How is it possible in the face of these Scriptures to misunderstand the meaning of water as a figure, whether with speech or action? Yet how distorted from their true use and import have the Sacraments become!—what the Lord intended for our good, turned into an almost idolatrous object of veneration and superstitious regard. Under somewhat similar circumstances Hezekiah acted well in 2 Kings 18:44He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4). The Church of Rome, boldly, unequivocally, and consistently with itself, asserts the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, and holds that what is called “original sin” is removed by it. After the “consecration,” it calls the water “holy,” and attributes life-giving efficacy to its use in baptism.
As to original sin,” it is requisite that we should know what is meant by it. And in the first place it is necessary carefully to distinguish between sin and sins,—the root and the fruit. We all have sin in us, as we all have committed sins, and the latter are the fruit of the former. They are most clearly distinguished in Scripture, and are separately, and in some respects differently, treated of. Christ was made sin for us, but He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Sins are forgiven, sin has been condemned in Christ as sin-offering on the cross. If we go to the Articles of the Church of England, we find (Art. ix.) original or birth sin defined as,.” the fault and the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the nature of Adam.” In Rom. 8:33For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: (Romans 8:3), this is called “sin in the flesh,” (ArpOvripti aaptcc;9). But this is never said to be forgiven,—God has condemned it in the sacrifice of Christ; and to faith, the Christian is dead to it, (Rom. 6:2, 72God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Romans 6:2)
7For he that is dead is freed from sin. (Romans 6:7)), though sin is not dead in him (1 John 1:88If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)). Even in the case of the true Christian, as a matter of fact sin remains in him till he dies (or puts off this body of humiliation), though his sins have been forgiven. How absurd then is it to say that original sin has been washed away in baptism! Evidently the corrupt nature is not washed away, and as to the new or divine nature and reconciliation to God, that depends upon true and individual faith in Christ, and not upon baptism. As we have seen, “by His own will begat He us with the word of truth,” —this is irrespective of any ordinance. As regards the sin of the world, the work is done in virtue of which it will in due time be removed, viz., the work of Christ on the cross: as yet, however, all that can be said is, “we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness,” 1 John 5:1919And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. (1 John 5:19).
The sin of the world consequently is no more yet removed, than sin in the flesh is removed from human nature. In the eternal state no trace of sin will exist in the heavens, or on the earth, which will then have undergone its baptism with fire; but, terrible to think, or to say, apart forever, and in the place of punishment, Satan and all evil doers will be, where they can no more mar or blot the rest of creation; for the kingdom of God will then be no longer in mystery, but in power and in manifested glory.
It is a common saying, and too true a one that, “the Church teaches.” The Church does indeed teach, as a matter of fact, and systematically teaches error. But the very idea of the Church teaching, no less than the fact, is opposed by Scripture. The Church is taught,—it is the business of the Church, (or should be so), to receive and hold fast the truth. The Church confesses the truth, but does not, according to Scripture, teach it. Teaching is an individual gift, and, like every other gift, involves responsibility to the Lord, on the part of the individual or person to whom the Lord has committed the gift. Those who hear are responsible to the Lord that they accept only what is in accordance with Holy Scripture,—the only standard of truth.
The Holy Spirit would Himself teach by the written word, those who when taught are to teach others. The Holy Spirit would equally aid the hearers in ascertaining whether, what is taught agrees with the revealed and inspired word of God. “Prove all things,” says the apostle, “hold fast that which is good.” Reject, of course, what is otherwise. Even in the case of apostolic teaching, those who heard were commended for comparing what was said with what had been already revealed and written, as we see in Acts 17:1111These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11), “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Never has there been a case of the Church usurping authority, either to teach, or to appoint those who are to teach, without grievous injury to souls, and what is worse, without contravening the authority of Christ, and hindering the sovereign action of the Holy Ghost. Nothing illustrates this more than the case of the Sacraments, utterly misplaced and perverted, to exalt the pretensions of a mere human priesthood. A multitude of collateral truths suffer through the attempt to maintain and justify this prime evil.
As examples, we take the following quotations. from the well-known work of Dr. Harold Browne, Bishop of Winchester, on the Thirty-nine Articles.
“ But our Lord was to depart from them; and for the future government of His Church, we find a promise that in the regeneration, (i.e., in the new state of things under the gospel of Christ, the renovation of the Church), the twelve apostles should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. What are the twelve tribes, but the whole Church of God?.... Thus, when the Savior in body departed from them, He left behind Him twelve apostles to sit on the thrones or seats of government in the Church.”
Again; “We come lastly to speak of what has been most commonly called the special grace of Baptism, viz., Regeneration, or the New Birth. We have indeed anticipated the consideration of this already. If by baptism we are all made members of Christ, children of God, the inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, then are we new-born in baptism; for therein we are joined to Christ, cut out of the wild olive tree, and grafted into the good tree, born into the Church, into the family of God, as children of our Father which is in heaven. Moreover, if then the Spirit of God becomes our assured guest and present help, the first germ of spiritual life must be ours; and this is all that is meant by new birth.”
Once more; “The doctrine of a real, spiritual presence, is the Anglican doctrine, and was more or less the doctrine of Calvin, and of many foreign reformers. It teaches that Christ is really received by faithful communicants in the Lord's Supper, but that there is no gross or carnal, but only a spiritual and heavenly presence there; not the less real, however, for being spiritual. It teaches, therefore, that the bread and wine—are received naturally; but the body and blood of Christ are received spiritually,” &c. There can be no doubt that this is the teaching of Dr. Browne and of the Church of England: indeed the work from which these extracts are taken, is the standard work on the subject,—one in which candidates for ordination have to undergo examination.
Where is one to begin, or end, in dealing with, not only the ignorance of divine truth they evince, but the gross error of these statements? To expose them as we could wish would be to write a volume on this subject, a task which we are not at present contemplating. There is, however, a moral conviction, so deeply impressed upon our mind, by statements such as these, that, before saying more, we must give expression to it. It is this. The solemn lesson we learn, as to where men may get to,—often good, and in other respects able even,—when not themselves taught by the word and Spirit of God; and on the other hand, the great blessing, and high spiritual advantage, of taking God's word as our sole authority,—reading and studying it reverentially,—gaining spiritual intelligence from it, testing everything by it, and rejecting everything which is counter to it. How many a simple, and in other respects unlearned believer is there, to whom God by His word and Spirit, has given a knowledge of divine things, and a heavenly wisdom, which enables him at once to perceive the character of such teaching, and to feel no less shocked and astonished by it! Wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil, he finds in the knowledge of the truth, not only the blessing of the Lord, but the sure detector of all error and evil.
In Rev. 3:2121To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. (Revelation 3:21), we read, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father on His throne.” No one could confound these thrones, or be absurd and even profane enough to think that we shall sit upon the throne of God. But the Church as the bride of Christ will sit with Him on His throne as the Son of man, that throne which He will take in accordance with Psa. 8, and from which He will reign in His mediatorial kingdom,—Israel being then restored to their land, and all the promises and prophecies fulfilled. This is the period of the regeneration,—the time alluded to in Matthew xis. 28, “In the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And though the Church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone, yet we nowhere read that in the renovated state of the Church, i.e., in glory, the apostles will rule the Church. The twelve tribes of Israel are quite distinct, and connected with the earthly Jerusalem.