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The subject of the moral status, or rather relations of childhood, is one which has always had a deep interest for the Church. This interest is practical as well as speculative ; for upon the foundation from which we start will depend the character of the super- structure which we will build, and if our foundation be in error our superstructure cannot stand. The eternal well-being of our children depends upon a proper apprehension of their present moral condition, and upon the means which we employ to meet the neces- sities of that condition. A mistake in either direction is dangerous. If with Augustine we apprehend fully the consequences of the fall, but do not equally apprehend the universal provisions of redemption, we are in danger of the indifference of despair. If with Pelagius we apprehend the great fact that every man has within reach the powers necessary for a genuine personal probation, but lose sight of the full extent and rea]ity of the consequences of the fall, we are in equal danger from over-confidence, or of missing the only true way of salvation. '" It' MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. :^ ;i What saith the Scripture ? is the first enquiry of the Protestant Christian ; and, subordinate to this highest standard, he may further ask, What saith the Church ? We shall in this essay endeavour to present the replies furnished by these two authorities. We shall analyze the teaching of Scripture and of the Church creeds by means of four questions which will, we think, cover the entire ground. I. What is the relation of childhood to the fall ? II. What is the relation of childhood to the Atone- ment ? III. How do these two relations mutually limit each other ? IV. How do they form the basis of the child's relation to the Christian Church ? These four questions will enable us to define clearly the moral status from which the child enters upon its probation. I. What is the relation of childhood to the fall ? The Church answers this question by three dogmatic statements which constitute the doctrine of original sin. 1. All men from their birth inherit a sinful nature. 2. They inherit deatii and various sufferings as the penalty of sin. 3. They inherit guilt or desert of God's displeasure as the result of their sinful nature. To the first proposition all assent except the Pelagians. So to the second though there are various interpretations of the term death. The third pro- position is matter of wider difference of opinion. ti^^ilffi'/iil-^ MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 5 of pis Ihe mi This entire doctrine is very clearly summarized in the ninth article of the Church of England as follows : — " Oriorinal sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk,) but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteous- ness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil ; and, therefore, in every person born into this world it deserveth God's wrath and damnation." You will, of course, observe that in our seventh article, the last clause containing the third proposition as above is omitted, leaving this element of the doctrine open for further definition. The scriptural foundation of this doctrine we shall find in two classic passages which, with their contexts and parallel passages, will require very careful exam- ination. The first of these is John iii. 3, 5, 6. " Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except a man be born again (anew), he cannot see the kingdom of God." .... " 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 of the Spirit is spirit." There are three terms here which require definition : the Kingdom of God, the New Birth, and the Flesh. The definition of the first is plainly indicated by Christ when he says, " The kingdom of God is within you ; " and by St. ii 6 Mo|r\|, coNDITroN OK (•I11LJ)H(>()|). 4 Paul wlien he says, " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in tlie Holy Ghost." The kingdom of God is not an external . organization, either in time or in eternity. It is not cither the Churcli, or the heavenly state; but it is an internal moral condition, the condition into wliich the grace of the Gospel introduces every believer. The precise nature of this state is defined in Gal. v. 22, 2.S. " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-sutlering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." We are now able at once to define our second term the New Birth. It is that great change symbolized by the outward washing of v/ater, and wrought by the inward work of the Spirit, whereby man enters into this moral state called the kincfdom of God. This change is wrought by the instrumentality of God's word. 1 Peter i. 28. " Being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptil)le, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." It is con- ditioned on faith. John i. 12, 13. " But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name ; which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 1 John V. 1. " Whosoever belie veth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." And it is a self -evidencing change, v. 10. "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." MORAL CONDITION " For there was sin in the world up to (the time of) law;" a confirmation of the doctrine of the universality of sin which coul> depraved character; nor is it asserted that we are objects of Divine wrath apart from the manifestation of our sinful nature in actual transgression ; nor is it asserted that the sentence of death passes upon us apart from the transmission to us of a sinful nature, (" the sin,") but rather as the result of such trans- mission. But it does appear that the transmission of the sentence of death is independent of the imputation of personal transgression. If we read aright, Paul asserts that universal personal transgression (he is speaking of adults) and universal death, both proceed from the principle of sin (rj afxapna) introduced by Adam. And it certainly can proceed from Adam only through infancy. What is this principle of sin (7 a/iapna) ? This question, Paul has very fully answered in the seventh and eighth of Romans, where he uses the term eleven times, and clearly identifies it with " lust " and with " the JleshJ' and speaks of it as " dwelling in me," in my members " and " in my flesh," and as being a ** law of sin and death.' This is " the sin " which, according to St. Paul, every man, and hence every child, receives as an inheritance from Adam; and this is the moral state in which, according to the teaching of Christ, each one of us is born into the world. " That w^hich is born of the flesh is flesh." But, besides this identification of the principle of evil, and this clear statement of the extent of its powers which we have in the seventh and eighth of Romans, we have also some very important teachings K : 1 1 I 'i- •1 1 t ■1 \ 1 14 MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. regarding the development of this principle in the human conscience, and its process of cure. Sin and death are not unfolded in their powers and relations, either to the physical or the moral nature, all at once. There is a stage in the life of man where he does not yet recogn'^e "the sin that dwelleth in" him, and when he has not yet passed into conscious spiritual death. " I did not know the sin, except through the law." " Apart from the law sin is dead." " I was, at one time, alive without or apart from law." "But when the commandment came, sin rose up into life, and I died." The doctrine of these words seems to be that the existence of this principle of sin within is not manifest, and that its conscious result, death (spiritual) or the separation of the soul from God is not ex- perienced until we arrive at that stage of moral de- velopment, which brings us into conscious contact with the law of God. The child knows not, vas yet, either sin or death. Sin is latent or " dead " in the sense of being inactive. And its fruit, death, is only experi- enced when sin awakes up into life, i.e., breaks forth into actvAil transgression in antagonism to revealed law. This is St. Paul's presentation of what we call the innocency of childhood. Thus the whole practical question involved in our subject is reduced by Paul's statements to this : Are there any provisions of the Gospel by which this waking up of " the sin " into life may be entirely prevented ? by which the root of evil may be destroyed before it has ever put forth MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 15 the and ions, once, not jind buds or blossoms, or borne its deadly fruit of con- scious separation from God ? Certainly, according to this teaching, " the sin " is not, even in the child, a mere nominal or theoretical matter, but a terrible power ready to wake up into life. Before we can answer this question, we must consider the second grand enquiry of our subject. II. What is the relation of Childhood to the Atone- ment ? It might be supposed that this question could be answered apart from all theories or views of the atonement. This is, however, not the case. It is only an Arminian view of the atonement, (which regards the work of Christ as securing certain substantial benefits impartially for all the race alike,) which admits of the discussion of this question. Under any Calvinistic view of the atonement, there is absolutely no difference between the relation of childhood to the atonement and the relation of manhood to the atone- ment. If the child is elect, or the man is elect, the atonement absolutely secures his final salvation ; if not — nothing. On the other hand, Arminianism teaches that Christ died for all men, and that in virtue of that death, certain provisions of salvation are secured for all men, infants included, and are extended to them as their moral develojpment admits. Let us carefully examine what these provisions are, and then we shall see clearly how far they apply to infancy. I do not know that in the entire round of dogmatic theology, you can find a more accurate setting-forth of 16 MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. what Christ has effected for the whole race than is given by Mr. Wesley in the Standard of our own Church. Sermon V. (i. 9.) " By the sacrifice for sin made by the second Adam, as the representative of us all, God is 80 far reconciled to all the world that he hath given them a new covenant ; the plain condition whereof being once fulfilled, there is no more condemnation for us, but we are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." This state- ment is evidently founded upon two passages of Scripture, Rom. v. 12-19, and 2 Cor. v. 18-21. These we must now consider in their bearing on the general work of Christ. We have already examined Rom. v. 12, &c., in its exposition of the results of Adam's sin. It, on the other hand, presents that which comes to all the world through the righteousness or obedience of Christ as, first of all, " grace " y^apis ; secondly, as *' a gift or giving ((^wpea ev %«piT<) through grace." xapia-ixot and Jwpi?/M,« are the more man ward or passive aspects of the same. But these are expanded in v. 17 by the addition of us 3/xa»w/iAa and ms diKxiQo-vv»s "grace unto justification and a gift of righteousness." And this is said to come " unto all men unto justification of life," and by it many are "constituted righteous." But between these terms and the corresponding terms of the fall into sin, there is a perfect parallel. By one man's disobedience the sin absolutely entered into the world. So, by the one man's obedience, grace is MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 17 en [od revealed and comes to all. But that sin works out its results of death, and actual transgression, and personal separation of individual men from God only by a pro- cess of development described in Rom. vii. So grace works out its results of justification and life only by an operative development. But the grace comes absolutely to all men. So in Titus ii. 11, " the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared for all men." What is implied in this grace ? This question we will answer after we have examined our second passage. 2 Cor. V. 18, &c. The passage may be literally rendered as follows : " All things are of God who hath reconciled (past tense) to himself by Christ, and gives (present) us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit that God was in or by Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them and committing to us the word of reconciliation." Mr. Wesley has evidently taken the aorist participle and the imperfect tense as referring to a definite "past his- torical fact, and that as accomplished by the atoning work of Christ. So, in later times, Alford, Meyer, Kling, (fee. All these authorities agree in recognizing here a reconciliation of the world of mankind at large, as a body, or a race, a placing of the entire world in a new and merciful relation to God, a relation directly opposed to the relation in which they were placed by the sin of Adam; but a relation which does not do away with the necessity for individual reconciliation ^ r ^ J 18SEI 18 MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. but (ypens or prepares the way for it, arid leads to it. "The saving grace revealed for all men," and "the reconciliation of the world," and " the gift and grace unto all men unto justification of life," are all one and the same thing, — a relation of God in mercy to the world opened up by Christ. This gracious relation of the world to God in Christ Mr. Wesley designates as " a new covenant " of proba- tion, given to the whole world, and to every individual of the world, but still demanding that the probational conditions of that covenant be fultilled. Upon the fulfilment of these conditions all the blessings of the covenant are bestowed ; but the entire race are em- braced in the covenant, and can be excluded from it only by their individual act of transgressing the cove- nant. "He that believeth is not condemned, but he that believeth not is already condemned, because he hath not believed on the only begotten Son of God." "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." * * " He that believ- eth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remaineth on him." These last expressions are very significant, as showing clearly that each individual, while embraced in God's covenant of mercy toward the race, sees life and escapes from God's condemning wrath, personally, only by the exercise of faith in Christ. The same truth is taught MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 19 le e r e in 2 Cor. v., where *the reconciliation of the world in Christ still leaves it necessary that each individual should for himself "be reconciled to God.'' Hence, neither in the infant nor in the penitent adult are we to confound the mercy of God's covenant of grace with the whole world in Christ, with individual justifying grace. It is something that looks toward, and, when not frustrated by actual transgressions, issues in justification of life, but it is not yet such justification, nor does it supersede its necessity. But Divine grace is not merely a relation of favour or mercy in which God stands toward the race, it is an inward operative power for man's salvation ; just as the sin which entered into the world by the first man was a relation of opposition to or estrangement from God, but also an inward corrupting power of evil. Mercy as a relation would be in vain without mercy as a helping-power. What is the saving moral power which the atonement brings to men ? When, and where, and in whom does it begin to work ? This leads us into the very heart of our subject. Various answers have been given to this question. The predestinarian looks upon this grace as of the nature of regeneration. It operates only in the elect, by the secret effectual operation of the Spirit, and in God's own good time. The Arminian looks upon this grace as essentially distinct from regeneration, and as operating in the hearts of all men, but when and how it begins to work has been a question undecided. The 20 MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. Sacrainentarian looks upon this grace as provided for all, but as conditioned by the sacraments, and operat- ing only when and where the sacraments have been properly administered. They, too, regard the grace as being of the nature of regeneration. Some have held that this grace caught, as it were, man in his fall, and prevented his lapsing into a condition from which salvation would have been impossible, thus very closely approximating to semi-Pelagianism. Some have found the answer to this question in the iifth of Romans, in the words, " unto all men, unto justifica- tion of kfe," and have held that this grace is of the nature of regeneration — a new life, and that it is universally and unconditionally given through the atonement, but may be lost, in the subsequent proba- tion. Such hold that this grace fits all dying in infancy for heaven, or, rather, that in virtue of it they are already in that state, and that this is the meaning of the expression, "of such is the kingdom of heaven." It is to be noted that this view makes operative saving grace begin at the moment of initiation of physical life ; that it makes it of the nature of regeneration, the communication of a new inner life, and that to give any reality to the strong language of Scripture touching man's natural state, it is obliged to interpret it of a second lapse into an estate of spiritual death. Let us examine, first of all, the Scriptures adduced to support this view, and then some further Scriptures which seem to us to preclude it. The first MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 21 1 and most important of these is Romans v. 12-21. Of course we have here a parallel between Adam and Christ, as "both representatives of the entire race, so that their acts, of transgression on the one hand, and righteousness on the other, extended in their effects to all the individuals of the race." The only (juestion is, do these effects pass irresistibly and of necessity to all the race, and hy the same laio or process of ynoral con- nection. " The Apostle employs the terms life and death to set forth the effects of Adam's sin and of Christ's righteousness upon the human race." True, but let us see what these terms mean. Life is union of soul and body, and conscious union of the whole man with God. Death is separation of soul and body, and conscious separation of the soul from God. Death spiritual is not to he identified vnth dejiravity. Depravity, *•' the sin" is transmitted directly from Adam, by virtue of our natural connection with him, but death comes to soul or body only as that depravity has finished its course. " Sin [the sin], when it is finished, bringeth forth death," James i. 15. Now, to sin, which passes upon all men by necessary entail, is opposed grace, equally universal and unconditional in its outgoing. But as death comes only by a process of sin, so life may come only by a process of grace. What is this process ? That there is such a process is im- plied in the passage before us. Let us look at it verse by verse. 22 MORAL CONDITION OK CHILDMOOP. " But not as the offence, so is the gracious gift ; for if through the offence of one the many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift in the grace of the one man, Christ Jesus, hath abounded unto the many." And not as by one who sinned is the gift, for the judgment of one is unto condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto righteousness. For if by the offence of one, death reigned through one, much more they wlio receive abundance of the grace and the gift of righteousness in life, shall reign through one, Jesus Christ. " Therefore, as by one offence it comes unto all men unto condemnation, so also, through one righteousness it comes unto all men unto justification of life. For as by the disobedience of one many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Now, we are quite willing to admit, with Dr. Hibbard, in all this the per- fect parallel between Adam and Christ, and that as far as the results of Adam's sin are unconditional, so far are the results of Christ's atoning work uncondi- tional. That as the results of Adam's sin are univer- sal, so are the results of Christ's work universal ; but beyond this we are not warranted in going. The expressions "unto all men, unto condemnation," "unto righteousness," " unto justification of life," by no means exclude processes and conditions, both on the one side and on the other. The preposition «/s, simply denotes direction, the end to which a force is working, not at which it has already arrived. To interpret it i\ MORAL COin)lTION OF CHILDHOOD. 23 otherivise would be to make this passage teach absolute univer8ali»m. What is asserted in this passage is, that God's grace in Christ looks to, provides for, and works to the final justification and life of all men, just as the sin of Adam tends to the final sin and condemnation of all men. But the process by which Adam's sin results in the final condemnation of any man is not an unconditional process. It is only through his own wilful transgression of law or of condition of proba- tion. So the process by which Christ's grace results in justification and life is not asserted to be imcondi- tional. There is no universal justification, or universal regeneration of life taught here as flowing frojm Christ unconditionally, but only a universal grace leading to individual justification and life, the conditions and process of which are elsewhere explained. Especially must we insist on this in opposition to Dr. Hibbard, in v. 17, " They who receive," etc., in this case are not all mankind unconditionally, but those who have fulfilled the conditions, and thus have re- ceived. Any other interpretation of this verse makes it teach absolute universalism, or unconditional elec- tion. All through his argument Dr. Hibbard makes this mistake, of taking final effects for immediate ones, reading into condemnation and death a special ficti- tious or imputation meaning, and leaving out of sight entirely the intervening conditions, so fully implied in every case in St. Paul's chosen preposition, u^. II 24 MORAL CONDFTION OF CHILDHOOD. The next passage, or rather series of passages, which demands our attention, will be found in St. Matthew's Gospel, eighteenth and nineteenth chapters. " V^erily, verily, I say unto you, except ye be converted, (or rather turn back), and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whoso- ever, then, shall humble himself as this little child, that one is greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and whosoever shall receive one such little one in my name receiveth me ; and whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it Avere better for him," etc. " Take heed that ye offend not (or despise not) one of these little ones, for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father in Heaven." " What think ye," etc. " Even so it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish." There are two interpretations of this passage. In the one the chil- dren are presented by Christ as candidates for the kingdom, with young hearts open to receive the truth, in that believing receptive state into which the seed of the kingdom may most easily ent3r, and bring forth its fruits of eternal life. They are ready to enter into the kingdom as soon as its Divine Word becomes intelligible to their understanding ; they are in a believing, trustful, receptive state of mind ; they are candidates for the kingdom most precious in the sight of the great heavenly Father, but still "lost slieep" whom the Gospel must "seek and find." Like all aSSfe"" ■■■■.:,■■.■-"..';': MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 25 > s •y others who shall be heirs of salvation, they are the objects of angelic care, and therefore God is " seeking them.'' The whole discourse thus sets forth, in most beautiful terms, the fact that religion may begin with the earliest conscious responsibilty, and that the hard- ened sinner must " turn back," not, " be converted " in the modern sense, but turn back to the estate of child- likeness before he can " enter the kingdom." This we believe to be the true interpretation of the passage. The other interpretation places the child already in the kingdom, in which case it would not need to he sought, but only to he kept frotn wandering. The nine- teenth chapter, verse 14, is precisely similar. "But Jesus said. Suffer the little children and forbid them not (or, hinder them not), to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The genitive, " of such," here may mean belonging to such as a possession, or belonging to such as something promised and provided for them. We have a precisely similar form of speech in Matt, v., '* Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs " (literally, of them) " is the kingdom of heaven." This does not necessarily mean that they have already entered the kingdom, but that the}^ are ready to enter. The poor in spirit, the humble-minded, and the recep- tive spirit of the child, are all alike put in promise of the kingdom. But, on the other hand, we have only to refer back to the passages already adduced as proving the fallen estate in which man is bom, to show that Christ can- I 26 MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. ^!-.i ^■f' 11 I not be understood as asserting, in either of these pas- sages, that our children are born already in the king- dom. " That which is born of the fiesh is flesh." " In sin did my mother conceive me." "By nature the children of wrath." " Sin passed through unto all men, and death by sin, whence all have sinned." Now, if already, by the unconditional provisions of the atonement, the new life had been planted in all men from their very birth, surely all would not have come under the dominion of sin ; the new life, in some at least, would have been strong enough to overpower the sin ; and the position of Pelagius would have been actually true, that " some men might have been sin- less." Again, opposed to this idea of universal regenera- tion, are all the passages which describe the way to the kingdom. This is universally, " Repent, and believe the Gospel." There is no other way revealed. Repentance is universally necessary. If so, then men are not already in the kingdom by birth, or by bap- tism ; in fact, this whole notion of unconscious, ger- minal grace or regeneiation, has no ^* indation in the Word of God. The Scriptures make mention of no work of grace except that which is matter of conscious experience, beginning in repentance and faith, and perfected in joy, peace, and love ; and this is the king- dom of God, " righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Methodism first brought the modern church back to this Scriptural definition of regenera- MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 27 tion as the conscious crisis of religious lifCy conditioned on faith, preceded by repentance, and crowned by the witness of the Spirit ; and a sad day will it be for Methodism when she forsakes this clear foundation of conscious experience, and begins to trust in any occult work, supposed to be wrought secretly, by uncondi- tional grace, and in unconscious states of existence. It is fraught with all the dangers of baptismal regeneration, or of unconditional election. It was difficult even for John Wesley himself to l)reak away from the old notion oi regeneration as a mysterious work wrought in baptism. Rather than deny the old church doctrine he was inclined to look upon men generally as backsliders, and speaks of the time when he himself sinned away the grace of his baptism. But all this belonged not to the Methodist Arminian theology which he was founding, but to the churchism which he was leaving behind. And the whole evan- gelical Christianity of our day has taken up the cen- tral idea of his theology, that the new birth is the conscious crisis of religiou experience preceded by repentance, conditioned upon faith, wrought by the Word and Spirit of God, and completed in the full assurance of Sonship. To depart from this view is to reduce the work of the church to a process of educa- tion, as distinguished from the work of evangelization. III. We are now prepared to see how these two relations limit each other, and in fact we see that they do not limit each other, until tkey both begin to work 28 MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. in the conscious experience of the moral life. It is very true that there is a physical propagation of sin, because our relation to Adam is physical. But that physical propagation of sin becomes a moral and spiritual state, only when we become capable of moral conscious life. On the other hand our relation to Christ is purely moral, and spiritual ; and it, too, begins to take effect just as soon as we become capa- ble of conscious moral life. The very moment we are capable of manifesting the disease, we are capable of using the remedy, and that is repentance toward God and faith on our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus all that the Scriptures declare concerning our relation to Adam is actually, practically true ; not hypothetically, putatively, or ideally true. It is to be taken just as it reads without limitation. And so the provisions of the Gospel are to be taken as to he applied to the disease in God's order, and on His conditions. But it is asked what then becomes of those who die before conscious moral life is fully and fairly developed ? We can only reply God cares for them and provides for their case. But to them we have no duty. For them we can do nothing. How God applies to them the provisions of the Gospel, or on what conditions, we know not. All that we can say is that in those provi- sions they have a share, and God will not deprive them of it. If there had been anything which we could have contributed to their salvation, God would have MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 29 revealed it. But as there was nothing for us to do, God hath given no revelation. Revelation never steps beyond that which is needful for us to know. It gratifies no curiosity. It spins no theories. It states only positive facts in which we are directl}^ concerned. The result of the whole teaching of Scripture is this: That all men are born with a physical taint of sin, (the word physical here includes the twofold nature of man,) which immediately that we become capable of conscious moral life, breaks forth in actual transgression, and brings us into a state of conscious spiritual death, out of which we can be delivered only as, with penitent confession of our sin, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ; when the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death." But we are also born under a dispensation of mercy, in which the Gospel promise meets the first pang of con- science arising from the first awakening of inborn sin, and brings with it a word and spirit of grace, the power of a new and eternal life. And when the Gospel thus finds us in the days of our childhood, it finds us in a state of preparedness to feel its power, and receive its grace ; a state to which we can return in after days, only by the mighty power of the Divine Spirit. And the Gospel thus finds us in the days of our childhood, because we are all born under a covenant of grace and mercy, and are the objects of the Father's intense saving love and compassion, and of solicitude 30 MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. tw and joy among his angels. I do not say that God could not save us before we were conscious of it. All I say is that he has not revealed any such way of sal- vation, but that he has clearly revealed the way of conscious repentance, faith, and new birth of the Spirit ; and that he has declared this to be the way for all men; and I dare not risk the salvation of my children on any other way, and I dare not attempt to build the church of the future upon any other way. But if these things be so : IV. What has the Church to do with the children ? Much every way, because the Father loves them, Christ died for them, angels watch over them. They are born under a covenant of grace, and are heirs of all its provisions, although they have not yet com- menced to enjoy them. They are all ready with the first dawn of moral life, tnore ready than they can be at any later period, to receive the provisions of the Gospel, and to feel its saving power. " Of such " is the kingdom. Now the Church is not composed only of those who have already entered into the kingdom, but of all who are seeking it. She baptises all who are looking for " remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost." She baptises them in token of Christ's covenant of mercy. And as children are only waiting for the opening of moral life, that they too may receive remission and new life, she gives them the sign of the covenant, and takes them into the fold, that just as their moral natures unfold she may apply MORAL CONDITION OF CHILDHOOD. 31 to them the saving truths of the Gospel of which she is the minister; not another Gospel of Christian culture but the old, universal Gospel of pardon through Christ The Church takes thQ children in, not because they have salvation already, but because they need it ; and have a right to it by God's covenant of mercy under which they have been born ; and the Church has the word of that salvation, and is in duty bound to give tt to them, as soon as they are able to receive it. And in so doing she is truly fultiUing the command of the Lord " Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God." Printed at the Guardian Book and Job Printing Office, 78 and 80 Kino Street East, Toronto. I -t i' I lJ-