them*; and the Holy Spirit translates them out of their state of nature (to which a curse belongs) to a state of grace, favour, and blessing. This is their regeneration †. Wherefore in our public Offices, formed upon the ancient rules and precedents, we pray, that the infants brought to be baptized may be "washed and sanctified with the

Holy Ghost"-may "receive remission of "their sins by spiritual regeneration"may be "born again;" and that "the old Adam may be "so buried, that the new man may be raised up "in them." We declare afterwards, that they "are regenerate, and grafted into the body of "Christ's church;" giving thanks also to God, that it hath pleased him to regenerate them with "his holy Spirit, and to receive them for his own "children by adoption, and to incorporate them

Certe nemo neget, infantes capaces esse beneficii apeσws rwv åμagtiwv, quod dixaiwan, justificationem, appellare solemus: est enim id beneficium externum & σxetixov, quod in infantes ad Christi Jesu intercessionem, propter ejus maxony, Spiritu Sancto pro illorum conversione & renovatione spondente, (liceat hic humano more balbutire,) conferri potest. Vitringa Obs. Sacr. 1. ii. c. vi. p. 333.

+ Omnes enim venit [Dominus] per semetipsum salvare ; omnes, inquam, qui per eum renascuntur in Deum; infantes, & parvulos, & pueros, & juniores, & seniores. Iren. 1. ii. c. xxii. p. 147. edit. Bened.- -Conf. Voss, tom. vi. p. 278. 307.

into his holy church." It may reasonably be presumed, that from the time of their new birth of water and the Spirit, (which at that very moment is a renewal of their state to God-ward,) the renewing also of the heart may come gradually on with their first dawnings of reason, in such measures as they shall yet be capable of; in a way to us imperceptible, but known to that divine Spirit who regenerates them, and whose temple from thenceforth they aret, till they defile themselves with actual and grievous sin. In this case, it is to be noted, that regeneration precedes, and renovation can only follow after though infants may perhaps be found capable of receiving

Public Baptism of Infants.-Compare Office of Private Baptism, where it is said, that the infant "is now, by the laver “ of regeneration in baptism, received into the number of the "children of God;" and the Catechism, question the second, with the answer: and the latter part concerning the sacrament of baptism. Compare also the Office of Confirmation, repeating the same doctrine.

Vid. Augustin. Epist. clxxxvii. c. viii. p. 686.

‡ In baptizatis infantibus præcedit, regenerationis sacramen. tum, & si Christianam tenuerint pietatem, sequetur in corde conversio, cujus mysterium præcessit in corpore.In infantibus qui baptizati moriuntur, eadem gratia Omnipotentis implere credenda est; quod non ex impia voluntate, sed ex ætatis indigentia, nec corde credere ad justitiam possunt, nec ore confiteri ad salutem. Augestin. de Bapt. 1. v. c. xxiv. p. 140.-Conf. Nazianz. Orat. xxxvii. p. 609.

C

some seeds of internal grace sooner than is com monly imagined*.

But enough of this.

3. A third case, which I promised to speak to, is that of those who fall off, after they have once been savingly regenerated. If such persons fall away by desertion and disobedience, still their baptismal consecration, and their covenant-state consequent, abide and stand; but without their saving effect, for the time being: because, without present renovation, the new birth, or spiritual life, as to salutary purposes, is, in a manner, sinking, drooping, ceasing. Their regenerate state, upon their revolt, is no longer such, in the full saving sense, wanting one of its integral parts; like as a ruinated house ceases to be a house, when it has nothing left but walls. But yet, as a house, while there are walls left, does not need to be rebuilt from the ground, but repaired only, in order to become a house again as before; so a person once savingly regenerated, and afterwards losing all the salutary use of it, will not want to be regenerated again, or born anew, but to be reformed only. Which when done, his regeneration, before decayed, and as to any saving effect, for the time, well-nigh ruinated, but never totally

* Vid. Vitring. Observ. Sacr. 1. ii. c. vi. p. 329. alias 339.Voss. de Bapt. disp. vi. Op. tom. vi. p. 97“

lost*, becomes again whole and entire. To be short, perfect regeneration is to the spiritual life, what perfect health is to the natural: and the recoveries of the spiritual health, time after time, are not a new regeneration, but a restoring or improving of the old. To be born anew would be the same thing as to have all done over again, that God had before done to make a man a Christian, and to put him into a covenant-state: but since he, who is once a Christian, is always a Christian, and there is no such thing as a second baptism, it is plain, that there can be no such thing here as a second new birth, or a second regeneration. But of this I said enough before.

4. The fourth case, which yet remains to be considered, is the case of those who receive baptism (like Simon Magus, suppose,) in hypocrisy or impenitency. Do they therein receive any thing of the Lord? Or if they do, what is it? Are they thereby regenerated, or born again;

* Regenerationis gratiam ita etiam hi non minuunt qui dona non servant, sicut lucis nitorem loca immunda non polluunt. Qui ergo gaudes baptismi perceptione, vive in novi hominis sanctitate; & tenens fidem quæ per dilectionem operatur, habe bonum quod nondum habes, ut prosit tibi bonum quod habes. Prosper. Sentent, cccxxv. apud Augustin. tom. x. p. 245. append.

Spiritalis enim virtus sacramenti ita est ut lux, & ab illuminandis pura accipitur, & si per immundos transeat, non inquinatur. Augustin. in Johann. Tract. v. n. xv. p. 327. tom. iii. part, ii.

born of water and of the Spirit? I answer, they are either born of both, or of neither: for otherwise, born of water and of the Spirit would not mean one birth, but two; and so a person might happen to have two new births, one of water first, and another of the Spirit afterwards: which cannot reasonably be supposed. Besides that, the being born of water only, which really does nothing of itself, could amount only to a washing, (nothing better than being born of the flesh,) and therefore could not be true or valid baptism in Christian account. Shall we then say, that the ungodly and impenitent are in baptism born of the Spirit? That is a point which, I appréhend, can neither be affirmed nor denied absolutely, but with proper distinctions. It was anciently a kind of maxim, or ruled case in the church, that all true and valid baptism must be so made by the Spirit*. And though some seem to have denied

* That was a maxim among the Cyprianists especially, (see above, p. 7.) and so it came down to Jerom, who is very express on that head. Apparet baptisma non esse sine Spiritu Sancto. Illud nobis monstraretur, verum esse baptisma quo Spiritus Sanctus adveniat.Spiritu Sancto nullum est.

Spiritu Sancto nullum sit.

-Ecclesiæ baptisma sine -Cum baptisma Christi sine -Spiritum Sanctum, quem nos

asserimus in vero baptismate tribui. Hieron. adv. Lucif. p. 293–295. tom. iv. ed. Bened.-Conf. Epist. lxxxii. ad Oceanum, p. 651. 'om. iv.