be found in the holy Scriptures, nor 
 in our Book of Common Prayer — a distinction which 
 draws an unauthorized line between regeneration and 
 *' the renewing of the Holy Ghost." They are, how- 
 ever, the same thing (as before described) in different 
 aspects ; so that either may be defined : — " The com- 
 
 ♦ In John xiv. 23, there is a coming and abiding of the 
 Father and the Son, mentioned by our Lord himself, and con- 
 sequently an indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which must be 
 preceded by love and obedience. 
 
148 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 mencement and growth of a new and spiritual life, 
 through Christ our Saviour, and the operation of his 
 Spirit ; liable, in some stages, to blight and decay. ''^ 
 Where there is a beginning made by the grace and 
 providence of God, according to the covenant of mercy 
 which he has revealed in his word, and where a visible 
 seal of that covenant has been applied in his ap- 
 pointed way, the appellation "regenerate" is right- 
 fully given to the subject of that grace ; and the 
 Holy Spirit is given in such measure, that there need 
 not be a shadow of doubt of the presence and activity 
 of his vital influences in every act of Christian nur- 
 ture which must follow "according to this beginning." 
 Let the baptized be continual objects of believing 
 prayer and blessing ; let the first looks which they 
 can return with their infant smiles, be looks of Chris- 
 tian love ; let them be catechised from their tenderest 
 years, as lambs gathered in the arms of the good 
 shepherd, and carried in his bosom ; let them be 
 nourished with '* the sincere milk of the word, that 
 they may grow thereby;" so shall that precious saying 
 be reahzed — " Out of the mouth of babes and suck- 
 lings thou hast perfected praise :" fruits will delight 
 and reward the faithful instructor, which cannot be 
 produced by the flesh or natural man. And instead 
 of hesitation or objection being felt, in calling a 
 baptized infant " regenerate^'' in every successive in- 
 troduction of a young member to the church, we 
 shall, with increasing faith, and hope, and joy, look 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 149 
 
 up to our God, and say — " We yield thee hearty 
 thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased 
 thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit.'* 
 Such is the inestimable love of God in the redemp- 
 tion of the world. But we may neglect this great 
 salvation ; and then comes the awful question of 
 the apostle — "How shall we escape?" Alas! it is 
 possible to " grieve the Spirit," to " quench the 
 Spirit ; " so that (although baptized) our works may 
 deny " the Lord that bought us," and prove us to be 
 *' sensual, having not the Spirit," or under the de- 
 nunciation of Rom. viii. 9 — *' If any man have not 
 the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." To consider 
 such persons, whether baptized in infancy, or in 
 maturer age, as having experienced fully '* a death 
 unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness," and 
 as having a holy seed remaining in them, which 
 cannot be lost in this life, would be self-contradictory, 
 as well as repugnant to the plain words of Scripture 
 and of our Prayer-book. St. John says: — '* What- 
 soever is born of God overcometh the world : and 
 this is the victory that overcometh the world, even 
 our faith." — 1 John v. 4. 
 
 As to our Liturgy and devotional offices, we ought 
 not to expect to find expressions in our forms of 
 worship, which could only suit persons without the 
 pale of the Lord's household, because these forms 
 are necessarily and avowedly drawn up in language 
 suited to the exercises of living faith. Social Chris- 
 
150 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 tian worship must endeavour to bring up those who 
 profess to join in it, to a holy standard, instead of 
 letting itself down to the level of the flesh. Yet 
 those truths of holy Scripture (exemplified in the last 
 quotation from St. John) are every where implied ; and 
 all our professed members are incessantly called to 
 self-examination. The declaration on God's behalf, 
 at the commencement of our worship, that '' He par- 
 doneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, 
 and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel," manifestly 
 implies and admonishes that there may be persons 
 present, whose repentance is not true, whose faith 
 is not unfeigned ; because the net of the kingdom of 
 heaven gathers in both good and bad. Hence, " in 
 the visible church, the e\il be ever mingled with the 
 good" (Article xxvi.) ; and assembled congregations 
 are duly reminded of this mixture, and warned of the 
 coming judgment. Let us recollect the communion 
 exhortations, and the commination at the beginning 
 of Lent. In this commination there is a call, which 
 must suppose those to whom it is addressed to be 
 unregenerate in heart, just as impenitent Jews are 
 addressed by the prophets as " uncircumcised in 
 heart." It is in the following words — " Make you 
 new hearts, and a new spirit : wherefore will ye die, 
 O ye house of Israel, seeing that I have no pleasure 
 in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord 
 God?" 
 
 However, (for the reasons already assigned) it is 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 151 
 
 in our systematic Confession of Faith, together with 
 our Catechism, that we are naturally to look for the 
 clearest exposition of the doctrine of our church on 
 this, and every other subject. We are thus conducted, 
 in the next place, to — 
 
 AN EXAMINATION OF PART OF THE THIRTY-NINE 
 ARTICLES. 
 
 The doctrine of the sacraments is very fully drawn 
 up, both positively and negatively, in the twenty-fifth, 
 twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty- 
 ninth, and thirtieth of these Articles. The twenty- 
 fifth treats generally of both the sacraments. Its 
 title implies this : — namely, '' Of the Sacraments.^' 
 The first word is, in like manner, plural ; and the 
 second paragraph mentions by their separate names 
 — " Baptism and the Supper of the Lord." Then 
 five, "commonly called sacraments," are enumerated ; 
 and it is showTi that they **are not to be counted 
 for sacraments of the Gospel." The last paragraph 
 teaches us that *'the sacraments were not ordained 
 of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about, 
 but that we should duly use them." The words 
 *^ carried about'' may be admitted to point especially 
 to those processions in which what is called the 
 Host is carried. But what follows, "that we should 
 duly use them," proves that baptism is included in 
 the view of this paragraph, as well as the plural form 
 
152 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 in which it begins, and also the whole tenor of the 
 twenty-fifth article and its title. To candid and 
 attentive readers of this article it may seem super- 
 fluous to enter so minutely into the foregoing demon- 
 stration ; but as the plainest things have been found 
 liable to be tortured by learned ingenuity, the writer 
 hopes he shall be excused for taking the strongest 
 and safest ground of interpretation. 
 
 Let us now proceed to interpret the first paragraph 
 of the twenty-fifth article, which describes the sacra- 
 ments as follows : — " Sacraments ordained of Christ, 
 be not only badges or tokens of Christian men's pro- 
 fession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and 
 effectual signs of grace, and God's good will towards 
 us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and 
 doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and 
 confirm our faith in him." 
 
 What, then, are "sacraments ordained of Christ,'* 
 according to the doctrine of our church? For an 
 exact definition, we must recollect our Catechism, 
 which has been treated of already. Here, it is only 
 necessary to answer: — They are, baptism and the 
 Lord's supper. We need not dwell upon their use 
 as "badges or tokens of profession." But it is very 
 material to our chief object, that we should carefully 
 consider what follows : — " Sure witnesses, and effec- 
 tual signs of grace, and God's good will towards 
 us." How are they " sure witnesses ?" By the ap- 
 pointment of the Lord. In his name, they address 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 153 
 
 US in the most impressive and intelligible language. 
 They are " pledges to assure us" of that which they 
 signify. They condescend to our weakness, just as 
 God vouchsafed to ratify his promise to Abraham 
 by an oath : " That by two immutable things, in 
 which it was impossible for God to he, we might 
 have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to 
 lay hold upon the hope set before us." — Heb. vi. 18. 
 The perpetual continuance of these sacramental rites 
 in the church of Christ, is also a strong and faithful 
 testimony to the truth of revelation ; and every ad- 
 ministration of them ought to imprint more deeply 
 upon our minds and hearts a lively and grateful sense 
 of " the grace of God that bringeth salvation," and 
 of " God's good will towards us ;" both with respect 
 to the immediate recipients of the sign or signs, and 
 also, with respect to others, as taking a retrospective 
 view of their own inestimable privilege on the occa- 
 sion of their original admission to visible member- 
 ship in the church of Christ, which furnished a guide 
 to the knowledge of the covenant-love of God, the 
 inexhaustible fountain, whence all the streams flow 
 which make glad the city of our God. 
 
 In the next place, let us inquire into the force of 
 the word ** efi'ectual," for the sacraments are asserted 
 to be " certain sure witnesses, and efl^ectual signs of 
 grace." It is simply this, that by the Lord's ap- 
 pointment they are suitable, wise, and powerful in- 
 struments of eff'ecting the ends which it is his merciful 
 
154 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 design to accomplish by them. It is not said that 
 their operation is confined to the time of administra- 
 tion. Nay, it is more than imphed that it is con- 
 tinuous. For surely it is not in the sacramental acts 
 only that the sacraments are signs of "God's good 
 will towards us ;" nor is it then only that God "doth 
 work invisibly in us," and "not only quicken, but 
 also strengthen and confirm our faith in him." This 
 is very plainly taught as to the Lord's supper in one 
 of the rubrics of the office for the Communion of the 
 Sick ; and it is no less true in respect of baptism. 
 It is one of the motives assigned for administering 
 baptism "upon Sundays, and other holidays, when the 
 most number of people come together;" "because in 
 the baptism of infants, every one present may be put 
 in remembrance of his own profession made to God 
 in his baptism." And does not the past "mystical 
 washing," as well as that immediately looked upon, 
 thus operate through such remembrance, as an 
 effectual sign of God's good will, and tend to increase 
 the faith of a believing adult ? It seems e\adent that 
 this is one of the modes by which Christ carries on 
 his saving work, who " loved the church, and gave 
 himself for it ; that he might sanctify and cleanse it 
 with the washing of water by the word; that he 
 might present it to himself a glorious church, not 
 having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that 
 it should be holy, and without blemish." — Eph. v. 
 25-27. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 155 
 
 This explanation of ''effectual signs of grace" is 
 abundantly confirmed by what is declared of the de- 
 sign, " that we should duly use them." To which 
 also is added that most solemn and awakening ex- 
 clusive assertion — " And in such only as worthily 
 receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or 
 operation." To some, perhaps, it may seem that 
 this exclusion points only to the case of adults. Bat 
 the doctrine is stated generally and abstractedly with- 
 out any exception. And if the framers of these 
 Articles had intended to countenance the distinctions 
 concerning those who put no obstacle in the way of 
 God's grace, here was a most favourable opportunity 
 for introducing that tenet. But, instead of being in- 
 culcated, it is completely and (as it would appear) 
 carefully shut out from the full and accurate exposi- 
 tion of the doctrine of the sacraments, contained in 
 six articles upon the subject. Is not this a manifest 
 proof that (whatever opinions might be privately 
 entertained by some individuals) our common con- 
 fession of faith knows nothing of the ponere obicem, 
 or of the exception of such as put no obstacle, &c. 
 
 The case of infants, however, has not been forgotten 
 here by the writer ; either of such as survive or such 
 as die in infancy. In the former case, if repentance be 
 wanting in more mature age, " a death unto sin and 
 a new birth unto righteousness are wanting;" that 
 is, there is an absence of " the inward and spiritual 
 grace" of baptism. And unhappy persons thus desti- 
 
156 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 tute and dead in sin, ought to be warned not to trust 
 delusively in their early privilege, and admonished 
 that the sacraments were ordained, " that we should 
 duly use them ;" and that "in such only as worthily 
 receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or 
 operation." 
 
 Our reformers have shown, by this admonition, 
 that they did not confine baptism to the font ; but 
 held, on the contrary, that its blessings are to be 
 worthily received in the exercise of faith, and that all 
 impenitent professors ought to be exhorted to such 
 remission of their sins by spiritual regeneration^ and 
 to consider the rite of baptism as calling them to 
 repentance, and at the same time as preaching the 
 Gospel to them, through the blood of Christ. As 
 to the case of infants who die before they have com- 
 mitted actual sin, some conjectural thoughts have 
 been before suggested. It is true that we have no 
 right to intrude into those things which we have not 
 seen; but such presumption is very different from 
 reasonings humbly arising out of revealed truth. And 
 it is equally true that we cannot assume the absence 
 of all analogy between the progress of children grow- 
 ing up in this world, and the state of those whom 
 it pleases God to remove to another of his " many 
 mansions.'* 
 
 On the whole review of the twenty-fifth article, it 
 is very remarkable that, in all its ample and exact 
 explanation of what sacraments are, and what they 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 157 
 
 are not, there is nothing said of a character impressed 
 upon the soul in baptism, or of grace perfectly com- 
 municated, once for all, in the administration of the 
 rite; nothing like what is called the ''opus opera- 
 turn'' of scholastic theology, or, in plain English, the 
 " work worked.'" Such an omission must have been 
 intended to put a negative upon these antiscriptural 
 doctrines. If they had been regarded as truth, it 
 would have been impossible to omit them in definition 
 and enumeration so precise as we have here before us. 
 This, it is hoped, will be confirmed as we proceed. 
 
 The twenty-sixth article does not contain much 
 connected with our present argument, but its witness 
 is concurrent with what has been said. After men- 
 tioning the mingled condition of the visible church, 
 and that *' sometimes the evil have chief authority in 
 the ministration of the word and sacraments," &c., 
 it denies "that the effect of Christ's ordinance [is] 
 taken away by their wickedness, [or] the grace of 
 God's gifts diminished from such as by faith and 
 rightly do receive the sacraments ministered unto 
 them, which be effectual because of Christ's institu- 
 tion and promise, although they be ministered by 
 evil men." Here, we have an implied admission, 
 that the grace of the sacraments may be diminished 
 by deficiency of faith, at the same time that they are 
 asserted to be " effectual, because of Christ's insti- 
 tution and promise, although they be ministered by 
 evil men." It follows that the effectual working is 
 
158 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 not completed in consequence of the validity of the 
 commission, mider which it is possible that evil 
 ministers may act ; but, on the contrary, that the 
 effect may be injured by the fault of the recipient. 
 
 The twenty-seventh article defines baptism sepa- 
 rately from the sacrament of the Lord's supper, and 
 gives a copious description of its operation and 
 effects. It does not require any lengthened discus- 
 sion to prove that it defines and describes in perfect 
 harmony with the twenty-fifth article. The obvious 
 comparison which may be made in reading them 
 continuously, will be sufficient to show their coinci- 
 dence in doctrine. The definition of baptism is — 
 **a sign of regeneration or new birth," which may 
 seem to be a weaker position than that taken in the 
 abstract article. But it would not be sound and 
 honest interpretation to dilute the stronger passage 
 by a subsequent one apparently weaker ; because it is 
 impossible it could have been intended to retract or 
 diminish what had been so recently asserted, namely, 
 that both sacraments are " effectual signs of grace." 
 In fact, the antithesis in the twenty-seventh article 
 is confined to itself, and subsists exclusively between 
 *' profession" and "the inward and spiritual grace." 
 In stating the doctrine of our church upon this sub- 
 ject, we have therefore no colour of argument to 
 warrant us in omitting what is elsewhere expressed ; 
 and that, not only in the Articles, but also in our 
 Catechism and baptismal services. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 159 
 
 But, before we pass on to the description of the 
 effects of baptism, it may be necessary to make 
 some observations upon the use of both appellations, 
 "regeneration or new birth." 
 
 In the writer's Latin copy of the Articles, prefixed 
 to Bishop Burnet's Exposition, we read only *' Siff- 
 num regenerationisr A question arises, why our 
 EngHsh Article, which is of equal authority, adds the 
 appellation of *^new birth?" We cannot infer from 
 the mere addition, that it is given as a mere syno- 
 nyme, any more than where the third part of the 
 Homily of Good Works speaks of abuses, which 
 " were made most high and most holy things, 
 whereby to attain to everlasting life or remission of 
 sin ;" we should be warranted in considering " re- 
 mission of sin'' synonymous with *' everlasting Hfe." 
 
 We have seen abundant evidence in reviewing our 
 baptismal services, that they do not represent " re- 
 generation" as synonymous with "new birth." It 
 follows that the clause in question ought to be under- 
 stood disjunctively. In this way, the import of the 
 exposition is, that baptism is "a sign of regenera- 
 tion," and it is also a sign of " new birth." " The 
 inward part or thing siynifiecV is explained in our 
 Catechism to be "a death unto sin, and a new birth 
 unto righteousness." According to this answer, there- 
 fore, we are authorized to teach that baptism is a 
 sign of "a death unto sin;" and also that it is a 
 sign of **a new birth unto righteousness." It is a 
 
160 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 sign of either, and it is a sign of both. And such is 
 the double power of the same sign in the clause of 
 the twenty-seventh article, now under examination. 
 It would be correct to assert that baptism is " a sign 
 of a death unto sin, or of a new birth unto righteous- 
 ness ;" but it would not follow that these are syno- 
 nymous appellations or descriptions. But there is a 
 safeguard and completeness in our EngHsh Article ; 
 because, without the express words, some might 
 suppose the new birth not to be included in the 
 significance of baptism. 
 
 It is not intended, however, to make any thing like a 
 separation between regeneration and new birth. The 
 latter is a distinguished part of the progress of the 
 former. And as such, it might be called " regenera- 
 tion," just as the sealed commencement of new life 
 in baptism is called by the same term in an incipient 
 sense. But (strictly speaking) regeneration precedes, 
 pervades, and follows new birth. And in this there 
 is an analogy which we are warranted to expect, by 
 the comparison with natural generation, which is 
 suggested by our Lord's conversation with Nicode- 
 mus. David says, " My substance was not hid from 
 thee, when I was made in secret. . . . and in 
 thy book all my members were written, which in 
 continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was 
 none of them." — Psalm cxxxix. Here is an inspired 
 description of generation before birth. When the 
 infant is bora, the Lord reminds us that the mother 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 161 
 
 " remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a 
 man is bom into the world." — John xvi. 21. A 
 human creature is born, complete in all its parts ; yet 
 not in every sense a perfect man, though truly called 
 "a man'* This is an important grade in the gene- 
 ration of a perfect man ; maturity could never be 
 attained without it. But growth must advance ; gene- 
 ration must continue, both in magnitude and strength. 
 Bony matter must be generated ; new blood must be 
 generated from day to day ; and the blood is the life ; 
 the process must go on while life remains. So re- 
 generation may precede baptism ; in the case of 
 adults, it must. Repentance and faith are parts of 
 the regenerating process, without which there can be 
 no new birth. To believers in Christ a right is given 
 to become the sons and daughters of the Lord God 
 Almighty. The right is claimed and recognised in 
 the baptism of persons of riper years ; and it comes 
 into the possession of those baptized in infancy, 
 when they have been brought to such a state as is 
 equivalent to adult baptism, by uniting, in effect, the 
 appointed sign \^ith a competent maturity of the 
 thing signified. These observations may assist in 
 giving a true explanation of a supposed proof that 
 the framers of our Articles identified new birth with 
 baptism, because the Latin copy of the ninth article 
 has renatis et credentihus, [the newly-born and be- 
 lieving,] where the EngUsh has " them that believe 
 and are baptized." But it is obvious, at the first 
 
 M 
 
162 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 glance, that faith is contained in both descriptions ; 
 and therefore they cannot be mutually equivalent in 
 any part without having this essential ingredient 
 united to the rest. It does not at all prove infant 
 baptism to amount to new birth before the existence 
 of those principles which constitute the inward 
 part of baptism, and which are declared in our 
 Catechism to be *' required of persons to be bap- 
 tized." 
 
 A passing remark upon the word '* regenerated^^ in 
 the ninth article may not be without its use. The pre- 
 ceding context describes wherein " original sin" con- 
 sists ; and then the article most truly and scripturally 
 asserts, that " this infection of nature doth remain, 
 yea in them that are regenerated." Here, in order to 
 declare the whole truth, it was necessary to use the 
 strongest form of the term ; because the most ad- 
 vanced grade of regeneration that can be attained in 
 this present hfe, is not exempt from the burden of 
 sin as a disease, though sin has not dominion over 
 those who are crucified with Christ. 
 
 To return to the twenty-seventh article. After 
 contrasting the feeble idea of a mere " sign of pro- 
 fession" with the spiritual importance of baptism, 
 as ''a sign of regeneration or new birth," it is 
 added: *' whereby, as by an instrument, they that 
 receive baptism rightly are grafted into the church ; 
 the promises of forgiveness of sin, and of our adop- 
 tion to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. \G3 
 
 visibly signed and sealed ; faith is confirmed, and 
 grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God." 
 
 The first thing to be inquired into concerning this 
 passage is, the import of " receiving baptism rightly ^ 
 From the Latin recte in this place, and from the Latin 
 word rite corresponding to " rightly" in three other 
 places, the meaning appears to be, " according to the 
 manner requisite by Ch?'isfs i7istitution." The pre- 
 paratory questions put to the sponsors in publicly 
 receiiing into the congregation children which had 
 been privately baptized, may assist in supporting this 
 explanation. But it is not necessary to seek beyond 
 the Articles themselves ; for the twenty-sixth joins 
 ^^ faith'' with " rightly," in stating how " the grace 
 of God's gifts" is not ** diminished" by the un- 
 worthiness of ministers ; and the twenty-eighth article 
 describes the blessed effect of the Lord's supper **to 
 such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the 
 same." Therefore, where the word " rightly" alone 
 is used, it seems to follow, that we are to understand 
 only a conformity with the appointed manner of the 
 institution, by the washing of water, and the dedica- 
 tion "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost ;" but not requiring the ac- 
 tual exercise of faith in all cases, that is, not in infant 
 baptism. And certainly this is all that is externally 
 necessary in baptized infants themselves, for ingraft- 
 ing them into the church. But, besides tliis, the 
 promises of forgiveness and adoption *'are visibly 
 
164 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 signed and sealed ; faith is confirmed, and grace in- 
 creased by virtue of prayer unto God." 
 
 The next inquiry is : If the requirement of faith 
 be not understood in the word " rightly,'' how is it 
 consistent to state, as part of the eifect of baptism, 
 that faith is confirmed ?" This proves it to be the 
 doctrine of our church (as has been repeatedly main- 
 tained,) that the operation of baptism is not confined 
 to the administration of the rite. Our Catechism 
 teaches, that repentance and faith are required of 
 baptized infants ^^ when they come to age.'' And 
 when these principles are in actual exercise as fruits of 
 the Spirit, it is their nature to grow in strength : and 
 the reflection of a belie\ang mind upon the precious 
 privileges of *' a seal of the righteousness of faith," 
 is one of the means of strengthening faith ; and, un- 
 der the blessing of the Lord, it abidingly operates in 
 grateful praise to him for calling us "to this state of 
 salvation," and in prayer for grace, that we "may 
 continue in the same unto our lives' end." It is also 
 ob^-ious, that this doctrine of baptism, being an in- 
 strument whereby " faith is confirmed and grace 
 increased by virtue of prayer unto God," is at least 
 perfectly consistent with what has been asserted in 
 this tract — that spiritual regeneration may, in a 
 measure, precede the baptism of infants as well as 
 adults ; and that Christian parents who believe the 
 promises of God, and pray without ceasing in depen- 
 dence upon them, have scriptural ground for ex- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 165 
 
 pecting their offspring to be sanctified from the 
 womb, and in the womb. 
 
 The third topic of inquiry arising out of the 
 twenty-seventh article is its concluding clause, which 
 is in the following words : — 
 
 " The baptism of young children is in anywise to 
 be retained in the church, as most agreeable with the 
 institution of Christ." 
 
 It may perhaps appear to some, that this short 
 sentence, as it were cursorily annexed to the article, 
 does not indicate as high an estimation of infant- 
 baptism as ought to be expected. But if there be 
 any, even seeming, ground for such a suspicion, it is 
 hoped that there can be no difficulty in removing it. 
 Let it be recollected, that, after the earliest age of 
 Christianity, (when"" no doubt an immense multitude, 
 perhaps a great majority of Christians, were adult 
 converts from heathenism,) the term "baptism" would 
 at once suggest the idea of infant-baptism. That 
 would occur according to the usual habit of mind and 
 practice ; and adult-baptism would appear under the 
 aspect of an extraordinary exception. It is true that, 
 after the Reformation in the sixteenth century, when 
 the sect of the anabaptists arose, the case must have 
 been somewhat altered. But the change was not so 
 considerable, as to prevent " baptism'* from signifying 
 the sacramental mode of admission to the church of 
 Christ, without any special distinction in respect of 
 
 * That is, in the earliest age. 
 
166 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 the age of recipients. As to the sentiments of the 
 Church of England there can be no stronger proof, 
 than the absence of a formulary from her Prayer-book, 
 for the " baptism of those of riper years," until after 
 the Restoration. It is to be feared, indeed, that this 
 remarkable deficiency is a symptom of the want of a 
 missionary spirit. But, however the fact is to be 
 accounted for, it makes no difference in the present 
 discussion. The fact was just as has been stated. 
 Therefore there was no form for adult-baptism in the 
 Church of England at the time the Articles were 
 agreed upon, nor up to the period when they received 
 their final adjustment and ratification in the reign of 
 Queen Elizabeth. Does it not follow then, clearly 
 and decidedly, that the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and 
 twenty-seventh articles must have been drawn ab- 
 stractedly? and that it is a great and injurious 
 mistake, to suppose that we are not to think of infant- 
 baptism mitil we come to the conclusion of the 
 twenty-seventh article? How could the compilers 
 have intended to exclude it from their definitions and 
 descriptions, when it was the only form of the rite 
 with which they were actually conversant in their 
 church's practice at the time ? 
 
 It remains only to give a reason for the concluding 
 sentence, which makes this explanation necessary. 
 There was a sufficient cause for such an explicit ad- 
 dition to the general doctrine, m the existence of an 
 antipsedo-baptist sect. This demanded a rejection of 
 their tenets, and an assertion of the opposite truth. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 167 
 
 The rejection is implied, and the assertion is made in 
 terms which are perfectly adequate, and suited to the 
 purpose in ^dew. The words " in anywise'^ are of 
 the most decisive import, and the reason derived from 
 full and admirable congruity "with the institution 
 of Christ," is the most satisfactory which, in such 
 a case, can be presented to a Christian mind. 
 
 The relation of the Christian church to the pa- 
 triarchal, which was continued even under the Mosaic 
 dispensation, did not leave room for the requirement 
 of a special command, in order to make infant-bap- 
 tism an institution of Christ. The portion of the 
 Christian church which was taken out of the gentile 
 world, was composed of wild olive-branches ingrafted 
 into the stock of that holy and ancient olive-tree 
 which was rooted in the covenant of promise. Ac- 
 cording to the tenor of that covenant, the first ap- 
 pointed sign and seal of " the righteousness of faith" 
 was circumcision. This seal was, by divine com- 
 mand, applied to infants ; and (if we may so speak) 
 it was a matter of course, that the substituted seal 
 should be equally comprehensive. So that when our 
 blessed Lord gave his great commission to "baptize 
 all nations," there could not be a doubt in the minds 
 of those to whom it was given, that all ages were in- 
 cluded. If those who were converted by the preach- 
 ing of Peter on the day of Pentecost, and who heard 
 him exhort every one of them to " repent and be 
 baptized," with the precious promise of "the gift 
 
168 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 of the Holy Ghost ;" and adding, " for the promise 
 is unto you and to your children^ and to all that are 
 afar off," &c. — if these converts had been refused the 
 privilege of having their children admitted into the 
 church by baptism with themselves, what must they 
 have thought of the consistency of the apostle with 
 his own inspired declaration, and with the holy Scrip- 
 tures 1 But the supposition is impossible ! And that 
 the same privilege was extended to the children of 
 believing gentiles — at least to those born after the con- 
 version of one or both of their parents — is clear from 
 St. Paul's reasoning in the seventh chapter of 1 Co- 
 rinthians — ** else were your children unclean, but now 
 are they holy." The same arguments may account 
 for the familiar manner in which the baptism of 
 households is mentioned in the Acts and by St. Paul, 
 for though it cannot prove, as matter of fact, the 
 existence of young children in these houses — it illus- 
 trates the ease with which our Saviour's gracious 
 declaration — ''of such is the kingdom of God" — was 
 held to infer the consequence of sacramental privi- 
 leges being no less ample " to all the faraihes of the 
 earth," than to him who received the gospel-promise, 
 that in his seed they should be blessed. 
 
 Thus we find most satisfactory ground for the con- 
 fidence with which the articles on baptism are finished 
 by an assertion, that *' the baptism of young children 
 is in anywise to be retained in the church." And it 
 is not at all weakened by the added clause, " as most 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 169 
 
 agreeable with the institution of Christ." The Latin 
 optime congruat affords confirmation that it was not 
 intended to express or imply any degrees of compari- 
 son, but to show the scriptural authority on which 
 the church relies for its practice, namely, the perfect 
 conformity of it with the design of our blessed Lord 
 in this initiatory ordinance. How delightful it is to 
 contemplate therein one bright manifestation of the 
 harmony of the divine dispensations from the begin- 
 ning of the world ! 
 
 At the same time let it be remembered, when we 
 study these articles, that the exposition applies to 
 baptism as one invariable ordinance, notwithstanding 
 some variety of circumstances and of order. It is 
 not divisible into distinct species, but strictly accord- 
 ant with that emphatic clause near the end of the 
 NiCENE Creed, '^ I acknowledge one baptism for 
 the remission of sins.** 
 
 Upon this principle the services in our Prayer-book 
 have been composed. The sponsorial answers are re- 
 quired to identify infant and adult baptism by the 
 necessity, in all cases, of repentance and faith. And 
 what is thus most fully and clearly announced, is in- 
 culcated in our catechetical instruction, together with 
 an answer to an objection which is very naturally 
 suggested and simply explained. It has been already 
 observed how effectually this explanation excludes a 
 very favourite tenet of some divines about those who 
 put no obstacle in the way of the operation of the 
 sacraments. 
 
170 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 Ilavinp; this identity in view, we shall hetter imdcr- 
 stand how God ** doth work invisibly in us" by out- 
 ward signs and pledges, and how a reference to the 
 sacramental manifestation of his "good will towards 
 us," both by teachers and learners, operates to the 
 progressive formation of " the thing signified." What 
 is said of quickening, strengthening, and confirming 
 faith, will no longer be a paradox as applied to chil- 
 dreUj when we know that " baptism is not done only 
 at the font.'* And it will be easy to make it a part 
 of Christian education, to impress upon the opening 
 mind and conscience that " the sacraments were not 
 ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, . . . but 
 that we should duly use them ;" and also that " in 
 such only as worthily receive the same, they have a 
 wholesome effect or operation." The truth is, that 
 baptism is to be received, not only as a transient rite, 
 but as a perpetual pledge of love and means of grace ; 
 so that, although the sign is not to be repeated, there 
 is no limit to the reception of the grace. And in the 
 continued retrospective use of the sign according to 
 the Lord's will, and under the vital influence of the 
 eternal Spirit, ** faith is confirmed, and grace in- 
 creased by virtue of prayer unto God." Observe 
 particularly what is here afhrmed — " Grace is in- 
 creased.^* The previous existence of grace is there- 
 fore manifestly implied ; and it is taken for granted, 
 that it has been in o})eratiou before the administration 
 of baptism. This is true, both as to infants and 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 171 
 
 adults. Oh ! how plenteous are the overflowings of 
 "the wells of salvation !" Let us "draw water out 
 of them with joy !" 
 
 But there is something further to be observed 
 concerning the unity of baptism, and it is of the 
 utmost importance. " I acknowledge one baptism 
 for the remission of sins." Is this acknowledgment 
 to be interpreted so as to deny the remission which 
 the Gospel promises ? Does it teach us to say to a 
 returning prodigal, " We have no second baptism ; 
 you must seek forgiveness by mortifications and 
 penances ; but though there may be joy in heaven 
 over one sinner that repenteth, there is no echo of 
 it upon earth ?" No ; by no means. The baptism 
 which we acknowledge for the remission of sins, is a 
 baptism into the death of Christ, into the sacrifice of 
 "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
 the world." It is a baptism whose "inward grace" 
 can never lose its efficacy. It is a baptism which ad- 
 dresses the baptized, as the apostle John does in the 
 second chapter of his first epistle — "These privileges 
 are conferred ui)on you * that ye sin not.' " Yet it 
 proclaims as he did (without fearing any injury to 
 holiness) — " And if any man sin, we have an advocate 
 with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and he 
 is the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours only, 
 but also for the sins of the whole world." Such is 
 our one baptism. It needs no repetition of the sign, 
 because it is a pledge from that God " who cannot 
 
172 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 lie," a seal of " the righteousness of faith.'* It 
 never can lose its efficacious significance, for it always 
 points to the Lamb of God. The sacramental supper 
 does the same — " This is my body which is broken 
 for you ; this is my blood which is shed for you." 
 
 If this reference to a propitiatory sacrifice, finished 
 upon the cross, even that " one offering" which was 
 "once offered," to be "a full, perfect, and sufficient 
 sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the 
 whole world" — if this retrospective view of the be^ 
 lieving mind were duly considered, it might prevent 
 much perplexing discussion about the real presence, 
 as being a question not necessary to the explanation 
 of the Lord's supper. We have, indeed, a great 
 High Priest after the order of Melchisedec, who is 
 always spiritually present with us, and especially (ac- 
 cording to his own promise) " where two or three are 
 met together in his name." To his throne of grace 
 we are exhorted to come continually y and in the confi- 
 dence of faith and love, " that we may obtain mercy, 
 and find grace to help in time of need." — Heb. iv. 16. 
 But the immediate design of the holy institution we 
 are now contemplating, is not to lead us to look to 
 our Saviour's glorified body, or to seek any nourish- 
 ment from it, whether as near us or in heaven ; but 
 by faith to behold Christ crucified, bearing our sins 
 in his own body on the tree, and spiritually to drink, 
 to the refreshment of our souls, that precious shed 
 blood which did not return to his body any more, 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 173 
 
 and cannot possibly be received otherwise than in the 
 heart. 
 
 Let us dismiss, then, all discussion about real pre- 
 sence : it is quite foreign from the subject, although 
 the same persons who limit regeneration to the font, 
 seem very desirous to make it all in all. 
 
 In this manner we may perceive that it is no di- 
 gression to appeal to the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, 
 and thirtieth articles, when we are treating of " the 
 doctrine of baptisms ;" for the two sacraments throw 
 mutual light upon each other ; and, on the other 
 hand, the misinterpretation of either is generally 
 found in close connexion with a false or obscure view 
 of the other. By the way, it may perhaps not be 
 superfluous to observe that the plural word "bap- 
 tisms," quoted from the sixth chapter of Hebrews, is 
 not inconsistent with the singleness of the ordinance 
 which is asserted in the Nicene Creed, It may be used 
 plurally, as is done in our parish registers, in respect 
 of the individuals to whom baptism is administered, 
 without any dividing of the institution itself. 
 
 And now, having arrived at the end of the last 
 topic of the third division of our subject, the writer 
 hopes that, under the guidance and blessing of the 
 Lord, he may have contributed something to a right 
 understanding of the doctrine of our church concern- 
 ing baptism and regeneration, and to placing it in the 
 light of divine truth, so as to encourage some of his 
 reverend brethren, who mav not alreadv have made 
 
1/4 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 up their minds, and some among all his fellow-Chris- 
 tians, to search our Prayer-book and the holy Scrip- 
 tures in a spirit of prayer, whether these things be 
 so ; and that it only remains to submit to the reader 
 a brief condensation of the substance of the whole 
 tract, which may be arranged under the additional 
 head of 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 Regeneration is " the commencement and growth of a new 
 and spiritual life, through Christ our Saviour and the 
 operation of his Spirit ; liable, in some stages, to blight 
 and decay." — See def. in third division of this tract. 
 
 From re^iewing this exposition, preparatory to a 
 recapitulation of its principal contents, a sense of 
 deficiency and fallibility is among the first results. 
 Yet it is hoped that some things may be worthy of 
 being collected and submitted to the reader's conside- 
 ration in an abridged and more connected form. In 
 the first division of the subject it has been proved 
 from simple inspection and comparison, that new 
 
 BIRTH IS not attributed TO INFANTS in OUr 
 
 offices, although a baptized infant is pronounced " re- 
 generate ;'' and we also thank God "that it hath 
 pleased him to regenerate this infant with his Holy 
 Spirit." If it had been otherwise, it would be dif- 
 ficult to reconcile our Prayer-book with the assertions 
 of St. John in his first epistle. But we have abun- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 175 
 
 dant reason to rejoice in the manifestation of wisdom 
 from above, by which the compilers of our formularies 
 were enabled to express all the richness of baptismal 
 privileges, without overpassing the limits of the word 
 of God. 
 
 In the beginning of the office of public baptism 
 we are conducted to the porch of our Lord's spiritual 
 temple, and reminded of the necessity of regenera- 
 tion and new birth, " forasmuch as all men are con- 
 ceived and born in sin." We are presented with a 
 glorious prospect of the kingdom of heaven and a 
 description of the dispositions by which its inhabit- 
 ants are characterized. All these things are prayed 
 for ; but, of course, prospectively as to many of them, 
 and according to the order of succession and gradation 
 in which it is the will of God to bestow them. 
 
 Among the blessings sought, the new birth is a 
 most essential one ; but there is nothing to show that 
 it is asked as an immediate concomitant of the rite. 
 The petition offered is — " Give thy Holy Spirit to this 
 infant, that he may be born again." Let the words 
 ^^may ^e," expressive of possibility and futurity, be 
 specially remarked. Let every line of the remainder 
 of the service be carefully examined. Not one can 
 be found, nor a single word, conveying an idea of a 
 present answer, beyond incipiency, to that prayer. 
 Happy ought we to be that it is so. For how could 
 we defend an opposite condition of the formulary, and 
 compare the actual state of the visible church, with 
 
176 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 those decided declarations of St. John — (1 John iii. 
 9,) "Whosoever is horn of God, doth not commit 
 sin ; for his seed remaineth in him : and he cannot 
 sin, because he is born of God." 
 
 This difficulty was evidently felt by the anonymous 
 author of a catechetical tract lately published in 
 Belfast. And how does he endeavour to remove the 
 difficulty ? By assuming a distinction between " born 
 again" and "born of God," as if it were possible to be 
 born again without being born of God. But the holy 
 Scriptures give no countenance to such a distinction. 
 The marginal translation, "born from above," in 
 ' the third chapter of St. John's gospel, ought to have 
 furnished sufficient evidence of the identity of all the 
 phrases, especially as it is manifest that the new 
 birth our Saviour spoke of to Nicodemus, is a fruit of 
 the Spirit, and consequently a work of God. 
 
 What then is the true solution? It is a plain 
 matter of fact : even the total absence from the public 
 baptism of infants, of any assertion, that new birth, 
 in any sense, is instantaneously effected by the ad- 
 ministration. The necessary inference from this fact 
 is rendered unquestionable by the gradation which 
 has been amply exhibited in two other baptismal 
 formularies : the reception service having the inter- 
 mediate phrase " being horn again,^'' and the baptism 
 of adults, the decisive adverb of present time, "being 
 Nowr born again." But are we therefore obliged to 
 maintain the total absence of all spiritual life from the 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 1/7 
 
 baptized infant? God forbid! The infant is "re- 
 (jenerate^'^ and we thank God that it hath pleased 
 him to begin and carry on the blessed work '* with 
 his Holy Spirit." The work is progressive : and in 
 this respect it resembles vegetable growth ; and this 
 progression accounts for the careful avoidance of 
 thanksgiving in terms of the past tense. We are 
 not taught to say — " Thou hast regenerated.'^ 
 
 Illustrations have been given of the justice of this 
 distinction from the analogy of vegetation, and from 
 the language which might have been suitably used 
 on two or three recent events. The last of these 
 illustrations is a supposed thanksgiving, that it hath 
 pleased God to civilize New Zealand. But the illus- 
 trations principally relied on are from references to 
 the holy Scriptures ; as from the first promise of 
 mercy, the promises to Abraham, and the gracious 
 assurance of our Lord and Saviour : — " I, if I be 
 lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." 
 Here then a question may be repeated, which has 
 been put before in the part of this tract, which con- 
 tains at large the illustrations now abridged — ought 
 not our Lord's disciples to praise him, that it w^as 
 his good pleasure, by his death upon the cross, to 
 "draw all men unto him?" yet the work of salva- 
 tion is only in progress ; it would not be according to 
 truth to say — "thou hast drawn." Strong as this 
 is, it seems right to add another quotation from the 
 same part of this tract : — 
 
 N 
 
178 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 
 Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations," (margin — 
 "make disciples or Christians of all nations,") ''bap- 
 tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost." And would it be 
 wrong to say — "We thank thee, O Father, that it 
 hath pleased thee to evangelize and save the world ?" 
 What though a " mystery of iniquity " has retarded 
 the work ? What though (as was predicted) there 
 has been *'a falling away first?" "What if some 
 did not believe ? Shall their unbelief make the faith 
 of God without effect? "God forbid: yea, let God 
 be true, but every man a liar." In like manner, 
 ought not the rich provision which the Lord has 
 made, and the good will he has manifested, constrain 
 us to give thanks " that it hath pleased him to 
 regenerate our baptized infants with his Holy Spirit ?" 
 Not meaning that the work is entirely done in the 
 rite ; but rejoicing in hope of going forward according 
 to the blessed beginning ; in hope of bringing up sons 
 and daughters to the Lord Almighty, heirs of God 
 and joint-heirs with Christ, through the power of 
 the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The writer desires to avail himself of the oppor- 
 tunity thus presented to him, most earnestly and 
 affectionately to protest against an interpretation of 
 the "Holy Spirit" in the thanksgiving in question, 
 which he has seen in the correspondence of the Chris- 
 tian Examiner y and — if his supposition has not been 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 179 
 
 misled by initials — from a brother for whom he 
 entertains the highest respect and Christian regard. 
 
 That reverend correspondent explains the name of 
 the third person of the ever-blessed Trinity as mean- 
 ing, in that passage, the baptismal water. He does 
 so on the ground of signs, often recei\'ing appella- 
 tions v/hich are strictly applicable only to the things 
 signified ; as the paschal lamb received the name of 
 the Passover ; and the bread and wine were called by 
 Christ himself, in the institution of the Lord's sup- 
 per, his body and blood. But it is believed that due 
 consideration will show the cases compared to be 
 widely different, and the expository inference drawn 
 from these examples not to be justified. 
 
 In the first place, the element of water was sancti- 
 fied " to the mystical washing away of sin," and, 
 when applied in baptism, to be "a sign of regenera- 
 tion or new birth ;" not of the divine agent in these 
 saving operations. The Lord never said of water, 
 "This is my spirit," as he did of bread and wine, 
 "This is my body," "This is my blood." Thus the 
 foundation of the exposition objected to altogether 
 fails. But it is worthy (notwithstanding) of further 
 examination. It may be thought that, as an emblem 
 of the Holy Spirit, water may be properly called by 
 his name. If this answer to the objection be valid, 
 then any pure water may be called the Holy Spirit, 
 or, addressing God in thanksgiving, " thy Holy 
 Spirit ;" for the water of the font has no pre- 
 
180 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 eminence in this respect; because water is not an 
 appointed sign of the Holy Spirit ; and, as an em- 
 blem, it is not exclusively used in holy Scripture. 
 Oil, air, and fire are also emblems of the same Divine 
 person, or of his influences. 
 
 But let the necessary supposition of water, being an 
 instituted sign of the Holy Spirit, be conceded for 
 argument sake, and for clearing up the subject as 
 fully as possible, still it must be humbly maintained, 
 that the proposed substitution of ideas is not admissi- 
 ble. Perhaps even the feelings of the proposer might 
 be appealed to. Perhaps he may permit a question 
 — Does not the spiritual discernment of your heart 
 revolt against your intellectual effort ? The question 
 is suggested by the consciousness of such a feeling, 
 connected with the proverb : — " As in water face 
 answereth to face," &c. But though that feeling be 
 as strong as possible, it is readily admitted that it 
 does not amount to proof. Let us then return to 
 reasoning. 
 
 There is another weighty matter to be taken into 
 account from the difference of idiom between the 
 Hebrew and English language. The former has no 
 word for ^' signify,^' except in the idiomatic use of the 
 verb substantive. Hence, in Hebrew and its dialects, 
 "This is my body" means the same as "this sig- 
 nifies my body." Substitution of ideas must have 
 been more natural and easy in the speakers of that 
 language than of ours. But what is much more 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 181 
 
 material to our present purpose, is found in the scrip- 
 tural mode of using figurative language, which does 
 not countenance the substitution proposed in our 
 baptismal service. The scriptural usage is, to signify 
 a spiritual idea by a sensible object, not a sensible 
 object by the name of something invisible, or at least 
 not seen at the time in which the figure is employed. 
 Thus our Saviour said to the woman of Samaria — 
 ** Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would 
 have given thee living water," (John iv.) meaning 
 the Holy Spirit. Further illustration might be given 
 from the same discourse, but it is enough to refer to 
 it. Another example may be seen in the same chap- 
 ter, in the Lord's answer to his disciples — "I have 
 meat to eat, that ye know not of;" and another in 
 his invitation — *'Lift up your eyes, and look on the 
 fields ; for they are white already to harvest." The 
 sixth chapter abounds with figures of speech employed 
 in a similar manner; and even the language used 
 *'on thesame night in which he was betrayed" does 
 not furnish an exception. '* This is my body which 
 is broken for you," (1 Cor. xi. 24,) in the Lord's own 
 mind, and in the after taught mind of his disciples, 
 had respect to what was not then seen, namely, his 
 crucifixion. So also as to the cup, signifying the 
 New Testament or covenant, in his blood to be shed. 
 Let us now transfer our thoughts to the adminis- 
 tration of the Lord's supper, according to the Liturgy 
 of our church. When the minister gives the bread 
 
182 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 to a communicant, and prays in the prescribed form, 
 does he mean by these words, " The body of our 
 Lord," the bread presented in his hand ? Evidently 
 not. Nor can he mean the baptismal water by the 
 words *'Thy Holy Spirit." This would be re- 
 versing the scriptural and ordinary use of figurative 
 language, which proceeds from sensible to invisible 
 things, not vice versa. It would be superfluous to 
 repeat a similar argument from the prayer that we 
 offer at the giving of the cup. For the same reason, 
 a deduction from one of the prayers, which follow 
 the communion, is omitted. 
 
 Having thus, he trusts, successfully removed two 
 extremes from the interpretation of the thanksgiving 
 in our Prayer-book, after the baptism of an infant — 
 one tending to injure the perpetual energy of the in- 
 ward grace, by teaching that it is perfected at the font ; 
 the other, to reduce the institution to a significant 
 ceremony, with language of such spiritual richness, 
 as to be scarcely consistent with sincerity, on that 
 supposition — the writer conceives that the cardinal 
 part of his undertaking has been set in order, and 
 that he may now resume his abstract with some good 
 degree of clearness and of hope. 
 
 The absence of an assertion of new birth from the 
 oflSces for the baptism of infants, and the progressive 
 nature of regeneration, have been amply and (may 
 we be , permitted to hope ?) truly exhibited. The 
 absence is an obvious fact, of which any reader may 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 183 
 
 satisfy himself in a few minutes. The progression is 
 supported by analogy, by the common use of lan- 
 guage, and by the only instances in which the term 
 " regeneration" occurs in the holy Scriptures. And 
 why should it be imagined to be exempt from the 
 same law by which the terms " salvation, and 
 ADOPTION, and sanctification, and redemp- 
 tion" are evidently governed. Even the word 
 *' creation" does not refuse to stand in this class. 
 " Create in me a clean heart, God ;" — Psalm li. 
 ** Create and make in us new and contrite hearts." — 
 (Collect for Ash Wednesday.*) Neither is there an 
 absolute simpleness even in the term justification. 
 Not that it is, in any degree, to be attributed to bap- 
 tism : infants partake (in common with the whole 
 world) of that justification of the ungodly which the 
 propitiation of Christ's blood at once procured; and 
 in consequence of which, " the free gift is come upon 
 all men unto justification of life." — Rom. v. But 
 there can be no imimtation of righteousness without 
 the actual exercise of faith. Baptism, like circum- 
 cision, is a seal of the righteousness of faith, and 
 pre-supposes faith. "With the heart man beheveth 
 unto righteousness." But it is necessary that faith 
 should be sufiiciently strong to overcome fear and 
 shame, so as " mth the mouth to make confession 
 
 * The collect for Christmas Day, and that for Easter 
 evening, (though not exactly applicable to the present point, 
 .may also be profitably read. 
 
184 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 unto salvation." Such confession must be that 
 " answer of a good conscience" in baptism, of which 
 St. Peter speaks, and which saves us "by the resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ." Without it there can be no 
 claim to the promise of our Saviour : — " He that be- 
 lieveth, and is baptized, shall be saved." Still it is 
 faith which is "imputed for righteousness ;" and the 
 doctrine of justification by faith must ever be main- 
 tained as the articidus of a standing or falling church : 
 not because Luther had the sagacity to describe it 
 so ; but because its indispensable importance is im- 
 printed in St. Paul's Epistles, as distinctly as if 
 Luther's propositions were written in them in so 
 many words. 
 
 Out of this character of progessiveness arises another 
 which is nearly allied to it, namely, that of prospec- 
 tiveness. It is very conspicuous in our baptismal 
 services. In many parts of them it cannot possibly 
 be overlooked. But the prayer for remissioii of sins 
 by spiritual r eg en€ratio7i, requires more attention. An 
 incipient degree of this spiritual effect is not incom- 
 patible with the infantine state ; and it may, and 
 ought to be, prayed for. But, in connexion with re- 
 mission of sins, such a prayer must be prospective ; 
 because an infant (though under the guilt and con- 
 sequent corruption of original sin) has not committed 
 sins, and can only be made a partaker of those 
 promises in Christ, which our heavenly Father will, 
 ''for his part, most surely keep and perform." This 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 185 
 
 argument is corroborated by the mention of the act 
 of coming, of which an infant is not capable. It is 
 estabhshed, by the remarkable omission in the exhor- 
 tation which follows the Gospel in the baptism of 
 infants, contrasted with the parallel exhortation in the 
 baptism of adults. In the former we read — " Doubt 
 ye not, &c., that he -will embrace him with the arms 
 of his mercy ; that he will give unto him the blessing 
 of eternal life," &c. ; in the latter we read — " that 
 he will favourably receive these present i^ersons, truly 
 repenting, and coming unto him by faith ; that he 
 will grant them remission of their sins," &c. The 
 prayer for the gift of the Holy Ghost, that the infant 
 may he born again, and the thanksgiving which has 
 been repeatedly discussed and explained, are of a 
 similar nature. Nor need any readers apprehend 
 that there is the smallest force exercised upon the 
 language of the passages referred to, when it is con- 
 sidered that the sponsorial answers are made in the 
 name of the child to be baptized. For example, to 
 the question — "Wilt thou be baptized in this faith?" 
 The answer is — " That is my desire." Besides, our 
 C/hurch Catechism teaches that repentance and faith 
 are required of persons to be baptized ; and that in- 
 fants are baptized, because they promise them both 
 by their sureties ; which promise, when they come to 
 age, themselves are bound to perform." It follows 
 that repentance and faith are indispensable pre-re- 
 quisitesy- without which the thing signified by baptism 
 
186 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 cannot have its consummation. There cannot be a 
 death unto sin or a new birth unto righteouness, ex- 
 cept (if we may so speak) in embryo. The new life, 
 connected with the spiritual ingrafting by baptism, is 
 properly a conception by the Holy Ghost — not a new 
 birth. If it were a new birth, and especially if pro- 
 duced invariably by the administration of an insti- 
 tuted rite, it would not agree with our Saviour's 
 comparison to the wind, addressed to Nieodemus — 
 *' Thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
 whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every 
 one that is born of the Spirit." 
 
 A due consideration of these principles, with the 
 assistance of our Saviour's ^^fir/'^^/e of the vine and its 
 branches — together with the illustration in the be- 
 ginning of the third division, from the mode of 
 speech by which Saul is said to have been made king 
 a second time, and Solomon likewise — will be suffi- 
 cient to explain the nature of the baptismal, privileges 
 enumerated in the second answer of our Catechism ; 
 and the quotations from our Homilies, in the same 
 part, will teach us how to exhort the members of the 
 visible church to examine themselves, without at all 
 derogating from the reality and importance of those 
 priiileges. 
 
 There has been sometimes, no doubt, an error com- 
 mitted, by addressing a Christian congregation as 
 unbelievers, or as having many among them of that 
 description. But it is equally objectionable, to neglect 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 187 
 
 discrimination according to the scriptural pattern. 
 St. Paul exhorted to purge out leaven, while he re- 
 cognised in the same moment the unleavened cha- 
 racter of those -whom he exhorted. Our Saviour, 
 speaking as a Jew to the woman of Samaria, said : — 
 "We know what we worship." Yet he charged 
 many of the Jews with ignorance of God. He con- 
 ceded their claim of being Abraham's seed, and yet 
 immediately afterwards, he said : — '* If ye were Abra- 
 ham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham." 
 Nay, it appears that those whom he addressed (though 
 probably mixed with others in the audience and in 
 the address) were, in a certain sense and degree — 
 believers. For the narrative begins thus : — " Then, 
 said Jesus to those Jews which beheved on him, If 
 ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples 
 indeed." — John viii. 31. 
 
 Let us therefore, in instructing both old and young 
 who have been baptized into the death of Christ, 
 avail ourselves fully of the consequent principles, 
 but with wise and tender, yet faithful discrimination. 
 Let us teach and persuade our catechumens to rea- 
 lize the new birth, on the very ground that they have 
 been "made the children of grace ;" for, without this 
 mercy, our addresses would have no infusion of love- 
 to give them efficacy. We may bring this message 
 of peace, in most encouraging measure, even to the 
 heathen; but how much more, to every subject of 
 the kingdom of heaven, where our gracious Lord pro- 
 
188 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 claims : My Spirit remaineth among you, fear ye 
 not." — Haggai, ii. 5.* "By one spirit are we all 
 baptized into one body." — 1 Cor. xii. 13. 
 
 It is not indeed equally possible to ascertain the 
 time of new birth, as it is of natural birth. But we 
 may have the cheering observation of most hopeful 
 signs of the work of spiritual regeneration being in 
 progress : and we ought diligently to drop the seeds 
 of scriptural truth into the opening soil of the young 
 heart, as it may be able to receive them. This Chris- 
 tian husbandry may be so accompanied with re- 
 ferences to baptismal privileges, as to sanctify children 
 "with the washing of water by the word." Through 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit assured in baptism, they 
 are capable, at a very early age, of joining in the 
 thanksgiving of St. James, (i. 18,) "of his own will 
 begat he us with the word of truth." St. Peter 
 speaks in similar terms of the instrumentality by 
 which new birth is produced — "Being born again, 
 not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the 
 word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 
 1 Pet. i. 23. 
 
 Now the testimony of sacramental signs to the 
 good will of our heavenly Father, concurs with his 
 word; and thus they co-operate in quickening, as 
 well as increasing our faith, according to the doctrine 
 
 * For proof that such promises are the inheritance of the 
 Christian church, compare Deut. xxxi. 6, 8, and Joshua, i. 5, 
 with Gal. iii. 29, and Heb. xiii. 5. 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 189 
 
 of our twenty-fifth article. But the capacity of be- 
 lieving is bestowed through the operation of the 
 Holy Ghost — " By grace are ye saved, through 
 faith, and that not of yourselves ; it is the gift of 
 God." — Eph. ii. 8. Hence it is very often mani- 
 fested in childhood. And the cause of the thanks- 
 gi\dng of our Lord, recorded in the eleventh chapter 
 of Matthew, is often almost hterally verified : "I 
 thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that 
 thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, 
 and hast revealed them unto babes." 
 
 Encouraged by such assurances, let parents, spon- 
 sors, and pastors, administer ''the sincere milk of 
 the word," and duly prepare the young for the rite 
 of confirmation, that they may make a good confes- 
 sion before many witnesses, and daily increase in 
 God's Holy Spirit more and more. So shall their 
 teachers recognise the growth of unfeigned faith, held 
 in a pure conscience, as Paul did that of Timothy ; 
 " which dwelt," said he, " first in thy grandmother 
 Lois, and thy mother Eunice ; and I am persuaded 
 that in thee also." 
 
 What a blessed foundation whereon to ground the 
 exhortation — "Continue thou in the things which 
 thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing 
 of whom thou hast learned them ; and that from a 
 child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are 
 able to made thee wise unto salvation through faith 
 which is in Christ Jesus." — 2 Tim. iii. 14, 15. Such 
 
190 REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 
 
 shall bring forth more fruit in their age, if they pray 
 without ceasing to our heavenly Father, " that we 
 being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption 
 and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit C' 
 and "humbly beseeching him, so to work in our hearts 
 ])y the power of his Holy Spirit, that we being re- 
 generate and newly born again in all goodness, righ- 
 teousness, sobriety, and truth, may in the end be made 
 partakers of everlasting life in his heavenly kingdom, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour." — See 
 collect for Christmas, and the end of the first part 
 of the homily for Whitsunday. 
 
 It is hoped that these quotations and comments 
 may illustrate the substantial- identification in spirit 
 (under some variety of externals) of infant and adult 
 baptism, by our baptismal services, by the order for 
 confirmation, and by our Articles ; and that we may 
 be prepared to say, not in a spirit of bondage, but in 
 the glorious hberty of the children of God — "I 
 acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins." 
 This is our baptism into the death of Christ. But 
 " if when we were enemies we were reconciled to 
 God by the death of his Son, much more being re- 
 conciled, we shall be saved by his life." — Rom. v. 10. 
 We must remember that there is a baptism by fire. 
 John said, (Matt. iii. 11,) "I indeed baptize you with 
 water unto repentance : but ... he shall baptize 
 you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." 
 
 Our blessed and heaven-taught reformers under- 
 
REGENERATION AND BAPTISM. 191 
 
 stood the nature of this baptism well. The Lord 
 grant, that he who writes, and he who reads, may be 
 prepared through grace to join in the hymn — 
 
 VENI, CREATOR SPIRITUS, 
 
 which is found in the second ordination service, and 
 in that for the consecration of bishops, so that our 
 proof may be experimental. The rubric directs it to 
 be sung or said by the bishop, priests, and congrega- 
 tion responsivehj : — 
 
 Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire, 
 And lighten with celestial Jive. 
 Thou the anointing spirit art 
 Who dost thy seven-fold gifts impart. 
 
 Thy blessed unction from above, 
 Is comfort, life, and fire of love. 
 Enable with perpetual light. 
 The dulness of our blinded sight. 
 
 Anoint and cheer our soiled face 
 With the abundance of thy grace : 
 Keep far our foes, give peace at home ; 
 Where thou art guide, no ill can come. 
 
 Teach us to know the Father, Son, 
 And thee, of both, to he but one ; 
 That, through the ages all along. 
 This may be our endless song — 
 Praise to thy eternal merit. 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
 
 THE END. 
 
DUBLIN 
 PRINTED BY J. S. FOLDS, S0\, AND PATTON, 
 
 5, Bachelor's-walk. 
 
April, 1843. 
 In the Press, in one large volume, octavo, 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 OF THE LAST 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM, 
 
 THE HON, AND MOST REV. 
 
 POWER LE POER TRENCH, D.D. 
 
 AND HIS DIOCESES. 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. JOSEPH D'ARCY SIRR, D.D. 
 
 Rector of Kilcoleman, Diocese of Tuam. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BIRTH— EDUCATION. 
 
 Early care for the poor — Agent to his father and Mr, Taylor — Rector of Balli- 
 nasloe — Anecdotes of the poor — Marriage — Resides at Raford — Promoted to 
 the bishoprick of Waterford— Government of that diocese — Attention to local 
 charities — Danger from a maniac — Hospitality to Coldstream Guards — Re- 
 ceives the Duke of Richmond to the See House — Translation to Elphin. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HISTORY OP DIOCESE OP ELPHIN. 
 
 Institution of Widows' Fund — Parochial visitation — Visits prisons and hospitals 
 — Forms Elphin Bible Society — Narrative of charities and account of dispen- 
 sary, by O. Lloyd, Esq. and the late Dr. Dillon — Narrative of Mrs. Feeney — 
 And death of her husband — Acts as a magistrate — Suppresses chapel riot at 
 Strokestown — Writes to grand jury of Roscommon — Reforms gaol — Death of 
 Lady E. Latouche and effect produced ))y it — Preaches at visitation — Ani- 
 madversions on his sermon by Arclideacon Digby — His lordship's reply — 
 Subsequent intercourse between them — Forms acquaintance with Lieutenant 
 White — Clerical Association — Original rules — Assemble at the See House — 
 Bishop teaches class of poor boys — Speech at Church Missionary Society — 
 Writes to Mr. White at St. Helena — Birth of his grandson — Translated to 
 Tuam — Farewell address of the clergy, and his reply. 
 
MEMOIR OF ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM — Continued. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SEE OF TUAM. 
 
 Arrival and reception'there — Admission of public to his grounds — Aspersions 
 — Dispensary under Dr. Little — Disturbances — Marches against ribbonmen — 
 Kindness to sutfering culprits — Anxiety for Rev. J. O'Rourke — Trial of 
 Queen Caroline — Speech in the House of Lords — Advises and supports Eev. 
 J. Garrett under persecution — Correspondence with him — Appoints Dr. 
 Hawkesworth Vicar-general — Promotes late Rev. Charles Seymour to the 
 union of Connemara — Historical notice of that eminent minister — Removed 
 to the perpetual curacy of Louisburgh — To the curacy of Castlebar — And 
 finally to the vicarage of Kilronan — Primary and parochial visitation 1 820 — 
 Widows' fund in Tuam and Ardagh — Correspondence with Rev. R. F. Jessop 
 — Clerical meetings — Seeks a chaplain for a man-of-war — Sunday school — 
 Parochial school— Repairs of cathedral — Defamed in petition to the House 
 of Commons — Honourable conduct of Sir John Newport — Traducers put to 
 shame at vestry — Vote of thanks — Preaclies on re-opening of the cathedral — 
 Consecration of Bishop Arbuthnot — Evening service attended by the prelates 
 — Archbishop's charges in 1823 and 1826 — Intemperate letter of Dr. M'Haie. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FAMINE OF 1822. 
 
 Exertions at Tuam — Corn reaped by people — Thanks of Tuam committee — 
 Exertions at Galway — Address of grand jury — Dispensary-i-Castlebar resolu- 
 tions — Priest Gill's remarkable dedication to the archbishop, and the sermon 
 to which it was prefixed — Address of Warden Ffrench and relief committee 
 — Sir John EUey — Bishop Jebb's panegyric — Loan fund — Treasurer of it — 
 Resignation of treasurership — Intimacy with Rev. John Darcy and corres- 
 pondence with him — Saving's Bank — Mendicity Institution — Galway Gram- 
 mar School — Seamount — Beggars — Early rising — Anecdote of — Saluted by a 
 sloop of war — Wreck of the sloop. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF PATRONAGE. 
 
 Remarks on — Rev. John Galbraith promoted to Killereran — Distinguished as a 
 catechist — Assists in the parochial work of Tuam — Vicar-general — Attacked 
 for libel — Promoted to Newport — Illness — Conflict with priest — Resigns 
 Newport for Tuam — Address to him from Newport — Archdeacon Trench — 
 Character of, and endowments — Intercourse with priests — Hostility towards 
 him as promoter of education — Resigns Ballinasloe for Cloongish — Prebendary 
 of Faldown and Archdeacon of Ardagh — Libelled and honoured — An Irish 
 scholar — Anecdote — Dean Burgh a popular preacher — Accompanies arch- 
 bishop in first parochial visitation of Ardagh — Promoted to Ballinrobe — 
 Founder of dispensary — Differs in judgment with archbishop — Visited by 
 him after a providential escape — Rev. W. L. P. Trench, D.D., register and 
 chaplain — Promoted to Killereran — Founds Church Education Society — 
 Rev. Edward Synge accepted as a canditate for the ministry — Assists arch- 
 bishop during famine of 1822 — Curate of Monivea — Labours in that parish 
 — Promoted to Kilkerran — Prophetic meeting — Resigns Kilkerran — Arch- 
 bishop's farewell letter — Address from the clergy — Rev. J. Leathley, Curate 
 of Street — Vicar of Russagh — Abundant labours — Life endangered — Succeeds 
 
MEMOIR OF ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM — Continued. 
 
 Mr. Synge — Rev. William Guinness, Curate of Dromore — Transferred to tlie 
 vicarage of Killery — Offered CoUooney — Accepts it — Overwork — Arch- 
 bishop's correspondence concerning curates — Rev. William Le P. Trench — 
 Archbishop's correspondence concerning him — Letter to him — Studies with 
 Mr. Powell — Ordination — Curate of Lavally — Promoted to Cloon — Fails in 
 obtainiug residence — Archbishop's correspondence with the Rev. Mr. llyde 
 — Rev. A. Hogg appointed curate — Archbishop and son contribute to chapel 
 of ease — Correspondence with Air. Hogg — Attack on Sir. Hogg — Rev. John 
 Le P. Trench — Exertions as a layman — Discoiu-aged by his uucle in seeking 
 ordination — Probation — Ordained — Curate of Killoe — Rector of KiltuUagh 
 — Resigns emolument for Custlebar — Interesting anecdote regarding his ac- 
 ceptance of it — Offer of Temple Michael to Dr. Crawford — Correspondence 
 with him — Declined — Given to Rev. John Trench — Rev. R. Blundell, suc- 
 cessively curate of Kilcoleman, Castlebar, and Hollymount — Vicar of Lanes- 
 borough— Offered Street — Removed to Cashel —Promoted to KiltuUagh — 
 Rev. Mr. Wilson, Curate of the Neale — Vicar of Lanesborough — Rev. F. Le 
 P. Trench — Correspondence of archbishop with him previous to ordination — 
 Curate in Ardagh and at Oranmore— Rector of Moore and Drimi — The late 
 Rev. John Handcock — History of — Promoted first to Tashinny and then to 
 Annaghduff — Obituary. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PATRONAGE. 
 
 Observations on — Retirement for old curates — Rev. John Ashe, long curate of 
 Castlebar, promoted to the Neale — The late Rev. Dr. Coffee to Kilvine — And 
 Rev. Charles AVilson to Achill — The Rev. James Anderson — Remembrances 
 of the archbishop — Curate of Moore and Drum — Tenderly treated under 
 complaint — Promoted to the rectory — Hospitably received at the palace- 
 Pecuniary kindness shown — Promoted to Ballinrobe — Rev. W. Smith — 
 Ordination at Elphin — Curate successively of Kilmactrany, Ballina, and 
 Castlebar — Promoted to Hollymount — (Tribute to memory of Rev. John 
 Gorges) — Correspondence with the archbishop — Illness — Removes to Dublin 
 Rev. W. B. Stoney, curate to Dean Burgh at Kilbixy — Recommended by Dean 
 Burgh — Perpetual curate of Loughglynn — Removes to KiltuUagh — Resides at 
 Castlerea — Opposed — Stoned — Controversy with Rev. B. Quinn, P.P — An- 
 thony Vizard — Chaplain to Lord Slouutsandford — Promoted to Borrishool — 
 
 Famine— Illness — Conflict and controversy with Rev. James Hughes, P.P 
 
 Correspondence with archbishop — Removed to Castlebar — Rev. Charles Har- 
 grove, Perpetual Curate of Turlough — Promoted to Kilmina — Home Mission 
 — Intrusion into Limerick — Archbishop writes to Archdeacon Foster — Sepa- 
 rates from the chiuTL-h — Archbishop's letter on the subject — Rev. Giles Eyre 
 — Early exertions at Eyrecourt — Opposed by Bishop Butson — Supported by 
 archbishop— Curate of Ramelton, Hollymount, Athenry — Chapel blocked up 
 — Romanists attend church — Succeeds Mr. Hargrove — Rev. G. R. Gildea 
 meets archbishop at Ilarrowgate — Citrate of Westport and Kilmaine — Ap- 
 pointed on deputations by the archbishop — Offered various benefices — Pro- 
 moted to Borrishool — Rev. E. L. Moore — Curate of Tuam — Recollections of 
 the arehliishop— Promoted to Cong— Correspondence with archbishop — Rev. 
 J. D. Sirr inducted into Kilcoleman — Church consecrated — Confirmation — 
 Kindness received — Rev, Robert Burton promoted. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DIOCESE OF ARDAGH. 
 
 Rev. W. Digby promoted to Killashee — Anecdotes — Dissent — Catholicism- 
 
MEMOIR OF ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM — Continued. 
 
 Controversial and prophetic writings — Antichrist — Rev. Dr. Todd — Rev. G. 
 Brittaine — Kilmactrany — Visitation sermon in 1819 — Promoted to Kilcom- 
 mick — Testimony to the archbishop — Rev. W. Armstrong — Labours in Sligo 
 — Promoted — Moydow — Rev. G. D. Mansfield inducted to Kiltubrid — Arch- 
 bishop's kindness to him — And to superannuated curate — Remembrances of 
 intercourse with his grace — Rev. Dr. Crawford promoted to Cloongish — 
 Vicar-general — The Rev. H. Versclioyle — Rev. J. Shea — Abbeylara — Letter 
 to archbishop on ecclesiastical spoliation, and reply — " Curates' Fund So- 
 ciety" — Rev. N. Gosselin appointed to Abbeylara — Resigns it — OflFered 
 lanesborough — Promoted to Ballinrobe — Resigns it — Accepts Tashinny — 
 Anecdote — Kev. George Shaw — Archbishop's letter concerning him — Curate 
 of Edgeworthstown — Priested at Tuam — Archbishop's correspondence — His 
 grace takes Edgeworthstown school-house — Sons of the clergy — Mr. Shaw 
 sent to Annadutf — Archbishop's letter on ilr. Hancock's death — Letter on 
 Mr. Hancock's death, and appointing Mr. Sliaw to succeed him — Appoints 
 Rev. L. M'Clintock to be his curate — His history, and the archbishop's cor- 
 respondence concerning him — Mr. Shaw's tribute to his grace's memorj' — 
 Correspondence and intercourse with Rev. Arthur Hyde— Controversy con- 
 cerning the law — Letter from the Archbishop to Mr. "White on the subject — 
 Mr. Digby's statements— Remarks — Archbishop's charge. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TVESTPORT. 
 
 Archdeacon Grace — His unwearied labours and recollections — Rev. Thomas 
 Walker, Curate of Westport — Sermon against superstition — His labours — 
 And character — Removes to and is promoted in the diocese of Cloyne, where 
 he dies of ftver — Rev. T. Jones sent to Westport as curate — The arch- 
 bishop's correspondence with him, and his labours — Church Missionary meet- 
 ing at Westport — Olfered curacy of Ballymahon — Accepts that of Clon- 
 hroney — Is promoted to the union of Creagh — Rev. James White, Curate of 
 Westport — Intercourse and correspondence with the archbishop dxiring his 
 ministry there — Resigns the curacy against the archbishop's will — Is oftered 
 the living on Archdeacon Grace's resignation, and declines it — His parents 
 entreated by the archbishop to prevail on him in vain — Oftered to Rev. 
 C. H. Minchin and refused — Rev. C. Hargrove's secession from the church — 
 Rev. P. Pounden accepts the living of Westport — His history and trials — 
 Dissent in Westport — Curates under him — Archbishop's sympathy with him 
 — Confirmation. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DIOCESE OF KILLALA. 
 
 Archbishop's regret at the death of Bishop "S'erschoyle— Addresses to him from 
 Tuam and Killala as to residence, and replies— Correspondence with Rev. G.. 
 Truelock— Promotes him to Skreen — Rev. L. Potter succeeds him— His 
 history — Promoted to Dromard — Primal visit at Killala, and charge — Rev. 
 R. St. George— Promoted to Crossmolina— His history, correspondence, and 
 oflScial connexion with his grace — Rev. William Tindell, an old curate in the 
 diocese, promoted to Killmiictigue — Archbisliop's parochial visitation in 183.5 
 — Consecrates church of Ballymote — Called to London by tlie progress of the 
 Irish Church Abolition Bill — Edinburgh Review — Illness in Loudon — In- 
 tended speech — Address to the primate — Correspondence — Retires to Leices- 
 tershire — Returns to Tuam — Exertions for distressed clergy — Parochial visi- 
 tation of 1836— Visit to Erris— Tour in 1837 and 1838— Rev. Edward 
 Powell — His history and promotion to the union of Killaraght. 
 
MEMOIR OF ARCHBISHOP OF TCJAM — Continued. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 CURATES. 
 
 Archbishop's care in their selection, and tenderness in their treatment — The 
 late Rev. G. V. Hart, Curate of Castlebar — His labours and death — Late 
 Rev. John Garrett — Care as to his admission to Ordination — Ordained at 
 Down, by the Bishop of Down — Curate of Drumshambo — Correspondence 
 with the Arclibislioii — Removes to Carlow — Archbishop's letter on his death 
 — Archbishop's just estimate of a Clergyman not distinguished for natural 
 endowments — Applications to Rev. R. H. Nixon, and Rev. C. H. Minchin for 
 Curates — Rev. George Gyles's grateful record of Jiis Grace's kindness to him 
 — Interesting history of another Curate — Rev. Francis Gregg — His testi- 
 mony — Curate first of Mannible, then of Cloon and Shrule — The late Rev. 
 Thomas Atkinson — The Archbishop's inquiries concerning him, and appoint- 
 ment of him to Castlebar — The late Rev. Edward Hardman, Curate of 
 Westport and the Neale — xluthor of a " Practical Commentary on the New 
 Testament," "Family Prayers," " Pamphlet on 1 Cor. xii. 15" — Licence with- 
 drawn — Irvingism — Archbishop's Charge. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CONNAUGHT PENURY. 
 
 Famine of 1831 — Proceedings of the London Western Committee, and their 
 Correspondence with the Archbishop — ^Ir. Haldern's Report — Opposition in 
 judgment of the Cornhill Committee — Declines joining in a Memorial with 
 the Galway Central Committee — "Visit to Westport — Letters to Mr. Jones, 
 &c. — Correspondence concerning Cholera, and measures adopted for the relief 
 of the sutferers — Liberality at Tuam on his return from Cheltenham — Visit 
 to Beaumaris — Rev. Dr. Howard's recollections — Parochial Psalmody — 
 Preface to Westport Hymns — Scarcity of 1835 — Correspondence with Mr. 
 White. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 'BIBLE DISTRIBUTION. 
 
 Bible Society — Letter to Rev. Denis Browne — Secession of other Prelates from 
 the Society — The Archbishop's Sjieech on the occasion — At the Anniversary, 
 1822 — Presides at the Meeting of the Longford Branch, August, 1824, and in 
 October following, at the Meeting of the Lfjughrea Auxiliary — Room pre- 
 occupied by Galway priests and molj — Dr. Urwick's account of the proceed- 
 ings and riot which took place — Adjournment of Meeting — Subsequent 
 atrocious resolutions of the agitators — Honourable Conduct of the Editor of 
 " The Dublin Evening Post' — Address of the Galway Bible Society to the 
 Archbishop, and his Answer — " Galway Advertiser" — Rev. P. Daley, P.P. — 
 Mr. E. M'Donald's misrepresentations — Archbishop's Reply — Mr. M'Donald 
 returns to the Charge — Mr. O'Connell and Mr. M'Nevin misstate facts in 
 Roman Catholic Association — Fabricated Story of Archltishop concerning the 
 Parish of Killanadimch — Replied to — Bible Meeting at Carrick-on-Shannon, 
 and subsequent Controversy — The Archbishop's Speech at Bible Society in 
 1827 — Presides at a Church Missionary Society in Galway, which was 
 interrupted by Mr. O'Connell, by whom he was insulted — History of the 
 proceedings by Mr. Topp and others — Observations of "Galway Independent" 
 — Controversy in the Bible Society regarding prayer — Archbishop's correspon- 
 dence on the subject — Provisional Committee for reforming the Society — 
 Course adopted by the Archbishop. 
 
MEMOIR OF ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM — Continued. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RELIGIOTTS CONTROVERSY. 
 
 Private considerations which appeared to induce Rev. T. Maguire to challenge 
 Rev. Richard T. P. Pope — Representation made to Rev. M. Seymour — Mr. 
 Maguire discountenanced by friends and foes — Trying position — Speech 
 against archbishop at Roscommon — Publication of liljel in "MomingHerald" — 
 Aggravated comments of " Dublin Weeklj' Register" — Proceedings instituted 
 against both parties — Conduct of Mr. M.iguire and of both journalists — ^Issue 
 of the legal processes — Assault on the archbishop by the journalists — Result 
 of political animosity — The archbishop no politician, though an opponent of 
 emancipation — Speech on that subject in the House of Lords. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SECOND REFORMATION. 
 
 British Critic" — Review of the movement which took place in the archbishop's 
 dioceses — Rev. R. J. Page, Curate successively of Newport and Castlebar, 
 much engaged therein — Rev. Mich. Seymour at Killenmvurry and Ballinrobe — 
 Mr. Page's record of events and of connection with his grace — Controversial 
 newspaper proposed and abandoned — Controversial sermons in Longford — 
 The clergy attend the sermons of the priests and reply to them — ^Archbishop 
 sanctions their proceedings by his presence — Addresses to the Romanists — 
 Rev. C. H. Minehin, Curate of Longford, correspondence with the arch- 
 bishop — Leaves Ardagh, &c. — Failure of controversy — Author's letter to the 
 archbishop on the subject — His intention to have acted on the scheme — That 
 scheme enforced. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 VALUE OF POSSESSING THE PRIVILEGE OP APPEAL. 
 
 Rev. John D'Arcy, provisional vicar of Galway — Suspended by the Warden — 
 Appeals to tlie archbishop — Visitorial power of his grace much questioned — 
 History of Wardenship — Founded by Archbishop O'Murry — Re- 
 modelled by Edward VI. — Charter forfeited and restored — Rights exercised by 
 the archbishop within the Wardinate — Case laid before Dr. Lushington — His 
 opinion — Appeal withdrawn — Mr. Daly procures election of Mr. D'Arcy as a 
 vicar — Proceedings with regard to Corporate Reform Bill — Necessity of some 
 amendment in the act — Rev. Edward Burke, senior vicar, appointed by the 
 archbishop Curate of Kilmeua — Parochial exertions — Retvims to Galway — 
 Oranraore — New church consecrated — And endowed with quarta pars, and 
 conferred on Mr. Burke — History of this ancient ecclesiastical provision — 
 Mr. O'Connell's misrepresentation. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 IRISH SOCIETY. 
 
 Brief Sketch — Tuam Memorial — Patronage of Archbishop — Correspondence 
 with Committee — Tuam Diocesan Auxiliary formed — His Grace to Rev. 
 John Gregg — Gives notice that he will require a knowledge of Irish language 
 in. Candidates for the Ministiy — ^Rev. S. Foot's intercourse with — Rev. C. 
 
MEMOIR OF ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM — Continued. 
 
 SejTnour deputed to England — Rev T. de Y, Coneys, ordained, employed, 
 and recommended for Irish Chaplaincy in London by his Grace — History of 
 West-street Chapel under him and Rev. H. H. Beamish — Unjust disrelish 
 against former — Archbishop's interference in his favour — Chapel closed — 
 Observations — Re-opened under Rev. J. Scott — His history of the failure — 
 Mr. Coneys appointed Curate of Foxford — Sent on Missionary tours — Irish 
 Professorship in Trinity College— His Grace's anxiety for it« establishment — 
 Recommends Mr. Coneys — Mr. Coneys in AchiU — Projected institution for 
 instructing Candidates for the Holy Orders in the Irish language. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ACHILI,. 
 
 Notice — Colony founded by Rev. E. Nangle — Under Archbishop's sanction — 
 His Grace writes to Rev. R. Daly — Correspondence With Mr. Nangle — Visits 
 Achill — Holds a Confirmation — The late Rev. C. Otway's account — Rev. 
 Joseph Bay lee's narrative. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 [OJIE MISSION. 
 
 Pastoral address to his Clergy — Interchange of Missionary service between 
 Clergy of Tuam and Ardagh — Account of their respective tours — His Grace's 
 correspondence with Rev. D. Browne — Formation of Connaught Home 
 Mission Society — Correspondence with Bishop Sandes — Rev. S. Medlicott — 
 The Clergy of Galway, and Rev. J. Anderson on the subject — Rev. F, 
 Kinkead employed — His intercourse and correspondence with Archbishop — 
 Curate of Athenry and Ballina — Rev. R. Read — Rev. P. Pounden — Rev. 
 R. Blundell — Tour of late Rev. John Stack — Illness — Death — Archbishop's 
 sympathy — Correspondence with Archdeacon Verschoyle — Rev. G. Truelock, 
 and Rev. Joseph Duncan — Rev. W. Richey — Narrative contributed by 
 Rev. C. Fleury. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 CONNEMARA. 
 
 Held out long against conforming to Rome — Church at BaUynahinch — Incum- 
 bency of Rev. C. Sej'mour — Letters from Irish Highlands — Rev. A. Thomas 
 appointed Rector — Correspondence with Archbishop — Who pays two Curates 
 — Rev. M. A. Foster appointed Curate — Rev. B. Ellis second Curate — His 
 history — Connemara Christian Committee — Persecution of Converts — Pro- 
 posals for a Colony — Divers communications with his Grace on the subject — 
 Church of Clifden — Rev. Joseph Duncan — History of his official connection 
 with the Archbishop. 
 
 CHAPTER XX, 
 
 POOR LAWS. 
 
 Narrative by W' Torrens M'CuUagh, Esq. of his personal communications with 
 his Grace on the subject — His Grace's evidence — Contrasted with that of 
 Dr. M'Hale. 
 
8 MEMOIR OF ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM COIltinUed. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 Association for Discountenancing Vice — London Hibernian Society — Arch- 
 bishop patron of, and corresponds with both — Commission of Education 
 inquiry — His Grace's evidence — Letter to Duke of Wellington and Earl 
 Grey — Attends great meeting in Rotundo, 1832 — Corresponds with th 
 Association — Formation of the Tuam Diocesan Education Society — Pro- 
 ceedings — Correspondence — Deputations — Inspection of schools — General 
 principles — Correspondence with Dean of Clojme brought before Committee 
 of House of Lords, 1837 — Rev. George Gildea's tour of inspection and 
 examination — Church Education Society — Rev. Dr. Trench — Archbishop's 
 disagreement with Fundamental Law — Meeting in Tuam — Archbishop's 
 illness, death, funeral, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE, 
 
 Correspondence with private friends and family. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 TUAM, 
 
 Anecdotes collected from the poor — Charities. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
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 REFLECTIONS, 
 
 ON KOMANS Vm. 32.— HEBREWS VII. 26.— JOHN X. 11.— INTER- 
 CESSORY PRAYER— RECOGNITION OF SAINTS IN HEAVEN— 
 THE TRINITY — THE FAMILY OF THE REDEEMED — THE 
 STORM— ETERNITY. In the press. 
 XII. 
 
 ADDRESSES. 
 
 ON DUELLING— THE RELIGIOUS ANNIVERSARIES— THE OPEN- 
 ING OF A NEW YEAR— THE USE OF CARRIAGES ON THE 
 LORD'S DAY— THE EARLY PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 THE SAVIOUR'S CHARACTER. 
 HAWEIS ON THE SACRAMENT. 
 
 With Preface by Rev. Hugh White. 
 32mo, Is. 6d. cloth, morocco, 3s. 
 
 DUBLIN: WILLIAM CURRY, JUN. AND CO. 
 AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
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