He is baptized for the dead,-taking their place, to suf fer as they have done,-like them, to meet the last enemy, and to fall with them into the grave.

How solemn is the act of professing Christ? It is a baptism unto suffering and death. But, in the second place, we are baptized to discharge the duties of the dead. It is not without an object, that a generation of God's children is always preserved in the church militant. The Son himself, when manifest in the flesh, performed his part. He "fulfilled all righteousness;" he kept the words which had been given to him; and he thus glorified the name of his Father on the earth. Jesus, too, taught his disciples that they were a city set on an hill; and required of them to let their light shine, that so the name of their Father in Heaven might be glorified. Nor has there ever been a generation in which Godhas not had his representatives in this fallen world, for this express purpose. Even in the darkest periods, and when the Elijahs of the church have feared and complained that they were left alone, God has had his remnant of seven thousand, who had never bowed the knee to Baal, but were obeying and gloryfying him in their several important, although it may be, private spheres. As one is taken, another is raised up in his place. As the waves of time, teeming with life, have broken on the shores of death and eternity, others have risen behind, and followed in their course. In each of these countless generations, the followers of Christ have performed their part, presenting that portion and phase of God's eternal purposes of grace which were to be developed in their day, and in their progress hastening forward the consummation of the whole. When they disappear others are baptized in their stead; and the living, not the dead, praise their God. How solemn, then, is every baptism for the dead! The responsibility of God's glory, in the generation of its subject, is made to rest on him. Burning and shining lights have sunk beneath the horizon,-shall the world, so far as he is concerned, grope on in darkness, and God's glory be obsoured? Shall not the parent, or eminent Christian friend, who has entered on his rest, still continue to live and

shine in him? All that Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy men of old did, in their day, now devolves on the generation of which he forms a part; nay, all that Jesus did in the days of his flesh, there will be none to imitate and exemplify, if he and his Christian contemporaries should prove faithless. Oh! beloved, it involves unmeasured responsibilities to be baptized for the dead!

But lastly, true baptism introduces us to a share in all the hopes and triumphs of the Christian dead. "What shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Oh! even Jesus himself was cheered and supported, while undergoing his baptism of suffering and death by the hope of resurrection. In his meditations and conversations he always coupled the two; and we are told that he, "for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame." When the Scriptural martyrs, too, were offered "deliverance" by their persecutors, on the renunciation of their faith, we are told that they accepted it not, "that they might obtain a better resurrection." Even so, beloved, you were baptized for the dead, not because you wished to participate in their toils and conflicts, and sufferings, and death; but because you firmly believed that they were now blessed and resting from their labors, and that even their flesh was only slumbering in the ground until the last sound of the trumpet;-it was because you expected to share with them in their present rewards and prospects. Keep then the resurrection continually in view, you who have been baptized for the dead. It is only when you think of this, in the wilderness of Canaan, that you will not be tempted to go back to Egypt; only when you rejoice in this hope of the heavenly kingdom that you will be patient in the tribulation through which you are passing into it; only when you compare the sufferings of the present time with the glory that shall be revealed, that you will reckon them as of no importance; only when you are sustained with the prospect of being planted in the likeness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that you will not be depressed, while you are planted in the likeness of his death. When

those who have been baptized for the dead remember that the dead shall rise, how easy is it for them to comply with the exhortation, and to join in the song:

"Let saints below his praises sing,

With those to glory gone;
For all the servants of our king
In earth and Heaven are one.

One family, we live in him,
One church above, beneath;

Though now we're parted by the stream,
The narrow stream of death.

One army of the living God,

To his commands we bow;

Part of the host have crossed the flood,
And part are crossing now.

Ten thousand to their home

This solemn moment fly;

And we are to the margin come,

And soon expect to die.

Dear Saviour, be our constant guide,

Then, when the word is given,

Bid the cold waves of death divide,
And land us safe in Heaven."

But, we cannot close without the melancholy consciousness that there are some here, who are laboring under the curse of natural death,-who have never as yet been spiritually baptized for the Christian dead,— some who will die in Adam, but who have never been planted in the likeness of Christ's death, and consequently, have no prospect of being planted in the likeness of his resurrection. Oh! are you willing to be so senseless and hopeless in the view of death, and, finally, to die like the brutes that perish? Let the certainty and blessedness of the rising of the Christian dead persuade you, beloved, to be baptized in their stead, both in your bodies and in your sports. Though you will then enter on new and trying conflicts, and labors, and tribulations, yet you will be inspired with new joys and hopes. You will be joined in one fellowship with the saints who have gone before. You will be able to unite with the whole estate of Christ's Church militant in "blessing God's

holy name, for all those his servants, who have departed this life in his faith and fear; beseeching him to give you grace so to follow their good examples, that with them you may be partakers of his heavenly kingdom."

ARTICLE III.

THE PHASES OF SOCIETY.

Words and sentiments are frequently uttered by busy, bustling, active people, without that consideration and foresight, which should characterise intellectual beings. We live, and move, and have our being, among others; and scarcely know, or care, what influences are operating in our mutual relations as man to man, as fellow-citizens, as subjects of a great moral government, or again, in the subordinate relations, of the different avocations and classes which diversify the association of individuals with each other.

As society exists at the present day, there is such a diversity of interest, arising from the various modes of living, and the different employments of men, that few care to know much beyond their own sphere of operations; and the consequence is, that society, like one vast complicated machine, made up of many associated parts, moves on with little more acquaintance among the dif ferent divisions that pertain to it, than belongs to the parts of an automaton. Or, even when a knowledge of these relations is present, it is distorted by so many prejudices, arising from selfishness and jealousy, that no sympathy of action attends it.

The elements of which society consists, may be divided into moral, political, social and domestic. The situation of man as an immortal and responsible creature is the most comprehensive, as it is the most important relation, in which he can be viewed, and as his eternal destiny depends upon his conduct in this world, we would expect to find an important influence attending this feature of his character.

All principle, all virtue, all honour, as respects those around him, is the result of man's moral character. If we undertake to conceive of an individual who enters upon life without that sentiment of obligation to Divine authority which constitute this character, we must see at once, how little dependance there is for the fulfilment of the duties that may devolve upon him. Justice is founded always in right, and right must have truth as a bulwark, and all truth must emanate from moral law.

Where then could we expect equity to spring from in such a character as we have supposed. The cant phrases, humanity, philanthropy, benevolence, etc., will not account for the conduct of men as members of a community, neither can policy or utility be suborned to meet the demands of the case. Such things may serve a temporary end, may meet the emergency of an occasion, but they will not reach the life-time necessities of mankind. We must have some all-engrossing, overreaching principle, which will apply to all grades and conditions of our race, and be available to every diversity of circumstances. Such is that fundamental doctrine of Christianity which teaches the moral accountability of man. To undertake to delineate the workings of this prime element of properly constituted society, would lead into all the minute features of our association with one another, and we could never suppose a case which would not be satisfactorily disposed of in accordance with it. But as we will have occasion, in descanting upon the subordinate influences, to refer to this as the test of all good, we will be content at present, with considering it as the philosopher's stone which brightens and enhances every feature of man's character. We will simply look to this as a bow of promise, which is ever available to meet the wants of frail human creatures, and instead of attempting to exhaust its resources, we will draw upon the rich and precious stores as occasion may require.

The political aspect of society is the next in extent of application, as it is next in importance. When we have discharged our duty to God, our country should be the consideration of most consequence; and the discharge of our duties to the government of the country is strictly