SERMON XIX.
S there is One Holy Ghost, so there is one only visible Body of ChristialS which Ahnighty God "knows by naine," and one Bal»tism which admits lnen into if. This is implied in Oie 15ext,, which is nearly larallel fo St. Paul's words fo the };phesials: "There is one Body, and one 8pirit, one Bal)tisln." But more lhan this is taught us in it; hot only that the Holy Ghost is in the Church, and that Baptism adlnits into it, but that the Holy Ghost adlnits by lneans of Baptisln, that the Holy Ghost baptizes; in other words, that eaeh individual melnber reeeives the gift of the Holy Ghost as a preliminary step, a condition, or means of his being ineorporated into the t2hureh; or, in out Saviour's words, that no one ean enter, exeept he be regenerated in order to enter it. Now, this is mueh more than many men are willing to grant, their utmost concession being, that the Church has the presenee of the Holy Spirit in if, and therefore, to be in the Chureh is to be in t.hat whieh has the
1,resence of the ][oly Spir[t; that is, to be in the u,ay of the Spirit (so to speak), which cammt but be state of fi,.vour ami privilcge; lnt, that the Holy Spirit is iven to infants, one by one, on their Baptism, this they will hot adroit. Yet, one would think words could hot le ldaincr thau the text in proof of if; howeve5 they do hot adroit it. This defective view of he Sacrament ()f Baptism, so l must hot shrink fmm cMling it, shaH now be COllsidered, aml considered in its commction with a popular argmnclt for the IIal,tism of infants, which, most ta'ue as it is in its l)r«q)er place, yet is scarcely profitable fi,r these rimes, as seeming fo countelmnce the error in question. I mean, the assmned parallel between Bat)- tism and Circumcision. It is mdenialfle that Circmncision in some important respects reselnbles Baptism, and lnay allowably, nay, usefiflly be referred to in illustration of it. Circulncision was the entrance into the Jewish Covenant, and it typified the remmciation of the flesh. In respects such as these it resemlles Baptism; and hence it has been o service in the argument for Infant Baptism, as having been itself administered fo infants. But, though it resêmbles Baptism in some respects, it is mflike it in others more important. When, then, it is fi»uud to be t.he chier and esl)ecially al.proved argument in favour of lnfallt Baptism among Chlistians, there is reason for some anxiety, lest this circumstance shotfld betoken, or fitmduce, insucient views of a Christian Sacrament. This remark, I feaL is applicable in the present day.
We baptize infats, in the first place, because the Church h;s ever done so; and, to say nothiug of the duty of observing and transmitting wht we hve received, i the case of so gre,t a privilege as Bptism, we shofld be uugvateful and insensible indeed if we did hot give out children the benelit of the usage, eve though Scripture said hot, word oa the subject, so that it said nothing the other way. But, besicles, we considcr we do final, iu our Saviour's wtrds, a commaud to bring children to tIim, fir I[is blessing. Again, He said they were to be menfl»ers of His Kngdom; also, that Ba.ptism is the ouly eutrance, the new birth into it. We admiaister, then, Bal»tism to children as a sure betcfit to their sortis. But, when mon refuse to adroit the doctrine of Baptismal Regcnemtion in the case of intaats, then they look about how thcy may defend Iufimt Baptism, which, perhaps, from habit, good feeling, or other causes, they do hot like to abandon. The ordiaary ami intelligible reasoa for t,|te P, aptism of infants, is the securing to theln remissiou of sius, and the gift of the Holy GhostRegeneration- but if this sacred pri'flege is not given to them in ]3aptism, why, it may be asked, shou]d Baptism be administered to them at all? Vhy not wait tfll they can understand the meaning of the rite, and can bave faith aad repentance themselves? Certainly.it does seem a wry intricate and unreasonable proceeding; first, fo lay stress on the necessity of repeatance and faith ia persoas to be baptized, and then to proceed to adlninister Baptism uaiversally in such a way us to exclude the possibflity of their havhg [] s repentante and faith. I sa.y, this wonld be st.range and inconsistent, were hot Baptism, in itself, so direct a blessing that, when parents demand if for their chihlren, all a.bstract rules must, in very charity, necessarily give way. We administer if whenever we do hot diseover some actual o]stacle in the recil»ient fo hider its efficacy, as we give medieine to the sick. Otherwise fle oljeetion h,flds; and, accordingly, clear-sighted men, wh, deny ifs regenerating power in the case of ifants, often do conte fo the conclusion that to administer it to them is a needless and otficious act., nay, a profination of a sacred institution. It seems to them mocke W to baptize flem; fle waste of an edifying rite, hot to sa.y a Sacrament, upon those who camot understand or use it; and, to speak the truth, they do appear reasonable and straightforward in their inference, -anting their premises. It does seem as if those who deny the regvneration of inthnts ought, if they were cosistent (which happily they are hot), to refrain from lapt.izing them. Surely, if we go by Scripture, the qnestion is decided at once; for no one can denv that there is nmch more said in Scripture in behalf of the connection between Baptism and Divine grace, than about the duty of Infant P, aptism. The passage tan sca.rcely be named, in the New Testament, where Baptism is 'eferred to, without the mention, direct or indirect, of spirital influences. What right have we to put asunder what God lins united? especially since, on the other hand, the text cannot be round which plainly enjoins the Baptism of infants. If the doctrine and the pract.ice are irreconcflable—Baptismal Ilegeneration and Infimt Baptislnlet the practice, which is hot witten in Scripture, yield to the doctrine which is; and let us (if we can bear to do so) defraud infmts of Baptism, hot Baptism of its superuatural virtue. Let us go eounter to Tradition rather than to Scripture. This being the difficulty whieh cornes upon those who deny the Pegeneration, yet would retain the Ilapt.ism of infants, let us next sec how they meet it. We need hot suppose that ail I ara dmwing out passes through the mind of eve T one who denies that infants are regenerated in ]3aptism but, surcly, solne such processes of thought are implied, which it may be useflfl to orselves to trace out. This being understood, I observe that the partly a.ssumed and partly real parallel of Cireumcision cornes, in fact, whether they l«ow it or hot, as a sort of reflge to those who have taken up this interlnediate position between Catholic doctrine and heretical practice. They awfl themselves of the itstance of Circumcision as a proof that a divinelyappointed ordinance need hot convey graee, even while it admits into a state of ga-ace; and they argue from the analogy between Circumcision and ]3aptism, that what was the case with the [osaic ordinanee is the case with the Christian also. Circumcision admitted to cert6n privfleges, to the means of grace, to teachilg, and the like; 13aptism, they eonsider, does the saine and no naore. If has also the saine uses as Circumcision, in teaching the neeessity of inward sanctification, and implying the original corrupt condition of out nature. In like ma.nner, it ought to be administered to infants, sinee Circumcision was so administered under the Law.
I do hot deny that this view is consistent with itself, and phmsible. And it would be pel'fectly satisfactory, as a view, were if Scriptural. ]3ut the 1,1aih objection to it is, that Christ and His Apostles do attach a 'ace to the ordinauce of B«ptism, such as is hot attached in the Ohl Testament to Circumcisionwhich is exactly tlmt ditrence which makes the ltter a lnere rite, the former a Scrament; and if flis be so, it is nothing to the purpose to build up a agament on tire assumption that the two ordilmnces are precisely the saine. Surely we have forgotten, in good measure, the diflbrence between Jewish Ordinances and Christian. ]t was said of old rime, after St. Paul, "The Law has a shadow, the Gospel an image, Heaven the reality;" or, in other words, that of those heavenly blessings which the Jewish Dispensation prefigm'ed, the Christian impas a portion or ernest. This, then, is the distinction between out ritua] a.nd the Mosic. The Jewish ries had no substance of blessing in them; they were but outward signs and types of spiritual prNfleges. They had in them no "grace lld truth." qen the Divine Antitype came, they were simply and merely in t.he way; flmy did but bide from the eye of faith the reality which fley had been useful in intvducing. They were as the forerunnem in a procession, who, fter announcing their Prince's coming, must themse]ves retire, or fley crowd his path. Nor these alone, but all mere ceremonies were then for ever nnseasonable, as mere obstacles intercepting the Divine light. Yet, hile Christ abolished them, considered as means of expiation or mere badges of profession, or as prophetical types of what was no longer flture, He introduced another class of ordiuaaces in their stead; Mysteries, as they are sometimes callcd, among vhich are the Sacraments, riz., rites as valueless and powerless in themselves as the.Iewisb, but being, what the.lewish were hot, instruments of the application of His merits to iudividual believers. Though He now sits on the right hand,f God, ][e has, in one sense, never left the world since ]Ie first entered it; f,r, by the ministration of the Holy Ghost, He is really present with us in a uuknown way, and ever imparts I[imse]f fo those who seek IIim. Even when visibly on earth I[e, the Son of- Man, was still "in heaven;" and uow, though Ho is ascended ou high, He is still on earth. And as He is still with us, for all that He is in heaven, so, again, is the hour of His cross and passion ever mystically present, fliough it be past these eighteen hundred years. Time and space bave no portion in the spiritual Kingdom which He bas founded; and the rites of t[is Church are as mysterious spel]s by which He aunuls the,n both. They are hot like the Jewish ordinauces, long and laborious, expensive or irksome, with aught of value or merit in themselves: they are so simple, so brief, with so little of outwa.rd sttbstauce, that the mind is hot detained for a moment from Him who works by means of them, but takes them for what they really are, only so far outwa.rd as to serve for a medium of the heavenly gift. Thus Christ shines through them, as through transparent bodies, without impediment. He is the Light and Lire of the Church, acting through it, dispensing of His fulness, knitting and colnpactiug together every part of if; and these ifs Mysteries are hot mere outward signs, but (as if were) efftuences of I[is grace devcloping themselves in external forms, as Angels might do whcn they appeared fo men. He has touched them, and ]n'eathed upon them, when He ordained them; and thenceforth they have a virtue in t.hem, which issues forth and encircles flem round, till the eye of faith secs in them no element of matter at all. Once for all He hung upon the cross, and blood and water issued from tls pierced side, but by the SpMt's ministration, the blood and water are ever towhg, as though His cross were really set up among s, and the baptismal water were but an outward image meeting out senses. Thus in a truc sense that water is hot what if was hefore, but is gifted with new and spiritual qualities. Not as if ifs materia.1 substance wcre changed, which out eyes sec, or as if any new nature were impm'ted to if, but that the lifegiving Spirit, who could make l,read of stones, and sustain animal life on dust and ashes, applies the blood of Christ through if; or according to the doctrine of the text, that He, and hot man, is the baptizer. St. l'aul sers this great tmth before us, among other places, in the second chalter of his Epistle to the t'olossians. First, he says, "In Christ dwellefl all fim fulness of the (lodhea.d bodily, and ye have Nlness in Him, who is the Head of 11 principality and power." IIere the most solenm and t.ra.nspooEing doetrine of the Incanmtion is diselosed to us, as the corner stone of the whole Chnrch system; "the Vord ruade flesh," being the divinely appointed XVay whereby we are regenerated and saved. The Apostle then proceeds to describe the manner in which this divine fulness is imparted fo ns, and in so doing contrsts the Jewish ceremony of Circumcision with the spiritual Ordinance which bas superseded if. "In whom also," in Christ, "ye are circumcised with a circumcision ruade x ithout hands," heavenly, supernatural, invisible; "when ye strip yourselves of the body of the sins of the flesh, and receive" the true circumcision, "the circumcision of Christ, namely, bnried with Him in Baptism." Thns II, aptism is a spiritual Çircumcision. lte continues still more plainly. "Let no man t]crfore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy dy, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to corne, but the body is of Christ." ]-ow if Baptism were but an outward rite, like Circumcision, how strange a proof would it be of the Gospel's superseding edl outward rites, to say that if enibrced Baptism! He says, "Ye bave ]3ptism, t]crforc do hot think of sh«dows," as ff Baptism took the plce of shadows, as if it were certainly hOt a shadow but a substance. Again he says: "]3ut the body is of Christ;" Circumcision is a shadow, but ]3aptism and the other Mysteries of the Church are "the body," and that because they are "of Christ." And lastly, he.peaks of the duty of "holding fo the Head," that is, to Christ, "from whom the whole body, being nourished and knit together by joints and bands, increaseth with a godly increase." Y']mt are these joints and bands bat the Christian Ordinances and Ministrations, together with those who perform them? but observe, they are of such a nature as to subserve the "increase" of the Church. Such is St. Paul's doctrine after Christ had died; St. John the P, aptist teaches the saine beforehand. "[ indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he shall baptize you xvith the Holy Ghost and with tire." Doubtlcss there is an allusion here to the special descent of the Spirit at l'entecost; but, even taking it as such, the flflfihnent of the Baptist's words thon, lecomes a pledge to us of the fulfihnent of our Saviour's words fo:Nicodemus to the end of rime. He who came by tire af Pentecost, will, as t[e has said, corne by water now. But we ma.y reasonably consider these very words of the ]3aptist as referring fo ordinary Christian Baptism, as well as to the miraculous Bal)tism of the Apostles. As if he said, "Christ's Baptism shall hot be mere water, as mine is. What you see of if indeed is water, but that is but the subordinate element of if; for it is water eudued with hiq and supernatural qualities. Yould if hot surprise you if water burned like tire? Such, and more than such, is the mystery of that water which He shall pour ont on you, having a searching and efficacious influence upon the soul itself." Now, if any one sa3s that snch passages as this zecd hot mean all I have supposed, I answer, that the question is hot what they tust mea.n, but what they do mean. I ara hot now engaged in proving; but in explaining the doctrine of 13aptism, and in illustrating it from Scripture. To returu:hence too the 13aptismal Font is called
"the washing of rcgencralion," hot of mere water, " and renewing of the IIoly Ghost which Ho hath poured ont on us richly flrough Jesus Christ our Saviour;" and Christ is said to lm-e "loved the Churd and giveu Himself for if, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church." Further, let us considcr the instances of the administration of Baptism in the Acts of the Apostles. If it be as serious a rite as I bave represented, surely it must be there set f.rth as a great thing, and received wifl awe and thankfuhmss. ow we shall find these expeetat.ions altogether flflfilled. For instance, on the day of Penteeosç St. Peter said fo the multitude, who asked what they must do, " Repent, and le baptized every one of you in the naine of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall reeeive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Aecordgly, "they that gladly received His word were baptized," in ortier to obtain these privileges; and, forthwith, we hear of their eontinuing " gladness and singleness of heart, praising God." Again, when the Ethiopian Eunuch had been baptized by Phflip, he "went on his way rejoicfig." After St. Paul had been struek down by the Saviour whom he was 1)erseeuting, and sent to Damaseus, he began to pray; but though in one sense a ehanged man already, he had hot yet reeeived the gift of regeneration, nor did he reeeive it exeept by the ministry of Ananias, who was sent to Him from Christ., expressly that he "might be filled with the Holy Ghost." Aeeordingly, Ananias said to him, "' And now why tarriest thon arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the naine of the Lord." So again Cornclius, religious man as he vas, and that doubtless by God's secret aid, yet was hot received into Christ's t)mily except by ]aptism. Eve the descent of the Holy Ghost Ul)On him and ]ris friemls miraculously, xvhi]e St. l'eter was preaching to thcm, did not supersede the necessity of the Sacrament. Aad lastly, when the jailor af l'hilippi had been baptized, he "rejoiced, bclieving in God with all ]ris house. '' These and similar passages seem fo prove clearly file snperiority of Baptism to Circumcision, as behg Sacrament; but if they did not, wlmt conclusion should we have arrived at? no other than this, that Baptism is like Circumcision, but a canml ordinance (if the words may be spoken), hot a spiritual possession. See what fi,llows. I)o you hot recollect hov nmch St. l'aul says in deprecia.tion of tbe rites of the Jewish Law, on the ground of their being rudiments of this world, carnal ordinances? Now if Baptisln be altogether like Circulncision, can it, any more than they, bave a place in the:New Covenant? This vas the very defect of th Mosaic Law, that it was but a fonn; this was one part of the hommage of the Jews, that they were put under forms, which contained in them no direct or intrinsic virtue, but had thcir spiritual use only as obeyed for conscience' sake, and as means of prophetic instruction. Surely this cannot be out state under the Gospel: "'We," says St. l'atfl, "when we were children," that is, Jews, '" were in bondage under Acts ii. 38-47; viii. 39; ix. 17; xxii. 16; x. 44-48; xvi. 34.
the elements of the world; but whe the flduess of the tilne was corne, God sent forth His Son, ruade of a woman.... tiret we might receive the ad,»ltiou of sons. And bec,ruse ye are sons, Goal hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Fther." Is if possible, then, now that the Spirit is cme, we can be uuder dead rites and ordinances? If is pltinly impossil)le. If Baptism then has no sl)ivit««l vivtue in it, can it be intendcd for us Christims? If if has no regeneratiug power, surely thcy «mly are COllsistent who reject if a.ltogether. I vill bohily say it, we have nothing dead and earthly under the Gospel, and we act like flae Judaiziug Christians of old rime if we submit to anything such; theref,re they only are cousistent, who, denfing the virtue of II«qtism, also deny ifs authority as a permanent ordinalce of the Gospel. Surely if was but intended for the ilmcy of the Church, ere men were weaned ri'oto their attachlnent fo ritual. Surely if was lut an oriental custoln, ediI)'ing fo those who l,ved a symbolical wor,hip, but needless, nty, harnfful fo us; harmful as ilnpeding the prerogative of Ch6stian fiberty, olSCUl'ing out view of the one Christial Atoliement, corrupting the simplicity of out faith and trust, and profalfing the dispensa.tion of fle Spirit I repeat if, either Baptism is an instrulnent of the Holy Ghost, or it has no place in Chfistiauity. XVe indeed, who, in accordance with the teaching of the Church Universal, believe that it is an act of the Spirit, are under no diculty in this marrer. But let flmse who deny if look fo themselvea They aoe on their o principles committing fle s of the Galatians, and severing themselves from Christ. Surely if their doctrine le r]ght, they may considcr themselves addressed by St. Paul h his lmguage to lhose early Judaizers, "0 senseless Galatians," he would ha.ve said to them, "who hath bewltched you? Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now ruade perfect by the flesh? Why burden yourselves with mere ceremonies, external wadfings, the rudiments of the worhl, shmlows of good flfings, weak, beggarly, and nnprofit.alle elements, xvhereunto ye desire fo be in londage? Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath marie us fl'ee, and be hot entangled with the yoke of 1,rodage. 8piritual men are delivered ff'oto fonnal observances. If ye be baptized, Christ shall profit you nothing; for neither aptism avafieth anything nor want of Baptism, but faith whieh wmqeth by love. Neither aptism availeth anything nor want of Bapt.isn, but a new creature; and ag nmny as walk aeeording to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and upon the lsrael of God." Sueh, doultless, is the only consistent nmde of regarding and treating this saered ordinance, if it has no power or grace in it above a Jewish rite. We should diseard if. And in whatever degree we think it thus unprofita]»le, so fitr we should diseard if. If we tlink it but a figure in the case of ehildren, thoug a Saerament fo grown men, we should keep ff'oto wasting upon children what would benefit them as men. And this holds good of all the ordinanees of the Church; so far as they are but. outward forms, let them be aboshed as parts of dead Judaism. But, praised be Goal they are none of them such. They all have lire. Christ has lodged virtue in His Church, aud she dispeuses if forth ff'oto ber in ail her words and works. Why will you not believe this? What do you gaiu by so jealous and nigga.rdly a spirit, such " slowness of heart," but the loss of floughts fidl of comfort and of majcsty? To -iew Christ s all but visil@ revealed—to look upon His ordinances, hot in themselves, but as signs of His presence and power, as the accents of His love, the very form and countenance of ][im who ever beholds us, ever eherishes us—to sec IIim tlms revealed in glory day by dy—is hot this fo those ho believe if an unspeakable privilege? Is if hot so great tlmt a man migttt, well wish if truc from the excellence of it, and eount them happy who are able to reeeive if? And when this is all ldainly revealed in Seripture, hen we are expressly told that Christ washes us by Water to change us into a gtorious Chureh, that the eonseerated bread is His flesh, that He is prescrit with His minisrets, and is in the midst of His Chnreh, why should we draw baek, like Thomas doubting of out Lord's resurreetion? "Blessed are t.hey that have hot seen and yet have believed!" Surely, soit is; and however the worhl may seorn our faith, however those may despise us from whom we nfight expeet better thiugs, we will eheerfully bear what is a slight drawback indeed on oto" extreme blessedness. Whfle they accuse us of trusthg in onrselves, of trusting in out forms, and of ignorance of the Gospel, we will meekly say in out hearts, "' Thou God, seest me:' Thou knowest that we desia'e fo love nothing but Thee, and fo trust in nothing but the cross of Christ; and that we relinquish alI self-reliance, and know ourseh, es in ourselves to have not, hing but sin and misew, and esteem these ordinances of Thine hot for their own sake, but as memoria.ls of Thee and of Thy Son—memorials qich He bas a.ppointed, which He hs blcssetl, and in -hich, by faith, ce see Him manifi, sted, dy by day, and througb which we hope to 'eceive the iml?utation of those merits, once for all 'rougt out on the Cross, and out only effectual help in the day of ccount."