the worship and service of GoD, and the sentence of condemnation under which we were all born: (Rom. v. 16.) and that other graces are wrought in us by that Holy Spirit, which by Baptism receives us under its protection, gradually, and according to the capacity of the recipient; and this doctrine I learnt from those words of St. Barnabas, in his Epistle. cap. vi.: "After, therefore, that CHRIST had renewed us by the remission of our sins, he made us [in] another shape, so as to have an infant-like soul, even as he himself reformed us :" where he plainly makes renovation to consist in forgiving sins: and makes the new moulding, or reformation of our minds, to be not performed at the same time with the other, or all at once, but to be consequent upon the former renovation and CHRIST is always thus reforming us, from our Baptism to our death. And I look on these words of St. Barnabas to be a better explication of the renovation, or regeneration of Christians by Baptism, than whole volumes of modern writers upon the same subject. And I may here very reasonably observe, that as the Holy Spirit is present in our Baptism, to seal the remission of sins, and to infuse the beginnings of Christian Life; for He is present in confirmation, to shed further influences on them that receive it, for the further suscitation of the gift of God bestowed in Baptism and in the Eucharist, as will hereafter appear at large for our further progress and increase in grace.

LESLIE, PRESBYTER AND CONFESSOR.-On Water Bap

tism, § 5.

The end of CHRIST's Baptism was, to instate us into all the unconceivable glories, and high eternal prerogatives which belong to the members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones, (Eph. v. 30.) that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal. iv. 5.) Henceforth no more servants, but sons of GOD, and heirs of heaven! These are ends so far transcendent above the ends of all former Baptisms, that, in comparison, other Baptisms are not only less, but none at all; like the glory of the stars in presence of the sun, they not only are a lesser light, but when he appears they become altogether invisible.

And as a pledge or foretaste of these future and boundless joys, the gift of the Holy Ghost is given upon earth, and is promised as an effect of the Baptism of CHRIST: as Peter preached (Acts ii. 38.) "Repent, and be baptized," &c. And (Gal. iii. 27.) "As many of you as have been baptized into CHRIST have put on CHRIST."

This of the gift of the Holy Ghost was not added to any Baptism before CHRIST's, and does remarkably distinguish it from all others.

WILSON, BISHOP, CONFESSOR AND DOCTOR.-Maxims of Piety, Vol. i. p. 310.

The Holy Spirit at Baptism takes possession of us, and keeps possession, till men grieve Him; then He forsakes us, and an evil spirit succeeds.

By Baptism we contract and oblige ourselves, all our life long, to complete and perfect the image of JESUS CHRIST in ourselves. The blessings and excellencies of Baptism :-It separates us from Adam, and engrafts us into CHRIST.-It is a resurrection from sin to grace. It discharges us from the debt owing to the justice of GOD, by our sins, now fully satisfied by faith in the suffering and death of CHRIST.-It cancels the law of death and malediction which was against us.-In Baptism our sins did indeed die, and were buried; but the seed and root remain in us. we are to mortify all our lives long.

These

BINGHAM, PRESBYTER.-On Lay Baptism, part ii. ch. vi.

... What it [indelible character] was taken to signify in Baptism? For an indelible character was always supposed to be imprinted as much in Baptism as in ordination; though I do not remember that any ancient Council expressly used that term about either, but only say something that may be reckoned equivalent to it; and that is this, as it relates to Baptism: that a man, who is once truly baptized, can never do any thing that can so far erase or cancel his Baptism, as that he shall need, upon any occasion, to be re-baptized with a second Baptism. Thus far the ancients believed an indelible character in Baptism. Though a man turns his back on Christianity, and totally apostatize and fall away from the profession of it; though he turn heretic or schismatick; though he excommunicate himself, or be excommunicated by the Church; though he embrace Paganism or Judaism, or any other opposite Religion; though he curse and blaspheme CHRIST in a synagogue or in a temple, as many of the old apostates did; though he become a Julian or an Ecebolius, and "trample under foot the Son of God, and count the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing, and do despite to the Spirit of Grace;" yet, after all, if this man turn again to Christianity, he was not to be received by a second Baptism. His repentance, and the Church's absolution, was sufficient in that case to re-instate him in his ancient profession, and he was not to be re-baptized to be made again a Christian. The Church had but one Baptism for the remiss on of sins, and the virtue of that was so far indelible, that it would always qualify the man that had received it, to be admitted to communion again after the greatest apostasy, only by a true re

pentance and reconciliatory imposition of hands, without re-baptizing. This was what the ancients understood by what we now call the indelible character of Baptism. But they were far from thinking that a man who was such an apostate had any right or authority whilst he was an apostate, to challenge any of the common privileges of a Christian. They did not think, whilst he was a Pagan or a Jew, that he was properly a member of the Christian Church still, because of his Baptism; or that he had any right to be called Christian, or to be admitted to the prayers of the Church, and much less to the communion with other faithful laymen and yet, after all, there was so much of a Christian in him, by virtue of his Baptism, that he needed not to be baptized again as a mere Jew or Pagan. His Baptism was such as nothing could obliterate; it would remain with him when he was an apostate, and either go to hell with him to his condemnation, or bring him back to heaven and the Church by way of repentance, not re-baptization. Now, if any one should ask whether such an apostate, while he continued an apostate, was a Christian? the answer must be in the negative; but yet there is something of a Christian in this apostate, that is, his Baptism; in respect of which he is not so perfectly a no-Christian, as one that never was baptized.

SKELTON, PRESBYTER.-Vol. ii. Disc. xxi.

Our blessed Saviour and Mediator, who hath procured the benefit of this covenant for us by the "sacrifice of His Blood," hath appointed the Sacrament of Baptism as the means whereby the contracting parties, GoD and the new Christian, solemnly plight their promises to each other; and hath likewise made the other Sacrament, that of His Last Supper, the seal which renews and confirms the covenant with every penitent transgressor. In both He communicates the assistance of the Holy Spirit, which "helps our infirmities," and enables us, if we are not shamefully wanting to ourselves, to observe and perform the conditions promised on our part.

We have already seen, in general, what we are to expect as the fruits of peace with GOD; namely, eternal life, eternal happiness and glory. Our present assurance of this is represented in various lights by the Scriptures. We are made one with CHRIST, as He is one with the Father. We are united into one Church, or Spiritual Body, whereof "He is the head." All together" we are the body of CHRIST, and members in particular." Thus joined to Him, who is by nature the Son of GOD, we also become, by a "new birth in Baptism," the adopted sons or children of GOD. "We have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" and being taken into the

family of God, are made His children by "faith in JESUS CHRIST." The provision made for us is suitable to the grandeur of our new relation; no less than an eternal kingdom, "which it is the Father's good pleasure to give us," as His beloved children, and, consequently, "heirs of GOD, and joint heirs with CHRIST" insomuch that being one with Him, "where He is there shall we be also," partakers both of His nature, and His inheritance in happiness and glory. We need not say, since these are the promises of GOD, that they cannot possibly fail of performance, provided we do our utmost to fulfil the promises made on our part.

HORNE, BISHOP AND DOCTOR.--Vol. ii. Disc. xviii.

The first portion of sanctifying grace is given at Baptism, which is the seal of justification, and the beginning of sanctification; inasmuch as the sinner being thus sacramentally buried with CHRIST into His death, arises with Him in the power of His resurrection, justified from the guilt of sin through repentance and faith in His blood, and renewed unto holiness by the operation of His Spirit. This total renewal, at first conferred by the baptismal laver, is styled regeneration, and answers in things natural to the birth of an infant. But then, as an infant, though born complete in all its parts, yet comes to its full stature and strength by slow and imperceptible degrees; by being supplied with proper kinds of food for its nourishment when in health, and proper medicines for its recovery when otherwise; so is it with the regenerate spirit of a Christian: while it is (as St. Peter calls it) a babe in CHRIST, it must be fed with the milk of the word; when it is more grown in grace, with the strong meat of its salutary doctrines; when it is infirm, it must be strengthened by the comforts of its promises; and when sick, or wounded by sin, it must be recovered and restored by godly counsel and wholesome discipline, by penance and absolution, by the medicines of the word and sacraments as duly and properly administered in the Church, by the lawfully and regularly appointed delegates and representatives of the Physician of souls. This gradual and complex work of our sanctification is carried on, through our lives, by the Spirit of God, given, in due degree and proportion, to every individual for that purpose. And it is marvellous to behold, as the excellent Bishop Andrews observes, how, from the laver of regeneration, to the administration of the viaticum, this good Spirit helpeth us, and poureth His benefits upon us, having a grace for every season. When we are troubled with erroneous opinions, He is the Spirit of truth; when assaulted with temptations, He is the Spirit of holiness; when dissipated with worldly vanity, He is the Spirit of compunction; when

broken with worldly sorrow, He is the Holy Ghost the Comforter. It is He who, after having regenerated us in our baptism, confirms us by the imposition of hands; renews us to repentance, when we fall away; teaches us, all our life long, what we know not; puts us in mind of what we forget; stirs us up when we are dull; helps us in our prayers; relieves us in our infirmities; consoles us in our heaviness; gives us songs of joy in the darkest night of sorrow; seals us to the day of our redemption; and raises us up again in the last day; when that which was sown in grace shall be reaped in glory, and the work of sanctification, in spirit, soul, and body, shall be completed.

JONES, PRESBYTER.-On the figurative Language of the Holy Scriptures. Lect. vi. p. 156.

As the Ark was prepared by Noah, so hath CHRIST prepared His Church, to conduct us in safety through the waves of trouble and the perils of the world, in which so many are lost. And as the waters of the flood carried Noah and his family into a new world after the old was drowned; so do the waters of baptism carry us into a new state with JESUS CHRIST, who passed over the waves of death, and is risen from the dead. And this practical inference is to be made in favour of the ordinance of the Church, that as the ark could not be saved but by water, so must all the Church of CHRIST be baptized.

nature.

Ibid. p. 167.--We know that Satan has not that sovereignty over baptized Christians as he hath over men in the state of After baptism a Christian is no longer the subject of that tyrant, but the child of God, who undertakes thenceforth to conduct him through all the trials and dangers of this life to the inheritance promised to the fathers.

HEBER, BISHOP.-Sermons in England. xviii.

It (justification) is the same with that regeneration of which baptism is the outward symbol, and which marks out, wherever it occurs, (that it ordinarily occurs in baptism, I am for my own part firmly persuaded,) our admission into the number of the children of GoD, and the heirs of everlasting happiness. It is the commencement of that state of salvation, in which, if a man continues, death has no power over him, in as much as the grave, which our nature so greatly fears, is to him no extinction of life, but a passage to a life more blessed and more glorious..