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 PRACTICAL TREATISE 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL IMPORT 
 
 BAPTISM, 
 
 THE DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE (rilSEir, ANCK 
 OF THE ORDIN " NCE. 
 
 By The Rev. JOHN THOMSON, 
 
 Mr:- STER OF .SHETTr.KSrON. 
 
 GLASGOW:— W. R. MTHUN. 
 
 MDCCCXXXII. 
 
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PRACTICAL TREATISE 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL IMPORT 
 
 BAPTISM, 
 
 THE DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE OBSERVANCE 
 OF THE ORDINANCE. 
 
 By The Rev. JOHN THOMSON, 
 
 MINISTER OF SHETTLESTON. 
 
 GLASGOW:— W. R. M'PHUN. 
 
 MDCCCXXXII. 
 
m 
 
 ELDERS AND CONGREGATION 
 
 SHETTLESTON CHAPEL OF EASE, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING TREATISE IS. 
 
 WITH JIUCH RESPECT, 
 
 Hnscribetr, 
 
 BY THEIR AFFECTIONATE PASTOR. 
 
 THE AUTHOH. 
 
^<^r^^- 
 
 % 
 
 '^■\ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following treatise embraces the greater 
 part of a series of discourses on the general sub- 
 ject of Baptism, recently addressed to the Con- 
 gTegation of Shettleston. It was the author's 
 original intention to have these discourses 
 printed for circulation, merely among the heads 
 of families, in the district more immediately con- 
 nected with the Chapel. He has been led, how- 
 ever, to indulge the hope, that at least the prac- 
 tical department of the series, may not be alto- 
 gether unedifying or unacceptable to others. 
 He now ventures, therefore, to bring the sub- 
 stance of what was thus delivered to his people, 
 
before the public, in the present form. Sensible 
 of much deficiency, he does so with no little 
 hesitation. But he looks for the blessing of the 
 Holy Spirit of God, in whose hand even the 
 weakest may become the honoured instrument 
 of advancing the cause of Christ. And it will 
 give him unspeakable satisfaction, if, even in a 
 single instance, he can here be the means of 
 making a salutary or saving impression. 
 
 Shettleston, October y 1832. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction, _ _ _ _ ^^ _V 7 
 
 PART I. 
 
 The Spiritual Import of Baptism, - - 15 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Baptism a Sign of the Covenant of Grace, - 16 
 
 1. Ingrafting into, or Union with Christ, - — 
 
 2. Pardon, or Freedom from the Guilt of Sin, 19 
 
 3. Regeneration, or Freedom from the Pollution 
 
 of Sin, 21 
 
 4. Dedication to the Service of God in Christ, 24 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Baptism a Seal of the Covenant of Grace, - 26 
 
 1 . A Seal of the New Covenant Blessings, - — 
 Substitution of Baptism for Circumcision, - 27 
 Pledge on the part of God, - - - 35 
 Corresponding engagement on the part of Man, 36 
 
 2. Baptismal Regeneration, - - - 37 
 At variance with Fact, - - - - 38 
 At variance with Scripture, - - - 40 
 
 PART 11. 
 
 The Duties connected with the Observance of Bap- 
 tism, ,------45 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION I. PAGE 
 
 The Necessary Preparation for the Ordinance, 50 
 
 1. Competent Knowledge, - - - - — . 
 
 2. Self-Examination, ----- 53 
 Internal Principles, ----- 57 
 External Deportment, - - - - GO 
 
 3. Communion with the Church of Christ, - 64 
 
 SECTION II. 
 The State of Mind and of Heart in which the Or- 
 dinance ought to he Observed, - - 68 
 
 1. Practical Recognition of its Nature and Design, — 
 
 2. Devotional Retire^uent, - - - _ 73 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 The Conduct, Personal and Relative, by which Bap- 
 tism should be followed, - - 78 
 
 Subserviency to the Glory of God and the Cause of 
 Christ its distinguishing characteristic, - — 
 
 1. Religious Education of the Children Baptized, 79 
 
 2. Godly Example, 87 
 
 Obligation to Godliness implied in the reception 
 
 of the Privilege, ----- 88 
 Necessary to give effect to Parental Influence, 
 Insti-uction, and Admonition, - - 
 
 3. Prayer, 91 
 
 Family Worship, ----- 94 
 
 Conclusion, ------ IQO 
 
 Exhortation to Young Persons, _ _ - IQl 
 

 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Wisely accommodating himself to the cir- 
 cumstances of his people under the Old Testa- 
 ment dispensation, Jehovah had been pleased 
 to establish among them various ceremonial 
 observances, not merely as constituent paits of 
 his worship, but as emblematical, at the same 
 time, of his own gracious designs, and most em- 
 phatically expressive also on their part, of 
 humble and thankful acquiescence in the plan 
 as well as the offer of divine mercy. Besides 
 these, however, there were others instituted 
 by the Jews themselves, which they very gen- 
 erally, if not universally practised, as of para- 
 mount importance and indispensible obligation. 
 
8 liNTRODUCTIOxX. 
 
 Among the rest, there was added to the in- 
 itiatory rite of the Jewish Church, a ceremony 
 termed " the baptism of proselytism," upon 
 which the efficacy of this peculiar rite was 
 supposed essentially, or at least very ma- 
 terially to depend. In the case, more especially, 
 of Gentile converts, the ordinance of circum- 
 cision was not of itself deemed sufficient to 
 answer the purpose for which it had been pre- 
 scribed. Before any such candidate for admis- 
 sion into the Commonwealth of Israel could be 
 fully entitled to share the blessings of the cove- 
 nant, it was considered necessary, that besides 
 being duly circumcised, according to the direc- 
 tions of the Mosaic law, he should be led to 
 some running stream or natural fountain, and 
 there, after receiving farther instruction, should, 
 in the presence of persons appointed for the 
 purpose, have his whole body immersed in the 
 water. Such was the importance attached to 
 this ceremony, that while without it all else 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 was accounted defective or useless, it was 
 alleged to involve in it, or to cany along with 
 it a complete personal and relative change. 
 Every individual thus baptized was supposed 
 thereby to be freed from his corrupted heathen 
 soul, and to obtain in its place another and a 
 pure one, previously existing and prepared for 
 the purpose. Hence these proselytes of right- 
 eousness, as they were termed, were every 
 where regarded as children once born in sin, 
 but now born in the covenant, and were ac- 
 cordingly designated by the expressions new 
 born, spiritually born, regenerated, new crea- 
 tures. As the consequence, too, of all this, 
 every tie, whether of nature or of affinity, was 
 held to be completely broken. Their heathen 
 relatives were no longer looked upon as in any 
 way belonging to them, or in any degree con- 
 nected with them — a fact wliich in all proba- 
 bility gave occasion to the statement of a cele- 
 brated Roman historian, that, " The first princi- 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pies of the religion into which the Jewish con- 
 vert was initiated, taught him to renounce iiis 
 country, and to hold in contempt his parents, 
 and children, and brothers." * 
 
 To the ceremony thus prevalent among the 
 Jews, the initiatory rite, under the New Testa- 
 ment dispensation, is very commonly traced. 
 Nor is the supposition by any means improbable, 
 that its being so well known and so generally 
 practised among those to whom the Gospel was 
 first proclaimed, did actually suggest the idea 
 of baptism to our Lord, and induce him to 
 establish it as an ordinance of the Christian 
 Church. In opposition to this, indeed, the fact 
 itself thus referred to as the origin of the rite is 
 not unfrequently disputed. It is maintained 
 by many, that as neither the Targumists, 
 nor Josephus, nor Philo, whose writings ap- 
 peared about the close of the first century, have 
 
 * Tacitus, Book v. chap. 5. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 taken the least notice of it, we have no sufficient 
 evidence that any such practice actually pre- 
 vailed among the Jews previous to the public 
 ministry of the Messiah's forerunner himself. 
 The objection, however, seems to be completely 
 overthrown by the manner in v/liich, according 
 to the sacred narrative, John's administration of 
 this ordinance was generally contemplated and 
 spoken of. Had it been till then unknown, the 
 novelty of the institution could hardly have 
 failed to excite the feeling, and call fortli the 
 expression of surprise; whereas, on the contrary, 
 the language in which the practice of John is 
 alluded to, discovers nothing but the most com- 
 mon and familiar acquaintance with it. Tlie 
 priests and the Levites sent from Jerusalem 
 " asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest 
 thou, then, if thou be not that Christ, nor 
 Elias, neither that prophet ? " * Besides, 
 
 ♦ John i 25, 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on the supposition tliat it had never been 
 introduced till the time of our Lord and 
 his forerunner, there appears to be no little 
 difficulty in accounting for its subsequent preva- 
 lence among the Jews. To say that it was 
 borrowed from tlie religion of Jesus, (which 
 alone can remove the difficulty,) is to forget 
 entirely the inveteracy of the prejudices which 
 every thing belonging to, or in any way con- 
 nected with this holy religion had to encounter 
 among the descendants of Israel. 
 
 Nor is there any greater force in the objec- 
 tion, also not unfrequently urged, that having 
 been neither required nor sanctioned by the 
 divine authority, it was therefore unworthy of 
 the Saviour's respect, far less deserving his 
 imitation. To meet the conclusion thus very 
 hastily drawn, nothing more is requisite than the 
 simple reference to v/hat took place at the 
 institution, of the other sacrament. It had 
 become usual, in concluding the celebration of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 tbe Passover, for the master of the household, or 
 the person presiding, to distribute among the 
 guests a cake of unleavened bread, broken and 
 blessed, and afterwards a cup of wine also, over 
 which, in like manner, the divine blessing had 
 been implored. For this part of the ceremony 
 there was no warrant whatever in the directions or 
 injunctions of the Mosiac law. Yet our blessed 
 Lord, when instituting the coiTespondent Chris- 
 tian ordinance, hesitated not, in the exercise of 
 his prerogative, as the divine Head of the Church 
 to retain what was thus of mere human autho- 
 rity, while he set aside, at the same time, all 
 that had been so expressly appointed under the 
 immediate superintendence of God. So, also, 
 when instituting the initiatory ordinance of the 
 Christian Church, did he choose rather to abro- 
 gate the rite of circumcision, as ordained by 
 Moses, and to retain the additional ceremony 
 observed by the Jews. Intending it, however, 
 to be peculiarly distinctive of his followers, or, in 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 otiier words, an external mark of separation 
 from every other religious community, a very 
 material addition was made by him to the form 
 of administering it. In the commission given to 
 the apostles immediately before his ascension 
 into heaven, we find him expressly requiring, 
 not only that they should, in imitation of the 
 corresponding practice among the Jews, impart 
 to their converts, before baptizing them, the full 
 knowledge of Christian doctrine, but also that 
 they should use, in the act of baptizing them, a 
 particular expression, not less obviously than 
 directly implying the whole system of evangeli- 
 cal truth. " Jesus came and spake unto them, 
 saying. All power is given to me in heaven and 
 in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, 
 baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
 of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." * 
 
 Matt, xxviii. 18, 19. 
 
PART I. 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 In our truly invaluable Confession of Faith, 
 this ordinance is thus defined : " Baptism is a 
 sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by- 
 Jesus Christ not only for the solemn admission 
 of the Party baptized into the visible church, 
 but also to be unto him a Sign and Seal of the 
 Covenant of Grace, of his Ingrafting into Christ, 
 of Regeneration, of Remission of Sins, and 
 of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ, 
 to walk in Newness of Life. Which sacrament 
 is, by Christ's own appointment, to be continued 
 in his clmrch till the end of the world." * Of 
 
 * Confess. Faith, xxviii. 1. 
 
16 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 the various particulars thus enumerated, there 
 are four to which we here solicit attention, as 
 comprehending all that the ordinance either ex- 
 pressly^ teaches or indirectly represents. These 
 are Ingrafting into, or Union with Christ, Pardon 
 or freedom from the guilt of sin. Regeneration 
 or deliverance from the pollution of sin, and 
 Dedication to the service of God in Christ. Of 
 these, baptism, or the washing with waterin the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, is declared to be a sign and seal. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 BAPTISM A SIGN OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 1. Baptism signifies our Ingrafting intOy or 
 Union with Christ. 
 
 This is satisfactorily demonstrated by the 
 language of the Apostle Paul, Rom. vi. 3, 
 ^' Know ye not that so many of us as were 
 
INGRAFTING INTO CHRIST. IT 
 
 baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into 
 his death ?" — and also Gal. iii. 27, " For as many 
 of you as have been baptized into Christ, have 
 put on Christy These expressions very une- 
 quivocally point to some peculiar connexion as 
 subsisting between Christ and his people. In 
 what this connexion actually consists, is else- 
 where distinctly set before us. From many 
 different passages of Scripture, where it is parti- 
 cularly spoken of, we learn that while it is in the 
 strictest acceptation of the terms indispensible 
 and indissoluble, it resembles, at the same time, 
 the intimate relation of the head to the different 
 members of the body — Christ as the head con- 
 veying, and believers as the members receiving 
 the various supplies necessary for spiritual 
 nourishment and growth in grace. Accordingly 
 we are not only represented as being all one in 
 Christ Jesus,* but the Church is frequently 
 
 * Gal. iii. 28. 
 
18 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 denominated the body of Christ, * while it is 
 declared also in express terms, that " by one 
 Spirit are we all baptized into one body.'' f Of 
 the union with Christ, then, thus characterized, 
 the ordinance of baptism is very fully and 
 strikingly significant ; in as much as in the 
 simple but truly apt and expressive emblem of 
 water, we find at once implied and exhibited 
 both its meritoriously procuring cause — even 
 the blood or sacrifice of the cross, — and also 
 its effectually accomplishing agency — even the 
 influences of the Holy Spirit, purchased for 
 believers by that same precious blood. 
 
 Hence, as is obvious, the ordinance must be 
 understood as proclaiming indirectly, but still 
 very fully and impressively, the grand doctrine 
 of our NATURAL IMPOTENCY or Spiritual death. 
 Christ being thus set before us as supporting 
 the life of the soul, we are most distinctly 
 
 * 1st Cor. xii. 27; Ephcs. iv. 12. f 1st Cur. xii. 13. 
 
REMISSION OF SINS. 19 
 
 taught, that unconnected with him, we are not 
 less incapacitated for every thing that belongs 
 to our moral and responsible nature, than the 
 body is unable to exercise its peculiar functions 
 apart from its animating principle. 
 
 2. Baptism signifies Pardon or freedom 
 from the guilt of Sin. 
 
 Representing our Ingrafting into, or Union 
 with Christ, baptism, is by obvious consequence, 
 significant, at the same time, of all the various 
 blessings that belong to or result from this 
 peculiarly intimate connexion. In particular, 
 it points to our deliverance from guilt. Of tliis 
 we have a very clear intimation, both in the 
 Apostle Peter's exhortation to his countrymen, 
 Acts ii. 38, " Repent, and be baptized every 
 one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, yor the 
 remission of sins" and also in the language 
 of Ananias, addressed to Saul, Acts xxii. 16, 
 " Arise, and be baptized, and wash away iliy 
 
20 IMPORT OF BAPTISM, 
 
 sins''' Nor is the emblematical relation between 
 baptism and freedom from guilt less forcibly 
 suggested in looking to the appointed symbol 
 itself. Representing the Saviour's blood, the 
 water used in baptism refers as a matter of 
 course to the purpose for which that blood 
 was shed — even the justification of believers, 
 or, in other words, the remission of their sins. 
 The water, therefore, as poured or sprinkled 
 upon the body, and thus removing external 
 defilement, not less evidently than emphatically 
 denotes the blood of Christ applied to the soul, 
 and thus cleansing the conscience from guilt. 
 Accordingly, we find the expiatory sufferings 
 of the Redeemer repeatedly spoken of under 
 the figure of water, or in distinct allusion to 
 its purifying efficacy. Thus, for example, Zech. 
 xiii. 1, "In that day there shall be a fountain 
 opened to the house of David and to the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for un- 
 cleanness:" and, again, Rev. i. 5, 6, the re- 
 
REGENERATION. 21 
 
 deemed in heaven are represented as " ascribing 
 glory and dominion forever to Him that loved 
 them, and washed them from then* sins in his 
 own blood." 
 
 Regarded in this point of view, the ordinance 
 before us is very plainly indicative of the con- 
 demnation under which every child of Adam 
 is naturally placed, while, at the same time, it 
 no less fully than clearly implies, on the part of 
 all who receive it, the believing acknowledgment 
 of that condemnation as really and justly be- 
 longing to them, and of the consequent absolute 
 necessity for themselves individually, of the 
 Saviour's justifying righteousness, wrought out 
 in his perfect obedience and atoning death, as 
 the only means of deliverance from its pressure 
 and its fruits. 
 
 3. Baptism signifies Regeneration, or free- 
 dom from the pollution of Sin. 
 
 To this also we have the direct testimony of 
 
22 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 Scripture. Not to mention that tlirougliout 
 the whole sacred record, the Spirit of God, as 
 the author of regeneration, is symbolized by 
 the element of water, we find the Prophet Isaiah 
 (xliv. 3,) putting forth this remarkable promise 
 in the name of the Lord, — " I will pour water 
 upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the 
 dry ground : I will pour m?/ Spirit upon thy 
 seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." 
 The Apostle Paul likewise (Ephes. v. 25, 26.) 
 enforces a preceding exhortation by the state- 
 ment that " Christ loved the Church, and gave 
 himself for it ; that he might sanctify and 
 cleanse it with the washing of water by the 
 word.'' More unequivocal still is the language 
 addressed by the same Apostle to Titus, (iii. 5,) 
 " Not by works of righteousness which w^e have 
 done, but according to his mercy he (God) 
 saved us by the ivashing of regeneration and re- 
 newing of the Holy Ghost." From these 
 passages, with many others of similar import. 
 
REGENERATION. 23 
 
 it appears that in the ordinance before us there 
 is a direct allusion to that great work of the 
 .Spirit, in which he removes the corruption of our 
 fallen nature, restoring every power of the soul 
 to its original tendency and legitimate exercise, 
 enlightening the understanding, quickening the 
 conscience, subduing the will, elevating the affec- 
 tions, in short, re-impressing the divine image. 
 Of all this the element made use of in the 
 administration of baptism is not less strikingly 
 than aptly emblematical. As water removes 
 effectually all external pollution, so does the 
 Spirit of God effectually remove the internal 
 pollution of sin. As water quenches the thirst 
 of the body, so does the Spirit of God refresh 
 the soul that is " thirsting after righteousness." 
 As water relieves the oppression of parching 
 heat, so does the Spirit of God support and 
 comfort amid the fiery trial of indwelling sin. 
 As water likewise fructifies the earth, so does 
 the Spirit of God call forth in the hearts and 
 
24 IMPORT OF UAPTISM. 
 
 lives of liis people the peaceable fruits of 
 righteousness. 
 
 While thus expressively symbolizing what is 
 termed by the Apostle the renewing of the 
 Holy Ghosty the ordinance of baptism points 
 most distinctly, at the same time, to our natural 
 state of spiritual degeneracy and moral pollution. 
 Beholding here the Spirit's regenerating agency, 
 we are brought of necessity to contemplate the 
 evils of this woefully degraded condition whence 
 it is put forth to deliver us. Of course, there- 
 fore, in as far as our reception of its outward 
 symbol can have any spiritual meaning at all, 
 there are clearly and fully implied, in the very 
 act of doing so, the sense of these evils with 
 the profession of earnest desire to escape from 
 their prevalence, their danger, and their fruits. 
 
 4. Baptism signifies our Dedication to the 
 service of God in Christ. 
 
 Not to mention that it is plainly inferible 
 
DEDICATION TO GOD. 25 
 
 from the very nature of the blessings here 
 symbolically represented, this is most abundantly 
 obvious from the words of the institution itself. 
 If these be at all intelligible, they point un- 
 questionably to the full practical acquiescence 
 in every thing that belongs to the nature, or to 
 the work, or to the authority of each of the 
 different persons of the Godhead as particularly 
 specified. Of course, then, there is here a 
 distinct acknowledgment of the Father in our 
 relation to him as his redeemed children, bound 
 by every tie of gratitude, as well as of duty, to 
 love, to honour, and to obey him — of the Son 
 in our connexion with him as Mediator of the 
 New Covenant, set forth to be the propitiation 
 for our sins, and at the same time executing 
 the offices of our Prophet to guide us, and of 
 our King to protect and to govern us — and of 
 the Holy Ghost in our dependence upon him 
 as bearing the office of the Comforter, and 
 sent down in this capacity, to apply the benefits 
 
26 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 of Christ's purchased redemption. In other 
 words, being baptized into the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, 
 is synominous with being given up to the faith, 
 made partakers of the worship, and coming 
 under the service of the blessed Trinity, as 
 revealed to us in the Gospel. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 BAPTISM A SEAL OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 
 
 1. The ordinance of Baptism, while it sig- 
 nifies or symbolically represents the blessings 
 of the Neio Covenant, is also, at the same 
 time, a seal of these blessings. 
 
 This term is applied by the Apostle Paul, 
 to the initiatory rite, under the old dispensation. 
 He tells us, (Rom. iv. II,) that Abraham, 
 " received the sign of circumcision, a seal of 
 the righteousness of faith which he had, yet 
 being uncircumcised." The propriety of its 
 
A SEAL OF THE COVENANT. 27 
 
 being also applied to the initiatory rite under 
 the new dispensation, is abundantly evident 
 from the fact that the latter now occupies the 
 place of the former. This fact is not unfre- 
 quently disputed. It may be proper, therefore, 
 here to bring forward the substance at least of 
 the argument respecting it. 
 
 The substitution of baptism under the new 
 dispensation for circumcision under the old, 
 appears directly inferible from the identity of 
 the Abrahamic Covenant, to which the latter 
 was appended as the seal, with the Covenant of 
 Grace, to which the former is now attached in 
 the like capacity. This identity can scarcely 
 be disputed by any who give theu' serious un- 
 prejudic-ed attention to the reasoning of the Apostle 
 Paul, in the third chapter of his epistle to the 
 Galatians. His object there is to defend and en- 
 force the doctrine of justification by faith. For this 
 purpose, he refers particularly to the case of 
 Abraham, whose belief was " accounted to him 
 
28 IMPORT OF BAPTISai. 
 
 for righteousness;" and proceeds to show, that 
 all in every age who are characterized by the 
 like evangelical belief, stand on precisely the 
 same ground, and participate in exactly the 
 same spiritual blessings : in other words, are 
 included under, and have an interest in, the 
 promises of that very covenant, according to 
 the terms of which the Patriarch himself was 
 thus accepted of God. It is most satisfactorily 
 argued that this covenant could not be super-, 
 seded by the subsequent giving of the law, 
 seeing that were the attainment of its blessings 
 to rest in any degree on the condition of per- 
 sonal obedience, the promise given to Abraham 
 would be altogether ineffective as securing these 
 blessings to his spiritual seed. " Now to 
 Abraham and his seed were the promises made. 
 He saith not And to seeds, as of many ; but as 
 of one. And to thy seed which is Christ. And 
 this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed 
 before of God in Christ, the law, which was 
 
A SEAL OF THE COVENANT. 29 
 
 four hundred and thirty years after, cannot dis- 
 annul, that it should make the promise of none 
 effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it 
 is no more of promise : but God gave it to 
 Abraham by promise." * As the conclusion 
 here directly and obviously pointed to, the 
 Apostle, after stating that the law, though mak- 
 ing no alteration as to the way of acceptance 
 with God, was notwithstanding of peculiar im- 
 portance as " our schoolmaster to bring us unto 
 Christ," goes on to declare, at the close of the 
 chapter, that all who are " the children of God 
 by faith " are " Abraham's seed, and heirs ac- 
 cording to the promise." And surely if from 
 all this there be any thing more apparent than 
 another, it is just that the Abrahamic Covenant 
 is still as much in force as ever, and that it is 
 as placed under this very covenant that believers 
 are now and ever have been " blessed with 
 
 * Gal. iii. 16—18. 
 
30 I3IP0RT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 faithful Abraham," — a conclusion indeed from 
 which we apprehend it would be somewhat 
 difficult to escape, even though there were little 
 else to guide us than the simple statement that 
 it " was confirmed before of God in Christ,'* 
 
 The Abrahamic Covenant being thus identi- 
 fied with the Covenant of Grace, it is very ob- 
 vious that as circumcision and baptism are both 
 consequently seals of the same covenant^ the 
 latter now retained just occupies the place of 
 the former, which it has long since superseded. 
 Such, accordingly, seems to be the bearing of 
 the Apostle's reasoning in Col. ii. 11, 12 ; "In 
 whom also ye are circumcised with the circum- 
 cision made without hands, in putting off the 
 body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision 
 of Christ ; buried with him in baptism, wherein 
 also ye are risen with him through the faith of 
 the operation of God, who hath raised him 
 from the dead." The expression, " buried 
 with him in baptism," is unquestionably here 
 
A SEAL OF THE COVENANT. 31 
 
 intended to illustrate or explain the circumci- 
 sion of Christ as now superseding the circum- 
 cision made with hands. But surely it re- 
 quires little penetration to discover that, as thus 
 employed, it is altogether pointless, if it he not 
 indeed totally unintelligible, unless the ordinance 
 of baptism has really been substituted for cir- 
 cumcision.* 
 
 » The substitution of baptism under the new dispensation for 
 circumcision under the old, furnishes a very powerful argu- 
 ment in favour of administering the former to the infants of 
 professing parents. It is on this, indeed, that we conceive the 
 strength of the reasoning in support of the practice chiefly to 
 depend. We take the opportunity, therefore, (as our limits 
 prevent us from entering at large upon the controversy respect- 
 ing infant baptism) to state here, in a few sentences, the sub- 
 stance of the argument referred to. 
 
 If baptism, as we have endeavoured to show, now occupies 
 the place of circumcision, it necessarily follows, that since in 
 virtue of their connexion with their parents infants were en- 
 titled to the application of the latter, then most certainly upon 
 the very same principle are we warranted similarly to apply 
 the former. Any objection to their being the proper subjects 
 of the one militates with equal force against their qualification 
 for the other. The conclusion, indeed, here presented, might 
 have been sufficiently met by a sjiecial divine communication y 
 intimating imequivocally the exclusion of children under the 
 new dispensation, from the privileges enjoyed by them under 
 the old. Nothing of the kind, however, is any where to be 
 
32 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 Baptism, then, thus occupying under the 
 new dispensation the place of circumcision 
 under the old, cannot be regarded in any de- 
 
 found, In tlie absence, therefore, of all such legitimate proof, 
 that any change in this respect, was ever intended on the part 
 of God, we are most fully justifiable in continuing, nay, we 
 are in no degree warranted to discontimie the practice of putting 
 the seal or token of the covenant upon the infant offspring of 
 Christian disciples. 
 
 It will not do to say that the direction of our Lord, first to 
 teach all nations, and then to baptize them, involves the 
 exclusion of infants, as incapable of being taught. For it is 
 quite indisputable, (as has been often observed,) that had the 
 Apostles received a commission in similar terms, to continue 
 the practice of circumcision, they must certainly have under, 
 stood that commission, as authorizing them also to continue 
 the existing practice, in regard to the subjects of the ordinance. 
 Is it to be supposed for a moment, that had it been said to them. 
 Go ye and teach all nations, circumcising them in the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, they would 
 ever, in any instance, have hesitated to administer the rite, just 
 as formerly, to the children of professing parents, as well as to 
 the parents themselves? Upon what rational ground, then, 
 can it be maintained that the same language should in the one 
 case be regarded as excluding the children of Christian disciples, 
 wh'ch yet in the other case, cannot be understood as prescribing 
 any such particular limitation. 
 
 It has been alleged that circumcision had no relation to the 
 covenant made \vith Abraham, except in so far as that covenant 
 pointed to the possession by his natural seed of the land of 
 Canaan, with the enjoyment of the temporal blessings included 
 
A SEAL OF THE COVENANT. 33 
 
 gree different, far less to any extent inferior to 
 the latter as to its spiritual bearing. With 
 equal propriety therefore, is the term seal of 
 the covenant to be applied to both. 
 
 under the promise respecting it, and that consequently no 
 argument can be legitimately founded upon it, in reference to 
 the administration of baptism as the seal of spiritual blessings. 
 That this, however, is a very erroneous view of the ordinance, 
 may be most easily and satisfactorily demonstrated. Not to 
 mention that no such restriction as to its bearing is made by 
 the language in which the institution of the ordinance is 
 expressed, we find from the subsequent conduct of Abraham 
 himself, that he, at least, was very far from thus understanding 
 it. For we are distinctly told in the sacred narrative, that he 
 administered the outward rite even to those branches of his 
 family who had no interest whatever in the temporal peculi- 
 arities of the covenant which this rite signed and sealed, — a 
 fact which can be accounted for only on the supposition, that, 
 in his estimation, it bore not less directly upon the attainment 
 of those spiritual blessings, the promise respecting wliich 
 equally concerned all the members of his household. But in 
 truth, the point at issue is completely set at rest by the language 
 of inspiration itself. The rite of circumcision is repeatedly 
 spoken of in the sacred record as having a spiritual signification. 
 Thus Deut. xxx. 6, " The Lord thy God will circumcise thine 
 heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all 
 thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." 
 Again, Rom. ii. 28, 29. " He is not a Jew which is one out- 
 wardly ; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the 
 flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly ; and circumcision 
 is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter' ; whose 
 
34 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 The expression is evidently taken from the 
 common practice of ratifying any grant, or 
 public deed, by subjoining the seal of the 
 parties concerned. As in this case, the seal is 
 a visible pledge of mutual adherence to the 
 specified agreement, binding the one party to 
 give, and the other to receive the benefits which 
 it assigns or implies, so in like manner baptism 
 is a seal or pledge of mutual adherence by 
 God and his people to the covenant of gi-ace, 
 the former thus solemnly binding himself to 
 bestow upon all who are interested in the medi- 
 ation of Christ the benefits of this covenant — 
 even pardon and eternal life ; — and the latter, 
 thus also as solemnly binding themselves to 
 
 praise is not of men but of God." And more unequivocal still 
 is the language of the Apostle in tliis same epistle to the Ro- 
 mans, (iv. 11,) " And he (Abraham) received the sign of cir- 
 cumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, 
 yet being uncircumcised ; that he might be the father of all 
 them that believe, though they be not circumcised j that righte- 
 ousness might be imputed unto them also." 
 
A SEAL OF THE COVENANT. 35 
 
 embrace the offer of these benefits, and to 
 submit unreservedly to the merits of Christ as 
 alone securing them, and to the government of 
 Christ as alone administering them. 
 
 That the ordinance implies this assurance on 
 the part of God^ is evident from its character, 
 as symbolizing the dispensation of Gospel 
 blessings. The very exhibition of the manner 
 in which God has secured, and now renders 
 available these precious blessings, necessarily 
 can-ies along with it, and unequivocally sets 
 forth at the same time, the divine determination 
 to convey the possession of them, unto all for 
 whom they are designed. The promise of God, 
 indeed, connecting the attainment of them, 
 with the exercise of faith in Christ, of itself 
 insures them to all true believers. But, in con- 
 descension to our weakness, this promise is here 
 sensibly confirmed — its truth being thus more 
 influentially carried home to us, and its ultimate 
 fulfilment more effectively impressed upon us. 
 
36 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 That there is also implied in this ordinance, 
 the corresponding engagement on the part of 
 man, is directly inferible from the language of 
 the Apostle Paul, (Rom. vi. 3 — 6,) " Know 
 ye not, that so many of us as were baptized 
 into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 
 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism 
 into death : that like as Christ was raised up 
 from the dead by the glory of the Father, even 
 so we also should walk in newness of life. 
 For if we have been planted together in the 
 likeness of his death, we shall be also in the 
 likeness of his resurrection : knowing this, that 
 our old man is crucified with him, that the 
 body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth 
 we should not serve sin." If in this passage 
 any thing be more plainly taught than another, it 
 is just that by the reception of baptism we openly 
 and visibly engage to cherish the principles 
 which strictly accord with, and to cultivate the 
 habits that are in full subserviency to the all- 
 
BAPTISM NOT REGENERATION. 37 
 
 important ends of the Saviour's death — in other 
 words, to rest on the Wood of the cross as the 
 ground of justification, and to consider ourselves 
 as by the outpouring of that precious blood 
 purchased unto Christ, and consequently no 
 longer our own, but wholly and for ever the 
 Lord's. 
 
 2. The ordinance of Baptism, though it he 
 the visible pledge for the fulfilment, by God on 
 the one hand, and believers on the other, of 
 what is mutually stipulated in the Gospel 
 Covenant, must not be regarded as either 
 
 ESSENTIALLY INVOLVING, OR NECESSARILY 
 FOLLOWED BY, THE ACTUAL COMMUNICATION 
 
 of regenerating grace. 
 
 That the proper administration of the ordin- 
 ance of itself, imparts the renovating influence 
 of the Holy Spirit, has long been maintained by 
 the Church of Rome. Not a few also among the 
 several denominations of Protestants consider 
 
38 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 the new birth, as its inseparable concomitant* 
 Hence it is that the absolute necessity of bap- 
 tism as an instrument of salvation, is by that 
 church and by all who thus far adhere to her 
 doctrine, so particularly held and so positively 
 inculcated. Hence, too, may we very evidently 
 trace the peculiar repugnance, not unfrequently 
 evinced, even among others, to the idea of chil- 
 dren dying unbaptized or remaining so beyond 
 the usual period. All this however is decidedly 
 at variance both with Scripture and with fact. 
 
 It is at variance with fact. For in looking to 
 the external deportment of professing disciples, 
 as the divinely authorized test of their spiritual 
 state, we find by far the greater proportion of 
 those who have been duly or scriptural ly bap- 
 tized just as unrenewed and as unsanctified as 
 ever. Not a few who had been privileged to 
 receive the ordinance from the Apostles them- 
 selves are expressly declared in the sacred re- 
 cord to be yet, notwithstanding, among the 
 
BAPTISM NOT REGENERATION. 39 
 
 number of the reprobate. In every succeeding 
 age of the church, similar examples have been 
 not less generally than conspicuously displayed. 
 Nor is there any class of the Christian com- 
 munity however pure in doctrine, in worship, or 
 in discipline, among whom such examples have 
 not been frequently, nay continually realized. 
 
 It will not do to tell us that in these cases 
 there has been a falling away from the grace 
 conveyed by the administration of baptism. 
 Without insisting upon the impossibility of thus 
 falling from grace, which, though generally denied 
 by the advocates for baptismal regeneration, is une- 
 quivocally asserted both by our Lord himself* 
 and also by his inspired Apostles,-}- — ^dthout in- 
 sisting upon the impossibility of thus falling 
 from grace, we have to observe, that there are 
 multitudes in whose progress, even from the very 
 instant of baptism up till the latest period of 
 
 ♦ John V. 24 t Philipp. i. 6 ; 1st John iii. 9. 
 
40 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 earthly probation, there is no appearance what- 
 ever of the renovated heart. 
 
 The opinion before us is not less at variance 
 with Scripture. Several passages, indeed, may- 
 be referred to, as in the estimation of many 
 sufficiently authorizing it. It is frequently ar- 
 gued from the language of our Saviour to Ni-» 
 codemus, — " Except a man be born of water 
 and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king- 
 dom of God,"* — a passage, however, too vague 
 in its bearing upon the point at issue to be at all 
 decisive in its favour. Even supposing that the 
 ordinance of baptism is here alluded to, which, 
 to say the least, admits of some dispute, still it 
 is to be observed that on this supposition, to be 
 born of water and to be born of the Spirit are 
 spoken of as perfectly distinct from each other. 
 If such be not the case, — if the two expressions 
 be identical, then the former being, as is obvi- 
 
 * John iii. 5. 
 
BAPTISM NOT REGENERATION. 41 
 
 OU8, illustrative merely of the Spirit's operation, 
 cannot with consistency be understood as hav- 
 ing any the smallest reference to the ordinance 
 of baptism. To be born of water, then, and to 
 be born of the Spirit being thus, on the suppo- 
 sition of those with whom we are contending, 
 spoken of as perfectly distinct from each other, 
 our Lord, when here employing such figurative 
 language, may consequently, for any thing that 
 can be proved to the contrary, be regarded 
 simply as intimating that none can be admitted 
 into the visible church except by passing through 
 the initiatory rite, nor can any become members 
 of his invisible kingdom, or, in other words, be 
 admitted into the true church, apart from the 
 agency of his Holy Spirit. 
 
 Equally inconclusive are the passages very 
 frequently referred to, where God is spoken of 
 as saving us by the washing of regeneration,* 
 
 * Titus iii. 5. 
 
42 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 and where Christ is said to sanctify and cleanse 
 the church with the washing of water by the 
 word.* These, if pointing to baptism at all, are 
 nothing more than figurative expressions drawn 
 from the connexion between regeneration and 
 that ordinance, considered merely as its ap- 
 pointed symbol. Nor is there any thing more 
 decisive in the declaration of our Lord, (Mark 
 xvi. 16,) " He that believeth and is baptized, shall 
 be saved; but he that believeth not shall be 
 damned." So far indeed from supporting the 
 doctrine of baptismal regeneration, this passage 
 can have little force and as little consistency, if 
 not understood as in direct opposition to it. 
 For inasmuch as it makes the exercise of evan- 
 gelical belief essential to the salvation even of 
 the baptized, while in speaking of final condem- 
 nation, it refers not at all to the want of baptism, 
 as having any thing to do with such condemna- 
 
 * Epliesians v. 26. 
 
BAPTISM NOT REGENERATION. 43 
 
 tion, it is clear beyond dispute, that the re- 
 demption of Christ's people is here spoken of, 
 not as flowing from this initiatory rite, but as 
 obtained through the instrumentality of genuine 
 faith. 
 
 But in truth the doctrine of baptismal re- 
 generation is expressly denied in the sacred 
 record. We find the Apostle Peter in his first 
 general epistle thus pointedly expressing himself. 
 " The like figure whereunto even baptism doth 
 also now save us (not the putting away of the 
 filth ofthefiesh but the answer of a good con- 
 science toward God) by the resurrection of 
 Jesus Christ."* Surely if this language of the 
 Apostle has any meaning at all, it plainly and 
 indisputably teaches us to look for salvation, 
 not to the outward ceremony of baptism, but 
 to the inward grace,' of which it is emblematical, 
 and which, as its previous existence is essential to 
 
 * 1st Peter iii. 21. 
 D 
 
44 IMPORT OF BAPTISM. 
 
 the Scriptural observance of that ceremony, 
 cannot in the very nature of things be its effect 
 or its consequent. This inspired declaration, 
 too, is in manifest accordance with Apostolic 
 example. Repentance and faith were, in every 
 case of adult baptism which the sacred narrative 
 brings before us, required as indispensible 
 qualifications for the reception of this Christian 
 privilege. These, therefore, must of course 
 have been looked to by the inspired Apostles 
 as preceding, not as accompanying or flowing 
 from the administration of the outward rite. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE DUTIES CONNECTED WITH THE 
 OBSERVANCE OF BAPTISM. 
 
 Adverting to the circumstances of professedly- 
 Christian parents, it is truly painful to observe 
 the false principles under the ascendency of 
 which they very generally apply for the privi- 
 lege, the unsuitable state of mind and of heart 
 in which they no less generally receive it, and 
 the total neglect of the obligations under which 
 it manifestly brings them, that is even more 
 generally exemplified in their subsequent de- 
 portment. Compliance with prevailing custom 
 appears to be the only, or at any rate the lead- 
 ing motive with many when seeking to have 
 
46 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 their offspring baptized. Not a few seem to 
 value the ordinance, merely as exempting either 
 themselves or their children, from the reproach 
 to which, without it, they can scarcely fail in a 
 Christian land to be exposed. To many it is de- 
 sirable, as in some inexplicable way promoting 
 the child's salvation. By others its peculiar na- 
 ture is little thought of, and its spiritual import 
 as little attended to. Others again, neither care 
 for its objects nor seek to understand its use: 
 while in most cases there is no real influential 
 concern as to their previous qualification for the 
 observance of it. 
 
 The very act, too, of observing the ordinance 
 is not seldom a mere idle ceremony. It is a 
 service with which the heart but too often has 
 little to do : in which, at any rate, with regard to 
 the vast majority, no Christian grace finds its ex- 
 ercise. In short, the mere namingof the infant, or 
 the simple gesture of assent to what is said by 
 the servant of the Lord, when preparing to ad- 
 
DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 47 
 
 minister it, seems to be all that, in the estimation 
 of multitudes, is really required of them. 
 
 Equally deplorable, and, if possible, still move 
 inconsistent and unworthy, is the conduct by 
 which the reception of baptism is not un fre- 
 quently followed. No sooner is the outward 
 ceremony concluded, than the ordinance is 
 immediately lost sight of, both as to its essen- 
 tial importance, and as to its practical bearing. 
 It produces no lasting impression, whether upon 
 the thoughts, or upon the affections, or upon 
 the general course of life and conversation. 
 The incongruous and unseemly, nay, sometimes 
 unholy festivity of which in general it is made 
 the occasion, appears at once to obliterate the 
 peculiar profession, and to cancel the solemn 
 engagement by which it has been preceded. 
 The maintenance of the former is rarely after- 
 wards a matter of heart-felt concern. The per- 
 formance of tlie latter, whether as affecting the 
 child, or as relating to the parent liimself, is, in 
 
48 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 no small proportion of instances, entirely for- 
 gotten, or at least very far from being faithfully 
 and perse veringly looked to. 
 
 Of all this, not a little is certainly to be as- 
 cribed to unfaithfulness on the part of those 
 who are called to administer the ordinancer 
 With greater strictness of discipline, and more 
 care in previously ascertaining the spiritual state, 
 as well as the Christian knowledge and moral 
 character of applicants for the privilege, the 
 abuse referred to, so sinful in itself and so per- 
 nicious in its effects, would be, if not entirely 
 done away, at least very generally counteracted, 
 or very materially lessened. But surely in 
 by far the majority of instances, the evils com- 
 plained of find their origin, their nourishment, 
 and their growth, not less than their examples 
 in the recipients themselves. At all events, 
 however much the prevalence of such evils may 
 be occasioned or fostered by the remissncvss of 
 their spiritual rulers, that unquestionably can 
 
DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 49 
 
 never for one moment, in any sense, or to any 
 extent, diminish their own individual responsi- 
 bility. Their unreserved, and uncompromising 
 attention to all that belongs to them, in refer- 
 ence to the privilege of baptism, sought or 
 "obtained for their children, is not the less per- 
 emptorily demanded. It is consequently of 
 the very last importance that they should not 
 only be fully aware of, but keep habitually and 
 INFLUENTIALLY in view all that is thus incum- 
 bent on them, and required of them. In sub- 
 serviency, then, to this all-important object, we 
 would now press upon the notice of professing 
 parents, the three following particulars: — The 
 necessary preparation for the ordinance: The 
 state of mind and of heart in which it ought to 
 be observed: The conduct, both personal and 
 relative, by which it should be followed. 
 
50 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE NECESSARY PREPARATION FOR THE 
 ORDINANCE. 
 
 1. A competent knowledge of every thing 
 implied in Baptism, or connected with it. 
 
 The indispensibleness of such knowledge, as 
 preparatory to the reception of baptism, is most 
 abundantly obvious. By many, indeed, who 
 apply for the privilege, the possession of this 
 knowledge seems to be regarded as of no great 
 importance. Amid the gi'ossest ignorance 
 respecting its every particular, they present 
 themselves as candidates for the reception of 
 it; and esteeming themselves, notwithstand- 
 ing, sufficiently qualified for engaging in the 
 solemnity, are not a little ojQfended, when the 
 faithful servant of the Lord delays compliance 
 with their request, until he may find them 
 better instructed. At any rate, little more is 
 cared for, than barely to pass through the 
 
COMPETENT KNOWLEDGE. 51 
 
 previous examination, necessarily short, and 
 often, in consequence, very slight and superficial, 
 to which, in the first instance at least, they are 
 generally subjected. Nay, it is not seldom 
 their endeavour to escape altogether from such 
 previous examination, and they are quite satis- 
 fied, (to say no worse,) when either by manage- 
 ment on their own part, or by carelessness on 
 the part of their minister, they obtain 
 permission to engage in this service, while yet 
 they have little knowledge, if any at all, of its 
 distinguishing peculiarities, and certainly no 
 adequate conception of its value or its use. 
 
 Here, however, there is much folly, and no 
 little criminality. As to the folly of such 
 conduct, what can be more inconsistent with 
 every principle of right reason, than thus 
 thoughtlessly to enter upon a religious service, 
 the meaning and bearing of which we neither 
 understand nor appreciate? As to its crimi- 
 nality also, it is no better, or rather, it is nothing 
 
52 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 else thau the most daring profanation of an 
 ordinance not less sacred in itself than peculiarly 
 important in its practical tendency. To pass 
 through its outward solemnity with no intelli- 
 gent regard to its real import, and no right ap- 
 prehension of its holy ends, is but to insult the 
 great Searcher of hearts, by whom the spiritual 
 observance of it is expressly required. Besides, 
 in connexion with the ordinance, nay, as essen- 
 tially involved in the reception of it^ a profes- 
 sion of faith in Christ is put forth, and a promise 
 of adherence to relative duty, is virtually, if not 
 expressly given. If, then, the objects of such 
 faith be unknown, or the nature and extent of 
 such duty be not distinctly recognised, thus to 
 profess the one or to promise the other is just 
 deliberately telling a lie to God's face. In 
 such circumstances, therefore, to observe the 
 outward ceremony of baptism, is virtually to ex- 
 press contempt for the chai'acter — impiously to 
 set at nought the authority — recklessly to hold 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 53 
 
 in defiance the power of Him from whose 
 wisdom the ordinance has sprung, and the pur- 
 poses of whose grace it is designed to subserve. 
 Just in proportion, then, to the enormity of the 
 guilt here involved, and the magnitude of the 
 danger here manifestly inferible as the conse- 
 quence, must it be necessary that every parent, 
 before coming forward to receive the privilege 
 of baptism for his child, should make himself, in 
 some competent measure, acquainted with the 
 various particulars implied in it, or connected 
 with it. 
 
 2. Self-examination. 
 
 As preparatory to this awfully responsible 
 service, Self-examination is obviously of no 
 less indispensible necessity. None but the real 
 disciples of Jesus have any warrant whatever 
 thus to put the seal of the covenant upon their 
 offspring. The very design of the ordinance as 
 a federal act, necessarily excludes from partici- 
 
54 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 patlon ill it, all who bear not this peculiar char- 
 acter. The reception of it by the unbeliever, 
 whether for himself or for his child, is not only 
 without consistency and without meaning, but 
 in truth an act of daring and wilful impiety. 
 It is nothing else than insulting Jehovah to his 
 face, in as much as, in such circumstances, the 
 individual observing the ordinance, professes 
 before God, by the divinely appointed sensible 
 sign, his unreserved aquiescence in the Gospel 
 scheme, while yet in his heart he neither values 
 its blessings nor adheres to its requisitions. 
 The unbeliever, then, when presuming to go 
 forward to this peculiar solemnity, is just 
 thrusting himself into that which cannot be spir- 
 itually observed by him at all, and which cannot 
 be outwardly observ^ed by him, without adding 
 to the measure of his guilt, and thus laying him- 
 self open to fearfully aggravated condemnation. 
 All this, it is tnie, is seldom acknowledged, 
 and still seldomer felt. Faith as a necessary 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 55 
 
 qualification for the reception of baptism, is in 
 many cases never looked to for a moment. At 
 any rate, the want of faith is never taken into 
 account, as an obstacle of very serious or startling 
 importance. While multitudes hang back from 
 the other sacrament, (^iti no degree more sacred 
 or more exclusively provided for genuine 
 disciples,^ under the fear of profaning it by 
 coming without the prescribed qualifications, 
 there are few, if indeed there be any, who are 
 ever actuated by the like fear in regard to this. 
 Yet the sin in the one case is substantially, nay, 
 precisely the same as in the other. The unwor- 
 thy communicant is chargeable with " accounting 
 the blood of the covenant wherewith he (Christ) 
 was sanctified, an unholy thing, and doing despite 
 unto the Spirit of grace." But in what degree 
 can the unbelieving recipient of baptism, be less 
 chargeable with this awful crime, when even 
 while using the water as emblematical of that 
 same blood of tlie covenant, and that same Spirit 
 
56 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 of grace, he is yet in his heart rejecting the one? 
 and resisting the other? Unquestionably the 
 act of going forward to the ordinance of baptism, 
 while not yet distinguished by that genuine dis- 
 cipleship, which alone constitutes the warrant for 
 doing so, just as fully deserves, and must as 
 certainly call forth the visitation of God's wrath, 
 as the similarly unwaiTanted approach to the 
 ordinance of communion. It is surely, therefore, 
 of the utmost consequence, that the professing 
 parent, when about to receive the privilege of 
 baptism for his child, should previously ascertain 
 the sincerity of his profession, or, in other words, 
 the reality of his personal interest in Christ, as 
 obtained through the exercise, and manifested in 
 the fruits of evangelical belief. 
 
 To the careful and candid examination, then, 
 of heart and life, every parent applying for 
 baptism is here very forcibly directed as a duty, 
 in his peculiar circumstances, of paramount im- 
 portance. He is called faithfully to scrutinize 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. - 57 
 
 tbe principles, on the one hand, that reign within 
 him, and the external deportment, on the other 
 hand, by which, under the influence of these 
 principles, he is habitually characterized. And 
 just as he shall be able, in making this scrutiny, 
 to satisfy himself upon good scriptural ground 
 that the former are in full accordance with the 
 peculiarities of the Gospel scheme, and the 
 latter in some competent degree conformed to 
 the spirit of evangelical doctrine and the bear- 
 ing of evangelical precept, so should be deter- 
 mined as to the appropriation of this great 
 privilege to himself and his child. 
 
 More particularly in reference to the princi- 
 ples that reign within him, is he called to in- 
 quire whether he has been brought under the 
 serious conviction of sin, impressed with its 
 liatefulness as not less abominable in itself than 
 distressful in its fruits, awakened to his danger 
 as the object of its condemnatory sentence, 
 filled with the humbling sense of his degrada- 
 
58 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 tion as its victim, and his utter helplessness as 
 its slave ; whether in consequence he is now 
 feeling the necessity of implicit acquiescence in 
 the great plan of redemption, of renouncing for 
 ever all dependance upon any thing of his own, 
 and of casting himself unreservedly upon the 
 righteousness of Christ, as alone sufficient and 
 all-sufficient to save him ; whether, in looking 
 to the Saviour as thus in every respect suited 
 to his need, he is cherishing unfeigned respect 
 for his authority, heart-felt gratitude for his 
 goodness, decided relish for his service ; 
 whether he is desirous to adorn the doctrine 
 and obey the precepts of Christ, not merely as 
 essential to worldy respectability, or as a valu- 
 able preparative for heaven, but because holi- 
 ness was the great end of the Saviour's mission, 
 and because the pursuit of such holiness is at 
 once the best evidence of personal interest in 
 the blessings of the Saviour's purchase, and the 
 most expressive method of evincing devoted 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 59 
 
 attachment to his person, and willhig subservi- 
 ency to his glory; and whether, finally, in 
 seeking thus to glorify the God of his salvation, 
 he is not only valuing the divine assistance 
 generally as of vital importance, but anxious to 
 come under the influences of the Holy Spirit, 
 as especially provided for direction and sancti- 
 fication; and uniformly affected at the same time 
 by the fear of resisting or gi-ieving this great 
 divine Author of light and of life. 
 
 To each and all of these ought the attention of 
 every professing parent, when seeking the privilege 
 of baptism, to be directed as essential to his quali- 
 fication for observing the ordinance. If he find 
 himself really under the ascendency of such 
 principles, then may he go forward to this ser- 
 vice, as fully warranted, or rather as invited, 
 nay, commanded thus to dedicate his child unto 
 God. The gracious promise, " I will be a God 
 to thee and to thy seed," is truly addressed to 
 bim. Confidently, therefore, may he rejoice in 
 
60 DUTIES CONNECTED AVITH BAPTISM. 
 
 the assurance that in the beloved, even Christ 
 Jesus the Lord, shall he find acceptance for 
 himself and his offspring. — If, however, it appear 
 that no such principles are reigning within him, 
 then let him beware of attempting to engage in 
 this service. While in this spiritual state, his 
 appropriation of the outward rite can be of no 
 value to himself, and of no use whatever to his 
 child. Nay, inasmuch as the very act of obser- 
 ving the ordinance is in these circumstances 
 but an impious mockery of God, it must expose 
 both the one and the other to the fulness of 
 his threatened indignation. 
 
 In reference also to the external deportment 
 by which under the influence of such principles 
 he is habitually characterised, every professing 
 parent, when desiring the privilege of baptism, 
 is called particularly to inquire, whether that 
 deportment is in any right sense accordant with 
 the directions, or in any competent degree con- 
 formed to the requisitions of the Gospel: — 
 
SELF-EXAMINATION. 61 
 
 whether the divine glory is conspicuously re- 
 cognised in all his individual progress, and in 
 all his domestic arrangements: — whether the 
 worship of God, not only in the sanctuary, but 
 also in secret, and in the family circle, is faith- 
 fully attended to: — whether the service of 
 Christ, is practically valued, and his ordinances 
 duly observed: — whether the cultivation of 
 moral rectitude, too, is the object of persevering 
 endeavour; self-denial being assiduously prac- 
 tised, personal purity anxiously aimed at, out- 
 ward decorum carefully maintained, in short, 
 holiness in all manner of conversation appear- 
 ing in prominent, as well as uniform ascendency ; 
 — whether, also, the relative duties of life, are 
 rightly looked to — whether the good of others, 
 both temporal and spiritual, is really sought 
 after ; inward sincerity, and outward integrity, 
 when dealing with them, being scrupulously ad- 
 hered to, their rights conscientiously respected, 
 their happiness diligently promoted, brotherly- 
 
62 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 kindness, and charity being practically mani- 
 fested towards them, in short, the strictest prin- 
 ciples of justice, of truth, and of mercy, being 
 in every situation acted up to. 
 
 These are the leading points of that exteraal 
 deportment which flows from, and is insepar- 
 ably connected with genuine faith. Apart, 
 therefore, from the habitual manifestation of 
 them, there is no evidence of any personal 
 interest in Christ, and consequently no warrant 
 whatever to participate in the ordinance before 
 us. Let not the professing parent, then, pre- 
 sume to engage in this service, until he find his 
 daily walk and conversation thus particularly 
 characterised. 
 
 Absolute, and uniform perfection, indeed, with 
 respect to every thing here referred to, is by no 
 means to be looked for. All, even the best and 
 most devoted of the Saviour's people, would in 
 this case be shut out from the privilege. But 
 most assuredly, if the habits of external de- 
 
SELF-EXAMINATIOX. 63 
 
 portment just specified as founded upon real 
 Christian principle, be not the distinguishing 
 characteristics of his conduct as a whole, the 
 professing parent, cannot put the seal of the 
 covenant upon his offspring, without profaning 
 the ordinance, and thus, by augmenting his 
 guilt, exposing himself to proportionally aggra- 
 vated condemnation. It is consequently his 
 duty, not indeed to give up entirely the inten- 
 tion to appropriate this privilege to his child, 
 but to postpone the actual fulfilment of any 
 such intention, until his own character shall 
 have undergone the change that marks the 
 reality, and exemplifies the fruits of connexion 
 with Christ. And, as this change, from first to 
 last, is solely of the divine agency, we have to 
 urge upon him the necessity of giving himself, 
 in the mean time, to the diligent, careful, perse- 
 severing use of all those instruments and 
 opportunities of spiritual improvement, by and 
 through which the Holy Spirit is revealed, as 
 
64; DUTIES CONNECTED WITH 1JAPTIS3J. 
 
 operating upon the children of men. Nor is 
 there awanting enough to support the expec- 
 tation of his being in this way so brought under 
 the love and the practice of holiness as to find 
 himself, (with such evidence of faith,) warranted 
 to dedicate his child in baptism unto God. 
 Our blessed Redeemer, expressly assures us, 
 that the Father ivill give the Holy Spirit to 
 them that ask him. We know, also, ft*om the 
 uniform experience of humbled and penitent 
 sinners, that all who seek the Lord in the way 
 of his own appointment, are made to rejoice in 
 the sufficiency of divine grace, and enabled, more 
 or less conspicuously, to go forward in the ful- 
 ness of divine strength. 
 
 3. Communion with the Church of Christ. 
 In here directing the attention of professing 
 parents to the internal principles and the exter- 
 nal deportment necessary to qualify them for the 
 privilege of baptism, we feel ourselves called 
 
COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH. 65 
 
 Upon to take notice, particularly, of an opinion 
 not less deplorably prevalent than it is perni- 
 cious in its effects. We allude to the idea, 
 that a parent may warrantably go forward with 
 his child to this sacrament, while he is yet 
 habitually refusing the other sacrament for him- 
 self. Nothing can be more erroneous in prin- 
 ciple, or more sinful in practice. 
 
 The neglect of communion, must proceed 
 either, on the one hand, from unwillingness to con- 
 fess the Saviour at the sacramental table, or, on the 
 other hand, from the conviction of unworthiness 
 to appear among its chosen guests. If it pro- 
 ceed from the former, then most unquestionably, 
 in as much as it involves the spirit of contempt 
 for the express, nay, the dying command of 
 Christ, it demonstrates incontestably, that what- 
 ever may be the profession of the lips, the 
 heart is still " in the gall of bitterness, and in the 
 bond of iniquity." Of coui'se, therefore, this very 
 neglect to observe the sacrament of the supper. 
 
C6 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 is, of itself, a sufficient disqualification for the 
 sacrament of baptism. Thus proving the 
 absence of all interest in Jesus, as the Saviour 
 and the Lord of his people, it necessarily proves 
 at the same time, that to go forward in such 
 circumstances to the privilege of baptism is no 
 better — is nothing else than a daring, a criminal, 
 and, by consequence, an awfully dangerous in- 
 trusion. 
 
 If the refusal to communicate proceed from 
 the conviction of unworthiness to appear at the 
 sacramental table, then is there, in this very 
 conviction, an equally decisive reason against 
 the reception of baptism. The very same quali- 
 fications are prescribed for both of these ordinan- 
 ces. In respect to neither of them, is there 
 any thing more required than just that spiritual 
 state, with that corresponding external character, 
 which essentially belong to, and more or less 
 conspicuously distinguish every genuine dis- 
 ciple. To abstain from the one, therefore, is a 
 
COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH. 67 
 
 virtual, if not a direct acknowledgment of dis- 
 qualification for the other. And seeing that 
 they are of equal authority, and of equal sanc- 
 tity, signs and seals of the same covenant of 
 grace, pointing to the same grand objects of 
 faith and of hope, and tending also to the same 
 practical result, surely the conduct of the man, 
 who, though he never comes himself to receive the 
 sacrament of the supper, yet presents his children 
 for the sacrament of baptism, is in no small de- 
 gree foolish and inconsistent. 
 
 But it is not with folly and inconsistency 
 alone that, in such circumstances, the profess- 
 ing parent is to be charged. In whatever 
 point of view his situation can be regarded, the 
 imputation of deliberately contracted guilt 
 most certainly belongs to him. Supposing him, 
 on the one hand, entitled as a real disciple of 
 Jesus, to put the token of God's covenant upon 
 his child, then surely his neglecting the ordin- 
 ance of communion, to which, as thus dis- 
 
68 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 tinguished, he is equally called, necessarily 
 bears the character, and must therefore lead to 
 the consequences of sm. Or, supposing- him, on 
 the other hand, unworthy to take his place at 
 the table of the Lord, then, most unquestion- 
 ably, by appearing with his child to observe the 
 outward ceremony of baptism, from which the 
 very same disqualification completely excludes 
 him, he cannot but be involved in the charge of 
 impiety, and exposed to the fulness of aggra- 
 vated condemnation. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 THE STATE OF MIND, AND OF HEART, IN WHICH 
 THE ORDINANCE OUGHT TO BE OBSERVED. 
 
 1. There should be a practical recognition 
 of its nature and design. 
 
 It must be evident, even to the most ordinary 
 understanding, that while engaged in the actual 
 observance of baptism, the thoughts and the 
 
PRACTICAL RECOGNITION OP IT. 69 
 
 affections should really accord with the nature 
 and design of the ordinance itself. Apart from 
 this, indeed, it is utterly impossible that there 
 can be any spiiituality at all in the service. 
 For most assuredly if its nature and design be 
 not thus fully recognised, baptism is reduced at 
 once to a mere idle, unmeaning, and, to say no 
 worse, unprofitable ceremony. 
 
 In as much, then, as baptism is an exhibition 
 of the justifying efficacy of Christ's blood, every 
 parent while in the act of presenting his child 
 to receive the outward rite, by which this ex- 
 hibition is made, ought surely to cherish the 
 spirit of believing dependance upon the grand 
 sacrifice of the cross, as all-sufficient for the 
 salvation of his child. Of course the condition 
 of the infant, as by nature a child of corruption, 
 should be not less seriously borne in mind, 
 than the reality, as well as the justice of the 
 condemnation, into which, along with our 
 whole race, it has been brought, should be 
 
70 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 prominently kept in view, and the absolute ne-" 
 cessity, under which it is consequently lying, of 
 being interested in the free salvation of the Gos- 
 pel, should be humbly acquiesced in. In other 
 words, there sliould be a distinct recognition 
 both, on the one hand, of guilt as naturally be- 
 longing to and really characterizing the child, 
 and also, on the other hand, of the Saviour's 
 power to cancel that guilt. 
 
 In as much, likewise, as baptism points 
 directly to the regenerating agency of the Holy 
 Spirit, every parent, while using the appointed 
 symbol of this agency, ought to keep before 
 him its inestimable value, as the only means of 
 eradicating from the soul of his child the evil 
 with which it is naturally imbued, and of im- 
 planting in it, at the same time, the seeds of 
 holiness, and thus fitting it for the service of 
 God here, and for the enjoyment hereafter of 
 celestial glory. While thus looking to the 
 value of the Spirit's renewing influence, he 
 
PRACTICAL RECOGNITION OF IT. 7 1 
 
 ought to cherish, at the same time, the fulness 
 of earnest desiie in reference to the child, for 
 the experience of the operation of this influence, 
 and for the manifestation also of its fruits. And as 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit is expressly promised 
 unto all who ask it in sincerity and in faith, 
 he should be not less earnestly engaged in 
 believing supplication for this precious gift on 
 behalf of his offspring. 
 
 In as much, also, as baptism implies dedication 
 to the service of God in Christ, every parent 
 while presenting his child for this purpose, 
 ought with his whole heart to resign it into the 
 hand of the Lord — to place it entirely under 
 the providential care, and at the sovereign dis- 
 posal of his own heavenly Father. Regarding 
 it as wholly and forever the property of him 
 who gave it, he should acknowledge sincerely 
 this its peculiar relation to God. Bearing in 
 mind also, that it has been created in subserviency 
 to the divine glory, he should cheerfully ac- 
 
72 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 quiesce in his personal obligation to train it up 
 for this all-important end. He should give 
 way, at the same time, to the animating impres- 
 sion, that in being permitted thus to offer up 
 his child as in covenant with God, he is enjoying 
 an inestimable privilege not less than discharg- 
 ing an incumbent duty. 
 
 In as much, too, as baptism is not merely a 
 sign but a seal of the covenant of grace — a 
 visible pledge for the communication of its 
 benefits, every parent, while in the act of putting 
 this seal upon his offspring, ought surely to cast 
 himself unreservedly on the willingness evi- 
 dently implied in such a pledge as existing on 
 the part of Christ, to bless his child with the 
 fulness of the purchased redemption. The im- 
 possibility of obtaining any deliverance from 
 the evils in which his children, not less than 
 himself, are by nature involved, that does not 
 spring entirely from this willingness of Christ 
 to save, should be particularly looked to and 
 
DEVOTIONAL RETIREMENT. 73 
 
 unequivocally acknowledged. Of course, the 
 feeling of gratitude for the kindness of the 
 Saviour, thus freely brought to bear upon the 
 everlasting welfare of these objects of parental 
 aflfection, should in all its fervour reign within him. 
 And laying hold on the encouragement so natur- 
 ally to be found in the contemplation of such un- 
 merited love, he should with all humility, but 
 still with believing confidence, appropriate to 
 his infant, as well as to himself, the promise of 
 the covenant, and thus rejoice in the Lord as 
 his God, and the God of his seed. 
 
 2. Baptism should be an occasion of devo- 
 tional retirement. 
 
 In manifest accordance with the practical re- 
 cognition of its nature and design, just specified 
 as essential to the spiritual observance of the 
 ordinance, we have here to urge the propriety 
 of devotional retirement in the season of bap- 
 tism. The contrary practice prevails to a most 
 
74 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 deplorable extent. Far from being embraced 
 as an opportunity for serious reflection, humble 
 communion with God, and consequent spiritual 
 improvement, it seems in too many cases to 
 be regarded merely as the pretext for laying 
 almost completely aside the appearance of 
 seriousness, whether in thought, in conversation, 
 or in deportment. Friends and neighbours 
 are brought together, not to assist each other in 
 calling to mind the lessons of instruction and 
 of admonition which the ordinance so aflfectingly 
 suggests, with regard to the awfully important 
 concerns of the soul, but to indulge in feasting, 
 and mirth, and worldly conversation. Nay the 
 sanctity of the Sabbath itself is seldom, in such 
 cases, respected. Even when this happens to 
 be the season of the solemnity, little difference 
 if any at all, is made as to the custom referred 
 to. Yet surely a moment's reflection is enough 
 to impress upon the most careless, the sin and 
 the danger here unquestionably involved. 
 
DEVOTIONAL RETIREMENT. 75 
 
 As occuiTing on the Lord's day, such conduct 
 admits of no possible defence. Even in ordin- 
 ary circumstances, worldly indulgence on the 
 Sabbath, being a direct violation of the com- 
 mand to "keep it holy," is peculiarly unbe- 
 coming in all who inhabit a Christian land, and 
 highly criminal in all who make any the least 
 profession of the Christian faith. What, then, 
 must be its unseemliness and its criminality, as 
 practised at a time when the acknowledgment 
 of covenant-relation to God, and by consequence 
 of especial obligation to honour and to serve 
 him, is with such particular solemnity put forth. 
 In such circumstances, indeed, the profanation 
 of the Sabbath, of which we are speaking, may 
 well give rise to the suspicion, that the Christi- 
 anity of every one who can be charged with it, 
 is no less really without substance than it is evi- 
 dently without fruit. , 
 
 But it is not merely when practised on the 
 Lord's day, that in all this there is so much to 
 
76 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 be condemned. At no time whatever can such 
 conduct be in any measure consistent, with the 
 nature of the service itself, or with the solem- 
 nity of the profession virtually implied in it, or 
 rather directly expressed by it, on the part of 
 the parent, and the awful responsibility of the 
 situation in which it necessarily places him. 
 Surely if there be a time when, more than an- 
 other, worldly amusement or sensual pleasure 
 is not merely out of place, but sinful in essence 
 and pernicious in fruit, it is just the season of 
 immediate approach unto God, in the character 
 and as claiming the privileges of his chosen 
 people. That heart can have little interest in 
 thia all-important solemnity which, almost in 
 the very hour of observing it, can turn with 
 relish to the gaiety or the jocularity of festive 
 intercourse. What are we to think of that 
 man's attachment to Christ, who, in the very 
 season that has called him to the public declara- 
 tion of it, seems to prefer the vanities or the 
 
DEVOTIONAL RETIREMENT. 77 
 
 joys of the world, to the more sober, yet by 
 no means the less delightful exercises of com- 
 munion with the Father of his spirit? Or 
 how can we ever imagine thatany one is really 
 impressed with the awful account, ere long to 
 be demanded of him, as a parent in Israel, who 
 yet hesitates not, on the very day that beholds 
 another of their number publicly devoted to 
 God, to place his household in circumstances 
 the most unfavourable to all that concerns them 
 as immortal and responsible beings ? Were 
 such conduct to be met with in the season of 
 participating in the other sacrament, it could 
 scarcely fail to be reprobated by all who make 
 the slighest pretension to genuine Christianity 
 as alike inconsistent and sinful. Upon what 
 principle, then, can it be less inconsistent, or less 
 sinful, in the season of participating in this ? 
 In no respect whatever is the ordinance of bap- 
 tism of inferior sanctity to that of the supper. 
 Equally, therefore, should they be made the 
 
78 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 occasion of personal seriousness and family 
 devotion. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 THE CONDUCT, PERSONAL AND RELATIVE, BY 
 WHICH THE RECEPTION OF BAPTISM SHOULD 
 BE FOLLOWED. 
 
 Here we have to remark in general, that 
 subserviency to the glory of God and the cause 
 of Christ ought to be the uniform distinguishing 
 characteristic of the conduct referred to. To 
 this, indeed, every professing pai'ent is, by the 
 very act of appearing with his child to observe 
 the ordinance, necessarily brought under the 
 direct and permanent obligation. In this grand 
 principle, therefore, every thing that concerns 
 him as an individual ought habitually to centre. 
 Nor should he ever for a moment depart from 
 its guidance, in reference whether to his do- 
 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 79 
 
 mestic arrangements, to his connexion with the 
 Church of Christ, or to his intercourse with 
 society at large. In short, there is no situation 
 in which, as a professing parent, he can by any 
 possibility be placed, where it should evjer, even 
 in the most distant degree, be lost sight of, 
 either as to its paramount importance, or as to 
 its salutary influence. 
 
 1. More particularly, the professing parent, 
 as having received the privilege of baptism for 
 his children, is called to train up these in what 
 has been emphatically termed by an Apostle, 
 " the nurture and admonition of the Lord." In 
 other words, their religious education should 
 be the chief object of solicitude and care con- 
 cerning them. 
 
 To this, indeed, all else that can possibly 
 affect them, however valuable or desirable in 
 any other respect, should be kept completely 
 and uniformly subordinate. Very different, 
 
80 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 alas I is the course but too generally pursuecL 
 Worldly distinction seems to be all that, on the 
 part of multitudes, is ever cared for in behalf of 
 their offspring. To make them great in this 
 world's honours is, with many, the all-engrossing 
 desire. To make them rich in this world's 
 possessions is, with many more, the only source 
 of anxiety. By some, the embellishment of their 
 persons, or the refinement of their manners, is 
 looked to as the more prominent concern. By 
 others, their possession of every fashionable ac- 
 complishment, however useless or unprofitable, 
 is chiefly, if not exclusively, aimed at. Others 
 again, seek but to enrich them with those treas- 
 ures of human knowledge — those literary or 
 scientific acquirements which may tend to exalt 
 them in the eye of their fellow-men. In short, 
 the things of time are, in most cases, sought 
 after as alone of any consequence to their wel- 
 fare. And while, in the pursuit of such objects, 
 parental solicitude seldom operates in keeping 
 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 81 
 
 them away from the scenes of worldliness, of 
 folly, or of dissipation, with which, in not a few 
 cases, these are almost inseparably connected, 
 their condition, as the subjects of God's moral 
 government, is never' so much as thought of, 
 their prospects for eternity, as placed under the 
 light, and amid the privileges of the Gospel, are 
 never seriously attended to. 
 
 Nor is it among the openly profligate, or the 
 declared votaries of infidelity alone, that all this 
 is so wofully realized. In some degree or 
 other, it is almost universally exemplified even 
 among such as are, to a certain extent at least, 
 distinguished by " the form of godliness." While 
 it would be well, if even the most devoted 
 Christian parent had no reason, in any instance, 
 to reproach himself with such conduct towards 
 his offspring, the charge of its utmost fulness 
 may with perfect justice be brought home to 
 not a few, who would rise up with unmingled 
 
82 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 indignation, against the slightest suspicion of 
 their genuine discipleship. 
 
 But, surely, it can need little penetration to 
 perceive that the conduct referred to, is directly 
 at variance, alike with sound reason and with 
 Christian principle. No doubt, the advantages 
 thus sought after are, many of them, really ex- 
 cellent in themselves, and all of them more or 
 less valuable, in so far as the life that now is 
 may be concerned. And were the period of 
 human existence limited to the present transitory 
 scene, though there would still be many a power- 
 ful reason for ]ookmg Ji7'st to the glory of God, 
 yet the peculiar importance thus attached to 
 the things of time, might perhaps with some 
 plausibility be excused. The case, however, is 
 very materially, or rather entirely altered, when 
 we look to the immortal destiny of man. 
 Viewed in the light of eternity, the pursuits of 
 the life that now is sink at once into utter 
 insignificance. Nay, in as much as they very 
 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 83 
 
 naturally tend to draw the thoughts and affec- 
 tions of the soul away from its far better and 
 far more enduring interests, they are no less 
 dangerous in possession than they are ruinous 
 in effect. Our progress here is but the course 
 of preparation for a never-ending hereafter. 
 And the day is rapidly drawing nigh, when, for 
 all that at present belongs to us in our different 
 spheres of personal usefulness, an account is to 
 be demanded at the tribunal of Christ. O! 
 then, what must be the situation there of the 
 parent, who in spite of all his baptismal en- 
 gagements, is now preferring for his children 
 the service of Mammon, and thus standing be- 
 tween them and the required preparation for 
 the coming immortality ! How awful, when 
 thus summoned with his offspring to the judg- 
 ment seat, to hear himself openly denounced as 
 instrumental in devoting them to the god of 
 this world, and thus unfitting tliem for the 
 presence of Jehovah, and the glory of heaven I 
 
84 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 How awful, to behold them led away from the 
 presence of the Judge, to that place of unutter- 
 able wo, for the horrors of which his own 
 heedlessness of their spiritual and responsible 
 nature has prepared them ! How inconceivably 
 awful, thus to find himself lying (in the immedi- 
 ate presence of God,) under the charge of 
 ruining, ay ! murdering their souls ! O ! if 
 there be but one spark of parental affection now 
 burning in the breast of any such, let him think 
 of this, and instead of seeking to load his 
 children with the treasures, to secure for them 
 the honours, or to lead them to the attainments 
 of this fleeting mortality, let him be stimulated 
 to all possible and persevering exertion, for 
 bringing them into full possession of the one 
 thing needful — even that knowledge of God in 
 Christ, which alone maketh " wise unto salva- 
 tion," and which alone therefore can be available 
 to them when wealthhasbeen snatched from their 
 grasp by the cold hand of death, when fame 
 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 85 
 
 has passed for ever away with them into the 
 land of forgetfulness, and all their much valued 
 accomplishments are buried with tliem in the 
 grave. 
 
 Let it not be thought, however, that in thus 
 adverting to the course pursued by so many in 
 training up their children, we would by any 
 means inculcate the spirit of indifference to the 
 temporal prosperity of these, or to their fitness 
 for their worldly avocations and enjoyments, as 
 intellectual or social beings. It is declared ex- 
 pressly by an Apostle, that " if any provide not 
 for his own, and specially for those of his own 
 house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse 
 than an infidel." * Nor can the intellectual 
 attainments, or the elegant accomplishments 
 of the present life, any more than the provision 
 for temporal subsistence to which this declara- 
 tion so pointedly refers, be either rationally or 
 
 * Ibt Tim. V. a 
 
86 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 scripturally regarded as unlawful objects of 
 desire, when kept in their .proper place, and 
 made subservient to their proper ends. So far 
 therefore, as the pursuit of these can be thus 
 regulated, or the possession of them thus char- 
 acterized, to place them within reach of his off- 
 spring can never be considered at all inconsistent 
 with baptismal engagement on the part of the 
 parent. Nay, we hesitate not to affirm, that in 
 as much as they may all, whether in a greater 
 or in a less degree, be turned to account for the 
 promotion both of individual progi-ess, and of 
 relative usefulness in the service of Christ, it 
 would be not less sinful than unjust on his part, 
 to withhold from his offspring, according to the 
 ability or the substance with which God may 
 have blessed him, any lawful means of obtaining 
 and enjoying them. All, therefore, that we are 
 anxious here to enforce, is just that every pro- 
 fessing parent should so direct the education of 
 his children, as to bring them, in preference 
 
GODLY EXAMPLE. 87 
 
 TO EVERY THING ELSE, under the full knowledge 
 of their condition, as belonging to God, and es- 
 pecially under the practical influence of what 
 more immediately concerns them in the present 
 state of trial, as the victims of sin on the one 
 hand, and as the objects of redeeming love on the 
 other, — in other words, that he should make it 
 the grand, the paramount object of desire and 
 exertion, to impart unto them the truths which 
 the Gospel unfolds, to implant within them the 
 principles which the Gospel demands, to fill them 
 with the hopes which the Gospel inspires, and that 
 he should hold as utterly worthless, nay, most 
 particularly avoid as really pernicious, all, how- 
 ever useful in regard to the present life, that 
 does not in some shape or other, bear upon this 
 high and holy end. 
 
 2. In addition to the religious instruction 
 of his children, the professing parent is, by the 
 act of presenting these for Baptism, brought 
 
88 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 under the obligation, to set before them a 
 
 GODLY EXAMPLE. * 
 
 Even apart altogether from the reception of 
 this Christian privilege, no head of a family can 
 ever, upon any principle either of duty or of 
 affection towards his household, neglect thus to 
 walk before them in all holy obedience. But 
 surely, in coming forward to receive for his 
 children a privilege such as this, to which they 
 are entitled only in virtue of their connexion 
 with him in the capacity of a true believer, 
 the parent is particularly bound to show, by 
 corresponding practice, that he is really thus 
 characterized. 
 
 The manifestation, too, in his personal deport- 
 ment, of devotedness to the service of Christ, 
 is of almost absolute necessity, to give effect to 
 his exertions in training them up for the same 
 moral and spiritual service. If they have any 
 thing at all like reverence or affection for him, 
 they can scarcely fail to make him the object of 
 
GODLY EXAMPLE. 
 
 89 
 
 habitual imitation. And being by nature under 
 the ascendency of our common corruption, it is 
 just to be expected, that they will turn rather 
 to the defects than to the excellencies that may 
 appear in his general conversation and deport- 
 ment. Nor is this by any means unfrequently 
 realized. Instances are every where and every 
 day to be met with, most strikingly illustrative 
 of its truth. Surely, then, it ought to be, unto 
 every one who has the immortal interests of 
 his children really at heart, a matter of the 
 most scrupulous attention, that in his whole 
 character, as brought under the eye of his 
 household. Christian principle should be more 
 or less fully developed. Besides, how is it 
 possible in the nature of things, that they can 
 ever value that instruction, however seriously 
 put forth by him, indifference to which, his own 
 conduct at any time, or in any degree, dis- 
 covers ? Or, with what effect can they ever 
 receive the admonitions, Iiowever pointedly or 
 
90 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 skilfully directed by him, contrariety to which 
 is at all displayed in his own practice ? As- 
 suredly, it is by no means beyond the ordinary 
 comprehension, even of the youngest that is 
 capable of receiving instruction at all, to con- 
 clude, that where the outward conduct of the 
 parent is thus at variance with the doctrines 
 which he inculcates, or the precepts which he 
 enjoins, there can be little sincerity in his pro- 
 fessed belief of the former, and as little reason- 
 ableness in his demand for submission to 
 the latter. Can it be doubted, then, that the 
 child will here find most ample encouragement 
 to disregard what the parents may teach, or to 
 neglect what they may require ? Or, if com- 
 pelled by parental authority professedly to 
 value the one, or externally to obey the other, 
 will he not very naturally rebel in his heart, 
 against what, in this case, cannot but appear to 
 be not less capricious and tyi-annical than full 
 of hypocrisy. 
 
PRAYER. 91 
 
 3. The obligation to the exercise of Prayer 
 is no less manifestly involved in the reception 
 of Baptism, 
 
 Not to mention that a devotionless believer 
 is an evident contradiction in terms, and that 
 consequently if communion with " the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" be not ha- 
 bitually maintained by the professing parent, he 
 must have every reason to conclude, that his ob- 
 servance of the ordinance before us can have 
 been little better than mockery in itself, and can 
 be followed by nothing else than the divine in- 
 dignation as its fruit — not to mention this, it 
 is never to be forgotten, that believing prayer 
 is the channel through which, according to the 
 express appointment of Jehovah himself, all 
 the benefits of redemption, here so affectingly 
 symbolized, are made to flow. If this divinely 
 authorized method of seeking an interest in the 
 Gospel salvation be wilfully disused, there can 
 be no warrant whatever to hope, nay, in such 
 
92 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 a case, it is the very heiglit, not only of egre- 
 gious folly, but of sinful presumption, to hope 
 for any, even the smallest, of the blessings 
 which that great salvation can be understood to 
 embrace. Of course, therefore, there can be 
 little sincerity in the profession, distinctly im- 
 plied in baptism, of desire on the part of the 
 parent that his child should participate in these 
 benefits, and certainly as little consistency in 
 his application of the sign and seal of such bene- 
 fits to his child, if yet he cares not to supplicate, 
 nor actually sets himself to supplicate, at the 
 throne of grace, the full and effectual com- 
 munication of them. 
 
 Here, then, the frequent, or rather the habi- 
 tual use of this truly effective mean of grace, 
 is, in reference to all who enjoy the privilege 
 of dedicating their children by baptism unto 
 God, at once commended by every principle of 
 evangelical consistency, and enforced by every 
 motive of parental affection. If in any degi'ee 
 
PRAYER. 93 
 
 actuated by such principles and motives, every 
 individual thus peculiarly privileged must find 
 himself more or less powerfully constrained to 
 embrace every suitable opportunity of drawing 
 near to the great " Father of lights," not 
 merely on his own behalf, to implore the mercy 
 and the help that are needful for himself as a 
 parent in Israel, but no less particularly on be- 
 half of his offspring, to supplicate the out-pour- 
 ing upon them of that divine influence, which 
 alone, giving effect to religious instruction and 
 holy example, can bring them so to know the 
 tmth as it is in Jesus, and to obey that truth 
 in the love of it, as that, with enlightened 
 understandings and renewed hearts, they may 
 be enabled successfully to resist the peculiar 
 temptations to which the season of youth 
 is on every side exposed; to occupy with 
 spiritual profit to themselves, and acknow- 
 ledged usefulness to their Lord, the talents 
 severally committed to them, and at length. 
 
9+ DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 when called away from the scene of this 
 earthly pilgrimage, to pass, in full meetness for 
 its celestial glory, into the land of uprightness, 
 of peace, and of rest. 
 
 But it is not only to frequent and fervent 
 prayer for his children, that the professing 
 parent is here so forcibly directed, as a duty re- 
 sulting from the privilege of baptism. His ob- 
 ligation to pray with them, is no less obviously 
 imperative. Not to insist particularly upon 
 the many advantages arising from the habitual 
 maintenance of family worship, — as, for example, 
 the respect and affection thus inspired towards 
 the parent himself among the different mem- 
 bers of his household, the prevention or sup- 
 pression of domestic discord thus generally 
 effected, and, above all, the pious feeling thus 
 almost necessarily diffused, and the evangelical 
 deportment, thus very materially promoted, — 
 not to insist upon these, it must be remembered, 
 that to observe the ordinance is just, in the most 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 95 
 
 direct unequivocal manner, to declare our ad- 
 herence to the resolution of Joshua, the leader 
 of Israel, " as for me and for my house, we will 
 serve the Lord." By obvious consequence, 
 then, the very act of presenting his children for 
 baptism, binds the professing parent to lead them, 
 not merely as individuals, but also in their 
 social capacity, to the worship of God in Christ. 
 Unquestionably if he does not bring them 
 as a family to the exercises of devotion, he 
 breaks the baptismal vow, and being thus 
 directly chargeable with the guilt of deliberately 
 forswearing himself, the divine indignation can- 
 not but be, in no ordinary degree, provoked 
 against him. Nay, he must be held most 
 awfully responsible, too, for not a little of the 
 degeneracy, whether in principle or in practice, 
 of which his children may prove the examples. 
 No doubt, they must answer for themselves in- 
 dividually, while it is by no means impossible, 
 that even the maintenance of family religion, 
 
96 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 may, after all, be of little avail in regard to their 
 spiritual improvement. But still, if the parent 
 shall, in any case, wilfully neglect thus to put 
 his offspring in the way of what may be, and, 
 when rightly valued on their part, must be sub- 
 servient to their preservation from sin, beyond 
 all doubt, he is a partaker of their guilt, and 
 renders himself liable to share their consequent 
 everlasting doom. 
 
 A variety of excuses are brought forward in 
 defence, or at least in extenuation, of this wo- 
 fully prevalent neglect of family worship. We are 
 told by some that they are too young. Others 
 plead the want of time. By many the want 
 OF ABILITY is alleged. Not a few profess to be 
 overcome by want of confidence. The utter 
 futility, however, of all such objections as these, 
 must be obvious, even upon the slighest reflec- 
 tion. The first, indeed, is so egregiously 
 absurd, as scarcely to deserve any notice at all. 
 How utterly ridiculous in any one who finds 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 97 
 
 himself old enough, to stand forth in the 
 capacity, and to claim the privileges of a parent 
 in Israel, yet to pronounce himself not old 
 enough to undertake the peculiar duties of the 
 situation he thus seeks to occupy. 
 
 Nor is there any thing more substantial in 
 the plea, that there is a want of time. Alas ! 
 the individuals by whom it is urged, are too 
 frequently those who have many hours to spare 
 for the senseless parade, the foolish gaiety, the 
 empty, nay, the sinful pleasures of a world that 
 is lying in wickedness. But, in truth, the time 
 required for the exercises of family devotion is 
 too short to interfere materially, even with the 
 most important of temporal affairs. And 
 though it were to interrupt the course of 
 secular pursuits, still, in as much as the present 
 life is allotted to prepare for eternity, the 
 duties of religion ought certainly to command 
 our chief regard. It must not be overlooked, 
 that the Saviour himself has expressly enjoined 
 
98 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 his followers to " seek first the kingdom of 
 God and his righteousness ;"* while he elsewhere 
 most impressively reminds us, that nothing 
 which this world can give, however delightful 
 in pursuit, however excellent in possession, 
 could, in any conceivable sense or degree, 
 compensate for the loss of the soul. 
 
 Equally insufficient is the alleged want of 
 ability. Even though it were strictly true, yet 
 surely recourse might still be had to some of 
 the many really excellent forms of prayer 
 provided by the more gifted servants of God, 
 to be statedly read, or repeated, in the hearing 
 of a household. It is very seldom, however, 
 that the alleged inability to pray, is so great as 
 to justify this mode of discharging the duty. 
 Where is there any head of a family so weak in 
 capacity as to be unable intelligibly to ask for- 
 givenness of his fellow-men, or to express to 
 
 * Miitt. vi. .11. 
 
FAMILY WORSHIP. 99 
 
 them his various necessities, or to solicit theii* 
 favour, their advice, or their aid ? And what 
 greater difficulty can there be in similarly ad- 
 dressing himself to God ? Assuredly, if the 
 professing parent has any thing like the realiz- 
 ing sense of the spiritual wants of his family, 
 he can scarcely be at a loss for suitable words 
 to acknowledge these, and to supplicate the 
 spiritual blessings that are needed to supply 
 them. In fact, were it not for the deceitfulness 
 and desperate wickedness of the human heart, 
 no such excuse would ever be seriously thought 
 of. At all events, the removal of the difficulty 
 is best to be secured by frequent practice. In 
 no instance, therefore, can the neglect of such 
 practice be at all either wise or blameless. 
 
 The plea of diffidence is no less inadequate 
 and inadmissible. Such diffidence may be very 
 natural, and not a little overpowering ; but it is 
 by no means, on that account, free from sin. 
 By perseverance in practically resisting its in- 
 
100 DUTIES CONNECTED WITH BAPTISM. 
 
 fluence, it cannot but be, sooner or later, eftec- 
 tually overcome. Painful though it be, there- 
 fore, the attempt at least cannot be innocently 
 neglected. But, indeed, this very want of con- 
 fidence is itself, to no ordinary extent, fraught 
 with guilt. It must proceed either from inter- 
 nal disrelish for the exercises of family devotion, 
 or from being ashamed of strict adherence to 
 the service of Christ. If it proceed from the 
 former, then, beyond all doubt, the heart is still 
 far from God. If it proceed from the latter, 
 then is it most awfully met by the solemn de- 
 nunciation of the Lord Jesus himself — " Who- 
 soever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, 
 in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him 
 also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he 
 cometh in the gloiy of his Father, with the holy 
 angels." * 
 
 Mark viii. 38. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 We cannot conclude this truly interesting 
 and all-important subject better than by ad- 
 dressing the word of exhortation to young per- 
 sons born of Christian parents, and brought up 
 in the profession of the Christian faith. 
 
 Great, indeed, and manifold are the advan- 
 tages which, as connected with such parents, 
 you have been permitted to enjoy. Dedicated 
 by them to the Lord in baptism, you have been 
 not only cast upon the care of Him who is as 
 wise to guide you as he is powerful to protect 
 you, but set apart for his service more particularly 
 as the objects of his redeeming love. Admitted 
 into Christ's visible church, you have been 
 placed within reach of the various means of 
 
102 CONCLIJSION. 
 
 grace, so kindly provided and so powefully 
 calculated to fit you for the avocations and the 
 duties that severally belong to you, in this all- 
 endearing relation to God. Just in proportion, 
 then, to the value of the privilege thus vouch- 
 safed unto you, must be the aggravation of 
 your guilt, if such a privilege be not now grate- 
 fully estimated, and assiduously improved. You 
 know where it is said, that " unto whomsoever 
 much is given, of him shall be much required."* 
 Nor can you have forgotten the fearfully solemn 
 denunciation of our Lord himself against the 
 cities of Galilee, which had despised and abused 
 their mercies — "Wo unto thee, Chorazin! wo unto 
 thee, Bethsaida ! for if the mighty works had 
 been done in Tyre and Sidon which have 
 been done in you, they had a great while ago 
 repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But 
 it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at 
 
 * Luke xii. iB. 
 
CONCLUSION. 103 
 
 the judgment than for you.'' * Such, then, being 
 the awful responsibility that is lying upon you, 
 as baptized persons, be persuaded to turn with 
 all your heart, to what belongs to you, and lies 
 before you, as thus particularly charcterized. 
 
 We have seen that the ordinance, by the ad- 
 ministration of which you have been brought 
 into this peculiarly responsible situation, at once 
 proclaims your state by nature, and exhibits 
 the all-glorious method of deliverance from its 
 evils. Thus reminded, then, of your inherent 
 corruption, with all its consequent actual trans- 
 gression, give way, immediately and practically, 
 to the call for that " godly-sorrow which worketh 
 repentance to salvation not to be repented of." 
 Thus directed also to the blood of the cross, as 
 shed for the expiation of guilt, and to the Spirit of 
 grace, as sent forth to beat down the power and 
 to remove the pollution of sin, let not that pre- 
 
 * Luke X. 13, 14. 
 
104 CONCLUSION. 
 
 cious blood be ever for one moment unheeded; 
 let not that Holy Spirit be ever in any degree 
 despised or resisted. Cast aside, at once and 
 for ever, all else as but the refuge of lies, and 
 cling in faith and in gratitude to Jesus as your 
 hope, your help, your chosen portion, your 
 only Lord. And seeing that this, your believ- 
 ing and grateful acceptance of Christ, as he is 
 freely offered in the Gospel, if it be not a 
 mere empty profession, must necessarily influ- 
 ence your external deportment, be careful at 
 all times to manifest its sincerity by a walk and 
 conversation becoming the Gospel. Let the Sab- 
 bath be duly sanctified — spent, not in idleness, 
 or in amusement, but in the fear and the wor- 
 ship of God. Let the Sanctuary be habitually 
 frequented — regarded, not as a place of gloomy 
 devotion, or uncomfortable restraint, from 
 which you are glad, upon every frivolous pretext 
 or plausible excuse, to escape, but as the scene 
 of much-valued spiritual improvement, as well 
 
CONCLUSION. 105 
 
 as of delightful communion with the Saviour 
 and his people, to which, therefore, it is not less 
 your privilege than your duty statedly to resort. 
 Let the Preaching of divine Truth he listened 
 to with seriousness and with self-application — 
 with the endeavour fully to understand its 
 doctrinal meaning and to perceive its influen- 
 tial bearing, and with the resolution, at the 
 same time, to lay it up in your hearts and to 
 practise it in your lives. Let the Word of 
 God be considered your most sacred treasure, 
 and followed as your surest guide — not only 
 loved and valued above all earthly possessions, 
 but daily perused, carefully studied, conscien- 
 tiously obeyed. Let the habit of Prayer be assi- 
 duously cultivated and perseveringly maintained, 
 at once as the medium of privileged communion 
 with the Father of your spirits, and as the in- 
 strument of obtaining from him, both mercy to 
 pardon and grace to help. More particularly, 
 let the opportunity of publicly acquiescing in 
 
106 CONCLUSION. 
 
 1/0U9' baptismal Dedication to God he speedily as 
 well as humbly embraced. There can be little 
 reality in your declared attachment to Christ, if 
 you come not thus to acknowledge, at his holy 
 table, in the face of the world, and under the 
 eye of his people, your covenant-relation to 
 God. — Say not that you are too young to take 
 a step so ^important and so awfully respon- 
 sible. Remember the gracious promise of 
 your heavenly Father — " I love them that love 
 me ; and those that seek me early shall find 
 me." * Nor let it be forgotten, that your lives 
 are as uncertain as they are short, and that con- 
 sequently, the very first season of communion 
 may be the last that is ever to come round to 
 you. — Do not rest satisfied with the conviction 
 that you are unprepared for this service. If 
 you really are so, then frightful indeed is the 
 prospect that lies before you I Unfitness here 
 
 * Prov. viii. 17. 
 
CONCLUSION. 107 
 
 necessarily implies that you are still " aliens 
 from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers 
 from the covenants of promise." So long, there- 
 fore, as any such disqualification remains, you 
 must be without safety in life ; you can have no 
 hope in death ; misery unspeakable awaits you 
 in eternity. Surely, then, it is the part of 
 wisdom, as well as of duty, instead of pleading 
 a ground of exemption like this, rather to turn, 
 without a moment's delay, to the justifying 
 righteousness of Christ, and having found an 
 interest therCy to show your believing and giate- 
 ful reliance upon its suflScieucy, by the appointed 
 commemoration of that obedience unto the death 
 of the cross, in which it was so gloriously wrought 
 out. — Heed not the ridicule of the world, or the 
 scorn of the ungodly. If these deter you from 
 the public acknowledgment of Christ, then are 
 you most assuredly preferring the opinion of 
 the world to the glory of Jesus, and seeking 
 " the praise of men, rather than the honour 
 
108 CONCLUSION. 
 
 which conieth from God only.'' While, there- 
 fore, you are foolishly, not to say wickedly, 
 giving way to the enemies of your Saviour, and 
 the despisers of your peace, unte you at the 
 same time is the fearful threatening of our Lord, 
 in all its fulness, addressed — " Whosoever shall 
 deny me before men, him will I also deny be- 
 fore my Father which is in heaven." * — Finally, 
 let notthe difficulties of the Christian servicehere 
 stand in your way. These, it is true, are as for- 
 midable as they are manifold and multiplied. 
 Painful, indeed, must it ever be to flesh and 
 blood, faithfully to comply with the Saviour's 
 requisition, that we should " deny ourselves, and 
 take up our cross daily, and follow him." -j- And, 
 doubtless, it can be no easy matter at any time, ta 
 obey the injunction,, as expressly laid down to us, 
 that we should " walk in wisdom toward them 
 that are without,;}: — letting our light so shine be- 
 
 * Matt. X. JS t Luke ix. 23. J Collos. iv. 5. 
 
CONCLUSION. 100 
 
 fore men, that they may see our good works, 
 and glorify our Father who is in heaven."* But 
 then, it is never to be forgotten, that the joys of 
 the life of faith are, both in variety and in excel- 
 lence, far more than enough to counterbalance 
 all the hardness, which, as good soldiers of Jesus, 
 you may be thus called to endure. Nor is it in 
 your own strength that its trials are to be en- 
 countered. Christ himself has expressly pro- 
 mised, to protect his people from every danger 
 that assails them, to bear them up triumphantly 
 under every toil that oppresses them, to com- 
 fort them abundantly amid every sorrow that 
 threatens to overwhelm them. Hesitate not, 
 then, immediately to place yourselves under the 
 banner of the cross. And go forth to the 
 Christian warfare, animated by the well-gi'ounded 
 assurance, that you shall be " more than con- 
 querors through him that loved you"f — that "the 
 
 * M;itt. V Ifi. f Rom. viii. 37, 
 
110 CONCLUSION. 
 
 trial of your faitli, being mucli more precious 
 than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried 
 with fire, shall be found unto praise, and honour, 
 and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Clirist."* 
 
 ♦ 1st Pet. i. 7. 
 
 BKLL AND IIAIX, PKINTEKS. 
 
PUBLISHED BY W. R. M'PHUN. 
 
 The Catechism W*Bseful Knowledee 
 
 up for by the improvements which it .^ ,1'^^^^ ""'^''^ ^^ ^"'""^^ has been anfp^l 
 nZr™"^i^^r *h« Public inTsuUVlor^onKth P^" «^ the autho?, 
 
 l^her confidently recommends it to t^e narSiir lli^^ *•* ^^^ '"' formerly. The 
 femihes as a work most admirably aditSK^^^^ ""^ Teachers and he 
 
 ment of much useful knowledge. ^^^^"^ ""^ initiating the young mind in the ac 
 
 arrs^rtUt^Jf wmtSi'b?coLlT!£nTS'-""'^ ^S'^ ^^ --'^<^ its appearance a 
 
 Sem ar^'^'" *"^ f'"^P'« ^^--^^> tht"th? verieTcbSdtn '^^". ^l^-S'aTsta, 
 them are purposely lett unanswered th^ thp n»l-i ''^ ^'" understand them. So 
 the answer. "-GAw^ou, Free J^rels,june ml ^^'' ""^^ ^''""^^ ^'^ ingenuity in f 
 
 taught with advantage to, and learned w^?hf. IT'* i*?. '"^^ ^ '"^""er that " 1^ 
 Simpler questions ar^ left wi?ho Jt any ansv er so^r^^^^^ -.^ ^^'^ early -perioT 
 
 own Ingenuity in solving them 'l hi/n V-' ^ that the children may oxercisp 
 also to see so considerablf a poSion of it devoipS "^ ^'^^'^ improvement^ "^ We are 
 and to an explanation of some of thP ^!.^^ °''" ^'^*^°""t of the Books of Scrir 
 them. We are quite suie thTthb w?u Kon^^'^"^ ^""^ ""^'^^ frequently o"? 
 of &cr pture History in the vouthful m id .nH^ extremely useful ' in fixing the ou 
 ac^u^ntance with the Inspired ReicSs'' ^ '" ^''"'""S the desire of a mo^e exto 
 
 chi,dreS;w;'^a7adi7ha1X?J/,^rar^i?'^^^^^ to schools for the u. 
 
 .t over with no small Wnta|l^>!lSS -^^--j^'' J-^^^^ who nJl^h';^ 
 
 The Reformers of Scotland. 
 Siographia Scottcana- 
 
 mation in Scotland, from the be|Kng o^^thejt^^t^^ VhT""".' ^'" the Cause ^r" ti e S" 
 ma ly collected by John Howie of S?oin nntlR'^*'- ^''^"'"'•y to the Year ml l 
 
 nJyi & „" 'SJ IS'TJ, ai» mo,, remarkable rf„,k „at ha. ever .ee„ ,