GRACE—THE SACRAMENTS—ORIGINAL SIN—BAPTISM—ITS NECESSITY—ITS EFFECTS—MANNER
OF BAPTIZING.
The grace of God is that supernatural assistance which He imparts to us,
through the merits of Jesus Christ, for our salvation. It is called
_supernatural_, because no one by his own natural ability can acquire it.
Without Divine grace we can neither conceive nor accomplish anything for
the sanctification of our souls. “Not that we are sufficient,” says the
Apostle, “to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves; but our
sufficiency is from God.”(325) “For it is God who worketh in you, both to
will and to accomplish”(326) anything conducive to your salvation.
“Without Me,” says our Lord, “you can do nothing.”(327) But in order that
Divine grace may effectually aid us we must co-operate with it, or at
least we must not resist it.
The grace of God is obtained chiefly by prayer and the Sacraments.
A Sacrament is a visible sign instituted by Christ by which grace is
conveyed to our souls. Three things are necessary to constitute a
Sacrament, viz.—a visible sign, invisible grace and the institution by our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus, in the Sacrament of Baptism, there is the outward sign, which
consists in the pouring of water and in the formula of words which are
then pronounced; the interior grace or sanctification which is imparted to
the soul: “Be baptized, ... and you shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost;”(328) and the ordinance of Jesus Christ, who said: “Teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost.”(329)
Our Savior instituted seven Sacraments, namely, Baptism, Confirmation,
Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders and Matrimony, which I shall
explain separately.
According to the teachings of Holy Writ, man was created in a state of
innocence and holiness, and after having spent on this earth his allotted
terms of years he was destined, without tasting death, to be translated to
the perpetual society of God in heaven.(330) But in consequence of his
disobedience he fell from his high estate of righteousness; his soul was
defiled by sin; he became subject to death and to various ills of body and
soul and forfeited his heavenly inheritance.
Adam’s transgression was not confined to himself, but was transmitted,
with its long train of dire consequences, to all his posterity. It is
called _original_ sin because it is derived from our original progenitor.
“Wherefore,” says St. Paul, “as by one man sin entered into this world,
and by sin death, and so death passed unto all men, in whom all have
sinned.”(331) And elsewhere he tells us that “we were by nature children
of wrath.”(332)
“Who,” says Job, “can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed,”
or, as the Septuagint version expresses it: “There is no one free from
stain, not even though his life be of one day.”(333) As an infant one day
old cannot commit an actual sin, the _stain_ must come from the original
offense of Adam. “Behold,” says David, “I was conceived in iniquities, and
in sins did my mother conceive me.”(334) The Scripture also tells us that
Jeremiah and John the Baptist were sanctified before their birth, or
purified from sin, and, of course, at that period of their existence they
were incapable of actual sin. They were cleansed, therefore, from the
original taint.
These passages clearly show that we have all inherited the transgression
of our first parents, and that we are born enemies of God. And it is
equally plain that these texts apply to every member of the human
family—to the infant of a day old as well as to the adult.
Indeed, even without the light of Holy Scripture, we have only to look
into ourselves to be convinced that our nature has undergone a rude shock.
How else can we account for the miseries and infirmities of our bodies,
the blindness of our understanding, the perversity of our will—inclined
always to evil rather than to good—the violence of our passions, which are
constantly waging war in our hearts? How well does the Catholic doctrine
explain this abnormal state. Hence, Paschal truly says that man is a
greater mystery to himself without original sin than is the mystery
itself.
The Church, however, declares that the Blessed Virgin Mary was exempted
from the stain of original sin by the merits of our Savior Jesus Christ;
and that, consequently, she was never for an instant subject to the
dominion of Satan.
This is what is meant by the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
But God, in passing sentence of condemnation on Adam, consoled him by the
promise of a Redeemer to come. “I will put enmities,” saith the Lord,
“between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush
thy head.”(335) Jesus, the seed of Mary, is the chosen one who was
destined to crush the head of the infernal serpent. And “when the fulness
of time was come God sent His Son, made of a woman, ... that He might
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons.”(336)
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, came to wash away the defilement from our
souls and to restore us to that Divine friendship which we had lost by the
sin of Adam. He is the second Adam, who came to repair the iniquity of the
first. It was our Savior’s privilege to prescribe the conditions on which
our reconciliation with God was to be effected.
Now He tells us in His Gospel that Baptism is the essential means
established for washing away the stain of original sin and the door by
which we find admittance into His Church, which may be called the second
Eden. We must all submit to a new birth, or regeneration, before we can
enter the kingdom of heaven. Water is the appropriate instrument of this
new birth, as it indicates the interior cleansing of the soul; and the
Holy Ghost, the Giver of spiritual life, is its Author.
The Church teaches that Baptism is necessary for all, for infants as well
as adults, and her doctrine rests on the following grounds:
Our Lord says to Nicodemus: “Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be
born again of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God.”(337) These words embrace the whole human family, without regard to
age or sex, as is evident from the original Greek text, for τις, which is
rendered _man_ in our English translation, means any one—mankind in its
broadest acceptation.
The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul, although containing
only a fragmentary account of the ministry of the Apostles, plainly
insinuate that the Apostles baptized children as well as grown persons. We
are told, for instance, that Lydia “was baptized, and her household,”(338)
by St. Paul; and that the jailer “was baptized, and all his family.”(339)
The same Apostle baptized also “the household of Stephanas.”(340) Although
it is not expressly stated that there were children among these baptized
families, the presumption is strongly in favor of the supposition that
there were. But if any doubt exists regarding the Apostolic practice of
baptizing infants it is easily removed by referring to the writings of the
primitive Fathers of the Church, who, as they were the immediate
successors of the Apostles, ought to be the best interpreters of their
doctrines and practice.
St. Irenæus, a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of St. John the
Evangelist, says: “Christ came to save all through Himself; all, I say,
_who are born anew_ (or baptized) through Him—infants and little ones,
boys and youths, and aged persons.”(341)
Origen, who lived a few years later, writes: “The Church received the
tradition from the Apostles, to give baptism even to infants.”(342)
The early church of Africa bears triumphant testimony in vindication of
infant baptism. St. Cyprian and sixty-six suffragan Prelates held a
council in the metropolitan city of Carthage, in the year 253. While the
Council is in session a Prelate named Fidus writes to the Fathers, asking
them whether infants ought to be baptized before the eighth day succeeding
their birth, or on the eighth day, in accordance with the practice of
circumcision. The Bishops unanimously subscribe to the following reply:
“As to what regards the baptism of infants, ... we all judged that the
mercy and grace of God should be denied to no human being from the moment
of his birth. If even to the greatest delinquents the remission of sins is
granted, how much less should the infant be repelled, who, being recently
born according to Adam, has contracted at his first birth the contagion of
the ancient death.”(343) The African Council asserts here two prominent
facts—the universal contagion of the human race through Adam’s fall, and
the universal necessity of Baptism without distinction of age.
Upon this decision, I will make two observations: First—Fidus did not
inquire about the necessity of infant baptism, which he already admitted,
but about the propriety of conferring it on the eighth day, in imitation
of the Jewish law of circumcision. Second—The Bishops assembled in that
Council were as numerous as the whole Episcopate of the United States,
which contains about five thousand Priests and upwards of six millions of
Catholics. We may therefore reasonably conclude that the judgment of the
African Council represented the faith of several thousand Priests and
several millions of Catholics.
St. Augustine, commenting on this decision, justly observes that St.
Cyprian and his colleagues made no new decree, but maintained most firmly
the faith of the Church. And this is the unanimous sentiment of tradition
from the days of the Apostles to our own times.
Is it not ludicrous as well as impious to see a few German fanatics, in
the sixteenth century, raising their feeble voice against the thunder
tones of all Christendom, by decrying a practice which was universally
held as sacred and essential? In judging between the teachings of
Apostolical antiquity on the one hand and of the Anabaptists on the other,
it is not hard to determine on which side lies the truth; for, what
becomes of the Christian Church, if it has erred on so vital a point as
that of Baptism during the entire period of its existence?
Original sin, as St. Paul has told us, is universal. Every child is,
therefore, defiled at its birth with the taint of Adam’s disobedience.
Now, the Scripture says that nothing defiled can enter the kingdom of
heaven.(344) Hence Baptism, which washes away original sin, is as
essential for the infant as for the full grown man, in order to attain the
kingdom of heaven.
I said that regeneration is necessary for all. But it is important to
observe that if a man is heartily sorry for his sins, if he loves God with
his whole heart, if he desires to comply with all the Divine ordinances,
including Baptism, but has no opportunity of receiving it, or is not
sufficiently instructed as to its necessity, God, in this case, accepts
the will for the deed. Should this man die in these dispositions, he is
saved by the _baptism of __ desire_, as happened to the Emperor
Valentinian who died a Catechuman: “I lost him whom I was about to
regenerate,” says St. Ambrose, “but he did not lose that grace he sought
for.” Or, if an unbaptized person lays down his life for Christ, his death
is accepted as more than an equivalent for baptism; for he dies not only
sanctified, but he will wear a martyr’s crown. _He is baptized in his own
blood._
But is not that a cruel and heartless doctrine which excludes from heaven
so many harmless babes that have never committed any actual fault? To this
I reply: Has not God declared that Baptism is necessary for all? And is
not God the supreme Wisdom and Justice and Mercy? I am sure, then, that
there can be nothing cruel or unjust in God’s decrees. The province of
reason consists in ascertaining that God has spoken. When we know that He
has spoken, then our investigation ceases, and faith and obedience begin.
Instead of impiously criticising the Divine decree, we should exclaim with
the Apostle: “O! the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! how incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable His
ways! For, who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His
counsellor?”(345)
Let us remember that heaven is a place to which none of us has any
inherent right or natural claim, but that it is promised to us by the pure
favor of God. He can reject and adopt whom He pleases, and can, without
injustice, prescribe His own conditions for accepting His proffered boon.
If your child is deprived of heaven by being deprived of Baptism, God does
it no wrong because He infringes no right to which your child had any
inalienable title. If your child obtains the grace of Baptism be thankful
for the gift.
It is proper here to state briefly what the Church actually teaches
regarding the future state of unbaptized infants. Though the Church, in
obedience to God’s Word, declares that unbaptized infants are excluded
from the kingdom of heaven, it should not hence be concluded that they are
consigned to the place of the reprobate. None are condemned to the
torments of the damned but such as merit Divine vengeance by their
personal sins.
All that the Church holds on this point is that unregenerate children are
deprived of the beatific vision, or the possession of God, which
constitutes the essential happiness of the blessed.
Now, between the supreme bliss of heaven and the torments of the
reprobate, there is a very wide margin.
All admit that the condition of unbaptized infants is better than
non-existence. There are some Catholic writers of distinction who even
assert that unbaptized infants enjoy a certain degree of natural
beatitude—that is, a happiness which is based on the natural knowledge and
love of God.
From what has been said you may well judge how reprehensible is the
conduct of Catholic parents who neglect to have their children baptized at
the earliest possible moment, thereby risking their own souls, as well as
the souls of their innocent offspring. How different was the practice of
the early Christians, who, as St. Augustine testifies, hastened with their
new-born babes to the baptismal font that they might not be deprived of
the grace of regeneration.
If an infant is sick, no expense is spared that its life may be preserved.
The physician is called in, medicine is given to it, and the mother will
spend sleepless nights watching every movement of the infant; she will
sacrifice her repose, her health; nay, she will expose even her own life
that the life of her offspring may be saved. And yet the supernatural
happiness of the child is too often imperiled without remorse by the
criminal postponement of Baptism.
But if they are to be censured who are slow in having their children
baptized, what are we to think of that large body of professing Christians
who, on principle, deny Baptism to little ones till they come to the age
of discretion? What are we to think of those who set their private
opinions above Scripture, the early Fathers of the Church and the
universal practice of Christendom?
We may smile indeed at a theological opinion, no matter how novel or
erroneous it may be, so long as it does not involve any dangerous
consequences. But when it is given in a case of life and death, how
terrible is the responsibility of those who propagate doctrines so
erroneous!
The opposite practice of the Catholic and the Baptist churches, in their
treatment of the newborn infant, may be well compared to the conduct of
the true and the false mother who both claimed the child at the tribunal
of Solomon. The king exclaimed: “Divide the living child in two, and give
half to the one and half to the other.” The pretended mother consented,
saying: Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. “But the woman
whose child was alive, said to the king (for her bowels were moved upon
her child): I beseech thee, my lord, give her the child alive, and do not
kill it.” While the Baptist church is willing that the child should die a
spiritual death, the true mother, the Catholic Church, cries out: Keep the
child, provided its spiritual life is saved, even at your hands. Let it be
clothed with the robe of innocence even by a stranger. Let it be nursed at
the breasts even of a step-mother. Better it should live without me than
perish before my face. I will still be its mother, though it know me not.
Ah! my Baptist friend, you think that Baptism is not necessary for your
child’s salvation. The old Church teaches the contrary. You admit that you
may be wrong, and it is a question of life and death. Take the safe side.
Give your child the benefit of the doubt. Let it be baptized.
Baptism washes away _original sin, and also actual sins_ from the adult
who may have contracted them. The cleansing efficacy of Baptism was
clearly foreshadowed by the prophet Ezechiel in these words: “I will pour
upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness.
And I will give you a new heart and will put a new spirit within
you.”(346)
When the Jews asked St. Peter what they should do to be saved the Apostle
replied: “Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of your sins.”(347)
And Ananias said to Saul, after his conversion: “Rise up and be baptized,
and wash away thy sins.”(348)
“We were by nature,” says St. Paul, “children of wrath,” but by our
regeneration, or new birth in Baptism, we become _Christians and children
of God_. “For, ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
For as many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on
Christ.”(349) We are adopted into the same family with Jesus Christ. What
He is by nature we are by grace—children of God, and consequently brethren
of Christ. Nay, our union with Jesus is still more close. We become true
members of His mystical body, which is His Church, and His Divine image is
stamped upon our soul.
Baptism also clothes us with the _garment of sanctity_, so that our soul
becomes a fit dwelling-place for the Holy Ghost. The Apostle, after giving
a fearful catalogue of the vices of the Pagans, says to the Corinthians:
“And such some of you were; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but
ye are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit
of God.”(350)
Baptism, in fine, makes us _heirs of heaven_ and co-heirs with Jesus
Christ. “We ourselves also,” says St. Paul, “were sometimes unwise,
incredulous, erring, slaves to divers desires and pleasures, living in
malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But when the goodness
and kindness of God our Savior appeared, ... He saved us by the laver of
regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost, whom He hath poured forth
abundantly upon us, through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified
by His grace, we may be heirs, according to the hope of life
everlasting.”(351)
Here we plainly see that the forgiveness of sin, the adoption into the
family of God, the sanctification of the soul and the pledge of eternal
life are ascribed to the due reception of Baptism—not, indeed, that water
or the words of the minister have any intrinsic virtue to heal the soul,
but because Jesus Christ, whose word is creative power, is pleased to
attach to this rite its wonderful efficacy of healing the soul, as He
imparted to the pool of Bethsaida the power of healing the body.(352)
From what has been said, I ask you candidly what are you to think of the
decision rendered in 1872 by the Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, who, in their convention in Baltimore, declared that by the word
_regeneration_ we are not to understand _a moral change_. If no moral
change is effected by Baptism, then there is no change at all; for
certainly Baptism produces no physical change in the soul.
Is it no change to pass from sin to virtue, from a “child of wrath” to be
a “child of God;” from corruption to sanctification; from the condition of
heirs of death to the inheritance of heaven? If all this implies no moral
change, then these words have lost their meaning.
_Modes of baptizing._ The Baptists err in asserting that Baptism by
immersion is the only valid mode. Baptism may be validly administered in
either of three ways, viz: by _immersion_, or by plunging the candidate
into the water; by _infusion_, or by pouring the water; and by
_aspersion_, or sprinkling.
As our Lord nowhere prescribes any special form of administering the
Sacrament, the Church exercises her discretion in adopting the most
convenient mode, according to the circumstances of time and place.
For several centuries after the establishment of Christianity Baptism was
_usually_ conferred by immersion; but since the twelfth century the
practice of baptising by infusion has prevailed in the Catholic Church, as
this manner is attended with less inconvenience than Baptism by immersion.
To prove that Baptism by infusion or by sprinkling is as legitimate as by
immersion, it is only necessary to observe that, though immersion was the
more common practice in the Primitive Church, the Sacrament was frequently
administered even then by infusion and aspersion.
After St. Peter’s first discourse three thousand persons were
baptized.(353) It is not likely that so many could have been immersed in
one day, especially when we consider the time occupied in instructing the
candidates.
On reading the account of the Baptism of St. Paul and the jailer the
context leaves a strong impression on the mind that both received the
Sacrament by aspersion or by infusion.
Early ecclesiastical history records a great many instances in which
Baptism was administered to _sick persons_ in their beds, to _prisoners_
in their cells, and to persons on _shipboard_. The Fathers of the Church
never called in question the validity or the legitimacy of such Baptisms.
Now, it is almost impossible to believe that candidates in such situations
could receive the rite by immersion.
We have seen, moreover, that Baptism has always been declared necessary
for salvation. It is reasonable, hence, to believe that our Lord would
have afforded the greatest facility for the reception of so essential a
Sacrament.
But if Baptism by immersion only is valid, how many sick and delicate
persons, how many prisoners and seafaring people, how many thousands
living in the frigid zone, or even in the temperate zone, in the depth of
an inclement winter, though craving the grace of regeneration, would be
deprived of God’s seal, or would receive it at the risk of their lives!
Surely God does not ordinarily impose His ordinances upon us under such a
penalty.
Moreover, if immersion is the only valid form of Baptism, what has become
of the millions of souls who, in every age and country, have been
regenerated by the infusion or the aspersion of water in the Christian
Church?