not Peter tell him, that he “had neither part nor lot in the matter, for his heart was not right in the sight of God”? Man must not put asunder what God hath joined together; but neither must he of his own authority join together what God hath left asunder. We cannot be in manifested communion with the Church of Christ, if we wilfully neglect the Ordinance which He appointed for His disciples; but we may be baptized, or “born of water” and so be in professed communion with His Church, as Simon Magus was, and yet be, like him, void of a lively faith and the inspiration of Christ’s Spirit. As it has been well observed upon this subject; ‘It would violate the principles of common sense and confound all specific modes of instruction, to call that _a birth_ at which nothing was born, and that person _new-born_ whose moral principles had received no change.’ {20} The notion of an initial act—of the communication of something in baptism, which may never be perceived, and never produce any holy fruit,—has no sanction from Sacred Scripture. Our Lord here says nothing like it. He speaks of _a second birth_,—_a new existence_,—and that of a spiritual nature. “_That which is born of the Spirit is spirit_” (v. 6.) The language is the same as that which describes a man’s own entrance into this world of life and activity. And His Apostles, when writing of this spiritual birth, always ascribe to it perceptible and powerful effects. “We know,” writes St. John, (1 Ep. v. 18,) “that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” And again, (v. 4,) “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” And again, (iii. 10,) “_In this_ the children of God _are manifest_, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God.” But if the birth of the Spirit, by which men are made the children of God, necessarily accompany baptism, they may be at one and the same time the children of God and the children of the devil! They may be the children of God, as being born of His Spirit in baptism, and they may be “manifested” to be the children of the devil by committing sin; for thousands who have been baptized never show the least spiritual disposition, but live and die under the dominion of iniquity! But it is said, ‘The Spirit was given to them, and they lost it:—they were God’s children, but they ceased to be such.’ Can _that_, with a shadow of reason, be said to have been _lost_, of the possession of which there never was the slightest evidence? Can _that_, with any propriety, be said to _cease_, which, if the statement of the Apostle is to be the standard of judgment, never began? “In this,” says St. John, “the children of God _are manifest_.” Of thousands who have been baptized it may be asked, when were they _manifested_ to be the children of God? And the answer of truth must be, _Never_. They _never_ did righteousness:—they _always_ committed sin.