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salvation of the party, but only about his being at present brought into a state of grace and privilege, from which, that he is liable to fall, is very manifest from the remainder of the same answer-" And I pray unto God to give me His grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end." And with regard to what has been sometimes felt, as to the impropriety of allowing a young person, not yet of an age for confirmation, as now usually administered, but who has shown abundance of ability to distinguish right from wrong, and whose disposition is taking, or has taken, an openly vicious and rebellious turn, to continue to assert his hearty thankfulness for having been "called to this state of salvation," all that can be said, is that everybody knows that the words are not his own, and that they contain what he is to be taught to feel, not necessarily what he does already feel; and the Church having, under God, consented to the suspension of the fulfilment of the preparations of the heart for Baptism in the case of infants and children, in consideration of the temporary inability of the parties, has appointed Confirmation for the subsequent remedy of all previous defects and deficiencies of this kind; and the question whether, in any case, at an age less mature than that pointed out by our bishops for the administration of this holy rite, any baptised child should be restricted in the public means of preparation for it, and the use of the Catechism is the principal public means appointed to that end, is one, we should suppose, which must be decided as much with a view to the well-being of other catechumens, as to that of the party principally concerned: and the decision of it in a given case must be held to form a part of the numerous responsibilities which devolve upon every spiritual person who is intrusted with cure of souls. The Church must be long-suffering, especially towards the young: but the putting of holy words into unholy mouths must also, as far as possible, be avoided; and extreme cases will arise in which severity must be made use of on the very substantial ground that mercy to the individual is cruelty to the multitude, who cannot always understand that disapprobation may be felt, and strongly felt, where it is not followed by any open acts of discipline. Let us always bear in mind, however, that every individual, duly baptised in infancy, has, in the belief of our Church, been once called to the enjoyment of a state of salvation, however probable it may appear that he will not long remain in that state. "It is certain by God's Word," says the note at the conclusion of the Office for the Public Baptism of Infants, "that children which are baptised, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved."

We may farther observe, on this part of the subject, that it is in virtue of his having undergone the New Birth of Water and of the Holy Ghost in Christian Baptism, "hereby made children of grace," that the child is instructed to say, a little farther on in the Catechism, that he believes in "God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of God," thus speaking of himself as one of "the elect people of God" for every adopted child must be in that sense elect-taken out of the world, and placed in the household of God. And yet the feelings

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of those must neither be overlooked nor despised, who are severely shocked and pained, when these words proceed from the lips of a young person, baptised in infancy, not yet confirmed, but apparently of a stubborn, vicious, and incorrigible disposition. In candidly considering this subject, however, it will perhaps strike us that the case of such young person, taken at its worst, must be held to be one degree less bad than that of an adult receiving Holy Baptism in hypocrisy or impenitency: the truth is, that "God never fails as to His part in an awful sacrament, however men may guiltily fail in theirs." "As the Holy Spirit consecrates and sanctifies the outward waters of Baptism, giving them an outward and relative holiness, so He consecrates the persons also in an outward and relative sense, whether good or bad, by a sacred dedication of them to the worship and service of the whole Trinity: which consecration is for ever binding, and has its effect, either to the salvation of the parties, if they repent and amend, or to their greater damnation, if they do not." "If ever they do repent and turn to God, then that conditional grant, suspended as it were before, with respect to any saving effects, begins at length to take place effectually and so their Baptism, which had stood without any salutary fruit for a time, now becomes beneficial and saving to the returning penitents."* Now, the case of young persons, not yet of an age for confirmation, who appear to be vicious and bad, cannot, one would think, be so bad as that here stated or supposed; and therefore, so far as the meaning of the words, "In God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of God," may be held to allude to the baptismal consecration, it is not incorrect to allow one to repeat it, though he be apparently a most wilful and unruly or vicious child: but then, with respect to this expression, "sanctifieth me," it appears to allude to a presumed partial fulfilment, at least, of the prayers for continual renovation, put up by the Church, not only in our baptismal offices, but at other times, and especially in the collect for Christmas day, in which we pray "that we, being" (already) "regenerate, and made Thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by the Holy Spirit" and if it is in allusion to the assumed fulfilment of this prayer in some degree or measure or other, in the case of all the baptised, that the young person is caused to speak of the Holy Ghost as One that "sanctifieth him and all the elect people of God," though it would be hard, indeed, to show that that Good Spirit never has at any moment blessed any single means which Christian parents or instructors have at any time used for his benefit, yet, in the case supposed, it may be safely said, that he has made so little use of any good influences which may have been vouchsafed to him, that, as a matter of discipline, for his own sake as well as that of others, he might justly be prohibited for a time from taking these holy words into his mouth.

We should do well to remember, however, that catechetical instruction

* Waterland. Regeneration stated and explained.

is a means, not an end; and a yet more diligent use of this means, with adaptation and exhortation, may often be the true remedy for a present total insensibility to all religious advantages.

In the Office for the Public Baptism of Infants, immediately after the act of receiving into the congregation, the priest shall say, "Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's Church, let us give thanks unto Almighty God for these benefits," &c. And accordingly the congregation, having placed themselves in the posture of devotion, and put up the Lord's Prayer, proceed farther to address the throne of grace in these words: "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." It is believed that many are unable to join heartily in this form of thanksgiving, or to respond truly to the call of the minister to offer it up; that call being founded upon the fact that the child is now regenerate, and the object of the thanksgiving being avowedly to thank God that it hath pleased Him to regenerate this infant with His Holy Spirit." A strong doubt is felt as to what the word "Regenerate" here means and intends; and the question in the minds of the doubtful is this: Whether it does not mean such a change of disposition as precludes the necessity of a subsequent turning to God in lively faith and true repentance, which (under the limitation of the term before mentioned, this being a case of Infant Baptism,) may not unaptly be called conversion, and also of subsequent continual

renovation.

We apprehend, that upon a calm and dispassionate view of the whole subject there can be no reasonable doubt in the matter. When we thank God that he hath been pleased to "regenerate this infant with his Holy Spirit," we allude to a change of state and condition, and not to a change of heart and disposition.

Bearing in mind what we have already said of the essential nature of repentance and faith to a beneficial reception of the Sacrament of Baptism in persons capable, we must, of course, acknowledge that, as soon as the present infant shall come under that denomination, "capable," such a change in him from the natural heart of man as true repentance and lively faith will cause, becomes necessary to his continued beneficial enjoyment of the grant of the Kingdom of Heaven, made to him in his Baptism; and this is quite independent of the farther, more continual, and therefore probably more minute, changes which are included under the head of continual renovation. To set all this in a clear light, repentance and faith having been solemnly exacted from the infant in the persons of the sponsors previously to the act of Baptism, nothing more is mentioned about them by name in the thanksgiving and prayer offered up subsequently to Baptism; but at that subsequent period we put up a prayer which goes to the extent of petitioning that the effects of these stipulated acts may be hereafter seen in the child; we pray "that he may crucify the old man, and

utterly abolish the whole body of sin." It is, we think, impossible to contend, that a person, on whose behalf we pray that "he may” at some subsequent period "crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin," has already undergone such a change, that no farther spiritual change is necessary to his salvation. The infant, duly baptised, will not, indeed, need any farther change as to spiritual state and privilege: having been formally and authoritatively adopted into the family and household of Christ once, he has all the advantage of that sort that it is possible for him to have; he will not need a second adoption: or, if the admission into Christian privileges, and the favour of God through Christ in Baptism, be considered as a New Birth, he will not need a second new and spiritual birth: but he will need the personal experience of lively faith and true repentance, which should take place either before or at confirmation; and he will moreover require continual renovation-i. e., renewal from time to time, whether to keep up first impressions, or to enable him to make farther improvement in holiness: such renovation, as is more distinctly alluded to, and petitioned for, in at least two of our beautiful collects: the one, that for Christmas day already mentioned: "Grant that we, being regenerate, and made Thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by Thy Holy Spirit :" where it is to be remarked, that "being regenerate," &c., is spoken of as a thing already accomplished, and not as a part of the subject of the prayer; which we know from the introduction of the word "Now," in the Office for the Public Baptism of such as are of Riper Years: where, after the Baptism has taken place, it is said, "Give Thy Holy Spirit to these persons; that being now born again, and made heirs of everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, they may continue Thy servants, and attain Thy promises." And the other collect is that for the circumcision of Christ: "Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit, that our hearts and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey Thy blessed will." And the same thing is observable in the collect for Easter day. Indeed, the doctrine of our need of continual renovation is one which runs like a thread throughout the texture of our Liturgy and Occasional offices.

In the prayer, then, in the Office for Infant Baptism, which follows almost immediately after the act of receiving into the congregation, and contains what some consider the doubtful expression, there are these distinctions to be made: When we thank God that "it hath 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," we return thanks in effect for his being take out of his natural state in Adam, through the mere mercy of God, without any allusion at this moment to pre-requisites, and placed in a state of grace and favour. In subsequently speaking of him as "being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in His death," (all which clauses are in the past tense, and do not, therefore, themselves form a part of the petition,) we presume the fulfilment of

the pre-requisites, and do but predicate of him, in passing, that same truth for which, stated in other words, we have given God thanks on his behalf at the commencement of the prayer; whilst, in praying that "he may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin," we, in fact, petition for the manifestation of the effects of those requisites of faith and repentance, without which the blessings already conferred on him, would not prove ultimately beneficial to him: and in this prayer there is no separate allusion to the "continual renewing of the Spirit," which, however, must be assumed to be included in it, as without such assistance the baptised infant never could come "with the residue of the Holy Church, to be an inheritor of the everlasting Kingdom." And we will make an end of this part of the subject, by quoting the beautiful prayer put up by the bishop after the public answer of the candidates in the Office for Confirmation, in which they solemnly ratify in their own persons the vows made for them in Baptism: "Almighty and everlasting God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these Thy servants by Water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins: strengthen them, we beseech Thee, with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and daily increase in them Thy manifold gifts of grace, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength, and the spirit of Thy holy fear, now and evermore :" in which it is manifest, that, whilst their conversion is pre-supposed, and their regeneration distinctly affirmed, the blessings so solemnly prayed for are those of the daily renewing of the Holy Ghost, the daily increase in them of God's manifold gifts of grace;" that is, continual renovation.

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We now come to deal with the feelings of those who, being unacquainted with the necessary framework of a Christian Church, and being unapt to think seriously of the brief directions of our Lord concerning the external means of forming a body of Christ, and maintaining it in the enjoyment of Divine grace, permit the notion to enter their minds that, after all, too much is said upon the subject of the ordinance of Baptism, and that its necessity is set too high, when it is declared, as our Church declares it, to be an ordinance "generally necessary to salvation;" such persons dwelling very much upon such passages as we have already mentioned, in which the new birth is spoken of without any allusion upon the face of them to the Sacrament of Baptism, and, considering how very much the new birth in those passages is treated of as the safe and ready way to everlasting salvation, are inclined to doubt whether, if faith and repentance, amounting to conversion to God, were truly had, they would not cause the individual to be a new creature in Christ, and so to be accepted of Him, even without the Sacrament of Baptism: and whether, though it be very proper to partake of Baptism as a salutary and significant rite, it be justly spoken of as a sacrament ordinarily necessary to our salvation. In answer to which feeling, which goes the whole length of questioning whether our Lord Christ has really required any solemn, public profession of Him, and beneficial initiation into His Church at all-that is, whether there be any heavenly-appointed

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