Reformed Evangelical Synod of America

M.F. Sadler, MA was an Anglican presbyter and prolific writer. In this work on the Sacrament of Initiation, Baptism, Sadler attempts the following:

The object of this short treatise is to give, in as plain terms as possible, the Scripture testimony to the doctrine of the Initial Sacrament.

To this end, the reader’s attention is called to the position assigned to Baptism by Christ and His Apostles.

The more prominent places of Scripture which teach us any truth respecting it are examined, and their plain meaning vindicated from interpretations falsely called spiritual.

The analogy between the two Adams, as implying the transmission of the nature of each respectively, is considered with reference to its bearing on Sacramental doctrine…

The writer has endeavoured to make his work a handbook of Scripture reference on the subject of Baptismal Doctrine.

To this end he has reviewed at some length the teaching of the Apostolical Epistles, especially those of St. Paul to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, and Hebrews, and also that of our Lord’s parables, and has shown how, both by express statement and general coincidence of thought and expression, they uphold the doctrine of the Church.

He has devoted a chapter to showing the harmony of the Church’s doctrine of Regeneration with the most unreserved preaching of Conversion or Renewal; and another to the Scripture statements respecting Election and Final Perseverance, and their bearing on the question of Baptismal grace.

Three Appendices complete the work: the first (A) bringing before the reader how full the Old Testament Prophets are of a mode of addressing the visible Church of their day, anticipatory of, and answering to, that adopted by the Apostles and by the Church in her formularies; the second (B) giving the testimony of the great leaders of the Reformation, as well as that of such divines as Mede, Jeremy Taylor, Pearson, and Beveridge; the third (C) exhibiting, side by side, the opinions of St. Augustine on Election and on Baptismal Regeneration, and their influence on our Reformers.

Sadler’s work will leave many modern “evangelicals” and “credobaptists” awestruck because they have never linked their doctrine of baptism to the implications of Romans 5:12-21 and the doctrine of original sin – two of the self-proclaimed “NeoCalvinists” favorite topics for discussion!

While a modern reprint of The Second Adam and the New Birth is available commercially, readers able to traverse the old fashioned print may read the embedded version here or at Google Books without cost.

The terms used by the inspired writers, in addressing the whole body of the Church, are also carefully examined, with the view of ascertaining in what state, whether of grace or otherwise, the persons they speak to are presumed to be.