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spoken, Matt. xxiii. 25. Whereby it cometh to pass that men seem unto themselves pure, but inwardly they remain full of filthiness. Therefore he called baptism not a corporal or outward washing, but the washing of regeneration or new birth, by which not those things that are outward are washed, and only the outward man made clean, but the whole nature of man is altered and changed into another nature; that is, the carnal nativity is thereby destroyed, with all the inheritance of sins and perdition."—Sermon on Salvation by Grace without Works.

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And hereby the nature of a true and right faith is taught; for it is nothing which some say, 'I believe in God Almighty,' as the Jews and many others are wont, and do therefore receive corporeal benefits of God; it is a true and lively faith, whereby thou believest in God, howbeit by Jesus Christ. First, that thou doubt not that God is become a merciful father unto thee, which hath pardoned all thy sins, and in baptism hath adopted thee for his son and heir, that thou mayest certainly know that thou art saved; again thou must also know this, that that was not done gratuitously, neither without satisfaction made to the divine justice, for there can be no place in thee for the divine grace and mercy to work salvation, and to give thee eternal good things, unless the justice of God be before most fully satisfied : for Christ witnesseth, Matt, v. 18, One jot, or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."-Same Sermon.

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Wherefore if he should any thing doubt, he should procure exceeding ignominy and reproach to baptism which he hath received, and to the Lord's supper, and also reprove the word and grace of God of falsehood; wherefore take heed that thou nothing doubt, that thou art the son of God, and therefore righteous by his grace,

ADMISSION INTO THE CHURCH.

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Howbeit thou must

let all fear and care be here away, fear and tremble, that thou mayest persevere such an one unto the end: Thou must not, being in this case, be careful that thou mayest become righteous and saved, but that thou mayest persevere and continue; neither must thou do this, as though it consisted in thine own strength, for all thy righteousness and salvation is only of grace, whereunto only thou must trust but when thou knowest that it is of grace alone, and that thy faith is also the gift of God, thou shalt for good cause live in fear and care, lest that any temptation do violently move thee from this faith."-Sermon on being under the Law and under Grace.

The idea, then, of a holy and righteous state for a man, as belonging to him before he claims it, though rejected in our modern Evangelical theology, is involved in all the facts of which that theology professes to be an exposition, and is formally admitted and asserted as essential to his doctrine, by the founder of the Evangelical school in Germany. Let us then attempt to set this party right with themselves, and see whether, by so doing, we do not bring them into nearer accordance with the brethren whom they despise. They say that Baptism means only an admission into the visible church. The question then occurs here, which I asked in my last Letter of those who said that the light, spoken of by Fox, meant only the conscience, What does that mean? Our Catechism answers in plain terms. It means that you are a child of God, a member of Christ, an heir of heaven. Surely you will not

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put such a fraud upon me as to translate these words back into the very phrase of which they are given as the explanation! But, are they a fair and legitimate explanation of it? Supposing they were, those facts of conversion, would not be less, but much more intelligible than they are; supposing they were, we should not have to suppose that Luther was quite ignorant of the truth which he lived to preach. But what warrant have we for saying that they are? I have answered this question already in my last Letter. I maintained that Christ, by whom, and for whom all things were created, and in whom all things consist, has made reconciliation for mankind; that on the ground of this atonement for mankind, God has built his church, declaring men one family in Christ; inviting all men to consider themselves so; assuring them that only in Christ they are or can be one family; that, separate from him they must be separate from each other. Therefore we, believing there is such an atonement, and that such a declaration has gone forth, and that it is a sin for men to account themselves separate from Christ, and separate from each other, when God has, by such a wonderful act, declared them to be one body in him; and believing that the mark of that universal body or fellowship, appointed by God himself is Baptism, do, without fear or scruple, asseverate of ourselves, and of all others who will come to this holy Baptism, of all who bear the marks and impress of that nature which Christ took, in his birth, of the blessed Virgin; that

A STATE OF SALVATION.

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they are admitted into these high and glorious privileges; that they are brought into a state of salvation; that they are made sons of God and heirs of everlasting life; and that for this they are to give thanks to God unceasingly, and to look to Him who has introduced them to such a dignity to keep them in it even to the end. And in saying this, we contend that we give honour to the free grace and redemption of God; that we give faith, the faith of the child, the faith of the boy, the faith of the man, a ground upon which to stand, and which otherwise it cannot have. We say, hereby we are able to teach little children, that a Father's eye is upon them in love; hereby we are able to tell the young man, who is beginning to feel that he carries within him an accursed nature, which is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, that by union with Christ he may rise out of that nature, and trample it under his feet; and this whether he has always maintained a fight against that nature, leaning upon the promise of his Baptism; or whether he has sunk under its dominion, and become the slave of the sin out of which Christ delivered him for in the last case, as much as in the first, we say he must be taught that he is united to Christ; and that by not claiming that union, by trusting in himself, by thinking that he was something when he was nothing, he has become the servant of the devil, not of his true Lord; consequently, that if he would not continue in sin, he must assert that glorious privilege of which, by his own

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act, he has deprived himself. Lastly, hereby we enable a man, in the midst of the world's conflict and bustle, not to spend his life in fretful and selfish questionings and debatings whether he is a child of God or no, but boldly to take up the rights of one, and enter into communion with his Father; and to seek for the knowledge of God, which is eternal life; and to do his will from the heart, by his spirit dwelling in him, and to look for the manifestation of Christ from heaven, when the redeemed body shall rejoice with the redeemed Spirit, when all evil shall be cast out for ever from the kingdom of God, and when God shall be all in all.

Thus have I justified the truth which the Evangelical party assert respecting Baptism, and cleared it of the contradictions with which it seems to me that they have encompassed it. I say you are right that Baptism is an admission into the visible church. Only understand what that implies, what it must imply, in order that your justification and your conversion may have any meaning; in order that your preaching may have a power and reality, in which now, alas! it is grievously wanting; in order that you may not be perplexed with perpetual puzzles about the degree in which you may encourage your people to believe themselves what God has declared them to be; in order that you may not keep their consciences in perpetual bondage, while you pretend to set them free; in order that you may not exalt those whom God would humble, and make those sad whom he