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that they may not forfeit them by deadly sin, or, if they do, that they may again recover them. these two points consists the peculiarity of her system of religious instruction. As soon as they are able to learn," they are taught the blessings they received by baptism, "wherein they were made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven," as well as the obligations they then contracted, "to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner

temere affirmatur. Nam hæc certa sunt, recipi infantes a Deo per hoc ministerium, dari item semper cum remissione peccati Spiritum Sanctum, et neminem placere Deo, nisi sanctificatum a Spiritu Sancto: sicut clare inquit Christus, 'Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu, non intrabit in regnum cœlorum.' Item, 1 Corinth. xv. 'Caro et sanguis,' videlicet sine Spiritu Sancto, non possunt regnum Dei possidere.' Et Rom. viii. ‘Qui Spiritu Dei aguntur, hi sunt filii Dei.' Cum ergo certum sit, hos infantes esse partem ecclesiæ, et placere Deo, certum et hoc est, Deum in eis efficacem esse, quia vitam æternam oportet in hac vita incoari.

"Hæc de baptismo pie et diligenter consideremus omnes, ut nos etiam grandiores pacto et fœdere illo nos consolemur, ut supra dixi. Maxime vero adolescentes caveant, ne donum baptismi effundant, neve illam ingentem gloriam amittant, quam prædicat Christus de infantibus in ecclesia: 'Non est voluntas Patris, ut pereat unus de parvulis istis.' Quæ potest major gloria cogitari quam quod affirmat, hos certo placere Deo, et ei curæ esse ? Et parentes hac fide de baptismo invocent Deum pro infantibus, et eos Deo commendent, ac statim cum doceri possunt, assuefaciant eos, ut ipsi invocent Deum et Filium ejus, et paulatim eis tradunt summam Evangelii. Denique cum pueri sint magna pars ecclesiæ, sicut parentes et præceptores sibi non exiguum thesaurum commendatum esse. Quare præstent fidem et diligentiam in docenda et regenda juventute."-MELANCTH. Opera, tom. i. pp. 237-8.

against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto their lives' end." And their admission into this state of salvation, no less than their continuance in it, they are taught by her instructions and prayers to ascribe to the free and sovereign mercy of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who called them to the enjoyment of its privileges, when they were children of sin and wrath, for the exclusive merits of his only Son, their Redeemer, and by the grace of the Holy Ghost, their sanctifier. The nature of her instructions is embodied in the answer she teaches them to make to the following question of the Catechism, "Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe and do as they," i.e. thy godfathers and godmothers," have promised for thee?" Ans. "Yes verily, and by God's help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end." Her prayers for them are, "that they may ever remain in the number of God's faithful and elect children;" or, as she expresses herself more fully, "Give thy Holy Spirit to these infants, that they, being born again and being made heirs of everlasting salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, may continue thy servants, and obtain thy promise.

It appears, then, from these instructions and prayers, as well as from her express assertions in

с

the article" on sin after baptism," that after having received the Holy Ghost, they may "depart from grace given, and fall into sin." And such, it is to be feared, is the condition of the great majority of Christians. But notwithstanding that they have forfeited the blessings of baptism by deadly sin,* and have fallen into a state of greater condemnation than those who have never been baptised, their restoration, though difficult, is not impracticable, and their guilt, though great, is not irremissible. Baptism is still a pledge to each of them that those blessings will be restored on his repentance; for the Almighty, in baptism, makes special his general promises of mercy and forgiveness to penitents.†

* "Rursus peccatum regnans seu mortale est, cum is, qui fuerat renatus, assentitur errori in fundamento, aut labitur contra conscientiam. Tunc enim amittit gratiam, Spiritum Sanctum, et fidem, sicut Adam et Eva, Aaron assentiens facientibus idolum, David rapiens alterius conjugem, contristant et excutiunt Spiritum Sanctum propter talia delicta, at rursus fiunt rei æterne pœnæ. Posse enim sic labi renatos perspicuum est ex cap. Matt. xii. et 2 Petri ii. Aliqui vero redeunt ad pœnitentiam et salvi fiunt. Multi non redeunt ad pœnitentiam, et pereunt, ut postea dicemus."-MELANCTH. Oper. tom. i. p. 310.

"Our office is, not to pass the time of this present life unfruitfully and idly, after that we are baptised or justified, not caring how few good works we do to the glory of God and profit of our neighbours ; much less is our office, after that we be once made Christ's members, to live contrary to the same, making ourselves members of the devil, walking after his enticements, and after the suggestions of the world and the flesh, whereby we know that we do serve the world and the devil, and not God."-Third part of the Sermon of Salvation of Mankind.

+"Hinc baptismus semper subsistit, et quanquam aliquis ab eo

"Wherefore the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after baptism;" and they are to be condemned "which deny the place of forgiveness to such as repent." The notion of the Church of Rome,-that persons in this state cannot be restored to their former condition by virtue of the promises which God made to them in their baptism, and that they must, therefore, have recourse to the sacrament of penance, is repudiated by the Church of England in her Book of Homilies, in her Commination-service, and in her private, no less than in her public, forms of absolution. In the first Book of Homilies, published in A.D. 1547, we meet with the following passage, in which traces of the same hand are perceptible that drew up the first

peccatorum procellis abreptus excidat, nobis tamen subinde ad eum regressus patet, et veterem hominem resipiscentiæ jugo iterum subjiciamus. Verum, ut iterum aqua perfundamur, non est operæ precium, nam et si centies in aquam mergeremur, non tamen nisi unus baptismus est. Cæterum opus et significatio durat et permanet. Ita resipiscentia aut pœnitentia nihil aliud est, quam regressus quidam et reditus ad baptismum, ut illud iterum petatur et exerceatur, quod ante inceptum est, et tamen intermissum negligentia.

"Hæc ideo a me dicta sunt, ne in eam opinionem descendamus, in qua per multos jam annos fuimus, opinati baptismum jam completum esse, ut eo amplius uti nequeamus, posteaquam iterum in peccata prolapsi sumus."-LUTHER. Oper. Vit. 1554, tom. v. p. 639.

"Ita baptismus intuendus est, et nobis fructuosus faciendus, ut hoc freti corroboremur et confirmemur, quoties peccatis aut conscientia gravamur, ut dicamus, Ego tamen baptizatus sum, quodsi baptizatus, certum est ea promissa mihi data esse me beatum fore, ac vitam immortalem et anima et corpore possessurum."—Id. p. 638.

part of the Church Catechism: "Insomuch that infants, being baptised and dying in their infancy, are by this sacrifice washed from their sins, brought to God's favour, and made his children, and inheritors of his kingdom of heaven. And they, which in act or deed do sin after their baptism, when they turn again to God unfeignedly, they are likewise washed by this sacrifice from their sins, in such sort that there remaineth not any spot of sin that shall be imputed to their damnation."*

Language to the same effect abounds in the Commination-service, which was published two years afterwards in the First Service-Book of Edward VI., having been framed with the express intent of moving "to earnest and true repentance" such as had fallen into notorious sin after baptism. Take the following extract as a specimen of the mode of address there used. "Although we have sinned, yet have we an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins. For he was wounded for our offences, and smitten for our wickedness. Let us therefore return unto him, who is the merciful receiver of all true penitent sinners; assuring ourselves that he is ready to receive us, and most willing to pardon us, if we come unto him with faithful repentance; if we submit ourselves unto him, and from henceforth walk in his ways; if we will take his easy yoke and

* Sermon of the Salvation of Mankind.