voluntarily follow him; but the Apostle here saith, that he had authority, as the rest of the apostles, to lead about a woman, which argueth the right that a husband hath over his wife, or of a master over his maid. 5thly, It is not all one, if women could travel out of Galilee to Jerusalem, which was nothing near a hundred miles, that women could follow the apostles into all parts of the world. 6thly, If the cause why such women are supposed to have followed the apostles, was to minister to them of their substance, the leading them about was not burdenous to the Church, but helpful: but the Apostle testifieth, that he forbare to use this liberty, because he would not be burdenous to the Church of Corinth, or to any of them. 7thly, Seeing it is certain that Peter had a wife, and the rest of the apostles are by antiquity reputed to have been all married, it is not credible that Peter, or any of the rest, would leave the company of their own wives, and lead strange women about with them." These are a few specimens of the objections advanced, of the spirit in which they are met, and the arguments with which they are answered. The volume deserves an attentive perusal. The editor has very judiciously appended, in notes at the bottom of the pages, the several readings of the Vulgate, the Rhemish, and the English versions; so that, without the trouble of a reference, and at one glance of the eye, the spirit of the argument may be appreciated. Not any publication of the Parker Society exhibits in more vivid colours the spirit and tenets of Popery, and the tone of doctrine maintained in our Church at the Reformation. No one can rise from the perusal of this work or of Pilkington's able "Confutation," without feeling that the Protestant and the Papist are the very Antipodes of each other, and that the Protestants of Elizabeth's reign, contrary to some of Victoria's reign, were valiant for the Truth, and showed no disposition to court Rome, or to cede to Rome, or to seek a re-union with corrupt, idolatrous, and apostate Rome. EPIGRAM ON THE OBJECTION OF TRACTARIANS TO PEWS. Or Newmanites we've oft been told Since forms are all things in their eyes. PEMB. 571 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM. No. I. Or all religious ordinances, surely Baptism is the most simple. It figures out to us one distinct idea, the truth of which, amidst all the controversies that have been raised upon it, and their name is Legion, no one has ever yet attempted to gainsay-viz., that in the case of man, in his present state, a life to God, or a seeking after heaven, must commence in a new and unwonted purity; and as regards Christian Baptism, purity of heart and life, "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God." "Acts of purification have generally been emblematical," says Dr. Hey.* With regard to Baptism in general, it is possible that the natural and necessary custom of washing a child as soon as possible after its natural birth into this world, may have suggested the notion of making the transition into any new views, or fundamental principles, or way of life, by an outward washing with water. We need not build much upon what Tertullian says about persons having been baptised in the mysteries of Apollo and Ceres, with a view to regeneration and impunity; but it must be confessed that Dr. Wall has established, with the highest evidence, the truth, that the custom of the Jews, before our Saviour's time, was to baptise as well as to circumcise any proselyte that came over to them from the nations, and that this Baptism was called his regeneration or new birth.§ The same author observes that the Jews themselves seem to have understood, that when Christ came their nation must be baptised as well as others; and, therefore, they asked John (who baptised Jews), "Why baptisest thou, then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that Prophet?" (1 John i., 25.) And it cannot be useless to have observed, however shortly, that Baptism was known as an initiatory rite, both to the world at large and to the Jews, previously to its being appointed by Christ as the sacramental entrance into His family and household; for we may thence infer, with good foundation of reason, what the Apostles must have known of it previously to the teaching of our Saviour; and that notion of it, enlarged or modified by His instruc tions, will probably amount to a just filling-up of the picture of Christian Baptism, as it was understood and held in Apostolic times. But how happens it that the simple and significant rite of Baptism, appointed by our Lord and Master as the doorway into His Church, should ever have become matter of dissension and controversy to His disciples? Wash in faith, and be clean, says our Lord. Difficult it would appear, in the first instance, to have selected any initiatory rite (and an initiatory rite there must be for the satisfaction of the Church and of our own souls) for the Christian religion more plain than this of Baptism in its primary meaning, better adapted to the condition of all by the universality with which the requisites for the due celebration of it are found wherever the Christian religion prevails, or less likely to be unduly elevated from its place of an instrument in the hands of God, into an active and independent agent. It might even appear at first, as if so simple a rite, through which all must pass, as a matter of course, when first they become members of Christ's Church, could afford but limited materials either for dissertation or discussion: but let us draw a little nearer, and take a more distinct view of its separate parts, as well as of its whole use and efficacy. What is Baptism? It is, in itself, not only an initiatory rite-a doorway, through which all men may walk, as a natural right, without being liable to question, into the Church of Christ-not only "a mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened;" but, in those that receive it rightly, it is a sign of the dissolution of the bond which chained the soul to sin, and to the condemnation and penalty of sin; and, farther, of the new connexion formed between the soul and all holiness and righteousness, and the final end of holiness, which is life everlasting. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptised into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by Baptism into death; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (Rom. vi., 3, 4.) “Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." (Col. ii., 12, 13.) It is a sign of "a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness." In the language of our Article, "It is a sign of regeneration, or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, and grace increased, by virtue of prayer to God." Now, it is easy enough to see from whence the controversy will arise. If there were no sacramental grace involved in Baptism as a constituent part of it, which, being there, renders necessary certain previous qualifications of the heart and spirit in those who would rightly receive it, there would be no occasion given of jealousy or dislike on the part of some of the recipients towards any others of them; for all who went through the external ceremony would have equal right to all the privileges of Christians, and no one would have either the title or the inclination to say of any other that he bore a name to which he had no just right. But sacramental grace cannot be irrespectively conferred, and there is no period of the Church in which lively faith and true repentance have not been held to be indispensable pre-requisites for being truly placed by the Holy Spirit, through Baptism, in a state of salvation. Christian Baptism is, in its intention-i.e., in the objective* view of it, a separating from the world by the Holy Spirit, with a holy rite, of such as are prepared to be children of God; prepared by faith and repentance, as indispensable pre-requisites (not as co-efficient factors with the Holy Spirit, who is the sole agent), to be members of Christ, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Now, it becomes more plain at every step why the subject of Christian Baptism has come to be surrounded by discussion and controversy. If, with a view to the enjoyment of a certain assembly, tickets are made attainable by the public at a certain price, so that every one that pays the price acquires a full right to the enjoyment of the assembly without any farther qualification, no room for exception is left against any one who has so obtained a genuine ticket on the ground of his deficiency either in taste or any bodily or mental accomplishment whatever; but if, with a view to the reunion of persons religiously disposed, arrangements have been made for the issue of tickets by certain ministers of religion, to persons known to them, or believed by them, to be in a certain advanced state of religious knowledge and feeling, then, if on the meeting of the company it becomes evident that persons of no religious knowledge or feeling at all have obtained admission into the place of assembly, and are there in considerable numbers, and are even sometimes behaving indecorously, so that the object of the assembly is likely to be frustrated, it is unavoidable that surprise and some measure of disapprobation, followed by enquiry and discussion, must be felt by such as were parties to the originating of the meeting in its first design. The first enquiry would, no doubt, be, Are the tickets genuine? If this were answered in the affirmative, then, Were they duly obtained by regular application, or were they obtained by these improper persons by misrepresentation and fraud? If duly obtained, then, What is to be done next? How is the defeat of the main design with which the assembly was held, to be avoided? It is probable that such as might be really earnest in desiring to promote the objects for which the assembly was gathered, would by degrees find one another out, would form circles for conversation or study apart from the rest, and would still, at intervals, * Objective: belonging to the objects contained in the object.-Johnson. The objective view of Baptism, is that view of it in which it is seen only in its own nature, unaffected by any combination with its subject, Man. even whilst so engaged, continue to express their astonishment at the extraordinary oversight or negligence by which the unqualified parties had been furnished with the proper credentials for entering into their assembly whilst they who had obtained entrance by means of genuine tickets rightly obtained, though without the expected qualifications, would, doubtless, take umbrage at the neglect with which they were treated, and hold long and sharp controversies in defence and vindication of their rights with any whose attention they might be able to engage. By the light of this illustration we may be assisted to discover one cause of the innumerable controversies which have taken place about Baptism, and especially Baptismal Regeneration, in the Christian Church. It was the expressed intention of our Lord and Master to draw together into a society, to be called His Church, a company of faithful people. "He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved;" He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus ii., 14.) The Word of God leads to faith, and faith to Baptism,* and Baptism first to the state of salvation, and then to the final salvation of the soul. "We are born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible-by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” (1 Pet. i., 23.) It is not to be wondered at, then, if, when it is manifest that there are a vast number who have entered the Church to all appearance by the right door, and under the auspices of such as have authority to admit them, who yet disgrace the society by their abominable works, and show themselves utterly insensible to all spiritual considerations and all Christian hope, that the question should be pretty closely canvassed, What the true position of these persons is, and whether we are bound to respect it as upon equal terms of advantage with that of the most heavenly and spiritually minded persons, who truly show forth the liveliness of their Christian faith by their holy lives and affections. But this enquiry, a very legitimate one in itself, has commonly had the misfortune in time past to fall into incompetent hands; and the result of it has ordinarily been the introduction of confusion into the Church's scheme of doctrine, whilst the controversy has been conducted with much disturbance of men's minds, ending in vehement attack upon that which is the unquestionable doctrine of Baptism, founded in Holy Scripture, and upheld by our Church. For the zealous and active members of the Church, who have been jealous for God and for the spotlessness of the Body of Christ, have devoted themselves from time to time to the repudiation, in her name, of such as are nominally her members, but in no just sense her children: and, acknowledging that the Baptism of such as are admitted into the * Waterland. Regeneration stated and explained. |