almost every new revelation during the dispensation of Moses, and is recommended to usby the example of our Master, and his apostles. There is no institution of christianity against the neglect of which severer judg ments are denounced, neither is there any to the conscientious observance of which greater blessings, both temporal and spiritual, are promised. "If thou wilt call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 'Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." The experience of the christian in innumerable instances can bear testimony to the truth of these promises. He generally finds that his soul prospers through the week; that he feels delight in Jehovah, and enlargement in the various exercises of religion, in proportion as he was enabled to keep holy the sabbath. It is mentioned again that the "Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it;" consecrated it to all his followers as a lively memorial of his goodness both in creation, and redemption; a day which he designed to distinguish from all others by the communication of blessings to his worshippers, and in affording them elevating pledges of that glorious day when they shall cease from

the labors of this world, and be admitted to his full fruition.

4. The preaching of the word is another ordinance to which the children of the kingdom are obligated to attend, and by which their edification is often promoted. God in his unsearchable sovereignty has been pleased "to put the treasure into earthen vessels;" he imparts to man a competent portion of the Spirit in his illuminating and sanctifying influences, and employs him as the instrument of salvation to his fellow men: And to the labors of those who are regularly called to the ministerial office it is the duty of others diligently to attend. He who respects and hears them, respects and hears their Master who sent them; and in pouring contempt upon them, contempt is poured upon him in whose name they appear. It is required that the "lips of the priests should keep knowledge, and that the people should hear the law at his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." The gospel ministry is the great means instituted of God for preserving a visible church in the world; it is also his principal means for bringing to a participation of grace here and glory hereafter those who were chosen from eternity as vessels of mercy. "He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting ofthe saints, and for the edifying of the body of Christ until we all come to the unity of the faith, and of

the knowledge of the Son of God." He who commands his ministering servants "to take heed to their ministry; to be instant in season and out of season," enjoins others "not to forget the assembling of themselves together, to give the more earnest heed to the things that are spoken ;" and both are animated to fidelity in their respective stations from the assurance that "the Lord delighteth in the gates of Zion; that he will clothe her priests with salvation, and cause her saints to shout aloud for joy."

5. With the preaching of the word we may also connect the seals of the covenant as ordinances of religion faithfully to be improved. As the great God has been pleased uniformly to transact with man under the form of a covenant, it has been his ordinary method to annex seals to these covenants; he thus strengthens our faith by giving a body to spiritual blessings, and rendering them obvious to our natural senses. During the dispensation of the covenant of works, "the tree of life" was to Adam a sensible pledge of that eternal life which he might expect as a reward for obedience, and "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" was to him a constant memorial of that good which he should forfeit, and also of that evil which he should incur by transgression. After the apostacy of man, and the introduction of another covenant, seals were annexed to it. During the economy of Moses, circumcision and the passover were appointed, though

obscure, yet real representations of spiritual blessings; and these after the ascension of our Lord were succeeded by baptism and the holy supper. The administration of the sacraments may be considered a chief part of ministerial duty, and the conscientious observance of them a chief part of christian worship. While our Lord authorizes his apostles to teach all nations, he also directs, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." By this institution we are formally initiated into the church of Jesus Christ, and assume the badge of his visible followers. We find, therefore, from the history of christianity in early ages, that those who believed the doctrines preached by the apostles immediately submitted to this ordinance. Paul at his conversion, the Eunuch, the Jailor and his household, Lydia and her household received the rite of baptism as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which they professed to embrace. In the sacrament of the supper other elements are employed to represent blessings which are substantially the same. The bread is consecrated to be a symbol of the Saviour's body, and the wine a representation of that blood which was shed for the remission of sin. We behold our Lord, "the very night in which he was betrayed," taking bread and wine, setting them apart as signs of spiritual blessings, and solemnly commanding his disciples to receive them in remembrance of him. "As

often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death until he come." In observing the ordinances of baptism and the supper, we more formally come out from the world than by our attention to any other ordinance; we more publicly avouch "the Lord to be our God," and yield ourselves up to be his exclusively, and everlastingly.

We are called,

II. To inquire why the christian is obligated "to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of God."

1. The christian should aim at walking in all these ordinances, because they are all enstamped with the same high authority. We cannot consider that child as respectful to its parents who obeys some duties enjoined by them while it neglects other commands equally explicit, nor that subject as loyal to his prince who obeys in part the laws of the kingdom, and either through neglect or contempt tramples upon others. When all the laws are sanctioned with the same royal seal, to treat one with indifference is practically to despise that authority from which they all proceed. If any are knowingly and wilfully neglected, this neglect plainly evinces that the others are obeyed rather from convenience than from motives of real respect for the crown. The violation of one statute may not be considered of such deep and extensive mischief in its consequences, yet it argues the same want of fidelity on