Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-24
THE BAPTISMAL RITE.
At One Time There Was q Great Dis
cussion of Regeneration.
THE CHURCH WAS DIVIDED ON 1T,
In the Clearer Light of To-Day the Word
Takes q Broad Meaning.
REALLY A CHANGE OF ENVIRONMENT


Once upon q time there was great deal o
discussion about baptismal regeneration.
Over in England, by reason of the remarka'
BILE intermingling of politics and religion
which they have in that country, the con.
| troversy got into the courts, and was de
| cided one way or the other, I have forgo tter
| which. believe that the discussion af
! firmed the right of people to hold an opin'
| ion in the matter which was not the theory
| of all the other people. 1t was made per.
missible to have NOR than one theory about
| baptismsl regeneration.
| That old disputation tangled up the the
| ologians in this country and even led to the
| separation of certain particularly enthusias-
tic controversialists from the church Of their
birth, and to the setting up of another addi.
tion to the long and not very honorable list
| of denominational divisions. I wonder il
they still know as much as they did then
about baptlsmal regeneration. The little
| church which they built here for the de.
fense of their opinion about that matter has
long since been turned inS6 a tenement
house, and the denomination which was
founded upon that corner stone is not al
present making any great noise in the
world. We have turned our attention else
where.
Not Worth Burning People For.
Baptismal regeneration is no longer q
"burning question is, a question for
which Christians, if they had the power,
would be glad to burn each other; it has
given place to preterition, which, in its
turn, will presently be happily forgotten.
Our children will wonder how we could
have brought so much auimosity into our
obsolete discussions
Baptismal regeneration ceased to be dis
cussed, know not why. Not because it
was accurately defined and permanently set
tied. That, as hope to show, is forever
impossible. Probably the good sensible
laity grew weary of the complicated debate,
and began to 60 to sleep when the parsons
touched upon it in their sermons And SO
the uproar was ended.
The word regeneration still remains in the
Bible and in the appointed services of bap-
tism. After all the clash of theories, here
is still the cause of all the misunderstand-
ings and discussions. Perhaps we can get a
clearer idea about it now than the fathers
could. The moment of theological battle is
not good time for quiet thinking. We are
impelled to take sides, to adopt a partisan
position, and accordingly to look at truth
from one side only.
The Service OF Baptism.
Let us look at it again. What is meant in
the service of baptism when the minister
bids the congregation to join him in a
thanksgiving for the child's regenerationo
The word regeneration comes into the
baptismal Office out of the third chapter of
the Gospel of st. John, and out of the
epistle which st. Paul wrote to Titus: "Ex-
cept man be born again (regenerated) of
water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into
the Kingdom of God" 'When the kind
ness of God our Savior, and his love toward
man appeared, not by works done in right
eousness which we did ourselves, but &C.
cording to his mercy he saved us, through
the washing of regeneration and renewing OF
the Holy Ghost"
These passages may or may not have q di-
rect bearing upon the sacrament of baptism.
It is sufficient for our present purpose that
they have always been recognized as singu-
larly applicable to this sacrament, and that
they have given the Church this significant
word in which the benefits of baptism ap-
pear to be summed up and included. Bap-
tlsm is always baptism, whether it be ad-
ministered to a child or to an adult. And
Episcopal Church in the word 'regenera-
tion."
No Doctrinal Dennition for 1t.
When we come, however, to inquire ex.
actly what regeneration means, the church
returns no answer. It is evident from the
use of the word in Holy Scripture that it
was never intended to be the basis of q doc
trinal definition. 1t belongs not to the do
main Of Mathematics, of logic, of scientific
theology, but rather to the world of poetry,
of illustration, of the Imagination. We
ought to know better than to make the mis-
take of Nicodemus and to try to read it
literally. In baptism we are 'born again"
That is not statement in physiology.
The higher we get in the scale of truth,
the more do we become aware of the inade-
quateness of literal definition. In mathe-
matics and in physical science it is possible
to formulate description which shall in
ciude all the facts and leave nothing out; so
that we may say: This is absolutely true,
and no other statement, differing from this,
can possibly be true at all. But try this
method with one of Beethoven's sympho-
nies. It is plain at once that here we are
beyond the reach of definition. A thou
sand things may be said about this beauti-
full music; thousand attempts may be
made to set forth the charm that it has for
US, and the delight that it gives us. And
yet there is room for more. After all is
said, the half has not been told. Nobody
can formulate an adequate definition of a
piece of music.
Art and Evolution Defy Definition.
We are conscious of the same inadequate
ness of language In regard to all the higher
truths. No great picture, nor statue, nor
book; no great emotion, no strong feeling,
no supreme Joy or sorrow can be adequately
expressed in any number of formal SEN
'tenceA Love eludes definition. Patriot
ism is above all constitutions and bylaws
These high matters are to be thought about
endlessly, with boundless variety in our
thinking, with no limit to the possibility OF
new discovery Nobody has ever said, nor
will ever say, all that can be said about
them.
Somehow We are slow to see that the great
truths of religion are as incapable of ade-
quate definition as these other great truths
We are all the time making the mistake of
thinking that religious truth is truth of
low order. that it belongs with physics and
arithmetic, that the creeds and the sacra-
ments are like sticks and stones, and the
words of Christ like the statements of the
multiplication table; whereas, religious
truth is of the very highest order, and be-
longs with music and poetry, and art, and
patriotism, and honor, and love, absolutely
out of the reach of any adequate definition.
The good theologians of the Middle Ages
were quite sure that the Inquisition was in
possession of the whole mind of God They
were as certain of their definitions in the
ology as they were Of their definitions in
scienee-and as mistaken. After all their
instructive blunders We are still in search
of adequate theological definition.
Regeneration Is n Wide Word.
Now, the word regeneration offers, it