that cannot do it presently, are not baptized rightly, because they are not in capacity to "put on the new man" in righteousness, that is, in an actual holy life; for they may "put on the new man" in baptism, just as "they are risen with Christ:" which, because it may be done by faith before it is done in real event, and it may be done by sacrament and design before it be done by a proper faith; so also may our putting on the new man be; it is done sacramentally, and that part, which is wholly the work of God, does only antedate the work of man, which is to succeed in its due time, and is after the manner of preventing grace. But this is by the bye. In order to the present article, baptism is by Theodoret called μετουσία τῆς δεσποτικῆς ἀναστάσεως, “ a participation of the Lord's resurrection." 25. Fifthly and lastly: "By baptism we are saved :" that is, we are brought from death to life here, and that is "the first resurrection;" and we are brought from death to life hereafter, by virtue of the covenant of the state of grace, into which in baptism we enter, and are preserved from the second death, and receive a glorious and an eternal life. "He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved," said our blessed Saviour; and," according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost"." 26. After these great blessings, so plainly testified in Scripture and the doctrine of the primitive church, which are regularly consigned and bestowed in baptism, I shall less need to descend to temporal blessings, or rare contingencies, or miraculous events, or probable notices of things less certain. Of this nature are those stories recorded in the writings of the church, that Constantine was cured of a leprosy in baptism; Theodosius recovered of his disease, being baptized by the bishop of Thessalonica; and a paralytic Jew was cured as soon as he became a Christian, and was baptized by Atticus of Constantinople; and bishop Arnulph baptizing a leper, also cured him, said Vincentius Bellovacensis. It is more considerable, which is generally and piously believed by very many eminent persons in the church, that, at our baptism, God assigns an angel-guardian, (for then the catechumen, being made a servant and a brother to the Lord of angels, is sure not to want Niceph. lib. vii. c. 35. Socr. lib. v. c. 6. Idem, lìb. vii. c. 7. the aids of them who "pitch their tents round about them that fear the Lord",") and that this guard and ministry is then appointed when themselves are admitted into the inheritance of the promises: and their title to salvation is hugely agreeable to the words of St. Paul," Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?" where it appears, that the title to the inheritance is the title to this ministry, and therefore must begin and end together. But I insist not on this, though it seems to me hugely probable. All these blessings put into one syllabus, have given to baptism many honourable appellatives in Scripture and other divine writers, calling it avayévnow, παλιγγενεσίαν, ἔχημα πρὸς θεὸν, ἔχημα πρὸς οὐρανὸν, βασιλείας πρόξενον, τὴν κλεῖδα τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, μεγάλην περιτομὴν ἀχειροποίητον, ἀνακαίνωσιν, ἐπερώτημα, ἀῤῥαβῶνα, ἐνέχυρον, ἀπόδειξιν, ἀνάκτισιν, ἔνδυμα OTEVOV, sacramentum vitæ et æternæ salutis: "A new birth, a regeneration, a renovation, a chariot carrying us to God, the great circumcision, a circumcision made without hands, the key of the kingdom, the paranymph of the kingdom, the earnest of our inheritance, the answer of a good conscience, the robe of light, the sacrament of a new life and of eternal salvation." "ApiσTOV Mèv üdwg This is celestial water, springing from the sides of the rock upon which the church was built, when the rock was smitten with the rod of God. 27. It remains now that we inquire what concerns our duty, and in what persons, or in what dispositions, baptism produces all these glorious effects: for the sacraments of the church work in the virtue of Christ, but yet only upon such as are servants of Christ, and hinder not the work of the Spirit of grace. For the water of the font, and the Spirit of the sacrament, are indeed to wash away our sins, and to purify our souls; but not unless we have a mind to be purified. The sacrament works pardon for them, that hate their sin, and procures grace for them that love it. They that are guilty of sins, must repent of them, and renounce them, and they must make a profession of the faith of Christ, and give, or be given, up to the obedience of Christ; and then they are rightly disposed. "He that believeth, and is baptized, shall b Psal. xxxiv. 7. c Heb. i. 14. d Basil. Theod. Epiphan. Nazianc. Col. ii. 2. Cyril. Hieros. Dionys. Areop. Aug. lib. ii. c. 13. contra Crescon. Gram. be saved," saith Christ; and St. Peter called out to the whole assembly, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of youf." Concerning this, Justin Martyrs gives the same account of the faith and practice of the church ; Ὅσοι ἂν πειθῶσι καὶ πιστέυωσιν, &c. "Whosoever are persuaded, and believe those things to be true, which are delivered and spoken by us, and undertake to live accordingly, they are commanded to fast and pray, and to ask of God remission of their former sins, we also praying together with them, and fasting. Then they are brought to us where water is, and are regenerated in the same manner of regeneration by which we ourselves are regenerated." For in baptism, St. Peter observes, there are two parts, the body and the spirit: that is, caprès àπódeσis purou, "the putting away the filth of the flesh"," that is, the ῥυποῦ, material washing; and this is baptism no otherwise than a dead corpse is a man: the other is συνειδήσεως ἀγαθῆς ἐπερώτημα, "the answer of a good conscience towards God," that is, the conversion of the soul to God; that is the effective disposition in which baptism does save us. And in the same sense are those sayings of the primitive doctors to be understood, "Anima non lavatione, sed responsione sancitur," the soul is not healed by washing (viz.) alone, but by the answer, the Eπegúτnua in St. Peter, the correspondent of our part of the covenant for that is the perfect sense of this unusual expression. And the effect is attributed to this, and denied to the other, when they are distinguished. So Justin Martyr affirms: "The only baptism that can heal us, is repentance, and the knowledge of God. For what need is there of that baptism, that can only cleanse the flesh and the body? Be washed in your flesh from wrath and covetousness, from envy and hatred; and behold the body is purek." And Clemens Alexandrinus, upon that proverbial saying, "Io un nouτgw, ánλà λουτρῷ, vów nadapos, "Be not pure in the laver, but in the mind," adds, "I suppose that an exact and a firm repentance is a sufficient purification to a man; if judging and considering ourselves for the facts we have done before, we proceed to that which is before us, considering that which follows, and cleansing or washing our mind from sensual affections, and from former sins." Just as we use to deny the effect to the instrumental f Acts, ii. 38. e Mark, xvi. 16. i Tert. de Res. Carn. Apol. ad Anton. Cæs. cause, and attribute it to the principal, in the manner of speaking, when our purpose is to affirm this to be the principal, and of chief influence. So we say, it is not the good lute, but the skilful hand, that makes the music: it is not the body, but the soul, that is the man and yet he is not the man without both. For baptism is but the material part in the sacrament," it is the Spirit that giveth life;" whose work is faith and repentance, begun by himself without the sacrament, and consigned in the sacrament, and actuated and increased in the co-operation of our whole life. And therefore baptism is called in the Jerusalem creed, Ev Báπтioμa μετανοίας εἰς ἄφεσιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, “ one baptism of repentance for the remission of sins:" and by Justin Martyr', λoutpòv Tñs μετανοίας καὶ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀνομίας τῶν λαῶν τοῦ EO YEYOVEV," the baptism of repentance, and the knowledge of God, which was made for the sins of the people of God." He explains himself a little after, τὸ βάπτισμα τὸ μόνον καθαρίσαι τουτὸ μετανοήσαντας δυνάμενον, “ baptism that can only cleanse them that are penitent." "In sacramentis Trinitati occurrit fides credentium et professio, quæ apud acta conficitur angelorum, ubi miscentur cœlestia et spiritualia semina; ut sancto germine nova possit renascentium indoles procreari, ut dum Trinitas cum fide concordat, qui natus fuerit seculo, renascatur spiritualiter Deo. Sic fit hominum Pater Deus, sancta fit mater ecclesia," said Optatus". "The faith and profession of the believers meets with the ever-blessed Trinity, and is recorded in the register of angels, where heavenly and spiritual seeds are mingled; that from so holy a spring may be produced a new nature of the regeneration, that while the Trinity (viz. that is invocated upon the baptized) meets with the faith of the catechumen, he that was born to the world, may be born spiritually to God. So God is made a Father to the man, and the holy church a mother." Faith and repentance strip the old man naked, and make him fit for baptism; and then the Holy Spirit, moving upon the waters, cleanses the soul, and makes it to put on the new man, who grows up to perfection and a spiritual life, to a life of glory, by our verification of our undertaking in baptism on our part, and the graces of the Spirit on the other. For the waters pierce 1 Dial. dum Tryph. VOL. I. m Lib. ii. adv. Parm. no farther than the skin, till the person puts off his affection to the sin that he hath contracted; and then he may say, "Aquæ intraverunt usque ad animam meam,” "The waters are entered even unto my soul, to purify and cleanse it, by the washing of water, and the renewing by the Holy Spirit." The sum is this" : Βαπτιζόμενοι φωτιζόμεθα, φωτιζόμενοι ὑιοποιούμεθα, ὑιοποιούμενοι τελειούμεθα, τελειούμενοι ἀθανατιζόμεθα· "Being baptized we are illuminated, being illuminated we are adopted to the inheritance of sons, being adopted we are promoted towards perfection, and being perfected we are made immortal." Quisquis in hos fontes vir venerit, exeat indè 28. This is the whole doctrine of baptism, as it is in itself considered, without relation to rare circumstances or accidental cases and it will also serve to the right understanding of the reasons, why the church of God hath, in all ages, baptized all persons that were within her power, for whom the church could stipulate, that they were, or might be, relatives of Christ, sons of God, heirs of the promises, and partners of the covenant, and such as did not hinder the work of baptism upon their souls. And such were not only persons of age and choice, but the infants of Christian parents. For the understanding and verifying of which truth, I shall only need to apply the parts of the former discourse to their particular case, premising first these propositions. Of baptizing Infants. PART II. 1. BAPTISM is the key in Christ's hand, and therefore opens as he opens, and shuts by his rule: and as Christ himself did not do all his blessings and effects unto every one, but gave to every one as they had need; so does baptism. Christ did not cure all men's eyes, but them only that were blind; "Clem. Alex. lib. i. Pædag. c. 6. |