sacrifice for sin, should, in our baptism, acknowledge ourselves obligated to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; to rise to a new and holy life, as he, to whose sufferings we owe our deliverance from sin and condemnation, rose from the dead, and as we hope for a glorious resurrection, when the trumpet of the archangel shall sound. We have acknowledged our obligations. Heaven and earth have witnessed. Christians living in error on this subject, and attached, as men naturally are, to what has been handed down from their fathers, have marked us, and the men of the world have marked us. They have observed our lives. And have we never heard the keen reproach, What do ye more than others? Ah, my brethren! if it were only a slander, we could bear it. He who has loved us, and died for us, has taught us to endure patiently the unfavorable opinions and representations of men. • Blessed are ye when men shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake.' But when he himself, our Lord and Master, into whose death we have been baptized, casts on us the grieved and piercing look which he cast on Peter, when he denied him, and asks, What do ye more than others? we can only go out and weep bitterly."

"From his throne on high he looks down this day on all the baptized; he looks down on us, and seems to say, ""I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore." To you I have given to know my will, and to hope for eternal life through my death. Into my death ye

have been baptized. Created anew, ye have been set forth as alive from the dead. From the waters of baptism ye have come forth, as citizens of

heaven, to sojourn awhile on earth, that ye may show to all the purity and power of my gospel, being yourselves examples of all that is lovely and of good report, in all the relations and conditions of life. It is yours to endure, as seeing Him who is invisible; and to shed around you an influence that shall continually evince your heavenly birth. Το you I have looked to be first and foremost in promoting the interests of my kingdom. Where are ye, at this eventful period? Are ye duly mindful of what is implied in your baptism? Are ye truly and faithfully doing your utmost for that cause for which I became poor, and suffered unto death, even the death of the cross? Are ye dead to sin? Are ye living and laboring, not for yourselves, but for me; for the riches and honors, not of earth, but of heaven? "Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing." To you I have intrusted the vindicating of my wisdom and goodness in the institution of baptism, by exemplifying in your lives its holy tendency. Vain are all other vindications, without this. My command will not be obeyed. Men will misunderstand and neglect baptism, and cling to their own substitutions and traditions. "Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." Ye that have been baptized into my death, must rise from the dead, in a better than the literal sense of the words. Wherever ye are, ye must stand forth, witnesses alive indeed from the dead, walking in newness of life, and presenting, every day and every hour, a lovely, practical demonstration of the import and utility of baptism, of the baptism which I have commanded. Ye must, every one of you, become a book, of unanswerable arguments and eloquent expostulations; a living

epistle from my own hand, known and read of all men. So will ye honor me and my command. So will baptism be restored to the place and the purposes for which I ordained it, as the initiatory rite, marking the boundary between the world dead in sin and the church alive to God, ascribing the spiritual life of the believer to my death; and whenever it is administered, proclaiming to all, by an emblem more expressive than words, that " I am the way, the truth, and the life."

With regard to those of my hearers, who hope they love the Saviour, and desire to keep his commandments, but have never been buried with their Lord in baptism, let me ask, What doth hinder you, my brethren, to arise and be baptized? If any dependence can be placed on our investigations into the meaning of language, and if the language of the Bible is to be understood according to the universal laws of interpretation, has it not been made evident, beyond reasonable doubt, that the religious immersion of a believer, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, AND THAT ONLY, is the baptism prescribed by Christ to his followers? Why, then, will you not keep his commandments? Are you still unsatisfied? Have you not, then, reason to fear for yourselves that you are under the influence of unhappy prejudices? I, too, have felt their power. I have writhed under the agony of the stricture with which they bound When the providence of God compelled me to enter on the inquiries which resulted in a change of views, I was wrapped in prepossessions against the Baptists, strong as armor of triple brass. I cherished a spirit of proud indifference, not to say

me.

Prof. Chase's Sermon.

contempt, totally opposed to the temper of the candid inquirer after the will of Christ. Possibly, my friends, a similar spirit may have possessed you. But the demon must be cast out, or the Saviour will not smile on your search after truth.

And now, though the evidence seems to be opposed to your long-cherished opinions, are there difficulties in your mind yet to be removed? Do you ask, "If Pedo-baptists are in error, why are they so much blessed of God?" I answer, Why is the religion of Mohammed permitted to spread its triumphs over some of the fairest portions of the globe? Why is Popery allowed to extend itself over one half the Christian world? We cannot tell. Why are some churches holding error among ourselves prospered? If you are a Presbyterian, I ask, Why are our Methodist brethren favored of God, while they reject the important doctrines of election, and the perseverance of the saints? If you are a Methodist, I inquire, Why are Presbyterians distinguished by the favor of Heaven, while they embrace such pernicious errors as election and the saints' perseverance? We cannot answer these questions. It is not for us to decide how great may be the errors of churches, and yet God shall prosper them for the sake of the truth which they do hold. The fact is, the Lord bestows his blessings on individuals, churches, and denominations, in proportion to their regard for those doctrines which are fundamental to salvation. in proportion to their real piety. Nor is it by any means true, as the objection seems to assume, that the Baptists have not been visited by the smiles of the King in Zion. Without creed or catechism, without general assemblies, or other high judicatories of the church, without archbishops or bishops, they have

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walked together harmoniously, uniting with each other in efforts to extend Christ's kingdom, till they embrace in their churches a larger body of believers than any other denomination in the United States. Baptists also have taken the lead in MODERN MISSIONS, having sent the first missionaries to India. With them originated the Monthly Concert of prayer for the conversion of the world. With them also originated the British and Foreign Bible Society, which was the parent of the American Bible Society. They have also prepared a translation of the entire Bible for the millions of Burmah, and for the hundreds of millions in China. The Baptists also have some sources of happiness, to which their brethren of other denominations are strangers. While they, equally with others, delight in the early dedication of their children to the Saviour, 'and while they act in firm reliance on the divine promises of a blessing on their efforts to train up their offspring for God, they have a great advantage in being permitted, of their own free choice, publicly to consecrate themselves to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the way of the divine appointment. In the primitive and scriptural mode of doing this, they also find superior instruction and edification.

But do you say, you "cannot feel close communion to be right? But no matter whether you feel it to be right or not: that is not the question. The question is this: Is close communion right? If it be required by the gospel, it must be maintained, at whatever sacrifice of feeling. Before I proceed with this objection, I will make a single remark: the subject of strict communion, though usually the first, ought to be the last point which should engage the attention of a candid inquirer. In considering