and His relation to it is described in Scripture under the figures of (i) a human body and its members1; (ii) a tree and its branches2; (iii) a building and the stones composing it3. The first of these figures is alluded to in the Catechism. Of the Church, into which we are grafted by Baptism, Christ is the Head, and we are "very members incorporate in His mystical Body, which is the blessed company of all faithful people"." 6. The child of God. The second Christian privilege flows from the first. For being in Baptism made members of Christ, who is the Son of God, in virtue of this union with Him we also become by adoption sons of God. Hence, after His Resurrection, our Lord bade Mary Magdalene go to His brethren, that is, to His Apostles, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God (Jn. XX. 17); and St Paul says that God sent forth His Son, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal. iv. 4, 5), and that having received the Spirit of adoption we might cry Abba, Father (Rom. viii. 15; comp. Heb. ii. 11).

7. An inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. As the second Christian privilege flows from the first, so does the third from the second. For if, as members of Christ, we become sons of God, then also we become heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ of the Kingdom of Heaven (Rom. viii. 17; Gal. iii. 29; iv. 7). The expression "Kingdom of Heaven" is used in different senses in the Bible. Sometimes it means the Church of Christ "militant here in earth" (Mtt. iii. 2; xiii. 47, 48). Sometimes it means the Church of Christ in its future and glorified state, where we

1 Rom. xii. 4, 5; 1 Cor. xii. 12-27; Eph. v. 29, .39, 32.

2 Jn. xv. 1-8; Rom. xi. 16-24.

31 Pet. ii. 4-8; Eph. ii. 19-22; Rev. iii. 12.

4 See the Thanksgiving in the post-Communion Service.

shall have "our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in God's eternal and everlasting glory1." Of the kingdom of Heaven in the former of these senses we are members now; of the same kingdom in the latter sense we are "heirs through hope2" (Mtt. v. 20; Rev. xxi. 4, 27).

CHAPTER III.

THE FIRST BAPTISMAL VOW.

1. Conditions of the Covenant. Such, then, are the great privileges which, of His free mercy and grace, God has signed and sealed to us; such is His part of the Covenant, which he will "most surely keep and perform." But a Covenant supposes also certain conditions on our part, and these are contained in the "solemn vow, promise, and profession3," which our godfathers and godmothers made for us at our Baptism.

2. The Baptismal Vow. This Promise or Vow includes three things:

(i) That we should renounce the Devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked

world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh. (ii) That we should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith.

(iii) That we should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the

days of our life.

Our Baptismal Vow, then, may be summed up in three words; (1) Renunciation, (2) Faith, and (3) Obedience.

3. Renunciation. The Latin word, from which "renounce" comes, means to break off, declare, or enlist

1 See the Burial Service.

2 See the Thanksgiving in the post-Communion Service. 3 See the Exhortation in the Baptismal Service.

4 Renuntiare. In the first Prayer-Book of King Edward VI. the word "forsake" was used instead of "renounce,"

oneself against. A soldier enlists himself on the side of his sovereign, and engages to fight against all his enemies. So the Christian soldier is "signed with the sign of the Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under His banner," and "to continue His faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end 1."

4. The Devil and all his works. The first foe, against whom we promise to contend, is the Devil, the enemy of God and of all righteousness2. Created originally good, like all the works of God, he abode not in the truth (Jn. viii. 44), but rebelled against his Maker, and fell from his high estate (1 Tim. iii. 6), and henceforth, at the head of numerous other spirits, arrayed himself in open hostility to the Supreme, and goeth about seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. v. 8). Every kind of sin may be called a "work of the Devil," but there are certain sins which may be peculiarly termed his works; such are pride (1 Tim. iii. 6), lying (Gen. iii. 4; Jn. viii. 44), deceit and hypocrisy (Acts v. 1—4), murder (Jn. viii. 44), hatred (1 Jn. iii. 8, 10, 15), envy (Gen. iii. 1—5), tempting others (Mtt. xviii. 6, &c.).

which was substituted at the last review. The latter is clearly the better word. To forsake means to quit or give up. Now we do not actually forsake the Devil, the world, and the flesh, since they are with us go where we will. But we can renounce, or declare and show our antagonism to them, so as not "to follow nor be led by them." Comp. Latimer's Sermons, p. 44, "But abrenounce and cast them off, as though they hated them as dogs and serpents."

1 See the Baptismal Service.

2 In Scripture he is called sometimes "Satan," i.e. the Enemy (Matt. iv. 10); sometimes the "Devil," i. e. the Slanderer (Matt. iv. 1), because he slanders God to man (Gen. iii. 1-5), and man to God (Job i. 9—11; Rev. xii. 10); sometimes the "Tempter" (1 Thess. iii. 5); sometimes "Apollyon" or "Abaddon," i.e. the Destroyer (Rev. ix. 11)

5. The pomps and vanity of this wicked world. The second foe against which we undertake to fight manfully1 is the world. By the "world" here is meant not the world we see around us, the heavens and the earth and the objects of glory and beauty which God has created therein, and which in the beginning He pronounced to be very good (Gen. i. 31). What is meant is the world lying in wickedness (1 Jn. v. 19), with its seen and temporal attractions, as opposed to the things that are unseen and eternal (2 Cor. iv. 18), with its vain, outward, show, its fleeting glory, and its low maxims and principles of conduct. These things we promise to "renounce," and to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit, remembering that the pomps of the world and the world itself are passing away (1 Jn. ii. 17; 1 Cor. vii. 31).

6. The sinful lusts of the flesh. The third Enemy we promise to contend against is the flesh. By the "flesh" here is meant the lower part of our nature, our natural appetites and passions, which we have in common with the animals. Though not in themselves necessarily sinful, they become so when indulged to excess instead of being kept in subjection (1 Cor. ix. 27). In renouncing, then, the sinful lusts of the flesh, we renounce all sloth, gluttony, drunkenness (Gal. v. 21), sensuality, and impurity (Eph. v. 3—5), the end of which things is death (Rom. vi. 21; viii. 13).

CHAPTER IV.

THE SECOND BAPTISMAL VOW.

I. Faith. Our second baptismal vow is to believe all the Articles of the Christian faith, is, in one word, 9 vow of Faith.

e the Baptismal Service.

icles, from the Latin articulus (artus = a joint), de

2. Faith in man's natural life. Faith is not a principle peculiar to religion. In a lower form we act upon it every day of our lives. In faith, in the firm persuasion that sleep will restore strength to our weary limbs, we betake ourselves to rest. In faith we commit the seed to the ground, fully believing that spring will be succeeded by summer, and summer by winter. In faith we entrust ourselves to the care of a physician, and, in the hope of a cure, submit to the medicines he prescribes. In short, "everything that we do from any motive whatsoever, beyond the impulses of the senses and the lusts of the moment, everything that we do in any way for the sake of others, or with a view to the future, though it be no further than the morrow, must needs be in some measure an act of faith'."

3. Religious Faith. Faith, in religion, is the same principle as faith in natural life, and differs only in its object. It is the firm persuasion of the being, existence, and character of God as made known to us in the Gospel of His Son, and an unfaltering trust and reliance on Him, His word, and His will (Heb. xi. 1, 6).

4. Creeds. From the earliest times all who sought to be baptized were required to make an open confession of their faith. Such a confession is called in English a "Creed," which is derived from the Latin word "Credo," I believe. At first these Creeds were very

notes (1) a small joint, (2) a particular substance, (3) a single clause, term, or item.

1 Hare's Victory of Faith, p. 92.

2 The first traces of Creeds may be found in such passages as 1 Cor. xv. 3-8; 1 Tim. iii. 16. See Heurtley's Creeds of the Western Church; Guericke's Antiquities of the Christian Church, p. 227.

3 The earliest name, by which a Creed was designated, was Zuußolov, Symbolum, a symbol. The meaning of the word is uncertain. It may denote (1) a summary of Christian doctrine; or (2), like the Tessera militaris among the