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predominant in the soul, makes all our feelings pure, and all our movements virtuous.

As genuine virtue can thus be derived only from true religion, so true religion can be maintained and cherished, only by habitual devotion. For what is devotion, but the mind's actual communication with the source of its moral life? What the vital air, which we continually inhale, is to our corporeal life, that, and infinitely more, the ever-present Deity is, to the higher life of our immortal part; and that which the organ of respiration performs in the one case, is, with the strictest analogy, effected in the other, by the unforced and spontaneous actings of the heart, upon its first, and greatest object. Addison most truly observes, that faith and morality naturally produce each other; but he adds, that, in order to strengthen faith, no method "is so persuasive," as "an habitual adoration of the Supreme Being." "The devout man," says he, "does not only believe, but feels there is a Deity: - he has actual sensations of him. His experience concurs with his reason. He sees him more and more in all his intercourses with him, and, even in this life, almost loses his faith in conviction."1

Who will deny, that he, to whom such feelings as these have become habitual, begins, even on this earth, to taste the happiness of heaven? Who does not see, that our highest relishes for what is sublime, or vast, or beautiful, are here infinitely provided for; and that even our more common feelings of this nature must be inexpressibly heightened, in proportion as our minds thus rise into a serene and cloudless region;

1 Spec., No. 465.

and come, at length, as it were, within the growing dawn of an immortal day?

And, let me add, who is he that reads the Holy Scriptures with that piety, that philosophy, that taste, which their yet unfathomed excellencies indispensably require, and does not perceive, that this height of virtuous happiness, is that, to which those sacred oracles invite us, and are divinely fitted to raise us? that this, in a word, is what the Gospel sets before us as true Christianity; promising us, if we cordially implore it, that an omnipotent influence shall make our endeavours successful; and exemplifying the effects of that influence, on men of like passions with ourselves, so as to make our confidence as strong, as our instruction is perfect. Still, it is far from my purpose, in any thing I have said, to dispute the real value of natural good qualities, whether in the instance of manners, or of taste. Doubtless, what we derive from our birth, never can be a substitute for that, which is to be wrought in us only by the regenerating grace of Christ. But it no more follows, that such qualities are of no avail in the evangelic economy, than that gold and silver sink to the level of brass, in consequence of their being all cast in the same mould, and receiving the same royal impress. We may rather believe, that the final cause of those natural excellencies is, their aptitude to do proportionately high honour, to the operation of divine grace. Therefore, the more of native worth we discover in any person, the greater motive have we to wish, that true life might animate so fair a form; that the main spring might be added, to a machine so admirably constructed.

The scintillations of devotion, which, in higher minds, and especially in the morning of life, spring

up like a natural instinct, have, in a religious point of view, a still more interesting aspect. They obviously are not true piety, but they are intended to lead to it, by affording prelibations, however slight and transient, of its exquisite sweetness. They bear something of the same relation to the divine religion of the heart, that the bright colourings of an eastern cloud bear, to the actual beams of the yet unrisen luminary. They are the dim reflection of a far more glorious light; to whose approach they seem meant to engage our attention, and for whose appearance they invite us to prepare. Infinitely happy is that mind, that yields to these calls of Heaven. In themselves, they are, for the most part, but transient glimpses; and, if merely enjoyed for the moment, as a temporary though transporting pleasure, they will prove illusions, and soon be absorbed in deepening gloom. If, on the other hand, they are followed onward, as the giver of them intends, the wise king has long since told us the invaluable result:-" The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth, more and more, unto the perfect day."

440

THE DOCTRINE RESPECTING BAPTISM HELD BY
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

AMONGST the various subjects which have occupied the thoughts of religious men, in this age of controversy, none has excited more attention than the doctrine of Baptism, as maintained by the Church of England.

It is agreed, on all hands, that, according to our church, baptism is a sacrament of most important significancy; and that, considered as an external ordinance, it is the outward and visible sign of those inward and spiritual blessings, the possession of which ensures everlasting salvation: but the great point of debate has been, in what manner the external ordinance, and the inward blessing, are connected with each other.

Many have contended, that the ordinance and the blessing are not necessarily, nor even ordinarily, concurrent; and that, when they are concurrent, it is not in consequence of any divine virtue, attached to the external sacrament; but because its administration has been accompanied with a special exercise of faith and devotion.

Others have maintained, that the outward ordinance and the internal blessing are so far from being separable, that, in point of fact, they are the same thing; or, as it is usually expressed, that baptism is regeneration.

It may not be useless to enquire, whether the true doctrine of the Church of England, when attentively examined, will be found to accord with either of these theories; and whether it may not be clearly shown to be materially and practically different, from both the one, and the other.

I begin with considering the latter theory; because, if it be erroneous, the error implies simple mistake, rather than predilection for some contrary notion. They who maintain that baptism is regeneration, are not actuated by zeal for any consequent doctrine. They may, therefore, be regarded, rather as wishing to ascertain what the doctrine of the Church of England is, than to bend that doctrine to their own special purpose. Consequently, it may be hoped, that, if those theorists be proved in error, they will at least feel no displeasure at the attempt to disabuse them.

It must, then, be granted, in the first instance, that the language of many ancient writers appears to countenance the assertion, that baptism is regeneration. But it is necessary to enquire, in what sense the term baptism was used, in the early ages of the Church. It will be found that, in those times, the outward rite was contemplated as unlikely to be solicited, except by qualified recipients. The phraseology of the Catholic Church, on this subject, was formed, when Christianity had attractions only for the sincere ; when to assume the Christian profession, was to hazard every thing, from which human nature recoils. In such circumstances, a disposition to receive the supernatural grace, as well as the external sign, was reckoned upon with moral certainty; and therefore, in common language, to be baptized, and to be regenerated, became synonymous expressions.

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