SF PRINd?^ t^OQlCM St*^ BV 811 .H627 Hobson, S What mean ye by this service ? WHAT MEAN YE BY THIS SERVICE t THE QUESTION DISCUSSED THE TPtlAL GKORGE HERBERT. RICHARD HOOKER, CHARLES SIMEON, REGINALD HEBER. AND THOMAS SCOTT, THE CHARGE OF HERESY. HE REV. SAMUEL^HOBSON, LL. E. PERPETUAL CURATE OF BUTLEY, SUFFOLK ; AUTHOR OF " LETTERS TO A WAVERER," &C, &C. " Disiate justitiam nioniti."— Virgil. " Hear, and be just." WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING THREE LETTERS RECENTLY ADDRESSED TO THE BISHOP OF EXETER. IContfon : HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO., PATERNOSTER ROW ; SEELEYS, FLEET STREET. NORWICH : CHARLES MUSKETT, OLD HAYMARKET. 1851. PRE FAC E, Although hundreds of books have been published on the Baptismal Question, and it has been decided that the Bishop of Exeter's opinion is not the ruled doctrine of our Church, yet is it still frequently asked, What is the teaching of the Church of England on this point? The writer of the following pages has endeavoured to supply those readers, who have either no leisure or no inclination to peruse larger and more elaborate works, with evidence and arguments which may assist them to answer this question. But since the efficacy of infant-baptism is a matter respecting which the Word of God is silent, and since our Church in her sixth Article declares, that " What- soever is not read (in Holy Scripture), nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith," the IV PREFACE. reader should bear in mind that, whatever he may con- clude from the language of our Church to be her teach- ing upon this subject, this can be only his inference, and is not the authoritative declaration of the Church. The voice of a Scriptural Church is never heard to speak authoritatively and dogmatically on points which God hath not revealed ; for although she hath " autho- rity in controversies of Faith," as it is stated in our twentieth Article, " yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scrip- ture, that it be repugnant to another." Our Church, therefore, is silent respecting the effi- cacy of infant-baptism, because she is not authorized by Scripture to speak upon that matter ; and hence, whatever inferences may have been drawn by different parties from the language of her Formularies, none of them is to be received as if it were a plain doctrine of Scripture. Each should be subjected " to the Law and to the Testimony," and that which is honestly and con- scientiously believed to be most agreeable to that Divine and infallible standard, ought to be embraced. But how firmly soever any man may be persuaded, that his interpretation is most in accordance with God's Word, PREFACE. ▼ he has no right to accuse another, who cannot see it in the same light, of holding heretical sentiments ; be- cause the subject, on which they differ, has not been determined by Holy Scripture. For instance, one per- son believes that, at baptism God is pleased to confer on every infant a germ, or seed, of grace, which will, under due cultivation, grow and increase and " produce fruit unto perfection." Another allows that this may be the case ; but as God has nowhere declared that it is so, he cannot believe that grace is invariably com- municated to all baptized infants. Both parties may feel perfectly satisfied that their opinions respectively are not repugnant to Holy Scripture ; but, as God has not expressly spoken on the point in debate, it would be a proof of bigotry in either to maintain that his opponent is a heretic. No inferences, however, which men may draw, are tenable, if they transgress certain limits. They ought not to be repugnant to any clearly revealed doctrine. If, therefore, any opinion respecting the efficacy of in- fant-baptism be subversive of the doctrine of justifica- tion by faith alone, it is contrary to Scripture, and to our eleventh Article ; and, consequently, no consistent member of our Church can fail utterly to repudiate VI PREFACE. Dr. Pusey's opinion respecting baptism, if that opinion may be gathered from the following passage in his "Tracts on Scriptural Views of Holy Baptism :" — "We have almost embraced the doctrine," the Professor com- plains, " that God conveys grace only through the in- strumentality of the mental energies ; that is, through faith, prayer, actual spiritual contemplations, or (what is called) communion with God, in contradiction to the primitive view, according to which the Church and her sacraments are the ordained and direct visible means of conveying to the soul what, is in itself supernatural and unseen. For example, would not most men maintain, on the first view of the subject, that to administer the Lord's Supper to infants, or to the dying and insensible, however consistently pious and believing in their past lives, was a superstition r and yet both parties have the sanction of primitive usage. And does not this account for the prevailing indisposition to admit that Baptism conveys Regeneration ? Indeed, this may even be set down as the essence of Sectarian doctrine (however its mischief may be restrained or compensated, in the case of individuals,) to consider faith, and not the sacraments, as the instrument of justification and other Gospel gifts." PREFACE. Vll However such sentiments may be defended by an appeal to what Dr. Pusey calls " the primitive view " (he should rather have called it Tradition, by which men render " the Word of God of none effect,") they are plainly " contrary to God's Word written," to the express declaration of the Articles of our Church, and to the whole tenor and spirit of her Liturgy and For- mularies. References to the writings from which quotations are given in this little work, will be found at the end. INTRODUCTION TO THE TEIAL. While reading the Bishop of Exeter's Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, I was much struck with one assertion which his Lordship made, namely, that had the Decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council been against the reverend G. C. Gorham, it would not have affected more than five or six clergy- men of our Church. I was naturally astonished at this statement, and tried every possible way to account for it. That it was a misprint I felt no doubt, until I looked at the context again, and also at the edition which I was reading ; but when I found that the Letter had gone through five editions, and had been, of course, carefully revised by its acute author; and when I con- sidered that his object was to shew that Mr. Gorham had such crotchets in his head as, perhaps, no other individual was troubled with, I saw that there was no mistake in the print. The writer evidently meant what he had stated : " Not more than five or six clergymen 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE TRIAL. aflfected by such a decision!" I exclaimed: " amazing! incredible!" I pondered long — and the more I pon- dered the more I was perplexed. Throwing myself back in my library chair, and fixing my eyes upon the pictures which hung before me on the walls of my study, I was soon overtaken by a degree of somnolency, which I tried in vain to shake off; and yet every thing before me appeared so vivid, that I could not fancy that I was dreaming. The pictures became suddenly animated. The pious George Herbert descended from the frame, and sat down at a large round table which was placed in the middle of the room. He was fol- lowed, in quick succession, by Thomas Scott, the la- borious and indefatigable Commentator ; the amiable Heber ; the venerable Charles Simeon ; and the ju- dicious Hooker. In other parts of the room were se- veral gentlemen of grave and thoughtful deportment conversing together. Amongst whom I thought I could discern the features of the inflexible Luther, and those of the mild and conciliatory Melancthon. In dreams, whether we are awake or asleep, we seldom attend much to the niceties of time, place, or other circumstances ; and things the most improbable appear to us quite natural and consistent. Else I might surely have discovered that I was dreaming, when I imagined that men, some of whom lived at very difl'erent periods, and occupied very different sta- tions, were contemporaneous parish priests in the Dio- cese of Exeter. This mistake, however, will readily be excused by those who have ever dreamed them- selves. May I not hope that it will be overlooked even by that ingenious and talented Prelate, whose recent INTRODUCTION TO THE TEIAL. 3 Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury can be ac- counted for on no other supposition than that the writer had been indulging himself in this manner ? But to return to my dream. Methought that the party who sat round my study table, as well as the gentlemen who stood in different parts of the room, were all engaged in earnest conversation. At first I could hardly discover what they were talking about ; but at length I ascertained that the venerable divines before me were conversing about a great Trial which was soon to come on, and in which they were deeply interested. Five of the clergymen present had, in fact, been accused of Heresy; and their Accuser, the Bishop of Exeter, insisted that they should be ejected from their respective benefices. I then found that the other grave personages (except Luther and Meiancthon) were the Counsel which the accused divines had retained for their defence. The Trial was to be conducted, I learnt, in a manner somewhat different from Ecclesiastical Trials. This irregularity did not, of course, strike me during my dream, but all things appeared quite regular and consistent. Suddenly a door was opened, and an Official of the Court came in and announced, that the hour for the Trial had arrived. The room was soon cleared of its late occupants ; and I followed the party into a spa- cious Court-house. There sat the learned Judge on the tribunal-seat, with several of his brothers as as- sessors. The Counsel on both sides, in their robes and wigs, sat at a green table beneath the bench. On one side the five accused divines stood in a sort of gal- lery ; and on the opposite side was a jury, consisting of b2 4 THE TRIAL, ten laymen and two clergymen. On my inquiring the reason why such a mixed jury had been selected, a barrister whispered in my ear that, as it was a case involving Heresy, the gentlemen of the jury, although very intelligent and well-educated persons, had ex- pressed a wish to have two clergymen, skilled in Ec- clesiastical Law, placed in the box with them. It was also agreed, the barrister told me, that each counsel should speak only once, and for a limited time, whether for the prosecution or the defence. The Court-house was well filled ; and although the numerous spectators were perfectly silent, much anxiety was visible on their countenances. THE TEIAL. The silence which prevailed in the Court was soon broken by the voice of the leading counsel for the prosecution, Mr. Serjeant Alton, who thus addressed the jury. Address of Counsel/or the Prosecution. Gentlemen, The case which is now to be laid before you is confessedly of so difficult a nature, that I feel con- siderable embarrassment in addressing you. It involves the charge of Heresy against all the individuals at the bar ; and it is not usual for Temporal Courts to take ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 5 cognizance of such matters. It is true, indeed, that a secular judge may " incidentally take knowledge whe- ther a tenet be heretical or not : as where one was com- mitted by force of the Statute of the 2nd Henry IV., c. 15, for saying that he was not bound by the Law of God to pay tithes to the curate ; and another for saying, that though he was excommunicate before men, yet he was not so before God : the Temporal Courts, on an habeas corpus in the first case, and an action of false imprisonment in the other, adjudged neither of the points to be heresy within that Statute ; for the King's Courts will examine all things which are ordained by Statute." And it is in this incidental way that you are now to determine whether the individuals at the bar are, or are not, guilty of Heresy. The real object, indeed, which the Prosecutor has in view is, the eject- ment of these clergymen from their respective bene- fices, in consequence of their holding heretical opinions or doctrines contrary to the true Christian faith, and the doctrines contained in the Articles and Formularies of the United Church of England and Ireland, and especially in the Book of Common Prayer and Admin- istration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Cere- monies of the Church, according to the use of the United Church of England and Ireland. This, I say, is the Bishop's object, because he is conscientiously of opinion that these gentlemen are totally unfit to have the cure of souls while they entertain their present views. In thus endeavouring to exclude them from any spi- ritual charge in his Lordship's Diocese, the Bishop is performing a necessary but very painful duty. He b THE TRIAL. deeply laments the necessity which is laid upon him. He dares not, however, shrink from a duty which he solemnly bound himself to discharge, when at his con- secration he engaged to be "ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God's Word." And his Lordship has such perfect confidence in the Temporal Courts, that he comes, without any hesitation, to request your aid to enable him to exclude these clergymen from the benefices which they so unworthily occupy. I feel assured, Gentlemen, that when the evidence has been laid before you, you will not have the slightest doubt that they hold the heretical opinions imputed to them. It is such evidence as cannot fail to satisfy every dispas- sionate hearer that they really entertain the views with which the Bishop charges them ; for they may be all convicted out of their own mouths, or, which is still more important, by their own writings — Litera scripta manet. I will confine myself to the charge against the first individual in the indictment, namely, the reverend George Herbert ; as to the other clergymen, the charge against them will be abundantly substantiated by my learned brethren who are appointed to conduct the sev- eral cases. Before I produce my evidence, allow me to assure you that the Bishop fully appreciates the zeal and piety of the individual against whom it has become his painful duty to institute these proceedings. His Lordship allows that a more devoted and laborious minister, a more charitable and amiable character, a more talented and yet withal meek and humble^minded clergyman, cannot probably be found in his Diocese. ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOK PROSECUTION. 7 But, Gentlemen, you are aware, as well as the Prose- cutor, that these excellent qualities, when unhappily associated with heretical opinions, render the individual more dangerous to society in general, and to the flock in particular over which he has been placed. If the Bishop could have allowed feeling and inclination and prepossessions to have obscured his judgment, and blunted his sense of duty, he might have escaped much obloquy and many invidious reflections. But it is well for the Church — it is well for religion — it is well for Catholic truth — that the Bishop has resolved that no bias in favour of the man shall lead him to connive at the unsound opinions of the divine. His Lordship has had much to struggle with ; but conscious rectitude has supported him under all his trials, and has strength- ened his resolution to drive, if possible, from his Dio- cese this teacher of erroneous and strange doctrine, much as he loves the man : — " I love thee, Cassio, but never more Be minister of mine." What, then, is this dangerous and pernicious doc- trine, for the holding of which, by the reverend George Herbert, it is absolutely necessary for the safety of the Church, and for the security of the people of this country, that this gentleman should be ejected from his benefice, and prohibited from the exercise of all spiritual functions in our Church ? It is an error which saps the very foundation of our religion. It would rob our innocent children of their invaluable birthright, and would take from bereaved parents their sweetest con- solation — the assurance that, by Baptism, their little ones had been made pure and fit for heaven, and that 8 THE TRIAL. as they had died in infancy, and, consequently, before they had lost their Baptismal purity, they are "un- doubtedly saved." You look surprised. Gentlemen; and well may you so look, on hearing that an error of such magnitude is laid to the charge of the Affiliable and pious George Herbert. I wish — the Bishop wishes — doubtless all in this Court wish — that it were pos- sible to explain his meaning more favourably. But here is the evidence against him, under his own hand. Not content with teaching this heretical doctrine from the pulpit — not satisfied with inculcating it upon the members of his own immediate charge — he has had the audacity to print it; and, in order to render the poison more attractive, has abused his poetical talent by versifying it ! The following extract from a Poem, entitled " The Synagogue," and found among the printed works of George Herbert, and which he has never repudiated, will substantiate the charge against him. '* Regeneration is all in all ; Washing or sprinkling but th.e sign, The seal, and instrument thereof : I call The one, as well as the other, mine, And my posterity's, as federal. If temporal estates may be conveyed, By covenants, on condition. To men and to their heirs ; be not afraid, My soul, to rest upon The covenant of grace by mercy made. Do but thy duty, and rely upon 't, Repentance, faith, obedience. Whenever practised truly, will amount To an authentic evidence, X Though the deed were ante-dated at the Font." ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOK PKOSECUTION. 9 Here you may observe, Gentlemen, that washing or sprinkling, by which the writer means Baptism, is declared to be only a sign — " hut the sign, the seal, and instrument" of regeneration. Whereas Baptism and Regeneiation, especially in the case of infants, have always been regarded by the Church as convertible terms. "In the ninth Article," (of our Church) says the Bishop of Exeter, " the word renatis, in the Latin copy, is, in the English, baptized ; both copies being, as you know, equally original. Surely," adds his Lord- ship, " this alone is sufficient to prove, that our Church considers the being haptked the same as being regene- rate ; for it uses the very terms as convertible." When an infant is baptized, by a lawful minister, with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, it is always then regene- rated ; made by God, in such baptism, a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the king- dom of heaven. The language both of the Baptismal Service and of the Catechism clearly and unequivocally enunciates this doctrine. There is nothing conditional in the matter. The inward and spiritual grace, that is regeneration, " a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness " is conveyed to the infant when he is lawfully baptized, in and through that sacrament. There is then implanted in him the power or capacity of pleasing God, and living the renewed life of faith and holiness. Of course it is only as a seed, and will be of no avail unless it be duly fostered and cultivated afterwards. The great error of Mr. Herbert is, that he makes this gift conditional — that he requires "repentanci. 10 THE TRIAL. faith, obedience," as evidence of a man's regeneration, instead of being content with ascertaining the import- ant point, that he was baptized in infancy by a lawful minister. Think, Gentlemen, in what a state of doubt and perplexity will the large majority of Christians be placed if they are not to consider themselves regene- rate, or children of God and heirs of heaven, until " repentance, faith, and obedience " are " practised truly " by them ! Think of comparing Baptism to the signing of a deed by which " temporal estates may be conveyed by covenants, on condition," instead of teach- ing that in the act of Baptism every infant is absolutely and unconditionally put in possession of the highest spiritual grace ! Such heretical teaching as the sepa- rability of Baptism from Regeneration, in the case of infants at least, is surely not to be tolerated; and therefore I confidently anticipate a decision in favour of the Bishop of Exeter, and that you will cordially agree that the Rev. George Herbert shall be ejected from his Living, as a teacher of doctrines which are utterly at variance with the unequivocal declarations of the Church of England. Address of Counsel for the Defence. After a short pause, Mr. Counsellor Nampton rose on behalf of the Rev. George Herbert, and spoke as follows : — It was quite unnecessary. Gentlemen of the jury, for my learned brother to tell you, that the Bishop of Exeter was actuated by the most conscientious motives ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENCE. 11 in commencing proceedings against the gentlemen at the bar. No one, I am persuaded, doubts his motives, whatever doubt they may feel as to his wisdom and judgment. A man of his Lordship's experience, and at an age too when peace and quietness are usually sought rather than strife and litigation, must unques- tionably be urged on his present course by nothing but a strong sense of duty ; and I am quite willing to be- lieve that it is his misfortune rather than his fault that his Lordship occupies a position at present, which, doubtless, he feels to be far from enviable. My learned brother has already told you, that it is only under particular circumstances that temporal courts can take cognizance of Heresy : if, as in the present case, individuals may be subjected to temporal penalties on a charge of Heresy, justice requires that this Court should be perfectly sure that the parties are guilty of the alleged offence before it allows the penalties to be inflicted. It is for you then, Gentlemen, to determine whether the evidence which has been adduced against the Rev. George Herbert is sufficient to establish this charge. It will, however, be necessary for you clearly to understand what is Heresy. Heresy is stated to be " a false opinion repugnant to some point of doctrine clearly revealed in Scripture, and either absolutely es- sential to the Christian faith, or at least of most high importance." Does then the opinion which Mr. Her- bert is accused of holding, that the grace of regene- ration is not always given to infants in Baptism, come within this definition ? Is the effect of Infant Baptism so clearly revealed in Scripture that no room is left for doubt or hesitation on the subject ? My learned friend 12 THE TRIAL. will not venture to say that : but I see him pointing to the Prayer Book of our Church, as if appealing to an authority which members and ministers of the Church of England are bound to respect. Now I am quite willing to allow that any doctrine which is repugnant to the true meaning of our Liturgy and Articles is heretical ; not because those Formularies are sanctioned by our Church, but because nothing is admitted into them and required to be believed as necessary to sal- vation which cannot be proved by Holy Scripture. The question therefore is. Do the Articles and Formu- laries of our Church clearly and unequivocally enun- ciate that Regeneration is always given in and by Baptism to infants ? The Bishop of Exeter states in the passage quoted by my learned friend, that our Church views the words ''■ baptized''^ and ^^ regenerated^^ as con- vertible, because she has translated renatis as both baptized and regenerated. But it is to be observed, that in the Ninth Article, where she translates renatis baptized, she adds et credentihus (who also believe). If this Article therefore proves anything, it proves that the words baptized and regenerated are not convertible terms. Indeed, the Bishop himself would hesitate to assert that the words are convertible in the case of persons baptized at a responsible age. He would scarcely venture to affirm that all such, whether they came with faith and repentance or not to Baptism, were regenerated. There are various definitions of the word Regenera- tion ; but I will accept the definition which my learned friend has given, namely, the implanting in infants the power or capacity of pleasing God, and living the life ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOE DEFENCE. 13 of faith and holiness. This lie maintains to be the in- variable effect of infant-baptism lawfully administered. This, he declares, is unequivocally taught by our Church, in her Prayer Book, Articles, and Catechism. Let us then examine those Formularies. In one part of the Baptismal Service the minister says : " We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy Holy Church." And in the Office for children who have been privately baptized, he declares, that the child, who was " born in original sin, and in the wrath of God, is now, by the laver of Regeneration in Bap- tism, received into the number of the children of God, and heirs of everlasting life." Does not this plainly show, it is asked, that, in the opinion of the Church, spiritual Regeneration always accompanies Baptism, in the case, at least, of infants ? Is it not manifest that children, when duly baptized, are absolutely and un- conditionally regenerated ? It is answered, that this is the language of faith, hope, and charity, not of cer- tainty. If it were absolutely certain that every infant duly baptized by a lawful minister, is, by the mere per- formance of the sacrament, spiritually born again, what need to pray for that gift which, it is said, is insepa- rably joined to Baptism ? Had our Church held this doctrine, it is difficult to understand why she should require " in cases of exigence," that the minister should say " the Lord's Prayer, and so many of the Collects as the time and present exigence will suffer." Suppose the child is in the very agony of death — the minister 14 THE TRIAL. must still offer prayer — the Lord's Prayer at least — before he baptizes ; although while he is offering it the infant may expire, and thus depart unbaptized. Surely, had our Church believed that the mere act of Baptism conferred spiritual regeneration on infants, she would have directed the minister, under such circumstances, to baptize the child instantly. Is it not evident from this, and from the very nature of the petitions offered up previous to Baptism, namely, that the infant " may receive remission of his sins by spiritual regeneration " — that " he may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost'' — is it not evident that our Church considers the blessings here prayed for not necessarily and in- separably joined to Baptism? Observe also the ground on which the congregation are to rest their belief that Christ will receive the in- fant, embrace him with the arms of mercy, and give him the blessing of eternal life : — it is not on any pro- mise that by the mere act of Baptism a new and hea- venly nature shall be given to the child, but on the ground that Christ commanded children to be brought to him, blamed those who would have kept them from him, " exhorted all men to follow their innocency," and by his " outward gesture and deed declared his good will toward them." Here are indeed sufficient reasons for not doubting but earnestly believing that God, through Christ, is willing to grant to the infant, that he may not only be baptized with water, but also with the Holy Ghost, and be " received into Christ's Holy Church, and be made a lively member of the same." Here is a substantial foundation on which believing parents and sponsors (none else, be it remembered, are ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENCE. 15 recognized by our Church) can rest their hopes re- specting the child. But had it been the doctrine of the Church that spiritual regeneration invariably accom- panies the Baptism of infants, it is utterly unaccount- able that she should not, in this exhortation, have stated so important a matter. But why thank God, it has been asked, that the children are regenerate, unless we are absolutely certain that such a gift is then com- municated ? It is, I repeat, the language of believers who have offered up petitions for spiritual benefits on behalf of one who could not pray for itself; and not doubting that such requests are pleasing to God, and relying on the promise — " Whatsoever ye shall ask, be- lieving, ye shall receive." It is on the same principle that we thank God, at the grave of our departed friends, that He has been pleased to deliver them from the miseries of this sinful world, and express our hope that their souls are resting in Christ. It is Faith speaking with the voice of hope and charity. It was thus that Jehoshaphat, believing the promises of God, gave thanks and praises, before he had ob- tained the promised deliverance. God's promises be- long to believers and their children. We believe those promises : and charity requires us to believe that they who profess to be Christians really are so, and, con- sequently, that their children have an interest in the promised blessings. Only bear in mind, Gentlemen, that all the Offices of our Church are intended for the use of believers exclusively , and the difficulty with re- spect to this part of the Baptismal Service Avill dis- appear. That many use these Offices who do not pray in faith, and who therefore have no solid ground for 16 THE TRIAL. hoping that then* formal petitions will be answered, and who are therefore guilty of presumption in thank- ing God for benefits promised only to the prayer of faith, is no more an argument against this service, than is the painful fact, that many with their lips say to God, — " Our Father," — who in their hearts love sin, and show by their lives that they are the children of Satan, a reason why we should expunge the Lord's Prayer from our Liturgy. If it be still maintained that the words, " This child is regenerate," can be understood only absolutely and unconditionally, then I would ask. How do you get over the difficulty with regard to adults ? The same " words are used at their Baptism. The candidates, after making the required confession of faith, are de- clared to be " regenerate and grafted into the body of Christ's Church." Is it not possible — is it not very probable — that some of those adults may be insincere, may confess Christ with their lips while their hearts are far from him ? How then can our Church with propriety use this language, when she cannot know for certain what is the spiritual condition of the baptized r I repeat, charity requires that she should thus speak of those who have made an outward profession of faith and repentance. She cannot read the heart — she does not profess to determine infallibly what is the state of all her members in the sight of God, and therefore she uses the language of hope and charity. Her opponents have often accused her of teaching that unworthy adults receive the inward spiritual grace with the out- ward visible sign, ex opere operato, from the mere per- formance of the sacrament. They misunderstand her ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENCE. 17 language. They think she speaks positively instead of conditionally and charitably. And therefore they at- tribute to her a doctrine which she utterly rejects. In her twenty-seventh Article, Baptism is stated to be " a sign of Regeneration or new birth " in those " who receive Baptism rightly," or, as it is expressed in refer- ence to the other sacrament, " rightly, worthily, and with faith." In the eye of the Church, which views all persons as sincere who make a profession of faith and repentance, they are regarded as regenerate, born from above, and created anew in Christ Jesus ; but in the sight of God they may appear very differently. Whe- ther they come to Baptism worthily or unworthily they are born of water, but God alone knows whether they are also born of the Spirit ; and therefore our Church must speak hypothetically, or in the language of charity. But if she cannot and does not speak absolutely re- specting the state of baptized adults, why should she be supposed to decide positively as to the condition of baptized infants ? Her declarations are in both cases the same. She cannot absolutely determine either that infants or adults are partakers of the inward and spi- ritual grace, when she administers the outward sign. She is not infallibly certain respecting the infant whom she baptizes that he is not an undeveloped Simon Magus. Thus explained, the language of our Church is con- sistent and scriptural in her Baptismal and other Offices; but if my learned friend's opinion is to be received, she is made both inconsistent and unscriptural ; and the learned counsel, notwithstanding all his acuteness and ingenuity, will be utterly unable to defend her from c 18 THE TRIAL. the charge of holding the opus ojjeratum doctrine of the Church of Rome. If, Gentlemen, you examine the Formularies of our Church, you will find that they are all constructed on the same charitable principle. In her Liturgy, in the Offices for Confirmation, Marriage, Churching of Wo- men, Visitation of the Sick, and the Burial of the Dead, this principle is ever kept in view. She speaks of the subjects of those Offices as regenerate persons, God's servants and children, because she can judge only by their outward profession, and because she is bound by the law of charity to speak in this way. In doing so she follows the example of the Apostles, who call the members of the churches to which they ad- dressed their epistles, saints and servants of God, not- withstanding the fact, that hypocrites and unbelievers were mingled with them, like tares amongst wheat. This charitable language was also used by the Old Testament Church. After a child was circumcised, it was accounted and called one of God's peculiar people ; but as all were not circumcised in heart who received outward circumcision, so are not all who receive the sign of Regeneration truly born of God. The adult, although his profession of faith is received as sincere, and he is charitably declared to be a child of God, may be in reality a child of perdition : and so may be the infant who is baptized. Its profession of faith and repentance (either expressed by its sponsors, or implied, as in Private Baptism) is received as charity requires, and it is accordingly pronounced "regenerate;" but God, with whom, properly speaking, there is no past or future, but all things from eternity to eternity are ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOE DEFENCE. 19 ever present before his eyes, sees that unconscious in- fant, not only as it is now, but as it will be in future years — journeying, perhaps, in the strait and narrow way that leadeth unto life, or, it may be, running in the broad way to destruction. The term "regenerate" must, therefore, be understood, in this case, as the words " God's servants " are in the other Offices of our Church, not as determining the actual condition of the baptized infant in the sight of God, but as the judgment of charity. The only case in which the Church speaks decidedly is, when a baptized infant dies before it commits actual sin. An infant thus dying, it is declared, is " undoubtedly saved." Much stress has been laid upon the words — " this child is now, by the laver of Regeneration in Baptism, received, &c." — as if the adverb noiv excludes the sup- position that the baptized child may have been previ- ously, or may be at some future and, perhaps, distant period, "born of the Spirit," and confines the work of Regeneration to the time of Baptism. But " now " is evidently not an adverb of time, for it is used in the case of children who may have been priA^ately baptized months or years previously. It cannot be meant to point out the precise moment when the new birth takes place. The Church does not presume absolutely to determine this matter, or to limit the Almighty as to " the times and the seasons " when he shall communi- cate spiritual grace (for the Scriptures nowhere autho- rize her to do so) ; and therefore she cannot positively assert that Regeneration is given whenever the outward visible sign is administered. It may, as far as she knows, be communicated before, at, or after Baptism, c 2 20 THE TEIAL. She speaks only that which she knows, and testifies only of that which she hath seen. She hath seen the outward visible sign applied to those who were brought to Baptism ; but she does not know that the inward and spiritual grace has been previously, is now, or will afterwards be given to the baptized. She speaks of the baptized as regenerate in the eye of the Church, because he has received the " sign of Kegeneration, or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that re- ceive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church." Baptism, like circumcision, cannot be properly said to be always accompanied by the inward spiritual grace which it signifies. When Abraham was circumcised, he received the sign and seal of the grace which he had long before possessed; when his infant descendants were circumcised, they received the sign and seal of the grace which, it was charitably hoped, they would after- wards possess. It is the same now with respect to baptized infants and adults. When the former are baptized, they have applied to them the sign of that grace which it is hoped that they will afterwards show that they possess, by their " repentance, faith, and obe- dience ; " when the latter are admitted to Baptism, it is on their profession of faith and repentance which the Church charitably believes really exist in the candi- dates ; and, should this be the case, they have been previously regenerated or born of God ; for "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." *' As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." " They are the sons of God," says Bishop Beveridge, ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENCE. 21 " not in a carnal, but spiritual sense ; . . . . born of him ... by spiritual regeneration, through the mighty power and efficacy of the Holy Ghost, renewing the spirit of their minds, and so infusing into them a prin- ciple of new life, whereby they become new creatures, and have the image of God enstamped again upon them, so as to be partakers of his divine nature, and holy in their capacities, as he is holy But here we must observe," continues the Bishop, " the condi- tion upon which Christ gives those who received this power or privilege to become the sons of God, even because they believe in his name, for so the words in the original plainly import, and may be thus rendered : But as many as received him, to them, as believe in his name, he gave power to become the sons of God. So that it is upon the account of their believing in him, that he is pleased to confer this honour upon them. And so, indeed, by the Gospel tenure, all our right and title to the great blessings which Christ hath purchased for mankind, is founded upon our believing in him. It is by that our sins are pardoned, our persons justi- fied, and our souls saved Hence it is that, as St, John expressly tells us, Whosoever helieveth that Jesus is the Christ, is horn of God ; because, by his believing in Jesus Christ, he receives the Spirit of God, whereby he is regenerate and born again of him. And to the same purpose St. Paul saith, Ye are all the children of God, hy Faith in Jesus Christ. From whence it is mani- fest, that as we are made the children of God only by Christ, we are made so by him only upon our believing in him." Such is the language of the pious and learned Bishop Beveridge. Do you ask, Gentlemen, How can 22 THE TRIAL. our Church speak of worthy recipients of this Sacra- ment as being iioiv horji agam, when they had previously — perhaps months or years before their Baptism — been born of God ? I answer, Because she hath now seen applied to them the " sign of Regeneration, or new birth, whereby .... the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed." Our Church makes no declaration concerning any candidates for this Sacrament, however pious and exemplary may be their life and conversation, until she hath seen them, after they have made the requisite confession of faith, signed and sealed as God's children ; but when they have made this profession, and obediently, that is, as she hopes, " by faith and rightly," come to this holy ordinance, then she testifies of that which she hath seen, and publicly declares those persons to be " now regenerate, and made heirs of everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ." But as the Church can judge only " according to outward appearance," her language, applied either to adults or infants, must ob- viously be that of hope and charity, and ought not to be considered as the decision of an infallible judge. " If any be not baptized," says Bishop Jewell, " but lacketh the mark of God's fold, we cannot discern him to be one of the flock. If any take not the seal of regeneration, we cannot say he is born the child of God." Does this eminent Defender of our Church maintain, that Baptism absolutely confers regeneration ? No : he says that " the Sacrament maketh not a Chris- tian, but is a seal and assurance unto all that receive it of the grace of God, unless they make themselves ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENCE. 23 unworthy thereof." And with respect to infants who die unbaptlzed, he observes : " The grace of God is not tied so to the ministration of the Sacrament, that if any be prevented by death, so that he cannot be re- ceived to the fellowship thereof, he should therefore be thought to be damned. God hath his purpose," he adds, " in us and our children. Before we be born, when we had done neither good nor evil, he hath mercy and compassion upon us. Judgment appertaineth unto God. He knoweth who are his." " The Gentiles," says Whitby, in his Comment on John xi. 52, " are here called the sons of God, not that they were so at present, but that they were by faith to be made such ; as our Lord calls them sheep who were to hear his voice." You see then. Gentlemen, that Scripture speaks much in the same way as does the Prayer Book. If, therefore, the inspired writers call them the children of God who were as yet living with- out God, and ignorant of the way of life, why may not our Church use this language respecting baptized in- fants ? And if it would be absurd to conclude from the Apostle's words that all the Gentiles were the children of God, is it not equally so to maintain, that our Church teaches that all baptized infants are truly the children of God, instead of limiting the term to those who " shall by faith be made such ? " All bap- tized children are doubtless regarded, in the eye of charity, as God's children, because of the promise made to believers and their seed ; and they are recognized by the Church as the children of believers, when brought by their parents or sponsors into covenant with God by Baptism. But to account these baptized infants God's 24 THE TRIAL. children, and to declare them infallibly to be so, are very different things. The first is a charitable and scriptural proceeding; the latter is an act of arrogant presumption. They who are — not merely outwardly by the seal of Baptism, but really and truly — God's children, and the sheep who wdll follow the Good Shepherd, will be called according to his (God's) pur- pose, by his Spirit working in due season ; they will through grace obey the calling, be justified freely, be made the sons of God by adoption, be made like unto the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ ; will walk religiously in good works, and will " at length, by God's mercy, attain to everlasting felicity." Can anything, then, be more unfair than to conclude from these general expressions in the Baptismal Ser- vice, that our Church teaches that all adults, or all infants, whom she baptizes, are invariably born of God, have received a new nature, new desires and affections, and will (if adults, from the time of their Baptism ; if infants, from the first dawning of reason) abhor and flee from that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good ? Would any intelligent person think of taking the language of Scripture, and applying it to every in- dividual ? Would any one, for instance, on reading how St. Paul addresses the Church at Thessalonica : — " We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers ; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope," &c. — would he assert that every member of that Church was a true Christian ? Or when he thus writes to the Galatian Church: — "As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENCE. 25 Christ. Ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise," — would any reasonable man infer that the Apostle considered all the mem- bers of that Church, children of God and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven ? *If any one should sup- pose so, he might see his mistake by reading the fourth chapter of the same Epistle. Some of these Galatian Christians were resting on outward ordinances, instead of looking through them to the things which they signified ; and thus they were expecting to be saved by w^orks. All such persons are informed that Christ shall profit them nothing. How then are we to understand this language ? The words are as plain as " Seeing now that these children, or these persons, are regenerate ;" the Apostle speaks oi all the baptized as having "put on Christ," which means being trans- formed into his image "in righteousness and true holi- ness ; " and yet it is evident, from the context, that they were not all in this state. We cannot then understand the Apostle — we cannot reconcile this language with that which he uses to the same Church, unless we con- sider him as speaking charitably. Let the same rule of interpretation be applied to the services of our Church — let them be allowed " such just and favourable con- struction as in common equity ought to be allowed to all human writings, especially such as are set forth by authority, and even to the very best translations of the Holy Scripture itself," and, I repeat, the difficulty under which so many good and conscientious persons labour on the Baptismal Question, will be removed. But it has been objected, that unless every child be 26 THE TIIIA.L. spiritually regenerated in and by Baptism, there is an inconsistency in teaching him to say, that he was "made (in Baptism) a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.'' To which it is answered, that being thus admitted into Christ's visible Church, he was then, and not before, publicly made or sealed, and, therefore, acknowledged, a member of Christ's body, which is the Church, a child of God, &c., although, in God's sight, he might previously have been made his child by adoption and graee ; or, perhaps, he may never receive this privilege and blessing. The Church uses here (in the Cate- chism) as in all her Formularies, the language of hope and charity. How else could she teach the child to say, in another place, " I believe in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of God ? " She is not certain that all whom she baptizes are God's elect children, and under the sanctifying in- fluence of the Holy Spirit ; but she nevertheless cha- ritably speaks of them as such, just as the Apostles called the Christians, to whom they wrote, " saints, elect, ScC," though many among them were only nom- inal Christians. The child is very properly taught, in the Catechism, that he was regarded by the Church as a member of Christ and a child of God, from the time that she saw him signed and sealed in Baptism, as one of the household of faith. And he is informed what things he will believe and do, if he be a Christian in- deed. He will learn that the Church of Christ on earth contains both good and bad members : that the latter, although called Christians and servants of God, neither serve Him nor love Him sincerely, wha.tever ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOK DEFENCE. 2/ they may profess with their lips ; while the former really love their heavenly Father, and earnestly strive to think and speak and do what is pleasing to Him, and are truly grieved and afflicted whenever they have sinned against Him. He is taught, so soon as he arrives at a proper age, to try and examine himself whether he belongs to the former or the latter class — whether he can draw near with faith, and partake of the highest privilege which the children of God enjoy in his Church, or whether he has disappointed the cha- ritable hope which had been expressed concerning him, and has neither part nor lot in the Saviour. Our Church then, you will perceive, Gentlemen, is very far from teaching that in the Sacrament of Bap- tism the inward and spiritual grace is invariably given, either to adults or infants, by the mere performance of the sacrament : but that she requires, in both cases, repentance and faith (present at the time of Baptism in adults ; prospective, in the case of infants) as neces- sary to " the wholesome operation " of that sacrament. And as it is generally allowed that her declaration, that baptized adults are regenerate, is not a positive deter- mination of their state before God, but a charitable presumption founded on their profession of repentance and faith ; so is it equally clear that she uses the lan- guage of charity, when she pronounces baptized infants regenerate. If she is censured for using such charita- ble language, she may well bear a censure to which the inspired writers are likewise obnoxious. The Church of England is truly scriptural, and, therefore, she needs not be " careful to answer " those adversaries Avho bring accusations against her which may with equal 2o THE TRIAL. justice be brought against Holy Scripture. "To the Law and to the Testimony " she appeals : the Bible alone she regards as her standard, and by this she is prepared to stand or fall. But when the meaning of any expressions in our Liturgy and Formularies is not clear, some light may generally be thrown on the subject by an appeal to the Articles, which are our code of doctrine, and which are allowed by all who sign them to " contain the true doc- trine of the Church of England agreeable to God's Word." They are to be taken in their literal and grammatical sense " according to the usual acceptation of words," says Dr. Waterland, "the custom of speech at the time of their being written, the scope and in- tention of the writers, discoverable from the occasion, from controversies then on foot, or from any other cir- cumstances affording light into it." Hence if a person should fancy that the words in the Communion Service — " the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for thee, &c." — sanction the Popish doctrine of Transubstantiation, he would be putting a construction upon them which our Church altogether repudiates in her twenty-eighth Article. Or suppose, as in the present case, a Bishop accuses one of his clergy of Heresy, because that clergyman thinks the words — " this child is regenerate " — though appa- rently sanctioning the Popish doctrine that grace is conferred by the mere performance of the Sacrament of Baptism, are capable of a more scriptural interpre- tation ; the accusation will fall to the ground as soon as reference is made to the 25th, 26th, and 27th Ar- ticles. It will there be found that our Church- gives ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENCE. 29 no countenance to the doctrine of the communication of grace — ex opere operato — from the mere performance of the sacrament. The Articles referred to constrain the Bishop to put a favourable, that is, a Protestant construction upon the same words when applied to an adult at Baptism, who, it is allowed by all parties, is not absolutely but conditionally regenerate ; and unless there be an Article which declares that the same ex- pression shall be interpreted in a Popish sense, that is, absolutely and unconditionally in the case of infants, he is bound to consider every infant also conditionally regenerate. But there is no such Article : our Church does not make the case of infants an exception; and therefore she cannot be said to " agree with Rome " on this point, as the Bishop so confidently avers. Let then reason and common sense determine, Gen- tlemen of the jury, which of these parties hold opinions repugnant to the true doctrines of the Church of Eng- gland — the Bishop, who asserts that every infant is unconditionally made a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, in and by Baptism, even as the Church of Rome maintains; or the reverend George Herbert, who considers all infants conditionally and not absolutely regenerate, and puts the same charitable construction on the words of the Baptismal Service, in the case both of infants and adults. " I speak as to wise men ; judge ye what I say." 30 THE TRIAL. Address of Counsel for the Prosecution. Mr. Counsellor M'Kell now rose and addressed the jury as follows : — Gentlemen, As one of the counsel retained by the Bishop of Exeter in this unhappy case, it falls to my lot to adduce evidence in support of the charge of Heresy against the reverend Richard Hooker. When you con- sider the profound learning, the unquestionable piety, the beautiful humility, and the many other excellent virtues and attainments which adorn the character of this gentleman, you will, I am persuaded, sympathize with me while I express my deep regret for the grievous error into which a man, in all other respects so esti- mable and judicious, has unhappily fallen. You will also agree with me, that nothing can exhibit in a more conspicuous light the strict impartiality of the Bishop, and his firm determination to banish all erroneous doc- trines from his Diocese, as he is in duty bound, than the fact of his commencing proceedings for the eject- ment of such a clergyman from his spiritual charge. You will all allow that the point in question must be of the greatest importance, and will believe me when I assure you that the Bishop has spared no pains, but has again and again tendered to this mistaken clergy- man his fatherly and affectionate counsel, in order to draw him from his error. But all his labour has been in vain, and hence arises the absolute necessity of these proceedings. Gentlemen, the evidence which I have to -bring ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 31 against this clergyman is of a somewhat complicated nature, since it contains statements which seem to recognize the important doctrine for which the Bishop is so earnestly contending, namely, the invariable com- munication of spiritual Kegeneration in and by Baptism. But slight as may appear the difference between the opinions of the Bishop and Mr. Hooker, their senti- ments on the grand point will be found, after a close examination, to be " wide as the poles asunder." For instance, when Mr. Hooker states that " In our infancy we are incorporated into Christ, and by Baptism receive the grace of his Spirit without any sense or feeling of the gift which God bestoweth," you might suppose that he holds opinions on this doctrine similar to those of the Bishop of Exeter ; but, alas ! on comparing this passage with other parts of his writings, we find that he does not think that grace is given to all baptized infants without exception. So, when he says that " We are then believers, because then we begin to be that which process of time doth make perfect," it is too clear that he means, ive who have been predestinated to life. And he defends the epithets, " faithful," " God's children," " elect," " regenerate," Sec, not on the ground that all infants become regenerate, elect, God's children by Baptism, but because they are so accounted or regarded in the eye of the Church, even as adults are, for their profession's sake. Hence he says, that " if, without any fear or scruple, we may account them and term them believers only for their outward pro- fession's sake, which inwardly are farther from faith than infants ; why not infants much more at the time of their solemn initiation by Baptism, the sacrament of 32 THE TRIAL. faith, whereunto they not only conceive nothing oppo- site, but have also that grace given them, which is the first and most effectual cause out of which our belief groweth ? In sum, the whole Church is a multitude of believers, all honoured with that title ; even hypo- crites for their profession's sake, as well as saints be- cause of their inward sincere persuasion, and infants as being in the first degree of their ghostly motion towards the actual habit of faith : the first sort are faithful in the eye of the world ; the second faithful in the sight of God ; the last in the ready direct way to become both, if all things after become suitable to these their present beginnings." Although Mr. Hooker speaks in the highest terms of holy Baptism, and tells those who, " relying upon the bare conceit of their eternal election," neglect the means which God hath ordained, and walk not in the ways which He hath appointed, that they are blinded " by a self-deceiving vanity;" and informs them that even men who had *' a preordination unto life" were, before their Baptism, " in the Apostle's own account, but children of wrath as well as others ; plain aliens, altogether without hope ; strangers, utterly without God in this present world : " and though he observes, that " as we are not natu- rally men without birth, so neither are we Christian men in the eye of the Church of God but by new birth ; nor, according to the manifest ordinary course of divine dispensation, new born, but by that Baptism which both declareth and maketh us Christians. In which respect, we justly hold it to be the door of our actual entrance into God's House, the first apparent beginning of life, a seal perhaps to the grace of election I ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 33 before received ; but to our sanctification here, a step that hath not any before it." And again, " We are," Mr. Hooker says, " by baptism born anew ; by baptism we are admitted into the heavenly society of saints ; we receive new names, in token that by baptism we are made new creatures As Christ hath therefore died and risen from the dead but once, so that sacrament which both extinguisheth in him our former sin, and beginneth in us a new condition of life, is by one only actual administration for ever available:" — although, I say, Mr. Hooker has written these and many other passages which, in some respects, greatly exalt the sacrament of Baptism ; yet, Gentlemen, I am bound to tell you that they unfortunately contain the germ, the latent principle, of that full-blown heresy which other parties more unequivocally maintain — the denial of invariable spiritual regeneration in and by bap- tism to infants. For mark, Gentlemen, his language : " The last," that is, infants, " are in the ready direct way to become both," that is, faithful in the eye of the world and in the sight of God, " if all things after be suitable.'' Here you see plainly. Gentlemen, that Mr. Hooker does not teach absolute unconditional regene- ration in infant-baptism, as our Church teaches when she says, " Seeing now . . . that these children are re- generate ; " but he intimates that we may charitably allow them that title just as we call " the whole Church a multitude of believers," although, doubtless, there are hypocrites as well as saints in the Church. He ought not to have used such language towards baptized infants. They are already faithful in the eye of the world and also in the sight of God, and not merely " in 34 THE TRIAL. the ready direct way to become both." For if their sins are forgiven, they are justified: if justified, they are faithful in the sight of God : and this our Church declares of all infants, without exception, who are bap- tized by her ministers, because she teaches that they " receive remission of original sin, together with the gift of spiritual regeneration." But Mr. Hooker will not allow that this can be pronounced absolutely re- specting all baptized infants. Though he does not scruple to call every child who is admitted to baptism *' regenerate," and a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven ; yet he neutralizes all this by saying, that the child is so regarded in the eye of the Church. He will not positively affirm that it is so in God's sight. He does not, indeed, deny that the child may be regenerate in the sight of God also ; and he thinks that we may indulge the hope that those who are not yet guilty of actual sin may be commencing the life of righteousness. He does not deny that a germ or seed may be planted by the Spirit of God which shall in process of time advance to maturity. He says that God's Providence " hath called them unto the first beginnings of eternal life, and presented them at the well-spring of New Birth, wherein original sin is purged, besides Avhich sin there is no hindrance of their salvation known to us ; " but he only says this, observe, on the chari- table supposition that they are elect children. He be- lieves that it is only the elect, or a certain number out of a multitude, who "receive the remission of their sins by spiritual regeneration ; " and thus he virtually denies that fundamental Article of our Creed — " One Baptism for the remission of sins." He contradicts our ADDRESS OF MR. HOOKER's COUNSEL. 35 Church, which unequivocally teaches, that all infants do by the application of the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ, in and by Baptism, receive the grace of regene- ration : and hence he clearly shows that he is unworthy to continue a minister of the Church of England. i At the conclusion of Mr. M'Kell's address, many an anxious countenance was turned towards that part of the Bar where the mild and amiable Hooker was placed. The spectators were evidently much prepos- sessed in favour of that pious, learned, meek, and single-minded clergyman. His pale but expressive countenance, however, showed no signs of fear or anxi- ety. He looked, indeed, somewhat sorrowful; but it was a sorrow tempered with humble resignation. And at the same time he showed a firm resolution to suffer anything rather than betray what he considered to be the cause of truth — rather than compromise a single principle of the Protestant Religion. In a few minutes his counsel, Mr. Walton, rose and addressed the jury. Address of Mr. Hooker's Counsel. Gentlemen, It is not my intention to controvert the evi- dence which the learned counsel has brought forward against Mr. Hooker ; for I am quite willing and ready to admit that he has, for the most part, drawn a fair inference from the passages which he has quoted, ancl l>2 36 THE TKTAL. has satisfactorily shewn that my reverend friend's opin- ions greatly differ from those of the Bishop of Exeter. But admitting that Mr. Hooker denies the invariable and unconditional gift of regeneration to all infants in and by Baptism, is he therefore guilty of Heresy ? Has he denied any fundamental doctrine of our holy re- ligion ? Has he contradicted the teaching of the Church of England ? I confidently aver that none of these things can be justly laid to his charge. As to heresy, that is a matter so loosely defined, that it is difficult to know in what it really consists. The Church of Home applied that term to almost every thing of which she disapproved. To speak against pilgrimages, to decry the mania for relics, to deny the necessity of auricular confession, to oppose the worship of images, or to insist on the right of laymen to read the Holy Scriptures, and many other things which we regard in a very diff'erent light, would be considered very atrocious heresies by the Church of Rome. But by a Statute of 1 Eliz., c. 1, some limit was put to the accusations of heresy, so that in future no matter or cause was to be adjudged as heresy, but only that which was heretofore adjudged to be such "by authority of the canonical Scriptures, or by some of the first four general councils, or by any other general council wherein the same was de- clared heresy by the express and plain words of the said canonical Scriptures, or such as hereafter shall be judged or determined to be heresy by the High Court of Parliament, with the assent of the clergy in the convocation." Now my learned friend has not brought forward any evidence from the " canonical Scriptures," or from any ADDRESS OF ME. HOOKER's COUNSEL. 37 of " the first four general councils," that it is heretical to deny the unconditional efficacy of infant-baptism. He has assumed that the Church of England holds and teaches this doctrine ; but what are the grounds of this assumption ? A few isolated expressions in the For- mularies of our Church, which the learned counsel for the defence has already shewn have no such meaning as the Bishop of Exeter attaches to them. But in order to support so grave a charge as that of heresy, evidence the most clear and unequivocal ought to have been brought forward from the Articles of our Church — the code of doctrine by which every religious opinion of its members, and particularly its ministers, ought to be tried. As these Articles were carefully drawn up, and are allowed to be agreeable to the canonical Scrip- tures, the learned counsel was surely bound to show- that Mr. Hooker holds opinions repugnant to some doctrine there enunciated. But he has not done this. He has indeed inferred that the denial of unconditional regeneration in baptism to all infants, is equivalent to the denial of an Article of the Nicene Creed — " I be- lieve one baptism for the remission of sins ; " but it is easy to show that such an inference is most fallacious. A man may firmly hold this Article of the Creed, and yet refuse to believe that all who are baptized in infancy have had their sins forgiven. What is Baptism ? Not merely the outward washing. It consists of two parts : Water, wherein persons are baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, and the inward and spiritual grace. By which of these is sin taken away ? Not by water, for then every hypocritical professor who is baptized would receive forgiveness of sins ; but by spiritual regenera- 38 THE TRIAL. tion. This is the inward grace which purges the soul from sin, whether original or actual. This is the Bap- tism, and not the outward washing, " which saveth us." 1 Peter i. 21. This is the " one baptism for the remission of sins." The outward sign is also necessary, because God hath commanded it to be received. It is, as the twenty- seventh Article of our Church states, *' a sign of profes- sion and mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened," and " by which, as by an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly are grafted into the Church." These words — " they that receive baptism rightly " — shew that the outward visible sign is not invariably accompanied by the inward and spiritual grace. It has been repeatedly asserted that our Church unequivocally teaches that there is remission of original sin to all infants in and by the grace of holy Baptism. Gentlemen, the Church of England teaches no such doctrine. It is merely an inference which some divines have thought themselves justified in drawing from the language of our Church in the Baptismal Office. Observe what that language is. Prayer is made on behalf of those who are about to be baptized, whether infants or adults, " that they may receive remission of their sins by spiritual regene- ration ; " but it is not stated that original sin is re- mitted " by the grace of baptism." It would be just as correct and reasonable to infer that the sin of Abra- ham, whether original or actual, was remitted by the grace of circumcision. The expression in the Creed — "one baptism for the remission of sins" — is derived from certain passages of Scripture : " One faith, one ADDRESS OF MR. HOOKEk's COrNSEL. 39 baptism ; '' " Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins ; " " Arise, and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." It will be conceded that " one baptism for the remission of sins " cannot signify more than is intended by these passages. To whom then are they addressed r Who are the per- sons exhorted to come to the sacrament of Baptism ? The penitent and believing. But if they have faith and repentance they are already pardoned : their sins are already washed away by the blood of Christ applied to them by faith. How then can they wash away their sins by Baptism ? They do that to the eye of man which has before been done in the sight of God. They openly and publicly receive the sign and seal of that grace of spiritual regeneration which God had already conferred upon them. It is said that " with the mouth confession is made unto (or, foi\ etc) salvation ; " shall we therefore main- tain that in and by the act of confession a man is saved? Is it not evident from the context that it means, that such confession is a sign that the confessor, who with his heart " believeth unto righteousness," is in a state of salvation r For neither confession nor baptism is the cause, but the effect, of grace. " Be baptized and wash away thy sins," therefore, signifies, " Make it manifest to the world, by going to that outward wash- ing which God hath appointed, that thou art inwardly cleansed by the blood of Christ. The outward sign has some resemblance to the inward and spiritual grace, and is in consequence often spoken of as the thing which it signifies. " If sacraments, saith Augustine, 40 THE TRIAL. had not a certain similitude of those things whereof they be sacraments, they should be no sacraments at all. And of this similitude they do for the most part receive the names of the selfsame things they signify." And here I beg, Gentlemen of the jury, particularly to call your attention to a passage from the writings of that venerable Bishop and Martyr, Dr. Hooper, in illus- tration of this matter. Alluding to the ancient Chris- tian writers, Bishop Hooper observes : " They thought it best to name the sacraments by the name of the thing (which) was represented by the sacrament. Yet in many places of their writings they so interpretate them- selves, that no man, except he will be wilfully blind, can say but they understood the sacrament to signify, and not to be the thing signified ; to confirm, and not to exhibit grace ; to help, and not to give faith ; to seal, and not to win the promise of God, Rom. iv. ; to shew what we be before the use of them, and not to make us the thing we declare to be after them ; to shew we are Christ's ; to shew we be in grace, and not by them to be received into grace ; to shew we be saved, and not yet to be saved by them ; to shew we be regenerated, and not to be regenerated by them : thus the old doctors meant." Hence you may see. Gentlemen, that " Baptism for the remission of sins " is so called, because it signifies the remission of sins : " the washing of regeneration," because it signifies that washing, not that it actually washes away sin, or re- generates. Can it, then, be fairly affirmed that they who deny that in and by the act of Baptism, sin, whether original or actual, is washed away, oppose this Article of our ADDRESS OF MR. HOOKER's COUNSEL. 41 Creed — " One Baptism for the remission of sins ? " They believe it as firmly as their accusers, and in a sense far more scriptural, because they attach that very meaning to the Article, which it undoubtedly has in those passages of God's Word from which it is taken. This will be still more evident, if you consider that " remission of sins" is equivalent to the term justifica- tion. "We are accounted righteous," says our eleventh Article, " before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings : Wherefore that "we are justified by Faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification." Let us now see what the Homily to which the Article refers says on this point. I must, however, observe that the title of this Homily is not " Of Justification," but " Of the Salvation of Mankind." " No man," it is slated in this Homily, can " by his own acts, works, and deeds (seem they never so good,) be justified, and made righteous before God : but every man of necessity is constrained to seek for another righteousness, or justification, to be received at God's own hands : that is to say, the forgiveness of his sins and trespasses, in such things as he hath of- fended. And this justification, or righteousness, which we so receive of God's mercy and Christ's merits, em- braced by faith," — not by Baptism, observe, Gentlemen, but by Faith^ — *' is taken, accepted, and allowed of God, for our perfect and full justification." " Remission of sins," then, or justification, is given to those who truly believe. Scripture, no less than our Church, clearly and unequivocally enunciates this 42 THE TRIAL. doctrine. " Therefore we conclude," says the Apostle Paul, "that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. . . . For what saith the Scriptures ? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. . . . Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins : and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." "Remission of sins," therefore, whether original or actual, is not conferred by the grace of Baptism, but by the grace of God ; and Baptism is the sign and seal to assure the faithful that their sins are forgiven ; yea, it is an effectual sign of grace, as the twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh Articles of our Church declare, and of " God's good will towards us, by the which He doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in Him," and by which "the promises of forgiveness, and of our adop- tion to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed." Were our Church to teach, as some affirm, that original sin is remitted to infants by the merits of Christ being applied to them by Baptism; while she teaches that adults are justified, or have remission of sins, by faith, which applies to the believer that atoning blood " by which alone we obtain remission of our sins and are made partakers of the kingdom of hx<3aven," she would be most inconsistent. This would be teach- ing, that baptism is to infants what faith is to adults. This would be to substitute an outward sign for an inward grace. It would be to make that effectual in ADDKESS OF MR. HOOKEE's COUNSEL. 43 the case of infants, which has confessedly no whole- some effect on adults, if they are without faith. She would by such teaching contradict that fundamental doctrine — that articidus stantis vel cadentis ecclesice — justification by faith alone, and show that she was no longer a Scriptural Church — the Church of the Re- formation. But, Gentlemen, this is not her doctrine. " Infants," she says, " being baptized and dying in their infancy, are " — What? — " washed from their sins, brought to God's favour, and made his children and inheritors of his kingdom of heaven." How do they obtain these blessings ? By Baptism, says the Bishop of Exeter. No, replies our Church, in her Homily ; not by Baptism, but " hy this sacrifice" — by the most pre- cious blood of our Saviour Christ. Our Church is precluded from admitting the doctrine that either in- fants or adults are justified, or have their sins remitted by any sacrament, unless this is taught in the Bible. That such a doctrine is repugnant to the teaching of the New Testament, I have already shown ; and it may be as easily and briefly proved to be contrary to the Old Testament. Let us refer to the initiatory sacra- ment under the Old Dispensation. Do we find that Abraham was justified, or received remission of his sins, by the grace of circumcision ? No. Circumcision was to him a seal and pledge to confirm and assure him that his sins were remitted — a seal of the righte- ousness which he had, through faith, before he was circumcised. To his infant descendants it was the seal and pledge of their justification, whenever they should have faith. In both cases it was faith which justified, while the sacrament was the sign and seal. 44 THE TRIAL. And under the New, or Christian Dispensation, we are justified by the same means — faith alone. For baptism hath succeeded circumcision ; and in the case both of infants and adults there is but *' one baptism for the remission of sins." To both it is a sign and pledge of their justification by faith ; but to neither is it an effectual sign, should they never have faith. The "promises of forgiveness of sin and of our adoption to be the sons of God are visibly signed and sealed" by this sacrament ; and as these promises are made to believers and their children^ infants are very properly brought into covenant with God by baptism. But to say that they are absolutely and unconditionally en- dowed with the blessings of that covenant, is totally to destroy the very nature of a covenant, which implies conditions. As to the guilt of original sin imputed to us through our connection with the first Adam, is it not taken away by the imputation of the righteousness of the second Adam ? Although its sad effects remain, and are manifest in that corrupt nature and mortality which we derive from our common ancestor; yet we may surely hope and believe that infants, who never have sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, dying before they are capable of actual transgression, are all benefited by the imputation of Christ's righte- ousness, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and thus made fit to enter into God's blessed kingdom. Do those who think that baptism actually, rather than symbolically and sacramentally, washes away original sin, agree with the Roman Church, " that children dying un- baptized are excluded the grace of God for ever?" ADDRESS OF MR. HOOKEE's COUNSEL. 45 If SO, I would address them in the words of Arch- bishop Wake : " To what purpose this ? For what benefit? Were it as evident as it is indeed uncertain, and we are persuaded false, our modesty is safe in de- ciding nothing ; the error of such among us as believe it not, is charitable ; founded upon the sure mercies and goodness of God, who never inflicts any punish- ment where there is no fault ; and, in a word, has not any the least ill consequences upon it. We take as great care to baptize our infants as you can, who most believe it. But now, if your opinion should be false, what answer will you ever be able to make to God, for peremptorily defining what was so uncertain and uncharitable." The Church of England presumes not to determine what Scripture has left undetermined; and therefore she has not decided what are the actual efiects of infant-baptism. Since, then, neither the Bible nor our Church has decided this question, it is surely too much for the Bishop of Exeter to expect, that his interpre- tation of a few words in the Baptismal Service should be henceforth the ruled doctrine of the Church of Eur- land, and that all clergymen who differ from his Lord- ship on this point shall be ejected from their spiritual cures. I therefore confidently anticipate, Gentlemen of the jury, a favourable decision for my reverend and learned friend, Mr. Hooker ; I feel persuaded that you will soon agree as to the verdict to be returned, and that your verdict will be — Not Guilty. 46 THE TRIAL. Mr. Counsellor Taunton now rose, in order to sub- stantiate the charge of Heresy against the Rev. Charles Simeon. The following is the substance of his address to the jury; but he spoke with such rapidity that it was no easy task to follow the learned gentleman, and therefore it is very possible that some of his observa- tions may have been misunderstood. It is, however, in the main tolerably accurate. It was whispered in Court, that his Brief had been revised and corrected by the Bishop himself: but this was merely the conjecture of some of the hearers, who thought that they recog- nized a few of his Lordship's favourite expressions. Address of Counsel for the Prosecution. Gentlemen of the Jury, Before I produce my evidence in support of the charge against the reverend Charles Simeon, for teaching publicly and privately the heretical doctrine that all infants are not absolutely and unconditionally regenerated in and by baptism, I wish to offer a few remarks on the strange assertion made by the learned counsel who has just concluded his address. He stated at the end of his speech, that neither the Church of England nor Holy Scripture had determined anything as to the efficacy of infant-baptism. On hearing this bold assertion, I thought I must have misunderstood my learned brother ; and therefore I inquired of two or three of my learned friends around me what their impression was ; and, sorry am I to say, that their answers removed from my mind all doubt upon the ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOB, PROSECUTION. 47 subject. The statement was certainly made. Yes, Gentlemen of the jury, in open defiance of a Rubric of our Church, the learned counsel has not scrupled to maintain that Scripture, and, consequently, the Church of England, has not determined the actual effect of infant-baptism. Surely he had forgotten the Rubric to which I allude, or, perhaps, it has altogether escaped his notice, as it is placed at the end of the Baptismal Service. And really. Gentlemen, there is, I think, good reason to conclude that my learned brother did not observe it ; and I will add that, under his circum- stances, some little excuse may be offered for him. For on reading that Service he Avould find many ex- pressions so completely opposed to the view which he has undertaken to defend, that his attention would be fully occupied, and his thoughts bewildered by the difficulties of his position. Notwithstanding his well- known skill in overcoming difficulties ; and although he might possibly surmount two or three mole-hills at the commencement of the course which he had un- dertaken to run ; yet on finding, as he advanced, Alps rising on Alps, I am not surprised that he stopped in dismay, and, consequently, never saw the chief moun- tain, which, had he scrambled over all the others, would have effectually arrested his career. I beg then. Gen- tlemen, to read this Rubric, or rather declaration of our Church, which you will find in your Prayer Books, as a Postscript to the Baptismal Service. It is as fol- lows, and I think that my learned friend will scarcely be able to lift up his blushing face after he has heard it : " It is certain by God's Word that children which are baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are 48 THE TRIAL. undoubtedly saved." What says my learned friend to this Rubric ? Does it or does it not state, that Scrip- ture, while it declares the general necessity of baptism, determines not the actual effect of infant-baptism ? Will my learned brother say that it does not ? I should be sorry to deem it possible that he will. I should deeply regret to find that prejudice had so blinded the learned counsel, that he could not see so plain and un- equivocal testimony as this against the doctrine which he has undertaken to support. It is so important, that I should like to have an answer given, and given plainly without delay. Gentlemen, I will pause for a reply. The Bar, in the estimation of which my learned friend holds so deservedly high a place, has a right to expect an answer, and I doubt not he will give it with the frankness which belongs to him. The learned counsel here paused and looked around. To his astonishment, he met nothing but countenances in which there appeared evident struggles to suppress rising laughter. The reason was soon explained. His learned brother, to whom he made this eloquent and, as he appeared to think, withering and unanswerable appeal, was not present. He had been called out of Court just as Mr. Counsellor Taunton began his speech, and, consequently, had not heard a word of it. This fact was communicated in a whisper to the learned gen- tleman, who appeared at first rather annoyed ; but soon recovering his composure, he proceeded as follows : — Gentlemen, as my learned friend is absent, I must appeal to yourselves whether it is reasonable — I had almost said honest or justifiable — to declare in the face of this Rubric, that our Church denies the invariable ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 49 regeneration of baptized infants. For observe, Gentle- men, where this Rubric is found. It is placed imme- diately after the Office, in which several portions of God's Word had been cited — " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."' "Almighty God of His great mercy did save Xoah and his family in the ark from perishing by water, and also did safely lead the children of Israel, His people, through the Red Sea, figuring thereby His holy baptism ; and by the baptism of His well- beloved Son Jesus Christ in the river Jordan, did sanctify Avater to the mystical washing away of sin." Again: " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of God ; verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." It is, I say, after these citations of God's Word, and after the Office had declared that the baptized child ivas re- generate — after, in the same Office, the thanks of the Church are given to God that it had pleased Him to regenerate this infant with His Holy Spirit, to receive him for His own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into His holy Church — it is immediately after these words that the Rubric declares, " It is certain by God's Word that children," which have received such mighty promises and blessings — in other words, " which have been baptized^ dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved." It has been observed that this rubric does not state that children which are baptized, dying in their infancy, are *' undoubtedly saved " hj haptism. How, then, and by what are they saved .- But it is superfluous to argue such a matter. The case E 50 THE TRIAL. is too plain to be denied. Our Church speaks in abso- lute, categorical, direct terms. She declares that God has -wrought a mighty work in the baptized child — has made him to be "born anew of water and of the Spirit." Whether God has wrought such a work, is a question of fact, on which no serious mind would dare to speak thus positively without sufficient warrant. The Church declares that we have such warrant in the words of Scripture, which she cites in the Offices of Baptism of Infants ; and she requires her ministers, therefore, to speak accordingly. Faith has here much to exercise it ; but not charity, except indeed in rejoicing at the great benefit thus given to the unconscious babe. Again : let us look to the declarations to be made by the child in the Catechism — " In baptism I was made a member of Christ and a child of God ;" and "I heartily thank our heavenly Father that He hath called me to -this state of salvation." Now what has charity to do with these declarations, to be made by the child con- cerning his own state ? They are either true or false : if true, the Church does well in teaching him to know his high privileges, since they must carry with them corresponding duties — the first of which is humble thankfulness to the Divine Giver ; but, if false, the Church begins her education with teaching her chil- dren to use towards God the language, not of truth, but of falsehood, combined wath the most hideous pre- sumption. I will now lay before you, Gentlemen, the most con- vincing evidence, that the reverend Charles Simeon holds a doctrine on the subject of infant-baptism, which is completely opposed to the plain and unequi- ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOE PROSECUTION. 51 vocal teaching of the Church of England. You are aware how many books this gentleman has published. You are aware that thousands of the clergy, and hun- dreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of the laity, have been indoctrinated wdth his sentiments. It is not, in- deed to be denied that his zealous and indefatigable labours, both in the pulpit and in the press, together Avith his undoubted piety and disinterested liberality — nay, I freely allow, that the \vhole tenor of his life affords all the evidence that man can expect or desire, that it has ever been his one great aim to promote the glory of God and the best interests of mankind. Such a man naturally possesses very extensive influence. But, alas ! if he hold erroneous doctrine, this extended influence will render him only the more dangerous. His errors will be propagated through the length and breadth of the land. The Church, therefore, and our common Christianity, are under very heavy obligations to the venerable Prelate, who, in spite of reproach and calumny, and every kind of misrepresentations, has de- termined to drive, if possible, from the pale of our Apostolic Church, all such maintainers of unsound doctrine. A cursory reader of Mr. Simeon's writings would naturally suppose that their tendency was towards that object at which the writer professed to be, and, most likely, which he himself conscientiously believed that he was, aiming, namely, to humble the sinner, to exalt the Saviour, and to promote holiness of life. But great and praiseworthy as this object unquestionably is, you must allow, Gentlemen, that it is not likely to be attained by propagating doctrines which our Church e2 52 THE TRIAL. condemns; especially that most pernicious and fatal doc* trine — the concUtmial regeneration of baptized infants. A person might read a large portion of this gentleman's works without detecting his heterodoxy on this point ; for it must be acknowledged that Mr. Simeon appears in some passages to concur with the Bishop of Exeter's interpretation. He states, for instance, after quoting a passage from the Baptismal Service : " From hence it appears that, m the ophiion of our Reformers, regenera- tion and remission of sins did accompany/ baptism.''^ And he defends the language of that Service as being en- tirely scriptural, and accuses those persons of incon- sistency who scruple to use the Baptismal Offices. He says, " The only question is, not, ' Whether a baptized person can be saved by that ordinance without sancti- fication,' but whether God does always accompany the sign with the thing signified ? Here (he says) is cer- tainly room for difference of opinion, but it cannot be positively decided in the negative, because we cannot know or even judge respecting it in any case whatever, except by the fruits that follow ; and therefore in all fairness it may be considered only as a doubtful point." Had Mr. Simeon written no more than this, he would not have been placed in his present position : for he doss not deny, in this passage, that the thing signified, namely, the inward and spiritual grace may always ac- company the sign, although he evidently inclines to the contrary opinion. Still as he does not here positively oppose the doctrine of our Church, but allows that there may be a germ or seed sown in the heart of every baptized infant; and as he quotes the words of St. Peter, " Repent, and be baptized every one of you in ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOE PROSECUTION. 53 the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shair receive the gift of the Holy Ghost : for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call : " and another passage of the same Apostle : — " The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us:" and that part of his second Epistle where Peter speaks of baptized persons neglecting to improve the grace given to them, and forgetting that they were purged from their old sins : — as, I say, Mr. Simeon maintains that these passages " very strongly countenance the idea which our Reformers entertained, that the remission of our sins, and the regeneration of our souls, is attendant on the baptismal rite ; " and as, moreover, he is so candid as to state that he thinks " the refinements of Calvin have done great harm in the Church," that " they have driven multitudes from the plain and popular way of speaking used by the in- spired writers, and have made them unreasonably and unscripturally squeamish in their modes of expression;" I think it highly probable that the Right Reverend Prelate would not have commenced these proceedings against Mr. Simeon, but would have charitably hoped that in time he might have been led to embrace the orthodox opinion. Unhappily, however, in his succeeding writings this gentleman has used language which is clearly and un- questionably repugnant to the doctrine taught by our Church. His words I will now read to you, as they form the ground of the present charge against this re- verend gentleman. Mr. Simeon tells his readers that, when a man is regenerate, he loves what God loves, and 54 THE TRIAL. hates what God hates, habitually prays and uses his best endeavours, that he may live and do as God com- mands ; that he, consequently, abhors sin in all its ramifications, and loathes himself for having ever com- mitted so detestable a thing; that he loves holy things, so as to make them the objects of his continual and most earnest pursuit; that in relation to every thing that is holy and heavenly, he seeks to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus ; that he knows and feels that he must come to Christ as a weary and heavy- laden sinner, for wisdom, and righteousness, and sanc- tification, and redemption ; and must glory, not in any human strength or goodness, but wholly and exclusively in the Lord Jesus Christ; that these views and these principles will not rest as mere notions in the head, but will be wrought into the heart, and exhibited in the whole life and conversation of the regenerate man. This change he declares to be that new birth of which St. Paul speaks in his second Epistle to the Corinthians, and which our Blessed Saviour informed Nicodemus was necessary to salvation. All this, you will say, Gentlemen, is very good and very scriptural ; although you may probably be inclined to think that, if such be the character of the regenerate — such his views, feel- ings, objects, and pursuits — then a vast proportion of those who were baptized in infancy have never exhib- ited any signs of the great change which was effected in them, and must therefore have lost their baptismal purity. Be this as it may, I can confidently state, that had Mr. Simeon only allowed that, in baptism, that great operation, which produces these fruits and is therefore called the new birth unto righteousness, ADDKESS OF COUNSEL FOE PROSECUTION. 55 always takes place in the souls of baptized infants, his language on this point, though rather too strong, would not have subjected him to this prosecution. But he denies that such a change is always effected in in- fants at Baptism. While he allows that " infants de- dicated to God in baptism may and sometimes do (though in a way not discoverable by us, except by the fruits) receive a new nature from the Spirit of God m, and ivith, and by that ordinance," he does not believe that this gift is generally, still less can he think that it is alivays, conferred on baptized infants. Nay, he strongly avows that it is a fundamental error to hold, that " all persons " — and I conclude that he considers it equally erroneous to say that all infants — " do ne- cessarily by a divine appointment receive the Holy Ghost in such a manner and degree as really to be changed in the spirit of their minds, into the very image of God in righteousness and true holiness, and so to partake of the Divine nature, that they never need afterwards to seek so great a changed Here then you see, Gentlemen, that Mr. Simeon not only denies the doctrine of unconditional regeneration in infant-bap- tism, but charges those who hold it as maintaining a fundamental, a fatal, error. There is another very serious error entertained by this gentleman, to which I beg to call your attention. He absolutely attributes more to prayer than to the act of baptism, although the latter is of Divine institution. Is not this to detract from the honour of that sacred ordi- nance ? Is not this to maintain that far greater benefits are obtained by faith and prayer than by partaking of the sacrament? This is the passage in which Mr. Simeon 56 THE TRIAL. maintains such a very objectionable tenet : " In many instances, M'here the ordinance is really attended upon in faith, and prayer is offered up to God in faith, we do believe that God bestows a peculiar blessing on the child ; and though we cannot ascertain that he does so but by the fruits that are afterwards produced, yet are we warranted from Scripture to believe, that the effectual fervent prayer of righteous people shall not go forth in vain." Thus is the efhcacy of vicarious prmjer substituted for that of the sacraments, " which be effectual because of Christ's institution and promise," as our twenty-sixth Article declares. AVhat a heresy is here unblushingly proclaimed ! What a dishonour to the sacraments ! It is rank Popery — and worse than Popery ! The Council of Trent makes recourse to other intercessors and mediators with God, than Christ, to be no more than "a pious and useful " practice : Mr. Simeon makes it necessary to salvation ! Gentlemen of the jury, I know not what your feelings may be on hearing the statement which I have just now read ; but as to myself I am quite horri- fied on reading it. I stand aghast when I find that this dangerous opinion has been, and is, inculcated by a clergyman who has such extensive influence ! And certainly the shock is not lightened when I read the following passages from a sermon by the same writer : " We will yet further confirm what has been said, by two or three passages of Scripture, which bear directly upon the question, and shew us the danger of listening to such delusions as are set in opposition to the truth Avhich we are insisting on. 'All are not Israel,' says St. Paul, 'who are of Israel,' or, in other words, all are not ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR rROSECUTION. 57 true Christians who are nominally so. Again: ' In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncir- cumcision, but a new creature.' Here substitute the term baptism for the corresponding rite of circumcision, and you have in one single sentence every word that we have spoken. Once more : ' He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is out- ward in the flesh : but he is a Jew who is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men but of God.' Can there be plainer language than this ?" Mr. Simeon asks : and then he proceeds to shew what may be the consequences of believing in absolute and uncon- ditional regeneration — a tenet which he has the daring presumption to call " a delusion !"" " We may laugh at the new birth," he says, by which term you will observe. Gentlemen, that he means not the great change which is effected by baptism in the souls of infants, but that which takes place when persons " truly repent and un- feignedly believe the Gospel." " We may laugh at the new birth, and persuade ourselves that we have no need to be alarmed at the declarations of the Lord Jesus Christ in relation to it ; but we cannot make him open the kingdom of heaven to us when once the door is shut : we may knock, and say, Lord, I thought my bap- tism was sufficient : but he will say, ' Depart, I never knew you.' " But enough. Gentlemen of the jury — more than enough, has been adduced to prove that the reverend Charles Simeon has uttered an essential, com- plete denial and contradiction of the doctrine of Holy Scripture and the Church concerning baptism. He makes a complete separation of the special grace of the 58 THE TRIAL. sacrament of Baptism from the sacrament itself. You can have no doubt of the astounding fact now that you have heard his written and published statements. And I should think it an insult to your understandings, Gen- tlemen, to offer any further evidence or argument in so plain a matter. You cannot but know what is the un- equivocal teaching of our Church on this point ; and you have had abundant evidence to prove how different is the doctrine which Mr. Simeon holds and teaches. It remains therefore for you to say, whether a clergyman who thus deliberately opposes a fundamental doctrine of our Church — a doctrine maintained by the whole Catho- lic Church from the time of the Apostles to the present period — shall be allowed any longer to pervert the sheep which assemble together in the fold of the Church of England. The learned counsel sat down at the conclusion of his speech : and after a few moments, Mr. Wright, Q.C., the gentleman retained on behalf of the reverend Charles Simeon, stood up and thus addressed the jury. Address of Mr. Simeon's Counsel. Gentlemen, The evidence which my learned brother has laid before you affords you a sufficient insight into the sentiments of Mr. Simeon. After hearing the passages ADDRESS OF MK. SIMEON's COUNSEL. 59 from his writings which have just been read, you can- not doubt — no one can doubt — that, although he does not deny that infants may be regenerated in baptism, he altogether denies that this is always the case. He believes that baptism and regeneration have no neces- sary and inseparable connection ; but that many are baptized with water who are never regenerated by the Spirit of God ; and that many are regenerated, have their sins remitted, and become the adopted children of God before, and, consequently, without baptism. But does Mr. Simeon therefore derogate from the honour and dignity of that sacred ordinance ? By no means. If you read his works, you will find that he always speaks in the highest terms of baptism ; insists upon the duty and privilege of bringing children to the font, and thus dedicating them to God's service ; and warns those parents who despise or neglect that holy institu- tion of our Blessed Saviour, that they are either guilty of a presumptuous disobedience to an express command, or are labouring under a great delusion. Yes, Gentle- men, Mr. Simeon will be found invariably honouring the sacraments, although he does not and will not make them substitutes for the Saviour. He will not exalt them to a higher place than Scripture hath assigned to them. He cannot consider the sign and seal as the things which they signify, or as invariably and uncon- ditionally accompanied by the blessings of which they are witnesses. In short, my reverend friend places nei- ther a higher nor a lower estimate on the sacrament of Baptism, than that which our Church hath fixed. Believing that she maintains, with respect to it as well as the other sacrament, the golden mean between the 60 THE TRIAL. superstitious use and the irreverent neglect or under- valuing of the sacraments, manifested by Romanists, on the one hand, and certain denominations of Christians, on the other, he is warmly attached to her views, and never hesitates to contend earnestly for them against all opponents. Even in the few passages which my learned brother adduced from Mr. Simeon's writings, you would see that my reverend friend has not formed opinions for which he cannot render a good reason. The very evidence which was brought forward to condemn him tends much more to his justification, and causes the charge of heresy to recoil on his Right Reverend Prosecutor. My learned brother, however, flatters himself that he has brought forward unanswerable testimony to prove, that our Church teaches that very doctrine which Mr. Simeon denies, namely, the absolute and unconditional regeneration of all baptized infants. At the commence- ment of his address he referred to a Rubric which he evidently supposes furnishes him with an unanswerable argument. He spoke in such triumphant terms, as if the victory was already achieved, and that all men must be convinced, by that Rubric, that our Church teaches the unconditional regeneration of baptized infants. And in answer to the observation that, although the Rubric states that baptized infants dying before they commit actual sin are undoubtedly saved, it does not assert that they are saved by baptism, the learned counsel asks — in a manner which intimates how absurd he thought such an observation — by what then are they saved ? Now I will take the liberty of asking another question. Suppose the keeper of the prison where Paul and Silas ADDRESS OF MR. SIMEON's COUXSEL. 61 were confined, had, together with his family, been put to death by their heathen rulers because they had been baptized : and suppose the Apostle had endeavoured to console the bereaved relatives and friends of the jailor, by saying, " He and his children have been enrolled by baptism as Christ's faithful soldiers and servants, and have died in his service ; ye need not doubt of their salvation :" — would my learned brother have concluded from this that they were saved by baptism r Would he ask, by what then were they saved ? Could he seri- ously ask such a question ? If he could, he must have entirely forgotten the answer returned to the jailor's anxious inquiry, " What must I do to be saved ? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Now what was bap- tism to this believing jailor ? Not the means of saving him — not the fountain of his regeneration in the sight of God ; for he was already saved and regenerated in God's sight by faith in Jesus Christ ; but baptism was the sign and seal which manifested to others that he was regenerate, a child of God, and an heir of heaven. Baptism sealed the same blessings to his children, and testified before men, what they undoubtedly were in God's sight previous to their departure, if they died before they committed actual sin, that they were rege- nerate and fit for his heavenly kingdom. Again, this Rubric cannot determine the actual effect of baptism on all infants, since it pertains only to those who die before they commit actual sin. It has no ap- plication to the millions who live to a responsible age. Had it, indeed, stated, that baptized infants dying before they commit actual sin arc undoubtedly saved, and that 62 THE TRIAL. unbaptized infants who die before the age of reason are undoubtedly lost, my learned friend would have proved his point, namely, that our Church teaches the absolute and unconditional regeneration of all baptized infants. But this Rubric states no such thing. As Baptism is the appointed Divine ordinance by which persons are admitted into the Christian Covenant, and grafted into the Church of Christ, the family and household of God ; and as the Church had seen the children, to which this Rubric pertains, thus admitted, she was justified in de- claring that they are " undoubtedly saved." But their salvation depended not on the sacrament, but on the grace of God — on that inward and spiritual grace which fits the soul for heaven, and which, as we have seen in the case of believing adults, is always given before bap- tism ; but which, in the case of infants, we have a right to infer, reasoning from analogy, may be given before, in, or after baptism. Why the Church speaks only of baptized infants in this Rubric is evident. It is for the comfort of bereaved parents ; and she speaks thus con- fidently of their deceased children's salvation, because she had seen them enrolled among Christ's faithful peo- ple. She knows nothing of any others. They may be members of Christ, and children of God, as well as those who have been baptized ; but the Church contents herself with speaking only of that which she hath seen, and testifying only of that which she hath known. It is as if she had said to parents mourning for the loss of their children : " You brought your infants to be baptized — you prayed that our Lord Jesus Christ would receive them, release them from their sins, sanctify them them with the Holy Ghost, and give them the kingdom ADDRESS OF ]VIR. SIMEON S COUNSEL. 63 of heaven, and everlasting life ; and you heard that our Lord Jesus Christ hath promised all these things that ye prayed for, which promise He for His part will most surely keep and perform ; and, had your children lived, their part of the covenant ought to have been performed, namely, they ought to have renounced the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh, and constantly to have believed God's holy Word, and obediently to have kept His commandments ; but as it hath pleased our heavenly Father to call them out of this world before they committed actual sin, doubt not but earnestly believe that He hath favourably re- ceived them, embraced them with the arms of His mercy, and given unto them the blessing of eternal life. He has said that ' of such is the kingdom of heaven,' and therefore it is certain by God's Word that they are undoubtedly saved." To assert that children are saved by baptism in any other sense than that which the Apostle Peter means, namely, figuratively^ is a manifest error : — "■ The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the re- surrection of Jesus Christ." It represents that foun- tain of Immanuel's blood which was opened for sin and all uncleanness ; but it can no more actually save us, than the partaking of the memorials of our Saviour's Cross and Passion can cleanse us from sin. But let us try the argument founded on this Rubric, since so much weight seems to be attached to it, by applying it to the sign of regeneration in the Old 64 THE TRIAL. Testament Church. Circumcision, like baptism, was a sign and seal of an inward and spiritual grace. Under the Mosaic Dispensation bereaved parents would have been consoled by a declaration of the same import as this Rubric, namely, that circumcised children, dying before they committed actual sin, were undoubtedly saved. But had some Jewish Pharisee or Lawyer, who had the same notions of the efficacy of the sacraments as my learned friend appears to have, endeavoured to prove from such a declaration, that the inward and spi- ritual grace, or the circumcision of the heart, was al- ways conferred on infants with the outward sign, an intelligent Israelite would easily have seen his error. We will suppose the Lawyer to have said : " Your children when circumcised, and dying in their infancy, are, in the opinion of the Church, undoubtedly saved. They must be circumcised — they must die before they commit actual sin, to bring them within that declara- tion of their being uudoubtedly saved. Does not this clearly prove, that circumcision is the means by which that inward grace is conferred which fits them for a heavenly country; and that that grace — the circumcision of the heart — is always conferred on circumcised in- fants r" "No," the Israelite might have replied; " this declaration proves no such thing. It shows that the Church considers that the inward and spiritual grace has been conferred on our circumcised infants ivho die in their infancy, because she has seen the seal of that grace applied to those children ; and as God hath called them away before the age of responsibility, she cannot doubt that He hath qualified them to enter His blessed king- dom. But I do not learn from the Scriptures that grace ADDRESS OF MR. SIMEON's COUNSEL. 65 is tied to the seal. Had God meant that the out\Yard sign should always confer on infants the circumcision of the heart, He would have ordered all children to be circumcised as soon as they were born, instead of de- ferring that rite until they were eight days old. All infants who die before the eighth day must, therefore, be considered to have the inward grace given to them, which fits them for a better country, although the seal has not been applied ; and we are thus led to the con- clusion that the outward sign is not absolutely neces- sary to salvation. Had it been necessary, what shall we say respecting those children who were born and died in the wilderness, during the period of forty years, when the practice of circumcision was suspended ? Shall we say that the uncircumcised children who then died before they came to a responsible age were lost — were for ever excluded from the heavenly Canaan? Such a supposition would be horrible. And that the inward grace is not always conferred on infants with the outward sign or seal, is evident from various pas- sages in the Law and the Prophets. Many who had been circumcised in infancy, are spoken of as being still uncircumcised in heart, and are exhorted to seek for this inward and spiritual grace. Thus we find in the Book of Leviticus that God promises to remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and will not utterly destroy the people although their iniquities may be great, " if their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their in- iquity." And, by the proj^het Jeremiah, God thus threatens the IsraeUtes, who had not obeyed his voice, nor walked according to the covenant into which they F 66 THE TRIAL. had entered by circumcision : " I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised ; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness : for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncir- cumcised in the heart." Hence it cannot be maintained that circumcision is the means of conferring always on infants the inward and spiritual grace. The Christian who makes the Scriptures, and not the traditions and commandments of men, his supreme guide and rule, will answer the advocates of the doctrine of in- variable regeneration in baptism, in nearly similar terms. My learned friend has also referred to the Catechism of our Church, and intimated that every baptized child is there taught to declare, in absolute, categorical, and direct terms, that he was made in baptism a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven ; and he asks. What has charity to do with such declarations made by the child concerning his own state ? Would not a person baptized as an adult, I ask, be required by our Church to make the same answers previous to confirmation ? And would not charity re- quire us (unless the life and conversation of such per- sons forbade us from indulging the charitable hope) to believe that they were inwardly, and in the sight of God, what baptism had made them outwardly and in the eye of the Church? Whether these declarations are true or false is a point which the Church presumes not to determine. This is one of the secret things which belong to God alone. Man can judge only ac- cording to outward appearance. It is thus the Church ADDRESS OF MR. STMEON's COUNSEL. 67 judgeth, and therefore she uses the language of faith, hope, and charity, respecting both the baptized infant and the baptized adult, and teaches both what high privileges pertain to them. But should she have judged too favourably of their condition, because she cannot read the heart, can she be justly accused of teaching her children to utter falsehoods to God ? My learned friend must surely have been conversing with some well-meaning but ill-informed Dissenter, who has sup- plied him with this objection. Indeed, I remember to have heard a somewhat similar reason given by an Anabaptist for not conforming to the Church of Eng- land. " She teaches children to tell falsehoods ! " The person to whom I allude had paid but little attention to the Old Testament, or he would have found that the Israelites entered into covenant with God, " they and their little ones," and that in virtue of that covenant they were called God's peculiar people. Their chil- dren, consequently, were taught, as soon as they were able to learn, what were their privileges and duties as the children of God. But I never heard that the Is- raelites were accused of teaching their children to utter falsehoods, because they taught them to call themselves what they were entitled to do by covenant — God's people. Nor can I understand how the Church can be justly charged with teaching what is not true, be- cause she regards those children who have been ad- mitted into the Christian Covenant, as members of Christ and children of God, and requires them to be trained up as inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. The language she teaches is surely proper for all who are Christians. They who are grafted into the Church f2 68 THE TRIAL. by baptism are by name and profession Christians. Our Church, therefore, teaches all her members to use this language (unless, as I have just observed, their outward conduct belies their profession) ; and if any affirm with their lips what they know in their hearts to be false, the sin lieth at their own door. The " hide- ous presumption " rests on those who use the language suitable to the children of God, while they are con- scious that they neither serve nor love God, but have their affections and desires set entirely on the things which they have promised to renounce. The same ob- jection applies to every prayer in our Liturgy, and to every devout expression in the Psalter, which our con- gregations are in the habit of repeating. Our Church is guilty of " hideous presumption " because she pro- vides such helps to devotion, since many who worship in her courts are not spiritual worshij^pers but mere formal professors ! Nay, every father of a family and master of a household, who calls his children and ser- vants around him, morning and evening, to offer their prayers and praises to God, is liable to the same ac- cusation. As a servant of God, he uses language suit- able to that character; but if some of his household repeat his Avords with their lips while their hearts are far from God, the master is chargeable with teaching them to utter falsehoods ! And what will my learned brother say to that beautiful form of prayer which our Blessed Saviour taught his disciples ? Will he say that the disciples ought not to have been taught it, because there was a Judas amongst them ? Will he dare to accuse — but I pause : the supposition is too blasphemous to be entertained. ADDRESS OF ME. SIMEON's COUNSEL. 69 To me it is, I confess, utterly inexplicable how any- intelligent person can carefully read the Catechism and Confirmation Service, in connection with the Offices of Baptism, and then deliberately conclude that charity has nothing to do with the language there employed. "The Office for baptizing infants," says Bishop Burnet, " is in the same words with that for persons of riper age ; because infants being then in the power of their parents, who are of age, are considered as in them, and as binding themselves by the vows that they make in their name. Therefore the Office carries on the siqjpo- sition of an internal regeneration." The only matter of fact of which the Church can bear testimony is, the application of the outward sign and seal: of internal regeneration she can merely judge by the life and conversation of men, and even then her judgment is not infallible. To talk therefore of the Church dogmatically and absolutely determining a matter which God has nowhere revealed, is to attribute to her that " hideous presumption " of which she is assuredly guiltless. Every unprejudiced reader of her Formularies can hardly fail to see that the regeneration our Church speaks of must necessarily be conditional, and that she plainly teaches her members the coiiditions on which they were admitted into the Christian Cove- nant. And yet, after shewing what are required of all persons before they can be baptized, and accounted regenerate, namely, repentance and faith ; and after telling us that infants, being unable to stipulate them- selves, promise these things by their sureties ; our Church, we are gravely informed, teaches that the high- est blessing of this Covenant, regeneration, is abso- 70 THE TRIAL. lutely and unconditionally conferred ! How inconsistent would such persons make our Church ! A covenant without conditions is a nonentity. At Confirmation, those who entered into this covenant in infancy are again reminded of the conditions on which they were admitted, and solemnly asked whether they are willing to ratify the promises made in their names. They are now of an age to exercise repentance and faith, and, consequently, to manifest the fruits of that regenera- tion of which their baptism was the seal. They make openly that confession of faith, Avhich, when made heartily, is a sure and effectual sign of regeneration. This outward profession — this confession of the mouth — is all that the Church can take cognizance of. The real state of the heart is a question left with the Searcher of hearts. But charity requires that the Church should believe the profession of its members to be sincere, and, consequently, that she should speak of them as regenerate — as under the sanctifying influ- ence of the Holy Spirit, and as " the elect people of God." I can see neither inconsistency, nor presump- tion, in our Church thus charitably regarding those who make an outward profession. I have now to notice the accusation, that Mr. Simeon derogates from the Sacrament of Baptism, because he intimates that, when the ordinance is really attended upon in faith, and parents and sponsors offer up faithful and earnest prayer, he believes that a peculiar blessing may rest upon the baptized child. All this, my learned friend seems to think, is a work of supererogation ; for he says that the efficacy of baptism depends, not upon prayer, but, upon Christ's institution and promise. Mr. ADDRESS OF MR. SIMEON's COUNSEL. 71 Simeon never dreamed of substituting " the efficacy of vicarious prayer " for that of the sacraments. But be- fore I explain what my reverend friend really means, I must notice a mistake into which the learned counsel has fallen respecting sacraments being " effectual be- cause of Christ's institution and promise." Had the learned counsel carefully examined the twenty-sixth Article, from which he quotes this expression, he would have found that it does not teach that sacraments are effectual from the mere performance of them {ex opere operato) upon all infants ; but merely affirms that the U7iworihiness of ministers hinders not the effect of the sacraments in those " who by faith and rightly do re- ceive " them. On such persons they will have a wholesome effect, " because of Christ's institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men." It does not enter into the question of the efficacy of bap- tism, either in children who die in infancy, or in those who live to a responsible age. As to the accusation of substituting vicarious prayer for the efficacy of the sacraments, few words will be sufficient to shew the futility of such a charge. What could my learned friend have been thinking about when he so strangely interpreted — not to say, perverted — the passage which he quoted ? It is not vicarious, but in- tercessory prayer, which Mr. Simeon is recommending. And, surely, such kind of prayer is most scriptural, most valuable, and such as we are daily called upon to exercise. St. Paul frequently requests the prayers and intercessions of the Christians to whom he addresses his Epistles : and our Church has recourse to inter- cessory prayer in her Liturgy and Offices, and more 72 THE TKTAL. especially in the Baptismal Offices. Whenever children or adults are about to be baptized, the whole congrega- tion is exhorted to join in intercessory prayer for those who come to this holy ordinance. My learned brother has evidently mistaken what is one of our highest pri- vileges and duties, for a practice which is opposed alike to reason and to Scripture. In truth, "when we recog- nize vicarious prayer," as an eminent Prelate observes, " we touch upon one of the most irrational and de- basing errors of the Church of Rome. The vicarious worship of the Jewish ritual was sacrifice, not prayer. The High Priest entered into the holy of holies, and made atonement for the sins of the people who stood without, as a type of the great sacrifice once made, and which only one could offer, when the just died for the unjust that he might bring us to God. But sacrifice is not prayer. Vicarious prayer was part of the corruption which overspread the Church, when human ambition discovered the power which it might obtain, if it could use religion as a ladder to climb up by." From this extract from the charge of a venerable and universally respected Prelate, my learned friend, it is to be hoped, will be led to see what a mistake he has made — a mistake, however, which it must be allowed may be palliated in a lawyer^ when even acute and learned divines have occasionally confounded the two kinds of prayer. I know indeed some divines who, though mem- bers and ministers of a Church difi'ering essentially from that of Eome, verily believe that our Church teaches that vicarious worship may be offered to God — that if a clergy- man read the daily service, provided he do it in a Church, though not a soul in the parish may be present except ADDRESS OF MR. SIMEON's COUNSEL. 73 himself, it will be an acceptable worship, and will cover a multitude of the sins and negligences of his parish- ioners. But this is an error in which my reverend friend, Mr. Simeon, has no participation. He regards that, as well as the doctrine of invariable regeneration in and by infant-baptism, as an importation from Rome. He considers that both have the same tendency and object, namely, to exalt the priesthood by making ministers mediators; and to make our justification rest on mere ouiward performances. My learned friend told you, at the conclusion of his address, that this notion, which the Bishop of Exeter would exalt into a ruled doctrine of the Church of Eng- land, has been always held by the Catholic or Universal Church, even from the time of the Apostles. He has offered no evidence to prove this ; but, following the prudent course of the advocates of Popery, he has as- sumed that this is a matter incapable of contradiction. This is, in effect, the sort of reasoning by w^hich he endeavours to establish his point. The doctrine of in- variable and unconditional regeneration in infant-bap- tism has ever been held by the Catholic Church : the Catholic Church is infallible : therefore this doctrine must be true. Again, every true branch of the Catholic Church must hold this fundamental doctrine ; but the Church of England is a true branch of the Catholic Church, therefore the Church of England must hold this doctrine. This is, doubtless, a very short and easy way of satisfying those persons who are content to take assertions for evidence. I beg, however, to meet the learned counsel's assertion by another of quite an opposite character, which is this, — that no 74 THE TRIAL. pure branch of the Catholic Church ever did or can hold this doctrine ; and thus I prove it : — The Catholic Church holds no doctrine as fundamental, or necessary to be believed, which is not to be found in Holy Scrip- ture ; but the doctrine that all infants receive spiritual regeneration unconditionally in baptism, is not found in Holy Scripture : therefore such doctrine is not, and never was, held by the Catholic Church. No pure branch of the Catholic Church can hold this doctrine ; but the Church of England is a pure branch of the Catholic Church : therefore the Church of England cannot hold this doctrine. This fond conceit, like many other false doctrines, crept into the Church of Rome during that dark period, when the Scriptures were no longer appealed to as the standard of doctrine, and was afterwards, by the Council of Trent, added as another link to that chain of unscriptural doctrines, by which so many millions are retained captives to that corrupt Church. It is an essentially Popish doctrine ; and although some persons who hold it shrink from the avowal that this is the case, and timidly whisper that it only " approximates to the opus operatum of the Roman Church; " others, amongst whom stands pre-eminent the Bishop of Exeter, main- tain boldly that, so far as infants are concerned, " we are agreed with Rome " — that in and by the act of bap- tism, remission of sins and spiritual regeneration are absolutely and unconditionally conferred. This doctrine, I repeat, never was held by the Catholic Church. If my learned friend had ventured to produce passages from early Christian writers which seemed to favour this doctrine, I could have confronted them with others from ADDKESS OF ME. SIMEON's COUNSEL. 75 the same writers which manifestly contradict it. What then is to be done when doctors disagree ? When they differ, not only from others, but from themselves ? We must do that which those pious and learned men recom- mend in such cases — strike every doctrine which fallible men propound, by the Sword of the Spirit : we must bring everything to the standard of God's Word. Let this be done. Gentlemen, and I have no fear as to the residt. I am fully persuaded that this doctrine receives no countenance whatever from Holy Scripture, and, therefore, that it cannot be held by our Church. And, since that Church declares, in her sixth Article, that " Whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation," no clergyman can be justly ejected from his cure for denying a doctrine which Scripture does not sanction : it follows that my reverend friend, Mr. Simeon, is entitled to a verdict in his favour. At the conclusion of the learned counsel's address, the jury were permitted to retire to their room for half an hour. The Judge, and most of the barristers also, left the Court to take some refreshment. Amongst the audience earnest conversation was carried on, and vari- ous conjectures were hazarded, as to the result of the Trial. But the return of the Judge and jury within the allotted time caused immediate silence in the Court; 76 THE TRIAL. and then Mr. Counsellor Talleys, as counsel for the prosecution against the reverend Reginald Heber, rose and spoke as follows. Address of Counsel for the Prosecution. Gentlemen, As it appears to be generally admitted that all the clergymen at the bar hold a doctrine which the Right Reverend Prelate, for whom I appear, considers repugnant to the plain and unequivocal teaching of the Church of England, it will be unnecessary for me to offer much evidence in support of the charge against the reverend Reginald Heber. When it is remembered from what place the heretical doctrine was delivered, for the holding of which he now stands at the bar ; when you consider. Gentlemen, that it was from the Univer- sity Pulpit of Oxford, and that it was listened to by hundreds of students, most of whom now occupy, or are preparing to occupy, important posts in our Church ; and when you recollect further, the vast influence which the amiable manners and splendid talents and deep piety of Mr. Heber must give him over the younger members of that University ; I do trust that your verdict will be such as to destroy that influence in future, and to prevent thousands and tens of thousands, who would otherwise read with avidity, and too probably largely imbibe his heretical sentiments, from taking any notice of his dangerous publications. Like his fellow-culprits* Mr. Heber does not allow that spiritual regeneration always accompanies baptism ; and, like Mr. Simeon, he ADDKESS OF COUNSEL FOE PROSECUTION. 77 seems to ascribe much more to prayer than to the effi- cacy of the sacrament. To do this is " Popery, — and worse than Popery," as the learned counsel for the pro- secution in the previous case has justly observed. But I will now, without further preface, read to you some extracts from Mr. Heber's Lectures, which will show, beyond any doubt, how heretical are that gentleman's opinions respecting the initiatory Sacrament of the Church. "Though our Saviour," says Mr. Heber, "insisted, in his conference with Nicodemus, on Baptismal no less than spii'itual regeneration as equally necessary to the character of a perfect Christian, yet does the whole tenor of his argument imply, that these are not the same hut different things; which, though neither of them was, without the other, sufficient to make us members of His Church, might exist, nevertheless, distinctly and with different individuals. And, in point of fact, and if we take as our example the particular case of Nicodemus, so far from internal grace being the effect of baptism only, this order appears to have been absolutely reversed, inasmuch as a considerable spiritual change had already taken place in the Jewish Rabbi, who acknowledged Christ to be a Teacher come from God, although his remaining prejudices or timidity as yet forbade the pub- lic profession of his faith by baptism." Here you see, Gentlemen, that Mr. Heber tries to sever two things which our Church declares, in the case of infants, to be inseparable. He seems to think it very possible that regeneration may take jDlace before baptism ; and although he does not absolutely call the change which had been wrought in Nicodemus, the new 78 THE TEIAL. birth, or regeneration, he evidently thinks it the same thing, for he calls it " a considerable spiritual change;" and that this " internal grace," instead of being " the effect of baptism only," as the Bishop of Exeter and our Church maintain, " appears to have been absolutely reversed." Thus he makes grace prevenient to baptism. And this error pervades another of this gentleman's Lectures : "In baptism," says he, " which is the outward sign or image of that death unto sin and new birth unto righteousness, which we, through Christ, receive, we declare our faith in Him, and our desire to be admitted through His merits to the privileges which His death hath purchased for mankind We are to approach the mercy-seat of God in whatever manner is most pleasing to Him, and we must thank Him for past fa- vours, entreat Him for future protection, in those words, or by those ceremonies, which He hath himself thought fit to institute. To this we are bound under the implied and most righteous penalty of having our requests re- jected, if, despising the ordinance of God, we offer them in any other than the commanded form ; and to this we are moved by the implied assurance of Christ, that, ask- ing in the manner which He himself hath chosen, our prayer shall not return without its answer. It is there- fore that, the ceremony of baptism performed, we pro- claim with so much holy confidence that our prayers are already heard, and the neophyte even now adopted.'"' Ob- serve, Gentlemen, this last expression — " the neophyte even now adopted." You would naturally suppose that Mr. Heber means that the baptized, whether an adult or infant, had become the adopted child of God by the grace of Baptism. I wish there was reason to hope that ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 79 he believes this ; and then, notwithstanding the previous sentence, in which he seems to ascribe the blessing to the answer of prayer rather than to the performance of the sacrament, we might expect that he would ultimately acknowledge his other errors, and be content to teach as the Bishop of Exeter — I mean as the Church of Eng- land — requires him to teach. But, alas ! on reading fur- ther we soon find that all the hopes we were beginning to indulge of his return to orthodoxy, vanish away. For he says : " Not that we conceive any necessary or myste- rious connection between the forms themselves, and the grace of which they are the outward image^ . . . but because the words of Christ, enjoining us to seek such blessings by such ceremonies, are in truth a most ample pledge that our compliance is acceptable to God ; and that we are consequently entitled to look forward in humble confidence to the blessing which we seek at His hands They (the sacraments) are not the means whereby God gives us grace, but they are the means whereby we ask and obtain grace from God From the correspondence thus explained between sacra- mental and devotional ordinances, it is evident that the practice of infant-baptism may be defended on a different and, perhaps, a more satisfactory ground than the usual arguments derived from precedent and human authority. For whether the infant be a legitimate object of cove- nant or no, it is certain that he is a proper subject of prayer and intercession; and the devoting a child to the service of the Maker, and the supplication that his heavenly King would dispose him in due time to ratify those engagements, when, above all, our own endea- vours may by education mainly contribute to the end 80 THE TRIAL. proposed, is a proceeding surely no less reasonable than it is pious, and affecting, and charitable." There are several expressions in this quotation to which objections might justly be made; but I will not occupy your attention about any of them, except the one at the conclusion. You will, doubtless, have noticed the very objectionable epithet which Mr. Heber has there applied to the sacred ordinance under our consideration. He designates Baptism as a reasonable proceeding ! Now I think. Gentlemen, that in dealing with the great mys- teries of our religion — such as the grace of our Lord's Sacraments most undoubtedly is — this clergyman should not be in the habit of referring the judgment of them to human reason. "To the Law and to the Testimony," and to the Church's interpretation of that law and testi- mony when it is doubtful, is the rule by which Christians should direct themselves in such matters. The ration- alizing process should be left to the school of modern Germany and Geneva: and in the hideous consequences which have resulted from it there, may be seen a fresh and stronger warning to shun so corrupt a practice. But, as I before observed, none of the gentlemen at the bar seem disposed to deny the charge of not agreeing with Rome and the Bishop of Exeter — that is to say, with the Bishop and the Church of England — on the efficacy of infant-baptism. They admit that they diifer from his Lordship, and in making this admission they necessarily condemn themselves as heretics, because they deny a doctrine which has ever been held by the Catholic Church. This is a matter of fact which can easily be ascertained ; and if it can be clearly proved to be the doctrine of the early Church, no consistent ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 81 member of the Church of England ^vill hesitate to be- lieve, that it is a doctrine of our Church at present. For it ought to be borne in mind, Gentlemen, that it was not the object of our Reformers to construct a new Church, but to purify the old one from various errors which, during a long course of years, had crept into it. But that doctrine cannot be deemed an error which has always been retained by the Church, even from Apostolic times. If it had been an error, would not infallible men, such as the writers of the New Testament, have pointed it out, and warned their read- ers against it ? Undoubtedly they would. But we find no such warning. And the immediate successors of the Apostles are equally silent on this point. There is not an expression in their writings which can be fairly con- strued into a denial of the unconditional Regeneration of baptized infants. On the contrary, many, or, more properly speaking, all the writers of antiquity use bap- tism and regeneration as necessarily connected together as cause and effect. Wall, on Infant-Baptism, and Bingham, in his learned work on Ecclesiastical Anti- quities, prove by irrefragable testimony, that the early Church held precisely the same doctrine which the Bishop of Exeter and our Church at present hold. What can be more clear than the words of Justin Martyr, when describing the mode of baptizing persons in his time ? " We brought them to water," he says, " and they washed, and were regenerate." Observe, Gentlemen ; they washed — they were baptized — they received not merely the outward visible sign, which is water, but also the inward and spiritual grace, which is regeneration — " they washed and were regenerate." G 82 THE TRIAL. It would occupy far too much of your time were I to quote from all the early Fathers passages to the same effect which may be found in their writings. Let it suffice to state, that Irenseus, Gregory Nazianzen, Origen, St. Cyprian, and Chrysostom, regarded infant- baptism as effectual for regeneration. Whatever dif- ference of opinion, in fact, existed as to the validity of baptism when administered by heretics, the early Fathers were perfectly unanimous respecting the nature of baptism within the Church. St. Augustine, in par- ticular, has so many passages in his writings which clearly and unequivocally teach that in and by infant- baptism regeneration is conferred, that it is quite im- possible for me to read them at length. But as that Father has always been held in deservedly high esti- mation, and may be regarded as a host in himself, I will state to you the substance of what he has written on this point. In one of his w^orks he states, that in- fants are made members of the Church of Christ, and it is clear that he believed that the grace which made them so was received by baptism. He maintains that in all cases of grace so received, regeneration took place, that there was remission of sins, and that those benefits were annexed to the Sacrament of Baptism. Zeno also, a Father of great antiquity, in his forty- third treatise, recognizes the baptism of infants and adults as being both of them effectual for regeneration, and at the same time similarly effecting that object. The decisions of various Councils of the ancient Church also ran in the same direction. They enjoined parents to bring their children early to the Baptismal Font, and denounced all who neglected the performance of that ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 83 duty. Would they have been thus urgent had they thought it possible that infants could come unworthily, or that they had need of previous, or, as it has been strangely called, " prevenient grace ? " Surely, the Church would have been highly to blame for urging and almost compelling infants to be brought to bap- tism, if it had not felt assured that in and by that or- dinance they would be absolutely regenerated. Had not their helplessness and innocence rendered them worthy recipients of baptism, there would have been a possibility that they might come unworthily ; and if any come unworthily, our Church says of all such recipients of the sacraments, that they purchase dam- nation to themselves. The Church therefore would not surely have insisted upon the baptism of infants, had it thought that that solemn act might be attended with such fatal consequences ; and hence it is reason- able to conclude that all baptized infants were — not merely publicly and formally in the eye of the Church, but — really and in God's sight, regenerated by the per- formance of baptism. I beg also to observe, that all the ancient Liturgies bear testimony to the doctrine of infant-regeneration in baptism. This is recognized in formularies more than a thousand years old, which were used by many of the Eastern and Western Churches. Now it will be granted that the formularies of any church afford the best possible evidence of its belief ; but I defy any one to shew that the Roman Church, the Greek Church, or the Church of England, has ever used formularies which contain language repugnant to the doctrine of infant- regeneration in baptism. It is very important, as well g2 84 THE TRIAL- as satisfactory, to know that on this point all true churches are agreed. In an Office for Baptism which is more than a thousand years old, as well as in a very ancient form of the Galilean Church, it is fully de- clared that regeneration is effected by that ordinance. A Liturgy which was used at Milan, and another in the Syrian Church, contain the same doctrine. The formu- laries of the Greek, Alexandrian, and other Churches use language to the same effect. All testify that grace is conferred absolutely in and by baptism, and thus they shew what were the faith and practice of the Universal Church. The Church of this country from the earliest period held no other doctrine, but fully agreed with Rome and the Eastern Church on this matter. This is evident from the testimony of the venerable Bede, who, in his comment on Mark xvi., plainly teaches the very doc- trine which the Bishop of Exeter is now vindicating. The Bishop of Sarum in 1250 ; the Bishop of Durham in 1272, and others of the thirteenth century, afford similar testimony. In the fourteenth century, John de Burgh, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, a great authority, supports this doctrine in a work put forth in 1385. And thus I can proceed without having one authority against this point down to the year 1536. In that year a Royal Declaration was published to the effect, that that Doctrine of Baptism should be received which had been hitherto received in the Church. In the " Institution of a Christian Man's Doctrine," pub- lished by Bishop Lloyd in 1543 and 1545, the ne- cessity of baptism and the virtue and force of the grace of God are clearly set forth, and it is stated that if the ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 85 recipients of baptism died in infancy they would un- doubtedly be saved. You may also see in Cranmer's Catechism, which, if not written, was at least adopted by that Prelate, and dedicated to Edward VI., that he taught that the second birth was by the water of bap- tism — that by the bath of regeneration alone man could be purified and made fit for salvation. I have thus. Gentlemen, traced the doctrine held by the Bishop of Exeter, and oppugned by the clergymen at the bar in general, and by the reverend Reginald Heber in particular, — I have traced it from the time of the Apostles to the Reformation, when our present Formularies were deliberately compiled, and publicly sanctioned and adopted. We find this doctrine held uniformly from the beginning. Is it likely, I would ask, that such eminent, pious, and learned men as were our Reformers, would have sanctioned formularies which were not according to their own sentiments ? They had the power of making any alterations they pleased: would they not have done so, had they not been per- suaded that every infant was absolutely regenerated in and by baptism? Surely, there can be no question upon this matter. Since, then, our Reformers allowed the same doctrine which was always held by the Catholic Church to re- main untouched in the Office of Baptism, we can only conclude that they believed it themselves, and that it was their desire that the Church of England should continue to teach this doctrine. The words are as plain as possible ; and, if they are to be taken in their ob- vious and literal sense, they completely establish the doctrine advocated by the Bishop of Exeter. 86 THE TKIAL. I now leave the matter, Gentlemen of the jury, in your hands. Decide, I beseech you, without any regard to the consequences which your verdict may bring upon these good but mistaken men. It is better that a few should suffer for their heresies than that thousands should be encouraged, by the impunity of such per- sons, to imbibe their errors. If in an evil hour you should be led to acquit the accused, the effect would be tremendous. For a vast number — I may say, thou- sands — of the clergy and laity will regard such verdict as a declaration, that our Church does not hold that Catholic truth and primitive doctrine, which was once her profession and her boast ; but has violated her trust, forfeited her pledge, and lost that which was her hold upon the affections of her children. But, on the con- trary, if your verdict be in favour of the Bishop of Exeter's doctrine, you will then avow before the world that, on the subject of Baptism, " we are agreed with Rome," and with the early Christian Church ; and you will thus strengthen the hands of the best friends of our Church, who have long been labouring to revive among us those Catholic principles Avhich were well- nigh extinguished. And as to the effect of a decision adverse to the accused, on the members of the Church of England, it will hardly be perceptible ; for I am in- formed that not more than five or six clergymen, if so many, are likely to be ejected from their livings, or driven from the Church of England, by such a verdict. ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. 87 The counsel on behalf of the reverend Reginald Heber, Mr. Serjeant Clarke, immediately rose in reply, and thus addressed the jury. Address of Mr. Hehers Counsel. Gentlemen, My learned friend is quite correct in assuming that the reverend gentleman, in whose defence I am retained, admits the charge of differing in opinion, as to the efficacy of infant-baptism, from the Right Reverend Prelate by whom these proceedings have been insti- tuted. He fully admits that he differs from his Lord- ship ; but he utterly denies that he opposes any doctrine of the Church of England. The learned counsel has brought forward evidence enough to show that Mr. Heber does 7iot "agree with Rome," and, consequently, does not agree with the Bishop of Exeter as to the invariable regeneration of infants in baptism ; but with respect to the testimonies adduced to prove that what Rome now holds was always the doctrine of the Catho- lic Church from the times of the Apostles, I think you will regard them. Gentlemen, as anything but satis- factory. Before, however, I examine those testimonies, I will briefly advert to the accusation, brought against Mr. Heber, of using language of a rationalising ten- dency. The reverend gentleman, it seems, maintains that to devote a child to the service of God by entering him into the Covenant of Baptism ; to pray that God will dispose his heart when he comes of age to ratify his baptismal 88 THE TRIAL. engagements ; and to endeavour meantime to train him up as a member of Christ and an heir of heaven, is net only a pious and charitable, but also a reasonable pro- ceeding. Surely, Gentlemen, the learned counsel must be very fastidious when he can object to such language as this ! I can account for his dislike to it in no other way than by supposing, that he misunderstands it ; and the cause of his misapprehension is probably owing to the profound speculations in which he has been im- mersed. It is confessedly difficult for talented persons, like my learned friend, whose senses have been subli- mated in the regions where they have so long luxuri- ated, to breathe in the atmosphere of common sense ; and therefore it is not surprising that he cannot un- derstand language addressed to general readers and hearers, even if resident in a learned University. But it is remarkable that, being unable to comprehend this language, plain and obvious as it is to others, he should talk of appealing to "the Law and to the Testimony," that is, to Holy Scripture. Why, Gentlemen, he will there find expressions absolutely identical with those to which he objects. And if, therefore, he intimates that Mr. Heber approximates to a Semi-infidel, or a German Neologist, or a Swiss Socinian, because he uses this language, how will he designate St. Paul, who tells us, that to devote our souls and bodies to God is a " reasonable service, " or a service befitting rational creatures ? If St. Paul is to be tried by the same standard by which Mr. Heber has been tried and con- demned, I do not see how the Apostle is to escape a similar condemnation, my learned friend being the judge. I heartily wish, Gentlemen, that not only the ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. 89 learned counsel, but also the Right Reverend Prose- cutor, would indeed make " the Law and the Testi- mony, and the Church's interpretation of that law and testimony where it is doubtful," their ultimate appeal. The question under consideration would then be settled without much difficulty. For it is certain that Scrip- ture nowhere affirms, that regeneration is absolutely given to infants in and by Baptism. And if they who fancy that Scripture does obscurely, if not clearly, teach this doctrine, will seek how our Church interprets this doubtful matter, they will find that her Articles give no countenance whatever to the Romish and superstitious notion, that baptism operates upon infants after the manner of a magic charm. It is not " the Law and the Testimony" — it is not the Articles of the Church of England — it is not the language of the Baptismal Of- fices, if it be allowed that favourable construction which " in common equity ought to be allowed to all human writings" — which sanction the opus operatum doctrine of ihe sacraments : it rests merely on the obscure and contradictory language of tradition. To this tradition my learned friend and his right reverend client tena- ciously cling, deaf to the warning voice which tells us how often God's Law is rendered void by such tradi- tions ; and unmindful of the advice given in the Royal Declaration prefixed to the Articles of our Church : " We will that all further curious search be laid aside, and these disputes shut up in God's promises, as they be generally set forth in the Holy Scriptures, and the general meaning of the Articles of the Church of Eng- land according to them." My learned friend has told you that it was the doc- 90 THE TRIAL. trine of the Church from the times of the Apostles, that infants are absolutely and unconditionally regene- rated in baptism. But he has offered no evidence of this — not a single text from the writings of the Evan- gelists and Apostles. Mere assertion, of course, needs be met only by counter-assertion ; and therefore I shall content myself with replying, that there is not a shadow of a proof that the Apostles held this doctrine. He alludes, indeed, to a sort of negative testimony. He says that we find no warning against this doctrine, which we should have found had it been an error. Why really, Gentlemen, it is too much to expect that an error which did not exist should be condemned. But the learned counsel states, that all the writers of antiquity use the words baptism and regeneration as intimately connected together. Be it so. Do they, therefore, maintain that they are never separate, and that spiritual regeneration is absolutely and uncondi- tionally given in baptism ? By no means : they always speak of believing adults, or of infants whom God hath predestinated to life, when they call any persons rege- nerate. Justin Martyr, who is cited to prove the doc- trine of unconditional regeneration, when examined upon the subject, is a witness on our side. Persons in his time were not baptized until they had given evidence of their faith, and, consequently, were not then, any more than they are now, declared to be un- conditionally regenerate. His words are : " They who are persuaded and do believe that those things which are taught by us are true, and do promise to live ac- cording to them, are directed first to pray and ask of God, with fasting, the forgiveness of their former sins ; ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER S COUNSEL. 91 and we also pray and fast together with them. Then we bring them to some place where there is water, and they are regenerated by the same way of regeneration by which we were regenerated." Does this passage prove that regeneration is unconditionally given by bap- tism ? On the contrary, it shows that repentance and faith were the qualifications requisite for candidates for baptism then as they are now. And as to the expres- sion — " they are regenerated" — it means no more than " they are baptized, and receive the outivard sign of rege- neration.^'' For they had before repented and believed, and asked forgiveness of their sins (for it is only of penitents and believers that Justin Martyr writes) and, consequently, were already regenerate in the sight of God, although it was still needful for them to be "born of M-ater," according to Christ's command, be- fore they could be numbered with the congregation of His faithful people, and acknowledged by the Church as regenerate. If you refer to the other Fathers, quoted by my learned friend, you will find that they use very similar language, but not a word about absolute, unconditional regeneration. St. Augustine, however, it is asserted, does plainly and unequivocally teach the Bishop of Ex- eter's and the Roman Church's doctrine. This is in- ferred from such passages as the following : " By the price of the blood of Christ in baptism, children are washed, freed, and saved from original sin propagated from the first parents." " Seeing therefore children do not begin to be of the sheep of Christ but only by bap- tism, truly if they do not receive that they will perish." This language seems, indeed, to favour the Bishop of 92 THE TRIAL. Exeter's notion of the efficacy of baptism, until it is explained by St. Augustine himself. He tells us, that sacraments are often called by the names of the things "vvhich they signify. The water of baptism, then, is said to wash, free, or save children from original sin, because it represents the blood of Christ by which alone we receive remission of our sins. If we examine the second quotation, we shall be able, by the aid of the same key, to open his meaning, without making him guilty of holding the horrible doctrine, that all unbaptized infants must perish. He there puts bap- tism for the thing signified, and then utters a truth which no Christian will call in question : " Seeing therefore children do not begin to be of the sheep of Christ but only by (the blood of Christ which is sig- nified by) baptism, truly if they do not receive that they will perish." We may surely believe, indeed, that not only infants, who die before they commit actual sin, but also believing adults, though unbaptized with water, have received and do receive the baptism of the blood of Christ. But my learned friend appears to have forgotten this important circumstance, namely, that the ancient Fathers, when treating of either of the sacraments, very frequently give the name of the thing signified to the outward sign, and therefore apparently sanction the doctrine of invariable regeneration in adult as well as infant-baptism. There is another consideration, which the learned counsel has also forgotten, and that is, the description of persons whom the Fathers have in view when they speak in such exalted terms of the benefits of the sa- craments. They speak of those whom God hath elected ADDRESS OF ME. IIEBER's COUNSEL. 93 and chosen from the foundation of the world to be vessels of honour in his heavenly kingdom. I do not presume to enter into the mysterious subject of pre- destination and election, or to lay before you any of the conflicting opinions which have been, or are, held re- specting that doctrine. For such a matter, as Bishop Beveridge well observes, " must needs be infinitely above man's apprehension. So that a cockle-fish may as soon crowd the ocean into its narrow shell, as vain man ever comprehend the decrees of God." I speak merely to a matter of fact. The Fathers in general, and St. Augustine in particular, appear to have held this doctrine, and, consequently, they could not ascribe regenerating and sanctifying grace, remission of sin, original or actual, to the performance of an outward act. God's foreknowledge enables Him, of course, to see the whole life of every child of Adam at a glance. Must He not behold some — does not Scripture autho- rize us to believe that He beholds a very great mul- titude who, though baptized with water, are never baptized with the Holy Ghost, and, consequently, are never made partakers of that new nature which fits them for heaven ? How then could St. Augustine teach such a doctrine as he has been supposed to hold, namely, that remission of sins is invariably conferred on all baptized infants by spiritual regeneration ? Let that eminent Father, however, speak for himself: "Firmly believe," he says, " and by no means doubt, that the Trinity, the unchangeable God, the certain foreknower of all things and works, both His own and men's, before all worlds did know to whom He would give grace by faith. Without which none from the beginning of the 94 THE TRIAL. world to the end of it can be absolved from the guilt of his sin, original and actual ; for those whom God foreknew, He did also predestinate to be conformable to the image of His Son." Had the learned counsel stu- diously examined the passages in the Fathers to which he refers, and considered what must be their real meaning so as to be consistent with the sentiments which they were known to entertain on this mysterious doctrine, he would hardly have asserted that they were unanimous in teaching the absolute and unconditional efficacy of infant-baptism. It is very easy, indeed, to quote many expressions from their writings in support of the Bishop of Exeter's doctrine ; but it is equally easy to furnish abundant testimony from the same writers, that they utterly repudiated such a doctrine. When also it is borne in mind that many passages, and even entire treatises, have been attributed to the Fathers, which the researches of learned and acute men have demonstrated to be forgeries and interpolations, we cannot surely be expected to place much depend- ance on such kind of evidence. But my learned friend endeavours to found an ar- gument on the fact, that several Councils have de- nounced the neglect of parents in not bringing their infants to baptism. " Would they have done so," he asks, "if they had thought infants unworthy recipients, and in need of prevenient grace, and, therefore, likely to bring down damnation on themselves ? " It might with equal reason be objected, that our Church would hardly exhort her members to attend the Lord's Table, lest they should eat and drink unworthily, and thus bring a curse instead of a blessing on their heads. It ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. 95 is not for us to raise scruples, or to enter into specula- tions, on such matters, but to do that which is com- manded. Both the sacraments are commanded to be received, and, consequently, it is the duty of the Church to exhort parents to bring their children to the former, and to urge all Christians to " draw near with faith " and partake of the latter. No persons, whether adults or infants, can worthily receive baptism without God's preventing, or accompanying grace, for a corrupt na- ture pertains to all. That the former, who may come unworthily, that is, without repentance and faith, are guilty of an aggravated sin, and incur God's heavy displeasure, there is no question ; but that unconscious infants, who are, in obedience to Christ's command, brought to the Sacrament of Baptism, may thereby be in danger of damnation, as infants, is a notion which surely never entered the head of any reasonable being. Should they live to years of discretion they are then, of course, in the same position, with regard to baptismal obligations, as those who are baptized in riper years. If they neglect the duties incumbent on them, they will suffer loss while they live, and, dying impenitent, will no doubt perish everlastingly. With respect to the ancient Liturgies to which my learned friend has referred, it is obvious that the lan- guage in them is similar to that of the Fathers. The sign is frequently put for the thing signified; and there- fore the expressions in question afford no substantial evidence that the Church then held the doctrine of invariable spiritual regeneration in and by baptism. The venerable Bede spoke and wrote after the same manner; but this does not prove that he held the doc- 96 THE TRIAL. trine maintained by the Bishop of Exeter. As to the bishops and other learned men of this country, who lived during the three or four centuries previous to the Reformation, it is not denied that they agreed with Rome and the Bishop of Exeter on this point. But the question is not, what was the doctrine of the English Church respecting infant-baptism during the dark ages, but, what was it at the completion of the Reformation? That the Reformers themselves, on just emerging from the darkness of Popery, did not hold very clear views on this subject, is conceded. This was no more than might be expected from men who had been so long under bondage to Rome. It is, however, a mistake to suppose that they all believed that grace was so tied to the Sacrament of Baptism, that baptized infants were always the recipients of the inward and spiritual grace ; and hence that the expressions in the Offices of Baptism were understood by them in the sense attached to them by the Bishop of Exeter. For there are documents extant which clearly show that those pious and learned men had diflferent opinions upon this point — that they gradually receded further and further from Rome as they became better acquainted with Holy Scripture — until at length, they plainly and unequivocally repudiated the Popish doctrine, that grace is conferred by the mere performance of the sacrament. This matter underwent frequent discussion. Some of the Reformers thought that grace was inseparably annexed to the sacraments, and, like the Church of Rome, seemed inclined to exalt them too highly. Had not others strongly opposed this view, the ojms operatmn doctrine would have been established by authority as the doctrine of the Church ADDRESS OF ME. HEBER's COUNSEL. 97 of England. " But," says Peter Martyr, " when others clearly saw how many superstitions such a determina- tion would bring with it, they made it a primary point to endeavour in all ways to show, that nothing more is to be granted to the sacraments than to the external Word of God ; for by both these kinds of word," he continues, "is signified and shown to us the salva- tion obtained for us through Christ, which as many are made partakers of as believe these words and signs, not indeed by the virtue of the words in the sacra- ment, but by the efficacy of faith In the case of children, when they are baptized, since on account of their age they cannot have that assent to the Di- vine promises which is faith in them, the sacrament efi'ects this — that pardon of original sin, reconciliation with God, and the grace of the Holy Spirit, bestowed on them through Christ is sealed in them, and that those belonging already to the Church are also visibly implanted in it. Although of those that are baptized, whether children or adults, it is not to be denied that much advantage and profit comes to them from the invocation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which takes place over them. For God always hears the faithful prayers of his Church. We were anxious that these things should be determined and established by authority concerning' the sacraments, that their use might at length be restored to a state of purity and simplicity. But it w^as opposed : and many are of opinion, and those otherwise not unlearned, nor evil, that grace is conferred, as they say, by virtue of the sacrament. Nor are they willing to grant that little children are justified or regenerated previous to bap- H 98 THE TKIAL. tism. But when we came to their reasons, there are none which do not most readily admit of a solution." We are not then to conclude, Gentlemen, that those oft-controverted expressions in the Baptismal Office are in favour of those who hold, " that grace is conferred by virtue of the sacrament," for this evidence shews that many were opposed to this doctrine, and that they pre- vented it from being " established by authority." But if that Office had been considered as establishing the point maintained by the Bishop of Exeter, is it reason- able to suppose that Peter Martyr, Bullinger, and other eminent Keformers would have given their sanction and approbation to it ? They could not, then, have put that construction on certahi words in the Baptismal Office which the Bishop of Exeter and others have fixed upon it. In order to understand whether the Reformers at- tached a Popish or a Protestant sense to those phrases we must have recourse to the Articles. They are, as it has been well observed, the Code of Doctrine of the Church of England, and by them must all the Formu- laries of our Church be tested. For as Bishop Taylor says : " Nothing is more reasonable in questions con- cerning the interpretation of a law, than to inquire how the practice of people was in times bygone ; because what they did when the reason and sense of the law were best perceived, and what the lawgiver allowed them to do in the obedience of it, may best be supposed to be that which he intended." If then it was the in- tention of our Reformers to teach a doctrine which is generally allowed to be Popish, although many consider it Catholic, we shall, of course, find it in the Articles. ADDRESS OF ME. HEBER's COUNSEL. 99 But if it be not found there, and if, instead of it, there be a declaration clearly militating against such a doctrine, it cannot be maintained that our Reformers meant to teach it in the Liturgy and Formularies of the Church. It is true that some expressions in the Baptismal Ser- vice, if construed without reference to the Articles, or to the general tenor and spirit of the Liturgy and Offices of the Church, may be interpreted in a Popish instead of a Protestant sense ; but was it the intention of our Reformers that they should be so interpreted ? Did they say, or intimate, " We are agreed with Rome on this point ? " The learned counsel thinks that such was their intention, because, says he, they had it in their power to alter the Liturgy as they pleased ; and, since they allowed those expressions to remain, it must be supposed that they approved of them, and, conse- quently, of the doctrine they enunciated. I quite agree with my learned friend, that our Reformers cordially approved of the Liturgy and Offices. They approved of them, because they were agreeable, or, at least, not repugnant, to the Word of God. They were written according to the tenor and spirit of Holy Scripture, and therefore our Reformers gave their full sanction and approbation to them. But did they mean that they should be interpreted in a sense which should approxi- mate to the ojms operatum doctrine ? Certainly not. I have already shewn, by the extract which I read to you from the Letter of Peter Martyr, that they gave no authoritative decision as to the effect of infant-baptism. Since that matter had not been determined by Scrip- ture, they contented themselves with the Scriptural lan- guage in which the Liturgy and Offices were composed; h2 100 THE TRIAL, and, consequently, they left the question respecting the efficacy of infant-baptism undetermined. Hence dif- ferent opinions might then, as they may now, " fairly, honestly, and without compromise of principle, be en- tertained." Yet as all men might assert that their views were agreeable to Scripture, this difference of opinion was to be kept within certain limits, namely, whatever opinion was advanced, it was not to be re- pugnant to the Thirty-nine Articles — the code of doc- trine of the Church of England. It was not left to every man to put his own interpretation on either Scripture, or the Prayer Book, and other Formularies of our Church ; but so long as he continued a member and especially a minister of that Church, he was bound to accept her interpretation of both. For, " as the Church requires subscription," says Dr. Waterland, "to her own interpretation of Scripture, so the subscriber is bound, in virtue of his subscription, to that and that only ; and if he knowingly subscribes in any sense con- trary to or different from the sense of the imposers^ he prevaricates and commits a fraud in so doing." Do the Articles of our Church, then, sanction the interpretation which the Bishop of Exeter puts upon certain expres- sions in the Baptismal Service ? Do they countenance the notion, that either adults or infants have the inward and spiritual grace of the sacrament invariably conferred upon them in baptism ? If they do, then are you bound to give a verdict against Mr. Heber : but if they repu- diate such a notion, as I believe it may be proved they reaUy do, then will you feel it to be your duty to acquit my reverend friend. I have already stated to you, Gentlemen, on the au- ADDRESS OF MR. IIEBER's COUNSEL. 101 thority of Peter Martyr, that the Reformers would not agree that it should be a ruled doctrine of our Church, that grace is conferred hy virtue of the sacrament ; and, consequently, that the opinion of the Bishop of Exeter, that spiritual regeneration is always conferred on in- fants by baptism, was not at that time established as a doctrine of our Church. The opponents of this doc- trine so far succeeded in their object as to prevent it from being sanctioned by our Church ; for they " saw how many superstitions such a determination would bring with it." As many learned and pious men still clung to this doctrine, which we need not be surprised at, considering how recently they had separated from Rome, the Reformers could not all at once get it au- thoritatively condemned. But so long as it was not supported by our Church, they hoped that as the Scrip- tures became better known and studied, the error of attributing to sacraments a sort of magic charm, and of exalting them above the Word of God, would be generally renounced. And although isolated passages in the Baptismal Service were capable of being inter- preted in a Popish and unscriptural as well as in a Protestant and scriptural sense, the Reformers did not despair, but, on the contrary, were " not a little con- fident" that "pure truth would be brought back into the Church," and that "nothing more would be granted to the sacraments than to the external Word of God." How far these confident expectations were realized I beg now to show you. The Articles, as the code of doctrine of the Church of England, naturally occupied the careful and anxious attention of the Reformers ; for whatever was doubtful 102 THE TRIAL. and obscure in the Liturgy and Offices, it would be necessary to interpret it according to the Articles. Here, therefore, we might expect to find every essential doctrine clearly laid down, and every error which our Church had held while she was in subjection to Rome, as clearly condemned. Those errors were relinquished gradually, as may be seen by comparing the Articles of 1536 with those of subsequent periods. When the Articles were first published, the Reformers still re- tained some of the erroneous doctrines which the Church of Rome had taught them. Amongst others, they believed that by the mere act of baptism infants were always spiritually regenerated, and that if any children died unbaptized, they could not be saved. Hence, in the Prayer Book of 1536, it was declared that there was remission of sins to children who were baptized, and who died before they committed actual sin, hut not else. And in "The King's Book," published in 1543, it is declared that Baptism " appertaineth and is offered unto infants, which because they be born in original sin, have need and ought to be christened ; whereby they being offered in the faith of the Church, receive forgiveness of their sins, and such grace of the Holy Ghost, that if they die in the state of their in- fancy, they shall thereby undoubtedly be saved." Up to this period, 1543, pray observe. Gentlemen of the jury, the doctrine — advocated by the Bishop of Exeter, that infants are undoubtedly saved hy baptism — was really held and taught by the Church of England. But as the views of the Reformers became more scriptural, their statements of doctrine were less and less Popish. And in the Articles of 1562, we find the declaration. ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. 103 that infants obtain remission of sins and are undoubt- edly saved by baptism, and not else, changed into the following statement : — "The baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ." There is not a word respecting the effect produced on infants by baptism. Would our Reformers, I ask, have been silent as to this point, had they believed it to be a funda- mental doctrine ? So far from thinking it fundamental, it is evident that they considered it a doctrine leading to " many superstitions." They felt that it did not be- come them, like the Church of Rome, which arrogantly claims infallibility, to determine a matter on which Scripture is silent ; and, therefore, they omit all refer- ence to the efficacy of infant-baptism. They had now attained the object which Peter Martyr and others had vainly struggled to effect some years before, and pro- cured such a decision, " by authority, concerning the sacraments, that their use " was at length " restored to a state of purity and simplicity." They declare that sacraments are " effectual signs of grace, and God's good will towards us, by the which He doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in Him." This re- fers, of course, to those adults who "rightly, worthily, and with faith," receive the sacraments, whether Bap- tism or the Supper of the Lord ; and in such persons, it is asserted, " they have a wholesome effect or ope- ration." Yet they do not teach that even penitent and believing adults are actually regenerated in and by bap- tism ; but that " baptism is a sign of new birth," or regeneration, and that " the promises of forgiveness of 104 THE TETAL. sill, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed J^ They state that " faith is confirmed and grace increased by virtue " — not of baptism, but — " of prayer unto God." They do not affirm that regeneration — " the new birth unto righteousness" — is communicated by baptism ; still less by baptism only. " The Church of God," says Bishop Hooper, " pub- licly receives him in baptism, who had been previously received by grace. Thus Abraham, saith Paul, received the sign of circumcision, 'a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised ; ' that is, a testimony by which God bare witness that he was received into grace, not that he was to he received by the sacrament, but rather confirmed in it." "Augustine saith," writes Bishop Jewel, " *Why doth not Christ say, Now ye are clean, because of the baptism wherewith ye are washed ; saving that because in the water it is the word which maketh clean ? ' It is the covenant and promise and mercy of God which clotheth us with immortality, assureth our resurrection, by ivhich ive receive regeneration, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. His word declareth His love towards us; and that word is sealed and made good by baptism." You will find that most of our Reformers Avrote to the same effect : and as they gave their sanction to the Baptismal Service, in which has originated the question under your consideration, it may be well to read to you some extracts from their writings, which bear upon this subject. You may then easily judge whether the inter- pretation, put by the Bishop of Exeter upon certain ex- pressions in that Service, be according to the sense in ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. 105 which those venerable men understood them, and which the compilers and approvers of the Articles evidently- meant to be taught to the members of the Church of England. Bucer, to whose inspection the Prayer Book was sub- mitted, and who approved of that very Office which, in the opinion of the Bishop of Exeter, teaches that spi- ritual regeneration is always conferred on all infants in baptism, observes respecting this matter : " With elect infants," — he does not say, Gentlemen, with all infants who may be brought to that sacrament, but — " with elect infants the Spirit of the Lord is present, by which, so far as suffices for their age and condition, they are led ; and when they grow up, at the time ordained by the Father, it teaches them to believe the Word of God, and leads them by faith to salvation." " We say con- cerning infants," Peter Martyr wrote, " that it is suffi- cient for us that they are offered to the Church, either by their parents, or by those in whose power they are. But if election and predestination concur with the ad- ministration of the sacrament, what we do is ratified ; if not, it is useless. For our salvation depends upon the election and mercy of God. But of the former, since to us it is hidden, we judge nothing. We can only follow such indications which we can have re- specting it ; such as these — that young children are brought to be baptized, and that those of mature years profess in words that they believe in Christ ; which marks, although they are not so certain that they can- not deceive, yet they are sufficient for us making them partakers of the sacrament." " The washing out- wardly," says Archbishop Cranmer, " is not a vain 106 THE TRIAL. token, but teacheth such a wasliing as God worketh inwardly in them that duly receive the same In baptism, those that come feignedly, and those that come unfeignedly, both be washed M'ith the sacramental water, but both be not washed with the Holy Ghost, and clothed with Christ." Is it said that Cranmer here speaks of the effects of baptism on adults only? I answer that he makes no distinction, and he could not make any, because the whole lives both of infants and adults are before God, with all their fruits whether good or evil ; so that it may be said even of infants, in whom God's foreknow^- ledge enables Him to see there will be no faith and repentance, that they come unworthily. God cannot make a tree good which will produce only corrupt fruit. He cannot make him a child of God by adoption and grace, whom He foresees living from infancy to hoary age in sin and unbelief, and dying impenitent. The following passage from Bullinger's Decades plainly teaches that regeneration is not communicated by bap- tism, ex opere operato. How much that eminent Re- former was valued is evident from the fact, that his Decades were ordered by the Convocation of the Pro- vince of Canterbury, in 1586, to be carefully read by " every minister having cure, and being under the de- grees of Master of Arts, and Bachelor of Law, &c." " This life and salvation He doth communicate to us, not by the law, or through circumcision, but by faith in Christ : therefore faith alone doth justify The sons cannot be justified any other way than the father before them was justified. Abraham therefore was not justified by circumcision, or receiving the sacrament; ADDEESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. 107 for it is said that he was justified before he was cir- cumcised. Afterwards was added the sign of circum- cision, as ' the seal of the righteousness of faith,' that is, the signing or sealing that all the seed of Abraham is justified by faith True faith is the justification of the Church, or faithful of God : that it is, I say, the forgiveness of all sins, a receiving into the grace of God, a taking by adoption into the number of the sons of God, an assured and blessed beatification, and fi- nally, the well-spring of all good works." Let me next state what Becon, Cranmer's chaplain, says on this matter. His writings were highly esteemed, and were widely circulated under the sanction of the Archbishop. " We are not by nature the children of God, as Christ only is, but by adoption and grace, or favour of God By what means do we receive at the hand of God these heavenly treasures ? Or by what means are they conveyed to us?" Now if the Bishop of Exeter's views had been entertained by Thomas Be- con, the answer would, of course, have been — "By Baptism;" but he tells us that these heavenly treasures are conveyed to us hy faith. Here is another question, which would have given Becon a good opportunity of stating the efl&cacy of Baptism, ex opere operato^ if he had held such a doctrine : " Why should the infants be baptized, which for imperfection of age are not able to believe ? Ans. Though infants have not power to be- lieve, or to confess their belief, yet have they faith imputed to them for the promise sake of God, because they be of the seed of the faithful ; as he said to Abra- ham, ' I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed.' (Genesis xvii.) Seeing, then, that they also have the 108 THE TRIAL. promise of salvation, why should they be forbidden the promised pledge or seal of the same promise of salva- tion? The sacraments of the Jews differed nothing from ours in effect, but only in the outward element and form of executing the same The Spirit is not so bound to the water that it cannot work his office where the water wanteth, or that it of necessity must always be there where the water is sprinkled ^ This is surely a clear denial of the efficacy of bap- tism, ex opere operato^ in any case, for he is here speak- ing of infants who, say the schoolmen and Romanists, interpose no obstacle to the reception of spiritual grace: " True Christians," he says, " whether they be old or young, are not saved because outwardly they be washed with the sacramental water, but because they be God's children by election through Christ, yea, and that be- fore the foundations of the world were laid, and are sealed up by the Spirit of God unto everlasting life." It is natural to suppose that, if our Reformers had believed that the inward and spiritual grace was inva- riably conveyed through baptism to infants, this doctrine would have been taught in the Catechisms which they published ; but, on examining those early publications, we find a very different doctrine inculcated. In the " Short Catechism," published in 1553, are the following questions and answers : ^^ Master. Tell me what thou callest sacraments. " Scholar. They are certain customable reverent do- ings and ceremonies ordained by Christ ; that by them he might put us in remembrance of his benefits, and we might declare our profession, that w^e be of the number of them which are partakers of the same bene- ADDRESS OF MK. HEBER's COUNSEL. 109 fits, and which fasten all their affiance in Him ; that we are not ashamed of the name of Christ, or to be termed Christ's scholars. " Master. "What doth baptism represent and set before us ? " Scholar. That we are by the Spirit of Christ new born, and cleansed from sin ; that we be members and parts of his Church, received into the communion of saints. For water signifieth the Spirit. Baptism is also a figure of our burial in Christ, and that we shall be raised up again with Him in a new life. ..." This Catechism, you will see. Gentlemen, does not teach that grace is necessarily conveyed to all infants by baptism, but that baptism represents or sets before us the new birth unto righteousness. It does not teach that baptism is, even in the case of infants, regenera- tion itself. And our Reformers have so defined bap- tism in the twenty-seventh Article. It is " a sign of regeneration or new birth." Bishop Hooper says : " There are two kinds of bap- tism, and both necessary : the one interior, which is the cleansing of the heart, the drawing of the Father, the operation of the Holy Ghost ; and this baptism is in man, when he believeth and trusteth that Christ is the only author of his salvation. Thus be the infants examined concerning repentance and faith, before they be baptized with water ; at the contemplation of the which faith, God purgeth the soul. Then is the ex- terior sign added, not to purge the heart, but to con- firm, manifest, and open unto the world that this child is God's." Here is the very explanation which has been already 110 THE TRIAL. given, by the leading counsel for the defence, as to the meaning of the controverted expressions in the Bap- tismal Service for Infants. They are declared by the Church to be regenerate, on the charitable presump- tion that God contemplates the prospective faith of the children ; and, in the hope that what the sponsors have promised in their names the children will afterwards fulfil, she receives them as her members, and looks upon them as children of God and heirs of heaven. Bishop Hooper illustrates baptism by a reference to the coronation of a king. The king was the true heir to the crown before his coronation, and this ceremony did not make him a king, but manifested to the world that the kingdom belonged to him. " So it is," he says, " in the Church of Christ : man is made the brother of Christ, and heir of eternal life by God's only mercy received by faith, before he receive any ceremony to con- firm and manifest openly his right and title. . . . He hath the livery of God given unto him, baptism, the which no Christian should neglect ; and yet not attribute his sanctification unto the external sign." " The office of a sacrament is this," says the same eminent Bishop and Martyr, " to show unto us outwardly that the merits of Christ are made ours, for the promise sake which God hath made unto those that believe ; and these sacra- ments by faith doth applicate and apply outwardly unto him, that in faith receiveth them^ the same grace, the same mercy, the same benefits that are represented by the sacraments ; but not so by the tyiinistration of the sacraments, as though they that receive them ivere not before assured of the same graces and benefits represented by the sacraments. That were a manifest error : for in ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. Ill case the sacraments could give us very Christ, the pro- mises of God were in vain, the ivhich alivays appertain unto the people of God before they receive any sacra- ment For the sacrament maketh not the union, peace, and concord between God and us, but it ratifieth, stablisheth, and confirmeth the love and peace that is between God and us before for his promise sake It is ill done to condemn the infants of the Christians that die without baptism, of whose salvation by the Scripture we be assured : Ero Deus tuus, et seminis tui post te {I will be thy God, and the God of thy children after thee.) I would likewise judge well of the infants of the infidels, who hath none other sin in them but original, the sin of Adam's transgression. . . . It shall not be against the faith of a Christian man to say, that Christ's death and passion extendeth as far for the salvation of innocents, as Adam's fall made all his posterity culpable of damnation. ... It is not the part of a Christian to say, This man is damned, or, This is saved, except he see the cause of damnation manifest These temerous judgments of men hath brought into the Church of Christ a wrong opinion of God, to say that He ca?i or doth save 7io?ie, but such as be received ojjenly into the Church by baptism The ungodly opinion, that attributeth the salvation of man unto the receiving of an external sacrament, doth derogate the mercy of God, as though his Holy Spirit could not be carried by faith into the penitent and sorrowful conscience, except it rid always in a chariot and external sacrament As a man first assured of God he (Abraham) received this sacrament (circum- cision), and sought not first to find him in an external 112 THE TRIAL. sign. So doth all men at this day, if they marked what is required of them before they receive any sacra- ment. There is not so much as the speechless infant, but by his parents (or sponsors) is bound to give ac- count of his faith before he be christened The principal and chief cause of all the sacraments that be now in the Church of Christ, is, that they be and ever hath been the signs of God's will and pleasure towards us ; testimonies and seals annexed unto the promise of grace. They be not the thing that they represent, but sigjis and remembrances thereof Weigh the Scripture diligently, Christian reader, and search for the truth there." It would be well, Gentlemen, if this last sentence were deeply impressed on the minds of all Christians- If, instead of appealing to Tradition, to the conflicting opinions of the ancient Fathers, and to works ascribed to them but which they never ^vrote, men would be content to " weigh the Scripture and search for the truth there," such questions as the one now before you would be speedily decided. But however learned and acute men may be, when they wander from the only safe ground of Scripture into the devious paths of Tra- dition, they are soon bewildered and confounded, and recede further and further from the truth. They "do err, not knowing the Scriptures." Let me, how- ever, read to you a few more quotations from the genuine writings of men who " were mighty in the ScrijDtures," and whose recorded sentiments will enable you to judge what meaning they attached to the pas- sages in the Baptismal Service, which the Prosecutor states " agree with Rome." ADDRESS OF MK. HEBER's COUNSEL. 113 Bishop Coverdale states that, " In baptism is required God's election, if he be an infant ; or faith, if he be of age." Tyndale also condemns the notion that grace is al- ways conveyed to infants by baptism. " The infants that die unbaptized of us Christians that would baptize them at due time, and teach them to believe in Christ, are in as good case as these that die baptized ; for as the covenant made to the faith of Abraham went over his seed as soon as it had life, and before the sign ivas put on them, even so must needs the covenant, made to all that believe in Christ's blood, go over that seed as soon as it hath life in the mother's womb, be- fore the sign be put on it. For it is the covenant only, and not the sign, that saveth us ; though the sign be commanded to be put on at due time, to stir up faith of the covenant that saveth us." The learned Fulke was equally obnoxious to the charge of heresy with the venerable names I have just cited, if the Bishop of Exeter's doctrine be that of the Church of England ; for when he was accused by his Popish opponent of depriving the sacraments of all grace, virtue, and efficacy, because he denied that they had any effect, ex opere operato, he acknowledged that he did not ascribe efficacy to the external sign, or consider that grace was always conveyed by it. " We do not," he writes, " include grace, virtue, and efficacy within the external elements, or the ministry of man about them ; but ascribe the same to the mighty work of God's Spirit in his chosen children, which worketh all His gifts in all men according to the good pleasure of His own will We hold that the sacraments 114 THE TRIAL. are seals of God's promises to confirm our faith, by which we are justified before Him." Had this learned man lived in the present day, and sought to exercise his ministry in the Diocese of Ex- eter, he would, of course, have been prohibited by the Bishop, because his Lordship maintains that all infants, not merely in the eye of the Church and of charity, but really and absolutely, are born of God in baptism, ex opere operato. If regeneration were invariably conveyed to infants by baptism, that sacrament would have greater efficacy than the preaching of God's Word ; and so, indeed, the adherents of the Bishop of Exeter appear to think, for they exalt baptism far above that Word. But the sacraments were not thus unduly exalted by our Re- formers. " The Gospel," says Archdeacon Philpot, " is more than baptism ; for Paul said, ' The Lord sent me to preach the Gospel, and not to baptize ; ' not that he denies absolutely that he was sent to baptize, but that he preferred doctrine before baptism ; for the Lord commanded both to the Apostles. But children be re- ceived by the doctrine of the Gospel of God, and not refused ; therefore, what person being of reason may deny them baptism, which is a thing lesser than the Gospel? For in the sacraments be two things to be considered, the thing signified and the sign ; and the thing signified is greater than the sign ; and from the thing signified in baptism children are not excluded. Who therefore may deny them the sign which is bap- tism in water ? . . . Since that infants he in the number or scroll of GocVs people, and he partaTiers of the promise hy their purification in Christ, it must needs follow ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. 115 thereby, that they ought to be baptized as well as those that can profess their faith: for we judge the people of God as well by the free and liberal promise of God, as by the confession of faith. For to whom- soever God promiseth Himself to be their God, and whom He acknowledgeth for His, those no man with- out great impiety may exclude from the number of the faithful. But God promiseth that He will not only be the God of such as do profess Him, but also of infants, promising them His grace and remission of sins, as it appeareth by the words of the covenant made unto Abraham : ' I will set my covenant between thee and me (saith the Lord), and between thy seed after thee in their generations, with an everlasting covenant, to be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee.' To the which covenant circumcision was added, to he a sign of sancti/ication as well in children as in men; and no man may think that this promise is abrogated with circum- cision, and other ceremonial laws ; for Christ came to fulfil the promises, and not to dissolve them." Archdeacon Philpot, you will perceive. Gentlemen, did not consider baptism as conveying the inward and spiri- tual grace to infants, but as a sign and seal of God's promise : a sign also of sanctification, but not the thing signified ; for that might obviously be given at some fu- ture time, and in most cases is given subsequent to bap- tism, if we are to attend to the Scriptural test, and to judge of the tree by the fruits. That the Archdeacon materially differed in opinion from the Bishop of Exeter on this point, his writings furnish abundant testimony ; and therefore, had he lived at the present time, he must not have sought a cure in his Lordship's Diocese. i2 116 THE TKIAL. " The preaching of the Gospel" — not, observe, Gen- tlemen, the sacraments merely or chiefly — " is God's instrument," says Bishop Latimer, " whereby he work- eth faith in our hearts. Our Saviour saith to Nicodeme, ' Nisi quis renatus fuerit. Except a man be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' But how cometh this regeneration? By hearing and believing of the Word of God : for so saith St. Peter, Renati non ex semine mortali corruptibili ; 'We are born anew, not of mortal seed, but of immortal, by the Word of God.' 1 Peter i." The Prosecutor maintains that, " always to infants, and to adults rightly receiving, regeneration is given in baptism, and, so far as man is authorized to pronounce, in baptism only." What says Bishop Latimer ? Rege- neration cometh — not by baptism, still less by baptism only, but — "by hearing and believing the Word of God." Hence the venerable Latimer, had he lived in these days, must have been prohibited from ministering in our Church in the Diocese of Exeter, if the Bishop's power were equal to his will. "Some men will say," observes Bishop Jewel, "chil- dren or infants believe nothing, but are utterly void of faith. St. Augustine answereth : Qui non crediderit, condemnahitur, &e., ' He that believeth not shall be damned.' We confess that as they be born again by the ministry of baptizers, so they believe by the hearts and mouths of the confessors (sponsors). They have faith ' because they have (baptism which is) the sacra- ment of faith.' " From this it appears that St. Au- gustine believed that the parents' or sponsors' faith was imputed to the baptized infants, and, consequently, that ADDRESS OF MK. HEBER's COUNSEL. 117 infants were not unconditionally regenerated by the mere performance of baptism. If the parents or spon- sors had no faith it could not be imputed to the in- fants, and then their baptism would be without benefit. Bishop Jewel quotes with approbation a common re- solution of the school doctors : — " The grace of God is not tied to any sacraments." The Bishop of Exeter, on the contrary, maintains that the grace of God is tied to the Sacrament of Baptism, for he says that re- generation is conveyed in baptism always to infants. Therefore Augustine, because he makes the efficacy of baptism conditional, that is dependent on the faith of them by whom the children are brought to that sacra- ment ; and Jewel, because he did not consider grace " tied to the sacraments, but, on the contrary, averred, that the sacraments of Christ, without faith, do not once profit them that be alive much less them that be dead," would both have been excluded from the mi- nistry of our Church in the Diocese of Exeter, had they lived at this period. For the same reason, St. Jerome must have been ex- communicated by Dr. Philpotts ; for he says : " If any one have received only the bodily washing of water, that is, outwardly seen with the eye, he hath not put on our Lord Jesus Christ." " If any infant," virtually says the Bishop of Exeter, " hath been bodily washed of water, or baptized, it is surely born of God, and hath put on our Lord Jesus Christ." No disciple or follower, therefore, of St. Jerome would be willingly licensed or instituted by the Bishop to the spiritual charge of any parish in the Diocese of Exeter. " The merits of Christ's death," says Jewel, "whereof 118 THE TRIAL. we entreat, are conveyed unto us by God, and received by us. God conveyeth them to us only of his mercy ; and we receive them only hy faith. But the ways whereby either to procure God's mercy or to enkindle our faith are many and sundry. God's mercy is pro- cured sometime by prayer, sometime by other means. But to breed or increase faith in us there are more ways than can be reckoned. . . . Among other causes, the sacraments serve specially to direct and to aid our faith. For they are, as St. Augustine calleth them " — What are they. Gentlemen of the jury ? EiFectual means of conveying spiritual grace to all who do not interpose any obstacle ? No, but — " ' Verba visihilia,' visible words, and seals and testimonies of the Gospel. All this notwithstanding, we say, it is neither the work of the priest, nor the nature of the sacrament as of itself, that maketh us partakers of Christ's death, hut only the faith of the receiver. ^^ I have before observed, Gentlemen, that it was very common for ancient writers to call the outward sign the thing which it signified ; but this was merely a figure of speech, well understood at the time. Afterwards, however, when false doctrines began to creep into the Church, this figurative language was taken literally ; and hence arose the strange doctrines of Transubstan- tiation, and the opus operatum efiicacy of the sacra- ments. Thus baptism, because in it is signified and represented our regeneration, is sometimes called re- generation, although it was far from the intention of those who used the word thus figuratively, to teach that baptism conveyed the new birth unto righteousness; or that either infants or adults were born of God at ADDRESS OF MK. HEBER's COUNSEL. 119 the precise moment when baptism was administered. Bishop Ridley uses the word regeneration for baptism in the following sentence : " When I consider that all that man doth profess in his regeneration, when he is received into the holy Catholic Church of Christ, and is now to he accounted for one of the lively members of Christ's own body, &c. ;" but who does not see that he speaks figuratively ? Who will venture to assert that, because Ridley charitably regarded those who were baptized, after a profession of faith (whether made by themselves, or by their sponsors) as regenerate, and accounted them lively members of Christ, he considered them actually tiiade so in and by baptism, ex opere operato ? The martyr, John Bradford, says, " that Christian parents seem to be no less bound to offer their infants and babes to be baptized, that they may be taken and accounted of us as members of Christ's mystical body, wherein they are received and sealed, than were the Hebrews their children to be circumcised, and so to be taken as pertaining to the covenant and league with God, wherein they were engrafted." How astonished would that eminently pious man have been, had he been told that the Church in which he laboured, and for maintaining the purity of her doctrines gladly gave up his life in the flames, not only accounted baptized children members of Christ's body, but had absolutely made them new creatures, and given them a place in the Lamb's Book of life, by the mere performance of baptism ! It will be superfluous, Gentlemen, to adduce any further testimony, in order to shew what were the senti- 120 THE TRIAL. ments of the Compilers and Approvers of our Baptismal Service. No dispassionate inquirer, who examines their writings, can have a shadow of doubt, that our Re- formers believed that none but the elect of God were truly regenerate ; that they believed that all infants who died in their infancy were saved, whether born of Christian or heathen parents ; and that they did not believe that all infants, who were baptized and lived to a responsible age, were infallibly born of God. How then, it may be asked, could they sanction expressions which would be popularly understood as declaring the unconditional regeneration of all baptized infants ? They considered, doubtless, that all intelligent persons, who read and searched the Scriptures, would understand those expressions as they do similar phrases in that sacred Volume, as the language of faith, hope, and charity ; for no one can surely impute to those pious and learned men the wicked and dishonest principle of holding one opinion and teaching another, " The framers of that Liturgy," says the Poet Coleridge, "were eminently pious, learned, and wise men. But they were not inspired men. Nor does the Church of England pretend to supersede the study of the Scripture by the pretences of infallible interpretation. The question of Baptism had not then been so deeply studied as it afterwards was ; and the dreadful crimes, the fanatical exorbitances, and the seditious and outrageous doctrines of the Anabaptists at Leyden, Munster, and elsewhere, had prejudiced all sober Christians against every opinion supported by them ; even as too many zealous Pro- testants were irreconcileable to the noblest parts of our Book of Common Prayer, because they had pre-existed ADDRESS OF MR. HEBER's COUNSEL. 121 in the Mass Book, carrying the ' noscitur ex sociis ' to a blameworthy excess. But so it is ; so it has been ; and probably, while this imperfect state continues, so it ever will be. And here too, as everywhere, the folly of man is the wisdom of God. For in this we find an additional and irrefragable proof of the divinity of the Scriptures, which everywhere, and under the strongest human inducements to do otherwise, preserve the Hea- venly medium between extremes. What had been said of Baptism during the times when few, if any, but adult, tried, and huilt-up Christians were baptized, was incautiously {as appears to me) applied in these one or two passages to the baptism of infants ; which (if we will not contradict the most positive commands and determinations of the Gospel, ' Repent and believe,' and ' thou mayst be baptized,') we must regard as a sacrament of conditional promise and as a means of grace, but not as a sacrament of effect^ and an imme- diate conveyance of grace. But still, .... even with respect to the Liturgy, those who hold the doctrine I have now avowed stand on higher ground than our opponents. For the prayer evidently implies, that the actual operation of the Spirit is future and conditional. The whole prayer is prospective — ' Grant that this child mat) receive the fulness of grace ; ' and therefore all that follows may rationally, and in my opinion ought to be, likewise understood as prospective. For what could be more absurd in baptizing an unconscious in- fant, than to pray that he might receive the fulness of grace, if the outward act of Baptism were a command of God, of universal application to all ages, from the birth (or, according to the Romanists, from the first 122 THE TRIAL. quickening) of the babe to the last flutter of departing old age ; if its operation were irrelative to age and to the development of consciousness ; and if the regene- rative influences were totally, and at one and the same instant, united with the visible ceremony ; even as the power of consciousness in our mortal state with the organization and organic motions of the brain ? Assu- redly to pray as for a thing that may or may not be given, where God has solemnly announced that it is given, and when no possible repugnance or unfitness can exist in the subject, a helpless, passive infant, (for what obstacle can a sinful nature present to Omnipo- tence^ when the holy and gracious decree, and the per- mission and appointment of free agency, present none to the Infinite Wisdom ?) assuredly to pray, instead of returning thaiiTcs, would introduce a strange confusion into the services ofi'ered to the God of order. We pray for a gift yet to be vouchsafed ; but we give thanks for that which is being, or has been, bestowed. Instead of one or two sentences in the Liturgy, which the 'Ev fcat TTttj^ vdpi^ai (or those who teach that the Spirit is given all and at once with the water) can adduce in favour of their opinions, I can produce twice ten times the number irreconcileable with the practical conclusions which they draw from those passages." Gentlemen, you will now easily judge whether your decision, should it be in favour of the Bishop of Exeter, will affect only five or six clergymen, as my learned friend has been dreaming : you will see that it will virtually declare that all, or nearly all, our venerable Reformers allowed, either ignorantly or designedly, a doctrine to be taught by our Church which they did ADDKESS OF MR. HEBER's COTJNSEL. 123 not believe : it will declare that all who entertain their sentiments, as well as all who agree with the reverend gentlemen at the bar, hold and teach doctrines not sanctioned by the Church of England. A verdict in favour of the Bishop of Exeter will brand with igno- rance or dishonest connivance, not only the Compilers and Approvers of the Articles and Liturgy of our Church, but also a host of learned and pious divines from the time of the Reformation to the present day. Many eminent and illustrious prelates and clergymen, who have adorned the Church from the period when the Articles were completed, have maintained, without cen- sure or reproach, the very doctrine for which Mr. Heber and his reverend brethren are placed at the bar ; and I doubt not that hundreds of thousands of the laity have held and still hold the same views : and we are now told, and you. Gentlemen, are urged to declare by your verdict, that all these eminent and learned and pious men were utterly mistaken in supposing, that our Church did not " agree with Rome " on the efficacy of infant- baptism! Gentlemen, you have heard the evidence, and I am content to leave the question to your sober and unbiassed judgment. 124 THE TRIAL. Mr. Whinley, the last counsel for the Prosecution, now arose and thus addressed the jury. Address of Counsel for the Prosecution. Gentlemen, You will rejoice that this important trial is at length drawing to a conclusion, and I doubt not that most of this large and respectable assembly sympathize with you in this respect. It is not my intention, nor is it, indeed, necessary, to occupy much time in laying before you, and commenting upon, the evidence against the reverend Thomas Scott. His writings, and more especially his Commentary., have been very extensively circulated, and most probably have already come under your observation. It will not therefore be requisite for me to do more than quote a few passages from that voluminous Commentary, by which it can be clearly demonstrated that he opposes the Bishop of Exeter's interpretation of the Baptismal Service, and, conse- quently, repudiates the teaching of the Church of Eng- land. I need hardly observe that Mr. Scott entertains Calvinistic opinions, because this must be manifest to any one who reads his Commentary with attention. I do not, however, mean to accuse him of holding extreme opinions — anything verging towards Antinomianism ; for I must acknowledge that, after a careful examination of his writings, I find that he strongly and continually insists upon practical religion. This is so apparent that I really found it difficult to obtain satisfactory evidence that he held those dangerous notions about election ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOE, PROSECUTION. 125 which are generally imputed to him. And had it not been for his opposition to the doctrine of invariable spiritual regeneration in infant-baptism, I protest to you, Gentlemen, that I could have wished his Commen- tary to be in the hands of all my fellow-countrymen ; but that unhappy error on the baptismal question neu- tralizes the good which his writings would otherwise eflfect. I will now state the reverend Thomas Scott's views on this important point. He defines regeneration, or the new birth, as " The beginning of spiritual life, without which we can no more live a heavenly life, than we could an earthly one without being born into this world." To this definition I have nothing to object, and had Mr. Scott only added that Baptism was invariably the beginning of this spiritual life, at least to infants, the present proceedings would never have been commenced against him. He soon, however, shows that he enter- tains that heretical opinion which the Bishop of Exeter feels it his duty to denounce, wherever and in whomso- ever he discovers it. Mr. Scott quotes with approbation an extract from the writings of a foreign Reformer, Beza, W'ho held that regeneration did not always ac- company baptism. "Neither yet did He (Christ) simply bind the grace of God to baptism, as if it was abso- lutely, and without any exception, necessary; seeing He just after ascribes regeneration to the Spirit, without any mention of water." This will prepare you to hear what follows from the pen of Mr. Scott himself. " If baptism," he says, "and being 'born again,' be terms of the same meaning, or if the one invariably accom- panies the other, so that all who are rightly baptized 126 THE TRIAL. are regenerate and none else ; then all who die unbap- tized, even infants as well as others, all over the earth, and in every age of the world, without exception, are shut out of heaven ! A proposition far more dreadful than any held by the most unfeeling and presumptuous Supra-lapsarian Calvinists." And in another place, w^here Christ intimates to Nicodemus that there are things in the natural world which he cannot account for, and therefore that he ought not to consider regene- ration as impossible, merely because he cannot compre- hend in what way it is effected : " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Mr. Scott remarks : "As the same word signifies both spirit and the wind^ in the original languages, the similitude has a peculiar propriety, if being ' born again ' be in- terpreted of the communication of divine life to ' the dead in sin.' But if understood of baptism exclusively, or what always accompanies it when rightly admin- istered, there seems nothing appropriate in it. The administration of baptism is evident, and vaosi puhlich, foreseen, and appointed. Every thing relating to it depends on ' the will of man,' of the baptized person in adults, of parents and sponsors in infants, and of the ofiiciating minister in both cases. But if the thing sig- nified, as not inseparable from the right administration of baptism, be intended, the whole depends absolutely on the sovereign will of Him who commands and go- verns the winds and waves." Many more passages from this gentleman's Commen- tary might be brought forward as evidence against him j ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 127 but that is quite unnecessary, as you cannot doubt from what has been now read, that he does not teach the invariable regeneration of infants in and by baptism. And as I mean to show you, before I conclude, that the Church of England " condemns as heresy the denial of the unconditional efficacy of baptism in the case of all infants duly baptized," you will, of course, feel bound, however painful it may be to your feelings, to give your verdict against the reverend Thomas Scott. In order to prove that our Church holds this doctrine, little more will be necessary than to examine the Bap- tismal Office and the Catechism ; for the doctrines of the Church are, of course, best understood by her Formularies. So writes a high authority, Bishop Bur- net, in his Pastoral Care. " The truest indication of the sense of a Church," says he, " is to be taken from her language in her public offices. This is that which she speaks the most frequently and the most publicly ; even the Articles of Doctrine are not so much read, or so often heard of, as her Liturgies are : and as this way of reasoning has of late been made use of with great advantage against the Church of Rome, to make her accountable for all her inihlic offices in their plain and literal meaning, so I will make use of it on this occa- sion. It is stronger in our case, whose Offices being in a tongue understood by the people, the argument from them does more evidently conclude her." This ought to be a sufficient answer to the learned counsel, who insisted so much on a reference to the Ar- ticles for an explanation of any thing which might seem doubtful in the Formularies of our Church. Were any thing really doubtful, such a reference would be proper ; 128 THE TRIAL. but in so plain a case as this, it cannot be requisite. The words are, " This child is regenerate." Surelj', there is no room whatever to question the meaning of this declaration. The Church plainly and positively affirms the regeneration of the baptized child, whatever that may be ; and regeneration is, as the accused indi- viduals in general, and Mr. Scott in particular, fully agree, the hegiiDiing of the divine life in the soul. To say that this language is hypothetical, or must have a chari- table construction, is to promote the negation of every Article of our Christian faith, by asserting, insinuating doubtful interpretations of the Church's voice, even when she speaks upon the most solemn subjects in her most authentic tone. A charitable construction ! A qualified construction ! What is that ? Why, Gentle- men, it is a construction not strictly, not literally true. Now apply this to the first question in the Catechism, " What is your name r " Or to this other, " What dost thou chiefly learn in these Articles of thy belief?" Does then the child's name require a charitable construction r And must the child say, but only in a doubtful or quali- fied sense, " First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me and all the world ?" And this is the charitable construction ! Miserable misnomer ! Where do the advocates of this system find their type of such a charity ? Not surely in the Word of God. The charity of Scripture is rooted in faith, and upheld by hope : the charity of the clergymen at the bar refuses to believe and cares not to hope. But, Gentlemen, you cannot, I am sure, think it needful for me to combat such a notion as this. The words, I repeat, are so plain that it is folly to refer to the Articles for an explanation of them. ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOE PROSECUTION. 129 In the Articles themselves we may, perhaps, find ex- pressions which are capable of being interpreted in different ways : in this case we ought to interpret the expressions by the Liturgy, and thus we shall ascertain what the Church really means. For, says that eminent Prelate, Dr. Conybeare : " If expressions should occur which cannot be determined by passages in other Arti- cles, then will it be proper to inquire whether they may be fixed by our Public Liturgy, or by any other monu- ments which have the sanction of ecclesiastical authority. The propositions set forth in any of our Articles ought to be understood in such a sense as is consistent with every other determination of the Church ; because the Church cannot be supposed to intend one thing in some of her public acts, and the direct contrary, in others." These are great authorities. Gentlemen, and we can- not do better than learn from them how we ought to be guided, when the Articles are silent on any particular subject. The private opinions of individuals (however eminent for their piety, for their learning, and for other qualities) are not to be considered, but simply the public acts and declarations of the Church. All, therefore, which my learned friend has read to you from the writ- ings of the Reformers are quite irrelevant. The extracts merely shew the private opinions of those eminent men, but are of no authority whatever. It is to the public acts and declarations of the Church, I repeat, that we must refer, in order to ascertain whether the doctrine of unconditional regeneration of infants in baptism be, or be not, held by the Church of England. I request your attention then, Gentlemen, to those Articles which treat of the sacraments generally, and of Baptism in K 130 THE TRIAL. particular, namely, Articles xxv., xxvi., xxvii., and XXVIII. The twenty-fifth and twenty-seventh Articles declare what baptism is, and what are the effects of baptism ; and the latter Article tells us that " the bap- tism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the Church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ." But the difficulty is, how can these Articles shew the effect of Baptism on infants, since they can (as such) have neither repentance nor faith, which the Articles teach are necessary to " the wholesome opera- tion of the sacraments ? " How then are children to be brought within the description of those who are to be regenerated — to be, " as by an instrument, grafted into the Church ? " We must, I repeat, leave out of sight the private views of the Reformers, and refer en- tirely to the public declarations and acts of the Church for a solution of this difficulty. Infants being born in sin cannot, it is asserted, be worthy recipients of the sacrament. How then are they made worthy ? Is it not in and by baptism ? What else can make them worthy recipients ? Some persons say, that those bap- tized infants who die in infancy are made worthy by a prevenient act of grace ; but where does our Church assert this ? Nowhere. You will find, on examining the Baptismal Service, that it is in and by the act of baptism that the child is regenerated. The congregation are exhorted to pray for the child that it may be rege- nerated by the Holy Spirit ; that the water may be sanctified to the mystical washing away of sin ; and that the child now to be baptized therein may receive the fulness of God's grace, and ever remain in the number of God's faithful and elect children. It has, ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 131 indeed, been explained that the mystical washing does not mean the actual, but the sacramental, washing away of sin — that there is some mystery, something beyond that which exactly meets the eye, is to be the mystical washing away of sin, through the sanctifica- tion of the water ; but I cannot exactly see the force of such reasoning, and therefore I must take the liberty of understanding the words literally. Nor can I un- derstand how any person can suppose the plain and unequivocal declaration of our Church, that the bap- tized child is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christ's Church, to mean that it is conditionally so. That any one who uses the Baptismal Office can yet deny or dispute the position that our Church maintains, that always to infants, and to adults rightly receiving, regeneration is given in baptism, and, so far as man is authorized to pronounce, in baptism only, might appear incredible, if the experience of more than two hundred years had not, unhappily, furnished us with too many instances to the contrary. The Church doubtless wishes her language to be taken literally, since she causes her ministers to say, " Seeing now . . . this child is rege- nerate, &:c." ; and invites the people to thank God for these benefits, and to pray that the child may lead the rest of his life according to this beginning. And the minister proceeds to thank God that it hath pleased Him to regenerate the baptized infant with the Holy Spirit, — as they had just prayed that he would do, — to receive him for his own child by adoption, and to in- corporate him into His holy Church. All this had been previously asked of God in prayer, and now thanks are returned that these benefits have been conferred. The K 2 132 THE TRIAL. Church positively declares that all this is so — not that it will be so on condition that the child fulfils what were promised by the sponsors. It is a declaration, clear, precise, and distinct. There is a positive prayer for "regeneration by the Holy Spirit," and an absolute declaration by the Church, that the child " is regene- rate," and thanks are returned to God for that blessing. The same is declared of infants privately baptized, when no stipulations are made by sponsors. I cannot see how it can be said that these promises are implied. The Church gives no intimation of such a thing. The child, if it lives, is afterwards to be brought to Church, and its sponsors make promises in its name ; but this has nothing to do with baptism. This is not in order that he may be regenerated ; for that has already been done as fully as in public baptism. It proves that all which is essential to baptism is, the water and the words, " I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." All the prayers, &c., in the public form, is a matter of order, of decency, of submission to the will of God, and of an earnest desire to obtain for the infant that which is sought ; but there is nothing essential in all this. And so it is to satisfy the Church that it was duly baptized, and to secure the right education of the child, that it is af- terwards publicly received into the congregation of Christ's flock. What room is there for stating that this is merely conditional, and that the Office of Public Baptism is also conditional ? With regard to the Office for adults, it is allowed by all that regeneration is conditional on faith and repent- ance. But it is asked. If one office out of the three ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOU PROSECUTION. 133 forms is hypothetical, why are not the other two to be construed hypothetically r I answer, Because persons in riper years have not only committed actual sin, and have need of repentance, but they also hioiv it, for they are to be instructed before they are baptized. They therefore come in their own right — enter into promises in their own persons, and must be supposed to promise with a sincere intention to perform all they engage to do. Here is a marked distinction. Infants, who pro- mise by their sureties, are admitted to baptism ; and if they die before they commit actual sin, they are " saved," according to the declaration of the Church. But adults, who know what they have to perform and do, and who make promises in their own persons, are necessarily considered as entitled to the benefits of baptism only upon the supposition, that they are sincere in their promises of faith and repentance. The Church knows that the infant cannot have committed actual sin before baptism ; but in the case of the adult it can only rely upon his outward profession of faith and re- pentance. The Church does not declare of adults that if they die after baptism, and before they commit actual sin, they will be saved. But it says that the child is placed by baptism in a state of eternal salvation. If it be baptized, and if it die before actual sin, it is certain from God's Word that it will be saved. I say, there- fore, that the Services are materially distinguished from each other. In the case of adults, the Church must necessarily act on a charitable hypothesis: in the other, it is absolute and unconditional. ^Mien the baptized children are instructed, what kind of teaching does our Church supply ? From first 134 THE TRIAL. to last the teaching rests on the absolute declaration of their being regenerate. Here is no hypothesis, no doubt that the child is in any other situation than that in which he was placed by baptism — a state of salva- tion. He prays for grace that he may not fall away — may not by sin lose the grace conferred by baptism. He says the Articles of his belief. Here is no hypo- thesis. He is taught that the sacrament is "an out- ward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace" — a sacrament ordained by Christ "as a means whereby we receive the same," — that is, the grace given to us. I cannot understand how a doubt can be raised on these words, " What is the inward and spiritual grace;" that is, the grace which was conferred — regeneration by the Holy Ghost for the remission of sins — what is this grace ? '''Ans. A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness ; for being by nature born in sin and the children of Avrath, we are hereby made the children of grace." Then the child is taught that repentance and faith are required of persons to be baptized, and that infants promise to repent and believe by their sureties. Hence the Church admits the latter to baptism, on the supposition that, if they should live and come to years of discretion, they will perform what their sure- ties engaged they should do. But she tells us that the baptized infants, who die before actual sin, are undoubtedly saved ; consequently, that they are abso- lutely regenerated in and hy baptism. Prevenient grace is not the mode ; the Church says nothing about that. The same doctrine of unconditional regeneration of baptized infants runs through all the Catechisms sanc- tioned by our Church. Dean Nowell, for instance, ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTIOISr. 135 teaches this doctrine. He says baptism is not an empty sign, or a deceitful sign ; but beneficial — an effectual sign of grace ; that is, of course, to the faithful re- ceiver. But infants cannot be deemed unfaithful, since not capable as yet of faith and repentance ; but to them the promise made to the Church of Christ, in whose faith they are baptized, shall for the present time be sufficient. Let us proceed to Confirmation, On the children acknowledging that they are bound to believe and do all things promised by the sponsors, the Bishop, in the following prayer, speaks of them as God's servants whom He had regenerated by water and the Holy Ghost, and to whom He had given the forgiveness of all their sins. This shows that it was by and through baptism they had become regenerate and received for- giveness of their sins. What charitable hypothesis can there be here r It is a positive declaration that these things are so. If therefore the words of the Office are to be taken in their natural and literal sense, the doc- trine of unconditional regeneration in the baptism of infants is sufficiently established. As to the term re- generation, I will not trouble you. Gentlemen, with the various definitions that have been given of that word. It is defined by our Church in the Catechism to be " a death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness;" and this will be admitted by all the clergymen who stand at the bar. When this takes place, persons are translated from a state of nature to a state of grace, favour, and blessing, and become the temples of the Holy Ghost. And this effect is produced on every child, baptized by a lawful minister, in and through the 136 THE TRIAL. means of baptism. The declaration of our Church on this point is positive and precise. But it has been said, the Reformers embraced the opinions of Calvin, and, therefore, they could not have intended to declare that every child is placed by baptism in a state of regeneration. I do not, however, attach much force to this argument, because we know not to what exient they embraced the opinions of Calvin. They determined nothing with respect to Predestination and Election. It is evident, from the seventeenth Article, that they left this question open to Calvinists and Ar- minians. I do not think they entertained the doctrine of Predestination and Election ; for they hardly could be guilty of leading parties into the belief, that there was a doctrine of faith to be embraced which is not taught in the Articles. But I ask again, To what extent did the Reformers hold this doctrine of Election ? Did they believe that the elect only have faith and repent- ance ? It is surely impossible ; for, I ask, could they, entertaining such a view as this, have expressed them- selves as they have done in the Baptismal Offices? Could they have said that all baptized children are re- generated ? — that all baptized children who die before they commit actual sin are undoubtedly saved ? Yet this argument has been brought forward, that the Re- formers, believing in election, could not mean the words " regenerate," " remission of sins," &c., to apply to any but the elect. This is to oppose the literal and general meaning of the Baptismal Service. This is to oppose all forms of prayer. It goes to the root of all religion whatever ; for if this is to be the faith of the Church, where is the necessity for prayer at all ? What ADDRESS OF COUNSEL FOR PROSECUTION. 137 encouragement is there for a person to inform himself of the will of God, if he is assured that before his birth his fate was determined, and that nothing he could do — nothing that could be done for him — could avert it ; but that, by the irreversible decree of God, his future state was fixed either for eternal happiness or eternal misery ? The promises of the Gospel are freely made to all who repent. They are not confined to the elect. There are names, undoubtedly of the very highest authority, which go the length of saying, that the persons who receive the benefits of baptism, must have faith and repentance. Martyr and Bucer may go to that extent. I do not think, however, that Cranmer is to be made responsible for all they may have said. But if he did hold this doctrine, if Latimer, Ridley, and other Reformers believed in election, still their pri- vate opinions cannot enter into the consideration of this question. Nor can reference be made even to Scripture, since the Church has, it is presumed, given her decision according to Scripture ; and we, the members of the Church, are bound to accept her own interpretation of Scripture. The inquiry must be. What has the Church said in her Articles and Formularies ? If the words, in- deed, are ambiguous, and cannot be construed by other public acts of the Church, then it would be right and proper to advert to the opinions of these persons ; but, so long as the Articles and the Services of the Church are reconcileable, and not only reconcileable, but ne- cessarily to be construed with a literal interpretation ; you are not at liberty, as Bishop Conybeare says, to put an interpretation upon them of a different character. If a doctrine is laid down in the Baptismal Service, and 138 THE TRIAL. in other Services, and in the Rubrics, then you must take that doctrine, and those expressions, in their literal sense, for we are bound to consider the true meaning of the words, and not allowed to indulge in fancy, or to explain them by the opinions expressed by private in- dividuals. The points to be ascertained are (1) What is the doctrine of our Church as to the efficacy of in- fant-baptism ? and (2) Does the accused, Thomas Scott, deny that doctrine ? As to the first point, you cannot, I think, Gentlemen, entertain the shadow of a doubt that the Church teaches unequivocally, that the thing signified, namely, regeneration, is given at the moment of baptism. Though such a doctrine may appear to approximate to the Roman Catholic doctrine of the opus operatum, it is surely held by our Church. There is no obex in the way when infants are baptized ; there- fore they receive the benefit, whatever it may be ; and it is " spiritual regeneration " according to the words of the Formulary of our Church. Mr. Scott denies this doctrine : he denies that spiritual regeneration is always conferred on infants in and by baptism : he holds a doctrine utterly inconsistent with the sacra- mental character of baptism, and subversive of a fun- damental Article of the faith ; and, consequently, it is your clear, though it may be most painful, duty to bring in a verdict of guilty. ADDKESS OF MR. SCOTT's COrNSEL. 139 Mr. Bodenor, the counsel on behalf of the reverend Thomas Scott, now lose, and spoke to the following effect. Address of Mr. Scott's Counsel. Gentlemen, Had my learned friend made no other refer- ence to Mr. Scott's Calvinistic opinions than that with which he commenced his address, I should have deemed it unnecessary to allude to them ; because it was ac- knowledged that he held no extreme views, and that in his writings he strongly insisted upon practical religion. It would not in this case have been requisite for me to speak of my reverend friend either as a Calvinist or Arminian, because this is a matter which has nothing whatever to do with the question under your considera- tion. For it is unquestionable that thousands, who hold what are called Arminian sentiments, are quite as much opposed to the doctrine of the absolute, unconditional regeneration of baptized infants, as is Mr. Scott, or any others who are denominated Calvinists. This fact has been too often lost sight of ; and it has been attempted to ascribe the opposition to the Bishop of Exeter's in- terpretation of certain passages in the Baptismal Ser- vice to Calvinists exclusively. And, which is still worse, their sentiments have been grossly misrepresented, and consequences attributed to their opinions, which they not only repudiate, but which their lives and conversa- tion unequivocally condemn. Such a proceeding is most unjust and dangerous. It excites prejudices not only 140 THE TRIAL. against a very large and highly respectable body of Christians, but against religion — against Christianity itself. For under the name of Calvinism will be found many of the vital and essential truths of our holy re- ligion. They have been denominated the doctrines of Calvin by men who either hated the truth, and, there- fore, scrupled not to affix an odious epithet to it, or were ignorant that what they were maligning are clearly and unquestionably the doctrines of Christ and his Apostles. Some of the observations of the learned counsel are, I regret to say, calculated to excite this unjust preju- dice against Mr. Scott and those who entertain similar opinions. I do not mean that my learned friend wished or expected to excite such prejudice by anything which he advanced, respecting the supposed tendency of Cal- vinism. He is, doubtless, unacquainted with the tenets to which he has attributed so many evil consequences, and therefore is unwittingly guilty of injustice towards a host of the most pious, learned, and devoted Christians. He has founded an argument against the doctrine of conditional regeneration, as held by Mr. Scott and the other clergymen at the bar, on the imaginary evil con- sequences arising from a belief in Predestination and Election. He found it so difficult to evade the force of the argument brought forward by one of my learned friends, namely, that the Reformers could not mean that spiritual regeneration was always conferred on bap- tized infants, because they believed in election^ that, in order to neutralize the effect of such an argument, he calls Predestination and Election the doctrine of Calvin, points out I know not how many dreadful evils as flow- ing from such a doctrine — neglect of prayer, indiiference ADDRESS OF MK. SCOTT's COUNSEL. 141 about knowing or doing the will of God, and, in short, as striking at the root of all religion : and then he ex- claims, The Reformers could not surely hold the doctrine of Election ! But finding the evidence so strong that the fact could not be controverted, my learned friend then asks, To what extent did the Reformers hold the doctrine of Calvin ? The doctrine of Calvin ! Does not every reader of the Bible know that election is there clearly and unequivocally enunciated ? Could Calvin then be the inventor of it? Hundreds of thousands hold it, and millions have held it, who never read any of Calvin's writings. It was and is believed because it is found in Holy Scripture — not, indeed, as it has been caricatured by the learned counsel, as going to the root of all religion, and rendering prayer and the other means of grace unnecessary ; but (according to our seventeenth Article) as a doctrine " full of sweet, plea- sant, and unspeakable comfort." The Reformers did not consider it as calculated to give comfort to any who live in sin and neglect prayer, but only " to godly per- sons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their minds to high and heavenly things." This doctrine is held by both Arminians and Calvinists, although they interpret it differently ; the former maintaining that men are elect because God foresees that they will repent and believe ; the latter, that they repent and believe because they are elect. The former make repentance and faith the cause of their election ; the latter attribute their elec- tion to the sovereign grace of God, and consider repent- ance and faith as the necessary fruits, not the cause of 142 THE TRIAL. their election. As to Reprobation, no such doctrine is recognized by our Church. As the learned counsel desires to know to what ex- tent the Reformers held this doctrine of Election, I answer. They held it — not as it is misrepresented, abused, and vilified by the ignorance, folly, mistakes, and licentiousness of men, but — as it is propounded in the Bible, declared in the seventeenth Article of our Church, and embodied in her Formularies. They who abuse this doctrine, and seek to be wise above what is written, may carry it to the extent to which the learned counsel intimates it must be carried by those who hold it ; but he is labouring under a very great mistake in supposing that any, who receive it as it is really set forth in Holy Scripture, will thus abuse it ; for they who believe that God " hath constantly decreed (as our seventeenth Article states) by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation," will endeavour in their doings to follow God's will as it is " expressly declared unto us in the Word of God." They who have calmly and dispassionately studied the doctrine of Election by the light of Scripture, come to very different conclusions, respecting its tendency, from those who examine it by the aid of reason alone. They cannot see how a doctrine should lead men to neglect the means of grace, and to imagine that they shall be saved although they live in sin, when they are expressly told, that the purpose for which they are elected is, that they "should be holy and without blame before God." They cannot allow that it encourages ADDRESS OF MR. SCOTT's COUNSEL. 143 vice and immorality when they find the Scripture, which teaches this doctrine, maintaining that " God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness;" and that " we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." They cannot see how any man, who takes the Bible as the rule of his conduct, can make election his plea for omitting one single duty, when he is told by the inspired Apostle : " Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; for it is God w^hich worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure : " when he sees that the grace of God is urged as a reason w^hy men should be — not slothful and careless and indifferent, but — diligent, fervent, and un- wearied in the work of faith and labour of love : ^vhen he reads that men are called and chosen to be " a pecu- liar people, zealous of good Avorks ;" and when he finds that men have no ground whatever to suppose them- selves elect, unless " they give diligence to make (their) calling and election sure," and " add to (their) faith virtue ; and to virtue knowledge ; and to knowledge temperance ; and to temperance patience ; and to pa- tience godliness ; and to godliness brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kindness charity." If the practical effects of the doctrine of Election were found to be so fearful as the learned counsel seems to apprehend, there might be some reason for doubting whether it proceeded from God. But the experience of ages testifies, that this doctrine produces no such baneful fruits. It is the abuse of it which leads to evil; but for this it is no more responsible than is Christianity for the oppression, treachery, vice, 144 THE TUTAL. and cruelty, which have been perpetrated in the name of religion. And had the learned counsel, instead of condemning the doctrine of Election as Calvinistic, care- fully examined whether it were not really a Scriptural doctrine, he would scarcely ha\e fallen into the error of attributing so many practical evils to it. He would hardly have ventured to insinuate that a doctrine, clearly enunciated by the Holy Scriptures, would lead to the neglect of prayers and endeavours, indifference to the ordinances of religion, and to remissness in the duties of morality. A very little inquiry and observation might have convinced him, that these sad results of a belief in election were imaginary. He would have found that men holding this opinion were neither less moral, less zealous in good works, less careful to " live soberly, righteously, and piously in the present world," than those of opposite sentiments. That really pious and zealous Calvinists and Arminians are diligently aim- ing at the same thing, pursuing the same course, and urging others to seek the prize of their high calling in Christ Jesus, and, consequently, that the doctrine of both is attended with the same practical effects, might be inferred from the following anecdote respect- ing two well-known characters, and has been abun- dantly proved by the lives of them both : — " A young minister, about three or four years after he was or- dained, had an opportunity of conversing familiarly with the great and venerable leader of the Arminians in this kingdom ; and, wishing to improve the occasion to the uttermost, he addressed him nearly in the following words : ' Sir, I understand that you are called an Ar- minian ; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist ; ADDRESS OF ME. SCOTT's COUNSEL. 145 and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin tbe combat, with your per- mission I will ask you a few questions, not from im- pertinent curiosity, but for real instruction.' Permission being very readily and kindly granted, the young min- ister proceeded to ask, ' Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning unto God, if God had not first put it into your heart ?' — ' Yes^' says the veteran, ' I do indeed.' — ' And do you utterly despair of recom- mending yourself to God by anything that you can do ; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?' — 'Yes, solely through Christ.' — ' But, Sir, supposing you were first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself after- wards by your own works?' — 'No: I must be saved by Christ from first to last.' — 'Allowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?' — 'No.' — 'What, then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother's arms?' — 'Yes, altogether.' — 'And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to pre- serve you unto His heavenly kingdom ?' — 'Yes ; I have no hope but in Him.' — ' Then, Sir, with your leave, I will put up my dagger again ; for this is all my Cal- vinism : this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance : it is, in substance, all that I hold, and as I hold it ; and, therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree.' " 146 THE TRIAL. Gentlemen, I will not withhold from you the names of the two excellent men to which this anecdote refers. He who is there denominated " the venerable leader of the Arminians in this kingdom," was John Wesley ; and the "young clergyman," now old and grey-headed, and standing at this moment among my accused friends at the bar, was — Charles Simeon. I cannot but think that my learned brother must regret that he had not taken some pains to ascertain what Calvinism is, and also what is the manner of life and conversation of those who hold this much-vilified doctrine, before he ventured to speak of it in such terms as he has done. Had he examined a few of the sermons written by Calvinistic divines, he would have found that they invariably inculcated good works, as the natural and necessary fruits of the faith possessed by the elect, and that they teach that no persons have any solid ground for thinking themselves elect, unless they are " zealous in good works." Had he even con- sulted the Article on Predestination in the EncyclopcBclia Britaniiica, which was evidently written by one who is no Calvinist, he would scarcely have used the language to which I have adverted : " Whatever may be thought of the practical tendency of the two opinions," observes the writer of that article, " there is one remark which we think ourselves bound in justice to make, although it appears to us to be somewhat singular. It is this, that from the earliest ages down to our days, if we consider the character of the ancient Stoics, the Jewish Essenes, the modern Calvinists, and Jansenists, when compared with that of their antagonists, the Epicu- reans, the Sadducees, Arminians, and the Jesuits, we ADDRESS OF ME. SCOTT's COUNSEL. 147 shall find that they have excelled, in no small degree, in the practice of the most rigid and respectable vir- tues, and have been the highest honour of their own ages, and the best models for imitation to every age succeeding." The writings of Bishop Horsley would also have supplied the learned counsel with information as to the tenets which he thinks so dangerous, and so repugnant to the doctrine of the Church of England. That emi- nent prelate observed : " I know not what hinders but that the highest Supra-lapsarian Calvinist may be as good a Churchman as an Arminian ; and if the Church of England in her moderation opens her arms to both, neither can, with a very good grace, desire that the other should be excluded." A few years afterwards, the Bishop wrote to the same effect : " I have often before asserted, and by God's grace I will persist in the assertion to my dying day, that so far is it from the truth, that the Church of England is decidedly Armi- nian and hostile to Calvinism, that the truth is this : that upon the principal points in dispute between the Arminians and the Calvinists — upon all the points of doctrine characteristic of the two sects — the Church of England maintains an absolute neutrality : her Articles explicitly assert nothing but what is believed by both Arminians and Calvinists." It is extreme views which that learned Prelate exhorted his clergy to avoid : an Ultra- Calvinist and an Ultra- Arminian might both at length become practical if not avowed infidels. " The Calvinistic doctrine," said the Bishop, " is too apt to degenerate into the errors of the Antinomians, and the Arminians into those of the Pelagians ; but true Cal- L 2 148 THE TRIAL. vinism and true Arminianism are guiltless of both. I have long been persuaded that the best thing for the Church would be, that the Calvinistic controversy, as it is called, should be suffered to go to sleep, and the worst thing will be, if it is kept alive by being made the perpetual topic of preachers in common congrega- tions. It relates to points involved in so much ob- scurity — so far above the powers of the human mind — that the differences of opinion upon them among the very best Christians can never cease, because the diffi- culties never can be cleared up ; and the effect of the controversy will never be to reconcile the jarring opin- ions, but to dissolve brotherly love, and disunite the members of Christ's body." This scriptural doctrine was taught by our Reformers in the "Short Catechism," published in 1553. "To the furnishing this Commonwealth (Christ's Church) belong all they, as many as do truly fear, honour, and call upon God, wholly applying their mind to holy and godly living ; and all those that, putting all their hope and trust in Him, do assuredly look for the bliss of everlasting life. But as many as are in this faith sted- fast, were forechosen^ predestinate, and appointed out to everlasting life^ before the tvorlcl ivas made.'" In the Catechism published in 1559, and embodied in the Service for Confirmation, children were taught (as at present) to profess their belief in God the Holy Ghost who sanctifieth them, " and all the elect people of God." The Reformers taught this doctrine, as our Church teaches it now, in the Collect for All Saints' Day: — "O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical ADDRESS OF MR. SCOTT's COUNSEL. 149 body of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord." We pray in the Burial Service, " that it may please God of His gracious goodness shortly to accomplish the number of His elect, and to hasten His kingdom." But admitting that our Reformers determined no- thing respecting Predestination and Election — that is, did not " define that in which the knot of the whole difficulty lies ; that is, Whether God's eternal Purpose or Decree was made according to what He foresaw His creatures would do, or purely upon an absolute will, in order to His own glory " — but left " these questions open, in order that both parties (Arminians and Cal- vinists) might be embraced in the Church," is it rea- sonable to suppose that they would prepare a Service for public use, which taught a doctrine that no man who believes in election, whether in the Arminian or Calvinistic sense, can possibly hold, namely, that all baptized infants — not only those who die in infancy, but all who live to a responsible age — are born of God, and made new creatures in Christ Jesus ? This is a doctrine which, as one of my learned friends has al- ready shewn, was not held by our Reformers ; if, then, they meant that both parties should be embraced in the Church, they could not consider the words of the Baptismal Service as declaring absolutely that all bap- tized infants are spiritually regenerate ; for this would have been to exclude themselves, and all who embrace their views, from the Church of England. But, says the learned counsel, as if feeling the force of this argument and yet anxious to evade it, " You must shew me to what extent Cranmer, and Latimer, and Ridley embraced this doctrine (Election) and de- 150 THE TmAL. clared their adherence to it as the doctrine of the Church." It is surely evident enough, I answer, from what has been adduced from the Articles and Prayer Book, that our Reformers held the doctrine of Election, and taught it to the members of the Church of Eng- land. Whether they wished it to be interpreted in an Arminian or Calvinistic sense, it completely demolishes the opus operatum doctrine, which, according to the Bishop of Exeter's interpretation, seems to be taught in the Baptismal Service. An infant, in whom God's foreknowledge discerns no faith nor repentance, from the age of responsibility to his last moments, cannot, in the opinion of either Calvinists or Arminians, be regenerate, or born of God; and, therefore, the expres- sions, "regenerate," "made a child of God," &c., can only be used as the language of faith, hope, and charity. Neither party can believe that the mere performance of baptism invariably confers on infants the inward spi- ritual grace, or regeneration. And as the expressions which, at first sight, appear to favour the opus operatum doctrine, are capable of different interpretations, equity surely demands that that meaning should be put upon them which is agreeable to the well-known sentiments of our venerable Reformers. The inspired writers them- selves have, in some places, used language which, if literally understood, would be quite repugnant to the doctrine they have taught in other parts of their writ- ings. If, then, the words of Scripture often require to have a " favourable construction " put upon them, is it strange that our Prayer Book, which contains so much of Scripture, should sometimes require to be interpreted differently from the apparent meaning ? ADDRESS OF MR. SCOTT's COUNSEL. 151 My learned friend justly observed that " we are bound to consider the true meaning of the words ; " but the literal meaning, or such as it appears at first sight to a common understanding, is not always the " true mean- ing ; " and, therefore, it is not fair to leave out of con- sideration the well-known opinions of the Reformers, and to say : " The words mean so and so : they can have and shall have no other meaning, whether they oppose your real opinions or not, — no, not if they are proved to be contrary to the Word of God, when literally understood ; for w^e are not determining the truth or falsehood of a doctrine, but whether the opus operatum of infant-baptism is taught by the Articles and Formu- laries of our Church. You (the Reformers) may be quite opposed to that doctrine, and, therefore, could not, as honest men, mean to teach it to the members of the Church; but, as you have allowed certain ex- pressions to remain in the Baptismal Service, which, being literally understood, sanction this doctrine, we determine that it is taught by the Church of England." Were the inspired writers to be thus treated — were every expression in the Bible to be confined strictly to the sense which a common understanding would, at first sight, put upon it — we should soon be involved in strange contradictions. A man might suppose that he must "hate father and mother," in order to become a true Christian. " Some say. The words are plain," observes Bishop Jewel ; " Christ himself spake them : he is Almighty, and can do whatsoever he will The words must be taken even as they lie, they must not have any other construction Now, let us consider the words of Christ, ' This is my body ; ' and ^^^ THE TRIAL. ' This is my blood.' These words, you say, are plain open easy, and manifest. So are they, yet, albeit the^ are plam, they must have a right construction. The plamest words that be, unless they be duly expounded, may breed error." ■> r , The learned counsel inquires. Does the child's name when asked in the Catechism, require a charitable con- struction.' I ask, in return. Is it strictly and literally true that his name was given by his Godfathers and Godmother at his baptism? Was it not given pre- viously by his parents, perhaps months or years before he was pubhcly received into " the congregation of Christ's flock?" John the Baptist's nam'e was g^ven long before he was circumcised; and that which had previously been given was afterwards publicly and for- mally conferred. So it is with regard to the inward and spiritual grace-regeneration. It may be given before the child is publicly signed and sealed as re- generate; or he may be, in the eye of the Church re- generate many years before he be regenerate in the sight of God. But having shewn that no such evil consequences as ray learned friend apprehends have sprung, or can spring, from the doctrine of Election, rightly under- stood, I may be allowed to notice the evil and danger- ous tendency of the doctrine of Invariable RegeneraUon in infant-baptism, which the Bishop of Exeter seeks to have established by authority, as the doctrine of the Church of England. The evil effects of this doctrine are clearly seen in the Church of Rome, where outward ordinances are substituted for inward grace, and faith m Christ virtually superseded by faith in the Church ADDRESS OF MR. SCOTT's COUNSEL. 153 Is it said that I am now falling into the very error for which I have censured my learned friend, namely, at- tributing consequences to a doctrine which they who hold it altogether repudiate ? I answer. The cases are widely different. The opus operatimi doctrine of Baptis- mal Regeneration is only an inference, and not a clearly revealed doctrine, of Scripture : nay, it is plainly repug- nant to numerous passages of Scripture, and therefore it is perfectly legitimate to make the holders of such a doctrine responsible for all the consequences. But the doctrine of Election is, by all parties, allowed to be scriptural. And therefore when men attribute to it such evil consequences as those stated by my learned friend — consequences which they who believe in elec- tion totally deny, and which experience testifies have no existence, except among those who abuse the doc- trine — they cast reflections upon God himself. It is confessedly a mysterious doctrine ; but so long as it is propounded in Scripture it should be received and held, whatever evil consequences may seem to flow from it owing to the temerity and wickedness of men. Let the ojms operatiwi doctrine of invariable regeneration in in- fant-baptism be proved to be agreeable to God's Word, and we will receive it without regard to consequences. Facts strongly prove that scriptural doctrines have a far more beneficial effect, than those doctrines which the wisdom of men has devised, although, in theory, the former may seem to involve the most dangerous, and the latter, the most beneficial consequences. The scriptural doctrine of Election, it is supposed by some persons, leads either to presumption or despair, and to a neglect of prayer and vigilance, and to an in- 154 THE TRIAL. difference about the duties of morality, as matters which cannot affect our future condition, whether we are, or are not, predestinated to life eternal : while the opus operatum doctrine — the teaching that every baptized infant is absolutely born of God, and a new creature in Christ Jesus — is thought to lead to diligence, watchful- ness, and earnest endeavours to preserve so inestimable a birth-right. But what says experience ? It tells a very different tale. It proves beyond controversy that, both in individuals and in nations, the scriptural doc- trine produces the best consequences, while the doctrine sprung from tradition — the opus operatum of Popery — leads to formalism, hypocrisy, immorality, and infi- delity. If the doctrine of Election were so dangerous, and the opus operatum so beneficial as have been repre- sented, the classes over which each exercises its influ- ence respectively would, of course, manifest what are said to be their peculiar fruits. Are those fruits then such as my learned friend supposes ? What is the general condition of the people where the opus operatum doctrine is submissively received ? What is the state of Italy, Spain, Ireland? Do not infidelity, superstition, immorality, and crime abound in those countries ? And does Holland or Scotland, where the doctrine of Elec- tion is generally held by the people, manifest those baneful fruits which are supposed, by some persons, to be produced by that doctrine ? On the contrary, the people of these latter countries are vastly superior in morality and piety to the population of the former coun- tries. Thus is the wisdom of man proved to be foolish- ness, and the foolishness of God — as the wise of this world esteem the doctrines of Revelation — is found to be ADDRESS OF MR. SCOTT's COUNSEL. 155 the highest wisdom, and conducive to the best interests of mankind. But we have no need, Gentlemen, to extend our view- to foreign countries, in order to ascertain whether the opus operatum doctrine be true or false ; we have only to look around us, and even in this Protestant country we shall find living arguments innumerable to convince us, that spiritual regeneration is not always conferred on baptized infants. For consider our Church's definition of regeneration — " A death unto sin and a new birth unto righteousness." Now, there must be some analogy between the natural and the spiritual birth of man, or such an expression as " born again," would hardly have been used in Scripture, to denote the great change which God works in us when we are regenerated. When a child is born into the world, he not only exhibits signs of life, but daily grows in stature. There are, indeed, some children born who exhibit no signs of life, and who are found, on examination, to be dead. But this is comparatively a rare case. It is the exception, not the rule. Bear this in mind. Gentlemen, when you think of the new birth unto righteousness. Are we not to expect that, according to analogy, the spiritually born will exhibit signs of spiritual life ? Ought we not to suppose that, as they grow in stature and advance in years, they will grow in grace and be active in doing works suitable to the spiritual man ? And though a few might be found without any signs of vitality, yet these would be the exception : the vast majority of the spi- ritually born might naturally be expected to be alive, grow, and shew proofs of their heavenly birth. If then all infants receive in and by baptism the grace of re- 156 THE TRIAL. generation, we have reason to expect that, as the great mass of the Christian world is baptized in infancy, Christians generally would exhibit signs of spiritual life, and that very few comparatively would be dead in tres- passes and sins. What then is the fact ? Are all those, or even a large portion of those, who are " born again" of water, made partakers of the inward and spiritual grace ? Are they truly born of God ? We can judge of the spiritually born only as we judge of the naturally born, by the effects. In the latter we find, generally speaking, life and activity ; and we are authorized to expect spiritual life, and progress in holiness, in those who are born of God. This we learn from Scripture : " Whatsoever is born of God," says St. John, " over- cometh the world ; " and " Whosoever is born of God sinneth not ; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." Now, all baptized infants, says the Bishop of Exeter, are born of God ; are they then such as the Apostle describes ? Let the following extract, from an authority which Dr. Philpotts must respect, answer this question : " There are millions — aye, I fear, I cannot be contradicted, when I say millions — of the population of this country, who are as much without the knowledge of God who made them, of the Saviour who redeemed them, of the Holy Spirit who alone can sanctify them, as any of the wildest savages, who butcher and devour their fellows in New Zealand or Madagascar. The result is such as might be expected. In the furious passions, the perverted faculties, the maddened affections, the scorn of all moral restraints, and contemptuous resistance to every other — in one word, in the unrenewed hearts of these our ADDRESS OF MH. SCOTT*S COUNSEL. 157 countrymen — men ' without hope and without God in the world ' — there is laid up a store of woes for Eng- land, the elements of a wider and more irreparable de- vastation, than any which the history of man has ever yet recorded." Be it remembered, Gentlemen, that of these millions, a vast proportion — perhaps nineteen- twentieths — have been baptized in their infancy, and, according to the Bishop's view of baptism, have been actually born of God, have received a new nature, " a new birth unto righteousness," by having been brought to that sacrament which affords, says his Lordship, "the only opportunity of being born again." These millions, it is asserted, were made, not merely in the eye of the Church, not merely in the judgment of charity, but ne- cessarily, absolutely, and in the sight of God, members of Christ, partakers of a spiritual nature, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. This must have taken place in them because, says the learned counsel, the words are plain — They "are regen- erate." It seems to have been quite forgotten that the same words, when uttered by different persons, or ap- plied to different persons, may have a widely different signification. As used by our Church they are perfectly correct. They are meant for believers and tJieir children. No others are recognized as being of the Church ; and to no others do the promises belong ; and therefore no others are entitled to baptism : but believers and their children are declared at baptism to be regenerate, or at that time made in the eye of the Church — what the for- mer were already, and what the latter, it is hoped, in due season will be in the sight both of God and man — children of God and heirs of heaven. 158 THE TRIAL. But evil as well as good are found within the inclosure of the visible Church, which, as we cannot distinguish them (except by overt acts) are all charitably regarded as true and faithful members ; and, therefore, the same language is applied to all. When, however, opportunity has been given to manifest who are, and who are not, truly regenerate, that language is no longer suitable to the latter. It will, doubtless, be very gratifying to the "millions" to be told, that they are " regenerate," and partakers of the Divine life, though apparently not a spark of that life was ever in them : but this is to misapply the lan- guage of our Church. She limits the term "regenerate" to believers and to those who, she hopes, will be such at a responsible age. But to tell such wretched beings as the "millions" before referred to, that they are mem- bers of Christ, and inheritors of heaven, is to keep them under an awful delusion. They are not, and never Avere, truly born of God ; for their uniform conduct plainly shews that, although baptized of water, they have not received the baptism of the Spirit — the inward and spiritual grace. The epithet "regenerate," as used by the Church and by the world respectively — though the word is plain — has a very different meaning. It is understood by each, much as the words " good living " are, by the different parties. The Church means by " good living," a vir- tuous and Christian life and conversation ; the world means the gratification of earthly and sensual desires. These different meanings of the same expressions, ac- cording to the perceptions of the persons who respect- ively use them, are well illustrated by the excellent ADDKESS OF MK. SCOTT S COUNSEL. 159 Doddridge, in his epigram on the motto, " Dum vivimus vivamus.'^ ♦' ' Live while you Uve,' the epicure will say, * And give to pleasure every passing day.' * Live while you live,' the sacred preacher cries, ' And give to God each moment as it flies.' Lord, in my view, may both united be, I live to pleasure while I live to thee ! " It is, I repeat, the forgetfulness of this distinction which leads my learned friend and others into the in- consistency of maintaining, that these " millions " were not only accounted as, and numbered with, those who overcome the world, but were actually made such per- sons by baptism, although they are the veriest slaves of sin, the world, and the flesh ! The wicked one toucheth not him who is borfi of God ; and yet these " millions," whom Dr. Philpotts pronounces absolutely born of God, are Satan's willing captives — prompt and eager to do his will ! " As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God," says the Apostle. These " millions " w^ere made the sons of God by baptism, the Bishop of Exeter affirms ; and yet they manifest no signs of being " led by the Spirit of God." How is this to be accounted for ? " How is the efficacy of Christian baptism," asks a writer like-minded with the Bishop of Exeter, "to be reconciled with the actual state of those who have been baptized ? " This is a knotty point. Gentlemen of the jury; and yet it is cut through by the querist, as if it were the easiest matter in the world. It is no difficulty to him. " The testi- mony of human observation," he says, "is to be entirely and alto