CHAPTER V.

Baptismal Regeneration.

ANOTHER tenet of modern fashionable theology is. baptismal regeneration.

Into this very important question, which lies at the foundation of all real religion at present, a minute inquiry cannot be made; it must suffice to notice briefly the principal writers on the subject, and to state some of the most obvious objections and consequences arising out of this popish tenet.

Mr. now bishop Mant, at first insisted, that baptism was always regeneration, if duly administered; that is, if the water was sprinkled, and the service read by any episcopally ordained priest, whether protestant, or papist, or pelagian, or formalist, or Socinian, or deist, or atheist. But afterwards, when grappled with in the controversy by his more evangelical, more able, and more learned brethren, he, in effect, gave up the whole question, by saying, that baptism was regeneration, if duly received; that is, by adults, when receiving it by faith; a position denied by no Christian sect or individual; but quite another and distinct consideration from the baptismal regeneration of infants.

Without wandering into any metaphysical subtleties, or losing ourselves amidst the mazes of Biblical criticism, we may simply ask, if baptism be always regeneration, where is the only evidence we can have of spiritual or real regeneration? that is to say, a holy life in all who have been episcopally baptized.

REAL REGENERATION.

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Ís baptismal regeneration proved by the frowardness, the disobedience, the rebellion against all authority, the unsanctified tempers and dispositions, the envying strifes and bickerings of the great majority of children who have been episcopally christened? by their youth of dissipation and profligacy; their manhood of ambition and worldly calculation; their old age of avarice, and discontent, and querulousness?

These are not the fruits of regeneration, as exhibited in the word of God. The glorious liberty of the children of God is the being freed from the darkness of unbelief, and the bondage of moral corruption, and translated into the light of faith, the fire of love, and the law of righteousness. The strong holds of sin on the one hand, and of self-righteousness on the other, are broken down. By the lost condition of our nature, we are insensible of our sinful state, and ignorant of our extreme danger; impenitent, and unbelieving, and self-righteous, though unholy. From this legal, formal state of insensibility, impenitence, unbelief, self-righteousness, and slavery to sin, every child of God is delivered by the effectual operation of the Holy Ghost; who, pointing out the danger of original and actual sin, directs them to Christ alone, as the way, the truth, and the life. No longer habitually self-righteous, they gratefully rest upon the righteousness of Christ, as the sole procuring cause of their acceptance in the Father's sight; while they labour after inward conformity to the divine image, and outward conformity to the divine law; being well aware, that without holiness no man can see the Lord; and that faith without works is dead.

An unrenewed person, whether episcopally baptized or not, has no spiritual sense; no hearing of the promises; no perception of his own misery; no adequate notion of God's holiness, nor of the perfect purity of the divine law, nor of Christ, as an absolute Saviour, nor of the Holy Spirit, as the re

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WOMAN IN TROUBLE.

vealer of Christ in the heart; no experience of the Father's everlasting love; no communion with him through the ministrations of the Holy Ghost; no feeling of grace, producing conviction, comfort, and sanctification; no hungering and thirsting after spiritual enjoyments and assurances; no yearnings of the soul after the blood, and righteousness and intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. If these be experienced, they are indications of spiritual life; if not, mere water baptism, however administered, is no regeneration.

Nevertheless, so little are our formalists aware of these plain Scriptural truths, that recently, one of our largest divines, when applied to by a woman in his congregation, who was labouring under deep convictions of sin, and desirous of receiving some spiritual advice from her pastor, gave it as his decided opinion, that she had no occasion for a change of heart, because her heart was changed at baptism."

Upon receiving this gracious assurance, the woman retired, leaving our doctor delighted with the depth of his own divinity. But, as her mind had been actually illumined by the quickening influences of the Holy Spirit, she soon discovered that the doctor's answer was not exactly calculated to direct her steps aright in the Christian course; and some time thereafter waited again upon her high priest, and told him that she had now found peace in believing, and joy in the Holy Ghost. To this he answered sharply and roughly, " that she was under a gross delusion; and if she continued such a weak fanatic, she would soon become absolutely crazy; that when she was baptized, her heart received all the change that was necessary; that she was then justified, and nothing remained for her to do, but to be confirmed, go to church, occasionally communicate, read the common prayer book, and lead a sober, moral life; and if at any time she fell from her baptismal state, she had only to be sorry and repent, which would bring her back to that happy condi

tion of regeneration and justification; and she would go to heaven, as a matter of course, upon her covenant claim of communion with the episcopal church.”

The poor woman finding neither consolation, nor instruction, from such popish, semi-pelagian doctrine, went over to an evangelical presbyterian, under whose faithful ministry she now sits. The worthy doctor on being told that such conduct on his part was calculated to drive all serious persons from the episcopalian into other churches, exclaimed, "so much the better, I would have all enthusiasts and fanatics leave the church; they are only fit to be presbyterians and methodists."

Undoubtedly, if this laudable scheme of quenching all the operations of the Spirit of God be steadily persevered in, and carried into full effect, the American-Anglo-Church will not long be infected with any taint of Christianity; but will soon exhibit one entire hideous mass of self-righteous formalism; one huge, misshapen carcass of popish, Pelagian putrefaction.

It is precisely such theologues, and such theology, that impart all its point and sting to the following anecdote. "An English nobleman said to Matthew Mead, the nonconformist, I am sorry sir, that we have not a person of your abilities with us in the established church, where they would be extensively useful.' 'You do not, my lord, require persons of great abilities in the establishment; for when you christen a child, you regenerate it by the Holy Ghost; when you confirm a youth, you assure him of God's favour and the forgiveness of his sins; when you visit the sick, you absolve them from all their iniquities; and when you bury the dead, you send them all to heaven. Of what particular service, then, can great abilities be in your communion ?" "

There are other divines than Mr. Mead, who certainly act, whatever they may say, as if they thought talents and learning were quite unnecessary incumbrances to "a regular and authorized ministry.

A thoroughgoing formalist, however, is not so decided an enemy to talents and learning, as to all evangelical piety. A late bishop of St. David's dissuaded a lady from hearing Mr. Whitfield preach, lest it might hurt her nerves; concluding, doubtless, that preaching the Gospel might alarm those who are not used to it. Much more recently, a very great dignitary in the Anglican Church, said to a lady of quality, who troubled him with a quotation from the apostle of the Gentiles; "do not tell me of St. Paul, madam; it would have been happy for the church, if St. Paul had never written a line of his epistles."

It is truly lachrymable to think how early superstition and formalism began to encroach on the simplicity and spirituality of the Gospel; and to lean their whole weight upon the mere opus operatum of external ordinances. The papists soon deemed it convenient to represent baptism as inseparably connected with the absolute and plenary forgiveness of sins; whence many stout believers in the infallibility of the bishop of Rome, wisely postponed the being baptized to the last moment of life, and thus made sure of heaven. It sometimes happened, however, that these persons, by delaying their baptism too long, actually died unbaptized; in which case, one of his relations or friends was baptized in the dead man's stead; and the priest begged God to accept this proxy baptism, in the same manner as if it had been administered to the principal, when living; and thus an unbaptized dead body received the full benefit of baptismal regeneration.

The best divines, including the fathers and founders of the Anglican Church, represent baptism as typical of regeneration; and as the initiatory ordinance, by which persons, whether infant or adult, are incorporated into the visible church, and enrolled among Christian professors. They believe, that the administration of baptism is, sometimes, attended with the real, renewing influences of the Holy Ghost;