4. How indeed, except ye be born again! For ye are now dead in trespasses and sins. To say then, that ye cannot be born again, that there is no new-birth but in baptism, is to seal you all under damnation, to consign you to hell, without help, without hope. And perhaps some may think this just and right. In their zeal for the Lord of Hosts, they may say, “Yea, cut off the sinners, the _Amalekites_! Let these _Gibeonites_ be utterly destroyed! They deserve no less.”――No; nor I: nor you.――Mine and your desert, as well as theirs, is hell. And it is mere mercy, free undeserved mercy, that _we_ are not now in unquenchable fire. You will say, “But we are washed, we were born again of water and of the Spirit.” So _were_ they. This therefore hinders not at all, but that ye may _now_ be even as they. Know ye not, that _what is highly esteemed of men is an abomination in the sight of_ God? Come forth, ye “saints of the world,” ye that are honoured of men, and see who will cast the first stone at them, at these wretches, not fit to live upon the earth, these common harlots, adulterers, murderers. Only learn ye first what that meaneth, [32]_He that hateth his brother is a murderer_.――[33]_He that looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart._――[34]_Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not, that the friendship of the world, is enmity with_ God? 5. _Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye_ also _must be born again. Except_ ye also _be born again, ye cannot see the kingdom of_ God. Lean no more on the staff of that broken reed, that ye _were_ born again in baptism. Who denies that ye were then made “children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven?” But notwithstanding this, ye are now children of the devil. Therefore ye must be born again. And let not _Satan_ put it into your heart, to cavil at a word, when the thing is clear. Ye have heard, what are the marks of the children of God: all ye who have them not on your souls, baptized or unbaptized, must needs receive them, or without doubt ye will perish everlastingly. And if ye have been baptized, your only hope is this, that those who were made the children of God by baptism, but are now the children of the devil, may yet again receive _power, to become the sons of_ God: that they may receive again what they have lost, even the _Spirit of adoption, crying in their hearts, Abba, Father_!