ille baptizaret; atque ex aqua ascenderunt; cum hac differentia quod Apostoli, utpote jam donati lavacro regenerationis, vivi descenderint et ascenderint; justi vero, quia Baptismi antea erant expertes, mortui descenderint, ascenderint vivi. Hic mihi videtur sensus esse obscurissimi loci, atque a multis non intellecti.

Since washing is for the body, not the mind, our author understands Baptism metaphorically and mystically, namely the good things which are granted by God on our baptism. What, therefore, he says is this; "Patriarchs, Prophets, and other righteous men, born before the coming of Christ, although they abounded in virtues, yet, in order to enter the kingdom of God, wanted only the seal of His Son or Baptism, (for so is Baptism called in every case amongst the Fathers and the reason of that designation Gregory the Theologian gives Orat. 40), this is the indulgence of baptism. Wherefore the Apostles and Gospel-teachers were themselves baptized, and after their death preached baptism and faith to the just dead; they also went down with them into the water, in the same way as Philip and Eunuch went down into the water, [Acts viii, 38,] that the one might baptize the other, and went up out of the water; with this difference, that the Apostles, as having been already gifted with the fountain of regeneration, went down and came up alive; but the righteous men, having been before that devoid of Baptism, went down dead but came up alive. This appears to me to be the sense of a most obscure passage, and one not understood by many.

XVI. JUSTIN MARTYR.

This eminent Father of the Church was born, as is thought, A. D. 91, and died in 166. He was at the zenith of his career as a writer about the year 139.

:

DUPIN and ADAM CLARKE give an account of him and his works but they give no particulars of his writing on Baptism; except that Dupin alludes to Justin Martyr's speaking, in his Apology, of the ceremonies of baptism.

was

The opinion of MOSHEIM concerning Justin Martyr is that he

a man of great piety and considerable learning, who, from a Pagan philosopher, became a Christian martyr. He had frequented all the different sects of philosophy in an ardent and impartial pursuit of truth ; and finding, neither among Stoics nor Peripatetics, neither in the Pythagorean nor Platonic schools, any satisfactory account of the perfections of the Supreme Being; and the nature and destination of the human soul, he embraced Christianity on account of the light which it cast upon these interesting subjects. We have yet remaining his two Apologies in behalf of the Christians, which are highly esteemed, as they deserve to be, although, in some passages of them, he

shews himself an incautious disputant, and betrays a want of acquaintance with ancient history.

See vol. 1, page 162 of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, translated by Dr Maclaine, &c., London, 8vo, 1826.

COLLINSON, in his "Key to the writings of the principal Fathers vide &c." being his "Sermons of the Bampton Lecture, Oxford, 1813," in his seventh sermon, pp. 217, 218, writes thus:

The following passages tend to shew, that the Fathers believed men were regenerated and justified by the grace conferred at Baptism; and that the primitive Christians were careful to hold fast the form of doctrine, and of sound words delivered to them from the first.

He then quotes from the Apology of Justin Martyr, part of the sixty-first section; but it is unnecessary to give the extract here, as the whole section will be given further on.

In an appendix to this work of Collinson's is an abstract of Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. Three passages, herein quoted, relate to Baptism. They will be presently given with others on the same subject.

SAMUEL HEBDEN, in his work "Original Righteousness, and God's covenant with Adam &c." -on the book of Taylor of Norwich &c. 8vo, Lond., 1740,-contends that Justin Martyr is against Baptismal Regeneration. He quotes from Justin the same passage as is quoted by Collinson, "Those who believe what we teach &c.," and admits that "regenerated is put for baptized," but, he adds:

Perhaps all that we can fairly gather from Justin's words is this. Inasmuch as a sign may bear the name of what is signified by it, and Baptism is a sign of Regeneration, or spiritual renewing, for that reason he says of the baptized that they are regenerated. The persons, whom he here speaks of, being reputed

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sincere believers already converted and forgiven, they were thought proper persons to be baptized; and baptized they were, not in order to their being forgiven; but in token of their being already regenerated and pardoned.

The OXFORD TRACT FOR THE TIMES, No 67, contends most strongly against Hebden's view of Justin Martyr, and gives, in p. 33 of the third edition, a quotation of the same passage, but differing in some expressions from that of Collinson. The OxFORD TRACT also quotes from Justin Martyr in pages 323, 324, 325, and 348. In writing that Scripture contrasts Circumcision with Baptism, the tract quotes a passage from the works of Justin Martyr, which will be found further on with the rest.

CARY, in his "Testimonies of the Fathers of the first four centuries to the doctrine and discipline of the church of England, 8vo, Oxford, 1835," adduces the same passage quoted by Collinson above in the Apology, and also the second passage given in Collinson's abstract of the Dialogue with Trypho.

Here (says Cary, — that is in the passage cited from the Dialogue) Baptism is, in is, in express words, declared to be the means by which spiritual circumcision is to be attained.

In Booтn's "Pado-baptism examined," [2 vols 8vo, Lond., 1787], in vol. ii, chap. 3, after stating that Vitringa wrote "The ancients connected a regenerating power, and a communication of the Spirit, with Baptism," the author proceeds thus :

Justin Martyr (Apol. ii, 79) asserts it in express words; and to Baptism he applies that saying of our Lord "Except a man be born of water &c.

But this seems to be a false reference in Booth: for Justin Martyr's second apology has only fifteen sections, whilst his first has seventy one. The only place in the Apologies of Justin

Martyr, where those words, "Except a man be born" &c. occur, is the 61st section of his first apology, hereafter given in full.

FABER, in page 30 of his "Primitive Regeneration," quotes Justin Martyr as his first witness among the Fathers, who insinuate that Regeneration is a moral change of disposition.

The passage which Faber quotes will be found with the other extracts from Justin Martyr.

Faber then proceeds to quote in continuation the same passage from Section 61 of the apology, which is adduced by Cary, Collinson, and the Oxford Tract.

Faber also quotes Justin Martyr, in page 44, among his witnesses who, mingling the two ideas together, intimate that Regeneration is not only a moral, but also a federal change;

In order that we might not remain children of necessity and unconsciousness, but might become children of freedom and knowledge, and obtain in the water a remission of our previously committed sins, the name of God, the Father and Lord of all things, is pronounced over him, who has freely made his choice to be regenerated, and who has repented of his past transgressions.

Faber again, at p. 143, quotes from Justin Martyr, a passage where it is said that

that very Baptism, long since declared by him, which alone can purify the penitent, is the true water of life, &c.

BICKERSTETH, in his "Christian Fathers of the first and second centuries &c.," has Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, and a collection of the passages of Scripture quoted, explained, or referred to. Among these there is no reference to John 3; Acts 2 or 22; Romans 6; Gal. iii, 27; Ephes. v, 26: or Col. ii. What is said of Baptism has also been quoted by Collinson aud the Oxford Tract.