It is as true also, that Christ died for sinners: (or else where were our hope?) but it is true also, that he died to "save his people from their sins,"[19] Matt. i. 21, and "to bring them from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God," Acts xxvi. 18, and "to redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14, and "that except a man be born again, and converted, and become as a little child, (in humility and beginning the world anew,) he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven," John iii. 3, 5; Matt. xviii. 3, and that even he that died for sinners, will at last condemn the workers of iniquity, and say, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," Matt. xxv. 41, "I never knew you," Matt. vii. 23. It is very true, that you were sacramentally regenerate in baptism, and that he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved, and all that are the children of promise, and have that promise sealed to them by baptism, are regenerate. The ancients taught that baptism puts men into a state of grace; that is, that all that sincerely renounce the world, the devil, and the flesh, and are sincerely given up to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, according to the covenant of grace, and profess and seal this by their baptism, shall be pardoned, and made the heirs of life. But as it is true, that baptism thus saveth, so is it as true,[20] that it is not the "outward washing only the filth of the flesh" that will suffice, but the "answer of a good conscience towards God," 1 Pet. ii. 21; and that "no man can enter into the kingdom of God, that is not born of the Spirit, as well as of water," John iii. 5; and that Simon Magus and many another have had the water of baptism, that never had the Spirit, but still remain in the "gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity, and had no part nor lot in that business, their hearts being not right in the sight of God," Acts viii. 13, 21, 23. And nothing is more sure, than that "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ (for all his baptism) he is none of his," Rom. viii. 9; and that if you have his Spirit, you "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;" and are "not carnally but spiritually minded," and are "alive to God," and as "dead to the world," Rom. viii. 1, 5-8, 10, 13, 14. Whether all that were baptized are such as these, when they come to age, judge you.