is made by Baptism, which is the Rite appointed by the Master of the family for that purpose, when he said to his servants, "Go and teach". that is, make disciples of receive as pupils into my household-"all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." The infant, therefore, who is brought to this holy Sacrament is thereby introduced into the company and society of Christ's people-he is adopted into the family of God,-and whereas he was by nature born in sin and a child of wrath, he is thereby made a child of grace, or fatherly favour a new state of things is commenceda new relation is formed-and the foundation is thus laid for that subsequent training in the discipline of Christ, which may form him to be personally, and in heart and life, that new creature, which he typically and prospectively is made in this inceptive ordinance. Brethren! Take heed that you forget not this characteristic of the Baptismal Covenant. It is not salvation completed

-it is but salvation begun. God looks to you now for the results of this merciful agreement that he has made with you-for the character and conduct which should follow, and correspond with, your new name, and privilege, and hopes.

For a second characteristic of the Baptismal Covenant, following necessarily from that first one, is,

that it is conditional. The very nature of a Covenant includes this. A Covenant is a stipulation made between two parties, in which certain advantages are engaged for by the one party on the faith of certain corresponding returns by the other. And just such is the Covenant of Baptism. With adults it is "the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins." Mark, i. 4. And with infants, therefore, this repentance is a matter of promise, on the condition of which the privileges are, by anticipation, graciously vouchsafed. God gives freely and antecedently, on the expectation of man's responding to his kindness gratefully and conscientiously. This has been ever his method with his creatures. But that antecedent freeness does not

exonerate them from a due return. -it just the more indissolubly binds them to the rendering that return. Irrespectively of man's concurrence, God sent his Son into the world to die for sinners. Irrespectively of man's desert, he has proclaimed, through Christ, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, atonement, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. The banquet of free mercy is prepared, and He sends forth his servants into the very streets and lanes to invite the most unworthy to partake of it. The school of divine Wisdom is thrown wide open-there is no limiting inscription on her gate- her invitations are vouchsafed

to all without discrimination. "She crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets." "She hath builded her house; she hath furnished her table; she hath sent forth her maidens; she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither; and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine that I have mingled." All, on the part of God, is free, spontaneous, prevenient grace. But then, just for this very reason that he thus anticipates our wants-just because he thus begins with us, there results immediately a corresponding obligation on the part of those whom he has thus invited to himself. From all who are ultimately made acquainted with this new relation into which they are brought from all who have arrived at an age and a capacity to recognize this relation for themselves - there is expected the response of childlike affection childlike confidence childlike devotedness towards their heavenly Father; and if we disappoint these expectations, if we neglect, or are ashamed of, or dishonour the relation into which we have been so graciously admitted, the grace of God is frustrated our very blessings become a curse - and our guilt and condemnation are increased a thousandfold. For God has brought us up as children, and we have rebelled against him! "The earth which

drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God; but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned."

But consider now, in the second place, how this personal appropriation of our baptismal privileges and obligations IS ESSENTIAL TO OUR SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING. For that inceptive and conditional Covenant with God was intended to accompany and influence all our thoughts and feelings, and to be taken up into our consciousness as the deliberately recognized and adopted law of our spiritual life. It is the great pillar of remembrance set up at the commencement of our path, to mark the passage into a new state and country, and to warn us constantly of the customs, habits, and manners which such a transition demands. It stands conspicuous in the dim expanse of years gone by, as the memorial of what we ought to be, and ought to do. And our habitual recollection of it, therefore, is of essential moment, both as a preservative from sin, and an incentive to holiness.

As a preservative from Sin. For the source of all sin lies in the assumption of a proud independence of God as our Supreme Ruler in a spirit of insubordination and self-will. "The fool hath

said in his heart, There is no God"- that is, no Sovereign Ruler under whose control I live, and to whom therefore I must be accountable. And the feeling of the sinful heart in every age is just that which is boldly uttered in the Twelfth Psalm by "the tongue that speaketh proud things". "With our tongue will we prevail: our lips are our own : who is lord over us ?" And therefore the merciful wisdom of our heavenly Father is constantly putting man under some restraint, that he may know himself. Hence the first prohibition given to Adam. Hence the Law imposed upon the Israelites. Hence the various limitations of Nature, Providence, and Society, that by them we may learn (for without this lesson we can never be happy) that we are dependent subjects of a Power above our own.

And for this purpose, therefore, among others, does the Church bring Infants from the very first within the bonds of the Baptismal Covenant. To express this fundamental fact of our subjection to furnish us with a constant memorial of it has she solemnly given up and dedicated us, in Baptism, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" that is, as the children, servants, and subjects of God, surrendered into his hands to fulfil his will. And what shall so bring down the rampant will as the remembrance of this? "Know ye not," says St. Paul to baptized Chris