Mr. Roscoe.—"If it invariably take place at the time of baptism, according to the popular construction of our prayer-book, and the current belief of the Tractarian members of our church, nothing more would be necessary to convince us that we are the children of God than an attested copy of our baptismal register, which I presume, on reflection, you will deem too preposterous and too hazardous to be admitted."
Rev. Mr. Roscoe.—"But admitting, for the sake of the argument, that baptism is regeneration, where would be the hazard of letting our assurance of it depend on an attested copy of our parish register?"
Mr. Roscoe.—"Why, suppose such an attested copy could not be obtained, then we could have no substantial proof of our regeneration. We may be the children of God, and we may be inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; but if the officiating minister neglect to record the fact of our baptism, or if the register-book should be lost or burnt, it will be impossible for us to prove it, even though the Spirit itself bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. To what a dilemma, then, may a son of God be reduced! He may be in the possession of every moral evidence of his filial relation to his heavenly Father—he may love him, fear him, and glorify him; he may have put off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and may have put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness: but not being able to establish the fact of his baptism by the production of a genuine copy of its insertion in the parish register, he is not able to prove the fact of his regeneration. 'A situation this of doubt, suspense, and anxiety, with regard to our eternal welfare, to which it is reasonable to believe that, with such a revelation of his will as Christianity professes to be, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort would not expose his humble creatures.'"[13]
Rev. Mr. Roscoe.—"I am satisfied that it does not invariably nor necessarily take place at baptism; but then, when does it take place?"
Mr. Roscoe.—"It does not uniformly take place at any particular age, but precisely at that period in the life of man which the Spirit of God determines. Some, I have no doubt, are regenerated by the Holy Spirit in the days of infancy, and grow up into life under the influence of the holy principles which were implanted in their soul when they had no consciousness of it. I have a book at hand, from which I will read you a passage that is quite to the point:—'God has wisely given to the female sex a peculiar tenderness of address, and an easy and insinuating manner, which is admirably adapted to the great end for which he intended it, that of conveying knowledge to children, and making tender impressions on their minds; and there is hardly any view in which the importance of the sex more evidently appears.'
"It seems to me that children may early come to have some apprehensions of what is most important in religion. They may have a reverence for God, and a love for him, as that great Father who made them, and that kind friend who gives them everything that they have; and they may have a fear of doing anything that would displease him. And though it is not so easy for them to understand the doctrines peculiar to a Redeemer, yet when they hear of Christ as the Son of God, who came down from heaven to teach men and children the way thither, and who died to deliver them from death and hell, their little hearts may well be impressed with such thoughts as these, and they may find a growing desire to be instructed in what Christ is and what he taught and did, and also to do what shall appear to be his will. And wherever this is the prevailing disposition, it seems to me that the seeds of holiness are sown in that soul, though but small proficiency may be made in knowledge, and though the capacities for service may be very low. But the tendency to that which is evil and the aversion to that which is good, which children generally discover, is a decisive proof that very few are renewed at this early period. They often outgrow their religious impressions, yield to the force of temptations, and allow themselves to be drawn aside from the path of duty by the attractive charms which a deceitful world holds out to allure and destroy. But, while glowing with health and devoting themselves to the pleasures and amusements of this life, it often pleases God to arrest them in their career of folly as they are entering on the age of manhood, or during the first few years of it, and then they yield themselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead.
"'Some,' to quote from the same author, 'are wrought upon by Divine grace in the advance and even in the decline of life. There are but few who arrive at what may be called old age, and of them but very few who, at that period, feel the great change; nor shall we be much surprised at this if we consider the inveterate nature of bad habits, which renders it almost as hard for them that are accustomed to do evil to learn to do good, as it is for the Ethiopian to change his skin, or the leopard his spots.'"
Rev. Mr. Roscoe.—"But one should imagine that the more our reason is improved, and the nearer we get to another world, the more solemnly and deeply the heart would be affected by the great and awful truths of religion. You never thought so much nor so deeply on religious subjects when you were young as you do now; and, therefore, I wonder you agree with your author in supposing this to be a very unfavourable period to be regenerated."
Mr. Roscoe.—"Very true; but I cannot see one of my own age in the whole circle of my acquaintance, who has been impressed in a similar manner to myself. 'It is in vain to reason against facts,' says a judicious writer, 'and experience proves that it is an uncommon thing for persons to be awakened and reformed in old age; especially if they have been educated in the principles of religion. Nevertheless, to prove the infinite energy and sovereignty of Divine grace, God is sometimes pleased to renew even such: He touches the rock which has stood for ages unmoved, and the waters flow forth; He says to the dry bones—live, and they are animated with life; and then, with the vigour of a renewed youth, they devote themselves to God.'"
Rev. Mr. Roscoe.—"Then you think that this great change in the human heart may take place at any period of life, though you think that the season of youth or early manhood is the most favourable."