with the drift of the author's argument, "and dangerous in its issues to the cause of peace and unity of truth: "But though there is an obvious connection between the right use of words and sound doctrine, it is not the word, but the doctrine implied in it, on which I would principally insist. Let it be allowed that such a change as we denote by this word does actually take place in baptism, and it is of inferior consequence by what' name it may be called. Let it be allowed that that change of heart and 'manners, whose necessity is universally acknowledged, is not such as the scholastic Calvinists or the Enthusiasts contend for, but more conformable to the moral nature and reasonable faculties of man, and no great mischief will arise from its being styled in a popular way of speaking, and in compliance with the usage of many of our divines, Regeneration.'" P. 10. ་ There is, happily, no difficulty in ascertaining the sense in which the word has been improperly used by the older divines, or in shewing that the inaccuracy of their language does not involve the soundness of their doctrine; but it is by no means expedient that this misuse of language should be perpetuated, or that the controversialists of a future age should have the specious advantage of quoting high authorities for the improper or doubtful use of a word, of which the present controversy has defined the meaning. It is very true that the doctrine is the principal object of concern, but it is equally true that the doctrine is implied in the name, and that the people will apprehend the truth and the meaning of our public offices, according to the terms which are used in popular discourses from the pulpit and the press. The laborious investigations of Wall have rendered it unnecessary to recite the expressions of the ancient fathers, and in stating their opinions Dr. Bethell is content to refer to the History of Infant Baptism, and to present to his readers a succinct analysis of the Discourse of Dr. Waterland upon Regenera tion. From these authorities it is: demonstrably shewn what is the opinion of those divines, who iden." tify Baptism with Regeneration; and that they have the sanction of the whole body of the primitive writers, for distinguishing regeneration from, conversion or renovation. In Augustine's controversy with the Pe lagians, the regeneration of all bapo tized infants, without exception, was "assumed as a point universally ac knowledged, and formed one of the bases of his argument;" and, upon another occasion, he maintained, "1. That adults, though converted, are not regenerated without baptism; and, 2. That baptised infants, though regenerated, are not con... verted or changed in heart." The proper distinction between this regeneration and the renewal in heart, which is the object of prayer in various passages of the Scriptures, is, that regeneration is "entirely the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but renovation "is the joint work of God or the Holy Spirit, and of man himself:" the latter is a change " in a religious and moral point of view:" the former is a distinct change of condition, a passage, if I may so express myself, from one state of existence to another." In this sense the primitive Christians under. stood the word; in the same senser it was employed by the Romans, to denote the act of initiation into their) mysteries, and the alteration of the circumstances of a slave upon his manumission; and in the same sense the Pharisees interpreted it, as “ token of entrance into a new state! of life, and new, professions and en gagements of a religious nature." 66 The spirit and force with which these observations are conducted, leave no doubt of the primitive meaning of the word; and in proceeding to examine the scrip tural authority, on which the doo trine of regeneration in baptism is grounded," the author arranges the principal passages of Scripture under the following heads; an die 14 '' This arrangement affords opportunity of taking a clear and distinct view of the principal texts which treat of regeneration, and upon which the Dean offers a clear and luminous commentary. But as the selection is not altogether original, and the argument is familiar to all who have studied the doctrine in question, we may be permitted to pass to the more important chapter, in which the author discusses "the principal objections which have been taken to this doctrine, from passages in Scripture." The principal passages from which objections are drawn to the doctrine of regeneration in baptism, are those which speak of circumcision; those in which Christians are called children of God; and those in St. John's first Epistle, in which he speaks of persons born of God. From the analogy of other Scriptures, more full and explicit, it is shewn, that when the phrases of sons of God," or to be "born of God," &c. occur, without mention of baptism, baptism is implied and virtually contained. In one corresponding text, which is overlooked by. Dr. Bethell, Gal. iii. 26, 27. the title of children of God is actually connected with baptism, although, from an improper punctuation, the connexion may not be observed. "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, for as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Here the baptism is expressed; in other texts it is implied; "the merely negative argument is absolutely of no value. It will hardly be denied, that to be saved, and to be born again, are parallel expressions; nor will it be pretended, that it was the intention of Saint John to contradict the doctrine, or derogate from the institution of his Divine Master, or that when our Lord has said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," Saint John has proposed the opposite opinion, that he that believeth is regenerate, whether he is or is not baptized. This is a reasonable presumption, which Dr. Bethell confirms, by entering into the drift of the Apostle's argument. "Though we cannot, perhaps, exactly determine, what persons and opinions the Apostle was combating, it appears certain, to use the words of an eminent di vine*, that he has written a large part of his first Epistle, to confute some men had been born of God, while they took of his own time, who boasted that they no care to maintain good works ; 'men' who perverted the received and orthodox notions of regeneration to the worst purposes, and laid claim to the privileges and blessings of the Gospel covenant, while they were dispensing with its obligations, and despising its sanctions. "Little doubt can, I think, be enter tained, that this is a true statement of the general drift of the Apostle's letter, and that what he has said on this particular subject was intended to correct a dangepular opinion. But if Christ and his Aposrous misconstruction of a current and po $ tles had taught that regeneration is a radical and entire change of the mind and moral nature, and consequently, that in the eye of reason and the nature of things, a sound faith and habitual holiness, are the only evidences of a new birth, the misconstruction would have been almost impossible, and the heresy would have confuted and condemned itself. If, on the other hand, their doctrine was the same, which we find in the writings of the early Christians, men of corrupt minds would be easily induced to separate the grace and privileges of baptism, from the qualifications which they presuppose, and the They would endeavour to persuade themduties and obligations which they imply. selves and their fellow Christians, that he who has been once mystically grafted into Christ, will abide in Christ for ever; that he who has once known God, will know Dr. Waterland. him to the end intimately and vitally and that he who has been born of God in a sacramental and mysterious manner, will never cease to be the child of God. "The Apostle, therefore, secures the sound part of his converts against the infection of this heresy, by carrying their thoughts from the blessings and privileges to the duties and obligations of Christianity, and insisting on their inseparable union. To have fellowship with the Father and the Son, to abide in the light, to abide in the Father and the Son, to know Christ, to have, to see, to know the Father, and to be the sons of God, are different phrases which express in significant language, the great privilege of our religion; a mysterious union with the Deity, and a spiritual relationship to God and Christ. But since this union implies and requires a moral resemblance, it will necessarily go to decay and expire without the exercise of the corresponding duties. These are, a sincere faith in Jesus as the Christ and the Son of God, and a resolute confession of the Father and the Son; a stedfast attachment to the word of truth, love in fellowship with each other, walking as Christ walked, in unfeigned obedience to the commandments of God and Christ, and a life of righteousness and purity. "As, therefore, the whole tenour of the Epistle shews, that Saint John is not teaching us how we are to acquire our Christian privileges, but how we are to preserve them, so it will satisfy an attentive reader, that in the passages which bear upon this question, he is not pointing out to us the tests of regeneration, but the criterions by which we must learn, whether we are indeed God's children in a practical point of view, walking in the light, and abiding in the Father and the Son. With this clue to our enquiry we shall find, that these passages are so far from contradicting the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, that they evidently imply and presuppose it." P. 80. This enquiry is pursued at some length, and it is shewn, that the chief point upon which the Apostle insists in the texts in question, is the substance of the Baptismal engagements, and that the same effects which are attributed to being born of God, are connected with other expressions. The inquiry is concluded by a brief examination of these passages of Scripture: “And they are so far from contradict 1 ing the doctrine of regeneration in Baptism, that they imply and presuppose it, and seem to confirm its reception as an established article of faith in the days of the Apostle. Upon the whole then we may conclude, 1. That the phrases to be born again, to be born of God, and the cor responding expressions, are used 'in their primary, and appropriate sense, when ap plied to the Sacrament of Baptism, both as a sign and as a mean or instrument of grace, symbolical of our mystical death and resurrection, and actually conveying over to us our spiritual nativity, the pardon of sin, and the mysterious earnest of the Holy Ghost. "2. That there is nothing in the Apos tle's words which can allow us to separate regeneration from baptism, or to affirm of any living disciple of Christ, that he has been born again, born of God, or born of the Spirit, previously to this Sacrament. ^^ "3. That in the passages which have been examined, the phrase to have been born of God, is used in an enlarged sense to signify the continuance, as well as the commencement, of the spiritual life, in order to confute the pernicious tenets which had been grafted on the doctrine of regeneration, and to fix the attention of the disciples on the duties and obligations of their baptismal covenant.". P. 89. vom The two first positions are very satisfactorily established, and there is no doubt that the word regeneras tion is applied in its primary and appropriate sense, to the sacrament of baptism, and that there is no text of Saint John which can justify the separation of regeneration from baptism, or the supposition, that any man is born again previously to or independently of that sacrament. It is, however, very questionable, whether it is necessary to understand equivalent to "abiding;" whether the phrase" born of God," as it is necessary to enlarge its mean ing so as to comprehend" the con tinuance as well as the commencement of the spiritual life," instead of restricting it to the primary act of initiation into the Church. The analogy of the word in other pas should be remembered, that al sages should be considered, “and it though the expression is of most frequent occurrence in the writings of Saint John, it is not an expres sion peculiar to him." It is the very word used by our Saviour himself in speaking of the necessity of regeneration in baptism, (John iii. 3.5.7.) and the beloved disciple, in attaching a new and different to the word, would have thrown an air of ambiguity not only upon the doctrine, but upon the language of our Lord, which he alone of the Evangelists has recorded. The same word is found in Hebrews vi. 4. in reference to the initiation of those, of whom it is supposed that they did not abide : and a synonymous expression" begotten again," is also found in 1 Peter i. 23. (see v. 3.) in the same sense of initiation. It is also of im. portance to remark, that in all the texts which relate to regeneration, the verb is always found in a tense indicative of time past, and indirectly proving, that the act is already definite and complete: the word is itself figurative, and in its original and proper sense denotes completed rather than continuous action. It would be a tedious digression to adduce the proof, which might be collected from the internal testimony, and to shew what is the meaning of the word in the several texts in which it occurs (1 John iii. 9. iv. 7. v. 4. 18. 1.) But in the last text the argument is very obvious: "He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, hath been born of God;" his faith was the ground upon which he was baptized, and without which he would not have been baptized, according to the rule of our Saviour: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned." From this authoritative doctrine, the Apostle draws his practical inference: And every one that loveth him that be gat loveth him also that is begotten of him." It is the very argument of Saint Peter (1 Peter i. 22, 23.) and it is plain, that this regeneration from the Father must have been ཐ manifested by some outward act, without which it could not have been known who were begotten of him, or who, in the capacity of Christians, were the objects of a Christian's love. The individual alone could be conscious of his abiding state; his baptismal regeneration only could be publicly known; and it must therefore have been a change of condition by a vi sible sign, not a change of heart by an invisible grace, in virtue of which the primitive disciples loved those who were begotten of God. The author has now proved to the conviction of every unprejudiced mind, that regeneration in baptism is a primitive doctrine and a scrip tural doctrine, and has refuted the arguments advanced in favour of the contrary hypothesis, and is prepared to shew in the four following chapters, that it is also a doctrine of the Church of England. Our reformers, and the compilers of our public formularies, were not disposed to innovations in the Church. They were content to bring the prevailing doctrines to the test of the Scriptures, to reject what the Scriptures disowned, and to admit what the Scriptures approved, and to adhere, as far as was possible, in their own practice, to the language as well as to the sentiments of the primitive writers. The effects of this deference to the Scriptures, and to primitive antiquity, are traced by Dr. Bethell, through the Articles, the offices of baptism and confirmation, and the catechism, and in the progress of his inquiry he freely avails himself of the elaborate investigations of Dr. Lau rence: We find then, our Liturgy, in strict conformity to the doctrine of the Universal Church, makes no mention of regeneration except in conjunction with baptism: and that its compilers were su been intimately connected in the faith and -far from attempting to separate what thado discipline of their forefathers in Christ tianity, that they have never introduced the word into these services, even in a po cessity of faith and repentance as qualifications for the salutary effects of baptism. But they never contemplate any person however qualified as regenerate, till he is actually baptized, bashed wave o 5. They lay down a very plain and broad distinction between this grace of regeneration and conversion, repentance, * renovation, and such Christian virtues and changes of the inward frame as require the concurrence of men's will and endeavours, imply degrees and are capable of in crease." P, 106.30 sidspitos The older divines in the Calvinis 01. They maintain 52. They teach in common with the writings of the antient Christians, the neAll eloof nonly the e Collect for the Nativity of Christ, baptism is not mentioned, but it is not excluded, it is implied. The expressions of the Collect, We being regenerate and made thy children by adop. tion and grace," are parallel with those of the Thanksgiving in the Office of Baptism." It hath pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive hins for thine own child by adoption," &c. cale sysigner ETSTISY H& bas med den In the Catechism the child is taught to say, that he learns from the articles of his creed, to believe in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth him and all the elect, people of God. If then it is urged, it is absurd to imagine that our |