not only sacramentally, but really and spiritually baptized into Christ, incorporated into Him in the mystical sense!

- For, remember, Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, who represented his false and true heirs. Ishmael was a disobedient son, and mocked his father Abraham; wherefore he was sent into bondage, together with his mother, who before had despised Sarah. But Isaac was an obedient son, and was even ready to die at his father's desire; therefore he inherited the promise. Yet both were circumcised, and admitted alike into the covenant of grace, and both abode in the house together, till the sin of the former caused his removal; for Ishmael proved himself to be a Jew only outwardly, but Isaac proved himself to be a Jew both outwardly and inwardly. "Which things, (saith St. Paul,) are an allegory; for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with her children, (as Ishmael was.) But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. Now we, Brethreu, (we, who are converted,) as Isaac was, are the children of promise. Gal. 4, chap. 24, 25, 27 v. So that, you see, Ishmael pourtrays all the unconverted, and Isaac all the converted in the visible Church. They stand as emblems of the two covenants, of works and of grace, of the bondage of the former, and of the freedom of the latter. Ishmael broke his covenant of grace, and became as uneircumcised: Isaac kept his, and became heir according to the promise.

4. They cannot see that the covenant of grace is a deed of gift: and that, as it would be absurd to say that a child's name ought not to be put

into any deed or legacy, until he came of age to understand it, so it is equally absurd, and far more injurious to exclude children from their heavenly legacy, which Christ has bequeathed unto them. *Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; for the promise is unto you and your children. Acts, 2 chap. 38, 39, v. "For Him (Jesus Christ) hath God exalted to His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins:" Acts, 5 chap. 31, v. Now (to say nothing of the need of this Sacrament to wash away original sin) the actual sin of your children (and God only knows how soon they may commit it,) must be repented of by them, if they are to be saved: and this is the gift of God through His Holy Spirit. They do not, however, require faith; it is enough for God that they have it even in one parent. But now, that either their father or mother believeth, are they holy, or sanctified. 1 Cor. 7 chap. 14, v. "Then can any man forbid water that these (little ones) should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? and Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord;" Acts, 10 chap. 47, 48, v. For they are Christ's, and Christ is God's; and they are to be signed and sealed unto the day of redemption. Hence your church most scripturally affirms that your "children being born in original sin, and in the wrath of God, are now by the laver of regeneration in Baptism, received into the number of the children of God, and heirs of everlasting life: For our Lord Jesus Christ doth not deny His grace and mercy unto such infauts, but most lovingly doth call them unto Him, as the Holy Gospel doth witness to our comfort;"

St. Mark, 10 chap. 13, v. and seq. Or pers adventure, if. "they are fallen from grace," Gal. 5 chap. 4, v. and as yet the Holy Ghost hath fallen upon none of them; only they were baptized in the name of the Lord :" then let them pray for the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and further, let the apostles (i. e. their successors, the Bishops,) having heard that they have received the word of God, when they come, pray for them, and lay their hands upon them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost." Acts, 8 chap. 14, 15, 16, 17, v. For such is the gospel-order, and the rule of salvation. But the Baptists cannot see that the idea of a covenant of grace is thus prospective, that as the circumcised Jew was a debtor to do the whole law;" so the baptized Christian is a debtor to do the whole gospel. They are so ignorant and biassed against us, that they cannot see that baptism is the initiatory Sacrament of the Church of Christ. "They, therefore, cannot begin at the beginning! Rather they must needs keep their children from being embraced by Christ, because they cannot embrace Him of themselves-but they stand rebuked by Him for so doing. For Jesus was much displeased, because His disciples forbad them coming to Him for His blessing!

5. Finally, they cannot see the difference between baptismal regeneration, and spiritual, or rather, as it is invariably called in scripture, conversion. Now when we speak of regene. rated France or Rome, we only mean that they have been put into a new and better state of go. vernment: we never understand that they are made perfect states. So, in the religious world, when we talk of a regenerated person, we ought to suppose such a person as has been brought

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out of the Jewish, Mohammedan, or Heathen estate into the Christian. The term itself only occurs twice in the whole Bible: First, in Mat. 19 chap. 28, v.. where it bears a very different signification "ye, which have followed Me, in the regeneration," i. e. ye, who have been My followers upon earth, shall in the new creation, in the new heavens and earth, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel :" And secondly, in Tit. 3 chap. 5. v. it is written, He saved us by the washing of regeneration,"-which fixes its just meaning, its true and legitimate sense i.e, He placed us in a state of salvation by water Baptism. And thus Bishop Ryder, that pious living Prelate, (and Bishop Sumner agrees with him,) testifies: "The question of regeneration, as it regards the use of the term, is in my opinion satisfactorily determined by the articles and offices of our Church, and by the meaning uniformly annexed to it in the four first centuries of the Christian Era. I would therefore wish generally to restrict the term to the baptismal privileges; and considering them as comprehending not only an external admission into the visible Church, not only a covenanted title to the pardon and grace of the Gospel, but even a degree of spiritual aid vouchsafed, and ready to offer itself to our acceptance or rejection. At the dawn of reason, I would recommend a reference to these privileges in our discourses as talents which the hearers should have so improved as to bear interest, and seed which should have sprung up and produced fruit," Primary charge, p. 17. But the Baptists confound regeneration with conversion, or exalt it above conversion, whereas conversion is the crown and perfection of regeneration. Regeneration is the

infusion of grace into the soul: conversion is the renewing of the Holy Ghost, and exercise of grace, the turning or total change of a sinner from his sins. Converts are new creatures, are formed in the image of Christ, and are made holy in part here, and shall have a perfection of it after death. God is the Author of this change, who by His Spirit puts repentance, faith, love, and every grace, into the soul of the baptized. The word of God is a means of conversion; The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul," 19 ps. 7, v. And His ministers, by their preaching of the gospel, are the appointed instruments in this change. "Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee;" 51 ps. 13, v. God works likewise by various other means, but by these chiefly. And Jesus preached no other doctrine to His disciples, "Verily, I say unto you, expect ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Mat. 18 chap. 3, v. It is thus only that "Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness," Is. 1 chap. 27, v. According to the Bible, therefore, it is not strictly correct to call those converts, who renounce Judaism, Mohammedanism, or Heathenism, and embrace Christianity by Baptism: their proper name is Proselytes of the covenant, as they were called in the old Testament Church. They become converts, when it has pleased God to turn their hearts from sin. "Unto you first, (to the Jew first and also to the Gentile,) God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Acts, 3 chap. 26, v. Wherefore I am bold to assert that conversion completes the Christian; for this is the sacred canon,