are strongly opposed to the negative inferences only in favour of remission of sin by water baptism.

The declaration that blood alone cleanses from sin, divines readily accept; but then, say they, our Lord appointed certain rites as channels of grace. Protestant churchmen affirm that Christ appointed two Sacraments to be administered by authorized hands, through which a changed nature is communicated and sustained; and that the old nature in Adam cannot be buried, and the new nature in Christ built up, except through the appointed channels.

No doubt water baptism and the Eucharist are appointed mediums of visible communion with Christ in His outer kingdom; and they do become, by faith, sensible expressions of true union in the inner kingdom. The two Sacraments are symbols of realities, and they become expressions of the realities in proportion as faith accompanies their reception; but a great mistake is made when they are presented as the realities.

Though advocated by divines as channels of grace, yet it is perceived that Christ exerts an influence outside the limits of the sacramental system. Archdeacon Wilberforce writes, "The actings of the Eternal Word are as wide as the spirits which He has created. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And this is the secret of that gracious influence by which those who are strangers to the Church" (that is, the Ecclesiastical Church,) "are not wholly unvisited; this seed sprung up in the heart of many a Gentile; it is present even now in those in whom invincible ignorance detains without the Church's pale, who yearn after her blessings, but do not possess them. Such men show the work of the Law written in their hearts."*

To pass over the invincible ignorance of those "who are detained" outside the Clergy Church, we express our complete concurrence in the otherwise truly Christian and comprehensive sentiment the clause embodies. The actings of the Eternal

* The Doctrine of Holy Baptism. Wilberforce, p. 133.

Word are not limited within the narrow limits of a formulary; the Archdeacon's acute mind has embraced this truth as a natural truth, he has not perceived that the Scriptures declare it.

Side by side with this Christian sentiment we will place that of a nonconformist divine, which has some affinity. "There is a covenant in which they" (infants) "are included, and which will save as many of them as are included in it-the covenant of redemption between the Father and the Son, in which He engaged to lay down His life as a ransom for His chosen, whether infants or adults. Though infants are not saved by faith, they can join in the song of the Lamb' in heaven, 'Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.'"*

Both these writers have a glimpse of the truth, but both have obscured visions: the one, or High Churchman, by faith in the sacramental system; the other, or Anabaptist, by a one-sided view of the Gospel. They both misapprehend the Gospel. One teaches that regeneration is a result of water baptism; the other, that Christ died as a ransom for His chosen. The Gospel is opposed to both. Both limit the efficacy of the Atonement. Christ died as a ransom not only for baptised, or for His chosen, but He died 66 as a ransom for all." High Churchmen and Anabaptists, however, do not alone furnish divines who teach falsely; every sect with which I am acquainted furnish them; some approach nearer the truth than others, but all, as it appears to me, encourage some error.

Though sins are remitted here by the one baptism of the Spirit, which, as we shall show presently, only baptises into Christ, and which alone cleanses immediately, so that the spiritually baptised sin not, and there is therefore no condemnation to them, yet sins are remitted ultimately to all the human race by the atoning blood of Christ. The Gospel is, Christ "will have all men to be saved;" "to make an end of sin;" to "destroy the works of the devil;" Carson on Baptism, p. 216.

and even "destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Christ "gave Himself a ransom for all," to "put off the whole body of sin."

The efficacy of the Atonement is limited by the ecclesiastical sacramental system. In no part of the New Testament can it be discovered that the Atonement is circumscribed and limited to the narrow circle of such system. Christ's blood is nowhere declared to be shed for a few, but repeatedly declared to be shed for all. It was shed for all, that all may be ultimately cleansed. All have an interest in the Atonement. "As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so, by the righteousness of One, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Just as universally all were condemned, so universally all are justified. It is contended that a denial of ritual baptismal regeneration is incompatible with a belief in the doctrine of our Lord's mediation.* Just is the reverse of this. A belief in the doctrine of our Lord's mediation in all its fulness, overturns the theory of ritual regeneration: Christ died for all men, is the Scripture declaration; Christ died for the baptised, is the sacramental declaration.

Christ died for all men, no doubt, say Churchmen; but this means that He died for all who will come unto Him through faith, and be cleansed from their sins in the laver of purification, the appointed rite of baptism. "Baptism is the appointed means wherein the second Adam communicates His renewed nature to His brethren." This is the sacramental, but not a Gospel, doctrine. Ritual baptism is not the appointed means whereby men have a renewed nature in Christ. This we shall enforce presently. The renewed nature is the converted nature into the image of God's dear Son; this nature is alone cleansed here, and ritual baptism is not concerned with this cleansing. All shall be cleansed hereafter. The sacramental doctrine cleanses only the ritually baptised.

*Wilberforce on Holy Baptism, p. 125.

The doctrine of universal redemption is enforced in many parts of Scripture. True, there are many apparently contradictory passages; with these we will not now deal. Our object at present is to show that Christ died for the sins of all, that all may be ultimately cleansed; and if this be so, then it follows that ritual baptism was not appointed to cleanse from original or past committed sins. We have shown that an especial baptism of the Spirit is needed to cleanse our nature here, and that all not thus baptised are under the influence of the law of sin; ritual baptism has not removed it. If the sins of all are ultimately cleansed, whether ritually baptised or not, it follows that ritual baptism was not instituted for the purpose of washing away sin; for if some only have their sins remitted here, and that without reference to water baptism, and all have them remitted hereafter, ritual baptism has nothing to do in the matter.

Of some of the passages in Scripture, which teach universal redemption in Christ, are the following:

St. Paul to the Ephesians begins his epistle by the particular, or elected redemption; "Those chosen before the foundation of the world, who should be holy and without blame before God in love," who "have redemption through Christ's blood, and the forgiveness of sins;" but revealed farther is the mystery of God's will, “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, God might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth." All things are to be gathered together in Christ in the dispensation of the fulness of times. The Gentiles, we learn in the third chapter, are "fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ by the Gospel." This is "the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God." Universal redemption in Christ in the fulness of time, particular redemption, "the predestinated according to God's purpose, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, that they should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ." Herein have we

the declarations of present and future redemption. We do not wish now to enlarge upon the subject, we will only enforce the doctrine of universal redemption by quoting some passages of Scripture.

We have seen the prediction of Daniel, with reference to the coming of the Messiah "to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.". In conformity with this, John the Baptist prophetically declares, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John i. 29).

Our Lord says,-" And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John xii. 32).

Again, our Lord declares,-"God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John iii. 17).

Conformably with these declarations, Paul writes-" For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Tim. ii. 3—6).

To the Romans Paul writes,-"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Rom. v. 18).

To the Hebrews Paul writes,-"We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man ” (Heb. ii. 9).

To the Corinthians,-" For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again " (2 Cor. v. 14, 15).