the faith of their parents or godfathers, as to impute to one person the guilt of another; but, as I showed you in a former Letter, infants, as well as persons of riper years, are redeemed from that death which the fall of Adam and Eve brought upon all their descendants by ordinary generation, without any conditions exacted from them; "For, as by one offence, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by one righteousness (the voluntary sacrifice of Christ) the free gift came upon all men, including infants, to justification of life."

But though justification—the first justification-and regeneration are so nearly allied to each other, that, as they respect our future salvation, there is hardly any perceptible difference between them, they are yet expressed under different figures. In regeneration God is represented as a Father begetting us in some mysterious manner into a new life of higher privileges; whereas in justification, he is considered as a Judge pronouncing a favourable judgment from the throne of mercy. There is, however, a real difference between the two, as they affect us in this state of our probation; for regeneration, in the proper and Scriptural sense of the word, signifies nothing more than our admission or entrance into Christian privileges; and therefore it can take place but once, as a man can be but once naturally born, whereas justification implies a continuance of those privileges to those-and those only, who perform the conditions on which they were admitted to them. Regeneration has been

compared to the giving or receiving of life; justification, or the being justified, to the giving or receiving of growth or increase. Hence it follows, that regeneration once given and received, can never be so totally lost, as to require to be reiterated in all its circumstances. If it could be so completely lost, it would certainly have been lost by Simon the sorcerer,* and St Peter, instead of saying to him, "Repent of this thy wickedness, and pray to God, if perhaps (si aga) the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee," would undoubtedly have said, 'Repent and pray to God that thou mayest be a second time regenerated, or born of water and of the Spirit, for none can enter into the kingdom of God, who is not so born." Simon's sin was extremely great-bordering indeed upon the sin against the Holy Ghost; but the Apostle is far from bidding him despair, for aga is a particle of hope, in this case faint indeed, but still of hope, or St Peter would not have encouraged him to pray.

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But though adults coming to baptism, with repentance of their past sins; with a firm trust in God's mercy through Christ; with a sincere belief of all the doctrines of the Gospel; and with a steady resolution to keep God's holy will and command

* On the effect of baptism on such hypocrites as Simon, see Dr Waterland's admirable Sermon on Regeneration. St Augustin, (Tom. ix, p. 169) says, Simon ille natus ex aqua et spiritu, though, if not at the very instant of his baptism, certainly soon after it, he was "in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity."

ments as they are there taught; and infants coming in their native innocence, are all undoubtedly regenerated and justified by God in that sacrament, their sins being washed away, * and assurance given them of eternal life, and of the grace of the Holy Ghost, to enable them to fulfil the vow and promise, which was then made either by themselves, or by their sureties for them; and though all these promises made by Christ will, on his part, certainly be fulfilled, yet may the baptized persons forfeit all the benefits of them, by neglecting to perform the conditions on which they were made. In this respect, as in others, regeneration is analogous to natural birth. An infant, when born, is brought from a state of darkness to one of light, and admitted to all the benefits and privileges of the society, of which he is now a member; but should he afterwards choose not to "walk as a child of the light, but to shut his eyes and grope as the blind in darkness;" or should he, for his crimes, be cut off from the society into which he was born, he would indeed be deprived of all the benefits and privileges to which he became then entitled; but he surely would not cease to be a man who had been naturally born. Just so it is with respect to regeneration and justification. The Holy Ghost doth not operate mechanically on the human mind, but morally, so as always to leave the man a free agent †, for we are assured by St * Acts, xxii. 16. Titus, iii. 5.

How this is done we cannot know; but you will find

operations may be

This we know by

Stephen and St Paul, that his resisted, and even quenched. * experience is too frequently done; and he who so resists and quenches the spirit, ceases to be in a state of justification; and though he has not completely forfeited his regeneration, because what has once been done cannot afterwards be undone, he has completely forfeited all the benefits of it, together with every well grounded hope of final justification at the judgment-seat of Christ. He may, however, by the grace of God, "be renewed in the spirit of his mind," and enabled to repent, and bring forth fruits meet for repentance, by relinquishing his sinful habits; or, in the language of St Paul, by" putting off the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and putting on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness." If he continue in this renewed state, "working out his own salvation with fear and trembling," God will certainly fulfil the promise made to him at his baptism, working in him both to will and to do of his good pleasure, that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ ;" and he shall certainly be acquitted, or justified, according to the terms of the Gospel covenant, at that awful period, when "we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done

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some useful suggestions to show its possibility in Wollaston's Religion of Nature, Sect. v. Ch. xviii.

* Acts, vii. 51. 1 Thess. v. 19.

in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

The conditions, therefore, on which adults are regenerated and first justified, are repentance and faith, with a steady resolution to obey the laws of the Gospel; but the conditions on which they shall be justified at the tribunal of Christ, are faith and active obedience in fulfilment of the promise made by them at their baptism. To this must be added a worthy participation of the Lord's Supper whenever they have an opportunity, "for as often as we eat that bread, and drink that cup, we do show forth the Lord's death till he come ;" and declare, in the most solemn manner, that on his death we build all our hopes of the remission of our sins, and of our final salvation.

Here, again, I shall probably be asked by our evangelical brethren, Why so much importance is attributed to the outward and visible sign in either sacrament, as to make them be considered as generally necessary to salvation? To the internal dispositions and sentiments which are required of those who come to the Lord's supper in particular, these puritanical men make no objection; but they act and write as if it were their opinion, that since to what they call vital religion the external rites can add nothing, those rites might be safely dispensed with.

To such objections it might surely be sufficient to reply, that, as the blessed Author of our holy religion hath, in both sacraments, joined the exter