before me." At another time, God lays his hand on the persons of men, and not on their substance or their friends; visits them with painful, protracted, and alarming disease,―to teach them practically how little both of these both money and friends-even when retained, can do for them in such a situation. The former can procure the best skill, and the most approved medicines-advantages certainly, not to be denied or depreciated-but except for what it can procure, it is utterly worthless; the mere possession of it can be productive of no benefit, can yield no pleasure. Then for the latter, friends :-they are invaluable to a sick person, and indispensable, if his comfort is to be consulted, or even his necessities met; they tend his couch by night and by day, constantly and anxiously; supply his wants with promptitude and cheerfulness; and with a kind of intuitive penetration, anticipate his very wishes. To give him ease they support him, now in this position, and anon, change him to that; administer, now, this cordial, and then the other;-while all their services are characterized by that kindliness of touch, and that tenderness of sympathy, which to the afflicted man are so grateful and soothing. But, oh! they cannot dispel his sufferings, or bear them in his stead; and all their efforts, even to alleviate them, frequently fail. They cannot eradicate the disease which is undermining the constitution, nor restore to the check the bloom of health which has faded,-never, perhaps, to revive. They cannot paralyze the arm of the grim destroyer, or blunt the point of his envenomed dart. Even she, on whom the patient may have lavished his warmest and strongest affections, and who has returned them with interest, can but-look on, and weep; look up, and pray. Yes, and it is just to turn his eye, and his heart in the same direction, that he has been brought so low-to wean his affections from "earth" and "the things" of it, and draw them upwards to heaven, and its things-to withdraw his trust from the Son of man in whom there is no help," and concentrate it on God, who, even when flesh and heart faileth, is the strength of the heart, and a portion for ever." It is, in a word, to induce him to take God for his portion now; and should he be "spared to recover strength, ere he goes hence to be no more," to retain him as his portion ever afterwards-to beware on returning to the world, of loving either it or the things of it"-and in health, and throughout life, to yield to God the supreme" affection" of which He alone is worthy, and which, in "the furnace of affliction," he has learned experimentally, that He alone can requite. 66 66 In the case just supposed, "this sickness is not unto death." Let us suppose now that it is ;-and that, instead of directing the dying man's attention to "the things above," as the only inheritance that was worth his seeking, or capable of yielding him satisfaction, we were to lay at his feet the things of earth, to any extent-" the whole world," and "the glory" thereof; what would it profit him? what pleasure would it afford him? Will toys amuse when med'cines cannot cure? Will toys then amuse ? No; thrones will then be toys, And earth and skies seem dust upon the scale. Yes, that is the real character of earthly things" toys," trifles, NO. I. VOL. III. B nonentities; contemplated in the light of eternity, they are seen to be so; and oh! what folly, then, is it, though it were no sin, to "set the affection" on them? what self-sacrifice, this, though there were in it no ingratitude to God? when he sets freely and fully before our eyes, and presses urgently upon our acceptance," things above"-heaven with its durable riches, unfading honours, and endless joys, and when these will be found, not only a scource of peace in life, but a stay in adversity, and a solace in affliction; in death a support, and throughout eternity a portion. G. WHAT IS BAPTISM? THE meaning of baptism, though partially indicated by the known design of other rites of a similar nature among both the Jews and the heathen, can be determined only by an appeal to the testimony of scripture. Almost every system of religion has possessed some initiatory rite, intended to mark the separation of those who adhered to it from others. Among the Jews circumcision was a divinely-appointed token of connexion with the holy nation, of interest in their peculiar privileges as the chosen people of God, and of subjection to the faith and worship by which they were distinguished from the rest of mankind. And among the heathen, too, there were baptisms of fire and of blood, by which the recipients were consecrated to the service of some particular deity, and admitted to the participation of all the privileges supposed to be peculiar to his votaries. Now, baptism with water is the initiatory rite of christianity, the divinely-appointed sign of subjection to that system of truth and holiness, and of connexion with those who are associated under it as one body," a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people." In common with all similar rites, then, it may be expected to present the distinct, but closely connected ideas of acknowledgment, of dedication, and of purification. And this view of its meaning is sanctioned by scripture, which teaches us that it is intended to recognize an individual's connexion with the church and consequent right to its peculiar privileges, to attest his devotement to the faith and the practice of christianity, and to be a sign of that change of state and of nature which is presupposed in the acknowledgment of his connexion with the church, and is requisite to verify the design of his dedication to the system of christianity. I. On the part of the church baptism expresses acknowledgment. It is administered by the teaching pastor in the name of the church over which he presides; and by the administration of it the recipient is recognized as a member of the church, entitled to the peculiar privileges of "the household of faith." The administration of baptism does not make the recipient a Christian, either in reality, or as to visible character. It cannot make him a Christian really, any more than circumcision could make him to whom it was administered " a Jew inwardly." Being dispensed by men, who have no power to give or withhold spiritual blessings, it imparts none of those principles which constitute true religion. These may exist prior to its administration, as in the first converts from the Gentiles, of whom Peter said, "Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" Or they may be afterwards conferred, as the same apostle intimated to those whom he addressed on the day of Pentecost, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." And in many cases, as in that of Simon Magus, their total absence is undeniable, even though the ordinance has been legitimately dispensed. But baptism does not make the recipient of it a Christian even as to visible character, and consequent right to external privileges. His connexion with the church is presupposed in virtue of profession, or on some other equally valid principle; as the recipient of circumcision was previously a Jew either by birth or by avowed accession. The ground on which a person may be judged by us to belong to the household of faith can be determined only by scripture; but unless it exists in one form or another, as the case may admit or require, the ordinance should not, and cannot warrantably, be administered. The commission, which the apostles received from Christ before his ascension, did not authorise them to baptize all whom they taught, whatever might be the effect of their teaching; or even all who should offer themselves for baptism, without inquiring into the validity of their title to be considered Christians. The meaning is this, "Go ye, and make disciples (or Christians) of all nations; baptizing them (when they become my disciples) in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." It appears, accordingly, from the history of the execution of this commission, contained in the Acts of the Apostles, that the first preachers of the gospel administered the ordinance only to those who furnished satisfactory evidence that they were the disciples of Christ. Philip demanded from the Ethiopian eunuch a solemn profession of his faith in Christ as a prerequisite to compliance with his request for baptism; the ground on which Peter justified his administration of the ordinance to Cornelius and his friends was their reception of the Holy Ghost, which attested their connexion with Christ; and the reception of the gospel, or the avowal of faith in Christ, is generally asserted of those who were baptized. Acts ii. 41; viii. 12-13; xvi. 14-15-33-34; xviii. 8. Baptism, ecclesiastically considered, is thus simply declarative of connexion with the church. The connexion of the baptized with it is presupposed; and the administration of the ordinance to them is the divinely-appointed mode by which the church recognises this connexion, or declares that they are to be regarded as members in it entitled to all its peculiar privileges. Such being its nature, it is obvious that the application to it of the term christening, that is, christianising, or making Christians, is incorrect and reprehensible. It is founded on the notion that baptism is regeneration; and it involves the dogma, held by not a few in the church of England, that the unbaptized, though possessed of faith, and therefore in a saved state, are to be regarded as strangers and foreigners like the heathen, and are indebted for salvation to what is, most unintelligibly, styled by them the uncovenanted mercies of God. Baptism, when viewed as the act of the church declarative of membership in it, respects only visible character and external privileges. We must distinguish "between the church as known by God, and the church as it must be acknowledged by us; the one consisting of genuine Christians, and none else; the other, consisting of all those whom we feel warranted and required to regard and treat as Christians." This distinction is usually expressed by the designations the invisible and the visible church; and adopting this phraseology (which, though not found in the scriptures, briefly and conveniently expresses what is clearly recognised and taught in them,) the acknowledgment of which baptism is the sign is to be regarded as an acknowledgment of membership, not in the invisible, but merely in the visible, church. This is the only acknowledgment which it is competent for men to make. To pronounce authoritatively that this or the other individual is a genuine believer and saint, is the exclusive prerogative of him to whom all things are naked and open, even the thoughts and intents of the heart; and if the administration of baptism involved such a declaration respecting the recipient, it could not lawfully be administered without an order from heaven in every particular instance. The admission of an individual to baptism thus simply attests that nothing is known to men which can invalidate his claim to be regarded as a Christian; and that the church, in the exercise of the judgment of charity, and proceeding on those grounds which the scriptures sanction, is warranted to recognise him as a Christian, and to admit him to the various privileges from which strangers and foreigners, and all who are not fellow-citizens with the saints, should be excluded. Baptism is not to be repeated. It is to be employed only in the first acknowledgment of an individual's connexion with the church. If the baptized who, on account of apostacy, or error, or sin, have been excluded from the household of faith, repent, and ask restoration to their former state in the church, their readmission to its fellowship is not to be attested by the administration of baptism to them. In ancient times there were some who, from zeal for the purity of the church, insisted on rebaptizing those who had apostatized or grievously sinned; and, according to Christ's command, had, for a time, been treated by the members of the church as heathen men and publicans. But there is no example of the repetition of christian baptism recorded in scripture; and such a practice might not only encourage the dangerous notion that the mere reception of baptism was sufficient to wash away previous sins, but is inconsistent with the reference of the ordinance to that change of state and nature, in experiencing which sinners pass from death unto life, for it is a change which is permanent, and does not need to be repeated. II. On the part of the recipient, baptism denotes Dedication. The individual to whom it is administered is solemnly devoted to the faith and the practice of the whole system of christianity. This meaning is attached to the reception of it, not merely in the case of adults who have voluntarily avowed subjection to the religion of Christ; but even in the case of infants, who are incapable of making such a profession, for God may impose upon his creatures whatever obligations he pleases, and does not need to ask their previous consent to the constitution under which they are placed by him. The apostles were accustomed to baptize in the name of Christ. Acts ii. 38; x. 48, &c. The expression implies that they administered the ordinance by the authority of Christ, or in obedience to the com mission which they had received from him. But it signifies more than this; and its meaning may be illustrated by a reference to the assertion of Paul, that the Israelites in passing through the Red Sea, were "baptized unto Moses." 1 Cor. x. 2. The apostle wished to warn the Corinthians against undue confidence and gloriation in mere external privileges-the abundance of extraordinary gifts with which the gospel dispensation was accompanied among them, and the reception of the sacraments which sealed their connexion with that dispensation; and with this view he reminds them of the judgments which befel the Israelites in the wilderness, notwithstanding the special privileges with which they had been favoured. Instead, however, of appealing to the religious ordinances enjoyed by them, he selects extraordinary facts in their history, which he describes as possessing a correspondence to the two sacraments of the New Testament dispensation. The one, which was not repeated, he calls their baptism in the cloud and the sea; the other, which often recurred, he styles their participation of spiritual meat and spiritual drink, that is, of food spiritually significant. Now, the phrase employed in describing the former, "baptized unto Moses," was obviously selected to express the idea of dedication or devotement, not to the person of Moses, but to his ministry, or to that divine system of laws and ordinances which was to be introduced by him as God's chosen and (by the very miracle at the Red Sea) attested instrument. To be baptized unto Moses was, therefore, to be devoted to "the law given by him,"-to the reception of it, to the observance of all its prescriptions, moral and typical, and to the improvement of it as the only system of religion to be then recognized. By parity of reason to be baptized unto Christ, or unto the name of Christ,-the phrase employed in scripture on account of his superiority to Moses, is to be solemnly devoted to the “ grace and truth which came by Christ;" or, as it is otherwise expressed, "the better hope which he brought in, the better testament of which he is the Mediator;" that is, the whole system of christianity. Recognizing those who receive it as members of the church of Christ, baptism devotes them to the belief of all the truths which he has revealed, to the observance of all the ordinances which he has instituted, to the practice of all the precepts which he has enjoined, and to the enjoyment of all the privileges and blessings which he has promised to his true disciples. Hence the commission to baptize was accompanied with an instruction to the apostles to teach those who were baptized, to observe all things whatsoever Christ had commanded. The intimation that the apostles baptized in the name of Christ, implies no deviation from the commission given them by the Saviour, which required the ordinance to be administered "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." This formula intimates that baptism has been appointed to be the initiatory ordinance of the christian church, by the authority of all and of each of the persons of the Godhead. But it has a more extensive meaning. It refers to all the claims and relations which belong to the divine persons, and are the basis of their authority; and it indicates the dedication of the baptized to christianity as a revelation of these claims and relations. As baptism is a religious ordinance, which implies an act |