Rev. Mr. Roscoe.—"I fear you are now taking me into an imaginary region, where we shall be both lost amidst the obscurities of a fanatical and enthusiastic belief."
Mr. Roscoe.—"I am as great an enemy to fanaticism as yourself; but you will permit me to say that this term is often affixed as a stigma on personal piety. I am now merely stating facts, which are attested by the evidence of experience. Do we not read in the Bible that the renewed man has the eye of his understanding enlightened? Does not this expression imply that before his renovation his understanding was darkened, through the ignorance that was within him? And can we suppose that he discovers no fresh objects of contemplation and delight when this new power of spiritual vision is imparted? He has new apprehensions of the spirituality and omnipresence of God—of his majesty and purity—of his power and patience—of his goodness—and especially of his condescension in hearing and answering prayer. And when he turns his eye in upon himself, he discovers his guilt, his depravity, and his unworthiness; and exclaims, Woe is me, for I am unclean! He is no less astonished at the Divine forbearance towards him than he is at his own insensibility and ingratitude; and while he offers up the tribute of praise to the God of his mercies, he abhors himself, and repents in dust and in ashes. But his chief attention is fixed on the person of the Redeemer—on the efficacy of his death—on the prevalence of his intercession—on his amazing and boundless love for sinners—even the chief. On these grand and important themes he dwells with the most enraptured delight. They now appear before him invested with a charm all their own; and he is no less astonished when he remembers his former indifference to them, than he is at that death-like insensibility which the great majority around him discover. The pleasures and the pursuits of the world, which once engrossed so large a portion of his attention, and so powerfully interested his passions, now sink into insignificance when compared with the realities of the invisible state; and though he feels no disposition to neglect his present duties, yet he often anticipates, with intense emotions of delight, the glory which is to be revealed on entering the kingdom of heaven. Having been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and sanctified in part by the eternal Spirit, he now feels the powerful obligations of gratitude and love constraining him to yield himself to God, to serve and glorify him. He can now without regret leave his sinful pleasure, and from meditation, prayer, and listening to the gospel's joyous sound, he can derive real and substantial happiness.
"But one of the most satisfactory evidences of regeneration is an aversion to sin, and an ardent desire for an entire conformity to the purity of the Divine nature, which every renewed man feels—an aversion which is not directed exclusively against open immoralities, but which extends to the principles of evil which lie concealed in the recesses of the heart. Hence, his prayer will be—Cleanse thou me from secret faults; keep back thy servant from presumptuous sin; let no iniquity have dominion over me; lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from all evil. But the renewed man is not more anxious to be preserved from the dominion of sinful passions and principles, than he is to become holy, even as God is holy. And as he knows that this assimilation can be produced only by immediate intercourse with God, he walks in a state of habitual communion with him; and though he is not always conscious of his presence, nor always favoured with the sensible manifestations of it, yet he cleaves to him in the purposes of his heart. Now, I appeal to you, if such a change in the character, in the views, and in the tastes of a man, is not a powerful evidence of his having undergone that internal renovation or regeneration which the Scriptures represent to be indispensably necessary to fit us for the kingdom of heaven."
Rev. Mr. Roscoe.—"Why, I must confess that such a change is a more rational evidence of regeneration than the simple fact that the baptismal ceremony has been performed; but how few of those who have been baptized possess any such evidence of their being the children of God, and the inheritors of the kingdom of heaven."
Mr. Roscoe.—"This is too true; and, alas! what an appalling truth!"
Mrs. John Roscoe, who listened with profound attention to the whole of this discussion, on rising with her niece to take a stroll in the garden, said, "What a burlesque on the sanctity of our pure and sublime faith, to see an immoral man, when reproved for his vices, and warned to flee from the wrath, deliberately appeal to the fact of his having been baptized, to prove that he is a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven! Can we conceive of anything more puerile, or more calculated to encourage persons to riot in sin, fearless of the fearful consequences? It is quite time this fatal heresy was driven out of our church, and torn out of our prayer-book."
"I think so too, aunt; but what commotion would be excited amongst our church-going people if any legal attempt were made to substitute the simple and significant baptism of the New Testament for this delusive papal ceremony of baptismal regeneration. Why, many would rather have their Bibles mutilated than their prayer-book. The Bishop of Oxford calls it a Churchman's blessed inheritance, which ought to be preserved entire; no change in a book which is so perfect."