"we are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus;" for, he says, as many of you as have been baptized, &c., i.e. whoever of us has been baptized, was thereby incorporated into Christ, and so being made a portion and member of the Son of God, partakes of that sonship, and is himself a child of God: so that henceforth the Father looks upon him, not as what he is in himself, but as in, and a part of, His Well-beloved Son, and loves him with a portion of that ineffable love with which He loves His Son. St. Paul speaks then not of duties, (though every privilege involves a duty corresponding,) but of privileges, inestimable, inconceivable, which no thought can reach unto, but which all thought should aim at embracing,—our union with God in Christ, wherein we were joined in the Holy Baptism. And so again we may see how the foolishness of God, in what men call carnal ordinances, is wiser than man; and how a false spirituality, by disparaging the outward ordinance, loses sight of the immensity of the inward grace; and holding lightly by God's appointment, as being "legal," does thereby fall back into mere legality. God gave adoption and union with Himself in Christ through the Spirit; we, disregarding His ordinance, have found but a Law. Contrast with these cold views the comment of one who prized his Baptism as the source of his spiritual life in Christ, M. Luther. "'To put on Christ' is two-fold; legal and evangelical. Legal, (Rom. xiii.) 'imitate the example and excellencies of Christ,' do and suffer what He has done and suffered: so, 1 Peter ii., 'Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps.' But we see in Christ infinite patience, gentleness, and love, and a wonderful moderation in all things. This ornament of Christ we ought to put on, i.e., imitate these His excellencies. So also we may imitate other Saints. But to put on Christ evangelically is not a matter of imitation, but of birth and new creation; when, namely, I am clothed with Christ Himself, i.e., His innocence, justice, wisdom, power, salvation, life, spirit, &c. We are clothed with Adam, clothes of skins, mortal clothes, and a garment of sin. This raiment, i.e., this corrupt and sinful nature, we contracted by our descent from Adam, which St.
