of baptized persons, who discover, at no period of their life, any other proofs that they have been baptized, than that they can appeal to the register of some parish that they received in their infancy a Christian name. If these persons who have risen up into life, in a state of ignorance of Christianity, corrupt in their morals, and their manners, are to be told, and that by their clergyman from the pulpit, or the press, that at that time they were regenerated, and made inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; will they not easily lull the disquietudes of their consciences to sleep, and flatter themselves with the hope of final bliss, even while they continue the servants, if not the slaves, of sin? Will they, if warned to flee from the wrath to come, apprehend any danger, if they are taught to believe, that they are already the children of God? O fatal delusion! -a delusion no less dangerous to the private morals, than it is to the final happiness of man; because it leads him to ascribe the origin of his religious character to a ceremonial act, performed on him at a period when he knew it not, rather than to his repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; and teaches him that he may become a glorified spirit in another world, without possessing any of the essential qualifications while he lives in this.'

Mr. John Roscoe. "But these are the consequences which you deduce from the doctrine, rather than those which necessarily follow. When the child is baptized, we pray, that he may lead the rest of his life according to this beginning: which pre-supposes the possibility that he may not. If he do not, he forfeits his baptismal rights, and relapses into a state of condemnation and guilt.'

Mr. Roscoe." Then, I presume, that by this relapse into a state of condemnation and guilt, he places himself in a moral condition, similar to the condition in which he would have stood if he had never been baptized ?"

Mr. John Roscoe. "Yes, exactly."

Mr. Roscoe. "As a state of guilt and condemnation implies, on the part of man, depravity and alienation from God, must he not undergo some moral change

in his disposition,-his principles, and his taste, before he can loathe himself, on account of his impurities; or be fitted to dwell in the immediate presence of a holy God; as we read, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord ?" "

Mr. John Roscoe. "Certainly he must be made good and virtuous, before he can be admitted into heaven." Mr. Roscoe. "But if he were regenerated when he was baptized, and there is no other regeneration possible in this world, you see the dilemma in which you place a man who, by trangression, forfeits his baptismal rights."

Mr. John Roscoe. "What dilemma ?"

Mr. Roscoe. "Why in despair: you say, he needs a moral change to fit him for heaven; but as that change cannot be produced without baptism, and he has undergone the ceremony, which cannot be repeated; you place him under the ban of reprobation, unless you adopt the only alternative which remains for you; that of admitting him to heaven in his depraved state, Mr. C, yesterday, was very severe on the evangelical clergy for two things; he asserted in the first place, that by their awful strain of address they generally destroyed the peace of society; and, by holding out the hope of salvation to the most guilty, they de stroyed its virtue. These were certainly heavy charges; but do you not perceive that they are charges which may be brought with strict logical accuracy against the advocates of baptismal regeneration? For, if they follow up their doctrine to its legitimate consequences, they are compelled, either to admit a man into heaven, who, by a relapse into sin, forfeits his baptismal rights, in an unrenewed state, that is, in other words, without moral virtue; or, after his forfeiture, to tell him, that he cannot be regenerated again; that is, in other words, fitted for heaven; by which he is systematically and inevitably consigned over to despair."

Mr. John Roscoe. "Well, candidly confess, that' the doctrine appears involved in more oppressive difficulties than I ever conceived; and yet from the quotation which Mr. C- gave us yesterday from the Fathers, it appears to have been a doctrine which was

received very early and very generally into the church."

Mr. Roscoe. "Yes, to quote the language of an elegant writer, it is well known, that from a very early period, the most extravagant notions prevailed in the church, with respect to the efficacy of baptism, and its absolute necessity, in order to attain salvation. The descent of the human mind from the spirit to the letter, from what is vital and intellectual, to what is ritual and external in religion, is the true source of idolatry and superstition, n all the multifarious forms they have assumed and as it began early to corrupt the patriarchal religion, so it soon obscured the lustre, and destroyed the simplicity, of the Christian institute. In proportion as genuine devotion declined, the love. of pomp and ceremony increased; the few and simple rites of Christianity were extolled beyond all reasonable bounds; new ones were invented, to which mysterious meanings were attached, till the religion of the New Testament became, in process of time, as insupportable a yoke as the Mosaic law. The first effects of this spirit are discernible in the ideas entertained of the ordinance of baptism. From an erroneous interpretation of the figurative language of a few passages in scripture, in which the sign is identified with the thing signified, it was universally supposed, that baptism was invariably accompanied with a supernatural effect, which totally changed the state and character of the candidate, and constituted him a child of God, and an heir of the kingdom of heaven. Hence it was almost constantly denoted by the terms, illumination, regeneration, and others expressive of the highest operations of the Spirit; and as it was believed to obtain the plenary remission of all past sins, it was often, in order to ensure that benefit, purposely deferred to the latest period of life. Thus Eusebius informs us, that the Emperor Constantine, finding his end fast approaching, judged it a fit season for purifying himself from his offences, and cleansing his soul from that guilt, which, in common with other mortals, he had contracted, which he believed was to be effected by the power of mysterious words, and the saving. laver. This,' said he, addressing the surrounding

Bishops, is the period I have so long hoped and pray ed for, the period of obtaining the salvation of God.'

And no sooner was the rite of baptism administered, than he arrayed himself in white garments, and laid aside the imperial purple, in token of his bidding adieu to all secular concerns. We have here a fair specimen of the sentiments which were universally adopted upon this subject in early times; but, if the Arti cles and Liturgy of our own Church are to be submitted to the test of the Scriptures, must not the opinions of the ancients pass through the same ordeal? I could therefore, say, to all the authorities quoted by Mr. C, 'To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.' Isaiah viii. 20. But you will permit me to add, that if there be such mysterious efficacy accompanying the rite of baptism, and such danger incurred by a relapse into sin, after the candidate has submitted to it; I think the ancients discovered more wisdom in having it deferred till the period of their approaching dissolution, than we do in submitting to it, while surrounded by all the fascinations of sense, and the temptations to evil.”

JANUARY 8, 1824.

[No. 32.

"I walked on about the distance of three miles, when, on making a sudden turn, I descended a winding slope which led to the front of a neat cottage, which was partially concealed by the evergreens which grew around it. The barking of a little dog, and the crowing of barton fowl, convinced me that it was inhabited; though I saw neither man nor child; and, as I happened to discover a tasteful seat, formed by the bended branches of an ash, and an hazel tree which grew in closest fellowship, I sat myself down to survey the scenery around me, and listen to the warbling notes of the birds which enlivened the solitude of the place.'

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