cludes a new existence, but on payment of the penalty. Now the portion of life that man possessed was all that the Divine justice could require; the penalty due from all mankind, therefore, would be fully satisfied by Christ's consenting to forego, for a finite time, his knowledge of God; and it being infinite in degree, would satisfy for that which was finite in degree, but infinite in duration and it seems to me, how much soever this is beyond the discovery of unassisted reason, it is in no point inconsistent with reason, and therefore it is to be received with love and gratitude, proportioned to our interest in its advantages, and to the sublimity and awful majesty of the subject. This, which was to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, I solemnly believe is the wisdom of God, to salvation to all that believe.

If the sacrifice of the death of Christ be the one only means whereby our nature is made capable of immortality, what are the conditions on which individuals attain to it? Our Saviour declares they must be born of water and of the spirit. Baptism and regeneration then are indispensable conditions to our entering into the kingdom of heaven; and this highest best gift of God will be seen to be imparted with strict analogy to all His other blessings, when life and death are seen in their due proportion.

In instituting the rite of circumcision, God was pleased to declare it was His will that the faith of the parents should procure a blessing on the children. By declaring," suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven," Christ proclaimed anew the covenant with

infants, and by its instituted sign, baptism, the free gift, comes upon them also to newness of life.

But it may be asked, can it be consistent with the Divine goodness and mercy, to withhold blessings from those by whom the performance of a previous condition is impossible? or in other words, is baptism, in the Divine scheme, a condition of regeneration? I maintain that it is, and think that to this there is no objection, but such as will apply equally to the analogy of nature.

It may, on a superficial view, appear inconsistent with justice, that the vices and follies of parents should impoverish their offspring, and deprive them of those advantages in education and provision it is plainly the duty of parents to afford: yet the fact is so; and why it is so, may be understood from the following considerations.

That which children receive must be transmitted to them through some channel; now if the appointed one, viz. their parents, be less liable to abuse than any other, it may be wisely chosen and this is less liable, because there is more identity of interest. If the parent abuses, much more will the guardian, or trustee, with the same latitude: if that latitude is denied them, the use is sacrificed to the fear of the abuse, which is in itself an abuse. Then it is better on the whole that children should occasionally lose advantages they might justly expect to have received, than to have recourse to any other mode of transmitting them. Then it is best, and therefore consistent with justice and wisdom, that temporal advantages vouchsafed to some should be withheld from others, and that without their own fault.

Apply the same reasoning to spiritual gifts, they

being made dependent on baptism; in the case of infants dying unbaptised, salvation is to them impossible; yet all that was wanting to their obtaining it, depended on the will of another: they are condemned, therefore, for another's fault. Here, I imagine, if the condemnation includes Eternal Misery, (which is true of all, if of any, who fail to attain salvation,) here is an insuperable difficulty attending the christian scheme. But it will be seen to be perfectly analogous to the course of nature, if salvation or eternal life be a gift, superadded to the possessions of mankind, and declared to be imparted on certain conditions only; the conditions not being difficulties raised in the way of its attainment, but means, in their very nature, necessary thereunto, and affording by their practice, facilities, to the attainment of that state to which the blessing is attached. Now of this nature, all the christian instituted rites will be found to be, baptism, prayer, and the Lord's supper; and though it may seem at first a questionable position to say, that baptism, which is impossible to those that die in their infancy, except by the ministration of others, affords a facility, yet I think it will be found that the performance of the rite is wisely made a pre-requisite, and that the requiring of it is not really an obstacle, but a facility to the attainment of the promised blessing.

Now this condition cannot be considered a hardship, except as to those who do not attain to adult age, because it will be admitted that those who do, must stand or fall by their own acts; and as they can be baptised if they wish it, so if they omit it, and are therefore condemned, it will be their own fault, and no difficulty will arise, except to those who question whether

God is the best judge of the condition on which He should grant immortality. But as to infants dying unbaptised, two things seem requisite to justify their condemnation: the one, that that which they are excluded from, they shall have no right to; and the other, that the condition on which their exclusion depends be one in itself intended to fit them for that state, for which the non-performance declares them unfit.

As to the first requisite, I think it may be demon. strated from the Divine attributes, that all who have existence have a right to happiness, except so far as they forfeit that right, by offending against the conditions on which existence is given them.

Now, if the condemnation to which unbaptised infants are liable, be not the loss of existence but of happiness, it seems to me impossible to reconcile that condemnation to the Divine attributes, since they cannot have done any thing to forfeit their right to happiness, as a necessary ingredient to make existence a gift worthy of the Divine goodness; but if the condemnation be the loss of existence, then the equity of it is apparent, since it is only an exercise of the Divine right of determining on what conditions eternal life shall be imparted.

But existence being possessed, the Divine attributes require, not only a right to withdraw it, but that the exercise of that right shall be consistent with infinite wisdom and goodness; and this it will be seen to be if the condition, viz. baptism, in default of which existence is withdrawn, shall be one, that far from being an obstacle to its continuance, is necessary to its permanence.

Now, the natural and appointed means of eternal

life is coming to the knowledge of the true God: and this is not by immediate revelation to every individual, but by education or instruction, conveyed either orally or by books. No one can affirm that the seeds of this wisdom can be implanted too early; and it is consonant to all experience that the minds of the uncultivated are overrun with weeds, prejudicial to the growth of this knowledge. It is consistent, therefore, with the Divine wisdom, to require of parents to initiate their children as early as possible in that course which alone can issue in eternal life but infants are incapable of forming the ideas necessary to their initiation; and as some become capable earlier, and some later, no definite period can be assigned, at which the work can be commenced. How shall its performance be best secured then?-Surely by engaging the wishes of the parent, which is a means to the end, not restrained by the incapacity of the infant, and which is an act of the parent, whereon the child's salvation may be wisely made conditional, because it is naturally a means of contributing to that end, and is in no degree at all an obstacle; since the infant is naturally incapable of eternal life, being unregenerate, and as the child of Adam, mortal. It is an act of goodness, therefore, to impart to it an immortal existence, by regeneration, on any conditions; and all that the Divine attributes require, is that the conditions shall be such as contribute to the growth of that life, to the improving of which they are declared previously necessary. Now the wish existing in the mind of the parents, no better means can be devised to make that permanent, than making them know it to be their duty to act in furtherance of that wish, as far as the

pure