should never more be destroyed by a flood of waters; in token whereof he set the rainbow in the clouds, and said "I will look upon it that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." c

The second was made with Abraham, containing a richer blessing and more glorious promises. God talked with Abraham and said, "Behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations:" "and I will give unto thee and to thy seed after thee the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." "And God said unto Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee; every man child among you shall be circumcised." If, by the blessing contained herein, we understand merely the possession of worldly advanta

d

d Genesis, xvii. 4, et seq.

ges, they are neither few nor inconsiderable. They form, however, the smallest part of its value. They must be spiritually discerned; that is, they must be understood to contain heavenly blessings under earthly promises. The land of Canaan, promised to the seed of Abraham, represented, "by a figure," the kingdom of heaven; which, through Jesus Christ who was to arise from them, was ensured to those who kept their covenant. The outward sign or form of circumcision had also its spiritual meaning: it betokened inward purity, cleansing of the heart, and separation from a sinful and idolatrous world. Under Moses, and until Christ's coming, the Jews lived under the same covenant; being on their part pledged to yield obedience to all the laws and ordinances of God, with the promises of worldly prosperity and eternal life. It has been termed, from these conditions, the covenant of works.

This, on the coming of our Saviour, was done away, and exchanged for the third and last, the covenant of grace, under which it is our happiness to live.

The law had performed its office; having brought men to an experimental knowledge of their sinful nature, having wrung from their pride the confession that their righteousness was without power to save; and having created in their hearts a strong craving for that sufficient atonement, long though faintly shadowed out by its yearly sacrifices. The true sacrifice was come, had been bound to the horns of the altar, and his blood shed once for all for the forgiveness of sins. Christ was "the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were made under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.' "The Mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises." f

In this latest and last covenant all things are fulfilled. The ark of Noah, the Canaan of Abraham, the Lamb of the Passoverno longer shadows of good things to come, but substantial and heavenly blessings, are beheld in the ordinance of baptism, in the Hebrews, ix. 15.

e

f Hebrews. viii. 6.

gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and in the blood of the cross.

The gifts covenanted or promised on God's part are, remission for Christ's sake of sins that are past, and the in-dwelling of the Holy Ghost the comforter, to renew the heart and to bend it by secret constraint, or by strong interference, to the will of God; to begin in vessels of clay the life of heaven; to say to the believer, in language unheard but not uncertain, "this is the way, walk in it;"s to pour into his heart such love towards God, that the service in which every day is passed becomes a service of perfect freedom. The duties laid upon us, are, faith and repentance; the outward token of the covenant, which Christ appointed before he returned to the glory which was his own before he made the worlds, is Baptism. As the covenant which it betokens stands in the place of Abraham's, so is this outward form a substitute for that of circumcision, to which Abraham and his seed submitted themselves; the things signified being, in both,

Isaiah, xxx. 21.

the same, though under the gospel exalted and improved-"Holiness to the Lord," and separation from sin.

We now arrive with ease at the answer to our question, how far may we rely for our salvation upon our obedience to the divine appointment of baptism-in what sense, having been baptized, may we consider ourselves "inheritors of the kingdom of heaven?"

Baptism is, first, a ceremony whereby we enter publicly upon our Christian profession; secondly, a sacrament whereby we bind ourselves openly to the performance of certain duties; and thirdly, one of the great means of grace which our blessed Lord has ordained, that we may receive thereby certain spiritual advantages: our present subject leads us to consider it in the last view.

What

We are born children of wrath. ever evil change came upon Adam in consequence of his fall, affects all who have been since, or are to be, born into the world. The depraved and carnal bent of the soul; the enmity against God; the impossibility