sin is death, we are told in the Bible, and as all men have sinned, all would have perished in eternal death: but Jesus Christ has done great things for us, he died that we might live: through him God pardons our past offences, and gives us eternal life: through him we shall inherit the kingdom of Heaven, and be made heirs of God, and joint heirs with the Son, the blessed, the adorable Jesus.

Baptism is a covenant or agreement between God and ourselves. You all know what an agreement between two persons is. For instance, you and I make an agreement between ourselves: you promise to do such and such things, and I promise, on that condition, to give you such and such things. So is baptism. When you are baptized, God of his mercy makes an agreement with you: you promise to repent of all your past sins, to believe in Jesus Christ, and to keep all God's commandments as your Saviour has told us of

them, and he promises to pardon all that is past, to give you his Holy Spirit to ena ble you to do all that your Saviour commands you, and if you continue so to be lieve, and so to do, he also promises to receive you into the kingdom of Heaven. Great, great indeed, my brethren, are the blessings, which baptism gives us. Think only of the pardon of your sins. If you think on the subject, it must give you the greatest pain to think how many sins you must have been guilty of in thought, word, and deed, and that for these sins you are all liable to punishment in another world. What a blessing then is it, to be assured that for Jesus Christ's sake God forgives you these sins, and admits you to pardon by baptism. Think again how liable you are to break all your good resolutions, how often you are tempted to do wrong, how strong bad example is. Then think that God promises you his Holy Spirit to give you strength, if you will pray for it, and exert yourselves to conquer temptation, to resist

bad examples, and to walk in his holy ways. Think also, what a scene of toil and sorrow, and pain this world is, how liable you are all to sickness and pain of body, how you and every one of us that earn our bread by labour of body or of mind, must often suffer distress from the loss of children, and other near and dear relations. Think then that when you are baptized, you are made heirs of the kingdom of Heaven, that God promises to take you at your deaths to that place, where sin and sorrow and death never come, where no poor father and mother weep over the grave of a beloved child, but where we can die no more, but are equal unto the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. But remember your part of the agreement, for, if you do not keep your promise, God will not keep his; if you do not repent, have faith in Christ, and lead holy lives, baptism will be of no use: you are yet in your sins, and in your sins ye will die, and your sins will

carry you where the smoke of the torments of the damned ascendeth for ever and ever.

A few words more, and I have done. As for you, who have been christened this evening, I call upon you as your friend, as your teacher, as a minister of God's holy word, to think seriously of all that you have promised. It is your duty to set the best example now, to let others see that, in consequence of being baptized, you are better slaves to your owners, better fathers and better mothers, better husbands and better wives, better children, and better in every respect. It is your duty to be regular in coming to Church, because God has promised to give his grace to those who pray for him, and worship him in his holy Church. You must join in all the prayers, in the confession of sins, and in repeating the Belief, and you must pray every morning and evening at home that God would give you grace for Jesus Christ's sake, to

love, serve him, and obey him. I will not degrade you by supposing that you now can ever be guilty of such vile things as lying and stealing: but let me beg you not to follow the example of those, who ought to know better, in swearing and drunkenness and adultery. What adultery is, you must now all know. Remember you are to answer for yourselves to God: if you choose to follow the example of wicked persons, you must be contented to be punished with them. With all these advantages, you must remember that you are to be humble, humble in heart, and therefore, in speech and in behaviour. Your religion, the religion in which you have been baptized, is a religion of humility: for what is more humbling than to know that you are sinners, and such your religion teaches us, that we all are, and that you owe to the free mercy of God, and to Jesus Christ, all the good, that you may do, and all the blessings you can receive.