h Rom. ix. 4.
These expressions are doubtless strong ; and so are St. Paul's expressions respecting the benefits of cir- cumcision : and every blessing which he asserts to have been conveyed by circumcision, we may safely and truly apply to baptism. By the very admission of persons into covenant with God, they are brought into a neiv state, have a right and title to all these privileges ; and by the exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ they come to the actual possession of them.
We hope we shall not be considered as degrading our subject, if we attempt to present it more clearly to your minds, by an easy and famihar illustration. The subject is confessedly difficult ; and if we can by any means simplify it, we shall render an important service to those who wish to understand it. Take then a well-known ordinance from the laws of our own land. A person, to whom property has been bequeathed, has a right and title to it from the moment of the testator's death : but he cannot take possession, and have the full enjoyment of it, till he has complied with the due forms and requisitions of the law : so a baptized person has a right and title to all the blessings of the Christian covenant as soon as he is baptized ; but he must comply with the requisitions of the Gospel, and exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, before he can have the complete enjoyment of them. We do not mean to lay any great stress on this illustration ; we are aware it is far from complete ; and we particularly desire that it may not be pressed beyond the occasion for which it is used ; but we conceive that, imperfect as it is, it may serve to throw some light upon a subject, which has been, and yet is, a source of perplexity to many.
But the chief source of the fore-mentioned error is, that men do not distinguish between a change of state and a change of nature. Baptism is, as we have just shewn, a change of state : for by it we become entitled to all the blessings of the new covenant ; but it is not a change of nature. A change of nature may be communicated at the time that the ordinance is administered ; but the ordinance