BAPTISMAL REGENERATION A FICTION.
The right of private judgment on every question which stands connected with the present or future happiness of man, is an unalienable privilege. The exercise of this right has been, and still is, proscribed by the genius of superstition; but the spirit of Christianity not only sanctions but establishes it; and we are commanded to bring every opinion which may be submitted to us to the test of a close and severe examination. We are not to be controlled or governed by the authority of men of learning, nor are we to receive a doctrine as true, because it bears the marks of antiquity.
The priests of the Romish Church lay claim to infallibility; but this extraordinary endowment is withheld from the laity, who are commanded to receive, most implicitly, everything which they advance, however repugnant to reason, or contrary to the Scriptures. But this prostration of the understanding before the majesty of the priesthood, and this tame submission to all the doctrines and precepts which they may enforce, is an act which no intelligent Protestant can perform.
If, then, we refuse to surrender the government of our reason to the absolute authority of the ministers of one church, which arrogates to itself the attribute of infallibility, shall we do it to those of another, which makes no such lofty pretensions? We ought unquestionably to hold in high estimation those who administer to us the word of life; but as they are men encompassed with infirmities, often differing from each other on the most essential articles of the Christian faith, and liable to err in common with ourselves, it is no less our duty than our privilege to compare what they advance from the pulpit or from the press with the testimony of the Bible. Did not Jesus Christ urge his hearers to search the Scriptures? and when the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, he employed these words:—"I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say."
There is too much reason to fear, that while we boast of our freedom from the spiritual dominion under which our forefathers groaned before the Reformation, we are getting back into a state of bondage, by voluntarily and pertinaciously adhering to ancient opinions on religious subjects without investigating them; and hence, so few among us are capable of distinguishing truth from error. Indeed, so unpopular is the calm investigation of religious truth become among a certain class of Christians, that it is deprecated as one of the early symptoms of fanaticism. They will go to church, utter their solemn responses, and listen to the sermon; but to compare the sentiments of the sermon with the language of the Scripture, to see if there be a strict accordance between what they hear and what they read, or ought to read, is a practice which many would condemn, and which comparatively few will adopt. Is it then surprising that we meet with so many who are as ignorant of the Scriptures and of the articles of their own church as they are of the Koran of Mahomet or the Shasters of the Hindoos? Nor is this charge directed exclusively against the lower orders of society, for it is equally applicable to those who occupy high places in the intellectual, social, and literary world.
In the evening, as the ladies of the family were attending to their needle-work, the Rev. Mr. Roscoe made an allusion to the sermon which Mr. Cole delivered on the preceding Sabbath, and said, that though the spirit which he displayed might be objected to, and some of his arguments might be deemed inconclusive, yet he decidedly agreed with him on the subject of baptismal regeneration. He went on to say—"I know that the evangelical clergy maintain that every person, even the most moral and virtuous, must undergo an internal change before they can be fitted for the kingdom of heaven; but, as Mr. Cole very judiciously observed, this is one of the wild notions which spring out of the luxuriance of an enthusiastic imagination, rather than out of the soil of a matured judgment."
Mr. Roscoe.—"But do you not believe in the necessity of regeneration?"
Rev. Mr. Roscoe.—"Yes, but I believe that no other than baptismal regeneration is either necessary, or even possible in this world. We are born[12] anew in baptism, and in baptism exclusively. As you are fond of appealing to the authority of our church on the disputable points of religion, you will allow me the same privilege. When the child is baptized, the priest is taught to say, 'Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's church, let us give thanks to Almighty God for these benefits, and with one accord make our prayers unto him, that this child may lead the rest of his life according to this beginning.' Then follows this solemn form of thanksgiving and prayer, which the priest is required to offer to Almighty God: 'We yield Thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased Thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy church; and humbly we beseech Thee to grant that he, being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in his death, may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin; and that as he is made partaker of the death of thy Son, he may also be partaker of his resurrection: so that finally, with the residue of the holy church, he may be an inheritor of thine everlasting kingdom, through Christ Jesus our Lord.' And does not the catechism of our church teach the child to say, in answer to the question, 'Who gave you this name?' 'My godfathers and godmothers in my baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven?' What language can more plainly or unequivocally prove that baptism is regeneration; and that the child who is thus regenerated by baptism is made a partaker of the death of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven? And as regeneration can take place only once, and does take place in baptism, those who imbibe the modern notions on this subject are convicted of error by the authority of the church to whose decision they so often appeal."