but himself believed. Nor was it a light trial that Abraham was subjected to, when he was commanded to take Isaac, the child of promise, and with his own hands slay him in sacrifice to the Lord. By grace, however, these patriarchs were enabled to bring forth the fruit of obedience.

Again, the fruitful man is he who is ingrafted | ing a huge ark of gopher-wood for the preservainto Christ. Christ is the true vine-the good tion of his family from a deluge in which none vine-the only fruitful vine. Adam is the strange vine, whose branches produce nothing. But we all belong to Adam at the first. We are by nature branches of the strange vine. What, then, must be done? That we may yield fruit, we must be cut off from Adam, and ingrafted into Christ. We must become branches of Christ. I am the vine,' says Christ to his disciples; ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing.' 'As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.'

Another specimen of the fruit required of us is hatred of sin and the crucifying of the flesh. An example of it occurs in the case of Joseph, when he withstood the seductions of the wife of Potiphar, and refused to sin against God.

Another specimen is hope and patient waiting on God. Examples are found in Jacob, who on his dying bed could say, 'I have waited for thy salvation, O God—and in Simeon, of whom the Holy Ghost testifies that he waited for the con

giving, when he had seen the Lord's Christ, was,
'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in
peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes
have seen thy salvation.'

Thus, then, there must be a divine work of grace in order to spiritual fruitfulness. There must be a work of grace in which Father, Son, and Spirit, co-operate. Jehovah is the great Hus-solation of Israel, and whose memorable thanksbandman under whose culture the fruit is brought forth, and to whom it all belongs. Also, this work of grace includes in it the union of the believer to Christ. Without Christ-apart from him—the believer can do nothing. It is necessary for him to be as truly and effectually connected with Christ, as he was originally with Adam. By his union with Adam, death and corruption came to his soul; life and grace are derived to him by his union with Christ. And as death and corruption are fatal to fruitfulness, so barrenness cannot be where life and grace are enjoyed.

Wherein consists the fruit which believers bring forth? Let us select a few specimens of it. It consists in love. There is the love of the brethren. It consists in that. How singularly was the love of the brethren exemplified by the first Christians! The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that ought of the things that he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.' There is also the love of souls; it consists in that. Behold it in the apostolic labours of Paul! 'I seek not yours,' he said, 'but you.' I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.' And there is love to Christ, and to his cause; it consists in that. See it in Paul; see it in Stephen; see it in John. was peculiarly conspicuous in these, and in others who might be named; but it exists in all the faithful.

It

Spiritual fruit consists in obedience to God. God requires implicit, unquestioning compliance with his will. This is more difficult than at first sight may appear. It was no easy task that was assigned to Noah, when he was directed to spend one hundred and twenty years of his life in build

Yet another specimen is self-denial. Moses exemplified it when he preferred the reproach of Christ to the treasures of Egypt, and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

The only other we shall mention is steadfastness. Behold it in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So firm and true to God were these noble witnesses, that they would not save themselves from the burning fiery furnace by worshipping the golden image set up by the king. Equally courageous and immovable was Daniel, whom the certainty of being cast into the lions' den, if he broke the commandment of the king, could not deter from doing so by offering up, as his custom had been, prayer and supplication to the God of Israel.

They shall bring forth fruit in old age.' The trees of righteousness never become barren. Increase of years brings to them no decay. It is truly beautiful to see an aged individual adorned with the graces of the Spirit, and presenting himself continually a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. The ready thought with respect to such a one is, that God has prepared him for heaven, and that he will soon be there that he is too good for the world, that it were unfit to leave him much longer to bring forth his fruit in the wilderness, and that his speedy transplantation to paradise may be looked for.

‘And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee, in their generations. This is my corenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you, and thy seed after thee; every man-child among you shall be circumcised,' Gen. xvii. 9, to males, while baptism is administered to chil

the Lord's supper, but never of the passover; and in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians (v. 7, 8.) that church is exhorted to keep the feast of the supper, not with old leaven, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, because 'Christ our passover is,' of course in it, shown to be sacrificed for us.'

world-the slaves of superstition and error— worshipping they know not what having the light that is in them darkness—and trusting in refuges of lies! Of those upon whom the name of Christ has been named, how many are like Gallio, they care for none of the things of Christ! And of the comparatively few who make a profession of religion and attend upon Christian ordinances, how many are actuated by selfish, hypocritical, or interested motives! The bible is like a mirror, in which man may be seen in every varied shade of character-you may see him there, as a hopeless sinner, forsaking his own mercy-as a triumphant saint, made more than conqueror—as an humble, confiding, but weak believer, or as a formal, hollow-hearted, and selfish professor. In the last of these conditions, the person denounced in the portion of scripture above quoted, is awfully

These two seals of the righteousness of faith,' are all the ordinances which Christ the great King and Head of the church hath been pleased to ordain or appoint, and their observance is to continue to the day of the consummation of all things. When our blessed Lord commissioned his apostles to go and make disciples by baptism in all nations, he expressly promised to be with them to the end of the world;' and in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians (xi. 26) he declares that the ordinance of the supper shall show the Lord's death till he come.' Usurpation of the pre-exhibited. The violent persecution which the rogative of the King of kings, or treason against him, is surely as heinous an offence as similar crimes committed against earthly sovereigns, and therefore the church of Rome, and all other churches who have added to those ordinances, and the society of Friends, who have laid them aside, have greatly erred. Jehovah is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to another; and he has awfully declared, (Rev. xxii. 18.) 'that if any man shall add to God's words, God will add to him the plagues which he has threatened in his word, and if any man shall take away from God's word, God will take away that man's part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city.' These ordinances, however, are made efficacious only by the operation of the Spirit of God. That is not circumcision which is outwardly in the flesh, but which is of the heart and in the Spirit. Let all persons therefore when they go to God in those ordinances, endeavour to make their calling and election sure, and to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, through these means of grace; remembering that it is not in man who walketh to direct his steps, and that it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure.

FIFTH DAY.-EVENING.

For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity, Acts viii. 23. How lamentable and humiliating it is, to contemplate the religious character or history of man! What an overwhelming proportion of the human race are without God and without hope in the

Jewish authorities had raised against the infant church at Jerusalem, and which was intended and expected to overwhelm and destroy it, did, in the overruling providence of God, by dispersing believers through the provinces, widely disseminate the word of truth, and extend the name and cause of Jesus. In Samaria, to which Philip, one of the seven deacons, had in his flight, been by providence directed, the inhabitants in general received with alacrity and joy the glad tidings of salvation from his mouth, being convinced by the power of truth, and the miracles which Philip performed; and among them Simon Magus, a famous sorcerer or magician. This man appears, for a long time to have deluded and bewitched the people of Samaria with his sorceries, giving out that he himself was some great one,' so that to him they in general gave heed, considering him to be the great power of God;' but by the preaching of Philip and the miracles which he wrought, not only did the people abandon the delusions and sorceries of Simon, but he himself believed, was baptized, and continued with Philip, wondering and beholding the miracles and signs which were done.' There is no reason to suppose that Simon was from the first a gross and conscious impostor, pretending to a conviction which he did not experience. He appears rather, to have been one of the class of converts represented by our Lord, in the parable of the sower, (Matt. xiii.) by the seed which fell upon the stony ground. Convinced by the truth which he heard, and dazzled by the wonders which he saw performed, he gave a full assent to the truth of Christianity, but there was no depth in his conviction, or power of truth in his heart; and when he saw that through laying on of the apostles'

hands the Holy Ghost was given,' conceiving that | All men therefore ought to give diligence to make through that means he might exalt himself and their calling and election sure, and should try and advance his selfish interest, he offered the apostles prove their own selves, lest in ordinances they money for the power, that on whomsoever he should be only treading God's courts in vain, and should lay hands they might receive the Holy sitting in his presence as his people sit, while their Ghost.' What, however, is of greater import-hearts were following after wickedness. ance is, that Simon was baptized and that by an undoubted minister of the truth-a man full of the Holy Ghost,' (Acts vi. 3.) a man unquestionably in holy orders, and yet Simon had neither

lot nor part in the truth, but was in the gall of Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing

all nations, baptizing,' the original is, Go and thine heart thou mayest,' said Philip to the Ethidisciplize, or make disciples of all nations, baptiz- opian eunuch, (Acts viii. 37) when he requested ing, &c. The difference of rendering is important to be baptized. Adults therefore, whose parents only, because Baptists have built a portion of their have neglected, or been unworthy and unable to unscriptural theory upon the slight inaccuracy in have had them baptized in infancy, should, preour translation, and alleged from thence that chil-viously to baptism, be made acquainted with the dren should be grown up and taught, before they can be fit subjects for baptism. Whereas, when the commission is literally and correctly rendered, 'make disciples, baptizing,' and when the latter part of it, teach them,' when they have become disciples, 'to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded,' is also taken into account, it obviously includes children; for they are eminently suited to become disciples or learners, and God has commanded to train them up in the way they should go,' Prov. xxii. 6. Baptism is the very gate or door of admission into the Christian church. It is a dedication of sinful creatures to the Father, who so loved them as to give the Son to be wounded for their transgressions;' to the Son, who while they were yet enemies so loved sinners as to suffer death for their sakes; and to the Holy Ghost, who so loves the souls of men, as to take up his residence in the sinful temple of their hearts, persuading and enabling them to embrace Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, the unity in Godhead, and plurality in person of the supreme Being, was in several places glanced at, or shadowed forth. Let us make man,' Gen. i. 26. Let us go down and confound their language,' Gen. xi. 71. Above all, 'Hear, O Israel, the Jehovah our Gods (in the original) is one Jehovah,' Deut. vi. 4. demonstrate that while there is no God beside Jehovah, there is in the Jehovah or Godhead plurality of persons: and here, in our Lord's commission to his apostles, that plurality is shown to be trinity. Our dedication in baptism, equally and without the slightest shadow of superiority in the one divine person over the others, to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, clearly establishes their equality; and so long as baptism remains an ordinance of the Christian church, the Unitarianism which would reduce the Son to the rank of a creature, and the Spirit to that of a quality or attribute in the Father, must rank at the very head of the gospel heresies. Although, as we have stated, baptism is the very gate or entrance into Christianity, it does not thence follow that some prerequisites are not necessary before it can be lawfully and profitably administered. The baptized is only a disciple or learner, but he must know something of him from whom he is to learn, and be willing to subject himself to his tuition, before he can become a disciple. If thou believest with all

1

plan of salvation, and should give satisfactory evidence that they are willing to embrace it, before they are numbered with the disciples of Christ by that ordinance; and this must also be the case with all missionary converts among the heathen. Infants are admitted to baptism, only on the principle that their parents are able to teach them, as they became capable of being taught, 'to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded,' and upon the parents' engagement to perform that duty. "The promise is unto you and to your children,' saith the apostle, (Acts ii. 39). The parent, therefore, must be personally in possession of the divine promises, before he can have any right to baptism for his child. God mercifully looks upon families as one where the heads thereof fear and serve him, and it is not until the children, by departing from their parents' example, and provoking him to anger by wicked works, have forfeited their privileges, that God withdraws from them the love and favour which he had bestowed upon them as children of pious parents, and members of a believing household. When, however, the parent himself is not a disciple of Christ, when he has never known him, or been in possession of any of his promises, it would be solemn mockery to commit to him the education of a child. No man can teach what he himself has not learned, or does not know. No man can give what he does not possess. The church can never make disciples of children by baptism, when it does not make provision for communicating to them instruction in the doctrine and truth of Christ. It may, indeed, give the name of Christian, and swell the number of nominal professors of Christianity; but it cannot fulfil the Spirit of our Lord's commission, or add to the number of the genuine children of Zion. It is just as unwarranted, and absurd, and as wide of the scope or compass of our Lord's commission, to administer baptism to the child of an ignorant, ungodly, or unbelieving parent, as it would be to baptize an ungodly or unbelieving adult. The church therefore should administer baptism to no infants, but the children of such parents as it had reason to believe had received and were in possession of the promise to themselves, that so it might be expected to descend unto the child; and all parents should give diligence to obtain knowledge, faith, hope, and the power of divine