ABOUT this time were published several tracts enti tled, "Scriptural Views of Holy Baptism," in many respects the most important of the series. The former had called the attention of religious men to many neglected doctrines-as the Apostolic succession, the unity and visibility of the Church, the true use of ordinances; but the present entered more deeply and fully into the real practical differences between the Church system and that of the sectarians. Of the convincing argument, the deep learning, the impressive sincerity, the pure charity, with which the Tracts on Baptism are written, it is impossible to speak in terms of too high praise. Difficult, indeed, it is to conceive how any sincere person can withstand the joint influence of these various appeals. To me the views exhibited appeared of the deepest importance.

The argument turns on the vital necessity and

efficacious influence of the sacraments, as means of salvation ordained by Christ. The problem which I had long endeavored to solve, was, the true practical means of conveying the benefits of Christ's atonement to the souls of men. The present Tracts answered my inquiry, by pointing out the important place which the sacraments occupy for this purpose.

The main difference between the Church and the sectarians, as regards the sacraments, is this:-The whole Church for fifteen hundred years, and the great body of professing Christians ever since that time-including the Romish and Greek Churches, the Lutherans, and the reformed English Church, with its dependencies in different parts of the world-all agree in considering the sacraments as the principal channels, appointed by God, for conveying Divine grace to the faithful. The Swiss reformer Zuingle, and after him Calvin, and certain sects which have since sprung up, consider the sacraments as mere outward signs or symbols. The formularies of our own Church, in conformity with the doctrine of the Church Catholic, teach that a sacrament is an outward visible sign of an inward spiritual grace given unto us, "ordained by Christ Himself, as a means whereby we receive the same (i. e. the spiritual grace), and a pledge to assure us thereof." Thus, in the Lord's Supper, the outward sign is, "the bread and wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received." The inward grace given to us is, "the body and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." This doctrine the sectarians deny, and consider the Lord's Supper as nothing more than a memorial or representation

of Christ's death, given to assist our faith, and not a communion of His blessed body and blood; whereby in a mysterious way "we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us; we are one with Christ and Christ with us."

And so with regard to the other sacrament, on which the Tract principally dwells, the Church declares the inward grace given at baptism to be “a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness," -in one word, regeneration; "for being by nature born in sin, the children of wrath, we are thereby (i. e. by baptism) made the children of grace." And in explaining to her children their position before God, she teaches them that they were made at baptism "children of God, members of Christ (i. e. one with Him, and He with them) and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven." The sectarian utterly denies this doctrine of baptismal regeneration, held by the Church from the beginning, and considers it a popish error. The evangelical members of our own Church lean to the Zuinglian, or dissenting, view of the sacraments; think that the expressions in various parts of our Liturgy are exceptionable when taken literally; and seeing that they cannot remove them, they explain them away in a most unscrupulous manner. One English clergyman, if not more, has positively refused to use the baptismal service. Of the truth of the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, I had long ago fully convinced myself, by a diligent comparison of our own formularies with holy Scripture. And it was gratifying to find in these Tracts the most ample confirmation of the doctrine from the writings of the Fathers; all of whom, with one consent, speak of it

as an undoubted doctrine of the ancient Church. Still I had not been aware before of the vast importance which it holds in the Christian scheme. I had received it in faith, without perceiving the full extent of its utility. It might be safely argued, that any scriptural doctrine, especially one so prominently insisted on by our Lord Himself, as that of baptismal regeneration, could not be disregarded or pushed out of its place, without a most grievous breach in the integrity of revealed truth. Still, I had not been at all aware of its essential practical importance. To say that any one doctrine is the cardinal point of the Christian scheme, is more than we are warranted in Scripture; it may, however, be safely asserted that, in point of order at least, baptismal regeneration holds the first rank. It is, in fact, the starting-point of the Christian's course. It is the beginning of the life of God in his soul. It is the implanting in the heart the seed of Divine grace, thenceforth to be cherished and confirmed. It is the grafting the redeemed soul into the stock of Christ, in which, if he remain firm, he is assured of salvation.

This, then, appeared to me the straightforward and most hopeful course for the minister of the Gospel to pursue ; namely, to accept the lambs of Christ's flock, as it were, from Himself, and endeavor to train them up from the very beginning in the faith and fear of God; to put parents continually in remembrance of the awful charge committed to them, and warn them to be very careful of their souls' health. And with regard to those who have fallen from their baptismal purity, to remind such of the privileges which

they have lost, their great ingratitude to their heavenly Father, and the imminent danger in which they had placed themselves.

The only part of the Tract which appeared to me doubtful, was the excessive difficulty which, from some expressions, the writer appeared to attach to repentance. Difficult, indeed, it is, in a very great degree; since to root out settled habits of sin is compared to cutting off a right hand, or plucking out a right eye. But what is impossible to man is possible with God. And it is fervently to be hoped that the grace of God may greatly smoothe the way of the true penitent, especially in the case of that numerous class of persons who, by early association with evil, and partly through the Church's negligence, had never known their baptismal privileges and adoption into Christ's family; and had been nurtured without fault of their own, in sin and ungodliness. Such is probably the case of multitudes in this Christian land; and of them we may surely hope that God will not impute to them the guilt of departure from the grace of baptism, in the same manner as He does to those who sin wilfully against light and grace; but may in His own good time offer to their acceptance the gift of repentance, unobscured by that judicial blindness to which presumptuous sinners are condemned.

The adoption, therefore, of the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, as a leading feature in the Gospel, and as the primary object of ministerial regard, does not oblige us in the least to deny the doctrine of repentance or conversion; but, on the contrary, furnishes arguments perhaps more cogent than any