atick flesh and blood of our redemption. Through life I can make allowance for their imperfections, as I wish them to make allowance for mine. I can give honour, where honour; and praise, where praise is due. And when my last hour is come, I am sure, that it will prove no diminution of my happiness, to be conscious, that I can only hope to enter the mansions of glory, in company with myriads on myriads of my fellow Christians of a different persuasion, over whom will be pronounced the approving sentence, "Well done ye good and faithful servants-enter ye into the joy of your Lord,"

Nevertheless, I must, while here below, clothed with the garments of mortality; I must contend, most earnestly contend for the faith of Christ. It matters not to me, to what it relates, whether to internal graces or to external order. It is all holy, it is all divine, and it is all imperative. You have no right to say of one gospel truth, that it is immaterial; or of one gospel institution, that it is either indifferent or superfluous; that it may be acceded to or resisted at pleasure.

Hence I can never reconcile it to my conscience to be so tender of the mere opinions of men, as to lay my hand upon my mouth, and my mouth in the dust, rather than controvert a favourite prejudice, or expose myself to an injurious reproach. But while I live, I will endeavour, through good report and through evil report, to serve the Lord with fear, and of him only will I be afraid. While I live, although it will be impossible to renounce, or even to modify the truths this day delivered, I will not be inflamed by the fires of a persecuting spirit; I will not suffer this fiend of hell to rankle in my heart; I will not cease to remember, that "now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity." And still, in defence of the true Church, the true Zion and Jerusalem, so often and so unjustly assailed, will I neither hold my peace nor rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. AMEN,

M

SERMON VIII.

ISAIAH lxii. 1.

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

WITH the preceding discourses has terminated all, that Í am at present disposed to urge in behalf of the divine right of an episcopal government and ministry. When a few more subjects, intimately connected with the prosperity of our Zion, shall have passed in review before us; it will he proper to enforce the general argument, and urge the entire claims of the Church, in some closing remarks, designed to inculcate the advantages of unity, and expose the evils of schism.

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So far, I have borne a decided, though I trust and believe, an unexceptionable testimony against the great body of non-episcopalians, wherever located and into whatever sects divided. My present object will be limited to those, who entertain a widely different opinion from us and all other Christians, upon the much controverted subject of baptism.

Not however, that I propose to enter largely upon its discussion. It would occupy too much time. It would interfere with the more prominent design of this investigation, and be liable to divert the attention of the hearer from what I cannot but consider a far more interesting and important inquiry. It is, nevertheless, very obvious, that one, among many causes of the separation of our fellow Christians from the Church universal, is to be traced to the mode in which we administer the sacrament of baptism, and also to the principle involved by its celebration in the case of infants. Can this cause in either particular be fairly and justly obviated?

As to the mode: In the absence of every thing approaching to a positive, verbal command, our judgment must necessarily be guided by such inferences as may be reasonably drawn from the inspired

volume. Its examples are always made to vary in their character, precisely as one disputant contends for sprinkling, and another for immersion. They have not, for a length of time, and in all probability for long ages hence, they will not control the universal suffrage in favour of one common interpretation.

I shall therefore pass them by. I will not accompany our blessed Saviour to the stream of Jordan: For whether the rite were there performed by sprinkling, by affusion, or by immersion; like the circumcision, which he previously endured, it would scarcely form an unalterable precedent for us, inasmuch as it was not Christian baptism; inasmuch as certain disciples at Ephesus, who had before submitted unto John's baptism, were at the instance of Paul rebaptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. I will not undertake critically to expound the scriptures, which speak of the man of Æthiopia, of Lydia, or of the jailer at Philippi, nor will I venture to display a profusion of learning on the original Greek and Hebrew words, whether they actually mean to sprinkle, to pour upon, or to immerse. These things have been argued pro and con a hundred and a thousand times, and still the question remains debatable and debated, as it was, when first broached by our modern anabaptists,

I rather prefer to inquire: Is the mode in any sense material? If it had been divinely prescribed, or, which is equivalent, if it had been unquestionably the uniform practice of the Apostles to baptize in a particular manner, I would never answer in the negative. But under existing circumstances, when conjecture must necessarily supply the place of an undoubted record: Is the mode in any sense material? Is the inward and spiritual grace betokened by external baptism, in the slightest degree affected by the quantity of water used in its celebration?

Let us examine the matter analogically. There is but one other sacrament appointed in the scriptures of the new testament, and can you tell me the size of the loaf broken by our adorable Saviour at its institution? Can you give me the exact weight of the several fragments of that loaf distributed by him to his disciples? No, you can do no such thing. You cannot even tell me the particular species of corn of which it was composed. Nor of the wine; you cannot resolve me, what kind was employed, or what amount was received, Bread and wine were indeed consumed, but all these

minute details are suppressed. They appear to have been considered beneath the dignity of so solemn and sacred a transaction. In the eyes of our Saviour Christ, quality and quantity possessed no inherent value. His thoughts preferred to rest upon the memorable event, mere physical substances were proposed to symbolize; upon his precious death and sacrifice on the cross for our redemption. No matter therefore, what may be the kind or what the measure of the bread and wine, of which we partake in the eucharist; there is as much virtue in them, provided they are received in the spirit of faith accompanied by thanksgiving, provided they do truly represent unto us the body and blood of our redemption; there is as much virtue in them, as if they were the precise counterpart of the materials originally blessed and bestowed by Christ.

And thus, if there be any safety, any propriety in reasoning from a strongly marked and unequivocal analogy, thus it is with holy baptism. There is no express command, as in the case of Naaman the Syrian leper, and the waters of our country are as good as the waters of Jordan. We may be, either immersed in or sprinkled by them, and if the sacrament be rightly received, our polluted heart and flesh will become clean; we shall resume the heart and the flesh of a little child. To deny it, would be an excess of that very formality, of which the Church is so often and pertinaciously, though so wrongfully accused. It would cause the shadow to outvie the substance; the figure of the seal, the wax upon which it is impressed; and consequently our friends of the baptist denomination very properly maintain their opinion on the ground of Apostolick usage and divine authority alone. And certainly, if that ground were tenable, for one, I would yield to it the homage of a willing mind. I would renounce all my present sentiments, in its favour, lest haply I should be found to fight even against God.

But permit me, Brethren, to remind you of a remarkable passage of the scriptures, which powerfully strengthens my convictions of their errour. I allude to that wonderful act of condescension on the part of our gracious Lord, when "he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." The menial character of the office smote the heart of Peter, and warmly remonstrating against it, he declared, "Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered

him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean." You discover therefore, Brethren, the emblematick nature of these words, and their spiritual application. Literally we know, they cannot be true. We know that the mere washing of the feet cannot cleanse the whole surface of the body. But still as an emblem of internal purity, it was pronounced, by the highest authority, to be equally significant with a more copious ablution. The hands and the head of Peter were not washed, and yet he was "clean every whit.”

And what is external baptism, but an emblem, the outward and visible sign and seal of an inward and spiritual grace?" You must be sensible, that it amounts to nothing more, and that I have here presented you with a perfect analogy. You have only to substitute Christian for Jew, with the antitype for the type, and Paul himself will tell you, "He is not a Christian which is one outwardly; neither is that baptism which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Christian which is one inwardly; and baptism is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." Yes, Brethren, in the spirit and not in the letter. Outward circumcision itself was partial, while the whole heart was sanctified and cleansed. Outward baptism may be performed by the sprinkling or the pouring of water upon the face, and still this partial "wash、 ing of regeneration" may be as effectually accompanied by "the renewing of the Holy Ghost," as if the whole body were momenta. rily buried by immersion. That such was the opinion of the primitive Christians is obvious from their constant practice in all cases of emergency, particularly in that of clinicks or those who by sickness were confined to their beds.

Recollect also that the Apostles invariably baptized their hearers immediately after their conversion, and that consequently upon every profession of a true and lively faith, we are solemnly bound to imitate their example, and by no means delay the applicant for the mystical washing away of sin. But the preacher of the Gospel has converted a caravan amid the burning deserts of Africa, or a polar tribe with whom for nearly half the year, the rivers are congealed to ice. Can any man then forbid a cup of water, that these should not be baptized? Must the rite be delayed, until those de