without peril begin till the soul wakes to the touch, to the call of Christ, and responds to it. When that happens-however early-the soul can take its place with other quickened spirits, share their work, and unite in their confession. But till the soul is awake, to give it a place in the Church, is to act on a line not justified by Scripture, quite superfluous in view of the preciousness of children to the heart of Christ, and is to give public position to one whose proper place is in "The Church in the House," where it is the delightful charge of family faith and prayer.

Individual repentance and faith are required for all Church acts and fellowship; and therefore the principle, which reserves Church rites for those who can intelligently accept them, seems to me to be the only one in accord with the general principles of the New Testament. To give Church membership to the unconscious, or the unawakened, is to give something whose benefits cannot be appreciated, and whose responsibility cannot be discharged.

Moses legislated for a State, Christ for persons; and to me it seems discordant with the spirit of the New Testament to provide a place for any who have not the fitness to fill it.

The restriction of Baptism to those professing repentance of sin, and faith in the Saviour, is in harmony with every reference to the Rite which occurs in the New Testament

It is a keen test of any theory whether it fits the facts; and it is a keen test of any doctrine

whether it fits the words of Scripture in which it is referred to.

Our principle breaks no precept, but, on the contrary, harmonizes with every precept on the matter.

Confessedly no precept of Infant Baptism is found in Scripture, and no reference to baptized children. Though Paul's later epistles were written more than thirty years, and John's probably nearly sixty years, after Pentecost, we meet with no exhortations to young men or maidens to remember their baptismal vows. There is no precept concerning the admininstering of Baptism to infants, and none concerning the Church's care of the Baptized. The Saviour never prescribes infant baptism, nor is there one syllable of the apostles which alludes to it.

We therefore run counter to no precept by denying baptism to infants. While, on the other hand, we are in the line of every precept when we require Repentance and Faith in those who would observe it. It is significant that there is no text in which Baptism is mentioned which suits a preacher of infant baptism, and there is no text which is unsuitable for a preacher of believers' baptism. All references to Baptism seem references made by those who thought as we do of the matter. We can, for instance, use John's phrase "the Baptism of Repentance," and, like him, can urge men to be baptized, "confessing their sins." The formula of institution, in which the Saviour makes John's rite the permanent ordinance of the Church, is one which makes it the badge of enrolment of Discipleship, and it remains

such with us. We can urge Peter's appeal at Pentecost, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus." As Ananias did in

addressing Saul, we treat it as a symbol of the washing away of sin, the acknowledgment of the need of such cleansing, and a prayer for the removal of the guilt and power of sin.

Paul always treats it as the brave, great act of surrender, carrying the issues which always attend surrender to the Lord. Accepting in this rite a Saviour dying for sin, by moral necessity we die to the sin which thus we own and He expiates. Accepting in it a risen, enthroned Christ, we rise to a higher life under a sky of hope and faith. Baptism being the act of confessing Christ, in which a soul turns its back on the world and faces persecution, we are not embarrassed by the great influence and result attributed to it. Such influence and result would be incredible if attributed to an act void of the Purpose and Surrender which constitute Receptivity. They are intelligible and credible when attributed to an act full of moral purpose and consecration. Even when St. Paul calls baptism the washing of regeneration, he is only attributing a great moral result to a great act of surrender, and speaking in the spirit of Christ's word, "To as many as received Him, He gave power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on His name."

When Peter describes baptism as "the answer of a good conscience to God," he uses a word which exactly describes what it is with us. So, we traverse no teaching of sacred Scripture on this rite, and are not embarrassed by its language.

Whereas, none of these words can be used of infant baptism without violence. We must, if we baptize infants, omit all demand of repentance and faith; and we cannot attribute great moral and spiritual results to a rite received unconsciously, without clashing with the doctrine taught throughout the New Testament, that Grace enters the soul by Faith and Surrender only. We feel we are in this matter true to Scripture, because our practice harmonizes both with its spirit and its letter. The words of sacred Scripture fit our thoughts. So, both harmonize with its essential doctrine of Salvation by Faith.

Our Doctrine has this further commendation, that it would restore to the Church of Christ a Rite which the Saviour ordained, but which she has lost

The Saviour ordained two sacraments-Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The latter is a joint rite, in which, unitedly, Believers commemorate the death of Christ; the former an individual rite, in which each simply confesses his submission to the Lord. The joint rite was for continuous use; the individual rite, to be used once only at the outset of Christian life.

No one can read the story of Pentecost, or, for that matter, the story of Foreign Missions to-day, without feeling the value of the rite of Baptism as a conversion rite. It calls for decision-is admirably suited for a rite of confession. It owns the pollution of sin, it asks for cleansing, it expresses the entrustment of the soul into the hands of the

Triune God. The contrite are emboldened by it to draw nigh to Him who asks only the confession of our sins to bestow His pardon. The hesitant are helped to decision. The supreme gifts of Christ are made prominent before the soul, so that it is helped to come in the right mood, and with pure and high expectations. Though it be an outward act, the inward purpose finds strengthening, completion, and fixing in it. It is husk, and not kernel, but the husk protects the kernel. The service this rite rendered to converts at Pentecost, and renders to-day to converts on the mission field, is a valuable and much-needed service. But it is lost to the larger part of Christendom by the rite being administered to babes, who have no need of it, and who can derive no benefit from it, though, doubtless, the prayers parents offer for their children, with or without this rite, are heard on high.

No part of the Church's equipment can be spared, and no part of the equipment the Saviour prescribed can be with advantage replaced by any ordinance of man. Confirmation is a rite unknown to Scripture, not prescribed by the Saviour, and it very poorly and faintly serves the purpose of the prescribed rite of discipleship-Baptism.

It is a high function for any community to have allotted to it-to restore a Rite full of gracious uses to the Church which had lost it. That function falls to the Baptists to-day, and is a reason why I cleave thankfully to them.

I am further strengthened in my adhesion to Baptist principles by observing that