that he is now at the right hand of God, making intercession for his people. That being reconciled to God, by the death of his son, we may come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in every time of need. That our heavenly Father will surely give his Holy Spirit, to them that ask him. That the Spirit of God must dwell in us, and that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. That by this divine influence we are to be renewed in knowledge after the image of him who created us, and to be filled with the fruits of righteousness, to the praise of the glory of his grace. That being thus made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light, "we shall sleep in the Lord," and that when the last trumpet shall sound, this corruption shall put on incorruption, and that those who have done good, shall inherit eter nal life, and those, who have done evil, shall go into everlasting punishment. These are the leading doctrines which the Church requires us to believe, as they are set forth in the Holy Bible, which, that they may be the more easily remembered, are brought together, into one short account, which is called the apostles' creed, or belief. It is called the creed of the apostles, because the things contained in it, were believed and taught by the apostles, and because the creed was composed, part in the time of the apostles, and part, very soon afterwards. An enlightened and correct faith, is the true and only firm foundation on which men can rest their hopes of pardon for sins, and acceptance with God. They must know and believe in God the Father, as a just and holy God, angry with sinners, and able to inflict the severest punishment, yet remembering mercy, and holding out pardon and reconciliation, by a wonderful means of his own providing. They must know and believe in God the Son, who came into the world to offer himself a sacrifice and propitiation, for the sins of mankind, and to purchase eternal redemption for them. And they must know, and believe in God the Holy Ghost, who, according to our Saviour's promise, should be to them, and in them, the author of all light, and life, godliness and virtue. All these points of doctrine, constituted that gospel, which the apostles taught the world, and less than these they could not teach, in order properly to fulfil the next branch of their commission, which was that of Admitting mankind into covenant with God, by the rite of baptism, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Baptism was not a new thing to the disciples, for they had heard of John's baptism. But now, in a more solemn manner, was this ordinance appropriated to the Christian church, by our Lord, commanding his disciples, to use it after a peculiar and ex press form, "go ye and teach all nations," said the Saviour, "baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Baptizing them in, or. rather into the name, (not names) of the sacred Three, implied a professed dependence upon each, and a devoting of themselves to the service of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, separately and jointly, with a devout and humble acknowledgment of the work of each, in the accomplishment of man's salvation-so that by using the form, which was thus prescribed by our Lord, the rite of baptism became an holy ordinance—a seal of the Gospel covenant, "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." The external washing, or sprinkling with water, being emblematical and significant of that inward regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit, by which, from "being children of wrath, Christians are made the children of grace, become members of Christ, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven." We are to observe, in these words, which our Lord thus commanded to be used in baptism, the clearest and most irrefragable proof of the doctrine of the trinity; that is, of the proper deity of the Son, and of the distinct personality and Deity also of the Holy Ghost, for it would he absurd to suppose that a mere man, or creature, or a mere mode, or quality of God, should be joined with God the Father, in the one name, into which all Christians are to be baptized. Therefore, were there no other testimonies to the same, effect, in scripture, (of which, however, there are abundance,) we should have sufficient ground to consider the "confession of a true faith," as cousisting in acknowledging the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty, worshipping the Unity. Our blessed Lord hath told us, that in the moral, as well as the material edifice, as is the foundation, so will be the building. "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, that built his house upon a rock, and every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand," by which we learn, that it is on the |