In the following sermon Charles Spurgeon teaches why those who believe that
water baptism (a work of man) is a requirement for salvation are in grave
error.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
---
Baptismal Regeneration
by C.H. Spurgeon
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned."-Mark 16:15-16.
In the preceding verse our Lord Jesus Christ gives us some little insight
into the natural character of the apostles whom he selected to be the
first
ministers of the Word. They were evidently men of like passions with us,
and
needed to be rebuked even as we do. On the occasion when our Lord sent
forth
the eleven to preach the gospel to every creature, he "appeared unto them
as
they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of
heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was
risen;" from which we may surely gather that to preach the Word, the Lord
was pleased to choose imperfect men; men, too, who of themselves were very
weak in the grace of faith in which it was most im****tant that they should
excel. Faith is the conquering grace, and is of all things the main
requisite in the preacher of the Word; and yet the honoured men who were
chosen to be the leaders of the divine crusade needed a rebuke concerning
their unbelief. Why was this? Why, my brethren, because the Lord has
ordained evermore that we should have this treasure in earthen vessels,
that
the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. If you should
find
a perfect minister, then might the praise and honour of his usefulness
accrue to man; but God is frequently pleased to select for eminent
usefulness men evidently honest and sincere, but who have some manifest
infirmity by which all the glory is cast off from them and laid upon
Himself, and upon Himself alone. Let it never be supposed that we who are
God's ministers either excuse our faults or pretend to perfection. We
labour
to walk in holiness, but we cannot claim to be all that we wish to be. We
do
not base the claims of God's truth upon the spotlessness of our
characters,
but upon the fact that it comes from him. You have believed in spite of
our
infirmities, and not because of our virtues; if, indeed, you had believed
our word because of our supposed perfection, your faith would stand in the
excellency of man and not in the power of God. We come unto you often with
much trembling, sorrowing over our follies and weaknesses, but we deliver
to
you God's Word as God's Word, and we beseech you to receive it not as
coming
from us poor, sinful mortals, but as proceeding from the Eternal and
Thrice
Holy God; and if you so receive it, and by its own vital force are moved
and
stirred up towards God and his ways, then is the work of the Word sure
work,
which it could not and would not be if it rested in any way upon man.
Our Lord having thus given us an insight into the character of the persons
whom he has chosen to proclaim his truth, then goes on to deliver to the
chosen champions, their commission for the Holy War. I pray you mark the
words with solemn care. He sums up in a few words the whole of their work,
and at the same time foretells the result of it, telling them that some
would doubtless believe and so be saved, and some on the other hand would
not believe and would most certainly, therefore, be damned, that is,
condemned for ever to the penalties of God's wrath. The lines containing
the
commission of our ascended Lord are certainly of the utmost im****tance,
and
demand devout attention and implicit obedience, not only from all who
aspire
to the work of the ministry, but also from all who hear the message of
mercy. A clear understanding of these words is absolutely necessary to our
success in our Master's work, for if we do not understand the commission
it
is not at all likely that we shall discharge it aright. To alter these
words
were more than impertinence, it would involve the crime of treason against
the authority of Christ and the best interests of the souls of men. O for
grace to be very jealous here.
Wherever the apostles went they met with obstacles to the preaching of the
gospel, and the more open and effectual was the door of utterance the more
numerous were the adversaries. These brave men who wielded the sword of
the
Spirit as to put to flight all their foes; and this they did not by craft
and guile, but by making a direct cut at the error which impeded them.
Never
did they dream for a moment of adapting the gospel to the unhallowed
tastes
or prejudices of the people, but at once directly and boldly they brought
down with both their hands the mighty sword of the Spirit upon the crown
of
the opposing error. This morning, in the name of the Lord of Hosts, my
Helper and Defense, I shall attempt to do the same; and if I should
provoke
some hostility-if I should through speaking what I believe to be the truth
lose the friend****p of some and stir up the enmity of more, I cannot help
it. The burden of the Lord is upon me, and I must deliver my soul. I have
been loath enough to undertake the work, but I am forced to it by an awful
and overwhelming sense of solemn duty. As I am soon to appear before my
Master's bar, I will this day, if ever in my life, bear my testimony for
truth, and run all risks. I am content to be cast out as evil if it must
be
so, but I cannot, I dare not, hold my peace. The Lord knoweth I have
nothing
in my heart but the purest love to the souls of those whom I feel
imperatively called to rebuke sternly in the Lord's name. Among my hearers
and readers, a considerable number will censure if not condemn me, but I
cannot help it. If I forfeit your love for truth's sake I am grieved for
you, but I cannot, I dare not, do otherwise. It is as much as my soul is
worth to hold my peace any longer, and whether you approve or not I must
speak out. Did I ever court your approbation? It is sweet to everyone to
be
applauded; but if for the sake of the comforts of respectability and the
smiles of men any Christian minister shall keep back a part of his
testimony, his Master at the last shall require it at his hands. This day,
standing in the immediate presence of God, I shall speak honestly what I
feel, as the Holy Spirit shall enable me; and I shall leave the matter
with
you to judge concerning it, as you will answer for that judgment at the
last
great day.
I find that the great error which we have to contend with throughout
England
(and it is growing more and more), is one in direct opposition to my text,
well known to you as the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. We will
confront this dogma with the assertion, that BAPTISM WITHOUT FAITH SAVES
NO
ONE. The text says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;"
but
whether a man be baptized or no, it asserts that "he that believeth not
shall be damned:" so that baptism does not save the unbeliever, nay, it
does
not in any degree exempt him from the common doom of all the ungodly. He
may
have baptism, or he may not have baptism, but if he believeth not, he
shall
be in any case most surely damned. Let him be baptized by immersion or
sprinkling, in his infancy, or in his adult age, if he be not led to put
his
trust in Jesus Christ-if he remaineth an unbeliever, then this terrible
doom
is pronounced upon him-"He that believeth not shall be damned." I am not
aware that any Protestant Church in England teaches the doctrine of
baptismal regeneration except one, and that happens to be the cor****ation
which with none too much humility calls itself the Church of England. This
very powerful sect does not teach this doctrine merely through a section
of
its ministers, who might charitably be considered as evil branches of the
vine, but it openly, boldly, and plainly declares this doctrine in her own
appointed standard, the Book of Common Prayer, and that in words so
express,
that while language is the channel of conveying intelligible sense, no
process short of violent wresting from their plain meaning can ever make
them say anything else.
Here are the words: we quote them from the Catechism which is intended for
the instruction of youth, and is naturally very plain and simple, since it
would be foolish to trouble the young with metaphysical refinements. The
child is asked its name, and then questioned, "Who gave you this name?"
"My
godfathers and godmothers in my baptism; wherein I was made a member of
Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Is
not
this definite and plain enough? I prize the words for their candour; they
could not speak more plainly. Three times over the thing is put, lest
there
should be any doubt in it. The word regeneration may, by some sort of
juggling, be made to mean something else, but here there can be no
misunderstanding. The child is not only made "a member of Christ"-union to
Jesus is no mean spiritual gift-but he is made in baptism "the child of
God"
also; and, since the rule is, "if children then heirs," he is also made
"an
inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Nothing can be more plain. I venture
to
say that while honesty remains on earth the meaning of these words will
not
admit of dispute. It is clear as noon day that, as the Rubric hath it,
"Fathers, mothers, masters, and dames, are to cause their children,
servants, and apprentices," no matter how idle, giddy, or wicked they may
be, to learn the Catechism, and to say that in baptism they were made
members of Christ and children of God. The form for the administration of
this baptism is scarcely less plain and outspoken, seeing that thanks are
expressly returned unto Almighty God, because the person baptized is
regenerate. "Then shall the priest say, 'Seeing now, dearly beloved
brethren, that this child is regenerate and grafted into the body of
Christ's Church, let us give thanks unto 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.'" Nor is this all, for to
leave no mistake, we have the words of the thanksgiving prescribed, "Then
shall the priest say, '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 incor****ate him into
thy
holy Church.'"
This, then, is the clear and unmistakable teaching of a Church calling
itself Protestant. I am not now dealing at all with the question of infant
baptism: I have nothing to do with that this morning. I am now considering
the question of baptismal regeneration, whether in adults or infants, or
ascribed to sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. Here is a Church which
teaches every Lord's day in the Sunday-school, and should, according to
the
Rubric, teach openly in the Church, all children that they were made
members
of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven when
they were baptized! Here is a professedly Protestant Church, which, every
time its minister goes to the font, declares that every person there
receiving baptism is there and then "regenerated and grafted into the body
of Christ's Church."
"But," I hear many good people exclaim, "there are many good clergymen in
the Church who do not believe in baptismal regeneration." To this my
answer
is prompt. Why then do they belong to a Church which teaches that doctrine
in the plainest terms? I am told that many in the Church of England preach
against her own teaching. I know they do, and herein I rejoice in their
enlightenment, but I question, gravely question their morality. To take
oath
that I sincerely assent and consent to a doctrine which I do not believe,
would to my conscience appear little short of perjury, if not absolute
downright perjury; but those who do so must be judged by their own Lord.
For
me to take money for defending what I do not believe-for me to take the
money of a Church, and then to preach against what are most evidently its
doctrines-I say for me to do this (I judge others as I would that they
should judge me) for me, or for any other simple, honest man to do so,
were
an atrocity so great, that if I had perpetrated the deed, I should
consider
myself out of the pale of truthfulness, honesty, and common morality.
Sirs,
when I accepted the office of minister of this congregation, I looked to
see
what were your articles of faith; if I had not believed them I should not
have accepted your call, and when I change my opinions, rest assured that
as
an honest man I shall resign the office, for how could I profess one thing
in your declaration of faith, and quite another thing in my own preaching?
Would I accept your pay, and then stand up every Sabbath-day and talk
against the doctrines of your standards? For clergymen to swear or say
that
they give their solemn assent and consent to what they do not believe is
one
of the grossest pieces of immorality perpetrated in England, and is most
pestilential in its influence, since it directly teaches men to lie
whenever
it seems necessary to do so in order to get a living or increase their
supposed usefulness: it is in fact an open testimony from priestly lips
that
at least in ecclesiastical matters falsehood may express truth, and truth
itself is a mere unim****tant nonentity. I know of nothing more calculated
to
debauch the public mind than a want of straightforwardness in ministers;
and
when worldly men hear ministers denouncing the very things which their own
Prayer Book teaches, they imagine that words have no meaning among
ecclesiastics, and that vital differences in religion are merely a matter
of
tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, and that it does not much matter what a man
does believe so long as he is charitable towards other people. If baptism
does regenerate people, let the fact be preached with a trumpet tongue,
and
let no man be ashamed of his belief in it. If this be really their creed,
by
all means let them have full liberty for its propagation. My brethren,
those
are honest Churchmen in this matter who, subscribing to the Prayer Book,
believe in baptismal regeneration, and preach it plainly. God forbid that
we
should censure those who believe that baptism saves the soul, because they
adhere to a Church which teaches the same doctrine. So far they are honest
men; and in England, where else, let them never lack a full toleration.
Let
us oppose their teaching by all Scriptural and intelligent means, but let
us
respect their courage in plainly giving us their views. I hate their
doctrine, but I love their honesty; and as they speak but what they
believe
to be true, let them speak it out, and the more clearly the better. Out
with
it, sirs, be it what it may, but do let us know what you mean. For my
part,
I love to stand foot to foot with an honest foeman. To open warfare, bold
and true hearts raise no objection but the ground of quarrel; it is covert
enmity which we have most cause to fear, and best reason to loathe. That
crafty kindness which inveigles me to sacrifice principle is the serpent
in
the grass-deadly to the incautious wayfarer. Where union and friend****p
are
not cemented by truth, they are an unhallowed confederacy. It is time that
there should be an end put to the flirtations of honest men with those who
believe one way and swear another. If men believe baptism works
regeneration, let them say so; but if they do not so believe it in their
hearts, and yet subscribe, and yet more, get their livings by subscribing
to
words asserting it, let them find congenial associates among men who can
equivocate and shuffle, for honest men will neither ask nor accept their
friend****p.
We ourselves are not dubious on this point, we protest that persons are
not
saved by being baptized. In such an audience as this, I am almost ashamed
to
go into the matter, because you surely know better than to be misled.
Nevertheless, for the good of others we will drive at it. We hold that
persons are not saved by baptism, for we think, first of all that it seems
out of character with the spiritual religion which Christ came to teach,
that he should make salvation depend upon mere ceremony. Judaism might
possibly absorb the ceremony by way of type into her ordinances essential
to
eternal life; for it was religion of types and shadows. The false
religions
of the heathen might inculcate salvation by a physical process, but Jesus
Christ claims for his faith that it is purely spiritual, and how could he
connect regeneration with a peculiar application of aqueous fluid? I
cannot
see how it would be a spiritual gospel, but I can see how it would be
mechanical, if I were sent forth to teach that the mere dropping of so
many
drops upon the brow, or even the plunging a person in water could save the
soul. This seems to me to be the most mechanical religion now existing,
and
to be on a par with the praying windmills of Thibet, or the climbing up
and
down of Pilate's staircase to which Luther subjected himself in the days
of
his darkness. The operation of water-baptism does not appear even to my
faith to touch the point involved in the regeneration of the soul. What is
the necessary connection between water and the overcoming of sin? I cannot
see any connection which can exist between sprinkling, or immersion, and
regeneration, so that the one shall necessarily be tied to the other in
the
absence of faith. Used by faith, had God commanded it, miracles might be
wrought; but without faith or even consciousness, as in the case of babes,
how can spiritual benefits be connected necessarily with the sprinkling of
water? If this be your teaching, that regeneration goes with baptism, I
say
it looks like the teaching of a spurious Church, which has craftily
invented
a mechanical salvation to deceive ignorant, sensual, and grovelling minds,
rather than the teaching of the most profoundly spiritual of all teachers,
who rebuked Scribes and Pharisees for regarding outward rites as more
im****tant than inward grace.
But it strikes me that a more forcible argument is that the dogma is not
sup****ted by facts. Are all persons who are baptized children of God?
Well,
let us look at the divine family. Let us mark their resemblance to their
glorious Parent! Am I untruthful if I say that thousands of those who were
baptized in their infancy are now in our gaols? You can ascertain the fact
if you please, by application to prison authorities. Do you believe that
these men, many of whom have been living by plunder, felony, burglary, or
forgery, are regenerate? If so, the Lord deliver us from such
regeneration.
Are these villains members of Christ? If so, Christ has sadly altered
since
the day when he was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Has
he
really taken baptized drunkards and harlots to be members of his body? Do
you not revolt at the supposition? It is a well-known fact that baptized
persons have been hanged. Surely it can hardly be right to hang the
inheritors of the kingdom of heaven! Our sheriffs have much to answer for
when they officiate at the execution of the children of God, and suspend
the
members of Christ on the gallows! What a detestable farce is that which is
transacted at the open grave, when "a dear brother" who has died drunk is
buried in a "sure and certain hope of the resurrection of eternal life,"
and
the prayer that "when we shall depart this life we may rest in Christ, as
our hope is that this our brother doth." Here is a regenerate brother, who
having defiled the village by constant uncleanness and bestial
drunkenness,
died without a sign of repentance, and yet the professed minister of God
solemnly accords him funeral rites which are denied to unbaptized
innocents,
and puts the reprobate into the earth in "sure and certain hope of the
resurrection to eternal life." If old Rome in her worst days ever
perpetrated a grosser piece of imposture than this, I do not read things
aright; if it does not require a Luther to cry down this hypocrisy as much
as Popery ever did, then I do not even know that twice two make four. Do
we
find-we who baptize on profession of faith, and baptize by immersion in a
way which is confessed to be correct, though not allowed by some to be
absolutely necessary to its validity-do we who baptize in the name of the
sacred Trinity as others do, do we find that baptism regenerates? We do
not.
Neither in the righteous nor the wicked do we find regeneration wrought by
baptism. We have never met with one believer, however instructed in divine
things, who could trace his regeneration to his baptism; and on the other
hand, we confess it with sorrow, but still with no surprise, that we have
seen those whom we have ourselves baptized, according to apostolic
precedent, go back into the world and wander into the foulest sin, and
their
baptism has scarcely been so much as a restraint to them, because they
have
not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Facts all show that whatever good
there may be in baptism, it certainly does not make a man "a member of
Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven," or
else many thieves, whoremongers, drunkards, fornicators, and murderers,
are
members of Christ, the children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of
heaven. Facts, brethren, are against this Popish doctrine; and facts are
stubborn things.
Yet further, I am persuaded that the performance styled baptism by the
Prayer Book is not at all likely to regenerate and save. How is the thing
done? One is very curious to know when one hears of an operation which
makes
men members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of
heaven, how the thing is done. It must in itself be a holy thing truthful
in
all its details, and edifying in every ****tion. Now, we will suppose we
have
a company gathered round the water, be it more or less, and the process of
regeneration is about to be performed. We will suppose them all to be
godly
people. The clergyman officiating is a profound believer in the Lord
Jesus,
and the father and mother are exemplary Christians, and the godfathers and
godmothers are all gracious persons. We will suppose this-it is a
supposition fraught with charity, but it may be correct. What are these
godly people supposed to say? Let us look to the Prayer Book. The
clergyman
is suppose to tell these people, "Ye have heard also that our Lord Jesus
Christ hath promised in his gospel to grant all these things that ye have
prayed for: which promise he, for his part, will most surely keep and
perform. Wherefore, after this promise made by Christ, this infant must
also
faithfully, for his part, promise by you that are his sureties (until he
come of age to take it upon himself) that he will renounce the devil and
all
his works, and constantly believe God's holy Word, and obediently keep his
commandments." This small child is to promise to do this, or more truly
others are to take upon themselves to promise, and even vow that he shall
do
so. But we must not break the quotation, and therefore let us return to
the
Book. "I demand therefore, dost thou, in the name of this child, renounce
the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with
all
covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that
thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them?" Answers "I renounce them all."
That is to say, on the name and behalf of this tender infant about to be
baptized, these godly people, these enlightened Christian people, these
who
know better, who are not dupes, who know all the while that they are
promising impossibilities-renounce on behalf of this child what they find
it
very hard to renounce for themselves-"all covetous desires of the world
and
the carnal desires of the flesh, so that they will not follow nor be led
by
them." How can they harden their faces to utter such a false promise, such
a
mockery of renunciation before the presence of the Father Almighty? Might
not angels weep as they hear the awful promise uttered? Then in the
presence
of high heaven they profess on behalf of this child that he steadfastly
believes the creed, when they know, or might pretty shrewdly judge that
the
little creature is not yet a steadfast believer in anything, much less in
Christ's going down into hell. Mark, they do not say merely that the babe
shall believe the creed, but they affirm that he does, for they answer in
the child's name, "All this I steadfastly believe. Not we steadfastly
believe," but I, the little baby there, unconscious of all their
professions
and confessions of faith. In answer to the question, "Wilt thou be
baptized
in this faith?" they reply for the infant, "That is my desire." Surely the
infant has no desire in the matter, or at the least, no one has been
authorized to declare any desires on his behalf. But this is not all, for
then these godly, intelligent people next promise on the behalf of the
infant, that "he shall obediently keep all God's holy will and
commandments,
and walk in the same all the days of his life." Now, I ask you, dear
friends, you who know what true religion means, can you walk in all God's
holy commandments yourselves? Dare you make this day a vow on your own
part,
that you would renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and
vanities
of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh? Dare you,
before God, make such a promise as that? You desire such holiness, you
earnestly strive after it, but you look for it from God's promise, not
from
your own. If you dare make such vows I doubt your knowledge of your own
hearts and of the spirituality of Gods's law. But even if you could do
this
for yourself, would you venture to make such a promise for any other
person?
For the best-born infant on earth? Come, brethren, what say you? Is not
your
reply ready and plain? There is not room for two opinions among men
determined to observe truth in all their ways and words. I can understand
a
simple, ignorant rustic, who has never learned to read, doing all this at
the command of a priest and under the eye of a squire. I can even
understand
persons doing this when the Reformation was in its dawn, and men had newly
crept out of the darkness of Popery; but I cannot understand gracious,
godly
people, standing at the font to insult the all-gracious Father with vows
and
promises framed upon a fiction, and involving practical falsehood. How
dare
intelligent believers in Christ to utter words which they know in their
conscience to be wickedly aside from truth? When I shall be able to
understand the process by which gracious men so accommodate their
consciences, even then I shall have a confirmed belief that the God of
truth
never did and never will confirm a spiritual blessing of the highest order
in connection with the utterance of such false promises and untruthful
vows.
My brethren, does it not strike you that declarations so fictitious are
not
likely to be connected with a new birth wrought by the Spirit of truth?
I have not done with this point, I must take another case, and suppose the
sponsors and others to be ungodly, and that is no hard supposition, for in
many cases we know that godfathers and parents have no more thought of
religion than that idolatrous hollowed stone around which they gather.
When
these sinners have taken their places, what are they about to say? Why,
they
are about to make the solemn vows I have already recounted in your
hearing!
Totally irreligious they are, but yet they promise for the baby what they
never did, and never thought of doing for themselves-they promise on
behalf
of this child, "that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and
constantly believe God's holy Word, and obediently keep his commandments."
My brethren, do not think I speak severely here. Really I think there is
something here to make mockery for devils. Let every honest man lament,
that
ever God's Church should tolerate such a thing as this, and that there
should be found gracious people who will feel grieved because I, in all
kindness of heart, rebuke the atrocity. Unregenerate sinners promising for
a
poor babe that he shall keep all God's holy commandments which they
themselves wantonly break every day! How can anything but the
longsuffering
of God endure this? What! not speak against it? The very stones in the
street might cry out against the infamy of wicked men and women promising
that another should renounce the devil and all his works, while they
themselves serve the devil and do his works with greediness! As a climax
to
all this, I am asked to believe that God accepts that wicked promise, and
as
the result of it, regenerates that child. You cannot believe in
regeneration
by this operation, whether saints or sinners are the performers. Take them
to be godly, then they are wrong for doing what their conscience must
condemn; view them as ungodly, and they are wrong for promising what they
know they cannot perform; and in neither case can God accept such wor****p,
much less infallibly append regeneration to such a baptism as this.
But you will say "Why do you cry out against it?" I cry out against it
because I believe that baptism does not save the soul, and that the
preaching of it has a wrong and evil influence upon men. We meet with
persons who, when we tell them that they must be born again, assure us
that
they were born again when they were baptized. The number of these persons
is
increasing, fearfully increasing, until all grades of society are misled
by
this belief. How can any man stand up in his pulpit and say Ye must be
born
again to his congregation, when he has already assured them, by his own
"unfeigned assent and consent" to it, that they are themselves, every one
of
them, born again in baptism. What is he to do with them? Why, my dear
friends, the gospel then has no voice; they have rammed this ceremony down
its throat and it cannot speak to rebuke sin. The man who has been
baptized
or sprinkled says, "I am saved, I am a member of Christ, a child of God,
and
an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. Who are you, that you should rebuke
me? Call me to repentance? Call me to a new life? What better life can I
have? for I am a member of Christ-a part of Christ's body. What! rebuke
me?
I am a child of God. Cannot you see it in my face? No matter what my walk
and conversation is, I am a child of God. Moreover, I am an inheritor of
the
kingdom of heaven. It is true, I drink and swear, and all that, but you
know
I am an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, for when I die, though I live
in
constant sin, you will put me in the grave, and tell everybody that I died
'in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life.'"
Now, what can be the influence of such preaching as this upon our beloved
England? Upon my dear and blessed country? What but the worst of ills? If
I
loved her not, but loved myself most, I might be silent here, but, loving
England, I cannot and dare not; and having soon to render an account
before
my God, whose servant I hope I am, I must free myself from this evil as
well
as from every other, or else on my head may be the doom of souls.
Here let me bring in another point. It is a most fearful fact, that in no
age since the Reformation has Popery made such fearful strides in England
as
during the last few years. I had comfortably believed that Popery was only
feeding itself upon foreign subscriptions, upon a few titled perverts, and
im****ted monks and nuns. I dreamed that its progress was not real. In
fact,
I have often smiled at the alarm of many of my brethren at the progress of
Popery. But, my dear friends, we have been mistaken, grievously mistaken.
If
you will read a valuable paper in the magazine called "Christian Work,"
those of you who are not acquainted with it will be perfectly startled at
its revelations. This great city is now covered with a network of monks,
and
priests, and sisters of mercy, and the conversions made are not by ones or
twos, but by scores, till England is being regarded as the most hopeful
spot
for Romish missionary enterprise in the whole world; and at the present
moment there is not a mission which is succeeding to anything like the
extent which the English mission is. I covet not their money, I despise
their sophistries, but I marvel at the way in which they gain their funds
for the erection of their ecclesiastical buildings. It really is an
alarming
matter to see so many of our countrymen going off to that superstition
which
as a nation we once rejected, and which it was supposed we should never
again receive. Popery is making advances such as you would never believe,
though a spectator should tell it to you. Close to your very doors,
perhaps
even in your own houses, you may have evidence ere long of what a march
Romanism is making. And to what is it to be ascribed? I say, with every
ground of probability, that there is no marvel that Popery should increase
when you have two things to make it grow: first of all, the falsehood of
those who profess a faith which they do not believe, which is quite
contrary
to the honesty of the Romanist, who does through evil re****t and good
re****t
hold his faith; and then you have, secondly, this form of error known as
baptismal regeneration, and commonly called Puseyism, which is not only
Puseyism, but Church-of-Englandism, because it is in the Prayer Book, as
plainly as words can express it-you have this baptismal regeneration
preparing stepping-stones to make it easy for men to go to Rome. I have
but
to open my eyes a little to foresee Romanism rampant everywhere in the
future, since its germs are spreading everywhere in the present. In one of
our courts of legislature but last Tuesday, the Lord Chief Justice showed
his superstition, by speaking of "the risk of the calamity of children
dying
unbaptized!" Among Dissenters you see a veneration for structures, a
modified belief in the sacredness of places, which is idolatry; for to
believe in the sacredness of anything but of God and of his own Word, is
to
idolize, whether it is to believe in the sacredness of the men, the
priests,
or in the sacredness of the bricks and mortar, or of the fine linen, or
what
not, which you may use in the wor****p of God. I see this coming up
everywhere-a belief in ceremony, a resting in ceremony, a veneration for
altars, fonts, and Churches-a veneration so profound that we must not
venture upon a remark, or straightway of sinners we are chief. Here is the
essence and soul of Popery, peeping up under the garb of a decent respect
for sacred things. It is impossible but that the Church of Rome must
spread,
when we who are the watch-dogs of the fold are silent, and others are
gently
and smoothly turfing the road, and making it as soft and smooth as
possible,
that converts may travel down to the nethermost hell of Popery. We want
John
Knox back again. Do not talk to me of mild and gentle men, of soft manners
and squeamish words, we want the fiery Knox, and even though his vehemence
should "ding our pulpits into blads," it were well if he did but rouse our
hearts to action. We want Luther to tell men the truth unmistakably, in
homely phrase. The velvet has got into our ministers' mouths of late, but
we
must unrobe ourselves of soft raiment, and truth must be spoken, and
nothing
but truth; for of all lies which have dragged millions down to hell, I
look
upon this as being one of the most atrocious-that in a Protestant Church
there should be found those who swear that baptism saves the soul. Call a
man a Baptist, or a Presbyterian, or a Dissenter, or a Churchman, that is
nothing to me-if he says that baptism saves the soul, out upon him, out
upon
him, he states what God never taught, what the Bible never laid down, and
what ought never to be maintained by men who profess that the Bible, and
the
whole Bible, is the religion of Protestants.
I have spoken thus much, and there will be some who will say-spoken thus
much bitterly. Very well, be it so. Physic is often bitter, but it shall
work well, and the physician is not bitter because his medicine is so; or
if
he be accounted so, it will matter, so long as the patient is cured; at
all
events, it is no business of the patient whether the physician is bitter
or
not, his business is with his own soul's health. There is the truth, and I
have told it to you; and if there should be one among you, or if there
should be one among the readers of this sermon when it is printed, who is
resting on baptism, or resting upon ceremonies of any sort, I do beseech
you, shake off this venomous faith into the fire as Paul did the viper
which
fastened on his hand. I pray you do not rest on baptism.
"No outward forms can make you clean,
The leprosy lies deep within."
I do beseech you to remember that you must have a new heart and a right
spirit, and baptism cannot give you these. You must turn from your sins
and
follow after Christ; you must have such a faith as shall make your life
holy
and your speech devout, or else you have not the faith of God's elect, and
into God's kingdom you shall never come. I pray you never rest upon this
wretched and rotten foundation, this deceitful invention of antichrist. O,
may God save you from it, and bring you to seek the true rock of refuge
for
weary souls.
I come with much brevity, and I hope with much earnestness, in the second
place, to say that FAITH IS THE INDISPENSABLE REQUISITE TO SALVATION. "He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall
be damned." Faith is the one indispensable requisite for salvation. This
faith is the gift of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Some men
believe not on Jesus; they believe not because they are not of Christ's
sheep, as he himself said unto them; but his sheep hear his voice: he
knows
them and they follow him: he gives to them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his hand. What is this
believing? Believing consists in two things; first there is an accrediting
of the testimony of God concerning his Son. God tells you that his Son
came
into the world and was made flesh, that he lived upon earth for men's
sake,
that after having spent his life in holiness he was offered up a
propitiation for sin, that upon the cross he there and then made
expiation-so made expiation for the sins of the world that Whosoever
believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. If you would
be saved, you must accredit this testimony which God gives concerning his
own Son. Having received this testimony, the next thing is to confide in
it-indeed here lies, I think, the essence of saving faith, to rest
yourself
for eternal salvation upon the atonement and the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, to have done once for all with all reliance upon feelings or upon
doings, and to trust in Jesus Christ and in what he did for your
salvation.
This is faith, receiving of the truth of Christ: first knowing it to be
true, and then acting upon that belief. Such a faith as this-such real
faith
as this makes the man henceforth hate sin. How can he love the thing which
made the Saviour bleed? It makes him live in holiness. How can he but seek
to honour that God who has loved him so much as to give his Son to die for
him. This faith is spiritual in its nature and effects; it operates upon
the
entire man; it changes his heart, enlightens his judgment, and subdues his
will; it subjects him to God's supremacy, and makes him receive God's Word
as a little child, willing to receive the truth upon the ipse dixit of the
divine One; it sanctifies his intellect, and makes him willing to be
taught
God's Word; it cleanses within; it makes clean the inside of the cup and
platter, and it beautifies without; it makes clean the exterior conduct
and
the inner motive, so that the man, if his faith be true and real, becomes
henceforth another man to what he ever was before.
Now that such a faith as this should save the soul, is, I believe,
reasonable; yea, more, it is certain, for we have seen men saved by it in
this very house of prayer. We have seen the harlot lifted out of the
Stygian
ditch of her sin, and made an honest woman; we have seen the thief
reclaimed; we have known the drunkard in hundreds of instances to be
sobered; we have observed faith to work such a change, that all the
neighbours who have seen it have gazed and admired, even though they hated
it; we have seen faith deliver men in the hour of temptation, and help
them
to consecrate themselves and their substance to God; we have seen, and
hope
still to see yet more widely, deeds of heroic consecration to God and
displays of witness-bearing against the common current of the times, which
have proved to us that faith does affect the man, does save the soul. My
hearers, if you would be saved, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me urge you with all my heart to look nowhere but to Christ crucified
for your salvation. Oh! if you rest upon any ceremony, though it be not
baptism-if you rest upon any other than Jesus Christ, you must perish, as
surely as this Book is true. I pray you believe not every spirit, but
though
I, or an angel from heaven, preach any other doctrine than this, let him
be
accursed, for this, and this alone, is the soul-saving truth which shall
regenerate the world-"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."
Away from all the tag-rags, wax candles, and millinery of Puseyism! away
from all the gorgeous pomp of Popery! away from the fonts of
Church-of-Englandism! we bid you turn your eyes to that ****d cross, where
hangs as a bleeding man the Son of God.
"None but Jesus, none but Jesus
Can do helpless sinners good."
There is life in a look at the crucified; there is life at this moment for
you. Whoever among you can believe in the great love of God towards man in
Christ Jesus, you shall be saved. If you can believe that our great Father
desireth us to come to him-that he panteth for us-that he calleth us every
day with the loud voice of his Son's wounds; if you can believe now that
in
Christ there is pardon for transgressions past, and cleansing for years to
come; if you can trust him to save you, you have already the marks of
regeneration. The work of salvation is commenced in you, so far as the
Spirit's work is concerned: it is finished in you so far as Christ's work
is
concerned. O, I would plead with you-lay hold on Jesus Christ. This is the
foundation: build on it. This is the rock of refuge: fly to it. I pray you
fly to it now. Life is short: time speeds with eagle's-wing. Swift as the
dove pursued by the hawk, fly, fly poor sinner, to God's dear Son; now
touch
the hem of his garment; now look into that dear face, once marred with
sorrows for you; look into those eyes, once shedding tears for you. Trust
him, and if you find him false, then you must perish; but false you never
will find him while this word standeth true, "He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." God
give us this vital, essential faith, without which there is no salvation.
Baptized, re-baptized, cir***cised, confirmed, fed upon sacraments, and
buried in consecrated ground-ye shall all perish except ye believe in him.
The word is express and plain-he that believeth not may plead his baptism,
may plead anything he likes, "But he that believeth not shall be damned;"
for him there is nothing but the wrath of God, the flames of hell, eternal
perdition. So Christ declares, and so must it be.
But now to close, there are some who say, "Ah! but baptism is in the text;
where do you put that?" That shall be another point, and then we shall
have
done.
THE BAPTISM IN THE TEXT IS ONE EVIDENTLY CONNECTED WITH FAITH. "He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved." It strikes me, there is no
supposition here, that anybody would be baptized who did not believe; or,
if
there be such a supposition, it is very clearly laid down that his baptism
will be of no use to him, for he will be damned, baptized or not, unless
he
believes. The baptism of the text seems to me-my brethren, if you differ
from me I am sorry for it, but I must hold my opinion and out with it-it
seems to me that baptism is connected with, nay, directly follows belief.
I
would not insist too much upon the order of the words, but for other
reasons, I think that baptism should follow believing. At any rate it
effectually avoids the error we have been combating. A man who knows that
he
is saved by believing in Christ does not, when he is baptized, lift his
baptism into a saving ordinance. In fact, he is the very best protester
against that mistake, because he holds that he has no right to be baptized
until he is saved. He bears a testimony against baptismal regeneration in
his being baptized as professedly an already regenerate person. Brethren,
the baptism here meant is a baptism connected with faith, and to this
baptism I will admit there is very much ascribed in Scripture. Into that
question I am not going; but I do find some very remarkable passages in
which baptism is spoken of very strongly. I find this-"Arise, and be
baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord." I find
as much as this elsewhere; I know that believer's baptism itself does not
wash away sin, yet it is so the outward sign and emblem of it to the
believer, that the thing visible may be described as the thing signified.
Just as our Saviour said-"This is my body," when it was not his body, but
bread; yet, inasmuch as it represented his body, it was fair and right
according to the usage of language to say, "Take, eat, this is my body."
And
so, inasmuch as baptism to the believer representeth the wa****ng of sin-it
may be called the wa****ng of sin-not that it is so, but that it is to
saved
souls the outward symbol and representation of what is done by the power
of
the Holy Spirit, in the man who believes in Christ.
What connection has this baptism with faith? I think it has just this,
baptism is the avowal of faith; the man was Christ's soldier, but now in
baptism he puts on his regimentals. The man believed in Christ, but his
faith remained between God and his own soul. In baptism he says to the
baptizer, "I believe in Jesus Christ;" he says to the Church, "I unite
with
you as a believer in the common truths of Christianity;" he saith to the
onlooker, "Whatever you may do, as for me, I will serve the Lord." It is
the
avowal of his faith.
Next, we think baptism is also to the believer a testimony of his faith;
he
does in baptism tell the world what he believes. "I am about," saith he,
"to
be buried in water. I believe that the Son of God was metaphorically
baptized in suffering: I believe he was literally dead and buried." To
rise
again out of the water sets forth to all men that he believes in the
resurrection of Christ. There is a showing forth in the Lord's Supper of
Christ's death, and there is a showing forth in baptism of Christ's burial
and resurrection. It is a type, a sign, a symbol, a mirror to the world: a
looking-glass in which religion is as it were reflected. We say to the
onlooker, when he asks what is the meaning of this ordinance, "We mean to
set forth our faith that Christ was buried, and that he rose again from
the
dead, and we avow this death and resurrection to be the ground of our
trust."
Again, baptism is also Faith's taking her proper place. It is, or should
be
one of her first acts of obedience. Reason looks at baptism, and says,
"Perhaps there is nothing in it; it cannot do me any good." "True," says
Faith, "and therefore will I observe it. If it did me some good my
selfishness would make me do it, but inasmuch as to my sense there is no
good in it, since I am bidden by my Lord thus to fulfil all righteousness,
it is my first public declaration that a thing which looks to be
unreasonable and seems to be unprofitable, being commanded by God, is law,
is law to me. If my Master had told me to pick up six stones and lay them
in
a row I would do it, without demanding of him, 'What good will it do?' Cui
bono? is no fit question for soldiers of Jesus. The very simplicity and
apparent uselessness of the ordinance should make the believer say,
'Therefore I do it because it becomes the better test to me of my
obedience
to my Master.'" When you tell your servant to do something, and he cannot
comprehend it, if he turns round and says, "Please, sir, what for?" you
are
quite clear that he hardly understands the relation between master and
servant. So when God tells me to do a thing, if I say, "What for?" I
cannot
have taken the place which Faith ought to occupy, which is that of simple
obedience to whatever the Lord hath said. Baptism is commanded, and Faith
obeys because it is commanded, and thus takes her proper place.
Once more, baptism is a refreshment to Faith. While we are made up of body
and soul as we are, we shall need some means by which the body shall
sometimes be stirred up to co-work with the soul. In the Lord's Supper my
faith is assisted by the outward and visible sign. In the bread and in the
wine I see no superstitious mystery, I see nothing but bread and wine, but
in that bread and wine I do see to my faith an assistant. Through the sign
my faith sees the thing signified. So in baptism there is no mysterious
efficacy in the baptistry or in the water. We attach no reverence to the
one
or to the other, but we do see in the water and in the baptism such an
assistance as brings home to our faith most manifestly our being buried
with
Christ, and our rising again in newness of life with him. Explain baptism
thus, dear friends, and there is no fear of Popery rising out of it.
Explain
it thus, and we cannot suppose any soul will be led to trust to it; but it
takes its proper place among the ordinances of God's house. To lift it up
in
the other way, and say men are saved by it-ah! my friends, how much of
mischief that one falsehood has done and may do, eternity alone will
disclose. Would to God another George Fox would spring up in all his
quaint
simplicity and rude honesty to rebuke the idol-wor****p of this age; to
rail
at their holy bricks and mortar, holy lecterns, holy alters, holy
surplices,
right reverend fathers, and I know not what. These things are not holy.
God
is holy; his truth is holy; holiness belongs not to the carnal and the
material, but to the spiritual. O that a trumpet-tongue would cry out
against the superstition of the age. I cannot, as George Fox did, give up
baptism and the Lord's Supper, but I would infinitely sooner do it,
counting
it the smaller mistake of the two than perpetrate and assist in
perpetrating
the uplifting of baptism and the Lord's Supper out of their proper place.
O
my beloved friends, the comrades of my struggles and witnessings, cling to
the salvation of faith, and abhor the salvation of priests. If I am not
mistaken, the day will come when we shall have to fight for a simple
spiritual religion far more than we do now. We have been cultivating
friend****p with those who are either unscriptural in creed or else
dishonest, who either believe baptismal regeneration, or profess that they
do, and swear before God that they do when they do not. The time is come
when there shall be no more truce or parley between God's servants and the
time-servers. The time is come when those who follow God must follow God,
and those who try to trim and dress themselves and find out a way which is
pleasing to the flesh and gentle to carnal desires, must go their way. A
great winnowing time is coming to God's saints, and we shall be clearer
one
of these days than we now are from union with those who are upholding
Popery, under the pretence of teaching Protestantism. We shall be clear, I
say, of those who teach salvation by baptism, instead of salvation by the
blood of our blessed Master, Jesus Christ. O may the Lord gird up your
loins. Believe me, it is no trifle. It may be that on this ground
Armageddon
shall be fought. Here shall come the great battle between Christ and his
saints on the one hand, and the world, and forms, and ceremonies, on the
other. If we are overcome here, there may be years of blood and
persecution,
and tossing to and fro between darkness and light; but if we are brave and
bold, and flinch not here, but stand to God's truth, the future of England
may be bright and glorious. O for a truly reformed Church in England, and
a
godly race to maintain it! The world's future depends on it under God, for
in pro****tion as truth is marred at home, truth is maimed abroad. Out of
any
system which teaches salvation by baptism must spring infidelity, an
infidelity which the false Church already seems willing to nourish and
foster beneath her wing. God save this favoured land from the brood of her
own established religion. Brethren, stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free, and be not afraid of any sudden fear nor
calamity
when it cometh, for he who trusteth to the Lord, mercy shall compass him
about, and he who is faithful to God and Christ shall hear it said at the
last, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of
the
Lord." May the Lord bless this word for Christ's sake.
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