Those, therefore, who, having been themselves baptized, and still professing their faith in the true religion, having competent knowledge, and being free from scandal, should not only be per- mitted but urged and enjoined to present their children for bap- tism, that they may belong to the Church, and be brought up under its watch and care. To be unbaptized is a grievous injury and reproach ; one which no parent can innocently entail upon his children. The neglect of baptism, which implies a want of appreciation of the ordinance, is one of the crying sins of this generation.
§ 12. Efficacy of Baptism.
Doctrine of the Reformed Churches.
In the section which treats of the efficacy of the sacraments in general, it was shown that according to the Reformed Church the sacraments (1.) Are ordinances of divine appointment. (2.) That they are means of grace, and therefore are not to be under- valued or neglected. (3.) That their efficacy does not depend upon any virtue in them or in him by whom they are adminis- tered, but upon the attending influence of the Holy Spirit. (4.) That their efficacy is not tied to the time of their administra- tion ; and that they are not the exclusive channels of the spir- itual benefits which they signify, so that such benefits can be received only through and in the use of the sacraments. We have by faith alone, and by the free gift of God, all that the sac- raments are made the means of communicating. The same may be said of reading and hearing the Word of God : neither is to be neglected, because either, or one without the other, may be made effectual. The sacraments are not to be neglected or undervalued, because men can be saved without them. (5.) That, so far as adults are concerned, true, living faith in those who receive the sacraments is the indispensable condition of their saving or sanctifying influence.
All these positions are affirmed to be true of baptism as well as of the Lord's Supper. Of the former the principal Reformed symbols use such language as the following : " Obsignantur haec omnia baptismo. Nam intus regeneramur, purificamur, et renovamur a Deo per Spiritum Sanctum : foris autem accipimus obsignationem maximorum donorum, in aqua, qua etiam maxima ilia beneficia representantur, et veluti oculis nostris conspicienda proponuntur." *
1 Confessio Helvetica posterior, xx ; Niemeyer, Collectio Confessionum, Leipzig, 1840, p. 517.
680 PART IH. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
" Baptismus nobis testificandae nostrae adoptioni datus, quoniam in eo inserimur Christi corpori, ut ejus sanguine abluti simul etiam ipsius Spiritu ad vitae sanctimoniam renovemur.,, l
" (Baptismi significatio) duas partes habet. Nam ibi remissio
peccatorum, deinde spiritualis renovatio figuratur Annon
aliud aquae tribuis nisi ut ablutionis tantum sit figura? Sic fig- uram esse sentio ut simul annexa sit Veritas. Neque enim sua nobis dona pollicendo nos, Deus frustratur. Proinde et peccato- rum veniam et vitaB novitatem offeri nobis in baptismo et recipi a nobis, certum est." 2
" Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of differ- ence, whereby Christian men are discerned from others that be not christened ; but it is also a sign of regeneration or new birth, whereby as by an instrument they who receive baptism rightly are grafted into the Church. The promises of the forgiveness of sins, of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed and grace in- creased by virtue of prayer to God." 8
The Heidelberg Catechism says : " Is then the external baptism of water, the washing away of sins ? It is not : For the blood of Jesus Christ alone cleanses us from all sin. Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the washing of regeneration, and the washing away of sins ? God speaks thus not without sufficient cause, not only that He may teach us, that just as pollution of the body is purged by water, so our sins are expiated by the blood and Spirit of Christ ; but much more that He may assure us by this divine symbol and pledge, that we not less truly are cleansed from our sins by inward washing, than that we are puri- fied by external and visible water." 4
The Consensus Tigurinus is the most carefully prepared and guarded statement of the doctrine of the Reformed Church which has come down from the age of the Reformation. It was drawn up to adjust the difficulties arising from the diverging views on this subject between Calvin and the clergy of Geneva on the one hand, and the Zwinglian clergy of Zurich on the other. In the ainth article it is said, "that although we distinguish, as is proper, between the sign and the things signified ; yet we do not disjoin the truth from the signs : moreover all who embrace by faith the promises therein offered, spiritually receive Christ to-
1 Confessio Gallicana, Art. xxxv. ; Ibid. p. 338.
2 Catechismus Genevensis [v.], Niemeyer, pp. 162, 163.
• Thirty-nine Articles, xxvn. 4 Que3. 72 and 73, Niemeyer, pp. 445, 446