The baptisms which are ordinarily described or referred to in the New Testament, were the baptisms of men who had lived as Jews and heathens, and who, having been led to believe in Christ,-or, at least, to profess faith in Him,-expressed and sealed this faith, or the profession of it, by complying with Christ’s requirement, that they should be baptized. It is necessary, therefore, to form our primary and fundamental conceptions of the objects and effects of baptism in itself, as a distinct subject, and in its bearing upon the general doctrine of the sacraments, from the baptism of adults and not of infants.
The general tenor of Scripture language upon the subject of baptism applies primarily and directly to the baptism of adults, and proceeds upon the assumption, that the profession implied in the reception of baptism by adults,-the profession, that is, that they had already been led to believe in Christ, and to receive Him as their Saviour and their Master,-was sincere, or corresponded with the real state of their minds and hearts. It is necessary to keep these considerations in view in interpreting the general description given of sacraments and of baptism, in our Confession of Faith and the other Reformed confessions and with these assumptions, and to this extent, there is no difficulty in the way of our maintaining the general principle, which can be established by most satisfactory evidence,-namely, that the fundamental spiritual blessings, on the possession of which the salvation of men universally depends,-justification and regeneration by faith,-are not conveyed through the instrumentality of the sacraments, but that, on the contrary, they must already exist before even baptism can be lawfully or safely received. The Reformers, and the great body of Protestant divines, in putting forth the definition of the sacraments in general, or of a sacrament as such, intended to embody the substance of what they believe Scripture to teach, or to indicate, as equally applicable to both sacraments and in laying down what they believe concerning the general objects and the ordinary effects of the sacraments, they commonly assume, that the persons partaking in them are rightly qualified for receiving and improving them,-and further, and more specially, that the persons baptized are adults.
What is a sacrament? Is baptism a sacrament, ordinance or both?
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