with impunity; and those who watch for souls in the visible church are accountable to the Lord for every church member, young or old." The true doctrine is this: Membership may be transferred from one particular church to another, by proper dismission and testimonials; but membership in the visible catholic church can be terminated only in two ways, viz. by the dispensation of death, and by the sentence of excommunication. In no other way can the connexion between the visible church and her members be dissolved. The fact is; the church is related to the member, as well as the member to the church. The relation is reciprocal, involving mutual obligations, or it is good for nothing..

If baptized persons are members of the church, (and no one can deny this,) the church must treat them as such. Her parental care, and tenderness, and discipline, must be exercised over them: She must instruct them; she must watch over them; and, when it becomes necessary, she must call them to account: And if they prove refractory and impenitent,-if they will not be reformed, by her admonitions, her prayers, and her tears, she must cut them off; and in the name, and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, take from them the privilege of church membership, which they have so greatly abused; and with them, the privilege of their children to membership in the church of God.

Neither is it necessary, that the church, in the exercise of this discipline, should wait until the bap* Dr. M'Leod's Eccles. Cat. p. 82.

tized person becomes a parent, and makes applica tion for the baptism of a child. If the baptized person should never have occasion to apply for the baptism of a child, is he, therefore, to be treated as an outcast, or a heathen? Has the church nothing to do with him? Is he not one of her members ? born within her pale, and recognized as one of her members, by the solemnity of the baptismal service ?"

To me, it is most evident, that all who have been baptized are, from childhood up, to be treated as members of the church; and that the church has a right, and that it is her duty, to exercise discipline on such as have been baptized, as well as on such as have made a public profession of religion, is no more a question with me; than it is, that the church has a right, and that it is her duty, to instruct them.

What! shall a baptized person, a sealed member of the church, advance and propagate the most erroneous and destructive sentiments? Shall he be guilty of a practice, which openly and wantonly violates the laws of God's house; and shall the church be denied the power to call him to account, and to inflict discipline upon him? No, brethren; it cannot be: Reason, common sense, scripture, con science every thing serious, and every thing sacred -testify, that it cannot be.

It is certainly high time that these principles are understood. No child can be baptized, unless it be, by birth, a member of the church.-No child can, by birth, be a member of the church, unless, at least.

one of the parents be a member. In baptism, then, the standing of both parents and children, as members of God's visible church, is recognized. This fact, we think, we have clearly established, in our remarks on the Abrahamic covenant.* And if both parents and children are members, the church has an unquestionable right to exercise discipline on both, whenever it shall become proper, and necessary to do so: For it is absurd in the extreme, to talk of a society, which has not power to control its own members.

I am well aware, that this doctrine, which I have advanced in relation to the exercise of discipline on baptized persons, and especially as it respects the formal excommunication of such, may appear a novelty to the serious, and perhaps call forth the sneers and taunts of the ungodly and the profane.

To the first, I would say, this doctrine appears like a novelty, only, because church discipline has fallen into an awful state of decay; and in no particular does the church appear to have been more wanting, in the exercise of her power, than in this. Even in churches, in which the sacrament of baptism is most closely guarded, and in which no children are baptized, unless one of the parents be a communicant, this branch of discipline is greatly neglected. Indeed, that very practice seems to say to all who are not in full communion with the church, 'you are not members of the church,' and therefore we cannot baptize your children.

*See Letter iv.

In this neglect, have originated many of the evils which spread through our churches, as well as the diversity of practice in relation to baptism: And here, if we are to see better days in the American churches, it appears to me, reformation must begin. The young are the hopes of the church, as well as of the state; and to the young the care and attention of the church must be directed. They must have an interest in her prayers: They must receive the law at her mouth: They must be taught to reverence her authority; and early to understand, that apostacy, on their part, will compel the church of God to disown them, and rank them with those, "concerning whom she has no promises to plead." Oh! who can tell how many wanderers from the path of truth and duty might be reclaimed by the affectionate counsel, and prudent interposition of the church? How many, just entering on the downward course, might be induced to stop; and how many already far advanced, might be induced to retrace their steps; nothing, but a faithful experiment, can enable us to judge. Let the church discharge her duty; and her Master will not leave himself without a witness: He will own and bless the ordinances of his house. Faithfulness on her part will, no doubt, secure to her, by the blessing of her God, a holy seed; and make her glad, in the fulfilment of the promise, "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth."*

*Ps. xlv. 16.

But this doctrine is not so great a novelty as you may, perhaps, imagine. The Christian church, in her purest and best days, has always attended to the instruction and correction of her baptized members. The children, born within her pale, and baptized as her property, were nurtured at her side, and chastened by her authority. In proof of this assertion, I might refer you to an excellent REPORT on the subject of disciplining baptized children, made to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, at their Sessions in 1812.* But as many of you may never have it in your power to see that report, I will favour "This, (says Cave,) was the discipline, under which Christians were brought up in those times. Religion was instilled in them betimes, which grew up and mixed itself with their ordinary labours and recreations.” (Primitive Christianity, p. 173, 174, 7th ed. Lond.) As an instance of this, he quotes Jerome, as saying of the place where he lived, "you could not go inte the field, but you might hear the ploughman at his hallelujahs, the mower at his hymns, and the vinedresser singing David's Psalms."t

you

with a few extracts from it.

"The censures of the church, (Bingham informs

*This REPORT, while it exhibits the views and practice of the primitive church in relation to baptized members, gives us also to understand that some of our Presbyterian brethren (I hope many,) feel anxious to have this branch of discipline extensively introduced, and faithfully enforced. We regret, that the General Assembly did not unhesitatingly express a favourable opinion of the principles it contains.

† Page 16.