"member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor "of the kingdom of Heaven.....I learn to believe in "God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the "elect people of God."

Nor is the position, that an actual regeneration always takes place, confined to our Baptismal service, but also subsequently recognized in the Order of Confirmation, the first prayer of which thus commences: 66 Almighty and everlasting God, who hast vouchsafed "to regenerate these thy servants by water, and the Holy "Ghost, &c." Surely it requires something more than a common share of ingenuity to pervert language like this from its plain, grammatical sense, into one directly repugnant. See p. 377. for the doctrine of our Homilies on the same point.

Page 176, note (10).

No man, perhaps, was ever less scrupulous in the adoption of general expressions, but, perhaps, no man adopted them with more mental reservations, than Calvin. To his conduct in this particular, upon the point of Baptismal efficacy, I have already alluded in Serm. III. note 16. With such a disposition, however, he certainly was very sparing in his use of them, when he composed his office of Baptism. He indeed admitted, that the children of Christians are included with their parents in the Covenant of Christianity; but this he asserted to be the case without Baptism, and considered as solely applicable to an external Covenant. Hence the Assembly of Divines, in their celebrated Directory of 1644, who almost literally translated his language, and correctly expressed his meaning, directed the minister to shew ".... that the pro"mise is made to believers, and their seed, and that "the seed and posterity of the faithful, born within "the Church, have, by their birth, interest in the "Covenant, and right to the seal of it, and to the out

"ward privileges of the Church..... That children "by Baptism are solemnly received into the bosom of "the visible Church, &c." Directory, p. 22. ed. 1546. With Calvin's principle therefore, that, although all children are outwardly incorporated into Christ's Church, some only are inwardly regenerated by the Spirit, the following declaration in our Baptismal service is utterly inconsistent: "Seeing now, dearly be"loved, that this child is regenerated, and grafted into "the body of Christ's Church;" words, which unequivocally convey the idea of a participation as well in the internal, as in the external, privileges of the Gospel Covenant. When regeneration is supposed to take place, according to his creed, we learn from the Articles of Concord between the Churches of Zurich and Geneva, drawn up in the year 1549, which observe; "Qui in "prima infantia baptizati sunt, eos in pueritia, vel in"eunte adolescentia, interdum etiam in senectute, rege"nerat Deus." Art. 20. Opusc. p. 1038. These were the Articles of Concord, which gave so much offence to Melancthon, (see Serm. VII. note 20.) and one of which he indignantly erased from the copy shewn to him. Nor is it difficult, perhaps, to point out the offensive passage. That it was the following seems almost certain, because no other relates to the subject of predestination: "Præterea sedulo docemus, Deum non "promiscue vim suam exerere in omnibus, qui Sacra❝menta recipiunt, sed tantum in electis. Nam quemad" modum non alios in fidem illuminat, quam quos præ"ordinavit ad vitam, ita arcana Spiritus sui virtute "efficit, ut percipiant electi, quæ offerunt Sacramenta.” Art. 16.

The full extent, then, of Calvin's charity on this occasion,, it is not difficult to estimate. What that of Beza's subsequently was, who imbibed all the spirit, but not all the prudence, of his master, appears from

a public conference, which he held with the Lutherans in the year 1586. "Idem," he then remarked, in "Baptismo fit, quem multa millia infantum accipiunt, qui tamen nunquam regenerantur, sed in æternum "pereunt." Acta Colloquii Montisbell. p. 393. ed.

1613.

Page 176, note (11).

In the year 1543, Melancthon and Bucer drew up a reformed Liturgy, and with it an exposition of several controverted points of faith, for the use of the Archbishopric of Cologne. From this work the occasional services of our own Church, where they vary from the ancient forms, seem principally to have been derived. It was not, however, itself original, but in a great degree borrowed from a Liturgy previously established at Norimberg. This appears from the epistles of Melancthon. "Scripsi vobis antea, Episcopum secutu"rum esse formam Norimbergensem. Eratque ante meum "adventum institutus liber, ad exemplum Norimber❝gense. Retinuit pleraque Bucerus; quosdam Arti❝culos auxit, ut est copiosus. Mihi, cum omnia relegissem, attribuit Articulos περὶ τριῶν ὑποφάσεων, de creatione, de peccato originis, de justitia fidei et operum, de Ecclesia, de poenitentia. In his con"sumpsi tempus hactenus, et legi de cæremoniis Bap"tismi, et cœnæ Domini, quæ ipse composuit. Arbi"tror pæne finitum esse opus.” Ep. p. 546. "Post

quam veni Bonnam, intellexi Episcopum dedisse man"datum, ut forma doctrinæ et rituum proponenda "Ecclesiis conscribatur, et quidem ad exemplum No"rimbergensis forma." M. Luthero, Ibid. p. 91. It should be observed, that the author of the Reformation at Norimberg was not Osiander, but Winceslaus Lincus, who settled there in the year 1525. Gerdes. Introductio, vol. i. p. 243.

All our Offices bear evident marks of having been

partly taken from this work; liberally imitating, but not servilely copying it. In our Baptismal service the resemblance between the two productions is particularly striking; nor in the Cologne form is the doctrine of universal regeneration and election in Baptism less prominent, than in our own. The sense of the following passages cannot easily be mistaken. "Bap"tismus est Sacramentum regenerationis, quo Christo "Domino inserimur, incorporamur, sepelimur in mor"tem ejus, induimur eo, et efficimur per eum filii et "hæredes Dei." Nostra Hermanni, &c. simplex ac pia Deliberatio, &c. p. 69. ed. 1545. "Sed Deus Pater, "pro ineffabili sua misericordia erga genus humanum, "Filium suum misit, ut mundum servaret, quare etiam "et hos infantes servatos vult. Ille peccata totius mun"di tulit, et tam parvulos, quam nos adultos, a pecca"tis, morte, diabolo, et æterna damnatione liberavit, "et salvos fecit, qui voluit sibi offerri parvulos, ut iis "benedictionem impartiretur. Quare pro immensa "Christiana pietate vestra hunc puerum assumite, et ad "Christum adducite, et offerte piis vestris precibus,

quo peccatorum suorum ab illo consequatur remis❝sionem, transferatur in regnum gratiæ, ereptus e ty"rannide Satanæ, et constituatur hæres æternæ salutis. "Et vobis certissimum sit, Dominum nostrum Jesum Chris"tum hoc opus charitatis vestræ erga hunc infantem cle"mentissime respecturum." p. 71. p. 71. "Wherefore we being "thus persuaded of the good will of our heavenly Father "towards this infant, declared by his Son Jesus Christ, "and nothing doubting, but that he favourably alloweth "this charitable work of ours, &c." "His verbis et "huic facto Domini nostri Jesu Christi super illos fidem "habete, nec dubitate eum et vestros infantes sic in sacro "baptismate suscepturum, et complexurum esse ulnis mise"ricordiæ suæ, et benedictionem vitæ æternæ, et sempi"ternam regni Dei communionem iis collaturum." p. 72.

"Doubt ye not therefore, but earnestly believe, that he "will likewise favourably receive this present infant; "that he will embrace him with the arms of his mercy; "that he will give unto him the blessing of eternal life; "and make him partaker of his everlasting kingdom." "Itaque ex baptismate certo statuimus, nos Deo accep"tos et fœdere gratiæ sempiterno ei conjunctos esse." p. 72. "Debent pastores subinde accuratius et soli"dius explicare et excutere ratum habere Deum bap"tisma infantium nostrorum, infantes per baptismum "adoptare in filios, et constituere hæredes gratiæ suæ et "vitæ æternæ." p. 75. "Quod cum fecerint, ne du"bitent infantem suum vere baptizatum, peccatis ablu"tum, in Christo renatum, et filium hæredemque Dei "factum esse." p. 77. "Ex his ergo Christi verbis "certi sumus infantes, quicunque Christo juxta verbum "ejus offeruntur, pertinere ad regnum Dei, esse filios "Dei, membra Christi." Ibid. "Hunc igitur infantu"lum filium et hæredem Dei, fratrem et cohæredem "Christi, membrum Christi, et vestrum in Christo, &c." p. 78.

That these passages express something more than the language of hope, will not, perhaps, be controverted. It should however be recollected, that when the Lutherans spoke thus certainly of the regeneration and election of every infant in Baptism, they attributed nothing to the Sacramental efficacy, but all to the divine promise. Hence our Church strongly urges that promise, as the sure and only ground of our confidence. "Dearly beloved, ye have brought this child to be bap"tized; ye have prayed, that our Lord Jesus Christ "would vouchsafe to receive him, to release him of his "sins, to sanctify him with the Holy Ghost, to give "him" (a title to) "the kingdom of Heaven and ever66 lasting life. Ye have heard also, that our Lord Jesus "Christ hath promised in his Gospel to grant all these