and was so facetious as well as unreserved in his constant attacks upon Popery, that his compositions still extant ought rather to be regarded as monuments of his own singular taste and talents, than as accurate specimens either of the diction or doctrine of his times. He was made Bishop' of Worcester by Henry the VIIIth, but shortly afterwards deprived of his bishoprick; and was not restored to it in the reign of Edward. Nor do we find any proof of his literary assistance being solicited or used in the compilation of the Liturgy. He has been supposed to hold opinions upon the efficacy of baptism contradictory to those which I have adduced from the writ-' ings of Cranmer. This supposition, or rather confident assertion, has been grounded upon the following quotations from his Sermons. "Christ

saith, Except a man be born again from above, "he cannot see the kingdom of God. He must "have regeneration. And what is this Rege"neration? It is not to be christened in water, "as these firebrands," (meaning the Papists,) "expound it, and nothing else. How is it to "be expounded then? St. Peter

sheweth, that

"one place of Scripture declareth another. It "is the circumstance and collation of places, "that make Scripture plain. Regeneramur au

tem, saith St. Peter, and we be born again. "How? Non ex semine mortali sed immortali. "Not by a mortal seed but by an immortal. "What is this immortal seed? Per sermonem "dei viventis. By the word of the living God. "By the word of God preached and opened. "Thus cometh in our new birth t.".

Conclusive, however, as this passage is thought to be upon the other side, I see no reason to admit, that it excludes Regeneration from baptism. That the baptism of adults is alluded to, will not, I apprehend, be disputed. Upon this presumption then, as faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, when Latimer said, "Thus cometh in our new birth," he might have meant to affirm, that, in the case of adults, effectual baptism always presupposes the existence of faith in the recipient, as a necessary requisite for the due application of its regenerat

,, Sermons, ed. 1571. p. 73.

ing efficacy. Indeed, it is probable that this really was his meaning, because his sole object in the argument was to furnish a counterposition to the well known doctrine of the Papists, who represented the new birth. to be mere "christening in water and nothing else;" that is, to take place ex opere operato sine bono motu recipientis, by the external sanctity of the operation itself, without any actual purpose of amendment in him, to whom it is administered, or actual trust in the mercy of God through Christ. He did not deny that Regeneration was appropriated to baptism; but he denied that it consisted in the simple affusion of water, and in nothing else. His argument, I conceive, to have been this; that as the word of God.communicates efficacy to the sacramént, so also without a previous contemplation of that word, faith is impossible, and the sacrament consequently fruitless....

In such a point of view Latimer's opinion seems perfectly consistent with that of Cranmer in the following passage of his Catechism before quoted. "First of all the Holy Ghost provoketh

"and stirreth up men to preach God's word. "Then he moveth men's hearts to faith, and "calleth them to baptism, and then by faith and

baptism he worketh so, that he maketh us new men again"." Indeed, if we take his meaning in a different point of view we make him not only inconsistent with Cranmer, but with himself; for he elsewhere distinctly states that we begin to enter into Christ, and to obtain remission of our sins, by baptism.

A

The statement to which I allude is thus ́unequivocally expressed. "Now like as he" (viz. Christ)" was born in rags, so the converting of "the whole world is by rags, by things, which "are most vile in this world. For go to the "matter. What is so common as water? "Every foul ditch is full of it. Yet we wash "our remission of our sins by baptism. For like ❝as he was found in rags, so must we find him

66

by baptism. There we begin. We are washed "with water, and then the words are added; "for we are baptized in the name of the Fa

Catechism, p. 152.

"ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; whereby baptism receiveth its strength. Now this sa"crament of baptism is a thing of great weight; "for it ascertaineth and assureth us, that like as "the water washeth the body and cleanseth it, 66 so the blood of Christ our Saviour cleanseth "and washeth it from all filth of sins. And so "it appeareth, that we may not seek Christ in "the glistering of this world; for what is so common as water? Yet he promiseth to be "found there, when he is sought with a faithful

I cannot therefore think, that the sentiments of Latimer upon the point differed from those of Cranmer. Nor do I admit, that, if they did, they could be justly considered as of weight

in the controversy i dotib lost an Hot

mányná pó emiz mua to mojolaren 140

175.

* Sermons, part ii. Pe 17 28 mi 20

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