SERMON VII.

BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION.

ACTS 19. 2, 3.

He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?

It was St. Paul who put these questions to certain disciples whom he found at Ephesus. And the disciples to whom he put these questions appear to have been believers in Christ, though they had not yet been baptized, according to Christ's ordinance," in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matth. 28. 19.) They had indeed been baptized unto John's baptism; for in reply to the second question of the text, "Unto what then were ye baptized?" they said,

"Unto John's baptism." But this was a very different thing from Christian baptism; for St. John the Baptist could do no more than pledge men to repentance and faith. And so St. Paul proceeds to say, "John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." (Ver. 4.) Whereas at Christian baptism, repentance and faith are required beforehand in them that are baptized, or else are pledged beforehand in behalf of them. And this being so done, the baptized Christian receives by means of this ordinance these glorious gifts from God, forgiveness of sin, adoption into God's family, and grace unto holiness. Ever may we bear in mind that we have been made partakers of these gifts! Ever may we watch, and pray, and also labour, that we receive not the grace of God in vain! (See 2 Cor. 6. 1.)

The case of these disciples, and of the first disciples in general, was indeed very different from ours; for children could

not be brought to Christ in baptism, unless first their parents were believers. And the Gospel was therefore first of necessity addressed to persons who were of age to answer for themselves. And these persons might well be required to repent and believe, before they were admitted to be baptized. But this being not practicable in infancy, it has been the universal practice of the church to suffer the little children of Christian parents to come unto Christ in baptism, upon the promise of repentance and faith made in their behalf by others, which promise, when they come of age, they are themselves bound to perform. This, I say, has been the uniform practice of the true catholic or universal church of Christ. Nor shall we doubt that this was the intention of our Lord, and the practice of his apostles, in the ordinance of Christian baptism, if we consider, first, this universal practice of the church from the times of the apostles; secondly, the command of God for admitting infants of eight days old into the Jewish church by circumcision; and, thirdly,

the many well known passages in the New Testament, which of necessity lead to the conclusion, that the children of believers are privileged, from their earliest years, to partake freely, as far as they are capable, of all the gifts of grace which their parents enjoy. And who can doubt that the new birth of baptism is one of the gifts whereof they are partakers; who, that considers duly the proper notion of new birth, as the beginning of the Christian life, not its consummation, the entrance unto a state of peace with God, not the infallible certainty of continuing therein?

It is true, that notwithstanding these strong considerations, there have been of late some few believers in Christ who have refused to have their infants baptized, and who have held that no one can be truly baptized at all until he is of age to answer for himself. And persons of this persuasion seem to find some ground for their opinions in the books of the New Testament, because the first converts concerning whom we there chiefly read were of

full age when they were converted, and therefore also of full age when they were baptized. Thus making no allowance for the altered circumstances of the case, they are led into one great error in refusing baptism to infants; and they thereby fall into another, separation from the church. Their children grow up, without having been brought to Christ, in this way of his appointment, without this ground for trusting that their sins have been forgiven, without being bound by this pledge to serve the Lord, or enabled by this means of grace to do Him service. As they grow to man's estate, they feel as though they were free to the question, whether they shall be Christians or not. They imagine themselves in the meanwhile not obliged to serve God unless they like it; because they have not yet been dedicated in baptism to his service. And so sweet is this imagined liberty, that in point of fact a large proportion of those who have been thus brought up never are baptized at all.

What should we think of that man's