In perfect accordance with this, as we learn from the example of the Apostles, it is essential to confirmation, that the "laying on of hands" should be accompanied with prayer. "The good bishop" has not taught that "grace is not increased by virtue of prayer unto God:" nor that faith is not necessary to the obtaining of the inward part, or thing signified in baptism. The contrary appears in several parts of the Pastoral Letter. See the quotation from St. Augustine, p. 25. with water, is not what our Lord means promise to those who ask; and his deby the birth of water? claration that God will give his Spirit Another of my inconsistencies no-to them who seek for it in prayer. ticed is making "the inward grace of baptism depend upon the faith and the prayers of the people." If this writer believes that the child of an infidel, baptized by those (priest, sponsors, and congregation,) who have no faith in Christ, and who on the occasion offer no prayers to God, receives the same spiritual benefit, the same inward grace, as the child of the pious Christian, offered up in faith and prayer by devout believers, and nurtured in the taith, as the Lord requires, (which, if his objection has any meaning, seems to be his doctrine) I shall no otherwise disturb his belief, than by observing that what I have advanced is agreeable to the article on baptism, which says, that in the administration of that sacrament, "faith is confirmed, and grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God;" and also to the baptismal office, which requires all present to pray, both before and after the child's baptism, for inward grace and other spiritual blessings. It is true that I said, (Pastoral Letter, p. 29,) that the prayers and thanksgiving are not essential to the validity of baptism. But by a valid baptism, is evidently meant a baptism which need not be repeated; which takes children into the visible church; and it is directly after observed, that the prayers are not without use. What I was particuFarly teaching is, that "the outward and visible sign, given unto us, ordained by Christ himself," when ministered according to his appoinment, lays the person or child baptized under the obligations of the Christian covenant; though, as in private baptism, the prayers and responses should be omitted. But certainly there can be no occasion when it is more fitting, or more profitable, to offer the most humble and earnest prayers to Almighty God, than at the administration of this sacrament. To doubt whether the spiritual blessings, whether "the inward part or thing signified," is obtained, the rather for the faithful and devout supplications of God's people, would seem as questioning our Lord's a This writer, however, is so charitable, that he will not charge me with so unfounded a notion as "that the thing signified does not always accompany the sign." To receive to one's self undeserved praise, however honourable or flattering it may be, savours of dishonesty and truth constrains me to acknowledge, that I am guilty of holding even this unfounded notion. The "sign" he tells us is water. The "thing signified," we are told by authority which he appears to respect, is " death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness." I have not yet attained to such faith in the opus operatum as to believe, that the mere application of water in baptism is necessarily or certainly attended by such an "inward and spiritual grace." In my judgment, the spiritual benediction-the inward change the full benefits signified in the sacrament, are not received without repentance and faith. And if the clear and explicit language of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and of the sacred Scriptures given by inspiration of God, are good authority, I see not to the contrary that this notion is well founded. But I am extending this apology beyond the limits of my first intention. My Pastoral Letter is on a subject of much importance, and of some difficulty: a subject on which it seemed desirable that something should be written. It was given to the public with diffidence certainly, yet with the humble hope that it possibly might, through God's blessing, remove the misconceptions, or conscientious scruples of some respecting the baptism of their children, and the office which, for that purpose, the Church has prescribed; or induce a more able pen to give us something better. Far as I can discern, this plain subject is not the less "confused and bewildered" for the criticisms of the writer to whom I have made this reply; nor has he convinced me of any one, though I doubt not but there may be many instances of incorrectness in the Pastoral Address. That God of his infinite mercy will grant to him and me, and to all who read what we have written, grace to receive the truth in our hearts, and display it in our lives, is the humble, and, I trust, sincere prayer of A. V. GRISWOLD. P. S. The above was written immediately after I first saw the Strictures in the Christian Journal. Doubts respecting the expediency of its publication have caused this delay in sending it. A LONDON periodical for May, 1822, contains the life of Charles Glover, Esq. a pious layman, who died on the 26th of August, 1821, in the 69th year of his age. In this sketch are incorporated some extracts from his diary. The following is dated in July, 1818"Gracious and indulgent Lord! whilst looking through the window into this pleasant garden, I am blessed with the sight of my dearest wife and beloved sister, taking their evening walk, looking after their innocent charge, gathering seed, and cropping the fading flowers. With emotions of gratitude and thankfulness I exclaim, Happy saints! peace be unto you! may your innocent amusements continue-may you long live in the enjoyment of your garden, and your God! May you escape those snares and temptations which may assault you when I am taken from you, and removed to my Father's house! May his indulgent care, whose gracious providence brought you to this place, still preside over you; and may a grateful remembrance of the many happy days we have spent together in this sequestered spot bind your hearts still Vor. VK closer to himself-may he be your guardian, protector, and guide! I must, according to the course of time, soon leave you, or you me; but it will be only for a time, a short space, and then we shall assuredly meet again, to enjoy a blissful immortality with him and his; and with his whom we have known and loved on earth; and with him, whom, having not seen, we love imperfectly, yet sincerely in this lower world. To you, my dear wife and be loved sister, I must one day say, Farewell!-yes, I am daily bidding you the farewell, not of sorrow, or anguish, or regret-but of serenity, of peace, and of love. Happy, indeed, have we been in life, and shall we be less happy in death? O, no! In looking through this window I behold you with pleasure, because I behold you happy; but even to you also I must one day say, Farewell! I begin to be more familiarized, and less affected with these words, 'farewell' and 'death,' than I had used to be; permit me, then, my dear friends, to indulge myself in the sacred pleasure of repeating them, for if it be a pleasure to die, as I hope it will, why not enjoy the pleasure of dying daily. Yes; and you also, my fond attachments, you must all be loosened, in order to be dissolved, ere long; and why not gradually loosened, in order to be broken up, and receive still stronger attachments, over which even death itself shall have no control. Every prudent man wishes to have his day's work performed before he lays himself down to rest. I also am desirous of having my 'farewells' finished in good time, that, when the night of death shall come, I may have nothing to do, but to die. Farewell, then, ye sacred walks, ye fruitful trees, and fragrant flowers! Farewell, thou timepiece dial, whose faithful shadow has oft admonished me of moving time! be faithful still, and say to all who follow me, 'My Master's hour is up, and he is gone, nor can you long remain.' And thou, famed image, Ceres, standing firm on thy proud pedestal, as if protectress of the shady bower, shall I bid thy sculptured form farewell? Whatever thou wast to pagan Greeks, to ine idol hast thou ever been Farewell, thou pleasant garden and convenient 28 no house! your kind accommodations I have long enjoyed, and blessed the hand that gave them! but my heart has been "above them all, and my affections fixed on him who made you all. And to you, mný faithful servants, I would bid a fearless and a short farewell! hoping and expecting, ere long, to meet you safe in heaven, where distinctions and death shall alike be done away, and spirits part no more! My commands have, I hope, been reasonable; yours hath been a willing and cheerful obedience, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.' May this fear and holy circumspection be constantly increasing when I am removed from you; and should you at any future time be tempted to sin against heaven, (which God forbid) remember you once had a master who watched for your souls. Farewell, my friends and my acquaintance! each time I meet you I say, Farewell! not knowing we shall ever meet again in this land of shadows; 'for what is our life? it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.' And you, mine enemies, where are you? I hope I have none-so that on your account I need not reserve a single farewell. But I forget myself; one enemy I have, and one alone the enemy of all mankind; with him I will not shake hands, but hold my peace till I arrive on yonder happy shore, and then I will exultingly shout, "Grim death, farewell!' I am leaving a paradise on earth to enter the paradise of God, and of glorified spirits. I leave not earth with regret, or in disgust, far otherwise; for my Lord hath favoured me above many: I am still as it well becometh me, contented and happy, willing to continue as long as he shall be pleased to appoint this earth as my abode. Yes, Lord, thou hast given me much, but promised me more I am rich in possession, richer in reversion-hence my expectations are elevated. I have a hope full of immortality, which nothing below can satisfy; things seen and temporal court my esteem, and bid high for my affections, but are outbidden by things unseen and eternal! "Yes, blessed Jesus! Thou art, of all thy gifts, thyself the crown.' "Thou hast been the source of my happiness, and the centre of my joy from my youth up. Before I received these great temporal blessings I was happy in thy love alone, and shall be so again when these are all left behind. 1 'Blessed Redeemer! E'er since by faith I saw the stream And shall be after I have passed the barrier of death: for when I cease to breathe I shall not cease to live; my soul will still continue in active existence, though unseen by mortals. All the time I have sojourned upon earth, its actings and operations have been perceived through the medium of the bodily organs, but itself has never been rendered visible; and yet, though unseen, it did really exist, and shall for ever live, when death itself is dead. But, O my soul! however conversant with life, what knowest thou of death? Thou hast never grappled with this king of terrors-true; but my Saviour hath, and overcome death also, not only in his own body, but in his body the Church, yea, in his weakest and most enfeebled members. "But death may, and often does appear in most dreadful array; and this may be my case. Indeed it may; I have no claim, no merit-I am a poor, timid, distrustful, unworthy creature, and have been through life; yet God hath wonderfully supported me, and brought me through difficulties and dangers innumerable. In looking back, I can truly say, Thou, Lord, hast brought affliction upon my loins, hast caused men to ride over my head-hast brought me through fire and through water-and yet, after all, bast brought me out into a wealthy place.' I know that God is a sovereign, as well in death as in life, and from the many and great favours with which I have been blessed in life, I may, perhaps, be less favoured in death; but even this is no argument against faith; I may both fear and feel much, and if he be pleased for a time to leave me in that awful hour to my own weakness, (as he justly may) the conflict of expiring nature (though not on a cross) may be dreadful indeed: still it 6 is but a conflict, and conflicts, in the very nature of things, cannot last long. That cloud which separates me from the view of my earthly friends having once passed, I enter glory. Faith in the blessed Redeemer bids me be fearless; and past experience also seems gently to whisper, Be of good courage, fear not.' Why art thou now, O my soul! rejoicing in hope, whilst many, at this moment in perfect health, as thyself, and death apparently at a distance, are nevertheless full of trembling expectation, and a fearful looking for of judgment and, fiery indignation, while hope is an anchor to my soul? I will, therefore, bless God, and take courage, and say to my soul, Be strong,' yea, 'be strong.' Let me not forget how awful and frightful the most distant prospect of death used to appear, but now, blessed be God, it is not so; with many of my dear friends have I lately parted, and looked into their graves without dismay. Death's visage is changed, and his countenance seems to brighten as he approaches; and, however timid and weak in myself, why should I distrust a faithful God, who has never yet failed me? What is this noise in my ears, but the distant shout of death? and this trembling of the hands, but his nearer advance. Yes; thou invader of mankind! I understand thy summons, and am waiting thy approach. What a mercy, that the sound in my ears is not the sound of terror in my heart-that this shaking of the hands is not the shaking of guilt, of excess, nor of intemperance, but only the weakness of the tremulous nerves, 'Which, pluck'd a little more, the counsel of his own will. I ought not to have a single wish-it is mine to obey, it is his to provide; it is mine to be watchful, and prayerful, and circumspect; to keep a conscience void of of fence, and to dress up my soul for the marriage feast in that marriage garment provided by my Lord, which will beautify and fit me for the converse of angels and glorified spirits. Thus may I be working out my own salvation, experiencing thy divine power, working in me both to will and to do-looking to Jesus for that grace, both promised, and provided, and treasured up in thy blessed self, to enrich and adorn thy believing people: and thus looking, and thus living the life-why should I fear dying the death of the righteous, and finding my last end and blessed eternity to be like his? One thing is cer tain-having once passed the boundary of death, I have nothing to fear, having not a doubt of a blissful immortality; surely, then, he who now enables me to look on the other side the grave with hope, cannot want power to keep me on this side devoid of fear. Ere long, I hope with calm serenity to say,] ,Farewell, thou sun and moon! Farewell, ye stars of light! and thou, mighty molehill, earth, farewell! In the anticipa tion of this hope may we live, in the comfort of it may we die. "Amen, and Amen." The next extract is dated March 10, 1821, and seems to have been written on the first attack of the disease which terminated in his death. "But a few weeks since I was remarking, that I could scarcely bring myself to conclude that I was in years. feeling nothing like decay, either in body or mind; but this week has brought me a true token, a watery "If I have one earthly wish more swollen leg. Yes, my dear friends! predominant than another, it is this, but be not cast down; look not so sad, that I may discover no cowardice in my dearly beloved wife and sister; radeath, nor dishonour God by a fretful ther let us rejoice that I have been so impatience at bodily pain; nor suffer long preserved in, the use and enjoythe last enemy to surprise me unawares, ment of my health and my limbs-let or take me by the throat as a reluctant us rejoice that this disease, whatever it criminal, but that I may meet him, and may be, has not been brought on by welcome him with the smile of holy imprudence or intemperance, but by fortitude, of faithful prayer, and fervent the permission and appointment of an praise. But all must be left to the dis-all-wise God. "Disease invades the posal of him who doeth all things after chastest temperance. «This may be the advanced guard of death! well, be it so; I have nothing to fear, but every thing to hope. To me,' to live is Christ,' and, I trust, 'to die will be gain.' It is true I may, as I often have done, fear afflictions, and tremble at the approach of the king of terrors, for they are the effects of sin, for which I ought to be greatly humbled; yet I have an interest in the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, who conducts his people to heaven. Lord! thou knowest I have delighted to honour thee in life, O! suffer me not to dishonour thee in death by impatience, fretfulness, or discontent-for thou knowest I am naturally a poor, timid, fearful, unbelieving creature. I have sometimes wished to depart in sleep, that I might not dishonour thee in my last moments, but this is unbelieving cowardice : Only receive my soul to thee; The manner and the time be thine." "Why should I distrust a God so faithful and so kind-who hath dealt so bountifully with me through life? Where shall another be found who hath received so many blessings and benefits? Where shall be found a family, and friends, and servants, so dear, so peaceful, and so happy? Surely I have been blessed above many, and have more than faith to support my creed. What know I of sickness, or sorrow, or pain, or adversity, compared with others? I am laid under the deepest obligation to love and serve my God. O! that I could be always praising, instead of distrusting-for even now unbelief is suggesting, 'But how shall I stand if it should please God to bring me into deep waters ? Hitherto I have only ran with the footmen, how shall I contend with horses?" Lord! may thy grace be sufficient for me.' In the swelling of the Jordan of death, 'may thy strength be made perfect in my weakness. I have, indeed, great reason to distrust myself, my sinful self, but no reason to distrust a faithful God -nor have you, my dearest wife and sister; he has given you much, and he will give you more grace; will supply all your need out of his abundant fulness-he will support you under all circumstances, and in all dangers. We must part from each other for a time, but never from our best Friend, either in time or in eternity. His grace hath enabled us to bear up against the storms of prosperity, and he is Almighty to sustain us in the hour of adversity, able to save to the uttermost.' May we trust and not be afraid, for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and our song, and will be our salvation.' Yes! my dear friends! I am to continue with you his appointed time, and I am willing to stay with you, for I have every possible tie that heart could wish to bind me to earth, and to you; but when my Father, my Friend, and Redeemer, says, Come, come away→→ 'Our best friends and kindred dwell→→ He, who best knows when to bring us into this world, and when to unite our hearts, knows best when to take us out: Peace, then, our angry passions still, "And will ye, my dear friends! atz tempt to make the rent mantle of flesh more lovely by the clothing of a fringed shroud, or the decoration of blooming flowers? Vain attempt! yet kind, as its once animated spirit, now fled, now flowing from that principle of love to happy! "Weep not for me, thou lovely widowwidowed sister! weep not for youred wife! weep not for me, thou lovely selves! we are all safe, and shall soon be all happy together; separated yet undivided, even in death. We met on earth to live in love and peace-we union on earth was sweet, our separameet in heaven to part no more! Our tion shall be short, and our re-union eternal!" From the Missionary Register, for April, 1822. Instances of the Influence of Religion on the Negroes at Regent's Town, Sierra Leone. FROM the communications of Mr. Johnson, [to the Church Missionary |