verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus saith unto him, 'How can a man be born when he is old, can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?' Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto

thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,' that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born

FIFTHLY.

He held that all true believers in Christ would be kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, and will certainly persevere unto the end.

But still we must not draw back, but strive to make our election sure.

Whoever will analyse these two statements of the opinion of the same man, will see how little occasion there was to issue an inundation of controversy about mere words and terms, which could answer no purpose but that of confusion. In the five statements above made, in what does the Doctrine differ from that which is avowed by the Church of England? To shew there is no difference as to the first statement, I will only quote a few expressions in our Collects.

"

Second Sunday in Lent. Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves," &c.

Easter Day. "We humbly beseech thee that, as, by thy special grace preventing us, thou dost put into our minds good desires," &c.

Fifth after Easter. "O Lord, from whom all good

of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, 'ye must be born again.' The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst

things do come, grant to us, thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same through our Lord Jesus Christ."

First after Trinity. "O God, the strength of all them, who put their trust in thee, mercifully accept our prayers, because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the help of thy grace," &c.

Ninth after Trinity. "Grant to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit, to think and do always such things as be rightful, that we, who cannot do any good thing without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Nineteenth after Trinity. "O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Many more similar expressions might be added, but our tenth Article expressly declares, that we are not able to do good works acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.

not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit."" I will give a paraphrase of the above verses, according to the meaning which was attached to them in the earliest times of the establishment of Christianity, and is now attached to

The second statement may be answered in the same manner as the first.

The statement is made from our Saviour's words, in the sixth chapter of St. John, "No man can come unto me, unless the Father, which hath sent me, draw him" but Christ afterwards adds, "Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned, of the Father, cometh unto me." This shews, that by the word "draw," compulsion is not meant. The humble may hope, by their prayers, that God will draw them more and more to right faith and right conduct. The hardened, whilst he remains hardened and prays not for spiritual grace, God certainly will not draw.

The third statement requires no other observation than has been already made on the second.

The fourth and fifth statements will plainly appear unnecessary, as the eleventh and twelfth of our Articles assert the very same doctrine.

As Regeneration, or the New Birth, is not noticed in the above statements, I will now enter on that subject, and prove the objections of the seceders to be equally vain, trifling, and unnecessary.

them by the Articles and Liturgy of the Church of England. A man is naturally born unreconciled to God, and subject to the Divine wrath, without hope of pardon, in consequence of the corrupt nature which he brings with him into the world, and the pollution of that original sin which he inherits from Adam; consequently, it is necessary that he should have a new birth; that is, a spiritual birth, or he cannot see the kingdom of God; that is, he can have no right com prehension of the spiritual nature of the kingdom of God, which cannot be discerned by man in his first carnal state, till he has been spiritualized by Baptism. In reply to Nicodemus's question, “How can a man be born when he is old ?" &c. Jesus then more strongly and emphatically, and with a repetition of the solemn asseveration, "Verily, verily," replies, "except a man be baptized with water, and the Holy Spirit gives that power to the water inwardly to purify the