These remarks may be applied with full force to the plain and sim Addressed to those designed for Cone ple, although most salutary and most firmation. LUKE xxii. 19. "This do in remembrance of me." It must be reckoned among the peculiar mercies of God in providing for the redemption of mankind through Jesus Christ, that he has set forth the method of salvation in a manner so easy, natural, and simple, with respect to what is necessary to be known and believed, and what is to be done, by men of all ranks and ages. It is no hard thing or difficult endeavour for all who wish to become acquainted with their duty, to obtain the needful information for this purpose. They who seek the knowledge of God's holy will sincerely, and set themselves in earnest to comply with it, will soon find that ignorance belongs to those only who want the inclination to improve. It has pleased God therefore in his mercy, to provide so for the wants of men, that each one may find what is sufficient for his need, if he will apply himself to seek it. That the task may not be too hard for any of the number, the most needful things are such as are most easy to be known, and such as with as little difficulty may be put in practice. REMEMBRANCER, No. 66. efficacious, ordinances which Christ the merciful Redeemer hath established in his Church; and I am led to these topics of consideration at this moment more especially, because we stand on the eve of an approaching day of Confirmation for the young among us, and it is my duty and my earnest wish to lead their notice, with that of others of maturer years, to some of the first foundations of our common faith. Among these, as our Lord's own words declare, and those of his Apostle testify most plainly, the Sacraments of his Church hold a chief rank and possess a most distinguished place. Foundations they are justly called in the Epistle to the Hebrews, for they form the grounds of that life which begins. under the healing influence of one of them, and is renewed, and nourished, and supported by the other; and they who impeach the value of these means of grace, or who neglect them, must be blind to the plainest testimonies of the sacred Scripture, and regardless of their own best interests. The Jewish sacrifices and observances of many kinds had served the ends for which they were appointed. They had represented Tt some particulars concerning Christ their final object, and the substance of them was completed and exhibited in him. The prophets had borne witness of the same Redeemer. The figures of the old law were made good in his person, in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Accordingly, when all these ends were accomplished, when the Church of God was no longer to be confined to Jerusalem and its sacred temple, or restrained to one peculiar nation, when all men every where were to be called and invited to take part in the covenant of salvation, the Mediator of that salutary covenant, the Lord and Saviour of mankind, proceeded to appoint two easy rites in order to set forward the great work of bringing men to a reconciled and loving Father by the means of grace. Christ appointed the waters of baptism that they might serve through the Holy Spirit's promised influence, to cleanse and sanctify the candidates for pardon and eternal life, who were thus to be admitted to the privileges of the covenant of Christ, and the fellowship of his acknowledged household. The rite of baptism has its special marks of typical resemblance to which our Lord and his apostles have alluded, and of which the Church in all ages has preserved the memory. Thus the being baptized into the death of Christ, is the phrase employed by the Apostle to imply the benefits resulting from his death, among which the death unto sin, and the new birth unto righteousness, are distinctly set forth, and have never failed to be regarded as the fruits of baptism in the Christian Church. The "being buried with Christ in his baptism," alludes to the going down into the waters, a practice used in warmer climates than our own; and the rising again from the salutary flood, is as distinctly viewed in its relation to the resurrection of our Lord. "Buried with him in baptism, wherein ye are also risen with him;" such is the language of St. Paul, and it denotes that interest in the death and resurrection of our blessed Lord which was thus signified and thus to be obtained. Baptism became accordingly the seal of that saving covenant which was founded in the death and resurrection, the cleansing blood, and the prevailing merits of an all sufficient Mediator. The ministration of this sacrament becomes therefore the first provision made, in ordinary course, for the earnest and beginning of that spiritual life, and of those spiritual privileges, to which believers, and the children also of believing parents, are admitted. "Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins," were the words of Ananias. And it was concerning baptism that St. Paul spake, when he said to others, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified:" and again as many as are baptized have put on Christ, or been united to him as members to their head. They who would leave the bare rite of baptism, without the benefit intended, the sign without the substance, the ordinance of Christ without the spiritual influences and effects of which it is the settled and appointed channel of conveyance, must lose sight of scripture language altogether. The pouring out of the Spirit, is frequently compared in the phrase of Scripture to the pouring out of waters, and our Lord hath coupled these together in his conference with Nicodemus. He reproved the Jewish ruler, at the same time, for his inattention, as well to the known allusions of the Prophets, as to the common acceptation and acknowleged usage of the Jewish Church. "This day have I begotten thee," were the solemn words applied to the baptism of our Lord himself, when the Holy Ghost descended visibly upon him. It was then that his Heavenly Father, for the first time, openly,in this scene of ourRedeemer's earthly sojourn, owned him for his Son who indeed was the onlybegotten and eternal Son, the partner of his glory from before all worlds. Great then are their misconceptions, who either strip this sacrament of its spiritual efficacy where no impediment is put, (and the child of the believer can put none to hinder that which is transacted for his benefit by those who have the best right to act in his behalf,) or who, on the other hand, suppose that these first earnests of divine grace will, of themselves, effect all that is intended or required without the timely resolutions by which the day of trial must be met, and without the fit discharge of every branch of the first vow, as that must be reduced to practice in all parts of the Christian life. It is one thing to be baptized, and another to perfect holiness in the fear of God; but the one is in order to the other. The truth is, that the supposition, that baptism of itself can make men good and holy, is called in for no other purpose than to discredit it, and to strip it altogether of its spiritual influence; for they who value it most highly have never entertained that strange conceit, that it must do all things or nothing they distinguish always between what is promised and bestowed on God's part, and what is required on ours. If the first step in the Christian course is made for us by others, who bear us in their arms when we cannot otherwise make good our advances, the steps which are to follow in due season must be made, under the guidance and the promised influences of God's Holy Spirit, by ourselves. If baptism then, admit us to the privileges of the Covenant of Grace, who can doubt that the benefit which is sufficient from the first, will be increased to us when we take up the terms of our engagement in any moment of restipulation; when the covenant is renewed, and when its benefits are sealed to us again. If then, we are so plainly told that by "one spirit are we all baptized into one body," and entered thereby into the fellowship and communion of one holy Head, how shall we not look back upon our baptism, with its seal and pledge of covenanted hope, with every grateful sense and welcome recollection of the mind and heart. We may now pass on to remark, that our blessed Lord appointed also the sacramental use of bread and wine at his table of Communion, for the perpetual bond of fellowship, for the remembrance of his saving death, for the setting forth his body broken and his blood shed for us, and for the pledges of his everlasting favor. With reference therefore to this sacrament, which succeeded as next in order to that of haptism, and regarding it as that to which the views of those who now come forward to renew their covenant with God first pledged in their baptism, I shall now direct my thoughts and observations, I shall endeavour to pursue the same line which is so well adapted to the common profit of mankind, and shall strive to set before you plain and simple illusstrations of what is so simple and so plain in this institution of our Lord, and yet so transcendant in its efficacy, and so full of benefit to those for whose sake it was ordained. When our Lord before his crucifixion met his Apostles for the last time at the table which was spread for the celebration, of the Jewish Passover, a feast which was observed in remembrance of the rescue of the twelve tribes from a cruel state of bondage in the land of Egypt, at that hour, Christ, who was the true Passover, the Lamb slain for deliverance, the great propitiation, the sole sufficient sacrifice of rescue and atonement, signified, that from thenceforth the figurative rite and ceremonial feast should pass away. It was fulfilled, indeed, in : that redemption which he came to accomplish, and in that salvation which was so promised and tendered to mankind. The precious benefits of pardon and eternal life were purchased for us with his own blood, and won for others by his death upon the cross, and by his triumph over death he therefore took an easy and familiar method for impressing this upon the minds of his disciples by an ordinance at once most salutary and significant. Thus he appointed that the bread and wine of the paschal supper, which he celebrated with his disciples, should be the perpetual-memorials in his Church of his body broken and blood shed for us, commanding his disciples to do that which he then did, to break the bread and to pour out the wine, to eat the one and drink the other in remembrance of him. The precept therefore binds through every age, in all which the same reasons and the same necesity subsist for keeping his death in remembrance with the liveliest sense of gratitude and love. Such then was his express injunction, "this do "this do in remembrance of me." The whole, then, of that religious rite which we celebrate as Christians, and in which we may be partakers when we draw near to the table of the Lord, the whole of what is there set forth and represented to us, and of what is thus communicated and received, is done in remembrance of Christ Jesus, and in participation of the benefits which he promised. It is no hard thing, therefore, to know and understand that we are invited to that table of communion, and should meet there to remember Christ, to call to mind expressly what he suffered for our sakes, to commemorate his death, by which he purchased life for us, and to receive again the pledges of his grace. To remember Christ is indeed the perpetual duty of the Christian throughout every portion of his life; but the cares of life are many, and demand so large a share of our consideration, the pursuits of life are also pressing, and tend to fix the mind to such long and close attention to things present, that it is most needful that fit times should be set apart, and proper opportunities provided for better recollections. Nor is this all. The Christian has a public part to act. It is not enough for him to remember his Redeemer; it is his duty to show by some public tokens that he does remember him. It is his duty to make known by some plain and open testimony that he is thankful for the benefits which he hath received through the death of his Redeemer, and for the blessings which are furnished to him through his saving merits. He is bound to glorify God in this behalf. Religion is a public duty in which God requires the homage of his creatures. As 'We may remark now to the same effect, that our Redeemer, both in that exercise of religion which he made good in his own person, and in that method of it which he prescribed to his disciples, paid a due regard to the nature of man. that nature consists of soul and body, each of which should be employed in the service of the Lord, so did the great Author of Salvation couple the improvement of the heart in inward dispositions with the perform ance and discharge of outward offices. Thus he prescribed, as we have seen, the outward form of that dedication to himself at baptism which is accompanied with such measures of forgiveness and renewal as are needful to admit the candidates for future glory to a state of grace, and to begin the spiritual life. Thus also he ordained the outward means for the memorial of his death, as the main seal of the covenant, and for the increase and furtherance in grace. He appointed that holy. rite for which the table of the Lord is spread, to serve these ends, and to be a bond of fellowship or communion with him and with each other, as members of one body. Such then are the rites which he ordained, and such the ends to which they serve. They are few and simple, because they are adapted to a service in which though the body, has its part, yet the mind and spirit, have the chief part. But since they are so few and so simple, the stronger no doubt must be the obligation which binds us to a punctual regard of such injunctions. They who fail in easy measures of obedience, and fall short under the best motives of encouragement, will find all their difficulties yet to come-for it will be hard for them to take up long neglected duties at a later period of their lives, and harder still to offer any fit excuse at the great day of account, if the neglect shall be prolonged. Christ then hath set the form of his own gracious institution: he drew the method; he prescribed the manner; he gave the rule; he uttered the commandment. "Go" said he," and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." "Do this," said he, when he had broken bread and distributed the wine to his disciples, "in remembrance of me:" "this is my body, which is given for you; this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins:" "take, eat; drink ye all of it :" such were the clear injunctions of our Lord concerning the two great institutions and perpetual ordinances of his Church and household. call them Sacraments. That word was formerly employed to signify the bond of allegiance and fidelity between sovereigns and their subjects, between soldiers and their leaders, and therefore it is very applicable to the bond of obligation between Christ the Lord and leader We of a rescued people, and his followers. But the text confines our notice more especially to that ordinance of our Lord which was instituted in remembrance of his death, to which exercise of their religion the young are now invited to look forward as the next advance to that for which they are now prepared. That the characters of a comme. morative rite belong with entire propriety to the supper of our Lord, is clear from the text itself, "this do in remembrance of me." Other circumstances of consideration are not excluded, but the field which is opened to us by the terms of this commandment of our Lord, is so large and so extensive, that we cannot desire to turn our thoughts at this time to other points, though belonging to the same important subject, and connected also with our duty. It is no hard thing to be bid to remember those benefits and blessings which should form the hope and treasure of our hearts: and to call to mind that Benefactor to whom we are indebted for the saving interest which we are permitted to hold in the favour of God, the sole source of all lasting peace or true contentment in this life, and of all happiness in that which is to come. When we speak of peace in this life, what is it but peace of conscience, with a grateful trust in the good providence of God, and a glad assurance of his blessing; and how can these subsist for a moment when God and his word are not willingly remembered? Again, when we speak of happiness in the life to come, what is it that we mean, but the sum of every benefit to the prospect and the hope of which we have been raised by Jesus Christ, who brought that future life and those everlasting benefits to light, and who joined the promise of them to the glad discovery? And how shall they |