is enjoined to ask, hath this child been already baptized or not? that he may not unawares baptize a child that has been baptized before; which is contrary to the word of God, and to the usages and laws of the Christian Church in all ages. For though several persons are recorded in Scripture to be baptized, there is no mention of any one that was rebaptized, though they were to receive the Lord's supper often, (1 Cor. xi. 24.) As this is the initiatory rite of our religion, it ought not to be repeated: since we enter into our religion but once, to reiterate the form were only to make sport with, or at least to prevent the intent of the sacred mystery. And to this probably relate the "one faith, one baptism," (Eph. 4, 5,) and the "once enlightened," (Heb. vi. 4.)

This office is divided into three parts-THE INTRODUCTION, which includes merely one half of the office, extending from the beginning to the prayer which follows the exhortation after the Gospel inclusively; 2nd, THE PREPARATORY OFFICE, including the renunciations and professions; and 3rd, THE ACTION OF THE HOLY SACRAMENT and the conclusion.

It seems suitable that this office should commence with an EXHORTATION TO PRAYER; in this sacrament, there being a mutual covenant between God and man, so vast a disproportion between the parties, and so great a condescension on the part of the Almighty, who designs only our advantage by it, and is moved by nothing but his own free grace to do it. The necessity of prayer for the infant will further appear from the consideration of the sin in which he was conceived and born, which, although arrogantly denied by the old Pelagians, and their revived issue the Socinians and Anabaptists, yet is affirmed in Scripture, (Ps. Li. 5; Rom. v. 12, 18; Job, xiv. 4, 5,) and was observed by the light of nature among the heathens, believed by

revelation among the Jews, and all orthodox Christians, and hath a thousand witnesses in every man's breast how miserably prone he is to evil, against his reason, his judgment, and his resolutions; "that he is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked," by his own strength utterly powerless to rise from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, and that he stands infinitely in need, therefore, of an Almighty deliverer. And it was very necessary for the Church to lay this foundation, because the denial of original sin hath always been followed by the contempt of infant baptism.

By the expression, a lively member of Christ's Church, is meant one who has a lively faith, which teaches him to believe not only what is written in the Scriptures, but to receive its promises and privileges thankfully, and seek to live faithfully by its rules.

This office accordingly having taken for its basis that first principle of revealed truth, the doctrine of our original wretchedness, "Forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin," and from this humble confession of our lost estate, proceeds immediately to point out our only means of restoration, certifying, after the divine authority of our Redeemer, that none can enter into the kingdom of God, can have no part in the kingdom of grace and glory, except he be regenerate and born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost, that is, in the most catholic, and therefore, according to St. Peter's rule, (2 Pet. i. 20,) the best, unless he be baptized: and thus, in two short sentences, it sets forth the entire ground-work of personal Christianity. Baptism with water and the Holy Ghost, we may thence perceive, is a remedy provided by God to purify from original defilement, water to cleanse the outward, and Spirit to purify the inward man. The baptism of water without the Spirit will not suffice; nor yet the

baptism of the Spirit without water; for St. Peter orders those to be baptized with water who had received Spirit before, Acts, x. 47, 48.

The suitableness of this divine appointment may be seen from the following consideration. Human nature was found by the Gospel in a state of utter and helpless destitution: it was to be restored by the Gospel, wholly as a system of divine grace and power. Now baptism directly meets the exigencies of the case, for, from the very commencement, it takes the great work of salvation out of the hands of man, and places it altogether in the hands of God. The lesson which human nature most needs, and least loves to learn—that God is everything and man nothing: this baptism inculcates with authority not to be resisted, and language not to be misunderstood. This will equally appear, whether we consider the sign enjoined, or the grace conveyed; for the outward baptism with water has, plainly, no inherent virtue; and the inward baptism with the Holy Ghost, imparts a virtue altogether superhuman; a regeneration, in which the power is of God alone.

Our Church is borne out by Scripture in considering, in THE FIRST COLLECT, the deliverance of Noah, and of the Israelites, figures of baptism. The apostle states plainly that the Children of Israel were all of them "baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea," 1 Cor. x. 2; that is, that they were, by that baptism, the disciples of Moses; and consequently that baptism was a type or figure of Christian baptism, by which we are made our Saviour's disciples. And St. Paul, speaking of Noah and his family being saved in the ark, says, "the like figure whereunto, even baptism, doth now also save us," 1 Pet. iii. 20; and how beautifully does the Church, in the prayer we are considering, liken our condition to that of Noah amidst

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the horrors of the deluge! For as the waters of the great abyss encompassed the patriarch and his little flock, even so the abounding flood of iniquity assails on all sides the infant struggling Christian; and as Noah was borne onward still by the divine vessel, in peace and security, above the wreck of a perishing world, so the faithful Christian, who has been received into the Church by baptism, will, if only he maintain his faith firm to the end, be carried in perfect safety, through all the changes and chances of this mortal life, to rest, finally, and for ever, upon the heavenly mount of God.

The expression in THE SECOND COLLECT of this office, that the child may receive remission of his sins, is capable of two different senses. Either original sin may, with respect to the actual transgressions to which it leads, be called "sins" in the plural number; or else "remission of sins" may signify the state of remission of sins, even that covenant state through Christ, by which the remission of sins, both original and actual, is made over to us. Into this state infants are put by baptism; their original sin is immediately forgiven, and they have an assurance that their future actual sins shall be forgiven also, provided they continue in their duty.

To be "regenerate and born anew of water and the Holy Ghost," are, in the beginning of this office, spoken of as the same thing; "the inward and spiritual grace" conveyed to us in this sacrament, is by our Church Catechism said to be "a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness: for being by nature born in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace." St. Paul says, "We are buried with Christ by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life," Rom.

vi. 4, and the same St. Paul styles baptism "the washing of regeneration," Tit. iii. 5; because, in baptism, the Holy Spirit works in us a change, something like a new birth, translating us from a natural state in Adam to a spiritual state in Christ, both the water and the spirit at the same time concurring to this new birth; for as we are but once born to our natural life, so we are but once born into our spiritual or Christian life; we are but once baptized and but once regenerated; regenerated at the very time when we are baptized. This is the language of Scripture; thus this term was applied by the ancient fathers; and thus it is used by our Church. So that to speak of a Christian's being regenerated in any other stage of his life; or to apply the term regeneration, or new birth, to the turning from a lapsed state to a state of holiness, to that renovation, amendment, or renewal of the heart of man, which is the duty of a Christian, and which the word of God exhorts us to acquire, to make it signify conversion or repentance, is, if there were no worse consequences attending it, mixing and confounding distinct notions, misapplying Scripture phrases, and abusing the ancient and known language of the Church.

It has been said that the PORTION OF ST. MARK'S GOSPEL, read AFTER THE COLLECTS in this place, is improper, since the children there mentioned were not brought to be baptized; and yet a little consideration would show the weakness of the objection. In the making of a covenant, the express consent of both parties is required; and therefore, the covenant of baptism being now to be made between the Almighty God and the child to be baptized, it is reasonable, that, before the sureties engage in behalf of the infant, they should have some comfortable assurances, that God, on his part, will be pleased to consent to, and make good the agreement. For their satisfaction, therefore,