e.
"And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of
righteousness, quietness and assurance forever." "And my people shall
dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet
resting-places." "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and
great shall be the peace of thy children." Such, I believe, is sure to
be the manner of the church's prosperity, and therefore the children who
are to be the subjects of these inestimable blessings must be said, in
some sense, to _belong_ to the church, they being the objects of special
regard with the church and with God. Br. A. agrees with me in all this,
I presume.

_Mr. A._ Entirely; or, rather, you agree with me.

"Now, Br. A.," said an earnest man of the company,--who, however,
immediately checked himself, and bowed to Mr. R., and said, "I dare say,
Mr. Chairman, that Br. R. was going to put the very question which I
intended to ask."

_Mr. R._ Proceed, Br. S. I owe an apology for speaking so much.

_Mr. S._ Will Br. A., Mr. Chairman, please to tell us why he feels
obliged to call these children "_members_ of the church?"

For, we all know, that, notwithstanding all these glorious things, which
are spoken of them, to which Br. A. has also referred, not one baptized
child of a true believer can be, really, a member of the church, in
regular standing, till he, like the unbaptized heathen convert, has
repented of his sins and believed on the Lord Jesus. All the promises
and privileges appertaining to his relationship as a child of a
believer, promote, and make more certain, his repentance and faith; and
therefore, if asked, "What profit, then, hath circumcision, and its
substitute, infant baptism?" we can reply, "Much every way;" but it
never stood, and never can stand, in the place of justification by free
grace through the personal exercise of faith in the Redeemer.

_Mr. C._ But I wish to ask, in the name of Br. A., and for my own sake,
what objection there is to retaining the name, _member_, in this
connection?

_Mr S._ My answer is, it is the occasion of great stumbling to those who
reject infant baptism, and are confirmed in rejecting it, by
misapprehending the views and feelings of many who use the term in an
objectionable sense.

The discussion now became animated. Mr. S. said that he had a further
objection. It leads many, who use it erroneously, into perplexing and
fruitless positions. Assuming that the children are members