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draw off your attention from your great, your immortal concern-the one thing needful. Lay up in your heart, and in your soul, the principles of faith and obedience revealed in the Gospel. Remember the examples of God's children set before you in holy writ: the tender affection of Ruth, the diligent attention and love in Mary, who sate at Jesus's feet, the praise of others mentioned by the Apostles: remember how Joseph, separated from his father's house, and serving in a strange land, feared to do evil, lest he should "sin against God," and the Lord was with him, and made all that he did to prosper: remember how Samuel "let none of the words of the Lord fall to the ground;" and how Timothy "learned from a child to know the holy Scriptures." Above all, remember the early piety and filial submission of the blessed Jesus- the pattern of all perfection. Though he was a Soneven the Son of the Most High-yet he practised the obedience of a servant: he was patient and gentle, meek and lowly in heart. Let his words be written upon your hearts, and his example be lovely in your eyes. So shall you be indeed the children and servants of your Father which is in heaven, and made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

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SERMON XI.

BAPTISM.

JOHN, iii. 5, 6.

"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

THE first public administration of Baptism* in this place affords an occasion which I willingly embrace, of making some remarks upon this sacrament, and upon the mode in which it is appointed to be used in our church. And let me ask, brethren, if the ceremony which we have now witnessed be not most interesting and affecting? What can be more so, if we except (so far as the feelings are concerned) that service with which we take leave of our brethren departed in the Lord? Think of the

Notice had been given that Baptism would be administered after the second lesson in the afternoon, on the third Sunday in each month.

state of these infants, now admitted into the congregation of the faithful; of their naturally weak and helpless condition, in respect of which they are probably inferior to every thing else that hath life: think of the numbers that are cut off in infancy; how many of those now sporting in childhood will strew the ground in rapid succession, marking the power and progress of the great destroyer; how few will survive to wear the hoary crown of a good old age: think of the labour and toil, the pain and sorrow, the care and vexation which, in different degrees, will hereafter be their portion. And yet these are but earthly considerations. Reflect, I pray you, upon the condition of every child of man, with reference to the great and important end of his being. Each enters into life in a state of alienation from God; from that Being who is the author of his existence, and in whose hands are the issues of everlasting life and death. Nay, further, he inherits at his birth, and must carry with him into life, a diseased and treacherous disposition; a heart that will be continually rebelling against God, and deceiving itself; a will, by nature inclined to evil, where all the labour that can be bestowed will not be able to kill the seeds or eradicate the noxious plant, which the sin of our first father has generated in all his posterity, and which the author of all evil is daily cherishing, that it may bring forth bitter fruit. How unspeakably awful are these thoughts! what gloomy

forebodings would they not excite in every thinking mind, were it not for the Covenant of Life and Grace, of the blessing of which the Sacrament of Baptism is a faithful pledge ordained by our compassionate Saviour! Yes, my brethren, the Covenant of Grace comprehends our children. For each of these hath Christ died; for each of them hath a ransom been paid more precious than the wealth of ten thousand worlds; each is even by nature one of that race of which, however lost, depraved, degraded, it is said by our Lord himself, God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son, that the world through Him might be saved." Nay, more; each of these, when brought to the laver of regeneration, is made a child of God, is admitted into his family, and becomes a partaker of all the privileges which, through the covenant sealed with the blood of Christ, belong to his members, and of the great and precious promises made to the faithful.

Which, now, shall we be most inclined to pause upon the fearful state of the child by nature, the darkness of ignorance, the helplessness, the natural depravity, the violence of passion, and the awful end of ungodliness and unrighteousness, or its state by grace, the new birth untorighteousness, the washing away ofthe guilt of original sin, the gradual subduing of its power, the daily renewing by the Holy Ghost, the fruit unto holiness, the end, everlasting life! Shall we be more filled with awe and

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fear, or with hope, and joy, and thankfulness for all that is bestowed, and all that is promised? But whether we look at the dark scene presented to us by the child of fallen Adam, or the brightness shed around the child of God in Christ Jesus, can we fail to take a lively interest in every little one, of whom we have to say, on the one side, that but for the blood of the cross everlasting death had been its portion; and, on the other, "of such is the kingdom of God?" When any, then, are presented to God in baptism, and sue by their parents and sponsors for admittance into the church of Christ, how can we do otherwise, if we have in our hearts a portion of that love which distinguishes his disciples, than join in earnest prayer for a blessing upon them? saying to ourselves, These are to be tossed, as we have been, and still are, upon the waves of this troublesome world; many a dangerous rock and many a treacherous shallow will lie in their way; many a storm will be raised by their great adversary, and many a calm more deceitful, and therefore more perilous, may beguile them; much it is to be feared that they may make shipwreck of their faith, and perish everlastingly. How do we rejoice at the thought of their being now received into the ark of Christ's church, where we have deposited all our treasure; and how earnestly do we desire for them that they may, at last, reach the haven where we would be! Such,

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