been adopted as God's child, he is a disobedient and rebellious child,
and therefore is disinherited, and loses the heavenly inheritance [Pet.
1:4] which would have been his, if he had remained faithful.

BAPTISM PERMANENT. Baptism, once properly administered, is not to be
repeated. It is a permanent covenant between God and us. While men are
often unfaithful to their covenant, God never is. [II Cor. 1:20, Rom.
3:3] He bestows the blessings of baptism on all who comply with its
conditions. Having received us by baptism as His children, He ever
afterwards remains our loving heavenly Father, to whom we may turn with
fullest confidence. And if any who have fallen from grace repent and
seek His mercy, they find Him standing with open arms to receive them.
[Luke 15:11-24] Such persons need not be re-baptized; their old baptism
stands. A rebellious son who repents needs not to be re-adopted, but
needs only to be forgiven.

III. _How can water produce such great effects?_

It is not the water, indeed, that produces these effects, but the Word
of God which accompanies and is connected with the water, and our faith
which relies on the Word of God connected with the water. For the water
without the Word of God is simply water, and no baptism. But when
connected with the Word of God, it is a baptism, that is, a gracious
water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost; as St.
Paul says to Titus in the third chapter, verses 5-8: "According to His
mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our
Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying."