The whole of Scripture, therefore, is harmonious. The great, grand, primary gift is a union with Jesus; and as this is inseparably connected with forgiveness of sin and renewal of heart, so these two blessings are connected with the sacrament of baptism. This is the sense in which throughout the following pages we employ the term “regeneration.” It is important that this definition should be borne in mind, for, if we are not agreed as to the meaning of terms, there can be no hope of agreement in our conclusions. When, therefore, the word regeneration is used in this tract it is in the higher sense just described. It is not used for that admission into the visible church with all its privileges and responsibilities which invariably takes place at baptism; nor is it spoken of as the sowing of a certain seed, which may or may not grow in after life; but it is employed to express the commencement of a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ invariably accompanied by justification and change of heart. I am anxious that there should be no mistake on this point; for those who do not believe in the invariability of baptismal grace are sometimes said to take low views of the sacrament of baptism. But nothing can be further from the fact, for it is just because we take high views of the spiritual grace connected with it that we believe that spiritual grace to be incompatible with the ungodly lives of too many of the baptized. We have thus far spoken of these spiritual blessings without attempting to define their connexion with the outward sign. Our only concern, hitherto, has been to shew that there is such a connexion clearly pointed out in the word of God. It now behoves us to examine— II. Into the nature of that connexion.