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. Nor 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 The tion an initiatory ceremony. 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, vouchsafed 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 dible witnesses, and that the impression received from testimony was little less forcible than that made upon the senses. The ceremony of baptism is still, however, to be considered as an essentially important institution'; reminding all to whom it has been administered of their imperfections and their privileges, of the miseries inherent to human nature in this world, and the influence by which they are to be overcome. Though the manner of its administration has varied with the change of circumstances, and children may in infancy receive this seal of admission into the Christian church, the nature of the institution remains unchanged. The advantages which are to be derived from the knowledge of our having been thus early devoted to God, by means of an engagement solemnly solemnly entered into in our names; are great and manifest; and much is it to be regretted that. they are not more frequently reflected upon, and. more zealously enforced. We see so many proofs of the powerful effects produced by strong and early impressions, that little doubt can be entertained of the consequences that attend them. Ask and inquire of your friends whether any instance can be produced, of a child's having had the honour of a royal sponsor, and remaining ignorant of and insensible to the honour that had been thus conferred. Or, as it is always safer to select our authorities from the dead than from the living, you may, in Johnson's biography of the poets, read the life of the celebrated author of the Night Thoughts; a man of indisputable piety, genius, and learning; but who, notwithstanding the endowments of VOL. II. his |