person is "to be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feels his conscience troubled with any weighty matter." And then the Priest is directed "to absolve him, if he humbly and heartily desire it, after this sort: "Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his Church to absolve all sinners, who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences; and by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." Our Prayer Book, however, plainly teaches that in the ordination of a priest he is given the power of absolution; for these words used by the Bishop admit of no other meaning: "Whose sins thou dost forgive, they art forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained." Therefore if the priest is to exercise that power, he must use the form of absolution sanctioned by centuries of use in the Catholic Church and officially set forth by the Church of England.

It is greatly to be deplored that there is no provision in our Prayer Book for the Unction of the Sick. In the words of Bishop Forbes, "the unction of the sick is the lost pleiad of the Anglican firmament." But if the Prayer Book is silent about anointing the sick with holy oil, the New

Testament is not silent. The injunction of the Apostle James is clear and unmistakable: "Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders (meaning presbyters) of the Church. And let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." Therefore if our people are to obey the Bible, it is the duty of our Bishops to consecrate the Holy Oils, and our priests should always be ready to heed the call of the sick and anoint them with oil in accordance with Catholic precedent.

XI

REGENERATION IN BAPTISM

'HE Baptism of Infants is a very beautiful

and impressive ceremony. There are certain features about it that would commend it to all people, whether they were professing Christians or not. It must seem fitting to everybody that a little child should be brought as early as possible to be dedicated to the service of God. Then too the act of giving a child a name, which he is to bear through life, should be surrounded with a certain amount of ceremony and dignity. It would seem reasonable also that the parents should come at a stated time and give some sort of a pledge for the right bringing up of their children; and that there should come with them friends who would promise to take the place of the parents, if the parents should die or should fail to bring up their children properly. To all Christians it cannot but seem expedient and proper that little children should be brought very early to Christ. It does not require a great deal of religion to believe that our Lord may exert

some influence upon a child, even before it has arrived at years of discretion. We recall the instance in our Lord's ministry when mothers brought their babies to Christ, and He laid His hands upon them and blessed them. His disciples did not see the sense of bringing babies to their Master, and would have kept them from Him; but He rebuked them and said, " Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."

But

This much, at least, most people would be willing to believe about the Baptism of Infants. the Church asks us to believe a great deal more than this. The Church accepts all that is taught by natural religion; and in addition asks us to believe in certain supernatural effects of Baptism. We can see with our eyes some of the natural advantages of Baptism; the Church asks us to believe in something we cannot see, something that takes place in the soul of the child.

The supernatural change that is effected by Baptism is called regeneration, or new birth. In the Prayer Book offices for Baptism, immediately after Baptism is administered, we find these words, "Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this Child (or this Person) is regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's Church, let us give thanks unto Almighty God for these bene

fits." This supernatural effect of Baptism was taught by our Lord when He said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." This however is not altogether clear to most people: for the conception of a new birth is not one that seems plausible to the natural reason. In fact, it is impossible to describe it adequately; we can only approach the description of this spiritual experience through symbols and figures of speech.

We may say that the new birth in Baptism is like the planting of a seed in the ground. When a person is baptized a seed of new life is planted within him. When a seed is planted in the soil, it does not necessarily follow that a plant or a tree will grow up in that spot. Whether anything will grow there depends upon the nature of the soil, the supply of rain and sunshine, the presence or absence of weeds, and so forth. It is very much the same with the seed of new life. that was planted in our souls when we were baptized. The fact that we were baptized is no guarantee that anything good is going to come of it. In a great many cases nothing good does come of it. That is why there are so many baptized people that are a disgrace to the Christian Church. But that is no argument against Baptism. Whether the seed of new life planted in Baptism