^ PEINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Presented by Mr. Samuel Agnew of Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 AgJtczv Coll. on Baptism, No. 
 
 
THE 
 
 BAPTISMAL REGENERATION 
 
 CONTROVERSY, 
 
 FIVE LECTU RES 
 
 DELIVERED IN 1843, 
 
 •' 
 
 AT THE 
 
 XEVV SCHOOL ROOMS, QUEEN STREET, 
 
 WOOLWICH, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. CHARLES STOVEL. 
 
 Scconti "EUition. 
 
 LONDOI^ : 
 HOULSTON & STONEMAN, AND DYER & CO., 
 
 PATERXOSTER ROW ; 
 
 ROBERT GLADBING, WHITECHAPEL ROAD ; AND JAMES BLACK, 
 
 AND E. JONES, WOOLWICH. 
 
 1843. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Scarcely another subject can be found so deci- 
 dedly influential on religious society, in the present 
 age, as this of Baptismal Regeneration. By the 
 wide separation between Romanists and Protestants, 
 the latter, since the reformation, have appeared, to 
 themselves at least, free from this elementary dogma 
 of the former. The last few years have brought to 
 light much that has a tendency to diminish this 
 self-esteem ; and to urge, on all who love the truth, 
 a careful revision of prevalent systems by a calm, 
 and direct appeal to the New Testament. By this 
 means it is thought that all parties will best attain 
 the conformity to divine law, which each professes 
 to seek ; and so far only, as their conformity to 
 divine law is attained, will their unity and useful- 
 ness be realised. 
 
 By the publication of the Oxford Tracts, greater 
 results have been produced than were at first ex- 
 pected. However individuals might have felt the 
 force of their statements, the popularity of their 
 style, and their suitability for extensive circulation, 
 no one seemed to anticipate that, in ten years, one- 
 third part of the national clergy would have been 
 brought over to the views of their authors ; and 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 that the sentiments they contain would have gained 
 so firm a hold, as they now have, upon the public 
 mind. The efibrt was at first derided as a pro- 
 duction of weakness made frantic with alarm, but it 
 has found in society, elements on which the party 
 has increased its strength, until Papists are rejoic- 
 ing in the approximation which is now made to their 
 views ; the Bishop of London has hung out the lure 
 to re- union with Rome ; and, even in the Senate, 
 it is gravely whispered that Romanist Clergymen 
 must be admitted to share in the National Church 
 Endowments of Ireland. 
 
 One great cause of this rapid advance of Tract- 
 arianism and Popery, is explained by the celebrated 
 sermon of Dr. Pusey, delivered in Oxford Cathe- 
 dral " on the fourth Sunday after Easter," in the 
 present year. His suspension on account of its 
 sentiments is only a farce, for his turn to preach in 
 the Cathedral again could scarcely have arrived, in 
 a shorter time than that which is assigned for his 
 silence ; but his defence in the publication of his 
 sermon, is of great moment. It has brought out 
 the " opus operatum," as held in the Church of 
 England, so clearly, that this discourse might easily 
 be read, without any ofience, from the oratory by a 
 Roman Catholic Priest ; and, the quotations which 
 Dr. Pusey has collected from high authorities in 
 the English hierarchy, are so clear and so much to 
 the point, that no other document is required to 
 show that in leaving Rome, the English Establish- 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 ment has retained the infection of her moral pesti- 
 lence. It is this which has formed both the cause 
 and the nourishment of Tractarianism. It found 
 the mass of society prepared for its reception. 
 Beneath our Protestantism so much of popery has 
 been concealed, that nothing was required but a 
 decided advocacy to call it into operation. This it 
 has found in the Tractmen of Oxford ; and their 
 success is only what, if the circumstances had been 
 known, every one might have anticipated. 
 
 Another cause of their success will be found in 
 the treatment which the Tractmen have received. 
 In some cases, they have been charged with errors 
 which they do not hold ; in other cases, they have 
 been answered by ridicule ; in others, they have 
 been met by statements respecting the ancient 
 fathers which cannot be sustained ; and the Holy 
 Scriptures have been subjected to the grossest vio- 
 lence, that other parties might escape the far more 
 acurate criticisms of Oxford. It is easy to see that 
 such means, when employed in the defence of truth, 
 can only confer an augmented strength on the error 
 to be resisted. The champions of personal religion 
 have, in noisy vehemence, slashed at the iron buckler 
 of its adversary with swords of glass. The tink- 
 ling of their broken weapons has been misinterpreted 
 for the sound of victory, when, in truth, the object 
 of their solicitude has been more dangerously ex- 
 posed to the enemy by their rashness. From these 
 ineffectual resistances of their error, the Tractmen 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 have derived more advantage than could have been 
 otherwise obtained by their utmost activity. 
 
 Whether these mistakes have been avoided in 
 these Lectures, the candid reader will decide. They 
 were called for, as will be seen, by local activities in 
 favour of Baptismal Regeneration : which, by in- 
 cluding the first principle of the Tractarian heresy, 
 sustains the whole strength of that system. The 
 eflforts made in Woolwich dififer, in nothing material, 
 from those which are made in almost every diocese 
 throughout England. The parties who became in- 
 volved in this controversy there, have nothing in 
 their views to diminish the general interest and use- 
 fulness of the discussion. The principal object has 
 been, to determine whether the Sacramental benefits 
 ascribed, by Dr. Pusey and the Tractmen, to infant 
 baptism, and promiscuous baptism, can be supported 
 by the Holy Scriptures, to which they appeal : but 
 the appeal which they have made to scripture, in 
 favour of a supposed " spiritual gift in baptism," 
 brings into serious doubt the validity of their baptism 
 itself. One of these questions could not be settled 
 without the other ; and, since the whole system of 
 the Tractmen must stand or fall as these two 
 questions are affirmed or denied, both have been 
 considered in these exercises, I hope, with fairness, 
 but certainly with an earnest desire to ascertain, and 
 to diffuse the truth. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 FAQE. 
 
 PREFACE iii 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 ON THE PARTIES IMPLICATED — THE QUESTION IN DIS- 
 PUTE, AND ITS RELATION TO MATTERS OF THE 
 GREATEST IMPORTANCE ..... 1 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 ON THE RISE AND SPREAD OF BAPTISMAL REGENERA- 
 TION, AND ITS ATTENDANT ERRORS . . .41 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 ON THE SUPPORT WHICH BAPTISMAL REGENERATION, 
 AND ITS ATTENDANT ERRORS, ARE SUPPOSED TO 
 DERIVE FROM SACRED SCRIPTURE. ... 88 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 ON THE INJURY DONE TO TRUE RELIGION BY THE 
 ADVOCACY OF BAPTISMAL REGENERATION, AND 
 ITS ATTENDANT ERRORS . . . . .141 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 ON THE ADVANTAGES DERIVED TO PERSONAL RELIGION 
 FROM A STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE SCRIPTURAL 
 RULE OF BAPTIZING ACCREDITED BELIEVERS ONLY . 182 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 1. ON THE "opus OPERATUM" .... 217 
 
 2. ON THE OHARLINCH REVIVAL . . . 218 
 
 3. ON VALENTINE THE HERETIC . , .219 
 
 4. ON THE COINCIDENCE BETWEEN THE TRACTMEN 
 
 AND VALENTINE 219 
 
 O. ON THE EVIDENCE OF CYPRIAN . . . 221 
 
 6. ON THE ASSEMBLY OP DIVINES , . . 222 
 
 7. ON THE THEORY OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH AND 
 
 DR. CHALMERS . . .^ .^ . . 222 
 
 8. ON THE REGISTRATION ACT . . . 224 
 
 9. ON THE NEW MARRIAGE LAW, AND THE BISHOP 
 
 OF LONDON ...... 226 
 
 10. ON THE SABIAN HERESY, AND JOHN's BAPTISM 228 
 
 11. ON THE CASE OF THE INDEPENDENTS . . 228 
 
 12. ON THE CASE OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHMEN . 229 
 
 13. ON THE PRESENT DUTY OF BAPTIST CHURCHES 230 
 
LECTURE I. 
 
 ON THE PARTIES IMPLICATED THE QUESTION IN DISPUTE 
 
 AND ITS RELATION TO MATTERS OF THE GREATEST 
 
 IMPORTANCE. 
 
 Christian Friends, your attention lias recently been 
 directed to the subject of Baptismal Regeneration, 
 through the publishing of a pamphlet, by the Eeverend 
 Capel Molyneux, and of two others in reply, — one by 
 " Aquila," and the other by " Presbyter." — The first 
 tract, as you are aware, denies the doctrine in question, 
 as being contrary to the standards of the Church of 
 England, and the obvious dictates of Holy Scripture ; 
 while the other two tracts that I have named, appealing 
 to the same authorities, affirm and defend it. 
 
 These publications have already awakened great 
 interest in your town ; and both from their kindly spirit, 
 for the most part, and from their contents, it is hoped, 
 that they will, under the guidance of an all-wise and 
 special Providence, lead to no ordinary or unimportant 
 results. For, while the tracts contain in themselves 
 much to instruct, they also yield this advantage, that by 
 awakening the attention of an inquiring people, the 
 advance of their investigations towards the truth, if 
 not to it, cannot now be prevented. 
 
 Some friends resident in your own vicinity, and (let 
 me add) deeply concerned for your spiritual and ever- 
 
 B 
 
Z LECTURE I. 
 
 lasting welfare, felt that their duty, as baptized believers, 
 would by no means have been performed, at such a crisis, 
 if what little effort lay within their power had been with- 
 holden from this important investigation. They have, 
 therefore, requested me to undertake the exercises on 
 which we are now to enter. But though it appeared right 
 for me to concede what they desire, it must not be sup- 
 posed, that any unfair advantage is to be taken of incidents 
 which must be unpleasant to some, and may, perhaps, 
 lead to other things equally to be regretted. Rather 
 than this, I would draw a curtain round the scene of 
 conflict, and hide from general view whatever might 
 happen to be unseemly. For, though such discussions 
 are often absolutely needful in the cause of truth, (since 
 wherever differences of opinion come to exist, there 
 must be mutual inquiry and discussion, in order that we 
 may satisfactorily know which opinion is the right and 
 which the wrong ;) yet, indispensable as the discharge 
 of this Christian duty may be, its performance is almost 
 always accompanied with marks of human imperfec- 
 tion. Indeed it is scarcely possible in such under- 
 takings, so to watch and guard the fiery emotions of the 
 heart, as to keep them always under the strict control 
 which Christian charity dictates. I wish, therefore, to take 
 no advantage of any such circumstances whatever. I 
 would rather hide than expose them. But the parties 
 engaged in this discussion need not to be informed by 
 me, that they are not the only persons who are interested 
 in it, nor that theirs are not the only, or the principal 
 interests at stake. " Presbyter " in his preface states, and 
 most justly, that " all men are equally concerned in so 
 important a question as the doctrine of Regeneration.''^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 6 
 
 This 13 perfectly correct, and therefore tlie affirmatioB, 
 that it takes place in baptism, involves the interests of 
 mankind at large ; and I may add, that it implicates the 
 honour of God to his Church, together with the integrity 
 and character of the Church, as she appeals to the world. 
 It affects also the special and personal application of the 
 only remedy, whereby the multifarious evils which sin 
 hath inflicted vipon our species may be removed, so that 
 those who have suffered them may be healed and saved. 
 Our native country, moreover, (at whose name every 
 patriotic spirit ought to glow,) in this question demands 
 more than ordinary solicitude ; for this dogma hath 
 spread itself over the whole range of our dominions. 
 Subtle as the miasma of a pestilence, it has penetrated 
 the dense population of our large towns, and it settles 
 upon our rural districts like the mildew of nature. 
 Adapted to every kind of taste, and to every condition 
 of man, it presents itself with an almost incredible flexi- 
 bility, bending round, and entering into the constitution 
 and form of human beings, like the air we breathe. Now 
 it combines with the decorations of royalty, and then it 
 is seen in the humblest walks of life ; it is borne on every 
 breeze to our distant colonies, and it is urged by solemn 
 appeals to the word of God, and to the eternal judgment. 
 By such appeals its advocates urge it upon us. They 
 demand our faith in its benefits, and our obedience 
 to the rite is thus required ; we therefore are made 
 responsible parties, and are concerned in the discussion ; 
 first, indeed, for ourselves, that we may show with what 
 reason we admit or refuse it ; and, secondly, for post^- 
 rUy, which is likely to be exposed to its progressive 
 influence. For, if our views be right, this theory 
 
 B 2 
 
4 LECTURE I. 
 
 is undermining the whole fabric of gospel truth, and 
 shaking it from beneath as with the power of an earth- 
 quake, disjoining its parts, and crumbling the whole 
 structure into ruin. We believe that its advocates are, 
 with heavy strokes, laying their axe to the most vital root 
 of all personal godliness and piety. If it be affirmed that 
 we are wrong in these apprehensions, we have a right to 
 claim instruction and an answer to our objections ; for 
 the salvation of our souls is precious, and it must 
 cease for ever. But until it be proved that we are 
 Wrong, we are bound to speak in the cause of our God, 
 and the common Christianity. The brethren have, 
 therefore, ventured to request a prayerful attention to 
 the following exercises. It is intended to pass over the 
 whole field of inquiry, oiFering such suggestions as may 
 enable you to appreciate justly the appeal to sacred 
 scripture, which is now made in favour of the disputed 
 doctrine. To do this is of the utmost moment to us all,, 
 that each one may observe the dictates of an enlightened 
 conscience, determine thus for himself the path of duty, 
 and walk therein with cheerful simplicity and con- 
 fiding obedience. 
 
 These views accord with my own, and therefore I did 
 not feel at liberty to decline this invitation of my bre- 
 thren resident in your town. Yet, let it be observed, 
 that the duty thus undertaken, by no means compels 
 me to interfere with the private matters and internal 
 affairs of the hierarchy in which this discussion has origi- 
 nated. Its officers and members must settle, among 
 themselves, whatever they may find that calls for disci- 
 pline and reproof within its own pale. It is only the 
 question respecting the grace or benefit, supposed to be 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 connected with the baptism of infants and promiscuous 
 baptism, with which I have to do. To this, therefore, in 
 these exercises, your attention will be as much as possible 
 confined. Reference must, of course, be made to the works 
 which I have named, and in them some things may be 
 found not altogether to be approved : but I wish to 
 avoid everything like harsh or undue censure, and I 
 shall shun studiously every interference not absolutely 
 necessary to my purpose, or the protection of my cha- 
 racter, with the discipline of a community from which I 
 have most conscientiously retired, and from which I 
 must, with my present views, be for ever separate 1. 
 
 Observing these rules of propriety, therefore, I may be 
 allowed to clear myself from any supposed concurrence 
 in one matter, which has been suggested in the pub- 
 lications of " Presbyter " and " Aquila," and which 
 they have mutually backed and confirmed by a quo- 
 tation from the sermons of the Rev. Mr. Melvill, of 
 Camberwell. I refer now to the heavy charge of j^er- 
 jury, which is thus brought against your townsman and 
 minister in Christ. If there be any good ground what- 
 ever, on which it can be rested and sustained, " a Church" 
 professedly so perfect in its constitution, so apostolical 
 in its origin, and so complete in its discipline, ought to 
 have some other means of redress, more likely to reform 
 the culprit, and less injurious to the public morals, than 
 that which has been adopted in the case. To issue such 
 an allegation from the press, under fictitious names, and 
 before the supposed offender has been subjected to any 
 Church discipline whatever ; while he is still officiating 
 in the sanctuary, and administering the word of eternal 
 life, in full authority in " the Church" of which they are 
 
6 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 iiiemselyes members, ouglit, in my estimation, never to 
 be allowed, I do sincerely hope that these ' authors 
 will, for the credit of our common faith, withdraw that 
 charge, or else withdraw themselves from the fellowship 
 of " a Church," which, on their showing, tolerates in its 
 ministers so base a crime. 
 
 To esteem that gentleman highly, at least for the 
 feelings of his heart, if not for the accuracy of his 
 reasonings, it is necessary only to read the tract on this 
 subject, issued by the Eev. Mr. Molyneux ; and I 
 cannot think it right that he should be charged with 
 inowingly teaching one doctrine, if he has sworn to 
 uphold another, which is exactly its opposite. Men differ 
 respecting the true import of the Canons and Articles, 
 framed by the Church of England, just as they do in 
 their views respecting the import of sacred Scripture ; 
 and this fact will not only prove that such means are 
 absolutely ineffectual for producing uniformity of sen- 
 timent in any body of men, but will lead to other con- 
 clusions not necessary for me to point out. Why then 
 that heavy implication of personal character, which is 
 advanced by " Aquila," in his 9th page 1 The words to 
 which I refer, are these : — 
 
 " Whether the writer experienced the grace of conversion 
 " after he had solemnly declared himself ' to be inwardly 
 " moved by. the Holy Ghost to take upon himself the sacred 
 " office of the Priesthood, and after he liad solemnly sworn 
 " that he believed and would maintain the articles and doc- 
 " trines of the Church, he alone can know ; but this at least 
 " his book makes known, that he has not for any length of 
 " time, and certainly for ' no series of years ' been aceas- 
 " tomed to move in the light of those glorious scriptural 
 " truths which the Church upholds." 
 
 The caution apparent in this language, I greatly dis- 
 
SUBJECT .DIVIDED. / 
 
 like : it is by no means consistent with the occasion. 
 The manner of conveying the insinuation, I disapprove 
 still more highly. The criminality of the charge being 
 so gross ought to command seriousness. Such a crime 
 should never be hinted at, but with solemnity and 
 decorum. If there be any just reason why an Ecclesias- 
 tical Court should be maintained in every diocese of this 
 country ; I submit that such offences against propriety 
 may form appropriate matter for their deliberation. 
 Within the privacy of a Court, and under the solemnities 
 of law, such a charge might be justly considered ; but to 
 issue it from the press, in such language, and under a 
 fictitious name, I think to be absolutely wrong, and 
 altogether undignified. In such an act, I will not parti- 
 cipate. I may in many particulars disapprove of that 
 author's sentiments : but I will unite with no one to do 
 him injustice, much less in advancing such an implica- 
 tion of his morals. 
 
 Guarding myself, therefore, against all supposition of 
 approving either this or some other passages in the 
 same tract, which are advanced in a way that, in my 
 opinion, savours more of temper than of, wit ; I shall 
 endeavour, in this discourse, to explain three particulars : 
 First, the advantages afforded hi/ your 2i'>'esent i)Osition for 
 urging this inquiry to some 2'>ractical result. I do this, 
 presuming that there is not one amongst you, brethren, 
 if I may venture to address you by that endearing term, 
 who would dare to make these discussions mere pastime 
 and entertainment, or turn the occasion into one for ex- 
 hibiting strength and dexterity. But, hoping that you 
 all feel the solemn responsibility under which you are 
 laid, first to hioiv, and then to do the will of God, I shall 
 
8 LECTURE I. 
 
 unfold the mercy which is thus leading you to the 
 accomplishment of these objects. 
 
 Secondly, I shall state my own vieiv of tlie matter 
 under examination, and I request your attention to this 
 the more earnestly, because on this topic, more, perhaps, 
 than on any other that comes within the range of 
 our knowledge, obscurity of terms, misconceptions, and 
 unjust imputations on either side, have tended so to 
 darken the subject of inquiry, as to render a decision 
 of the question absolutely impossible. Before ever you 
 can decide upon the right or wrong of the case, you 
 must understand precisely the point to be determined ; 
 and then you may consider the weight of the authority 
 by which it is supported or condemned. 
 
 In the third place, I shall consider the relation in 
 which this theory stands to other qicestions of the greatest 
 moment. Hence we shall see the importance of the whole 
 subject. The necessity for this is found in the conduct 
 of those who advocate the doctrine in dispute. For by 
 many, as soon as this question and the practice they 
 ■\vish to uphold are brought under discussion, the whole 
 matter is rejected, as if unworthy of being attended to. 
 By a very general consent it is then discarded as indif- 
 ferent, and designated a " non essential f although the 
 practice is retained with the greatest firmness, and urged 
 Avith extreme pertinacity ; and although the sacrament. 
 Avhose nature and use are to be explained, is by all acknow- 
 ledged to be of Divine appointment. There is no consist- 
 ency or propriety in this. Such a matter ought never to 
 be regarded as unworthy of attention. The doctrine is not 
 trivial, nor is it at present clearly understood : but you 
 have advantages now, for prosecuting your inquiries to a 
 
PRESENT ADVANTAGES. 9 
 
 satisfactory termination ; and, tliat our responsibilities 
 may be duly felt, these will occupy your first regard. 
 
 Amongst these advantages, I may name, first, the spirit 
 of inquiry which has already been awaJcened in your own 
 minds. It is not confined to you, but extends through 
 the whole nation. I regard this altogether as a pro- 
 vidential interference of Almighty God. By it attention 
 is called to a momentous theme, and every man is bound 
 to examine it for himself, " to prove all things " brought 
 before him, and " to hold fast that which is good," — let 
 me add, to hold fast only that which is good. Now is 
 the time, brethren, if ever ; now especially is the time 
 for you, " as dear children to desire the sincere milk of 
 " the word, that you may grow thereby." Such as are 
 able to use the English version of sacred Scripture only, 
 will, of course, lie under some disadvantage, and will 
 therefore require the greater modesty and prayerful 
 caution. Still you need not be discouraged. That ver- 
 sion was made by parties, who advocated both Infant 
 Baptism and the supposed grace of that ceremony; and, 
 by borrowing some Greek words and mistranslating 
 others, they have facilitated the defence of those dogmas. 
 Yet the truth of God is therein stated with such wisdom, 
 that it cannot be concealed from those who seek it in 
 sincerity, and are by Him enabled to rise above the 
 prejudices of party and party feeling. At such a 
 time as this too, when many minds are directed to the 
 same subject, each one will see something which others 
 are in danger of passing by. Hence, you may find in all 
 the tracts that have been issued, something that will 
 assist. " Aquila " will not be read in vain by any 
 careful inquirer. " Presbyter" affords many important 
 
 B 3 
 
10 LECTURE I. 
 
 helps, and tlie Rev. Capel Molyneux's publication, 
 though it clearly contradicts itself, yet, nererthe- 
 less, from its spirit and contents, deserves both high 
 respect and deep attention The help which they 
 afford, therefore, in this great inquiry should not be 
 lost. Investigation ought to be, with prayerful reliance 
 on the Holy Spirit, pushed to a result ; and if you will 
 thus act in the case, sooner, perhaps, than you think, 
 the light of heaven will shine upon your path, and cause 
 you to rest in the law of your Redeemer. For, over 
 every sincere inquirer, the teaching Spirit hovers with 
 kindest sympathy; and to every one who desireth to 
 Tcnow the will of God, it is said, " Ask, and ye shall 
 " receive ; seek, and ye shall find." Now, therefore, that 
 the icy surface of fixed custom has been broken through, 
 a mighty advantage has been gained. Seize that advan- 
 tage, and your way is onward to a living peace. 
 
 A second advantage is given to you in the common 
 ap'peal made hy all 'parties, to the supreme authority of 
 Holy Hcripture. On this point, " Aquila" is the least 
 clear and determinate. His notion of " the Church" and 
 her authority, involves a fearful approximation to the 
 implicit faith of Popery, Yet he does, and he must, in 
 common with all Catholics, appeal to Scripture as the 
 authority on which his "Church" acts. The other writers 
 do this more distinctly, and hereby the decision of the 
 matter in dispute is greatly facilitated. For if any doc- 
 trine, pleaded for, be found contrary to Holy Scripture, 
 and some still plead for its observance, because the 
 Church enjoins it; the only question left is, shall we obey 
 God or man % On this point, therefore, the whole ques- 
 tion hangs. If any one, whether Papist or Protestant,, 
 
PRESENT ADVAXTAGES. 11 
 
 turn from the Divine Records, and appeal for support to 
 tradition, to Jewish customs, to the diverse immersions 
 and ceremonies which have been all done away; the ob- 
 vious and conclusive answer is, These are not our law. 
 The one great question which engrosses our solicitude is, 
 "What saith the Scripture?" the inspired Scripture. 
 To this you have appealed, and to this you must be 
 brought. "To the law and to the testimony: if they 
 " speak not according to this word, it is because there is 
 " no light in them." (Isa. viii. 20.) 
 
 A third advantage wiU be found, in the enlightened 
 manner in which the ai^peal to Scri2)ture has heen tnade. 
 I am sorry, however, to make an exception here in the 
 case of " Aquila." If he be an eagle, as his name im- 
 ports, he does not seem to me to have built his nest upon 
 that rock. An appeal is made by him to Scripture, it 
 is true; and he must be judged at that tribunal. But he 
 is less at home in making this appeal to Scripture, than 
 when he would display his own dexterity and sarcasm. 
 In these things he must be pitied and forgiven. But the 
 other authors are far more dignified. The appeal to 
 Scripture is made, by Mr. Molyneux, with a boldness and 
 simplicity, not often observed in treating on this subject ; 
 and " Presbyter" has shown an approximation to accu- 
 racy, in his appeal to the Greek, which is still less fre- 
 quently observed in this discussion. His distinction be- 
 tween the two Greek particles etc into, and tv in, as they 
 are used in sentences which relate to Baptism, will lead 
 a great way towards the settlement of this dispute. Or- 
 dinarily wc have an exti'eme difficulty to be surmounted 
 here. Men turn to the subject of Baptism, as to a non- 
 essential; and then they leap with precipitancy from sup- 
 
12 LECTURE I. 
 
 positions to conclusions, as though they could not bear 
 to feel the importance of arriving with accuracy at the 
 truth. The correction of this error here is of infinite 
 importance, and cannot fail to produce a corresponding 
 Benefit, 
 
 You have also a fourth advantage in the open and 
 unqualified declaration, now made, of the subject in 
 dispute. This is of vast importance. The publication 
 of the Oxford Tracts is by no means to be regretted. 
 The same may be said of those produced in Woolwich, 
 which are but echoes of the Oxford divines. I believe 
 them to be just expositions of the doctrine of the 
 English Church. It is best for everything, holden and 
 urged as an object of faith, to be clearly and openly 
 stated ; and on this matter, I have great pleasure in 
 giving an unqualified praise to " Aquila." His words, 
 in page 6 of his tract, are : 
 
 " My object in this respect will be accomplished, if I shall 
 " enable any wavering Churchman to give a reason of the 
 " hope that is in him, as resting upon a Baptismal Founda- 
 " tion, which cannot be moved ; if I shall succeed in vindi- 
 " eating our Lord from the implied charge of having im- 
 " posed upon us a yoke of carnal ordinances ; and if I shall 
 " convince any Christian parent that the expectation of a 
 " spiritual gift in Baptism, to those whom the Lord Jesus 
 " suffers to come unto Him, with no pre-requisite ' but 
 " original slq and helpless innocency,' is not ' mere delusion 
 " and utter folly,' but is founded upon that fiat, dictum, 
 " or WORD OF God (PHMA 9E0Y), which can never pass 
 " away." 
 
 I may just observe, that this accumulation of learning, 
 exhibited in the use of two Latin and two Greek words, 
 signifies nothing more than that " Aquila" supposes 
 this doctrine to rest upon the will of God, declared in 
 
PRESENT 'ADVANTAGES. 13 
 
 his written word, the Holy Scriptures. Of this opinion, 
 we shall consider the accuracy in a subsequent discourse. 
 But, there is one sentence which I cannot understand. 
 Speaking of infants, he says, " whom the Lord Jesus 
 " suffers to come unto him, with no pre~requisite hut 
 " original sin and heljiless innocence^ How he makes 
 helpless innocence and original sin to unite in the same 
 persons, I am unable to explain. He will, perhaps, do 
 this himself at some other time. But it is quite clear, 
 that he, in plain words, avows the doctrine in dispute, 
 while many others who hold it, or the same principle at 
 least, will shudder at the terms by which it is properly 
 expressed. 
 
 " Presbyter" is equally plain. He states the doctrine 
 of his " Church" at page 123, in the following terms : 
 
 " Her doctrine is this, that all men are born in sin, or are 
 " sinful, and this sinfulness of nature remains not an inactive 
 " principle, but in every man breaks out into the commis- 
 " sion of actual sin ; that Christ, the Son of God, having 
 " by his death made an atonement for the sins of the whole 
 " world, ordained a Sacrament bj^ which the benefits of his 
 " death might, for the first time, be brought home to indi- 
 " viduals ; that these benefits, thereby conveyed, consist of 
 " remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost ; by which 
 " last blessing the baptized party becomes a child of God, 
 *' and is thereby entitled to an inheritance in the future and 
 " eternal kingdom of Heaven ; that this sonship binds the 
 " l^arty by the most solemn and sacred ties to a constant 
 " compliance with all the holy requirements of the Gospel ; 
 " and that the attainment of eternal life will depend upon 
 "the Christian conforming himself thereto ; and, moreover, 
 " that one of the blessings of this Regeneration is, that the 
 " Holy Ghost takes up his abode in the baptized party, and 
 " is there ever and on all occasions, when sincerely and 
 *' faithfully applied to, ready to exert His influence and to 
 " supply powers for the sanctification of the believer." 
 
14 LECTUKE I. 
 
 Here again everything is explicit — an appeal is made 
 to Scripture to authorize and enforce our belief, and to 
 justify our "expectation of a spiritual gift in baptism," 
 " by which the benefits of His (Christ's) death" are " for 
 " the first time brought home to individuals." This 
 benefit of His death is also said to be " His atonement 
 " for the sins of the whole world ; " connected with, and 
 resulting from this, is " the gift of the Holy Sjnrit, by 
 " which last blessing the baptized party becomes a child of 
 " God,a,ndis thereby entitled to an inheritance inthefuture 
 " and eternal hingdom of Heaven." The doctrine of Bap- 
 tismal Regeneration therefore is stated quite clearly, in the 
 words of its own advocates ; and it is due to them to say, 
 that this is the doctrine advocated by the Tractarians of 
 Oxford. It is also, in my view, the clear and avowed 
 doctrine of the Church of England. Nothing can be 
 more demonstrable than the truth of this assertion. 
 This doctrine is not only taught in the Articles, the 
 Catechism, and the Ritual, but it is assumed in every 
 form of prayer used in her worship. It is the means by 
 which she labours to bring within her pale the popula- 
 tion of the empire, and gives to her ministers of every 
 grade, their official importance. I hail, therefore, as a 
 providential benefit, as an advantage to the lovers of 
 truth, that the doctrine on which the whole policy of the 
 Church of England rests, should be thus openly avowed 
 and discussed by her own ministers. 
 
 With all these advantages, therefore, and by the deci- 
 sion of a minister of your own town, who is also a 
 minister in " the Church," which is built upon this very 
 dogma, you are now called upon solemnly to investigate 
 this Baptismal Regeneration. Mr. Molyneux has 
 
MR. MOLYNEUX'S THEORY. 15 
 
 solemnly repudiated it, as, in his opinion, being absolutely 
 contradictory to the standards of the Churcli of England. 
 In tbis part of bis argument, I believe that be bas 
 entirely failed. Here " Aquila" and " Presbyter" bave 
 tbe advantage over bim completely ; and tbeir argument 
 for the Church stands unanswerable, in tbe face of all 
 his allegations, and his whole theory of explanation. 
 But Mr. Molyneux bas also affirmed, as a farther reason 
 for rejecting it, that this doctrine is contrary to Holy 
 Scripture, and fatal to the spiritual interests of mankind. 
 I join bim in this, hand and heart. To me, he seems 
 perfectly right in declaring that it is opposed to the word 
 of Almighty God, to tbe hope of salvation, and to all the 
 interests of personal piety ; though be is not right in 
 saying that it is opposed to tbe Articles and Ritual of tbe 
 Church of England. In stating bis objection to this 
 dogma, however, Mr. Molyneux originates a question 
 altogether new. As far as my knowledge extends, it bas 
 not been advanced by any other, at least not in the same 
 form and expression. After contending that the Church 
 baptizes none hut believers, he affirms, in bis 39th page, 
 first, that she, in the case of infants, takes " tbe proxy 
 for tbe principal;" that is to say, tbe promise of the 
 sponsors is taken for the faith of tbe child, And, farther, 
 whereas the Church affirms that all baptized children 
 have been regenerate, and are children of God, he ass-igns 
 as a reason that, — 
 
 " Since prayer is made previous to the administration of 
 " the rite, that the child may be born again of tlie Holy 
 '*' Spirit, it is assumed," mark tbe word, " it is assumed 
 " that the prayer is answered, and the blessing given ; it is 
 "assumed that God's Holy Spirit, (if not vouhsafcd before) 
 " is vouchsafed then — not in consequence of the washing of 
 
16 LECTUIlE I. 
 
 " water, but, in answer to the supplications of the congrega- 
 " tion offered in faith ;-— a charitable hope is entertained 
 " that such is the case, and as soon as baptism — is adminis- 
 " tered, we thank God accordingly. We then hail the 
 " child as regenerate." — Page 44. 
 
 My objection to this theory of Mr. Molyneux is very 
 serious indeed, and partly because, while objecting to one 
 unscriptural doctrine, before he can escape it, he assigns 
 to his Church several, equally unscriptural, and incon- 
 sistent. For, first, it has never yet been shown from 
 Scripture, that any Church has a right to accept " a 
 " proxy for the principal." To do this is to set aside 
 the law of Christ. The very passages to which he him- 
 self refers might teach him better. Secondly, there is 
 nothing in Scripture to prove that the prayers of " tlie 
 Church," in a baptismal service, shall be followed by the 
 gift of faith to any person whatever. " Faith," the 
 Apostle says, " cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
 " word of God." Thirdly, it is quite unscriptural to 
 affirm as a fact, what is only taken on assumption. The 
 Church is guilty (I know no other word exactly adapted 
 to express the sense), the Church is guilty (I say) of 
 lying, every time she says that a child is regenerate, when 
 she knows that the fact is uncertcdn, and, as Mr. Moly- 
 neux affirms, a mere assumption. We have no right to 
 issue as facts, what are only assumptions, and destitute of 
 proof. But, farther, if it be assumed that the child has 
 been regenerated in answer to prayer, why, then, does the 
 Church take " a proxy for the principal V She does not 
 take " a proxy for the principal" in that case, but, like 
 a good housewife, she takes both proxy and principal. 
 If the principal be obtained, she should not ask for a 
 proxy as well. But, lastly, this scheme falls under the 
 
ME. MOLYNEUX'S THEORY. 17 
 
 full weight of his own censure. It sends the parent 
 away from the font, with all the instincts of nature 
 awakened, cherishing a false idea of regeneration in her 
 offspring. To her, it is of no importance, whether the 
 water or the prayer effected the change. She, in her 
 simplicity, will think of the whole ceremony as one. All 
 her concern is to know that her child has been benefited, 
 and by this easy process made an heir of salvation. If 
 this be admitted, she will not contend for words. The 
 idea is what she wants, and this, when granted to 
 her, and granted by a minister of God, in the name of 
 God, will form a most pernicious poison, mingling with, 
 and corrupting the very tenderest sympathies of her 
 moral existence. 
 
 Such, then, is the condition in which the circumstances 
 around you have placed the matter in hand. But in 
 order to make our pathway quite plain, we must attend 
 a little more carefully to the real subject in dis- 
 pute. Baptismal Regeneration is only one form in 
 which the error is stated. Where these words are 
 rejected " with abhorrence^'' benefits are ascribed to 
 Infant Baptism, which are quite unscriptural, and the 
 supposition of which, have almost the same moral 
 effect upon mankind. With some, it is " a seal of the 
 covenant." With others, it is an " introduction into 
 the visible Church." Some contend that " grace" is 
 always communicated in Baptism ; others, that it is not 
 communicated invariably, but only sometimes. Some 
 will have it to be a "regeneration;" others will not admit 
 that term. All, however, urge the observance of this 
 rite as a duty on parents, and plead that the infant bap- 
 tized has a claim to the privilege. Some, you perceive, 
 
18 LECTURE I. 
 
 plead that tlie benefit comes througli tlae ceremony, taken 
 as a whole. Others, that it comes through the prayer, 
 which precedes the application of the water. And if I 
 understand some of the authors rightly, they conclude 
 that the blessing comes through the pronunciation of the 
 words, " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
 " of the Holy Grhost." But though the variation of view 
 may be almost infinite, yet this idea is retained by 
 all, namely, they all teach that a child is benefited by its 
 Baptism, in some way, and to some extent. They all jus- 
 tify what " Aquila" calls " the expectation of a spiritual 
 " gift in Baptism.'" They all regard it as an official and 
 vicarious medium of communicating grace to man. This 
 is the common idea, — the idea that we have to discuss. 
 
 But still in entering upon this discussion, you will be 
 pleased to distinguish very carefully between the moral 
 effect which this Divine institution may have, when re- 
 ceived by a believer as his own act, from the efiect which 
 is here assigned to it as a vicarious act, performed not 
 by ihe wish or will of the infant, but by some one else 
 on his behalf In the former case, like all other acts of 
 obedience, it may strengthen the habit of obeying. It 
 may solemnize his engagement, as in the case of matri- 
 mony ; and it may become a witness for God to all be- 
 holders. It may become a means by which the indivi- 
 dual shall be recognized, as standing in some special 
 relationship : in this case, it would be the open and 
 deliberate act of one who was giving up the world for 
 Grod. I will not say that such an act must, of necessity, 
 be without benefit to him who performs it, or to those 
 who observe it. But this is not the kind of benefit 
 under our consideration. The notion pleaded for, and 
 
THE QUESTION IN DISPUTE, 19 
 
 implied in this dispute is, that of an actual communication 
 to the child of some essence or spiritual substance, which 
 they call '■'■grace." It may be refined and subtle, like the 
 galvanic fluid in physical nature ; but, whether it be a 
 mental or a physical element, the Church does not say- 
 This, however, is said to be of no importance, for we are 
 not to understand the things of God ; and, whether it be 
 matter or mind, or whether it be some essence, so refined 
 and subtle in itself, as to defy our detection and defini- 
 tion, nay, although it can neither be seen in its sub- 
 stance nor yet in its effects, yet the advocates of this 
 doctrine say, it is something that comes throitgh 
 ordained hands, by this ceremony, to infants who are 
 baptized ; and who are thus, in one vocabulary sealed, 
 in another vocabulary, regenerated. 
 
 As far as I can learn, none of the parties suppose this 
 benefit to be conferred without Grod, but hy God through 
 this medium. It is remarkable, how each in turn suffers 
 froni the rest a similar injustice, in treating of this par- 
 ticular. The Dissenting Paedo-Baptists, for instance, 
 assail the tractarians on this ground with absolute 
 vehemence, charging them with presumption in assum- 
 ing power to dispense pardon and justification in bap- 
 tism without God ; while the tractarians are constantly 
 pleading, in the strongest and clearest terms, that God 
 has appointed them in their Church to be the ofiicial 
 agents, through whom these blessings are to be commu- 
 nicated in Baptism ; which is the very thing affirmed 
 by the Westminster Assembly of themselves and their 
 successors. Nothing, therefore, can be more unjust. 
 
 This injustice, however, is again repeated by the 
 Tractarians, and writers of highest authority in the 
 
20 LECTUEE I. 
 
 ^English Hierarcliy, in the charges which they prefer 
 against the "Church of Rome." They say that that Church 
 assumes to itself the exclusive right and power of con- 
 ferring Sacramental Grrace by the acts which it performs, 
 independently of the Holy Spirit ! Whereas " the Roman 
 Catholic Church" has most expressly affirmed, that these 
 sacraments are the appointed means in which Grod con- 
 veys this blessing by his ministers : which is the very 
 thing affirmed by the tractarians of themselves. 
 
 I leave you to judge whether this mutual injustice in 
 parties so near akin, is not most unnaturally flagitious. 
 In each instance, however, they fall into this mistake, 
 through a partial statement of each other's views, an 
 error common to them all, and to which every disputant 
 is constantly liable. I shall illustrate this by exhibiting 
 the case of Rome. The causes of justification were by 
 that Church, in the Council of Trent, stated to be five ; 
 i\ie final cause, the efficient cause, the meritorious cause, 
 the instrumental cause, and the formal cause. They 
 were led into this acuteness of distinction, by the disci- 
 pline of their schools and the refinements which attended 
 the discussions of their day. The^wcfi cause, they say, is 
 " the glory of God and of Christ, and life eternal." It 
 is for these ends that men are justified. Secondly, " the 
 " efficient cause is, " the merciful God who freely cleanses 
 " and sa7ictifies, sealing and anointing with his Holy 
 " Sjoirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inherit- 
 " ance." Thirdly, the meritorious cause, " His well 
 " beloved and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, 
 " who merited justification for us by His holy passion 
 " on the cross, and made satisfaction for us to God the 
 " Father.''^ The instrumeyital cause is " the Sacrament of 
 
TIIE QUESTION IN DISPUTE. 21 
 
 " Bajytism, which is the sacrament of faith, ivithout which 
 " no one can ever obtain justification." FiftUy, " the sole 
 "formal cause is, the righteousness of God, — with which, 
 " being endued by Him, we are renewed in the spirit of our 
 " mind, — receiving righteousness in ourselves, — which the 
 " Holy S'2nrit bestows upon each as He wills, and accord- 
 " ing to our respective dispositions and co-operations" 
 
 I have quoted this from the Decree on Justification, 
 as issued by authority from Rome, after the Council of 
 Trent. This may be found, with numerous other docu- 
 ments to the point, in Cramp's Text Booh of Popery. I 
 by no means plead for the accuracy of this scheme, 
 when compared with sacred Scripture. That is not the 
 matter of discussion. I only quote it to show that the 
 imputation is unjust here, as in the case of the Tract- 
 arians. If the instrumental cause of justification were 
 stated alone, as the sole cause of justification, it might be 
 proper to charge the Roman Catholics with confer- 
 ring the grace of justification without God, and inde- 
 pendently of the Holy Spirit. But there are four other 
 causes associated with it, and each of these is to be con- 
 sidered with the rest. 
 
 The error of Rome is exactly the same with that of 
 the Tractarians, with that of " Presbyter," with that of 
 " Aquila," with that of the Church to which they 
 belong, and nearly the same with that of Mr. Molyneux, 
 their opponent. It is coincident with that of the 
 Assembly of Divines, and multitudes of Dissenting Pajdo- 
 Baptists. For instance, when the Rev. George Clayton 
 pronounced that celebrated sentence, published in your 
 hand-bills — " Such full assurance of hope have I in the 
 " efficacy of this sacrament, that I doubt not but it will 
 
22 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 " appear, when the secrets of divine operation shall be 
 " disclosed, that the seeds and principles of the better 
 " life, were in some instances, infused into the mind at the 
 " very hour when baptismal water was externally applied" 
 — ^the words, which I have rendered emphatic, show that 
 he did not ascribe " the efficacy''' of baptism to the cere- 
 mony, without God, but rather to the Spirit which, as he 
 thought, descends to operate upon the child in or through 
 that ceremony as an instrument. Thus they all make 
 baptism an ordained means of communicating this certain 
 essence, which they call " grace." They all affirm that 
 Grod is its Author and Giver, that the minister is His 
 agent, and that baptism is His instrument, in giving it ; 
 and that the infant baptized is its recipient. Though 
 each party claims for himself his own particular grade 
 of infallibility, they differ in the choice of words : but 
 all agree in adhering to the objectionable sentiment. 
 
 The following sentence from "Aquila," is rather 
 curious. He is speaking of the Rev. Capel Moly- 
 neux. " If misconception and ignorance led the writer^' 
 (Mr. Molyneux) " to confound his opponents views of 
 " Baptismal Regeneration with the opus operatum of 
 '■^Popery, candour and fair dealing shoidd have induced 
 "him to make some effort, to put forth a clear statement of 
 " his own." Now this surly expression, " the opus ope- 
 " ratum of Popery," will affi)rd you an instance of that 
 indignant and guilty anger, with which these several 
 associates in error resent their detection in bad society. 
 They call the Church of Rome by foul names, such as 
 " Babylon," and " the Great Whore," and so forth ; and 
 by possibility she may deserve these appellations. But 
 why then should they drink of the cup which has been 
 
THE QUESTION IN DISPUTE. 23 
 
 filled with her abominations, and loiter about the thres- 
 hold of her gates ? The man, who is found in company 
 with a harlot, will never redeem his character by fierce- 
 ness of temper, rough langaiage, and injustice, ostenta- 
 tiously exercised towards the partner of his sin. In this 
 Latin expression, there is no magic to create abhorrence, 
 especially when the very doctrine which it expresses is 
 retained and taught by him, who shudders at its utter- 
 ance — and, indeed, why should a man shudder at the 
 utterance of a word 1 When an individual pronounces 
 the word " murder," my hand does not shake, because 
 my fingers are not dipped in blood. The case is simply 
 this. In the council of Trent, the fathers resolved that 
 baptism was a means by which God communicated grace, 
 irrespective of faith in him that received the sacrament, 
 to children, for instance, who could not believe. This was 
 their first step. " Aquila," and " Presbyter," and the 
 Church of England, and all the parties of whom I speak, 
 plead for the same position. They all say, that children 
 are rightly baptized, and that they are benefited by the 
 baptism. Having determined this, they had then to 
 determine whether this " grace" or benefit depended on 
 the priest who was appointed to administer the sacrament, 
 or on the sacrament itself. This was the question then 
 in dispute, not whether it came from God or not j (that 
 was already determined ;) but whether the grace depended 
 on the priest who administered it, or on the sacrament 
 itself. The former, they called " grace ex 02)ere operantis," 
 that is, grace caused by him who administered the 
 sacrament, or at least depending upon him : the latter, 
 they called " grace ex opere operato" that is, grace 
 caused by the sacrament administered, and not dependent 
 
S4 LECTTJHE 1. 
 
 on the character of the priest. The object of this de- 
 cision was, to deliver men's minds from the anxiety which 
 they must feel, respecting a hope which would be sup- 
 posed to rest upon the virtue or spirituality of a priest at 
 the time when he administered the sacrament. They in- 
 tended to remove this doubt ; and they made this decree, 
 in order that men might conclude that, even if the priest 
 were drunk when he administered the baptism, it would, 
 on this principle, be effective notwithstanding, and be 
 equally beneficial, not because the sacrament operated 
 without God, but (as it is affirmed distinctly,) because 
 God, who oiDerated in the sacrament, could not be ob- 
 structed in His work by the imperfection of the agent 
 He employed. This was the reasoning at Trent ; and 
 this very sentiment is formally stated by Dr. Williams, 
 the Independent, in his Treatise on Baptism. The same 
 sentiment is equally retained, as you may see from the 
 quotations of " Aquila" and " Presbyter," in the Church 
 of England at this present time. The efficiency of her 
 ceremonies, as we are taught to believe, by no means 
 depends upon the character of her ministers ; be they 
 what they may, the power of her rites remains the same. 
 She declares distinctly, that her own sacraments are as 
 effectual when administered by bad men, if tJiey 
 have been duly ordained, as when they are admin- 
 istered by men the most exalted in personal piety. 
 She teaches this, not with reference to the act of 
 baptism only, but extends it also to the service of 
 ordination ; and without it the fancied apostolical 
 succession in the Church could never be main- 
 tained, even with the shadow of a probability. This, 
 therefore^, is the opus oi')eroiimi of the Church of 
 
THE QUESTION IN DISPUTE. 2o 
 
 England, which is the same with that of the Church of 
 Rome. Whether it be right or wrong, I will not stop 
 to examine. I merely aflBrm now, that the doctrine is 
 in both Churches precisely the same. In every case too, 
 in which any such benefit is ascribed to the baptism of 
 an infant, the very same principle is involved. If the 
 baptism confer upon an infant any benefit whatever, it 
 is and mttst be an opics operatum, and nothing else. It 
 cannot depend on the faith of the infant, for it has 
 none : this is conceded by most, if not by all the par- 
 ties concerned. Nor does it depend on the character of 
 the ordained minister. But in the language of the twenty- 
 seventh article, as quoted by " Aquila" himself, " Baptism 
 " is not only a sign of profession, but it is also a sign of 
 " regeneration, or new birth, whereby, as by an instru- 
 " ment they that receive baptism rightly are grafted, into 
 " the Church."' You recollect that when I read the causes 
 of justification as laid down by the Council of Trent, bap- 
 tism was called the i7ist7^umental cause. This " regenera- 
 tion, or new birth," therefore, is a grace communicated 
 by the instrumentality of the sacrament itself, inde- 
 pendently either of faith in the person baptized, or of 
 piety in the minister who baptized him ; and this is 
 precisely the sentiment inculcated in Rome. 
 
 I wish this to be most perfectly understood, because 
 it is on this exercise of unfairness towards each other 
 that each party rests his defence. If your time would 
 permit, many most curious facts might be adduced to 
 illustrate this statement. I could show you the Church 
 of Rome ranging her artillery of argument against all 
 kinds of idolatry and heathenism, and pleading for the 
 * See Note, A. 
 
 c 
 
26 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 spirituality and elevation of her nature and fellowsliip, 
 because slie despises their empty rites j and yet by 
 degrees she has transferred almost the whole of those 
 heathen abominations to her own use and worship. 
 Again, the Tractarians defend themselves by flinging 
 this phrase, like salt, into the eyes of every inquirer ; and 
 then, in the excitement, they steal away from the point 
 of debate ; yet these very Tractarians flee to the same 
 principle for the strength of their own polity. And, 
 farther, Dissenting Psedo-Baptists are found who burst 
 with spleen when spoken of as participating in Tracta- 
 rianism ; and yet, by the benefits they ascribe to Infant, 
 and promiscuous Baptism, convey the very same prin- 
 ciple into their own institutions. They do not seem to 
 me dishonest, but rather victims of their own reasonings 
 and neglect of scripture : for thus, as though self-de- 
 ceived, each falls into the error that he condemns. This, 
 then, is the state of the question : for it matters very 
 little in what form the poison may be administered : it 
 will take effect in every state and every combination, in 
 which it is or can be received ; and, if it have but time 
 and scope for action, the least particle will prove fatal 
 to the best interest of mankind. When once we allow 
 such benefits to be associated with that ceremony, the 
 question must be settled, What is the nature and extent 
 of the benefit so conferred ? How then is this to be done ? 
 The Tractarians say, with truth, an appeal must then 
 be made to Scripture, and Scripture must decide. 
 Here the reasoning of the Tractarian becomes, upon the 
 supposition absolutely unansiverable. I have never found 
 in all the literature of the Non-conforming Psedo-Baptists, 
 one single position taken against the Oxford Theory that 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. Zt 
 
 can be sustained, when once a benefit has been admitted 
 in connexion with Infant Baptism. Before the ceremony 
 of infant baptism can be relieved from this alliance 
 with Baptismal Regeneration, and " the opiis operatmn of 
 Popery," it must be exhibited to mankind as absolutely 
 useless ; and before our baptism comports with Scripture, 
 that useless ceremony must be altogether laid aside. It 
 is with all, therefore, that we have to do. Call them by 
 what name you will, persons admitting regeneration in 
 baptism, pardon in baptism, justification in baptism, 
 sealing in baptism, induction by baptism, recognition in 
 baptism, dedication by baptism, or whatever you please ; 
 these supposed sacramental benefits associated with the 
 baptism of infants and unbelievers, the brethren, with 
 whom I have the honour to be united, most solemnly 
 denounce, as altogether unsustained by divine authority. 
 In support of them an appeal is now made, by their own 
 advocates, to sacred Scripture. Our duty therefore is 
 to examine these Scriptures, most carefully and consci- 
 entiously ; and this we intend to do, when I have com- 
 pleted my design in the present exercise, and given, in 
 the second Lecture, a history of the origin and growth of 
 the controverted sentiment. 
 
 I now proceed to consider, thirdly, the relation of this 
 dogma to certain truths and duties of great imjyortance to 
 us all. We must not, however, anticipate the appeal 
 which is made to the Divine Oracles, and which we have 
 to examine in a subsequent discourse. My object in this 
 and the following Lecture, is merely to prepare the way 
 for that appeal, by furnishing such facts, as will enable 
 each hearer to decide for himself when those Scriptures 
 are brought before him. I wish at the same time, in 
 
 c 2 
 
28 LECTFEE I. 
 
 conducting these preliminary steps, not to use even an 
 approach to evasive reasoning. I shall therefore be most 
 open with you, as we are bound to be in all our deal- 
 ings with mankind. Let others take advantage of arti- 
 fice, if they please : we will rather covet and seek that 
 of simple, direct, and open-hearted integrity. I do not, 
 therefore, hide my own opinion, but at the same time 
 entreat you to pronounce no decision on the case, till all 
 the evidence has been brought before you. Suspending 
 your judgment, therefore, for the present, it may yet be 
 remembered that the dogma rrnist be either t7nie or 
 false ; and, on either supposition, we may easily discover 
 the importance which attaches to the subject of our in- 
 quiry. It is on this account, my brethren, because it is 
 for your life, and that of your offspring, that this duty 
 was undertaken ; and, in performing it, the feelings have 
 been chained so much to a written document, that 
 greater calmness and clearness of expression might render 
 the reasoning more distinct and conclusive, and bring 
 within the space assigned to me, all that is needful to 
 make your judgment on the case both decisive and satis- 
 factory. For if the imagination were at liberty, all the 
 ordinary descriptions of poetry might, with facility, be 
 exceeded, in exhibiting those endeared interests into 
 which this subject is constantly penetrating, and which, 
 whether right or wrong, are brought under its terrible 
 control. Indeed, there are few things that can be more 
 momentous ; since, by affecting the condition of the indi- 
 vidual himself, personally, and at so early a period of 
 life, it must necessarily affect the whole course and end of 
 his existence. 
 
 For first, supposing that the doctrine be true, and 
 
IMPOETANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 29 
 
 admitting for awhile, that by the appointment and law of 
 God, a class of men hath been appointed, to confer on 
 Infants, at the beginning of their lives, this strange and 
 supernatural gift of grace by baptism, which, like the 
 magnetic fluid given to a bar of iron, shall generate a 
 new and superior nature, that inclines to God as the 
 magnet to the pole ; — supposing, I say, that this is quite 
 true, — then, neither can any office deserve so high esteem 
 as that to which these men are called, nor can any gift 
 be more important than that which they confer. What 
 mother would, what mother ought, what mother could, 
 on such a supposition, or in such a case, suffer her 
 infant to rise up into life, destitute of a blessing so 
 awfully needed by our fallen nature, and supposed to be 
 so easily attainable by the appointed instrumentality ? 
 When she looks upon her babe, as inheriting from her 
 the elements of a common depravity, she will be im- 
 pelled by all the force of maternal instinct, to seize this 
 short and easy method of curing the malady. On the 
 supposition of this rite having the poAver of placing the 
 dependent object of her sympathy and care, within the 
 covenant of grace, and under the direct eye and super- 
 vision of a kind Redeemer, and in actual communication 
 with the Holy Spirit of God, she will hasten to the font 
 with solicitude, and retire from it with joy. If it be 
 true that her babe was there regenerated, and made an 
 inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, she will feel the 
 appropriateness of all the thanksgivings in that sei'vice, 
 and rest in peace while contemplating the future. If 
 she find, in Holy Scripture, great and precious promises 
 made to such as are united to Christ ; in her warm heart 
 they will find a ready application to her little innocent. 
 
30 LECTURE I. 
 
 It will be liard for her to find an exception to its claim. 
 U'pon the supposition, all this is perfectly right. JN^ay, if 
 the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration be taught by the 
 Church, so also is that of final perseverance. Such a mother 
 has, therefore, on the premises, a right to conclude that, 
 if God will be faithful to His covenant in any case, he 
 wjU be faithful to it in the case of her child ; and that 
 since, by an ordinance supposed to be His, it has become 
 an inheritor. He will give to it the inheritance of the 
 kingdom of heaven. She has, I say, an absolute right 
 on the premises to expect its final perseverance, and she 
 is bound to bring up her child with that expectation. 
 With that expectation she will bring it to the house of 
 God, to Confirmation, and to the Table of the Lord ; and 
 if called to that painful duty, she will lay it in the grave, 
 in sure and certain hope of everlasting life, because it 
 has been baptized. In all this she would not be deserv- 
 ing of blame, but of praise. She has no right to specu- 
 late respecting the character of the means which God 
 has appointed ; but, if God hath appointed this as the 
 means and instrument, or in the language of " Pres- 
 byter," the " effectual means" of regeneration, she is 
 bound to believe in God, and expect all that God has 
 promised by that or any other means whatever. The 
 expectation, so raised and cherished, she is bound to in- 
 corporate with all her domestic arrangements. It must 
 be moulded into the moral constitution of her offspring ; 
 and whether it be destined for the Bar, for the Army, or 
 Navy, for the Church, for the Senate, or for the Throne ; 
 it must never be forgotten, that in baptism it was born 
 to an inheritance far more exalted than the highest that 
 earth can give. 
 
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 31 
 
 All this, I say, is perfectly right upon the supposition. 
 In short, by affecting the personal and spiritual condi- 
 tion of the man, it aifects all that belongs to him, and 
 everything in which he is engaged. If the doctrine be 
 trtie, it affects him for the better ; if it he false, it affects 
 him for the worse. For, on the supposition that the 
 whole matter has been fabricated by man, (I entreat you 
 to consider this carefully,) then no deception can be more 
 gross, or more injurious to the species. By assuming 
 divine authority, where no such authority had been 
 given, and affirming in the name of Father, Son, and 
 Holy Spirit, what never transpired, and what all expe- 
 rience must contradict, — the professed agency of mercy 
 would become reduced to contempt, and our faith in 
 Him, as having devised such means for the exaltation of 
 a class, would be blighted to the root. On this supposi- 
 tion, there is no severity which the authors of such a 
 delusion might not expect, from the recoil of injured, 
 oppressed, and insulted humanity. Whenever the im- 
 position came to be detected, every victim of its power 
 would be ready to exclaim. Was there not delusion 
 enough on earth without this? Are there not names 
 enough on earth associated with untruth and fraud, 
 without desecrating those of the blessed Trinity, Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost 1 Is there not scope enough for 
 human artifice in the regions of fancy, of poetry, of 
 romance, of general literature, in the regions of politics, 
 of trade, or of domestic intrigue, — but you must bring the 
 pernicious element into the Church, into the worship, 
 and to the very Altar of God 1 Is it not enough to 
 have empiricism in medicine, but must we also have em- 
 piricism in sacraments ? To such inquiries the dis- 
 
32 LECTURE I. 
 
 covery of sucli a delusion must inevitably impel its 
 awakened victims ; and hence the horrible recoil, 
 which has, at different periods of the Church, filled 
 her most abject votaries with raging infidelity. It 
 was not the power of genius in Voltaire, Diderot, 
 D'Alembert, Marmontel, and others, which deluged 
 France with blood in the Atheistical Revolution. 
 The nation felt that by this sacramental delusion it had 
 been deceived and insulted. Whether right or wrong, 
 this was the cause, and that the effect. But if the dogma 
 is not founded in truth, and duly authorized of God ; if 
 the Regeneration is not real, and its benefits are altoge- 
 ther fictitious ; — the malady is increased by the con- 
 cealment of the fact. For, then, this vain phantom 
 takes the place of a healthful and judicious solici- 
 tude in the religious education of the child, and sup- 
 plants that spirit of prayer, in which a tender mother 
 should daily present her offspring before God. Instead 
 of praying for a gift which is indispensable, and per- 
 forming a duty from which no one is exempted ; she is 
 then leaning on a deception, and blessing God for 
 things that have no existence. When she should be 
 teaching the child that he must be regenerated, she is 
 filling him with delusive ideas of his spiritual gift in 
 Baptism. Under this impression, she will teach him 
 to read his Bible, and come to the house of God, to the 
 worship, to the Confirmation, to the Supper of the Lord, 
 and to all the duties of life. Into every station which he 
 has to fill in life, and into every relationship that he 
 forms, he enters with the impression that he is, not is to 
 be, nor that he ought to be, but that he is a child of God, 
 and an inheritor of the kingdom of Heaven. And if 
 
IJIPORTANCE . OF THE SUBJECT. 33 
 
 this be not true, after all, the result must be, that in 
 every hour, in every solicitude, and in every change of 
 life, not excepting the moment of mortality itself, he is 
 under the influence of a delusion, the most pernicious in 
 its nature and lasting in its operation ; which was admi- 
 nistered to him by a priest, confirmed to him in the 
 name of the blessed Trinity, and endeared by the recol- 
 lections of his mother's love. 
 
 Indeed, nothing is more solemn, nor can any class of 
 men be placed in a more awful position, than that in 
 which the argument of " Presbyter" and " Aquila" has 
 placed themselves, and those whom their reasonings are 
 designed to influence. I am sorry that I omitted to bring 
 with me a document, which exhibits this fact in a light im- 
 mensely interesting, especially as the subject of inquiry 
 is connected with the advancement of personal religion. 
 I refer to a tract issued in Devonshire, giving an account 
 of what is called the " Charlinch Revival," which took 
 place under the administration of a clergyman of the 
 Church of England, who officiated in a country village, 
 within the diocese of Exeter. It pleased God to pour 
 out His Spirit upon the administration of the word 
 there, until not only a great number of the villagers 
 were-^ affected with deep concern for the salvation of 
 their souls, but a great number of children connected 
 with the schools, and the several families of the villagers. 
 Amongst the rest was a girl, she might be about thirteen 
 years of age, who was bowed down with a sense of her 
 guiltiness and need of instruction. She went to a lady 
 who was connected with the Established Church, and 
 from whom she had received many acts of kindness. 
 She told her tale of inward bitter grief, and asked for 
 
 c 3 
 
34 . LECTURE 1. 
 
 instruction, that she might be guided to a remedy. 
 The lady asked her what she was so much grieved 
 about ? She said, " I feel that my heart is not right 
 with God." The answer of the lady was to this effect, 
 you were regenerated in your baptism, and you have 
 not been guilty of any open sin, you are safe ; these 
 griefs are unfounded. When she again pressed her 
 inquiries still farther, the same answer was repeated 
 in other terms, until the girl, dropping a tear upon the 
 earth, retired in silence to weep and implore peace with 
 God. She found that peace at the foot of the Cross, which 
 the Baptismal Regeneration could never give to her 
 wounded heart. She never again sought instruction from 
 the source to which she had first applied ; but, pondered 
 over the pages of the Holy Word of God, and found, in 
 communion with the Saviour, that peace which the world 
 and its shadows can never give nor take away. Here 
 is a case in which the legitimate results of the system 
 were actually seen. Had it been suffered to operate, 
 the convictions of that dear child would have been 
 stifled, and her soul in all probability have been sacrificed 
 to that delusion.* 
 
 Similar to this, is a case that I might mention, 
 respecting one of the most profound politicians, who exhi- 
 bited in a riper mind the pernicious influence of precisely 
 the same error. It is known, perhaps, to many of you, that 
 Talleyrand, the great negotiator of Europe, was at one 
 time high in office in the Romish Church, and then 
 sank down into the basest infidelity. How was it that a 
 man so given to the Church of Rome, with her cere- 
 monies and rites could be so transformed ? I answer, 
 all his religious feelings were extinguished in the con- 
 * See Note, B. 
 
IMP0ETANC2' OF THE SUBJECT. 35^ 
 
 fessional, and amidst the sacraments of his Church. 
 His keen eye penetrated the system; and, without a 
 renewed heart, he saw the fictitious character of all the 
 gifts which he had to confer. I have been told by a 
 Catholic priest himself, that he has often been abso- 
 lutely oppressed with grief when under the necessity of 
 administering what he knew to be a fiction to individuals 
 who were bowing in solicitude at his feet. Such opera- 
 tions might well afiect the heart,, and sooner cr later 
 they will and must affect the heart ; and will cut to the 
 very root of all things good in man. The moment we 
 have taught men to identify this error with the system 
 of the gospel, we haTe brought them to the very verge 
 of a precipice, from which it requires but one step more 
 to plunge them into the deepest ruin of infidelity. 
 
 I do not mean to anticipate the decision that is to 
 be obtained from those sacred Scriptures to which an 
 appeal is made; but the alternative, which I have now 
 set before you and thus illustrated, may convince you 
 that the inquiry is of unspeakable importance, and 
 one that ought to be prosecuted with extreme care. 
 The question relates, you perceive, to all such benefits 
 as are and have been ascribed to Infant Baptism, 
 whether they be called " Regeneration, " or by any other 
 name. Your advantages for prosecuting the inquiry are 
 at this juncture multiplied, and hence your respon- 
 sibility is the greater. I shall, therefore, hope that the 
 kind attention of this evening will be continued until 
 these Lectures have been finished, since, without the 
 authority and decision of Scripture, your evidence on 
 the case will be altogether incomplete. If I deal 
 openly with you, and state my own views with all the 
 
36 LECTURE I, 
 
 feeling of my heart, it is not with the uncharitable in- 
 tention of dishonouring others : it is my love of truth 
 and desire for your good, which induce me to place, in a 
 strong light, the character of sentiments to which at 
 present you may feel it your duty to adhere, and to 
 which I hope you will adhere, as long as you feel that 
 they are from God ; but, at the same time, let candour 
 characterize all your inquiries, and be ye also prepared 
 to learn. 
 
 But though the testimony of Scripture is necessary to 
 complete the evidence, I may yet observe here, that this 
 is by no means the only source of evidence to which you 
 may appeal. Do you not see, from the very nature of 
 the case itself, that it must be necessarily determined by 
 experience'^ When the magnetic fluid is imparted to a 
 bar of steel, the steel which receives it turns to the 
 north and thus displays its magnetism. When the gal- 
 vanic fluid is imparted to substances which receive it, 
 the action of those substances on others, shows the pre- 
 sence of the element which they have imbibed. If, 
 therefore, grace, or the spiritual gift of baptism, flow 
 through the words or fingers of a priest, by baptism, to 
 the child baptized; that benefit must be seen in the 
 result. Whether we believe it or no, it must act. Our 
 faith in the magnetic fluid does not make it operate, but 
 by its operation our faith in it is enforced. The case 
 before us is exactly the same. If this spiritual essence 
 be given in baptism, it will operate, whether we believe 
 it or not. Let it be reduced to experience, therefore, 
 and the result will show the truth or falsehood of the 
 theory. Appeal to the facts before you. See if the 
 baptized children are better, in body or soul, than the 
 
IMPORTANCE. OF THE SUBJECT. 37 
 
 unbaptized. The experiment has been made for ages^ 
 and the results may be seen in your own homes. The 
 experiment has been made, in every variety of form, by 
 officers differently ordained, with various professions of 
 infallibility, by bad men and by good men. The 
 ceremony has been changed and modified, to augment 
 its grandeur and fit it for the society of princes, or 
 to clothe it with simplicity and make it suitable to 
 peasants. It has been aided by all kinds of elements, 
 by salt, by oil, by saliva of a priest, by common water, 
 and by water from the Jordan ; — and what, after all, is 
 the result 1 I answer, the experience of all nations and 
 of all ages pronounces it a delusion, and nothing more. 
 This, I say, is the judgment of experience, but it is 
 proper to withhold your decision until we have con- 
 sidered the testimony of Scripture. 
 
 But yet " Aquila" and " Presbyter" have conducted 
 the inquiry to a point which gives still greater force to 
 the remark that I have just made. They afiirm to us 
 that the gospel has an awful but yet a beauteous pecu- 
 liarity in itself, by which it is distinguished from all 
 other dispensations, even of Almighty Grod ; and com- 
 mends itself to our faith rather than the Jewish system, 
 rather than the heathen or patriarchal system, rather 
 than any other system whatever, a fragment of which 
 has remained to the present day. What, then, is this 
 great peculiarity of the gospel 1 It is that now, 
 " we all with open face behold as in a glass the glory of 
 " God, shining in the face of Jesus Christ, that we may 
 " be thereby transformed into his own likeness, from 
 " glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
 Through the rent veil we have direct access to Almighty 
 
38 LEcTunE r. 
 
 God ; and, by that access peculiar benefit results to us 
 from the intercession of Him who, " having purged 
 " our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on 
 " high." And do you not perceive, that this subject 
 involves the whole question of that access? for aliens have 
 no right within the veil. It is the privilege of the sons 
 of God only to draw nigh to Him in a new covenant rela- 
 tionship. And if we make the possession of this privi- 
 lege to be connected with promiscuous Baptism or that of 
 Infants, rather than with the faith which is produced by 
 intelligent conviction ; then this privilege seems extended 
 to all the subjects of that ceremony, and its weighty 
 importance is lost in the advocacy and culture of 
 faith. 
 
 Now this which stands out as a solemn peculiarity 
 in the gospel of Jesus Christ, constituted the great ex- 
 pected blessing foretold from the beginning to mankind. 
 It was of this that God himself spoke in Paradise, when 
 He said, "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's 
 " head." It was of this that Almighty God spoke, when He 
 gave His promise to the relic of the anti-diluvian world, 
 now rescued from the deluge, and placed His bow in the 
 cloud. It was this that He entailed upon the family of 
 Abraham, when He said, " In thy seed shall all nations 
 " of the earth be blessed ;" shutting up the fallen fami- 
 lies of mankind who had sunk into idolatry to this only 
 hope, and afiirming that they now should turn and' find 
 salvation, if at all, at the hands of the seed of Abraham. 
 The entail of that great inheritance of mercy first fixed on 
 Abraham, was confirmed to Isaac, then to Jacob, to David, 
 and finally, to the son of David ; who must hold for ever, 
 the high and solemn post between God and man, Now the 
 
IMfOKTANCE' OF THE SUBJECT. 39 
 
 Son of David sits at God's right hand, and gives the law 
 by which fallen sinners may have access to a forgiving 
 God ; and he has issued His covenant and His decree. 
 Surely then, nothing can be more important for us to 
 understand, than the solemn terms on which we approach 
 to God, through Him who is our great High Priest and 
 Mediator, and find our peace and blessedness : for to 
 procure this salvation He died ; and to improve the 
 blessing, so procured, is the very object of our living upon 
 earth. 
 
 Let me observe also, before I sit down, that the prac- 
 tice in question affects this great peculiarity of the 
 gospel, just at a point where it is of unspeakable im- 
 portance. For the gospel is altogether a practical 
 system, wherein the proof of divine faithfulness and 
 mercy hangs on the results of human action, as defined 
 in the Saviour's teaching ; hence it was aflSirmed by the 
 Redeemer, " If a man will do His will," that is do the 
 things which Jesus commands him, " he shall know of 
 " this doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of 
 " myself." How then shall he know it ? Experience, will 
 demonstrate. In acting under the guidance of the 
 Saviour, he shall find blessings that will fill his 
 heart to overflowing, with deep and solemn con- 
 viction that Jesus came from God, and that he leads to 
 God. What then will be the effect, if after all we find 
 this ceremony giving the pledge of eternal life to thou- 
 sands and to millions, in whom that pledge becomes 
 violated and the blessing lost ? If it be said that this 
 ceremony actually makes the child a son of God and an 
 inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, and if we find it in. 
 any one case to fail, — unquestionably there is then a. 
 
40 LECTtTRB I. 
 
 doubt thrown over the whole system ; for it may fail 
 again. If it be found in man]/ cases to fail, the doubt 
 becomes increased. But if it be found in most cases to 
 fail, the doubt becomes dreadful. If it becomes impos- 
 sible for any man to show success in any (me case, then 
 the supposed truth of God becomes actually refuted ; 
 and confidence, in observing what professes to be his 
 revealed will, is reduced to an absolute impossibility. 
 
 Thus, then, the question to be discussed,' and the im- 
 portance of determining it, have been laid before you. In 
 the next Lecture, I shall show the origin of this sentiment 
 and the history of its difiusion, especially in the western 
 Churches, pointing out as far as needful to our purpose 
 the several forms in which it has been stated and 
 defended by its several advocates : and these things, 
 being well apprehended first, will prepare our way for 
 the decision which we hope to obtain from sacred Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
LECTURE II. 
 
 ON THE RISE AND SPREAD OF BAPTISMAL REGENERATION 
 AND ITS ATTENDANT ERRORS. 
 
 Christian Friends — In the last exercise, I endea- 
 voured to protect myself from all supposed participation 
 in that act of injustice, to which the " Church of Rome" 
 has been subjected by the Reformers, and to which the 
 Reformers and Tractarians, have, in their turn, been sub- 
 jected by their opponents. I speak of the allegation 
 that they declare the water, or ceremony of Baptism, to 
 communicate an ethereal essence which they call 
 " grace," without the power or Spirit of Almighty God. 
 Although the parties recriminate each other on this 
 point most blameably, every impartial observer will see, 
 that all (so far as they may be conceived themselves 
 to understand what they teach,) regard this " sacra- 
 ment," not as an efficient and independent cause of the 
 benefit which they ascribe to it, but in conformity with 
 the expression of " the Church of Rome," they declare 
 it to be " an instrumental cause," or, more simply, an 
 instrument by which the Holy Spirit, operating in what 
 Christ hath ordained, confers the benefit in question. 
 You. will perceive, therefore, that my objections lie not 
 against the supposition that these parties ascribe to 
 Baptism a power of conferring benefits without God, but 
 against the assumption that this Bcqdism of children, oi- 
 of unbelievers, in any case, confers uiion them any benefit 
 
42 LECTURE II. 
 
 whatever. This is that common and uniting principle, 
 which, being found in all these systems, is now brought 
 under our special consideration. 
 
 Bearing this in mind, therefore, let me add now, that 
 it is not my intention in this exercise, to request you to 
 pronounce on the truth or untruth of that assumption at 
 present. My own opinion I do not wish to conceal : yet 
 I desire to conduct you through this investigation, in such 
 a manner, as to leave you prepared to exercise your own 
 judgments with confidence, rather than submit to mine. 
 Moreover, an appeal has been made to Scripture, and 
 you ought not to pronounce any judgment, until that 
 witness has been heard. But our opponents, or rather 
 the advocates of this doctrine, meet us at the entrance 
 of this inquiry, by objecting to our interpretation of 
 Scripture, and by appealing to those ancient Christian 
 authors, which are commonly called the Fathers of the 
 Church. They say, that the criticism of antiquity is to 
 be trusted with greater confidence than that of modern 
 times ; and thus they find means to obscure, and even 
 overturn, the direct instructions of the Divine Oracles. 
 The principle on which this diversion (for it is nothing 
 else) is conducted, we utterly reject ; for, if Scripture 
 and the Fathers speak diversely on any subject, we are 
 bound to obey the former and reject the latter. But, 
 though the Fathers have no authority to decide against 
 Scripture, yet there can be no objection to prepare 
 the way for an appeal to Scripture, by reviewing, as 
 briefly as possible, here, the origin and diffusion of 
 the sentiment in dispute. We shall then see who have 
 been its originators and advocates ; and thence we shall 
 be enabled to understand by whose judgment it is, that 
 
DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. 43 
 
 these advocates wish our interpretation of the sacred 
 Scriptures to be influenced. 
 
 As far as I could do it, an outline of the whole 
 argument has been given in the hand-bill. In order 
 to assist the memory, all the particulars therein set 
 forth, may be classed under five heads. First, the an- 
 cient doctrine of Baptism set foHh and authorized in 
 the earliest age of the Church. Secondly, the change of 
 iluit doctrine, in the " Western Church" into the form in 
 which it has come down to us. Thirdly, the revised 
 declaration of that doctrine in the Church of Rome, 
 which took place at the Council of Trent. Fourthly, 
 the adoption of this doctrine in " the Reformed Churches^ 
 And, fifthly, its revival and diffusion, in the 2)resent day, 
 hy the Oxford Tractarians and their followers. It is 
 necessary that we should attend to these points with 
 care, in order that we may be enabled properly to 
 understand the nature of the question which is to be 
 determined. 
 
 But the subject thus submitted for your inquiry is 
 very extensive, and might rather call for a history of 
 the Christian church than for a single lecture. Great 
 care must be used, therefore, lest by attempting too much, 
 we should accomplish nothing. But we shall find some 
 assistance in using the guidance of our opponents, to 
 which I hope there will be no objection. The Tracta- 
 rians, and the advocates of Infant Baptism in general, 
 have made repeated appeals to " the Fathers of the 
 Church;" and, amongst those which have been thus 
 employed, the names of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and 
 Cyprian, appear with peculiar prominence. To these, 
 therefore, we shall give the chi-ef attention j and we shall 
 
44 LECTTJRE II. 
 
 turn to others, only as they may be found necessary to 
 elucidate our argument. Let us, therefore, now con- 
 sider first. The ancient doctrine of [Baiotism. 
 
 But observe, by " the ancient doctrine of Baptism," I 
 do not mean that which was entertained or expressed by 
 the Sacred Writers, but that view of Baptism which was 
 entertained in the age immediately following them, the 
 evidence of which rests, of course, upon the authority of 
 the Fathers. Of these, Justin Martyr, both from his 
 antiquity, and his constancy in life and death, as 
 well as from the object for which he wrote his Apolo- 
 gies, deserves to be heard first on this question. He 
 lived and flourished between the years, 140 and 164 : 
 he was born in Samaria, about 40 years after the 
 death of the Apostle John, and suffered martyrdom 
 little more than 60 years after the decease of this last 
 relic of the inspired men. His two Apologies were 
 written in defence of the Christians, and addressed 
 to the Emperor and Senate of Rome. Documents, 
 intended to influence the highest earthly authority of 
 his time, must have been composed with care; and 
 since the interests of the whole Christian community 
 were suspended on the effect which they might produce, 
 we have a right to infer, that these works contained the 
 sentiments of those, who were so deeply concerned in that 
 result, and who (as far as we can learn) provided no 
 other such means of defence for themselves in that 
 general persecution. In these Apologies, therefore, he 
 informs the Emperor and Senate, of whom the Churches 
 of Christ were then composed. He speaks of Christians 
 as men who, " being virtuous, and living as Christ lived, 
 ^' are to he with God." The persons so named are distin- 
 
THE AXCIENT DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM. 45 
 
 guished by tlieir individual cliaracter. They " live cis 
 " Christ lived;" and cases are associated A\dth this state- 
 ment, showing their attachment to Christ to have been 
 stronger than the tenderest ties of relationship, or even 
 the love of life. (First Apology. S. Justini Martyris 
 Opera. Ed. Paris. 1636, p. 41.; This is still farther 
 explained by his account of the Eucharist, or Lord's 
 Supper ; for, having described the manner in which 
 it is administered by the presiding elder, he adds : 
 
 " And this food is called by us an Eucharist, of which to 
 " partake, it is lawful to none other than to him who be- 
 " lieves to be true the things that are taught by us, and who 
 " has been washed with the washing, on account of the for- 
 " giveness of his sins, and (entering) into a new birth, and 
 *' who is so living as Christ hath taught." — Second Apology, 
 Works, p. 97. 
 
 Here again, the partakers of this peculiar and Chris- 
 tian ordinance, the Eucharist, are men who have believed, 
 have been baptized, and whose profession of piety and 
 subjection to Christ remains unimpeached. 
 
 This was not the only act reserved by Christians, ex- 
 clusively to the members of their own body, but it was 
 one of a most decisive and distinguishing character. 
 By it the fraternal tie was recognized, and exclusion from 
 this was, in eifect, exclusion from the church. The 
 qualification to this, therefore, was the qualification to 
 Christian fellowship ; and the depth of character required 
 in this community, as intimated by the expressions, 
 " believe the doctrine, and live as Christ haJth taught," may 
 be seen from the following passage : 
 
 " "We know of no supreme and righteous ruler in exist- 
 " ence, besides the self-existing God. For like as all, avoid 
 " the undergoing of poverty, afflictions, or paternal disho- 
 " nours ; so also whatever reason may admonish, ought not 
 
46 LECTURE II. 
 
 " to be chosen, he who is prudent will not choose. Jesus 
 " Christ, (I say) from whom we receive our name, Christians, 
 *' our Teacher, and a Son, and an Apostle of the Father and 
 " Lord of all ; hath declared before, that all these things 
 « should so he."— Works, p. 59, 60. 
 
 Justin Martyr then proceeds to show, that all these 
 afflictions which are appointed by Christ, their Teacher 
 and Lord, are endured by Christians for his sake ; 
 although the instincts of nature, and natural prudence, 
 would lead them to choose an opposite course in seeking 
 to avoid them. 
 
 I quote this passage, merely to show the nature of 
 that faith and self-consecration, on which the whole 
 system of Christian fellowship was then built. It not 
 only placed Jehovah, the one true God, above all other 
 authorities, human or divine, but it also admitted the 
 authority of His word and law in cases of affliction, to 
 be so great, as to render the endurance of what He ap- 
 points both prudent and honourable, so that they should 
 choose it, rather than forsake it. It will be found that 
 they did not except from this rule even the case of mor- 
 tality. By the act of their profession, they engaged to 
 follow this their Teacher and Apostle from God, whither- 
 soever he might lead ; like soldiers they were sworn to 
 lay down their lives in following this Captain of their 
 salvation. 
 
 Keeping this point stedfastly in view, you will see at 
 once the nature of their initiatory rite, from the follow- 
 ing description : 
 
 " In what manner we have set ourselves apart for God, 
 "having been made anew, (regenei'ated) through the 
 " Christ, we will describe, lest by neglecting this we 
 " should in something seem to do wrong in the narra- 
 *'tion ; as many as ever become persuaded, and believe 
 
THE ANCIENT DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM. 47 
 
 "the things which are taught and spoken by ns to 
 " be tme, and solemnly declare that they are able 
 " so to live, are instructed to pray and fast, to ask 
 " from God a forgiveness of their past sins, we praying 
 "and fasting with them. After that, they are led by us 
 " where there is water, and are born again by that kind of 
 " new birth with which we ourselves were born again ; — 
 " for, in the name of God the Father and Lord of all, and of 
 " our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they 
 " then perform the washing in water. For Christ also hath 
 " said, Unless ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the 
 " kingdom of heaven." — Works, pp. 93, 94. 
 
 By this passage, which derives great strength from its 
 connexion, we are told, not only what Baptism is, but 
 also what were its pre-requisites. Persons were not 
 entertained as candidates for this ordinance, without dis- 
 crimination, but only such as, first, obeyed or. subihitted 
 to the appeals of the Church, were persuaded, and be- 
 lieved ; secondly, who believed that the things spoken 
 and taught by the Church were true ; thirdly, persons 
 who declared themselves able (prepared) to live, as these 
 doctrines taught by Christ required ; fourthly, who in 
 these respects had been made anew through Christ, 
 These several pre-requisites being found, the candidates 
 were not then baptized ; but were instructed to fast and 
 pray for the forgiveness of their sins, the Church fasting 
 and praying with them. When this process had been com- 
 pleted, and the moral purpose of the convicted sinner 
 had been united with the peaceful hope of pardon, they 
 were led to some place where there was water, and thus 
 Baptism was administered to them, and received by 
 them. 
 
 On this passage, we must make two or three particular 
 remarks. In the first place, you will please to observe, 
 
48 LECTXTBE II. 
 
 that these pre-requisites of the ancient Baptism, include 
 all that we now understand by o-egeneration, faith, re- 
 pentance, obedience, and designed self-devotion. The 
 Baptism, therefore, did not give these parts of spiritual 
 blessing through Christ ; but the possession of these, 
 with a peaceful enjoyment of pardon for past offences, 
 were indispensable conditions of Baptism. The candi- 
 date must hare obtained these through Christ, before he 
 could be admitted to Baptism. 
 
 Secondly, you will please to observe, that this act of 
 Baptism was performed in the name of the Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost, performed (I say) by both parties, — 
 administered by the Church, and received by the candi- 
 dates. And this appeal to the three-fold name of God, 
 involves two ideas ; first, an acknowledgment of divine 
 authority ; and, secondly, an appeal to the divine 
 judgment. Both the privilege and the compact of the 
 convert were thus recognized in his own act. The com- 
 pact is expressed by the words avi.%r]Ka\izv eavrove rw 
 Gew, " we have set ourselves apart for God." This was 
 their act, performed in the name of the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Spirit. The act of the Church, in administering 
 the Baptism, is stated by Tertullian, to be an act of 
 religious discipline. It was the administration of a 
 pledge, on the part of the Church ; on the part of the 
 candidate, it was the acceptance of that pledge ; and both 
 being performed under an appeal to God, seem to have 
 led to the ancient use of the word " Sacrament," which 
 whether right or wrong, represents this act of Baptism 
 under the form and solemnity of an oath. 
 
 Thirdly, you will please to observe, that Justin 
 Martyr here expresses the outward and social result of 
 
THE ANCIEXT DOCTKINE OF BAPTISM. 49 
 
 Baptism, by the word avayEwqaic, nevj hiiik. "W hile the 
 man remained unconverted and uninfluenced by the 
 truth, he was addressed in compassion with overtures of 
 mercy, but still regarded as an alien by the Church. 
 When, being under conviction, he sought to be admitted 
 to the sacrament of Baptism, he was placed under 
 instruction, as an inquirer. Such persons were called 
 Catechumens, receivers of instruction. They had a class 
 for themselves, and a separate seat in the place of wor- 
 ship. But, when they had obtained a good hope of 
 actual forgiveness from God, and pledged their devotion 
 in Baptism, they were treated in all respects as Chris- 
 tians. The transaction bore a strict analogy to the 
 matr'imonial ceremony. As by that act, the voluntary 
 devotion of a man to that relationship or state, is both 
 made and recognized, and from that time, he is holden by 
 authority to his engagement ; so precisely the man, after 
 Baptism, was holden responsible for his own volunto/ry 
 engagement of devotion to Christ. As the married man 
 would henceforth be treated as a hushaiid ; so the bap- 
 tized man would henceforth be treated as a Christian. 
 In either case, the preliminary attachments are sup- 
 posed, and in both, alike, the privileges and responsibi- 
 lities were recognized by judicial authority. The mar- 
 ried man who violated his compact was punished as a 
 culprit ; and the baptized man, who proved unfaithful 
 to Christ, though it were by refusing martyrdom, was 
 judged and excommunicated as an apostate. In his 
 Baptism, he declared, by an appeal to God the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, that he retired from the world, and 
 gave himself to Christ. In the Church, and in the 
 world, he thenceforth became regarded in a new cha- 
 
 D 
 
50 LECTURE II, 
 
 racter ; and the entering of this new creature on his new 
 privileges, new responsibilities, and the maintenance of 
 his new character, was, in the bold and figurative lan- 
 guage of the East, called a new birth. 
 
 The Roman philosopher, Seneca, used to say, that the 
 gods saw nothing beautiful on earth, but good men strug- 
 gling with adversity. But the ancient Christians con- 
 sidered that sinners who had by repentance forsaken 
 their sins, and devoted themselves to Christ, while under 
 all trials, and in the midst of all temptations, they main- 
 tained the integrity of this their new character, were the 
 only objects of divine complacency and regard on earth. 
 For them the Saviour reigned. They expected his 
 second coming for their glory and joy. On this they 
 builded all their hopes. They were filled with the great 
 idea that theirs was the kingdom of heaven. Earth 
 was only regarded by them as a place of sojourn. Their 
 home, their palace, was a house not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens. So prominent was this in their 
 thoughts, and so essential to all their discipline, that 
 Chrysostom says, they were baptized on account of the 
 resurrection from the dead. By this alone could their 
 consecration be sustained. His words are very clear and 
 very forcible, 
 
 " After reciting the sacramental and fearful words, and 
 " the solemn canons of the doctrines brought from Heaven ; 
 " this also at the end we add, when about to baptize, call- 
 " ing on [the candidate] to say, I believe even to a resur- 
 " rection of the dead — and upon this faith we are baptized." 
 
 You may see the whole of this passage brought out 
 beautifully in Dr. Hammond's Commentary on 1 Cor. 
 XV. 29 ; and he, being a Peedo-Baptist, and a Churchman, 
 will, I hope, be taken as a witness. 
 
THE ANCIENT 1)0CTRINE OF BAPTISM. 51 
 
 The closing question put by the elder, and the reply 
 given by the candidate, were clearly intended to show 
 the extent of the faith professed, and to render the nature 
 of the engagement obvious from the very beginning of 
 the compact. A profession which exposed men to mar- 
 tyrdom every hour, could scarcely be maintained without 
 a hope beyond the grave ; but, when such a hope was 
 avoived from the very beginning of the relationship, the 
 failure of the candidate's engagement would be altogether 
 without excuse. 
 
 Such, then, was the baptism of the ancient Church. Its 
 pre-requisites were, conversion and peace in Christ. The 
 act was a voluntary, open, and sacramental self-conse- 
 cration to God in Christ. The 7'esidt was a recognition 
 of the person baptized, in a new character, as an inheritor 
 of new privileges, and the subject of new responsibilities, 
 both in the Church and in the world. The act was 
 appropriate only to him who had been made anew by 
 Christ — and, when performed, it brought this new crea- 
 ture in Christ Jesus out into a public recognition, — by 
 the Church as an object of love, for his edification and 
 comfort ; by the world, as an object of hatred and per- 
 secution, for his trial, for the benefit of sinners, and for 
 the glory of his Lord. 
 
 You will perceive that I am not now stating my own 
 views, but only those of the ancient Church. All we can 
 learn of its highest antiquity, shows that Regeneration 
 was the 23'>'^-'>"€quisite of Baptism and not its effect. Bap- 
 tism was an act of the Church performed on one who 
 had been, in the strict sense of the word, regenerated, 
 and who now wished to enter on the open profession and 
 service of Christ. The converted sinner having been 
 
 » 3 
 
52 LECTURE II. 
 
 created anew in Christ Jesus, thereby entered on the 
 privileges and duties of his new existence ; and this open 
 profession is called being born again. Observe carefully, 
 this open profession is called being lorn again. The 
 convert was not mow generated again, nor yet created again, 
 these terms apply to the previous work of conversion, 
 repentance, and faith ; but horn again, which always 
 supposes a previous existence ; and hence, in its spiritual 
 application, it is here used to describe the outward act of 
 profession. If any, therefore, plead for retaining the 
 expressions hoim again, and new birth, in this sense, in 
 modern language, they must make it quite clear what 
 they mean ; and then we will consider it, as it really is, 
 and, as it has been very justly stated by Mr. Molyneux, 
 a question about the use of words. But what words so- 
 ever we please to employ, this will not alter the doctrine of 
 the ancient Church. It stands in favour, not of Baptis- 
 mal Regeneration, but of Believers' Baptism, and nothing 
 else. You may call this public and personal act, a pro- 
 fession of faith, or joining the Church, or confirmation, 
 or you may coin some other phrase, by which to express 
 it, if you please. The great object is, when we speak, 
 to be clearly and precisely understood. But as this ques- 
 tion of words does not properly belong to our subject, I 
 shall pass on now to consider, not the variation of lan- 
 guage, but — 
 
 Secondly, The change of view respecting the nature of 
 Baptism itself, tvhich was introduced into the Western 
 Churches. This constitutes a principal object of our in- 
 vestigation. 
 
 We shall be greatly assisted in pursuing this inquiry, 
 by bearing in mind the two great difficulties which 
 exercised the Church, at that time, with reference to the 
 
THE DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM CHANGED. -53 
 
 Sacrament of Baptism. That there must have been 
 many, we can have no doubt, when Christianity had 
 been so suddenly diffused over so wide a space ; and its 
 promulgation was attended with so great a want of books, 
 and Jther means of instruction. One copy of Scripture, 
 or perhaps of some small part of the Sacred Scripture, 
 was often all that could be obtained by a city, a province, 
 or even a kingdom. This was deposited in some safe or 
 central place, to which the people, or their teachers, 
 must come, with immense toil, whenever any question 
 was to be determined respecting the will of Grod. It is 
 scarcely possible, that there should not have arisen, out 
 of such a state of things, a great diversity of view on 
 many points, as well as on this which is now before us. 
 But on this subject, the two principal points which called 
 for discussion by the overseers of the Church, were — 
 first, a disposition to neglect Baptism altogether, because 
 of the trial to which it exposed the confessor ; and, 
 secondly, a tendency to administer it tviiliout sufficient 
 care. A word or two may be submitted on each of these 
 particulars. 
 
 The first error was most prominent in the first ages 
 of the Church, and it was felt with peculiar force in 
 times of persecution. From what has been shown 
 already, it will be seen, that the act of receiving Chris- 
 tian Baptism was altogether the result of deliberation 
 and belief But many passages of Scripture were found, 
 in which salvation was promised as a result of faith 
 alone. Hence they argued that, if men were justified 
 by faith alone, and he who believed should be saved, 
 there could be no absolute necessity for Baptism in any 
 case. By Baptism their faith was avowed before men. 
 
54 LECTTTRE II. 
 
 and they thus became exposed to persecution and mar- 
 tyrdom. Why then, they asked, might they not escape the 
 trial of this open act, and build their hope on the reality of 
 their faith, which could not be concealed from God ? Thus 
 a moral cowardice was generated ; and, beginning ^rom 
 this step, as in the days of James, men sought to obtain 
 salvation hj faith without works. Hence, the ardour with 
 which this heresy was refuted and condemned. The 
 overseers of the Church would not acknowledge as real 
 faith, any profession or state of mind, which did not pre- 
 pare the person to go the whole length of their Lord's 
 instruction. Since faith without works is dead, they 
 rejected every professed believer who was not prepared 
 to avow, under all circumstances, an aifectionate devo- 
 tion to Him, by whose blood he was redeemed from the 
 righteous judgment of God. They urged the act of faith 
 in receiving Baptism and its public consequences, as 
 well as that act of faith, by which the spiritual salva- 
 tion was received within. They would have men be- 
 lievers in their retirement, it is true : but they must also 
 have them believers in society ; otherwise none were 
 admitted to their fellowship, and peculiar ordinances. 
 It was necessary for their safety to be careful, because 
 every individual introduced into their fellowship might 
 become a spy. Hence they wrote their treatises to 
 show the necessity of Baptism as well as faith, as an act 
 of faith, essential to its consistency and credit. At times, 
 they put the subject in a very strong light, and used 
 language highly figurative ; that, by suiting their style to 
 the time in which they lived, a greater effect might be 
 produced. Hence has arisen one of the greatest mistakes 
 of our day. By taking that as literal, which these 
 
THE STATEMENTS OF TERTULLIAN. 55 
 
 writers used Jigurativeli/ ; and by applying that to t??/a?ife 
 who have never believed, which these writers use in 
 reference to persons who have avowed their faith; — the 
 modern advocates of Baptismal Regeneration have endea- 
 voured, but most unjustly and ineffectually, to prove that 
 these ancient Fathers supported and enforced the same 
 doctrine as themselves. This I pronounce without any 
 qualification whatever, to be utterly and absolutely 
 false. 
 
 To show the importance and appropriateness of water 
 baptism, as well as faith, is the object proposed in the 
 first part of his Tract on Baptism, by TertuUian, who 
 wrote in Carthage, from about the year 185 to the 
 year 220. He afiirms, that no one is directed in Scrip- 
 ture to seek salvation in the neglect of Baptism. But, in 
 the other part of the same Tract, he condemns an indis- 
 creet and precipitate administration of Baptism in any 
 case. The fact is, individuals then pleaded that, since 
 Philip baptized the eunuch suddenly, and since the Lord 
 had commanded them to give to every one who asketh ; 
 and since children were in themselves innocent of actual 
 transgression; — therefore persons ought to be baptized 
 without any discrimination, especially if they desired it. 
 These were the arguments which he had to meet. Bearing 
 this in mind, you will easily perceive from his own words, 
 which I will now lay before you, the precise state of the 
 case in his time. Speaking of the administration of 
 Baptism, therefore, he says : — 
 
 " But they should know to whom that duty belongs, 
 " that Baptism is not to be conceded with temerity to any 
 " one — ' Give to every one who asketh thee,' Iiatli its 
 " own object pertaining to the case of alms. Yea, rather 
 
56 
 
 LECTUBE II. 
 
 " that expression is to be more carefully considered, — ' Give 
 " not that which is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before 
 " swine ;' and ' Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be 
 " thou a partaker in other men's sins.' If Philip did so 
 " readily baptize the eunuch, let us recollect that a mani- 
 " fest and clear authority from God had intervened. The 
 " Spirit had commanded Philip to go into that way, and 
 "^ the eunuch himself was not found idle, nor was he one 
 " who desired a precipitate Baptism ; but having gone up 
 " to the temple to pray, being impressed with sacred 
 " Scripture. It was proper that he should be so found to 
 " whom God had wiDingly sent an apostle, to whom again 
 " the Spirit had commanded that he should join himself 
 " to the chariot of the eunuch ; a scripture had met his 
 " faith, being exhorted in time, the word is received, the 
 " Lord is made known, faith is not delayed, water is not 
 " wanting, and the business being finished, the apostle is 
 " snatched away." He adds farther , "But both he who 
 " seeks, and he who administers Baptism, may be deceived 
 "in the act. Tlierefore, for the condition, character, and 
 " even the age of every person, it is more useful that 
 " Baptism should be delayed, but especially of yoimg 
 " people. For why is it necessary that sponsors should be 
 " brought into danger I for they may themselves be pre- 
 " vented by death from fulfilling their engagement, and 
 " they may be deceived, by the breaking out of a bad 
 " disposition in their charge. The Lord did indeed say, 
 " ' Forbid them not to come to me.' Let them come then, 
 " when they are grown up ; let them come when they 
 " learn, and are instructed why they come. Let them be 
 " made Christians when they shall have been able to know 
 " Christ. Why hasten an innocent age to a remission of 
 " sins I We act more cautiously in secular things, so that 
 " you commit a Divine possession to those to whom you 
 " would not commit an earthly. Let them know how to 
 " seek salvation, that you may seem to have given to him 
 " that asketh. Nor for less reason are the unmarried also 
 " to be procrastinated, in whom temptation is prepared, 
 " both to virgins by maturity, and to widows by leisure 
 " (vacationem), until they are married, or until they are 
 
THE STATEMENTS OP TEETULLIAN. 57 
 
 " confirmed in their continence, who, if they could under- 
 " stand the weightiness of Baptism, would rather fear its 
 " administration than its delay : but, as it respects salva- 
 " tion, a sincere faith is perfectly secure." — Tertulliani 
 Opera, Ed. 1634, p. 263. 
 
 I trouble you with this long passage, because it is so 
 decisive ; first, as to the design of Tertullian to connect 
 faith, with Baptism in every case ; and, secondly, as to 
 the delay of Baptism, until faith and consistency of 
 character were, in some respects, secured. Tertullian 
 was also a defender of the whole Christian Church, his 
 Apology stands on record : and he, therefore, should 
 be heard with the greater confidence. He had before 
 denounced a voluntary rejection of Baptism, as though 
 that ordinance was useless, and dispensable by human 
 discretion. He now pleads for a due care in adminis- 
 tering it. He does not say that it will confer a new 
 principle of piety or faith; but he would have the 
 ordinance delayed, until that new principle of piety had 
 been produced, by proper instruction, and by the bless- 
 ing of God attending the dispensation of His word. 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that Baptism was hitherto 
 regarded as a rational act of religious discipline, recog- 
 nizing the faith, the privilege, and the personal respon- 
 sibilities of those who received it. The change pro- 
 posed was that of making it a means of conveying grace 
 to believers first, then to persons who were sick unto 
 death ; and afterwards to children, who, when born, 
 appeared likely to die ; who, though they exercised no 
 faith, yet it was conceived that they might enjoy the 
 benefit, because they exerted no blasphemous or fatal 
 resistance to the supposed ethereal communication. 
 It is important to notice the origin of this change.. 
 
 d3 
 
58 LECTURE n. 
 
 You will remember that St. Paul speaks, in his Epistles, 
 which were written to Timothy in Ephesus, a principal 
 city of Asia Minor, of a system which he designates, 
 " old wives' fables, and endless genealogies." The 
 former is a phrase of contempt : the latter is a correct 
 description of the theory here pointed out. It consisted 
 in an attempt to explain the whole system of good and 
 evil in the world, by an arranged system of natural 
 generations. The Only-begotten of the Father was the 
 first generated being : and from him proceeded, in 
 various lines of lengthened descent, called "endless 
 " genealogies," all other created things, both good and 
 evil. The unseen spirits were thus begotten, themselves 
 first, and then employed in producing other things, some 
 intended to destroy and others to restore. This system 
 had been prevalent before the time of Christ. It was 
 first consolidated into a system by the Persian Zoro- 
 aster, or Zerdusht; and the fragments of that system 
 remain in a work, called The Zend, of which he is the 
 reputed author. In early times, it was combined by 
 many teachers with the Jewish system. In the time of 
 Timothy, an effort was made in Ephesus to unite its 
 theories with Christianity ; and at the time of which we 
 now speak, before and after the age of TertuUian, this 
 same system was taught, in connexion with Christian 
 doctrines, in Alexandria, in Egypt, and in different 
 other parts of Africa. A very few words, selected with 
 as great a regard to delicacy as possible, will be educed 
 from a tract printed with the works of Clement of Alex- 
 andria, and intitled, "■An Abstract of the so-called 
 " U astern Doctrines, collected from Valentinus and Theo- 
 " dotius," who were two heretics, deservedly condemned 
 
THE VALENTINIAN THEORY. 59 
 
 by the Church, and avowedly opposed and censured by 
 both Clement and Tertullian. 
 
 The extracts, which are very short, I have selected 
 and arranged in such a manner, as to show not only the 
 nature of the system itself, but also the connexion of its 
 leading idea with the subject of our investigation. The 
 great objection of these teachers lay against the personal 
 and intelligent nature of that system, by which the 
 ancient Church and its teachers contended with the 
 sinfulness and misery of this ruined world. The doc- 
 trine of Valentine is contend for Christian objects by 
 Christian means. When we ask what is intended by 
 Christian means ? he and his system teach us that 
 the only means of renovating mankind, is a seminal or 
 vitalizing communication from God, through the Only- 
 begotten. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Only-begotten 
 of the Father, the Word, the Life, the Saviour, and he 
 finds mankind in a spiritual sleep. When he comes near 
 and touches them, he kindles within them a spark of fire, 
 or life, and this wakes them out of sleep. This spark is 
 called a male seed of the Only-begotten of the Father, an 
 angelical juice, through which he who receives it, becomes 
 both a living and a life-giving agent. All mankind are 
 called by the gospel, but those who believe are chosen 
 rather than the rest. This seed of the elect is a spark 
 quickened by the Word, the Only-begotten, a sight 
 to the eye, a grain of mustard seed, a little leaven, 
 these things having seemed to share a generation 
 uniting in the production of faith. You. can easily 
 see, from his play upon the figurative language of 
 sacred Scripture, that his method, instead of obtaining 
 its right use, must reduce it to absurdity ; by changing 
 
60 LECTURE II. 
 
 all the work of mercy, from its spiritual and moral, to a 
 merely physical character. 
 
 It is a very painful fact, that the discussions on this 
 baptismal question have been pushed into ground, where 
 it requires somewhat of temerity to follow the advocate. 
 If I were to pursue the statements of Valentine, your 
 delicacy could not endure the recital. This, however, is 
 enough for our purpose. You can see his leading idea. 
 Like the Eastern Magi, this teacher would reduce all the 
 spiritual operations of mercy to repeated acts of physical 
 generation. He labours to do away with the great duties 
 of hearing, thinhing, believing, and resolving, and strives 
 to build the hopes of men on the operation of this phy- 
 sical effluvium, which has been variously called grace, 
 and seed, and fire, and life ; and which is supposed to 
 come without any forethought, or labour, to the sleeping 
 sinner, as magnetic efiluvium is given to a bar of iron, 
 or as heat is made to penetrate a stone. 
 
 Observe, now, the connexion of this with Baptism. 
 They affirmed the existence of two Baptisms, one sensi- 
 ble by water, which extinguished the fire of bodily lust ; 
 and the other spiritual, which extinguished the fire of 
 passion in the soul. But the change wrought in baptism, 
 he says, relates not to the body, which rises from the 
 Baptism unaltered, but to the soul. Immediately that it 
 comes forth from the Baptism, it is a servant of God, 
 and speaks to the unclean spirit, which shudders at 
 the very person, into whom, but just before, that spirit 
 would have carried its operations. For he who is bap- 
 tised into God, hath migrated, passed over into God, 
 and hath authority to walk over serpents and scorpions, 
 which are the evil powers. And it is enjoined, he says, 
 
THE VALENTINIAN THEORY. 61 
 
 on the apostles, "Go about, and preacLi and baptize 
 " those who believe, into the name of the Father, and of 
 " the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, into whom we have 
 " been new-born, being made superior to all other 
 " powers."* 
 
 Nothing has struck me so forcibly as the extreme 
 exactness with which the language of the Oxford 
 Tractarians, coincides with the language iised, and the 
 ideas carried out, by those two heretics whom I have 
 named. In many instances, it is as if they had trans- 
 lated their words.f 
 
 You will please to observe here, that the actual pro- 
 fession of faith is still retained, even by these teachers 
 as the pre-requisite of Baptism ; but the idea contended 
 for by Valentine and his sect was, that in the Baptism, 
 through the power of God, this ethereal effluvium called 
 grace, fire, life, and so forth, was communicated to the 
 person baptized, not without God, but by God, in 
 Baptism, and through the Church, which was the elect 
 seed, the ordained agency for communicating divine 
 gifts, and for conducting divine operations upon earth. 
 Indeed, the great object of this whole theory seems to 
 have been, to turn the whole system of divine mercy 
 into one of physical, official, and seminal processes. 
 
 These doctrines advocated by persons called Valen- 
 tinians, from this Father, spread along the northern 
 coast of Africa, from Alexandria, on the Nile, to the 
 Straits of Gibraltar. They were opposed by Clement 
 in Alexandria, and by Tertullian in Carthage; and others 
 of the Fathers, have given clear proof, that their views 
 were not admitted as true, by the authorities most 
 * Note C. t Note D. 
 
()2 LECTURE II. 
 
 esteemed by Christians at that time. The most 
 extended view of this error will be found in Irenseus, on 
 ancient heresies. Cyprian mentions the sect in com- 
 pany with fiye others, which he designates a pest of 
 heretics. As being thus divided from the general com- 
 munity of Christians, Cyprian condemns them ; and I 
 wish it were in my power to say that he was free from 
 their delusion. The impossibility of this will be seen 
 from one or two facts : when I have briefly sketched 
 the leading character of him, and of the age in which he 
 lived. 
 
 The first document to which I shall refer, was written 
 about the year, 251 or 252. Under Decius, the Roman 
 Emperor, a fierce persecution had then recently oppressed 
 the Christian community. From this, the Church in 
 Africa had suffered severely. Pestilence and famine 
 were now increasing the general calamity, and another 
 persecution was greatly dreaded. Parties interested in 
 the heathen idolatry could not be satisfied without the 
 use of violence towards the followers of Christ, and yet 
 the government of the empire was weakened by internal 
 disorder and disaffection. The Goths had crossed the 
 Danube, and the Parthians had come down from the 
 Caucasus, afflicting the European and Asiatic pro- 
 vinces, and threatening the security of Italy herself It 
 was a time of general consternation. The government 
 was against the Church, and yet too weak to maintain 
 its position. Cyprian was familiar with these elements 
 of civil society, and was trained as an advocate at the 
 bar to make the best of them. He therefore returned 
 from his concealment : he urged a consolidation of the 
 Christian societies, the use of tenderness towards the 
 
POLICY OF CYPRIAN. 63 
 
 erring, and vigour in the government of all ; that the 
 people might be prepared to meet the coming tempest 
 with their bishops. In fact, he evolved that principle 
 of policy by which, at length, the Church rose above the 
 emperor, and made the highest authorities subject to 
 her law. 
 
 If the genius of Cyprian had displayed itself only in 
 the use of Christian doctrines and ordinances, to render 
 Christians as perfect as possible, and to multiply the 
 cases of true conversion, his conduct would have deserved 
 unqualified approbation. But this was not the fact. 
 In order to accomplish his aim, he had recourse to 
 means which were highly objectionable. He acted on 
 the public mind by means of relics. One of his treatises 
 is on the discovery of the head of John the Baptist. He 
 used prodigies of a gross and foolish kind ; reported 
 angelical appearances, legends, and a corrupt view and 
 use of both the sacraments. In reading his writings, 
 we seem to have been brought into contact with quite 
 another system, than that with which we converse in the 
 writings of Justin Martyr and the early Fathers. We 
 no longer hear of the presiding brother, but of Bishops 
 and Presbyters ; and a spirit of dictation breathes in his 
 communications, which the apostles themselves would 
 scarcely have exhibited. The genius of Popery had 
 already been generated, and thenceforward it ceased 
 not to unfold its mystei'ious resources, in criminality 
 and spiritual oppression. 
 
 With respect to the Supper of our Lord, the words of 
 Cyprian, exhibit a fearful approach to the doctrine of 
 transubstantiation. He recommends the administration 
 of the Eucharist, as a tutela or charm, to protec- 
 
64 LECTURE II. 
 
 persons in danger ; and indicates an impossibility of 
 safety witliont it. He affirms that it had the power of 
 detecting concealed sins, by producing sickness and 
 disease in those who received it without confession and 
 forgiveness from the church. He gives an instance of a 
 young female, who had committed some fault, and re- 
 ceived the elements unconfessed, and thus became ill ; 
 and he assigns as a reason, that the body and blood of 
 the Lord God would not remain in polluted bowels. He 
 gives, in deed, all the elements of that superstition, which 
 has subsequently grown up in the Church of Rome, 
 connected with its dreadful doctrine of transubstan- 
 tiation. 
 
 The passages in his works, which relate to this subject, 
 clearly involve the theory of sacramental grace, while 
 the elements of the Eucharist are called " the body and 
 blood of Christ," in a way which indicates a decisive and 
 wide departure from the views of the apostles. But as 
 our attention is directed principally to the Sacrament of 
 Baptism, we must be the more careful in verifying the 
 idea of sacramental grace, in connection with that rite. 
 As a general rule, therefore, he taught, that baptism 
 should be administered to no one, unless he had been 
 previously prepared by due instruction, and the deve- 
 lopement of its results. — f Works, p. 289. J Hence his 
 assertion. " ( Domino i^&rmittente lyrimum hcqytisma cre- 
 " dentibtis dedimus;) The Lord permitting we administered 
 "a first Ixqytism to believers.'''' — Wo^^lis, p. 16. In this 
 his rule agreed with the description of Justin, and the 
 advice of TertuUian ; — ^but,that he entertained theValen- 
 tinian idea of a spiritual gift in baptism, is clearly proved 
 both by his own words, and by those of his colleagues 
 
POLICY OF CTPEIAIJ. Q5 
 
 of the council, holden at Carthage, in the year 253. In 
 that council sixty-six bishops were convened. One of the 
 questions submitted for their consideration was, whether 
 the persons who were brought over frora other congre- 
 gations to theirs, should be re-baptized. In this dis- 
 cussion it was assumed, that they, the council, were the 
 Church, and that all the other congregations were Jieretics. 
 It was also assumed that they, the Church, as they 
 esteemed themselves, and wished to be esteemed, had 
 power by a divine appointment and operation, to give 
 the Holy Spirit in Baptism. On the contrary it was 
 assumed, tiiat heretics had no such power to give the 
 Holy Spirit in baptism, because they never had it in 
 themselves ; whence it was concluded, that they could 
 never give what they never had. The assembled bishops 
 gave their votes seriatim, and many of their individual 
 opinions are recorded in their own words, and with 
 their names attached. In some particulars they differ : 
 but they all agree in assuming that they, the Church, 
 who had the Holy Spirit, could communicate it in 
 baptism ; and that heretics, who had not the Holy 
 Spirit, could never confer it, and, therefore, that it was 
 necessary for every one-, converted from their congrega- 
 tions, to be re-baptized in order that he might be saved. 
 — Works, pp. 219, 226* 
 
 But this power, which they assumed, extended not only 
 to the communication of a spiritual effluvium to the 
 person baptized, but also to the water itself. Hence it 
 was argued in that Council, that as the benediction of a 
 trite hishox> in the Church sanctified the water, that it might 
 have x>ovjer to remove sin, so the benediction of a lieretic 
 
 * Note E. 
 
66 LECTTIBE n. 
 
 polluted the water, making it impart to ike person baptized 
 a deeper defilement. — Ibid. 
 
 The importance attaclied to this spiritual gift in bap- 
 tism, and to the peace or forgiveness of the Church, which 
 it was designed to convey, was considered so great, that 
 salvation could not be obtained without it. I would not 
 venture to make this affirmation, if the fact were not 
 determined in several most important practical cases. 
 
 First, in the case of heretics converted to the true 
 Church, they declared this baptismal gift necessary to 
 salvation, as we have just seen. 
 
 Secondly, in the case of sick persons, who repented on 
 the bed of death, this baptismal gift was declared to be 
 necessary to salvation; and since they were too feeble to 
 undergo the ordinary immersion, Cyprian allowed the 
 ceremony to be changed into sprinkling, that they might 
 not perish through the want of the grace which baptism 
 was thus to communicate. — Works, p. 188. 
 
 Thirdly, in the case of Tnartyrs, who sulSered without 
 being baptized, it was declared to be so needful, that 
 without this baptismal gift, they could not be saved, 
 although baptized in their own blood. 
 
 Fourthly, in the case of new horn infants who appeared 
 likely to die, it was declared to be needful; and hence, 
 breaking his own rule of not baptizing any one without 
 due preparation, he ordered the baptism of such, that 
 they might be saved. The principle on which he 
 reasoned, as he states it, is, that nothing which God has 
 formed in the human womb, ought to be excluded from 
 the grace of this Sacrament. — Works, p. 137, 
 
 Such were his views : and in following them out, the 
 Church, which had thus decreed^ soon extended her 
 
EFFECTS OF HIS SCHEIIE. 67 
 
 clemency, not to children merely, but to monsters and 
 abortions ; and infants were taken from their dead or 
 dying mothers to be baptized, that they also might be 
 sared. 
 
 But are we to consider that Cyprian and his associates 
 were sinners above all mankind, in this particular 1 By 
 no means. In the earliest age of man, the simple forms 
 of patriarchal worship were first bereft of faith, and the 
 spirit of devotion, and then corrupted into heathen rites-, 
 and profane blasphemies. Thus originated all the heathen 
 idolatries upon earth. The Mosaical institutions suffered 
 a similar abuse. Formality deprived them of their 
 spirit and worth ; and leaning on the circumcision in 
 their flesh, the Jews became uncircumcised in heart. 
 Their sweet and magnificent prophetical dispensations 
 were all corrupted in the same way, until those to whom 
 the oracles of Heaven were committed, became prepared 
 to crucify their own predicted Messiah. The Christian 
 institutions have fallen, by the same corrupt inclination 
 of the human heart. Formality has destroyed every 
 other dispensation of mercy given to mankind ; and it 
 aims at the destruction of this. It placed the ceremony, 
 instead of personal faith and piety, as the hope of man. 
 It proceeded so rapidly, from the time of Cyprian, 
 that in 438, another council of Carthage decreed that, 
 whenever a child was found, of whose baptism no suffi- 
 cient testimonial could be obtained, the bishop of the ' 
 district should baptize him, that he might not perish. 
 In 929, Leo the Sixth issued an order to the same 
 eifect, from Rome, which had now risen to the greatest 
 episcopal eminence; and the effect of these orders. on the 
 public mind was so great, that, by first regarding the 
 
68 LECTURE II. 
 
 spiritual gift of baptism as necessary to salvation, they 
 came to consider it as altogether sufficient. The Church 
 thus lost her influence, by the very means through which 
 she sought to increase it ; and hence her care, in after 
 times, to . make it appear that, though baptism was 
 necessary to salvation, it was not sufficient, unless the 
 person baptized became obedient to the Church in all 
 things, and was nourished by the grace of all her sacra- 
 ments. 
 
 This, then, is the verdict of the ancient Fathers, 
 respecting the origin both of Baptismal Regeneration, 
 and the baptism of infants, with which that theory has 
 been combined. The first sprang out of the Asiatic 
 philosophy, through Valentine, and became adopted by 
 Cyprian, as a means of leading the people ; and the 
 latter was adopted as a means of conveying the sup- 
 posed baptismal benefit to children, and even to abor- 
 tions. This, also, is a fact, that when these errors 
 became authorized, the whole authority of Rome was 
 reposed upon this sacramental error, as the chief, if not 
 the only basis of its support. 
 
 I am far from thinking that these changes are to be 
 ascribed to the dishonesty of any one individual, though 
 some have contributed more than others to produce them. 
 From the age of Cyprian, to that in which, after the 
 revival of letters, the Council of Trent was convened, we 
 must consider the Church as labouring under immense 
 difficulties. The inroads of barbarians, which passed 
 over the whole face of civilized society, presented to the 
 teachers of Christianity, a people, rude, fierce, and averse 
 to the -study of letters. They could only be affected 
 through their senses. Hence, instead of the preaching 
 
INCREASED DECLENSION. 69 
 
 of Christ, wliicli could have but little effect upon them, 
 the teachers of Christianity adopted the plan of exhi- 
 biting such events as were most important to be known 
 in the history of the Redeemer. The central or 
 cathedral churches were hence constructed on the plan 
 of the ancient theatre. This plan is still to be traced in 
 the construction of St. Paul's. The altar was the model 
 of its stage. Here, especially, the Crucifixion was exhi- 
 bited as a stage play ; and this became eventually called 
 the Mass, and took the place of the ancient and simple 
 ordinance of the Lord's Supper. It was easy to give 
 this the name of an actual sacrifice ; and, when the idea 
 of transubstantiation was fully evolved, the reception 
 of it was called the sacrament of nutrition. By the 
 Baptism, sinners were said to be regenerated and made 
 sons of God, inheritors of the kingdom of heaven ; and 
 by receiving the Eucharist at the altar of the Mass, they 
 were afterwards supposed to be supported and nourished. 
 This sacrifice of the mass, too, was the atonement for 
 their sins committed after Baptism. One idea ran 
 through the whole system. It was that of sacramental 
 grace. To raise it in the estimation of the multitude, 
 all kinds of media were employed : legends were fabri- 
 cated, miracles were counterfeited, relics were gathered, 
 timber was collected, as pieces of the true Cross, suifi- 
 cient to construct a ship of war. Heathen customs were 
 adopted, and pressed into the service of this great delu- 
 sion. Those who resisted, were condemned and slaugh- 
 tered. The activities of violence changed hands ; and 
 those who succeeded, by descent, to the first martyrs, 
 became the authors of more cruelty and bloodshed than 
 ever blackened the history of heathen persecution. In 
 
70 LECTURE II. 
 
 teaching tlie truth, the Church had real difficulties to 
 surmount : but when she had departed from the truth, 
 and built her whole polity upon a sacramental forgery, 
 her difficulties multiplied beyond all control j and 
 though the wealth, and armies, and thrones of many 
 nations were at her command, yet the discovery of a few 
 books convulsed all Europe with the Reformation, and 
 split the whole fabric of her power, from its coping 
 stone to the foundation thereof 
 
 That step which, in the allwise mystery of a permis- 
 sive Providence^ was destined to push this spiritual 
 oppression beyond the power of endurance, consisted 
 in extending this power of conferring sacramental bene- 
 fits to the unseen world. It was not sufficient for them 
 to rivet the fetters of spiritual oppression on their victim, 
 in Baptism at his birth, and continue it through all the 
 relations of life, in sickness and in health, to the moment 
 of mortality ; but the power of the priesthood followed 
 the departed sinner into purgatory, and reigned over 
 the living by awakening compassion for the dead. 
 At length followed a recoil, which threatened the 
 whole ecclesiastical power with utter annihilation. In 
 G-ermany, Switzerland, France, Spain, the Netherlands, 
 England, and Italy itself, the convulsion was felt in 
 various forms, and with various results ; and all things 
 conspired to produce the greatest possible effisrt of self- 
 defence. Never was the genius of human nature more 
 wonderfully displayed, and never were its energies more 
 flagitiously misapplied. 
 
 The three great means at that time employed, in 
 defence of sacramental power, now technically designated 
 Popery, were legalized persecution, ivar, and negociation. 
 
COUNCIL OF TRENT, 71 
 
 Of the first, we have a melancholy specimen in the In- 
 quisition, whose records appear to differ from the his- 
 tory of a common slaughter-house only in this, that, in 
 the latter, a kind of humanity is observed, in speedily des- 
 patching the creatures which are slain, but, in the acts of 
 the Inquisition, death appears connected with inconceiv- 
 able and lengthened torture. Of war, the second means 
 employed in its defence, a painful example is given in 
 the thirty years' conflict of Germany, which found its 
 provinces occupied by sixteen millions of inhabitants, and 
 left it at the end of thirty years with only/oM?' millions, 
 reducing its population in those thirty years to less than 
 one-fourth. On these records of slaughter, I can spend 
 no time ; I rather pass to a most striking example of 
 the third means of defence, which is supplied in the 
 Council of Trent, in which we are to consider, — 
 
 Thirdly, The revised declaration of this Sacramental 
 error by the Church of Rome. 
 
 That important assembly was convened by a Bull 
 from Pope Paul the Third, in 1536. It met first in 
 Vicenza, and afterwards continued its sessions with 
 various interruptions at Trent, a town in the skirts of 
 Switzerland. There it met from 1545 till 1563, a period 
 of about eighteen years. It must be regarded altogether 
 in tlJe light of a defensive measure. It was granted to 
 the disputants with great reluctance. It was governed 
 by profound intrigue, and it terminated in drawing the 
 line of separation between the Papistical and Protestant 
 Churches, with more definitiveness than ever. It did 
 nothing to reconcile, and little to reform : but it left an 
 authorized statement of papal doctrine ; and from that 
 time to this, the sacramental dominion of the Papal See 
 
72 LBCTUEE II. 
 
 has become increasingly absolute wbereTer it is acknow- 
 ledged ; wbile the error on which that dominion rests, 
 is still exhibiting its pernicious results in what form so- 
 ever it has been retained by her opponents. 
 
 On this part of our subject we need not detain you 
 long. The error in question is affirmed by the Council 
 of Trent, in its decrees, canons, and anathemas, which 
 relate to the nature of sacraments in general, to baptism 
 in particular, and to justification; of which baptism, is 
 said to be the instrumental cause. Baptism is conceded 
 also to infants, and the communication of grace by this 
 sacrament, is said to be invariable on God's part : and 
 finally, this is said to be given ex opere operato, and not 
 ex opere operantis ; that is, by the sacrament adminis- 
 tered, and not depending on the priest who administers 
 it. But since there is no attempt whatever on the part 
 of that Church to hide this view, we have no farther 
 need of proof. The great peculiarity of Rome is, that 
 she claims for herself the sole right and power of con- 
 ferring this gift, by baptism, in all the earth. It is an 
 universal monopoly of " sacramental grace ;" and she 
 declares every one to be accursed, who denies this right 
 and power in any form whatever. There is no need, 
 therefore, of farther proof. 
 
 The fourth particular that Inamed in the outline of this 
 lecture, is The retaAning of the same error in the Reformed 
 Churches. As far as those of Germany and England are 
 concerned, there needs no laborious proof, for the reason 
 that I have just mentioned with respect to Rome. The 
 Lutheran Church makes no secret of the fact. She 
 declares it in her confessions of faith and in her ritual ; 
 bvit, with this difference, that she does' not claim this 
 
CASE OP KEFOKMED CHTJRCHES. 73 
 
 power exclusively. Rome, wten consistent witb. her- 
 self, must deny this power in Luther, or in any other ; 
 but Luther, in claiming it himself, is not compelled by 
 his theory to deny this sacramental power to Rome. 
 In other respects the difference amounts to nothing 
 but a question of words. 
 
 This is equally true with respect to the Reformed 
 Church of England. She has adopted so nearly the 
 words of the Romish ritual, that it is impossible she 
 should not have retained the sacramental error of Rome. 
 It was clearly avowed by Cranmer, in the same year in 
 which the ritual was issued by authority; and not only 
 was the doctrine so avowed, it is retained in her articles 
 still. It is now taught in high 'places, and by her 
 highest authorities. Objections brought against Bap- 
 tismal Regeneration were heard in 1661, in the Con- 
 ference holden at the Savoy ; and they were there 
 rejected ; because the delegated authorities avowed their 
 belief in the sentiment as right in itself, and as essen- 
 tial to the constitution of their Church. She has declared 
 also, that the Regeneration is invariable, and not ex, 
 opere operantis, depending for its effect on the minister 
 who baptized : but ex opere operato, depending on the 
 baptism itself, through which, (in the same way as stated 
 by the Church of Rome,) Grod, the Holy Spirit, is said 
 by them to bestow this heavenly gift on Infants, as well 
 as on adults. The only point in which the Church of 
 England differs from that of Rome is, in denying to 
 Rome her claim to universal administration, and in 
 claiming for herself the sole right and power of rege- 
 nerating within the British dominions. 
 
 This fact cannot be more fully expressed than it is 
 
 B 
 
74 LECTTTRE IT. 
 
 in the following passage^ from a Charge, lately delivered 
 by the Lord Bishop of London. 
 
 " In this country the clergy of the EstablLshed Church, 
 " and they alone are entitled to the respect and obedience of 
 " the people, as their lawful guides and governors in spiritual 
 " things. They alone are duly commissioned to preach the 
 " word of God, and to minister His holy sacraments." — " It 
 " is ours to realize instrumentally to those for whom Christ 
 " died, the blessings of which the Levitical Priesthood ad- 
 " ministered only the shadows. It is ours to graft them 
 " into the body of Christ's Church, to initiate them into the 
 " saving truths of the gospel, to turn their hearts to the 
 " wisdom of the just, guiding them to Him who alone can 
 " deliver them from the bondage of sin, declaring as His 
 " ambassadors, remission and assurance of pardon ; and dis- 
 " pensing to His household the spiritual food and sustenance 
 " of His body and blood ; to do all this, and on that account 
 " to have the chief stations in that household, to be entitled 
 " to the attention and respect of all who belong thereto." — 
 Charge delivered in St. Paul's, on Monday, October the 10th, 
 1842 ; pp. 6, and 9, of the 7th edition. 
 
 I do not therefore think by any means that the Trac- 
 tarians of Oxford are to be condemned for inconsistency. 
 I hold them to be the most foil and candid expositors of 
 the doctrines of the Church of England ; for we find 
 again in the same Charge delivered by the Lord Bishop 
 of London, the following words : 
 
 " The doctrine of our own church, as to the Christian's spi- 
 "ritual life, has always appeared to me to be this ; justification 
 " begins in baptism, when the children of wrath are regene- 
 " rated by Avater and the Hoi}' Ghost, and are made the 
 " children of God. Remission of sins is expressly declared to 
 "be then given, and remission of sins implies justification, 
 " in the proper sense of the tenn. Grace is also then given, 
 " and by virtue of that grace the person receiving it, and 
 " thenceforth using and improving it, contmues to believe 
 
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY, 73 
 
 " in the atonement made bj' Jesus Christ, and to seek for, 
 " and realize the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and to be 
 " renewed day by day, in the inner man. As long as he 
 " does this he continues in a state of justification ; his sins, 
 " which cleave even to the regenerate, are forgiven, as they 
 " are repented of and forsaken ; and the work of sanctifi- 
 " cation goes on." — Ihid. p. 17. 
 
 It is less needful for me to detain you here, as the 
 tracts circulated by " Aquila" and " Presbyter," in your 
 own town, afford irrefragable testimony to the fact ; and 
 if they had failed in anything, ample information was 
 supplied by the Rev. Mr. Scott, in his lecture, recently 
 delivered on that particular subject, which I heard 
 with very great pleasure. 
 
 The question now to be considered, is, in what direc- 
 tion may w^e trace the descent of this dogma, to the 
 present time ? I suppose that, with the ample evidence 
 issued from Oxford, we need not stay to prove that the 
 Church of England, having retained the theory, has 
 been one means of securing its preservation. Whatever 
 be its value, she will justly claim her portion of the 
 praise, due for its present existence and effects. But 
 she must not monopolize the whole ; another claim must 
 be admitted, in favour of the Westminster Assembly. 
 
 That illustrious body of divines was convened in July, 
 1643, and sat, with various intervals, until March, 
 1652, a period of about nine years and-a-half.* They 
 dispersed on the very day when Cromwell expelled the 
 Long Parliament from the House. " The Assembly 
 of Divines," therefore, may, and ought to be, identified 
 with that body of legislators. It was their organ for 
 religious purposes ; on that Parliament it was dependent 
 * Note E. 
 
 £ 2 
 
76 LECTURE ir. 
 
 for its entire support ; and to the voice of tliat Parlia- 
 ment it was most courteously obedient. Moreover, 
 several of tlie persons wko sat in that Assembly were 
 also engaged in tbe Conference for reconciliation, holden 
 at the Savoy, in 1661, after the restoration of Charles 
 II. ; and the documents which were issued by them 
 on these two occasions, form the earliest, if not the only 
 that may be called authorities in the Non-Conforming 
 body. To bring out their views, so far as needful for 
 our purpose, will require but a very few words. 
 
 As the Assembly, and the parties in the Conference 
 were moving in nearly the same sphere of society with 
 their opponents, it is to be expected that they would 
 state their own views with more distinctness than we 
 can. In their list of objectionable parts of the ritual 
 of the English Church, which had then been restored, 
 the Non-Conformists mention eight ; of which, the fourth 
 is as follows. " That ministers be obliged to pronounce 
 " all baptized persons regenerated by the Holy Ghost, 
 " whether they he the children of Christians or not.'''' This 
 they said, was flatly opposed to the word of God. You 
 may find all the eight particulars, in Neal's History of 
 the Puritans, vol. iii. p. 88. 
 
 It is quite plain, from the words I have made 
 emphatic, that their whole discussion with the Episco- 
 palians on this statement, must turn on the questions 
 respecting an invariable regeneration in Baptism, and 
 the right of others to that sacrament, besides the children 
 of Christians. Thus much, also, ought, in justice to be 
 said upon the case, that the question of holding or 
 rejecting the error of baptismal grace, was never 
 submitted to the Episcopalians in that Conference. 
 
assembly's 'documents. 77 
 
 Other terms were preferred to that of " regeneration," 
 but the idea was retained by the objectors; and, in 
 all probability, much of their failure resulted from this 
 fact ; for the alteration they required would mar the 
 machinery of the Church, but not correct her princi- 
 ples. It was a question of words and of appropria- 
 tion, more than of principle ; and it still remains a 
 matter of very serious doubt, whether their proposed 
 alterations could have been an improvement. If the 
 ordinance had been confined to the children of believers, 
 there is abundance of proof that the use of the word 
 *' regeneration" might have been allowed, by the strongest 
 of the objectors. 
 
 My authority for this statement, though brief, is (I 
 liope) sufficiently conclusive to satisfy every inquirer ; but 
 if any think it insufficient, when this course of Lectures is 
 ended, I will meet the demand for evidence, ad satietatem. 
 
 The first proof that these Non-conformists held the 
 doctrine of "a spiritual gift in Baptism," and might 
 have used the word " Regeneration" in reference to it, 
 may be found in the 28th chapter of the Assembly's 
 ■Confession of Faith, which is as follows : — 
 
 " That Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, 
 " ordained by Jesus Christ, not oiil^^ for the solemn admission 
 *' of the party baptized into the visible Church, but also to 
 ■" be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of gi-ace, of 
 ■" his ingrafting into Chnst, of Regeneration, of remission 
 *' of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus 
 *' Christ, to walk in newness of life." 
 
 With such an article in their Confession, to reject the 
 word " Regeneration" in a ritual, was little more than 
 trifling ; especially when, besides affirming that in every 
 sacrament there is a sacramental union between the sien 
 
78 LECTURE 11. 
 
 and the benefit signified, they also state, that " The 
 " Sacraments become effectual meatis of salvation." The 
 Church of Rome says, the instrumental cause, but they 
 say: — 
 
 *' The Sacraments become effectual means of salvatioi^ not 
 ' ' by any po wer in themselves, or any virtue derived from piety 
 " and intention of him by vphom they are administered ; but 
 " only by the working of the Holy Ghost, and the blessing of 
 " Christ, by whom they are instituted." — Larger Catechism. 
 
 The grace, therefore, or gift in Baptism, which they 
 affirm, must be, as in the case of Eome, not ex opere 
 operantis, from the minister, but ex opere operato, from 
 the ordinance itself, by the working of the Holy Spirit ; 
 which latter was called by the council of Trent, " the 
 efficient cause of " justification," whilst Baptism was the 
 instrumental cause : — 
 
 Moreover, it is added, that : — 
 
 " The efficacy of Baptism is not tied to that moment of 
 ** time wherein it is administered, yet, notwithstanding, by 
 " the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not 
 " only offered, but really exhibited, and conferred by the 
 " Holy Spirit, to such, (whether of age, or infants,) as that 
 " grace belongeth unto, according to the council of God's 
 " own will, in His appointed time." — Confession of Faith, 
 Chap, xxviii. Sec, 6. 
 
 There is also one other point in which the Assembly 
 agrees with the modern Puseyites, in differing from 
 writers of the darkest ages. Baptism was at an early 
 period urged, on the pain of everlasting ruin, as if no 
 man could be saved without it. This is more cautiously 
 stated by modern writers, even of Eome. The Tracta- 
 rians also say, that all unbaptized persons are left to the 
 uncovenanted mercies of God ; and the Assembly of 
 Divines affirm that : — 
 
assembly's scheme. 79 
 
 *' Although it is a great sin to contemn or neglect this 
 " ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably 
 " annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated or 
 <' saved without it , or, that all that are baptized, are un- 
 " doubtedly regenerated." — Confession of Faith, Chap, 
 xxyiii. Sec. 5. 
 
 This, then, is all we need. If that Assembly differ in 
 any material point from the Romish and Reformed Epis- 
 copalian Churches, as far as this subject is concerned, it 
 will be found, not in their denying the bestowment of 
 "asjoiritual gift in Baptism" but in their choosing other 
 expressions to describe it, rather than that of " Regene- 
 ration j" and in their holding that the communication of 
 this grace was not invariable in the administration of the 
 Sacrament. They contended that the sacramental sign 
 should be administered to all the children of believers, 
 'but that the sacramental gift was conveyed only to such 
 of those children as were tlie objects of divine and sovereign 
 •election. By this they endeavoured to escape some diffi- 
 culties; but they plunged into others which involved 
 their whole system in contradictions almost infinite, and 
 in consequences which cannot be too deeply deplored. 
 
 The student of their documents will find that the 
 Assembly of divines has left an ample supply of materials, 
 to explain that decided revulsion of feeling, which fol- 
 lowed the Restoration, towards all that had been under- 
 taken and performed by them. They were great and 
 good men, but their aim was fatal to their effort. They 
 bruised the surface of spiritual tyranny, but they did 
 not wound its heart. Their axe was not laid at the root 
 of the evil. Into what hands so ever the ecclesiastical 
 power might pass, this sacramental dogma must always 
 have precisely the same effect. By their scheme it was 
 
80 LECTURE II. 
 
 made more contemptible, but not less pernicious : the 
 prajers and exhortations of their Directory, as constructed 
 for use in the administration of Baptism, are even more 
 delusive than the ritual of the Established church ; and, 
 as far as their legitimate effects have been developed, 
 those effects are not less to be deplored. 
 
 Since the Westminster Assembly, as far as we can 
 learn, no authoritative document has been issued by the 
 body of Non-conformists in England," Individual authors 
 of great merit exist in abundance ; but to obtain from 
 them any thing like an uniform statement of this Bap- 
 tismal grace, is utterly impracticable. They not only 
 differ from each other, but often appear to exhaust their 
 mighty strength, in struggling with the legitimate results 
 of their own instructions. We every where find them 
 in conflict with an element, which they have neither for- 
 titude to resign, nor power to subjugate. By aiming to 
 meet the undefined and general inclination of the human 
 heart to this heresy, they are ever betrayed into the 
 use of statements, that astonishingly approach to this 
 great element of Popery, which they all profess to 
 abjure; and, yet, when they have made the concession, 
 they shrink from and shudder at the result, as boys who 
 have approached the verge of a precipice. It is to this, 
 that we must ascribe the modern revival of Papal doctrine 
 and influence, in the British empire. Men are prepared 
 for it, by this circulation of the virus out of which it 
 springs. While the views of Baptismal benefits, now 
 taught in England, are maintained by the clergy, and by 
 the teachers of so many churches, to resist the advances 
 of Borne will be impossible. Men may call her hard names 
 as long as they please; yet, with a bold front, and 
 
RiCHABD .Baxter's scheme. 81 
 
 haughty bearing, she will still, and successfally, prose- 
 cute her design. 
 
 The great family of authors, to which this remark 
 will apply, may be divided into three classes ; one repre- 
 senting the Independents of America, the other the 
 Church of Scotland, and, the last, the Non-conforming 
 Psedo-Baptists of England. With diverse variations, 
 these all hold the sentiment in question in nearly the 
 same sense with the Westminster Assembly. The 
 variations appear not in the works designed for ordinary 
 teaching, but in those which are produced as means of 
 defence. One might think that many had but little 
 care what notion prevailed with the people, until, by 
 some accident or other, the whole theory came to be 
 in absolute danger. When roused to action by such 
 events, they rush to the breach made in their defences, 
 and maintain their position with whatever comes to 
 hand. It would involve something like a want of can- 
 dour, to attribute to the body all that, in such eiforts, is 
 written by individuals. But when they are dealing 
 with the moral consequences of their own statements, 
 that which they admit must be received in evidence. 
 Such is the case with Richard Baxter, who was engaged 
 in the Savoy Conference. He then objected, as I have 
 shewn, to one application of the word " regeneration," in 
 the ritual : but he affirms, in his Catechism, 
 
 " That, as children are made sinners and miserable by 
 " their parents, without any act of their own, so the}'^ are 
 " delivered out of it by the free grace of Christ, upon a con- 
 " dition performed by their parents." — Works, Vol. xix. 
 p. 264. 
 
 This " condition" is their Baptism : of which, in his 
 
 Directory, he says : 
 
 E 3 
 
82 LECTURE II. 
 
 " It is very true that you were sacramentally regenerate 
 " in baptism ; and all that are the children of promise, and 
 " have that promise sealed to them in Baptism, are 
 "regenerate." — Works, Vol. ii. p. 17. And again, " All 
 " that the minister warrantably haptizeth are sacramentally 
 " regenerate, and are in (foro ecclesiae) members of Christ, 
 " and children of God, and heirs of heaven." Works, Vol. 
 V. p. 46. 
 
 In precisely the same way, and with equal force, I 
 
 might confirm the view I have given of the Westminster 
 
 Assembly, by selections from Dr. Lightfoot, Dr. Peatly, 
 
 and Dr. Manton, who were members of that body, and 
 
 from Dr. Owen, and Dr. E-idgley who has written an 
 
 extended exposition and defence of the Assembly's 
 
 larger Catechism. Of those which represent the American 
 
 Paedo-Baptists, I might take, with equal success, the 
 
 works of Edwards, of Dwight, and Dr. Millar. With 
 
 all allowance due to the habits of their country, they 
 
 follow the Assembly of Westminster, and retain the 
 
 supposed spiritual gift in Baptism. But the most clear 
 
 effect of the Assembly's doctrine, has been shown in the 
 
 Church of Scotland. A pastoral letter, addressed by the 
 
 Presbytery in London, to the baptized of the Scottish 
 
 Church, in, I think, about 1828, contains these words : 
 
 " We do in faithfulness remind you of all the privileges 
 " which you have in Christ Jesus, through virtue of that 
 " Baptismal Covenant into which you were introduced by the 
 " piety of your fathers, whereby you were made partakers 
 " of all the blessings of the new covenant, all your sins 
 " being covered and remitted."* 
 
 About the same time, the Rev. Edward Irving, then a 
 member of that presbytery, published " An Apology for 
 '' the ancient fulness and purity of the Kirk of Scotland," 
 in which are these words — 
 
 * Note F. 
 
SCHEME OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH. 83 
 
 ■*' Our Reformers maintained that the Sacraments, to 
 " every true receiver of them, conveyed the grace of the 
 " Holy Spirit signified in Baptism, and the grace of com- 
 " munion with, and sustenance by Christ's risen body, signi- 
 " fied in the Lord's Supper ; insomuch, that every one who 
 " receiveth these sacraments, is responsible to God for all 
 " the grace therein contained ; whereof if he be found 
 " lacking or destitute, he is so found, not because the vessel 
 " was empty which he lifted to his lips, but because, though 
 " full, he had no knowledge, no faith, or no desire to partake 
 " the precious water of the present, and the joyous wine of 
 " the future dispensation, but did spill them on the ground, 
 *' and trample the hoi}' emblems with the holy things there- 
 " in contained under his profane foot." — Apology, S^c. p. 13. 
 
 These, you will observe, are only frank expositions of 
 the sentiments held and taught in the Westminster 
 Assembly. But the idea of which we speak, may 
 be detected in another way. The modern defenders of 
 Infant Baptism, for the most part, prefer contending for 
 the right of infants, or the children of believers, to 
 Christian Baptism. I speak of the popular position 
 adopted in all the pamphleteering of the age ; it is nearly 
 all put in that way. They plead for the right of infants, 
 or the children of believers, to Christian Baptism. Now, 
 what are we to understand by a right? Is it not a 
 claim to some good, in the enjoyment of which we are 
 to be protected by a just administration of the law 1 
 Such, I understand by the term " right." If so, then, 
 what is the good which infants find in Baptism 1 For, 
 since they have a right to it, and it is a wrong to with- 
 hold it, there must be a good in it, or the right is a right 
 to nothing. It is plain, therefore, that this notion of 
 Baptismal grace, confessed or not confessed, has still 
 been retained, wherever the Baptism of infants is thm 
 defended. 
 
84 LECTURE II. 
 
 But it miglit be asked, why all this labour • to trace 
 the origin and descent of this dogma to the present 
 time 1 I answer, it was necessary to prepare us for the 
 appeal to Scripture. You have seen with what diversity 
 of methods it has been stated and defended, and the 
 question has its peculiarity in the present time. First, 
 many hold it, and yet deny the charge ; and many 
 plead for it when other objects are to be gained than 
 that which they avow ; and now, also, we have the re- 
 presentatives of every ancient advocate, co-existing, and 
 conflicting with each other on the point. The first 
 advocates of this Baptismal gift, such as Valentine and 
 his adherents, had to contend with the ancient orthodox 
 Church, and pleaded for their theory, in the face of her 
 severest condemnation. Cyprian had to act upon the 
 Church, and the heretics too ; he condemned them, while 
 he beguiled her to retain the error which they taught. 
 The Papacy had its opponents in every country sub- 
 jected to its power. The Reformers opposed the Papists, 
 and the Non-conformists opposed the Episcopalian 
 Reformers. But now all are combined, and brought 
 into collision with each other ; each party claiming faith 
 in a Baptismal benefit, yet each assuming a peculiar 
 advantage to itself. The Romanist pleads that he is not 
 heathen, but Christ's agent in administering Baptismal 
 grace ; and yet the right for which he pleads resembles 
 more the washing in a heathen temple, as described 
 by Aristophanes, than the sacramental compact ad- 
 ministered by the Apostles of Christ. The Reformed 
 Episcopalians abhor the opus operatum of Popery 
 and seem to burst with spleen when it is attributed 
 to them ; yet they plead for precisely the same thing 
 
THE TBACTAKIAN EEVIVAL. 85 
 
 with tliat which they condemn. The Tractarians de- 
 nounce Popery with ostentatious zeal ; and yet, with a 
 frankness above all praise, show, that the vital element of 
 Popery is the life of their own Church, discipline, and 
 power. The Non-conforming Psedo-Baptists denounce 
 what they call the hateful doctrine of the Tractarians ; 
 and yet, they not only retain the principle of Baptismal 
 grace, for which the Tractarians plead, but often assert 
 it with less regard to scriptural language and discretion. 
 Before we can conduct an appeal to Scripture, in such a 
 case, it is necessary to know the character of the appel- 
 lants, and the nature of the case on which we have to 
 decide. Let us understand, first, with whom and what 
 we are dealing, that we may with propriety approach the 
 tribunal to which these advocates have appealed. 
 
 All that relates to the fifth particular, I mean Tlie 
 revival of this discussion in the %)resent day, may be com- 
 prehended under two remarks. First, tlie pecidiar cha- 
 racter of the times has rendered the maintenance of this 
 dogma far more difficult than at any former period. 
 Brethren, the Bible is abroad, and though the version that 
 we use is so made, as to give an unjust support to this, 
 and kindred subjects ; yet the general study of its pages 
 has had, and must have, a prodigious effect upon the 
 public mind. The advocates of every sentiment, not 
 directly supported by its injunction, will, through these 
 means, be forced to activity and invention. Hence re- 
 sults a fact observed and used by the Tractarians. They 
 say that it is less safe to rely on modern than on ancient 
 criticism. In many cases this may be supported with 
 justice, and in none more than in the case before us. 
 It will be hard to find a more extensive and gross per- 
 
86 LECTURE II. 
 
 version of Sacred Scripture, even in tlie firmest advocates 
 of Popery, through the darkest age, than is constantly 
 issuing from the English press, in order to maintain this 
 Baptismal grace and the rite of Infant Baptism. I may 
 mention, as a splendid instance of this, a few papers, 
 which have recently appeared in successive numbers of 
 the Congregational Magazine, relating to Baptism, as 
 received and administered in the ancient Church. 
 
 Moreover, there is one event which has tended to 
 rouse the energies of the Established Church in particu- 
 lar. The advance of general religious education, and 
 the spread of dissent, have had their effect, no doubt : 
 but these have been far more influential, since the pass- 
 ing of the new Registration Act. 
 
 You see here a little hand-bill. It is published by 
 the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge ; it 
 was issued in 1840 ; it is marked, " No. 191," — it is 
 headed, " Registration and Baptism." It is addressed, 
 " From the Minister of the Parish to Christian Parents," 
 The words are these : — 
 
 " As it is now made by law, the duty of the Registrar to 
 " register the birth of every child in his district, I think it 
 " my duty to caution you against a strange notion which 
 " sometimes prevails, that this registration of the birth does 
 " away with the necessity of Baptism ; and to remind you 
 " that your dutj' to bring your child to be christened — that 
 " is, made a member of the Church of Christ, by the holy 
 " sacrament of Baptism, remains altogether unchanged. 
 " Remember, that all human beings are born in sin, and 
 " that a child, until it is baptized, remains in a heathen 
 *' state ; is not a member of the Church of Christ ; has no 
 " part in the blessings purchased for us by Him ; is not a 
 *' partaker in the privileges and hopes of the Gospel ; nor 
 " an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. I earnestly, 
 ^' therefore, and affectionalely exhort you, that you will 
 
CONCLUSION. 87 
 
 " not be guilty of such neglect towards your infant, as to 
 " deprive it of the inestimable blessings which are derived 
 " from admission into the Church of Christ by the sacra- 
 " ment of Baptism ; but that you will not delay to present 
 " it at the holy font for that purpose." 
 
 It was foreseen, from the construction of that Act, (I 
 may say, by the very individual who suggested its 
 arrangements, in conference with Lord John Russell) 
 that this would remove one reason for carrying multi- 
 tudes to the Church.* Hence, the legal influence being 
 lost, arising from its value in a court of law, where the 
 register of the Church was necessary, in order to secure 
 our titles to estates ; a more important energy has been 
 found in the prominent idea of Baptismal Regeneration. 
 I do not say it was invented for the occasion, it existed 
 before ; and I do not blame the activity in urging it 
 which now prevails. If it be true, let it be taught ; 
 let it not only be taught, but let it be received ; let the 
 occasion from this activity be known also, that we may 
 judge rightly ; and, if the doctrine be found otherwise 
 than true, the sooner an active investigation explodes 
 the heresy, the better. I rather feel encouraged by the 
 event, therefore, because I am persuaded that nothing- 
 is so fatal to the interests of piety as supineness, and 
 whatever the trial that may lie before us, truth in the 
 hands of an omnipotent Redeemer, must, in the end, 
 prevail. 
 
 Long though I have detained, and I fear fatigued 
 your attention, it would be quite unjust to close this 
 lecture without one acknowledgment in favour of the 
 principal advocates in the subject under inquiry. It 
 must be acknowledged, in favour of the Tractarians, that 
 * Note G. 
 
bo LECTtJB,E n. 
 
 in making their appeal to Sacred Scripture, they have 
 adopted more soundness of principle, and more directness 
 of method, than any that have yet come to this investi- 
 gation. The Church of Rome flies by instinct into her 
 councils and traditions, as hunted game fly to their 
 cover. The Non-conforming Psedo-Baptists have evinced 
 a timidity and feebleness, which is ever too much 
 excited to deliberate deeply ; and so given to change, 
 that we never can find a starting point with them, that 
 does not lie in the circumference of a circle, which 
 cannot by possibility advance farther than its own revo- 
 lution. But the Tractarians, and your townsmen, have 
 appealed to Scripture in behalf of their views, in a way 
 that must, if pressed, lead to a conclusion. It was this 
 which encouraged me to undertake this task, and still 
 encourages me to hope that your attendance will be yet 
 continued until the task has been completed. 
 
 The appeal to Scripture, which has been made by 
 the advocates of this doctrine, will be considered in 
 the next Exercise. I have now only to thank you, most 
 sincerely, for the stedfast, lengthened, and kind attention 
 of this evening. 
 
LECTUEE III 
 
 ON THE SUPPORT WHICH BAPTISMAL KEGENERATION, AND 
 ITS ATTENDANT EEKORS ARE SUPPOSED TO DERIVE FROM 
 SACRED SCRIPTURE. 
 
 Christian Friends, we shall now consider the support 
 which Baptismal Regeneration, and its attendant errors, 
 are supposed to derive from the Sacred Scripture. 
 
 But, in the last exercise, one fact of great importance 
 was omitted. It was then shown, that the idea of a 
 material or galvanic effluvium — in the Christian sacra- 
 ments, was traceable, through Cyprian and Valentine, to 
 the Eastern philosophy : which, partly from the name of 
 its teachers, " Magi," and partly from its general effort 
 to find out and use occult causes, gave rise to the name, 
 " Magic," and to the system so designated during the dark 
 ages ; and, even after the revival of letters in Europe. 
 The most important production of that school is our 
 modern science of chemistry ; among the most ridicu- 
 lous, were, the search after a stone or substance, supposed 
 to be able to change all kinds of metals into gold, and 
 the compounding of an elixir that should make mankind 
 immortal. It was the rule of that body, to seek for 
 essences and seed in everything. Like the followers of 
 Isis and Osiris, in Egypt, they hunted for processes of 
 generation, both in heaven above, and in the earth 
 beneath, in the sea, and in all things that are therein ; 
 and they sought, and seemed to find, a generating 
 
90 LECTURE III. 
 
 essence of grace in the sacraments and institutions of 
 the Christian religion. 
 
 But it was not then stated that, after this theory had 
 been introduced into the Christian Church, the ancient 
 number of the sacraments was not deemed sufficient for 
 dispensing its supposed benefits. Having associated the 
 idea with Baptism, at the birth, it was thought well to 
 unite it with Confirmation. It was then added to Mar- 
 riage, that this interesting relationship might not be 
 without its advantage : then, the idea was combined 
 with Ordination, that the clergy might have its benefits. 
 The Eucharist was supposed to be retained in the service 
 of the mass, where the dogma of transubstantiation 
 exhibited the prevalence of this heresy over all truth : 
 Confession was thought a healthful appendage ; and 
 Extreme Unction, seemed essential to complete the exhi- 
 bition of this chemical, or rather chimerical, remedy for 
 the souls of men. 
 
 It is worth while for Englishmen to consider deeply, 
 how the expanding generosity of the ancient Church, in 
 opening her stalls for vending this precious element 
 called " grace," agrees with the system now spreading so 
 rapidly over this nation. The present Lord Bishop of 
 London, has not only declared the reality of such a 
 communication in the Baptism of his Church ; but he has 
 also associated the idea with the ceremony of Marriage. 
 While compelled to acknowledge the marriages of Dis- 
 senters, as valid in law, he actually designates them, 
 marriages without grace; and makes them, ecclesiasti- 
 cally, nothing more than another kind of adultery. 
 With a finesse, which is execrable in one holding his 
 station, and in the act of delivering a charge to his 
 
OF (JRACE IN MARRIAGE. 91 
 
 clergy, he says, " We are not to declare, hy any act of 
 " ours, that parties so married are living in a state of 
 " concubinage. If such a marriage he without spiritual 
 " grace, which the Church connects with matrimony ivhen 
 " duly solemnized, the parties have deprived themselves of 
 " it hy their own act, and we are not to remedy it hy an 
 " irregular procedure of ours." — (Charge delivered at the 
 Visitation, in October, 1842 ; and reported in the Essex 
 Herald, of October 25, 1842.)* 
 
 This is too bad. If the Prelate chose to degrade, 
 thus, so large a class of her Majesty's subjects, he ought 
 to have done it directly. But, I could venture to submit 
 the whole controversy, respecting this magical communi- 
 cation, to the experimental proof resulting in that 
 relationship. Let the marriages of Dissenters be taken 
 as they run, graceless as they may be ; then, let them be 
 compared with those celebrated in the Church ; and, let 
 his Lordship show, in what the latter have the advan- 
 tage. If it be found, that persons married by ordained 
 clergymen are more faithful to each other, more tender- 
 hearted in afSiction, more pure in their conversation and 
 deportment, more constant in affection, that they turn 
 the relationship itself to better account, that they have 
 more, or better children, or care for them more scrupu- 
 lously in after life : we shall be glad to know it. If his 
 Lordship will show one single point, in which the grace 
 communicated by his Church in marriage has made its 
 recipients better, in body or in soul ; I am content to 
 give him all the argument, in favour of his power to 
 bestow the same grace in Baptism. But, in the mean 
 time, an appeal hath been made to Sacred Scripture j 
 which is now to be particularly examined. 
 * Note H. 
 
92 LECTURE III. 
 
 You will please, however, to observe, that this appeal 
 to scriptural authority is made, not in favour of Water 
 Baptism, as a Christian rite ; no party herein concerned 
 denies this : nor is the appeal made in favour of its 
 obligation, for that which the Lord so positively com- 
 mands, the parties consider ought, most certainly, to be 
 obeyed : nor is the appeal made by the Tractarians on 
 behalf of the Baptism of Infants ; for the decisive obli^ 
 gation of this practice, is, by all the advocates of modern 
 Baptismal Regeneration, and Baptismal Gifts, taken for 
 granted, whether it be right or wrong. Moreover, the 
 appeal is not made in favour of every kind of benefit, 
 supposed to be connected with this assumed duty of 
 baptizing infants ; for those advocates of that ceremony, 
 who oppose Baptismal Regeneration, plead, at the same 
 time, for benefits variously stated to be derived from 
 the same source. Lastly, this appeal is not made in 
 favour of the operation of the Holy Spirit in Baptism, 
 for it has been shown that Papists, Episcopalians, and 
 Non-conformists, all recognize His agency in whatever 
 benefits they ascribe to this rite. But the question, 
 which they wish to decide, is altogether one of degree. 
 The Tractarians say, that their opponents, that is, their 
 Paedo-Baptistical 02^ponents, " lower the fidness of scrip- 
 " ture truth" in denying the Regeneration in Baptism 
 for which they plead ; and, to justify this charge, as 
 well as to support their own practice, they have most 
 solemnly appealed to the word of Grod, as to the highest 
 possible authority. 
 
 The principal passages used by them, and now to be 
 considered, are Rom. vi. 3 — 13 j Gal. iii. 27 ; Col. ii. 
 10 — 15 ; and 1 Cor. xv. 29 ; which state the condition 
 
ARRANGEMENT OF PASSAGES. 93 
 
 of persons who were baptized in the Apostles' time ; 1 
 Cor. X. 1 — 15 j 1 Peter iii. 20 — 22 ; and Acts xix. 1 — 
 7 ; which supply illustrations of that condition : Matth. 
 xxviii. 19, 20 ; and John i. 11, 12 ; which state the 
 law of baptism : and Acts ii. 37 ; x. 34 — 48 ; viii. 4 — 
 24, 25—40 j xi. 1—18 ; with Matth. iii. 1—17 ; 
 which afford examples to elucidate that law. Most of 
 these passages have been selected by the advocates of 
 Baptismal Regeneration themselves, and used by them 
 to support their theory. The argument, which they 
 found on these premises, is briefly as follows : — All 
 children are alike born in sin, and, by nature, children 
 of wrath : and, they are proper subjects of Baptism. 
 But, in these passages, all baptized persons are spoken 
 of as children of God, and inheritors of salvation by 
 Christ. It is never said that they must be regenerated 
 after having been baptized ; and infants could not have 
 been regenerated before they were baptized : hence they 
 infer, that they must be regenerated ivhen baptized, or 
 in baptism ; which is Baptisrnal Regeneration. This, 
 they say, is a mystery, which we are not to explain, but 
 which is to be received by faith on the authority of 
 these passages in the word of God. 
 
 Let us now commence the work of examining this 
 argument, by stating — First, The concessions which must 
 he made to the Tractarians. 
 
 In the first place, it must be conceded to them, that 
 the question is to be decided by (lie authority of Scrip- 
 ture alone. We are not at liberty to reject any declara- 
 tion of the Holy Spirit, because it is beyond our com- 
 prehension. The way of God must, in the nature of the 
 case, be unsearchable to us. Hence proceeds the value 
 
94 LECTURE III. 
 
 of His government. If He guided our affairs always 
 in conformity with our conceptions, we might as well 
 have been left to regulate them ourselves. He shows 
 His love, in applying to our use that infinite wisdom, by 
 which His own happiness and glory are secured. Because 
 He is infinite, and we are before Him as nothing, we 
 must often be perplexed with His arrangements. Hence 
 the necessity for faith, and the discipline, as well as the 
 reward of our docility ; for, by submitting to Him, we 
 appropriate the perfections of the Godhead. Hence, 
 when He declares the mystery of the incarnation, of the 
 blessed Trinity, and of the resurrection from the dead, 
 we are not supposed to comprehend or to be able to 
 comprehend ; but, by believing, we use and enjoy the 
 facts. The great additions to all human knowledge, 
 which distinguish our holy religion, are all, in this way, 
 to be received and used. So also, if it be found that 
 Scripture teaches the doctrine in question, we are not 
 at liberty to ask. How can water regenerate 1 or. How 
 can the Spirit regenerate, by water 1 but we are bound 
 to abide with simplicity by the holy Scripture, which is 
 the highest authority to which we can appeal, until the 
 Lord Himself shall come and decide all questions by His 
 own judgment. 
 
 Secondly, it must be conceded to the Tractarians, that 
 those passages, in ivhich the inspired writers themselves 
 have declared the condition of all baptized p>ersons in their 
 time, are of the greatest consequence in this disp)ute. By 
 these, the meaning of the Holy Spirit may be ascertained 
 more perfectly than it could have been in their absence, 
 even from the clearest written law. The reason for this 
 is obvious. Human language is ever changing, and in 
 
CONCESSIONS MADE TO THE TRACTARIANS. 95 
 
 every age, words and phrases are used in diiferent 
 senses : so that every law may, by consequence, be nais- 
 interpreted ; but actual cases expound the law ; and 
 when these are incidentally introduced, interwoven with 
 most important doctrines and interests, and given by 
 the inspiration of God, the law becomes guarded, and 
 fixed by actual divine administration. To such cases, 
 therefore, we are bound to refer in all examinations of 
 this kind, and even when obeying the positive law of the 
 Redeemer, we are bound to use the utmost care to make 
 our practice, in similar cases, conform with these 
 examples. Happy is the man, who, in every depart- 
 ment of life, is found walking side by side with Christ 
 and His Apostles. 
 
 Thirdly, it must also be conceded to the Tractarians, 
 that the cases they have selected are precisely of this hind, 
 Rom. vi. 3—13 ; Gal. iii. 27 ; and Col. ii. 10—15 ; 
 for instance, are passages precisely of this character. 
 They all describe actual cases ; or, rather, they all de- 
 scribe the actual case of baptized persons, at that time, 
 and in the estimation of inspired men. They are all 
 introduced incidentally, in connexion with truths and 
 interests, which concern the whole body of Christ. No 
 person, in the Church, could be uninterested in the 
 doctrine of justification by faith, or in the protection 
 of that doctrine from abuse. Such, then, was the argu- 
 ment of Paul, in Romans vi. 3 — 13 ; where he proves 
 that no person, baptized into Christ, could sin that grace 
 might abound. So also with respect to Galatians iii. 
 27 : he is there proving the all-sufficiency of justifica- 
 tion by fiiith, a doctrine in which the hope of every 
 sinner is involved, and which the Galatians were in 
 
96 LECTURE III. 
 
 danger of relinquisliing, in favour of Jewish ceremonies. 
 And, lastly, tlie powerful argument, in Colossians ii. 
 10 — 15, for purity of life, in the faith of Jesus, is bind- 
 ing on all in the body of Christ. With all these, there- 
 fore. Baptism is associated : and, as we study the sacra- 
 ment in their connexion, we shall learn its nature from 
 the highest authority : for, the works here quoted, were, 
 the avowed productions of the Holy Spirit of God ; and 
 the objects there sought, are essential to the constitution 
 and welfare of the body of Christ. There is no age in 
 which these great questions can become trivial : they 
 belong to us as Christians, and as men. 
 
 Fourthly, in their exposition of these passages, several 
 things must be conceded to the Tractarians. 
 
 1. It must be admitted, that the jxissages relate to all 
 baptized persons in the ancient Church. This argument 
 lies, with all its weight, against those, who assume that 
 two kinds of baptized persons existed in the Apostles' 
 days. To maintain this, they have recourse to a slight 
 error in the authorized version of Galatians iii. 27. It 
 is there said, " As many of you as were baptized into 
 " Christ have put on Christ ;" and these polemical 
 divines use that phrase, as though there were some bap- 
 tized persons who had not put on Christ. This is neither 
 the meaning of our translation, nor that of the original 
 Greek. The nominative oaoi {as many as), means all 
 such persons as were baptized ; and, since Paul was 
 reasoning with that Church, his argument is built upon 
 this feature in their case. Their Church, however, was 
 formed by the law of Christ, which was given to all the 
 Churches. They were alike then, and hence, the lan- 
 guage, which was used in addressing the Church in 
 
CONCESSIONS MADE TO THE TRAOTARIANS. 97 
 
 Komej is also employed in addressing those of the 
 Galatians and Colossians ; and the idea, which the expres- 
 sion conveys, is absolutely essential to the constitution of 
 Christian Churches universally. There were other Bap- 
 tisms in ancient times ; some, performed when wor- 
 shippers were entering heathen temples, or when some 
 particular acts had been perpetrated, as described in 
 Aristophanes ; others, performed when men were enter- 
 ing into the temple of Jerusalem ; and others, connected 
 with the Jewish sects. Each of these might have its 
 own peculiarity and proper designation ; but, the pecu-^ 
 liarity of the Christian Baptism was, that every one who 
 had been baptized, entering into Christ, had put on Christ. 
 This made the Baptism, Christian ; not heathenish, 
 Jewish, or merely customary, but Christian, and, the 
 thing affirmed of it, in one case, was true of it in every 
 case. All persons baptized into Christ, did put on 
 Christ. 
 
 2. It must be granted to the Tractarians, still farther, 
 that, the affirmations here made respecting baptized persons, 
 involve the whole business of salvation. It is in no modified 
 or restricted sense, but in the most general, vital, and 
 authorized sense, that the terms employed in these pas- 
 sages are applied to the persons baptized. Indeed, it is 
 difficult to suppose that the Holy Spirit could sanction 
 a loose, indefinite, and deceptive use of words, in 
 any case, especially in one so responsible and solemn. 
 What can be the value of inspiration at all, unless it 
 give a certainty, and definiteness, to the vehicle of divine 
 communication 1 It was not in any such deceptive way, 
 therefore, that Paul told the Romans they were under 
 grace ; but, in a sense which involves the safety of the 
 
98 LECTURE rti. 
 
 soul, and a triumph over sin. In his Epistle to the 
 Galatians, the defined and declared purpose of the Apostle 
 was, to show the security of their position, and to induce 
 them to retain it against all opposition whate^wer j urging 
 as a reason, that, being in Christ Jesus, they were 
 sons of God, and heirs of salvation, according to the 
 promise. Their position, in Christ Jesus, is also said, in 
 Romans viii, 1, to be one against which, and in which, 
 there is no condemnation. It is a state of justification 
 before God ; through the righteousness of Him in whose 
 power we are placed. Moreover, the condition, so 
 described, is one to which a fruition of all the gospel 
 promises is pledged. For, to be in Christ, is to be sub- 
 jected to His guidance, and dependent on His aid j so 
 as to be confessedly, and entirely, and willingly in His 
 power. Such persons, are said to be " new creatures," 
 because these moral elements are the very opposite of 
 that self-will, and self-dependence, out of which all sin 
 is produced in the human heart. Where this change 
 has taken place, therefore, there can be no destruction ; 
 and where this is wanting, there can be no safety. The 
 affirmations of Paul do not describe features merely inci- 
 dental and unimportant ; but a vital, and most indis- 
 pensable, condition of eternal life. His words and his 
 reasonings alike, show that Paul regarded the state in 
 which these baptized persons were recognized to be, as 
 the only one in which a sinner could, with safety, wait 
 for death and judgment and eternal life. 
 
 3. We must admit a farther argument of the Tracta- 
 rians, which is, that all these affirmations are 'personal, and 
 not relative. When the act of Baptism is to be used as 
 a figure or type, for the instruction of others, there is 
 
CONCESSIONS MADE TO THE TRACTARIANS. 99 
 
 ample evidence given in the writings dictated by the 
 Spirit, to make this appear ; but no such evidence is in 
 these cases to be found. The Holy Spirit is speaking of 
 facts, and their consequences. He speaks of conse- 
 quences to be enjoyed by the very persons of whom the 
 facts are affirmed. The Baptism of the ancient Church 
 is here spoken of, not as a thing by which the union of 
 other persons to Christ was proved, or its necessity 
 shown j but as an event, which exhibited the relation to 
 Christ and eternal life, of those very persons who were 
 baptized. Hence, the meaning would be just as clearly 
 expressed by using the words : — "All ye, who were bap- 
 ** tized into Christ, have init on Christ; and being in 
 " Christ, ye are sons of God, and heirs according to the 
 " promise." It was their privilege to have a position, in 
 reference to God and the great salvation, which was per- 
 fectly secure ; which could not be changed without sin 
 and danger ; in which, all the obligations to holiness of 
 life were in the highest degree binding ; and, in which, 
 the fulness of divine aid was secured by the covenant 
 of grace. The whole argument is personal ; all these 
 blessed declarations are personal ; and, in the words of 
 the Tractarians, these • passages contain declarations of 
 privileges, blessed and inconceivable, rather than duties 
 to be performed hereafter. 
 
 4. It is necessary to make a still farther concession ; 
 for, they say : — " It is no where implied that any 
 " Christian had not been regenerated ;" and, " The very 
 " error of the Novatians, that none who fell away after 
 " Baptism could be renewed to repentance, will appear 
 " nearer to the truth of the gospel, than the supposition 
 " that, persons could be admitted as dead members into 
 
 F 2 
 
100 LECTURE III. 
 
 " Christ, and tlien afterwards be for the first time quick- 
 " ened," The principal part of this statement is, fully 
 confirmed 'by the passages before us. They represent the 
 persons who had been baptized, in every case, as those 
 in whom the great change necessary to salvation had 
 already transpired. The acts, imputed to them, are all 
 of such a kind, as necessarily suppose the operation of 
 spiritual life. The expression,. — "having been buried 
 with him in our Baptism," used in Colossians ii, 12, 
 describes an act of the person who was baptized ; as Avell 
 as, an act of the Church to which he submitted. The 
 same may be said of Romans vi.' 4. It describes the 
 act of the baptized person, together with the end that he 
 proposed in the act. " We through Baptism have been 
 " burned tvith him into his death, in order that, as Christ 
 " was raised up from the dead, through the glory of the 
 " Father, e'ven so we also might walk in newness of life." 
 The passage quoted from Galatians iii, 27, is equally 
 clear : — " For ye, as many as have been baptized into Christ 
 " have ptit on Christ." Here the expression, " have put 
 " on Christ," used in reference to all who have been 
 baptized, is active; and describes what the persons 
 themselves performed. But, to " put on Christ," to be 
 " buried with Christ," and to do this, " that the body of 
 " sin might be destroyed," are actions which are incon- 
 sistent with the absence of any spiritual life. Such acts, 
 if performed without faith, would involve hypocrisy of 
 the grossest kind. But the faith, which could do this 
 sincerely, must, by the words of the gospel promise, be 
 connected with salvation. Moreover, all these actions are 
 described in the past tense. They are recorded as mat- 
 ters of history ; not as things which are to be done 
 
CONCESSIONS MADE TO THE TRACTAEIANS. 101 
 
 hereafter, but as things which have heen done, wherever 
 the Baptism has transpired. Hence a baptized person 
 is never, in the New Testament, exhorted to consider the 
 necessity of his future Regeneration. He is urged, in 
 manj»ways, to live in conformity with the principles to 
 be carried out in the body of Christ : but, it is never 
 said to a baptized person, " Except thou be born again 
 " thou shalt never see the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 The ways, in which different classes of Psedo-Baptists 
 strive to evade the important truths thus urged by 
 the Tractarians, are exceedingly diverse. Some have 
 assumed a spiritual hirtli-right, in favour of all children 
 born of persons who profess to believe that Jesus Christ 
 is the Son of God \ and then make their Baptism a seal 
 of their supposed hereditary claim to the covenant of 
 grace : but the Tractarians urge that, this is denying 
 the doctrine of original sin ; and, in a treatise already 
 published, intitled, " Hereditary Claivis to the Covenant 
 " of Grace considered and rejected," I have shown that 
 this theory is fatal to the doctrine of justification by 
 grace through faith alone, and to all the best interests 
 of true religion. Others, make the Baptism to be 
 unconnected with any advantage conferred upon the 
 person who is baptized, and suppose the sacrament to 
 be useful only in teaching and awakening the sympa- 
 thy of others : but the Tractarians justly reply, that 
 all the affirmations in these passages are of a personal 
 nature; and relate to the very individuals who were 
 baptized. Another class contend, that Baptism is only 
 used to teach us what we are to seek in the Church, and 
 at the hands of our merciful Redeemer. They dress up 
 the idea in all the tinsel of imaginative beauty, arid 
 
102 
 
 LECTUEE in. 
 
 appropriateness, as if it were for us to judge respecting 
 that whicli is fit for Jehovali to ordain ; forgetting that 
 " the Bible," " the Bible only," and not the dreams of an 
 imagination heated in controversy, " is the religion of 
 "Protestants;" but, the Tractarians say, with iruth, 
 and most unanswerably, that these blessings are asso- 
 ciated with Baptism in every case, as past acts, and 
 recorded with verbs in the past tense ; and that, before 
 such a theory can be received, the rules of grammar 
 must be broken, and the controversial combatant must 
 take the responsibility of altering the sense of God's 
 most holy word. Lastly, (that I may pass over all 
 unimportant variations of sentiment in the case,) others 
 allow, that the sacrament is, by the Holy Spirit, made a 
 means of communicating grace to the person baptized ; 
 and yet deny that the person is thereby regenerate : 
 to these, the Tractarians reply unanswerably, that the 
 blessings which are here associated with Baptism, are all 
 such as involve the change of heart which is necessary 
 to salvation. Hence, the Scriptures speak of baptized 
 persons as those who, in Christ, are sons of God and 
 heirs according to the promise. These advocates of 
 Infant Baptism, and its supposed benefits, are com- 
 pelled, therefore, to allow, that the blessings associated 
 with Baptism in holy Scripture, necessarily and always 
 involve a spiritual Regeneration : or, otherwise, they 
 must declare that, by the benefits of this ceremony, 
 sinners may be saved, without being regenerated at all ; 
 which would involve a contradiction of all the Saviour's 
 instructions, as well as of those delivered by His holy 
 Apostles ; for He said, "Except a man be born " again, 
 lie cannot see the kingdom of God." 
 
THE QUESTION, AND PEBMISE3 OBTAINED. 103 
 
 I have detained you so long on these concessions, 
 which are now avowedly made hy us to the modern 
 advocates of Baptismal Regeneration, because I wish to 
 do them justice. It is grievous, at any time, to see a 
 contrary course adopted, towards any one ; but, espe- 
 cially, toward those whom we think to be in error. All 
 hope of benefiting such, must be built upon the strict 
 regard which we pay to justice and charity, in dealing 
 with them. It is, also, the most direct way of coming 
 to the truth, A kind and dignified concession, of all 
 the points in which men agree, is the most direct way of 
 deciding, those on which they diiFer. It is so in the 
 present case. By thus carefully defining these unan- 
 swerable affirmations of the Tractarians, we have arrived 
 at a most important alternative : for, if it be, by these 
 passages which they have selected, so clearly proved that 
 Baptism, and a saving change of heart, are essentially 
 united in the sacred Scripture ; then, the whole question 
 that remains to be decided is, whether this saving change 
 of heart he given in the Ba2otism, or whether it he required 
 in every candidate, hefore Baptism, as the indispensable 
 condition of its administration ? To decide this, which 
 is the great question- in dispute, I must recall your 
 attention, for a short time, to the passages already 
 named. 
 
 Observe, therefore, most attentively, first, that all 
 these affirmations are made absolutely, with no regard 
 whatever to any time or incident that might he siqyjiosed 
 to have transpired after Baptism. It is a positive decla- 
 ration, unguarded and unmodified, that, without excep- 
 tion, all who had been baptized into Christ, had put on 
 Christ, had been buried with Christ, had crucified the 
 body of their sin, had become partakers with Him in 
 
10 4: LECTURE III. 
 
 the likeness of His deatli, were under grace, did enter- 
 tain the purpose of rising with Him in a newness of 
 actual life on earth, were children of God by faith in 
 Christ Jesus, and (therefore) must have been believers. 
 All this is affirmed absolutely, of every one, without any 
 regard to subsequent time or incident. Some had been 
 baptized into Christ several years before ; and of them 
 the affirmation is true ; but, others might have been 
 baptized into Christ only a week, or an hour ; yet 
 the statement has no reference to the length or the 
 shortness of the interval, but relates to every one, whether 
 he were baptized but yesterday, or at the Pentecost. 
 Wherever the Baptism had taken place, there the affirma- 
 tion is made, in the same sense, and without any restric- 
 tion. This is, in fact, the plea of the Tractarians 
 themselves, and will not be, by them, I hope, denied : 
 therefore, we infer with them positively, that every man 
 came, from the Baptism, a person of whom all these 
 things could, and ought to be, properly affirmed ; and 
 therefore, also, he was thenceforward recognized in the 
 Church, as a subject of that change of heart which is 
 essential to salvation, and as a partner and brother in 
 all the hopes, privileges, and obligations which, by the 
 ordinance of Christ and the covenant of mercy, were 
 confirmed to the whole body of Christ, that is to say, to 
 every believer under heaven. 
 
 I entreat you, most calmly and solemnly, to remember 
 that I am now doing nothing more than gathering out 
 of these passages, the positive instruction which they 
 supply in the case,, and which has, indeed, been col- 
 lected and pleaded for in the Oxford Tracts ; and, remem- 
 bering this, to consider, — 
 
 Secondly, That all the affirmatio7is here made are such 
 
THE PREMISES OETAIXED. 105 
 
 as necessarily/ imply the existence, developement, and ttse, 
 of personal, intelligent, and voluntary action. 
 
 This is true witli respect to every individual of whom 
 these affirmations are made. It is not said of all bap- 
 tized persons, that they had been clothed with Christ, 
 with the livery or uniform of His service, or with His 
 justifying righteousness ; but, using an active verb, in 
 a past tense, the Holy Spirit saith, " Ye have put on 
 " Christ.'" This was their own act, therefore, and not the 
 act of another. So, in like manner, it is said, " Ye have 
 " crucified the flesh with its aflections and lusts ;" and 
 therefore, the crucifixion of the body of their sin, and 
 their becoming partakers with Christ, in the likeness of 
 His death, were tlieir own acts. They are also " children 
 " of God hy faith in Christ Jesus." They must, there- 
 fore, have believed, and be still believing. But not 
 one of these acts, of the persons baptized, could have 
 been performed without some reflection, without choice, 
 without some attention to the past, present, and future 
 condition of man. The aim and resolution, expressed 
 in the words, " in order that as Christ was raised up from 
 " the dead hy the glory of the Father, even so we also might 
 " walk in newness of life," — is quite decisive of this fact. 
 It implies a conviction that the old life, though the 
 ordinary life of man, was yet, both blameable in itself, 
 and unsafe to him that pursued it ; and the intention 
 indicates a confidence in Christ, by whom alone the new 
 life can be, both guided, and sustained. It was thus 
 with the Apostle Paul himself He went doA\Ti into the 
 water of Baptism, a reputed Jewish persecutor ; but he 
 came up out of the water, an avowed Christian. In 
 conformity with that character which he thus embraced 
 
 r3 
 
106 LECTURE III. 
 
 and arowed, lie fortliwitli went into the synagogue ; 
 and, denouncing his former views and practices, he dared 
 the trials of his new life, even in the face of imminent 
 mortal danger. Hence, in Romans vi. 4, he says, " We 
 " became buried with Him, that we also might walk in 
 '' newness of life.'''' This was no thoughtless, involuntary 
 act : it was one which involved all his interests, and, to 
 use his own expression, placed him "in jeopardy every 
 hour." In the language of Justin Martyr, it was " setting 
 " himself apart for God." In his own inspired language, 
 it was, "putting on Christ ;" it was, " being buried with 
 " Christ ;" it was, " crucifying his sinfal flesh ;" it was, 
 " presenting his body a living sacrifice, holy and accept- 
 " able to God, which was his reasonable service." 
 
 The passages do not describe by what means the men 
 were brought to perform these acts. It is only affirmed 
 that they were performed by every baptized person ; 
 and, this fact itself, will do much to settle our inquiry : 
 for, since these divinely authorized cases clearly show, 
 that every one who received Christian Baptism did per- 
 form these several acts, and exercise the moral capabili- 
 ties and inclinations, which these acts require; we may 
 conclude, that no person whatever, who is known to be 
 incapable of these acts, can be a proper subject of 
 the Sacrament ; and that, therefore, the Sacrament 
 when administered to such, is wrongly administered. 
 Moreover, since Papists, and Protestants, and those Non- 
 conformists who unite with them in pleading for a spi- 
 ritual gift in Baptism, do all unite in affirming that, the 
 gift is conveyed only when the Sacrament is rightly 
 administered ; then, consequently, the wrong adminis- 
 tration of a Christian Sacrament, to persons known to 
 
THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS CONDEJUSTED. 107 
 
 be incapable of performing tbe acts ascribed in Scrip- 
 ture to its recipients, can never, by tbeir own showing, 
 be a means of communicating any spiritual grace at all. 
 Sucb tben, precisely, is tbe case of infants, for wbose 
 Regeneration in Baptism tbe appeal to tbese Scriptures 
 has been made. From the yery passages which the 
 Tractarians have selected, and by the facts which they 
 have most justly deduced therefrom, it is demon- 
 strated, not that infants are regenerated in Baptism, but, 
 that the baptizing of them is not only unautho7'ized hy, 
 hut positively inconsistent toith, the word of God. For, 
 dear as are the interests of these most tender objects of 
 our care, and sweet beyond description as the solicitudes 
 which make us seek their good must be ; yet, who will 
 have the hardihood to affirm, that every infant taken 
 from the font of Baptism has, when the ceremony so 
 named has been performed, actually himself believed, 
 renounced the world, as his own act, become buried with 
 Christ, entertained in his own mind the purpose of 
 rising to a newness of life, and set himself apart for God ? 
 Such affirmations, if directly made, would, on the face of 
 them present an absolute absurdity. The Church of 
 England has decided this matter, with high authority : 
 she, and her teachers, know that these things are not 
 the case ; and hence, sponsors have been appointed for 
 the child. By this unauthorized and unchristian act, 
 of taking the proxy for the principal, they declare, 
 that the persons, whom they baptize, are incapable of the 
 Sacrament which they profess to administer. It is daring, 
 and impious, to affirm of infants, what Paul affirms of 
 ancient baptized Christians only. These passages prove 
 that they are not, and cannot be, the persons spoken of ; 
 and, therefore, that to them, at least, this Sacrament can 
 
108 LECTURE III. 
 
 never be tlie ordained means of communicating any- 
 spiritual grace or benefit, because to tbem it never can 
 be properly administered. 
 
 I by no means wish to degrade the subject, or to 
 injure tbe feelings of any one ; but tbe illustration 
 afforded by the ancient Catholic practice, of baptizing the 
 bells used in cburcbes, ought not to be passed by. For, 
 if Baptism, as a divine sacrament, be an invariable 
 means of communicating an eflSuvium called grace, 
 supposed to be given therein by an Omnipotent Spirit, 
 to the subjects of Baptism, whenever it is rightly 
 administered ; then, if a bell be rightly baptized, this 
 sacrament must also be a means of so communicating 
 grace to it ; and the bell, which has been baptized, 
 must also have been regenerated. But any advocate for 
 regenerating bells in Baptism may speak, with an iron 
 tongue, and with a mouth of brass, before he will be 
 believed ; for the bell is incapable of any act ascribed, 
 in these passages, to the recipients of Christian Baptism. 
 The true answer in such case is, the hell ought not to he 
 hajytized at all. To do it is a desecration of the holy 
 name of God. It is an assumption which He has never 
 authorized. Such, then, is the reply furnished by these 
 passages, to which the advocates for Infant Baptismal 
 Regeneration have appealed. From their most direct 
 and positive instructions, we learn, that infants ought 
 never to he haptized at all ; and, that any construction 
 of the Saviour's law, which admits them to this Sacra- 
 ment, will place His divine commandment in direct 
 hostility with those declarations of the Holy Spirit, to 
 which the advocates of that practice have themselves 
 appealed. 
 
 But, if it be asked what shall we do with all that mass. 
 
THE CASE OF ADULT BAPTISMAL EEGENEEATION. 109 
 
 of writings wliicli has been girculated, wliicli is circulating, 
 and •which is yet increasing, in favour of Infant Bap- 
 tism and its supposed benefits 1 I answer, lay them by 
 among your curiosities, as medicines prescribed for the 
 dead. A time will come when, without such evidence, 
 men will not believe that such absurdities could ever be 
 invented by human beings. But, if you wish to decide 
 the question, and to be directed in the service of your 
 Lord, you must regard the Holy Scripture, if not as 
 your only guide, yet certainly as a guide to which you 
 pay the most devout and humble deference. The Trac- 
 tarians, " Aquila," " Presbyter," Papists, Non-conforming 
 Paedo-Baptists, all appeal to this testimony. Let their sys- 
 tems be brought to it, therefore, that they may perish ; for, 
 be quite assured that this error, and its supposed trans- 
 forming power, depend, not on the authority given for 
 them in the Word of God, but on the ignorance of that 
 blessed treasure which so lamentably prevails amongst 
 mankind even to the present time. The Tractarians 
 affirm that the question must be decided by Scripture : 
 let the Scripture be understood, therefore, and all such 
 hallucinations shall vanish like a sickly dream. 
 
 The supposed Baptismal benefit has also been asso- 
 ciated with the Baptism of adults. It is necessary, 
 therefore, to consider how far the evidence, supplied 
 from these sources, will enable us to determine the ques- 
 tion, in that case. 
 
 As far as the case of infants is concerned, the passages 
 before us show, distinctly, that the moral acts associated 
 with Baptism are Such, as we know them to be, in the 
 nature of things, absolutely unable to perform : but, the 
 depraved condition of man remains after those natural 
 
110 LECTTTEE III. 
 
 difficulties have been removed. The energies of thought 
 may be developed by education, and genius the most 
 brilliant may, by the force of mental discipline, com- 
 mand the admiration of our species ; yet, the heart may 
 remain unaffected by sacred truth, and regardless of all 
 the just claims of Deity to our worship. Every induce- 
 ment, given to encourage our faith in the Redeemer, may 
 be thus rejected. The preaching of the cross was, on 
 that account, foolishness to the ancient Gentiles, and 
 scandalous in the estimation of the Jews. The carnal 
 mind was thus enmity to God ; and thus it still remains. 
 Circumstances, which are ever changing, may modify 
 the developement of this truth ; but, the principle is the 
 same in every age. Men still love to dictate their own 
 line of conduct ; and, to rely on their own resources. 
 This is the natural inclination of fallen man ; it has 
 grown ancient by its allowance since the fall, and it 
 forms the old life of sin. To submit under divine 
 authority, — to act, and live, and hope, and fear, rejoice 
 and grieve, just as the teaching of Christ dictates, — is, 
 whenever it comes to be produced in a human heart, 
 quite a new thing. It involves the resignation of 
 former hopes, and the cherishing of new ones ; the rejec- 
 tion of former rules, out of deference to the instrucy 
 tions of Christ ; the renunciation of all dependence on 
 our own resources ; and, an absolute reliance on the 
 mercy of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. It is not, 
 merely, a declaration of the imprudence of our former 
 course, that is here involved ; but, a confession of its 
 guilt. It is bad in principle, as well as ruinous in its 
 effect. It is on this point, that the great struggle for 
 conversion has to be maintained with fallen men. They 
 
ADDITIONAL PREMISES OBTAINED. Ill 
 
 will justify themselves before God ; and, treat their sin 
 only as a calamity. Hereby repentance is prevented, 
 the overtures of mercy are repelled, and everlasting 
 ruin is entailed upon multitudes who sink into per- 
 dition under the sound of a gospel proclamation. A 
 deep and inveterate alienation of heart is exhibited : and 
 it is this, which prevents a recognition of the Redeemer's 
 claim to our reverence and trust. 
 
 Such is the present inclination of mankind, as they 
 come into the world ; and, to describe it, the strongest 
 figures have been selected by the Holy Spirit. With 
 respect to divine overtures, this enmity is said to make 
 men deaf, so that they do not, will not, hear; with 
 respect to obvious facts, which unfold the power, 
 righteousness, and love of God, it is said to make them 
 blind ; with respect to his active service, this depravity 
 of the human heart paralyzes man, and makes him dead 
 in trespasses and sins ; with respect to the reconciliation 
 and friendship to which God invites us, it is an absolute 
 aversion, and is never developed so perfectly in its opera- 
 tion, towards the Redeemer, as when, by the lips of those 
 who consummated His death, it cried, " Away with him, 
 " away with him : Crucify him, crucify him." Such is 
 the moral state into which men have fallen ; and with 
 which they are brought into this world. They are sub- 
 jects of depravity, and children of wrath. But what 
 is here affirmed of all who were baptized in the Apos- 
 tles' day 1 Not that they continued in this state, cer- 
 tainly ; but that they had solemnly abjured it. They 
 had crucified this old man, that the body of sin might 
 be destroyed. They no longer despised the grace of 
 God, but bowed down under it. They no longer adhered 
 
112 LECTURE IIT. 
 
 to the old and sinful life of ordinary human society, but 
 were planted together with Christ in the likeness of 
 His death ; that they might with him, and, by His 
 guidance and help, rise up into a newness of life. They 
 not only did not despise, and hate the Saviour ; but, 
 for His sake, they recommenced their social existence on 
 principles entirely new, adhering to Him, and His cause, 
 under a pledge of devotion unto death ; and, separating 
 themselves from the world, as from that which is, both 
 dangerous in its tendencies, and execrable in its character. 
 Such, then, are the acts which the Holy Spirit recog- 
 nized in those who were baptized ; or, more properly, in 
 those who received Christian Baptism, in the Apostolical 
 Church. They no longer suspected the Redeemer, but 
 trusted in His truth and greatness. They no longer 
 rejected, but became partakers with Him ; being planted 
 together with Him, in the likeness of his death, to the 
 intent that they might rise with him to that newness of. 
 life which He both promised and enforced. They were 
 in Christ, subject to His guidance, dependent upon His 
 aid, and voluntarily resigned to His power. Their per- 
 sons and interests were placed, by their own act, altoge- 
 ther in His hands. This, then, is conversion ; for, " if 
 " any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature ; old 
 " things have passed away ; behold, all things are be- 
 " come new." — If you speak of it in reference to past 
 sins, it is repentance ; if in reference to past pursuits, 
 it is conversion : for it is turning from them to God and 
 His salvation. There is no change of heart necessary to 
 salvation, which these affirmations do not include or 
 imply. This is affirmed of all ; without any reservation 
 respecting time or circumstance. These acts, and the 
 
PKOMISCUOTIS BAPTISM CONDEMNED. 113 
 
 cliange of heart whicli they both imply and prove are, the 
 moment after the Baptism had transpired, all said to have 
 taken place ; and baptized persons are, in the Church, 
 thus recognized by the Apostles when acting under the 
 guidance of inspiration. Of these affirmations, there- 
 fore, there can be no doubt ; and, hence, there can 
 be no doubt, that these were recognized as converted 
 j)ersons. The change of heart necessary to salvation is, 
 therefore, recognized to have taken place in them all. 
 This is a simple, and an indisputable fact. The advo- 
 cates of modern Baptismal Regeneration, however, say, 
 that there is no conversion in Baptism. This is pleaded, 
 and pleaded with truth, by " Aquila," and by " Pres- 
 " byter," and by the Tractarians. In this they are qixite 
 right. There is no such thing as conversion by Bap- 
 tism spoken of in Scripture. These two facts decide 
 our case ; for, if there be no conversion by Baptism, 
 or in Baptism, and yet every person has been con- 
 verted when baptized ; then, every baptized person must 
 have been converted before Baptism ; and, the evidence 
 on which these apostolical affirmations are made, must 
 have been required and taken before the candidate was 
 admitted to the sacrament of Baptism ; and, therefore, 
 instead of supporting Baptismal Regeneration, these 
 passages condemn the practice of promiscuous Baptism 
 altogether. 
 
 One proof of this conclusion is supplied in the nciture 
 of the case ; for, if persons were baptized only with a 
 view to \hQvc future conversion ; then, there must have 
 been many baptized persons who had not yet evinced 
 their personal act of faith, and conversion to God. But 
 it is distinctly affirmed, that they were all sons of God 
 
114 LECTURE III. 
 
 by faith in Christ Jesus ; and, therefore, they could not 
 have been baptized with a view to their becoming be- 
 lievers, but on the evidence of their having believed. 
 
 A second proof is found, in the description of Baptism 
 which is supplied in these passages. " Presbyter," and the 
 Tractarians, have pointed out the important peculiarity 
 of the phrase fiaTTTL^errdai eiq Xpiarrov, to be baptized into 
 Christ. It describes the act of the parties engaged 
 in Christian Baptism, together with the ground on 
 which it was administered. It has a direct reference to 
 the phrase ev Xpitrru), " in Christ," which describes the 
 state in which Christians look for the final judgment of 
 God, without any fear of condemnation. The phrase 
 "in Christ," contains an ellipsis to be supplied by the 
 verb to be, as in Romans viii. 1. — "There is, therefore, 
 now no condemnation to them [that are] in Christ Jesus." 
 The phrase, " into Christ," contains an ellipsis to be sup- 
 plied by a verb of motion ; as in Galatians iii.. 27. " As 
 many of you as lentering] into Christ received Bap- 
 tism, have put on Christ." This distinguished the 
 Baptism of Christ from all others. The heathen were 
 baptized when entering into their mysteries and temples ; 
 that was heathen baptism. The Jews were baptized 
 when coming from the markets, or a journey, they 
 entered into their families, and the temple; that was 
 Jewish Baptism. But the Christian Baptism, was an 
 immersion, received by persons entering into Christ. A 
 striking proof of this is found in the oldest version of 
 Scripture extant ; I mean the old Syriac. It describes 
 the act of Baptism by the word ,ViV , omad, which means 
 to stand, or tahe a position, as a pillar is raised into its 
 place in a temple ; or, more ordinarily, as a soldier 
 
PROMISCUOUS BAPTISM CONDEMNED. 115 
 
 receives his place, or takes his stand on guard. This act 
 of receiving Baptism as persons entering into Christ was 
 thence treated as one involving the greatest obligations, 
 it being essential to the enjoyment of fellowship in the 
 ancient Church. As it was a public act of great solem- 
 nity, fall of hazard, and entailing most important con- 
 sequences ; it must have involved either a sincere faith 
 or a vile hypocrisy. Hence that severity, with which 
 Simon Magus was rebuked by Peter. Simon had re- 
 ceived Baptism, as one entering into Christ ; and yet 
 the mercenary principle of his life was not relinquished. 
 Peter, therefore, rebuked him with the grief and indig- 
 nation which result from injured and insulted confidence. 
 " I perceive," he says, " that thou art in the very gall of 
 bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." Why say 
 " I perceive," unless Simon had professed other princi- 
 ples, and a different intention ? It was thus, in every 
 case in which this purpose of self-devotion was im- 
 peached. The early Churches visited it with their 
 heaviest censure. If, in the case of martyrdom, the 
 confessor failed to maintain his Christian character, if 
 he did not die at his post, he was excommunicated as an 
 apostSte and a deceiver. In this view, it not only im- 
 plied conversion, but it entailed the obligation of entire 
 self-sacrifice. It remained for modern times, (I had 
 almost said for this present age,) for persons professing 
 evangelical sentiments, endowed with greater liberty 
 and privilege than Christians had ever before enjoyed, 
 it remained for them to teach, that hypocrisy perpe- 
 trated in this Sacramental act is a step towards con- 
 version. 
 
 A third proof of this fact, is found in the expression, 
 
116 LECTURE ni. 
 
 "put on Christ.'" It describes the act of assuming the 
 Christian character, by comparing it with that of a soldier 
 in putting on his uniform. This was to be worn, in the 
 Church and in the world ; and was to be maintained with 
 fidelity in both ; as an honour, as well as a mark of self- 
 consecration. If this were done sincerely, it involved con- 
 version of the heart to God : if done without conversion, 
 it was the act of a traitor, or a spy, and was to be treated 
 so, whenever it became known. 
 
 One illustration of this act may be found in the mili- 
 tary law. The enlisting is a voluntary act, which 
 depends on the choice of the individual. He may be 
 persuaded, and submit to persuasion ; nevertheless, it is 
 his own act : the oath, consequent upon it, is voluntarily 
 taken ; but when taken, the violation of that oath is 
 punished with the greatest severity. Such, then, was 
 Christian Baptism, and the putting on of Christ. It 
 was the voluntary act of a converted man, when pub- 
 licly entering into Christ ; if he received that Sacrament 
 without being converted to God, whenever it became 
 known, he was expelled as a traitor and a spy. 
 
 Another illustration is found in the law of marriage. 
 It is quite voluntary, in any one, to take a wife' or to 
 become a wife ; but, when a person has been married, 
 the law will hold him to the compact which it has 
 recognized. Thus, the Church is said to be married to 
 Christ; and each member, is, either sincerely converted 
 to His interests or is in the figurative language of Scrip- 
 ture, a spiritual adulterer. 
 
 The scriptural * doctrine of Baptism thus becomes 
 evolved, by the passages which have been named, and 
 by the examples now educed. For therein the Holy Spirit 
 
PROMISCUOUS BAPTISM CONDEMXED. 117 
 
 condemns tlie Baptism of infants, they being incapa- 
 ble of the acts herein attributed by Him to baptized 
 persons. He also condemns the promiscuous Baptism 
 of persons who have not evinced their conversion to God, 
 because these acts, in them, would be hypocrisy ; but 
 He exhibits the Baptism of believers as a public sacra- 
 mental act, by which the candidate avowed his purpose, 
 and the Church accepted his pledge of absolute and 
 everlasting devotion to Christ. Like the military law, 
 and the act of marriage, it was a means of bringing 
 individuals into an avowed position, which enabled the 
 Church to recognize their faith, or to punish their 
 hypocrisy. 
 
 The force of this reasoning is still farther seen, from 
 ] Corinthians xv. 29. The Apostle there proves the 
 fact of the resurrection, from the profession which had 
 been made in Baptism. The Corinthians were baptized 
 on a hope of the resurrection from the dead. This ex- 
 pectation decided them ; and it was essential to the 
 maintenance of a profession, which was constantly exposed 
 to martyrdom. Hence, he says, " If the dead rise not, 
 " whi/ are they baptized on a hope of the resurrection of the 
 " dead V This sense of the passage is confirmed by Chry- 
 sostom, as I explained in a former exercise. 
 
 The passage is one of peculiar importance ; because it 
 shows, in a striking manner, the moral use which was made 
 of Baptism as an act of Church discipline. It could have 
 been no such strange thing to St. Paul, for Corinthians, 
 in that day, to have entertained doubts respecting a 
 resurrection of the body from death. Such a feeling- 
 must have been entertained, by them, almost from their 
 birth : it was a moral element of their heathen nature; 
 
118 LECTURE III. 
 
 and to it the Apostle made no allusion. The fact of 
 which the Apostle reminds them is, that they who had 
 been baptized, and had themselves received Christian 
 Baptism on the hope of a resurrection of the body from 
 death, were entertaining such a doubt. This was the 
 strange thing; that they, after so receiving Christian 
 Baptism, should yet deny the resurrection from the dead. 
 It is quite clear, therefore, that Paul held them as respon- 
 sible parties in that sacramental act. The receiving of 
 Baptism was a part of their own history, like the act of 
 marriage : it was done by each one, personally, for himself, 
 and he was held accountable for it. Like the military 
 oath, it was a matter in which the Apostle admitted no 
 trifling or evasive prevarication. By that act the 
 interests of others were involved, as well as his own. If 
 a traitor be enrolled with the troops ; confidence among 
 comrades will be broken, and all the operations of the 
 war, will become less effectual. If the man, who has 
 become an husband, prove unfaithful, he is not only 
 degraded himself; a woman is ruined, and subsequent 
 generations will suffer wrong. The law provides, there- 
 fore, as much as possible, for the security of that 
 engagement. It is not recognized in law, until solem- 
 nized in legal form. The matrimonial oath, or com- 
 pact, like the military oath, must, therefore, have a 
 legal administrator and a legal administration, which 
 bring the compact within the recognition of authority 
 and administrative justice. So Baptism, also, hath 
 its legal form, and its legal administrator j and the effect 
 of both is precisely the same : the compact of faith in 
 Jesus Christ is brought out into public recognition and 
 use, and they bind it with the highest sanction that the 
 Church can srive. 
 
SCRIPTURAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF BAPTISM. 119 
 
 This whole doctrine derives a very powerful and 
 solemn confirmation, from, the passages which have 
 been very properly designated by Tractarians, " the 
 " illustrations of Baptism.'''' Of these we may select as 
 examples, 1 Corinthians x, 1 — 14 ; 1 Peter iii, 21 ; and 
 Acts xix. 1 — 7, The first is derived from the example 
 of the Jews ; who received an immersion, in the cloud 
 and in the sea, when they entered into Moses. The 
 second is derived from the case of Noah and his family ; 
 who were saved from the deluge in the ark. The 
 third is taken from the case of twelve disciples, who, 
 after the Saviour's resurrection, had received only the 
 Baptism of John. 
 
 By each illustration a peculiar object is obtained. 
 The first exhibits the essential relation which this 
 public act, of receiving Christian Baptism, bears, to the 
 subsequent severity of Christian discipline. The second 
 shows the relation of that act, to individual duty and 
 ultimate salvation. The third unfolds its essential 
 reference to the person, and work of Christ, as the 
 anointed, and only Redeemer of mankind. We shall 
 attend to these several cases particularly. 
 
 The first case occurs in a powerful exhortation to 
 Christian obedience and purity of life. To urge this, 
 Paul employs the example of the ancient Jewish people, 
 at and after the passage of the Red Sea. Previously to 
 that event, the whole matter of their deliverance was 
 one purely of negociation. If any individual, of their 
 tribes, refused to follow Moses out of Egypt, no tribunal 
 existed then at which he could be judged. When they 
 came to 4he sea, it was their own act to enter the divided 
 waters. They were then covered in by the cloud ; and 
 
120 LECTURE III, 
 
 tlius they became immersed, as they entered into Moses. 
 If they had so resolved, before the passage, they might 
 have turned back into Egypt ; but not so, after they 
 had passed to the other side. From that moment, they 
 were, under God, in the hands of Moses. By his means, 
 they received their direction, defence, and subsistence. 
 He was their anointed ruler: called, in one place, 
 their Christ. Under his government, they were made to 
 glorify the God of their fathers, either in the blessed- 
 ness which resulted from obedience, or in the punish- 
 ment which was due for their rebellion. They lusted, 
 and were smitten : they committed idolatry, and were 
 slain : they tempted their Christ, and were destroyed 
 with serpents : they became adulterous, and twenty- 
 three thousand perished in one day : they murmured, 
 and were destroyed by the destroyer : they were treated 
 as men in the hands of God ; and that nation, continues 
 to bear the same discipline, to this very hour. Nothing 
 else can explain the present condition of the Jews. By 
 the discipline of their covenant, they have become a 
 . wonder to all nations upon earth. These things, the 
 Apostle says, are for examples to us; for, having 
 been once baptized, entering into Christ, we are sub- 
 jected to His discipline, whatever the event may be. 
 Whether we go forward to life, or turn back again into 
 death, the vow of God is upon us ; and, in love or wrath, 
 His honour must and will be vindicated. This is the 
 whole point of the Apostle's exhortation ; and it is full 
 of the deepest solemnity. It ought never to be read 
 without prayerful self-examination. Hence, it has 
 sometimes seemed ready to break my heart, when con- 
 troversial critics have been found pecking at this, with 
 
SCRIPTURAL ILLtrSTRATIONS OF BAPTISM. 121 
 
 similar passages, as sparrows at work upon a flower, tearing 
 it to atoms, defacing its beauty, destroying its form, and 
 reducing it to absolute contemptibility j in order that, 
 being bereft oi all its grandeur and worth, it might 
 seem to yield a vain support for theories which deserve 
 not the smallest esteem. By this we learn, how ill men 
 are repaid for thus abrogating the solemn purposes of 
 inspiration, and turning away from those streams of 
 thought, which flow from the dwelling place of deity, 
 and, swelling into sublimest grandeur, rush to their 
 conclusion, like torrents ; as if to show, that their mer- 
 ciful author designed to carry all the soul with Him in 
 his kind intentions. 
 
 The case of Noah, in 1 Peter iii. 21, is not intended 
 to illustrate the mode of Baptism ; but the moral act of 
 him who received it, and the end which it contemplates. 
 Noah had not only faith in Grod, but also in the pre- 
 dicted judgment, and in the means of his preservation. 
 One hundred years were spent by him in preparing the 
 ark, during which time, his faith sustained the con- 
 tempt of a reviling world. He then entered into his 
 ark, with all that was most dear to him ; having none 
 other hope of preservation whatever. He did it publicly, 
 before a despising world. He looked for the judg- 
 ment, but he expected salvation; and that salvation 
 he obtained. His answer of a good conscience, was 
 found in his complete and personal submission and 
 conformity to the Divine will, as declared to him in that 
 case. Such also is the case of converted sinners who 
 receive Baptism on entering into Christ. They enter 
 into Christ without any reservation, public or private. 
 They do it in the hope of salvation, even from death ; 
 
 G 
 
132 LECTURE ni. 
 
 and tliose, who are not hypocrites in the act, are sure of 
 the salvation which they seek : but the very act itself 
 implies a change of heart, which separates them from the 
 principles, the life, and confidence of thft fallen world. 
 
 The twelve disciples, re-baptized by Paul at Ephesus, 
 were obviously Sabians ; or had received the Baptism of 
 John at the hands of that sect, which was numerous for 
 many years in Asia Minor, after the death or ministry 
 of our Lord. This was quite unlawful. It was not 
 entering into Christ; which was the pledged intention 
 of those who received John's Baptism during his minis- 
 try. . Hence Paul, having explained the error, baptized 
 them, as men entering into Christ, according to the gospel 
 rule. The sincerity of the act was attested by the gift of 
 the Holy Spirit, which followed ; for it is stated that 
 they spake with tongues, and prophesied. The fact of 
 their receiving such a testimony from God, as the de- 
 scent of the Spirit, and the bestowment of miraculous 
 gifts, can leave no doubt of their conversion and faith, 
 they must have been sincere believers, giving themselves 
 up to Christ. 
 
 The propriety of thus interpreting these passages 
 is clearly seen, from two forms in which the law of 
 Baptism has been recorded. The one describes that 
 duty in connexion with its preliminary process. The 
 other, describes the privilege of those, in whom this pre- 
 liminary process had produced its proper efi^ect. The 
 first statement of that law was given to the administrators 
 of Baptism ; the second, defines the character and privi- 
 leges of such as are the proper recipients of Baptism, 
 The first is given in Matthew xxviii. 16; it commands 
 the apostles to go out and disciple all the nations. As 
 
THE LAW OF BAPTISM. 123 
 
 tliis was effected, they were to baptize them into the 
 name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; 
 teaching them to do all things whatsoever Christ had 
 commanded. Now Paul, in the passages which we 
 have been considering, says, that such persons, when 
 baptized, did, themselves, put on Christ ; and were sons 
 of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. But John, in the 
 second passage I refer to, declares this truth in quite 
 another way. In the first chapter of his Gospel, and at 
 the 11th and 12th verses, he distinguishes these per- 
 sons from all unbelievers, saying of the Redeemer, " He 
 came unto his own, and his own received him not ; but 
 as many as did receive Him, He gave to them a power 
 to become children of God, to those who believed, 
 [enteringi into His name ; who had been begotten, not 
 of blood, nor of a will of flesh, nor of a will of a man, 
 but of God." The word t^ovalav, translated poiver, 
 means that kind of power which is exercised by a just 
 claimant in a court of law. He can demand the estate 
 and hold it under legal protection. The persons pos- 
 sessing that power, or right, are pointed out by two 
 expressions. They are persons who received Him, 
 [Christ], and who did believe; who believed so as to 
 enter into His name ; to wear it as an honour, and to 
 act in it as their sole authority. These were real dis- 
 ciples, and these had power to become children of God ; 
 that is to say, to enter His family, and to share its privi- 
 leges. They were first begotten of Him, and then born 
 into His family, and thenceforth recognised as its 
 members j not by bloods of kindred, or of sacrifice ; nor, 
 i)y any dictate of the flesh ; nor by any will or autho- 
 rity of man; but by God's own word and appointment. 
 
 g2 
 
124 LECTURE III. 
 
 Having been begotten again, or created anew, tbey were 
 tben born out of water and tbe Spirit, into tbe family 
 of God on earth : thenceforward they were received as 
 children, and members in the body and household of 
 Christ. 
 
 You will please to observe, that the last passage, by 
 stating and affirming a positive, rejects and denies the 
 opposite; and, as those who receive Him, believing, 
 have a power to become children of God ; so, those who 
 reject Him in unbelief, have no power to become children 
 of God. Any attempt, on their part, to claim this holy 
 privilege, is a clear imposition on the Church ; and a 
 direct violation of its law. They have no right to take 
 upon themselves that holy character; being still in 
 nature's darkness, and under the curse of sin. They 
 have a previous question to consider : as rebels, they are 
 bound to turn ; as sinners, they are called upon to repent. 
 No merely assumed character will confer upon them 
 any safety, either in the present life, or in that which is 
 to come. It is he only who believeth that can be saved ; 
 and that belief which leads to no repentance, is no belief 
 at all. Until a man becomes a believer, in this vital 
 sense, he is to be numbered with the ranks of the 
 adversary ; and, if an enemy be found disguised within 
 the lines at a time of war, by the military law, he is 
 shot, not nourished as a brother, and trusted as a 
 friend. 
 
 The evidence of this truth is, however, still more com- 
 plete ; for it derives great support from the examples of 
 Saptism, which are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 The remark of TertuUian, which I read to you in the 
 last exercise, that the eunuch was not one who sought a 
 
THE EXAMPLES OF BAPTISM, 125 
 
 precipitate Baptism, is applicable to them all. You 
 have only to consider the circumstances of the men, and 
 the character of the age in which they lived; and the 
 cases will speak for themselves. At the Pentecost, for 
 instance, when the blood of the Redeemer was yet fresh 
 upon the Golgotha, where he died, and when every 
 movement of His disciples must have provoked His 
 murderers, who held the highest authority; what could 
 have led the three thousand to espouse the cause of this 
 recently crucified Nazarene, unless it were a deep con- 
 viction that his murder was a crime, that His claims 
 were just, that His salvation was the only refuge of 
 mankind, and that His power with God was all sufii- 
 cient 1 Admitting these truths, they must have been 
 prepared to meet scorn and suffering of every kind, for 
 His sake. This is repentance and conversion ; and, in 
 this state of heart, they entered His family by Baptism. 
 
 The case of Cornelius was just the same. His devo- 
 tion to Christ was contrary to all his interests in Judea, 
 and all his natural feelings, both as a Roman and as a 
 fallen man : but his view of the Saviour's claims, and his 
 regard for his authority and grace, repelled all objec- 
 tions ; and, if his own obedience was not a sufficient 
 proof of his conversion, the Spirit, which fell upon him 
 with miraculous gifts, ought to remove all doubt. 
 
 The Samaritans had been, some years before, prepared 
 by Christ himself to expect the mighty power of God 
 in the person of Messiah ; but they were afterwards 
 misled, by Simon the Eastern teacher. Through the 
 preaching of Philip, they were led to believe in Jesus ; 
 and all their errors and sins were solemnly renounced, 
 when they were received into the family of Christ by 
 Baptism. 
 
126 LECTURE III. 
 
 Tlie Ethiopian is a case of great power and beauty. 
 To maintain his obedience to the law of Christ, would 
 place bim in direct hostility to the Queen he servfed : 
 if his encountering this was not a proof of his sin- 
 cerity, the early and splendid triumph of Christianity 
 in his mother-land, amounts to a demonstration, that 
 the faith with which he returned was neither fruitless 
 nor vain. 
 
 The Philippian gaoler exhibits just what we might 
 have expected in a conversion wrought under circum- 
 stances so impressive, and so unusual ; and the instance of 
 Saul, the persecutor, presents the operation of faith in 
 an attitude absolutely sublime. Yet it has remained 
 for the audacity, (excuse the word, I cannot find one 
 more appropriate,) it has remained for the audacity of 
 modern times, to impeach the faith of this ancient 
 Church, and of these its converts, afiirming that, at their 
 baptism, they were all unconverted men. Were it not 
 for the sake of others, we ought never to respect such 
 affirmations, but to punish their authors with the 
 silence and the feeling which they deserve. Such men, 
 however, cannot fall alone in their rashness and ini- 
 quity. " One sinner destroys much good." I am 
 pleased to say, that the inquiries prosecuted in this town 
 have not yet been stained with such approaches to blas- 
 phemous impiety ; and I hope that they never will be ; 
 yet, while you reverence the grandeur, and admire the 
 virgin beauty with which the Christian Church burst 
 into existence, do not forget that all her perfection 
 resulted from the sensitive determination with which 
 she shrunk from all fellowship with unbelievers, and the 
 works of darkness. 
 
 By some it has been disputed whether the case of 
 
THE EXAMPLES OP BAPTISM. 127 
 
 Nicodemus, related in John iii. 1 — 12, refers to the 
 sacrament of Baptism at all ; but, in my opinion, the 
 objection to this view of the passage cannot be sup- 
 ported. Admitting, therefore, that it does refer to Bap- 
 tism, one or two points of great moment are determined 
 by it. It is clear, from its construction, that there 
 are two cases to which the expression, horn again, or 
 begin life anew, is applied ; or otherwise, that there are 
 two agencies spoken of, whose operations unite in that 
 one event. I incline, decidedly, to the latter view. 
 There are, therefore, we admit, two agencies employed 
 in that new birth ; the water and the Spirit. By these, 
 a converted man begins life anew. Not by water without 
 the Spirit, nor by the Spirit without the water; but by 
 the water and the Spirit. The visible action of the water, 
 or rather of the whole sacrament, of which it becomes the 
 instrument, is seen in the Church; where, as an autho- 
 rized act of discipline, it declares the character, and 
 seals both the privilege and obligation of every believer 
 in the family of Grod, The action of the Spirit takes 
 place in the mind and heart ; and, leading and sustaining 
 the believer, reveals itself in the effects produced upon 
 the devoted convert. Each is essential to the support 
 of that new life, into which a believing sinner rises 
 and enters from the moment of his Baptism. If he 
 seek salvation by the Baptism, without conversion to 
 God : he acts the hypocrite, and the ceremony is 
 reduced to a mere heathenish form. If, knowingly, he 
 seek salvation and Church fellowship in the neglect of 
 Baptism ; he dispenses with the ordinance of Christ, 
 and is reminded, that faith without works is dead. This 
 is the argument of TertuUian, and of the ancients, 
 
128 LECTURE IIL 
 
 wlio agree witli him. HencCj we can see from tlie very 
 words of our Lord, and those of the Apostle John, the 
 position which Christ has assigned to this sacrament 
 in the arrangements which were made for our salvation, 
 and His glory in the world. For it is said, " Of His own, 
 " will hath He (God) begotten us hy the word of His 
 " graced Here, and in this way, the first operations of 
 mercy begin. The word of His grace, blessed by the 
 Holy Spirit, produces faith. Then a sinner receives, 
 for the first time, the recognizing fruits of hi& 
 Redeemer's atonement. By the operation of his faith, 
 he seeks to become a recipient of the Baptism ; in 
 which, he is openly separated from the world, and figu- 
 ratively born into the Church. He is then to be regis- 
 tered as a child, and trusted as a brother, and held 
 responsible as one devoted to God ; being set apart, by his. 
 own act and at his own request, for the service and glory 
 of his blessed Redeemer; and sustained, in his duty and 
 calling, by the Spirit which is promised to consecrated 
 believers, in every extremity, and according to their 
 necessities. 
 
 "Presbyter" has laid great stress on the supposition, 
 that tlie benefits of the death of Christ are for the first 
 time brought home to individuals in Baptism; but the 
 Scriptures, to which he appeals, show, that these benefits 
 of the death of Christ are not brought home to indivi- 
 duals in Baptism at all ; excepting only, that the merit 
 of His atonement is the only ground on which the pri- 
 vilege of Church fellowship has been by God conceded 
 to any sinner. His notion respecting the first time, has 
 obviously arisen from his mistaking the import of Scrip- 
 ture terms j and, from his confounding the one with the 
 
ON THE WOBDS EEGENERATION AND NEW BIRTH. 129 
 
 other. To be horn, and to be begotten, do not mean the 
 same thing; and his argument would seem to suppose, 
 that men were born first, and begotten afterwards, which 
 is absurd. Grod has chosen these terms from the course 
 of nature, out of mercy to our weakness ; and, it 
 is daring temerity to treat them with lightness, turning 
 them to the worst of purposes, and pushing discussion 
 where delicacy can scarcely follow it. By Generation, a 
 creature is made to he ; and, by birth, that creature is 
 hrought forth into the world, to be recognized as a being, 
 to be nourished with tenderness, and to become a par- 
 taker in the privileges and responsibilities of human 
 society. So also by Regenei^ation, a new creature is made 
 to he ; and, in being horn again, that new creature is 
 hrought forth into the Church j to be received with 
 affection, nourished with care, and to be a partaker in 
 all the privileges and responsibilities of Christian society. 
 By his Regeneration, a sinner passes from darkness to 
 light, and from the power of Satan unto God ; but, by 
 his new birth, he passes into recognized existence, as one 
 who, through the Spirit which hath quickened him, aspires 
 to the service and fellowship of his Saviour, and, is 
 destined to overcome the world, through the guidance, 
 and help of the Saviour to whom he is committed. 
 
 Moreover, the expression, " horn again," is applied to 
 individuals, in a way which supposes the previous exist- 
 ence of that vital and renewed state of heart, whicli is 
 essential to the society into which the person is said to 
 be born again. All unconverted sinners are represented 
 as dead in trespasses and sins ; but a child, that is born 
 dead, is never registered in any nation. In this respect, 
 the event has precisely the same relation to the pro- 
 
 g3 
 
130 LECTUEE in, 
 
 ceedings of a Ciiurcli, -which the military oath, and the 
 marriage ceremony, have to their several tribunals and 
 laws. If a man be, by nature, and by law, unqualified 
 for the ranks, the military oath will not qualify him. 
 If parties be legally u.nqualified for marriage, the cere- 
 mony will secure to them no protection under the laws 
 which guard that compact ; and, if a child be born of 
 woman, yet it is not registered as a subject, if it be born 
 dead. So likewise in the Church, if an unconverted 
 man should gain admission to the Baptism, his being 
 born of water will not secure to him the right of 
 Christian fellowship : this deception, perpetrated in the 
 name of Grod, is no ground on which he can claim the 
 confidence of brethren, devoted to each other, and to 
 God, in the spirit of martyrdom. He is born dead ; and, 
 when that fact is known, he is cast out as a dead thing. 
 If not visited with obvious vengeance, as Ananias and 
 Sapphira were, he is cast away with rebuke, as Simon 
 Magus was. The law of the case is given by our 
 Lord himself : and it applies to every act in which the 
 culprit fails in the consecration to which he became 
 bound. He is to be cut off, and to become as a heathen 
 man and a publican. This law has no exception what- 
 ever. Even those who have the form of godliness, if 
 without its power, are denounced with unqualified con- 
 demnation. The Church, therefore, is intended to be a 
 society of men endowed with spiritual life : uncon- 
 verted men have no place in its fellowship. There- 
 fore, (when it has been dressed in all the meretri- 
 cious ornament that imaginations, heated by contro- 
 versy, can, by possibility, yield,) the practice — pleaded 
 for by " Presbyter," and his brethren the Tractarians, 
 
THE WORDS EEGENERATION AND NEW BIRTH. 131 
 
 of introducing to the Church, by Baptism, those whom 
 they acknowledge to be unconverted, and therefore 
 destitute of the change of heart which is necessary to 
 salvation and Christian confidence ; — when described in 
 the figurative language of the passages to which they 
 appeal, is, neither more nor less, than, systematically, in 
 the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, register- 
 ing abortions in the household and family of God ; orj 
 to drop the figure, it is systematically corrupting the 
 society of the Church, and reducing the character of her 
 fellowship, to that of the guilty, and polluted world, 
 from which, by the clearest and highest obligations, she 
 is bound to be separate for God. 
 
 As to our using the figurative term, new birth, as one 
 descriptive of the act by which those who gave them- 
 selves first to the Lord, and then to His Church, were 
 admitted into its fellowship ; I have only to say, with 
 the Rev. Mr, Molyneux, that it is altogether a question 
 about words. It was suitable to the time, and country, 
 in which our Lord and His Apostles lived and taught ; 
 and if it be liable to misconstruction with us, there are 
 other scriptural terms, which may, with equal propriety, 
 be employed. But, whatever be the resolution formed 
 by difierent parties on that subject, this, at least, 
 must be considered with the utmost care. We are not 
 at liberty to employ, when describing the inward opera- 
 tions of divine truth, and the work of the Holy Spirit 
 upon the heart, terms which have been applied, by the 
 saered writers, only to the outward, official, and social 
 acts of the Christian Church. This, if persevered in, 
 will confuse all our ideas of the work of salvation. Nor 
 are we at liberty to apply to infants, or to any persons 
 
132 LECTURE III. 
 
 respecting wliose conversion we entertain a doubt, words? 
 and phrases, by wliich the inspired authors, have pre- 
 sented to us the privileges and duties of persons who 
 were recognized as true believers. I say that this must 
 not he done. No argument thus obtained can be 
 admitted as of any force, except to show the temerity 
 and weakness of him who uses it. By such a process, 
 we may make the Scriptures seem to teach us anything. 
 No censure can be too severe for him, who, knowingly, 
 perpetrates so base a deed. Cruelly he stands between 
 a forgiving God and His offending people. Such a 
 man corrupts, in its choicest documents, the covenant 
 of salvation granted to a dying world. Daringly he 
 tramples on the peace of man, even in the presence of 
 Grod who taketh vengeance. To dash the lighthouse 
 from the rocky shore, were but compassion when, com- 
 pared with this. And yet this, even this, is the OTie, 
 the only source, of all that deserves the name of argu- 
 ment in the works which advocate this fatal error. I 
 will not say that they do it knowingly, but they do 
 apply to the operations of the Spirit what Scripture ap- 
 plies to the act of profession : and they affirm, of infants 
 and persons known to be unconverted, at their Baptism, 
 what the Holy Spirit affirms, exclusively, of men who 
 were received as true believers. Thus they increase 
 their own importance, it is true : making that official, 
 which is and must be personal; but thus they close 
 against mankind the way of life, and open, to deluded 
 millions, a wide and flowery thoroughfare to death. 
 The end, which they accomplish, is as ridiculous as it 
 is execrable. Appealing, with something more than 
 confidence, to Scripture ; when they have been brought 
 
THE BAPTIZED FAMILIES. 133 
 
 to its tribunal, wlien their own selection of passages 
 has been admitted, after many of their own interpreta- 
 tions and inductions have been allowed, out of those 
 very inductions and interpretations we find, — ^first, that 
 the benefits which they ascribe to this Christian sacra- 
 ment are altogether a delusion; that the Infant Bap- 
 tism, or the promiscuous Baptism, for which they plead, 
 is an absolute violation of the law of God ; and, 
 secondly, that the only thing supported by those passages, 
 as by all the New Testament, is the Baptism of accredited 
 believers, which though they cannot agree together in 
 stating their own theories, they all unite in their prac- 
 tice, and in their teaching, to condemn. 
 
 I might have concluded here ; but the circumstances 
 of your case require that a few words be added, in refer- 
 ence to the baptized families mentioned in the Acts, the 
 Abrahamic covenant, and the Baptism of John ; on which, 
 however, I shall detain you but a very short time. 
 
 Upon the first of these topics, you are requested 
 to observe, that we are only dealing with positive scrip- 
 tural authority. All that needs to be shown, there- 
 fore, is, that the facts recorded agree perfectly with the 
 conclusion to which we have arrived. The households 
 which were baptized are, that of Cornelius in Cesarea, 
 that of the gaoler, and that of Lydia, in Philippi, and 
 that of Stephanus in Corinth. That they were baptized, 
 is readily admitted ; but, then, it is also written, that 
 they believed, or that they rejoiced in the Lord, and, in 
 some cases, both are affirmed. In order to make these 
 events serve the controversial purpose, our modern critics 
 suppose that there were children in these households, 
 who could not believe. I do not wish to controvert the 
 
134 LECTURE III, 
 
 fact of their supposing it. But these authors will allow 
 us, as we are bound to believe, that Luke, writing under 
 the inspiration of Grod, was more likely to be accurate in 
 his affirmations, than these interested parties are, in their 
 suppositions; especially since the supposition, if true, would 
 make the record of Luke directly at variance with 
 the affirmation of St. Paul ; who hath solemnly declared, 
 that all who were baptized, entering into Christ, did put 
 on Christ, by the act of their own faith. You will please 
 to observe, that in the highest and best view of their 
 case, you have only the supposition of the moderns set 
 against the affirmation of the inspired ancients. Tou 
 have only to consider, therefore, in this instance, whether 
 you will, or ought not to, take the affirmation of the 
 inspired historian and Apostle, rather than the mere 
 supiposition of modem controversialists. 
 
 The second topic would scarcely have demanded our 
 attention at all, but for the kindness of a clergyman in 
 your own town, who directed attention to a work en- 
 titled " The Churchman's Manual of Baptism." It was 
 written against what he calls " the Anabajytists." That 
 author ought to have known more of the parties thus 
 named. Those persons do not hajytize again, as this 
 word implies ; but they merely plead for Christian Bap- 
 tism, instead of that ceremony which has, to so great an 
 extent, taken its place. In a Tract, published twelve 
 years ago, on that subject, I have shown that sprinkling 
 is not Baptism in any case ; and that the immersion of 
 infants is not Christian Baptism at all. We do not bap- 
 tize again, therefore : we only practice the reality, in- 
 stead of an empty substitute. In this work, however, 
 there is something peculiar. The author pleads for the 
 
THE churchman's MANUAL OF BAPTISM 135 
 
 Baptismal Regeneration wliicli we have just seen con- 
 demned by holy Scripture ; and defends the claim of 
 infants to this privilege, as he calls it, by appealing to 
 the Abrahamic covenant. That stale argument, when 
 admitted, only defends the Baptism of children born of 
 believing parents, and leaves his church without any 
 support whatever, in baptizing children who have not 
 believing parents : and farther, as a defence of the 
 ceremony when performed on the children of believers, it 
 has no force until it is admitted that they have an here- 
 ditary claim to the covenant of grace ; while the prin- 
 cipal support of his " Baptismal Eegeneration," is rested 
 on the supposition, that children, not regenerated in Bap- 
 tism, are left entirely to the uncovenanted mercy of 
 God, which is a contradiction in terms. Moreover, to 
 escape the allegations made by Non-conforming Psedo- 
 Baptists, who oppose Baptismal Eegeneration, he dis- 
 tinguishes between regeneration and conversion ; making 
 the latter to depend upon the use which is made of the 
 grace which he supposes to be received in the former. This 
 Author requires us to believe, therefore, that unconverted 
 sinners, when blessed in conformity with his dogma, 
 have a double claim to the salvation contained in the 
 covenant of grace, which was sealed and realized to 
 them personally, in the Baptism, whereby he says that 
 they were regenerated. He also requires us to be- 
 lieve, that theee claimants, on a double ground, have no 
 Tioye of salvation, notwithstanding, unless they become 
 spiritually quickened and begotten again after they had 
 been horn again, after they had been registered as children 
 of God, and after their title to eternal salvation had been 
 sealed to them, personally, in a Christian sacrament. 
 
136 LECTURE in. 
 
 Hooker, the great champion of the Establishment, in 
 his " Ecclesiastical Polity," has proved, that all the good 
 a creature can enjoy must be obtained and secured, 
 by obedience to divine law. His positions also show, 
 that while all evil results from a violation of divine 
 law, when once we have resolved to break it, no human 
 mind can determine how far the evil will extend, or 
 prescribe a remedy for its fatal consequences. These 
 facts are proved by all experience, but no where more 
 than in this controversy. For, passing by the delusion 
 thus spread over millions of perishing immortals, who 
 owe to it the consummation of their eternal ruin ; and 
 shrinking, as well we may, from that spectacle of 
 deformity and error, which is thus exhibited in the 
 Christian sanctuary, and even in the worship of Glod ; if 
 we only observe the effect of this delusion on those who 
 defend it, we may well conclude, that its malignant 
 results defy all human calculation. Their shifts and 
 sophisms are so unworthy of man, even in his worst 
 estate ; the coldness of heart which it induces, is so 
 intense, towards all things solemn and important in our 
 holy faith ; the stedfastness with which evils are multi- 
 plied, to prepare an escape from the censure of Divine 
 truth j and the sentimental gravity with which things 
 most absurd are uttered in the name of God ; — all com- 
 bine, with circumstances numberless, and most conclu- 
 sive, to demonstrate, that this sacramental absurdity waits, 
 in its sublimity of wrong, for language more forcible than 
 that of earth, in which its condemnation may be pro- 
 perly pronounced. 
 
 The Baptism of John differed, from that which we 
 now use, only in the compact formed by its recipients. 
 
THE BAPTISM OP JOHN. 137 
 
 It first received its nanie from that peculiarity, by 
 which it was distinguished from all the Baptisms which 
 had preceded it. They were ceremonial ; but this, re- 
 quiring such a change of heart as led to the rejection 
 of all sin, was called a Baptism of repentance. By this, 
 it was to prepare the way of the Lord, and make his 
 paths straight; for Jesus the Messiah was already in 
 the world, though he had not yet entered on his media- 
 torial dominion. The message, therefore, of that dis- 
 pensation was, ^^ Repent, for tlie reign of heaven is at 
 " handr After the Lord had entered on His ministry, 
 because his reign was not yet actually begun, the same 
 exhortation was urged by Him, and His disciples, until 
 the time when He said, " All power is given unto me in 
 " heaven and in earth," and until the proof of that 
 power was given at the Pentecost. During the whole of 
 that time, the same pledge must have been given by the 
 candidate, whether baptized by Christ, or by John. 
 Both preached the advancing reign of heaven j and 
 both required a pledge of submission to that reign, 
 whenever it might appear. This Baptism was pro- 
 spective. Both, therefore, baptized at the same time, 
 with the same view, and on the same terms ; and this 
 Baptism, when administered by either, was equally 
 valid. It agreed with the then position of mankind, in 
 reference to the Messiah ; and it facilitated alike the 
 acknowledgment of His authority. But, after our Lord 
 became invested with His dominion, and the message of 
 His love was published to mankind, the prospective 
 pledge was no longer appropriate. Faith in Him, as 
 Lord of all, and actual submission to His authority, 
 were then required. Those, who had been baptized, had 
 
138 LECTITRE in. 
 
 only to fulfil their compact, and were not baptized 
 again ; but, wben Christ was exalted, the expectation of 
 a coming Messiah was unjust; for He, who had come, 
 was now to be received. Hence, those who had been 
 baptized by the Sabians,* in Ephesus, on the prospectire 
 faith which John required, were re-baptized by Paul : 
 and this is just what we might have expected from the 
 case itself. The disciples appear to have believed what 
 they were taught ; when they heard the declaration 
 of Paul, their faith was evinced by their submission to 
 the truth, as he explained it ; and then, like all other 
 believers, they were baptized into Christ. Repentance 
 and faith, therefore, were united in both the dispensa- 
 tions j though the faith of one was prospective, and the 
 faith of the other was retrospective ; but, as far as the 
 moral requirement was concerned, the exaction, in both 
 cases, was just the same. 
 
 But, in addition to this development of the prin- 
 ciple, this case affords a farther advantage, in the most 
 perfect of all examples. It will scarcely be supposed, 
 that our Lord needed a personal regeneration. He 
 was always, and altogether, pure, and perfect. Yet, it 
 behoved Him to fulfil all righteousness. Now, the 
 expression, " all righteousness," thus used by Him, must 
 refer to his personal service in the kingdom of heaven ; 
 and we know that His obedience was a prelude to the 
 atonement. The value of His example is enhanced here 
 by the knowledge of the future, which he possessed at 
 the time. From Him, there was nothing hid, that he 
 had to suffer. He saw the life of trouble that lay before 
 
 • See Note I. 
 
THE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD. 139 
 
 Him, the temptation, the resistance of sinners against 
 Himself, the sorrows of Gethsemane, and the death He 
 was to die. These things devolved upon him in the 
 reign of heaven, and he knew it. Yet was He merciful 
 to our unrighteousness ; and, entering into the work 
 and purpose of His Father, He bare His part in the 
 mighty and gracious undertaking. His pledge was not 
 withheld. He gave it ; and He redeemed it when He 
 redeemed us from death. No instrument of regenera- 
 tion coiild increase the depth of His devotion ; but his 
 act would be for the good of others, and the glory of 
 His Father. These were motives all-sufficient in His 
 view : and, by His submission. He exhibited our duty, 
 both to Grod, and man. In this spirit of obedience, 
 therefore. His word is, " Follow me." It is the watch- 
 word of His calling. You need not fear His competency 
 to lead you, nor his power to bless. But, be not 
 deceived, my brethren : He who thus fulfilled all right- 
 eousness, will also make you fulfil all righteousness : 
 and by no other course can you be blessed. He will 
 lead you, (if you will be led,) to sincere devotedness, to 
 deep humility, and to absolute self-devotion. If you be 
 His followers, you must, in His society, visit scenes of 
 active service, and pass through Gethsemane and Gol- 
 gotha ; but He will lead you to the retirements, and 
 elevations of Olivet, where he enjoyed his devotions, 
 and from which He arose to glory. He asks you to be 
 faithful, and will try your fidelity ; so will He give 
 you the sweetest assurance of His divine approval, and 
 crown you with everlasting glory. Let, therefore, His 
 precepts be your only guide ; and His fellowship, in glory, 
 shall be your endless reward. 
 
140 LECTURE III. 
 
 For your patient and stedfast attention to so long and 
 fatiguing^ a discourse, receive my sincere thanks. Since 
 these Exercises commenced, other Tracts have been 
 issued ; and, in these, other important sentiments con- 
 nected with the question having been advanced, it 
 seems requisite to some, that two additional Exercises 
 should be undertaken ; namely — 
 
 First, on the injury done to personal religion, by the 
 advocacy of Baptismal Regeneration, and its attendant 
 errors. 
 
 Secondly, on the advantages to be obtained, by 
 stedfastly adhering to the scriptural rule of baptizing 
 accredited believers only. 
 
 These particulars could not be compressed within the 
 space of this evening. I shall leave you to deter- 
 mine, whether such additional discourses shall be heard, 
 and when that task will best accord with your own con- 
 venience. 
 
LECTUEE IV. 
 
 ON THE INJURY DONE TO TRUE RELIGION BY THE ADVO- 
 ■i CACY OF BAPTISMAL REGENERATION AND ITS ATTENDANT 
 ERRORS. 
 
 Dear Friends, — We have stated in the former Exer- 
 cises, that the idea of a spiritual gift in Baptism, 
 together with the whole doctrine of sacramental grace, 
 was derived from heathen philosophy by heretics j that 
 it formed the essential element of Popery ; and that, on 
 appealing to sacred Scripture for support, it finds an 
 absolute and unqualified condemnation. We can now 
 advance, therefore, with confidence, to consider the 
 injury done to personal religion by the advocacy, both 
 of it, and of all those subordinate errors by which its 
 supposed blessings were said to be conveyed to mankind. 
 
 But before we can estimate our loss, by any change of 
 circumstances, the extent and value of our former 
 inheritance must be known : for, only by comparing it 
 with what we still enjoy, can we hope to arrive at any 
 just result in our calculation. This principle is as 
 sound and important, when applied to religious and 
 spiritual affairs, as when it is employed in the most 
 ordinary domestic or civil investigations. But the very 
 mention of this rule will give to our present subject a 
 dreadfulness, from which, if we were not bound to pro- 
 ceed, a natural timidity would compel us to shrink. 
 For, if we turn to the sacred page, and ask what is the 
 
142 LECTURE IV. 
 
 nature of that society, whicli is called " The Churcli," 
 " the Body of Christ," and so forth, and then inquire 
 what were its character and privileges even upon earth ; 
 we shall find that ■ the simple and exquisitely beautiful 
 statements of inspiration have little or no applicability 
 to the so-called churches of Christ now. With nothing 
 more than the limited supply of information given in 
 the former exercises, you can see, from the very surface, 
 that in Rome, in Germany, in Canterbury, in Geneva, 
 in Scotland ; or rather, in those Churches which have a 
 peculiar relation to those names, as well as aniongst 
 many Non-conformists in England, the word Christian, 
 has undergone a decisive change in its import. It no 
 longer means a man who is following Christ in the spirit 
 of martyrdom. The Church is no longer a society made 
 up of such persons. The character and practices of the 
 Church can no longer be reconciled to the rule of human 
 action implied in that description of character. The 
 whole system of practical Christianity has clearly under- 
 gone a change, which is not for the better, but for the 
 worse. It is no longer possible to say, in the words of 
 St. Paul, " Ye, as many as have been baptized into 
 " Christ, have put on Christ :" " Ye are all children of 
 " God by faith in Christ Jesus." The advocates of 
 evangelical religion, themselves, plead for a Church 
 within the Church ; and thus, they confess that the 
 Christian community has fallen from its original purity 
 and devotedness. 
 
 You will also bear in mind what was stated in the 
 second Lecture, that this process of degradation in the 
 Christian Church became, both more obvious, and more 
 rapid, after the time of Cyprian ; when the doctrine of 
 
THE PARTIES WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE, 143 
 
 sacramental grace came to be holden and acted upon, by 
 those who claimed the highest ecclesiastical authority, 
 and led to the introduction of Infant Baptism and Pro- 
 miscuous Baptism. This fact itself would be sufficient 
 to awaken our inquiry, respecting the moral and spi- 
 ritual effects of the error so received ; for that which 
 comes from Grod is intended to show his wisdom and 
 goodness by its fruits. We may not be able, at once, to 
 see the end God has in view : but this great experiment 
 of sacramental grace has now been in operation, for 
 more than one thousand years. On its assumption have 
 been erected the most extensive spiritual dominations, 
 that have ever oppressed mankind upon earth. But few 
 nations exist, in which it has not evolved its diverse 
 and ever-changing activities. We have seen it in com- 
 bination with every kind of idolatry ; and producing, 
 in rank exuberance, every kind of cruelty and sin. No 
 good reason can now be given for suspending inquiry. 
 We shall, therefore, proceed to trace, with as much 
 brevity as possible, the injuries it has inflicted on the 
 momentous interests of personal religion. 
 
 Having cleared the ground, so fully, in former exer- 
 cises, it is not needful to make any distinction here, 
 between the several advocates of this delusion. They 
 may quarrel with each other, as long as they please, over 
 forms of speech, or for the greatest eminence and worldly 
 advantage in dividing the gains which flow from their 
 imposition ; with such things I have nothing to do. 
 God will, in his own good time, deal with them all on 
 this account ; and vengeance belongeth to Him. Fidelity 
 in our trust requires, only, that the error be duly 
 exposed and resisted with our might ; not in anger, but 
 
144 LECTURE IV. 
 
 in love. Cherisliing this, therefore, with all tenderness, 
 I shall lead you to the operations, not of any one party, 
 but of the error which is common to them all. They 
 plead for benefits, supposed to be attendant upon the 
 baptism of infants, and promiscuous baptism. It is 
 quite immaterial whether the parties be Papists, 
 Lutherans, Presbyterians, members of the Anglican 
 church, or Non-conforming Psedo-baptists. We speak of 
 none on any other ground ; and of no one party, any 
 farther than they stand convicted in this case. The 
 most likely to complain are the Non-conforming Psedo- 
 baptists ; but I have already paid them all the courtesy 
 that they can justly expect. With open-hearted and 
 brotherly affection, I pointed out their position, in a 
 letter respectfully addressed to their own body, through 
 Dr. Joseph Fletcher, of Stepney. Without prejudicing 
 the case with any judgment of my own, I asked them 
 to explain it themselves. Instead of appreciating my 
 kindness, they returned it with abuse ; impugning my 
 moral character by an imputation of falsehood, and yet 
 withholding the evidence on which they rested the 
 charge. I forgive them this wrong, with all my heart, 
 but dare not forsake my duty. The works referred to by 
 the editor of the Evangelical Magazine, I have examined ; 
 and I find in them the advocacy of a spiritual gift in 
 baptism, which was recited in a former lecture. To 
 evidence so obtained, and having the authority of their 
 own suggestion, they will not, I hope, object. Cyprian, 
 also, is their favourite oracle for Infant Baptism ; and 
 they must not object to being placed with one, so much 
 extolled, and to whom they appeal with so much exulte- 
 tion, as parties in the case before us. If they will have 
 
THE EVILS CLASSIFIED. 145 
 
 the ceremony, and use the sentimental influence which 
 it exerts upon the public mind ; they must of necessity 
 share in the responsibility which attaches to its evil 
 consequences.* These, therefore, may be traced to this 
 sacramental ^ror under five heads. 
 
 First, as it influences the constitution and fellowship 
 of the Christian churches. 
 
 Secondly, as it leads to the corruption of Holy 
 Scripture. 
 
 Thirdly, as it augments the difficulty of inquirers in 
 attaining the truth. 
 
 Fourthly, as it enfeebles the activity of Christians in 
 the work of God. 
 
 Fifthly, as it produces the strongest argument for 
 open infidelity. 
 
 Each of these topics is so important, and opens on so 
 wide a field of observation, that it might with propriety 
 form the subject of a separate lecture; but necessity com- 
 pels me to compress the whole within this limited space. 
 Let us, therefore, without farther delay, proceed to con- 
 sider, First, the influence which this sacramental error exerts 
 on the constitntion and fellowship of Christian churches. 
 
 Everything to be found in Scripture indicates the 
 intention of our Lord, that those who bear his name 
 should be separated from the world, in the principles 
 which regulate their actions, in the character they bear 
 in society, and in the confidence they repose in each 
 other. Hence his affirmation, " My kingdom is not of 
 this world," and hence, too, the elevated terms in which 
 his followers are described : " Ye are the light of the 
 " world" " Ye are the salt of the earth." For the same 
 ♦ Note K. 
 
 H 
 
146 LECTUKE IV. 
 
 reason, also, he ordained the peculiar law of this society. 
 " This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I 
 '' have loved you, so love ye one anotlier. Then shall all men 
 '• know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another.'''' 
 The word here used, is not that which •describes an 
 ordinary friendship, but the most noble and pure exercise 
 of respect and confidential attachment. But this 
 approving affection was utterly impracticable and unsafe, 
 and, by the laAv of Grod, even guilty, in reference to the 
 unchanged masses of society. Prom these they were 
 commanded to be separate; and the baptism, which he 
 appointed, prepared the way for the affection here en- 
 joined, by rendering the convert known, and binding- 
 each professor to the common obligations of the whole. 
 Such was their conformity to this law in the first church, 
 that Luke affirms of its then about ten thousand 
 members, that they were " of one heart, and of one soid" 
 For each other, and their Lord, they endured the loss 
 of all things ; and raised to the dignity of a proverb, 
 the expression, " See how these Christians love one 
 " another." Their society was sacred to the culture and 
 reciprocation of faith, and hope, and love. 
 
 Such a community must have had an object, in pro- 
 moting which the energies of its members might be 
 combined; and this is defined, in the commission given 
 by Christ to his apostles, to be two-fold, the evangelizing 
 of the world, and the edification of the church itself. For 
 this purpose they seem to have been preserved upon 
 earth, and still subjected to its manifold sufferings. But 
 no object attainable on earth was its end. This society 
 of the Church, in this respect, resembled a caravan or 
 company of pilgrims passing through a desert. They 
 
THE CHUECH CORRUPTED. 147 
 
 were seeking a better country. The " house not made 
 " with hands, eternal in the heavens," was constantly in 
 their view ; and gave both direction and uniformity 
 to all their movements. In its privilege, this society 
 was exalted above all others, by the peculiar presence 
 and most intimate fellowship of God, Its members 
 were his children, his prophets, his priests, his kings, 
 the very members of his body in Christ. Their pri- 
 vilege was a joint inheritance with Christ in all the 
 fulness of God : and the law of their association was 
 that of devotedness to their common Lord, and to each 
 other in him. 
 
 Two circumstances connected with the ancient Church 
 will set this matter in a still stronger light. One was, 
 the solemn and awful denunciation of all other religious 
 systems by its author, and the open hostility with which, 
 on that account, they opposed its progress. Between 
 the Church of Christ, and any other system of worship) 
 and fellowship, there was no link of union whatever. 
 It relinquished the Jewish, as a mere shadow of good 
 things to come ; and it denounced the heathen systems, 
 of every kind, as altogether execrable. The character, 
 that it formed and required, was altogether and absolutely 
 new. The Christian was, therefore, designated the " new 
 "man.'" His interests, his tastes, his rules of action, his pre- 
 sent enjoyments, and future prospects, were all new, and 
 so new, that the propagation of the system was called 
 turning the world upside down. A glance might serve 
 to explain the reason of this. The whole practical 
 system of Christianity was based upon the great addi- 
 tional truths, which Christ revealed from heaven. It 
 related to eternity, not to time; to the soul, and not to 
 
 n2 
 
148 LECTURE ir. 
 
 tke fle&h ; and, exulting in afflictions and martyrdom, it 
 sought the consummation of its happiness in the resur- 
 rection of the dead. By it too, the great idea of free 
 and sovereign grace was unfolded to this guilty world ; 
 and all the felicities of this community were drawn from 
 that single source. All these things were new to the 
 race of man ; and, not less than the character and treat- 
 ment of its founder, exposed the Christian community 
 to contempt. As opposed, to the present interests and 
 inclinations of mankind, it was hated ; as propounding 
 a better inheritance, it was despised. Christianity thus 
 became regarded as a nuisance, and an injury to the 
 social system ; and the wrong, which it was supposed to 
 inflict upon society, was vindicated by punishing its 
 advocates with death. 
 
 All this was contemplated by its Author. He had 
 from the beginning said, " The mother shall betray her 
 '^daughter, and the daughter her mother, to death." All 
 the enmity of the human heart was open to his view, 
 and he intended to encounter it with the operations of 
 his love. He intended to do this through the agency of 
 His people, in the use of His word, and in the enjoyment 
 of His Spirit. Led by these, this society of the Church 
 was ordained to encounter all the powers of earth and 
 hell; and to conduct a process, which should form the last 
 interposition of mercy antecedent to the final judgment. 
 Nothing could be more important, therefore, than the 
 simplicity of their aim, the purity of their character, 
 and the constancy of their hearts, to whom this work 
 of love was thus to be committed. On these were 
 suspended, under God, the interests of a ruined world, 
 as well as the glory of its Redeemer. Hence, tke 
 
THE CHURCH CORRUPTED. 149 
 
 solemnity with wliich, in the whole course of his own 
 ministry, the Lord was pleased to urge, on every con- 
 vert, the necessity of entire self-devotion. No man can 
 be my disciple, unless he is prepared to forsake all 
 things in following me. " He that loveth his own life 
 " more than me, is not worthy of me." Hence, too, the 
 initiatory ordinance, which he appointed, led to the 
 same result. It stood like a protection at the entrance 
 of the Church. It exacted from every professor the cre- 
 dible d-eclaration of his faith in the common Lord ; and 
 solemnized the personal and voluntary engagement of his 
 being set apart for God. By this act of self-sacrifice, 
 the converted sinner became a devoted thing. He hence- 
 forth lived for God alone. It is this, which accounts for 
 the solemn vindication of that compact, in the case of 
 Ananias and Sapphira. They were the first to break 
 through the sacred enclosure, and taint the virgin 
 Church with their deception ; and they were not rebuked 
 merely, but struck dead, because they lied to God, and 
 not to man. 
 
 No arrangement will give infallibility to human 
 actions : but this provides, as far as possible, (without 
 miraculous agency,) for the purity of the Church, and the 
 holy confidence to be preserved within the sacred enclo- 
 sure. It was a point of official examination, and it 
 formed a basis for future proceeding in discipline. 
 By this means the Church could watch her own 
 admissions, and purify herself, whenever she found 
 that she had been deceived. But every such pre- 
 caution is utterly destroyed, by the error noAv under 
 consideration. By making Regeneration to be the eftct 
 of Baptism instead of its pre-requisite, the door wa« 
 
150 LECTURE IV. 
 
 opened to every impostor : and pollution flowed in as 
 hy a flood-gate. This was killing the sentinel, that the 
 strongholds of Zion might be thrown open to the enemy. 
 When once the pre-requisite of conversion had been laid 
 aside, the baptism became a figment of no value or 
 meaning ; and administering it in the name of the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, an unauthorized 
 desecration of the name of God. It meant nothing, it 
 conveyed nothing, and could bind no one ; and, there- 
 fore, could be no protection ; it was merely a shadow 
 supplanting the substance. When it became extended 
 to infants in general, every idea of a personal cha;racter, 
 and a moral engagement, in the act, was entirely done 
 away ; and the ordinance, so administered, made the 
 Church coincident with the world. Baptism, in that 
 case, becomes a mere blind, through which the danger 
 of unconverted sinners becomes concealed, and the 
 reason and necessity for conversion is hid from their eyes. 
 Men enter the Church, then, without any change of 
 heart, and they influence the society of the Church, by. 
 the unsanctified developments of their fallen nature. 
 
 The methods employed, in defending this error, make 
 it both more pernicious and more contemptible. Those 
 who wish to make it promiscuous and universal, change 
 the compact of Baptism into a mere emblem, and thus 
 declare the Church to be protected by a shadow ; but 
 those who wish to confine the ordinance to infants of 
 believers, assume an hereditary claim to the covenant of 
 grace, and labour to convince us that faith and repent- 
 ance are propagated by natural generation. But, in 
 every case, the result is exactly the same. Whether 
 they become members of the Church by birth or by 
 
THE CHURCH COERUPTED. lol 
 
 Baptism, the unconverted are systematically received. 
 The constituency of the Church is thus, by system, 
 made to be impure. Hence, the impossibility of main- 
 taining her discipline. Crimes, formerly censured by 
 excommunication, are now no longer even disapproved 
 in the Church of Christ. The want of that sphere for 
 perfect confidence, in which the spiritual man could 
 think out loud with safety, on all his perplexities and 
 hopes in the divine life, is felt and deplored by all. In 
 the Church of Rome, and the Reformed National Esta- 
 blishments, the effect of this has been seen, not only in 
 the destruction of Christian fellowship, but in the 
 debasing of the Christian ministry. When the Church 
 is composed of unregenerate men, the unregenerate will 
 fill her oflfices. Urged by the selfishness of human 
 nature, they will say, " Piit me into a 2yriest's office, that I 
 " may eat a piece of bread." Thus the outrage of all 
 law, human and divine, exhibited in the history of 
 church patronage, has been produced. A church, 
 whose constituency has been corrupted, holds no trea- 
 sure in safety, and keeps no office pure. The Church 
 of Rome hath sought to remedy this evil, by inventing 
 her confessional, and forming her vast system of artificial 
 discipline. By this means, she has produced a heartless 
 formality instead of godliness, and gathered a riper 
 fruit of her delusion in monasteries, crammed with adul- 
 terers and the unclean. The Churches of Germany and 
 England have relinquished this vain remedy ; and 
 thence, relying on enactments of human governance, 
 they have sunk into mere instruments of political power. 
 In England, the army and police are no more subser- 
 vient to the earthly power, than is the state church, 
 
152 LECTURE IV. 
 
 and slie is no more respected by those who employ her 
 influence. To seek for spiritual fellowship within her 
 pale, is utterly ridiculous. If she behold such fruit 
 ripening in others, she will call it methodism and cant ; 
 she will hire her poets to write a Hudibras, and burn it 
 up with satire. This is just what we might expect, 
 from a body of baptized unbelievers, fed with the fat of 
 the land, and dividing the spoil of an oppressed people : 
 it is what we have to expect from such a body in 
 every case. The changing of its name, will never alter 
 the thing. Unbelievers, though baptized, are unbe- 
 lievers notwithstanding : and they can have no fel- 
 lowship in Christ, in whom they have not believed. 
 In their society, therefore, no such fellowship in Christ 
 can ever be enjoyed. If men will allow such perversion 
 of language, they may be called a church, or even the 
 church ; but, neither agreeing with the law of its insti- 
 tution, nor yielding the benefits for which it was insti- 
 tuted, it has no other claim to be regarded as a Christian 
 Church, than that which is found in a bold and un- 
 righteous assumption of the name. 
 
 Of all the things with which we have to do, nothing 
 is so delicate as a confiding afiection. It seeks its object 
 out with ardent perseverance and self-denial, that it may 
 find its whole delight, and repose in the enjoyment of its 
 fellowship. Hence, in all the moral history of man, 
 there is no one section so filled with melancholy interest, 
 as that in which we trace the progress of confiding youth ; 
 which, nursed in maternal embraces, casts itself with 
 unsuspecting freedom on society, and through the wanton 
 injuries it there receives, hardens into the caution and 
 reserve which too frequently distinguish the close of 
 
THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF CONVERTS. 153 
 
 active public life. Injury follows injury, in such rapid 
 succession, that we can scarcely trace the intermediate 
 changes which transpire ; and the transformation becomes 
 almost unaccountable. The more delicate the affection 
 which is thus insulted, the deeper the wound, and the 
 more fatal is the result. Hence the clue may be ob- 
 tained, to that deepest of all injuries which is inflicted 
 on the religious feeling of the heart. God has designed 
 it to be the most noble, generous, and constant, of any 
 that are generated in the breast of man. When in the 
 freshness of the new birth, after the word of God has 
 been blessed in its action on the conscience, and when 
 the first affection of the new creature has been evolved, 
 it seeks a sphere for its indulgence and activity in the 
 Christian Church, it seems like a thing created for 
 paradise. The church is designed to be its nursery, and 
 here the Lord intended it to be safe from injury and 
 insult. With all the glow of hope, the convert enters 
 this circle formed for his new existence ; and finds, in- 
 stead of individuals imbued with the same holy emotion, 
 a sanctimonious mendicity, and professions hollow as the 
 compliments of civil society ; his most generous feelings 
 are then used by others to the worst of purposes, and he 
 learns, with bitterness, that caution is as needful in the 
 church as in the world. To what must we attribute 
 this, which comes not in any solitary case, but which 
 forms the dreadful result of all experience, until in the 
 so called churches of Christ, as well as in mercantile 
 transactions, it makes the expression, simple man, convey 
 the idea of mental weakness % Is that simplicity in 
 itself a fault, or open-heartedness foreign to the grace 
 and purposes of God ? By no means ; the evil is to be 
 
 h3 
 
154 LECTURE rv. 
 
 found in the corruptions of mankind ; which are, by 
 promiscuous fellowship and baptism, brought into the 
 chuixh. The regeneration, supposed to transpire in 
 baptism, leaves men unchanged in heart ; and the here- 
 ditary faith, or right by birth to the covenant of grace, 
 is altogether a hoax. By these, and like errors, the un- 
 renewed in heart obtain admission to the church ; and 
 there they display the fruits of their depravity. One 
 such man in a chiirch is an affliction ; and there, if any- 
 where, " one sin7ier ivill destroy much good?'' But, when 
 a worldly ambition has corrupted the sacraments, and 
 thrown open the church to depraved men, what evil 
 may we not anticipate ? When the rule is, to make the 
 Church comprise the whole population, and promiscuous 
 membership is urged by the ministers of Christ ; or, 
 when high professions of evangelical religion are com- 
 bined with looseness of discipline; or, when the un- 
 renewed are baptized and received into the Church in 
 any case, its society is made corrupt through its own 
 ordinances; and the sanctuary, provided by divine love 
 to receive the convert, is stained with pollution, and 
 given up to the adversary. 
 
 This is the first evil charged upon the systems we have 
 repudiated. I advance secondly to state that the advo- 
 cacy of these baptismal errors injures the cause of true 
 religion, 5y occasioning the corruption of Holy Scripture. 
 
 Men who think it right to assume any station in 
 society will, when possessed of its advantages, always feel 
 at liberty to defend themselves in holding it. If the 
 position be doubtful, and its defence desperate, a less 
 regard will be paid to the instrumentality employed in 
 the conflict. When a citadel is stormed, the garrison in 
 
THE CORRUPTION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 155 
 
 distress will tear up its own ramparts for missiles of 
 destruction. Thus it has ever been in the conflicts of 
 the Church, In the enjoyment of all her sacred privi- 
 leges, the word of God is her authority and defence. 
 Behind this, in every right position, she may rest secure 
 and smile at aU adversity. But, when her position is 
 wrong, instead of authorizing, the word condemns ; and 
 if it affo-rds any momentary help, it must be torn up and 
 flung at random, in pieces, and with violence suited to 
 the emergency. All the rashness and recklessness, 
 thus exhibited in the conflict for sacramental power, it 
 would be impossible to state here ; but one or two points 
 of great solemnity are Avorthy of particular regard. 
 
 In the early ages of Christianity, those who wished to 
 sustain unauthorized statements by appeals to the word 
 of God, since they for the most part used the lan- 
 guage in which scripture was written, did it by putting 
 their own construction on its declaration ; and their 
 glosses, or explanations, being sometimes written on the 
 margins, became copied into the text of scripture. This 
 produced a discordance in its readings ; which, being 
 increased by accident, afibrded the Avider field for dis- 
 cussion. To this, in a. great measure, must be attributed 
 the influence which was acquired by advocates of error 
 in those churches which used the Greek language. But 
 those Avho used the Latin, and western languages, could 
 obtain but little influence in that way. When their 
 practices had deviated from that of the Apostles, there- 
 fore, wc find them employing quite a different artifice. 
 Since the translation of certain Avords would condemn 
 such practices, they resolved to transfer and not trans- 
 late them. Hence, the Avords relating to the sacra- 
 
156 LECTURE IT. 
 
 ments, and officers of the Churcli, and those which 
 express the peculiar ideas of the gospel, and the pri- 
 vileges which belong only to Christians, are found in very 
 early translations, not translated but transferred, and 
 transferred in a different sense. It is sufficient for our 
 purpose to name here the words Presbyter and Deacon, 
 two Grreek words which are transferred so as to suggest 
 two distinct orders of clergy, differing from the offices 
 which bare those names in the apostles' time. Eucha- 
 rist is another, which was so transferred as to repre- 
 sent the stage play of the mass, a ceremony which never 
 entered the wildest imagination in the apostles' time. 
 And hajotizare is a fourth case, in which the Greek word 
 is transferred to represent, as I showed in my last Lec- 
 ture, an act which is absolutely condemned by all apos- 
 tolical authority in the New Testament. When these 
 foreign terms came into the several western languages, 
 there was an air of mystery about them"; the people knew 
 not what they meant, and the priest explained them 
 to suit his own convenience. 
 
 But this was not sufficient for the object to be gained. 
 When these words had been transferred, and used in a 
 sense differing from that of the original, it was necessary 
 to give an interpretation to other words and sentences 
 of scripture, that might correspond with the sentiment 
 thus advanced. Hence, in the ancient authors who 
 pleaded for this sacramental grace, figurative passages 
 are used as though they were literal ; and statements, 
 which, in the apostolical writings, are only made in 
 reference to believers, or converted persons receiving 
 baptism, were used in reference to infants, and persons 
 baptized without faith. Grace, which means in scrip- 
 
THE CORRUPTICiN OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 157 
 
 ture the unmerited love of God to sinners, came to be 
 used as though it meant an ethereal fluid communicated 
 by official acts of men, as heat is made to penetrate a 
 stone. Practical religion was thus reduced, from a moral 
 to a physical process ; the necessity of learning and 
 doing the will of God, as revealed by Christ, was set 
 aside ; subjection to the Church and her officer, the 
 priest, was substituted in its place ; and scripture was 
 bent and turned, like a sheet of wax, to fit and conceal 
 the human invention. 
 
 Such a system could scarcely be secure, when scrip- 
 ture was freely given to the people. Hence, the trans- 
 lation of the sacred page into modern languages be- 
 came discouraged. The worship of the Church, and 
 the reading of scripture, were, in the west of Europe, 
 confined to the Latin tongue, and the promiscuous study 
 of scripture was forbidden to the people ; so that many 
 were burnt to death, for possessing a copy of the word of 
 God, and for teaching their children to read it. So great 
 was the dread of divine truth which possessed the Church 
 of Rome, that Tyndal's first edition of the New Testa- 
 ment translated into English, was bought up by the 
 Papists at immense cost, and most of the copies burnt 
 at Saint Paul's ; while the author himself was pursued 
 with a hatred which never could be appeased, until he 
 was strangled and burnt for translating it. 
 
 The Reformed Church of England professed an entire 
 subjection to Holy Scripture, but the founders of that 
 Church desired to retain the sacramental power found 
 to be so necessary in the domination of Rome ; and 
 hence, when the present authorized version was pre- 
 pared, the translators were instructed by James, not to 
 
158 LECTURE IV. 
 
 translate the official and teclinical terms by whicli that 
 power was concealed or supported, but to retain the 
 words, as used in versions prepared in former times and 
 used by Roman Catholics. His words are very positive. 
 ^' The old ecclesiastical words are to be kept." In all 
 probability it is to the operation of this cause we must 
 ascribe the fact, that this authorized version is, in many 
 •places, less accurately conformable to the Greek than 
 the version of Wickliffe, translated several ages before. 
 
 Besides these errors, so fearfully adapted to prepossess 
 the public mind, and favour the advance of this delu- 
 sion, others have been adopted to facilitate a miscon- 
 struction of these writings as they are now possessed. 
 In pleading for infant baptism, and the baptismal gift. 
 Papists and non-conforming Psedo-baptists, boldly ap- 
 peal to tradition; and, by the dark and frivolous uncer- 
 tainties which they find there, some Jewish, and others 
 supposed to be Christian, they endeavour to change the 
 whole sense and spirit of the -Sacred Writings. The 
 common mode of deducing the baptism of Christ, from 
 the various baptisms and ceremonial customs of the 
 Jews, is of this kind : and thus they make void the law 
 of Christ by their traditions. 
 
 I am unwilling to speak too severely on the criticism 
 used in this controversy, although it is frequently of 
 such a kind, as would shame a school-boy in his ordinary 
 lessons. Some of these misconstructions of the inspired 
 word must be attributed to ignorance, which we are 
 l3ound to pity, and others to rashness, for which indi- 
 viduals only can be blamed ; but the greatest evil lies 
 here ; — men in the ministry, who ought to know better, 
 are daily circulating among the people anonymous 
 
ewing's anti-baptismal lexicon. 159 
 
 mis-constructions of God's Holy Word, and others written 
 by men of no repute, or who have long since died, which 
 serve their controversial purposes, but to which they 
 dare not affix their names. The case is even worse than 
 this. When the people are led to the original, in a way 
 that exhibits its true meaning, these men will turn from 
 criticism to satire, and say, " I want a religion that will 
 " stand by the Bible as it is ;" as though they would take 
 our version, as the only, or the highest authority. If they 
 do mean this, why, when baffled by our version, do they 
 defend themselves by misconstruing Greek 1 But if they 
 appeal to Greek, why should they grow indignant and 
 sarcastical, when the Greek is clearly explained 1 
 
 One instance is of so melancholy a nature, that, though 
 I dare not pass it by, I have yet scarcely courage to 
 describe it. Of late, the study of the Greek Testament 
 has been facilitated by the use of Greek and English, 
 instead of Greek and Latin, lexicons. Hence, by the 
 help of Greville Ewing, an anti-baptismal lexicon has 
 been made, in which the controversial assumptions of 
 Paedo-baptists have taken an authoritative form, by 
 being transferred to its columns. No violation of public 
 confidence can be more flagitious than this. His affir- 
 mations on the words relating to this controversy are 
 contrary to all critical authority and use, whether 
 ancient or modern ; and evince a moral daring, which 
 scarcely another individual on that side of the question 
 has ventured to practise. His book and his reputation 
 would, by this one circumstance, be ruined for ever; were 
 it not for the extensive and strong desire which exists in 
 his party, to use every practicable means of conforming 
 the words of the Spirit to their own notions. On any 
 
160 LECTURE IV. 
 
 subject, sucli expedients deserve to be condemned, A 
 club, formed in any common ale-bouse, would not suffer 
 so vile a misconstruction of its documents and regulations. 
 How tben sball we approve it, in reference to tbe ever- 
 lasting covenant of mercy 1 God, in compassion to us, 
 knowing its wortb, and our infidelity, caused His holy 
 gospel to be first proclaimed, and tben set up in a lan- 
 guage wbicb bas long passed out of common use, as if 
 for tbe purpose of leaving tbis boly document unchange- 
 able j and yet, so base is tbis idea of Infant Baptism, and 
 Promiscuous Baptism, witb tbeir supposed spiritual gift, 
 tbat we find its advocates backing at tbe plates of tbis 
 inspired and adamantine stereotype, and defacing or cor- 
 rupting wbole columns and pages, before tbey can give 
 a sbade of plausibility to tbe delusions wbicb tbey deter- 
 mine to propagate. 
 
 In tbe tbird place, tbe evils wbicb attend tbe advo- 
 cacy of tbese errors are still farther felt, in the increase of 
 difficulties to be surmounted hy inquirers cifter truth. 
 
 Truth, as it is exhibited by Christ and bis apostles, is 
 the only sure guide to every sinner in seeking the great 
 salvation. Acting in bis own character, as tbe Father 
 of mercies, God bath been pleased to render all needful 
 instruction, on tbis momentous subject, easy to tbe 
 meanest capacity, Tbe path of life was intended by him 
 to be so plain, that a way-faring man, though a fool, 
 should not err therein. But this controversy crowds 
 witb difficulties tbe very entrance to this " highway of 
 " holiness." Like the Pharisees of old, many, engaged in 
 tbis discussion, seem not only not willing to enter them- 
 selves, but take immense pains to close the door of life 
 against those who are seeking to enter. 
 
INQUIRERS ARE PERPLEXED. 161 
 
 We may hope that this is often the result of mistake, 
 but the fact is unanswerable. Men are embarrassed. 
 When roused to a sense of their duty and danger, they 
 find a clamour of discordant advices. One proffers a 
 regeneration in and by baptism ; another teaches an 
 hereditary claim to the covenant of grace ; a third 
 enforces simple faith in Christ, and obedience- to his 
 commandment. All these claimants, to his attention 
 and confidence, are at variance ; and yet all appeal to 
 the same book for their authority, and all appeal to its 
 original import. If the inquirer be urged to read for 
 himself, his answer is, I am not learned ; if he exercise 
 an implicit faith in his teachers, he becomes confounded 
 by their difierences. He finds Scripture ranged against 
 Scripture, and Church against Church, and authority 
 against authority, in the very first lesson to be learnt, 
 and on the first duty to be performed. The afilictions 
 which result from this entanglement are immense ; and 
 will be always increased, in proportion to the sensibility 
 of conscience, with which the inquirer is concerned to be 
 perfectly right. 
 
 Nothing can be more painful than the results of pas- 
 toral experience, in the case before us. On the one 
 hand, many are betrayed into a submission under 
 authority, which never gives them peace ; others are 
 soothed into a reliance on the fiction of a spiritual gift 
 in baptism ; and others are kept in lengthened torture, 
 inquiring and discussing half their days. Can it be 
 possible that the God of all truth intended this ? The 
 very idea were an impeachment of His wisdom and 
 kindness ; for such obscurity, in a duty binding upon all, 
 
162 LECTURE IV. 
 
 if fairly attributable to tlie Legislator, would form an 
 apology for universal disobedience. 
 
 What I particularly complain of is, that the method 
 ©f treating Holy Scripture in tbis controversy, gives the 
 inquirer no cbance of settling the question for himself. 
 In the translation of Scripture which is commonly used, 
 there is no uniformity of method adopted. Words are 
 in some cases borrowed, and in others translated, and in 
 different cases translated in different senses, so as to con- 
 ceal the meaning of the Spirit. BaTrrw is a case in point. 
 It occurs with its derivatives about one hundred and 
 twelve times in the New Testament. It is written or 
 translated, in our version, so as to appear three. In 
 Mark vii. 4, it is rendered loash. In John xiii. 2Q, 
 to dip, and in Matthew iii., with many others, it is 
 written baptize. No English reader would know that 
 the word is radically the same in all the cases, and has 
 always the same meaning. 
 
 But this is not the only word so used. To make this 
 plausible, six other verbs, with their derivatives, must 
 also be obscured ; and some of these are used in express- 
 ing the nature and application of the atonement.* 
 
 All these, and multitudes of cases besides, occur in 
 the question respecting the mode of baptism. In plead- 
 ing for its subjects, still greater difficulties are provided 
 for the convert. Some rest the claim of infants, to that 
 ordinance, on a forced analogy between it and the Abra- 
 
 * This fact is more fully stated in my " Letter to a Friend 
 on Christian Baptism." Third edition, which may be obtained 
 at Ward's, Paternoster Row, through any Bookseller. — Price 
 Twopence. 
 
INQUIRERS ARE PERPLEXED. 163 
 
 hamic covenant ; and thus the clear and beautiful light, 
 which the whole Jewish dispensation was intended to 
 throw over the gospel, is rendered not only obscure, 
 but absolutely delusive. Others rest it on the idea of 
 household baptism ; and, not only falsify the statements 
 of Luke, but place them in direct opposition to those 
 advanced by Paul. One advocate, as if in wanton bold- 
 ness, denies the fact that any believer's baptism even 
 existed in the first age; and thus he impeaches the 
 character of the apostles themselves, and denies the 
 whole record of the Acts of the Apostles. Striking out 
 the leading idea of John's dispensation, they make the 
 herald of Christ no better than a Pharisee. If their 
 cause were good, their zeal were deserving of praise ; but 
 there is a madness in this method of reasoning for what 
 cannot be supported, which wearies the patience in 
 describing it. 
 
 Yet, in pleading for the effects of baptism, the case is 
 still worse ; for here, the vital act of faith, by which the 
 destinies of eternity are determined, is involved in 
 obscurity. Instead of saying, " He that believeth and is 
 " baptized shall be saved," the Tractarians say, " He that 
 " is baptized shall be saved, unless he decline from the 
 " grace of baptism." Here the law of Christ is absolutely 
 set aside ; and in the name of the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Spirit, a lie is put into the right hand of those 
 who are ready to perish. But all this is concealed from 
 the inquirer, by an apparently small mistake. One word 
 is used in Scripture to express the act, or process, 
 of producing and evolving life. Thus, by using the 
 same verb it is said, " Abraham begat Isaac," " Sarah 
 " hare Isaac," and " Isaac was horn.'" But these learned 
 
164 LECTURE IV, 
 
 disputants use and translate that word as tliougli all 
 these three transactions were the same. Presbyter and 
 Aquila both blunder into this mistake. By this means 
 they seem to get their Baptismal Regeneration from the 
 Scripture ; but by this means the Scripture is perverted, 
 reduced to absolute contradiction, and inquirers are 
 grievously perplexed. If men do these things through 
 ignorance, they ought to learn before they write or teach ; 
 if they do it knowingly, their fault exceeds all condem- 
 nation that can be pronounced by man. The discourse 
 of our Lord with Nicodemus is, thereby, turned to a 
 fatal use; the argumentation of Paul in Romans vi, 
 Galatians iii, and Colossians ii, is broken down into 
 absolute absurdity ; and obstructions are produced to 
 repentance and faith, which are infinitely more fatal to 
 inquirers after truth, than any that have ever been set 
 up by the openly profane. 
 
 But fourthly, the advocacy of Baptismal Regeneration, 
 and of its attendant errors, weakens the energies of Chris- 
 tians in the worTc of God. 
 
 When the English establishment was commenced by 
 Augustine, the first emissary of Rome to England, who 
 founded the Archiepiscopal see of Canterbury, the tithes 
 granted for its use, were intended to supply a provision 
 for supporting the clergy, the edifice in which they con- 
 ducted their worship, and the poor. By appealing to 
 charity on these three grounds, in spite of all the restric-^ 
 tions in mortmain, the property of the church increased, 
 till, in the close of the reign of Henry VII., it was so 
 vast, that the nation could not endure her exorbitant 
 exactions. This absorption of national wealth, together 
 with its extensive transportation to Rome, prepared the 
 
CHRISTIANS ARE ENFEEBLED IN THE WORK OF GOD. 165 
 
 way for the revolution, eflfected by Henry VIII. When 
 the new establishment of Protestant Episcopacy became 
 consolidated, it was, in the reign of Elizabeth, relieved 
 of the poor by the invention of poor-rates ; which have 
 increased, both in their pecuniary and immoral diffi- 
 culties, to the present time. Church-rates were invented 
 to meet the necessity of providing for the repair of the 
 churches. By these means, the clergy were left in posses- 
 sion of the whole tithe ; and this, diminished by lay appro- 
 priations, but increased again by endowments and lands, 
 has left the establishment in possession of an income, 
 stated by some to be about £6,000,000 per annum for 
 England, and X2,000,000 for Ireland, without the colo- 
 nies. The Parliamentary Returns make it less, but there- 
 is every reason to suspect their accuracy. If, however, 
 we take the estimate of £7,000,000 for England and Ire- 
 land, it will be near enough for our purpose ; and the daily 
 increase of that property will soon make it reach an 
 over stated account. Therefore, it is clear that this 
 great nation is, notwithstanding all its difficulties, able 
 to set apart, at least, seven millions sterling, per annum, 
 for the support of religion ; but, when this is done, what 
 is the result 1 In the propagation and support of the 
 delusion, which I have exposed in these exercises, that 
 wealth is, for the most part, absorbed. The immense 
 wealth and power of the Bishop of London, said by some 
 to be too great for any government to leave in the hands 
 of a single subject, is, at this moment, appropriated to 
 the support of this delusion of baptismal, or, rather, 
 sacramental grace. By other prelates the same doctrine 
 has been avowed, with as much distinctness as we find 
 it in the Charges of his Lordship of London. Through 
 
166 LECTURE rv. 
 
 the village districts of England, I haye traced its opera- 
 tions myself, examining it in Cornwall, Devonshire, 
 Worcestershire, Wiltshire, Northampton, Bedfordshire, 
 Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Nor- 
 folk, Suffolk, Essex, and certainly it is not wanting in 
 this county of Kent, In these various districts, its ope- 
 rations are to be discovered in details which I cannot now 
 narrate. Ireland is receiving the blight and curse of a 
 disguised popery, from its operations. But none of the 
 advocates, found in any district, labour without pay. 
 They all take their quota of the £7,000,000 per annum. 
 When this is added to the large proportion appropriated 
 by men of no religion whatever, it will be seen how all 
 this fund, for religious purposes, is turned aside from its 
 legitimate use. If it be said that the error in question 
 is the avowed doctrine of the church establishment ; 
 then, the whole sum which it appropriates in clergy, 
 ceremonies, and schools, infected with this dogma, is a 
 clear loss to the interests of true religion. In all her 
 voluntary exertions in favour of personal religion, 
 England is thus crippled and paralysed, by the incubus 
 of this legalized sacramental absurdity. Under the 
 pressure of this weight, it was found, a few years since, 
 that something like £1,000,000 per annum was, not- 
 withstanding, raised by the people for evangelical uses 
 in the British empire ; but, through the advocacy of 
 infant baptism, with its supposed grace, and hereditary 
 claims to the covenant of salvation, a large portion of 
 this is turned away from its intended purpose. Christian 
 charity is thus betrayed and insulted on every hand, in 
 every day's experience, and by those who profess the 
 highest regard for the Redeemer ; until the real advo- 
 
CHRISTIANS ENFEEBLED IN THE WORK OF GOD. 167 
 
 cates of personal religion, of every class, are, in the 
 midst of abundance, reduced to comparative destitution. 
 When any important object arises to demand attention, 
 it finds the public resources drawn off, by force or fraud, 
 to the very point of exhaustion ; and the patience 
 which Christianity generates and sustains, is almost 
 worried down by a delusion, which, in its cravings, 
 crieth like the horse-leech, " Give, give." 
 
 But this is not all. The advocates of personal reli- 
 gion have to sustain, in their weakness and poverty, the 
 power which resists their progress, and the shame which 
 covers their cause, in the revilings of their enemies. If 
 these were in the world only, or acted in their true 
 character, the difficulties they create would be of little 
 moment : but, while the men are concealed by a religious 
 garb, these difficulties are augmented beyond all calcu- 
 lation. Instead of the direct labour of leading sinners to 
 Christ, tlie sweetest and best in which we can be engaged, 
 we have to conflict with errors that have grown up 
 for ages in the churches. The daughter of Jerusalem 
 has now proved, in bitterness, that her chief enemies 
 are those of her own house. Such as dare to encounter 
 those evils at all, are almost sure to sacrifice themselves ; 
 and where the evils operate unmolested, they result in 
 spiritual oppression, and open ungodliness. 
 
 Moreover, the evils of which we complain are not to 
 be regarded as exceptions, the blame of which rests on 
 individuals : they belong to the systems advocated, and 
 form their essential elements. By the advocacy of 
 Infant Baptism, and Promiscuous Baptism, with their 
 supposed benefits, and the hereditary claim to the 
 covenant of grace, men come to be regarded as Christians, 
 
168 LECTURE IV. 
 
 who are not; and who have no claim to confidence, as 
 having been renewed in the spirit of their minds, and 
 thereby subjected to the governance of Christ. These 
 not only come to regard themselves in this character, 
 but are so regarded by other men : they are so regarded 
 in every nation where the Christian religion becomes 
 known. Every dissolute adventurer in our colonies, 
 who has thus been baptized in the name of Christ, pre- 
 sents himself to the heathen tribes, with all his glowing 
 vices, as a Christian. By the heathen, he is so received 
 in every land ; and thus the name of Christ, and His 
 Gospel, are blasphemed every day on their account. To 
 encounter their idolatrous delusions, and lead the 
 heathen into paths of purity and devotion, is a heavy 
 task ; but no missionary, labouring in the spirit of his 
 work, has ever been so oppressed with its discourage- 
 ments, as when he is called to sustain the afflictive and 
 unrighteous odium, which, in every land, results from 
 the baptismal heresy to the Christian name. 
 
 But it is not needful to traverse our extended colonies 
 and foreign relationships. We have other illustrations 
 nearer home. Nothing can weaken the activities of 
 Christians in the work of God so effectually as a clear 
 inconsistency. Our opponents know this, and, there- 
 fore, leaAdng many cogent truths unanswered, they snatch 
 at any opportunity that may occur of finding an in- 
 accuracy. What, then, must be the moral influence of 
 the error under consideration ? It teaches, that persons 
 regenerated in baptism, or inheriting, by birth, the 
 covenant of mercy, which is said to be sealed to them in 
 Baptism, thereby become children of God, and inheritors 
 of the kingdom of Heaven. Now, in all the subsequent 
 
CHRISTIANS ENFEEBLED IN THE WORK OF GOD. 1G9 
 
 teaching of the church this declaration must be regarded 
 either as trtie or false. By many it is regarded as true ; 
 and hence, many teachers, who, for a few years past, 
 have acquired the credit of being evangelical, because 
 ihey taught the necessity of personal regenera,tion, have 
 now declared themselves to mean, that regeneration and 
 baptism are the same thing : and, therefore, that every 
 person submitting to the baptismal rite is saved, unless 
 he lose, by actual sin, the grace therein received.* Such 
 as hold the hereditary claim to be valid, and real, 
 and thence affirm that children of believers are born 
 in the church, differ in the expressions they employ, 
 but not in the results which they induce. By them 
 it is affirmed, that such children have the inheritance, 
 and are personally sealed ; but the compact of their 
 baptism, and their right by birth, must be recognized 
 by themselves, when they arrive at years of discretion. 
 This " recognition" in the one case, stands in the place 
 of the ceremony of " confirmation" in the other ; and 
 both lead to false confidence and irreligion. Profession 
 of faith is, in the one case, converted into the recognition 
 of an absurdity : and, in the other case, it is made the 
 confirmation of a lie. 
 
 A clearer illustration and proof of this statement can- 
 not be desired, than that which is afforded in the fact, 
 that such as are really concerned for personal religion 
 and the salvation of souls, are unable to abide by the 
 sacrament so administered, even in their own teaching. 
 They treat it, as though the benefit ascribed to it 
 amounted to nothing. When dealing with sinners 
 
 * Sje Note L. 
 
170 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 respecting the necessity for conversion to God, and tlie 
 renunciation of their sinful state, they are compelled 
 by their compassion for souls, and by their regard for 
 truth, to affirm, that their hereditary claim to the 
 covenant of grace, and the spiritual gift of their bap- 
 tism, Avill leave them at last without hope, unless the 
 operations of divine truth effect an entire change in 
 their hearts towards God. Such teachers cannot let 
 their people pass, without reminding them, that their 
 inheritance in the divine love cannot be secured, with- 
 out a personal " repentance towards God, and faith in 
 " our Lord Jesus Christ." They often go to a great 
 lengih in this, and say that the baptism will do^them no 
 good; and not unfrequently claim to themselves great 
 credit, for treating the whole question respecting the 
 sacrament, as of no importance. But what is the result 
 of such deportment 1 An absolute contradiction between 
 the terms of the baptismal ceremony, and the terms of 
 the general and subsequent teaching. The child is 
 taught in his catechism, that he inherited the covenant 
 by birth, or that in his baptism he was made a child 
 of God and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven; 
 but now he finds the very teacher who baptized him 
 affirming, that he also is a child of wrath even as others. 
 He is urged to repent and flee to the Redeemer, as 
 though he were born a Hottentot or a Caffre, and bred 
 up in the wilds of Africa. The thanksgiving at his 
 baptism is flatly contradicted, in the affirmation, " Ux- 
 " cept ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." The conse- 
 crated lips of the priesthood are thus found to contra- 
 dict themselves, in the very act of divine worship, and 
 when speaking in the name of God. No explanation 
 
INFIDELITY PROTECTED AJJD ADVANCED. 171 
 
 has been given to meet the case. On this one point the 
 extreme of finesse has been employed. Ingenuity has 
 done its best ; but a discrepancy remains by which the 
 symmetry of truth is broken; and to this must be 
 ascribed much of the Church's imbecility, when pressing 
 her merciful overtures of salvation on mankind. Under 
 these evils, the usefulness of the Church suffers an injury 
 which no outward adversity could ever inflict. The 
 baptismal error enters into its whole constitution, absorbs 
 its resources, enfeebles its members, neutralizes its acti- 
 vity, and produces an apoplexy in the body of Christ. 
 
 Lastly, the advocacy of Baptismal Regeneration, and 
 of its attendant errors, injures the interest of personal 
 religion, by 'pre'paring the strongest argument in favour 
 of open infidelity. 
 
 It must never be forgotten, that the gospel of Jesus 
 Christ was given for the actual and daily use of man- 
 kind. Many of its promises are to be fulfilled in 
 heaven, and for their accomplishment we must wait 
 until time shall be exchanged for eternity ; but many 
 are intended to be fulfilled on earth. When the Lord, 
 speaking to the weary and heavy laden, promised that 
 by coming unto him they should find rest unto their 
 souls, his intimation related not to the future world 
 exclusively, but to this also ; " for those who believe do 
 " enter into rest," even here. In this world, vile as it is, 
 amidst all its temptations, snares, and sorrows, those who 
 are. savingly united to the Saviour obtain, a " peace that 
 **passeth understanding," a "joy unspeakable and full of 
 " glory." Often as they become oppressed with guilt and 
 sorrow, weakness and the claims of duty, they can find 
 at his footstool, and in his atonement, a remedy for all 
 
172 LECTURE IT. 
 
 that may afflict them. The declaration that " the 
 " blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin," is, by 
 them, reduced to daily and actual experiment. By them 
 it is applied to the conscience, to heal its wounds and 
 quicken its sensibilities, that their peace may be per- 
 manent and their lives pure. The bondage of sin is 
 thus broken, and they come to inherit the glorious 
 liberty of the children of God. They have not only the 
 assurance that " all things shall work togethei* for 
 " goodj" but they glory in tribulation also, because the 
 " tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience." 
 They thus advance from faith to faith, and rise to greater 
 elevation in hope and joy. The gift and work of the 
 Holy Spirit are, to them, not points of doctrine only, 
 but things of actual occurrence and use. By His aid 
 they understand the word, feel its power, form their 
 wishes, and draw nigh to God in prayer. They ask, 
 and they receive; they seek, and they find. Actual 
 use affords to them the firmest and sweetest proof of 
 reality in the gospel system ; they do the things which 
 Jesus hath commanded, and they know the things which 
 Jesus hath spoken, that they are from heaven, and are 
 not the inventions of artful men. 
 
 God intends that this shall form the firmest proof of 
 reality in the gospel dispensation. The followers of 
 Christ may have many things to justify their faith in 
 Him supplied from history, the working of miracles and 
 other evidence, but nothing is so strong a proof as their 
 own experience of his love and power. They have tasted 
 and handled of the word of life, and they cannot reject 
 it, or doubt its stability. This evidence is also designed 
 to act on sinners, as well as on saints. The holiness an(? 
 
INFIDELITY PBOTECTED AND ADVANCED. 173 
 
 devotion of his own people upon earth, is the clearest 
 evidence given by Christ to the world, that His gospel 
 is worthy of all acceptation. Hence our Lord, speaking 
 to His apostles, said " Ye shall testify of me/' and of all 
 such it is affirmed, " Ye are my witnesses." God's people 
 are God's witnesses upon earth ; and, that their testimony 
 may be clear, that its effect may be powerful, and that 
 their whole treatment may speak for his holiness, his 
 mercy, and his truth, they are separated from the world 
 and united in His Church. This is called His king- 
 dom ; the government of His Church is His reign upon 
 earth. In this society His will is law; and, therefore, in 
 that society God is known. There, obedience is proof of 
 His power; there, the treatment of His servants and 
 saints declares His wisdom, His mercy. His holiness, and 
 love. 
 
 But the enjoyment of divine mercy, and the presence 
 of God, in His Church, will always depend on its purity 
 and obedience to his will. If his people forsake him, he 
 will forsake them ; and when they are forsaken of God, 
 their society will be no witness for God, except as it 
 reveals his judgment. Hence, he will have them pledged 
 in the personal and sacramental act of baptism ; that 
 every man under his governance may not only be without 
 excuse, but also be so declared by his own act and 
 engagement. But all these objects are entirely frustrated, 
 by the errors which we repudiate. By hereditary claims, 
 the baptism of infants, and its supposed spiritual gifts, 
 the constitution of the Church is corrupted on principle, 
 by its own officers. Profane and unconverted persons 
 are, without even their own choice, mingled with 
 believers. TKe license in admitting members has become 
 
174 LECTTJEE IV. 
 
 SO great, tliat, in tlie mass of Psedo-baptistical Cliurclies, 
 fellowsliip is no guide to character at all. No man 
 thinks of concluding, because another belongs to the 
 Church of Eome, of Germany, or of England, that 
 therefore he is subject to the Mill of God, and under the 
 influence of the Holy Spirit. His conversion to God, 
 and his fellowship in the church, have no relation to 
 each other. As far as the hereditary principle is 
 observed, this is also true with respect to Non-conforming 
 Psedo-baptists, Hence, therefore, the circle of their 
 fellowship can afford no distinct proof of that power, 
 which is exercised by the gospel over those who receive 
 it in sincerity. The society being promiscuous, and 
 its moral compacts being set aside, the church in all 
 these cases will be assimilated to the world. Its 
 Christianity being only in name, its witness to the 
 divine origin and power of Christianity y^\ be incon- 
 clusive. If in any case the Church seems to differ 
 from the rest of mankind, since the result is gained 
 without conformity to the divine law, it will be attri- 
 buted to the taste and inclination of the age, and not 
 to the power of God in the operation of his truth. 
 But the difference does not appear ; and hence the plea, 
 that these churches are really Christian, loads the 
 gospel with all the suspicion which results from their 
 failure. Here is the great strength of infidelity. We 
 can easily encounter the difficulties connected with 
 history, and the arguments brought from theories of 
 natural philosophy ; but the corruption of the church 
 has turned her testimony against the truth, and ren- 
 dered her in the experience of ages, the handmaid, if 
 not the mother, of infidelity. 
 
INFIDELITY PROTECTED AND ADVANCED. 175 
 
 The importance of this remark results from this cir- 
 cumstance, that its truth depends not on any acci- 
 dental modification of these churches, but on the rule 
 adopted in their constitution. Nothing can be more 
 just than to require, of every system propounded for 
 the use of man, the legitimate results of its own prin- 
 ciples. Hence we have no right to complain, if infidels 
 ask us to show the effects of Christianity as we define 
 it. If we assume that every child born of a believing 
 parent has a right to, or is an inheriting party under, 
 the covenant of grace; every infidel, and every man, 
 has a right to ask for the fulfilment of that covenant, in 
 those who thus inherit it. If we declare that every 
 child, or man, who is baptized by certain ofiicers of the 
 church, is regenerate ; the infidel and the heathen have 
 a right to look for the fruit of regeneration, in those 
 who have been thus baptized. In either case the result 
 is just the same. The hereditary principle, and the 
 baptismal regeneration yield the same result, w^hich is 
 not the professed result at all. Human nature is not 
 influenced for the better, by either circumstance. In 
 either case, the parties are proved to be subjects of the 
 same corruptions with the rest of mankind. They are 
 children of wrath even as others ; and if these errors 
 were really parts of the dispensation introduced by 
 Christ, their universal failure in practice would render 
 our belief of its divine origin an absolute impossibility. 
 Of this we have proof that cannot be resisted ; for the 
 most evangelical opponents of infidelity are compelled 
 to appeal, from the actual, to the legitimate results of 
 divine truth, and thereby confess the imperfection with 
 which it is applied in practice ; while the Tractarians 
 
176 LECTURE IV. 
 
 m^et this objection to their baptismal theory, by 
 denying to man the use of private judgment, and 
 affirming that it is our duty not to examine but to 
 obey. 
 
 The following passage, published May 28th, 1842, by 
 the Rev. D. A. Parsons, M. A., Curate of Harden, and 
 addressed to the Editor of the Devizes Gazette, is curious 
 and exactly to the point. Referring to the subject of 
 believers' baptism and Socinianism which he chooses to 
 place in conjunction with each other, he says, " Such 
 " exercise of private judgment is no part of church- 
 " men's privileges ; rather they are mercifally spared 
 " the curse of it. They are baptized into the Catholic 
 " Church, and receive her Faith ; that is to say, all those 
 " parts of Holy Scripture which are the subject matter 
 " of the mistakes issuing in heresy which have been now 
 " set down, are to them cleared and for ever settled by 
 " her decision. A churchman or churchwoman has no 
 " wavering doubtful words of private judgment, comfort 
 " for the Socinian. Their answer to his blasphemous 
 " heresy is, ' He that will be saved viiist thus think.' 
 " ' This is the Catholic faith, which except a man be- 
 " lieves faithfully he cannot he saved."" And so of the 
 " other subjects of church teaching. The Church has 
 " dogmatically ruled thus and thus : and such and such 
 " things are not on their trial; and whatever they may 
 " be to those without the pale, to us they are objects of 
 " love and of faith. And, in a word, whatever the 
 " Church of England has decreed, that is to us law in 
 " foro conscientias, even if not (as may be) in foroforo, 
 " and is no subject for private judgment to us, whose 
 " duty is, whether we are priests or lay people, to obey." 
 
THE DEPRECATION OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT. 177 
 
 I have quoted the passage literally for the sake of 
 faithfulness ; but will not undertake to explain the 
 whole of its clauses. Its leading idea accords precisely 
 with the Church of Rome ; and it forms the last resource 
 of all who defend this sacramental assumption. The 
 defence is also chosen with discretion j for, whatever else 
 may be pleaded, so long as the right of private judgment 
 be exercised by the people, the fetters of this domination 
 never can be riveted. But, how it can be possible for 
 any men to employ such a resource, without knowing 
 that the ground they wish to maintain is untenable by 
 an appeal to truth, is hard to conceive. For if we have 
 no right to exercise our private judgment, why are all 
 these publications issued in Oxford, in London, in 
 Woolwich, in newspapers, magazines, and in every pos- 
 sible form, throughout this empire, if not throughout the 
 world 1 If we have no right to judge, why do they 
 reason and appeal to Scripture 1 If we are forbidden to 
 think and inquire, why do they give us arguments 1 
 Nay, why does the Church give to us arguments that 
 conflict with each other ? For, on this great question, 
 the advocates are as much at variance with each other, 
 as they are with Scripture. Conflicting statements 
 cannot be true and false at the same time. To say that 
 the question has been settled by the Church, therefore, 
 is untrue, for the Church is against the Church ; and, to 
 forbid the use of private judgment, is to condemn them- 
 selves in appealing to private judgment. But the 
 parties are guilty of this error, only in one case. They 
 condemn the use of private judgment, only when the 
 evidence goes against them. It is thus condemned 
 by Presbyter, in the appeal to experience, which flatly 
 
 I 2 
 
178 LECTURE IV. 
 
 denies tis theory of Baptismal Regeneration ; and yet 
 his whole work is an appeal to private judgment, on the 
 interpretation which he thinks ought to be given to 
 church authorities and Holy Scripture. But why 
 should he condemn, in one case, what he uses in the 
 other 1 The answer is plain. The experience of man- 
 kind he knew to be against him ; but he thought he 
 had some advantage in his appeal to Scripture. He 
 rejects the use of private judgment, therefore, only when 
 the exercise thereof is found fatal to his purpose. It 
 only requires that Scripture shall be understood, and 
 then the use of private judgment will be reprehended in 
 its perusal, as much as in the appeal to experience. This 
 refuge is never sought, until the fugitive has been pos- 
 sessed with a dread of evidence : then, since he wishes 
 to escape the light, he will flee into this bush for shelter. 
 Such a feeling is more remarkable, in this controversy, 
 than in any other with which I am at all acquainted. 
 It occasions real and deep bitterness frequently, to 
 observe how this feeling evinces itself, even where it was 
 least to be expected. Many, who would not forbid the 
 use of private judgment, yet declare that silence is 
 their strong-hold ; and when the truth is thrown upon 
 the position which they occupy, they shiver like the 
 birds of darkness, and scream with abhorrence at the 
 pertinacity with which the gloomy quiet of their slum- 
 ber has been broken. Such pertinacity, in thinking 
 and appealing to Scripture for ourselves, is reprehended 
 with severity by all the advocates of a spiritual gift in 
 baptism. This free inquiry, and obtrusive discussion, 
 they cannot endure. They wish to state their own 
 views as they please, and never to be answered. Cross- 
 
THE GREAT DELUSION. 179 
 
 questioning, and revisions of the argument, they abhor. 
 Therein they show their position to be bad ; and by thus 
 adhering to it, in the failure of evidence to prove its pro- 
 priety, they injure the interests of personal religion, by 
 dishonouring the name they bear. 
 
 And what, after all, is the benefit for which this hot and 
 cowardly conflict is maintained ? I answer, a fiction, an 
 ahsurdity, and nothing more. As far as the siibject of bap- 
 tism is concerned, the Church is made to promise it a 
 gift, a spiritual gift, to point out the supposed import- 
 ance of which, the power of human language is said to 
 be inadequate ; and yet, the fruits of it are found in 
 the experience of no one ; and the reality of it is 
 denied in the history of every alehouse, prison, and peni- 
 tentiary in the land. As far as the Church is concerned, 
 it gives to her clergy a certain hold on the instinctive 
 sentimentalities of undisciplined minds; and by appeal- 
 ing to irrational passion, acquires a fictitious import- 
 ance for her priesthood : but the grandeur of her sim- 
 plicity is lost, and her solemn trust is betrayed into the 
 hands of a merciless infidelity. For these vain imagina- 
 tions, the purity and fellowship of the spiritual Church 
 are relinquished, the Holy Scriptures are corrupted and 
 misapplied, inquirers after truth are surrounded with 
 perplexity, the resources of Christians are absorbed, and 
 their activities in the work of God are enfeebled; the 
 actual fulfilment of divine promises is covered over with 
 obscurity ; and a bulwark is erected, behind which infi- 
 delity may lurk in safety, watching for advantage against 
 the souls of men. Instead of being insignificant, a greater 
 moral evil has never risen up in this world ; and in their 
 devotion to this sacramental heresy, Christians have 
 
180 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 bitterly verified that word of God, " Tliey that forsake' 
 " me despise their own mercies." 
 
 But we are not at liberty to rusb headlong into 
 judgment. The blame of all this injury cannot be attri- 
 buted to any one class of men. Society at large contains 
 the element out of which it springs. Men will follow 
 those who please them ; and the strongest argument in 
 .this controversy is, The people love to have it so. Without 
 this fact, all other reasoning would fall powerless to the 
 earth. Imagination gathers round those points in human 
 existence, images of good and ill, which dazzle and 
 affright the excited parents, leading them far away from 
 the sober realities of truth and prudence. While such 
 infatuation is cherished by the people, men will never be 
 wanting to take advantage of the propensity. With you, 
 therefore, more than in any argument, will be found the 
 cure. If an aversion to inquiry be cherished, no man has 
 any just reason to expect that he will ever attain the 
 truth : it is too delicate and heavenly to be acquired by 
 any but those who love it supremely. God hath so 
 ordained his government for our discipline; and those 
 who love delusion, will always find it waiting to inflict 
 its manifold injuries on their most important interests. 
 Eise, therefore, brethren, I beseech you, to the dignity 
 of your calling ; and, by all the sacredness which attends 
 the best interests of your offspring, the churches of 
 Christ, and the nation in which you live, labour to 
 understand the law of your Redeemer, for only observing 
 this, can those interests be secured. Divine teaching 
 will never be withholden, when you have become faithful 
 to yourselves. Only " let your eye be single, and your 
 " whole body shall be full of light." 
 
THET CONCLUSION. 181 
 
 I shall endeavour, next Tuesday evening, as announced 
 in the hand-bills, to fulfil my promise of describing the 
 advantages, which result from a strict adherence to the 
 Saviour's law of baptizing accredited believers only. 
 This will be a far more pleasant task ; although that, 
 which I have just finished, was necessary to a faithful 
 discharge of my duty. I have now, only to thank you, 
 for your prolonged and courteous attention. 
 
LECTURE V. 
 
 O'S THE ADVANTAGES DEEIVED TO PERSONAL RELIGION', 
 FROM A STRICT ADHERENCE TO THE SCRIPTURAL RULE 
 OF BAPTIZING ACCREDITED BELIEVERS ONLT. 
 
 Christian Friends, the substance of what has already 
 been advanced, may he stated in a very few words. 
 The original subject of dispute was, the su^tposed reality 
 of " a spiritual gift in Bapti&m^'' whether it be desig- 
 nated Regeneration, or be called by any other name. 
 The origin of this idea we traced, through Cyprian and 
 Valentine, to the Asiatic philosophy ; we found it, after 
 revision in the Council of Trent, proclaimed as the basis 
 and strength of the ecclesiastical system contended for 
 at Eome, and retained by the Protestant communities 
 when they separated from her communion. It was also 
 retained by the Westminster Assembly, and by those 
 who adhered to the documents, which were prepared and 
 published by that body of divines ; and its advocacy has 
 been revived by the Tractarians, and others, at the pre- 
 sent time, who, in their defence of the dogma, have 
 appealed to sacred Scripture. In examining their 
 appeal to Scripture, we took their own passages, 
 admitted many of their own interpretations, and found, 
 in the conclusion, that those very passages not only do 
 not prove the spiritual gift in Baptism, for which those 
 teachers plead, but absolutely condemn the Baptism of 
 
KECAPITTJLATION. 163 
 
 Infants, and the Promiscuous Baptism, which they 
 uphold ; so that, instead of sustaining their expectation 
 of " a spiritual gift in Baptism," their own authorities 
 condemn the whole ceremony which they administer. 
 Farther, the error thus propagated, by these teachers, in 
 the name of Christ, but in defiance of his authority, has 
 been shown not only to inflict the deepest injury on per- 
 sonal religion, but also to prepare the easiest transition 
 into open infidelity, and to become the strongest bul- 
 wark that defends its malignant and fatal operations. 
 
 Baptismal Regeneration, therefore, with all its attend- 
 ant errors, is, when judged by the evidence which its 
 own advocates have supplied, destitute of any just claim 
 to our reverence, or even respect ; and it justly deserves 
 to be discarded as an element of heathenish and 
 idolatrous corruption. Until the contrary has been 
 proved, therefore, and other evidence has been produced 
 than any that has ever yet been used, by its advocates, 
 in forcing it upon public attention ; we dare not become 
 implicated in its delusive absurdities. We willingly 
 submit to God, and find our joy in his service; and, 
 where his honour is not impeached, we rejoice in holding 
 fellowship with men ; but, whatever the consequence, 
 we submit to none, we join with none, in -sdolating the 
 laws of our Redeemer, and giving up his sanctuary to 
 heathenish pollutions. Before the Gospel has consum- 
 mated the benefits, which God intends thereby to confer 
 on his believing people, no small affliction obviously 
 awaits them in his service : but with these things we 
 are not to be dismayed ; in every manifestation of his 
 will, duty is ours ; the results remain with him. 
 
 Timidity, in carrying out the purposes of God by 
 
184 LECTURE V. 
 
 strictly adhering to his laws and institutions, is, in fact, 
 altogether out of place : it involves an impeachment of 
 his wisdom, or of his faithfulness, and, generally, of both. 
 When properly considered, such a state of mind implies 
 the extreme of rashness ; for those who forsake him, 
 despise their own mercies. He always fulfils his designs, 
 by means that are most simple and least expensive ; 
 ofttimes hiding the laws, by which he acts, in wisdom 
 which is to us unsearchable. An atom may thus be 
 made, by Him, to hold in poise the elements of an 
 universe. To us, that atom may appear quite insignifi- 
 cant, it may even elude our observation altogether ; but 
 the importance of its existence and position is determined, 
 by the benefits which result from its arrangement and 
 influence on all the universe, of which it forms a part. 
 Temerity consists, not in leaning and resting on the law 
 of Grod, but in altering it, " His way is perfect, sought 
 out of all them that have pleasure therein." 
 
 While such perfection shines in all the physical crea- 
 tion, nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that, 
 in the work which most engaged his love, and where his 
 acts of mercy were designed to awe, delight, and benefit 
 angelic millions, through all eternity ; and where, with 
 bounty inconceivable, he gave to our necessity his own 
 dear Son, there his ordinances should be defective. 
 While no insect, no flower, no production of this earth, 
 passes from his hand so as to admit of one improvement, 
 even from the greatest effort of created genius ; here, 
 where all the fruit of a Redeemer's sufferings must be 
 gained, and where the glory of his grace must be in- 
 volved for ever, — here, in the church and household of 
 the living God, — shall men change, and set aside with 
 
THE PERFECTION OP DIVINE ORDINANCES 185 
 
 thoughtless levity, and yet suppose that they improve 
 the ordinances of heaven ? The thought is execrable. 
 Sooner might we improve a healthy vision, by burnishing 
 the eye-ball "with a stone. No effort of created minds 
 can improve the ordinances of eternal wisdom ; and 
 their perfection will be seen, not more distinctly in the 
 fields of nature, than in the church of Christ. 
 
 The utter futility of such vain designs has already 
 been exhibited, in the last exercise. By the alterations 
 which men have dared to make in the Christian ordi- 
 nance of Baptism, we then saw that they did not produce 
 a system more perfect, pure, and edifying, than that 
 which Jesus Christ appointed before he rose to heaven. 
 Instead of this, they changed the whole constitution of 
 the church, and reduced it to a mere worldly society, 
 rendering the culture of its holy fellowship utterly im- 
 practicable ; they rendered the corruption of holy 
 Scripture necessary to the support of their ecclesiastical 
 systems ; they augmented the difficulties of inquirers, in 
 attaining the truth of God ; they enfeebled the opera- 
 tions of the church, in all the work of mercy with which 
 she is entrusted ; and they produced the strongest 
 argument for open infidelity. Thus Chey inflicted the 
 deepest injury on our species, where they professed to 
 confer a richer benefit than the grace of Christ ; and, 
 where they sought to appear wiser than God, there the 
 records of their folly have produced the darkest page in 
 all the history of mankind. 
 
 Our illustration of these facts, will, in the present 
 exercise, be reversed. Instead of pointing out the 
 injuries which flow from Baptismal Regeneration, 
 Infant Baptism, and Promiscuous Baptism : we shall set 
 
186 LECTURE V. 
 
 forth, as briefly as possible, tbe benefits, wbicb wait to be 
 realised by a strict observance of tbe law of Christ. 
 Prom those passages, which were selected by the advo- 
 cates of " a spiritual gift in Baptism," it has been showji 
 already that the law of Christ enforces and authorizes 
 the Baptism of accredited believers only. Our blessed 
 Lord never supposes, much less affirms, that infants 
 dying without baptism will be punished with an ever- 
 lasting ruin for the sin of Adam. He knew the Father 
 of mercies too well. The sin of Adam was forgiven in 
 paradise, through the redemption to be wrought by the 
 promised seed ; and, though his posterity is made to 
 bear the disadvantages of a fallen state, they are not 
 condemned for the sin of their parent so long ago for- 
 given : but, passing out of the world without being 
 guilty of actual transgression, through the event of 
 mortality, the resurrection from death, and all needful 
 mercy procured for them by the atonement of Christ, 
 they are delivered from every evil consequence of sin, 
 and saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation. 
 By sovereign grace, they are delivered from the trial 
 which attends the probation of earth, and trained for 
 glory in the immediate presence of the Lord. The 
 Christian discipline, conducted and enjoyed by men 
 here, is intended for the use of those whom God 
 permits to live, and serve him, in this world. Before 
 their eyes, is set the "absolute necessity of personally 
 receiving the Christ, as their only Saviour. This they 
 are to be taught from their infancy. All the parental 
 instincts, with that immense moral power which 
 maternal tenderness, properly exercised, will produce, 
 are claimed in this service, for Grod, and for their good. 
 
THE LAW OF BAPTISM. 187 
 
 Every effort is to be made by Christian parents, with 
 all prayer, to this end, that their children may be led 
 to learn of Christ; and, to seek by repentance and 
 faith, their whole salvation in his atonement, guidance, 
 and assistance. When they have so learned Christ, they 
 are to be baptized into his family, and numbered with 
 believers, who shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he 
 leadeth. This is the law given to all mankind, " He 
 " that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life." 
 " He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved." 
 
 By this law, faith and ha2itism are essentially united: 
 it authorizes and enjoins the Baptism of none other than 
 believers. This law we have seen confirmed by all 
 those passages of Scripture, which those, who reject that 
 rule, have advanced in favour of their own system. It 
 is the law of God in Christ, therefore, that Baptism 
 should be administered in his Church to believers only. 
 It imposes on every believer, who hopes for salvation in 
 Christ, the duty of receiving the immersion in his 
 name : it imposes, on every church, the duty of providing 
 that this immersion, in the name of Christ, be admin- 
 istered to every sinner, who gives a credible profession of 
 his faith : it binds each church to receive into its 
 fellowship, as a brother or sister in the Lord, every such 
 baptized believer : and it authorizes the Baptism (im- 
 mersion) of none other, than such accredited believers. 
 Such is the law of the Lord. It is not left for us to 
 choose whether it shall be enacted, or whether it be 
 expedient ; these points have been determined by Jesus 
 Christ himself. He hath ordained it, and caused it to 
 be written ; our only business is to obey. Nor is it left 
 
188 LECTURE V. 
 
 for us to determine wlietlier its observance sliall prevail ; 
 for thus saitli tlie Lord, " heaven and earth shall pass 
 " away, but my words shall not pass away." 
 
 On such a subject, we admit of no objection, founded 
 on what may to men seem expedient ; for divine law is 
 expediency defined by infinite wisdom. We may not 
 always understand this fact, just at the time when God 
 requires obedience at our hands : but, even in the 
 darkest dispensations, it is evolved, and proved, by all 
 experience. It is proved in the case before us: for 
 while, as hath been seen, the alteration of this law dis- 
 honours the Redeemer in his Church, by inflicting on 
 religion the severest injuries that it can suffer from 
 mankind on earth : a strict observance of this law 
 proffers blessings, to the church and to the world, which 
 glorify the Saviour who ordained it. 
 
 We shall trace these blessings, first, in the influence 
 which this obedience to the lavj of Christian Baptism exerts 
 over the constitution and felloivship of the Church. 
 
 This is just the opposite of that which was stated in 
 the last exercise. By Baptismal Regeneration, Promis- 
 cuous Baptism, and the Baptism of Infants, the Church 
 is thrown open to the world ; and the society set apart 
 by our Lord for cultivating and indulging the fellow- 
 ship of saints, is polluted and betrayed : but, by the law 
 of baptizing accredited believers only, this family of God 
 is separated from the world, and guarded by the care of 
 all its members. By this the church realizes, in the law 
 of her own constitution, the declaration of St. Peter, 
 " But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a 
 " holy nation, a peculiar people ; that ye should show 
 
believers' baptism a protection of the church. 189 
 
 " forth the praises of him who hath called you out of 
 " darkness into his marvellous light ; who, in time past, 
 " were not a people, but are now the people of God ; 
 " who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained 
 " mercy." (1 Peter ii. 9, 10.) 
 
 In the description of this peculiar society, it is not 
 possible to employ stronger lang-uage than that which is 
 found in almost every part of the New Testament. The 
 privilege of its members is that of children, in a com- 
 mon household : for, they are all children of God, by 
 faith in Christ Jesus ; they are heirs of God, and joint- 
 heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ, Their " fellowship 
 " is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ." 
 The spirit of their fellowship is called " the spirit of 
 " adoption." The " hope of their calling" is the highest 
 and the most lasting good, that God has ever promised 
 to mankind. The business of their calling is the most 
 sacred of all occupations, involving the greatest display 
 of divine glory, and the most endearing interests of a 
 ruined world. In the prosecution of those objects, they 
 have to recognize in each other the most stupendous 
 acts of divine wisdom and power, and to reciprocate the 
 most endearing confidence and aifection. No relation- 
 ship can be more intimate, or admit of possible results 
 so full of durable importance, as that of saints, with 
 saints in the church of Christ ; and, therefore, none 
 has been protected with such solemn care. By this law, 
 the good Shepherd guards his fold from beasts of prey ; 
 and, in the observance of this law, his sheep may enjoy 
 that separation from sinners, which is essential to their 
 quiet and prosperity. 
 
 Before the society of Christians can secure the end for 
 
190 LECTURE V. 
 
 whicli it was instituted, it must be made select ; and 
 this law, uniting (as it does) with that which regulates 
 the discipline of offenders, fixes the attention of every 
 member on this indispensable arrangement. It is, 
 moreover, the attention of brethren, not that of enemies ; 
 it is actuated by love, and not by enmity. The charity, 
 which each expects, is exercised by all : and the love of 
 their common Lord forms an incentive to unceasing- 
 faithfulness. As all interests are subordinate to that of 
 their society, so all have a common concern in maintain- 
 ing the purity of that character on which it is based. 
 They can be merciful to the world, from which they are 
 separate ; and urge, by every means, the overtures of 
 compassion by which they are saved; but, to them- 
 selves, and to each other, they are to be mercifully 
 severe. They cannot, locally, go out of the world, and 
 thus be separate from sinners ; but if any man that is 
 called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or unclean, 
 while he holds that relation to the church, they must 
 not even eat with him. By the submission to his bap- 
 tism, each one has crucified the world, with its affections 
 and lusts, declaring, in the act, that he is a candidate 
 for holiness : he is, therefore, to be treated by this law ; 
 and experience shows its healthy operations. Without 
 this law of admission to the church, no consistent basis 
 will be found, on which to rest the severe discipline 
 which is, by the law of Christ, applicable to offences : 
 but, when its strict observance is combined with faithful 
 discipline, it gives protection to the brotherhood in 
 Christ, and forms a society in which a Christian love 
 and confidence must be reciprocated by all believers 
 admitted to its fellowship. 
 
THE CHURCH PROTECTED. 101 
 
 Two cases, constantly occurring in private life, may 
 serve to show the great importance of this result. By 
 the apostle Paul, in 1 Cor. vi. 1 — 8, the members of the 
 church are forbidden to go to law with each other, espe- 
 cially before the unbelievers. The effect of this regula- 
 tion was, to make all the disputes respecting property 
 referrible only to arbitration, among the brethren of the 
 Christian fellowship. In 1 Cor. vii. 39, the formation of 
 marriage compacts is restricted, by the expression " only 
 " in the Lord." By this I understand, that such com- 
 pacts are to be formed in absolute subjection to his 
 teaching. But, since the Lord commands them to come 
 out from the world, and be separate, it never could be his 
 will that Christians should intermarry with unbelievers, 
 unless the compact had been formed before the conver- 
 sion of one party. All the security of these two great 
 personal interests, therefore, must be derived from the 
 purity of the Church. Promiscuous communion would 
 expose them, and a faithful administration of the 
 Saviour's law would guard them. In like manner, it is 
 said, " Confess your faults one to another ;" (James v. 16;) 
 a thing which would become both injurious, and most 
 repulsive, if Christians were not distinguished from 
 unconverted men. The exercise of Christian beneficence 
 would make the church a poor-house for the world, if her 
 society and obligations were not guarded by the laws of 
 admission and discipline. Those commands, which require 
 combined exertion in the cause of truth, would stand for 
 nothing, if nothing marked the persons on whom they 
 were imposed. Her highest offices and privileges will 
 neither be understood nor valued, when the citizens of 
 Zion are bereft of their distinctive title to them. All 
 
192 LECTURE V. 
 
 that relates to mutual edification and united worship, 
 and to the holy reciprocations of Christian experience and 
 love, those blessed and refreshing approximations to the 
 heavenly state, are absurdity in promiscuous communion. 
 These things are common only to regenerated men : the 
 most polished hypocrite can take no part therein. But 
 these sublime peculiarities of the Christian Church, when 
 duly guarded by the Saviour's law, enrich her fellow- 
 ship beyond conception, and give her, even upon earth, 
 the nearest approximation, both in glory and in happi- 
 ness, to the New Jerusalem. 
 
 By baptizing accredited believers only, we guard the 
 entrance into the Church of God ; and thus we protect 
 the members of his family, in the enjoyment of their pri- 
 vileges, and in the performance of their duties. If a 
 true Christian be found in the society of the world, he is 
 out of his place ; and his whole life, to be consistent with 
 himself, must be a deviation from the ordinary rule 
 observed by his associates : so, if a man of the world be 
 introduced into the Church, his life becomes an excep- 
 tion to the rules of that society, and he is thus shown to 
 be out of place. Worldly society, therefore, is deranged 
 by the presence of a sincere Christian ; if he be known 
 in that character, his presence is a rebuke ; and Christian 
 society is deranged, in like manner, by the presence of 
 unbelieving and unconverted sinners, for one such person 
 will disturb its harmony and holy fellowship. This law 
 of Christ is, therefore, given to guard, as a porter, the 
 entrance of his sheepfold ; and to form a basis for all 
 discipline, in the society of his followers. What more is 
 needed, for the protection and salvation of his people, he 
 himself will supply. He knew, and intimated, that no 
 
THE CHUKCH PROTECTED. 193 
 
 human power could prevent the recurrence of offences : 
 but he pronounced a heavy woe on him, by whom the 
 offence cometh. He might have inflicted that, without 
 any intervening rule of discipline whatever : but he has 
 otherwise ordained; and thereby he will, eventually, 
 aggrandise his judgment, and show, to all, the righteous- 
 ness of their punishment. Having separated his people 
 from the world, he makes himself known in their midst ; 
 and vindicates his own name in the persons who trust 
 and wear it, by exhibiting his glory in their protection, 
 their obedience, and their everlasting salvation. 
 
 Within the enclosure of the Church, too, as thus 
 defined by its Redeemer's law, each Christian may cherish 
 the mo%t perfect peace, while prosecuting every purpose 
 of his holy calling, and using all the privileges which are 
 given to the children of God. There he may be at home. 
 It is not heaven, but the next place to it ; the place in 
 which he is preparing for it, and where the sweetest 
 foretastes of its felicity are enjoyed. Here, in the spirit 
 of adoption. Christians can draw nigh and serve their 
 Father who is in heaven ; as priests, they can discharge 
 their holy functions, supplicating mercy for themselves 
 and for a ruined world .: and as kings, entrusted with the 
 objects and Jaws of a kingdom in this distant province, 
 they may run all risks in executing their solemn trust. 
 When this law of baptism, at the entrance, and that of 
 a faithful fraternal discipline in the interior, have been 
 observed, the Church may leave her safety with her God. 
 For all that follows, she is not responsible : but she is for 
 this. When these arrangements of infinite wisdom have 
 been submitted to, the Church may prosecute her great 
 
194: LECTURE V. 
 
 designs with confidence : for he, by whom she was 
 redeemed, will not withhold the guidance and the help 
 which she may require, to execute her functions. 
 
 Secondly, a farther advantage will be derived from a 
 strict observance of the Saviour's law of baptizing accre- 
 dited believers only, in the facility which it gives to the 
 interpretation and use of Sacred Scripture. 
 
 From the very moment in which the notion of a spi- 
 ritual gift in baptism came to be maintained, and more 
 especially since Infant Baptism and Promiscuous Baptism 
 resulted from it ; the difficulty of reconciling the words 
 of Scripture to the practice of the Church, has been felt 
 increasingly painful. More than a thousand years 
 have been spent in this fruitless task, and the labour of 
 those years has been vainly expended. The greatest genius 
 has been employed in the effort ; and subterfuges, infi- 
 nitely various, have been fruitlessly devised : for, every 
 new invention has produced increasing difficulty, 
 attended, as we have seen, with consequences most inju- 
 rious and absurd. Instead of gaining a position where 
 they may court inquiry, the advocates of these errors 
 are compelled to ask for silence, out of charity, and to 
 plead an obscurity in the laws of Christ. By this 
 they seem to lay the blame on God; but reaUy it falls 
 upon themselves and on their theories. " The law of 
 " the Lord is perfect 3" and all the seeming difficulty in 
 the case flows from their mis-interpretation. Their 
 practice, not the Saviour's law, must be condemned. 
 When once we have consented to baptize accredited 
 believers only, and to make the Church consist only 
 of sinners converted by the truth, no difficulty remains 
 
THE USE OF SCRIPTURE FACILITATED. 19-3 
 
 in reconciling the clear injunctions of Holy Scripture 
 to our practice, or in clierishing within the Church the 
 hope of all its promises. All that relates to sacraments 
 and discipline then becomes perfectly plain ; and the 
 use of it perfectly easy. If through early associations, 
 and bad instructions, we may have risen from the general 
 deluge of this sacramental error, with something yet to 
 be unlearnt, and some things yet to be acquired in 
 Christian truth and duty ; herein we share with others 
 the sad results of papal darkness. This we deplore 
 and renounce, in every case wherein it is detected. 
 Without perfection, however, advantage over other 
 systems, may be possessed ; and this we have. By ob- 
 serving the Saviour's law, in baptizing accredited 
 believers only, we find a full accordance between our 
 practice and the Holy Scriptures. We can obey in 
 peace, and invite inquiry ; we ask no charitable silence. 
 The scriptures, " as they are," are our authority and 
 support. We need no garbled version : our ground is 
 strengthened, by translating every word. From this 
 point the path is plain to every other application of 
 divine truth ; whether it relate to the cultivation of per- 
 sonal piety, spiritual joy, the fellowship of Christians, 
 the conversion of sinners, or any restoration of the 
 Church from Popish defilement. 
 
 Moreover, the open consecration of church members, 
 and the direct use of Holy Scripture, lead to a third 
 advantage, in the promotion of personal improvement. 
 The baptized believer is committed to the maintenance of 
 a new character in the church, in the family, and in the 
 world. He not only knows this himself, but it is known 
 also to others, whether they be the friends or the enemies 
 
 K 2 
 
196 LECTURE V. 
 
 of divine truth. A powerful moral influence is thus 
 made to bear upon him and regulate his reasoning, 
 emotions, and action. He becomes like a beacon on an 
 eminence, an object of general observation. He can no 
 longer be hidden. In the fellowship of Christian bre- 
 thren, he stands responsible for all its duties ; not only 
 on the general principles of right and wrong, but also 
 on his own confession of the Saviour's claims, and his 
 love for the person and glory of the Saviour. So long 
 as a man's devotion to the Saviour remains uncertain to 
 himself and others, the large portion of Holy Writ, which 
 is addressed exclusively to believers, must be to him of 
 doubtful application. Hence proceed the feebleness a^d 
 uncertainty, which so often attend upon its use. By a 
 wrong moral position, men lose that direct power which 
 divine truth and actual events are designed to exert, in 
 forming their character. If Christian baptism be 
 administered to believers only, and be by any believer 
 voluntarily declined, that disobedient believer (if such 
 he may be called,) escapes the effect of external obser- 
 vance, and frequently the judgment of his own con- 
 science. He hides himself from the truth, in the crowd 
 of unbelievers. But, if baptism be promiscuously admin- 
 istered to persons, whether they be known to have 
 believed or not ; the ordinance ceases to be distinctive, 
 and loses its effect. Then the hiding place is found 
 within the Church itself ; and, though a sincere disciple, 
 he loses the moral influence of his position. Neither the 
 precepts, nor the promises of Christ, will then apply to 
 the church, any more than to the world. If the man 
 be not a sincere believer, the case is so much the worse: 
 for promiscuous baptism and fellowship destroy the 
 
PEESONAL IMPROVEMENT ADVANCED. 197 
 
 power of all the instrumentalities provided for effecting 
 his conversion. It is wonderful that any should be 
 saved, under such a system. This delusion of the sanc- 
 tuary exceeds, in pernicious power, any that has ever 
 been devised in the world. By stedfastly adhering to 
 the Saviour's law, the power of this delusion is destroyed. 
 Every baptized person then becomes an avowed believer ; 
 and if the promises and exhortations addressed to 
 believers, in the New Testament, do not apply to him, he 
 falls under its censure as a deceiver or an apostate. He 
 is thus shut up to consistency or condemnation. The 
 effect of this practice is found in the church, where 
 brotherly faithfulness is sweetened with brotherly love; 
 it is felt in the world, where personal inspection is 
 sharpened by worldly hate ; it is felt in the family, 
 where ties tliB most endearing call for the constant exer- 
 cise of Christian principle, and where his own lessons from 
 the word of Grod show the law to which the baptized 
 believer is subjected. The eyes of all are upon him; 
 and all know him to be a man confessedly subjected to 
 the Saviour's law. Before his children, if a father; 
 before his servants, if a master ; in the mart, if he be a 
 man of business ; in the circles of his friendship, if he 
 be a friend ; in the church, of which he is a member; 
 and before angels, who learn through that church the 
 manifold wisdom of God ; — everywhere, he stands com- 
 mitted as a follower of Christ in the regeneration. 
 Moreover, the eye of God is upon him, and the baptized 
 person is made to feel, that the name, which he thus 
 assumed, must be honoured in his person, by consistent 
 advances in holiness, or by exemplary punishment for his 
 delinquency. 
 
198 LECTURE V. 
 
 Fourthly, by the moral power which is thus concen- 
 trated, a farther advantage is obtained, in the acquisition 
 and use of resources fMed for active exertion. The Church 
 on earth was never intended to form an inoperative body- 
 By a holy and compassionate aggression on the kingdom 
 of darkness, she is bound to urge the recovery of its 
 victims from the power of sin, enforcing a willing obe- 
 dience to the commands of God. The only method, 
 which the Church can employ in this work, is that of 
 persuasion ; the only agents, which she can employ in this 
 work, are her own members ; and the means are such, as 
 these members can bring into the work of proclaiming 
 the gospel of salvation to sinners. We may very con- 
 veniently divide her resources for the work of God into 
 two classes, men and money. By the law of Christ, all 
 the members of the Church, and all their nesources, are 
 consecrated to his service. Each must be in his place ; 
 and, in his place, each member, by carefully studying the 
 import and application of the Lord's instructions, must 
 decide for himself on the nature and extent of his 
 own responsibilities. Each baptized believer, therefore, 
 becomes a trustee for Christ, in the Church, to the exact 
 amount of all the resources committed to his care, 
 whether they be one talent or ten. He is not only 
 obliged to use his utmost care, not to misapply those 
 resources himself; but he is also compelled to see, that 
 he is not a party to their misapplication in others. 
 Hence, the watchful care with which a Church of bap- 
 tized believers looks to the appointment of its pastor, its 
 agents, and various instrumentalities of usefulness. 
 Everything lucrative, or capable of being made lucra- 
 tive, is guarded by the inspection of devoted and 
 
THE ECONOMT OF THE CHUKCH IMPROVED. 199 
 
 responsible men. If any one detects a deviation from 
 propriety, he is bound not to conceal it. As a steward, 
 he must be faithful. The purity of the Church is, there- 
 fore, the protection of its resources, and the security of 
 their supply. When her society has been corrupted by 
 promiscuous baptism and promiscuous fellowship, the 
 Church can hardly be expected to feel much concern for 
 the kingdom of her Lord, or the support of his institu- 
 tions. She will then be careful only for her own con- 
 venience ; and, with the influx of worldly men, she will 
 also imbibe a worldly selfishness. Hence proceeds a fact, 
 worthy of lamentation with tears of blood. The so- 
 called Christian Churches are neither fcAv nor small, which 
 will not move one member in the cause of Christ, until 
 they are drawn by flattery, or driven by force. The 
 latter of these expedients results from the former. When 
 an absurd and compromising charity, by misapplying 
 Christian ordinances, and admitting as true, things which 
 are known to be false, has succeeded in making society, 
 within the Church, promisciious ; then the worldly 
 interests of mankind become confounded with the spi- 
 ritual : and religion, with all her holy things, is degraded 
 from her holy exaltation, and made an instrument of 
 human policy. Then the Church has nothing to com- 
 mand, until she is herself commanded by the world. 
 Having lost her purity, she has lost her strength. Her 
 simple institutions, and her holy aim, command no reve- 
 rence from unconverted and unholy men. They will 
 not give themselves to her ministry, or to works of 
 Christian love, unless they can be gratified with gain or 
 worldly advantage. When these elements of personal 
 gratification can be supplied, such men will urge their 
 
200 LECTURE V. 
 
 way to tlie enjoyment of them, through any violations of 
 truth and principle, breaking down the confidence of 
 Christian loye, with their impositions. From this source, 
 as from a fountain, evils flow in streams, through every 
 portion of religious society. What such worldly persons 
 cannot do by flattery and imposition, they labour to 
 effect by force. Where divine law yields them no sup- 
 port, but only condemns them, they seek the help of 
 human legislation. The community of Christians is thus 
 oppressed, and robbed, and peeled, by legalized sacri- 
 lege, perpetrated in the name of Christ. Wealth, and 
 time, and energy, beyond all calculation, are thus 
 wasted in combating and counteracting evils, which 
 grow up in the Christian community, from this adul- 
 terous . misappropriation of Christian ordinances, and 
 promiscuous fellowship with unconverted men. A strict 
 adherence to the Saviour's law would save the Church 
 from all this most disgraceful misery. If Christians were 
 distinguished from the world, as Christ commanded, 
 every evil thus inflicted on the Church, would obviously 
 come from adversaries ; and, being stripped of its dis- 
 guise, the concealment would be taken away from the 
 causes which produce this injury. When Christians are 
 separated from the world by the ordinance of their initia- 
 tion, and kept separate by a healthy fraternal discipline, 
 they can count their own number, estimate their own 
 resources, choose and conduct their own operations, with 
 prudence : they can reprove, rebuke, and exhort each 
 other, with all freedom and faithfulness ; the occasion for 
 activity may be explained to every member, and each 
 becomes accountable for what he has at his command. 
 Each operative movement is then conducted under the 
 
THE ADVANCEMENT OF EARLY PIETY. 201 
 
 inspection of the whole Church ; and the force of its 
 demand, for support, is measured by its merits. A liealth- 
 ful moral influence is thus made to penetrate the body of 
 Christ, and act on all its members : all must be prudent, 
 but all must be active ; and whatever the whole body 
 is required to undertake, it will, by its Redeemer, be 
 enabled to sustain. 
 
 Fifthly, the advantage of obedience to this rule will be 
 found, in the advancement of early inety. It is here that 
 the advocates of Infant Baptism, and Promiscuous Bap- 
 tism, profess to gain their high advantage. They think, 
 by these unauthorised and unscriptural ceremonies, to 
 give completeness to the laws of Christ. Appealing to 
 parental instincts, they gain an influence in society 
 which is undefinable, and which those who submit to it 
 are ashamed to confess. This circumstance alone would 
 be sufficient to condemn the error ; for what man was 
 ever yet unwilling to declare a feeling which he knows to 
 be right? In this, however, the instinct rises over 
 reason ; and when the victims of delusion have observed 
 or enforced their ceremony, some, who wish to defend it, 
 deny that it communicates any benefit whatever. In 
 this class of Psedo-Baptists, there is an inconsistency 
 which confounds them. To enforce their rite, they make 
 it beneficial, as I have shown ; to defend themselves in 
 practising it, they make it worthless. Others are more 
 bold. They come forth with the baptismal gift, and 
 openly affirm that it is necessary to salvation. Still, if 
 we press them hard, they shift their ground. 'To escape 
 the consequence of their position, they say, that this gift 
 is not conversion ; and, that conversion follows after it 
 Thus, they become confounded with their own state- 
 
 K 3 
 
202 LECTtrEE r, 
 
 ments, and tlie word of God ; for, in tteir Baptismal 
 service, they, in an address to the Almighty, recognized 
 these unconverted recipients of Baptism, as children of 
 Grod, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. Thus 
 they are found forsaking the substance, to snatch at 
 shadows. As the delusion operates on ministers and 
 parents, it is much to be deplored : the former being made 
 to contradict himself when discharging the highest func- 
 tions of his office ; and the latter being beguiled with 
 delusive hopes, and led away from the true object «>f 
 domestic teaching. All thaft mighty power, with which 
 a pious mother is invested, thus becomes diverted from 
 its right use. If, in the false security of her delusion, 
 religious instruction be not altogether neglected, (which 
 is the miserable case of millions,) her domestic teaching 
 will be tinctured with this sacramental absurdity. By 
 the force of maternal instinct, she shudders at the idea 
 that her child is, with all the temptations and uncertain- 
 ties of life, in actual danger of everlasting ruin : and, to 
 escape it, she leans on the hope of its baptismal gift. 
 That on which she leans herself, she teaches to her child. 
 Instead of fixing his undivided attention, on the abso- 
 lute necessity of learning the will and work of Christ, 
 repenting of sins, and placing all his hope of salvation 
 on personal faith in the atonement; the child is filled 
 with false ideas of "a spiritual gift" in Baptism, or an 
 hereditary claim to the covenant of grace. Instead of 
 being urged to become a member in the body of Christ, 
 by faith it Jesus and repentance for sin ; the child is 
 taught, even by his own mother, that he was bom a 
 member of the church, or that he was made a child of 
 God in Baptism. Thus, with monstrous care, delusion, 
 
EARly PIETT ADVANCED. 203 
 
 waiting at the birth, watches to entangle unoffending 
 infancy. If these consequences be charged home upon 
 the advocates of all this folly, they modify the sense 
 of their expressions, and say they did not mean it. 
 This is infamous. If they do not mean, that children 
 are born inheritors of the covenant, or that they are 
 made children of God in Baptism, why do they say it 1 
 Their answer is, we tise the words in a very modified sense. 
 If so, they ought to send a dictionary with their books, 
 that men may know how to understand them. But, 
 while they use this language in a double sense, how will 
 it affect the children ? Will they be able to under- 
 stand the very modified sense, in which these words are 
 used by the controversialist ; and distinguish it from 
 the very common sense, in which they appear to be 
 employed in their Catechisms, and their Prayer Book ? 
 Never. It is impossible. The Catechisms, and the 
 Prayer Book, all appeal to Scripture ; and every child, 
 who learns to read it, will find the same, or similar 
 expressions, in the eighth chapter of Paul's Epistle to 
 the Romans ; and in his simplicity he will, and ought 
 to, take them in both places as if used in the same sense. 
 If he be told that they are employed in his Catechism in 
 a very modified sense, then a thousand absurd distinctions 
 must be made, in comprehending which, the difficulty of 
 a child may be inferred, from the wrathful floundering of 
 his teachers. In fact, they have no chance of escaping, 
 without a miracle of mercy : and hence, as by a marshy 
 vapour gleaming through the night, millions are led 
 away by this "strong delusion;" some, in discourage- 
 ment, to irreligion and profligacy ; others, with delusive 
 
204 LEGTUBB V. 
 
 hopes, " to believe a lie," and to trust in a formality 
 whicli is not less fatal than irreligion itself. 
 
 These statements are more than confirmed, by the 
 history of this delusion submitted in my second Lecture,: 
 and the proof will become more painfully clear, by 
 descending to particular cases in the experience of 
 households. Such is not the case with the Redeemer's 
 law. By observing it, though Christians may not, in 
 every case, avoid the operations and results of human 
 depravity, they are, at least, delivered from the painful 
 idea, that its power has been increased by their own 
 unauthorized religious observances. By this, at leastj a 
 clear case is set before the child. If he ask. Why was 
 my father baptized ? The answer is, because of his 
 repentance and faith in Christ. If he ask, Why was I 
 not baptized ? he is told, because you have not yet 
 evinced your repentance and faith. If he say. Cannot 
 I be saved without it 1 The reply is given, in the words 
 of our Lord, " except ye repent, ye shall surely perish." 
 The child is thus made to feel his fearful association 
 with the wicked, until he becomes separated by actual 
 conversion. The father is made to feel it. The mother 
 is made to feel it. The fact is testified to the whole 
 house, by this ordinance, in its right administration. 
 By this, the instinctive and parental affection is turned 
 to the right object, and operates in a right direction. 
 It defines the object of principal solicitude, and vitalizes 
 the feeling in seeking it. Every lesson of the mother is 
 made to bear upon that point : she teaches her child 
 what he is to believe, of what he is to repent, and from 
 what he is to turn away. Parental solicitude is roused 
 
INFIDELITY REFUTED. 205 
 
 in the act of supplication ; and those, who use this law 
 rightly, will often join in special, and protracted suppli- 
 cation for the child. They will pray for its conversion 
 to God ; because they know that otherwise it never can 
 be saved. To the results which follow, in this direction, 
 from the law of Christ, many a joyful testimony can be 
 borne, by parents who rejoice in the fellowship of their 
 children in the body of Christ. When mercy has been 
 shown to one, and that one is received by baptism into 
 the Church; it forms an epoch in the history of the 
 household, and needs no explanation, but that he has 
 repented and believed. The new position, that he 
 occupies, forms a constant admonition and encourage- 
 ment to the rest. They are stimulated in learning, 
 inquiry is awakened, supplication in the family becomes 
 individualized, and filled with increased fervency; and 
 God is pleased to answer it, for such events seldom come 
 alone. Faithful and obedient piety thus obtains its 
 rich reward: while error and disobedience to the 
 Saviour's law, garnished though they may be by ima- 
 gination, yield no other consequences than such as we 
 are bound to deplore. 
 
 Sixthly, a strict adherence to the Saviour's law, in 
 baptizing accredited believers only, affords the very best 
 means of confounding and resisting infidelity. 
 
 I do not, in stating these advantages, mean to affirm 
 that they are all, and always, improved, by every Baptist 
 Church : this must be determined by other evidence. 
 On the other hand, it must not be supposed that Psedo- 
 Baptists have no means, whereby the pernicious opera- 
 tions of infidelity can be resisted; for such a statement 
 would not be true. But this we do affirm, that every 
 
206 LECTURE V. 
 
 departure from the law of Clirist necessarily entails a 
 disadvantage here. By arguments, founded on the facts 
 of history, and by a judicious use of well attested 
 miracles, we may do much to prove the divine authority 
 of the Christian system. But experience is, after all, 
 the most decisive proof. Like the theorems of natural 
 philosophy, the gospel must be subjected to experiment. 
 If it be true that there is a God in heaven, who, through 
 the mediation of Jesus Christ, waits to hear and answer 
 the supplications of believing and repenting sinners ; 
 to them he must display his mercy, in acts of forgiving 
 love, in guiding, and supporting the recipients of his 
 mercy. In them, the reality of his governance and per- 
 fections must be shown, by real events, transpiring in 
 the business of every day. He is their Grod, and they 
 are his people. They submit to his laws, and live for 
 his glory ; and he becomes their portion, their exceeding 
 great reward. By this _actual commerce between God 
 and men, the theory of divine governance is led out of 
 the regions of abstraction, and brought within the 
 range of practical use. While saints are touching, and 
 tasting, and handling the good word of life ; unbe- 
 lievers may see, in them, an actual experience of the 
 things which they themselves deny. 
 
 In order that such a system may have any effect upon 
 observers, its application and use must be made perfectly 
 obvious. By whatever means this becomes obscured, 
 the force of convincing evidence must be diminished. 
 When nothing characterizes the persons who adhere to 
 the governance of God, no one will know where to look 
 for its beneficial or admonitory eflFects. Such then i-s 
 the result of Infant Baptism, Promiscuous Baptism, 
 
INFIDELITY REFUTED. 207 
 
 the baptismal gift, and promiscuous communion. The 
 doctrine of " a spiritual gift in baptism" leads inquiry 
 where, to the whole theory, events give a flat denial. 
 Infidels will say with justice, if this spiritual gift 
 have any existence, and comes from God ; it must, 
 like every other divine arrangement, be seen in its 
 results : but here are no results at all. If all the Chris- 
 tian system be just what we find in this supposed part 
 of it, it is not worth a straw. Where this delusion is 
 not relinquished. Infant Baptism, Promiscuous Baptism, 
 and Promiscuous Fellowship, obscure the whole ground 
 of observation, and make it utterly impossible to know 
 where the demonstrative results of divine mercy are to be 
 perceived. They are not to be found in worldly society ; 
 this God himself forbids us to expect ; and when the 
 Church is made to coincide with the world, they cannot 
 be obtained in her. To look for " a Church within the 
 Church" is impracticable, since every member of the 
 Church will claim the credit of sincerity. By this whole 
 system, therefore, in all its modifications, the actual 
 results of redeeming mercy are obscured, and thereby the 
 power of resisting infidelity is weakened beyond all cal- 
 culation. 
 
 Refined speculations have but little influence over 
 society ; common men are ruled by common sense. 
 Some cannot, and others will not, labour through suc- 
 cessive proofs, united in a chain of abstract reasoning ; 
 but facts are appreciated by all. Hence the heathens 
 have often been disgusted with Christianity, because their 
 experience of Christians has filled them with abhorrence. 
 It promises them mercy, and peace : but those who are 
 recognized as Christians, have brought them cruelty, 
 
208 LECTURE V. 
 
 and war, and every evil work. By this fact toO;, we may 
 account for the growing infidelity of the lower classes in 
 England. A most unrighteous and undignified compul- 
 sion forces from them an exorbitant support, for ceremonies 
 to which no benefit can be traced ; and thus Christianity 
 becomes to them a means of oppressive sufiering ; and its 
 merciful design is never verified, in conjunction with these 
 evils. The same may be affirmed of our higher and literary 
 circles. To them the Church appears to be a mass of per- 
 sons, difiering in nothing, but their profession and dress, 
 from other classes of the community. Her policies are as 
 unsound, as unprincipled, and as cruel, as those which 
 are adopted by other systems of governing mankind. 
 God is no more revered in her sanctuary, than in the 
 senate : and he ceases to be known, in her palaces, for a 
 refuge. Our rulers, therefore, give no reverence to God 
 on her account; but feed her with wealth and flattery, 
 and use her as an instrument of earthly power. Their 
 zeal for her interest thus becomes united with gross irre- 
 ligion, and often with a fixed infidelity; for, in the 
 Church, they see nothing to impress them with reverence 
 for the authority and perfections of God. 
 
 By strictly adhering to the law of our Redeemer, we 
 obtain precisely the opposite result. Then, none but 
 accredited believers are baptized, and none are retained 
 in the Church, after the profession of their faith is 
 shown to have been insincere, or unsustained by a consis- 
 tent deportment. Man cannot search the heart ; and 
 therefore imperfections will attend the discipline en- 
 trusted to his care ; nevertheless the subjects of saving 
 faith are distinguished ; and, where its profession has been 
 assumed with insincerity, God himself will deal with the 
 
INFIDELITY REFUTED, 209 
 
 deceiver. Thus, in wrath or love, God reveals him- 
 self, and verifies the principles of his government. 
 Events, even now, transpire, evolving his perfections and 
 his presence; which, if they were not concealed by cor- 
 ruptions or neglect of discipline, would speak most loudly 
 and conclusively for God. But, if the attention of the 
 Church were fixed on this one point, if this were carried 
 out in all her polity, if she were known only as a company 
 of believers, consecrated in baptism, and conforming to 
 every dictate of divine law; — if the Church were known 
 only as a sphere, in- which faith in God is the only sus- 
 taining and regulating principle j^then God would be 
 known in her, and through her, as a faithful God, and 
 infidelity would be ashamed and confounded. 
 
 With all the imperfections that we have reason to 
 confess, two facts nevertheless are evolved, in churches 
 constituted on this principle, which awfully confirm the 
 whole of our argument. First, where any clear and 
 known deviations are allowed in such churches, they are 
 generally visited with exemplary punishment. Indivi- 
 duals will be found, who, having abused the church by 
 insincerity in their baptism, sink into the grossest vil- 
 lany, and come to the most grievous end; and churches 
 will be found, departing from the truth in points which 
 are obvious to every impartial observer; but what is the 
 result? They cannot linger, through a long and flat- 
 tering course of error and rebellion. They bear the 
 name of God ; and its honour is vindicated ; vindicated 
 in their shame, if not in their annihilation. The churches 
 of Rome, of Germany, of England, and many other 
 Ptedo-baptistical communities, have lived and grown in 
 vices inconceivable ; because they are, in fact, asso- 
 
210 LECTITRE V. 
 
 ciations of the world; a tithe of their pollutions and 
 absurdities must have brought any community of per- 
 sons, professing to be baptized believers, to utter extir- 
 pation. 
 
 Secondly, churches of baptized believers show the 
 power, mercy, and faithfulness of God, in their preserva- 
 tion. Their history is full of sufferings and martyrdoms. 
 No sooner had the primitive Christian churches borne 
 their early persecutions, than the enemy began his work 
 of corruption ; and, instead of battering their walls, he 
 cast his fire and filth into their sanctuary. When the 
 churches became thoroughly polluted : then, by their 
 own consent, their bulwarks were pulled down, and the 
 fold was thrown open to the forest. Believers' baptism 
 then became administered to unbelievers and to infants ; 
 all things being sacrificed to the love of earthly gain, or 
 to the love of power. After the Reformation, a particu- 
 lar distinction was made, between baptism as admin- 
 istered to infants, and baptism as administered to adults. 
 Thus delusions multiply as they advance ; and gather 
 strength from numbers. The terrible experiment of the 
 Papacy, shows how far, and to what greatness, this sacra- 
 mental forgery may proceed ; and since its partial fall, 
 every participant of her heresy has shown how much 
 baptized believers have to bear in all society. They are 
 courted and allured into every church : none will refuse 
 them : yet are they scandalized by all. The time has 
 never yet arrived, when they can live and teach without 
 persecution. Classed with infidels, chartists, socinians, 
 and whatever may serve to degrade them, the preserva- 
 tion of their existence has been a proof of constant 
 divine care. In former times they had to bear the 
 
SPECIAL DUTIES, 211 
 
 greatest physical injury; in the present age, they have 
 to bear the greatest moral injury. Men "seem unable to 
 discuss the truths that they teach, ■without impugning 
 their character. Other men, professing Christianity, 
 are opposed by the openly puofane ; but these are 
 opposed by all classes, and every where have to endure 
 the operations of a warfare aimed at their extirpation. 
 Yet have they been preserved, and they have multiplied ; 
 and they are still multiplying, to an extent which 
 exceeds all precedent since the Reformation. Every 
 progression made, in diiFusing sacred Scripture, and in 
 promoting its careful study, turns to their enlargement 
 and advantage. Wherever new weapons of warfare 
 are sought, with which to assail them, they are sure 
 to find fresh materials for their encouragement and 
 support. If an appeal is made to Scripture, Scripture 
 is on their side; if it be made to the Fathers, the 
 Fathers supply additional support; if the appeal be 
 made to experience, experience yields them its highest 
 authority ; and yet are they every where spoken against. 
 They have been chastened of God, and despised of men ; 
 and what is the result? They have been preserved and 
 multiplied in all adversity : and their discipline, preser- 
 vation, and enlargement, are a witness for God upon 
 the earth, a standing and experimental evidence of a 
 divine revelation, and of a continued intercourse, there- 
 by, between God and man. 
 
 Brethren, " The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of 
 " Jacob is our refuge." But what should be our special 
 care, in this position, to which we have been called by 
 infinite mercy 1 Shall we grow vain of our advantage, 
 self-secure, and cease to learn the will of our Redeemer ? 
 
212 LECTURE V. 
 
 God forbid ! OugHt we not rather to adore the love 
 which hath distinguished us, rise to the elevation of our 
 calling, and, (acting with vigour, and studying divine 
 truth with teachable humility,) labour to attain the 
 highest possible perfection, both in personal piety, and 
 in the conduct of our churches? In these things, 
 be quite assured, that much is to be learnt ; and still 
 more is to be acquired in practical observance. The 
 great calamity of mankind, for ages, has been, that, while 
 a gospel of salvation has been granted from heaven, no 
 society has existed in which the full glory of its peaceful 
 benefits could be seen. Let us labour, with all prayer, 
 to supply this great desideratum, essential alike to the 
 welfare of men, and the Saviour's glory.* Ponder this 
 topic in your deepest thought : it is not of trivial 
 importance. This great work, above all others, is 
 intrusted to you. Nothing can be more honourable, and 
 nothing can be more felicitous. Pursue the objects of 
 your high and holy calling, as though the purposes of 
 mercy were suspended on your own constancy and faith- 
 fulness. The Saviour, in whom you have confided, can 
 never be unmindful of your work of faith, and labour of 
 love. Here you may have much to discourage and 
 afflict you ; but one expression of his kind approval, in 
 the reign of heaven, will more than repay every disad- 
 vantage and trial that you have suffered amongst men. 
 
 Those who still remain opponents in this cause, will, I 
 hope, receive this exposition of its merits in love, as it is 
 presented. If the statements which have been advanced 
 are wrong, let the error be explained ; and, when a satis- 
 
 * See Note M. 
 
CONCLUSION. 213 
 
 factory proof has been supplied, we will yield to them 
 the victory. By all those endearments which raise, in 
 their esteem, the honour of our Lord, the victory of the 
 gospel, the salvation of mankind, and the spiritual 
 interests of their own offspring, they will, (I trust,) be 
 led to give to this subject their most prayerful consi- 
 deration. This I ask of every opponent, and not with- 
 out great solemnity; for the whole matter relates to the 
 service and glory of our Redeemer, and of our God. 
 How far these momentous interests are thereby affected, 
 has been stated to them with much plainness of speech. 
 They have seen the origin of their system, the failure of 
 its supposed scriptural authority, and the law which 
 Christ hath ordained for the regulation of his churches. 
 These things have been set forth only in love, to them, 
 as well as to others ; and in the same spirit, I have now 
 exemplified both the evils of their own theory, and the 
 high advantage which a strict adherence to the SaAaour's 
 law must secure. Weighing these particulars, with 
 prayerful and conscientious solicitude, each one mil 
 be prepared to determine for himself the path of duty. 
 To supply these materials, necessary to an accurate 
 judgment on the case, was my object; and, having now 
 accomplished it, no farther tax upon your patience is 
 required. 
 
 Here, therefore. Christian brethren, permit me to say, 
 farewell. Be ye perfect, and of one mind, and the God 
 of love and peace shall be with you. For your pro- 
 tracted and fixed attention during these discourses, 
 receive my sincere thanks. Nor would I express these 
 feelings less heartily to those who are still opponents, 
 than to those who are with me on the side of truth. If 
 
214 LECTURE V. 
 
 some feel that they are too exalted to learn, we are not 
 responsible for their mistake : and it is too common a 
 thing, to awaken much surprise. If there be those who 
 can circulate through your families and town, controver- 
 sial explanations of Holy Scripture, to which they dare 
 not affix their own names; and of which explanations 
 they will not even listen to the answer, all the impro- 
 priety of their conduct must be accounted for by them- 
 selves. Our duty was to set the truth before them with 
 plainness and affection. Should we have failed herein, 
 the greatest favour we can ask is, to be instructed wherein 
 we are wrong. I now commend you to God, and to the 
 word of his grace. On this great cause of truth and of 
 salvation, may blessings be imparted from on high, rich 
 as the dew that falls on Hermon : and for ourselves, 
 whatever the events that Providence may cause to 
 transpire in our day, may our hearts be filled with that 
 desire which Jesus has so clearly authorized, and so fully 
 expressed, — " Our Father ! let thy kingdom come, and 
 " thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven 1" 
 
NOTES, 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Note A. — page 25, line 24. 
 
 The doctrine called the " opus operatum" cannot be made 
 more plain than it is stated in the text. Since it was first 
 introduced into the church, it has lurked in secret where it 
 could not be openly avowed. It now operates in protestant 
 churches rather as an undefined sentimental feeling, than as 
 a principle which invites inquiry and dares disproof. All 
 experience denies its validity, and yet it forms the basis of 
 all ecclesiastical tyranny. Where it prevails, religious 
 liberty, if it really exist, is insecure : and free inquiiy is 
 abhoiTed. Hence we may account for the angry feeling 
 with which all who are implicated therein, unite to censure 
 every impeachment of their common error. They can dis- 
 cuss amongst themselves and throw the blame upon each 
 other, while each indicates a consciousness of priestly right 
 to assert his own claim, as an agent in administering grace 
 without faith in its recipient ; but, for any one to expose 
 this false assumption, is an offence which neither party can 
 forgive. In this we see the proof that they are wrong, for 
 truth never fears exposure. The effect of this error is fatal 
 in the extreme : for, the greatest obstacle in advancing per- 
 sonal religion in Christian countries, is presented in the 
 almost universal feeling it produces, that, either by birth or 
 by baptism, persons are Christians already ; and, though 
 they have neither the faith of Christians, nor the fear of 
 God before their eyes in any way, yet they cherish the hope 
 that as Christians they sliall be saved. In this mystery of 
 error and sin, the people are destroyed while the com- 
 batants are, with mutual injustice, charging their own wrong 
 upon each other. 
 
 L 
 
218 
 
 Note B. — p. 34. 
 
 In the extemporaneous reference to this Charlinch case, 
 either I have made a mistake or the reporter. The village 
 of Charlincli is not in Devonshire, but Somersetshire, The 
 author of the tract, who was silenced for his activity and 
 evangelical faithfulness, states the case referred to in the 
 following words. 
 
 " A girl thirteen years old, having found the Lord one evening, 
 passed the night in great blessedness : in the morning, she told 
 her mother, how very full of joy she was : the mother, being 
 then under deep conviction herself, shut up in unbelief, and just 
 ready to doubt whether there were any such thing a.s faith at all, 
 would not believe her, and bade her not tell stories; to which 
 the daughter replied, very solemnly — ' mother, if no one will 
 ' believe it, God believes it.' Whilst under conviction, she was in 
 the habit of going to a lady four times a week, to receive reli- 
 gious instruction : the lady being a strenuous defender of the 
 views of Dr. Pusey, taught the child that she had been ' bom 
 ' again' at her baptism. The girl continued to attend on her till 
 ' she found the Lord, when she became fully convinced that she 
 ' had never been ' born again' before the Friday evening when 
 ' she believed on Jesus : afterwards, having prayed to Christ 
 ' to give her strength, — for it was no slight trial for the poor 
 ' child, — she went to the lady, and, having thanked her for the 
 ' trouble she had taken, told her that she was converted now, 
 ' and that she could not come to her any more. To this the lady 
 ' replied by telling her she was in great danger, and assuring her 
 ' that she might be converted /{/5!i/ times in the course of her life. 
 ' The girl went to her no more. This dear child was formerly 
 ' proud, intractable, and fond of dress : she is now becoming 
 • meek, gentle, submissive to her parents, and satisfied with 
 ' plain attire. She was once a trouble to her mother ; but is now 
 ' a comfort and support to her." — The Charlinch Revival, pp. 
 30,31. 
 
 I do not contend for the precise accuracy of either party 
 in the use of technical and scriptural language as the case 
 appears from this narrative. The probability is, that neither 
 will be found correct. Tlie phrase " born again," is ob- 
 viously used instead of " regenerate" or " begotten again," 
 and this seems not to be detected by the author ; but the 
 case is clearly to the point in hand. It shews with what a 
 direct and horrible fatality the erroneous supposition that 
 persons are regenerated in baptism may be brought to stifle 
 the deepest convictions of sin, and to turn the whole thoughts 
 of the inquirer, from Christ and his atonement, to the priest 
 and his unauthorised and useless ceremony. Let it be remem- 
 
219 
 
 bered that this process is going on in millions of cases every 
 hour, and under the superintendence of priests, and parties, 
 trained to this pernicious avocation, and the importance of 
 our inquiry will he manifest to every one. It involves the 
 whole question of personal piety, religious freedom, and 
 the glory of our God in the salvation of men. 
 
 Note C— p. 61. 
 
 The nature and origin of these errors ai'e more fully set 
 forth by Ireneus, in his work, Adversus Hereses Valentini, 
 S;c., and as the scene of Ireneus's labour was Lyons, in 
 France, it will be seen how far the error had extended 
 itself, and how seriously it was to be deplored. Tertullian's 
 work on the same subject increases the evidence on these 
 points, especially in reference to Africa. The wide diflru- 
 sion of this en-or must be attributed greatly, to the want 
 of general scriptural instruction ; but the principal cause 
 of its extension will be found in its suitability to our fallen 
 condition. Men now, naturally, shun repentance and faith 
 in Christ. Anything that seems to give a hope of salvation, 
 without those acts of personal piety, is preferred, by the 
 carnal mind, which is enmity against God. Hence, there- 
 fore, we may see the heavy responsibility of Christians who 
 consent to become implicated in this absurdity. It is com- 
 promising the whole question of dispute between God and 
 the enemy of souls. It is resigning the church, to the 
 kingdom of darkness, and to the man of sin. 
 
 Note D. — p. 61. 
 
 To show the near approach to identity in these two 
 systems the following passages will be quite sufficient. 
 
 " When then we find our Lord's direction to ' baptise all nations 
 " ' into the name (not names) of the Father, the Son, and the Hoiy 
 " ' Ghost,' a very little thoughtfulness, one would think, would lead 
 *' men to connect with that name, which is ' a tovver of strength,' 
 " which safely defends, wherein we have life, wherein we are safe, 
 " wherewith the Father keeps those whom He hath given to the 
 ' Son, that they may be one as the Father and the Son are one; 
 
 L 2 
 
220 
 
 " — accordingly, that being ' baptized into the name' of the three 
 " persons of the undivided Trinity, is no profession of obedience, 
 " sovereignty, belief, but (if one may so speak) a real appropriation 
 " of the person baptized to the Holy Trinity, a transfer of him 
 " from the dominion of Satan to Them, an insertion of him within 
 " Their blessed Name, and a casting the shield (to speak humanly) 
 '• of that Almighty Name, over him ; that name, at which devils 
 " tremble and are cast out thereby, ' into which a man runneth 
 " ' and is safe.' And this so much the more, since Scripture else- 
 " where attributes the efScacy of Baptism to His all pervading 
 " Name, 'but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were 
 " 'justified in (fv) the name of the Lord Jesus, and by (ev) the 
 " ' SPIRIT of our GOD' (1 Cor. vi. W) ; where ' the name of our 
 " • LORD JESUS' and ' the SPIRIT of oar GOD' are mentioned, 
 " as in the like way the efficacious causes of the holiness and right- 
 " eousness imparted in Baptism. For where His Name is so 
 " named there is He.— Oxford Tract 67, pp. 72—73. 
 
 This is exactly what Valentine and Theodotus say on 
 the same text and the same subject. Their words, as given 
 in the lecture at page 60, are almost identical with the 
 tract. " For he who is baptized into God hath migrated 
 " into God, and hath authority to walk over serpents and 
 " scorpions which are the evil powers ; and it is enjoined, 
 " go about, and preach, and baptize those who believe, into 
 " the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 " Spirit, into whom we have been new born, being made 
 " superior to all other powers." 
 
 The leading idea is, that of a material effect supposed to 
 be produced by the ceremony, " a real appropriation of the 
 " person baptised to the Holy Trinity" not a ^^ profession of 
 " obedience, sovereignty, belief, but a real appropriation of 
 '■^ the person baptized to (2 into) the Holy Trinity" This 
 Valentine would call migrating, passing over into God. 
 But this material notion is farther brought out by the 
 Tractarians, in their remarks on Rom. vi. 1 — 13. In this 
 exposition, the following appear to be quoted fi-om Calvin 
 on the word " planted " into Christ. 
 
 " Great is the emphasis of this word, and it clearly shows, that 
 " the Apostle is not merely exhorting, but is rather teaching us 
 " of the goodness of Christ. For he is not requiring any thing of 
 " us, which may be done by our zeal or industry, but sets forth a 
 " grafting-in, effected by the hand of God. For grafting-in implies 
 '' not merely a conformity of life, but a secret union, whereby we 
 " become one with him ; so that quickening us by His Spirit, He 
 " transfuses His power into us. So then, as the graft shares life 
 " and death with the tree into which it is grafted, so are we par- 
 " takers of the Life no less than the Death of Christ." — Oirford 
 Trad 67, p. 109. 
 
221 
 
 This quotation from Calvin is not only given with 
 approval, but for the purpose of showing that he taught, 
 and as the Tractarians think, taught properly, " That 
 " ' Christ slays sin in those who are his' fi'om the effect of 
 " Baptism." — Ibid, p. 108. Valentine says, "that the soul 
 " comes forth from the baptism, a servant of God, and 
 "speaks to the unclean spirit which now shudders at the 
 " very person, into whom, but just before it would have 
 " carried its operations." 
 
 Calvin, therefore, and the Tractarians are plainly impli- 
 cated in the same error with Valentine and Theodotus. 
 Indeed it is impossible to separate any theory of infant 
 baptism from tliis delusive absurdity, without making it 
 absolutely useless and unscriptural. In a moral sense, the 
 believer is united to God in baptism, that is, he agrees in 
 this solemn compact to live for God in Christ ; but, the 
 child has no faith, and, if he obtain any benefit, it must 
 be material, and not moral, and thus it falls under the 
 Valentinian heresy. The baptism of Christ was a personal 
 and moral act, attended with moral results, Valentine gave 
 it a material power of communicating life and strength to 
 the soul. Thg Tractarians have applied to baptized infants 
 the language and the ideas, both of Christ and of Valentine ; 
 and, those who would separate the error from the truth, 
 must give up the baptism of infants altogether. If it be 
 useless it is unscriptural, and if any benefit be assigned to 
 it other than that which attends the compact and operation 
 of faith, of which infants are destitute, then it must be 
 material, and Valentinian, and not Christian. 
 
 Note E.— p. 65. 
 
 The improper use which has been made of the evidence 
 to be obtained fi-om Cyprian, is most marvellous. From 
 one document, it is clear that Cyprian did permit a sickly 
 child to be baptized ; but it is also clear that this was not 
 the ordinary rule ; it was a deviation which he allowed 
 because of the child's affliction. The same must be said of 
 the mode ; for sprinkling was allowed in the case of dying 
 penitents, because they could not undergo immersion. Both 
 the exceptions, therefore, prove the rule to have been, in his 
 time, that of administering immersion to believers only. 
 But the exceptions prove also the adherence of Cyprian to 
 
m 
 
 the Valentinian error. The grace which he supposed to 
 be conveyed in baptism, by the Spii'it, was a kind of mate- 
 rial essence, without which he affirmed that no ane could 
 be saved. It is not wonderful that papists should make 
 much of this authority, it being the oldest which they 
 have in the church ; but that protestant dissenters should 
 appeal to it, is a clear proof that the error to which they 
 cling, is, in their own estimation, destitute of all support 
 from unpolluted authorities. 
 
 Note E. — p. 75. 
 
 " The assembly of divines having finished their main business, 
 " was reduced to a small number, most of the country ministers 
 " having returned home, and those who remained about London 
 " were employed chiefly in the examination of such ministers as 
 " presented themselves for ordination, or induction into livings ; 
 " thus they subsisted till February 22, 1648-9, about three 
 " weeks after the king's death, having sat five years, six months^ 
 " and twenty-two days, in which time they had one thousand, 
 ^' one hundred and sixty-three sessions. They were afterwards 
 " changed into a committee for the purposes last-mentioned, 
 "and met every Thursday morning till March 25, 1652, when 
 " the long parliament being turned out of the house by Oliver 
 " Cromwell, they broke up without any formal dissolution." — 
 Neale's Hist. Puritans, vol. ii. p. 504, 
 
 Note F.— p. 82. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers is amongst the most candid of the advo- 
 cates for infant baptism in our day ; but his statements do 
 not alter the fact, as exhibited in the text. In his 30th 
 Lecture, (vol. ii. p. 64, of his work on the Epistle to the 
 Romans,) he plainly affirms that " the original meaning of 
 " the word baptism is immersion," and without doubt, 
 
 " That the prevalent style of the administration in the apostle's 
 " days, was by an actual submerging of the whole body under 
 " water. Jesus Christ by death underwent this sort of baptism 
 " — even immersion under the surface of the ground, whence 
 " He soon emerged again by His resurrection. We by being 
 " baptized into his death, are conceived to have made a similar trans- 
 
223 
 
 " lation — la the act of descending under the water of baptism 
 " to have resigaed an old life, and, in the act of ascending, to 
 " emerge into a second, or a new life." — Ibid, vol. ii. p. 64. 
 
 This is stated to illustrate the argaixieut of Paul, in 
 Rom. vi. 3 — 7. Hence he admits that this passage relates 
 to the ordinance of baptism in water, and this brings him 
 under the full weight of my argument in the third 
 lecture ; where it is proved that this whole passage can 
 be applied to baptized believers only. But in vol. i. of the 
 same work, and at page 226, he states, what he calls, the 
 main strength of the scriptural argument for infant baptism, 
 in these words : — 
 
 1. " The first Christians believed and were baptized, ' 
 
 2. " Abraham believed and was circumcised." 
 
 3. " He transmitted the practice of circumcision to infants." 
 
 4. " We transmit the practice of baptism to infants." 
 
 5. '•' There is no satisfactory historical evidence of oar practice 
 " having ever crept in, — the innovation of a later period in the 
 " history of the church." — IKd, vol. i. p. 226. 
 
 To all this it is replied : — 
 
 1. That I have shown in this Lecture, when, and how, 
 this practice did creep in as a new thing, — in the time, 
 and by the aid of Cyprian and Valentine, 
 
 2. In my third lecture, ifc is shown that the passage, 
 Rom. vi. 1 — 13, excludes the idea of any baptism in the first 
 age, but that which was administered to professed believers. 
 
 3. The analogy between circumcision and baptism, as far 
 as it goes, supports this doctrine. For Abraham circumcised 
 his children because they were Jews by birth, and as such 
 had an inheritance in the covenant made with him and his 
 posterity. But the natural children of believers ai'e ?iot 
 believers by birth, and have not by birth, any inheritance 
 in the new covenant. Those who believe are a seed of 
 faithful Abraham, and sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus ; 
 such, therefore, should, by the analogy, be baptized, and 
 only such : it is to such only that the whole argument of 
 the apostle will apply, and it is to such only that Dr. 
 Chalmers's exposition of the apostle's argument can apply. 
 Dr. Chalmers effectually contradicts himself; and, liis 
 failure is a clear proof that this argument for infant baptism 
 cannot be sustained. If it rest on anything, it must be on 
 the assumption of hereditary piety, which, in a work on 
 that subject, I have considered and rejected. His " maiti 
 ** strength of the scriptural argument for infant baptism," 
 therefore, is destroyed ; and, if the practice be retained, it 
 must be retained without any scriptural support whatevei-. 
 Besides, there can be no doubt whatever, that the expecta- 
 
224 
 
 tion of " a spiritual gift in baptism" is the great, though 
 the unavowed cause of that general and diseased regard for 
 infant baptism which now prevails in that and in other 
 churches. 
 
 Note G.— p. 87. 
 
 That the opinion here expressed is not without founda- 
 tion may be seen from the following extract. 
 
 (copy.) 
 "THE REGISTRATION ACT." 
 
 " To the Editor of the Times:' 
 
 " Sir, — Permit me to direct your attention to a matter of 
 " momentous import to the Christian community, and of no incon- 
 " siderable importance as affecting the interests of the established 
 " church. I mean the Registration Act, which is effecting more 
 " to unchristianise the land, and to promote dissent, infidelity, 
 " and estrangement from the church of Christ, than the combined 
 " machinations of Chartists, Socialists, Dissenters, and Infidels." — 
 " In populous districts, where Dissenters have been appointed to 
 " a very great extent as registrars, the people have been generally 
 " told ' that they will register their children, and that it will not 
 " ' be necessary for them to be baptized.' And such is the extreme 
 " ignorance of thousands as to religious matters, that credence 
 " is given to such representations ; and numbers, to an extent 
 " even beyond conception, in every populous parish, are prevented 
 " from participating in the blessings and privileges of Christian 
 " baptism, although this sacrament was submitted to by Christ 
 " himself, was appointed as an initiation into his church, and we 
 " are expressly told by him, that unless ' a person believes, and is 
 " ' baptized, he cannot be saved.' 
 
 " That the evils arising from the Registration Act are not 
 " imaginary, the following tabular statement of the number of 
 " baptisms in one populous parish, viz., the parish of Bethnal- 
 '' green, for the three years preceding the Registration Act, com- 
 ' ' pared with the first three years since its enactment, will clearly 
 " show : — 
 
 Baptisms in 1835 
 
 „ 1836 
 
 1837 
 
 .. 849 
 .. 836 
 .. 1131 
 
 . 2816 
 2816 
 2045 
 
 Baptisms in 1838 
 
 1839 . 
 „ 1840 . 
 
 670 
 691 
 684 
 
 2045 
 
 3) 
 
 771 less in 
 
 three years. 
 
 
 257, less each year. 
 
225 
 
 " Here, then, we have in one parish alone a decrease in the 
 " number of baptisms to the extent of 257 each year, although 
 " the parish has increased in population about 10,000 since 1835, 
 " and there ought to have been an increase of baptisms in a similar 
 " ratio. Surely, it is high time for the Legislature to apply a 
 " remedy to such an alarming evil as this ; and it is to be hoped, 
 " that should you direct the attention of a Christian Legislature 
 " to this momentous subject, some friend of the present as well as 
 " future well-being of his Christian brethren would be induced to 
 " originate an act to repeal a measure so injurious to the church 
 " and subversive of Christianity ; and which, unless repealed, may 
 " bring down the just judgments of God upon the land. 
 
 " Had it been proposed to grant the clergy one-tenth of the sum 
 '' for registration which is paid to lay Dissenting registrars, the 
 " tender consciences of Dissenters would have been so deeply 
 " wounded that the kingdom would have been in a state of com- 
 " motion from one extremity to the other ; but as the rural clergy 
 •' were to be robbed of a fourth of their property by the Tithe 
 " Commutation Act, the still worse paid clergy in towns were to 
 " be robbed of a considerable portion of their fees by the Regis- 
 " tration Act. This was consistent enough in an Administration 
 '* governed by popular clamour, and hostilely disposed towards 
 " the church ; but surely the time is not far distant when, under 
 " a different Administration, the country will be extricated fi'om 
 " the disgrace and injustice of both enactments — when the minis- 
 " ters of Christ will be again empowered to receive what God 
 " ordained for their maintenance ; and the awful responsibility be 
 " averted of a Christian Legislature unchristianizing the land." 
 
 This passage is of great importance. It shows, more 
 clearly than the document quoted in the text, what is the 
 true cause of this baptismal regeneration activity. The 
 clergy are — " to he robbed of a considerable portion of their 
 "fees by the Registration ActP To prevent this loss oifees 
 is the object of their zeal, and therefore they cry up the 
 importance of their ceremonj'-. Empiricism cannot be 
 carried farther in vending Mon-ison's pills. But there is a 
 still deeper policy included in this arrangement. The legal 
 importance of registers, is felt through life ; and, when 
 these come to be connected with religious services, they 
 raise the importance of the church in the estimation of the 
 people. It was from the first considered, that the separa- 
 tion of these from church acts and ceremonies, was a great 
 point gained. It is right that civil affairs should be made 
 distinct. The religious ceremonies will then be made 
 dependent on their own merits : and, when their unfounded 
 and useless character comes to be seen and contrasted with 
 the meretricious assumptions made in their favour, by those 
 who advocate them, they will be rejected with just indig- 
 
226 
 
 Mtion : but, if the people will not inquire for themselves, 
 and numbers stiU adhere to these fruitless and unscriptural 
 ceremonies, then, priestly power will rise up in the dark- 
 ness — and hence it is found, in all experience, that infant 
 baptism and religious Kberty cannot generally prevail at the 
 same time and in the same country. Without violent pro- 
 tection infant baptism must perish ; and the violent protec- 
 tion it requires^ is incompatible with religious liberty. 
 
 Note H.— p. 91. 
 
 1 have been threatened with I know not what for the fore- 
 going quotation. It was reported in the Essex Herald as 
 stated in the text : and some who undertook to defend his 
 lordship were pleased to implicate my veracity in the matter. 
 This led me to examine the different editions of this charge, 
 and I have been sui-prised to find in how many cases the 
 seventh edition differs from the original reports. The 
 charge at first was obviously intended for the clergy : and, 
 if our habits as a nation would have allowed it, should have 
 been delivered with closed doors. The charge as printed 
 and issued with the Bishop's name to it, is more suited to 
 the people, and has less in it to violate the feelings of the 
 age. The whole passage relating to marriage is left out, 
 and instead of it the following note is appended to page 40. 
 
 " Note [R]. At this part of the charge I made some observa- 
 " tions respecting the marriage, by clergymen, according to the 
 *' rites of the church, of parties who have already contracted a 
 " valid marriage before the Superintendent Registrar. It appeared 
 " to me that such a proceeding was irregular ; that the banns, in 
 " such a case, could not be correctly published ; and that a licence, 
 " which is a dispensation for banns, could not be granted ; and 
 " that if the proceedings were allowable in the case specified, it 
 " would be also in all cases of Dissenter's marriages solemnized by 
 " any other person than a clergyman. I am still inclined to this 
 " view of the subject ; but I have had pointed out to me a form 
 " of licence for such re-marriage, prepared by the master of the 
 " faculties, and printed in Dr. Phillemore's late Edition of Burn's 
 " Ecclesiastical Law, vol. ii. pp. 433, 99 ; and I therefore suspend 
 '' my judgment upon the question, till I shall have had an oppor- 
 " tunity of further inquiry and consideration." — Charge delivered 
 by the Lord Bishop of London^ 1842. Seventh Edition, page 40, 
 Note R. 
 
227 
 
 From this note it appears therefore that the reported pas- 
 sage is correct, and his lordship hesitates not whether he shall 
 insinuate that the marriages under the new act are adulterous 
 connexions, but whether he shall sanction new mamages 
 in such cases. He is hesitating whether he in his church, 
 " as by law established," shall act contrary to the law of the 
 land. The case too is one which shows the exact point of 
 solicitude on which this hesitation rests. The Marriage Act, 
 is not intended to enforce a marriage without any religious 
 service ; it is merely intended to empower such as wish it, 
 to register their marriages without violating their consciences 
 in a religious ceremony which they do not approve. The 
 Act is constructed with a most kind regard to the feelings 
 and rights of the people. Parties can hold their religious 
 services at home before or after the registration at the office, 
 as they please, or they can have the registrar present in a 
 registered place of worship, and the registration then takes 
 place at the very time of the sei-vice. This safe registration 
 is all that government asks in protecting the mamage, and 
 the government has no right to interfere any farther. The 
 parties are therefore permitted to use their own ministers 
 or what ceremony they think proper. It is this concession 
 to religious liberty which grieves the bishop and his clergy. 
 They would give no registration to individuals, no marriage 
 to households, no coronation to royalty, no appointment to 
 office without their interference. Their sacramental em- 
 piricism must be mingled with all that is done in civil Life, 
 that the church may be all in all. Hence we may see how 
 extensively pernicious in its operation that principle is with 
 which we have to deal in this controversy. It poisons all 
 healthy existence, social and moral. When once it has been 
 introduced by infant baptism, no limit can be assigned to its 
 baneful effects. The subject of that priestly power which 
 it generates and feeds, is incapable of being satisfied with 
 less than sitting in the senate, and in the temple of God, as 
 though he were God : and popery itself, has yet but imper- 
 fectly shown how great the injustice, darkness, and misery 
 are, to which its victims must be subjected. From the 
 character of this note, therefore, as well as from the nature 
 of the whole subject, I am unable to withhold the censure 
 which is expressed in the text. 
 
228 
 
 Note I.— p. 138. 
 
 The great body of evidence on which this statement is 
 made cannot be condensed within the limit of this note. 
 The reader will find so much respecting the Sabian sect in 
 the works of Michaelis, especially in his Introduction to the 
 New Testament, translated by Marsh, vol. iv. p. 285 — 302, 
 that it will be better for him to read these two sections for 
 himself. He will there find that the Sabian error prevailed 
 in Ephesus, not only in the time of Paul, but that the 
 apostle John in writing his Gospel, had the refutation of 
 their heresy in view. There can be no doubt of its exis- 
 tence then, and at far more recent periods, if not at the 
 present day. From first knowing only the baptism of John, 
 and joining his instructions with the Gnostic system of 
 learning, the Sabians came to make him superior to Christ 
 and fell into numberless absurdities. While John lived, 
 and before Christ had risen to his Glory, it was quite right, 
 and quite sufficient, for every believer in the coming reign 
 of God, to receive the prospective baptism, which was 
 administered both by John and the disciples of our Lord ; 
 but, when Christ had risen to his glory, when all power in 
 heaven and in earth had been given to him as the Media- 
 torial King, and when the reign of heaven had really begun, 
 it was no longer lawful to receive, or to administer, a 
 prospective baptism. No other Saviour was to be expected. 
 Every believer in the reign of heaven must then be baptized 
 into Christ, the present exalted King in Zion ; and, the 
 particular care with which Paul demands the rebaptism of 
 these disciples, shows how precisely, in his day, the proper 
 administration of baptism was made a term of church fel- 
 lowship, and a condition on which the miraculous gift, or, 
 the baptism, of the Holy Spirit was dependent. The case 
 of Cornelius, being an exception, made by direct Divine 
 interference, to extend the gospel to heathens as well as 
 Jews, confirms this rule. Converts to the truth were first 
 baptized in water, and then baptized in the Holy Ghost. 
 Acts xix. 1—7 ; i. 5 ; and ii. 37 — 40. 
 
 Note K. — p. 145. 
 
 I call this a "sentimental influence," because the attach- 
 ment to this ceremony on the part of the people, is one 
 
229 
 
 for whicli no rational cause can be assigned. The advocates 
 of infant baptism do also pay a most unaccountable regard 
 to this feeling in the people, though they nevertheless, in 
 many instances, cannot respect it. The Independents fall 
 under this remark, to an extent which is greatly to be 
 deplored. The fact that they hold up the vs^hole question 
 to contempt, proves this ; for if any good authority could 
 be given for the practice, or if any real good, besides the 
 gratification of this sentimental attachment to the cere- 
 mony, could be traced to it, the question respecting a right 
 administration of the ordinance could not be contemptible. 
 Besides, the habit of mutual annihilation which prevails in 
 the Independent advocates of infant baptism, affords a still 
 stronger proof that their position is absolutely untenable. 
 What one affirms, another is sure to contradict. They 
 agree in nothing l3u.t the dread of free discussion, and a 
 direct appeal to Holy Scripture. An apology may be 
 found for theu* periodicals, because their conductors have 
 to lick the surface of so many things, that to understand 
 any one thing perfectly would require in them something 
 more than mortal. But private authors are expected to be 
 more substantial, if not profound ; and yet the agitation 
 with which they reprehend and censure every attempt to 
 bring them to the tribunal of Holy Scripture, is greatly to 
 be deplored. If I loved my brethren less, I should feel 
 this less severely ; but that men who live so much in the 
 light of truth should have any one point to which they 
 fear its application, must ever claim our grief. If these 
 lines should ever reach their observation, I entreat them to 
 consider, that, by indulging this dread of truth, they are 
 hazarding the whole interests of personal religion. If the 
 thing be of no moment, why, for so contemptible a thing, 
 do they make so terrible a sacrifice ? They complain 
 bitterly, I know, but however this may be regretted, it is 
 no good reason, why, under such circumstances, the state- 
 ments in the text should be witlidrawn. In the evils 
 which attend this heresy, and its defence, my brethren 
 are implicated ; and it is not too much to ask of them that 
 such evils may be considered. 
 
 Note L.— p. 169. 
 
 Many things conspire to make the case of evangelical 
 churchmen extremely delicate. The extent to which such 
 
230 
 
 persons believe, at least, in the ancient practice of believers' 
 baptism, and the numerous indications that such Avas the 
 first practice of their own church, ought to remind them that 
 other corruptions have multiplied in their society, just in 
 proportion to the extent of their departure from this 
 ancient and scriptural practice. The feeling of society 
 ought not to be considered at any time in opposition to 
 the law of Christ ; much less in a case where so many 
 interests are involved. Already one-third of the clergy 
 have gone over to the tractmen ; and the celebrated sermon 
 of Dr. Pusey, their organ, is said to have been read by a 
 catholic priest, in Birmingham, as a true statement of 
 Roman Catholic doctrine respecting the sacraments. In 
 this Hierarchy, therefore, now, Christ is exalted in words, 
 as our only hope ; that the sacraments may become more 
 important to the people as the means of communica- 
 ting his benefits and person. This also has a further aim, 
 for, by exalting the sacramental ceremonies, the clergy 
 exalt themselves as the only ordained administrators of 
 sacramental grace. Such a church, trembling at the 
 truth, and coquetting with the world, and scornful in 
 her self-sufficiency, can be no fit place for a good man. 
 Fellowship in such follies can bring no honour to the holy 
 Saviour. 
 
 Note M.— p. 212. 
 
 The great effoi-t of our opponents has been to show that 
 John iii. 3-5 ; John i. 12 ; Rom. vi. 1-13 ; Gal. iii. 2G, 29 ; 
 Col. ii. 11 ; and Titus iii. 4-7 ; with other passages of like 
 kind, do not refer to water baptism, but to the baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost. To this areply would be difficult, if we had not 
 the clear statement of Acts i. 4-5. Our Lord there saith, 
 " John truly baptized you in water, hut ye shall he baptized 
 " in the Holy Spirit, not many days hence" Hence, there- 
 fore, we learn that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is not 
 the first production of spiritual life, or regeneration, nor 
 the act of conversion which takes place when a regenerated 
 sinner turns from the world, and sin, to God ; but it is 
 the operation of the Holy Spirit which occurred on the 
 pentecost, when the apostles were filled with the Holy 
 Ghost, and all such bounteous outpourings of the Spirit 
 on devoted and baptized believers, in times that have 
 followed. (See Note J.J With this in view, no one will 
 
231 
 
 be at a loss to maintain this great controversy. But let 
 the Baptist brethren be reminded, that men T\ill be more 
 convinced by one example than by ten thousand words. 
 Let ministers, deacons, and the baptized Christians under 
 their care, labour therefore, with all prayer and constancy, 
 to set before the other denominations as perfect an example 
 of obedience to the law of Christ as possible. Labour that 
 no expression of the Lord's will may escape your notice, 
 and that everything you know of His will may be observed 
 with the extreme of decorum ; for if you can but show in 
 experience, and practice, what Christ intended and ordained, 
 be quite sure that the result will both convince others, and 
 reward you. 
 
 JOUKSTOW &1SV BAUEETT, PRIMBUS, MAllK LikSB. 
 
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