"etiamsi sint non modo magna, sed vetera quoque no"mina, qui damnationi æternæ solent adjudicare Chris"tianorum infantes, cum non sint baptismo tincti..... "Hoc enim qui non crediderit, condemnabitur, nul"latenus est absolute intelligendum, sed de his, qui, au"dito Evangelio, credere noluerunt. Unde infantes, et "qui non audierunt Evangelium, hac lege non tenentur." De Peccato Orig. Declar. Zuinglii. Opera, vol. ii. p. 118. Ed. Tig. 1581. It is impossible to mistake his object even here; but in the following quotations he explains himself more fully: "Atque hic non immerito quæ"ritur, An verò Christus genus universum restituerit, an "fidelium Ecclesiam tantum? Quamvis ergo ad hanc quæstionem paucis respondere potuissemus, Christum "prorsus sanando tantum profuisse, quantum nocuit Adam "peccando; porro Adam infecit universam conspersio"nem peccato originali, ergo Christus universam re"stituit; noluimus tamen sententiam istam proferre, "cum quod nonnulla videntur obstare, tum quod non “videam, an aliqui eam tenuerunt; sed hoc modo "dixi, Christianorum liberos damnare non posse pecca"tum originale, hac ex causa, quod, etsi peccatum se"cundum legem quidem damnaret, tamen propter re"medium per Christum exhibitum damnare non potest,

hos præsertim, qui in eo Testamento sunt, quod cum "Abrahamo pepigit. Nam de his alia quoque firma et "clara testimonia habemus; de aliis, qui sunt extra Ec“clesiam nati, non habemus aliud quam præsens testi"monium, quod ego sciam, et similia hoc quinto "Rom. capite, quo probari possit eos, qui extra Eccle"siam nascuntur, mundos esse ab originali contamina"tione. Quod si quis de his quoque dicet probabilius esse, ut Gentium liberi per Christum serventur, quam ut "damnentur, jam certe minus evacuabit Christum, quam "hi, qui intra Ecclesiam natos damnant, si citra lava"crum baptismi moriantur; et plus auctoritatis ac

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"fundamenti habebit in Scripturis, quam hi, qui hoc 66 negant. Nam is nihil aliud assereret, quam Genti"lium quoque liberos, dum teneri sunt, propter vitium ori"ginale non damnari, id autem beneficio Christi; adultis "autem nihil gratiæ reliquum esse eo, quod non fide"rent Christo. Si vero operibus ostenderent legem in "cordibus suis esse scriptam, neque falleret hypocri"sis, jam satis auditum est eos inter circumcisos com"putandos esse, ubi enim opera fiunt Deo digna, isthic "dudum fuit in Deum religio. Probant hoc Jethro, "cujus pectus sic cœlesti sapientia imbuerat, ut etiam “Mosi, qui coram cum Deo loquebatur, in condendis "legibus esset auxilio; et Cornelius Centurio, cujus "Deus eleemosynas orationesque respexit, antequam 66 Evangelium ei esset expositum. Diceret igitur aliquis per Christum naturam esse restitutam, jam ea "sequerentur, quæ diximus; si vero Ecclesiam tantum, jam sequeretur, non tam patere salutem per Christum, "quam late grassatur morbus ex Adam." Ibid. p. 121. "Iste locus, quod sine fide impossibile sit Deo placere,' "synecdochicas intelligi debet, de his modo, qui ver"bum audiunt ac resiliunt, aut qui audiunt ac reci"piunt. Qui vero per ætatem non audiunt, his uni"versalibus non continentur. Apud illos nulla est "prævaricatio, cum nulla sit apud eos lex. Si vero ex "Christianis prognati sunt, jam virtute testamenti filii "Dei sunt: sin ex Gentibus, jam nihil decernimus. "Quanquam autem, ut ingenue fatear, mihi magis ar"ridet ea sententia, quæ virtute mortis Christi omnium in“nocentium salutem acceptam fert. Sic enim paria sunt, "ubi abundavit delictum, ibi exundavit gratia. Si quæres, quomodo possunt hæc fieri? Hoc modo. "Quicquid uspiam mortalium nascitur salvum est per "Christum." Epist. Urbano Regio, vol. i. p. 383. The tenet of Zuingle, with the argument upon which it was founded, seems to have been received by all his

followers. We find Bullinger, not long after his death, (viz. in 1535,) speaking thus unreservedly upon the subject, in a dialogue, which at the time was published against the errors of the Anabaptists: "Joiada. "Annon jamdudum audis pueros, etiamsi fateri fidem "non possunt, inter fideles tamen esse accensos? Aut "Deus adultorum tantum Deus est? Et non puerorum ? "An pro adultis duntaxat passus est Christus, non etiam "pro pueris? Simon. Passus est pro expiatione omnium peccatorum totius mundi. Joiada. Puerine habent pec"cata? Simon. Originale peccatum habent. Quando66 quidem ergo Paulus per Christum instauratum dicit "quidquid per Adam erat collapsum, nec adulti tantum, 66 verum etiam pueri in Adamo perditi sunt, consequitur ❝et pueros per Christum instauratos esse. Si restituti sunt "pueri per Christum, Dei sunt." Adversus omnia Catabaptistarum prava dogmata, p. 57. "Simon. Ex hoc "consequens esset, infantes, qui sine baptismo decedunt, "damnatos haudquaquam esse. Joiada. Plane consequi"tur." Ibid. p. 59.

Upon the whole, Zuingle believed, that all infants, without exception, dying before the commission of actual crime, are admitted into the kingdom of Heaven ; Luther, all born of those who are themselves within the Christian Covenant, leaving the fate of Heathen children to the revelation of God's mercies in a future life; but Calvin, only such as the Almighty has been pleased to distinguish by a mysterious decree of personal election.

Page 74, note (18).

See note 10. Our own Reformers were so far from embracing every favourable opportunity of expatiating upon human depravity, that even where others had introduced it, and where, if ever, it should be displayed in its strongest colours, viz. in our addresses to the throne of grace, they designedly avoided all allusion

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to it. I have pointed out in Sermon I. note 7. the source, from which the confession in our daily Prayer, at least the idea of it, was taken. The words in the original are these: "Domine Deus, æterne et omni"potens, agnoscimus et fatemur ingenue apud sanctis"simam majestatem tuam, peccatores esse nos miseros, "adeoque a prima origine, qua concepti et nati sumus, "tam ad omne malum esse pronos, quam ab omni bono " alienos, quo vitio tuas leges sanctissimas assidue trans" gredimur, eoque nobis exitium justissimo tuo judicio "conquirimus." Totally silent upon the point of innate corruption, our Reformers, in their imitation of this passage, touched only upon that of actual transgression. "Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred "and strayed from thy ways, like lost sheep: we have "followed too much the devices and desires of our 66 own hearts: we have offended against thy holy laws: "we have left undone those things which we ought to "have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done and there is no health ❝in us."

But in the confession of our Communion Service, this deviation is still more striking, because the resemblance in other respects is closer. I have remarked, that where our Offices vary from the ancient forms, they are in general modelled after a Liturgy compiled by Melancthon and Bucer, for the archbishopric of Cologne, and often literally translated from it. The original, in the case before us, commences thus: "Omnipotens, æterne Deus, Pater Domini nostri Jesu "Christi, creator rerum omnium, judex cunctorum "hominum, agnoscimus et deploramus nos in peccatis ❝ conceptos et natos, ideoque ad quævis mala pronos, et ❝ abhorrentes a veris bonis, sancta tua præcepta sine fide ❝et modo transgressos esse, contemptu tui et verbi tui,

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"diffidentia opis tuæ, fiducia nostri et mundi, pravís "studiis et operibus, quibus majestatem tuam gravissime offendimus, et proximos nostros lædimus. Itaque "in mortem æternam magis et magis nos ipsi sepeli"mus et perdimus. Id vero nobis ex animo dolet, &c." In our own confession, evidently grounded upon this, the fervor of which is in no degree abated by its moderation and propriety, we perceive that the subject of inherent depravity is wholly omitted: "Almighty "God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all "things, Judge of all men, we acknowledge and bewail "our manifold sins and wickedness, which we from "time to time most grievously have committed by "thought, word, and deed, against thy divine Majesty, "provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation 66 against us. We do earnestly repent, and are heartily "sorry for these our misdoings, &c.”

A similar omission likewise again occurs in the same Service. Immediately after the short address, "It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, &c." which was the exact form of the Romish Church, the following passage is inserted in the Liturgy of Cologne: “ Per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem "nos ex nihilo ad imaginem tuam condidisti, et reli"quas creaturas omnes nostris utilitatibus addixisti, "cumque per peccatum Adæ a te deficientes inimici tui, “ et ideo morti et damnationi æternæ obnoxii facti esse“mus, tu, ex infinita tua misericordia et ineffabili cari"tate, eundem Filium tuum, Verbum æternum, in hunc “ mundum misisti, &c." Of this not the slightest trace is to be found in our own Liturgy.

When our Reformers, instead of eagerly embracing, thus purposely avoided, the opportunities afforded them of constantly dwelling upon the original corruption of human nature, to what motive can their conduct be attri