The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 340

REGENERATION

300

sound common sense of our people has always felt that this mere " counting in " did not do justice to the full and rich meaning of the liturgy.

And

if

you should inquire

office of Baptism,

"

into the

meaning of these words

of the

are sanctified," not of the weaker epigones, but

of the energetic generation of heroes

who have

victoriously fought

the Lord's battles against Arminius and his followers, then you

would discover that those godly and learned theologians, such as Gysbrecht Voetius for instance, never for a moment hesitated to break with these half-way explanations, but spoke out plainly, saying " They are entitled to Baptism not because they are counted as :

members of

the covenant, but because as a rule they actually already

and for this reason, and this reason alone, it That our children are sanctified in Christ, and therefore as members of His body ought to be baptized. possess the first grace

reads

;

'

:

By

this confession the

Reformed Church proved

Word and not less with the persons who afterward prove

with God's

actual facts.

ceptions,

to

do not begin

life

to be in accord

With few

ex-

belong to the regenerate

with riotous outbreaks of

sin.

It is

rather the rule

that children of Christian parents manifest from early childhood a desire and taste for holy things, warm zeal for the name of God, and inward emotions that can not be attributed to an evil nature. Moreover, this glorious confession gave the right direction to the education of children in our Reformed families, largely retained to

Our people did not

the present time.

see in their children off-

shoots of the wild vine, to be grafted perhaps later on, with

whom

could be done until converted after the manner of Methodism * but they lived in the quiet expectation and holy confidence that the child to be trained was already grafted, and therefore

little ;

worthy

to be

nursed with tenderest care.

We admit that,

latterly,

Reformed character of our churches has been impaired by the National Church as a church for the masses, this gold has been sadly dimmed; but its original, vital thought was beautiful and animating. It made God's work of regeneration precede man's work; to Baptism it gave its rich development; and it made the work of education, not dependent on chance, cooperate with God.

since the

*

For the sense

Preface.

in

which the author takes Methodism, see section

5 in

the

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