Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 2.djvu/240

30 also shall we be clothed with, the clothing of imitating Him."

And so Chrysostom, "And now he shows that they are sons not of Abraham only, but of also; 'for ye are all sons of  through faith which is in '—through faith, not through the law. And then, since this is a great and wonderful thing, he names also the mode of their adoption, ' for as many of you as have been baptized into , have put on .' And why saith he not, 'for as many as have been baptized into  have been born of ?' for so had he proved more directly that they were sons. He saith this in a way much more awefully great. For since  is the Son of , and thou hast put Him on, having the Son in thyself, and being transformed into His likeness, thou hast been brought into one kindred and one species with Him."

I will add two passages only to show how the early Church found in this doctrine an incitement to holiness and virtue. "Let us not continue," says St. Chrysostom to the candidate for Baptism, "to gape after the things of this life, the luxury of the table, or the splendour of dress; for thou hast a most glorious garment: thou hast a spiritual table; thou hast the glory which is on high; and becometh every thing to thee, table, and garment, and dwelling-place, and head and root; 'for as many as have been baptized into  have put on ;'" and St. Gregory of Nazianzum, in the midst of similar applications of Baptismal privileges, "Is there any sick and full of sores? respect thy own health, and the wounds from which  has freed thee. Seest thou one naked? clothe him, reverencing thy own garment of immortality—and that is, 'for as many as,'" &c.

It might have sufficed, perhaps, to have noticed one passage, in which, through our depreciation of our Blessed ordinance, we have lost the support, the strength, the cheering hope, which He provided for us. For our mode of