No, they scarcely feel it at all, because owing to the even tenor of their life, the contrast between their present and former life is not so great.

Is this sudden change in the case of those who have been leading wicked lives attended with any danger?

Yes, they are very apt to think that they had never received the Holy Spirit of God at their baptism, and often despise those who do not feel their conversion as strongly as they themselves do, and so give way to spiritual pride, which unless checked, will entirely do away with the good which the long suffering of God's Holy Spirit has been working in their hearts.

But was not St. Paul's conversion a sudden change, of which he could tell the day and hour?

Must not our conversion then to be real, be like St. Paul's, so that we may know the day and hour?

Not at all, for St. Paul's was a miraculous conversion, our's is an ordinary conversion. St. Paul was an object of special visitation from God; we are under his ordinary government, and must not expect any special visible token of God's dealings with us. St. Paul's conversion was from Error to Truth, but our's is from Sin to Holiness, and must therefore (as before shewn) be gradual and continuous, or always going on.

OF THE BAPTISMAL COVENANT.

You have hitherto been speaking of Holy Baptism as a washing: is it anything besides a washing? Yes, it is a Covenant.

What do you mean by the word Covenant?

An agreement between two or more parties. How many parties are concerned in the Covenant of Holy Baptism?

Two. Who are they?

God, and each of us.

What is God's part of this Covenant or Agreement? To bring us into a state of salvation.

Was God obliged to make an agreement with us, or bring us into a state of salvation?

No.

Did we deserve that he should do all this for us?

No, it was not through any merits or deservings of our own that God either made a covenant with us, or brought us into a state of salvation.

Could we ever have deserved these mercies by any deeds of our own?

No.

Why did God then make a covenant and bring us into a state of salvation at our baptism, if we never deserved it?

For the sake and through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Why did he accept of us at all, even through the merits of Jesus Christ, seeing he was not obliged to do so?

Through his infinite goodness and mercy. What do you mean by the word infinite? Boundless, without beginning or end.

MEMBER OF CHRIST.

You say that God's part of the Covenant or Agreement made at our baptism was the bringing us into a state of salvation, what has God made us in bringing us into that state?

Members of Christ, Children of God, and
Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.

What do you mean by the word "Member"?
A limb or part of the body.

Whose body are you made a limb or part of at your baptism?

Christ's Body.

What do you mean by Christ's Body?

The Church.

Shew from Scripture that the Church is called Christ's Body.

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is his body. Eph. i, 22, 23.

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the Church. Col.

What part of that body is Christ?

The head.

What part are you and all other Christians?
Members or limbs.

Shew from Scripture that Christ is the head of that body.

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence. Col. i, 17, 18.

Shew from Scripture that we are the members of that body.

Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 1st Cor. xii, 27.

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Eph. v. 29, 30.

ON THE SINFULNESS OF DISSENT.

Seeing then that the Church is Christ's body, that he is the head of that body, and we are the members, must it not be very sinful in us to separate one from another, and make divisions in that body? Yes, it is.

What is the sin of Christians separating one from another, and dividing themselves into sects and parties called in Scripture?

The sin of schism.

What is this sin called in common talk?
Dissent.

What is the meaning of the word schism?

A cutting asunder-separation, or division.

Shew from Scripture that there must be no schism or dissent in the body of Christ, which is the Church.

That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 1 Cor. xii, 25.

Shew from Scripture that there must be no divisions in religion among Christians.

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 1 Cor. i, 10.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Rom. xvi, 17, 18.

In this last passage of Scripture what do you mean by "serving their own belly?"

Pleasing themselves rather than Christ.

What do you mean by their "good words and fair speeches ?"

Their talking and preaching,

Whom do you mean by the simple whose hearts they deceive?

The ignorant and unlearned.

Why are the ignorant and unlearned especially liable to fall into the sin of schism or dissent ?

Because they cannot perceive that it is a sin, seeing that it puts on the cloak of religion..