on communion without baptism

Today, particularly in the Episcopal Church, many people advocate giving communion to anyone and everyone who present themselves at the altar rail. This position ignores the fact that in Christ, and in Christ alone, are we reconciled to God and to one another, because he alone is true God and true man, and he alone offered human nature to the Father as an acceptable sacrifice on the cross. The New Testament teaches clearly that we are incorporated into the Body of Christ, and so into his acceptable sacrifice, by being baptized. And being baptized, we come to be able to receive his Body, the Bread of Heaven, efficaciously. We are enabled by baptism to be nourished by the Eucharist. Apart from baptismal regeneration, receiving the Eucharist can have no effect, or even worse: it could bring us harm, as St. Paul warns (1 Corinthians 11.27-29).

St. Irenaeus of Lyons in his famous work Adversus Haereses ("Against Heresies"), written about the year 180 AD, says this:

The Holy Spirit came down on the Apostles that all nations might enter into life. And so they are gathered together to sing a hymn to God in all tongues. In this way the Holy Spirit brought the scattered peoples back to unity, and offered to the Father the first fruits of all nations. Indeed, just as without water no dough, not a single loaf, can be made of dry flour, so we who are many cannot become one in Christ without that water that comes from heaven. That is why our bodies receive by baptism that unity which leads to life incorruptible, and our souls receive the same unity through the Holy Spirit.