Just so St. John wrote of those who had apostatized from the faith. (1 John ii, 19.) “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” In these words there are three things carefully to be observed. First: The persons alluded to must have been baptized professors, who at one time had been in fellowship with the Apostles, for it is quite impossible to suppose them unbaptized at the time when they were “with us,” _i.e._ in union and communion with the Church. Secondly: These persons had broken off from this communion, and were openly antichristian in their principles. Thirdly: St. John explains their conduct upon the principle that they had never been what they had professed to be, and describes their desertion of the truth as a manifestation of their real, though previously hidden, character. On the principle of assumption they had been received into the fellowship of the Church of God; but they were condemned as reprobates as soon as sad facts made manifest the falsehood of their profession. We should not fear to rest the whole question of invariable regeneration in baptism upon this one single text. It is impossible to suppose them unbaptized, and with the inspired Word before us it is equally impossible to regard them as regenerate. While, therefore, in their hortatory addresses the inspired Apostles always assumed the gift to have been imparted whenever the sacrament had been received, in their doctrinal statements of Divine truth they taught plainly that baptized unbelievers are not to be regarded as regenerate, and that in accordance with the general law of God’s kingdom the outward sign of Baptism may be unaccompanied by the inward gift. We proceed, then, to our next subject of inquiry, namely, the teaching of the Church of England. As Churchmen we cannot fail to be most deeply interested in the truth and consistency of our Church’s system; and when we see it attacked on the one hand, and misapplied on the other, it is truly refreshing to the spirit to be able to bring it fearlessly to the test of God’s unerring word. By the Bible, then, let us boldly try the PRAYER BOOK. In such an inquiry it is our first duty to ascertain what the Prayer Book itself teaches. We care not what men say, write, or think respecting it; our business is with the real doctrine of the book itself, “in the plain and full meaning thereof.” We will adopt the same arrangement as before, and endeavour to ascertain I. What is the gift connected by the Church with the sacrament of Baptism? II. What is the nature of the connection? I. As in the Scriptures, so in the Prayer Book, the gift connected is said to be a saving union with out Lord Jesus Christ. “Wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.”—_Catechism_.