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SERMON XIV.

(OFFICE OF BAPTISM. — III.)

JOHN iii. 5, 6.

"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. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

WE have gone with some care through a great part of the Office of Baptism, as used in our Church; and, in so doing, have perhaps touched upon every point connected with that ordinance. There remains that which follows after the administration of baptism, and receiving of the child or person baptized into the congregation of the faithful. And here we have so distinct a recognition of spiritual regeneration, as the proper grace belonging to this sacrament, that I shall detain you once more, for the especial purpose of discussing this point, though at the hazard of repeating that which may have been stated in a former discourse. The true description of a Sacrament is, that

it is a "visible sign of invisible grace.' This definition our Church has taught with great care and earnestness, both in her public formularies, and by the pen of those excellent men, her favourite sons, whose works have her own seal and authority stamped upon them. "Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men's profession; but rather they be sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace and God's good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him."+"A sacrament is an outward testifying of God's good will and bountifulness toward us through Christ, by a visible sign representing an invisible and spiritual grace, by which the promise of God touching forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation, given through Christ, is as it were sealed, and the truth of them is more certainly confirmed in our hearts."‡

*Hooker, v. 50.

+ Art. xxv.

Nowell's Catechism. So the Reformatio Legum. "Great is their thoughtlessness, who so undervalue the Sacraments, that they wish them to be considered as mere naked signs and external tokens only, by which, as by certain marks, the religion of Christians may be known from others. They do not consider how great is the wickedness of rendering these sacred institutions vain and empty. By the administration of the Sacraments, faith is confirmed through the power of the Holy Ghost; conscience is roused; the promise made by Christ of the pardon of sin is inwardly offered, and outwardly ratified by the Sacraments as by a seal."

Such, in the words of the fathers of our Church, is the true nature of a Sacrament. It is not an unmeaning, powerless ceremony. It is not merely an edifying and instructive rite, capable of being made the vehicle of some religious truth. Such would not be a just description of any of the ordinances of the church. Prayer, whether in the family or in the congregation, is not useful only in producing a good effect on the mind, but is an appointed means of bringing down a blessing from God. The pronouncing of absolution or benediction, and the laying on of hands, either in confirmation or in the ordination of ministers, these are not idle words, as some would esteem them, nor are they merely useful forms, calculated to impress the heart with a feeling of devotion; they are means of conveying spiritual grace from our heavenly Father to his dear children. But especially the two sacraments, being ordinances of Christ's own appointment, are to be regarded as strictly and properly" means of grace," the instituted means of imparting to the faithful the benefits which are proper to each; the one, the cleansing of the soul from sin; the other, the strengthening and refreshing of the soul. This is the point which is especially worthy of attention, that these ordinances are significant emblems, "outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace given unto us; the means whereby we receive the same, and a pledge to assure us thereof." If it be not so, the ordin

ance loses all its virtue, and becomes a vain and idle ceremony; at least, any other impressive form might be equally beneficial: but it is not thus that we have been taught by our holy mother, the Church of Christ.

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The spiritual grace bestowed in Baptism a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness." And this grace accompanies the ordinance, whenever it is duly administered and rightly received. Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened, but it is a sign also of regeneration, or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive Baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, and grace increased, by virtue of prayer to God."* The excellent Archbishop Cranmer reckons up "the great treasures and benefits whereof God maketh us partakers when we are baptized," referring, in each instance, to the words of Scripture t; and other learned and

* Art. 27.

+ Cranmer's Catechism. On the subject of the second birth, he writes thus strongly : "The second birth is by the water of baptism, which Paul calls the bath of regeneration, because our sins be forgiven us in baptism, and the Holy Ghost is poured into us as into God's beloved children, so that by the power and working of

holy men, who laboured together with him, and after he had finished his course, in reestablishing the truth upon the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, concur in teaching, as with one voice, that in Baptism "our second birth is assured to us by our outward washing; the pardon of sins is granted, and the influence of the Holy Spirit is poured into our hearts."* But what need have we to travel beyond the limits of the Book of Common Prayer for instruction upon this point, when we read in each Office for Baptism there prescribed this doctrine explicitly stated. Whether it be the case of an infant, or of one of riper years, this grace of spiritual regeneration is, in the earlier part of the service, made the subject of prayer; and, after the administration of baptism, the officiating minister is directed to make declaration that the child or person is regenerate, and offer thanks to our merciful Father for this benefit. It seems impossible for words to express

the Holy Ghost, we be born again spiritually, and made new creatures. And so by baptism we enter into the kingdom of God, and shall be saved for ever, if we continue to our lives' end in the faith of Christ."

* Reformatio Legum, c. 3.

It ought to be remarked, that in the baptism of those of riper years, after the Lord's Prayer, the thanksgiving is repeated which had been before used after the reading of the Gospel, with this difference, that, instead of concluding with a prayer, "that these persons may be born again, and made heirs of everlasting salvation,"