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Further, Baptism is the communication of our Lord's Passion, and the proof of His love to the Church. "He loved her, and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water." He gave Himself for her," but this was yet something external to her; He died for all mankind; yet are not all partakers of that Precious Death; but beyond this, "He cleansed her, that He might sanctify her." He applied to her the merits of His Passion, made them her own, through the washing of water He cleansed her with His own Blood, washed away every defilement, each spot and wrinkle, became the Saviour of the body, that she might be subject to Him here in holiness and spotlessness, and reign with Him in glory. And so, in more faithful times, they felt that Baptism was identified with His Passion, having its own efficacy from It, and communicating It's virtue to us. "In like sort," says Bp. Jewel, "S. Chrysostome writeth* of the Sacrament of Baptism, "St. Paul showeth that the Blood and the water are one.' For Christ's Baptism is Christ's Passion also," or, as he says again,† "What the cross and grave was to Christ, that has Baptism been made to us." "The sacrifice of our Lord's passion every man then offers for Himself, when he is dedicated in the faith of His Passion," says St. Augustine :‡ and again, "The sacrifice of the Lord is then in a manner offered for each, when by being baptized he is sealed in His name ;" and again,§ "No man may in any wise doubt, that each of the faithful then becomes a partaker of the Body and Blood of the Lord, when in Baptism he is made a member of Christ." "Well are washed in the passion of the Lord," says Tertullian. "In Baptism," again says St. Chrysostome, "we are incorporate into T Christ, and made flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone." The body of the regenerated (i. e. by Baptism) becomes "the flesh of the crucified," saith St. Leo;** and again,ft "Thou art bedewed with the blood of Christ when thou art baptized into His death." "Let us be washed in his blood," saith St. Bernard.‡‡ "By these few it may appeare," says Bishop Jewel,§§" that Christ is present at the Sacrament of Baptisme, even as He is present at the Holy Supper: unlesss ye will say, we may bee made flesh of Christ's flesh, and bee washt in His blood, and bee partakers of Him, and have him 'present,' without His 'presence.' Therefore Chrysostome, when he had

Ep. ad Hebr. Hom. 16. quoted by Bp. Jewel, Replie to Harding, p. 285. † Ib. 287.

Expos. Inchoat. ad Romanos, ib. p. 422.

Serm. ad Infant. ib. p. 21, 239, 292, 449.
De Baptismo, ib. p. 287.

In Ep. ad Ephes. ib. 292.

**De passione Domini, S. 4. ap. Jewel, Defence of Apologie, p. 221.

tt In Serm. de 4ta feria, c. 1. ib. p. 20.

Bern. Super Missus est Hom. 3. ibid.

§§ L. c.

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spoken vehemently of the Sacrament of the Supper, hee concludeth thus, Even so is it also in Baptisme.'

And so, we may see why St. Paul, in this place, speaks in two words only, of Christ's precious Blood-shedding, or rather of His whole Life and Death for the Church, and then dwells on the value of the gift of Baptism, and of the sanctification of the Church thereby conveyed. He does so because it is Baptism, which makes that precious Blood-shedding our's.

Lastly, it may be observed that St. Paul mentions no other instrument but Baptism; for in that he says, "with the washing of water by the word," he means, (as appears both by the force of the term, and the authority of the ancient Church) the Divine word which renders the element of water efficacious to our regeneration, our Blessed Saviour's "word" of Consecration. "By what word?" "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," says St. Chrysostom; and so Theodoret, "That saying, having cleansed in the washing of water by the word,' stands for, 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."" The original word, moreover, here employed (p,) is used of the "command"t of God, or of His "promise," or of a specific revelation, "the word of the Lord came to,"§ but not in the sense, which would be required by the modern interpretation, of revelation, written or unwritten, not of the word preached or written. For this there is used the plu ral pípara, or Móyos: and so, as elsewhere, the observation of the peculiarity of Scripture language, and the authority of the ancient Church, coincide in their results.

And thus in a passage, which modern habits pass over so slightly, there are contained, it appears, the doctrines that Christ's special love to the Church is manifested in His two Sacraments; that Baptism is essential to her sanctification; that it is an abiding blessing to her, preparing her, through her state militant, for eternal glory, and for His Presence and complete Union with Him; that it is through, and in her, that individuals partake of these blessings; that it is He, not man, who baptizeth; that Baptism is the communication of His Passion.

And this concentration of doctrine in this place is the more remarkable, inasmuch as the Apostle draws no inference whatever from this description which he gives of the purity of the Church, *See Note (F) at the end.

Matt. iv. 4; Heb. i 3; xi. 3; Rom. x. 8. (from the LXX.)

"The instrument, by which this grace is conveyed to the soul, is the word of God. The word, both written and preached, is that whereby we are begotten of Him." Mr. Simeon ad loc. The words, "the instrument," have the

more force, since Mr. S. had just spoken of the baptismal washing, as an external sign only.

John v. 47; vi. 63, 68; viii. 20, 47, &c.

but simply concludes as he began, "so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies, even as the Lord the Church." The only point of comparison which he insists on, is the fostering love of Christ, which the husband was, in his relation, to imitate: and threfore, since St. Paul thus singled out and dwelt upon the gift of Baptism, he must have had most exalted notions of that Sacrament, as a proof of the love of the Saviour of the Church, "in nourishing and cherishing it." For neither does man launch out into such a fervid description as this, without strong emotions as to the value and excellency of what he so describes. And so one may say, that the Holy Spirit, in filling the Apostle's mind with such high notions of the continual love and Providence of Christ for His Church, as manifested in the efficacy which he gave to the water of Baptism to sanctify and cleanse it, and in causing him to dwell in such glowing terms on the purity thereby to be effected, must have intended to work a corresponding love in us, and to correct the cold and unloving sophisms of sense and reason about the power of our Lord's institution. And yet I would confidently appeal to a large number of persons in the present day, whether, often as they have dwelt upon this animating description of the sanctification and spotlessness of Christ's Church, they have not (with a tacit feeling of not entering into them) pass by, almost unnoticed, the words "with the washing of water,' to which, however, the Apostle throughout refers in his subsequent picture of the Church's unblemishedness? And if so, is it not time that we seek to correct this variance between the Apostle's feelings and our own?'*

iii. 1. B. "There is one body, and One Spirit, even as ye were called in one hope of your calling, One Lord, one Faith, One Baptism, One God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all, and in you all."-Eph. iv. 4.

*It is painful to see Calvin's continual anxiety lest too much should be attributed to the Sacrament, even while he rightly vindicates it. "It is as if he said that a pledge of that sanctification was given in Baptism. Although we need a sound exposition here, lest men make themselves an idol out of the Sacrament, (as often happens) through a perverse superstition, &c." and so on; and yet even he had to speak against others, who “toiled (sudant) in paring down and weakening this panegyric upon Baptism, lest too much should be assinged to the symbol, if it were called the bath of the soul." Ad loc. Of such is Vorst, who even denies that the passage has any reference to the Sacrament of Baptism at all. "It is to be observed, moreover, that they grievously err, who suppose that in this place the power of sanctifying, and washing away sins, is ascribed in this place to the outward baptism with water; nay who build upon it the doctrine of the 'opus operatum; whereas in truth, not that outward baptism, but the inward and spiritual washing of the soul, (whereof that is only the sign and seal,) is here spoken of." Ad loc. This is followed by more recent writers, e. g. Mr. Simeon, ad loc. "The washing of water in baptism was only the external sign of that spiritual grace which it is the delight of His soul to bestow."

VOL. II.-6

one.

Such are the grounds upon which St. Paul exhorts to Christian unity. Christians were to abide at one, because they had been made "One Body," the Church, vivified by "One Spirit," though manifesting Himself in divers ways; "one hope in which they had been called,” of life everlasting, in the Holy Presence and fruition of God; "one Lord;" "one Faith" in Him; "one Baptism" into Him, and so into "God the Father, Who is above all,' the Author of all; God the Son, Who is 'through all,' as having been by Him created; God the Holy Ghost, Who is in all,' for He is given to believers, and we are the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the Father and the Son dwell in us." Well might St. Chrysostome say, "When the Blessed Paul exhorts to some greater effort, being very understanding and spiritual, he founds his exhortation on things in heaven, having learnt this from the Lord." But to this end, he appeals to the gifts, the high heavenly gifts which they had all received; "He‡ seeketh of us no ordinary charity, but one which should glue and join us indissolubly to each other, and have the same unitedness as of limb with limb," and "yet were called in one hope of your calling, i. e. God hath called you to the same things, He hath not given to one more than to another; freely hath He bestowed on all, immortality—on all, eternal life—on all, undying glory-on all, brotherhood -on all, inheritance. He became the common hope of all, co-raised all, and seated them with Himself." These He hath bestowed upon all; other gifts have been given "according to the measure of the gift of Christ," but continues St. Chrysostome, "The very head and chief things are common to all, Baptism, to be saved by Faith, to have God for our Father, all to partake of the same Spirit." As has been well said, "all are things inward, belonging to the Church and to its several members." Our "one regeneration and engraffing into Christ," may well occupy its place among our most glorious privileges, for it is the basis of all the rest; the earnest of the Spirit, the ground of our hope, the gift or confirmation of our faith, the union with Christ, and thereby with His Father and our Father, how should it not be a thing most inward? and how should we be ashamed, if we think only of the outward symbol under which it is made visible to us, as separate from its inward grace; and of that which

*"Quidam" ap. Hieron. ad loc. His own interpretation differs only, in that he says, "per omnes Filius, quia cuncta transcurrit vaditque per omnia," and in the last more concisely "in omnibus Spiritus Sanctus, quia nihil absque ipso eat." St. Athanasius in the same way," The Trinity is holy and perfect, equal within Itself, indivisible in Nature, It's operation One. For the Father doth all things through the Word in the Holy Spirit; and thus the Unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved. And thus One God is preached in the Church, Which is above all, and through all, and in all;' 'above all,' as the Father, and Origin and Fountain; 'through all,' through the Word; in all,' in the Holy Ghost." Ep. ad Serapion. c. 28. p. 676, 7. ed Ben.

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† Hom. x. in Eph. iv. init.

+ Hom. xi. init.

St. Paul places among God's chief gifts, yea with His gift of His Son our Lord, and His Holy Spirit, make but a lifeless carcass without a soul!

It may yet be remarked, how sound faith and Baptism are thus again blended together, as before in the holy words of Baptism,* Baptism being the depository, as it were, and guardian and perpetuator of sound faith in the Church. For so, having named one common hope, the Apostle goes on to speak of our one source of hope, our One Lord," and thence of the "One Faith," which was delinered to the saints, the "One Faith," as having One object of Faith; and thence of the "One Baptism," wherein this Faith was delivered to us, to be retained through life and death; and thence of the Holy Trinity in Unity, "One God and Father, Who is above all, and through all, and in all." It is not then as an outward form that Baptism is here named, but as "in power," sealing us, and sealing up our Faith in us, which in it was named upon us, and in which we were baptized, our Faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And so among the ancient fathers, St. Gregory of Nazianzum, after a full and sound confession of the Holy Trinity,t "whosoever this day threatens let him grant me to retain these words, and all beside take who will! The Father endureth not to be deprived of the Son, nor the Son of the Holy Ghost; but He is deprived, if ever they were not, if they are creatures. For that which is created is not God. Nor can even I endure to be deprived of that which perfected me. One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.' If this be made invalid, from whom shall I receive a second? What say ye, ye destructive-baptists, and anabaptists ? Can one be spiritual without the Spirit? or partaketh he of the Spirit. who honoreth not the Spirit? or honoreth he who is baptized into one created and a fellow-servant? Not so, not so. I will not belie Thee, Unoriginated Father; I will not belie Thee, Only-Begotten Word; I will not belie Thee, Holy Spirit. I know Whom I have confessed, Whom renounced, with Whom been united. I endure not, having been taught the words of the faithful, to learn infidel; to have confessed the truth, and follow after falsehood; to go down [into the water] to be perfected, and return more imperfect; to be baptized as for life, and be stifled in the water-Why make me at once blessed and wretched, new-enlightened and unenlightened, Divine and Godless, that I may suffer shipwreck of the hope of my reformation." And St. Athanasius,§ in the same way, so characteristic of the ancient Church, while he blends the passage of St. Paul with

* See above p. 74. sqq.

Orat. 33, adv. Arian. c. 17. p. 614, 15. ed. Ben..

The Eunomians who re-baptized "in the name of the Father uncreated, and the Son created, and the Holy Ghost created by the created Son."Epiph. ap. Bened.

Ep. 3. ad Scrapion. c. 6. p. 695. ed. Ben.