qualification, whose eternal salvation is already secured and confidently anticipated, and whose obedience is grounded, not on a sense of duty, or the necessity of earnestly striving to obtain the prize of their high calling, but on the principle of gratitude alone, as though it were optional, and might be regarded as a voluntary return for favours received. A system this most decidedly at variance with evangelical truth. On the other hand, can any thing be more in accordance with the very spirit and end of the Gospel, than to insist upon the necessity of good works, not merely to exhibit our faith before men, but to secure our own share, enlarged if possible, in the inheritance already provided and freely (though not unconditionally) bestowed, which has been purchased for us by the abundant merits of the Redeemer of us all? If it is objected that the use of the term condition interferes with the freedom of the gift, we may answer by enquiring whether the very right to impose conditions does not necessarily imply, that the reward is of grace, and cannot be demanded of right, but is in the option of the giver to withhold, or to bestow.

iSee a very popular collection of Psalms and Hymns, printed at Cambridge, passim; and many others.

* The legitimate use of this word would very much tend to put a stop to the perversion of it for party purposes.

The promise alone is the ground of the claim, and the performance of the conditions entitles to nothing, but what has been previously promised. Repentance and future obedience would not only be unavailing, but would partake of the sinfulness of the motive, if it were intended by them to supersede the work of the Son of God, and presumptuously to offer them up upon the altar of expiation. Hasty and unfounded charges and accusations may often be left to furnish their own refutation, and be treated with deserved contempt; but the charge of a deficient statement of the doctrines of the Gospel must be met with a direct and positive contradiction, not in a spirit of contention, or from a love of controversy, but from an imperative sense of duty, inasmuch as the success of our ministry will in a great measure depend upon the degree of confidence, which is entertained in our ability to unfold the whole counsel of God. The insinuation against the ministers of the Church, that they have forgotten the first principles of the Gospel which they profess to teach, especially when made by those who habitually absent themselves from our ministrations, can only be the offspring of an unusual, and wholly unjustifiable, licence. I proceed to notice, on the other side, some

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See the Rev. H. Budd on Infant Baptism.

considerable advantages, which we derive from a reception of the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. A persuasion of its truth tends effectually to secure a due attention to, and proper estimation for, two other very important doctrines, which form an essential part of a truly divine admonition, and are more diligently maintained in the Christian Church, than any others whatsoever. These are, first, the renunciation of human merit, and the necessity of depending solely, in the view of merit, on the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God: and, secondly, the insufficiency of human powers without divine interposition. With respect to the first of these, let a man be but thoroughly convinced that by his baptism he has been admitted into a state of salvation, and enjoyment of the favour of God; that he has the title to remission of his sins, to the gift of the Holy Ghost, and to every privilege of the Gospel visibly signed and sealed to him in it, and that heaven is become his inheritance unless he wilfully forfeits it; and what place can be found for the vain imagination, that any good works of his own have had a share in procuring for him those privileges, which thus necessarily precede their performance? The thirteenth Article is positive in declaring, that "works done before the grace of Christ and

the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasing to God," being done upon a wrong principle; yet on that principle they must be performed so long as there is no adequate conception of the nature and effects of baptismal regeneration. In such a case, works will always resemble those which St. Paul excludes from the office of justifying; works done independently of the sacrifice of Christ, and so as to supersede, or interfere with, his prerogative; such are the austerities of the heathen, performed with the uncertain hope of appeasing the anger of the deity, and of expiating sin such were the painful and laborious rites of the ceremonial law in which the Jew confided, blind to its typical character; such, lastly, were the popish works of supererogation against which our reformers had to contend, all of which must be for ever excluded from the office of justifying, and are so effectually by the doctrine in question.

This point being distinctly maintained, it would appear to be a needless alarm and anxiety, which is sometimes felt because Christian works, done after the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit, are not also excluded, and that too in opposition to the authority of St. James: whose Epistle, if we acknowledge as canonical, and are satisfied at

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the same time that no real advantage is to be gained by exalting one part of Scripture to the disparagement of another, we then need no longer hesitate in conformity with his language to speak of justification by works, provided that we make it clearly understood that Christian works are intended, works done upon the express persuasion and conviction, that every thing in the way of merit and purchase is already accomplished, and the divine favour restored by the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ; for these are the works to which St. James alludes. Surely no benefit can be derived from the endeavour to set faith and its natural fruits in opposition to each other, the fountain and the stream which flows from it. If justification by faith implies a renunciation of human merit, justification by the works which proceed from such faith, cannot contradict or overthrow that which is in truth its essential quality. The works which faith produces, ought to be considered in no other light than as extension and further developement of the same principle: for what after all is faith itself but a good work? nor is it quite clear that there was any thing in the sacrifice of Isaac, which necessarily conveyed the idea of merit, more than in believing the promise of God. Do not the words of St. James lead to this