creation of our race in Himself, to abolish what was established by the former decree, suffering Himself to be nailed to the cross, that by the curse of the cross He might transfix and blot out all the curses of the sentence which condemned our earthly nature: lastly, suffering in man, that He might degrade the Powers, in that, though God, dying according to the Scriptures, He thereby triumphed over them also, having in Himself the confidence of a Conqueror, while Him self undying and unassailable by Death, he died to obtain eternity for the dying." "These things, then," St. Hilary subjoins to this energetic paraphrase," being enacted by God, beyond the understanding of human nature, are not subject to our mind's natural sense, because the operation of Infinite Eternity requires Infinite conception to measure it; so that when God was man, Immortality dies, the Eternal was buried, it is matter not for reasonings of the understanding, but for the reception of His Power; so again, on the contrary, it is to be measured not by the senses, but by the [Divine] power, when for man there is God; for one dead, Immortal; of buried, Eternal. We then are co-raised by God in Christ through His Death. But since in Christ is the fulness of Godhead, we at once have an intimation of God the Father, co-raising us in Him when dead, and that Christ Jesus is to be confessed as no other than God in the fulness of Divinity."

So do doctrines, when formed into no system around any one selected doctrine, harmonize together, and so closely has He blended together His Sacraments with His own eternal glory, as with His humiliation, constituting them effluences of both conjointly, as in outward form they represent His lowliness, in inward grace they communicate His "Virtue."

II. Passages in which moderns have appropriated to themselves the privileges of Holy Baptism, without thought of the means through which they are conveyed.

In the above passages we have deprived ourselves of the strength which God purposed to impart through them to His Church; and, yet more, have robbed ourselves and our flocks of the knowledge of the greatness of the gift vouchsafed to them by God in Baptism. In another class, we have appropriated to ourselves the gift, independently of the channel through which it is conveyed. And since Baptism, as the means of our union with Christ, is the act which conveys to us, either in immediate possession, or as an earnest, all our subsequent spiritual blessings, transfers us from being children of wrath, to be children of grace in Him, it could not but be, that it would often be alluded to by the Apostles, writing to Christian Churches, even when it was not distinctly mentioned; and that the neglect of it must cause much wrong interpretation of Holy Scripture. This misinterpretation is, indeed, far wider than would at first

be suspected even by those who are, in some measure alive to it. This shall now be pointed out, first, in some more specific instances, and then in its influence upon our interpretation of all those passages of Scripture which speak of our justification, and all other spiritual blessings therein summed up and contained.

We are, in different passages of Holy Scripture, said to have been "sealed by God," or "by the Holy Spirit of God;" to "have received an anointing from the Holy One;" to "have been anointed by God;" and these passages, persons at once, without doubt or misgiving, interpret of the inward and daily graces of God's Holy Spirit, (which are also undoubtedly involved in them, though as the result of that first gift, the having been made members of Him, who sends the Comforter to His Church;) so that, if any one were to propose to explain these passages of Baptism, as containing the first pledge and earnest of the Spirit, I fear he would be looked upon as a cold and lifeless interpreter, perhaps as a mere formalist. It will, doubtless, startle such to know that this was, in some passages at least, the interpretation of all Christian antiquity; and it may serve as an index of our altered state of religious belief, that most of us, perhaps, would at first regard as cold and formal, the interpretation which to them spoke of the fulness of their Saviour's gift. This would, itself, be sufficient for our purpose; for it is not so much abstract proof of the value and greatness of our Lord's Sacraments, that we need, as, rather, to be convinced that our feelings have undergone a change, that we fall very far short of the love and respect which the Fathers of the Christian Church bore to them. And then let us consider within ourselves, whether, since those holy men realized in their lives the ordinances which they loved, we must not confess that our lessened esteem for our Saviour's gift, betokens a less humble affectionateness, and, whether as the result of pride and self-will, it is not likely to end in unreverential feelings towards the Giver. We aim at receiving every thing directly from God's hand, from His Spirit to ours, and so either disparage His Sacraments, or else would make them means only, by which our faith might be kindled, to "ascend into heaven," and "bring down Christ from above," instead of being content diligently to cleanse our own hearts, and "keep His words," that so His gracious promise may be fulfilled-" My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." (John xiv. 23.)

This had been an important consideration, quite independent of the question, which were the right interpretation of the passages in question; for, as there could be no doubt which loved his Saviour most, the interpreter who found Him every where in Old Testament prophecy, or he who found him no where; so, also, could there be little,

See Note (D) at the end.ht

probably, between the character of mind, which looked joyously to the gift of the Holy Ghost, through his Saviour's ordinance, and that which regarded any reference to that ordinance, lifeless and cold. There could be no doubt, I think, of this generally; although, as was before said, individuals might either "hold the truth in unrighteousness," or being in error, might still derive food for their piety, from other truth in God's rich storehouse.

ii. 1. "He Who establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; Who, also, is He Who sealed us, and gave the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts," (2 Cor. i. 22 :) "in Whom ye also, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation-in whom having believed also, ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession." (Eph. i. 13, 14.) "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye were sealed unto the day of redemption." (Eph. iv. 30.)

Now, 1, in all these passages St. Paul speaks of this "sealing" as as a past action, which had taken place at a certain definite time. To the Corinthians, he says, "Who also is he who sealed us (5 xai oppayicáμevos) and gave (dos) us." To the Ephesians, in both places, ye "were sealed" (¿oppayío@nre). 2. In one passage (Eph. i.) this sealing is mentioned, as immediately following upon the belief of the Gospel-"having believed, ye were sealed;" in a second (Eph. iv.) it stands opposed to subsequent performance of duty-"ye were sealed by the Holy Spirit, grieve Him not;" in the third (2 Cor. i.) it stands opposedt to God's subsequent establishing them in Christ, to their being maintained in this state into which they had been brought -"who establisheth you, who also anointed and sealed you." 3. The word "sealed" was already in use among the Jews, and is recognized by St. Paul, as designating the act by which men were brought into covenant with God, and received its privileges. Now, it would, indeed, be a very perverted mode of arguing, to infer, either that the seal in the Christian Covenant only attested the faith which already existed (as in the case of Abraham,) or that the seal of the Jewish

*E. V. in Eph. iv. 30. are sealed," in Eph. i. 13. "have been sealed." The context, as well as the word, is the same.

†There is the like contrast between the original gift, and the looked-for continuance of it, in 1 Cor. i. 5-8, quoted by Bode, as an use of the same metaphor, in the matter of faith and sanctification-"as the witness of Christ was confirmed (eßeßaiwon) among you, so that ye came behind in no gift, waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who also shall confirm (BeBatwoɛi) you." But the gifts spoken of here also were bestowed at the commencement of the Christian life. See further below, ii. 3. "Blessed

Talm. Hieros, Berachoth. f. 13. 1. ap. Lightf. ad Mt. 28, 19. be He who hath sanctified His beloved from the womb, and placed the sign in his flesh, and has sealed (ann) His offspring with the sign of the covenant."

covenant conveyed the same privileges as the Christian; for this would be to identify the earlier with the later dispensation; and as one exposition unduly derogates from the Christian Sacrament, so does the other exalt the seal of the Jewish covenant beyond what we have any certain warrant for, or even intimation of, from Holy Scripture. Still, one should suppose, that St. Paul, when employing terms, already in use among the Jews, would apply them to the corresponding portion of the Christian dispensation. Since, then, circumcision, by which the covenant was ratified to the Jew, was spoken of as a "seal," and that by St. Paul also (Rom. iv. 11.), St Paul, if he used the word "seal" with reference to the Christian, would obviously use it of that by which each person was brought within the Christian covenant-the Sacrament of Baptism. But it were the very error of the rationalists to suppose, that God's Holy Spirit, when He took the words used in Jewish Theology, and employed them to express Christian Truth, conveyed nothing more by them, than they would have meant in the mouth of any ordinary Jew; and did not rather, when receiving them into the service of the sanctuary, stamp them anew, and impress upon them His own living image. And this is so; for since Baptism is not a mere initiatory or significant rite, but is an appointed means for conveying the Holy Spirit, the language has been actually conformed to our higher privileges. It is not merely an outward admission to an inward covenant, an admission to privileges afterwards to be bestowed; it is not simply any admission to any covenant at all; it is an admission, an incorporation the spiritual body of Christ, and so a spiritual act, wherein Christ by His Spirit takes the baptized into Himself. So then instead of the covenant being said to be sealed to us, we are declared to be "sealed by the Holy Spirit," being taken out of our state of nature, and marked, guarded, conformed to our Lord;-marked, by the sprinkling of His blood, that the destroyer may pass over us, and Satan have no power upon us; guarded, as His purchased possession and peculiar treasure, whereon He has affixed his seal; conformed, in that it places again upon us the Creator's image, renewing us after His likeness, and impressing His cast, and, to speak the high truth, His features upon our souls, as a seal gives its stamp to the body, whereon it is impressed. And not a present gift only, but an earnest also of larger gifts, proportioned to our growth, since the Holy Spirit was then first imparted to us as Christians, and as His Temple, and the "earnest" then given us is a pledge, that unless we wilfully break off the seal, we shall be carried on to eternal life, with larger instalments of our promised possession, until" the possession, purchased" for us, by Christ's precious blood-shedding, shall be fully bestowed upon us, and God's pledge be altogether "redeemed." 4. The Christian fathers have, from Apostolic times, used the word "seal," as a title of Christian Baptism; a relic whereof we have in

into

the doctrine of our Church, that "the promises of forgiveness of sins, and our adoption to be the sons of God, by the Holy Ghost, are therein visibly signed and sealed." (Art. XXVII.) Thus St. Hermas (about A. D. 65-81):-"They must needs go up through the water, that they may rest. For they could not otherwise enter into the kingdom of God, than by laying aside the deathliness of their former life. Those departed then were sealed with the seal of the Son of God, and entered into the kingdom of God. Before* a person receive the Name of the Son of God, he is doomed to death; but when he receives that seal, he is freed from death, and made over to life. But that seal is water, into which men go down bound over to death, but arise, being assigned over to life. That seal, then, was preached to them also, and they made use of it, to enter into the kingdom of God." The least which this would shew, is that such was the received usage of the word, "seal," in the time of St. Paul: but no one, admitting this, will readily suppose, that St. Paul would have used the term with regard to Christians, unless he had meant it to be understood of the Sacrament of Baptism. And this usage of the word, to which we have such early testimony, is found in all Churches, from that time onwards; and their use of it plainly agrees with, and is derived from St. Paul's use of it in these places in which he is speaking of Christian privileges, (sometimes the passages are directly quoted,) not from that in the Epistle to the Romans, wherein he is speaking of the covenant with Abraham. For the Fathers uniformly speak of Baptism as sealing, and so keeping, guarding, preserving us, as it were a seal placed upon us,t marking us as His, giving us His image. The school of Calvin calls it a seal, ratification, or outward mark, not of us, but of God's covenant only. The two metaphors are essentially distinct; the modern usage is borrowed from St. Paul's description of the older covenant, whereof circumcision was the seal, but was no Sacrament; that of the Fathers agrees with this reference to Baptism, which, being a Sacrament, seals, guards, preserves us,‡ and so is an earnest to us of the fuller mercies yet in

store.

*L. 3. simil. 9. no. 16, quoted by Bingham, Christian Antiq. b. xi. c. 1. † Bellarmine (de Sacram. L. i. c. 17.) remarking, that Scripture saith, Abraham "received the sign (onμetov) of circumcision, the seal (oppayîda) of the faith which he had," &c. infers that circumcision was a sign to the Jews, a seal to Abraham only: he remarks, also, that, often as St. Paul speaks of circumcision, he does not, even when directly speaking of its benefits to the Jews, (Rom. iii.) mention its being a seal of faith. J. Gerhard (de Sacram. 387.) contends, in answer, that there is no difference between sign and seal. But the difference remains between Abraham's case and that of any Jew, that to Abraham circumcision was a seal of God's approval of his previous faith, to his descendants it was a sign only of their being taken into the covenant, in which a like faith was to be exercised.

See Note (E) at the end. Coteler (on the Apostol. Const. ii. 39. "When