We say with the great apostle in the words of our text, "Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not." Shall we despair of any, if we, ourselves have been forgiven? As we, the chief of sinners; we, who deserved nothing but wrath, have received mercy, we cannot faint. Although the most holy, the most awful commission, is entrusted to us, we have found it to be tidings of great joy to our own souls;''grace, mercy, and peace,' to our own hearts; and if to ourselves, surely it shall be the same to you. We are sent to tell you this from God Himself; and therefore we do not sink down and faint before you; we kneel down and pray among you. Here in this great congregation we remember His words, that we ought always to pray, and not to faint. "Come, therefore, Light of the blind! Life to the dead! manifest Thy presence among us. Come, Lord and Giver of life! and raise us from the death of trespasses and sins! Come, Holy and Anointing Spirit! come at our humble prayer; come and anoint our blinded eyes; come and shine into our hearts, and give unto us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

SERMON IV.

A CHILD LEFT TO HIMSELF.

PROVERBS XXIX. 15.

"A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

It is part of our holy commission to speak to you of the land of everlasting life, where the heirs of glory shall reign with the Lord their God, for ever. What would you think of us, if we were to say to some among you, 'we hold out no such blessedness to you?' Yet, there is another part of our commission which we cannot keep back it is the Saviour's own address to a learned man and a ruler, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." The child born of human parents, must be born again of the Spirit, for "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," and "they that are in the flesh cannot please God." However godly the parents of that child may be, they cannot effect the change of regeneration in their child, or make him by

any effort of their own wisdom, or their own power, the subject of a new and spiritual birth, still no child must be left to himself.

I. First, let us consider the principle of leaving no child to himself, with reference to parents. It is necessary for christian parents to remember, that if their children are to be christians, they must be made the children of God by adoption and grace, that so a new birth may be realized, and a personal change take place in the spirit of every child. On this principle of leaving no child to himself, and in obedience to our Lord's gracious command, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not," the child of godly parents will be, we doubt not, before his birth, and at his birth, and after his birth, the child of many prayers. Thus, he will not, in any sense, be left to himself, but meekly brought to God; and dedicated to His service. Thus, on the same principle, he will be brought to God by the holy sacrament of baptism; and of this sacrament we would say, to use the very words of our twenty-seventh article,

Baptism is not only a sign of profession, and mark of difference, whereby christian men are discerned from others that be not christened; but it is also a sign of regeneration or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly, are grafted into

the church the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God by the Holy Ghost, are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, and grace increased, by virtue of prayer unto God. Baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the church, as most agreeable with the institution of Christ." And here I would call upon you to consider with devout attention the wording of this article, remembering that although we are not to attach more importance to ordinances than our Lord Himself has done, we are not to go into the opposite extreme. The Spirit is not tied to any ordinances or means of grace, but He is wont to use, to accompany, and to bless them. Thus, no man is made willing, but in the day of God's power, who worketh in us to will and to do of His good pleasure; but, when is not the day of His power? and has He any pleasure in the death of the wicked? Now is the accepted time, at least to accept the prayer; though, to try our faith or exercise our patience, He may be pleased to make us wait for the blessing. Still God has made known to us His own appointed means of grace, His own appointed way of salvation, and he is a God of order, and having given us His ordinances, we trifle most fearfully with Him, if we declare ourselves in search of eternal life, and do not follow His directions.

Sacraments are not to be put in the place of Christ. He who ordained the sacrament is the only Saviour; but the sacrament should be highly honoured, as being a means ordained by Him to the salvation of His children. In this sense only, baptism doth save. As by the washing of water, the outward sign and seal of the sacrament, the flesh is cleansed; so by the inward cleansing of the Holy Spirit, the conscience is also purified; for He, and He alone, can take of the blood of Christ and apply it to the conscience, to purge it from dead works to serve the living God.

II. Secondly, let us consider the principle of leaving no child to himself, with reference to children. Childhood is peculiarly the sowing time for God's word; the mind is then in that soft and pliant state, that the impressions formed upon it are almost sure to remain, and to have their influence upon the after life. Every child being born with a heart in which the germ of a corrupt nature lies enclosed; if he be not made by the second birth of the Spirit a child of God's grace, he will grow up in what either the world would call sin, or most assuredly in what the Bible calls ungodliness. Habits of selfishness, idleness, obstinacy, indecency, lying, cruelty, and malice, may either in greater or less degree