Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/93

Rh The third and final use of baptism is, that man may be actually regenerated: in which case he is baptized not merely with water, but with the Holy Spirit and with fire; in other words, he is entirely renewed in spirit and in life, by the efficacy of divine truth in his understanding, and of divine love in his heart, both proceeding from the Lord, and both producing their blessed effects of redemption, regeneration, and salvation. From this view of the nature, signification, and uses of baptism, we may now discern the true meaning of our Lord's words to Nicodemus, when he said, "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John iii. 5. Water denotes the truth of faith received from the Word into the understanding and affections; the spirit denotes a life directed and influenced thereby; and to be born of them, is to be regenerated by such means.

BAPTISM being an introduction into the church, the holy supper may be considered as an introduction into heaven, being intended to open a more direct and immediate communication with heaven, and also with the Lord himself, than is usually effected by any of the other ceremonies of the church. It is, therefore, the most sacred and solemn of all worship. How such an effect is produced by means of the holy supper, cannot be comprehended by those, who confine their ideas to the mere literal expression of the Word; for they imagine, either with the Roman Catholics, that the elements of bread and wine are miraculously converted into the real natural body of