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SERMON VI.

ON BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION.

ACTS xix.

PART OF THE 5TH AND 6TH VERSES.

They were baptized in the name of the Lord

I

Jesus; and when Paul had laid his hands

upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them.

VI.

PROPOSE, in this discourse, to treat of SERM, two of the ceremonies of our church-baptism and confirmation: - they are closely connected together, the one being only a completion of the other. Something, perhaps, I may advance, which may be deserving of the attention of you all; but I

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VI.

SERM. more particularly request those to listen to me, who are shortly to be brought before the bishop.

I shall begin by explaining to you, in the plainest words I can fix upon, how baptism came to be necessary; what the nature of it is; and what are the advantages which we derive from it.

When our first parent, Adam, was created, he was (as you must remember) forbidden to eat of the fruit of a certain tree which grew in the midst of the garden where he was placed; he was told, at the same time, that if he did eat of it, he should surely die. By death is meant, in this place, extinction of being; it is the same as if God had said-In the day that thou transgressest my command, thou shalt lose that life which I have just conferred on thee!' I mention this, because death, in the scriptures, sometimes means, at least is understood to mean, eternal pu

nishment

VI.

nishment after death; but that, in my SERM. opinion, is not its meaning here. Well, notwithstanding God's goodness to him,

Adam, tempted by the devil, having a bad example set him by his wife, and being seduced by his own passions, fell from his obedience; he ate of the tree whereof it had been commanded him-Thou shalt not eat.' Was the sentence, then, executed upon him immediately?—not immediately; but it was pronounced ;-and the respite, which was granted him, can only be considered of the same nature as that which passes between the condemnation and execution of a criminal. Several pu nishments, however, and pernicious effects of his crime, he instantly experienced; he was turned, with disgrace, out of that beautiful garden in which he had been placed; the ground was cursed for his sake, and he was condemned to procure his food from it with labour and sorrow;

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VI.

SERM. he became mortal, and therefore subject to all the ill health, all the diseases, common to mortality;-the first steps in vice being made, his heart was in a degree corrupted, and he became more liable to vice in future; and I think it probable (for such is the usual consequence of guilt) that the powers of his understanding were considerably impaired. At length, the time arrived when he was to suffer his entire punishment; he died-he laid down that existence, which, had he preserved his innocence, would have been immortal; he ceased to be; and, according to strict jus tice, he never would have revived-there would have been an entire end of him. Now all mankind, being sprung from this Adam, share in the ill consequences of his disobedience; they become liable to all the bad effects of his crime-and, among the rest, to death! Every one of us, like unto our first parent, after we

have run our short race here on earth, SERM. VI. sink into the grave-moulder in the dust from which we originally sprung - and, but for God's boundless mercy, in that state should we continue for ever.

I will now tell you of the remedy which God has provided for this, which will bring me to the immediate subject on which I promised to treat.

As in Adam all die, even so in Christ "shall all be made alive." As by the transgression of Adam we lost happiness and immortality, by the perfect obedience of Christ, even to the death upon the cross, we regain them; or, what ought to be the same thing, we are put in a condition of regaining them, and cannot fail of them if it be not our own fault. As connected with Adam, we all sink into the grave;as connected with Christ, we shall all, at a certain time, be raised again. To obtain this high privilege, it is necessary that we VOL. II.

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