"Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my "statutes and keep my judgments and do them."1 As the coming of Christ the Judge had been just before mentioned, it is most obvious to understand the words to denote him. True Christians are "born of God," "born of the Spirit," "born of "Christ." Thus, according to the language of the Psalmist, "a seed shall serve him; it shall be "counted to the Lord for a generation:" of the prophet Isaiah, "He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord "shall prosper in his hands :" and those of the same prophet, as quoted by the apostle, "Behold I, and the children which God hath given me."2 But would St. John have maintained the proposition in the negative form also? Would he have affirmed, in the same decided manner, that “ that" every 66 66 one who doeth not righteousness is not born of "him" This question is most important in the present argument concerning baptismal regeneration for, if the apostle would maintain the negative proposition, that all who do not righteousness are not born of God, this would decide the controversy, even by the concession of our opponents, as to all those baptized persons who are not doers of righteousness; and, alas! how many they are! The next quotation from this apostle may assist us in determining how he would have answered this question. "Whosoever is born of God doth "not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him, "and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 'Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. See also xi. 19. 20. "In this the children of God are manifest, and "the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God."1 "To do righte"ousness" denotes a man's habitual conduct, not a single detached action: "Not to do righteousness," and not to commit sin, (auapriav & molni,) must be understood in the same manner, of a man's general tenour of life. If " then whoso"ever is born of God doth not commit sin;" if " he cannot sin, because he is born of God;" what becomes of the sentiment, that by far the greater number of regenerated persons, regenerated in baptism, live worldly and unholy lives; and yet need not, nay are not capable of any other regeneration? And how can "the children of God and "the children of the devil" be known from each other, by the apostolic test, according to this doctrine?"The seed," which "remaineth in those "who are born of God," doubtless means the incorruptible seed of the word of God, spoken of by Peter: that "truth" of which St. John saith, "It "dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever." -Again, the same apostle thus exhorts his fellow Christians: "Beloved, let us love one another : "for love is of God; and every one that loveth is "born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth "not knoweth not God."3 How prominent, in St. John's mind, was the idea of all Christians having been "born of God!" He introduces it in every thing peculiar to genuine Christianity, yet, except as recording facts, he never expressly mentions baptism. "Every one that loveth," with that love 1 1 John iii. 9, 10. 22 John 2. -3 1 John iv. 7.8. "2 which is "the fruit of the Spirit," " is born of God," even if unbaptized; but is it also true negatively, that every one that loveth not is not born of God?-His words in the foregoing chapter may resolve this question. "We know that we "have passed from death unto life, because we love "the brethren: he that loveth not abideth in "death." This accords to the doctrine of St. Paul: "In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth "any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith that "worketh by love."2 Surely they who " abide in "death," and "neither love nor know God," are not born again in that sense which the apostle annexes to this expression! Again, he says, "Who"soever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born "of God: and every one that loveth him that "begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.”3 If then every true believer in Christ "hath been "born of God;" and if none, as adults, receive baptism aright, but those who sincerely profess repentance and faith; then all who ever received baptism aright, as adults, had been previously "born of God."4 "He that believeth and is bap"tized shall be saved." "What doth hinder me "to be baptized?" says the Ethiopian treasurer. "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou "mayest. He answered and said, I believe that "Jesus Christ is the Son of God;-and Philip baptized him."5 According to the testimony of ' 1 John iii. 14. 2 Gal. v. 6. See also 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3. Exhort. in Office of adult baptism. Catechism. Art. xxvii. St. John, regeneration, in this Ethiopian, preceded baptism, as it must do in all who rightly receive adult baptism. How then can baptism be regeneration, or inseparably connected with it? Again, Faith in Christ was the evidence that men were " born of God," and so rendered them the special objects of love to all their fellow Christians who, loving God, cannot but love his children. The apostle doubtless considered that faith, of which he spake, as productive of holy obedience, according to his other testimonies concerning those who have been born of God: but lest any should misunderstand him, he subjoins, "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the "world and this is the victory that overcometh "the world, even our faith. Who is he that over"cometh the world, but he that believeth that "Jesus is the Son of God?"-Some manuscripts read "Whosoever is born of God:" but the reading preferred by our venerable translators is, perhaps, more directly conclusive on the subject. It implies that there is a "new heart," or nature, in true believers, distinct from that depraved nature, the remains of which still dwell in them :2 and that this new nature, wherever it exists, "over"cometh the world," with all its allurements and terrors. These in one form or other overcome all those who are not " born of God :" but "what"soever is born of God overcometh the world; "and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." All then who are born of God have faith, and all who have this true and 66 2 Rom. vii. 17, 20, 23. Art. ix. latter part. victorious faith are "born of God;" and nothing in any man, baptized or unbaptized, is "born of "God" except that which, by faith, overcometh the world. But do all who are baptized thus by faith overcome the world? Do they all, according to the preceding verses, "love the children of God." Do they "love God, and keep his command"ments?" If they do not: then being "born of "God" indisputably denotes something distinct from outward baptism, or any thing uniformly accompanying it; yea, something of a far more discriminating nature: so that all who are "born of God" may be known by their holy characters; -the grafted tree by its fruits, and regeneration by its visible effects. If the apostle refers to baptism in the next verse, "This is he that cometh by water and blood; not by water only but by water and blood;"2 he must be supposed to refer to the Lord's supper also: but evidently the blessing in the Lord's supper is, both by the scripture and by our church, restricted to the right receiving of it, not merely the right administration of it: 3 and to explain either of the sacraments in another way, is to go back to what we hoped had been among Protestants the exploded doctrine of the opus operatum. The apostle again introduces the same subject, and says, "We know that whosoever is born of "God sinneth not: but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth "him not." 4 He had mentioned a "sin unto |