and social duties, in labours of beneficence and brotherly love, in the study and contemplation of divine truth, in continual inspection of our own hearts, and watchfulness over our own tempers, we shall then find occupation, ever new, and ever delightful; we shall then, with steadiness and continuity of effort, pursue after still higher degrees of holiness and happiness; we shall then experience no melancholy void, no listless vacancy, no weariness of life; our whole scope of existence will then be filled, and filled with the most satisfactory, the most diversified, and yet the most unchangeable objects. Whilst, in a blessed interchange of action and contemplation, of extended usefulness to our fellow-creatures, and devout but cheerful converse with our Maker, God and eternity, will be continually brought before us, not only divested of terrors, but as the happiest objects of our contemplation; for we shall, then, be assured, that God will be our portion, through all the changes of eternity.

And, now, my brethren, "unto God's gracious mercy and protection, we commit you; the Lord bless you, and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace, both now and for evermore!"

AMEN!

72

DISCOURSE V.

PSALM XXIX. 2.

GIVE THE LORD THE HONOUR DUE UNTO HIS NAME; WORSHIP THE LORD, WITH HOLY WORSHIP.

WE have already seen, that, in the two services of Morning and Evening Prayer, our Church has compressed a whole course of piety, within the limits of a single day; thus enabling us, both clearly to discern, and frequently to review, the obligations of our Christian calling: while the rules, the motives, and the spirit of the Gospel, are so applied to the practice of daily life, as to bring its lessons within the reach of the plainest, and least discursive understanding.

But the prospect elsewhere opens into the entire range of human life: it associates youth with manhood, our earliest infancy with our maturest years; and so connects the present, with the future, and the past, as to meet the demands

of a confirmed faith, and to provide spiritual instruction, for the most enlarged and comprehensive minds.

This provision for our highest wants, is especially contained in the two Sacramental Offices. We there obtain, at one view, an insight into our Christian profession, from its commencement to its consummation; from the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, to that perfection, both of holiness and of enjoyment, which, in accordance with holy Scripture, our Church considers attainable, by the mature followers of our Redeemer; by those, whom Saint John describes, as" fathers in Christ."

By the Office of Baptism, we are instructed how to begin the Christian life well: and, for the constant sustenance of that life, we may draw effectual supplies, from the Service of the Lord's Supper.

In the present discourse, I will confine myself to the former of these subjects. A narrow limit, for so full a theme. May God, of his goodness, enable me so to speak, and you so to hear and apprehend, that the words faithfully spoken, may "minister grace unto the hearers!"

Taking for its foundation the first principle of all revealed truth, the Baptismal Service opens, with an acknowledgement of our original

wretchedness, forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin.' From From this humble confession of our lost estate, it immediately proceeds, to point out the only means of restoration: certifying, after the divine authority of our Redeemer, that 'none can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be regenerate, and born anew, of water, and of the Holy Ghost.' And thus, in two short sentences, it sets forth the entire ground-work of personal Christianity.

For who, that honestly consults his own heart and conscience, must not feel, that man is, by nature, prone to evil; that he is "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked;" that, by his own strength, he is utterly powerless, to rise from the death of sin, to the life of righteousness; and, that he, therefore, stands infinitely in need of an Almighty Deliverer? And who, that faithfully hearkens to the voice of God in Scripture, and to the plain words of our divine Redeemer there recorded, must not own, that Baptism, by water, and by the Holy Ghost, is the sole appointed method of admission, to the blessings and privileges of the Gospel?

6

Nor, while bound, implicitly to receive this scriptural ordinance, according to Christ's holy institution,' and in the literal sense of his words, are we, by any means, withheld from modestly,

and reverently, considering the suitableness of the divine appointment. And, for summary proof of it, we need but revert, to the acknowledged condition of fallen man, and to the fundamental character of the scheme of his redemption. Human nature was found, by the Gospel, in a state of utter, and helpless destitution; it was to be restored by the Gospel, wholly as a system of divine grace, and power. Now, the sacred ordinance of Baptism, directly meets the exigences of the case: for, from the very commencement, it takes the great work of salvation, entirely out of the hands of man, and places it altogether in the hands of God. The lesson, which human nature most needs, and least loves to learn, that God is every thing, and man nothing; this all-important lesson, the Sacrament of Baptism inculcates, with authority not to be resisted, and in language not to be misunderstood. This will equally appear, whether we consider the sign enjoined, or the grace conveyed; for the outward baptism with water, has, plainly, no intrinsic, inherent virtue; and the inward baptism, with the Holy Ghost, imparts a virtue altogether super-human; a regeneration, in which the power is of God alone.

Conformably with this scriptural view, the Baptismal Service calls upon us to implore that,