hath repented, having been, as it were, born again by the change of her mode of life, hath a new birth of her life; the former adulteress being dead, and she who has been born by repentance coming again to life." Since he does not directly speak of Baptism, (which gives in deed a new life,) but of repentance only, he uses a qualifying and lower expression, corresponding to the lower degree of restoration, "being, as it were, born again."
The very fewness of the passages[1], (for I am not aware that there are any more), in which the Fathers, even in this limited way, venture to speak of restoration upon repentance, as a sort of new birth,—the very diffidence with which they speak of it in itself,—the immensity of the mercy, which they view in it,—might well be an admonition to us to beware how we familiarize ourselves to consider it as the ordinary course of God's dealings; the general rule, and a sort of ordeal, which every one or most must go through. There was more piety, more holiness, more gratitude, more reverence, more loyalty, in the view of our forefathers, who seized upon it as a plank, left in the shipwreck of men's souls, to save them that they perish not; but still took shame, that the voyage, presumptuously entered upon, contrary to God's command, had been "with hurt, and much damage, not only of the ship and lading, but also of their lives."
Many perhaps will be ready to say, If this be so, do we not undergo a loss, in that Baptism is administered unto us, while we are Infants, before the commission of actual sin? and had it not been better for us, that it had been delayed until we had come to ourselves, and resolved for ourselves to serve God? so might we have obtained, at once, a complete remission of all our actual sins, without this careful and ever-to-be-renewed repentance! If by this is meant, that it had been better, when any one was living in heathenish sins, not living to God, but "living in pleasure," and "dead while he lived," and "without God in the world," that he had been in fact, as well as in life, a Heathen,
- ↑ It is observable, that Suicer, who would be well inclined to find passages speaking of regeneration as distinct from Baptism, and even puts this as the primary meaning of παλιγγενεσία, quotes this last instance only.
