name would lead us to look up! It includes here, on earth, all of grace and purity that can adorn, can strengthen, can sanctify the soul: it includes, in the bright prospect of our everlasting inheritance, more than the mind of man can ever comprehend; for "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." The means of grace being thus afforded us; the sustenance of that life which has been commenced within us, being given to our necessities, and the still loftier blessings of a heavenly inheritance, being offered to our exertions after the attainment of perfect holiness, our obligations to use these means of grace are of the strongest nature. To neglect that life which we may live by the faith of the Son of God, to cast away the privileges and hopes of the Christian covenant, to sell the inheritance of our adoption, for the miserable vanities which this perishing world can give, what is it but a wilful abandonment of blessings, which no other source can supply; a profligate contempt of mercy and compassion, that must cut off for ever the hope of reconciliation and forgiveness?

Now, from this brief and rapid view of the text, we may collect enough to show us the sufficiency of the means of salvation, as afforded to us by the plan of redemption which the gospel exhibits. The sacred volume places it beyond a

doubt, that to the grace of God, to the influence of his Spirit, we are indebted for the beginning, and for the support, of our spiritual life. The soul, dead in trespasses and sins, cannot communicate to itself this spiritual existence, any more than the cold and lifeless clay could again reanimate itself with the breath of life: Except a man be born again, of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God;" he cannot enter on the enjoyment of those privileges and blessings, those means of holiness, those appliances of godliness, those promises of pardon, sanctification, and peace, which the kingdom of grace affords on earth; neither can he look forward to the enjoyment of that inheritance of the kingdom of glory, to which all these are the preparation and the introduction. Now the language of St. Paul will point out to us the means, by which we obtain admission to the spiritual privileges of the kingdom of God. He addresses his Christian converts, as "having put off the old man with his deeds, and having put on the new man, which, after God, is created in righteousness and true holiness." He speaks of them as

being buried with Christ in baptism, as being washed, and sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." Nay, even to the Galatians, of whom he complains, that they are bewitched, so that they obey not the truth, he still writes: "Ye are all

the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." There cannot surely be a doubt, that the apostle here, as in other passages, alludes to the benefits communicated in baptism. He evidently assumes, that by entering into covenant with God in that ordinance, Christians are received into reconciliation with him, admitted to spiritual privileges, and brought into a state of salvation. All his repeated exhortations to his converts, that they would improve their privileges, and stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free, evidently imply that grace sufficient to enable them to work out their salvation, was indeed vouchsafed to them. The comfortable promise, that he who had begun a good work in them would perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ; the injunction to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of their Lord and Saviour; the assurance of aid under temptation, if they would not neglect the grace of God, nor refuse to seek for his support: all these imply that while without this grace and support, man cannot become holy or acceptable to God, these advantages will be granted to every one that seeks them, and will be increased and multiplied to every one that cherishes and improves them.

In conformity with this language of the apostle, and in conformity with the undoubted prac

tice of the early church, our church instructs us, in her office of baptism, to pray that the recipient of that sacrament may be born again, and made an heir of everlasting salvation; and to return thanks also, that God hath been pleased to regenerate the newly-baptized person with his holy Spirit, to receive him for his own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into his holy church. The communication of a new and spiritual life, to the worthy recipient of baptism, that is, to the recipient by repentance and faith, either actually pledged by an adult, or promised for an infant by his sureties, the communication of a new and spiritual life, does not necessarily involve its continuance, without the due use of those means of its support, which are at the same time vouchsafed, any more than the continuance of the natural life of a new-born infant, is independent of those means of its sustenance, to which it is at once introduced. Let the Christian, as he is indeed bound to do, rely on the enlivening and supporting grace of God, to work out his salvation; he will go on from strength to strength: his in holiness will be as apparent, his progress growth in grace will be as evident, as will the progress in strength or stature of the natural man, under the support and sustenance of the natural life. Let him neglect the privileges of his baptismal covenant, let him seek no longer the spiritual sustenance of his soul; and as the

body loses its health and strength, under the privation of wholesome food, so will the Christian become weak and feeble in his efforts after godliness, and powerless to resist temptation.

Baptism, then, is not merely an external ceremony, an admission into the visible church, without the gift of spiritual advantages, or the communication of spiritual blessings. It is nothing less than the means of imparting to us, through the Spirit, a new and spiritual life: it is nothing less than the communication of grace sufficient for salvation, the admission into a state of covenant with God, by which we become "members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven."

Let us not, however, imagine, that because, by the sacrament of baptism, we are placed in a capacity for the use of the means of salvation, we are therefore safe. Let not him that girdeth on his armour for the battle, boast himself as he that putteth it off after the victory. Many a conflict must be fought, many a danger must be encountered, many a toilsome watch must be sustained, before the victory can be ours. Yet, blessed be God, we have weapons for our warfare, we have armour for our defence; yea, and we have the strength of our God, and the support of him who hath himself conquered on our behalf. We have the word of his grace, we have the atonement of his death, we have the influence of his Spirit, we

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