'^Observe  then— baptism  does  not  create  a  child  of  God  It
authoritatively  declares  him  so.  It  does  not  make  the  lact,
;'t  only  reveal  J  it.  If  baptism  made  it  a  fact  then  aiid  there
for  the  first  time,  baptism  would  be  magic  :N  ay,  laith  does
not  create  a  child  of  God  any  more  than  baptism,  nor  does
it  make  a  fact.  It  only  appropriates  that  which  is  a  fact  al-
ready. For  otherwise  see  what  inextricable  confusion  you
fall  into.  You  ask  a  man  to  believe,  and  thereby  be  created
a  child  of  God.  Believe  what-that  <^od  is  his  Father?
But  God  is  not  his  Father.  He  is  not  a  child  of  God,  ^om
say,  till  he  believes.     Then  you  ask  him  to  believe  a  lie

Herein  lies  the  error,  in  basis  identical,  of  the  Romanist
and  the  Calvinist.  Faith  is  to  one  what  baptism  is  to  the
other,  the  creator  of  a  fact ;  whereas  they  both  r..^  upon  a
fact,  which  is  a  fact  whether  they  exist  or  not.-before  they
exist ;  nay,  without  whose  previous  existence  both  of  them
are  unmeaning  and  false.  _      .        .  -r  ^^^^^

The  Catechism,  however,  says  :  In  baptism  ....  i  ^^  as
made  a  child  of  God.  Yes,  coronation  makes  a  sovereign ;
but,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  it  can  only  make  one  a
sovereign  who  is  a  sovereign  already.  Crown  a  pretender,
that  coronation  will  not  create  the  king.  Coronation  is  the
authoritative  act  of  the  nation  deelaring  a  fact  which  was
fact  before.  And  ever  after  coronation  is  the  event  to  which
all  dates  back,  and  the  crown  is  the  expression  used  for  all
royal   acts :    the   crown  pardons,  the   prerogatives   of  the

""'  Similarly  with  baptism.  Baptism  makes  a  child  of  God  in
the  sense  m  which  coronation  makes  a  king.  And  baptism
naturally  stands  in  Scripture  for  the  title  of  regeneration  and
the  moment  of  it.  Only  what  coronation  is  m  an  earthly  way,
an  authoritative  manifestation  of  an  invisible  earthly  truth,
baptism  is  in  a  heavenly  way  :  God's  authoritative  declara-
tion  in  material  form  of  a  spiritual  reality.  In  other  woid.,
no  bare  sign,  but  a  Divine  sacrament.
