"born of water and of the Spirit." This is the case with every real member of the true church; he is baptised, he is regenerate. The theory and the fact agree with respect to all such members. God spake to Abraham of circumcision, (and Christ speaks the same respecting baptism,) "this is my covenant, my covenant is with thee;" that is, the sign for the thing signified by the sign, the "token" of the covenant.

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2. The early fathers, according to St. Augustine, denominated sacraments in this way. "Sacraments," he says, are holy signs," that is, signs of holy things, of the new birth, of the election of God, of his true church. And as we have observed, the fact, as well as the theory, respecting this spiritual church, is true. They are all baptised; they are all born again, though not spiritually born by baptism, but before they were baptised. Yet as the true church is the holy church, no mischief could arise, in a practical shape, from speaking of their baptism as their regeneration, because in every member of this church both were united.*

3. Our baptismal offices, and indeed all the offices of our fiturgy, were made for this true, believing, holy church; as circumcision and baptism were made, as appointed by God, for the same. They legitimately belong to this church and to no other. Christ Jesus, strictly speaking, has no other church. Let not the reader be startled at this declaration; let him thoroughly consider so as to understand the matter, and he will soon see its truth. There can be no other church strictly belonging to Christ but the true one. Hence it is, that every office in our liturgy is full of holy petitions, prayers, thanksgivings, expectations, and assurances; for they scarcely stop at hope. Regeneration and baptism, though not identified, are yet in Christ's church connected: and in "the kingdom of God" they are, as we have seen, connected in scripture. Every male child shall be circumcised." Every one that "entereth into the kingdom of God," must be "born of water and of the Spirit.'

Having these scriptural truths firmly riveted in our

As Mr. Miller, in his History has observed-No great evil could arise in Cyprian's time from confounding regeneration with baptism, because, generally speaking, they were then both united; but in our day it becomes a poisonous error,

minds, we shall be able to see what would otherwise be very mysterious, namely, the true ground and reason why our offices speak in the way they do. And though we may not wholly consider every phrase as perfectly uniform and consistent, (for some of them have a gentle touch of the ambiguous language of the fathers,) yet we shall not fail to observe how nearly they correspond with what would naturally arise in a pious mind from such considerations as have been stated respecting the true, the holy, the only "kingdom of God." We shall also further perceive the extreme difficulty of constructing offices for this holy church in any way that differs essentially from our own; or indeed at all, except in a few words or phrases. Secondly. The professing church.

Were all who profess Christ's holy religion, holy persons, no difficulty would arise, because there would be no confusion. But the evil as well as the difficulty, has now become very great. There is a professing church which is not a church, though called by that name. There are those who profess to be, and call themselves Christians, who are not Christians; and yet they bear that name both in the church and in the scripture. God, as we have heard, calls such in numerous places" his people," who were not his people, according to his own definition, but had only the name of being

If the reader asks, why does the scripture call persons by names which their character does not indicate? we shall not answer him by saying, “Who art thou that repliest against God;" but we shall request him to think out the case. And we shall also ask him another question,— Why is any person called in scripture, or in any other document, a Christian? and why were any baptised into the church by the apostles, as Christians? God did not say of each of them, "He is a chosen vessel unto me." On what ground, then, were they baptised? Clearly on the ground of their PROFESSION, accompanied with the appearance of a new heart which they at the time exhibited. This is the only ground on which men can judge of the hearts of men, till farther experience develope them; it is on the ground of a creditable profession. "Man judgeth according to the outward appearance." God does not blame him for this; for he has no other way of judging. This correctly corresponds with our remarks on "Ministerial Instruction," in the Second Number.

Every one, therefore, who appears to believe the religion of Christ, and professes to do so, is baptised in his name, and must be so baptised as an allowedly sincere convert. And in the very act of baptising, as there is but one baptism, and that the baptism of the true church, he must be admitted as a truly regenerate person, into the holy society of regenerate men; because in no other character can he be admitted. Christ has not two churches, or two baptisms, but one church and one baptism. All persons, then, who are baptised and admitted into the Christian church must, in some way, be called Christians, and allowed to be so, though they may not be Christians indeed. And this arises from the unavoidable imperfection of human knowledge. The church does not know men's hearts, though the allwise God does; and a settlement will take place in due time, but this he reserves to himself.

There is no inconsistency in this; it is no arbitrary arrangement, but the necessity of the case. The ordinances of Christ are for godly persons, and for none else. But some that are not godly seek a name and admission by them, though they have no authority from Him for doing

So.

Christ requires a holy heart, and all pretend to it; all therefore are admitted on the same ground, though all are not his people. The Saviour forms his church after his own heart, and knows it. But the rest, though they assume His name, yet, having not the Spirit of Christ, are 66 none of His." He says himself, in allusion to these tares among the wheat, "An enemy hath done this." How is this, then, remedied in scripture? We answer, as we have answered before in the case of Mr. Budd, not by ordinances, which deal with all alike, but by doctrine, by description of character. Men, from the imperfection of our knowledge, must be admitted and designated according to their profession and appearance. But the scripture explicitly says, "Let no man deceive himself; he that doeth righteousness is righteous:" and he only is righteous, whatever name he may bear. What, therefore, are we to think, if we find men professing to be " new creatures," and still lead a sinful life? Have we any reason to say, on scripture ground, that they have lost their regeneration, or that they pretended, like Simon Magus, to what they never had? "They went out from us; but they were not of us," is St. John's solution of the question, and it should be ours. [See note at the end, p. 35.]

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We shall conclude this Number with a few remarks which bear especially on the two preceding subjects, and give illustration to their character.

We more than suspect that the primitive fathers gave too much encouragement to the notion, (and we are sure, that some of the moderns do,) that baptism is absolutely necessary to salvation, or, at least, generally connected with it. They did not distinguish with sufficient clearness the true spiritual church of Christ from its visible and professing members. But these are by no means identical. The visible church is said, in the nineteenth article, to be "a congregation of faithful men." This is the true church, and the description is peculiar to it, though it be called visible. But in the twenty-sixth article it is said, the visible church has "evil ever mingled with the good." These two should not be confounded. They are not the same. The visible church contains many of these holy persons, but not all of them. They all derive their doctrines from the visible church; but they are not all necessarily in it, though they ought to be, generally speaking; and they will be in it when within their reach.

Baptism distinguishes the visible church,

Holiness distinguishes the true saints, though not always visible to us.

We will illustrate this matter by a few examples.-In Christ's family of twelve apostles, we find the visible church. But only eleven of these were its true members. One was "a devil," though a professor and in the visible body. The apostles gathered a visible church, and thousands were made its members by baptism. But Simon Magus, Ananias, and Sapphira, were not its true spiritual members. And yet this church did not contain all the truly pious in Judea and its neighbourhood. For Cornelius was a truly holy man before he was baptised, and thus became a member of the visible church. "His prayers and alms" were testimonies, and God approved them. And our Lord announced Zaccheus a true son of Abraham, that is, a true child of God, before he was baptised. Repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ," are the real and only necessary requisites for an introduction into the spiritual acceptance of Christ. But still that faith, which divorces the soul from sin, and brings it into a saving union with Christ, being

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always ready for every good work, will ever most readily embrace the first opportunity to become an open member of the visible church of God.

Every member of the visible church professes at his baptism "faith and repentance," in order that he may be baptised and these are required by baptism. Every one therefore before he can be properly admitted to baptism, professes to be a true member of Christ Jesus, that is, a true believer in him. Though many that are baptised are not what they profess to be; yet, having been admitted on their profession, they are considered and treated as truly spiritual and faithful.

Hence then it is obvious, that every person, possessing "faith and repentance," who is admitted into the visible church, is actually a spiritual member of Christ's mystical body, before he is admitted into the visible church by baptism. But it is quite necessary for the purposes of the Gospel, that Christ should have a visible church established in the world and as he has appointed a rite, introductory to it, it has become a matter of general necessity, that every true believer should enter into it by this door. His true members, therefore, are chiefly found in this visible church; it being the keeper of the book of God,-the pillar and ground of the truth,-the general medium of salvation to a sinful world,-the great source of spiritual instruction and edification. Hence then, though Cornelius, from his eminent devotion and fear of God, must needs have been accepted by him, when his prayers and alms went up for a memorial," yet this did not make it unnecessary nor inconsistent for him to hear from Peter's mouth, "words whereby he and his house should be saved." Though he was spiritually in a state of regeneration and salvation before, yet to be visibly planted in the true vine, is suitably called salvation. And we conceive that some such considerations as these, led the early Christian Fathers, at the first, to designate baptism Salvation; because saving doctrines were then openly and professedly embraced. Though the indistinctness of their ideas very soon drew them into an incautious and ambiguous mode of speaking upon the subject: and thus they afforded our modern writers a pretension for teaching destructive errors.

The truth and reality of this distinction between the