E. H. Hoare

“ But does this text prove, that all who are washed by the water of baptism partake of regeneration? Then it also proves, that all baptized persons are saved, and that they are renewed by the Holy Ghost, and that the Holy Ghost is shed on them abundantly, and that they are justified by God’s grace, and that they are heirs of eternal life! It is impossible, without doing violence to God’s word, to rend the blessings, here spoken of, asunder. They are links in one and the same golden chain, both the ends of which are in Heaven;—beginning with “the love of God” and terminating with “eternal life.” ”

“ When the Apostle Peter was sent to preach the gospel to Cornelius, he applied this word “unclean” to all who were not Jews. “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew, to keep company or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” And the people of Israel are repeatedly called “holy to the Lord,” because of the Lord’s choice of them and Covenant with them. “Thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God,” was the language in which Moses addressed them. ”

“ Paul is called a “promise, that he should be the heir of the world:”—which chiefly meant, that he and his true seed should inherit Heaven. And does not St. Paul decide the question as to the continuance of Abraham’s Covenant by asserting, that believers in Christ are heirs of Heaven in virtue of this very promise made to Abraham? “If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. iii. 29.) The Covenant being thus the same, were children not to be brought into the blessings and the bond of it, simply because the token of it was changed? ”

“ And if during the life-time of the Apostles, and when persons were baptized upon their own profession, men thus found admission into the Church, who “had the form of godliness, but denied its power,”—no wonder that in later times, and since baptism has been administered almost exclusively to infants, the case should have been the same. For we have met with no promise that God will give His grace to any particular persons, except in connection with the state of mind and the character which He prescribes. ”

“ The children of professing believers are baptized; but the outward form of baptism does not secure to them the blessings thereby sealed to the believer, unless they also have a true and lively faith. Then the promises are theirs. The Scripture warrants us to go thus far, but no farther. And when man attempts to put benefits into Ordinances, which God has not revealed to him, he makes himself wise “above that which is written;” and thus does in effect what the Jews did,—and for which they were so justly reproved by the Lord Jesus Himself;—he “teaches for doctrines the commandments of men.” ”

“ The putting of these two things together in one sentence is surely no proof of their necessary connection. Had the two been necessarily connected,—had baptism been the appointed channel for the conveyance of the Spirit, Christ would undoubtedly have said so. Or rather, it would have been sufficient for Him to have said, “Except a man be baptized, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;” and He certainly would not have omitted the mention of baptism, as He did omit it, in His first solemn asseveration to Nicodemus. ”

“ But he was in reality king before his coronation. Thus when a man repents, he forsakes sin; (and what is the forsaking of it but the dying to it?) and when he believes, he is born of God; (and what is this but his spiritual resurrection?) and this repentance and this faith are both required of every one before, and in order to, his baptism. But at his baptism he is publicly invested with his privileges as a Christian, and he then solemnly swears to live according to Christ’s laws for the future. ”

“ And we have seen that the “baptism” which “saves,” is “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God.” Simon Magus, though baptized, was not sound in heart from the beginning. ”

“ And how delightfully consonant with the character of the New Dispensation was this proceeding! Instead of the painful and bloody rite of circumcision, water only is used;—pleasant and refreshing; and moreover, still more significant: for while circumcision conveyed only the negative idea of the putting away of sin, baptism includes both the removal of uncleanness and the production of its opposite state of purity. In the Commission, then, which the Lord gave to His Apostles, we notice these two things:—first, the universal proclamation to be made of the gospel ”

“ He is to remember, that he was “baptized into the death of Christ and buried with Him,” that so he may die unto sin, and have, as much as possible, done with it. “Risen with Christ in baptism,” his “affections should be set on things above,” and he should “walk in newness of life.” “Baptized into one body,” strife and divisions should not be seen among Christians, and “the unity of the spirit should be kept in the bond of peace.” “Baptized into Christ, and having put on Christ,” they should appear in the beautiful clothing of His mind and Spirit. ”

“ Two things are often required for a definite purpose;—two witnesses, for instance, to prove a fact;—an invitation and a wedding-garment to entitle any one to be a guest at a marriage-feast;—but these may be quite independent of one another. It cannot be pretended that one thing only is spoken of by Christ. The birth of the Spirit is twice mentioned by itself, and once in connection with baptism by water. Baptism, then, p. 17and the birth of Spirit are clearly not identical,—not one and the same thing. And their necessary connection is neither here, nor any where else in Scripture, asserted. ”

“ Since man cannot know the heart of his fellow-man, he must accept his profession, where it is not contradicted by plain and palpable evidence: and hence it comes to pass, that ‘in the Visible Church the evil will be mingled with the good.’ (Article XXVI.) But Christ, the Great Head of the Church, does not acknowledge the evil as belonging to Him, or as having any right to a place in His Church or kingdom. ”

“ The first passage we meet with on our subject is in the sixth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. St. Paul, the writer of this Epistle, had been dwelling, in the former Chapters, upon the great gospel-doctrine of salvation by grace through faith. He had declared, that “a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law;” (iii. 28,) that in this way Abraham was justified; (iv. 3,) and that in this way every one else must be justified: (iv. 24,) and in the latter part of the fifth Chapter he had spoken strongly of God’s grace much more abounding where man’s sin abounded. ”

“ The great object of the Lord evidently was, to set forth children, both as to what is not seen in them, and what is found in their meek, passive, harmless, submissive, and dependant state, as the pattern for His disciples’ imitation;—as, in fact, the exhibition of what must be found in every one, who would be a real subject of His kingdom. ”

“ In the vth Chapter of this Epistle there appears another allusion to baptism, when the Apostle says, that “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.” (v. 26.) It is not necessary to the sense and force of this verse to suppose that baptism is referred to in it; for the word of God has a cleansing and sanctifying power, when applied by His Spirit. “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth;” was Christ’s prayer for His disciples to His heavenly Father. ”

“ There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Here a new idea is introduced;—a fresh practical use is made by the Apostle of the Ordinance of baptism. And a very striking and beautiful idea it is. The order hitherto invariably found to prevail in what p. 68the Scripture says on the subject of baptism is observable also here. The Apostle first reminds the Galatians that they were made the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and then he refers to their baptism and what they had done by it. ”

“ Into this Body ‘faithful men,’ or those who are “born again,” are incorporated by baptism. And it is of this spiritual kingdom, which “is not of this world,” that Christ speaks in the verse we are now considering. The Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, has sometimes in Scripture a more extensive signification, and includes both good and bad,—the true Israel and those “which say they are Jews and are not.” ”

“ But if an argument for immersion may be drawn from this passage, an argument for affusion, or the pouring of water upon the person, may with greater force be drawn from the manner in which the Holy Ghost descended upon Christ Himself at His baptism, and upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, p. 60and subsequently upon others who were baptized, and from the language used to describe it. When Peter preached to Cornelius, it is said, “The Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word:” and again, “On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.” ”

“ Of such is not the kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God, or ‘the Visible Church of Christ, is a Congregation of faithful men.’ Now, to enter into this kingdom, or, which is the same thing, to be an ostensible member of this spiritual Society, a man must be “born of water and of p. 15the Spirit.” No one can be a real and recognised member of Christ’s Church on earth, except he be baptized and born of the Spirit. The necessity of being “born of the Spirit” in order to our becoming the subjects of Christ’s kingdom is shown by Him in what immediately follows. ”

“ And on the subject of the baptism of heathen children, Maimonides again says, that ‘if an Israelite should find a Gentile infant, and baptize him in the name of a proselyte, behold, he is a proselyte.’
By the precepts relating to ceremonial pollutions, the Jews were rendered incapable of appearing before God in the tabernacle or temple, till they were cleansed either by bathing or sprinkling. In the Nineteenth Chapter of the Book of Numbers the subject is particularly dwelt upon. ”

“ And then in the 14th verse, the Apostle tells us more of this blessing of Abraham: “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” “The promise of the Spirit” is here said to be “received through faith;”—that is, by them that believe. But in the 16th verse, the account given of the “seed” of Abraham is as distinct and decisive as words can make it. Referring to the Covenant made by God with Abraham, (contained in Gen. xvii.) St. Paul says, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. ”

“ And true believers only are acknowledged by Christ as rightful members of His Church. Yet as Abraham’s children were admitted to circumcision together with himself, it is hence inferred, that the children of believers in Christ should be baptized, as well as their parents: no prohibition of their admission to the Ordinance having been given. ”

“ The crown is then solemnly put upon his head—the sceptre into his hand—and he swears in the presence of the nobles and chief of the people to rule according to law: and any subsequent dereliction of duty would be called a breaking of his coronation-oath. ”

“ That regeneration washes or cleanses the soul from the filthiness of sin, is all that can be proved by this passage. The washing is by the regeneration, and not the regeneration by the washing. There may be an allusion to the Christian Sacrament of baptism; but it is not at all necessary to the understanding of the Apostle’s words. St. Paul is here describing what God does when He saves any. He sheds on them abundantly the Holy Ghost through Jesus Christ the Saviour, and this Holy Ghost regenerates, and washes and renews ”

“ Children must not be brought in gross ignorance and utter carelessness to be baptized, that they may receive their name from a minister, or for some other merely temporal object, without any regard to Christ or His grace, and this be said to correspond with what was done for the children in the history before us. This is to profane Christ’s Sacrament ”

“ And the only farther mention of the subject is in reference to a report, “that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,” and that Jesus Himself did not administer the Ordinance in person, but that His disciples (meaning probably the twelve) baptized for Him. (John iv. 1, 2.) This is all that the Scripture says upon the subject. Why the Lord did not baptize with His own hands, we are not informed. It could not have been lest any should say that He had baptized in His own name; for men came to His baptism avowedly as His disciples. ”

“ Every one who should be willing to give p. 26in his name to Christ and to be saved by Him, was to partake of the rite of baptism. And this seems the proper place for the remark, that as the use of water was thus made common to both Dispensations, and as no new directions were given, the Apostles would naturally be led to pursue the course which had previously prevailed with respect to the baptism of proselytes to the Jews’ religion. ”