As our Lord intended not only to save men by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and thus to bring them into membership in his mystical body, but also to constitute a visible church to consist of all those who confessed Him to be their God and Saviour, He ap- pointed an outward visible sign by which they should be known and enrolled among his people. This was in accordance with the example set in the Old Testament. When God determined to organize Abraham and his descendants into a visible church, to be the depository of the truth and the treasure-house of his gifts, he appointed circumcision to be the sign of the covenant and the badge of membership in the commonwealth of Israel. This also is according to the common usage in human society. When a foreigner wishes to become a citizen of another state, he is called upon to take an oath of allegiance to his adopted country. When a man is elected or appointed to an important office, he must be duly inaugurated, and take the oath of fidelity. The oath taken by the President of the United States does not make him Presi- dent ; it neither confers the right to the office, nor does it confer the qualifications for the proper discharge of its duties. Circum- cision did not make a man a Jew. It gave him neither the knowl- edge nor the grace necessary to his being one of the true children of Israel. It was the appointed means of avowing that he was a Jew ; it was the sign of his being included among the worship- pers of the true God ; and it secured for him the privileges of the theocracy. In like manner, baptism does not make a man a Christian. It is the appointed means of avowing that he is a Christian ; it is the badge of his Christian profession before men, it secures for him the privileges of membership in the visible Church, and it is a pledge on the part of God that, if sincere and faithful, he shall partake of all the benefits of the redemption of Christ. It is only in this sense that the Reformed Church teaches the necessity of baptism. It has the necessity of a divine precept. It is the condition of salvation, in the same sense in which confession is, and in which circumcision was. The uncircumcised child was cut off from among the people. He forfeited his birthright. But he did not forfeit his salvation. The Apostle teaches us that if an uncircumcised man kept the law, his uncircumcision was counted for circumcision. To this the Jews objected by asking, What profit then is there in circum- cision ? Paul answered, Much every way. It is not useless, be- cause not essential. The same is true of baptism. Although not the means of salvation or necessary to its attainment, its benefits are great and manifold.
586 PART m. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
Baptism as a Duty.
The Reformed Church teaches that baptism is a duty. If a man
wishes to be and to be regarded as a disciple of Christ, he is bound
to be baptized. If he wishes to consecrate his children to God, he
is bound to do it in the way of his appointment. This is plain, —
1. From the command of Christ. If He directed the Apostles to make disciples by baptizing them, He thereby commanded those who claimed to be disciples to submit to baptism. After such a command, the refusal to be baptized, unless that refusal arises from mistake of the nature of the command or through ignorance, is tantamount to refusing to be a disciple at all.
2. This is further plain from the conduct of the Apostles. Under the first sermon preached by the Apostle Peter after the effusion of the Spirit, multitudes were " pricked in their heart," and Peter " said unto them, Repent and be baptized." " Then they that gladly received the Word were baptized." When Philip preached the Word in Samaria, those who believed were bap- tized, both men and women ; and when he was sent to join the " man of Ethiopia," and " preached unto him," in that short dis- course, probably less than an hour long, he must have insisted on the duty of baptism, for the man said, " Here is water ; what doth hinder me to be baptized." It is not probable that a minis- ter of our day in his first brief discourse with an inquirer would urge upon him the duty of being baptized. As soon as Cornelius received the Spirit, Peter ordered water to be brought that he might be baptized. When Ananias came to Paul who was blind from his vision of the glory of Christ, he at once baptized him. And Paul himself, as soon as the jailer in Philippi professed his faith, baptized him and his straightway. It is obvious, therefore, that the Apostles regarded baptism as an imperative duty bind- ing on all those who professed to be the disciples of Christ.
3. This is still further plain from the uniform practice of the Christian Church in all ages and in all parts of the world. All Christians have felt themselves bound by the authority of Christ to confess Him before men in the ordinance of baptism. It is in- credible that they should be mistaken in such a matter as this ; that they should regard an external rite as universally obliga- tory, if it had not in fact been enjoined by their divine Master. Those, therefore, who look \ipon baptism as an unimportant cere- mony which may be neglected with impunity, are acting in oppo- sition to the convictions of the Apostles as manifested by theii