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8 supported by the inestimable privilege of having been made children, before they themselves knew good or evil; who have on the whole been uniformly kept within  fold, and are now thanking their heavenly Father for having placed them thus early in this state of salvation, into which, had it been left to their frail choice, they had never entered; who rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, that they were placed in the Ark of  Church, and not first called, of themselves to take refuge in it out of the ruins of a lost world.

All this, people will in the abstract readily acknowledge; they will confess that Scripture is the only ultimate authority in matters of Faith, while still they will probably find on examination that some of these grounds have occasioned them to hold Baptismal Regeneration to be an unscriptural doctrine; and if they examined Scripture at all, yet still the supposed effects of this, and of a contrary doctrine, the supposed character of those who hold it, or the reverse, were in fact their rule for interpreting Scripture; or perhaps wearied with the controversy (which is and must be in itself an evil) they came to the conclusion that, if we but hold the necessity of Regeneration, it matters not when we suppose it to take place,—thus assuming, in fact, the unscripturalness of the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, since if has connected Regeneration with Baptism, it must be of importance.

This is very natural; for men must lean upon something. Our Reformers, in their interpretation of Scripture, besides the divine means of prayer, leant on the consent and agreement of the "old holy Catholic Doctors," who had received their