nances, that he may use them as his privileges, and wait for an inward blessing by them. Yet this is but the porch, the shell, and outside; all that are outwardly received into the visible Church are not spiritually ingraffed into the mystical body of Christ. Baptism always is attended upon by that general grace, but not always with this special."

Then he asks:

"Doth the inward grace always accompany the outward sign of those of years baptized?

"No; but only then when the profession of their faith is not outward only, and counterfeit, but sincere and hearty; they laying hold on Christ offered in the Sacrament by a lively faith, which is the hand to receive the mercies offered. " If thou believest with all thy heart, thou may'st be baptized,' saith Philip to the Eunuch. For it were absurd to extend the benefit of the seal beyond the covenant. Now the covenant is made only to the faithful. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not, whether he be baptized or no, shall be condemned.' Simon Magus and Julian, and thousands of hypocrites and formalists, shall find no help in the day of the Lord by the holy water of the Baptism, without it be to increase their judgment.

"But what say you of infants baptized that are born in the Church; doth the inward grace in their Baptism always attend upon the outward sign? "Surely, no. The Sacrament of Baptism is effectual in infants, only to those, and to all those, who belong unto the election of grace. Which thing though we (in the judgment of charity) do judge of every particular infant, yet we have no ground to judge so of all in general; or if we should judge so, yet it is not any judgment of certainty; we may be mistaken.

“But how can an infant be capable of the grace of the Sacrament?

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Very well. Though infants be not capable of the grace of the Sacrament by that way whereby the grown are, by hearing, conceiving, believing; yet it followeth not, that infants are not capable in and by another way. It is easy to distinguish between the gift conveyed, and the manner of conveying it. Faith is not of absolute necessity to all God's elect, but only to those to whom God affords means of believing. It is the application of Christ's righteousness that justifieth us, not our apprehending it: God can supply the defect of faith by his sanctifying Spirit, which can do all things on our part which faith should do. Do we not know that the sin of Adam is imputed to children, and they defiled by it, though they be not capable to understand it? Even so, the righteousness of Christ may be, and is, by God's secret and unknown way to elect infants: and so to those that are born deaf, and

fools, not capable of understanding. For though God tyeth us to means, yet not himself: he that hath said of infants, to them belongs the Kingdom of God, knows how to settle upon them the title of the kingdom. And we have no reason to think, but that even before or in, at or by the act of Baptism, the Spirit of Christ doth unite the soul of the elect infant to Christ, and clothe it with his righteousness, and impute unto it the title of a son or daughter by adoption, and the image of God by sanctification; and so fit it for the state of glory."

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"But is Baptism of absolute necessity to salvation?

"Baptism as we have seen is an high Ordinance of God, and a means whereby he hath appointed to communicate Christ and his benefits to our souls; and therefore not to be neglected or slightly esteemed, but used with all reverence and thankful devotion when it may be had. Yet where God denieth it, either in regard of the shortness of the infant's life, or by any other unavoidable necessity, there comes no danger from the want of the Sacraments, but only from the contempt of them.

"Who are here to be confuted?

First, the Papists—who have contrived in their own brains a room near hell, which they call (Limbus infantum) a receptacle for the souls of infants which die without Baptism; and where, as they feign, they are deprived of God's presence, and never partake of joy and happiness. Secondly, many ignorant people amongst us, who for want of better teaching, harbour in their minds such Popish conceits, especially that Baptism doth confer grace upon all by the work done, (for they commonly look no higher) and they conceive a kind of inherent virtue, and Christendom (as they call it) necessarily infused into children by having the water cast upon their faces."

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"When God affordeth means, we must wait upon him for a blessing in them, and by them: when he doth not afford means, we must not tie the working of his grace to them. God who sanctifieth some in the womb, knows how to sanctify all his elect infants, and by his Spirit apply the merits of Christ unto them without the outward water. Some have the outward sign and not the inward grace; some have the inward grace and not the outward sign; we must not commit Idolatry by deifying the outward element. The rule will hold. It is not the want of the Sacraments, but the contempt or wilful neglect of them that is dangerous."

Proceeding with a few more authorities upon this part of the case, I quote next from Sharp, Archbishop of York from 1691 to 1714. In his 13th Sermon on "Regeneration," he says:

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Regeneration, or the new birth, consists of two parts: an outward Baptism, which includes a profession of Christ's religion, and an inward sanctification of holiness of heart and life. This is expressly told us both by our Saviour and by St. Paul. By our Saviour, in the 3d of St. John, where he tells Nicodemus, first of all in general, 'That except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' And in the next words he explains himself wherein this new birth doth more particularly consist: Except a man,' saith he, 'be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' So that, to a man's being born again, there must go both the Baptism of water and the renewing of the Spirit. And exactly to the same purpose doth St. Paul express himself, in the 3d of Titus, verse 5: God,' saith he, according to his mercy, hath saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.' The washing of regeneration, there, is the outward part of it. The renewing of the Holy Ghost is the

inward.

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"I wish those that are offended at our Church for teaching in her Offices that infants are regenerated by Baptism, would a little more have considered of this. I am sure both Scripture and antiquity speak in this language.

"The truth is, this term of regeneration or the new birth hath such a respect to Baptism, that it cannot be well understood without taking that in.

"Our Saviour, no doubt, took this expression from the Jews, as did abundance of others; and that which they meant by it was nothing else but a man's becoming a proselyte to their religion, and being admitted thereto by Baptism.

"But our Saviour further requires a man's being born of the Spirit, as well as being born of water, in order to his entering into the kingdom of heaven; that is to say, besides the outward Baptism and the outward profession, there must be an inward principle of virtue and holiness wrought in the professor by the Spirit of God.”

I next quote from the work entitled, "A Plain and Full Exposition of the Catechism of the Church of England," by Bishop Nicholson, who is said, by Anthony

Wood, to have been a right learned Divine, well seen and read in the "Fathers and schoolmen "—and who, it is to be observed, formed one of the Upper House of Convocation, at the Review of the Liturgy, in 1661 and 1662. On the words, "a member of Christ," he observes:

"That is, to be reckoned Christians: for Christ is the head of the Church, and all Christians the body, of which every one that professeth Christian religion is a part, and is so to be esteemed. But these parts are of two sorts:-1st. Either æquivocal parts, so taken and reputed by us, such as are a glass eye, or a wooden leg, to a man; which are so called, but truly are not such; and whosoever profess the supernatural verities revealed by Christ, and make use of the holy Sacraments, may, in this sense, be called the members of Christ, because they are reckoned for parts of his visible body. 2nd. Or univocal parts. That in name and nature are true believers, which are indeed the true members of Christ, and do belong unto his mystical body, and receive from him as from their Head life, sense, and motion. They are united to him, live in him, and are informed by his Spirit. They are washed and regenerated by his blood. And they have his righteousness imputed unto them, by which they are freed from the guilt and punishment of sin. This the apostle teacheth, 1 Cor. i. 30: 'But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption.' And to these last only the two next privileges belong: that is, to be the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.'

"All receive not the grace of God that receive the Sacrament of grace. But by them grace is offered to all the Church, though exhibited only to the faithful."

On the answer, that children are baptized because they promise faith and repentance by their sureties, he says:

"This is an excellent answer, and being well examined will prove satisfactory. For it shows

"1. How children perform this promise for faith and repentance. "2. That they are bound to perform the promise, when they come to age, if they mean to have a part of the grace promised by God in Baptism.

"1. For the first, children perform not this promise in Baptism at that time actually; that is, they do not then actually repent and believe; neither is it necessary they should. For Baptism is not the covenant, but the

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seal of it; and the seal may be set where these are wanting. This is evident in the case of circumcision."

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Repentance is a firm resolution of amendment of life; faith an apprehension of God's promises; for the performance of which the sureties engage: but not absolutely that the child shall do it, for that is beyond their power to undertake; but conditionally, that he shall do it, or else have no benefit by their engagement."

I now come to one of whom we have heard already, Bishop Pearson, he having been quoted on the other side. I will cite from his work on the Creed, where, commenting on the clause "the Communion of Saints," he says:

"The penmen of the Old Testament do often speak of the people of Israel as of a holy nation, and God doth speak unto them as to a people holy unto himself; because he had chosen them out of all the nations of the world, and appropriated them to himself. Although, therefore, most of that nation were rebellious to him which called them, and void of all true, inherent, and actual sanctity; yet because they were all in that manner separated, they were all, as to the separation, called holy. In the like manner those of the New Testament, writing to such as were called, and had received and were baptized in the faith, give unto them all the name of saints, as being in some manner such, by being called and baptized. For being baptized is a washing away of sin, and the purification from sin is a proper sanctification; being every one who is so called and baptized is thereby separated from the rest of the world which are not so, and all such separation is some kind of sanctification; being, though the work of grace be not perfectly wrought, yet when the means are used, WITHOUT SOMETHING APPEARING TO THE CONTRARY, WE OUGHT TO PRESUME OF THE GOOD EFFECT; therefore all such as have been received into the Church, may be in some sense called holy. But because there is more than an outward vocation, and a charitable presumption, necessary to make a man holy; therefore we must find some other qualification which must make him really and truly such, not only by an extrinsical denomination, but by a real and internal affection. What this sanctity is, and who are capable of this title properly, we must learn out of the Gospel of Christ; by which alone, ever since the Church of Christ was founded, any man can become a saint. Now, by the tenor of the Gospel, we shall find that those are truly and properly saints, which are 'sanctified in Christ Jesus.' (1 Cor. i. 2.) First, in respect of THEIR HOLY FAITH, BY WHICH THEY ARE REGENERATED, for, Whosoever, believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God' (1 John v. 1); by

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