souls of men. It excludes from the hope of heaven men who truly believe, repent, and lead a holy life ; and it assures those of their title to eternal life, who are unrenewed and unsanctified.
4. A fourth argument against the doctrine under consideration, is derived from the analogy between the Word and sacraments everywhere presented in the Bible. God, it is said, saves men by preaching ; the gospel is declared to be the power of God unto salvation ; faith is said to come by hearing : we are begotten by the Word : we are sanctified by the truth. No Christian, whether Romanist or Protestant, believes that all who hear the Gospel are saved ; that it is always the vehicle of conveying the saving and sanctifying influences of the Spirit. Why then should it be assumed, because we are said to be united to Christ by baptism, or to wash away our sins in that ordinance, either that baptism " ex opere operato " produces these effects, or that the Spirit always attends its administration with his saving influences.
5. Again, all Christians admit that multitudes of the baptized come short of eternal life, but no regenerated soul is ever lost. Our Lord in teaching that none but those who are born of the Spirit, enter into the kingdom of heaven, thereby teaches that those who are thus new-born are certainly saved. This is in- cluded also in his repeated declarations, that those who believe in Him have eternal life ; being partakers of his life, /if He lives they shall live also. And the Apostle, in Romans viii. 30, ex- pressly declares that all the regenerate are saved. Whom God predestinates, he says, them He also calls (regenerates), and whom He calls, them he also justifies ; and whom He justifies, them he also glorifies. If baptism, therefore, is, in all ordinary cases, attended by the regeneration of the soul, then all the baptized will be saved. If they are not made the heirs of salvation, they are not made the subjects of regeneration.
6. The doctrine of baptismal regeneration is contradicted by the facts of experience. Regeneration is no slight matter. It is a new birth ; a new creation ; a resurrection from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is a change, wrought by the exceeding great- ness of God's power, analogous to that which was wrought in Christ, when He was raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of the majesty on high. It cannot therefore remain without visible effect. It controls the whole inward and outward life of its subject, so that he becomes a new man in Christ Jesus. The mass of those baptized, however, exhibit no evidence of any such change. There is no apparent difference between them and
604 PART III. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
the unbaptized. The whole population of Europe, speaking in general terms, are baptized. Are they all regenerated ? Then regeneration amounts to nothing. This doctrine, therefore, utterly degrades regeneration, the precious life-giving gift of the Holy Spirit. To say that those who receive regeneration by baptism in infancy fall away ; that the principle of life imparted to them, being uncherished, remains undeveloped, is no satisfactory answer to this argument. Life, especially the life of God in the soul, is not thus powerless. To say that a dead body is restored to life, when it exhibits no evidence of vitality ; or, that a dead tree is made alive which puts forth no foliage and bears no fruit, is to say that it is alive and yet dead. It is true that a seed may have a principle of life in it which remains long undeveloped, but un- folds itself when placed under the normal conditions of growth. But the normal conditions of growth of the principle of spiritual life in an infant, are the development of the intelligence and the presence of the truth. If these conditions occur, the growth of the germ of spiritual life is certain. It is to be remembered that that germ is the Holy Spirit, who has life in Himself, and gives life to all in whom He dwells. The doctrine of baptismal re- generation is contradicted by facts. The baptized as a body remain unchanged in heart and life.
§ 13. Lutheran Doctrine of Baptism. Its Necessity.
On this point the Lutheran standards hold the following lan- guage. In the Augsburg Confession those who adopt that sym- bol say : "De baptismo docent, quod sit necessarius ad salutem, quodque per baptismum offeratur gratia Dei ; et quod pueri sint baptizandi, qui per baptismum oblati Deo recipiantur in gratiam Dei. Damnant Anabaptistas, qui improbant baptismum puerorum et affirmant pueros sine baptismo salvos fieri." The Apology for that Confession repeats that declaration, and affirms "that the baptism of infants is not in vain but necessary and effectual to salvation." 1 The same doctrine is taught in the two catechisms of Luther, the larger and smaller.
This doctrine the Lutheran divines have softened down. They affirm that baptism is ordinarily necessary ; yet that the necessity is not absolute, so that if its administration be prevented by una-
1 Confessio i. ix. et Apologia iv. 51; Hase, Libri Symbolici, p. 12 and p. 156. "Quod oaptismus puerorum non sit irritus, sed necessarius et efficax ad salutem."