Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 2.djvu/238

28 "we are all the children of through faith in ;" for, he says, as many of you as have been baptized, &c., i.e. whoever of us has been baptized, was thereby incorporated into, and so being made a portion and member of the Son of , partakes of that sonship, and is himself a child of : so that henceforth the  looks upon him, not as what he is in himself, but as in, and a part of, His Well-beloved , and loves him with a portion of that ineffable love with which He loves His. St. Paul speaks then not of duties, (though every privilege involves a duty corresponding,) but of privileges, inestimable, inconceivable, which no thought can reach unto, but which all thought should aim at embracing,—our union with in, wherein we were joined in the Holy Baptism. And so again we may see how the foolishness of, in what men call carnal ordinances, is wiser than man; and how a false spirituality, by disparaging the outward ordinance, loses sight of the immensity of the inward grace; and holding lightly by appointment, as being "legal," does thereby fall back into mere legality. gave adoption and union with Himself in through the Spirit; we, disregarding His ordinance, have found but a Law. Contrast with these cold views the comment of one who prized his Baptism as the source of his spiritual life in, M. Luther. "'To put on ' is two-fold; legal and evangelical. Legal, (Rom. xiii.) 'imitate the example and excellencies of ,' do and suffer what He has done and suffered: so, 1 Peter ii., ' suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps.' But we see in infinite patience, gentleness, and love, and a wonderful moderation in all things. This ornament of  we ought to put on, i.e., imitate these His excellencies. So also we may imitate other Saints. But to put on  evangelically is not a matter of imitation, but of birth and new creation; when, namely, I am clothed with  Himself, i.e., His innocence, justice, wisdom, power, salvation, life, spirit, &c. We are clothed with Adam, clothes of skins, mortal clothes, and a garment of sin. This raiment, i.e., this corrupt and sinful nature, we contracted by our descent from Adam, which St.