THE MEANING OF HOLY BAPTISM

I.

THE GATEWAY OF THE CHURCH

It will be helpful to prepare the way for our discussion by watching in imagination the course of a Baptism Service. We notice at the outset who is there. The most conspicuous person is the minister, arrayed in his surplice and other robes. Beside him is the candidate for Baptism, who in this country is usually an infant or small child, but is sometimes an adult. There is also a group of friends, some of whom, called Godparents, have a little part to play in the Service. All of them gather round the Font, in which some water has previously been placed.

The Service consists partly of prayers and readings, partly of ceremonies. The ceremonies naturally strike the attention first. At a certain point in the Service the minister takes the infant or child into his arms-or in the case of an adult holds him by his right hand—and, having asked what is to be his Christian name, addresses him by it with the words "I baptize thee In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," at the same time pouring some of the water upon his head. Next he makes the sign of the Cross upon his forehead with water, using at the same time the words "We receive this child [or person] into the congregation of Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end." It is a natural consequence of these words that, at the close of the Service at the font, an entry of the newly baptized person's name (together with the names of his parents and of the officiating minister and the date of his Baptism) is made in the Register of Baptisms of the Parish.

Here, then, at the outset is one plain meaning of the Service. At his Baptism a person is enrolled among the professed followers of Jesus Christ. He receives upon him the mark of discipleship. He is made a member of that Society of followers of Jesus Christ which we call the Church. Every privilege which belongs to members of that Society becomes his by right. We do not at this point raise any of the more difficult questions upon which something must be said later. We do not ask, for instance, whether it is possible to be a real follower of Jesus Christ without being baptized: we simply look to the broad fact that there exists in the world a Society of people who are at least professedly united by their belief in Jesus Christ, and we note that Baptism is the condition of membership in that Society. The membership of the Society is precisely measured by the Baptismal roll. It is of course true that the Society has many branches, and that these branches are in some respects dissimilar. Some, for instance, may be Episcopalian in their form of Church government, some may be Presbyterian, some may be Congregational. But the Church as a whole, in the institutional sense in which we are for the moment using the term, consists of the baptized members of all its branches. Thus, a man who is baptized in the Church of England becomes immediately a member of the Church of England, and thereby a member of the whole Church of Christ. This is the first effect of Baptism.

The Baptism Service, however, makes it clear that something more is involved than a mere entrance into a visible Society. When a man joins a society, it is at any rate expected of him that he will live up to his membership, not only sharing in its privileges, but also performing its duties. Expectations are no doubt bitterly disappointed in the case of most societies, and the list of defaulting members is not uncommonly a long one. Nevertheless expectations are formed, and admission to membership is given on the assumption that a real attempt will be made to fulfil them. It is precisely the same with the Society of Christ's disciples. The baptized person is expected to live up to his membership: "We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified."

It is here that a difference begins to be manifested between membership in the Church and in other societies. They are human throughout. This is divine. Membership in the Church is expected to involve a direct relationship between the baptized person and the Lord Jesus Christ, and no number of cases of dis

appointment and failure can remove the expectation. In other words, Baptism is declared to have two sides to it, an inward and an outward. Outwardly there is the membership of the visible Society, consequent upon the visible sign of Baptism with water. Inwardly there is a relationship to Jesus Christ, the nature of which we have yet to discover. It is because of this two-sided character that the Prayer Book defines Baptism as a Sacrament. "How many parts are there in a Sacrament?" is asked in the Catechism; and the answer is given, "Two: the outward visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace." [We just notice in passing that the word Baptism becomes capable of bearing two different meanings. It may stand only for the external ceremony of washing with water. It may stand for that ceremony regarded in close connection with and as involving its inner spiritual significance. Clearly we shall get into confusion unless we are careful to notice in what sense we are using the word.]

What, then, is this inner side of Baptism? We naturally expect to find some explanation in the prayers and readings of the Service, and it is at these that we must now look more closely. "I baptize thee In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Without stopping for the present to investigate the full meaning of this formula, we see at a glance that the baptized person is intended to be brought into some relationship with the Holy Trinity. The relationship involves him in duties. He is "to fight manfully under Christ's banner against sin, the world, and the devil." Accordingly, he is asked to make, either with his own lips or through the lips of his Godparents, certain promises as a condition of Baptism : promises of faith in God, of obedience to His Will, and of renunciation of all that is inconsistent therewith. But a survey of the prayers as a whole makes it clear that, as in the outward sphere the person who is baptized has something done to him, so in the spiritual sphere the stress is laid, not upon what he does and is to do, but upon what is done to him. being baptized is expected to have its parallel in his receiving a spiritual gift, to which is given the name of Regeneration, or New Birth.

His

It is worth while to make some quotations to show that the thought in the prayers entirely turns on Regeneration. Take the familiar, because commonly used, Service for "the Ministration of Public Baptism of Infants." It begins with a paragraph containing the assertion "Our Saviour Christ saith, None can enter into the Kingdom of God, except he be regenerate and born anew of Water and of the Holy Ghost"-words which are roughly quoted

from our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus in St. John iii. 5. After this paragraph follow two prayers, in the second of which the congregation ask that the children to be baptized "may receive remission of their sins by spiritual Regeneration." When the rite of Baptism has been administered, the Priest makes a declaration "that this child is regenerate and grafted into the Body of Christ's Church." Finally comes a prayer: "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 incorporate him into Thy Holy Church. And humbly we beseech Thee to grant that he, being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in His death, may crucify the old man and utterly abolish the whole body of sin.'

In the Service for the Baptism of Persons of Riper Years the first three of these quotations are repeated in practically identical terms. The fourth of necessity appears in a rather different form: "Give Thy Holy Spirit to these persons, that, being now born again, and made heirs of everlasting salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ, they may continue Thy servants and attain Thy promises.' It is, then, Regeneration which lies closest to the heart of the Service. It is Regeneration, and not the ceremonial of Baptism, which is of its very essence. At the beginning there is the solemn statement of the necessity of Regeneration. Towards the end, in response to solemn prayer, Regeneration is asserted in some undefined way to have been effected. Last comes a prayer for its continuance.

We are thus faced in our search into the meaning of Baptism by the need for a thorough investigation of the exact significance of the word Regeneration.

Now the Service begins with an appeal to a definite passage of Holy Scripture. We are thereby reminded that our Prayer Book as it stands comes from the hands of men who made it their boast that their beliefs were based upon direct appeal to Scripture. We shall, therefore, be walking in the surest way to understand their meaning if, as the first stage of our inquiry, we examine the Bible teaching upon the subject of Regeneration.

II

THE HEAVENLY BIRTH

AMONG all the passages of Scripture which refer to Regeneration one stands out pre-eminent. It is found in the third chapter of St. John's Gospel, and forms part of a celebrated conversation which took place between our Lord Jesus Christ and Nicodemus the Pharisee. It will be worth while to dwell at length upon this passage, and to seek to understand it more clearly by looking at the setting in which it is placed.

The scene of the conversation was Jerusalem, and the time the great Feast of the Passover. Faithful Jews had come crowding up to the Holy City from far and near to keep the Feast. Some had wended their way from Galilee and the north down the Jordan valley, others had come from the great Jewish colonies in Egypt by way of the trade route across the desert. Every house in Jerusalem had opened its guest-chamber as a matter of course to give hospitality to the pilgrims, and the space within the city walls was crowded to its utmost capacity. Those who had not been fortunate enough to find accommodation in this way had sought it for themselves as best they could on the hills round about, and the slopes were dotted with their tents.

Passover crowds were always naturally excited. But in this year it was probably A.D. 26 or 27-there was a special cause of excitement. A new popular Preacher had appeared from Galilee. John the Baptist had been wonderful enough; indeed, his work was not yet done, for he was still to be found near the banks of Jordan, and men and women were still going out to hear him and to receive his Baptism. But this new Preacher, Jesus by name, was quite outshining John in the brilliance of His doings. Moreover, the remarkable thing was that John, so far from being jealous of the new arrival, had evidently expected Jesus to come, and was quite prepared to give up the place of pre-eminence to Him. He had gone so far as to describe himself merely as a Voice and as a preparer of the way for Jesus,