Baptismal Regeneration (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1872 Excerpt: ... INTRODUCTORY NOTES. I. By common consent, the new birth, the spiritual birth, the being born of God, as used in Scripture, are terms equivalent to regeneration. II. But these terms in Scripture always mean that change from the carnal to the spiritual on which salvation depends; therefore, to call a change of "state" by this term meaning by it only a change of federal relation to the church, or to the covenant, is to violate the inspired usage of words, and introduce certain confusion and error. III. The notion that this change is produced by, or is in any way dependent upon, baptism is not a notion which can be held separately and apart from others touching the way of salvation, but necessarily modifies and conditions them all. If wrong, it deranges them all, and such error in belief must surely lead to error in practice, and no criticism which does not fairly meet this point is worthy of consideration. IV. It is a fundamental principle in Protestant theology, that the sacraments were instituted and intended for believers--that they are the signs and seals of a faith which is supposed previously to exist. V. In every instance where baptism is formally spoken of, or alluded to, in the New Testament, it is adult baptism. It is in adult baptism then following a profession of faith that we are to look for the original and fundamental idea of the ordinance. VI. The baptism of infants, though not formally spoken of in the New Testament, is "retained in the church as most agreeable with the institution of Christ." The proofs of this agreeableness are deemed conclusive, but do not come within the scope of this tract. VII. The inferential argument which proves from Scripture that infants ought to be baptized does not prove that any such ought to be baptized except t...