according to that of Tertullian, Nos pisciculi secundum xv nostrum Jesum Christum in aquâ nascimur.'

"We fishes are born in water, conformable to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, xvs; alluding to the acrostic or technical name made of the initial letters of our Saviour's several titles in Greek-Ieos, Xpιotos, Oie, vios, Ewing; which, put together, make up the name xvs. Hence, Baptism had the name of waliyyɛvɛoia toxûs, regeneration of the soul, in Cyril's catechism. And because this new birth was wrought by the power and influence of the Spirit, therefore it was called the spiritual birth, whereby those who were born earnestly to the world before, were now born spiritually to God. And so, as Optatus words it, "God was hereby made Father of men, and the Holy Church their mother; for till men were baptised they were not perfect members of Christ's body, the Church, nor properly adopted into God's family; and consequently had as yet no right to call God their Father, or the Church their mother."

And with Bingham, Hooker*, Dr. Wall, Dr. Hey,† and, above all, Dr. Waterland, "Regeneration stated and explained," in their hands, none can be at a loss to ascertain very clearly the unity of sentiments of the Ancients with that of our own Church on the subject of Baptismal regeneration.

We now come, in due course, to the more distinct exposition of our Church's doctrine of Baptism, as it is found in her Articles, Liturgy, and several Baptismal offices, upon a fair and candid comparison of each one of these with all the rest. But, previously to our entering upon this part of the subject, (which we will endeavour to treat with a brevity not inconsistent with force and conviction,) it may be candid and satisfactory to explain whence arose the ambiguity in the use of the word regeneration, which has caused so much misunderstanding and heart-burning amongst very sincere and excellent men, even pious clergy, the opponents on each side being those of our own Church: painful censure, unmerited rebuke, have been too frequently heard on one side and the other, when even those who were abstractedly right in what they advanced, did not appear to have a sufficiently comprehensive knowledge of the grounds of their right, to enable them candidly and charitably to point out to others how they were wrong.

We cannot see any just reason to deny, that there are several passages in Holy Scripture, other than those in which the word regeneration occurs, in which the notion of being born again, or born of God, is propounded without any open allusion, or allusion upon the face of the passage, to the sacrament of Baptism as a whole, including the outward and inward parts of it. Such passages there appear to us to be; and they allude to the Word and Message of God in the Gospel, as the primary means of bringing children to God, without specifying

* Eccl. Pol. book v., sec. 59, 69.

Norrisian Professor at Cambridge, who delivered lectures of very high authority there, from 1780 to 1795.

the particular instrumental means to be employed under the Gospel in this great work. Such passages are- -James i., 18: " Of His own will begat He us, with the word of truth," &c. 1 Peteri., 3: "Which hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter i., 23: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for 1 John ii., 29: 66 If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.” 1 John v., 1: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God."

ever.

Now, although that be perfectly true, which occurs in Dr. Wall's treatise, vol. i., p. 32, and which we have already quoted-viz., that "the Christians did in all ancient times continue this name Regeneration for Baptism, so as that they never use the word regenerate or born again, but that they mean or connote by it Baptism; of which I shall," says he, "produce no proof here, because almost all the quotations which I shall bring in this book, will be instances of it;" and though he be justified in the assertion, that "the first Christians understood that rule of our Saviour, Except one be regenerated (or born again) of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God,' of Water Baptism, (he should have said the sacrament of Baptism,) and concluded from it that without such Baptism no person could come to heaven, (omitting the notice of certain well-known exceptions to this rule, such as martyrdom,) and so did all the writers of these (first) 400 years, not one man excepted," p. 70; though this be perfectly true, and though the first Christians were, so far as we can see, and as the Church of England most firmly believes and maintains, quite correct and right in their judgement on this point, (for it is evident that the assertion of our being begotten again by the Word of the Gospel at large, without determination of time or means, can never render valueless a particular appointment of time or means by which, under the dispensation of that very Word of the Gospel, we are to be born again, but rather must be a motive for us to pay all heed and respect to such appointment; and our Saviour's own practice, and His precept to His disciples to go and baptise all nations, attaching a promise of salvation to the baptised faithful, are a lively comment on His words to Nicodemus,) yet, it is easy to see, that when the Bible came to be very generally diffused, as it is in these modern times, amongst such as have been almost unavoidably left in ignorance of the history of the terminology of the Church, as well as of her very system of doctrine and discipline, a vast number would adhere to the texts which speak generally of our being born again by the Word of the Gospel, without alluding to the particular means and instruments by which our regeneration is formally to take place, according to order and appointment: and, having treasured up those passages in their hearts, as the beautiful promises of a universal change in their religious and moral nature, irrespective of outward means of grace, would be pared to interpret those other passages which the most unquestionably relate to the sacrament of Baptism as instrumental to our regeneration,

pre

(such as John iii., 5; Tit. iii., 5,) of an inward Baptism of the Spirit only. Hence," outward Baptism would come," as Dr. Waterland has remarked, " to be thrown out of the idea of regeneration ;" and "the renewing of the Holy Ghost," or renovation, "would be held to be the same thing as the washing of regeneration ;"* both would be held to be a washing of the Spirit only: renovation or conversion would come to be used, and these terms have come to be used, as equivalent to regene ration; each of these terms being interpreted to mean only the action of the Holy Spirit, whereby the heart is purified. Not only did the sacrament of Baptism lose its estimation as the instrument of the second birth, the appointed means of actual adoption into the family and household of Christ, but the very faith and repentance which amount to conversion, and which have ever been held to be the indispensable pre-requisites to a beneficial adoption in Baptism, began to be looked at with doubt and suspicion, as not partaking sufficiently of those impulses which were believed to accompany the inward Baptism of the Spirit. How much encouragement was given to these notions by George Fox's example in 1650, and by Robert Barclay's Catechism in 1676, it is not now easy to say: possibly, the extravagances of the practice of the mystic sect, which these religionists represented, may have counteracted the effect of the publication of their doctrines; but it is certain that John Wesley has succeeded, to a great extent, in promulgating a notion of regeneration quite different from that of the Ancient Church and of the Church of England. His regeneration is simply conversion; and, as in the case of Infant Baptism conversion can never take place (as it ought in strictness to do) previously to Baptism, his regeneration always came after, and generally long after, Baptism; so that Baptism with him being neither the sign of regeneration, nor corversion, nor of course renovation, (which is the grace which follows Baptism when conversion has rightly preceded it,) it is not easy to say how, in his view, Baptism was a sacrament at all. The Church of England view is clear: Baptism is a sign of an entrance upon a state of salvation in infants, of an absolute beneficial entrance thereupon; in adults, beneficial, if preceded by repentance and faith, amounting to conversion; if not so accompanied, then of an entrance the benefits of which are suspended and frustrate until the indispensable pre-requisites be fulfilled. But Samuel Wesley said very justly of his brother, that "with him Baptism was nothing;"t that is to say, "he must have held it to be a sign of profession and mark of difference only," which is exactly what our Church asserts that it is not. "There are in all,” says Dr. Waterland, "three several lives belonging to every good Christian, and three births, of course, thereto corresponding: once he is born into the natural life, born of Adam; once he is born into the

* Regeneration stated and explained.

+ Wesley's Letters, p. 72. Hey's Lecture, vol. iv., p. 293.

spiritual life, born of water and of the Spirit; and once also into a life of glory, born of the resurrection of the last day.'

Let us compare the Articles, and Catechism, and Baptismal Offices of the Church a little together, and we will venture to say that the same moderate, and consistent, and reasonable views of regeneration and renovation, as distinct† from each other, will appear in all of them. The Twenty-seventh Article, whatever its other faults may be supposed to be, can hardly with justice be accused of being ambiguous; it may be disliked, but it can scarcely be misunderstood. 'Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is also 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 unto God."

It appears to us that the three particulars here specified amount to a complete enumeration of the several spiritual gifts and blessings which together make up a full and complete regeneration. 1, They that receive Baptism rightly" (this appears to allude to the preparations of faith and repentance-they that are previously prepared by conversion to Christ,) "are grafted into the Church.' 2, "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." 3, "Faith is confirmed, and grace is increased, by virtue of prayer unto God."

We submit that, though Baptismal regeneration is as strongly asserted in this Article as it is possible for it to be, yet that there is nothing at all in these particulars of the substance of regeneration, to give ground for the fears of those who torment themselves with the belief that the Church of England understands, by Baptismal regeneration, such a change of heart and disposition, limited to the very moment of Baptism, as precludes the necessity of any other change, which renders preparatory or complimentary changes, such as conversion previously to Baptism, and renovation after it, unnecessary. It has been our lot at different times to hear used the phrase, "The soul-killing doctrine of Baptismal regeneration ;" and the worst wish we ever formed in consequence was, that we could infuse into the speaker's mind at once, by some magical process, the whole marrow and substance of Dr. Waterland's Regeneration stated and explained. There never was less ground for the alarm of pious and excellent persons, than is to be found in this Twenty-seventh Article, for their fears and doubts upon the subject of Baptismal regeneration: "They that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church." In order to know what is meant by receiving

* Works, vol vi., p. 347.

+ Distinct, always in theory, and frequently in fact, as in the case of Infant Baptism.

Baptism rightly, we may reasonably go to the Catechism, and, ask with our catechist, "What is required of persons to be baptised?" and the answer will surely be satisfactory to any Christian man who is accustomed to weigh well the force of words: "Repentance, whereby they forsake sin, and faith, whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that sacrament." Nothing can be more clear, as has been before said, than that the preparations of heart, faith and true repentance, required by our Church, amount to conversion; though it is very possible that she would not by conversion understand perfection, as the Wesleyans are apt to do; but, rather, that state in which catechumens used to be in the Ancient Church when they were presented for Baptism. The particulars of the repentance and faith required by the Church are not slight or easily fulfilled: we happen to have a pretty distinct enumeration of them in our Church Catechism, put into the mouth of those who, having been the subjects of Infant Baptism, may be supposed not to have yet completed their conversion or renovation (which, even in that case, it may preferably be called). They are "To renounce the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh: To believe all the Articles of the Christian faith, and to keep God's holy will and commandments, and to walk in the same to the life's end." And the same promises are made in person by the adult previously to his becoming the subject of the holy sacrament of Baptism. We rather think that these requisitions have occasionally been felt by godfathers and godmothers, if not by adults themselves, to be rather too stringent than too lax; and we seem to have a recollection that something has not unfrequently been said—though, we cannot doubt, most unjustly-about the hardship of requiring persons to live in the world fettered by such restrictions. However that may be, there is no room to charge the Church with indifference to the spiritual state of such as present themselves, or, rather, are presented by their friends, to be introduced into Christ's holy Church by the sacrament of Baptism: we do not interfere with that which is God's part in this holy sacrament; but the part appointed to ourselves in the way of preparation, is amply sufficient to exercise us.

The second constituent blessing of Baptismal regeneration, is that "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." It is the nature of a sacrament to be "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us ;" and, moreover, both "a means" whereby we receive that grace, and "a pledge" to assure us that we really do receive it. Faith will have assured the converted person, previously to his Baptism, that the promises of God are true; but God has his own appointed means of communicating his benefits; and the realisation by pledge of the promise, "He that believeth and is baptised, shall be saved," can be no slight matter of comfort to a sincere and humble believer in the everlasting glory to be enjoyed in the heavenly places.

In neither of these constituent parts of the whole blessing of regene