though he were already enjoying the unending joy
of heaven. Well, let this dream pass: but how can one be sure of
future perseverance, in the absence of which a man's exit would
be most miserable, though for a time he had observed
righteousness purely and piously? Nay, says Calvin (_Instit._
iii. 2), unless this your faith foretells you your perseverance
assuredly, without possibility of hallucination, it must be cast
aside as vain and feeble. I recognise the disciple of Luther. A
Christian, said Luther (_De captivitate Babylonis_), cannot lose
his salvation, even if he wanted, except by refusing to believe.

I hasten to pass on to the Sacraments. None, none, not two, not
one, O holy Christ, have they left. Their bread is poison; and
as for their baptism, though it is still true baptism,
nevertheless in their judgment it is nothing, it is not a wave
of salvation, it is not a channel of grace, it does not apply to
us the merits of Christ, it is a mere token of salvation
(Calvin, _Instit._ iv. 15). Thus they have made no more of the
baptism of Christ, so far as the nature of the thing goes, than
of the ceremony of John. If you have it, it is well; if you go
without it, there is no loss suffered; believe, you are saved,
before you are washed. What then of infants, who, unless they
are aided by the virtue of the Sacrament, poor little things,
gain nothing by any faith of their own? Rather than allow
anything to the Sacrament of baptism, say the Magdeburg
Centuriators (Cent. v. 4.), let us grant that there is faith in
the infants themselves, enough to save them; and that the said
babies are aware of certain secret stirrings of this faith,
albeit they are not yet aware whether they are alive or not. A
hard nut to crack! If this is so very hard, listen to Luther's
remedy. It is better, he says (_Advers. Cochl._), to omit the
baptism; since, unless the infant believes, to no purpose is it
washed. This is what they say, doubtful in mind what absolutely
to affirm. Therefore let Balthasar Pacimontanus step in to sort
the votes. This father of the Anabaptists, unable to assign to
infants any stirring of faith, approved Luther's suggestion;
and, casting infant baptism out of the churches, resolved to
wash at the sacred font none who was not grown up. For the rest
of the Sacraments, though that many headed beast utters many
insults, yet, seeing that they are now of daily occurrence, and
our ears have grown callous to them, I here