festly unfit for the society of Christ's faithful people upon earth. Confirmation is therefore necessary, as a precautionary measure on the part of the Church. But I am desirous rather of pointing out to you its expediency to the person confirmed; of shewing why you all have reason to be thankful that you have been, or will be shortly, invited to the ordi nance of confirmation. And the expediency lies in this, that at a most important crisis of life; at a time when most of you must become the independent directors of your own conduct, in a much greater degree than during the years of childhood; at a crisis when in fact you must make a choice between the contending principles of good and evil, each claiming your service; and when the choice of evil is suggested to you by the prevalent maxims and practices of an ungodly world, and finds a ready advocate in the weakness and sinfulness of your own fallen nature; then the Church, as a faithful guardain of your spiritual inte rests, steps in, and reminds you of the importance of your choice, and of the excellence and blessedness of that alternative, which, but for her, you might have been left to forget, or induced to dislike and to reject. Such is the charitable and parental intention of the Church in inviting you to the ordinance of confirmation, and requiring of her ministers that they shall, to the utmost of their abilities, communicate to you the knowledge requisite for your

direction, and excite in you the disposition to to use your knowledge to its proper purpose. Such is the intention of the Church; and therefore, when I address you on this, and on other matters relative to your highest interests, T trust you will consider me, not as a mere private well wisher, much less as an unauthorised intruder into matters in which I have no concern; but rather as an official messenger, sent to you by the Church, and by Him who is the Head of the Church, with a communi cation of the deepest importance to your eternal welfare. And if this, which is the true view of the character in which I address you, should lead you to suppose that at any time I am not expressing my own sentiments and feelings, but merely acting an official part; though in thinking thus you may do me less than justice, still I would say, put my sentiments and feelings totally out of the question. When a king sends a herald to declare his will, it may be wise to scrutinize the mission of the herald, and to ascertain that he conveys accurately the message committed to him; but that being ascertained, his own sentiments on the subject can be of no importance whatever. Consider me then as Christ's minister; not indeed empowered, like the prophets and apostles, to communicate truths which there is no possibility of your otherwise learning; but commissioned to inform you of truths, which, though they exist in the revealed word

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of God, you might fail to discover there remind you of truths which, though you have learned, you might forget; and in this matter especially, commissioned to remind you, that the name of Christian will profit you nothing without the reality of its import; and that the reality of Christianity consists in a practical adherence to the conditions of the baptismal

covenant.

At your baptism, it was promised in your name, that you should renounce every domination that arrays itself against the supre macy of Jehovah; that you should believe the revelations, and that you should obey the commandments of God: and this promise you are now invited to ratify and confirm in your own persons. But do not, I beseech you, imagine, that by complying with this invitation, you impose upon yourselves an obligation and an accountability which it may be for your interest, and which it is in your power to avoid. In such a supposition there are two great errors. The first error is in viewing the baptismal covenant, as being like all human covenants, one of reciprocal advantage; and in doubting whether the benefits to be derived from it are in reality worthy of the sacrifices which you are called upon to make whereas the advantage is, and must of necessity be, all on one side; and the services demanded, are not stipulated payments in purchase of future happiness, but pre-requi

sites indispensible in the very nature of things. For as the blessing of external peace and tranquillity cannot possibly be enjoyed by the man of violent, irritable, and unkindly pas sions; so neither can the state of happiness prepared for God's redeemed people be enjoyed by any but those whose hearts have on earth been disciplined into harmony with the boliness of its delights. The other error to which I have alluded, is that of supposing, that by ratifying the promise of baptism, you create an obligation which did not previously exist. Of course, by promising solemnly, and in the especial presence of God, that you will do that which you have neither the intention nor the desire of doing, you would shew a most lamentable contempt for the power and justice of the Almighty, and would add to all your other sins, that of gross hypocritical falsehood. But every obligation contained in the baptismal vow existed, so soon as the facts and truths to which it relates, together with the evidence for their reality, were presented to your minds. So soon as you could form any distinct notion of what was meant by the word GOD, you were under the obligation to make His will the supreme guide of your conduct, and to resist and renounce, as an impious and destructive usurpation, the influence of every opposing being or principle. So soon as you had a general notion why the Church receives the book which we call the

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BIBLE, as a revelation sent from God, so soon was it your duty to study it with h earnest care and attention, to believe every thing which it announced, and to do every thing which it commanded you: and consequently, the confirmation of the baptismal vow, no more creates the obligation to lead a religious life, than a promise now made to respect and obey your parents, would create the obligation to filial obedience.

But if confirmation does not create the obligation, where, you may ask, is its practical utility? I have already mentioned, that at a most important crisis of life, it brings before you, faithfully and strongly, the real state of the relation in which you stand to your Creator, and the connexion of time with eternity; it reminds you that you are subject to deep responsibilities, that you are by covenant the possessors of glorious privileges; and it reminds you of these things, just at the period of life when you are naturally most apt to forget them, and when their presence and action is most necessary to meet the increased temptations to which you are about to be exposed. And the Church, in inviting you to confirmation, reminds you of these important interests, with a weight of authority which could attend no exhortation from any individual, however worthy of your affection and respect. She speaks with the dignity of a great society, acting through certain appointed officers, to whom she delegates the duty, not