INCOMPLETE WITHOUT BAPTISM.

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"when she was baptized and her household, she besought us,

saying, 'If ye have judged me faithful to the Lord, come "into my house, and abide there." See," says St. Chrysostome 1, "how she persuaded all [her family]. Then observe "her prudence, how she constrains the Apostles, what humility "in her words, what wisdom! If ye have judged me, 'she says, "faithful to the LORD.' Nothing could be more moving; "see how immediately she bears fruit, and thinks her calling a "great gain. But that ye have judged me faithful, is manifest "from your having entrusted me with so great mysteries, where" with ye had not entrusted me, unless ye had judged me such. "And before this she ventured not to invite them, but when "she was baptized;' shewing thereby that she should not other"wise have persuaded them." "Lo', she is baptized, and re"ceives the Apostles with so much entreaty, with more than "Abraham used. She appeals to no other evidence than that "whereby she had been saved; she saith not, if ye have judged me great,' if' devout,' but faithful to the LORD;' if to the "LORD, how much more to you!" So again, with regard to the jailor, in answer to his anxious question, "What shall I do to be "saved?" St. Paul says, "Believe in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, "and thou shalt be saved, and thy whole house;" but a part of that belief was his Baptism, without which his belief had been dead, for it follows, " And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all "his, straightway." St. Paul promised, that if he would believe, "he and all his should be saved ;"" they spake the word of the "LORD unto him, and to all that were in his house," and then, "he and all his were baptized straightway." Baptism then, as appears from the very tenor of the narrative, was the end of " the

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speaking the word of the LORD;" it was part of "belief," it was the means of "salvation." "He washed them," says St. Chrysostome," and was washed; them he washed from their 66 stripes, himself was washed from sins; he nourished them, and was nourished; and he rejoiced,' it is said; and yet there had 2 Ib. § 1. fin.

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1 Ad loc. Hom. 35. in Actt. init.

3 Hom. 36. in Actt. § 2.

216 ST. PAUL CONVERTED, BUT not justified, enlightened,

"been nothing but words and fair hopes. This was a proof that "he believed that all had been forgiven him." "It was of neces"sity," says another', inculcating the duty of previous instruction, "that Baptism followed immediately then upon instruc"tion; this must needs be, lest he who had the power of bap"tizing being expelled, the other, though wishing, should remain "excluded from life, there being no one to bestow this."

The same is the character, and in part more conspicuously so, in those other prominent narratives 2, the conversion of St. Paul himself, and of Cornelius, or the Baptism of the disciples who had received John's Baptism only; nor in the remaining remarkable instance, the Baptism of Simon Magus, will his perverseness be found to involve any disparagement of Baptism. These instances may be treated of separately, on account as well of the intrinsic importance of the narrations, as of the questions which have been raised upon some of them. iii. 2. a. Baptism of St. Paul.

It is commonly thought that he, having been miraculously converted, was regenerated, justified by faith, pardoned, had received the HOLY GHOST, before he was baptized. Not so, however, Holy Scripture, if we consider it attentively: before his Baptism he appears neither to have been pardoned, regenerated, justified, nor enlightened. Our LORD had checked him at once in his course; shown him that in persecuting His members upon earth, he was persecuting their ascended LORD and their God; in soul as well as body, he was cast down to the earth; and, humbled, asked, “LORD, what wilt thou have me to do?" But our LORD tells him not: He raises him not up at once; He neither immediately pronounces his forgiveness, nor teaches him how it may be obtained, but informs him solely that He has a work for him to perform, that he is now simply to obey, and what he is to do he shall know hereafter. Thus He sends him, His bodily blindness an emblem of that of his mind, to tarry the LORD's leisure.

1 Ammonius in Cramer's Catena, ad loc.

2 Besides these, on the conversion of" Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue," at Corinth, "with his whole house," many of the Corinthians," it is added, "hearing, believed, and were baptized."

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NOR ENDUED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, BEFORE BAPTISM. 217

(Acts ix. 6. xxii. 10.) What took place during those three days and nights of bodily and mental darkness, during which, doubtless, in intense anxiety, (through which he "did neither eat nor drink," "his heart was smitten, so that he forgot to eat his bread 1") with one only cheering look into the future, he reviewed the course of his past life, GoD's guidance, and his own wilfulness, we are not told; nor how this probation of acute suffering was necessary for the framing of this "chosen vessel :" but it is at least implied, that, as yet, in answer to his prayers, there had been conveyed only a general intimation of God's good intentions toward him, of His purpose to remove the outward sign of His displeasure: "Behold, he prayeth, and hath seen, “in a vision, a man named Ananias, coming and putting his hand upon him, that he might receive his sight." But as yet neither were his sins forgiven, nor had he received the HOLY GHOST; much less then was he born again of the SPIRIT, before It was conveyed to him through his SAVIOUR'S Sacrament. "And now, "why tarriest thou?" says Ananias; "arise, and be baptized, " and wash away thy sins." (Acts xxii. 16.) "The LORD JESUS, "that appeared unto thee in the way, as thou camest, hath sent "me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the "HOLY GHOST." And this was done; for "there fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he received sight forthwith, arose, and was baptized." The account of the fulfilment is obviously commensurate with the promise. As then by the falling of the scales, his outward darkness was removed, and he received sight; so by baptism was the inward, and he was filled 1 Ps. cii. 4.

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2 See Note (I) at the end.

3 Calvin, according to his view of sacraments, could not but paraphrase this "That you may be assured, Paul, that your sins are remitted, be bap"tized. For the LORD promises remission of sins in baptism; receive it, and

be assured." And this is in answer to the objection, "Why did Ananias tell "Paul to wash away his sins by baptism, if sins are not washed away by virtue "of baptism?" Instit. iv. 15, de Baptismo, § 15. Such an answer will scarcely satisfy any one. Contrast with this Bucer's simple inference, " In these words, "then, there is ascribed to baptism the effect of remitting or washing away of "sins."

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S. CHRYSOSTOME ON THE CASE OF ST. PAUL.

with the HOLY GHOST. But if even to St. Paul, for whose conversion our SAVIOUR Himself vouchsafed again to become visible to human sight, regeneration and the other gifts of the HOLY SPIRIT were not imparted without the appointed Sacrament of grace, why should this be expected or looked for by others?

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the

This view of St. Paul's case, which was the result of the examination of the words of Holy Scripture in their plain meaning, it is very satisfactory to find altogether anticipated by St. Chrysostome'. "We cannot, cannot, entertain grace without vigilance."Not even upon Paul did grace come immediately; but three days "intervened, in which he was blind, being purified, and prepared "for its reception, by fear. For as the purple-dyers first prepare, by other means, that which is to receive the dye, that its "richness may not fade: thus, here also, God first prepares "soul, by filling it with trouble, and then pours forth His grace;" and again, "Why did he neither eat nor drink? he was con"demning himself for what he had done; he was confessing all; "he was praying; he was calling upon GOD";" and "Ananias "taught him nothing, but only baptized him. But, as soon as " he was baptized, he drew down on himself a great grace from "the SPIRIT, through his zeal and great earnestness."—And why did not GOD blind his eyes themselves? this was much more wonderful. They were open, but he saw not: which also "had happened unto him, as to the law, until the name of Jesus was put upon him (i. e. until he was baptized). ' And having "taken meat, he was strengthened:' he had been exhausted, "then, by the journey, his terror, hunger, and despondency. "GOD then wishing to increase his despondency, allowed him to "remain blind till Ananias came."

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In like manner St. Augustine*; "Beware we of those most "proud and most dangerous temptations," [looking for immediate revelations of GOD, independently of the ordinances of the Church]," and let us rather think that the Apostle Paul himself,

Hom. 1. in Actt. § 6. T. 9. p. 10. ed. Bened.

2 Hom. 19. on Acts ix. 9. p. 157.

4 De Doct. Christian. Prolog. § 6.

3 Hom. 20 init.

Origin of ERRONEOUS THEORIES AS TO BAPTISM OF CORNELIUS. 219

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although cast to the earth, and instructed by a Divine and heavenly voice, was yet sent to a man that he might receive the Sacraments, and be united to the Church." And Tertullian', "Then Paul also, when he believed, was baptized. And this it was, which the LORD had enjoined him saying,' Arise and enter "into Damascus; there it shall be shown thee what thou oughtest "to do;' namely, to be baptized, which alone was wanting to "him. For he had sufficiently learned and believed that the "Nazarene was the LORD, the SON OF GOD." And another infers, "Then not all baptism, but only that into the LORD JESUS "effects the cleansing away of sin."

iii. 2. b. Baptism of Cornelius.

The case of Cornelius is very remarkable, as indeed one should expect the calling of the father of the Gentile Church to have in it something peculiar, as well as that of the father of the first people of GOD. Two different points in his history have accordingly been seized upon, and made the Scriptural basis of distinct theories: his previous holiness-of the school-notion of grace of congruity-the descent of the HOLY GHOST previous to his Baptism of the separation of the grace of the Sacrament from the ordinance3. Each rests upon a two-fold false assumption, 1) that the works done by Cornelius were done in his own strength, "before" and independently of "the inspiration of "GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT," (Art. 13); since otherwise there were no question, on the part of the Schoolmen, of" grace of congruity;" for as the prayers, the almsgiving, the fasting of Cornelius were the fruit of faith in God, and of the guidance of His SPIRIT, the

1 De Baptismo, c. 13.

2 Ammonius in Cramer's Catena ad Actt. xxii. 16.

3 P. Martyr ad Rom. vi. "Nor are regeneration and renovation offered to "us in Baptism, as though we had them not in any wise before. For it can

"not be denied, that adult believers have justification also, before they are

baptized." In proof whereof, he instances Abraham (Rom. iv.) and Cornelius (as, indeed, the case of Cornelius is brought forward by every one of this school, who would make the Sacraments into outward ordinances); and he himself hence infers, that by Baptism we are visibly (and only visibly) engrafted into the Church.