OBJECTS OF THIS LETTER.

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his writings I find, and rejoice to find, indications that Christ has come into the world; yes, that he has established a church in the world; and that the fact of that coming, and the teachings of that church, have raised Barclay to a point of view which enabled him (at times, not by any means. always), to make light of both. But yet I do say, that taking the mere principle of Barclay nakedly, - divested of all those blessed accidents with which, by reason of his position, it became surrounded,—it will be found to be-not a false, not an unimportant principle,-but one which belonged to a person living under the covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which was known long before the Son of God was revealed in human flesh, long before he sent the Comforter from the bosom of the Father to guide his disciples into all truth. If, then, I shall hereafter endeavour to show you, that Baptism is not only not opposed to the doctrine of a spiritual dispensation, but that without it no belief in a spiritual dispensation can tarry long among men, I am only following up a proposition which I have already endeavoured to make good, that you, the rejecters of Baptism, have even, when you are most right, still held principles which are only in their first germ, not in their full bloom.

But when I come to the other branch of my proposition, when I undertake to ascertain what is the idea of Baptism, and to show how those who have practised the rite have yet overlooked its power and meaning,-you will be ready

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DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH.

to exclaim, Yes! if you do that! but hic labor hoc opus. And this, perhaps, with a look of melancholy compassion, is all that your kindness and courtesy will permit you to say of my rash attempt. There are others, you well know, who are not in the habit of exercising such self-restraint. They will begin at once to exclaim, "Now for awkward dilemmas, dishonest shuffling, base equivocation; and yet the ugly truth peeping out through them all, that it is not the sects which have a hundred different notions, but that you, you of the United Catholic Church, are at war upon this, your own choice and favourite subject. -High Churchmen, Evangelists, followers of Mr. Budd,—each with his own notion and fantasy, each alleging the authority of the church and of Scripture. Happily you cannot keep us in ignorance of this secret. Do not suppose that you have been fighting in the dark, that we have not been looking on, and taking note of every manœuvre and every onset of the generals and troops on each side. And when this confession has been reluctantly dragged forth, another must follow it. This writer, who takes such a high tone, and assumes to be a teacher of others, must be good enough to tell us to which of these parties he himself belongs; if to any one, then he must be so gracious as to explain how it happens that the other two have come into existence; whether they are utter heresies; if they are, how they came into the church; if not, why we must bow our minds to a particular view of this doctrine;

CHURCHMEN NEED NOT CONCEAL THEM. 73

why we may not have the same liberty of thinking, which, it seems, is permitted in the church. Or there is still another alternative, our letterwriter, an anonymous individual, may set up à scheme different from all these; and then, exquisite modesty! require our assent to that to which, perhaps, nobody in England but himself subscribes, and this by way of asserting a catholic doctrine! Any way, if you watch him well, you will find that he is smuggling in the opinion of some party or some individual; calling that the church's opinion; calling the church's opinion the Scripture opinion; and, by these different pretences, forcing a doctrine down the throats of those poor persons who are wise enough to open their mouths for the purpose of receiving it."

Such, you are well aware, will be the language, mixed, of course, with many smartnesses, which, through poverty of invention, I am not capable of anticipating, with which the religious newspapers will accost me, if they chance to become aware of my project. In a somewhat different style, I will meet each objection separately. It is fancied that a Churchman must wish to disguise the fact, that there are serious differences of opinion among those who belong to his communion on the subject of Baptism. If it be meant that he will not speak of such divisions with levity; that they cost him many a bitter tear in secret; that in his best moments he could count his life a cheap sacrifice if he might heal them;

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THEY PROVE HIS PRINCIPLES.

-the charge is one which he can bear very well, -which he only fears is too honourable for him, --which he prays may become truer every day. But if it be meant, that it is his particular interest as a Churchman to hide these facts (seeing they exist) from the world, he begs to ask, For what reason? If he were very zealous in maintaining that the Church of God is a voluntary association, dependent for its existence solely upon the faith, the holiness, and the unity of its members, concealment of facts which indicate too plainly that this faith, and holiness, and unity are not what they should be, (are lower, perhaps, though on this point it must be absurd to express an opinion, than they were in any former age), would be almost a virtue, so greatly would the promises and truth of God be endangered by the disclosure. But if this is exactly what he does not maintain, exactly what he is at such constant pains to prove is not the case; if the burden of his song from morning to night is this, God is true though every man be a liar;-he has established permanent symbols and witnesses of his truth; all men are admitted to partake the blessings of these symbols; and if they do not, it is their loss-the truth remains:' why should he, of all men in the world, be most anxious to conceal the most striking, most appalling evidences of his own position? I protest, if we did not believe that arguments are made for man, not man for arguments, and, consequently, that the interests of our species must not be sacrificed for the

OPPOSITE VIEWS MAY BE TRUE

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sake of making good any conclusion; and if we were not convinced that it is injuring our fellowmen to present them continually with instances of confusion and evil, instead of leading them to think on whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report; and if we were not ashamed to attack crimes in other men, from which we feel that we are not exempt; and if it were not better to confess our own sins and theirs to God than to men, we should be always parading forth the errors with which church history abounds; so mightily do they make in favour of that principle which we, as Churchmen, are labouring to establish. But again, it is said, that I must either adopt one of those notions which are current in the church; or else, which is more presumptuous still, set up a notion of my own, to supersede them all. With submission, I will do neither of these things. I will consider each of these opinions; I will attempt to show how and wherein each seems to have denied the truth of the others. I will attempt to show how that which each really prizes, that which he feels he cannot part with, will unite in a principle-larger, deeper, more satisfactory, than any of the three, yet freed from the perplexities and contradictions which each has felt in the opinions of the others, and occasionally in his own. Will this be choosing any of the opposing notions which prevail, and putting myself to the necessity of explaining how the others still exist? Will it not be accounting for thom all, and justifying them all? Will it be setting up a