^ PRINCETON, N. J. -^^ 
 
 Presented by Mr. Ssmuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Agnezv Coll. on Baptism, No. 
 
 
THE 
 
 DOCTRINE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 UPON THK 
 
 EFFICACY OF BAPTISM 
 
 VINDICATED 
 
 FROM MISREPRESENTATION. 
 
 RICHARD LAURENCE, LL. D. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OP CASHKL, hATR REGIUS PROFESSOR dP HEBREW 
 IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 THIRD EDITION, REVISED, WITH AN APPENDIX. 
 
 OXFORD, • 
 
 PRINTED BY S. COLI.INGWOOD, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY, 
 FOR THE AUTHOR, 
 
 SOLD BY JOHN HENRY PARKER. 
 
 AND BY J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCXXXVIII. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/doctrineofchurchOOIaur 
 
PREFACE. ^%? j;\ . 
 
 
 ^■^^^ 
 
 Understanding that this Tract is now out of 
 print, I have been induced to publish a new edi- 
 tion of it. My opponent indeed, the Vicar of North 
 Ferriby, is no more ; but as the subject of which I 
 treat is connected with a controversy by no means 
 personal to him, or rather indeed with a contro- 
 versy, in which the opinions of a party, not of an 
 individual, are involved, I mean of a party which 
 appropriates to itself the epithet Evangelical, I 
 have complied with the solicitations made to me, 
 and republish it. 
 
 Lately, however, and that in the place where 
 I now write, men of talent, learning, and piety, 
 have advocated from the pulpit and the press, 
 among other things, the doctrine of Regeneration 
 in Baptism, which I have myself maintained ; but 
 have encumbered it with opinions and appendages 
 with which, if I do not misconceive them, I cannot 
 coincide. In their zeal against Rationalism, they 
 appear to me too much to decry the use of Reason 
 in explaining the language of Scripture ; and they 
 wish for the restoration of certain rites, viz. — exor- 
 cism — clothing the infant in a white vesture, anc 
 
 a 2 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 anointing it with oil — rites which were first en- 
 joined, but subsequently omitted, in our Baptismal 
 Service. 
 
 In the ' Tracts for the Times' there is a distinct 
 treatise on Baptism, in which the necessity of a 
 strictly literal interpretation of Scripture is strong- 
 ly urged. It is there said, 'In setting forth this 
 
 * teaching of holy Scripture, we have, it is well to ob- 
 ' serve, adhered slrictli/ to the letter of God's word : 
 ' we have not gone about to set forth any other doc- 
 
 * trine than is contained in its plain words: we have 
 ' only not glossed over, or distorted its language, but 
 
 * have taken God's promises and declarations 5m- 
 ' pli/, as we found them. * ** When the plain letter 
 
 * of scripture says, " we are saved by Baptism," 
 
 * and men say, "we are ?iot saved by Baptism;" our 
 
 * Lord says, " a man must be born of water and the 
 
 * Spirit," man, that " he need Jiot, cannot be born 
 ' of /m^er;"** * Scripture, that "Christ cleansed the 
 
 * church with the washing of water by the word," 
 
 * man, that " he did not, for bare elements could 
 
 * have no such virtue ;" Scripture, that " we were 
 
 * baptized into one body," man, that " we were not, 
 
 * but that we were in that body before;"" surely they 
 
 * have entered into a most perilous path, which, 
 
 * unless they are checked in pursuing it, must end 
 ' in the rejection of all Scripture truth, which does 
 ' not square with their own private opinions. It 
 
 * did once so end ; and it is a wholesome but 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 ' awful warning, for those who will be warned, that 
 ' it was out of the school of Calvin, from familiar 
 ' intercourse with him, and the so called "^ Reformed 
 ' churcJi" — that it was out of and tlwongh the Re- 
 -formed Dociriney that Sociniaiiism took its rise ; 
 ' that the chief corrupters of the Polish and Tran- 
 ' sylvanian churches passed through Calvinism or 
 ' Zuinglianism to their Heresy. * * * Let us not 
 ' be high-minded but fear. Especially let us be 
 ' aware of that straining of the Letter of Holy 
 ' Scripture in conformity with preconceived no- 
 ' tions, and the requisitions of human reason, wherein 
 ' the school of Calvin most fatally set the example 
 * to that of Socinus^.^ 
 
 The slightest inspection of the present Tract 
 will shew, that the sole object of controversy was, 
 in what sense Baptismal Regeneration was under- 
 stood by the Church of England, not in what sense 
 it was deducible from Scripture. In this way I 
 only had to refute the misconceptions and conse- 
 quent misrepresentations of the Evangelical party 
 in our Church, who seemed to me to put a con- 
 struction upon the words of our Liturgy, extracted 
 from the principles of Calvinism, which they would 
 not bear. Whether I annexed the same precise 
 meaning to the words of our Liturgy, which the 
 present advocates for Baptismal Regeneration 
 annex, I cannot say ; but I am certain, that I did 
 
 a Vol. ii. p. 197, 198, 201. 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 not represent my opponents as foes to Scripture, 
 because friends to Reason ; much less did I vilify 
 the principles of their decisions, as naturally tend- 
 ing to Socinianism. 
 
 From the preceding quotations it will be seen, 
 and others to the same purpose might be adduced, 
 that ' the perilous path' pursued by the Calvinist on 
 this subject, is ascribed to his not giving a strictly 
 literal meaning to the words of Scripture, and over- 
 straining them in conformity ' ivith the requisitions 
 ' of human reason' But it is not my business to 
 defend, or my wish to censure, the Calvinist for 
 his appeal to human reason in deriving the prin- 
 ciples of his creed from Scripture. With this I 
 am not directly concerned. I would however ask, 
 when it is stated, that although ' the Scripture 
 ' says that Christ cleansed the Church with the 
 ' washing of water by the word ; yet man (i. e. the 
 ' Calvinist) says that he did not, for hare elements 
 ' could have no such virtue ;' whether it is intended 
 to assert, that the words of St. Paul alluded to, 
 (Ephes. V. 26,) if taken in a strictly literal sense, 
 signify, that the bare element of consecrated water 
 has in any way the virtue of regenerating the soul, 
 whicli the Calvinist maintains that it cannot have? 
 If so, it is a sense to which with the Calvinist I 
 could not myself subscribe ; and that not in con- 
 tradiction to, but in conformity with, what I con- 
 ceive to be the meaning of Scripture. To suppose 
 
PREFACE. vii 
 
 that the baptismal water, in what way soever con- 
 secrated, possesses after consecration that which 
 it did not before possess, any virtue of this descrip- 
 tion, would be little better than to represent the 
 Holy Spirit (to use an expression of Cranmer) as 
 ' inaquate, when sacramentally joined to the water 
 
 * in Baptism ^' But I will not do so much injus- 
 tice to the good sense of the writer quoted, as to 
 conceive that any love of adherence to the mere 
 letter of Scripture could lead him to adopt so sin- 
 gular a position c. 
 
 ^ Defence of the Sacrament, &c. p. 33. 
 
 c No precise opinion upon the nature of Regeneration, or upon 
 the mode in which it is effected, is distinctly stated in the ' Tracts 
 
 * for the Times.' It seems, as it is there described, that we should 
 attribute it to what has been usually denominated, but in the best 
 sense of that denomination, the opus operatum. In the advertise- 
 ment, or preface, to the second volume (p. 5.) occurs the following 
 passage ; ' Rationalistic, or (as they may be more properly called) 
 
 carnal notions concerning the Sacraments, and, on the other hand, 
 a superstitious apprehension of resting in them, and a slowness to 
 believe the possibility of God's having literally blessed ordi7iances 
 with invisible power, have, alas ! infected a large mass of men in 
 our communion. There are those whose " word will eat as doth 
 a canker ;" and it is to be feared, that we have been over-near cer- 
 tain celebrated protestant teachers, puritan or latitudinarian, and 
 have suffered in consequence. Hence we have almost embraced the 
 doctrine, that God conveys grace only through the instrumentality 
 of the mental energies, that is, through faith, prayer, active spi- 
 ritual contemplation, or (what is called) communion with God, in 
 contradiction to the primitive view, according to which the Church 
 and her Sacraments are the ordained and direct visible means of 
 conveying to the soul, what is in itself supernatural and unseen^ 
 For example, would not most men maintain, on the first view of 
 the subject, that to administer the Lord's Supper to infants, or to 
 the dying and insensible, however consistently pious and believing 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 To rationalise, it is true, upon the obvious lan- 
 guage of Scripture, by giving it an overstrained 
 signification, inconsistent with its evident one, must 
 inevitably end in error ; but how are we to decide 
 that its language is in any case obvious, and that 
 the evidence of its meaning lies upon the surface, 
 except by the exercise of those reasoning faculties, 
 which God has conferred upon us? Investigation, 
 I trust, is not heresy, nor Critical acumen folly and 
 presumption. Scripture indeed must be searched 
 for the revealed will of God : but that will is con- 
 veyed to us in the language of man ; a language, 
 which necessarily partakes of human imperfection, 
 and which is liable to all those verbal casualties 
 that attend its transmission to us through a lapse 
 of centuries. 
 
 At the same time however, if we maintain, that 
 no doctrine of Scripture can be true, except hu- 
 man reason sanctions it by a previous approba- 
 tion, we try scripture at the bar of a tribunal, to 
 which, as a revelation from God, it is not amena- 
 
 * in their past lives^ was a superstition ? And yet both practices 
 ' have the sanction of primitive usage. And does not this account 
 ' for the prevailing indisposition to admit that Baptism conveys 
 ' Regeneration ? ' 
 
 Does the sanguine writer of this preface flatter himself, that 
 although most men must at ^/irst view think such an administration 
 of the Lord's Supper superstitious, yet that on a second view, when 
 they are told by him that the usage was primitive, they will change 
 their opinion, and believe, that, if restored, it would prove the 
 mean of conveying grace, in some incomprehensible manner, to a 
 soul unconscious of its application, and insensible of its efficacy ? 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 ble ; and if we admit that Scripture is of Divine 
 authority, yet that upon the truth of the doctrines 
 which it reveals reason alone must decide, and 
 that it often accommodates itself to vulgar opinions 
 and prejudices, by propB.gaiing falsehoods ; it ap- 
 pears, I confess, to me, that we assert inconsistent 
 absurdities. Reason has its province and its 
 boundary, which if it exceeds, it degenerates into 
 personal conceit and mental presumption ; but 
 let us not control its energies, where God and na- 
 ture have given full scope for its exertions. Having 
 ascertained by it what is and what is not, the 
 meaning of Scripture, let us there rest, and ' re- 
 ' ceive with meekness the engrafted word, which 
 * is able to save our souls.' 
 
 To this third edition is added an Appendix, 
 containing extracts from the formulary of Bap- 
 tism, used in the Church of Rome, with the for- 
 mularies adopted by the Lutheran and our own 
 Church ; as also further remarks upon the opinions 
 of the Writer already alluded to ; from whom, as I 
 agree with him upon many points, in opposition 
 to the Calvinistical doctrine of Regeneration, I 
 grieve to differ upon any. 
 
^ 
 
 .K 
 
 CONTENTS, "^4'^ ' ^^^ ^>^ 
 
 CHAf I %*''^- 
 
 Preliminary Remarks. Dr. Mant's Tract on Baptismal 
 generation. Mr. Scott's Reply to it. ' Evangelical' Party. 
 Limited View of the present Discussion P.l. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 The 'EvangelicaF Clergy in their principles Calvinistical. 
 Strictures upon the Conduct of the Controversy — Principal 
 Point at issue stated. Misconception and Misapplication of 
 the word Regeneration 4. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Reasoning from Adult to Infant Baptism incorrect. Efficacy 
 of Adult Baptism as dependent upon the Assumption of 
 sincerity. Opinion that Regeneration exists before and 
 without Baptism controverted. Inconsistent with the ex- 
 press Language of our Liturgy, particularly with the Church 
 Catechism 8. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Inaccuracy in the Definition of Regeneration. Doctrine of 
 Luther upon the subject. Dawn of our own Reformation 
 under Henry the Vlllth. Doctrine maintained in a book 
 of Articles published 1 536. Latin Articles, from which our 
 established ones were partly derived, perfectly conformable 
 with the preceding 19. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Same subject continued. Reign of Edward. Cranmer. His 
 Influence in the Reformation. Principal Author of the first 
 Book of Homilies and the Liturgy. His Opinion upon Re- 
 generation as taught in his Catechism, and his two Tracts 
 upon the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Latimer not 
 inconsistent with Cranmer 30. 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 First Book of Homilies. Paraphrase of Erasmus. Second 
 Book of Homilies. Its Doctrine upon Regeneration mis- 
 represented. The same explained and vindicated. Opin- 
 ions of those who compiled the Office of Adult Baptism ...46. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Infant Baptism. Theory of the other Party. Principally 
 grounded upon a supposed })isposition in Infants to fulfil, 
 when capable of so doing, their baptismal Engagements. 
 Theory rejected. A Passage in the Catechism urged in 
 support of that Theory. Altered at the Restoration to ex- 
 clude the very Sense imputed to it 63. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Position of a peculiar Disposition, abstractedly considered, in 
 certain Infants, untenable. Defectibi'ity of grace, the Doc- 
 trine of our Liturgy. Addition to the Office of Private Bap- 
 tism at the Restoration — Introduced to silence the Cavils of 
 the Non-conforming Party — Proving Baptismal Regenera- 
 tion absolute and universal 76. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 That all Infants without exception are regenerated in Baptism, 
 the Doctrine of our Church. The same Doctrine holden by 
 the Lutherans and Zuinglians. English Articles of 1536. 
 Latin Articles. Bishops' and King's Books. First Book of 
 Homilies. Proclamation of Edward to the Rebels of Corn- 
 wall and Devon. Cranmer 83. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Recapitulation. Office of Infant Baptism. Salvation of un- 
 baptized Children, Comparison between the respective 
 Offices of Adult and Infant Baptism. Inconsistent Rea- 
 soning of the Calvinistical Party. Present Controversy no 
 Logomachy. Uniformity of Opinion unattainable 96. 
 
 Appen uix 105. 
 
 THE DOCTRINE 
 
THE DOCTRINE ^^, ''i? "*'' 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND 
 
 UPON 
 
 THE EFFICACY OF BAPTISM. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Preliminary Remarks. Dr. Manfs Tract 07i Baptismal Re- 
 generation. Mr. Scotfs Reply to it. Evangelical Party. 
 Limited View of the present Discussion. 
 
 JLT may perhaps appear singular that a controversy 
 should still exist respecting the true sense of certain 
 passages in the Baptismal Services of our Church, 
 after a lapse of more than two centuries from the 
 period of their original compilation ; particularly as 
 the language in which they are expressed seems to 
 have been studiously adapted to popular comprehen- 
 sion and instruction. But this appearance of singu- 
 larity ceases, when we recollect the natural anxiety of 
 every writer upon the subject to prove that the doc- 
 trine of the Church to which he professes attachment 
 and his own private opinion perfectly coincide. Yet 
 ought this anxiety always to be indulged ? Private 
 opinion, it is indeed true, no man can control ; but 
 every man may control the public display of it : and 
 surely when its conformity with the doctrine of the 
 Church cannot be clearly and satisfactorily demon- 
 strated, concealment is preferable to disclosure, and 
 silence to justification. To support an ideal conform- 
 
2 
 
 ity by a line of argument evidently strained and dis- 
 torted, may suit the obliquities of party spirit, but can 
 never promote truth, and produce conviction. 
 
 The Calvinistical, or, as they rather wish to be 
 termed, the JEvangeUcal, Clergy, have been always 
 forward in advocating the cause of their own consist- 
 ency. But no attempt at an accommodation of prin- 
 ciple has been attended with more labour and diffi- 
 culty, or has given birth to greater refinement of rea- 
 soning, and to less solidity of argument, than that 
 which they have hazarded upon the subject of the 
 efficacy of Baptism. 
 
 The ' Society for promoting Christian Knowledge' 
 recently circulated a tract, composed by Dr. Mant, one 
 of the Chaplains to his Grace the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, upon the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration. 
 This tract, as might have been conjectured, from the 
 credit and connection of its Author, as well as from 
 the mode of its circulation, has proved highly offen- 
 sive to the Clergy alluded to ; and Mr. Scott, Vicar of 
 North Ferriby, in justification of his own conformity, 
 and that of his party, has since published an elaborate 
 and well written answer to it^. 
 
 It is not my intention to interfere in the personal 
 contest which has taken place on this occasion. But 
 as the principal subject in dispute is one to which I 
 have myself already alluded in some of my former 
 publications^, I embrace the opportunity, which Mr. 
 Scott's book affords me, of stating and discussing more 
 
 a The title of his work is, ' An Inquiry into the Effect of Bap- 
 ' tism, &c. By the Rev. John Scott, IM. A. Vicar of North Fer- 
 riby/ &c. 
 
 ^ In the Bampton Lecture of the year 1 804, and in a Sermon 
 upon Baptismal Regeneration preached at Christ Church, Oxford, 
 Jan. 29, 1 815. 
 
3 
 
 correctly than I could otherwise have done, the true 
 ground upon which Calvinistical conformity is main- 
 tained, and of pointing out its untenability. 
 
 That the reasoning of this writer may be identified 
 with that of the party which he espouses (I do not 
 mean to use the word ' party' offensively) will not, I 
 presume, be controverted. Indeed he himself repre- 
 sents his sentiments as supported by something more 
 than his own individual authority. ' Our views of 
 ' Regeneration,' he remarks, ' (if, without any preten- 
 
 * sions to be the accredited advocate of a party, I may 
 
 * presume to speak on behalf of many of my brethren 
 ' as well as myself,) are surely more definite. We 
 ' consider the term as equivalent, &c. Such I believe 
 ' I may venture to state are the sentiments of those 
 '^ who are reproached, as the self -denominated Evan- 
 ' gelical party. Whose views, theirs or their oppo- 
 ' nents', best agree with Scripture, and the authorized 
 ' writings of our Church, is to be the subject of fur- 
 ' ther inquiry*'.' Again: * This language perfectly 
 ' suits the ideas, which we entertain upon the subject. 
 ' We hold the change of Regeneration to be indispens- 
 ' able to salvation in every child of fallen Adam. How 
 ' Dr. Mant will make it accord with his sentiments, it 
 ' is for him to consider^.' 
 
 Both sides maintain their respective opinions by 
 different interpretations of the same passages in Scrip- 
 ture. But I do not pro])ose, unnecessarily, as it ap- 
 pears to me, to drag Scripture into the contest : for 
 the true question at issue is, not what Scripture, but 
 what the Church of England, has inculcated upon 
 the subject. Besides, to commence with ascertaining 
 the precise sense of Scripture upon it is to commence 
 
 <= P. 16, 17. d p. g^_ See also p. (jo, and 201. 
 
 B 2 
 
with a bias on the mind, which must unavoidably 
 influence subsequent investigation. I shall not, I am 
 persuaded, be misrepresented as entertaining the slight- 
 est doubt respecting the conformity of the doctrine of 
 our Church with Scripture ; because it is evident, that 
 I am only contending for the propriety of first deciding 
 what the doctrine of our Church really is, before any 
 attempt be made either to establish or refute that doc- 
 trine by the Word of God. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 The Evangelical Clergy in their pjinciples Calvinistical. 
 Strictures upon the Conduct of the Controversy — Principal 
 Point at issue stated. Misconception and Misapplication 
 of the zaord Regeneration. 
 
 If those, whose opinions I propose to consider, prefer 
 the denomination of the Evangelical, to that of the 
 Calvinistical, Clergy, it is not, I presume, because they 
 disapprove the tenets of Calvin ; but, probably, because 
 they are better pleased with a general, than an appa- 
 rently sectarian, denomination. For reasons indeed 
 best known to themselves, the open avowal of their 
 creed upon the dogma of absolute Predestination seems 
 to be studiously avoided ; but indications of it, too 
 plain to be mistaken, are occasionally betrayed. Thus 
 the following observation occurs in a note ; ' Both this 
 * author (Womack) and Dr. Mant would fain have the 
 ' words, Acts xiii. 48. as many as were ordained to 
 ' eternal life, to mean, as many as were fit, or well 
 ' disposed for the kingdom of heaven. They do not 
 ' however venture to assert, that raa-a-ea-Oai ever ex- 
 ' presses inward disposition of mind^.^ And in a few 
 pages after, when what is conceived to be an inexpli- 
 
 e Scott's Inquiry, &c. p. 263. 
 
cable paradox in theory is noticed, viz. that Almighty 
 God should in one passage of Scripture engage to work 
 in us that which in another we are ourselves exhorted 
 and commanded to do, (a paradox which, inexplicable 
 as it may appear to them, every child can readily 
 solve, who has not been educated in the Cavinistical 
 school,) it is subjoined ; ' If these things present a dif- 
 ' ficulty, and a speculative difficulty it is allowed they 
 ' do present, he who has not felt his own system 
 ' encumbered with it, either has not embraced the sys- 
 ' tem of Scripture, or has very little considered, what 
 ' he has professed to embrace*.' 
 
 But whatsoever denomination, as a party, they 
 may approve, their doctrine upon the subject of Bap- 
 tism is certainly founded upon Calvinistical principles. 
 In the management however of their controversy, so 
 many irrelevant topics have been introduced, so much 
 collateral reasoning pressed, and the whole subject in 
 dispute so involved in extraneous matter, that the 
 principal point at issue has not been fairly and fully 
 brought into discussion. That point I conceive to be 
 of a more limited description, than it is generally re- 
 presented, and simply to consist in the decision of this 
 question ; What is the doctrine of the Church of Eng- 
 land respecting a restoration to Divine favour, as well 
 of infants as of duly prepared adults, by baptism ? 
 Does she hold that they are not nominally but really 
 regenerated ; and that those of them w^ho die after 
 baptism, but before the commission of actual crime, 
 are all without exception undoubtedly saved ? Or does 
 she hold, that Election and Salvation are conferred 
 upon a favoured few alone, the great majority being 
 rejected by the inscrutable will of God, and left to perish 
 everlastingly ? That she maintains the former opinion 
 
 f lb. p. 266. 
 B 3 
 
6 
 
 is the persuasion of the Established Clergy in general : 
 that she maintains the latter is the persuasion of the 
 Calvinistical party alone. 
 
 The question is by no means an indifferent one, as 
 it involves a doctrine of considerable importance ; I 
 mean that which relates to the nature and extent of 
 Divine election. For if all baptized infants, and all 
 duly prepared adults, are indiscriminately elected in 
 Christ out of mankind, so that, if they die previously 
 to the subsequent commission of sin, they are indis- 
 I^utably saved ; while of those who survive, some pre- 
 serve the state of grace, to which they have been 
 elected, if not uniformly, yet finally, but others fall 
 from it, and eventually perish ; it must evidently fol- 
 low, that our Church teaches not an absolute or arbi- 
 trary, but a conditional or contingent, election. This 
 conclusion, although unnoticed, must have always been 
 upon one side secretly anticipated. No pains there- 
 fore have been spared, and no little ingenuity has been 
 exerted to counteract it, by explaining away and per- 
 verting the obvious import of the language contained 
 in our Liturgy, and thus, if possible, to leave untouch- 
 ed the keystone of Calvinistical predestination. 
 
 A restoration to Divine favour, comprehending re- 
 mission of sin, and adoption into the number of the 
 elect, is, T apprehend, uniformly represented in our 
 Liturgy, as the inseparable concomitant of Regenera- 
 tion. In the general use however of this word, per- 
 haps some little misconception might have been avoid- 
 ed, had proper attention been paid to the constant 
 occurrence of metonymies in every language. It is 
 admitted, that Regeneration and Haptism were re- 
 garded as synonymous terms by the early Fathers of 
 the Church, who considered Regeneration as the effect 
 of Baptism, using what is denominated a metonymy 
 
of the effect for the cause. The same synonymous 
 signification also is adopted in the Articles of our 
 Church g^, in which the Latin expression renatis is 
 translated bapthed. But there is also a metonymy 
 of the cause for the effect ^ as well as one of the effect 
 for the cause. To this principle it must probably be 
 imputed, that the word Regeneration has been some- 
 times appropriated, not to the single act of spiritual 
 birth, but to continued acts of spiritual reviviscence, 
 embracing the whole period of the Christian life. But 
 this metonymical and extended sense of it, confusing 
 the primary cause with the subsequent effect, of exist- 
 ence, ought to be rather regarded as a figurative appli- 
 cation, than as a literal demonstration of rigid theory. 
 It nevertheless seems to have produced a variety of 
 conception upon the point, occasioning some to repre- 
 sent the new birth as occurring more than once, and 
 others to deny its reality, where, properly speaking, it 
 is only to be found, in baptism. 
 
 With respect however to the wStrict definition of the 
 term, as limited to a single occurrence, I do not perceive 
 that any difference of opinion exists between us and the 
 opposite party. Both describe it as the commencement, 
 and the commencement only, of the Christian life. It is 
 said ; ' As to a person once regenerated being regenerat- 
 ' ed again, those at least, who hold with Calvin the doc- 
 
 E Art. ix. Dr. Mant's opponent seems not aware of this identity 
 of expression, p. loo, loi. But had he referred to the original 
 Latin of the Article^ which he appears to have both read and con- 
 sidered, because he quotes it in the very next page, he must have 
 immediately perceived it. In this Article the word renatis occurs 
 twice, ' manet etiam hi renatis haec narurse depravatio :' again, 
 ' quanquam in renatis et credentibus nulla propter Christum est 
 ' condemnatio,' &c. In the former instance it is translated rege- 
 nerated, in the latter bajytized. The conclusion seems obvious. 
 
 B 4 
 
8 
 
 * trine of final perseverance, will agree with Dr. Mant, 
 ' that it cannot be, but that such a person evermore 
 
 * continues regenerate^.' Reference is then made to 
 a former passage S in which occurs the following ob- 
 servation ; ' I have no wish to contend for a second 
 ' death unto sin, where a death unto sin and a new 
 ' birth unto righteousness appear really and practically 
 
 * to have taken place.' But when they proceed to ex- 
 plain the mode and period of regeneration, a discordance 
 of sentiment instantly appears. We consider it as the 
 gift, connected with the medium of grace, exhibited in 
 baptism ; they, as the gift unconnected with that me- 
 dium of grace, and solely dependent upon the irrespec- 
 tive will of God. We contend, that all who are bap- 
 tized in infancy are truly regenerated ; they, that the 
 majority of Christians are never regenerated at all at 
 any period of their lives. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Reasoning from Adult to Infant Baptism incorrect. Etfficacy 
 of Adult Baptism as dejietident uj)on the Assumption of 
 sincerity. Ojmiion that Regeneration exists before and 
 ivithout Baptism controverted. Inconsistent ivith the ex- 
 press Language of our Liturgy, particularly with the 
 Church Catechism. 
 
 A Complaint has been made that Dr. Mant con- 
 fines, or nearly confines, his attention to infant recipi- 
 ents of Baptism ^ But they who thus complain well 
 know, that the principal question in debate hinges 
 upon this very point, and that the Church of England 
 possessed no form whatsoever of adult Baptism until 
 the Restoration. They have nevertheless so completely 
 inverted the argument, and perplexed it with foreign 
 topics, that it seems no easy task to disentangle it. I 
 
 h P. 59. i P. 49. a P. 116. 
 
9 
 
 do not however mean to undertake this task ; but 
 solely to discuss that which constitutes the true ground 
 of difference between us. 
 
 The inverted order of argument alluded to consists 
 in an attempt to explain the doctrine of infant by that 
 of adult Baptism. But as in a Christian country it 
 may be supposed, that all persons are baptized in in- 
 fancy, and as the original framers of our Liturgy mani- 
 festly acted upon that supposition, I do not perceive 
 how it can be reasonably argued, that they conformed 
 their office of infant Baptism to the principles of an 
 office of adult Baptism, which did not at the time exist. 
 I very well understand how it might happen, that those, 
 who subsequently compiled an office of adult Baptism, 
 when such an office became requisite, might, as far as 
 circumstances permitted, mutatis mutandis, copy the 
 form of an office of infant baptism, which had been pre- 
 viously in use for more than a century. And this did in 
 fact take place, with such alterations and additions as 
 appeared proper to adapt a form for the baptism of in- 
 fants to the peculiar case of adults ; so that for instance, 
 after the words, ' Doubt ye not therefore, but earnestly 
 
 * believe, that he will favourably receive these,' which 
 were in the former office, was inserted, ' truly repenting 
 
 * and coming unto him by faith,' in the latter office. But 
 I cannot comprehend how the sense of the original is to 
 be limited by that of the copy, especially upon topics 
 where the cases are not parallel, and where no true point 
 of comparison is to be found. I might also add, where a 
 new paragraph is inserted expressly for the purpose of 
 distinguishing the particular case of adult, from the 
 general case of infant Baptism. Surely, to urge, that 
 our Reformers in the reign of Edward the Sixth pre- 
 sumed, that infants, brought to baptism, possessed the 
 previous requisites of repentance and faith, or any 
 
10 
 
 equivalent requisite, respecting which the office com- 
 piled by them is wholly silent, merely because in the 
 reign of Charles the Second a clause of that description 
 was admitted into another baptismal office adapted to 
 very different persons, would be to argue in contra- 
 diction to every rule of logic, and to every principle of 
 correct reasoning. 
 
 The other party profess themselves to be aware that 
 the office of adult baptism is ' of later date than the 
 * rest.' But no one, they suppose, ' will pretend, that 
 ' it has not equal authority. Besides, the very same 
 ' system,' they say, ' evidently pervades all the offices, 
 and all ' must be interpreted in the same manner^.' 
 
 The system here meant is the system of cliaritahle 
 supposition; and a whole chapter^ is employed in de- 
 monstrating, that this hijpothetical principle, this uni- 
 versal assumption of sincerity, pervades every office of 
 the Church. The position asserted might have been 
 taken for granted without the prolixity of minute de- 
 tail, in all cases relative to adults ; but what is the 
 conclusion hence deducible ? Will it be contended, that 
 what is applicable to adults is applicable likewise to 
 infants ? The idea of a charitable supposition presumes 
 the possibility of an uncharitable one ; but in the case 
 of infants is such a possibility to be conceived? Where 
 incompetency alike excludes both suppositions, the hy- 
 pothetical principle alluded to cannot exist, because li- 
 berality of opinion can have no scope for exertion. 
 
 Evident however as this reasoning appears to be, it 
 has been disregarded on the present occasion, in the 
 adaptation of the baptismal requisites expected in 
 adults, under certain restrictions and exceptions, to the 
 rule of infant Baptism. Much indeed of the work 
 under review is occupied in refuting a position which 
 b P. 12 1. c Chap. 8. 
 
11 
 
 no one holds ; the position, th'at supernatural grace is 
 in point of fact necessarily and constantly Conferred 
 by baptism, in case of adults as well as in that of in- 
 fants'^. But I do not mean to enter into the discussion 
 of topics so irrelevant to the more immediate object be- 
 fore me. 
 
 Omitting therefore this needless and barren contro- 
 versy, in which the antagonist of the other party seems 
 to be a mere man of straw, I proceed to consider their 
 opinions upon the efficacy of the baptism of adults, be- 
 fore I advert to that of infants, according to the ar- 
 rangement adopted by them. 
 
 * The ground,' they say, ' upon which the Church 
 ' speaks of all those whom she has baptized as re- 
 ' generate, is neither more nor less than the supposi- 
 
 * tion — the assumption^ of their siyicerity in their pro- 
 ^ fessions. Let us turn back to the exhortation before 
 ' noticed. What do we there read ? Doubt ye net 
 
 * therefore, but earnestly believe, that he will favour- 
 
 * ably receive these present persons — doing what? 
 ' simply coming to baptism ? no, let the words be 
 
 * marked ; truly repenting and coming to him hy 
 ^ faith. Here the supposition, elsewhere implied and 
 ' understood, is positively expressed — truly repeyiting 
 ' and coming to him by faith. This is what is siqj- 
 
 * posed concerning them. It is assumed, that they 
 ' come to baptism with the proper requisites, with re- 
 ^ pentance andfaith^." 
 
 All this is perfectly correct and reasonable ; but it 
 is neither more nor less than what all parties have uni- 
 formly held upon the same subject. Had they rested 
 here, no ground of objection could have existed. But 
 they proceed further, and contend, that in the judg- 
 ment of the Church of England a man may be born 
 
 «1 P. 98, 119, 132, &c. e p. 13^^ 136. 
 
12 
 
 again otherwise than by baptism, and indeed ivithout 
 baptism '^. To those who receive baptism rightly, the 
 inward blessing communicated is stated to be nothing 
 more than ' tJie confirmation of faith arid increase of 
 
 * grace — already received.' They add ; ' regeneration 
 
 * strictly taken in the sense of the infusion of a new 
 
 * 'principle of life and of action, or, as Hooker's words 
 
 * are, the first disposition towards future newness of 
 
 * life J, cannot be received by these persons in baptism, 
 
 * for they already have it before they are haptized. 
 ' They are partakers of repentance and faith, and 
 
 * consequently possess the grace of God, hefore they 
 ' are hapti%ed. All they need is, to have these spirit- 
 ' ual graces confirmed and increased, which they may 
 ' confidently expect in this sacrament, by virtue of 
 ' prayer unto God^.' 
 
 According then to this statement. Regeneration is 
 not to be regarded as the effect o/' Baptism, but as the 
 operation of the Spirit of God upon the soul of man 
 premously to it; in all cases at least, where repentance 
 and faith exist ; baptism itself being nothing more 
 than a mere attestation of a new birth already received. 
 I shall not stop to dispute the specific meaning of the 
 word Regeneration in an abstract theological point of 
 view, because that would be still widely wandering 
 from the mark ; but I contend, that, according to the 
 obvious unsophisticated sense of the language in our 
 Liturgy, Regeneration including admission into divine 
 favour is represented as the appropriate effect of Bap- 
 tism, in adults as well as in infants. 
 
 The proof of this assertion appears in my judgment 
 
 f ' This passage proves to me^ that in her judgment also, a man 
 ' may be thus born again otherwise than by baptism, and indeed 
 ' without baptism.' P. 128. 
 
 g P. 230. 
 
13 
 
 to lie in a very small compass. Every adult person is 
 supposed in the office under consideration to possess 
 repentance and faith, previously to baptism. That 
 will not be denied. In the preparatory form, although 
 in possession of these requisites, he is regarded as still 
 unregenerate ; otherwise the minister would not be 
 instructed thus to pray ; ' We call upon thee for this 
 
 * person, that he coming to thy holy Baptism may re- 
 
 * ceive remission of his sins by spiritual Regenera- 
 
 * tion ;' and again, ' Give thy Holy Spirit to this per- 
 ' son, that he may be born again and be made an heir 
 
 * of everlasting salvation.' Surely this mode of ex- 
 pression sufficiently demonstrates, that he who pos- 
 sesses repentance and faith is not therefore to be ne- 
 cessarily considered as possessing spiritual Regene- 
 ration. But what follows ? Immediately after the 
 administration of baptism, in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, he is pre- 
 nounced to be regefierated, to be born again, and to 
 be made an heir of everlasting salvation. Is it possi- 
 ble to deduce any other legitimate conclusion from 
 these premises than this ; that the person who after a 
 due preparation comes to Christ's holy Baptism unre- 
 generated, departs regenerated f 
 
 When it is said before the act of baptism, ' Give 
 ' thy Holy Spirit to this person, that he may be born 
 ' again and be made an heir of everlasting salvation ;' 
 and again after the act of baptism, ' that being now 
 ' born again, and made an heir of everlasting salvation 
 ' through our Lord Jesus Christ, he may continue thy 
 
 * servant ;' does not the change of tense distinctly point 
 out a change of circumstances dependent upon the in- 
 tervening act of baptism ; indicating that the person 
 baptized, although repenting and believing, was not 
 previously, but is now regenerated ? 
 
14 
 
 The misconception, which has taken place upon this 
 point, seems to have arisen from the error of beginning 
 at the wrong end of the inquiry, of arguing not ac- 
 cording to the antiquity of the respective compositions 
 from infant to adult, but from adult to infant. Baptism. 
 It should have been considered, that the office of adult 
 Baptism was expressly compiled for the use of those 
 only, who had been examined and -wevejbund Jit, who 
 truly repented cmd believed, and not for infidels or 
 hypocrites ; and that therefore it was a mere verbal 
 repetition, as far as circumstances would permit, of 
 the more ancient office of infant Baptism, upon the 
 efficacy of which the compilers of the new office were 
 agreed. It must not however be forgotten, that I am 
 only contending for an invariable efficacy of Baptism 
 in adults, when the mind of the recipient is duly pre- 
 pared ; and that the only true question at issue is, 
 whether Regeneration under such circumstances is or 
 is not the api^rojwiate effect of baptism ? I maintain 
 that it is ; the other party that it is not, but that it 
 consists in a sensible operation of the Spirit of God 
 upon the soul of man, independent of all predisposing 
 causes, and limited to no specific means of grace. 
 
 There seems a disposition to explain away the un- 
 equivocal language of our Liturgy by certain equi- 
 vocal inferences, deduced from subsequent additions 
 and compilations, particularly from the concluding 
 part of the Church Catechism. But let the comparison 
 be fairly made, and I am persuaded that a different 
 result will ensue. 
 
 In answer to the question, ' What is required of 
 ' persons to be baptized ?' it is there said, * Repent- 
 
 * ance, whereby they forsake sin, and faith, whereby 
 
 * they steadfastly believe the iwom'ises of God made to 
 
 * them in that sacrament.' It will not, I apprehend, 
 
15 
 
 be deemed improbable, that the compilers of the office 
 of Adult Baptism at the Restoration had this very- 
 passage in view, when they stated 7'epentcmce and 
 faith to be the previous requisites for a worthy reci- 
 pient, and such an one only was in their contempla- 
 tion. But what is the species of faith particularly 
 pointed out ? It is a faith, by which the recipient 
 ' steadfastly believes the 'promises of God made to him 
 ' in that sacrament.' Let it be observed, that the pro- 
 mises which he is supposed steadfastly to believe are 
 such as are made to him in that sacrament ; not such 
 as are applicable to other times and occasions. Nor 
 will it, I presume, be denied, that the promises of for- 
 giveness of sin, and of admission into the number of 
 the elect, (the concomitant blessings of Regeneration,) 
 are those, which are made to him in that sacrament ; 
 because these are distinctly indicated in the office it- 
 self, which directs the minister to pray before baptism 
 that he may obtain the remission of his sins by spi- 
 ritual Regeneration, that he maij he ' made an heir of 
 ' everlasting salvation ;' and after it to declare that he 
 has been ' regenerated, and has been made an heir of 
 ' everlasting salvation.' 
 
 According therefore to the doctrine of the Church 
 of England, the true Christian state of salvation, in 
 adults, commences not with Faith alone, but with 
 Faith and Baptism united. Thus our Saviour at the 
 institution itself of the very sacrament under consider- 
 ation stated, not simply that he who believeth, but 
 that ' he who believeth and is baptised, shall be saved ;' 
 which expression, she remarks, ' sheweth unto us the 
 ' great benefit we reap thereby.^ The commencement 
 of this state, in conformity with the uninterrupted 
 usage of the Catholic Church, she denominates Re- 
 generation, or the new birth ; that is the second and 
 
16 
 
 spiritual, contrasted with the first and natural, birth : 
 and as this happy state cannot exist without the for- 
 giveness of sin, and an admission into the number of 
 the elect, connected with the agency of the Holy Spirit, 
 she contemplates these things as necessarily accom- 
 panying Regeneration, and as constituting the essence 
 of those promises, which Christ himself has annexed 
 to the sacrament of Baptism, worthily received. Re- 
 pentance and faith, which are always presupposed, she 
 considers as the previous requisites of Regeneration, 
 but not as Regeneration itself; her language, as I have 
 observed, is too plain and precise to be mistaken. She 
 speaks of him who repents and believes, hefore bap- 
 tism, as of one who is not regenerated ; but immedi- 
 ately after baptism she describes the same person 
 as one who is regenerated. To deduce any other than 
 the preceding conclusion from these premises, would 
 be, I am persuaded, to exhibit as great an anomaly in 
 grammar, as in logic. 
 
 A steadfast faith in the fulfilment of certain pro- 
 mises to take place in that sacrament^ may be requisite 
 for the application of them to the mind of the recipi- 
 ent ; but I do not understand, how faith can be cor- 
 rectly construed into the effect of that which it thus 
 necessarily precedes. Besides, with what propriety 
 can that man be said to be newly born in Christ, who 
 is not yet a Christian even by profession ; who has 
 not participated in that baptism of the new birth, 
 which (to use the language of our Church) ' was or- 
 * dained by Christ himself as a means whereby we 
 ' receive the same, and as a pledge to assure us thereof ; 
 ' for being by nature born in sin, and the children of 
 ' wrath, we are herehy made the children of grace.' 
 
 The doctrine maintained on the other side seems to 
 proceed upon the mistaken notion that by the word 
 
17 
 
 faith our church implies on this occasion an assurance 
 of pardon and election already received^, instead of an 
 assurance of pardon and election to he received in that 
 sacrament. Trust in the mercy and favour of God 
 may have a prospective as well as retrospective object 
 in view ; and to the obvious fact, that the trust or 
 faith here required looks not retrospectively to some 
 preceding, but prospectively to some subsequent, effect, 
 the express language of our Church, combining ' the 
 means of Grace' with ' the hope of Glory,' bears ample 
 testimony. Besides, is not the position, that Regene- 
 ration in adults^ duly qualified, always takes place he- 
 fore baptism, in direct opposition not only to the gene- 
 ral tenor of the office itself, but to the particular ex- 
 hortation in it, which commences thus ; ' Beloved, ye 
 ' hear in this gospel the exjpress words of our Saviour 
 ' Christ, that except a man be born of water and 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.' Now if Regene- 
 ration be already obtained, in what can be supposed to 
 consist the great necessity of Baptism with water ? 
 
 Is it possible, I may perhaps be asked, that I can 
 be arguing against the salvation of the penitent be- 
 liever, who may happen to die unbaptized ? Certainly 
 not ; I am only arguing for the obvious sense, which 
 our Church attaches to the efficacy of a sacrament, up- 
 on the great necessity of which, where it may he had^ 
 she unequivocally insists. I am only contending, that, 
 according to the usual, and I may add scriptural, pro- 
 cess of conversion, she considers no repentance as valid, 
 
 li ' Faith is, in all cases, the effect of the regenerating influence 
 ' of the Spirit of God upon the mind.' Scott's Inquiry, &c. 
 
 p. 2IO. 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 no faith as effectual, without baptism, without the ad- 
 ministration of a rite, which she conceives to have been 
 instituted for the full assurance of Divine favour and 
 adoption by Christ himself. That she inculcates upon 
 this point no Calvinistical principles, we may conclude 
 from the known Creed of those who compiled the office 
 in question' : and we may also conclude, that the ob- 
 ject in her view embraces only the ordinary dispensa- 
 tions of mercy ; because it is manifest, that the exti'a- 
 ordinary ones, from the very nature of the service 
 provided, could not have been in her contemplation. 
 
 * The compilers of this office were Henchman Bishop of Sarum, 
 Lany Bishop of Peterborough, and Morley Bishop of Worcester, 
 in conjunction with six others, not named, of the Lower House of 
 Convocation. See Act of Convocation, A. D. 1661. in Wilkins's 
 Concilia Magnse Britan. &c. vol. 4. p. 565. It is added : Hae preces 
 pro baptizatione adultorum, ultimo die mensis Maii introductae, 
 unaniraiter approbantur. The Anti-Calvinistical principles of this 
 Convocation will not, I presume, be questioned. The three Bishops 
 had also acted under the royal commission previously issued for 
 the revision of our Liturgy, and were in their proceedings under it 
 all opposed to the Presbyteri m party. Baxter represents Bishop 
 Morley and Bishop Henchman as the principal opponents of that 
 party in the Savoy Conference. Baxter's Life, part ii. p. 363. 
 Henchman indeed he describes as speaking ' calmly and slowly, and 
 not very oft ;' but adds,' he was as high in Ms ininciples and reso- 
 lutions as any of them.' Lany he seems to have held in contempt, 
 p. 337. and 364. But Morley he represents as the chief speaker of 
 the Bishops, and the greatest interrupter of those who pleaded 
 for alterations in the Liturgy, p. 363. 
 
19 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Inaccuracy in the Definition of Regeneration. Doctrine of 
 Luther ujwn the subject. Daivn of our own Reformation 
 under Henry the Vlllth. Doctrine maintained in a hook 
 of Articles jmhlished 1536. Latin Articles, from which 
 our established ones luere partly derived^ perfectly conform- 
 able with the preceding. 
 
 The other party assume to themselves credit for 
 superior accuracy of idea and definition. Speaking 
 of Regeneration, they say, ' the Holy Spirit of God is 
 ' the author of the change ; the word of God the ot'di- 
 ' ?iary means of effecting it. Baptism we consider as 
 
 * the pledge of it, to those who receive baptism right- 
 ' ly; and also as a 7neans, by which the blessing may 
 ' be conveyed in answer to the devout prayers of the 
 
 * several parties concerned in the administration and 
 ' reception of this sacrament.' Were the question to be 
 here put ; Can baptism prove a means whether the in- 
 dividual be predestined to salvation or not ? the answer 
 might be easily anticipated. But passing over this 
 dilemma, I would ask, what consistent sense they can 
 affix to the assertion, that Baptism may he a means of 
 conveying the blessing of Regeneration to a recipient 
 capable of devoid prayer^ who is already, one would 
 think, according to their own doctrine, in possession of 
 it? 
 
 Should I be informed, that I misconceive their mean- 
 ing, and that with a certain degree of latitude devout 
 prayer may be predicated even of the unregenerate ; I 
 could not still release them from the charge of inaccu- 
 racy in their definition. For upon this presumption 
 the same phrase, devout prayer, would be here used 
 without discrimination, as applicable both to the rege- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 nerated and the unregenerated ; to the regenerated 
 concerned in the administration of the sacrament, and 
 to the unregenerated concerned in the reception of it. 
 
 Besides, is it not incorrect to call the sacrament it- 
 self the means of a blessing which would be thus solely 
 attributed to devout prayer, an act certainly not con- 
 fined to the administration of any sacrament ? 
 
 And let it also be remembered that this description 
 of Baptism, as being a pledge of previous Regenera- 
 tion to those who receive it ivortlnly, and as being a 
 possible means of concomitant regeneration to those 
 who receive it unwortJiily, but who unite with the 
 minister and others in praying devoutly for that bless- 
 ing, is supposed to be in perfect conformity with the 
 doctrine of the Church Catechism. Now the Cate- 
 chism represents a sacrament to be ' an outward and 
 ' visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, ordained 
 
 * by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive 
 
 * the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof.' The 
 obvious import of this language I take to be, that the 
 outward and visible sign is to the same person, to 
 whom it is a means by which he receives the inward 
 and spiritual grace, a pledge likewise to assure him 
 thereof, that is, of his thus receiving the grace alluded 
 to. Indeed the whole object of the doctrine respect- 
 ing the sacraments, contained in the latter part of the 
 Catechism, is to point out the mode in which they may 
 be worthily received, and what is in that case to be 
 deemed their efficacy. But how is this object here 
 perverted ! The sacrament of Baptism is represented 
 only as a means, although, correctly speaking, not the 
 sacrament itself, but the adventitious act of devout 
 prayer is rather the means, which, in the possibility of 
 chances, may prove applicable to an unprepared reci- 
 pient ; and as a pledge to the prepared recipient of 
 
21 
 
 his having been regenerated upon some former occa- 
 sion, and at some Jbrnier period. 
 
 I should not have dwelt so minutely upon the ideas 
 of Regeneration entertained by the opposite party, if 
 I had not been attracted to the examination of them 
 by the confident assertion of their being particularly 
 definite and consistent^ 
 
 But whatsoever may be their accuracy or inaccuracy 
 either in a logical or a theological point of view, one 
 deduction from them is unambiguous. It is this. That 
 Baptism, as a sacrament, is in no case the appropriate 
 means of Regeneration ; and that in the case of a wor- 
 thy recipient of baptism, that blessing is never during 
 its administration, but always previously^ communi- 
 cated. 
 
 This position I w^ish distinctly to mark, because I 
 am persuaded, that it directly contradicts what has 
 always been the doctrine of the Church of England 
 upon the same subject. For she, on the other hand, has 
 uniformly held, that to him who receives baptism wo?'- 
 thily. Regeneration, or an incipient state of salvation, 
 including forgiveness of sin and adoption into the num- 
 ber of the elect, is to be regarded as at all times the 
 true and appropriate effect of that sacrament, not ex 
 opere operato, but by the virtue which it derives from 
 the ordinance and promise of God. This I maintain 
 was her doctrine from the dawn to the full splendour 
 of the Reformation ; and was certainly the doctrine of 
 those, who at a much later period '^ compiled the very 
 
 a ' Our views of Regeneration are surely more definite and more 
 ' consistent with themselves, whether they be more correct or not.' 
 Scott's Inquiry, &c. p. 16. 
 
 ^ The Office for Baptism of Adults was composed after the con- 
 ference at the Savoy. 
 
 C .^ 
 
22 
 
 Office, respecting the import of which a controversy is 
 now agitated. 
 
 I have pointed out in some former publications the 
 connection which subsisted between the principles of 
 the Reformation and those of Lutheranism ; and that 
 our own Baptismal Service was little more than trans- 
 lated from one in use among the Lutherans^. I shall 
 not therefore go over the same ground again unneces- 
 sarily ; but shortly illustrate the point in hand by a 
 few extracts, among many which might be quoted, from 
 the works of Luther. 
 
 That Reformer repeatedly represents Baptism as 
 consisting of water united to the word and command 
 of God. ' Ex his jam memoratis,' he remarks, *sanum 
 ' intellectum percipe, atque interrogatus, quid baptis- 
 
 * mus sit, ita responde : non esse prorsus aquam sim- 
 ' plicem, sed ejusniodi, quce verho et i^cecepto clei in- 
 ' clusa sit, et per hoc sanctificata, ita ut nihil aliud sit, 
 ' quam dimna aqua : non quod aqua per sese sit alia 
 
 * prsestantior, sed quod ei verbum ac jyreceptiim dei 
 ' accesserint^ Thus also he comprehends what he 
 denominates its full and absolute definition in the fol- 
 lowing few words ; ' Baptismus est aqua et verbum 
 ' dei, ex dei mandato institutus et datus'^.' 
 
 His opinion upon the principal point in dispute is 
 clear and incontrovertible. For he distinctly states 
 Regeneration, comprehending remission of sin, and 
 adoption into the number of the elect, to be the appro- 
 priate effect of baptism. ' Hactenus de substantia et 
 ' definitione baptism! diximus ; nunc addemus cur a 
 
 * Christo institutus, et quis ejus usus sit, quid commo- 
 
 <■ Bainpton Lectures, and Sermon on Baptismal Regeneration, 
 tl Catechismus major, Opera^ vol. v. p. 637. ed. Witebergae. Ho- 
 niilise de Baptismo, vol. vii. p, 350. 
 
23 
 
 * det, quid efficere in nobis debeat, (de qua re et ante 
 
 * nonnihil delibamus,) videlicet quod deus ordinarit et 
 
 * mandaverit verbum et baptismum ministrari ad hoc, 
 ' ut homo salvarefur, hoc est, a peccatis et morte libe- 
 
 * ratus, regni del et vitce ceterncB consors Jieret. Hie 
 
 * habes causam cur baptismus vocetur, i7i quern usum 
 
 * sit institiitus, et quis ejus sit finis vel causa Jinalis, 
 
 * viz. ut sit animae, vel ut Paulus vocat, regenerationis 
 
 * lavacrum, per quod ex hac carnali et peccatrice nati- 
 ' vitate ad mtam 7iovam et spiritualem nascimur^ in 
 
 * qua coram deo justi et ccelestis regni hceredes reddi- 
 
 * mur^.'' In another place also he remarks : * Omnia 
 ' haec nobis parit et adfert baptismi lavacrum, non ex 
 
 * eo quod aqua est, sed quod in aqua nomen dei et 
 
 * virtus dei est. Deus sic voluit, sic earn aquam con- 
 
 * secravit, ut non simplex et pura puta jam, sed divina 
 ' et ccelestis sit aqua ; et omnia ista salutis ceterncB 
 
 * et vitce ccelestis commoda per aquam et verbum, tan- 
 
 * quam per media, \u.Ygh'\ constituit^' In what sense 
 he here considers baptism as the means of Regenera- 
 tion, the context sufficiently declares. Certainly not 
 in a Calvinistical sense. Indeed, in a passage occur- 
 ring only a i^w lines before this, he contradistinguishes 
 the means, or the instrument, of Regeneration from 
 the bare sign and mark of the Christian profession, 
 precisely, I conceive, according to the meaning, and 
 almost in the language, of the twenty-seventh Article 
 of our Church upon the same subject «. For, in expa- 
 tiating upon the great object proposed by the institu- 
 tion of baptism, he there observes, that God did not 
 
 e Homiliee de Baptismo, vol. vii. p. 353. ^ Id. p. 361. 
 
 g ' Baptismus non est lantum prqfessionis signinn ac discrirnhiis 
 ' nota, qua Christiaui a non Ckristianis discernantur , sed etiam est 
 ' signum regenerationis, per quod tanquam per instrumentum,^ &c. 
 Art. xxvii, 
 
 c 4 
 
24 
 
 ordain it, ' ut tantummodo nota sit et signum inane 
 
 * ac nudum, quo ah aliis discreti agnosceremur^ veluti 
 
 * Judaei circumcisione ab aliis discernebantur ; sed^ 
 
 * quod in hoc prcecipue ipsum instituerit, ut per eum 
 
 * salvemur, hoc est, ut a peccatis, a morte, ab inferis, a 
 
 * malis et calamitatibus omnibus, liberati, utque justi- 
 *Jicati et sanctificati ceternce vitce hceredes et honorwn 
 
 * ccelestium cojisortes efficiamur^ And again, in an- 
 other Homily, he thus prosecutes the same argument, 
 in a phraseology, if possible, still more expressly in 
 point. ' Qui haec probe tenet et discit, quae diximus, 
 
 * is poterit cavere sibi et se tueri spiritibus istis Ana- 
 
 * baptisticis, qui somniant baptismum nihil aliud esse, 
 ' quam aquam et humanum commentum, aut notam 
 
 * duntaxat tesseramque^ qua discernantur Christiani 
 
 * ah its, qui in Christi religionem nomen non sunt pro- 
 'Jessi. Equidem ubi Deus instituit aut ordinat ali- 
 ' quid, id nullo modo humanum duntaxat signum esse 
 ' potest aut nota, qua inter se cognoscantur et disce?'- 
 ' fiantur diver see prqfessionis aut religionis homiries, 
 
 * sed necesse est id esse salvijicum, sanctum et divinum 
 ' quoddam, virtutisque eximiae et maximae, et tale quid, 
 
 * quod oranem mihi feiicitatem allaturum, et in salu- 
 
 * tem aeternam cessurum sit. Non potest itaque non 
 
 * id operari et efficere haptismus, ad quod institutus 
 
 * est, videlicet, regenerationem et renovationem Spiri- 
 ' tus sancti, sicuti Paulus docet, Tit. 3. Quemadmo- 
 
 * dum enim ex Adam et Eva nati sumus in banc vi- 
 
 * tam, ita idem vetus homo, ante in peccatis ad mortem 
 
 * natus, ad justitiam et vitam aeternam, virtute Spi- 
 
 * ritus sancti, regeneretur oportet. Ad hanc regene- 
 ' rationem ac renovationem externe nihil amplius ad- 
 ^ hibetur ac sentitur, quam aqua et verhum, quorum 
 
 * alterum oculis duntaxat, alterum auribus, percipitur. 
 
25 
 
 ' Tantum tamen virtutem et energiam habent^, ut 
 
 * Jiomo, qui in peccatis conceptus, et natus est, regene- 
 
 * retur coram Deo, et qui ante ad mortem erat damna- 
 
 * tus,jam vere films Deifit\' 
 
 The preceding quotations, I presume, are too plain 
 and perspicuous to require a comment. Luther's idea 
 then of the visible sign in baptism accorded not with 
 that of those whose opinions I am controverting, who 
 argue, that it was ordained to signify a previous rege- 
 neration of the Spirit, u7ico7inected with that sacra- 
 ment. Indeed he maintained, that it was instituted 
 for the express purpose of counteracting such an imagi- 
 nation. For upon this point he thus strongly delivers his 
 sentiments : ' Necesse est primum adesse externum et 
 
 * sensu perceptibile signum seu creaturam, per quam 
 
 * Deus visibiliter nobis agit, ut de eo certi simus, nee 
 
 * quicquam addubitemus ; neque enim citra externa 
 
 * tnedia, per nudas et arcanas tantum inspirationes et 
 ' afflatus, aut singulares quasdam arcanas Apoca- 
 
 * lypses, seu revelationes nohiscum agere vidt Deus^.' 
 And again towards the conclusion of the same Homily, 
 after reprehending the enthusiastical fervor of those in 
 his own time, who were for ever appealing to the 
 secret influences of the Holy Spirit, he distinctly points 
 out where the regeneration of the Spirit is to be found. 
 ' Certissijnum est,' he remarks, ' ibi (viz. in baptismo) 
 ' Spiritum prsesentem adesse. Quod si Spiritus praesens 
 
 * adest, necesse est et aquam spiritualem esse, eumque 
 ' per aquam et in aqua operari et efficacem esse, et 
 
 * Spiritum jjer earn donare, seu eura spirituales ho- 
 ' mines per earn aquam efficere^' 
 
 That his doctrine however respecting the efficacy of 
 Baptism was broadly distinguished from that of the 
 
 h Viz. aqua et verbum. i Id. p. 377. 
 
 k Id. p. 347. I Id. p. 352. 
 
26 
 
 ' opus operatum' of the Church of Rome, his whole 
 works testify. And indeed the thirteenth Article of 
 the celebrated Augsburg Confession, upon the use of 
 the sacraments, is particularly guarded upon this point. 
 ' Damnant igitur illos,' it concludes, ' qui docent, quod 
 ' sacramenta ex opere operato justificent, nee docent 
 ^ fidem requiri in usu sacramentorum, qu3e credat re- 
 
 * mitti peccata.' 
 
 Faith therefore was considered by him as an indis- 
 pensable requisite in the use of Baptism, but as adding 
 nothing from itself to the efficacy of that sacrament. He 
 held the necessity of faith for a due application of it to 
 the individual ; but he denied that the virtue annexed to 
 it is any more affected by the incredulity of him who 
 is baptized, than the light of the sun is affected by the 
 act of one who shuts his doors and windows to exclude 
 it from his dwelling. The following are his concluding 
 words upon this argument: 'Idem fit in incredulis, 
 
 * qui quamvis verum baptismum divinum et caeleste 
 , lavacrum, et omnia, quae Deus in eo habet, accipiunt, 
 
 * cum tamen id credere aut suscipere nolint, ideo nihil 
 ' etiam iis baptismus prodest, non quod non satis ha- 
 ' heat energirB et virtutis, aut quod perfectus non sit, 
 
 * sed ideo, quod ohvertunt ei tergum, quod eum re- 
 ^jiciunt, et contemnunt, nee corda aperiunt, ut in iis 
 
 * virtutem suam operetur'".' 
 
 Such then was the Lutheran doctrine upon this sub- 
 ject, which it is to be presumed regulated the sense of 
 the Lutheran formulary of baptism ; and from that 
 
 ni Id. p. 362. On the other hand he thus describes its applica- 
 tion to the believer : ' Haec quidem oculis et auribus percipio, sed 
 ' verbum et fides dicunt mihi T>eum ipsum ibi adesse et operari 
 ' opus illud. Atque hitic tarn efficax est lavacrum, et tantse virtu- 
 ' tis, ut regeneret hominem, et omnia, quibus madet, peccata ab- 
 ' luat, atque absorpta deleat.' p. 379. 
 
27 
 
 formulary, let it be remembered, was the one adopted 
 by our Church incontrovertibly borrowed. 
 
 If we examine the public documents of our own Re- 
 formation, from its commencement under Henry to its 
 close under Edward, we shall find, that the same doc- 
 trine was uniformly held upon the same subject. 
 
 The dawn of the Reformation in this country is cor- 
 rectly stated by Neal in his History of the Puritans 
 to have commenced with the Book oj" Articles, pub- 
 lished by Royal authority in the year 1536. ' One 
 ' sees here,' remarks that Historian, ' the dawn of the 
 ' Reformation. The Scriptures and the ancient Creeds 
 
 * are made the standards of faith without the tradition 
 
 * of the Church or decrees of the Pope ; the doctrine 
 ' of justification by faith is well stated ; four out of the 
 
 * seven sacraments are passed over ; and Purgatory is 
 
 * left doubtful °.' This book of Articles, as appears 
 from the preface annexed to it in the King's name, was 
 composed in Convocation to promote ' unity and con- 
 ' cord,' and to prevent ' diversity in opinions,' as well 
 in points of faith as respecting ceremonies <'. There 
 
 ^ Vol. i. p. 24. He adds; 'But transubstantiation, auricular 
 ' coufessioH, the worshipping of images and saints still remained.' 
 He is here a little inaccurate upon the point of transuhstantiation. 
 The doctrine of the Articles is rather Lutheran than Papistical, 
 asserting only the real presence, and not an absolute change of the 
 elements. 
 
 o ' We — also have caused our bishops and other the most dis- 
 ' creet and best learned men of our Clergy of this our whole realm 
 
 * to be assembled in our Convocation, for the full debatement and 
 
 * quiet determination of the same; where, after long and mature 
 ' deliberation and disputations had of and upon the premises, finally 
 ' they have concluded and agreed upon the said matters.' Wilkins's 
 Concilia, vol. iii. p. 817. These articles are given at large by 
 Wilkins, from p. 817, to p. 823, with the subscriptions of the 
 members of Convocation annexed. They were read and subscribed 
 in Convocation, July 11, 1536. See Excerpta ex Regist. Convoca- 
 tionis, in Wilkins, ib. p. 803. 
 
28 
 
 are also extant in the Cottonian Library? certain Arti- 
 cles drawn up in Latin, and in one or two instances 
 corrected by Henry himself, which Strype in his Ec- 
 clesiastical Memorials refers to the year 1540, but 
 which from their great resemblance to the foregoing 
 might perhaps have been of an earlier date. They are 
 upon the following subjects : De Ecclesia, De Justifi- 
 catione, De Eucharistia, De Baptismo, De Poenitentia, 
 De Sacramentorum Usu. They seem to be merely ex- 
 tracts from the preceding articles translated into Latin. 
 From some of these, a considerable part of the 2;5th, 
 26th, and 34th Articles of our Church, was copied al- 
 most verbatim. For a particular detail of this coinci- 
 dence I refer to my Barapton Lecture^. 
 
 As so much respect then was paid to these Articles, 
 when those, which still regulate the faith of our 
 Church, were drawn up, I shall quote from them a 
 passage upon adult baptism, applicable to my present 
 inquiry. It is there said, ' De adultis vero docemus, 
 ' quod ita consequuntur pe?^ haptisinum remissionem 
 
 * peccatorum, et gratiam, si baptizandi attulerint poeni- 
 ' tentiam veram, confessionem articulorum fidei, et cre- 
 ' dant vere ipsis ihi donari remissionem peccatorum, et 
 
 * justificationem propter Christum. Sicut Petrus ait in 
 ' Actis ; " Poenitentiam agite ; et baptizetur unusquis- 
 
 * que vestrum in nomine Jesu Christi in remissionem 
 ' peccatorum, et accipietis donum Spiritus Sancti." ' 
 
 We perceive, that the office of that faith, which with 
 true repentance is thus required in baptism, is to be- 
 lieve not in a past remission of sins, as the Calvinists 
 hold, but in one which is there conferred. But in the 
 English book of Articles, published under the sanction 
 of royal authority in 1536, the probable original of 
 
 P Cleopatra, V. 5. and Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. i. 
 Appendix, p. 300 — 306. 
 
 '1 P. 195, 196;, 197, 1st edit., or 205 — 207, 3rd edit. 
 
29 
 
 the Latin ones, this point is still more strongly and 
 fully expressed. In the directions there given, all 
 bishops and preachers are required among other things 
 to teach the people, ' that men, or children having the 
 
 * use of reason, and willii)g and desiring to be bap- 
 
 * tized, shall by virtue of that holy sacrament obtain 
 ' the grace and remission of all their sins, if they shall 
 ' come thereunto perfectly and truly repentant and 
 ' contrite of all their sins before committed, and also 
 
 * perfectly and constantly confessing and believing all 
 
 * the Articles of oiir faith, according as it was men- 
 
 * tioned in the Article before, or else not. 
 
 * And finally, if they shall also have firm credence 
 
 * and trust in the promise of God adjoined to the said 
 
 * sacrament '', that is to say, that in and hy this said 
 
 r How completely this explanation of baptismal faith breathes 
 the true spirit of Lutheranism, no one at all conversant with the 
 writings of Luther can for a moment hesitate to admit. In his 
 larger Catechism he thus censures and exposes the contrary opin- 
 ion. ' Quod autem nostri fiapoaocpot, hoc est, novi illi spiritus, 
 ' superciliose admodum fabulantur fidem solam esse^ quae salvos 
 ' faciat ; opera vero et res externas ad salutem consequendam nihil 
 ' prsestare aut facere. Respondeo. Sane in 7iobis nihil aliud fa- 
 ' cere aut operari salutem, quam fidem, qua de re mox infra latins. 
 ' Atqui hoc caecorum duces videre nolunt, fidei aliquid habendum 
 
 * esse, quod credat, hoc est^ cui innitatur, et qua re sufFulta per- 
 ' sistat. Ita jam fides aquce adhceret, creditque baplisimim esse, m 
 ' quo mera beatttudo et vita est, non aqua; virtute (ut abunde dictum 
 
 * est,) sed per hoc, quod baptismus verbo Dei unitus et ordine con- 
 'Jirmatus est, et ejus nomine nobilitatus. Jam heec credetis, quid 
 ' aliquid quam in Deum credo, ut in eum. qui suum verbum bap- 
 ' tismo indidit et inseruit, ac nobis externas res proponit, in quibus 
 ' tantarum rerum thesaurum queamus comprehendere.' Opera, 
 Wit. vol. V. p. 637. Again, in his Homily on Baptism he says; 
 ' Qtd credit, quod Deus baptismo ipsi constituerit lavacrum regene- 
 ' rationis, per quod a peccatis mundetur et sit Dei Filius, &c. is 
 ' accipit et experitur, quod credit.' Id. vol. vii. p. 362. 
 
30 
 
 * sacrament, which they shall receive. God the Father 
 ' giveth unto them, for his Son Jesus Christ's sake, 
 
 * remission of all their sins, and the grace of the Holy 
 •' Ghost, whereb}^ they be newly regenerated and made 
 ' the very children of God, according to the saying of 
 
 * Christ and his Apostle St. Peter, Poenitentiam agite, 
 
 * &c.^^' 
 
 From the preceding quotations therefore it is im- 
 possible to deduce any other conclusion than that for 
 which I am contendins^ : that Reijeneration exists in 
 and hj, but not hefore baptism. And let it be remem- 
 bered, that these are the earliest documents of our Re- 
 formation, which our Reformers at the close of it evi- 
 dently had in their contemplation, and which some of 
 them, particularly their leader Cranmer, had been in- 
 strumental in drawing up, when they established that 
 form of doctrine in our church which still subsists. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Same Subject continued. Reign of Edward. Cranmer. His 
 Influence in the Reformation. Principal Author of the 
 first Book of Homilies and the Liturgy. His Opinion 
 upon Regeneration as taught in his Catechism, and his 
 two Tracts upon the Sacrame?it of the Lord's Supper. La- 
 timer not inconsistent icith Cranmer. 
 
 The opinion upon the same point prevalent after 
 the accession of Edward to the throne, when the first 
 book of our Homilies and our Liturgy were com- 
 posed, cannot, I apprehend, be better ascertained, than 
 by investigating it in the public writings of Cranmer, 
 who was principally concerned in the composition of 
 both. The first book of the Homilies was published 
 in July 1547, a few months only after the accession of 
 
 s Wilkins's Concilia Magnae Britaniae, vol. iii. p. 819. 
 
31 
 
 Edward ; and the Book of Common Prayer was drawn 
 up and ratified by Parliament in the subsequent year. 
 The former has been generally considered as partly 
 written by Cranmer himself ^, and partly written under 
 
 a In a correspondence between Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, 
 and the Protector Somerset, published by Fox in the^r^^ edition 
 of his ' Acts and Monuments of the Church,' Gardiner represents 
 the Archbishop as their avowed author, certainlv of that to which 
 he principally objected, the Homily of Salvation. ' My Lord of 
 ' Canterbury was in hand iiitli his Homily of Sahaiion, &c. p. 772. 
 ' As for the book of Homilies, in that point, where my Lord of 
 ' Canterbury would have taught, how faith excludeth charity, &c. 
 ' p. 744, I am in no enmity with his person, and that I am able 
 ' to prove ; but my Lord hath in the Homily of Salvation taken 
 ' such a matter in hand and so handled it, &c. p. 745. As for my 
 ' Lord of Canterbury's Homily of Salvation, p. 749. Now, I per- 
 ' ceive, I am noted to have two faults. One not to like Erasmus's 
 ' Paraphrasis ; another not to like my Lord of Canterbury's Homily 
 ' of Salvation.' p. 803. 
 
 The foundation however of the Homilies seems to have been 
 laid in the preceding reign. In a letter to the Protector, dated 
 loth of June, 1547, (seven weeks before their publication,) Gar- 
 diner thus notices a communication from Cranmer. ' I have re- 
 ' ceived this day letters from my Lord of Canterbury, touching 
 ' certain Homilies, which the Bishops, in the Convocation holden 
 ' anno 1542, agreed to make for stay of such errors as were then 
 ' by ignorant preachers sparkled among the people, for other agree- 
 ' ment there had not passed among us. Since that time God gave 
 ' our late Sovereign Lord the gift of pacification in those matters 
 ' which, established by his Highness's authority in the Convocation, 
 ' extinguished our devices.' And again: ' Since mv letters to your 
 ' Grace, wherewith I sent unto you such letters as I had written 
 ' to my Lord of Canterbury for answer to his letters touching 
 • Homilies, I have eftsoons received other letters from my Lord of 
 ' Canterbury, requiring the said Homilies by virtue of a Convoca- 
 ' tion holden five years past, wherein we communed of that, which 
 ' took none effect then, and much less needeth to be put in execu- 
 ' tion now, nor, in my judgment, cannot without a new authority 
 ' from the king's majesty that now is, commanding such a matter 
 ' to be enterprized.' p. 740. 
 
 From 
 
32 
 
 his superintendance ; and the compilation of the latter 
 was expressly committed to him as Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury, 'with certain of the most learned and discreet 
 ' bishops, and other learned men of this realm,' as it is 
 stated in the Act of Ratification. 
 
 His great influence in the councils of the Protector- 
 ate is thus strongly pointed out by his opponent Gar- 
 diner, when imprisoned for contumacy. ' Men be mor- 
 
 * tal and deeds remain,' exclaims the remonstrating 
 Bishop in a letter to Somerset, ' and methink my Lord 
 
 * of Canterbury doth not well to entangle your Grace 
 
 * with this 7)iatter of religion ; and to borrow of your 
 ' authority the fleet, the marshalsea, and the king's 
 ' bench, with prisonment in his house, wherewith to 
 
 From this statement of Gardiner, so recently after the transac- 
 tion, we might conclude that nothing more passed in the Convoca- 
 tion alluded to, than a?i agreement to write Homilies. It never- 
 theless appears from indisputable records, that Homilies were then 
 and there actually composed. Among the MSS. bequeathed to 
 Christ Church Library by Archbishop Wake are several volumes 
 containing extracts from the Acts of Convocation at different pe- 
 riods. In one of these volumes the following brief account is given 
 of what passed in the Convocation of 1541 and 1542 upon this 
 subject. Feb. 2, 1541. '^ Illic tractavit (viz. Cranmer) de homiliis 
 ' conficiendis. April. 3. Reverendissimus tractavit de homiliis, &c. 
 ' Feb. 16, 1542. Illic prolaicE stmt homilice composite per quosdam 
 ' prcelatos de diversis materiis. Qui libri traditi sunt magistro 
 ' Hussey (Registrario) servandi.' Excerpta ex Actis Convoc. H. 1. 
 p. 69, and 71. 
 
 Gardiner however, it is possible, might not have been present 
 when these Homilies were thus exhibited. That compositions of 
 the kind were really drawn up in the Convocation of 1542, and 
 delivered to the custody of the Registrar, seems incontrovertible. 
 
 Whether indeed these, with corrections and additions by Cran- 
 mer, constituted the principal portion of those which were subse- 
 quently published, cannot be now ascertained. But it should be 
 observed, that the Archbishop is said to have required such a pub- 
 lication, by virtue of the powers vested in the Convocation of 1542. 
 
33 
 
 * cause men to agree to that it pleaseth Mm to call 
 
 * truth in religion^ Fox's Acts and Monuments, first 
 edition, p. 744. ' If my Lord of Canterbury hath the 
 
 * strength of God's Spirit, with such a learning in his 
 
 * laws, as he be able to overthrow with that breath all 
 
 * untruths and establish truths, I would not desire the 
 
 * let of it by your Grace, nor the work of God's truth 
 ' any way kindreds p. 745. Gardiner, who was in- 
 flexible in his opposition to further reform, well knew 
 the weight of that influence with which he was con- 
 tending. 
 
 But nothing perhaps more completely demonstrates 
 the identity of the creed of Cranmer with that of our 
 Reformation, than the circumstance of a change in 
 the former, preceding, and most probably producing, a 
 change in the latter. When our Liturgy was compiled, 
 in the year 1548, Cranmer was a believer in the doc- 
 trine of the real 'presence; and accordingly we find, 
 that in the first edition of it the same doctrine evi- 
 dently predominated. But in the year 1550 the Arch- 
 bishop abandoned this opinion, and published his work, 
 entitled, ' A Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine 
 ' of the Sacrament, &c.' — Immediately afterwards the 
 Liturgy was revised, and some passages, indicative of 
 the real presence, omitted'^. When we consider the 
 
 b In the Consecration prayer the following words occurred : 
 ' Hear us O merciful father we beseech thee ; and with thy holy 
 ' Spirit and word vouchsaje to bless and sanctify these thy gifts 
 ' and creatures of bread and wine, that they may be unto us the 
 
 * body and blood of thy most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ, who 
 ' in the same night,' &c. Also in a subsequent prayer, similar ex- 
 pressions were used. ' Humbly beseeching thee, that whosoever 
 
 * shall be partakers of this holy Communion may worthily receive 
 ' the most precious blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, and be fulfilled 
 ' with thy grace and heavenly benediction^ and inade one body with 
 ' thy Son Jesus Christ, that he may dwell in them, and they in 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 high station which Cranmer filled, his constant zeal in 
 promoting the Reformation, and his presidency at least 
 in the commission for drawing up our Liturgy, if not 
 his complete control over it, combined with these 
 occurrences, we cannot surely doubt the identity al- 
 luded to. 
 
 The same year in which the first book of Homilies 
 appeared, Cranmer translated and published for gene- 
 ral instruction*^ a Catechism, originally composed for 
 the use of the Lutheran Church at Nuremberg, in 
 Germany ; which he republished in the subsequent 
 year. From this production, and from his celebrated 
 works upon the Sacrament, professedly also written 
 for general instruction ^\ I shall extract a few passages 
 illustrative of the point in controversy. 
 
 Mm.' Upon the review of our Liturgy in the latter end of the 
 year 1550 and 1551, the sentences here marked in Italics were 
 struck out. 
 
 c ' And as my intent and endeavour is to profit both,' (viz. the 
 old and young,) 'and according to mine office to bring both to 
 ' right knowledge of God, so my most earnest and humble prayer 
 ' unto God continually shall be, that my good mind and desire 
 ' have good success, and take effect according to my expectation. 
 ' Which thing I assuredly hope shall come to pass, if it please your 
 ' Highness to suffer this little book, by me offerred unto your Ma- 
 ' jesty, to he read, taught and learned of the children of your most 
 ' loving subjects.' Epistle dedicatory to King Edward. 
 
 d ' I know that everlasting woe appertaineth unto me, if I hold 
 ' my peace and put not to my hands and tongue, to labour in 
 ' purging his vineyard. God I take to witness, (who seeth the 
 ' hearts of all men thoroughly unto the bottom,) that I take this 
 ' labour for none other consideration but for the glory of his name, 
 ' and the discharge of my duty, and the zeal, that I bear toward 
 * the flock of Christ. / know in what office God hath placed me, 
 ' and to what purpose, that is to say, to set forth his word truly unto 
 ' his people, to the uttermost of my power, without respect of per- 
 ' son or regard of thing in the world, but of him alone. — And 
 
35 
 
 In the Catechism there occurs a distinct sermon 
 upon the subject of Baptism, which abounds with sen- 
 timents in direct contradiction to those which I am 
 controverting. When commenting upon these words 
 of our Saviour, ' Except a man be born again, he can- 
 ' not enter into the kingdom of God,' the Catechism 
 remarks, that ' it is very necessary for us to know, 
 ' how we must be born again ; and what this second 
 ' birth is, without which we cannot enter into the king- 
 
 * dom of God;' and then proceeds thus to define the mode 
 of Regeneration. ' The second birth is hij the water 
 
 * of JBapt'ism, which Paul calleth the bath of Regene- 
 ' ration, because our sins be forg'wen us in baptism, 
 
 * and the Holy Ghost is potired into us, as into God's 
 
 * beloved children, so that by the power and working 
 
 * of the Holy Ghost we are born again spiritually, and 
 
 * made new creatures. And so by baptism we enter into 
 
 * the kingdom of God, and shall be saved for ever, if 
 
 * we continue to our lives end in the faith of Christ^ ^ 
 Is not Regeneration here clearly described as the ap- 
 propriate effect of Baptism ; not indeed as an inde- 
 lible effect, according to the Calvinistical idea, but as 
 one which will ultimately lead to salvation, if we con- 
 tinue in the faith of Christ to our lives end f 
 
 Nor does the Catechism omit to point out in the 
 phraseology of Luther that to which the regenerating 
 effect of Baptism is to be ascribed. * Hitherto,' it says, 
 
 * you have heard what we promise to God when we 
 
 * are baptized ; now learn, what God worheth in us by 
 
 * baptism, and what benefits he giveth us in the same. 
 
 ' moved by the duty, office and place, whereunto it hath pleased 
 ' God to call me, I give warning,' &c. — Preface to a Defence of 
 the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament. 
 e P. 228. ed. 1548. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 ' For baptism is not water alone and nothing else be- 
 
 * sides; but it is the water of God, a7id hath its 
 ' strength by the word of God, and is a seal of God's 
 ' promise. Wherefore it doth work in us all these 
 
 * things whereunto God hath ordained it. For our 
 
 * Lord Jesus Christ saith, Go and teach all nations, 
 
 * and baptize them in the name of the Father, and the 
 
 * Son, and the Holy Ghost. This God commanded his 
 
 * disciples to do. Wherefore by the virtue of this 
 
 * commandment, which came from heaven, even from 
 
 * the bosom of God, baptism doth work in us, as the 
 ' work of God. For when we be baptized in the name 
 
 * of God, that is as much as to say, as God himself 
 ' should baptize us. Wherefore we ought not only to 
 
 * have an eye to the water, but to God rather which 
 
 * did ordain the baptism of water, and commanded it 
 ' to be done in his name. For he is almighty, and 
 
 * able to work in us by baptism forgiveness of our sins, 
 ' and all these wonderful effects and operations for 
 
 * which he ordained the same, although man's reason 
 ' is not able to conceive the same^' 
 
 Upon Baptismal Regeneration indeed it again and 
 again expatiates ; but, as in the following passage, 
 must always be understood, when alluding to the case 
 of adults, to confine the application of it to those only 
 who believe. * Learn diligently I pray you the fruit 
 ' and operation of baptism. For it worketh forgive- 
 
 * ness of sins, it delivereth from death and power of 
 
 * the devil, it giveth salvation and everlasting life to 
 ' all them that believe, as the words of Christ's promise 
 ' doth evidently witness. But perad venture some will 
 ' say ; how can water work so great things ? To 
 ' whom I answer, that it is not the water that doth 
 ' these things, but the almighty word of God {which 
 
 ' P. 233- 
 
37 
 
 * is knit and joined to the water) and faith^ which 
 ' receiveth God's word and promise. For without 
 
 * the word of God water is water, and not baptism. 
 
 * But when the word of the living God is added and 
 ^joined to the water, then is it the hath of Regeiiera- 
 
 * tion and baptism water, and a living spring of eternal 
 
 * salvation, and a bath, that washeth our souls by the 
 
 * Holy Ghosts.' 
 
 Is it possible for words more distinctly to assert, 
 that Regeneration exists not before baptism, but solely 
 in and hy it, than these ? To put however the doctrine 
 of the Catechism upon this point out of controversy, 
 I will quote a passage or two more, which cannot, 
 I apprehend, be well misconceived. Describing the 
 order of Regeneration in adults, it proceeds thus ; 
 ' First of all the Holy Ghost provoketh and stirreth 
 
 * up men to iweach God's word. Then he moveth 
 
 * men's hearts to faith, and calleth them to baptism ; 
 ' and theti by faith and baptism he worketh so, that 
 ' he maketh them as new men again. And when we 
 
 * be thus newly born, and be become the children of 
 ' God, then the Holy Ghost doth dwell in us and make 
 ^ us holy and godly, that we may be the temples of 
 
 * God in whom God may dwell and inhabit '\' Again : 
 
 * I trust you understand wherefore Baptism is called 
 
 * the bath of Regeneration, and how in baptism we be 
 
 * born again, and be made new creatures in Christ. 
 
 * The which doctrine you shall the better understand, 
 ' if you consider in what condition you were before 
 
 * you were bapti%ed, and in what state you stand in 
 ' after your baptism. 
 
 ' First, before we were baptized it is evident that 
 
 * we were sinners, and he that is a sinner can have no 
 
 * peace nor quietness of conscience before he come to 
 
 g P. 238. h p, 152. 
 
 D 3 
 
38 
 
 * C/iris'tK so much he feareth God's wrath and ever- 
 
 * lasting damnation. But after that our sins in bap- 
 ' tism be forgiven us, and we believe the promise of 
 
 * God, and so by our faith be justified, then our con- 
 
 * sciences be quieted '\' 
 
 From the preceding extracts then it appears, that 
 the Catechism of Cranmer, published for general in- 
 struction, attributes Regeneration in adults wholly to 
 the word of God combined with the water of Baptism ; 
 and describes the faith, which is deemed requisite for 
 its due application to the individual, not as a belief in 
 mercy already received, but as a belief in a promise of 
 God to be fulfilled, and to be appropriately fulfilled, in 
 that sacrament. That this opinion completely accords 
 with what I maintain to be the true doctrine of our 
 Baptismal Service, cannot, I conceive, be well dis- 
 puted. 
 
 Such were the sentiments of Cranmer, when the 
 Book of Common Prayer was first compiled. I now 
 proceed to shew that they were not subsequently al- 
 tered. 
 
 In the year 1550, I have remarked, he published 
 his able ' Defence of the True Doctrine and Use of the 
 
 * Lord's Supper.' And in the following year, came 
 out his still more elaborate work, entitled 'An Answer 
 
 i The phrase here used, before he come to Christ, is evidently 
 intended to be synonymous with before he be baptized. In the 
 same sense also, I apprehend, must a similar phrase be taken, which 
 occurs in our Baptismal Service, ' truly repenting and comiiig vnto 
 ' him (viz. Christ) by faith.' That the word coming, when strictly 
 explained, means a Jirst approach, is an argument adopted in the 
 second book of our Homilies, where it is said, ' We do not turn 
 * again unto him with whom we were 7iever before, but we come 
 ' unto him.' First Part of the Homily upon Repentance. 
 
 k P. 235. 
 
39 
 
 * of the most Reverend Father in God, Thomas Arch- 
 
 * bishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and 
 
 * Metropolitan, unto a crafty and sophistical Cavilla- 
 
 * tion, devised by Stephen Gardiner, Doctor of Law, 
 
 * &c.' In these productions, abundant evidences of 
 that, which I undertake to prove, exist. 
 
 In the Defence he thus limits Regeneration to Bap- 
 tism. ' For this cause Christ ordained baptism in 
 
 * water, that as surely as we feel and touch water with 
 ' our bodies, and be washed with water, so assuredly 
 
 * ought we to believe, ivJien we he haptixed, that Christ 
 
 * is verily present with us, and that hy him we he 
 
 * newly horn again spiritually, and washed from our 
 
 * sins, and grafted in the stock of Christ's own body, 
 
 * and be apparelled, clothed, and harnessed with him, 
 
 * in such wise, that as the devil hath no power against 
 
 * Christ, so hath he none against us, so long as we 
 
 * remain grafted in that stock, and be clothed with 
 
 * that apparel, and harnessed with that armour ^' 
 
 To this extract it will be sufficient perhaps, if I add 
 only one or two more from the same work. 
 
 ' And he bringeth for example here of the change 
 
 * of us in baptism, ivherein a man is so changed, (as is 
 
 * before declared in the words of Eusebius,) that he is 
 
 * made a new creature, and yet his substance remain- 
 
 * eth the same that it M^as before'". In our spiritual 
 
 * Regeneration there can be no sacrament of baptism 
 
 * if there be no water. For baptism is no perfect sa- 
 ' crament of spiritual Regeneration, without there be 
 
 * as well the element of water, as the Holy Ghost, 
 
 * spiritually regenerating the person that is haptixed, 
 
 * which is signified by the said water. But forasmuch 
 
 * as he (i. e. Christ) is joined to the bread but sacra- 
 ' mentally, there followeth no impanation thereof, no 
 
 1 P. 9, 10. n> P. 26. 
 
 D 4 
 
40 
 
 ' more than the Holy Ghost is inaquate, that is to 
 ' say, made water, being sacramentally joined to the 
 ' water in haptism. Nor he was not made a dove, 
 ' Avhen he took upon him the form of a dove, to sig- 
 ' nify that he, whom St. John did baptize, was very 
 ' Christ". — Likewise is the nature of the water changed 
 ' in haptism, forasmuch as, besides its common nature, 
 
 * which is to wash and make clean the body, it declar- 
 
 * eth unto us, that our souls he also washed and made 
 ' clean hy the Holy Ghost °' 
 
 From Cranmer's other production, viz. his answer 
 to Gardiner, so numerous are the allusions to this sub- 
 ject in the general tenor of his argument, that quota- 
 tion seems a more easy task than selection. I shall 
 however content myself with adducing only a few of 
 such passages as bear more immediately upon the prin- 
 cipal point in dispute. 
 
 Upon what he terms the wonderful operation of 
 God, not previous to, but during the administration of 
 baptism, he thus expresses himself. ' The wonder is 
 ' not how God worketh in the outward visible sacra- 
 
 * ment, but his marvellous work is in the worthy re- 
 
 * ceivers of the sacraments. The wonderful work of 
 ' God is not in the water, which only washeth the 
 ' body, but God by his omnipotent power worketh 
 ' wonderfully in the receivers thereof, scouring, wash- 
 ' ing, and making them clean inwardly, and as it were 
 
 * new men and celestial creatures. This have all old au- 
 
 * thors wondered at, this wonder passeth the capacities 
 
 * of all men's wits, how damnation is turned into sal- 
 ' vation, and of the son of the devil condemned unto 
 ' hell, is made the son of God and inheritor of heaven. 
 
 * This wonderful work of God all men may marvel 
 
 » P- 32, 33- " P- 35- 
 
41 
 
 ' and wonder at ; but no creature is able sufficiently to 
 ' comprehend it p.' 
 
 Distinctly also does he assert, that the inward and 
 invisible grace is inseparable from the outward and 
 visible sign, when duly received. ' In Baptism,' he 
 remarks, ' Christ and the Holy Ghost be not in the 
 water y or font, but be given in the ministration to 
 them, that be duly baptized in the water. And al- 
 though the sacramental tokens be only significations 
 and figures, ijet doth Almighty God effectually work 
 in them, that duly receive his sacraments, those di- 
 vine and celestial ojierations, which he hath pro- 
 7nised, and by the sacraments be signified. For else 
 were they vain and unfruitful sacraments, as well to 
 the godly as to the ungodly i. And in your handling 
 here of St. Ambrose you seem to be utterly ignorant, 
 and not to know difference between sacramental signs 
 (in the use whereof Almighty God inwardly work- 
 eth) and other vain signs, which be nothing else but 
 outward shows to the eye. For if you understood 
 the matter, would you resemble a knave playing in a 
 prince's coat (in whom nothing is inwardly wrought 
 or altered) unto a man being baptized in water, who 
 hath put upon him outwardly water, but inwardly 
 is apparelled with Christ, and is by the omnipotent 
 working of God spiritually regenerated and changed 
 into a new man^V 
 In these as well as in various other passages he 
 plainly teaches, that the thing signified does not al- 
 ways precede, but always accompanies, the sign when 
 duly received ; that the sign indicates a change, which 
 takes place by a real operation of the Spirit of God in 
 baptism. ' Water in the font, or vessel,' he observes, 
 
 p P. 74. q P. 172. r p. 389. 
 
4S 
 
 ' hath not the reason and nature of a sacrament but 
 ' when it is put to the use of christening : and then it 
 ' is changed into the proper nature and kind of a sa- 
 ' cranient, to siii'fiifi/ the wonderful change, which Al- 
 ' mighty God by his omnipotence icorketh reallij in 
 ' them that he hapthed therewith^.'' 
 
 Can we possibly read the preceding extracts, and 
 not perceive how hostile were the sentiments of Cran- 
 mer to those of Avriters, who deny that Regeneration 
 is the uniform and constant effect of baptism in minds 
 duly prepared ? The opinions inculcated by this great 
 author of our Reformation, in productions avowedly 
 published to instruct and enlighten the community at 
 large, must be esteemed highly important upon every 
 point connected with the principles, upon which it may 
 be supposed that our Reformation was founded. It is 
 on this account, that I have been so full in detailing 
 them. Craumer was not only instrumental in pro- 
 moting every measure of reform, as circumstances fa- 
 voured his eflforts, but in personally carrying every 
 measure of reform into effect, by superintending and 
 drawing up himself the specific formularies of public 
 doctrine and of public worship. In rank, station, and 
 character, he stood preeminent : nor was he deficient 
 in ability to execute that amelioration of religious 
 opinion, which he projected. 
 
 After the adduction therefore of so decisive a testi- 
 mony as that of Cranmer, it must seem unnecessary to 
 undertake the task of investigating that of others, who 
 were either no agents at all, or at best inferior ones, 
 in the work of our Reformation ; particularly as it oc- 
 curs in writings, which were simply intended for docu- 
 ments of individual faith. But as the testimony of 
 Latimer has been confidently brought forward upon 
 ^* P. 2 11. See also p. 22, 169, 207, 304, 327, 413, 451. 
 
43 
 
 the other side, I shall briefly consider it ; nevertheless 
 premising that, were it on this occasion in truth really 
 opposed to Cranmer's, it would only weighi as dust 
 upon the balance. 
 
 Latimer was peculiarly distinguished by so much 
 quaintness and bluntness of expression, blended with 
 so much simplicity but energy of conception, and was 
 so facetious as well as unreserved in his constant 
 attacks upon Popery, that his compositions still extant 
 ought rather to be regarded as monuments of his own 
 singular taste and talents, than as accurate specimens 
 either of the diction or doctrine of his times. Xor do 
 we find any proof of his literary assistance being so- 
 licited or used in the compilation of the Liturg)^ He 
 has been supposed to hold opinions upon the efficacy 
 of baptism contradictory to those which I have adduced 
 from the writings of Cranmer. This supposition, or 
 rather confident assertion, has been grounded upon the 
 following quotations from his Sermons : ' Christ saith, 
 
 * Except a man be born again from above, he cannot 
 ' see the kingdom of God. He must have regene/'atio^i. 
 
 * And what is this Regeneration ? It is not to he 
 
 * christened in water, as these firebrands' (meaning 
 the Papists) ' expound it, and nothing else. How is it 
 ' to be expounded then? St. Peter sheweth, that one 
 ' place of Scripture declareth another. It is the cir- 
 
 * curastance and collation of places, that make Scrip- 
 
 * ture plain. Regeneramur autem, saith St. Peter, and 
 
 * we he horn again. How? Non ex semine mortali 
 ' sed immortali. Wot hy a mortal seed hut hy an im- 
 ' mortal. What is this immortal seed ? Per sermonem 
 
 * Dei viventis. By the word of the Uvi?ig God. By the 
 ' word of God preached and opened. Thus cometh in 
 ' our new birth ^' 
 
 * Sermons^ ed. 157 1. p. 73. 
 
44 
 
 Conclusive, however, as this passage is thought to 
 be upon the other side, I see no reason to admit, that 
 it excludes Regeneration from baptism. That the bap- 
 tism of adults is alluded to, will not, I apprehend, be 
 disputed. Upon this presumption then, as faith cometh 
 by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, when 
 Latimer said, ' Thus cometh in our new birth,' he 
 might have meant to affirm, that, in the case of adults, 
 effectual baptism always presupposes the existence of 
 faith in the recipient, as a necessary requisite for the 
 due application of its regenerating efficacy. Indeed, it 
 is probable that this really was his meaning, because 
 his sole object in the argument was to furnish a coun- 
 terposition to the well known doctrine of the Papists, 
 who represented the new birth to be mere * christening 
 
 * in water and nothing else ;' that is, to take place ex 
 opere operato sine hono motic recipientis, by the ex- 
 ternal sanctity of the operation itself, without any ac- 
 tual purpose of amendment in him, to whom it is ad- 
 ministered, or actual trust in the mercy of God through 
 Christ. He did not deny that Regeneration was ap- 
 propriated to baptism ; but he denied that it consisted 
 in the simple affusion of water, and in nothing else. 
 His argument I conceive to have been this ; that as 
 the word of God communicates efficacy to the sacra- 
 ment, so also without a previous contemplation of that 
 word, faith is impossible, and the sacrament conse- 
 quently fruitless. 
 
 In such a point of view Latimer's opinion seems 
 perfectly consistent with that of Cranmer in the fol- 
 lowing passage of his Catechism before quoted. ' Fi?'st 
 
 * of all the Holy Ghost provoketh and stirreth up men 
 
 * to preach God's word. Then he moveth men's hearts 
 
 * tojriith, and calleth them to baptism, and then by faith 
 
 * atid baptism he worketh so, that he maketh us new 
 
45 
 
 * men again".' Indeed, if we take his meaning in a 
 different point of view, we make him not only incon- 
 sistent with Cranmer, but ivitJi himself; for he else- 
 where distinctly states that we begin to enter into 
 Christ, and to obtain remission of our sins, by bap- 
 tism. 
 
 The statement to which I allude is thus unequivo- 
 cally expressed. ' Now like as he' (viz. Christ) ' was 
 ' born in rags, so the converting of the ivhole world is 
 
 * by rags, by things, which are most vile in this world. 
 
 * For go to the matter. What is so common as water f 
 ' Every foul ditch is full of it. Yet we wash out re- 
 ' mission of our sins by baptism. For like as he was 
 
 * found in rags, so must we find him by baptism. 
 ' There we begin. We are washed with water, and 
 ' then the words are added ; for we are baptized in the 
 ' name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; 
 ' whereby baptism receiveth its strength. Now this 
 ' sacrament of baptism is a thing of great weight ; for 
 ' it ascertaineth and assureth us, that like as the 
 ' water washeth the body and cleanseth it, so the blood 
 ' of Christ our Saviour cleanseth and washeth it from 
 ' all filth of sins. And so it appeareth, that we may 
 
 * not seek Christ in the glistering of this world ; for 
 
 * what is so common as water ? Yet he promiseth to 
 ' be found there, when he is sought with a faitlful 
 ' heart^J 
 
 I cannot therefore think, that the sentiments of 
 Latimer upon the point differed from those of Cranmer. 
 Nor do I admit, that, if they did, they could be justly 
 considered as of weight in the controversy. 
 
 ™ Catechism, p. 152. '^ SermonSj part ii. p. 175. 
 
46 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 First Book of Homilies. Pan/phrase of Ei^asmi/s. Second 
 Book of Homilies. Its Doctrine upon liegeneratioti mis- 
 represented. The same explained and vindicated. Opin- 
 ions of those tvho compiled the Office of Adult Baptism. 
 
 Although the two books of Homilies, written at 
 different periods, were never imposed by our Church 
 upon her respective members as specific rules of faith ; 
 yet because her ministers are required to admit gene- 
 rally, that they contain ' a godly and wholesome doc- 
 ' trine, and necessary for the times V in which they 
 were written, it seems reasonable to invest every 
 opinion, fairly deducible from them, with a relative 
 importance. Should they however in any instance 
 prove to be at variance with our Liturgy, it would 
 not, I conceive, be difficult to determine, in which of 
 the two compositions the true creed of our Church is 
 to be found. 
 
 Independently however of this consideration, the 
 Jirst book of Homilies is important in another respect; 
 I mean, because it was composed, as I have already 
 observed, by the very persons (Cranmer and his asso- 
 ciates) who originally compiled our Liturgy. The 
 true sense therefore of any disputed parts of the Li- 
 turgy may, I conceive, be at least appropriately illus- 
 trated by it. I do not indeed perceive in it any direct 
 allusion to the distinct subject of adult baptism ; never- 
 
 a Article XXXV. ' Piam et salutarem doctrinam el his temporibiis 
 ' necessariam.' This is applied to the second book of Homilies ; 
 but it is added, ' non minus quam prior tomus Homiliarum.' In 
 the Articles of Edward, A. D. 1552, the clause stood thus: ' Ho- 
 ' miliae' (the first book only, of course) ' pise sunt atque salutares, 
 ' doctrinamque ah omnihus amplectendam continent.' Was the al- 
 teration adopted without meaning } 
 
47 
 
 theless, as far as the general question of baptismal effi- 
 cacy is at issue, it is not altogether silent. 
 
 In the Homily upon Salvation (universally ascribed 
 to Cranmer) the meritorious cause of our restoration 
 to Divine favour is said to be the sacrifice of Christ 
 once offered for all upon the altar of the cross. By 
 this sacrifice, it is added, infants, being haj)thecl, are 
 washed from their sins, and made the children of God; 
 and ' they which in act or deed do sin cifter baptism, 
 ' when they turn again to God unfeignedly, they are 
 ' likewise washed by this sacrifice from their sins.' In 
 the statement here made, Regeneration is considered 
 as inseparable from baptism ; while repentance and 
 faith, or ' turning to God unfeignedly,' are represented 
 as the sole requisites for obtaining pardon and recon- 
 ciliation only ({fter baptism ; the sacrament itself being 
 regarded as the true channel, through which the opera- 
 tive efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ is first conveyed 
 to the soul of man. 
 
 But these Homilies were not the only productions 
 sanctioned by royal authority at the commencement 
 of the reign of Edward. At the same time, and under 
 the same authority, the Paraphrase of Erasmus upon 
 the Gospels was ordered to be purchased by every 
 parish, and to be placed in churches for general in- 
 struction ; and every Clergyman under the degree of 
 Bachelor in Divinity was require^ to provide ' the 
 
 * New Testament both in Latin and English, with the 
 ' Paraphrase upon the same of Erasmus, and diligently 
 
 * to study the same, conferring the one with the other^.' 
 The exposition then of Erasmus was not only recom- 
 mended to the Laity, but also to the Clergy, who were 
 directed to receive it as a standard of Scriptural doc- 
 
 ^ Injunctions of King Edward, A. D. 1547. 
 
48 
 
 trine, diligently studying it, and comparing it with the 
 word of God. 
 
 The appeal to this testimony will require neither 
 illustration nor comment. I shall therefore simply 
 quote a few occasional paragraphs from the Latin ori- 
 ginal, selected with no particular industry, which will 
 sufficiently speak for themselves. 
 
 ' Qui hapthatus est, jam exuit affectus carnales, et 
 ^ f actus regeneratione spiritualis, Spiritus Sancti duci- 
 ' tur et agitur arbitrio. — Baptismiis aufert omnia de- 
 
 * licta vitse superioris '^. Hsec ubi illos docueritis, si 
 ' crediderint quae docuistis, si poenituerit vitai prioris, 
 ' si parati fuerint amplecti doctrinam Evangelicam, 
 
 * turn tingite illos aqua, in nomine Patris et Filii et 
 ' Spiritus Sancti, ut hoc sacro symholo confidant sese 
 
 * liberatos ah omnium peccatorum sordibus, gratuito 
 
 * beneficio mortis meae, jamque cooptatos in numerum 
 ^ filiorum Dei^. — A baptismo nee Eunuchus est, nee 
 ' jEthiops, sed nova creatura. Caeterum Philippus 
 
 * simul ac egressus est aquam, rapuit ilium Spiritus 
 ' Domini, nee amplius vidit eum Eunuchus, nee desi- 
 
 * deravit doctorem suum, semel afflatus Spiritu Sancto 
 
 * per haptismum ^. — Per baptismum renascimur, ac 
 
 * subito velut in aliam creaturam transformamur ^. — 
 
 * Jam quod fuit illis area Noe, hoc vobis est baptismus. 
 
 * Baptismus rite acceptus servat ab exitio, ac diluit sor- 
 
 * des non corporum sed animorum ; repudiatus perdit in 
 
 * aeternum, ac scelerum gravioribus undis involvit. Ita- 
 
 * que quod aliis saluti est, accedente fide, hoc incredu- 
 
 * lis ac rebellibus adfert exitium s. 
 
 The second Book of Homilies was not composed 
 until after the accession of Elizabeth. It was the pro- 
 
 c Ed. 1556. p. 19, Matt. iv. d Ibid. p. 157. Matt, xxviii. 
 e Ibid. p. 724. Acts viii. f lb. p. 159. Gal. iii. 
 
 g lb. p. 291. I Pet. iii. 
 
49 
 
 duction of those who revived, but who did not com- 
 pile, our Liturgy, and who revived it unaltered. The 
 Evangelical party cite from it a particular passage, 
 which, they conceive, represents Regeneration as un- 
 connected with baptism, as an operation of the mind, 
 independent of all external acts, which communicates, 
 without the means of grace, the hope of glory. Con- 
 fidently however as the passage is brought forward, I 
 cannot accede either to their interpretation of it, or to 
 the conclusion which they deduce from that interpre- 
 tation. Nor indeed, were they capable of proving what 
 they wish more satisfactorily, would it follow, that we 
 should expunge from the Creed of our Church a doc- 
 trine, which seems plainly and literally inculcated in 
 her established Liturgy, because in a single passage of 
 these Homilies, a doctrine of a different tendency ap- 
 pears to be obscurely and collaterally implied. Besides, 
 had those who restored the Reformed Religion under 
 Elizabeth really disapproved a doctrine so prominently 
 conspicuous in our Baptismal Service, is it to be be- 
 lieved that they would have reestablished the same 
 service, — a service also, it should be remarked, in almost 
 daily use, — without the least emendation ? Or that they 
 would have been contented with merely introducing 
 into a diffuse production, not prescribed as a rule of 
 faith, a slight allusion, by implication only, to an opin- 
 ion inconsistent with that which (in the view of my 
 opponents) they were desirous of rejecting ? 
 
 But I contend, that, as well in the second, as in the 
 first, book of Homilies, the inward and invisible grace 
 is expressly stated always to accompany the external 
 and visible sign in the administration of the sacra- 
 ments, when duly received ; and that Regeneration is 
 considered as the inward and invisible grace of bap- 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 tism, and consequently must in such cases always ac- 
 company it. 
 
 In the Homily upon Common Praijer and the Sa- 
 craments, we find the inseparable union between the 
 sign and the thing signified (inseparable of course I 
 mean to minds properly prepared when capable of such 
 preparation) clearly and strongly asserted. It is there 
 said, that, in the sacraments, God ' embraceth us, and 
 
 * offereth himself to be embraced of us.' And shortly 
 after it is added ; St. Augustine ' alloweth the common 
 
 * description of a sacrament, which is, that it is a vi- 
 
 * sible sign of an invisible grace ; that is to say, that 
 
 * setteth out to the eyes and other ouhva?'d senses the 
 
 * iriivard working of God's free mercy, and doth as it 
 ' were seal in our hearts the promises of God^^.'' 
 
 The act of reciprocal amity between God and man 
 is here stated to take place not out o/*but in the sacra- 
 ments : and a sacrament is described as a visible sign 
 of an invisible grace, which outwardly exhibits the 
 inward working of God's free mercy, and seals in our 
 hearts the promises of God. When the two extracts 
 are considered together, and they both occur in the 
 same page evidently explanatory of each other, must 
 it not be admitted, that the visible sign is represented 
 as conveying the invisible grace, as exhibiting an in- 
 ward working of God, which at the time takes place, 
 as sealing God's promises, which are then, not previ- 
 ously, fulfilled ? The sealing of God's promises is pre- 
 cisely the phrase used in our twenty-seventh Article, 
 upon JBaptism ; in which baptism is said to be ' a sign 
 ' of Regeneration, whereby (or by which sign, per 
 ' quod) the promises of the forgiveness of sin and of 
 ' our adoption to be the sons of God are visibly signed 
 h Ed. 1623. p. 123, 134. 
 
51 
 
 * and sealed (visibly sealed, or sealed up, visibiliter 
 ' ohslgnantur).'' An attempt, I am aware, is made' to 
 explain away the whole force of this phrase, by repre- 
 senting it as signifying no more than a mere attesta- 
 tion of the Church to a blessing unconnected with the 
 sacrament itself, and already received. But I am per- 
 suaded that it has a very different signification, both 
 in our Articles and in the Homilies under review. 
 The latter will sufficiently speak for themselves. In 
 the Homily upon Repentance, (viz. after baptism, or 
 admission into Divine favour,) the third part of that 
 duty is stated to be ' faith, whereby we do apprehend 
 ' and take hold upon the promises of God, touching 
 
 * the free pardon and forgiveness of our sins, which 
 ' promises are sealed up unto us with the death and 
 ' hloodsheddbig of' his Son Jesus Christ.' The seal- 
 ing up by the death and t)loodshedding of Christ, 
 will scarcely, I apprehend, be interpreted to mean no 
 more than a mere attestation of a blessing otherwise 
 conveyed. Now the sealing, which is here applied to 
 the meritorious, is in the preceding extract applied to 
 the instrumental, cause, the meritorious one being pre- 
 supposed. The result is obvious. 
 
 Perhaps, however, it may be objected, more decisive 
 evidence is still requisite to prove, that, in the quota- 
 tions above given, the sign, when duly received, is al- 
 ways supposed to be accompanied by the thing sig- 
 nified. Produce, it may be said, a plain declaration of 
 their inseparability in such case, and we may then be 
 satisfied. Fortunately the very Homily, from which 
 the quotations are themselves taken, furnishes, I appre- 
 hend, a proof of this description. In the subsequent 
 page, when stating the number of the sacraments, the 
 Homily remarks ; ' If they should be considered ac- 
 
 ' Scott ajraiiist Mant, p. 23 i. 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 ' cording to the exact signification of a sacrament, 
 ' namely, for the visible signs, expressly commanded 
 
 * in the New Testament, whereunto is annexed the 
 ' promise of free forgiveness of our sin, and of our ho- 
 ' liness and joining in Christ, there be but two ; 
 ' namely, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. For 
 
 * although ahsolution hath the promise of forgiveness 
 ' of sin, yet by the express word of the Neiv Testa- 
 
 * ment it hath not this promise annexed and tied to 
 ' the visible sigti^.' Again, in order to expose the ab- 
 surdity of ministering in an unknown tongue, it is per- 
 tinently asked ; ' Who shall in the ministration of the 
 
 * sacraments' (that is, when so administered) ' under- 
 ' stand what invisible grace is to be craved of [by] the 
 
 * hearer, to be wrought in the inward man^?' 
 
 Surely, so express an assertion, that the invisible 
 grace is annexed and tied to the visible sign, and that 
 it is to be, not that it previously has been, wrought in 
 the inward man, must preclude all idea of the former 
 being separated from, or preceding, the latter. 
 
 The inference deducible from these premises cannot, 
 I conceive, be evaded by the suggestion, that as spi- 
 ritual manducation may take place out of, as well as 
 in, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, so may spi- 
 ritual Regeneration take place out of, as well as in, 
 the sacrament of Baptism. For although spiritual 
 manducation for the support of spiritual life is necessa- 
 rily capable of repetition, and may take place even 
 without the external symbol ; yet to say that the same 
 act of spiritual manducation, which is specifically an- 
 nexed and tied to the external symbol in the Lord's 
 Supper, takes place previously to the use of that sym- 
 bol, would be a confusion in terms, and an anomaly in 
 language. Nor, were the circumstance possible, would 
 u p. ,35. 1 P. ,37. 
 
53 
 
 the cases be parallel ; because the invisible grace of the 
 sacrament of Baptism, unlike that of the sacrament of 
 the Lord's Supper, is confessed to be, in its very na- 
 ture, incapable of repetition ; it is a commencement, 
 and not a continuation, of life. 
 
 There exists not, I apprehend, and never has ex- 
 isted, any difference of opinion respecting the denomi- 
 nation of the invisible grace of baptism. We should 
 not therefore think it remarkable, that these Homilies 
 do not formally designate it. Incidentally, nevertheless, 
 it is alluded to. In the Homily for Good-Friday we 
 are represented ' to be washed in our baptism ^'O^w the 
 ^ filthiness ofsin^^^:' but still more directly to the point, 
 in the Homily for repairing and keeping clean of 
 Churches, by way of urging a proper respect for the 
 house of God, ' wherein be ministered the sacraments 
 ' and mysteries of our redemption,' it is expressly said, 
 ' the Jbu7itain of om- Regeneration is there presented 
 * unto us".' 
 
 Having thus adduced the doctrine of the second 
 book of Homilies upon the point at issue on one side, I 
 come now to consider what some have conceived to be 
 its doctrine upon the same point on the other. 
 
 The passages, which have been quoted with this 
 view, all occur in the first part of the Homily upon 
 Whitsunday; and they have been quoted as exclusively 
 relating to the single act of Regeneration. This how- 
 ever I do not apprehend to be the case. The object of 
 the whole first part of the Homily evidently is, (as it 
 is in so many words stated to be,) to explain, ' what 
 ' the Holy Ghost is, and how consequently he worketh 
 ' his miraculous worhs towards mankind^.'' In demon- 
 stration of the former point, his Divinity is asserted 
 conformably with the doctrine of the Athanasian 
 
 n> P. 176. n p, 7^. o p. 207. 
 
 E 3 
 
54 
 
 Creed, and shortly proved by the two following refer- 
 ences ; first, to the celestial appearances at the baptism 
 of Christ in the river Jordan ; and secondly, to the in- 
 stitution of the sacrament of baptism, when Christ 
 ' sent his disciples into the whole world, willing them 
 ' to hapthe all nations, in the name of the Father, the 
 ' Son, and the Holy Ghost ; thus equally joining him 
 ' with them in the conmiission, that the Apostles had 
 ' to baptize all nations.' In demonstration of the lat- 
 ter point, the Homily slightly touches upon his mira- 
 culous operation in the gift of Prophecy, and his still 
 more miraculous operation in what is usually termed the 
 immaculate conception ; then adverts to the power dis- 
 played by him m the inward regeiieration and sancti- 
 fication of mankind^ and concludes with an allusion to 
 the various gifts and graces, principally manifested by 
 him in the apostolical and primitive ages of Christianity. 
 From the preceding account therefore of the whole 
 first part of this Homily it appears, that only one por- 
 tion of it bears more immediately upon the subject 
 under discussion, in which is noticed ' the inward re- 
 generation and sanctifcation of manhind' This por- 
 tion has been carefully extracted ; and represented as 
 exclusively relating to Regeneration distinct from bap- 
 tism. But is this the fact ? Certainly not. It profess- 
 edly relates not to Regeneration alone, but to regene- 
 ration and sanctification united. Nor is the statement 
 correct, that it relates to Regeneration distinct from 
 haptism. The very epithet used, inward Regeneration, 
 would have been superfluous, had not the outward and 
 visible sign, as well as the inward and spiritual grace, 
 been in the contemplation of the writer, I mean not as 
 opposed to each other, but as perfectly harmonizing 
 together. Nor is even a distinct allusion to the out- 
 ward and visible sign of Regeneration in baptism 
 omitted. For in a few paragraphs only before, the 
 
55 
 
 Godhead of the Holy Ghost is proved from the form 
 of words commanded by our Saviour to be used in 
 that sacrament : and in the second part of the same 
 Homily the junction of the Word with the element of 
 water is said to constitute the essence of the sacra- 
 ment itself P. But what is still more to the purpose, 
 the very passages in question commence with a direct 
 reference to baptism, and with the same declaration of 
 our Saviour to Nicodemus, ' Unless a man be born 
 ' anew, of' water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into 
 ' the kingdom of God,' with which declaration our 
 Baptismal Service commences, and the precise sense of 
 which therefore our Church had previously deter- 
 mined. It should also be observed, that immediately 
 after this express mention of water as well as the 
 Spirit ; the ignorance of Nicodemus is imputed to his 
 not knowing ' the great power of the Holy Ghost in 
 ' this hehalf, that it is he which inwardly worketh the 
 ' regeneration and new birth of mankind q,' that is, the 
 power of the Holy Ghost in haptism, that it is he 
 whose inward working accompanies and renders effec- 
 tual the outward washing of water in the Regenera- 
 tion of mankind. Nor should the word mankind be 
 altogether overlooked. The use of it on this occasion 
 proves, in my conception, that the writer had in his 
 view all baptized infants indiscriminately, and all 
 baptized adults truly repenting and believing at the 
 time of baptism. And, even were we to set the con- 
 sideration of baptism wholly aside, never can it, I am 
 persuaded, be made consistent with the Calvinistical 
 creed. For what rule of rational interpretation can 
 
 P ' Christ ordained no other element to be used in baptism but 
 ' water, whereunlo when the Word is joined, it is made (as bt. Au- 
 ' gustine saith) a full and perfect sacrament.' p. 213. 
 
 q P. 208. 
 
 1: 4 
 
56 
 
 possibly limit the general expression, regeneration of 
 mankind, to the regeneration of certain individuals 
 only, arhitrarily selected out of mankind, to whom 
 God may be supposed to have had an especial purpose 
 of love before the creation of the world, and whom he 
 predestined to eternal salvation ? 
 
 I readily grant however, that the term Itege7iera- 
 tion seems, perhaps, not here, and certainly not after- 
 wards, to l)e used strictly and correctly, as an act be- 
 ginning and ending with baptism ; but rather loosely 
 and largely as blended with its usual effects ; the pro- 
 fessed object of the writer being, as I have remarked, 
 to treat of regeneration and sanct'ification united. 
 Thus therefore he proceeds : ' As there are three seve- 
 ' ral 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 regenerate"^ . Whereof the 
 
 * last, the more it is hid from our understanding, the 
 
 * more it ought to move all men to wonder at the 
 ' secret and mighty working of God's Holy Spirit, 
 ' which is within us.' Then, after having pointed out 
 the total depravity of man in his fallen nature unas- 
 sisted by grace, he adds^; 'As for the works of the 
 
 •■ The very order in which these words are here arranged proves 
 the little regard Avhich the writer shewed to precision and accuracy 
 of statement. 
 
 s That it was not the intention of those who composed the 
 Homilies, when they described our nature as totally depraved by 
 the fall, to assert an absolute incompetency in it to discharge moral 
 duties, or to perform works, which were then technically termed 
 opera moraliter bona, or opera civilis justitice, all the controversies 
 of the times amply testify. And that they did not mean to repre- 
 sent us as stocks and stones in the hand of God, may be proved 
 from various passages in diiferent Homilies, and particularly from 
 
57 
 
 * Spirit, the fruits of faith ^ charitable and godly mo- 
 ' tions, if he have any at all in him, they proceed only 
 
 * of the Holy Ghost, who is the only worker of our 
 ' sanctijication, and maketh us new men in Christ 
 
 * Jesus. Did not God's Holy Spirit miraculously work 
 
 * in the child David, when of a poor shepherd he be- 
 
 * came a princely prophet ? Did not God's Holy Spirit 
 ' miraculously work in Matthew, sitting at the receipt 
 ' of custom, when of a proud publican he became a 
 
 * humble and lowly Evangelist ? 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 persecutor, a faithful disciple of 
 
 * Christ to teach the Gentiles ? Such is the power of 
 
 * the Holy Ghost to regenerate men, and as it were to 
 
 * bring them forth anew, so that they shall be nothing 
 
 * like the men that they were before! 
 
 It is evident from the preceding extracts, that it was 
 not the object of the writer to express himself upon 
 the subject in the language of strict definition, but to 
 comprehend under the term Regeneration, not only 
 the commencement, but also the completion, of sancti- 
 
 the following, occurring in the third part of the very next Homily 
 for Rogation-week. ' Let lis endeavour ourselves, good Christian 
 ' people, diligentli/ Jo keep the presence of his Holy Spirit. Let us 
 ' renounce all uncleanness, for he is the Spirit of purity. Let 
 ' us avoid all hypocrisy, for this Holy Spirit will fiy from that 
 ' which is feigned. Cast we off all malice, and all evil will, for this 
 ' Spirit will never come into an evil willing soul. Let us cast away 
 ' all the whole lump of sin that standeth about us, for he will 
 ' never dwell in that body that is subdued to sin. We cannot be 
 
 * seen thankful to Almighty God, and work such despite to the 
 ' Spirit of grace, by whom we be sanctified. If we do our endea- 
 ' vour, we shall not need to fear. We shall be able to overcome all 
 ' our enemies that fight against us. Only let us apply ourselves to 
 ' accept that grace that is offered us.' P. 232. 
 
58 
 
 fication, and indeed even the miraculous operations of 
 the Holy Spirit upon the minds of the Prophets and 
 Apostles, when effecting in them a change of personal 
 character. For the works of the Spirit are denomi- 
 nated the fruits of faith, and are said to proceed from 
 him, who is the only worker of our sanctification, and 
 who maketh us new men in Christ Jesus. And the 
 personal change, which miraculously took place in 
 David, when from a shepherd he became a Prophet, 
 and in Matthew, Peter, and Paul, when called to the 
 apostolical office, is designated a new birth. I shall 
 not therefore, I apprehend, be contradicted, when I 
 assume, that the sense of the word Regeneration is 
 here extended to every supernatural, or, to speak per- 
 haps more accurately, superinduced, operation of the 
 Spirit of God upon the soul of man. 
 
 The defect of precision in statement, as well as the 
 laxity of expression alluded to, is likewise observable 
 in the concluding part of the Homily, which relates to 
 the indwelling or continued operation of God's Spirit 
 in those, who diligently preserve his holy presence. 
 After that virtuous and good actions are represented 
 as the only true tests of the inhabitancy of God's Spirit 
 in our hearts, it is subjoined : ' The Holy Ghost cloth 
 ' always declare himself by his fruitful and gracious 
 ' gifts, namely, by the word of wisdom, by the word 
 ' of knowledge, which is the understanding of the 
 ' Scriptures, by faith, in doing of miracles^ by heeding 
 ' them that are diseased, by prophecy, which is the 
 ' declaration of God's mysteries, by discerning of spirits, 
 ' diversities of tongues, interpretation of tongues, and 
 ' so forth. All which gifts, as they proceed from one 
 ' Spirit, and are severally given to man according 
 ' to the measurable distribution of the Holy Ghost ; 
 ' even so do they bring men, and not without good 
 
59 
 
 * cause, into a wonderful admiration of God's divine 
 ' favour ^' It will not, I presume, be argued, that the 
 intention of the writer was to represent the Holy 
 Ghost as still always declaring himself by all the spi- 
 ritual gifts here enumerated, miraculous as well as 
 others, and as thus still exciting the admiration of 
 mankind. And yet the tenor of the language, in which 
 he has expressed himself, appears to admit such an 
 interpretation. 
 
 I shall now dismiss the subject of this second hook 
 of the Homilies with this general remark, that it is of 
 little consequence to the point at issue what exact idea 
 was meant to be affixed to the word Regeneration in 
 the Homily for Whitsunday ; because it is incontesta- 
 ble that in another Homily the very essence of a sa- 
 crament is said to consist in the annexation of the in- 
 visible grace to the visible sign, and Regeneration is 
 acknowledged to be the invisible grace of baptism. So 
 that were the Homily for Whitsunday even to be really 
 understood as applying the same term to a subsequent 
 operation of the Holy Spirit, the object which I have 
 in view would not be affected by it. The primary ad- 
 mission to Divine favour and assistance is the only 
 question for which I am contending. 
 
 Having been thus diffuse in my remarks upon the 
 language contained in the Office of adult baptism itself, 
 and upon the doctrine held by Luther, from whose 
 original formulary that language was subsequently de- 
 rived, by our earliest Reformers in a set of Articles 
 established at the dawn of the Reformation, by Cran- 
 mer who ])rincipally composed our Liturgy, as well as 
 the first book of Homilies, by Erasmus in a Para- 
 phrase, authoritatively recommended as a rule of faith 
 to the Clergy, and by the authors of the second book 
 
 t P. 210. 
 
60 
 
 of Homilies, I shall be as brief as possible in my last 
 reference to this branch of the subject. 
 
 It may perhaps be said, that the dispute upon the 
 efficacy of baptism would terminate, could it be proved, 
 that the compilers themselves of the Office in question 
 publicly maintained the sentiments upon that point, 
 which I impute to them ; namely, that spiritual Re- 
 generation, accompanied by remission of sin, and adop- 
 tion into the number of the elect, takes place not pre- 
 viously to, but in baptism. That this can be proved 
 I shall now endeavour to demonstrate. 
 
 The Office of adult baptism was compiled at the 
 Restoration, when our Liturgy was under revision 
 in the last instance. At the time that this revision 
 was undertaken, certain commissioners of both parties, 
 as well of that party which was denominated Low 
 Church, or Presbyterian, as of that which went under 
 the appellation of High Church, were appointed under 
 the Great Seal to carry the object proposed into effect. 
 Most of what passed between these commissioners was 
 transacted by written documents ; which were pub- 
 lished the same year (1661), under the title of ' An 
 ' Account of all the Proceedings of the Commissioners 
 ' of both Persuasions, appointed by his Sacred Majesty 
 ' according to Letters Patent, for the Review of the 
 ' Book of Common Prayer, &c.' The tract contains, 
 besides the Royal commission, ' the Exceptions of the 
 ' Presbyterian Brethren against some passages in the 
 present Liturgy,' and also the answer to those excep- 
 tions, with the reply to that answer by the excepting 
 party, printed together". From this tract I shall quote 
 
 a All these proceedings, with some additional papers, viz. two 
 petitions to the King, an address to the Bishops styled, a Petition 
 for Peace, and a new Liturgy composed by Baxter, the leading 
 
61 
 
 a passage or two relevant to the particular point which 
 I undertake to prove. 
 
 Among the exceptions made to the language used in 
 the Office of infant baptism, one was to the following 
 expressions in the second introductory prayer, ' mai/ 
 
 * receive remission of his sins bi/ spiritual regenera- 
 ' tion^ The exception was thus worded ; ' This ex- 
 
 * pression seeming inconvenient, we desire it may be 
 ' changed into this, may he regenerated, and receive 
 
 * remission of sins^' 
 
 The answer of the High Church party, who finally 
 conducted the revision by themselves without control, 
 was this : ' Receive remission of sins by spiritual re- 
 ' generation^ most proper. For baptism is our spirit- 
 
 * ual regeneration. St. John iii. Unless a man be born 
 ' again of water and the Spirit, &c. And by this is 
 ' received remission of sins. Acts ii. 38. Repent and 
 
 * be baptized every one of you for the remission of 
 ' siyis. So the Creed ; one baptism for the remission 
 ' of sin^.' When therefore the same party came to 
 compose the Office of adult baptism, and adopted the 
 very phraseology in question without alteration, can 
 we possibly doubt what precise sense it was their in- 
 tention to affix to it ? They could certainly have in- 
 tended to affix none to it consistent with the belief, 
 that Regeneration takes place in adults before baptism; 
 because they unambiguously avowed their creed to be, 
 that baptism itself (and not its previous requisites) con- 
 stitutes our spiritual Regeneration, and that by this, 
 so considered, we obtain the remission of our sins. 
 
 Commissioner of the Low Church party, were republished by that 
 party in the year 1 704, under the title of ' The History of Non- 
 Conformity.' 
 
 " Account of Proceedings, &c. ed. t66i. part i, p. 24. 
 
 y lb. part ii. p. 98. 
 
6^2 
 
 Another exception taken by their opponents was to 
 these words in the Church Catechism : ' In my baptism, 
 
 * wherein I was made a child of God, a member of 
 ' Christ, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.' 
 It was said; 'We conceive it might more safely be 
 
 * expressed thus : Wherein I was visibly admitted into 
 
 * the number of the members of Christ, the children of 
 ' God, and the heirs (rather than the inheritors) of the 
 
 * kingdom of heaven^.' 
 
 The following was the answer which they gave to 
 this exception : ' We conceive this expression' (that is, 
 this mode of expression, or the language previously 
 and still in use) ' as safe as that which they desire, and 
 
 * more fully expressing the efficacy of the sacrament, 
 ' according to St. Paul, Galatians iii. 26 and 27 ; where 
 ' St. Paul proves them all to be children of God, because 
 « they were haj)ti%ed, and in their baptism had put on 
 ' Christ. If children, then heirs, or, which is all one, 
 
 * inheritors, Rom. viii. XT'*.' 
 
 So explicit a declaration, that we become the mem- 
 bers of Christ, the children of God, and inheritors of 
 the kingdom of heaven, hy the efficacy of the sacrament 
 qfhaptism, in which we are stated to put on Christ, 
 leaves not a shadow of suspicion respecting the senti- 
 ments of those who made it. And let it not be forgot- 
 ten, that this was the very party, to which we are 
 solely and exclusively indebted for the revision of the 
 Liturgy, and for the compilation of the Office itself, 
 the true meaning of which is now controverted. 
 
 z lb. part i. p. 24. ' lb. part ii. p 100. 
 
63 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Infant Baptism. Theory of the other Party. PrrncijxtUy 
 grounded npon a supposed Disposition in infants to ft /Jit, 
 when capable of so doing, their baptismal Engagements. 
 Theory rejected. A Passage in the Catechism urged in 
 support of that Theory. Altered at the Bestoratioii to ex- 
 clude the very Sense impfifed to it. 
 
 From the consideration of adult, I now proceed to 
 that of infant baptism, not according to the natural or- 
 der of our Liturgy, which in truth requires the reversed 
 discussion, but according to the adopted order of those, 
 whose opinions I am opposing ; and who, having a 
 preconceived system to support, find such an arrange- 
 ment most suitable to their pvu-pose. The disjunction 
 of Regeneration, with the consequent abstraction of all 
 spiritual grace from the sacrament of baptism, was 
 necessary to the doctrine of final perseverance, an in- 
 vSeparable link in the chain of Calvinistical predestina- 
 tion. This object they flatter themselves that they 
 have effected by attributing Regeneration to the pre- 
 vious disposition of the recipient, and then by reason- 
 ing from adult to infant baptism ; an object to which, 
 had they reasoned otherwise, the obvious incapacity of 
 the infant mind, connected with the total silence of the 
 service itself respecting such a previous disposition, 
 would have presented an insuperable barrier. 
 
 But even in the inverted order, which they have 
 adopted, they seem conscious, that the task of satisfac- 
 tory demonstration in the developement of their theory 
 is one of considerable difficulty ; for although adults 
 may be pronounced regenerate upon the assumed sin- 
 cerity of their repentance and faith, how, it may be 
 asked, is the same thing to be said of infants, who are 
 confessedly capable of exercising neither ? While how- 
 
64 
 
 ever the plausibility of the objection is admitted, it is 
 declared to be unsound and delusive. 
 
 The first argument, which they advance in support 
 of their ideal analogy, is founded upon the remark, 
 that ' the same prayers, and very nearly the same ex- 
 ' hortations, are used in the case of infants, as in that 
 * of adults.' This is indeed true, where the similarity 
 between the two cases perfectly subsists, but not so 
 where it fails ; and it should be observed, that a fail- 
 ure occurs in the very point under discussion, the point 
 I mean oi previous requisites. In infants v^o persoyial 
 qualifications of mind whatsoever are specified ; but in 
 adults the mental qualifications of repentance and faith 
 are deemed necessary. In the former instance the 
 exhortation before baptism runs thus ; ' Doubt ye not 
 ' therefore, but earnestly believe, that he will likewise 
 ' favourably receive this present infant.' But in the 
 latter, although the same words, with the simple 
 change of lyifant into person., are used, others are sub- 
 joined to them, purposely added, to denote a manifest 
 distinction : they are these ; * truhj repenting and com- 
 ' ing unto him hyjhith.' The assertion in one case is 
 absolute, in the other it is conditional. 
 
 But they contend, that, because certain previous re- 
 quisites are expressly stated to exist in adults, the same 
 requisites, or at least something resembling them, must 
 hy implication be supposed to exist in infants. 
 
 Of the Offices in question one was indisputably for 
 the most part borrowed from the other ; but that of 
 infant baptism, as I have remarked, was the original, 
 and that of adult baptism the copy ; the former hav- 
 ing been compiled more than a century before the lat- 
 ter. Surely therefore, instead of accommodating the 
 sense of that which was first, to that which was last, 
 compiled, it is more reasonable to adopt the opposite 
 
65 
 
 rule in all instances, except where, from a defect of 
 analogy, a direct deviation in language proves the in- 
 tention of pointing out an evident distinction in the 
 two cases ; and this, it must not be forgotten, takes 
 place in the precise point, upon which the controversy 
 hinges. And if it be asked ; But might not the 
 compilers of the office of adult baptism have designed 
 to give the deviation alluded to a reflective influence 
 upon the more ancient office of infant baptism ? the 
 answer is obvious — That so circuitous a mode of pro- 
 ceeding, at a time in which all the offices of our 
 Church, were under revision, would have been to en- 
 velope their meaning in complete obscurity, when they 
 might have written it with a sunbeam. 
 
 The second and principal argument, which the Cal- 
 vinistical party bring forward, is grounded upon the 
 engagements made by the sureties. The effect of the 
 answers given, according to the style of our Liturgy, 
 ' in the name of the child,' they represent to be the 
 same, * as if by a sort of legal fiction , to which we are 
 ' no strangers in the most important temporal transac- 
 
 * tions, the soul of the child were considered as trans- 
 ^ f erred to his sponsor, and as speaking 171 him, and 
 ' hy himV They then subjoin: * One is certainly 
 
 * somewhat at a loss for words, in which to speak of 
 
 * engagements, supposed to be made by an infant in- 
 
 * capable of any knowledge of the transaction. But 
 
 * when such promises and vows are supposed to be 
 ' made, something must likewise be supposed concern- 
 
 * ing what, in another case, we should call the sin- 
 ' cerity, with which they are made — concerning the 
 ' performance of them, or the disposition to perform 
 
 * them ; and according to what is thus supposed must 
 
 a Scott's Inquiry, t&c. p. 130. 
 F 
 
66 
 
 * be the language subsequently used of the party con- 
 ' cerned in thein. Here then, as before, the Church 
 ' by an hypothesis, certainly not more bold than that 
 ' which imagines the infant to make engagements at 
 ' all, s?ipposes something which corresponds to sin- 
 ' ceriti/ — or (what is perfectly possible) that it eve?i 
 ' now, through the grace of God, possesses a disposi- 
 
 * tion, which will lead it, as it becomes capable of so 
 ' doing, to perform its vows ; and, on the groufid of 
 " this supposition, returns thanks to Almighty God, 
 
 ' that it hath pleased him to regenerate this infant 
 ' with his Holy Spirit •^.' 
 
 Such is the detailed statement of a theory, resting 
 upon the visionary basis of that which is denominated 
 a sort of legal fiction, upon the basis of a supposed 
 transfer of soids ; and cemented by an unexampled 
 combination of assumptions as irreconcilable with 
 law, as with fact or probability. For what sort of 
 legal fiction can possibly warrant the conclusion drawn 
 from the nature of suretiship ? When a guardian con- 
 tracts for the future conduct of a minor, can it be said, 
 that the law supposes any thing respecting the then 
 disposition of the minor himself? It supposes indeed 
 a sincerity in the contract ; but it is a sincerity attri- 
 butable to the competent guardian, and not to the in- 
 competent minor. Upon what principle therefore is it 
 that our Church, which authorizes similar engagements, 
 is to be considered as deducing from them different 
 conclusions ? that she must be conceived to reason so 
 preposterously, as to presume the existence of an act 
 of sincerity, where the mental capacity for that act is 
 undiscoverable ? 
 
 But what are the gradations in this singular scale 
 
 e Scott's Inquiry, p. 141, 142. 
 
67 
 
 of suppositions ascribed to our Church ? First, the 
 professions of the sponsor are supposed to be those of 
 the infant himself, whose soul is conceived to speak in 
 and hi/ his sponsor, although he is acknowledged to be 
 at the time incapable of all professions whatsoever, as 
 well of comprehending as of performing them. Then 
 these professions are supposed to be made with a spe- 
 cies of smceriti/. And lastly, by way of solving the 
 preceding enigma, the infant is supposed to possess, 
 not indeed gemiine sincerity, but a certain indescrib- 
 able disposition, which must hereafter infallibhj lead 
 him to prove by his subsequent conduct, that, if he 
 could, he would even now be truly sincere. 
 
 How this extravagant mode of reasoning can render 
 the doctrine of our Church more rational and intelli- 
 gible, I am wholly at a loss to conjecture. Bold in- 
 deed I admit, but certainly not very rational and in- 
 telligible, is that hypothesis, which represents her as 
 regenerating by fiction, and as presuming impossibi- 
 lities. 
 
 The question of baptismal engagements is surely 
 here involved in unnecessary perplexity. To a plain 
 understanding, the contract of the sponsors simply ap- 
 pears to be a contract entered into by them in the 
 name and on the behalf of the infant, for the regula- 
 tion of his future conduct ; and they are accordingly 
 reminded, ' that it is their parts and duties to see, that 
 ' the infant be taught, so soon as he shall be able to 
 ' learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and profession 
 ' he hath made by them^ The obligation is his, but 
 the contract is made in his name by them ; and the 
 force of that obligation they are required to impress 
 upon his mind, as soon as he becomes capable of un- 
 derstanding it. There is nothing in all this either 
 puzzling or preposterous. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 But, if the qualification of the infant is not to be 
 found in the engagements of the sponsor, which have 
 only a iwospective application, in what, it may be 
 asked, does his qualification consist? I answer, in that 
 innocence^ or exemption from actual guilt, inseparable 
 from the condition of infancy, for which our blessed 
 Saviour expressed a peculiar regard. And this is the 
 qualification pointed out by our Liturgy itself, in an 
 exhortation, which occurs in the Office of infant bap- 
 tism, but which, from its inapplicability, is omitted in 
 that of adults. ' Beloved,' it is said, ' ye hear in this 
 ' Gospel the words of our Saviour Christ, that he com- 
 
 * manded the children to he brought unto Mm ; how 
 ' he exhorteth all men to follow their innocency. Ye 
 ' j)erceive, how by his outward gesture and deed he 
 ' declared his good-will towards them ; for he em- 
 
 * braced them in his arms, put his hands upon them, 
 
 * and blessed them. Doubt ye not therefore^ that is, 
 upon the general ground of their innocence and his 
 good-will towards them, ' but earnestly believe, that 
 ' he will likewise favourably receive this pi'esent in- 
 ' fant.' When the universal qualification of infants, 
 resulting from a state of being which admits of no ex- 
 ception, is so clearly explained, why should we reject 
 what lies immediately before us, and perplex ourselves 
 with the fruitless attempt of making incomprehensibi- 
 lities comprehensible, and incoherencies analogous ? 
 
 Independently however of these considerations I 
 contend, not only that the premises laid down by the 
 other party are incorrect, but that the conclusion, 
 which they draw from them, is in direct opposition to 
 the obvious import of our Liturgy. They state, that 
 our Church supposes the infant ' even now, by the 
 
 * grace of God, to possess a disposition, which will 
 ' lead it, as it becomes capable of so doing, to perform 
 
69 
 
 ' its vows ; and on the ground of this supposition re- 
 ' turns thanks to Almighty God, that it hath pleased 
 ' him to regenerate it with his Holy Spirit,' Now it 
 is certain, that our Church cannot suppose the infant 
 to be in possession of a disposition to perform certain 
 vows, which at the time are neither specified, nor in 
 her contemplation. And this is precisely the case in- 
 controversy. For in the Office of private baptism, she 
 unreservedly pronounces him regenerate hefore any 
 vows are exacted, and consequently before any since- 
 rity of disposition to perform them can possibly exist. 
 In this Office the Church directs, that when necessity 
 requires it, the infant shall be baptized at home with- 
 out sponsors ; and declares, that being so baptized, he 
 is * sufficiently baptized ;' simply pointing out the ex- 
 pediency!^ if he lives, of his being afterwards brought 
 into the Church. And when he is thus brought, she 
 publicly and immediately testifies of him, that ' being 
 
 * born in original sin and in the wrath of God, he is 
 ' noiv, by the laver of Jiegenerati07i in haptism, re- 
 
 * ceived into the number of the children of God, and 
 ' heirs of everlasting life.' Then distinctly assigning, 
 as the ground of such acceptance in baptism, (certainly 
 not any disposition to keep vows, as yet unheard of, 
 but) the good-will of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ towards infants in general, she adds, in lan- 
 guage intended to form so complete a contrast with 
 that which is used in the Office oi public baptism, as to 
 render it impossible to mistake her meaning ; ' Doubt 
 ' ye not therefore, but earnestly believe,' (not that he 
 will, as in the other Oflfice, but) ' that he hath likewise 
 ' favourably received this present infant.' 
 
 Such is the effect, which she ascribes to baptism 
 without sponsors ; and it is not until aj'ter these decla- 
 rations are made, that she requires the usual promises 
 
 F 3 
 
70 
 
 and vows for the future regulation of the infant's con- 
 duct. Could any mode of proceeding or form of ex- 
 pression have been devised, more effectually calculated 
 than this, to exclude the chimerical idea advanced of 
 infantine sincerity in religious profession ? 
 
 But the opposite party, conscious perhaps that their 
 argument is ungrounded, and to be shaken requires 
 only to be touched, have endeavoured to corroborate it 
 by a quotation from the Church Catechism, to which 
 they attach considerable importance, and which they 
 bring forward with peculiar complacency. The follow- 
 ing is the detail of their statement. ' As the case of 
 
 * infants is obviously attended with difficulties pecu- 
 
 * liar to itself, the Church has entered into explanation 
 'upon the subject; which is of great importance in 
 
 * the argument. In the Catechism, it having been 
 ' stated, that the things required of persons to he bap- 
 
 * ti%ed are repentance, wJierehy they Jbrsake sin, and 
 ^ faith, whereby they steadfastly believe the pt'omises of 
 
 * God made to them in that sacrament, the question 
 
 * occurs ; JVhy then are irfants bapti'^ed, when by 
 ' reason of their tender age they cannot perform theinf 
 
 * The answer returned makes it clear, that the ques- 
 
 * tion was designed to introduce an explanation of the 
 
 * Church's views in receiving infants, and considering 
 ' them in the manner she does. The answer is ; Be- 
 ' cause they promise them both (i. e. both repentance 
 ' and faith) by their sureties, which promise when they 
 ' come to age themselves are bound to perform. It is 
 ' then avowedly upon the ground of this promise, and 
 
 * in the expectation of its performance, that the Church 
 ' admits infants to baptism ; and consequently it is 
 ' upon the same ground, that she proceeds to speak of 
 ' them in the manner we are considering. If it be 
 ' thought, that there has been some more difficulty in 
 
71 
 
 * making out this case than that of adults ; I beg to 
 ' suggest, that it is nothing more than what naturally 
 ' results from the condition of infants supposed to 
 ' make vows, and iqwn the faith of those vows pro- 
 ' nounced regenerate, while they can give no evidence 
 
 * in their conduct, either of a regenerate or an unrege- 
 
 * nerate state. I therefore consider the passage which 
 ' I have quoted from the Catechism, as furnishing, and 
 
 * designedly furnishing, the true key to the meaning of 
 ' the Church, in the language which she uses concern- 
 ' ing infants. She requires of them by their sureties, as 
 
 * she does of adults personally, certain vows ; she as- 
 ' sumes their disposition, as they become capable of it*^, 
 ' to perform those vows; and she speaks of them as 
 ' (what upon that supposition they must be) rege- 
 ' nerate, and the children of God by adoption and 
 ' grace ^.' 
 
 Notwithstanding however this bulky buttress of 
 their argument, it cannot, I am persuaded, stand, be- 
 cause it rests upon no solid foundation. When we 
 examine the clause of the Catechism referred to, we 
 find that it contains not the slightest allusion to any 
 supposed dispositio7i of the infant, but solely to the 
 promise entered into by his sureties in his name, and 
 the consequent obligation on his part to fulfil that pro- 
 mise, when he becomes capable of it. Had it been 
 the intention of our Church in this clause to ground 
 the doctrine of Regeneration upon any supposed dis- 
 position of the infant, would she have preserved a total 
 silence upon the point of such a disposition, or have 
 left it to be wire-drawn from her expressions by con- 
 
 d These words mean that she supposes them, even now, by the 
 grace of God, to possess a disposition which will lead them as they 
 become capable of so doing, &c. See p. 142. 
 
 e P. 143,4, 5, 6. 
 
 F 4 
 
72 
 
 jectural implication ? Besides, as in her Liturgy she 
 expressly pronounces all infants, privately baptized, 
 regenerate before any promise is exacted from their 
 sureties in their name, can we possibly conceive her to 
 be so absurdly inconsistent, as in her Catechism to 
 impute their regeneration to the effect of such a pro- 
 mise ; a promise at the time not in existence, which, 
 if they live, she indeed subsequently, but which in the 
 event of their death, she never, requires ? 
 
 But whatsoever sense may be attributed to this 
 clause, that, certainly, which I am controverting, is so 
 far from being the true sense, that it is one which the 
 very wording of it, as it now stands, was purposely 
 adopted to exclude. Before the last revision of the 
 Liturgy at the Restoration, the passage was thus ex- 
 pressed : ' Why then are infants baptized, when by 
 ' reason of their tender age they cannot perform them ? 
 ' Answer : Yes, they do perform them hy their sure- 
 
 * ties ; who promise and vow them both in their names; 
 
 * which promise, when they come of age, themselves 
 
 * are bound to perform.' The explanation of the Sa- 
 craments contained in the Church Catechism, of which 
 this passage formed a part, was originally composed 
 and added to it in the reign of James, immediately 
 after the celebrated conference at Hampton Court. 
 When the Commission of Review took place at the Re- 
 storation, the words which I have quoted gave offence 
 to the non-conforming party in the royal commission, 
 who objected to the doctrine, which was supposed to 
 be countenanced by them, in the subsequent terms. 
 ' We desire, that the entering of infants into God's 
 
 * Covenant may be more warily expressed, and that 
 ' the words may not seem to found their baptism upon 
 ' a real actual faith and reperitance of their own. 
 ' And we desire that a promise may not be taken for 
 
73 
 
 * the performance of s^lch faith and repentance ; espe- 
 ' cially that it be not asserted, that they perform these 
 ' by the promise of their sureties, it being to the seed 
 ' of believers, that the Covenant of God is made, and 
 ' not (that we can find) to all that have such believing 
 ' sureties, who are neither parents nor pro-parents of 
 ' their children V 
 
 The answer given to this objection by the conform- 
 ing party in the commission, who, as far as the act of 
 Revision proceeded, constituted what in this respect all 
 sides must be agreed in denominating the Church, it- 
 self, was thus worded : * The effect of children's bap- 
 ' tism depends neither upon their own present actual 
 ' faith and repentance, which the Catechism saith ex- 
 
 * pressly they ca7inot perform ; nor upon the faith and 
 ' repentance of their natural parents or pro-parents, 
 ' or of their godfathers or godmothers ; but upon the 
 ' ordinance and institution of Christ. But it is requi- 
 
 * site, that when they come to age they should perform 
 ' those conditions of faith and repentance, for which 
 ' also their godfathers and godmothers charitably un- 
 
 * dertook on their behalf. And what they do for the 
 
 * infant in this case, the infant himself is truly said to 
 ' do, as in the courts of this kingdom daily the infant 
 
 * does answer by his guardian ; and it is usual for to 
 
 * do homage by proxy, and for princes to marry by 
 
 * proxy. See St, Austin, Epist. 21. ad Bonifacium &.' 
 
 Notwithstanding however their satisfaction with 
 the clause upon these principles, as it originally 
 stood, in compliance with the objection brought 
 against it, they altered it to the form in which it 
 now stands ; so that for the words, ' Yes, they do 
 
 f Account of Proceedings, iS:c. part i. p. 26. 
 ? lb. part ii. p. 101, 
 
'74 
 
 ' perform them by their sureties, who promise and 
 
 * vow them both in their names ;' they simply substi- 
 tuted, ' Because they promise them both by their sure- 
 
 * ties''.' 
 
 Indeed, that they believed every baptized infant to 
 be regenerated seems indisputable. For when an ob- 
 jection was made to that part of the Baptismal Ser- 
 vice, in which thanks are returned to God, ' that it 
 
 * hath pleased him to regenerate the infant by his 
 ' Holy Spirit ;' and it was stated, ' We cannot in faith 
 
 * say, that every child that is baptized is regenerated 
 
 * by God's Holy Spirit ^ ;' they returned the following 
 explicit answer : ' Seeing that God's sacraments have 
 ' their effects, where the receiver doth not ponere obi- 
 
 * cem, put any bar against them, {which children can- 
 
 * not do,) we may say in faith, of eve7'y child that is 
 ' baptized, that it is regenerated by God's Holy Spirit; 
 ' and the denial of it tends to anabaptism and the con- 
 
 * tempt of this holy sacrament, as nothing worthy, nor 
 ' material, whether it be administered to children or 
 ' no'^.' 
 
 To a proposal also for expunging a passage then 
 placed in the last rubric before the Catechism, and thus 
 expressed, ' It is certain by God's word, that children, 
 ' being baptized, have all things necessary for their 
 ' salvation, and be undoubtedly saved ;' they replied, 
 ' It is evident, that the meaning of the words is, that 
 ' children baptized, and dying before they commit ac- 
 ' tual sin, are undoubtedly saved,^ (the very language 
 to which the rubric in question was subsequently al- 
 tered,) ' though they be not confirmed : wherein we see 
 ' not what danger there can be of misleading the vul- 
 
 ^ lb. Concessions, p. i 28. 'lb. part ii. p. 96. 
 
 ^ lb. part ii, p. 99. 
 
75 
 
 ' gar hy teaching them truth ; but there may be dan- 
 ' ger in this desire of having these words expunged, as 
 ' if they were false ; for St. Austin says, he is an in- 
 ' fidel, that denies them to be true'.' And it should be 
 added, that the new wording of this rubric, which fol- 
 lowed, and still remains, was ascribed by Baxter"' to a 
 commissioner, whose opinion u])on the subject was un- 
 equivocal. Baxter's argument upon it, and his proof 
 of the intended universality of its application, seem ir- 
 refragable. 
 
 When the preceding transactions are duly weighed, 
 which took place at the very time that the controverted 
 clause in the Catechism assumed its present form ; 
 when we consider, that the sense imputed to it was a 
 sense, which the new modification was confessedly in- 
 tended to exclude ; and that the creed of those who 
 remodelled it, of those who constituted the Church of 
 the day, was altogether hostile to the limitation of 
 meaning imi)osed upon it ; we cannot, I think, be per- 
 suaded, that it furnishes our modern Calvinists with a 
 key, to unlock the door which the Calvinists of the 
 Restoration believed to be closed against them. 
 
 1 lb. p. 102. 
 
 ™ ' Some say that the word {all) children is not in, and of some 
 ' it is true. Answer. The inde/iiiilc here, according to common 
 ' speech, is equivalent to an ujiiversal. Children haplizcd dying 
 ' hejore actual ,sin, is equal to all children baptized. Your consci- 
 ' ences must tell you, that, if you limit it to some only, you cross 
 ' the sense of the compilers of the Liturgij. I am sure Dr. Gunning, 
 ' who brought it in, hath publicly expressed his sense for the sal- 
 ' vation of all such infants.' Life of liaxter, p. 428. And in p. 364, 
 Dr. Gunning is described as a man 'vehement for his high imposing 
 ' principles, and over zealous for Arminianism , and fornuility, and 
 ' Church pomp.' 
 
76 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Position of a peculiar Disposition, abstractedly/ cojisidered, in 
 certain Infants, untenable. Defectibiliti/ of Grace, the Doc- 
 trine of our Liturgy. Jdditioii to the Office of Private 
 Baptism at the Restoration — Introduced to silence the ca- 
 vils of the Non-Conforming Party — Proving Baptismal 
 Regeneration absolute and universal. 
 
 In the remarks, which I have made upon the novel 
 doctrine, that the peculiar disposition of infants is the 
 implied criterion of Regeneration, I have considered 
 that disposition as inseparable from the formal declara- 
 tion of the sureties ; because this is the precise view of 
 those, whose opinions I am controverting. For they 
 expressly state, that by a bold hypothesis the Church 
 conceives, in all such baptismal engagements, something 
 to exist, resembling an ideal transfer of souls ; and that 
 in this singular conception no greater difficulty occurs, 
 than ' what naturally results from the condition of in- 
 ' fants supposed to make vows, and on the faith of 
 ' those vows pronounced regeiierate^ 
 
 But the line of argument may perhaps be changed, 
 and, the idea of a transfer of souls being abandoned, it 
 may be said, that the Church presumes, in the judg- 
 ment of charity, all infants to possess, what she is per- 
 suaded that some possess, a disposition or propensity to 
 good, abstracted from every co7isideration of their bap- 
 tismal vows. 
 
 This mode of reasoning however, although not so 
 preposterous, is as inadmissible as the other. For upon 
 what principle can it be argued, that our Church has 
 in her contemplation an indispensable qualification for 
 
77 
 
 Divine favour, to which she never, in any part of her 
 Service, either directly or indirectly, makes the slight- 
 est allusion ? Nay, even when she distinctly refers 
 to a qualification of a very different description, one, 
 which, as being universally participated, excludes the 
 judgment of charity altogether ; I mean the qualifica- 
 tion of innocence, or exemj)tio7i J^rom the guilt of actual 
 crime, peculiar to the state of infancy, to which I have 
 already alluded. 
 
 But of whatsoever species this presumed disposition 
 in infants may be conceived to be, whether it be judged 
 equivalent to sincerity in profession, or generally and 
 irrespectively good, we must, it seems, ascribe to it no 
 defective energies, but an infallible and interminable 
 operation, extending to the future period of human 
 life. ' It is,' we are told, ' the ei^ejit of their conduct 
 ' which must determine, whether the persons baptized 
 ' have received the sanctification of the Spirit or nof^.' 
 The Church is represented as limiting the grace of 
 God to certain infants only, but from her ignorance of 
 what passes in the infant mind, as pronouncing all re- 
 generate, leaving the fact of personal discrimination 
 subsequently to develope itself. This hypothesis then 
 rests upon the presumption, that Regeneration in in- 
 fancy, communicated only to particular individuals, be- 
 comes conspicuous in maturer years ; that the self-cul- 
 tivated seed of grace once sown, in spite of the barren 
 soil, never fails of producing its appropriate harvest. 
 
 That all this is perfectly consistent with the creed 
 of Calvin, I readily admit; but with no other. The 
 indefectibility of grace is indeed the corner stone of his 
 peculiar system ; but it is an opinion unknown to the 
 Liturgy of the Church of England. By our Reformers 
 the terms regenerated and haptixed were deemed syn- 
 ^ Scott, p. 232. 
 
78 
 
 onymous ; but the ingenuity of modern controversial- 
 ists has been exerted to superinduce uj3on the doctrine 
 of Baptismal Regeneration a new habit and a new di- 
 rection ; so that, wheresoever planted, and in whatsoever 
 position placed, it may constantly turn to the sun of 
 Calvinism. 
 
 If we examine the language of our Liturgy, we 
 shall there find a very different doctrine. We shall 
 there find, that after the infant is said to be ' by the 
 
 * laver of Regeneration in baptism received into the 
 ' number of the children of God, and heirs of everlast- 
 
 * ing life,' a prayer is offered up for him to the throne 
 of grace, ' that he, being born again, and being made 
 
 * an heir of everlasting salvation, may continue God's 
 
 * servant.' Now if continuance in the service of God 
 be, as it is thus implied to be, only problematical, if 
 the child may not so continue, may not ' lead the rest 
 ' of his life according to this beginning,' that is, accord- 
 ing to a beginning the certainty of which is not affect- 
 ed by the uncertainty of that which follows, the crite- 
 rion must fail, and the supposed indelibility of Regene- 
 ration prove to be an opinion traced in sand. Indeed, 
 so hostile is our Church to this opinion, that she not 
 only represents grace as generally defectible, but asserts 
 the possibility of even losing it in the last stage of 
 human existence ; for she instructs us in another Ser- 
 vice to address Almighty God in the following unam- 
 biguous terms ; ' Suffer us not at onr last hour for any 
 ' pains of death to fall from thee.' 
 
 But an addition to the Office of private baptism was 
 introduced at the last revision of our Liturgy, for the 
 express purpose of declaring, that bajitism alone, inde- 
 pendent of all engagements whatsoever, constitutes in 
 every case, in which infants are concerned, complete 
 Regeneration. 
 
79 
 
 The non- conforming party, in their exceptions to 
 the Office of Confirmation, upon these words in the 
 prayer before imposition of hands, ivho hast vouchsafed 
 to regenerate these thy servants hy water and the 
 Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them the forgiveness 
 of all their sins, made the following observations : 
 
 * This supposeth that all the children, who are brought 
 
 * to be confirmed, have the Spirit of Christ, and the 
 
 * forgiveness of all their sins ; whereas a great number 
 
 * of children of that age, having committed many sins 
 
 * since their baptism, do shew no evidence of serious 
 ' repentance, or of any special saving grace. And 
 ' therefore this confirmation, if administered to such, 
 ' would be a perilous and gross abuse '^Z To this ex- 
 ception the conforming party answered : ' It supposeth, 
 ' and that truly, that all children were at their hap- 
 ' tism regenerate hy water and the Holy Ghost, and 
 
 * had given unto them the forgiveness of all their sins; 
 ' and it is charitably presumed, that notwithstanding 
 ' the frailties and slips of their childhood, they have 
 ' not totally lost what was in haptism conferred upon 
 
 * them, and therefore adds ; Strengthen them, we be- 
 
 * seech thee, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost, the Com- 
 ' forter, and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts 
 ' of grace ^.' From the preceding quotations then it 
 appears, that the non-conforming party considered Re- 
 generation as appropriated to those children only, who 
 exhibit, after baptism and the commission of actual 
 crime, a special saving grace ; while the conforming 
 party attributed Regeneration to all, as a blessing 
 universally received in baptism. — But surely ourChurch 
 could not have more clearly expressed her opinion upon 
 the point, than by praying, as she has done, before bap- 
 tism, that the Child ' may he born again' and after 
 
 ^ Proceedings, &c. p. 28. c Jij. part ii. p. 103. 
 
80 
 
 Baptism by declaring that the Child ' is regenerated ;' 
 as well as by returning thanks to God, because *it 
 
 * /laf/t pleased him to regenerate the Child with the 
 " Holy Ghost.' 
 
 The Xon-conformists however, labouring by every 
 means in their power to remove a doctrine irreconcila- 
 ble with their creed, absurdly endeavoured to prove in 
 another part of their reply.that the Liturgy itself admit- 
 ted not an universal and absolute, but only a partial and 
 hypothetical Regeneration. Their argument was thus 
 framed : ' That you may see,' they remarked, * that 
 
 * the Church of England taketh not at/ infants infal- 
 ' libly to be regenerated in baptism (unless you grant 
 ' that they repeat '^ the substance of baptism) the bap- 
 
 * tismal prayer is here used' (viz, in the Office of Pri- 
 vate Baptism) ' for the ^rt^-baptized, that God will 
 
 * give his Holy Spirit to this infant, that he heiug horn 
 ' again, and made heir of everlasting salvation, S^c. 
 
 * which sheweth, that he is now supposed to be re- 
 
 * genera?idns, non regeneratus. Do they pray for his 
 ' Res:eueration whom thev account res;enerated al- 
 
 * ready ? You must either confess, that there they re- 
 ' peat much of the substance of baptism, and take the 
 
 * child as not baptized, or else that they take the 
 ' baptized child to be not regenerate. And then we 
 ' may well take them for unregenerate, that shew no 
 
 * signs of it at years of discretion, but live a carnal 
 
 * and ungodly life, although they can say the Catechism 
 
 * and seek Confirmation^.' 
 
 As the Heply closed the written documents, which 
 passed between the respective commissioners on this 
 occasion, we can only judge from the alterations, which 
 
 d In the original edition it is repent of ; but It is worded in the 
 History of Non-Conformity, p. 307, as I have given it. 
 e Ibid, part ii. p. loi. 
 
81 
 
 the Office of Private Baptism here alhided to after- 
 wards underwent, of the disapprobation with which 
 this remark was received. The expressions in the 
 prayer referred to indeed were not changed, because it 
 was unnecessary, as the argument was clearly founded 
 upon a sophism, which carried with it its own refuta- 
 tion*^; but an additional prayer was inserted to remove 
 all ambiguity. To the simple form of baptism, previ- 
 ously alone required, ' I baptize thee in the name of 
 ' the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' 
 the following thanksgiving was now for the first tifne 
 added. ' We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful 
 ' Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this 
 
 * infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine 
 ' own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into 
 
 * thy holy Church, &c.' Now when we consider the 
 extracts which I have given from the public acts of the 
 respective Commissioners, can we doubt the motive 
 which prompted this addition? When we consider, 
 that their opponents held, and accused the Church of 
 holding, none to be regenerated in infancy, except such 
 as exhibit signs of Regenet'citiofi, and a certain evidence 
 of a special and saving grace, at years of discretion, 
 we cannot surely but perceive the evident object of the 
 finally triumphant party in introducing it ; we cannot 
 
 f The sophistry consists in the sense aftixcd to the participle 
 f)ei?ig. That this participle relates to a past transaction in the 
 prayer here quoted, is evident from the different wording of the 
 sa7ne jjrayer when used before baptism, in the Office of Public Bap- 
 tism, which sufficiently indicates the change of circumstances. It 
 is then said, ' Give thy Holy Spirit to this infant, that he mat/ be 
 ' born again, a.d be made an heir of everlasting salvation &c.' A 
 comparison of the two prayers, one before, the other after baptism, 
 evidently proves that the compilers of our baptismal service used 
 the word being made, in the sense of having been made, or being 
 now made. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 but perceive that they wished to exclude from our 
 Liturgy every Calvinistical idea of a partial Regenera- 
 tion. 
 
 In the seventeenth century, when the hair of Calvin- 
 ism was split with a dexterity univnown to more re- 
 cent times, when the respective theories of covenanted 
 privileges, combined or uncombined with saving grace, 
 relative regeneration, &c. with all their various divisions 
 and subdivisions, were stated with grammatical, and 
 argued with logical, precision, no little refinement of 
 reasoning upon the subject before me was displayed by 
 Dr. Cornelius Barges, a writer of considerable celebri- 
 ty, who asserted, that every man converted at years of 
 discretion must be considered as having previously 
 possessed a certain species of seminal grace in infancy &. 
 Whether the conforming Calvinists of the present day 
 do, or do not, carry their idea of a seminal principle 
 quite so high, is not distinctly avowed ; but it seems 
 certain, that, whatsoever commencement they may 
 assign to special grace exhibited in manhood, they 
 will not admit it possible for that peculiar principle of 
 it, which is supposed sometimes to* exist in infancy, 
 ever to fail of its necessary and ultimate effect. The 
 Church of England however, I am persuaded, acknow- 
 ledges neither any distinction in the dispositions of in- 
 fants, brought to Christ's holy baptism, nor any grace 
 to be participated by them, except that which is uni- 
 versal. 
 
 g ' Baptismal Regeneration of elect Infants, by C. Barges, D. D. 
 &c.' This infant grace he sometimes denominates iniiial and po- 
 tential. Dr. Barges was Chaplain to Charles the First, and after- 
 wards one of the two clerical assessors to the Westminster Assem- 
 bly of Divines. He became sabsequently a Non-Conformist. He 
 was a man of talent and respectability. 
 
83 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 That all hifants without exception are regenerated in Bap- 
 tism, the Doctrine of our Church. The same Doctrine 
 always held by the Lutherans a7id in 1536 by the Zuin- 
 glians. English Articles of 1536. Latin Articles. Bishops' 
 and King's Books. First Book of Homilies. Proclama- 
 tion of Edward to the Rebels of Cornwall and Devon. 
 Cranmer. 
 
 After what I have advanced in confutation of the 
 adverse theory, after having stated what is not, there 
 seems to be little occasion for me to dwell minutely on 
 what is, the doctrine of our Church upon the subject 
 under discussion. I shall therefore only briefly touch 
 upon some of the principal points. 
 
 When she directs the minister to pray for the gift 
 of the Holy Spirit, that the individual infant, brought 
 to be baptized, ' may be born again, and be made an 
 
 * heir of everlasting salvation ;' and when subsequently 
 she recognises the same infant as ' regenerated with 
 
 * God's Holy Spirit, as received for his own child by 
 
 * adoption, and as incorjiorated into his holy Church;' 
 to a plain understanding it must, I apprehend, appear, 
 that every infant is considered by her as unregenerated 
 before, and as regenerated after, baptism. But the 
 other party argue differently ; and contend, that she 
 represents every infant after baptism as regenerated 
 only upon a judgment of charity. Upon what sort of 
 judgment then is it, we may ask, that she represents 
 every infant before baptism as unregenerated ? It cer- 
 tainly cannot be upon a judgment of charity. And it 
 would evidently violate the very first principle of their 
 theory to admit, that all infants, as well elect as others, 
 remain unregenerated from their birth to their bap- 
 tism. It may indeed be assumed, that our Church 
 
 Cx 2 
 
84 
 
 supposes God to have a purpose of love towards one 
 and not towards another infant : but such assumptions 
 without proof amount to nothing ; and were even 
 proof possible, would but render the Liturgy itself a 
 whimsical tissue of enigmatical incongruities. 
 
 It is also asserted in our Baptismal Service, that the 
 infant, who is regenerated and admitted into the num- 
 ber of God's elect at baptism, may not so continue^ but 
 may fall from the state of salvation, in which he has 
 been placed. This circumstance alone surely should 
 convince us, that our Church regards all infants as ab- 
 solutely indeed regenerated, but only as conditionally 
 elected in baptism ; and that consequently she knows 
 nothing of what constitutes the corner stone of the 
 Calvinistical system, the doctrine of the indefectibility 
 of grace. And without this doctrine the rule of cha- 
 ritahle supposition altogether fails of its application ; 
 the rule I mean of present probabilities, or more cor- 
 rectly perhaps of present possibilities, connected with 
 future certainties. 
 
 But it may be observed, that if our Church, instead 
 of charitably presuming, really believes every baptized 
 child to be regenerated, she must consider every child 
 so endowed as possessing in that act of grace a sure 
 passport to glory. This is perfectly true in cases 
 where no subsequent change of circumstances inter- 
 venes ; and accordingly she expressly declares it ' to 
 
 * be certain by God's word, that children, which are 
 
 * baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are 
 ^ undoubtedly saved.' What language could have been 
 adopted which would have more satisfactorily proved, 
 that she does not charitably presume, but that she 
 confidently affirms o//, and not some baptized infants 
 only, to be in a real and effectual state of grace and 
 salvation, than this ? If she conceived Re2:eneration 
 
85 
 
 to depend upon a certain disposition peculiar to Rfew, 
 would she in the event alluded to unreservedly predi- 
 cate salvation of «Z/'^? The rubric indeed containing 
 this declaration, or rather one even less strongly ex- 
 pressed, it was proposed at the last revision of the 
 
 a Authors, devoted to a favourite system, seldom advance a posi- 
 tion more or less hostile in appearance to that system, which will 
 not admit of some subtle explication in conformity with it. A 
 remarkable instance of this occurs in a writer during the Usurpa- 
 tion, who published a temperate and masterly defence of infant 
 baptism, upon the prevailing principles of the day, against the 
 Anabaptists. This writer was Mr. Stephen Marshall, one of the 
 celebrated Westminster Assembly of Divines, convoked by Parlia- 
 ment for the introduction of a new form of Church discipline and 
 worship, and certainly a very acute as well as clear-headed Contro- 
 versialist. He had asserted in a printed Sermon that believing 
 parents (for the children of no other parents were allowed to be 
 within God's Covenant, or to be baptized) ' need not have any 
 ^ doubt of their children's welfare if they die in their infancy, nor, 
 ' if they live, until they shew signs to the contrary, God having 
 ' both reckoned them among his people, and given them all the 
 ' means of salvation which an infant age is capable of.' This po- 
 sition was attacked by his Auabaptistical opponent. Mark his 
 reply. ' You answer, / speak like one, who holds that baptism doth 
 
 * confer grace ex opere operato. But why so, when I ground it 
 ' upon the covenant, upon their capacity both of the seal and of the 
 ' inward grace, and yet leave all to be done by God, who hath 
 
 * mercy upon whom he will have mercy ? I said not, that they may 
 
 * be assured of their salvation, but that they need not have any 
 
 * doubt, the same which may be said of grown visible professors.' 
 Marshall's Defence of Infant Baptism, p. 238. 
 
 Whether an apparent approximation to a similar opinion pub- 
 licly maintained by a modern author, (Marsh's Sermons, preached 
 before the University of Oxford, p. 211.) requires a similar ex- 
 planation, that Author himself must determine ; but I trust he 
 possesses too honourable a mind designedly to entrap the unwary 
 reader by holding out false colours of liberality, as I believe him 
 to be too consistent a theorist, to compromise what, he well knows^ 
 constitutes the very essence of his theory, the uncontrolled freedom 
 of irrespective election, antecedent to all predisposing causes. 
 
 G 3 
 
86 
 
 Liturgy to expunge, because it was ' deemed dangerous 
 ' as to misleading the vulgar ;' but the proposal was 
 not admitted. The Calvinists of that period excluded 
 not only from salvation, but from baptism itself, all 
 infants except such as were, what they denominated, 
 children of the iwomise, that is, the children of heliev- 
 ing parents ; nor even of their fate did they speak 
 with confidence. ' I mean of them,' said one of the 
 ablest writers of the party, ' as I mean of other visible 
 ' professors. They are taken into covenant both ways 
 ' respectively^ according as they are elect or not elect. 
 ' All of them are in covenant in respect of outward 
 
 * privileges ; the elect, over and above the outward 
 
 * privileges, are in covenant with respect to saving 
 ' graces^.' And this, as far as I can collect from the 
 Anabaptistical controversy of the time, was the general 
 opinion ; an opinion however which the rubric in 
 question was expressly modified to preclude. 
 
 Upon the whole then, disregarding all restriction of 
 Divine mercy, disapproved at the Reformation, and 
 rejected at the last revision of our Liturgy, we may 
 affinn, that, in the judgment of our Church, every 
 infant is considered as truly admitted into God's fa- 
 vour, and truly regenerated, so far at least as the in- 
 fant mind is capable of Regeneration ; and that, being 
 thus numbered among the elect of God, in the event of 
 death before the commission of actual crime, his salva- 
 tion is certain : but, in the event of his surviving to 
 years of discretion, his continuance in a state of grace 
 and acceptance depends upon his continuance in well 
 doing, upon his ' obediently keeping God's holy will 
 ' and commandments, and walking in the same all the 
 ' days of his life.' This is so obviously the natural 
 import of the language adopted in our Liturgy, that 
 
 ^ IMarshall's Defence of Infant Baptism, p. 112. 
 
87 
 
 110 common skill in logical legerdemain seems requisite 
 to force upon it any other construction. 
 
 I shall now proceed to demonstrate, that the doc- 
 trine, which I have ascribed to our Church, was that 
 which was universally held, except by Calvin alone, 
 both before and at the period of our Reformation ; and 
 consequently both before and at the period when our 
 Baptismal Service was originally compiled. The Office 
 in use at Geneva was composed and published by Cal- 
 vin in the year 154f5^, previously to the compilation of 
 our own, which took place in 1548. Had our Re- 
 formers therefore approved the principles, they might 
 have adopted the form of Calvin, modelling their com- 
 pilation after his. So far however was this from being 
 the case, that, turning their backs upon his novel in- 
 stitution, they directed their eye to that quarter, to 
 which they had been always accustomed to direct it. 
 They adopted the Lutheran form in preference ^. It 
 seems most reasonable therefore to look to the doctrine 
 of the Lutherans upon the subject for elucidation. 
 
 What that doctrine was, will scarcely admit of dis- 
 pute. The works of Luther and Melancthon bear 
 ample testimony, that it was not (if the anachronism 
 be allowable) Calvinistical, but that it was in perfect 
 conformity with that which I have represented to be 
 the doctrine of our own Church ^. I shall content my- 
 
 <^ Calvini Opera, vol. viii. p. 32. 
 
 d To this circumstance I have fully adverted in my Bampton 
 Lecture, p. 377 — 380. third edition, and in my sermon upon Bap- 
 tismal Regeneration, p. 38 — 44. I take this opportunity of adding, 
 that the groundwork of all the Lutheran Offices of Baptism was a 
 short form composed by Luther himself in German, which will be 
 found in the Appendix. This was itself little more than an abridg- 
 ment, and in some respects an emendation^ of the ancient formulary 
 used by the church of Rome. 
 
 e See Bampton Lecture, p. 405, 406. or 377,378, third edit. 
 
 G 4 
 
88 
 
 self with selecting only two quotations from the works 
 of Luther, which will, I apprehend, be satisfactory 
 upon the point. 
 
 In his Commentary upon Joel, he thus expresses 
 himself upon the efficacy of the Holy Spirit in the 
 baptism of infants. ' Poj-ro cum de verho Evangelii lo- 
 ' quimur, etiam Sacramenta includinius. Habent enini 
 ' annexam promissionem Spiritus Sancti, et remis- 
 
 * sion'is pteccatorum. Ideo Petrus, cum interrogaretur, 
 ' quid faciendum esset, respondet, Agite poenitentiam 
 
 * et baptizetur unusquisque in nomine Jesu. Et Chri- 
 
 * stus dicit, Nisi quis renatus fuerit per aquam et Spi- 
 ' ritura, non veniet in regnum Dei. Haec manifesta 
 ' sententia est, Spiritum Sanctum per baptismum velle 
 
 * efficacem esse in animis, Sicut Petrus quoque dicit, 
 ' Et accipietis donum Spiritus Sancti. Atque haec quo- 
 
 * que causa est, cur ad baptismum exemplo Apostolo- 
 
 * rum et primitive? Ecclesise adhibemus etiam infantes. 
 
 * Quia enim cerium est, Spiritum Sanctum per aquam 
 
 * baptismi efficacem velle esse, statuimus tam non im- 
 
 * ped'tri Spiritus Sancti actionem per infantium avai- 
 ' a-Orja-lav, quam nos adulti nostris viribus et sensibus 
 
 * Spiritus Sancti opus non reddjmus perfectius^.' And 
 upon the certainty of the salvation of infants, dying 
 before the commission of crime, he thus delivers his 
 sentiments in another commentary. " Sed cur mina- 
 
 * tur Deus etiam innocenti aetati hostilia arma ? — Re- 
 ' spondeo, Verum est, cum publicae poense grassantur, 
 
 * etiam innocentes involvunt. Sic Daniel et socii ejus, 
 ' etsi ea tantum impiorura poena esset, tamen abduce- 
 
 * bantur captivi in Babylonem ; et cum grassantur seu 
 ' bella, seu pestis, quantum perit puerorum, qui adhuc 
 ' sunt innocentes, hoc est, qui habent remissionem pec- 
 
 f In Joelem, iii. 28. Opera, vol. iv, p. 672. ed. Jense. fol. 806. 
 edit. 1558. 
 
89 
 
 ' catorum in haptismo pt'omissani, nee dum a gratia 
 
 * exeiderunt pe?' peecataf — Etsi autern durum videtur 
 ' abripi innocentes, tamen eis nihil mali aeeidit^' 
 
 Melaricthon frequently asserted similar opinions. 
 And in a public conference at Worms, held by com- 
 mand of the Emperor Charles the Fifth in the year 
 1540, he explained the Lutheran doctrine upon this 
 subject in the following unambiguous language : * Bap- 
 ' tismus infantium defensus et ornatus est niultorum 
 ' scriptis apud nos. Et sumus plerique patresfamilias. 
 ' Certe de liberorum nostrorum salute cogitamus. Quo- 
 ' ties ipse audivi hanc vocem, Non est voluntas Patris 
 ' ut pereat unus de parvulis istis. Sentimus eos in 
 
 * hdi'^XA'Avao fieri filios Dei, accipere Sj)iritum Sanctum, 
 
 * et manere in gratia tamdiu, quoad non effundunt 
 ^ earn peccatis actualibus ea setate, quae jam dicitur ra- 
 ' tionis compos^.' 
 
 Nor was this the doctrine of the Lutherans alone, 
 but that of the Zuinglians also, until it was at length 
 remodelled and explained away under the influence of 
 Calvin. In the year 1536, the leaders of the Reforma- 
 tion on both sides assembled at Wittenberg, to confer 
 upon, and establish, if possible, a common form of doc- 
 trine upon certain disputed points. Among others, 
 that of Baptism was one which was introduced. The 
 following was the statement made by Luther : ' Cum 
 ' multi sint, qui infantes baptizari nolint ; alii etiam 
 ' reperiantur, qui quidem baptizari eos permittant, ip- 
 ' sum tamen baptisma tantum nudum symholum esse 
 ' statuant, ideoque sine baptismo infantes mori pate- 
 
 * rentur ; alii demum sine aqua baptizent : ideo no- 
 
 * stram nos fidera de his capitibus testari debere.' The 
 object of this statement was thus distinctly explained : 
 
 & In Hoseain, ix. 13. Opera, iv. p. 529. fol. 651. edit. 1558. 
 1> Opera Melancthonis^ vol. iv. p. 664. 
 
90 
 
 * Quid autern ipse (viz. Lutherus) faciendum crederet, 
 
 * prius expoiiebat, videlicet, infantes baptizandos esse ; 
 ' eumque vere esse efficacem, et adoj)tionem Jiliorum 
 
 * Dei conferre. Denique aqua eum administrari de- 
 ' here, prout de his in confessione Augustana, Ai)olo- 
 ' gia, et alibi scripserint.' To this Bucer, vrho spoke 
 on the part of the Zuinglians, answered : ' Nos omnes 
 '■ adversus hostes Paedobaptismi fideliter dimicasse, et 
 ' adhuc dimicare, id quod nostrorum scripta testantur; 
 
 * praeterea sacrum baptisma a nobis haberi, et de eo 
 ' doceri, non ut de nudo aliquo symbolo, sed ut de vero 
 ' lavacro regenercdionis, quce virtute Dei et ministerio 
 ' ministri cum aqua nobis exhibetur. — Nos enim sim- 
 ^ pliciter credere et docere, infantibus in baptismo 
 ' veram regenerationem^ veramque infilios Dei adop- 
 ' tionem communicari, et Spiritum Sanctum in illis 
 
 * ojperari \\\yi\,?i illis datam mensuram, et modulumV 
 
 Upon the conclusion of this conference a form of 
 concord vras adopted and subscribed by both parties. 
 In this form the article De Baptismate vras thus 
 worded : ' De Baptismate infantium omnes, sine ulla 
 
 * duhitatione, consenserunt, quod necesse sit infantes 
 ' baptizari. Cum enim promissio salutis pertineat etiam 
 
 * ad infantes, et pertineat non ad illos, qui sunt extra 
 
 * ecclesiam ; necesse itaque est earn applicari infantibus 
 ' per ministerium, et adjungere eos ecclesiae. 
 
 ' Cumque de talibus infantibus, qui sunt in ecclesia 
 ' dictum sit ; Non est voluntas Patris, ut pereat unus 
 '■ ex illis, constat infantibus per baptismum contingere 
 
 * remissionem peccati originalis, et donationem Spi- 
 
 * ritus Sancti, qui in eis efficax est pro ipsorum modo. 
 ' Rejicimus enim errorem illorura, qui imaginantur in- 
 
 i Ilistoria Concordiae, &c. inter D. Lutherum et superioris Ger- 
 manise Theologos, anno 1536 Wittembergae inita\ Biiceri Scripta 
 Anglicana, p. 655. 
 
91 
 
 ' fantes placere Deo, et salvos fieri sine actione aliqua 
 ' Dei, cum Christus clare dicat, Nisi quis renatus fue- 
 ' rit ex aqua et Spiritu, non potest iritrare in regnum 
 
 * Dei. Etsi igitur nos non intelligamus, qualis sit ilia 
 ' actio Dei in infantibus, tamen certum est in eis novos 
 
 * et sanctos motus effici ^.'' 
 
 At this period the name of Calvin was scarcely 
 known to the world. But in how different a language 
 the Zuinglians subsequently expressed themselves upon 
 the same subject, (the sentiments of the Lutherans 
 never changed,) when the Church of Geneva began to 
 eclipse the minor Churches of Switzerland, the public 
 Form of Concord, mutually adopted by them in the year 
 1549, testifies. The following extract from this form 
 distinctly marks the contrast, to which I allude : ' Prse- 
 ' terea sedulo docemus, Deum non promiscue vim suam 
 ' exerere in omnibus, qui sacramenta recipiunt, sed 
 ' tantum in electis. Nam quemadmodum non alios in 
 
 * fidem illuminat, quam quos pviEordinavit ad vitam ; 
 ' ita arcana Spiritus sui virtute efficit, ut percipiant 
 ' electi, quae offerunt sacramenta. — Baptismo abluta 
 ' sunt Pauli peccata, quae jam prius abluta erant. — 
 ' Utilitas porro, quam ex sacramentis percipimus, ad 
 
 * tempus, quo ea nobis administrantur, minime re- 
 ' stringi debet ; perinde ac si visibile signum, dum in 
 ' medium profertur, eodem secum momento Dei gra- 
 ' tiam adveheret. Nam qui in prima infantia baptizati 
 ' sunt, eos in pueritiuy vel ineunte adolescentia, inter- 
 ' dum etiam in senectute regenerat Deus 1.' 
 
 This is the first direct limitation of sacramental effi- 
 cacy to the elect, and the first avowed disjunction of 
 Regeneration from baptism, contained in any public 
 
 k Ibid. p. 667, 668. 
 
 * Consensio de Re Sacramentaria, Calvini Opera, vol. viii. p. 649^ 
 650. 
 
92 
 
 Confession of faith on record. At least I have been 
 able to find no other of an earlier date. Its complete 
 discordance with all which preceded it sufficiently points 
 out its singularity, and the consequent improbability 
 of its acquiring importance beyond the confines of the 
 country in which it was drawn up. It could not pos- 
 sibly have had any influence upon the compilation of 
 our own Baptismal Service, because that was composed 
 before it, the Book of Common Prayer having been 
 ratified by Parliament in the year 1548. Besides, our 
 Service was framed, as I have remarked, upon a Lu- 
 theran, and not a Calvinistical model. 
 
 In my remarks upon adult baptism, I have noticed 
 certain Articles of Religion drawn up in Convocation, 
 and confirmed by royal authority, in the year 1536. 
 These Articles clearl}^ and fully express the doctrine 
 of our Church upon infant baptism, at the very com- 
 mencement of our Reformation. ' We will,' it is there 
 said, * that all bishops and preachers shall instruct and 
 ' teach, that the promise of grace and everlasting life, 
 ' which promise is adjoined unto this sacrament of 
 ' baptism, pertaineth not only unto such as have the 
 ' use of reason, but also to infants, innocents, and child- 
 ' ren ; and they ought therefore and must needs be 
 ' baptized : and that hy the sacrament of baptism they 
 ' do also obtain 7'emission of their sins, the grace and 
 ^favour of God, and he made thereby the very sons 
 ' and childi'en of' God, insomuch as infants and child- 
 ' ren, dying in their infancy, shall undoubtedly be 
 
 * saved thereby, or else not. Item, that infants must 
 ' needs be christened, because they be born in original 
 ' sin, which sin must needs be remitted, which cannot 
 ' be done but by the sacrament of baptism, whereby 
 
 * they receive the Holy Ghost, which exerciseth his 
 ' grace and efficacy in them, and purifieth them from 
 
93 
 
 ' sin by his most secret virtue and operation V We 
 here perceive, that Regeneration and its concomitant 
 blessings are represented as the uniform effects of in- 
 fant baptism ; and that infants, dying in their infancy, 
 shall nndouhtedly be saved thereby , (that is, by bap- 
 tism,) or else not. Is it possible therefore to overlook 
 the perfect coincidence of these sentiments, one point 
 alone excepted, with those which every where occur 
 in our Baptismal Service ? Indeed the salvation of in- 
 fants, dying after baptism in infancy, was asserted in 
 the first edition of that Service almost in the same 
 words "^ although without the uncharitable reservation 
 annexed to them. 
 
 The Latin Articles also, to which I before alluded, 
 inculcated a similar doctrine in similar terms. Part 
 of the Article De Baptismo was thus expressed : ' Di- 
 ' cimus, quod infantes per baptismum C07iseqimntur 
 
 * remissionem 'peccato7um, et gratiam, et sunt jilii 
 
 * Dei. Quia promissio gratiae et vitas aeternae perti- 
 
 * net, non solum ad adultos, sed etiam ad infantes. Et 
 ' h^c promissio, per ministerium in ecclesia, infanti- 
 ' bus et adultis administrari debet. Quia vero infantes 
 
 * nascuntur cum peccato originis, habent opus remis- 
 
 * sione illius peccati. Et illud ita remittitur ut reatus 
 
 1 Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 8 J 8. 
 
 m The rubric after baptism originally ran thus : ' It is certain 
 ' by God's word, that children being baptized (if they depart out 
 ' of this life in their infancy) are undoubtedly saved.' The addi- 
 tional clause, ' or else not,' was omitted. Still however in the Of- 
 fice of Baptism itself a clause appeared, which indicated that Bap- 
 tism was necessary to salvation. The clause I allude to was in the 
 first prayer, in which it was said, * may be preserved in the ark of 
 ' Christ's Church, a7id so saved from perishing.'' But it should be 
 remarked, that the latter part of the clause, ' and so saved from 
 ' perishing,' was struck out at the first revision of the Liturgy in 
 the year 1552. 
 
94 
 
 ' tollatur, licet corruptio naturae, seu concupiscentia, 
 
 * maneat in hac vita. Et sic mcipit sanari, quia Spi- 
 ' ritus Sanctus in ipsis etiam infantihus est efficax, et 
 
 * eos mundat suo quodavn modo^^.'' 
 
 The same sentiments also were contained in the 
 bishops Book, published in 1537, and in the King's 
 Booh, published in 1543, as certain explanatory forms 
 of doctrine, composed at different periods in Convoca- 
 tion, were respectively denominated. Indeed the ex- 
 planation of the point adopted in the Bishops'' Book 
 was a mere repetition of the Article upon it previously 
 set forth under the royal sanction ; and that adopted 
 in the King's Book was little more than an enlarge- 
 ment of the same Article with a few additions. 
 
 In the year 1547, the first book of our Homilies 
 was published. And here again remission of sin, adop- 
 tion, and salvation, are expressly declared to be applied 
 by baptism to infants, in virtue of the sacrifice of Christ 
 once made for all. It is said, ' Insomuch that infants, 
 
 * being baptised, and dying in their injimcy, are by 
 ' this sacrifice washed from their sins, brought to 
 ' God's favour, and made his children, and inheritors 
 
 * of his kingdom of heaven °.' To confine to a certain 
 number only the Regeneration, which is here predi- 
 cated of all infants without restriction, would surely 
 be to violate every correct principle of logical deduc- 
 tion. 
 
 To the testimony afforded by the first book of Ho- 
 milies I shall add another, extracted from a proclama- 
 tion of King Edward, addressed to the rebels of Corn- 
 wall and Devonshire, who in the year 1549 opposed 
 by force of arms the establishment of the new Liturgy. 
 
 * Think ye, that a child christened is damned, because 
 
 " Strype's Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol. i. Appendix, p. 302. 
 o Homily of Salvation, part i, p. 13. 
 
95 
 
 ' it dieth before bishoping? They be confirmed at the 
 
 * time of discretion, to learn that which they professed, 
 
 * in the lack thereof, in baptism ; taught in age that 
 ' which they received in infancy; and yet no doubt 
 ' hut they he saved hy Bajytism^ not by Confirmation ; 
 
 * and made Chrisfs hy chf^isteniiig, and taught how 
 ' to continue hy Confirmation p.' If children then are 
 made Chrisfs, and saved hy Baptism, previously to 
 a personal assumption of the promise and vow enter- 
 ed into in their name by their sponsors, which per- 
 sonal assumption does not take place till Confirmation, 
 it is plain, that their primary acceptance into Divine 
 favour cannot depend upon the event of their subse- 
 quent continuance in it. And it is likewise plain, that 
 the benefits, which they are here stated to receive by 
 Baptism, are believed to be as imiversal as the admin- 
 istration of the sacrament itself. 
 
 I shall finish my reference to the public authorities 
 of the Reformation with the opinion of Cranmer. Upon 
 this, however, there is no necessity of being diffiise, as 
 I have already pointed out the inseparable connection, 
 which he held to exist, between Regeneration and Bap- 
 tism. I shall therefore only quote a single passage 
 from his book against Gardiner, in which he expresses 
 himself too unequivocally to be mistaken by any one, 
 not disposed to pervert his meaning, ' In Baptism,' 
 he says, * we must think, that as the priest putteth his 
 ' hand to the child outwardly, and washeth him with 
 
 * water, so must we think, that God putteth to his 
 ' hand inwardly, and ivasheth the infant with his 
 
 * Holy Spirit ; and moreover, that Christ himself 
 ' Cometh down upoti the irifant and apparelleth him 
 ' with his own self^.^ 
 
 P Fox's Acts and Monuments, vol. ii. p. 667, 668. ed. 1641. 
 
 q P. 444. ed. 1 55 1. His last sentiments upon the point are thus 
 
96 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Recapitulation. Office of Infant Baptism. Salvation of un^ 
 baptized Children. Comparison between the respective Of- 
 fices of Adult and Infant Baj)tism. Inco7isistent Reasoning 
 of the Calvinistical Parti/. Present Controversy no Logo- 
 machy. Uniformity of Opinion unattainable. 
 
 Before I conclude my remarks upon this subject, 
 I shall briefly recapitulate some of the leading points 
 contained in them. 
 
 From the obvious import of the language adopted in 
 our Liturgy, from the common form of doctrine held 
 by all the Reformers, Calvin alone excepted, from the 
 early records of our own Reformation, particularly 
 from the vt^ritings of Cranmer, who principally con- 
 ducted that Reformation, and published those writings 
 to promote it, and finally, from the avowed sentiments 
 of the Anti-Calvinistical party, who in the last instance 
 revised our Baptismal Offices, and added a new one for 
 the baptism of adults, I have sufficiently proved, I trust, 
 that Regeneration is contemplated by the Church of 
 England as the appropriate effect of Baptism. To de- 
 prive that sacrament of all spiritual efficacy, and to re- 
 present it as the mere attestation of the Church to an 
 especial grace which has been previously, or may be 
 subsequently, received, seems little better than to at- 
 tempt the reduction of it to the old Anabaptistical 
 standard, to a bare sign or symbol of the most lament- 
 able inefficiency. 
 
 recorded by Fox, as delivered in the disputation at Oxford, not 
 long before his martyrdom. • That doctrine,' he emphatically as- 
 serted, ' is 7iot to he suffered in the Church, which teacheth, that ive 
 ' are not joined to Christ by baptism.' And again: 'Infants, when 
 ' they are baptized, do eat the jiesh of Christ / evidently meaning, 
 that they participate in the benetits of his passion. Acts and I\Io- 
 numents, vol. iii. p. 55. 
 
97 
 
 Turning then our attention to the baptism of in- 
 fants, according to the order of our respective Offices in 
 point of antiquity, we may say, that our Church be- 
 lieves every child to be unregenerated before, and re- 
 generated after ^ baptism ; regenerated absolutely and 
 universally, without the slightest restrictions ; and that 
 to this act of Regeneration, her Creed attaches a real 
 state of Divine favour and election, combined with the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit. Nor must we suppose her to 
 ground the efficacy of the sacrament upon the assump- 
 tion of any previous peculiar disposition possessed by 
 certain infants, to be evidenced in maturer years ; but 
 solely upon God's universal promise, and his good-will, 
 declared by his Son Jesus Christ, towards all infants 
 brought to his holy baptism. Her principles are too 
 liberal, to attribute to our ' almighty and most merciful 
 * Father' a personal distinction in the donation of his 
 blessings, between those who are alike incapable of in- 
 dividually offisnding him by actual crime ; and too ra- 
 tional to dream of a positive, where nothing but a ne- 
 gative, qualification can be supposed to preexist. Hence, 
 from her idea of the universality of baptismal efficacy, 
 where no disqualification of crime, as in the case of in- 
 fants, is imputable to the recipient, she pronounces it 
 to be ' certain by God's word, that children, which are 
 ' baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are 
 ' undoubtedly saved ;' a persuasion inconsistent with 
 the very basis of Calvinistical Predestination. 
 
 Upon the question of the salvation of infants dying 
 z^wbaptized, our Liturgy is altogether silent ; because, 
 in providing an Office for the attainment of security, to 
 have speculated upon the extent of Divine mercy, inde- 
 pendent of the prescribed means of grace, would have 
 been perhaps unwise, and certainly irrelevant to the 
 professed object in her view. I should however remark, 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 that, in deciding against the exclusion of all unbaptized 
 infants from salvation, the continental Reformers were 
 unanimous ; nor is the last of their number, Calvin 
 himself, to be excepted, who nevertheless did not adopt 
 this decision without certain obvious restrictions pecu- 
 liar to his creed'. The sentiments of our own Re- 
 formers upon the subject were not, we may presvime, 
 fastidiously singular. Nor is this presumption wholly 
 destitute of proof; for, to omit other circumstances, in 
 a public document, which was drawn up for the re- 
 formation of ecclesiastical laws, by virtue of a royal 
 commission, under the presidency of Cranmer^ the ex- 
 clusion of unbaptized infants from salvation is ex- 
 pressly denominated a scrupulous and imjyious super- 
 stition ^. 
 
 But, although our Liturgy itself contains no direct 
 allusion to this particular point, an indirect one occurs. 
 In the Catechism the sacraments are stated to be, not 
 
 a The Zuinglians admitted to salvation all infants, dying unbap- 
 tized, of every description ; the Lutherans all born of Christian 
 parents, and perhaps (they argued) all others, adding however, that 
 this latter point had not been clearly revealed ; but Calvin only 
 those whom God may have included in a secret decree of predesti- 
 nation ; to which number he conceived the children, not of mere 
 Christian^ but of truly pious, parents to have the greatest chance of 
 belonging. 
 
 ^ ' Illorum etiam impia videri debet scrupulosa superstitio, qui 
 ' Dei gratiam et Spiritum Sanctum tantopere cum sacramentorum 
 ' elementis colligant, ut plane affirment, nullum Christianorum in- 
 ' fantem (eternam salutein esse consecuturum^ qui prius morte fu- 
 ' erit occupatus, quam ad baptismum adduci potuerit ; quod longe 
 ' secus habere Judicamus. Salus enim illis solum adiniitur, qui *a- 
 ' crum hunc baptism! fontem contemnunt, aut superbia quadam ab 
 ' eo vel contumaciter resiliunt ; quaj importunitas, cum in puerorum 
 ' cetatem non cadat, nihil contra salutem illorum authoritati scriptu- 
 ' rarum decerni potest.' Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarum, p. 17. 
 See also Bampton Lecture, pp. 68, 275. pp. 70, 265. third edit. 
 
99 
 
 universally, but only ^ generally ^ necessary to salva- 
 tion ;' a statement which plainly implies, that salvation 
 may be attainable without them. 
 
 If therefore we acquit our Church (as in reason we 
 ought) of excluding from mercy those who are pre- 
 vented by the fault of others from participating in the 
 sacrament of Regeneration, it will be absurd to accuse 
 her of professing a weak and childish reverence for the 
 ideal sanctity of a mere sacramental element. It will 
 be absurd to suppose, because she considers baptism as 
 the ordinary and certain means of salvation in infancy, 
 that she therefore attributes this effect to the bare ex- 
 ternal administration of the holy rite, according to the 
 scholastical phrase, ex opere operato. For it is not 
 to the virtue of the consecrated element, but to the 
 word of God, that she ascribes it ; to that word of God 
 which does not return unto him void, but accomplishes 
 the purpose for which it was sent. 
 
 When these things are duly considered, we imme- 
 diately perceive the reason, why the Office for the bap- 
 tism of infants was subsequently adopted, with a few 
 slight alterations, for that also of adults. The sense 
 ascribed to the former Office by those who compiled 
 the latter remains on record ; and I have shewn, that 
 it precisely corresponded with that for which I have 
 been contending. Indeed, because some doubts upon 
 the point were then raised, they revised the former 
 Office itself, and made an addition to it for the express 
 purpose of removing them. With the full persuasion 
 therefore, that ' Baptism is our spiritual Regeneration,' 
 and that ' God's sacraments have their effects, where 
 * the receiver does not put any bar against them,' when 
 compiling a Baptismal Office for those solely, who 
 tndy repent and believe in riper years, they adopted 
 the almost entire form which had been previously ap- 
 
 H 2 
 
100 
 
 propriated to infants ; and that evidently upon this 
 plain principle, that in such a case all which is predi- 
 cated of infants may be equally predicated of adults. 
 Upon the certainty, (as far at least as human certainty 
 is attainable,) that the recipient is duly prepared, the 
 parallelism of the two cases is clearly grounded ; and 
 upon the same certainty it is, that he is admitted to 
 ' the washing of Regeneration, and the renewing of 
 * the Holy Ghost.' 
 
 If then the question at issue be considered in this 
 point of view, (and in no other I am persuaded can it 
 be reasonably or consistently placed,) it admits of a 
 very easy solution. For, if the language of the bap- 
 tismal forms in our Liturgy was adapted in the first 
 instance to infants, whose condition of being, alone 
 constitutes their qualification ; and in the second to 
 such adults only as are found upon examination to be 
 duly prepared ; it will follow, that every attempt to 
 interpret it, built upon the assumed data, that the 
 qualifications of both are merely hypothetical, must 
 fall to the ground. For what can the dubious assump- 
 tion of qualification have to do with cases, in which 
 the suspicion of disqualification is either impossible, as 
 in infants, or declared not to exist, as in adults, of 
 whom none are baptized except such as have heen 
 examined, and arejoundjitf It is upon this principle 
 our Church pronounces every individual, when he is bap- 
 tized, whether it be in infancy or manhood, as then re- 
 generated ; not reasoning, as it has been suggested, from 
 adult to infant, but from infant to adult, baptism. 
 
 But in truth, those who disjoin Regeneration from 
 Baptism annihilate the idea of qualification altogether ; 
 for what ive te7'm qualification, they consider as re- 
 generation itself'. Upon this i)resumptiou however, 
 mark the inconsistency of their argument. The can- 
 
101 
 
 didate for Baptism is first examined and found fit ; that 
 is, say they, is found to be already regenerated ; for 
 according to their theory * every adult person receiv- 
 ing baptism rightly, is regenerated before baptism^.' 
 Then, when approaching the sacred font, notwith- 
 standing the admission of his previous Regeneration, 
 he is declared to be still ?^wregenerate ; for upon this 
 point the language of our Liturgy is too express to be 
 mistaken. And lastly, after his Baptism, the Church 
 attests, what is completely at variance with an attesta- 
 tion made at the very beginning, but subsequently for- 
 gotten, that he is now regenerated. The same incon- 
 gruity occurs in their reasoning upon the baptism of 
 infants. For they maintain, that our Church con- 
 ceives, upon what they denominate a charitable sup- 
 position, the infant to be regenerated 'previously to his 
 participation of that sacrament ; and that consequently 
 she predicates of the same child first a regenerated, 
 secondly an unregenerated, and finally a regenerated 
 state again. So much versatility of idea, incoherence 
 of declaration, and defect of system, do those ascribe to 
 our Church, who torture the doctrine of her Liturgy 
 into an ideal conformity with the creed of Calvin. 
 
 Nor is inconsistency discoverable only in the appli- 
 cation, but also in the very foundation itself of their 
 argument upon the subject. They afl5rm, that the 
 child is pronounced regenerate, because the Church 
 supposes, that ' even now, through the grace of God, 
 ' he possesses a disposition, which will lead him, as he 
 ' becomes capable of so doing, to perform his vows ^ :' 
 and yet they expressly maintain, that 'the ivord of 
 ' God is the ordinary means *^' of Regeneration, a 
 means, which, in their sense of it, must be totally in- 
 eflBcient until years of discretion. How are these 
 
 <= Scott's Inquiry, &c. p. 209. ^ Jb, p. 142. e \\f^ p, j^^ 
 
102 
 
 things to accord ? How can Regeneration, or a change 
 of disposition^, according to the usual course of events, 
 be said to be wrought in infancy, at a period when it 
 is impossible that the ordinary means appropriated to 
 it can have begun to operate ? To assert of one and 
 the same act a double commencement, certainly seems 
 much like asserting a direct contradiction in terms. 
 
 From the preceding observations it will appear, that 
 the dissension which has arisen upon this subject, al- 
 though greatly to be regretted, as all dissensions are, 
 is nevertheless very far from being a mere logomachy. 
 It is not imputable to the habit of affixing different 
 senses to the word Regeneration ; but it results from 
 a marked and complete diversity of opinion. The me- 
 tonymical use of the term^ may have indeed occasioned 
 
 f ' That even infants are capable of receiving from God such a 
 ' disposition, as I have supposed, seems to me as clear, as that they 
 ' may and do, b^ nature, possess a contrary disjjosition. And that 
 ' Almighty God may be pleased, in many instances, to communicate 
 ' such grace, especially to the children of pious parents, presented 
 ' to him with devout and fervent prayers, I can readily hope and 
 ' believe.' Scott's Inquiry, p. 233. The generality of the assump- 
 tion ascribed to our Church, and the many instances in which Re- 
 generation is thus supposed to be communicated, prove, that the 
 ordinary, and not the extraordinary commencement of grace, was 
 here also in the contemplation of the ^vriter. 
 
 g This use of it, as a metonymy of the cause for the effect, has 
 been adopted as well by those who deemed that effect to be con- 
 tingent, as by those who held it to be iiecessary. Archbishop Til- 
 lotson in his sermons on Regeneration considers such an use of it 
 as perfectly correct. And we plainly recognise the same applica- 
 tion of the term in the following passage of Calvin : ' Regnum Dei 
 ' incipere in hominibus sentimus, quando regenerantur. Tunc au- 
 
 * tern regenerari dicimus, quando illuminantur in Christi fidem, 
 ' reformantur in obedientiam Dei ijisorum corda ; et in summa, 
 
 * quando in ipsis instauratur Dei imago. Sed regenerationem nego 
 ' viomento perjici. Satis est, si quotidianos facit progressns tisqiie 
 ' ad mortem.' Opera, vol. viii. p. 518. 
 
103 
 
 some little misconception of meaning upon both sides : 
 but there exists a radical and entire discordance of 
 sentiment respecting the thing itself; respecting the 
 period when it commences, the mode of its agency, 
 and the duration of its effects. The principal point 
 therefore in dispute is one, upon which accommodation 
 appears to be impracticable. For, to omit minuter 
 differences, as the reception of grace is broadly distin- 
 guishable from the retention of it, what possible ac- 
 commodation can take place between the opinions of 
 those who contend, that grace once received is always 
 subsequently retained, and of those who hold, that its 
 real reception may and does take place without its per- 
 petual retention ? And what arrangement of idea and 
 expression can ever be suggested to make men think 
 and speak alike upon the nature of a sacrament, re- 
 specting the efficacy of which they are altogether at 
 variance. 
 
 As individuals, whatsoever may be the theological 
 system which we embrace, our duty as well as our 
 wisdom indisputably is, to abstain from every harsh 
 reflection upon those, whose code of faith happens to 
 differ from our own, and to practise reciprocal forbear- 
 ance. The bond of charity, which endures the con- 
 trast of opinion in public, and the link of amity, which 
 constitutes personal attachment in private, life, strong 
 as may prove the opposing effort, ought always to be 
 preserved unbroken. But in our official capacity, as 
 miyiisters of the Church of England, if we misrepre- 
 sent her doctrine, and give publicity to that misre- 
 presentation by the press, if we betray the trust, and 
 abuse the confidence reposed in us, must we not expect 
 that censure will follow close at the heel of detection ? 
 Obsequious pacification may hang the dewdrop of its 
 mediating argument upon the thorn of controversy; 
 
 H 4 
 
104 
 
 but the moment that the ideal gem is pressed, it dis- 
 appears, exhibiting only the mere semblance of so- 
 lidity. 
 
 Something indeed like an approximation towards 
 union might be possible, were both parties disposed to 
 relinquish, during inquiry, preconceived system, and to 
 deduce the creed of our Church from the plain and evi- 
 dent tendency of her language ; to state it with sim- 
 plicity, and to explain it without sophistry. But 
 while on one side a zealous predilection for a favourite 
 theory predominates, even approximation seems impos- 
 sible ; particularly, when that predilection is manifested 
 towards a theory, which rooted, as its admirers con- 
 ceive, in the all-perfect will and word of God, abhors 
 the contaminating grasp of human criticism, and, ever 
 tremblingly alive to its approach, shrinks within itself 
 at the slightest touch. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Baptismal Service as used in the Church of Rome. 
 
 Exsufflet Sacerdos in facie infantis tribus vicibus, dicens: 
 
 Exi, immunde Spiritus; et da locum Spiritui sancto. 
 
 Deinde facial crucem in fronte, et in pectore ejus, dicens : 
 
 Accipe signaculum sanctae crucis tam in fronte, quam in 
 corde. 
 
 Oremus. 
 
 Deus immortale prgesidium omnium postulantium, liberatio 
 supplicum, pax rogantium, vita credentium, resurrectio mor- 
 tuorura ; Te invoco super hunc famulum tuum, qui Baptismi 
 tui donum petens, aeternam consequi gratiam spirituali regene- 
 ratione desiderat, Accipe eum Domine, et quia dignatus es 
 dicere, Petite et accipietis, quaerite et invenietis, pulsate et ape- 
 rietur vobis ; petenti igitur praemium porrige, et januam pande 
 pulsanti, ut aeternam coelestis lavacri benedictionem consecutus, 
 promissa tui muneris regna percipiat, per Christum Dominum 
 nostrum. 
 [[Then follows a form of exorcising Salt, which is put into the 
 
 mouth of the Infant, the Priest saying :] 
 
 Accipe salem sapientiae, ut propitiatus sit tibi Dominus in 
 vitam aeternam. 
 
 [First Exorcism of the Devil.] 
 
 Ergo, maledicte Diabole, recognosce sententiam tuam ; et da 
 honorem Deo vivo et vero; da honorem Jesu Christo filio 
 ejus, et Spiritui Sancto; et recede ab hoc famulo Dei; quia 
 istum sibi Deus et Dominvis noster Jesus Christus ad suam 
 sanctam gratiam et benedictionem, fontemque Baptismatis dono 
 suo vocare dignatus est; et hoc signum crucis +, quod nos 
 fronte ejus damus, tu, maledicte Diabole, nunquam audeas 
 violare. 
 
 Audi, maledicte Sathana ; adjuratus per nomen aeterni Dei, 
 
106 APPENDIX. 
 
 et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi ; et cum tua victus invidia 
 tremens gemensque discede; niliil tibi sit commune cum servo 
 Dei jam coelestia cogitanti, renuntiantique tibi a seculo tuo, et 
 beata immortalitate victuro. Da igitur lionorem advenienti 
 Spiritui Sancto, qui ex sum ma coeli arce descendens, perturba- 
 tus fraudibus tuis, divino fonte purgatum pectus, id est, sanc- 
 tificatum, Deo templum et habitaculum perficiat; ut ab om- 
 nibus penitus noxis praeteritorum criminum liberatus, hie 
 servus Dei gratias perenni Deo referat semper, et benedicat 
 nomen ejus in secula seculorum. Amen. 
 
 [Second Exorcism of the Devil.] 
 
 Exorciso te, immunde spiritus, in nomine Patris et Filii, et 
 Spiritus Sancti, ut exeas et recedas ab hoe famulo Dei. Ipse 
 enim tibi imperat, maledicte damnate, qui pedibus super 
 mare ambulavit, et Petro mergenti dexteram porrexit. 
 [Third Exorcism of the Devil.] 
 
 Nee te lateat, Sathana, imminere tibi poenas, imminere tibi 
 tormenta, imminere tibi diem judicii, diem supplicii sempiterni, 
 diem qui venturus est velut clibanus ardens, in quo tibi et uni- 
 versis angelis tuis prasparatus sempiternus erit interitus. Pro- 
 inde, damnate et damnande, da honorem Deo vivo et vero, da 
 honorem Jesu Christo fiho ejus, et da honorem Spiritui Sancto 
 Paraclito, in cujus nomine atque virtute prsecipio tibi, quicun- 
 que es, spiritus immunde, ut exeas et recedas ab hoc famulo 
 Dei, quem hodie idem Deus, et Dominus noster Jesus Christus 
 ad suam sanctam gratiam et benedictionem fontemque Bap- 
 tismatis dono vocare dignatus est, ut fiat ejus templum per 
 aquam Regenerationis in remissionem omnium peccatorum in 
 nomine ejusdem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui venturus est 
 judicare vivos et mortuos, et seculum per ignem. 
 
 Priest. Dominus vobiscum. 
 
 Answ. Et cum spiritu tuo. 
 
 Evangelium e Marco. 
 'In illo tempore offerebant Jesu parvulos ; &c. — manus 
 imponens super illos, benedicebat eos,' Marc. x. 
 
 Tunc Presbyter ponat manum super caput infantis, dicens. 
 Pater noster, qui es in coelis, &c. 
 Credo in Deum, &c. 
 
 Deinde spuat Sacerdos in sinistra manu, et tangat aures et 
 nares infantis cum pollice suo dextero de sputo, dicendo ad 
 
APPENDIX. 107 
 
 aurem dexteram, ' Effetha,' quod est, Aperire. Ad nares, ' In 
 * odorem suavitatis.' Ad aurem sinistram : ' Tu autem effu- 
 ' gare, Diabole, appropinquabit enim judicium Dei.' 
 
 [When the child is brought into the Church : the priest inquires 
 his name : and then asks :] 
 
 Abrenuntias Satbanae ? Ansxv. Abrenuntio. 
 
 Pr. Et omnibus operibus ejus.? Ansxo. Abrenuntio. 
 
 Pr. Et omnibus pompis ejus .'' Ansza. Abrenuntio. 
 [Then the priest anoints him with oil, saying,] 
 
 Et ego lineo te super pectus oleo salutis, inter scapulas, in 
 Christo Jesu Domino nostro, ut habeas vitam aeternam et vivas 
 in secula seculorum. Amen. 
 
 [Then the priest asks,] 
 
 Credis in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, creatorem coeli et 
 terrae ? Ansiv. Credo. 
 
 Pr. Credis et in Jesum Christum filium ejus unicum Do- 
 minum nostrum natum et passum ? Ansxo. Credo. 
 
 Pr. Credis et in Spiritum sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam 
 Catholicam, sanctorum communionem, reraissionem peccato- 
 rum, carnis resurrectionem, et vitam geternam post mortem ? 
 Answ. Credo. 
 
 Pr. Quidpetis-f^ Ansza. Baptismum. 
 
 Pr. Vis baptizari ? Answ. Volo. 
 [The priest takes up the child, and dips him three times^ saying :] 
 
 Et ego baptizo te in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus 
 sancti. Amen. 
 
 Pr. Dominus vobiscum. Ansxo. Et cum spiritu tuo. 
 
 Pr. Oremus. Deus omnipotens, pater Domini nostri Jesu 
 Christi, qui te regeneravit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, quique 
 dedit tibi remissionem omnium peccatorum tuorum (here he 
 marks the child with the chrism) ipse te Unit chrismate salutis 
 in eodem Filio suo Domino nostro Jesu Christo in vitam aeter- 
 nam. 
 
 [Here the child is clothed with the chrisom cloth, the priest 
 
 saying,] 
 
 Accipe vestem candidam sanctam et immaculatam, quam 
 perferas ante tribunal Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ut habeas 
 vitam eternam et vivas in secula seculorum. Amen. 
 
 [Then he places a lighted taper in the child's hand, saying,] 
 
 Accipe lampadem ardentem et irreprehensibilem : custodi 
 
108 APPENDIX. 
 
 baptismum tuum : serva mandata : ut, cum venerit Dominus 
 ad nuptias, possis ei occurrere una cum Sanctis in aula coelesti ; 
 ut habeas vitam eternam; et vivas in secula seculorum. Amen. 
 
 Pater Noster, &c. 
 
 Credo in Deum, &c. 
 
 Dominus vobiscum. 
 Et cum spiritu tuo. 
 
 Lutheran Formulary of Baptism, as corrected hy 
 Luther Jrom a previous Formulary, and published 
 in the year 1527. 
 
 ^Translated from the German.] 
 
 The Baptizer says ; 
 Depart, thou unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 Then shall he make on him a cross^ on his forehead and breast, 
 and say ; 
 Receive the sign of the holy Cross, both on thy forehead 
 and on thy breast. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 Almighty, immortal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, I call upon thee for this Af. thy servant, who soliciting 
 the gift of thy Baptism, desireth thy eternal grace by spiritual 
 Regeneration. 
 
 Receive him, O Lord, as thou hast promised ; Ask, and ye 
 shall have ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be 
 opened unto you. So extend now this good to him who ask- 
 eth ; and open the door to him who knocketh, that he may 
 obtain the everlasting benediction of thy heavenly washing, 
 and receive the promised kingdom of thy gift, through Christ 
 our Lord. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 
 Almighty, everlasting God, who by the deluge according to 
 thy severe judgment didst condemn the unbelieving world, and 
 didst save faithful Noah, eight persons, by thy great mercy ; 
 and didst drown hardened Pharaoh with all his in the Red sea, 
 and didst lead thy people Israel dry through it, in order that 
 
APPENDIX. 109 
 
 this bath of thy holy baptism might be prefigured ; and by 
 the baptism of thy well-beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 didst sanctify and consecrate Jordan and all waters for a 
 blessed deluge and abundant washing away of sins; we be- 
 seech thee by thy same unbounded mercy, that thou wilt mer- 
 cifully look upon JV. and bless him with a right faith in spirit, 
 that by this wholesome deluge may be drowned and sunk in 
 him all which was born in him from Adam, and which he 
 himself has added thereto ; and that he, being separated from 
 the number of unbelievers, may be kept safe and secure in the 
 holy ark of Christianity, and always fervent in spirit, joyful in 
 hope, may serve thee ; that he with all believers may be wor- 
 thy to obtain thy promise of everlasting life, through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 I adjure thee, thou unclean spirit, in the name of the Fa- 
 ther, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that thou come 
 out, and depart from this servant of Jesus Christ. Amen. 
 
 Let us hear the holy Gospel of St. Mark. 
 
 At that time they brought young children, &c. — he put his 
 hands upon them, and blessed them. 
 
 Then shall the priest put his hand upon the head of the 
 child, and repeat Our Father, together with the sponsors, 
 kneeling down. 
 Our Father, which art in heaven, &c. 
 
 Afterwards, while the child is held at the font, the priest 
 shall say ; 
 The Lord preserve thy coming in and going out, from this 
 time forth for evermore. 
 
 After let the priest make the child through his sponsors 
 renounce the Devil, and say ; 
 
 Dost thou renounce the Devil ? Ansrver, I do. 
 
 And all his works ? Answer, I do. 
 
 And all his pomps (wesen) ? Answer, I do. 
 
 Believest thou in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of 
 heaven and earth ? Anszver, I do. 
 
 Believest thou in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who 
 was born and suffered ? Answer, I do. 
 
 Believest thou in the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, 
 
no APPENDIX. 
 
 the Coininunion of 'Saints, the Forgiveness of Sins, the Resur- 
 rection of the Body, and after death the Life everlasting ? 
 Answer^ I do. 
 
 Wilt thou be baptized? Answer^ I will. 
 
 Then he shall take the child and dip it in the font^ saying, 
 
 I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Then shall the sponsors hold the child in the font^ while he 
 marks it with the chrisom ; 
 Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 hath regenerated thee with water, and the Holy Ghost, and 
 hath given unto thee remission of all thy sins, strengthen thee 
 with his grace to life everlasting. Amen. 
 Peace be with thee ! Amen ! 
 
 This was the German formulary of Baptism, corrected and 
 pubhshed by Luther in 1527, which was generally used in the 
 Lutheran churches. In 1523 Luther wrote and published 
 his first formulary of Baptism, which was a closer copy of the 
 one used by the Church of Rome. In this first formulary 
 salt was put into the infant's mouth, called the salt of wisdom, 
 the first two exorcisms of the Devil were fully adopted, and 
 the use of spittle, the chrisom, the white garment, and the 
 burning light enjoined, with their respective prayers. But 
 these things were all omitted in the corrected formulary. 
 
 I have remarked in my Bampton Lectures, p. 377. (third 
 edition,) that our Baptismal Offices appear to have been partly 
 taken from a formulary drawn up by Melancthon and Bucer 
 for the vise of the Archbishopric of Cologne, which was pub- 
 lished in Latin in the year 1545, and translated into English 
 in the year 1547. In this formulary there is a prayer which 
 is not to be found in either that of Rome or of Luther, but 
 which is, with the exception of a single sentence, wholly adopted 
 in our own. It is the following ; 
 
 Fofinulary of Cologne. 
 
 Oremus. Omnipotetis et aterne Deus, Pater ccelesfis, ffra- 
 tias agimus tibi ceternas, quod ad hanc agnitionem graticB tucB 
 
APPENDIX. Ill 
 
 etjidei erga te nos vocare dignatus es ; Auge et confirma hanc 
 Jldem in nobis perpetuo ; da huic iiifanti Spiritum Sanctum 
 tuum, quo regeneretur et hcBres Jiat (Bternas. salutis, quam Ec- 
 clesiae tuae sanctse, pueris simul et senibus propter Christum 
 ex gratia et misericordia tua promisisti, per Dominum nos- 
 trum Jesum Christum, qui tecum vivit et regnat nunc et in 
 perpetuum ^. 
 
 The adoption of this prayer, not to be found in any other 
 formulary, plainly proves, that our Reformers must have con- 
 sulted this of Cologne. 
 
 But there are further marks of imitation from the Cologne 
 formulary, which, not occurring elsewhere, demonstrate the 
 source whence they were derived. These are principally found 
 in the Exhortations and Rubrics. 
 
 First Exhortation. 
 Dilecti in Christo Jesu, quotidie ex verbo Dei audimus, et 
 propria experientia discimus, tarn in vita, quam in morte, jam 
 inde ab Adas lapsu nos omnes concipi et nasci iji peccatis, esse 
 reos iras Dei, et damnatos propter Adas delictum ^, nisi libere- 
 mur morte meritis Filii Dei Christi Jesu, nostri unici libera- 
 toris. Cum igitur praesentes infantes communi nobiscum sorte 
 nati sunt, dubium non est, quin et ipsi peccato originali mor- 
 bo commaculati sint, atque obnoxii aeternae morti et damna- 
 tioni. Sed Deus Pater pro inefFabili sua misericordia erga 
 genus humanum Filiura suum misit ut mundum servaret, 
 quare etiam et hos infantes servare vult. lUe peccata totius 
 
 ^ Almighty and everlasting God, lieavenly Father, we give thee 
 humble thanks, that thou hast vouchsafed to call us to the knowledge 
 of thy grace, and faith in thee : Increase and confirm this faith in us 
 evermore ; give thy Holy Spirit to these infants ; that they may be 
 born again, and be made heirs of everlasting salvation, through our 
 Lord Jesus Chi'ist, v)ho liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy 
 Spirit now and for ever. 
 
 ^ The guilt of Adam, imputed to his posterity, appears in this 
 formulary to be the actual corruption of our nature, and not a me- 
 taphysical conception in the Divine mind. Thus, in a subsequent 
 prayer, it is said, Et ne imputes his parvulis peccatum Adse in eis 
 per parentes propagatum et innatum. P. 75. 
 
112 APPENDIX. 
 
 mundi tulit, et tam parvulos, quam nos adultos, a peccatis, 
 morte, Diabolo et aeterna damnatione liberavit, et salvos fecit, 
 qui voluit sibi offerri parvulos, ut iis benedictionem imperti- 
 retur. Quare pro inimensa pietate vestra, hunc puerum as- 
 sumite, et ad Christum adducite, et offerte piis vesti-is preci- 
 bus, quo peccatorum suorum remissionem ab illo consequatur, 
 transferatur in regnum gratiae, ereptus e tyrannide Satanae et 
 constituatur hasres asternas salutis. 
 
 Et vobis certissimum sit, Domimim nostrum Jesum Chri- 
 stum hoc opus charitatis vestrcB erga hunc inf'antem clemen- 
 tissime respecturum ^. P. 71. 
 
 Exhortation, after the reading of the Gospel from St. Mark. 
 
 His verbis et huic facto Domini nostri Jesu Christi, super 
 iWosfdem habete, nee dubiiate eum et vestros infantes sic in 
 sacro Baptismate suscepturum, et complexurum esse ulnis 
 misericordicB suce, et benedictionem vitcB cpterncp, et sempiter- 
 nam regni Dei communionem iis collaturum ^. P. 72. 
 
 Second Exhortation. 
 
 Nullius ergo laboris vos pigeat, quin quisque hunc curet 
 Domino pie et religiose educandum et instituendum, quo ser- 
 vai'e tandem possit omnia, quae Christus servator nobis praece- 
 pit. Pertinet igitur ad vos, ubi primum excreverit, curare, 
 ut ad Scholas, ut in Ecclesiam ducatur, quo in Christi my- 
 steriis et in aliis instituatur plenius, quo gratiam et immensa 
 Dei benefcia in Baptismo collata intelligat, atque ita in Chri- 
 sto Domino nostro adfinem perseveret. P. 73. 
 
 Vultis ergo infantem e Baptismo suscipere et habere pro 
 
 c ' Wherefore we being thus persuaded of the good-will of our 
 ' heavenly Father towards this infant, declared by his Son Jesus 
 ' Christ, and nothing doubting but that he favourably alloweth this 
 ' charitable work of ours,' &c. 
 
 d ' Doubt ye not therefore, but earnestly believe, that he will like- 
 ' wise favourably receive these present infants ; that he will em- 
 ' brace them with the arms of his mercy ; that he will give tinto 
 ' them the blessing of eternal life j and make them partakers of his 
 ' everlasting kingdom.' Exhort, after the Gospel. 
 
APPENDIX. 113 
 
 vero filio Dei, fratre et membro Christi, atque primum nbi ad 
 usum rationis pervenerit, curam ejus habere, quo Decalogum, 
 et Articulos Jidei, et Orationem Dominicam^ et Sacramenta 
 perdiscat turn Domi, turn in Ecclesia^. Ibid. 
 
 As the other parts of the Cologne service for public bap- 
 tism are principally the same as those in the service of Luther, 
 they are here omitted. But there is a distinct service for pri- 
 vate baptism, no trace of which is to be found in any other 
 formulary. I will therefore add some extracts from it, which 
 appear to have been in the eye of our Reformers. 
 
 Cologne Rubric. 
 
 Si autem infantuli infirmiore fuerint valetudine, ut pericu- 
 lum sit non victuros esse, vel ad proximum Dominicum vel 
 Festiim dieniy aut si propter graviores causas illis diebus Bap- 
 tismus coriferri non possif, admonebunt Pastores popidum^ &c. 
 P. 76. 
 
 De Baptism© recens natis collato propter periculum mortis. 
 Si extrema necessitas urserit, tum qui adsunt periclitanti in- 
 tsLn\.n\o,jungant sese in Domino, pie sublatis ad Deum animis, 
 misericordiam ejus, in Christo Domino nobis promissam et 
 exhibitam, super iiifantido implorent, eumque, dicta orattone 
 Dominica, baptizent, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus 
 Sancti. Quod cum fecerint, ne dubitent infantera suuvn vere 
 
 c ' You must reviember it is your parts and duties to see that 
 ' these infants he taught, so soon as they shall be able to learn, what 
 ' a solemn vow, jjromise, and profession they have wade by you. 
 ' And that they may know these things the better, ye shall call upon 
 ' them to hear sermons; and chiefly you shall p7-ovide that they may 
 ' learn the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, 
 ' in the English tongue, and all other things which a Christian man 
 ' ought to know and believe to his soul's health.' Concluding Ex- 
 hortation. 
 
 f ' The Pastors and Curates shall oft admonish the people that 
 ' they defer not the baptism of itfants any longer than the Sunday 
 ' or other holyday next after the child be born, unless upon a great 
 ' and reasonable cause.' 
 
 I 
 
114 APPENDIX. 
 
 baptizatum, peccatis ablutum, in Christo renatum, et filium, 
 haeredemque Dei factum esseS. P. 76, 
 
 Hos ergo Pastores interrogahunt^ qua ratione, et quibus 
 verbis infantem baptizarent^. Ibid. 
 
 Si vero ii qui infantem offeriint non satis constanter re- 
 spondere possunt ad dictas inter rogationes^ adeo ut fateantur 
 se hand satis scire quce cogitarint aut Jecerint baptizando, 
 pertnrbati scilicet prcesenti pericido, ^it Jieri non raro solet, 
 tnnc oniissa anxia disputatione ', &c. P. 77. 
 
 From the whole tenor of the Cologne formulary it is evi- 
 dent, that the authors of it considered every baptized infant as 
 truly regenerated, and a child of God. In a passage already 
 quoted, the baptized infant is expressly stated to be ' washed 
 ^from his sins, to be regenerated in Christ, and to be made 
 ' a son and heir of God.'' Similar precise declarations occur 
 in their Office of Private Baptism, in which it is said, when 
 the child is brought to church ; Hunc igitur vobis infantulum, 
 Jilium et hcaredem Dei, Jratrem et cohcEredem Christi, mem- 
 brum Christi et vestrum in Christo, tidei vestrae et curse in 
 Domino committo et commendo, ut eum Domino in quem re- 
 natus est, et regno Dei, in quod renatus est, quam diligentis- 
 sime fovendum, educandum, instituendum curetis. 
 
 Then follows this prayer, if possible, still more express; 
 Domine Deus Pater Domini Jesu Christi, qui regenuisti hunc 
 infantem ea: aqua et Spiritu Sancto, et peccatorum omnium 
 remissionem ei sacrosancto Baptismate contulisti, confirma hunc 
 
 ' e Let them that be present call upon God for his grace, and say 
 ' the Lord's Prayer, if the time will suffer. * * * And let them not 
 ' doubt but that the child so baptized is lawfully and sufficiently 
 ' baptized.' 
 
 '' ' Then shall the Priest examiiie them further ; With what 
 ' thing or what 7natter they did baptize the child ? With what words 
 ' the child 7vas baptized ?' 
 
 • ' But if they which bring the infants to the church do make an 
 ' uncertain answer to the Priest's questions, and say that they can- 
 ' not tell what they thought, did, or said, in that great fear and 
 ' trouble of mind, as oftentimes it chancelh, then let the Priest,' 
 &c. 
 
APPENDIX. 115 
 
 tua gratia, et regas provehasque hanc novam vitam, quam 
 donasti. P. 77. 
 
 To this I shall subjoin one quotation more, from the Rubric 
 of Private Baptism : Quibus praemissis, infantem statim bapti- 
 zent, et astantes hortentur, ut certo statuant infantulum, sive 
 vivaf, sive mox mo7'iatur, esse Jilium Dei, et hcBredem vitca 
 aterncB. P. 76. 
 
 And surely it must be admitted, that our own Formulary 
 perfectly coincides in this respect with that of Cologne. Omit- 
 ting all other references to the point, I should be content to 
 rest the proof of it upon this single declaration in the Office of 
 Confirmation. * It is certain by God's word, that children 
 
 * being' baptized, if' they depart out of this life in their iiifancy, 
 ' are undoubtedly saved ^.'' 
 
 And it should be remarked, that the subsequent alterations 
 of this Rubric rendered the point in discussion, if possible, 
 less questionable. At first the limitation was to children dying 
 in injuncy: but it is now extended to those who diebejhre they 
 commit actual sin; making Baptism, in all cases before the 
 actual commission of crime, effectual to salvation. 
 
 I have stated in my Bampton Lectures, p. 377 and 378, 
 (third edition,) that the Cologne Formulary of Baptism, as 
 suggested by Melancthon himself, was drawn up after the 
 Formulary of Nuremberg, and that the Formulary of Nurem- 
 berg was conformable with that of Luther, as amended in 
 1527. I should however remark, that although the Cologne 
 Formulary was, as Melancthon stated, drawn up after that of 
 Nuremberg, and therefore after Luther's, this similarity re- 
 lates chiefly to the prayers and essential parts of the service, 
 and not to the Rubrics arid Exhortations. These latter were 
 new; and, as I have shewn, were partly adopted and intro- 
 
 ^ Common Prayer Book, A. D. 1549. When the Common Prayer 
 was revised in 1552, this Rnbric was thus altered: ' It is certain 
 ' by God's word, that children, being baptized, have all things 
 ' necessary for their salvation, and be undoubtedly saved.' This 
 underwent another alteration at a subsequent revision, and it now 
 stands thus : ' It is certain by God's word, that children which are 
 ' baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly 
 
 * saved.' 
 
 I 3 
 
116 APPENDIX. 
 
 duced by our Reformers into our own Formulary. As a whole 
 nevertheless they sufficiently indicate what Luther expressively 
 termed the Clappermaiil (or perpetual clack) of Bucer, and 
 were therefore, I presume, only in 'part adopted by our Re- 
 formers. 
 
 I have not given the Nuremberg Formulary, because it 
 would have been little more than a repetition of Luther"'s. 
 
 Our own Formvlary of Baptism^ as worded in the Jirst Com- 
 mon Prayer BooJc, A. D. 1549. 
 Dearly beloved, forasmuch as all men be conceived and born 
 in sin, and that no man born in sin can enter into the kingdom 
 of God, (except he be regenerate and born anew of water and 
 the Holy Ghost,) I beseech you to call upon God the Father, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous mercy 
 he will grant to these children that thing, which by nature 
 they cannot have, that is to say, they may be baptized with 
 the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy church, and 
 be made lively members of the same'. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 Almighty and everlasting God, which of thy justice didst 
 destroy by floods of water the whole world for sin, except eight 
 persons, whom of thy mercy (the same time) thou didst save 
 in the ark ; and when thou didst drown in the Red sea wicked 
 king Pharaoh with all his army, yet at the same time thou 
 didst lead thy people Israel safely through the midst thereof, 
 whereby thou didst figure the washing of thy holy Baptism ; 
 and by the baptism of thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ thou 
 didst sanctify the flood of Jordan, and all other waters, to this 
 mystical washing away of sin ; We beseech thee (for thy infi- 
 nite mercies) that thou wilt mercifully look upon these chil- 
 dren, and sanctify them with thy Holy Ghost; that by this 
 wholesome laver of Regeneration, whatsoever sin is in them 
 may be washed clean away, that they being delivered from thy 
 wrath, may be received into the ark of Christ's church, and so 
 
 1 If this exhortation be compared with the first part of the first 
 exhortation in the Cologne Formulary, it will be found to express 
 its general sense Avithout some of its exceptionable expressions. 
 
APPENDIX. 117 
 
 saved from perishing; and being fervent in spirit, steadfast in 
 faith, joyful through hope, rooted in charity, may ever serve 
 thee, and finally attain to everlasting life with all thy holy 
 and chosen people. This grant us, we beseech thee, for Jesus 
 Christ's sake our Lord. Amen ™. 
 
 Here shall the Priest ask what shall be the name of the child ; 
 and when the godfathers and godmothers have told the 
 name, then he shall make a cross upon the children's fore- 
 head and breast, saying, 
 
 N. Receive the sign of the holy cross, both in thy forehead 
 and in thy breast, in token that thou shalt not be ashamed of 
 the faith in Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his 
 banner against sin, the world, and the Devil, and to continue 
 his faithful soldier and servant unto thy life's end. Amen. 
 
 Let us pray. 
 Almighty and immortal God, the aid of all that need, the 
 helper of all that flee to thee for succour, the life of them that 
 believe, and the resurrection of the dead ; We call upon thee 
 for these infants, that they coming to thy holy baptism may 
 obtain remission of their sins by spii-itual regeneration. Re- 
 ceive them, O Lord, as thou hast promised by thy well-beloved 
 Son, saying, Ask, and you shall have; seek, and you shall 
 find ; knock, and it shall be opened to you. So give now 
 unto us that ask ; let us that seek find ; open the gate unto us 
 that knock ; that these infants may enjoy the everlasting- 
 benediction of thy heavenly washing ; and may come to the 
 
 ^ This prayer was transferred from Luther's into other Formu- 
 laries. The clause, ' a?id so saved from perishing,' was omitted in 
 1552. A writer in ' Tracts for the Times,' noticing this first revi- 
 sion, has the following remark : ' The alterations in the Baptismal 
 ' Service were few ; but they were all unhappily of the same cha- 
 ' racter. It was the omission of certain signijicant rites, whereby 
 * either men's natural condition before baptism, or the privileges 
 ' bestowed through baptism, and the duties consequent thereon, 
 ' were set before men's eyes.' Vol. ii. p. 242. Oxford, 1836. The 
 omission here noticed, being not that of a significant rite, was not 
 one perhaps the loss of which is thus regretted. 
 
 13 
 
118 APPENDIX. 
 
 eternal kingdom, which thou hast promised by Christ our 
 Lord. Amen ". 
 
 Then let the Priest, looking upon the children, say, 
 I command thee, thou unclean spirit, in the name of the 
 Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that thou come 
 out, and depart from these infants, whom our Lord Jesus 
 Christ hath vouchsafed to call to his holy baptism, to be made 
 members of his body, and of his holy congregation. There- 
 fore, thou cursed spirit, remember thy sentence, remember thy 
 judgment, remember the day to be at hand, wherein thou shalt 
 burn in fire everlasting, prepared for thee and thy angels. And 
 presume not hereafter to exercise any tyranny towards these 
 infants, whom Christ has bought with his precious blood, and 
 by this his holy baptism calleth to be of his flock °. 
 
 •1 Tlie first part of this prayer, ' the aid of all that need, the 
 ' helper of all that flee to thee for succour, the life of them that 
 ' believe, and the resurrection of the dead,' do not occur in Lu- 
 ther's Formulary. In that of the church of Rome, which our 
 Reformers seem to have had in their eye, the passage is thus ex- 
 pressed : ' Praesidium omnium postulantium, liheratio supplicum, 
 ' pax rogantium, vita credentium, resurrectio mortuorum.' 
 
 o The whole of this exorcism was expunged at the revision in 
 1552. The church of Rome commenced its Baptismal Service with 
 the following ejection of Satan : Exsuffiet sacerdos in facie in- 
 fantis tribus vicibus, dicens ; Exi, immunde spiritus, et da locum 
 Spiritui Sancto. 
 
 This was thus translated and adopted in Luther's first Formu- 
 lary : * The baptizer shall blow (blase) upon the infant between 
 * the eyes, and say, Depart, thou unclean spirit, and give place to 
 ' the Holy Ghost.' But this part of the service, as far as relates 
 to the mode of ejecting the Devil by blowing into the face of the 
 child, was omitted in Luther's amended Formulary ; and was never 
 adopted in our own. Instead of it the Priest is required, as above, 
 to look upon the child during the act of exorcism. But, as I have 
 observed, all exorcism was omitted when the service was revised ; 
 much however to the regret of the pious and warm-hearted writer 
 before alluded to in the ' Tracts for the Times.' Referring to this 
 omission, he observes : ' It could not have been foreseen that men's 
 ' sense of these things would be weakened by our omission of this 
 
APPENDIX. 119 
 
 Then shall the priest say. 
 The Lord be with you. 
 The People. And with thy spirit. 
 
 The M'mister. Hear now the Gospel, written by St. Mark. 
 At a certain time they brought children to Christ, that he 
 should touch them, &c. 
 
 After the Gospel is read, the Minister shall make this brief 
 exhortation upon the words of the Gospel : 
 Friends, you hear in this Gospel the words of our Saviour 
 
 ' rite : and yet this has cofit/ibuied much to the present unbelief in 
 
 * the scriptural statements of a personal unseen enemy of men's 
 ' souls, and the indifference with which they view, or hear of, his 
 
 * visible agents and servants, and the fearlessness with which they 
 ' allow themselves to sink gradually into his grasp, as if they could 
 ' again free themselves from it when they would. * * * Against the 
 ' scriptural statement man's pride revolts. It would have been 
 
 * impugned doubtless, even had the rite of exorcism been re- 
 ' tained (as in Germany and Denmark) ; and so will every doc- 
 ' trine ; but it would not have been so easily forgotten, which is 
 ' the greater evil. It has doubtless been a device of Satan to per- 
 ' suade men that this expulsion of himself was unnecessary ; he 
 
 * has thereby secured a more undisputed possession. Whether the 
 ' rite can he again restored, without greater evil, God only know- 
 
 * eth ; or whether it he not irrecoverably forfeited : but this is cer- 
 ' tain ; until it be restored, we shall have much more occasion to 
 ' warn our flocks of the devices and power of him, against whom 
 
 * we have to contend.' P. 242. I cannot myself feel disposed to 
 participate with this author in his regret and anxious wish for such 
 a restoration. As I do not deny with one professor (Ibid. Preface, 
 p. xii.), that ' the sacraments are instruments or channels of grace,' 
 so do I not think it desirable, with another professor, to restore 
 the superstitious ceremony of ejecting the Devil, by words, exsuf- 
 flation, or otherwise. It is one thing to believe in the existence of 
 an evil spirit, and another to persuade ourselves that his influence 
 is to be controlled, and his agency frustrated, by what is termed a 
 signijicant rite. May not a rite be significant, and at the same time 
 absurd ? Or, if we are told that it is ancient, does its antiquity 
 prevent its absurdity ? I need not perhaps observe, that, unless we 
 believe in the actual possession, and consequent expulsion of the 
 Devil by the rite of exorcism, the rite itself cannot be correctly 
 termed significant. 
 
120 APPENDIX. 
 
 Christ, that he commanded the children to be brought unto 
 him ; how he blamed those who would have kept them from 
 him ; how he exhorteth all men to follow their innocency. Ye 
 perceive how by his outward gesture and deed he declared his 
 goodwill toward them. For he embraced them in his arras, 
 he laid his hands upon them, and blessed them. Doubt ye 
 not therefore, but earnestly believe, that he will likewise re- 
 ceive these present infants, that he will embrace them with the 
 arms of his mercy, that he will give unto them the blessing of 
 eternal life, and make them partakers of his everlasting king- 
 dom. Wherefore, we being thus persuaded of the goodwill 
 of our heavenly Father toward these infants, declared by his 
 Son Jesus Christ; and nothing doubting but that he favour- 
 ably alloweth this charitable work of ours in bringing these 
 children to his holy baptism P ; let us faithfully and devoutly 
 give thanks unto him, and say the prayer which the Lord 
 himself taught. And in declaration of our faith, let us also 
 recite the Articles contained in our Creed. 
 
 Here the Minister, with the godfathers, godmothers, and 
 people present, shall say. 
 Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, &c. 
 
 And then shall say openly ; 
 I believe in God the Father Almighty, &c. 
 
 The Priest shall add also this prayer ; 
 
 Almighty and everlasting God, heavenly Father, we give 
 thee humble thanks, that thou hast vouchsafed to call us to 
 knowledge of thy grace, and faith in thee ; increase and con- 
 firm this faith in us evermore. Give thy Holy Spirit to these 
 infants, that they may be born again, and be made heirs of 
 everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit now and for 
 ever. Amen 1. 
 
 P I have pointed out^ in my extracts from the Cologne Formu- 
 lary, whence these two last paragraphs were taken. 
 
 q This prayer also was taken from the Cologne Formulary, not 
 to be found elsewhere, as I have before remarked. 
 
APPENDIX. 121 
 
 Then let the Priest take one of the children by the right hand, 
 the others being brought after him ; and coming into the 
 church toward the font^ say ; 
 
 The Lord vouchsafe to receive you into his holy household, 
 and to keep and govern you always in the same, that you may 
 have everlasting life. Amen ■■. 
 
 Then standing at the font, the Priest shall speak to the god- 
 fathers and godmothers on this wise ; 
 
 Well-beloved friends, ye have brought these children here 
 to be baptized ; ye have prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ 
 would vouchsafe to receive them, to lay his hands upon them, 
 to bless them, to release them of their sins, to give them the 
 kingdom of heaven and everlasting life. Ye havej^eard also 
 that our Lord Jesus Christ hath promised in his Gospel to 
 grant all these things that ye have prayed for, which promise 
 he for his part will most surely keep and perform ; wherefore 
 after this promise made by Christ, these infants must also 
 for their part promise by you, that be their sureties, that they 
 will forsake the Devil and all his works, and constantly believe 
 God's holy word, and obediently keep his commandments. 
 
 Then shall the priest demand of the child (which shall be 
 first baptized) these questions following^ first naming the 
 child, and saying ; 
 
 Dost thou forsake the Devil and all his works .? Answer. I 
 forsake them. 
 
 Minister. Dost thou forsake the vain pomp, and glory of 
 the world, with all the covetous desires of the same ? Answer. 
 I forsake them. 
 
 Minister. Dost thou forsake the carnal desires of the flesh, 
 so that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them ? Answer. I 
 forsake them. 
 
 Minister. Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty, 
 Maker of heaven and earth ? Answer. I believe. 
 
 Minister. Dost thou believe in Jesus Christ, his only-be- 
 gotten Son our Lord, &c. — to judge the quick and dead 't 
 Dost thou believe this ? Answer. I believe. 
 
 *■ The introduction into the church here required was omitted in 
 1552- 
 
122 APPENDIX. 
 
 Minister. Dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost, &c. — and 
 everlasting life after death ? Jnswer. I believe. 
 
 Minister. What dost thou desire ? Aiisiver. Baptism. 
 Minister. Wilt thou be baptized ? Answer. I will. 
 
 Then the pries ; shall take the child in his hands, and ask the 
 name. And naming the child, shall dip it in the water 
 thrice. First dipping the right side; second, the left side; 
 the third time dipping the face toward the font, so it he 
 discreetly and warily done, saying ; 
 JV. I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 
 
 And if the child he weak, it shall suffice to pour water upon it 
 saj,':ing the same v/ords. Then the godfathers and god- 
 mothers shall take and lay their hands upon the child, and 
 the Minister shall put upon him his white vesture, com- 
 monly called the chrisom, and say, 
 Take this white vesture," for a token of the innocency, which 
 by God's grace in this holy Sacrament of Baptism is given 
 unto thee ; and for a sign whereby thou art admonished so 
 long as thou livest to give thyself to innocency of living ; that 
 after this transitory life, thou raayest be partaker of the life 
 everlasting. Amen. 
 
 Then the priest shall anoint the infant upon the head, saying ; 
 
 Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 hath regenerated thee by water and the Holy Ghost, and hath 
 given unto thee remission 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. Amen^. 
 
 s The whole of this ceremony, including both the white vesture 
 and the anointing, together with the subjoined prayer, was omitted 
 in 1552. The prayer contains a distinct and express avowal of the 
 fact, that in previous baptism the child has been regenerated, by the 
 Holy Ghost as well as by water, and has thus obtained remission of 
 all his sins. That those however, who revised the service, and 
 left out this particular part, did not so act, because they objected to 
 the doctrine comprised in the clauses quoted, appears indisputable 
 from the circumstance of their having retained the very same doc- 
 trine and expressions in the first prayer of the Office for Confirm- 
 
APPENDIX. 123 
 
 When there be many to be baptized, this order of demanding, 
 baptizing, putting on chrisom, and anointing, shall be used se- 
 verally with every child. Those that be first baptized, de- 
 parting from the font, and remaining in some convenient 
 place within the church until all be baptized. At the last 
 end the priest calling the godfathers and godmothers to- 
 gether shall say this short exhortation following : 
 Forasmuch as these children have promised by you to for- 
 sake the Devil and all his works, to believe in God, and to 
 serve him; you must remember, that it is your parts and duty, 
 to see that these infants be taught so soon as they shall be able 
 to learn, what a solemn vow, promise and profession they have 
 here made by you ; and that they may know these things the 
 better, ye shall call upon them to hear sermons ; and chiefly 
 you shall provide, that they may learn the Creed, the Lord's 
 Prayer, and the Ten Commandments in the English tongue; 
 and all other things, which a Christian ought to know and be- 
 lieve to his soul's health. And that these children may be 
 virtuously brought up to lead a godly and Christian life ; re- 
 membering always, that Baptism doth represent unto us our 
 profession ; which is, to follow the example of our Saviour 
 Christ, and to be made like unto him ; that, as he died, and 
 
 ation, thus ; ' Almighty and everliving God, who hast vouchsafed 
 ' to regenerate these thy servants by water and the Holy Ghost, 
 ' and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins ; &c.' The 
 sole object in their view seems to have been the omission of what 
 they deemed superstitious ceremonies, the investing the child with 
 a white garment, and the anointing his head with oil, lest the peo- 
 ple should imagine (too commonly the case) that some intrinsic ho- 
 liness resided in the garment and oil after consecration. Besides 
 they substituted another prayer, clearly declarative of the same doc- 
 trine, which thus commences ; ' We yield thee hearty thanks, most 
 ' merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant 
 ' with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adop- 
 ' tion, Sfc' Superstition was not then, nor is it now, annihilated in 
 the minds of the common people ; and had the use of the white 
 garment and holy oil been retained, they would have been perhaps 
 regarded as something more than mere significant rites ; as rites in 
 themselves invested with inherent virtue and with indescribable 
 sanctity. 
 
124 APPENDIX. 
 
 rose again for us, so should we, who are baptized, die from sin, 
 and rise again unto righteousness; continually mortifying all 
 our evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceeding in all vir- 
 tue and godliness of living. 
 
 The Office of Private Baptism, being principally the prayers 
 and exhortations directed to be used in Pubhc Baptism, but 
 not previously used in private houses, I have not noticed. 
 
 At the end of these Offices occurs a consecration of the Bap- 
 tismal water, in the following manner : 
 
 The water in the font shall be changed every month once at 
 least ; and before any child be baptized in the water so 
 changed, the priest shall say at the font these prayers fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 O most merciful God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hast 
 ordained the element of water for the regeneration of thy faithful 
 people, upon whom being baptized in the river Jordan the Holy 
 Ghost came down in the likeness of a dove ; send down we be- 
 seech thee the same thy Holy Spirit to assist us and to be pre- 
 sent at this our invocation of thy holy name. Sanctify + this 
 fountain of baptism, thou that art the Sanctifier of all things; 
 that by the power of thy word, all those that shall be baptized 
 therein may be spiritually regenerated, and made the children 
 of everlasting adoption. 
 
 1. O merciful God, grant that the old Adam in them that 
 shall be baptized in this fountain may be so buried, that the 
 new man may be raised up again. Amen. 
 
 2. Grant that all carnal affections may die in them ; and 
 that all things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow in 
 them. 
 
 3. Grant to all them which at this fountain forsake the 
 Devil and all his works, that they may have power and strength 
 to have victory and to triumph against him, the world, and the 
 flesh. Amen. 
 
 4. Whosoever shall confess thee, O Lord, recognise him 
 also in thy kingdom. Amen. 
 
 5. Grant that all sin and vice here may be so extinct, that 
 they never may have power to reign in thy servants. Amen. 
 
 6. Grant that whosoever here shall begin to be of thy flock, 
 may evermore continue in the same. Amen. 
 
APPENDIX. 125 
 
 7. Grant that all they, which for thy sake in this life do 
 deny and forsake themselves, may win and purchase thee, O 
 Lord, which art everlasting treasure. Amen. 
 
 8. Grant that whosoever is here dedicated to thee by our office 
 and ministry, may also be endowed with heavenly virtues, and 
 everlastingly rewarded, O blessed Lord God, who dost live 
 and govern all things world without end. Amen. 
 
 The Lord be with you. Answer. And with thy spirit. 
 
 Almighty and everliving God, whose most dearly beloved 
 Son Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of our sins did shed out 
 of his most precious side both water and blood, and gave com- 
 mandment to his disciples, that they should go teach all na- 
 tions, and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost ; regard, we beseech thee, the supplications 
 of thy congregation, and grant that all thy servants which shall 
 be baptized in this water, prepared for the ministration of thy 
 holy Sacrament, may receive the fulness of thy grace, and ever 
 remain in the number of thy faithful and elect children, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 At the revision in 1552 the first prayer, containing the invo- 
 cation for the presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit in 
 sanctifying the water prepared for baptism, was totally omitted ; 
 so likewise were the 4, 5, 6, and 7th of the short ejaculatory 
 petitions ; and the remainder, viz. the 1, 2, 3, and 8th, with the 
 subsequent prayer inserted in the Office of Public Baptism im- 
 mediately before the actual administration of that rite by the 
 words, ' I baptize thee in the name, &c.' There can be little 
 doubt, but that thosewho made these alterations, made them with 
 an intention of preventing a too superstitious people from losing 
 sight, in the significant symbol, of the thing signified ; from 
 contemplating the bare element of water, when thus prepared 
 by a distinct and impressive ceremony, as endowed in itself 
 with a regenerating influence, and sanctifying efficacy ; for- 
 getful that baptism operates in us (to use the language of 
 Cranmer *) ' as the work of God, by virtue of that command- 
 
 t Cranmer's Catechism, p. i86. Oxford ed. 1829. The Latin of 
 Justus Jonas is, Propter hoc tantum mandatum, quod ex Deo est e 
 coelo Baptismus efficaciter operatur in nobis, ut opus Dei. p. 158. 
 2nd part. 
 
126 APPENDIX. 
 
 ' ment, which came from heaven, even from the bosom of God 
 himself.' 
 
 But whatsoever might have been their intention in this re- 
 spect, it is evident, that their omission of the first prayer here 
 noticed was not occasioned by any objection, entertained by 
 them, to the concluding part of it; which, by praying that the 
 baptized infants, spiritually regenerated, ' may be made the 
 
 * children of everlasting adoption,' infers that some children, 
 although spiritually regenerated, may not he everlastingly 
 adopted, and thus asserts the defectih'ility of grace. This also 
 appears from their retaining the whole of the last prayer 
 quoted, which concludes thus, in allusion to the children bap- 
 tized ; ' that they may receive the fulness of God''s grace, and 
 ' ever remain in the number of his faithful and elect children;' 
 words distinctly maintaining, that there may be a grace which 
 is not indefectible, a grace in which the baptized may not re- 
 main for ever. 
 
 If therefore our Baptismal Service be compared with that of 
 the Lutherans and of the Church of Rome, its origin will not 
 be dubious; and it will be impossible for a moment to suppose, 
 that it was clothed in the language, and composed upon the 
 principles, of the Zuinglian or Calvinistical formularies. Ser- 
 vices which our Reformers found established, and of which 
 they approved, they did not discard from the mere love of in- 
 novation ; but reestablished with as few alterations as possible. 
 Nor do I apprehend, that they dived deeply into the writings 
 of antiquity; but satisfied themselves with rubbing off from 
 the surface some of that superstitious rust, which had been 
 contracted by long usage during a period of illiterate centuries. 
 I find no proof that they attempted to compose, after a recon- 
 dite and laborious search, a new form ; but solely endeavoured 
 to amend an old one. Much less did they think of substituting 
 traditional opinions and ceremonies for scriptural simplicity ; 
 but contented themselves with enforcing the word and promise 
 of Christ as the sure ground of Baptismal efficacy. 
 
 It has indeed been said, that ' our Church (blessed be God !) 
 ' never took Luther, or Calvin, or any modern name for its 
 
 * teacher or its model, but 'primitive antiquity ; and by the 
 
 * holy Scripture alone, and the universal consent of primitive 
 ' antiquity, as the depository of its doctrines, and the witness 
 
APPENDIX. 127 
 
 ' of its teachings -wouXdi she be judged^.' But with Luther 
 she did model her own formulary after that of the Church of 
 Rome, which she found established, (some objectionable parts 
 excepted,) when she compiled the very service under considera- 
 tion ; and I know not what proof exists of her having tested 
 the doctrines and ceremonies contained in it by p?-imitive an- 
 tiquity. That she was anxious to discard, and did discard, 
 what she deemed superstitious in the formulary, from which 
 she copied, I am well convinced : but that she had previously 
 consulted every writer of primitive antiquity upon the subject, 
 and, in addition to her own deductions from Scripture, had 
 satisfied herself upon the point of universal consent in all 
 things which she adopted, I very much doubt. If she had so 
 satisfied herself in her original compilation, she must have con- 
 ducted her inquiries very carelessly ; because some supersti- 
 tious ceremonies, which she had incautiously adopted, she re- 
 jected at the very first revision. If the ceremonies alkided to 
 (exorcism, with the use of the white garment, and holy oil) 
 were not sanctioned by the universal consent of primitive an- 
 tigiiity, which had been carefully investigated, why were they 
 originally adopted ? and if they were" so sanctioned, why were 
 they subsequently rejected ? But whether they were or were 
 not so sanctioned, I cannot, with the zealous writer in the 
 ' Tracts for the Times,'' to whatsoever universal consent or 
 traditional authority he may think them entitled, lament their 
 rejection, and wish for their restoration. 
 
 To the universal consent of primitive antiquity, when fairly 
 and fully ascertained, I am willing to pay the highest respect; 
 but upon points of doctrine, particularly such as regard the 
 true sense of the sacred text, I cannot deem its judgment in- 
 fallible, and its decisions incontrovertible. To Scripture alone, 
 and not to primitive antiquity, much less to tradition., I am 
 persuaded that the Church of England appeals, for the purity 
 of her Liturgy and the truth of her doctrines; and that, a per- 
 fect stranger to the presumptuous dictates of modern Rational- 
 ism, she does not scruple to make unperverted reason her in- 
 terpreter of the word of God. 
 
 Unperverted reason is the offspring of Deity, the parent of 
 
 ^ ' Tracts for the Times/ Vol. II. Preface to View of Baptism, 
 p. vii. 
 
128 APPENDIX. 
 
 truth, and the noblest energy of human intellect; and we 
 cannot be too cautious in decrying the use, when arguing 
 against the abuse, of it. To fancy indeed that Scripture must 
 necessarily teach what reason presumes that it ought to teach, 
 is indeed to make revelation subservient to mental conceit : but 
 we run into a contrary extreme, if to humble human pride, 
 when contemplating the language of inspiration, we give Scrip- 
 ture on every occasion a simply literal interpretation, in con- 
 tempt of all rational deduction. Our blessed Saviour said, ' I 
 ' am the door,'' John x. 7; and again, ' I am the good Shep- 
 * herd;' and can we doubt. that he here spoke, not literally but 
 jiguraiively ? If however, when at the last supper he brake 
 the bread, saying, •' This is my body,'' we explain his words 
 literally, which was the explanation given for many ages by 
 universal consent in all Christendom, shall we not incur the 
 folly of asserting, that our Saviour converted bread into his 
 own body, held that body in his hands, and then gave it to be 
 eaten by his disciples .'' Humility of mind, and simplicity of 
 conception are indeed, when not pushed to an extreme, estim- 
 able qualities ; but if they lead us to interpret literally, what 
 was meant Jiguratively, there is no absurdity into which we 
 may not run, no paradox which we may not support. 
 
 Let me not however be misunderstood. In censuring that 
 which has been misnamed Rationalism, I would by no means 
 point my shafts against Reason. When we investigate the 
 meaning of Scripture, as it is necessary on one hand to avoid 
 the extreme of adapting to it a strictly literal interpretation, 
 by tying down that interpretation to the mere expressions, dis- 
 regarding critical research, inquiry into the language, style, 
 and probable scope of the inspired writers, and of the various 
 dialogues by them recorded ; so is it equally necessary to avoid 
 the other extreme of entering into a deep, conjectural, and 
 overstrained interpretation ; of constantly exercising our in- 
 genuity in hunting after possibilities ; in searching after, not 
 what the words of Scripture do, but what they 7nay, signify ; 
 and even that only in conformity with what we previously 
 judge reasonable. We may thus indeed display our talents, 
 and gratify our vanity, by indulging in recondite speculations 
 and refined distinctions ; we may pride ourselves upon clothing 
 revelation in the garb of reason : but it will be at the risk of 
 
APPENDIX. IS9 
 
 our present enjoyments and our future consolations. Ought 
 we however, on that account, to let our mental faculties lie dor- 
 mant, sink into an irrational simplicity, and extinguish that 
 intellectual light, which God has kindled within us to guide 
 our feet in the paths of truth ? 
 
 Sensible objects, it is true, deeply affect our feelings ; but 
 such is the constitution of our nature, that the more we are 
 attached to sensible objects, the less mindful shall we be of 
 intellectual. What has been the consequence, for instance, of 
 perpetually blazoning the figure of the holy cross ? Inquire 
 among Roman Catholics, and you will find, that the cross is 
 become an object of vanity to the priest, but one of bigoted 
 Veneration, not to say of actual Adoration, to the common 
 people. If then we bury piety under external observances, if 
 we ostentatiously consult the eye in our public devotions, if we 
 prescribe fastings, self-abasements, mortifications, and other 
 afflicting penances'^, under the pretext, and subject to the 
 
 X * God is always ready to forgive ; sins can be forgiven ; and 
 ' yet they are not ! Why ? Because to rise again, after falling from 
 ' baptismal grace, is far more difficult, than the easiness, with which 
 
 • men forgive their own sins, leads them to think : the frame of 
 ' mind, which would really seek forgiveness^ requires greater con- 
 ' Jiict, more earliest prayers, more complete selfabasernent, and real 
 ' renunciation of self, than men can bring themselves to think ne- 
 ' cessary or comply with. Men will not confess to themselves how 
 
 ♦ far astray they have gone ; they cannot endure that all should be 
 
 * begun anew ; and so they keep their sins and perish ! But on 
 
 • that account did the early Church more earnestly warn them of 
 ' the greatness of the effort needed. While she affectionately ten- 
 ' dered the hopes of pardon held out in God's word, she faithfully 
 
 • warned men not to build those hopes on the sand. She called 
 ' on men to return — not as if now they could at once lay down all 
 ' their burden at their Saviour's feet, but to wash his feet with 
 
 * their tears ; to turn — not with the mockery of woe, but with weep- 
 ' ing,fasti?ig, mourning, and with rending of the heart. * * * The 
 
 • blood of Christ is indeed all-powerful to wash away sin ; but it is 
 ' not at our discretion at once, on the first expression of what may 
 
 * be a passing sorrow, to apply it. On true repentance it will yet 
 
 * cleanse men from all sin ; but how much belongs to true repent- 
 
 * ance ! The fountain has indeed been opened to wash away sin 
 
130 APPENDIX. 
 
 regulations, of Church discipline^ as conditional requisites for 
 the obliteration of sin after baptism, that is, for the obliteration 
 
 and uncleanness ; but we dare not promise men a second time the 
 same easy access to it^ which they once had ; that way is open but 
 once ; it were to abuse the power of the keys entrusted to us, 
 again to pretend to admit them thus ; now there remains only the 
 Baptism of tears, a Baptism obtained, as the same Fathers said, 
 with much fasting, and with many tears. '■' * * Tertullian thus 
 timidly, or rather reverently, advances to set forth God's provision 
 against the malice of Satan, Bepentance after Baptism. " Full 
 confession is the discipline of prostrating and humbling the whole 
 man ; enjoining a conversation, which may excite jnty ; it enacts 
 as to the very dress and sustenance ; — to lie on sackcloth and 
 ashes ; the body defiled, the mind cast down with grief; those 
 things, in ivhich he sinnedy, changed by a mournful treatment; 
 for food and drink, bread only and water, for the sake of life, not 
 of the belly ; for the most part to nourish prayer by fasting ; to 
 groan ; to weep ; to mourn day and night before the Lord their 
 God ; to embrace the knees of the presbyter, and of the friends 
 of God ; to enjoin all the brethren to pray for him. All this is 
 contained in full confession. * * In as far as thou sparest not 
 thyself, in so far will God, be assured, spare thee." It is not of 
 course the outward instances and expressions of grief, of which 
 Tertullian speaks, which one would contrast with our modern 
 practice ; although most sincere penitents will probably have a 
 great hinderance to effectual repentance, that they were obliged 
 to bear about their load of grief in their own bosoms ; that they 
 might not outwardly mourn ; that they must go through the daily 
 routine of life without unburdening their souls by a public con- 
 fession. * * But this is a distinct subject, although it may well 
 make us pray, that God would lit our Church again to restore the 
 godly discipline, which she annually laments, (Commination ser- 
 vice,) and yet cannot restore. * * * Rightly are they blamed, 
 says St. Ambrose, who think that repentance is frequently to be 
 reenacted. * * * Will any one call that repentance, where men 
 seek for ivorldly dignity, drink wine to the fill, or use the enjoy- 
 ments of marriage ? The world 7nust be re?iou?iced. Sleep itself 
 
 y One would think that gluttony and drunkenness in the days of Tertullian 
 were the principal sins after Baptism, as these only are here alluded to, and have 
 appropriate punishments affixed to them 
 
APPENDIX. 131 
 
 of sin in almost all men, and at the same time teach the pe- 
 nitent even then to doubt of Diviae forgiveness; shall we not 
 be labouring to establish the principles of a system, which, as 
 the experience of ages testifies, enthrones Superstition above 
 Religion, tramples Reason in the dust, and creates, under a 
 mask of humility, the proudest domination, that ever en- 
 thralled the mind of man ? 
 
 ' must be less indulged than nature requires, must be interrupted 
 ' with groans, must be sequestrated for prayer. We must live so 
 * as to die to this life. Man must deny himself, and be wholly 
 ' changed.' Tracts for the Times— -Baptism, p. 58, 59. 60, 61, 68,69. 
 
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Works by Richard Laurence^ LL.D. Archbishop of Cashel, 
 late Regius Professor of Hebrew, and Canon ofCh. Ch. 
 
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 Critical Reflections upon some important IMisrepresentations con- 
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