310 ?,a?c ?---? nsos. vTtos. [Book II. .judge whether the person is to be bound or loosed. But the business is so transacted, that every man commonly goes away with his absolu- tion, and all sorts of people receive usually the same sort of judgment. "If thou separate the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth, saith the Lord," Jer. xv, 19. Whose mouth are they who make it their ordinary practice to pronounce the same sentence of absolution on the precious and the vile ? It is true there are penances sometimes enjoined; but these are of such a character, and so little distinction is made between the good and bad, that the good and bad fare nearly alike. 8. The Scripture way of obtaining pardon or justification is very different from the popish mode of absolution. The Scripture plan is, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, in order to obtain pardon and peace. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believerb on him should not perish, but have everlasting life,"John iii, 16. "What shall I do to be saved ?" said the jailer; to whom the apostle answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," Acts xvi, 31. The truth concerning Christ, when believed, establishes its residence in the heart, and becomes the means of regeneration. He sees sin in such a light as he never did before; he therefore humbles himself before God in deep and unfeigned repentance. His repentance is not the effect of abstinence or bodily mortification, but the effect of the operation of the Holy Spirit, by means of the word of truth. Such a one is enabled to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with a heart unto righteousness, and, in believing, he is justified freely. For him to think of another than God who could pardon, would be the same as to think of another GOd. This was the feeling of the prophet Micah on this subject: "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, delighting in mercy ?" chap. vii, 28. The manner in which the Church of Rome affects to impart the same benefits of pardon and peace is very different from the Scripture mode. She professes to impart pardon ?y means of her sacraments of baptism and penance; the former of which is confessedly founded on divine institution, and the other is of mere human invention. Bap- tism, though of divine origin, is much perverted in the Church of Rome. It was meant as a representation of the work of the Holy Spirit in renewing and sanctifying the soul; but they ascribe to baptism itself the power of regeneration. They admit the doctrine of original sin: but then they assert that baptism takes it all away, and procures pardon tbr all sins committed before its reception. Independently of its oppo- sition to the divinely appointed way of gi?ing peace to the conscience, their method contains in itself that which must ever render it insecure. The whole virtue of every sacrament depends on the good intention of ?he priest. No man can be secure that the priest had such intention when he baptized him; and therefore, upon their own principles, they can never be secured that they are regenerated. It cannot be shown that the external rite of baptism makes a man more holy than he was before. If the thing signified accompany the sign, .', ho],.v character is undoubtedly imparted: but the experience of many sentun'es has proved that this is not always the case; for we find that persons who have been baptized are, on growing up, as unholy as those who have not. 1
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