vilege, in being made the sons of God? Cornelius had faith (for "without faith, it is impossible to please God"); he had love; he had self-denial; he had had the power to pray given to him; but he had not Christian faith, nor love, nor self-denial, nor prayer; for as yet he knew not Christ: he could not call God Father, for, as yet, he knew not the Son. Faith and repentance, in adults, are necessary to the new birth, but they are not the new birth. That, God imparteth as it pleaseth Him, according to the depths of His wisdom: it dependeth not, as faith and repentance, in some measure, may, upon the will of man, but of God, who calleth into His Church whom He will.
St. Augustine simply and strikingly expresses this view: "we ought not," he says[1], "to disparage the righteousness of a man, which began before he was joined to the Church, as the righteousness of Cornelius had begun before he was one of the Christian people; which, had it been disapproved of, the angel had not said, 'Thy alms are accepted,' &c.; nor, if it had sufficed to obtain the kingdom of Heaven, had he been admonished to send to Peter:" and in the very passage[2] generally alleged to disparage what are called "outward ordinances," "Thus, in Cornelius, there preceded a spiritual sanctification in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the Sacrament of regeneration was added in the washing of Baptism." For St. Augustine does not look upon Baptism as an outward sign even to Cornelius, or to be received only as an act of obedience. For, having instanced the pardoned thief, as a case wherein Baptism had, from necessity, been dispensed with, he adds[3], "much more in Cornelius and his friends might it seem superfluous, that they should
- ↑ De Bapt. c. Donat. L. 4. § 28.
- ↑ Ib. § 31.
- ↑ Ib. § 29.
but a more certain exercise of faith: yea, an increase of confidence from that pledge." (So again, P. Martyr, Loci 4. 8. 17.) But where does Scripture say anything of this? rather, since the Apostle argues from the miracle wrought to justify his admission to Baptism, "then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life," one should infer, that to him also Baptism was given "for remission of sins." Calvin is here arguing, that Baptism is, in no case, "for remission of sins," but for confirmation only. Yet he himself, when writing against the Anabaptists (Ib. 4. 16. 22.) remarks, on this very case of Cornelius, how "wrongly a general rule is drawn from one example."
