blood of Christ. Some will think perhaps, I fall short of the truth in estimating the design of the Holy Sacraments, or misstate their real nature, or hold myself too free of human authority respecting them: Some I am sure will think I take too lax a view of the right of admission to them, while others may feel that I am too exclusive in the benefits received. Very possibly I may seem to exaggerate, and be the occasion of discouragement to some who have never found it what I may describe. None of this is intended, though it is all foreseen. I write nothing inconsiderately, or as it were at a venture; if any thing is mistaken, it is nevertheless the well-examined, well-established persuasion of my mind, not the mistake of haste or carelessness; if any thing is deficient, or any thing in excess, my error is the communicant's, rather than the writer's: for mine are thoughts, not words; I put down nothing that I have not realised, as I believe in the administration of the holy ordinance. I am induced to write, notwithstanding this anticipation, because I trust that for one who is wounded by the awkwardness of the administrator, many will be healed by the divine truths exhibited; the mistakes will be mine, and the truths will be God's; and I trust that he will bless the one, the other notwithstanding.

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CHAPTER II.

ON THE SACRAMENTS.

By consent of all Protestant churches, the Sacraments are but two; and these so directly ordained and commanded by Christ, himself in the New Testament, as to preclude any dispute against their authority, whatever differences may have arisen respecting the nature of them, or the mode of administration. "Go ye therefore, and teach all natious, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost." "This do in remembrance of me." These two sacraments, therefore, are of divine obligation, and are not left to the choice of any church communion, to adopt or otherwise, neither to the will of any man, to do or to neglect. Although the responsibility of such a neglect will be more fully noticed in a subsequeut chapter, we would here observe how lightly this obligation is estimated, as being of God, distinctively, and independently of any human sanctions. That much more deference is actually paid to the authority of man in them, than to that of God, is manifested in stricter observance of the one sacrament, than of the other. Very few parents neglect to have

their children baptized: the law of man requires it, and there are civil inconveniences attached to the neglect of it; but many never bring, or care to bring their families to the table of the Lord. Nay, they would not consider themselves Christians, if they had not been baptized: but no man's heart misgives him that he is not a Christian, because he does not, and will not, partake of the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. And yet the authority is no greater and no less for the one than for the other, nor the command more positive and unrestricted. Most earnestly we would press this reflection upon those, of whom we fear there are many, who take their Christianity for granted, yet never have attended or desired to attend the communion; a communion equally unavailing indeed, with the sacrament of Baptism, tọ make us Christians: but as professed members of the Christian church, we have never perhaps considered why we attach so much importance to the one ceremony, and so little to the other; placed as they are, on exactly the same ground of benefit and obligation. In many cases the reason ultimately discloses itself; it is the authority of man, and not of God, that is respected in either sacrament. Men will not call us Christians, or give us a decent burial, unless we be baptized; but they will not inquire if we communicate or not; unless it be for some civil purpose enforced by law, in which case we are

willing to comply. And thus our very compliance with either ordinance, is shown to be an act of obedience to man, rather than to God, who has appointed both.

The nature and design of the sacraments are more indirectly, but not less surely gathered from the word of God. Our own church thus defines them: "Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges and tokens of Christian men's profession, but rather they be certain, sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace and God's good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in him." These are indeed the words of man, therefore imperfect, and therefore fallible-to be interpreted by the judgment of man, and accepted or rejected as they shall seem to be in conformity or otherwise with the word of God. Bnt to my apprehension, nothing can be added to make the definition more explicit, or more fully expressive of the divine. purpose in the institution of sacramental signs. They are not mere acts of worship, obedience, and acknowledgment on our part, by which we make profession, before God and each other, of the Christian religion. This they are, but not this only. The man who performs either of these rites, does make the profession, and is responsible on his part, and as far as he is able, to fulfil it to the utmost letter of his

engagement; how solemnly taken; how deeply obligatory! It does not indeed create the obligation: whatever was due to God after the ceremony, was due to Him before, and would be so though they had never been instituted, or never complied with. This it is most necessary that we bear in mind: because if men do not in argument, they do in their hearts deny it; and from the one sacrament, at least, remain away, lest they make an engagement they do not intend to keep: and probably would do so from the other, were it not performed without their cognizance. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are not arbitrary institutions, to create a relation between God and man which does not exist without them. Every man to whom the word of God has come, is bound to believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, to renounce the works of darkness, and become the faithful follower of Jesus Christ, whether in baptism he has promised it or not. Every one who hears the invitation of the gospel, to seek salvation by the blood of Jesus, is as much bound to renounce himself and trust in the righteousness of Christ, as if he had professed to do so at the altar. It was not for himself, to strengthen his own claims, that God appointed these ceremonies: it was to impress them on the memory of his creatures; to convict us from our own lips of the refusal of salvation; to take from us the pretence with which the soul