it admits not now of sensible demonstration, may no less certainly be depended upon, than when it appeared to the Israelites as a cloud by day and as a pillar of fire by night. Never, however, let it be forgotten, that the assistance of God is not now promised towards the attainment of temporal things. The promises of the Gospel are of a very different nature. It promises a blessing to those who mourn, to those who are persecuted and despised; a blessing to the poor and lowly in heart; a blessing to those who suffer for the sake of conscience. But these blessings are not to be conferred in the present state: they are to be conferred in the kingdom of Heaven. And that the sufferings of the present life might no longer be considered as any proof of the disapprobation of God, we are expressly informed, that it pleased

him to make the Author of our salvation perfect through suffering.

Were the change that took place in the nature of the promises revealed in the New Testament duly considered, it would not only reconcile us to the apparently dark dispensations of Providence, but teach us to rejoice in the firm assurance that all will work together for good to those who love God.

The rites instituted by Moses were all calculated to excite faith in the promises of God, as they were either memorials of the fulfilment of those which had already been accomplished, or types of those which were still the objects of hope and expectation. The rites appointed by Jesus Christ were instituted for a similar purpose, and in every respect adapted to the end proposed. By them we are reminded how fully, how graciously all the promises made

to

to our fathers by the prophets have, in the coming of the Messiah, been fulfilled. In them we have an assurance given, that the promises of grace here, and of glory hereafter, published in the Gospel, to all true believers, shall be no less punctually accomplished. Nór are they only

calculated to increase our faith and to excite our hope, but to purify our desires, to regulate our affections, and to strengthen our principles, so as to enable them to resist temptation. This is especially the case with regard to the sacrament of our Lord's Supper, instituted as a memorial of our Saviour's death; but let us not Imagine that the sacrament of baptism has ceased to be to us of any importance, and that it is to be regarded in no other light than that of an established custom.

Baptism was from its first institu

tion an initiatory ceremony. The converts to Christianity, whether they had been Jews or Pagans, made a solemn profession of their acceptance of the terms of salvation offered by Jesus Christ. It was, on the part of the baptized, a declaration of faith, and a promise of obedience. It was on the part of God, (represented by his ministers,) a ratification of the promises made by our Redeemer, of which the sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost formed an essential part and as the Almighty had in former times condescended to give to Abraham, to Moses, and the prophets, some immediate token, which should be to them, and to their descendants, and to all who heard of it, a certain proof that the remoter promise should in like manner be accomplished; so he now did to the fathers of the Christian church. After

the

the death of our Lord, the promised gift of the Holy Spirit was, on the administration of baptism, bestowed in such a manner as to afford, through the evidence of the senses, a convincing proof of the miraculous interposition of Divine power. Compare the accounts you find of this in the Acts of the Apostles with the passages I formerly referred to in the Old Testament, and you will perceive a very striking correspondence. The sensible operation of the Holy Spirit exhibited in the miraculous gifts bestowed upon the first converts, was, like the miracles of former times, youchsafed for a special purpose. In establishing the faith of those who were witnesses of it, that purpose was accomplished; for God, who formed the mind of man, knew it to be so constructed, as to be susceptible of conviction from the evidence of cre