your sorrows bring you humbly to a throne of grace. Go and tell your God and Father of your heavy loss! He knows it already, but he expects to hear of it again and again from you! Go and tell him the penitent sense you have of sin, as the procuring cause of this visitation!Tell him your holy resolutions, and make your vows unto him; tell him all your fears; and cast all your care upon him who careth for you; plead with him the promise he has made, that all these things shall work together for your good; tell him it is the wish and prayer of your soul, that sin may be embittered, and the Saviour endeared; that this affliction may be sanctified to the bereaved husband, to the childless parent, and to the mourning nation.

I remain, Dearly Beloved,

Your affectionate Minister and Servant in Christ, EDWARD WARD.

I AM about to address you on a duty, which is awfully neglected in the present day, I mean the duty of Godfathers and Godmothers. By this neglect, it is not too much to say, the child is

cheated of its privilege; the church defeated in her intention; the soul of the sponsor stained with broken vows; and heaven, it may be, disappointed of its inheritors.

This language may appear strong, but indeed it is not too strong for the occasion. Bear with me, then, while, with all plainness of speech, I remonstrate with those who slight the solemn promises they make at the font; who seem to leave their sense of obligation at the churchdoor; and satisfy themselves with furnishing the name, answering to a form of words, and afterwards drinking the health, as it is termed, of the young Christian.

How comes it to pass that every other promise is deemed binding in society? promises between man and man: promises often rashly made, and sometimes to 66 our own hindrance;" these must be religiously kept from deference to the opinion of the world, and " for our oath's sake ;"-while promises, that involve the eternal interests of a fellow-creature; promises deliberately made in the house of God, in the presence of his ministers, and where He himself is a special party; these are slighted, broken, forgotten, without fear or remorse, as if God winked at such mockery, and "cared not for it."

Let me first protest against those gross profanations of this sacred service, where a christening is made an excuse for a carousal;—where, after solemnly renouncing the sinful lusts of the flesh," the parties retire to make "a god of

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their belly," and to " add drunkenness to thirst." This sad perversion of an ordinance so eminently spiritual, meets its just reproof in that emphatic question of the Apostle; "What communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial ?"

But I principally complain (though I gladly admit there are honourable exceptions) of the general neglect of any serious effort to impress the mind of the child with right views of religious truth.

This, I conceive, ought to be done by PRECEPT, by EXAMPLE, and by PRAYER.

First, by PRECEPT.-The baptismal exhortation to the Godfathers and Godmothers directs them to see that the "infant be taught, so soon as it shall be able to learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and profession has been made in its name."-Surely then every opportunity should be taken to communicate the leading truths of religion such as, the goodness, the greatness, the holiness of God: the duty of loving Him, and the happiness of being loved by Him the infinite evil of sin as committed against so gracious and glorious a Being; the awful certainty of a day of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, and heaven awarded to the righteous, and hell to the wicked. Especial stress should be laid on the sinful state in which we are born; the depravity and deceitfulness of the human heart; and the necessity of a divine change through the influence of the Holy

Spirit; above all, God's inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, should be affectionately dwelt upon, and the bounden duty of shewing forth His praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives.'

But, I appeal to the conscience, is this generally done by those, who answer for children? are due pains taken to lead them to love God, to loath sin, to look to Christ? are they taught to value the great blessing of being admitted into the christian covenant at their birth; of being made, conditionally, members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven?'

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Secondly, by EXAMPLE.- -We all know that example has more weight than precept; and few will do as we say, if they see our actions at variance with our words.-How can any one require his godchild to refrain from "the pomps and vanity of this wicked world and the sinful lusts of the flesh," when he gives himself up to dissipation and worldly-mindedness; and possibly goes still farther, resorting where the drunkards are, and spending his night in rioting and revelry.— How can he bid the child reverence God's holy name, when he dares to blaspheme it himself; and urge it to go to church, when his own seat is almost always empty there? Can he recommend the diligent reading of the word of God, who seldom or never looks into that blessed book; or enjoin the practice of prayer, when he lets

the morning dawn and the evening close, without ever bending his knees at a throne of grace,neither asking pardon for the past, nor help for the time to come?

Oh, it would be well, if every sponsor on leaving the font would inwardly reflect, I have now a fresh motive to walk with God, an additional reason for keeping myself unspotted from the world. Yonder child will shape his course by mine; where I go, he will think it safe to follow: what I do, he will judge, cannot be wrong.' Let me pray then and strive, not only to avoid the very appearance of evil, but to exhibit in my conduct whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; that I may be enabled in a measure to say:-"Be a follower of me, even as I am of Christ."

Thirdly, by PRAYER.-However spiritual the advice, however excellent the example, still prayer, private persevering prayer must seal the whole. Every means in our power must be diligently employed to guide the child right; but, this done, we must pray, as if we had done nothing. We must carry the case to Him, in whose hands are the hearts of all-entreating Him to own and bless our weak endeavours; and to make us the honoured instruments of winning souls to Christ: we must beseech Him to baptize with the Holy Ghost the child that has been baptized with water; to sanctify it in body,