Great pains have been taken to ensure the fidelity of the allowing Discourses, but the publisher considers it due to their eminent and highly gifted Author to state, that as they are published without his consent, or the benefit of his revision, of course he is in nowise responsible for any inaccuracies that may have occurred.

The last three Prayers were delivered in places of temporary accommodation during the repair of Friends' Meeting House. Liverpool, 11 Mo., 1832.

SERMON I.

DELIVERED AT A PUBLIC MEETING,

5ти MONTH 6ти, 1832.

WHEN Our Lord Jesus Christ was drawing towards the close of his ministry, and when he was about to ascend into that glory from which he came, and wherein he was with the Father before the world was, he appeared to his disciples on the mountain, at the place appointed in Galilee, which had been very much the scene of his labours in the ministry of the gospel, (for he was himself the prince of prophets;) and he said to them, when they were assembled together, " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." He therefore proclaimed his own supreme authority over all things, visible and invisible, under the Father, who gave him all authority, as the glorious Mediator between God and man, in whom was the nature of the unchangeable God, and who had taken upon him the nature of man, but without sin. "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth;" and then followed his final commission, "Go ye, and teach all nations," (or make disciples of all

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nations,) "baptizing them in the name," (or into the name, as the original words import,) "baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." And blessed for ever be the adorable name of the glorious Head of his own church, he is with his disciples always, even unto the end of the world; for it is their privilege to serve, worship, and obey an omnipotent and omnipresent Saviour, who hath all power in heaven and in earth, and who rules over the universe for the church's sake; for, as the apostle hath testified, "he is head over all things unto the church, which is his body, the fulness of him who filleth all in all;" and directs that his disciples and servants may reverently believe that their Master is with them perpetually, protecting them by his presence, and strengthening them by his power; as, in a very especial manner, may they rely on his present help, when, under the influence of his own blessed Spirit, they are engaged in proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation to the fallen children of men; for then, above all other times, they do require his help, for they have no ability of their own for so high and so important a work. And no man living, however learned, however skilled in speech, ever was, or ever will be, competent to this work, unless he is put forth by the authority, and assisted by

the grace and good spirit, of the glorious Head of the church, who is the minister of the true tabernacle, and who can still pour forth of his anointing Spirit, even on the poorest and the feeblest of the children of men: and when his servants are favoured with this influence, although they are nothing in themselves, and worse than nothing, they are at times enabled, even by means of a living and powerful ministry, to baptize their hearers into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Important distinctions sometimes hang on little words; a man may be said to baptize in the name of God, when he baptizes under the authority, and by the commission of God, as John the Baptist did in the name of God; and man may be said to baptize into the name of God, when he is made the means of bringing his fellow-men into that living and saving faith, of which God is the object. And in order truly to baptize the benighted children of men into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth is the grand, essential qualification; and whatsoever opinion we may form on the subject of the outward rite, no man ever was, or ever will be, truly baptized into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, but by the influence of the Spirit of God, who is omnipotent. And the ministry of the gospel is here described, as it appears to me, as the medium through which this essential and saving blessing is communicated, even as