words," the kingdom of God," being frequently put for the dispensation of the Messiah.a

Again, our Saviour has made baptism one of the precepts, though not one of the means necessary to salvation. A mean is that, the possession of which necessarily procures the possession of the end, and without which the end cannot be obtained; whereas a precept is an institution in which there is no such natural efficacy, but the neglect of which implies the contempt of the authority that commanded it. This distinction is clearly expressed in our Saviour's words concerning faith and baptism : " he that "believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but "he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark, xvi. 16.) Here faith is said to be the mean of salvation; since if we have it we may be saved, and if we have it not, we shall be damned. Baptism, on the contrary, is a ritual action, and as it requires the assistance of another person, in order to its performance, our salvation should be placed in the power of that person, if we could not be saved without it. Hence it is only a precept which we are bound to observe in order to our salvation, as is evident from our Sa. viour's omitting it, when he reversed the words; "he that believeth not" (without adding, " and

a

See Hooker's Eccl. Pol. b. 5. sec. 59; Wall's Hist. of Inf. Bap, p. 2. c. 6. p. 354. Ed. Lond. 1707. and Calvin's Instit. 1. 4. c. 16. sec. 25.

is not baptized") "shall be damned." Since, however, baptism is thus made a precept, the observation of which is necessary to our salvation, it follows, that it is more than the mere characteristic of a Christian's profession.

3. The nature of baptism appears from the conduct of the Apostles concerning it. So far were they from considering it as a carnal rite, above which a higher dispensation of the Spirit was to raise them, that when St. Peter saw the Holy Ghost visibly descend upon Cornelius and his friends, he immediately baptized them, saying, "Can any one forbid water, that these should "not be baptized, who have received the Holy "Ghost as well as we." (Acts, x. 47.)

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II. The Article declares the ends of baptism. 1. "They that receive baptism rightly, are grafted into the Church, the promises of the "forgiveness of sin, of our adoption to be the "Sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed;" and, 2. " faith is con"firmed, and grace increased, by virtue of prayer 66 to God."

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1. The external end is mentioned by St. Paul, we are all baptized into one body, we are "made members one of another." (1 Cor. xii. 12, 13.) We are admitted to the society of Christians, and all the rights and privileges of the Church. For this purpose, the outward action of baptism, regularly performed, is sufficient.

2. Baptism has also an internal and spiritual end. This appears (1.) from the words of St. Paul; "God has saved us by the washing of regenera“ ́tion and the receiving of the Holy Ghost." (Tit. iii. 5.) The words "the washing of regeneration," plainly allude to baptism, for the term "saved" is used by St. Peter in this connexion,

baptism saves us," (1 Pet. iii. 21,) and St. Paul elsewhere says that "baptism represents our being dead to sin and buried with Christ," (Rom. vi. 2, 4,) and “our being risen and quickened with him, and made alive unto God." (Col. ii. 12, 13.) This then is the inward effect of baptism; it is a death to sin and a new life in Christ. (2.) The existence of this spiritual end is evident from the words, " I baptize thee in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" for had baptism been no more than the receiving us into the society of Christians, it would have been more proper to say "I baptize thee in the name of the Church." The words therefore appointed by our Lord, prove that baptism is the admitting men to privileges which depend only on God, and the conferring of which can only be derived from his authority.

With respect to baptism, two opinions were held in the early Church, from which we dissent. The first was, that baptism was believed to be absolutely necessary to salvation; this was

a See Hammond's Practical Catech. 1. 6. sec. 1, 2.

founded on our Saviour's words to Nicodemus, in which "the kingdom of God" being supposed to signify eternal glory, it was thence inferred, that no man could be saved, unless he had been baptized. The consequence of this opinion was the permitting the ceremony to be performed by all persons, laymen and women, without any particular sponsion on the part of those who desired it; and as it is reasonable to believe that sponsions are necessary to baptism, the validity of the ceremony thus performed can only be supported by saying that a sponsion was implied by the desire of the parents that they should be baptized.

Another opinion arising from the same source was, that every person on whom the external ceremony was performed, obtained also the internal effects, and "the renewing of the Holy Ghost" always accompanied "the washing of regeneration;" which led St. Augustine to make the distinction already mentioned between the regenerate and the predestinate. The words of St. Peter, in treating on this subject, disprove this opinion. Having explained the miserable state in which mankind were, under the figure of the deluge, in which an ark was prepared for Noah and his family, he adds," the like figure "whereunto, even baptism, doth also now save

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us ;" (1 Pet. iii. 21.); upon which he makes a

a

See Art. ix. p. 159. and Art. xvii. p. 224.

digression to explain the nature of baptism,

not the putting away the filth of the flesh, "but the answer of a good conscience towards "God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who "is gone into heaven." The meaning of this passage is, that Christ having upon his resurrection, all power in earth and heaven given to him, had placed such an efficacy in baptism, that by it we are saved, as in an ark, from the wretched state in which the world lies. But as to the way in which it saves us, he explains, that it is not a physical action, as it washes away the filth of the body, according to the opinion the Jews had of their cleansings, after they had contracted any legal impurity, from which they were quite freed by bathing. On the contrary, the salvation that Christians obtain by baptism is effected by the fœderal compact into which we enter, when upon our being required to renounce the devil, the world, and the flesh, and to repent and believe in Christ, we make such answers of a good conscience as accord with the design of baptism. It is true that when the ceremony is duly performed, according to all appearances, then the baptism is valid, as far as the outward and visible effects of it. But since it is the answer of a good conscience alone which saves us, it follows that an answer from a bad conscience, from a hypocrite, cannot save him, but rather aggravates his damnation; and