both; and, at the same time, are born into the world, and born anew into the church; so that, dawning reason no longer perceives the distinction between these two opposing worlds, but matures and strengthens, at the same time, under the combined influence of both. The sacraments are received, and the pleasures of the world enjoyed; and hence, instead of an essential distinction as formerly between the one and the other, they are now so mingled and confounded, that the distinction is almost entirely lost.

Hence it arises, that whilst then, Christians were all well instructed, now, there are many in a fearful state of ignorance; then, those who had been initiated into Christianity by baptism, and who had renounced the vices of the world, to embrace the piety of the church, rarely declined again to the world which they had left; whilst now, nothing is more common than to see the vices of the world in the hearts of Christians. The church of the saints is all defiled with the intermingling of the wicked; and her children that she has conceived, and borne from their infancy at her sides, are those who carry into her very heart, that is, even to the participation of her holiest mysteries, her deadliest foes, the spirit of the world, the spirit of ambition, of revenge, of impurity, and of lust; and the love she bears for her children, compels her to admit into her very bosom, the bitterest of her persecutors.

But we must not impute to the church the evils that have followed so fatal a change; for when she saw that the delay of baptism left a large portion of infants still under the curse of original sin, she wished to deliver them from this perdition, by hastening the succor which she can give; and this good mother sees, with bitter regret, that

the benefit which she thus holds out to infants, becomes the occasion of the ruin of adults.

The true meaning of the church is, that those whom she thus withdraws at so tender an age, from the contagion of the world, should become separate from its opinions. She anticipates the agency of reason, to prevent those vices into which corrupt reason might entice them; and before their natural mind can act, she fills them with her spirit, so that they may live in ignorance of the world, and in a state so much further removed from vice, as they have never known it. This is evident in the baptismal service; for she does not confer baptism, till the children have declared, by the lips of their parents, that they desire it, that they believe, that they renounce the world and the devil. And as the church-wishes them to preserve these dispositions throughout life, she expressly enjoins upon them to keep them inviolate; and by an indispensable command, she requires the parents to instruct their children in all these things; for she does not wish that those, whom from their infancy she has nourished in her bosom, should be less enlightened, and less zealous than those whom she formerly received as her own; she cannot be satisfied with a less degree of perfection in those whom she herself has trained, than in those whom she admits to her communion.

Yet, the rule of the church is so perverted from its original intention, that it cannot be thought of without horror. Men think no more of the peculiar blessing which they have received, because they did not themselves ask it, because they do not even remember having received it. But since it is evident, that the church requires no less piety in those who have been brought up from infancy as the servants of faith, than in those who aspire to

become such, they should consider the example of the catechumens, their ardor, their devotion, their dread of the world, and their noble renunciation of it; for if these were not thought worthy to receive baptism, without such dispositions, those who do not find them in themselves, should at once submit to receive that instruction which they ·would have had, if they were now about to enter into the communion of the church. It becomes them still further to humble themselves to a penitence, which they may never wish to throw aside; that they may henceforth find less disgust in the austere mortification of the senses than attraction in the criminal pleasures of sin.

To induce them to seek instruction, they must be made to understand the difference of the customs which have obtained in the church at different times. In the newly formed Christian church, the catechumens, that is, those who are offered for baptism, were instructed before the rite was conferred; and they were not admitted to it, till after full instruction in the mysteries of religion, penitence for their former life, a great measure of knowledge, of the grandeur and excellence of a profession of the Christian faith and obedience, on which they desire to enter forever, and the exhibition of some eminent marks of real conversion of heart, and an extreme desire for baptism. These facts being made known to the whole church, they conferred upon them the sacrament of incorporation, by which they became members of the church. But now, since baptism has been, for many very important reasons, permitted to infants before the dawn. of reason, we find, through the negligence of parents, that nominal Christians grow old without any knowledge of our religion.

When teaching preceded baptism, all were instructed;

but now, that baptism precedes instruction, that teaching which was then made necessary for the sacrament, has become voluntary, and is consequently neglected, and almost abolished. Reason showed the necessity of instruction; and when instruction went before baptism, the necessity of the one, compelled men necessarily to have recourse to the other; but in these days, when baptism precedes instruction, as men are made Christians, without instruction, so they believe that they may remain Christians without being instructed; and unlike the primitive Christians who expressed the warmest gratitude for a grace which the church only granted after reiterated petitions, the Christians of these days, manifest nothing but ingratitude for this same blessing conferred upon them, before they were in a state to ask it. If the church so decidedly abhorred the occasional, though extremely rare instances of backsliding among the primitive Christians, how ought she to hold in abhorrence, the falling again and again of modern Christians, notwithstanding the far higher degree in which they stand indebted to the church, for having so speedily and liberally removed them from that curse, in which, by their natural birth, they were involved. She cannot see without bitter lamentation, this abuse of her richest blessings; and the course which she has adopted for the safety of her children, becomes the almost certain occasion of their ruin; for her spirit is not changed, though she has changed her primitive custom.

CHAPTER XVIII.

FRAGMENT OF AN ARTICLE UPON THE CONVERSION OF A SINNER.

THE first thing which God imparts to a soul that he has really touched, is a degree of knowledge and perception, altogether extraordinary, by which the soul regards both itself and other things in an entirely new manner.

This new light excites fear, and imparts to the soul a restlessness which thwarts the repose it had formerly found in its accustomed sources of indulgence.

The man can no longer relish with tranquillity, the objects which had previously charmed him. A perpetual scrupulousness haunts him in his enjoyments, and this interior perception will not allow him any longer to find the wonted sweetness in those things, to which he had yielded with melting fulness of heart.

But he finds yet more bitterness in the exercises of piety, than in the vanities of the world. On one side, the vanity of things that are seen, is felt more deeply than the hope of things that are not seen; and on the other, the reality of invisible things affects him more than the vanity of the things which are seen. And thus, the presence of the one, and the absence of the other, excite his disgust, so that there arise within him a disorder and confusion which he can scarcely correct, but which is the result of ancient impressions long experienced, and new impressions now first communicated.

He considers perishable things as perishing, and even as already perished; and, in the certain conviction of the