purpose by him, are necessary as signs and seals of the covenant, to distinguish his people as believers; they are needful as commanded by God, in diligent obedience to his will; but they are above all, needful as they are the appointed means, to convey grace to the souls of his people. In the everlasting covenant, as they are a pledge on the part of God, that he will fulfil his promise, so also when piously ministered in faith, they are a pledge given on the part of men, "that they love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and will walk in newness of life, keeping the commandments of God."

By a due observance of the sacraments appointed by Christ, every man who acts up to his solemn compact by baptism, gives the strongest proof of his confidence and trust in God. In this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true. A filial obedience in love to the Saviour, will thus prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." This proof of love was often declared by Christ himself, who says, "He that hath my com

mandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him; if any man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings." These holy sacraments being thus ordained by Christ himself, it follows, as the judicious Hooker observes, 'that grace is a consequent of them, a thing which accompanieth them as their end, a benefit which they have received from God himself, and not from any other natural or supernatural quality in them; they are necessary as moral instruments of salvation,-necessary not as physical, but moral instruments of salvation, duties of service and worship, which unless we perform as the author of grace requireth, they are unprofitable. For all receive not grace who receive the sacraments of grace. Neither is it ordinarily his will to bestow the grace of sacraments on any but by the sacraments, which grace they that receive by sacraments, or with sacraments, receive it from him and not from them. For of sacraments the very same is true, which Solomon's wisdom

observeth as to the brazen serpent. He that turned towards it, was not healed by the thing he saw, but by thee, O Saviour of all. This is therefore "the necessity of sacraments; that saving grace which Christ originally is, or hath "for the general good of his whole church; by

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sacraments he severally imparts to the different "members of his church. Sacraments serve to "that end and purpose, as moral instruments, "the use whereof is in the hands of men, the "effect in the hands of God. Man is the visible minister, and God the invisible agent in the part "by grace given. Man ministers in the divine "ordinance, and hears the word of God, and prays according to the will of God, and God

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gives the blessing. For the use, we have his

express commandment; for the effect, his condi❝tional promise, so that without our obedience to "the one, there is of the other no apparent assur"ance, as on the contrary, when the signs and "sacraments of his grace are not unreceived, or "not received with contempt, we are not to doubt, but that they really give what they promise, and are what they signify." It is not their own nature which gives the sanctifying

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1 Hooker on Baptism.

effect to the elements, but the power and purpose of God who has appointed them, and when duly ministered, will give them his blessing in his promised grace to those who rightly receive them.

Such are the two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's supper, not only as outward signs, but as a means of grace, and a pledge to assure us thereof; and as such, being both appointed by Christ, they are both means of grace, generally necessary to salvation. As to baptism, he said to Nicodemus," Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven." And in respect to the Lord's supper, he said, "Do this in remembrance of me."

Having thus pointed out that which is common to both of the sacred ordinances instituted by Christ, I shall now consider in a more special and particular manner, the sacrament of baptism as taught in the gospel of grace and salvation. The doctrine of baptism is spoken of as among the principles of the doctrine of Christ. It is a well known fact, as Mr. Horne observes, in his introduction to them, that in all countries where the Christian faith is held, its professors are

initiated by baptism, and that by submitting to this rite, they renounce every other religious institution, and bind themselves to the profession of the gospel alone. On the part of those who administer this rite, it signifies that they act agreeably to the will of the Father who appointed the Christian religion, and by express commandment from him, and from his Son who published it, as well as from the Holy Ghost who confirmed it, when they baptize men into the belief and profession of Christianity. On the part of God, this ordinance is a declaration by his ministers, that he accepts and pardons the baptized person, provided he gives the answer of a good conscience, and in his subsequent life, acts agreeably to the obligations of baptism. And lastly, on the part of the baptised, their receiving of this rite is understood to be an affectionate and solemn public declaration of their sense of the relation in which they stand to God the Father as their creator, to God the Son as their redeemer, and to God the Holy Ghost as their sanctifier, according to the views which the Christian religion gives of these relations; and also of their firm resolution faithfully to perform the duties resulting from these