ART. VI.—BAPTISM AND REGENERATION. 1. Goode on Baptism. New York, 1852. 2. Archdeacon Wilberforce on Baptism. Philadelphia, 1850. 3. McIlvaine on Spiritual Regeneration. New York, 1851. 4. Sacrament of Responsibility. London and New York, 1852. 5. Faber on Regeneration. London, 1816; Philadelphia, 1853. 6. Praelectiones Theologicae, Quas in Collegio Romano, S. J. Habebat JOANNES PERRONE. Romae, 1843. [The substance of the following Article appeared in this Review nine years since. Before it was printed, the MS. was submitted to the criticism of three gentlemen, than whom none stand higher in the confidence of the Church for learning, critical acumen and doctrinal soundness, by whom the Article was carefully examined. The teaching of the Article has been widely approved, and by those regarded as differing in Theological and Ecclesiastical opinions. Among others, the late Rt. Rev. Bishop Cobbs wrote as follows: To the Editor, &c.: MONTGOMERY, ALA., Sept. 7, 1853. REV. AND DEAR SIR:-Ever since the receipt of the July Number of the Church Review, I have been intending to trouble you with a line, to thank you for the most excellent Article on Baptism and Regeneration. I have never yet read an Article on that subject so satisfactory to my mind; nor one that more fully expressed -in my view-the real animus of the Church on that controverted subject. I am persuaded that the view presented will be endorsed by a large majority of the Churchmen in the United States. * * * With my prayers for the continued success of the Review, N. H. COBBS. A reprint of the Article having been frequently suggested, it is now given, after thorough revision; irrelevant matter is omitted, the argument is more fully illustrated and strengthened, several Notes are added, but in its doctrinal tone and teaching, there is not the slightest alteration.-ED. AM. QU. CH. REV.] IT is not without hesitancy that we enter upon the discussion of this subject. There are phases of it on which it is difficult, even dangerous, to speak with technical precision. It trenches on some themes, and involves some subjective realities, concerning which nothing has been revealed; and on which we really know, and can know, absolutely nothing. And there are also, at this late day, other difficulties on the subject besides those which are inherent. For fifteen hundred years men of keenest wit, and profoundest learning, and habits of deepest introspection, have grappled with the points here at issue. Philosophy and metaphysics, the dialectics of the Schoolmen, and modern Rationalism and Infidelity, have met in open opposi tion. Men of every shade and cast of doctrine and thought, from Augustine and Thomas Aquinas down to the most open and avowed Pelagians of our own day, have entered the lists, to test the temper and strength of their weapons in this theological tournament. We speak of this controversy as protracted. And yet this is true, only qualifiedly. There are points in the modern controversy on Regeneration, which were never raised until within later years. And there are points in it, contested, for and against, ever since minds, of different moulds, have been occupied with such subjects. Thus, some of the most eminent of the Fathers in the ancient Church, agree with certain modern writers in holding extreme views on the Sovereignty and Decrees of God; yet the former do not agree with the latter at all, on this question of Regeneration. To anticipate a little, St. Augustine says: "We say that the Holy Spirit dwells in baptized infants, although they know it not. For they are ignorant of it, although it is in them, as they are ignorant of their own mind. For it lies in them, as yet unable to be used, like some buried spark, to be quickened by increasing years.' And again, “It is matter of the utmost wonder, that to some of His sons, whom He has regenerated in Christ, to whom He has given faith, hope and charity, God does not give perseverance."† Regeneration, in some one or other of its features, is, so far as the Church is concerned, the great doctrinal question of our times. No one can read the Sermons, Charges, and controversial writings of the last few years, without perceiving that here is the precise point where most doctrinal differences among us begin to diverge. The doctrine itself is so primal and fun Ep. clxxvvii, 8. De Cor. et Grat. Sec. viii. damental, it so completely underlies all practical ethics, that whatever views are held on it will of necessity give shape and direction to a man's whole system of practical divinity. Regeneration-what it is—the connection of Regeneration with Baptism-this is the great question in dispute. In what we have to say, we have no novel theory to propose. Much less do we write in a spirit of controversy. But we are sure that, after allowing for such different shades of opinion as always must exist, there is still a simple, obvious principle of interpretation clearly recognized in our standards, and in which the great mass of Churchmen may agree, and really do agree, in this question of Regeneration; a principle, to which we must come, and beyond which we must not go. What that principle is, we shall endeavor clearly to state. And if we do no more, we may, at least, hope to show that there is a common basis for that harmony of sentiment among us which is indispensable to a true and effective unity; and for which unity the Church now calls, in a tone of awful earnestness. Nay, more. The doctrine of Regeneration, as taught in our Baptismal Office, and our Catechism, so far from needing apology or mental reservation, or demanding a re-statement in more qualified language, cannot be given up in any essential particular, without inevitable ruin to everything like evangelical truth and piety. The great question, in this matter, (we beg that this point be remembered,) really is, whether the restoration of man to the favor and image of God, is to be attained, primarily, through the recuperative energies of man's own moral nature; or, from a Supernatural System of Grace, appointed, and to be continued in the Church, until the end of time, for this very purpose. There is still another end, which, in this discussion, we hope to subserve. Christ's Ministers, as they are called to administer the Sacrament of Baptism to infants, and parents, as they bring their children to that sacred font, need all to understand distinctly, as far as they may, the true nature and import of that solemn act. The whole subject of Ethics, or Christian Nurture, is involved in it. The Christian Life takes hold upon it. The Church's most vital interests cluster closely around it. Loose, defective, erroneous views, here, are perilous just in the proportion in which they are held. We make no boastful pretensions of ability to throw new light on such subject; and yet we are sure, as we have already said, that there is a simple, obvious principle of interpretation, on which all true Churchmen may, and really do, agree; and beyond which it is wise not to contend. We may as well add, here, that there are two opposite theories respecting Regeneration, held to a great extent out of the Church, and possibly by individuals in the Church, which theories are wholly irreconcilable with each other, and in our judg-. ment are equally irreconcilable with Holy Scripture, with the Baptismal Office, and with the acknowledged Standards of the Church. What these are, will appear before we are through.. WHAT IS REGENERATION? Regeneration is that wholework, or process, by which a child of Adam becomes a member of Christ. By his natural generation and birth, he is the son of the first Adam; by his regeneration or second birth, he becomes the son of the second Adam. The term Regeneration is relative. It has no meaning, except as implying certain corresponding verities or facts, on which its meaning and necessity are based. It takes for granted, as a primary truth, the apos-. tasy and utter ruin of the whole race of man in Adam. And that in that ruin, his Covenant-relationship, his whole spiritual nature, his position towards God, and his prospects and destiny, were each and all involved. "In Adam all die." Pre-. cisely in what, speaking technically, or psychologically, Original Sin consists, or precisely how it is transmitted, are ques-. tions we do not now touch. But, the least that can be said is, that in that apostasy man's will became perverted-his affections estranged; so that, in the language of Article IX, there now exists "the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is, of his own nature, inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore, in every person born into this world, it deserveth God's wrath and damnation." The truth of this lapsed, ruined condition of the whole human race by nature, in consequence of the Fall of Adam, must be received, not as a figure of rhetoric, but in all its length and breadth as a fearful reality, before the Church's doctrine of Regeneration can be understood, and before controversy on this point can come to an end. Pelagianism, in the Church, or out of the Church, in whatever guise it may show itself, will never cease to raise an issue upon this ground. And every treatise on Ethics, and Christian Nurture, will be erroneous, or defective, just in the proportion in which it fails to grasp, in the outset, this fundamental truth, as to the lost and helpless condition of man by nature, to which the whole Scheme of Grace refers, and which it was designed to remedy. Regeneration, as it recognizes such a necessity of our moral nature, and our Covenant-relationship, so it meets that necessity. In its full, complete signification, and in the case of an adult, it implies that the ruins of the Fall have been restored. Sonship in Adam, which was by Nature, gives place to Sonship in Christ, which is of Grace. Nor, is this Regeneration merely formal and objective. It reaches, not only man's Covenantrelationship, but his whole spiritual nature, the powers and affections of his intellectual and moral being. His will surrenders itself to the Will of God. His affections are transferred to their appropriate object. His life is brought into harmony with God's Law. So that, as he is, by his natural birth, a sinful, he becomes in his Regeneration, a holy being. This is Regeneration in the case of an adult, in the full and complete signification of that term. Such have put off the old man with his deeds and have "put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness." Eph. iv, 24. The Holy Scriptures, everywhere and in the strongest manner, predicate holy affections, and holy living, of the regenerate man. And none can be familiar with the earlier Fathers, without noticing the real, the living union which they recognize between the Christian and Christ-a union so complete and absorbing, that the Christian seems to be nothing in himself, and to have his whole being lost and swallowed up in Christ. Such, too, is Regeneration as described in the Homily for Whitsunday. |