voidable circumstances, the want of baptism is not fatal. Thus Gerhard,1 says Docemus, " baptismum esse quidem ordinarium initiationis sacramentum et regenerationis medium omnibus om- nino etiam fidelium liberis ad regenerationem et salutem neces- sarium ; interim tamen in casu privationis sive impossibilitatis salvari liberos Christianorum per extraordinariam et peculiarem dispensationem divinam." Again 2 he says : " Infantes illos, qui vel in utero materno 3 vel repentino quodam casu ante baptismi susceptionem exstinguuntur, temere damnare nee possumus nee debemus, quin potius statuimus, preces piorum parentum, vel si parentes hac in parte negligentes fuerunt, preces Ecclesiae ad Deum pro his infantibus fusas clementer exaudiri, eosdemque in gratiam et vitam a Deo recipi." In this view the great body of Lutheran divines concur. Dr. Krauth says : " On God's part it is not so necessary that He may not, in an extraordinary case, reach, in an extraordinary way, what baptism is his ordinary mode of ac- complishing. Food is ordinarily necessary to human life ; so that the father who voluntarily withholds food from his child is at heart its murderer. Yet food is not so absolutely necessary to human life that God may not sustain life without it." 4
Its Effects.
As Lutherans regard baptism as ordinarily the necessary means of salvation, they must hold that it communicates all that is essential to that end. It must be the ordinary means of convey- ing the merits of Christ for the remission of sin and the inward renovation or regeneration of the soul. Such is, therefore, the doctrine taught in the standards of the Lutheran Church. In Luther's Larger Catechism it is said, " Quare rei summam ita simplicissime complectere, hanc videlicet baptismi virtutem, opus, fructum et finem esse, ut homines salvos faciat. Nemo enim in
1 Gerhard, Loci Theologici, xxi. viii. 238 ; edit. Tubingen, 1769, vol. ix. p. 282.
2 Ibid. p. 284.
8 Romanists, when a child is in imminent peril, baptize it in utero.
4 The Conservative Reformation and its Theology, as represented in the Augsburg Con- fession, and in the History and Literature of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. By Charles P. Krauth, D.D., Norton Professor of Theology in the Evangelical Lutheran Sem- inary, and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy in the University of . Pennsyl- vania, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1871, pp. 431. We are sorry to see that Dr. Krauth labours to prove that the Westminster Confession teaches that only a certain part, or some of those who die in infancy, are saved ; this he does by putting his own construc- tion on the language of that Confession. We can only say that we never saw a Calvinistic theologian who held that doctrine. We are not learned enough to venture the assertion that no Calvinist ever held it; but if all Calvinists are responsible for what every Calvinist has ever said, and all Lutherans are responsible for everything Luther or Lutherans have ever said, then Dr. Krauth as well as ourselves will have a heavy burden to carry.
606 PART HI. Ch. XX. -THE MEANS OF GRACE.
hoc baptizatur, ut princeps evadat, verum sicut verba sonant, ut salvus fiat. Caeterum salvum fieri scimus nihil aliud esse, quam a peccati, mortis et diaboli tyrannide liberari, in Christi regnum deferri, ac cum eo immortalem vitam agere." 1 Gerhard says all the effects of baptism may be included under the two heads mentioned in Titus iii. 5, regeneration and renovation. The former he says includes, (1.) The gift of faith. (2.) The re- mission of sins. (3.) Reception into the covenant of grace. (4.) Putting on Christ. (5.) Adoption into the number of the sons of God. (6.) Deliverance from the power of Satan, and, (7.) The possession of eternal life. Under the head of renova- tion he includes : the gift of the Holy Spirit, who begins to renew the intellect, the will, and all the powers of the soul ; so that the lost image of God begins to be restored ; the inward man is re- newed, the old man put off, and the new man put on ; the Spirit resists and gains dominion over the flesh, that sin may not reign in the body. The same doctrine, in different words, is taught by all the leading Lutheran theologians.2
To what is this Efficacy of Baptism to be referred t
The effects attributed to baptism are not to be referred to any power inherent in the water ; nor to the power of the Holy Spirit '* extrinsecus accidens ; " but to the power of the Spirit inherent in the Word. It has been repeatedly mentioned that Lutherans teach that there is a divine, supernatural power in the Word of God, which always produces a saving effect upon those who hear it, unless it is voluntarily resisted. In the case of infants there is no such voluntary resistance ; and therefore to them baptism is always efficacious in conveying to them all the benefits of re- demption, which, however, may be forfeited by neglect, unbelief, or bad conduct in after life. The word connected with baptism includes the command to baptize ; the formula, the ordinance being administered in the name of the Holy Trinity ; and especially the promise, "He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved." In Luther's Shorter Catechism, in answer to the question, " Qui potest aqua tarn magnas res efficere ? it is said, " Aqua certe tantas res non efficit, sed verbum Dei, quod in et cum aqua est, et fides, quae verbo Dei aquae addito credit. Quia aqua sine verbo Dei est simpliciter aqua, et non est baptismus : sed addito verbo
1 Catechismus Major, iv. 24, 25 ; Hase, ut supra, p. 539.
2 Gerhard, ut supra, vol. ix. pp. 148-157. For other Lutheran theologians see Schmid, Doqmatik der evangelisch-lutherischen Kirche, Frankfort and Erlangen, 1853.