SECTION V.

ON BAPTISM AS AN INITIATORY ORDINANCE.

J. A. JAMES.-"Only let us unsting controversy; only let us speak the truth in love; only let us controvert as brethren, and not as enemies; only let us contend for truth, not for victory; only let us carry on our controversy about minor matters, with a recollection that we are agreed on greater ones; . . . only let us argue and expostulate as we should with a brother we most tenderly loved, about something he held which we thought was doing him harm-and then we may be as zealous as we please about church government."-Church in Ear., pp. 153, 154.

WEBSTER and WILKINSON.-"The Sacrament of baptism. . as being the initiatory rite of discipleship."-Gr. Tes. on Ti. 3, 5.

Dr. HALLEY.-"I consider baptism to be the initiatory rite, and the Lord's Supper the commemorative institution, of the Christian church."-Cong. Lec., p. 6.

"BAPTISM, as the sign of discipleship," says Dr. Halley, "was, in the first instance, enjoined upon every proselyte.' "Our Lord instituted baptism," says Archb. Newcome, "as a perpetual rite of initiation into His church." 66 'Baptism," says Richard Watson, "was expressly made the initiatory rite by which believers of all nations were to be introduced into the church and covenant of grace. Baptism is an initiation into, and acceptance of the covenant of grace required of us by Christ as a visible expression and acceptance of that faith in Him which He has made a condition of that salvation." "Baptism is the grand initiatory act by which we enter into this covenant, in order to claim all its spiritual blessings, and to take upon ourselves all its obligations." "From its very office as the rite of initiation into the general community of believers," says Mr. Stacey, "baptism must be regarded as an appropriate, not to say indispensable, condition of participation in the Lord's Supper." Mr. Arthur styles baptism "the badge of citizenship."+ Without conceding all the effects and advantages claimed for baptism by our Pædobaptist friends, remembering that without holiness "no man shall see the Lord;" that by "love one to another" shall disciples of Christ be known; and that "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God," we may yet admit and maintain that Scriptural baptism is an initiatory ordinance.

The records respecting John's baptism teach that it might be called Initiatory, because he preached, "saying, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" he "baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on Him who should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus ;" and they "were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." Even the baptism of our Lord, although an exception to the rest, He being without sin, &c., was His initiation into His public labours as 'a Teacher come from God." But our concern being with what may most appropriately be designated Christian baptism, we assign a few reasons for regarding it as being by Divine appointment at the commencement of a new life, and new relationship. When we speak of baptism as initiatory, we do not mean that it preceded repentance and faith, or that it was in itself regenerating, but that it was the first act required of the professing recipient of the Gospel, the act in which, by Divine appointment, he signified his faith in Jesus and

The Sacraments, pp. 92, 93. Subsequent references to Mr. S. are to this work, unless otherwise expressed. + The Tongue of Fire, p. 9.

BAPTISM AN INITIATORY ACT.

devotedness to Him, and by which he was introduced, where Christians existed, into their society and privileges. In many instances, in the beginning of Christianity, it could not introduce into any particular church. But we believe that every baptized person professed by baptism discipleship to Christ, and was acknowledged as a disciple of Christ, until, in exceptional cases, hypocrisy, inconsistency, or apostacy, being subsequently apparent, demanded another course.

1. The language of Jesus to Nicodemus we consider as describing the state of things under the Christian dispensation, and as teaching the initiatory character of baptism. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John iii. 5). We believe that being "born of water" refers to baptism, the law of the Christian dispensation being, that all be admitted into the church of Christ on earth, through water; in other words, that the external operation, introducing into the visible kingdom of Christ on earth, be baptism; and that the internal operation, without which there can be no admission into the kingdom of glory, and without which there is no meetness for, or authority to enter into, the church of Christ on earth, is being born of the Spirit. On this passage our Wesleyan brother Mr. Stacey, says, "To obtain admission into this kingdom the New Birth is required, and this is effected by the twofold operation of the Spirit and of water,-by the Spirit, as to its substance, by water, as to its sign; by the one as to its inward reality; by the other as to its outward profession. It is as if the Redeemer had said,-a man can enter the kingdom of God formally only as he is initiated by baptism, and really only as he is purified by the Spirit. He is saved, as the apostle otherwise expresses it, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost" (pp. 76, 77). Thus our Independent brother Dr. Halley, on the same Scripture says, "Unless he become a proselyte by baptism, he is not, ostensibly and as entitled to its external privileges, a member of that kingdom; unless he become a convert by the Spirit, he is not, really and as entitled to its everlasting rewards, To be completely a member of Christ's a member of that kingdom. (p. 119). A similar kingdom, both acknowledged by the church, and approved of God, he must be both a baptized and a converted man view of the import of this passage is given by the Episcopalians Scott and Sumner, and by the Presbyterian Barnes, as well as by others.

This com2. The initiatory character of baptism appears from the commission solemnly given by the Saviour shortly before His ascension. mission included three things enjoined upon the apostles, namely, to disciple,* to baptize, and to teach the observance of all the will of Christ.

• The original word, matheteuo, includes or implies the communicating of instrucIt embraces instruction contion necessary to make disciples, which instruction must refer to the need of a Saviour, and to the person, character, and claims of the adorable Jesus. The word didusko is properly rendered to teach. cerning all that Christ has commanded, and all the obligations of His disciples to their Teacher, Lord, and Saviour.

We now deem it much preferIn imitation of Dr. Carson, and many others, the quotations from Greek, Hebrew, and Oriental languages, are given in Roman characters. ale that such a barbarous appearance of these words should have been avoided, but Therence to the original plan is necessitated by a regard to time and expense.

The first duty in the order of the three mentioned, is to make disciples. The duty next mentioned is that of baptizing; and the last-mentioned duty is that of teaching to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. We are aware that some who believe with us in the initiatory character of baptism, deny that we receive any instruction from the order in which duties are mentioned in this commission. We do not wonder at this, believing that a regard to order in the instruction of the Saviour would prove immediately fatal to the baptizing of infants. When we speak of the subjects of baptism, this objection may be noticed.

3. That baptism is, according to the Scriptures, an initiatory ordinance, introducing into the church of Christ, or Christ's visible kingdom on earth, is confirmed by the record of the apostle Peter's instructions on the day of Pentecost, and of the practical regard paid to the same. Peter bade the inquiring Jews, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of" them ; after which we shortly read, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls" (Acts ii. 41).

4. Every subsequent reference to baptism, in Holy Writ, confirms this view of it as an initiatory ordinance. Hence, in Acts viii. 12, we read, "But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." It is a natural inference from the record respecting Lydia and her household (xvi. 14, 15); and is indisputably evident respecting the jailor and all his (32, 33). It is again corroborated in Acts xviii. 8: "And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized." Some of the truths implied, or figuratively represented in baptism, are exclusively or especially appropriate to the beginning of the Christian life. How appropriate at this time is the declaration of a belief in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection; and of a death unto sin on our part! How appropriate the burial with Christ, and the rising up to walk in newness of life! (Rom. vi. 2-6.) If a person has ignorantly or sinfully neglected baptism in the commencement of his Christian career, we do not recommend the continued neglect of it, because it has not been attended to at the proper time. The putting on of Christ is without doubt most appropriate at the time of our becoming Christians (Gal. iii. 27). Every precept in regard to baptism, every record of its observance, and every reference to it in the volume of inspiration, favour the conclusion that it is an ordinance that should be observed at the beginning of the spiritual, the new, the Christian life.

SECTION VI.

BAPTISM NOT A CONVERTING AND SAVING ORDINANCE.

Dr. J. MORISON.-"A more fatal mistake there cannot be, than to attribute to baptism that change, of which it is only the appointed sign in the Christian church. It is lamentable, beyond expression, that professed Protestants should require to be combated with the same weapons precisely as those employed against the worst errors of Romanism. But so it must be, while the

BAPTISM NOT CONVERTING AND SAVING.

pestilence of Roman heresy lurks within the precincts of a reformed church.

As the outward sign

of inward cleansing by the grace and Spirit of Christ, baptism is a most significant and instructive ordinance; but those who would confound, or even identify it with the renewing of the Holy Ghost, have quitted the doctrine of the apostle, and substituted in its place a mere human invention. It is one thing to affirm that Christ has enjoined baptism as an initiatory rite of His kingdom; it is quite another thing, and an error of the most formidable dimensions, to assert that all baptized persons are born of the Spirit."-Hom. for the Times, pp. 265, 328, 329, 342, 343.

J. STACEY.-The authority of men, though learned and pious, is worthless, when set against the authority of God; and tradition valuable in its own subordinate sphere, becomes unmixedly pernicious when employed to propound a doctrine, or establish an ordinance."-The Sac., p. 17.

WE regard baptism as a solemn and significant profession of discipleship to Jesus, as the divinely-appointed way of entrance into the body of Christ; and we repudiate scornful remarks or erroneous ideas in regard to its insignificance. But we do not regard baptism as an act by which we become new creatures in Christ Jesus and heirs of everlasting 66 are all the life. We believe that faith, according to the Scriptures, is a pre-requisite to baptism; that we are "justified by faith;" that we children of God by faith in Christ Jesus ;" and that our views of the necessity of faith unto Scriptural baptism, whilst opposed by no part of Holy Writ, are affirmed or corroborated by every inspired precept and precedent. Should it be objected that we do not require faith, but the profession of faith, because we do not, and cannot, search the heart, it may be replied that the fault is in the unbeliever, when the profession of faith without the possession is made in his baptism, and the administrator has no evidence of his insincerity. The Scriptures, which, as we think, teach the necessity of faith to baptism and the Lord's Supper, no more require that the administrator of baptism should know the heart, than that churches should know the hearts of those whom they admit to membership and the Lord's Supper.

The great commission does not to us appear ambiguous in regard to the duty of baptizing disciples. "Go ye, therefore, disciple all the nations, baptizing them," &c. If a doubt should enter, another record is sufficient for its expulsion: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but to every creature. he that believeth not shall be damned." Apostolic injunctions and subsequent practice, as recorded in the inspired volume, perfectly coincide with our sentiments, that discipleship is the pre-requisite to baptism, and is professed in baptism. Hence, "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you. . . . Then they that gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." "Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them... When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, they were baptized, both men and women." Enlargement on this subject would be more appropriate if we were writing on the subjects of Christian baptism. Sufficient has been written to show how far we differ from the following extracts:

"Sin, whether contracted by birth from our first parents, or committed of ourselves, by the admirable virtue of this sacrament, is remitted and pardoned; by baptism we are joined and knit to Christ as members to the head; by baptism we 'Baptism, wherein I was made a memare signed with a character which can never be blotted out of our souls; it opens to every one of us the gate of heaven."*

66

*Cat. of the Coun. of Trent.

ber of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven."* "The Gospel contains not only a doctrine, but a covenant; and by baptism we are brought into that covenant."+ "Was I baptized in infancy? Then have I an additional incentive to gratitude; for from that early period has pardon of sin, free salvation, eternal life, with every new covenant blessing, been sealed to me."‡ "The disciples were to be made by baptism, not made and then baptized."|| How decidedly opposed all these are to the inspired Word respecting the Great Teacher, that He "made and baptized" disciples!

We refuse to baptize all unconscious babes; nor do we, according to high recommendation amongst Dissenting Pædobaptists, administer the ordinance indiscriminately to those who ask for it. We regard not baptism as a means by which grace and salvation are enjoyed, but as a personal profession of faith in Christ and dedication to Him; which, according with God's directions, and symbolizing important truths, will be honoured with God's presence and blessing; and the justified and obedient believer will go "on his way rejoicing."

SECTION VII.

BAPTISM A PRACTICAL AND CLEARLY REVEALED ORDINANCE.

Dr. L. Woops.-"The Bible is sufficiently plain to those who search it with simplicity of faith and with minds untainted with philosophy and science, falsely so called. Hold fast and inculcate those precious truths, which are written, as with a sunbeam, in the Holy Scriptures, and which are plain to those whom Christ calls 'babes,' though contrary to the reasoning of the wise and the prudent."-Works, vol. i., pp. 7, 8.

Dr. A. KEITH.-"A coloured medium imparts its own tinge to the light of heaven, and to every object on which it rests. Pieces of variedly stained glass, if but large enough to cover the eye when placed before it, change the whole aspect of nature, and each, according to its own, gives it a false and varied hue. The discordant testimony of men viewing the same objects, while looking only thus, might well lead others to question the reality of things, and to doubt whether there be any light at all in which they can be truly seen. But let such tainted things be thrown away, and every eye be open and unshaded, and then, in the right use of the sense of sight, every object bears witness of itself alike to all, and things are seen as they really are, and as God made the light to shew them, and the eye to look on them So it is with the word of nature's God, when looked at in unveiled and unshaded vision with the eye of faith. It cannot be seen aright in the coloured glasses, formed by art and man's device, of which each person or party would choose his own adjunctory invention or favourite hue."

Dr. J. P. SMITH.-"The reader will perceive that numerous citations are introduced. For this no apology is requisite; and, indeed, so richly interesting are the most of these passages, that it would be a wrong to the subject, and to the reader. to have withheld them "-Cong. Lee., p. 9.§ W. CLAYTON.—Nor will he consider as disparaging, the charge that 'others have laboured, and he has entered' into their labours."-Rur. Disc., p. 7.

Archbp. WHATELY."I have freely availed myself of whatever remarks or illustrations I have chanced to meet with in various authors, that appeared suitable to my purpose."—Essays, p. 21. 7th Ed.

IN giving utterance to a conviction of the clearness of Divine Revelation as a whole, and especially of its freedom from obscurity in the preceptive portion thereof, it is hoped that none will charge us with assuming an air of infallibility or of self-importance, or a dictatorial and authoritative position. The sentiment recorded is no proof of a desire to exercise lordship over conscience; and is no evidence of a disposition to say to another, Stand by, for I am wiser and holier than thou. The necessary sequence from this sentiment is simply, that Baptists or Pædo

*Cat. of the Church of England. Henry's Tre. on Prayer. Dr. Williams, p. 164. || Stacey.

§ Extracts from this series of publications we have, for brevity's sake, generally recorded as Cong. Lec., instead of giving the subject of the volume.