condition on earth that demands more than all others the unchecked tokens of severest affliction, it is the one before us-the condition of the convicted-contrite-confessing offender against the God of the universe.

Now then, confessing himself a sinner, he is prompted and disposed to abandon sin. Here is the perfection of repentance. Many persons unnecessarily trouble themselves with doubts of the sufficiency of their repentance. In all these cases, the simple questionhas my penitence induced me to forsake sin? may be regarded as an easy and adequate test. But this act of renunciation is indispensable. No circumstances can justify him by whom it is neglected The true penitent, when assured that any habit or custom is really sinful, feels himself bound by the moral necessity for its abandonment, whatever circumstances may interpose obstructions. Nothing can be more plain and imperative than the injunction—“ Cease to do evil;" or its associate precept-"learn to do well." He therefore solemnly and forever renounces all sins of thought-of passion of language-and of deportment; and in so doing he achieves one of the noblest and most important purposes possible to our race.

Such then is the doctrine of Repentance. The appended clause "from dead works" may refer to the efforts of sinners for self-recovery. Whether it be by lifeless forms-heartless morality or open transgression and contempt of all piety, every impenitent individual has fancied peace and happiness as the ultimate result of his endeavors. The entire tendency of such works is to death; and hence are to be numbered with his sins, and constitute the principal subject of his repentance-therefore denominated "repentance from dead works."

II. Another fundamental doctrine of christianity is-" Faith toward God." That is, faith in the existence of God, the Trinity of the Godhead, the natural and moral perfections of God, the universal sovereignty of God, and the efficiency of his plan of saving sinners. To attempt to show that such a faith is essential to salvation is entirely superfluous. How can a man be saved who has no confidence in the existence and providence of the God that made him! "He that believeth not shall be damned." As to the nature of faith, I have already had occasion to make some remarks; and it will 'See a sermon by Rev. T. H. Stockton, "Christian World," vol. III.

still be necessary for me to make a few more in the sequel. Hence the brevity with which this point is here disposed of.

III. The third elementary doctrine of the christian religion relates to Baptisms. There are two baptisms spoken of in the New Testament as necessary to salvation. The Savior says in the iii. chap. John "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." In his last instructions to his apostles he said "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." These baptisms are-the baptism of the Spirit, and the baptism of water. The kingdom of Christ combines a moral and a physical existence-an internal and an external organization. The internal or moral kingdom has an economy of its own, adapted to its own ends. The external or physical, has also a distinct arrangement, embodying to the senses what exists only in the regions of consciousness. The moral initiation into this kingdom is the baptism of the Spirit; and the outward initiation is the baptism by water. The inward baptism is that gracious work of the Holy Ghost upon the heart, through which our darkened understandings are illuminated-our seared and deadened consciences awakened and tuned to a lively moral sense-our selfish wills subdued and brought into obedience to the Divine commandments—our corrupt affections, love-fear-joy-hope, &c.,-purified and set upon their proper objects-in a word, the regeneration of our fallen natures. Mysterious baptism! but blessed they that partake of it. As the winds blow where they list, and we hear their sound but cannot tell whence they come or whither they go; "So is every one that is born of the Spirit."

Water baptism is that external sacramental sign and seal of the covenant of grace, by which we are initiated into the visible church. Its validity depends upon the outward application of water, of any quantity, or quality, in the name of the Father-Son—and Holy Ghost by an authorized minister of the Gospel. This baptism is intended as an outward type and recognition of the spiritual baptism of the heart. Both under ordinary circumstances are essential to christian character. He who has been baptized by the Holy Ghost has most certainly learned obedience to the Divine commandments. Now we all know that water baptism is a command of God. We cannot therefore believe that any man has become an obedient servant of Christ who refuses to be baptized. In this view of the

matter then we find the two so intimately linked together, that both are indispensable. Paul in the text numbers them among the fundamental elements of our religion; nor do the scriptures authorize me to recognize any man as a true christian who has not been "born of water and of the Spirit." The fact is that we have learned to spiritualize our views of the church, and of things belonging to the church entirely too much. We have been accustomed to refer every thing essential to an inward work and a subtle spiritualism, until christianity has been well neigh thrown out of its channel. The church has a visible and an invisible existence; but they are so closely united that one is indispensable to the other. There can be no church without ordinances, which the Bible represents as entering into its very life. Nor will ordinances benefit us without the invisible administrations of the Spirit. Like a tree, the roots must lie concealed, and draw nourishment from spiritual regions; but to be perfect and to bear fruit the trunk must spring up into the light, and its branches become tangible to our senses, But this is not the place to follow out this train of thought.

IV. Another fundamental doctrine of christianity is—“ The laying on of hands." Imposition of hands was extensively practiced by the Jews. It was done in the impartation of particular blessings in prayer for another-in the confession of sins over the victim for sacrifice-in the consecration to office, &c. The Savior laid his hands on children when he blessed them, and upon the sick when he healed them. The apostles practiced imposition of hands in healing the sick-in ordaining to the work of the ministry-and in imparting the influences of the Holy Ghost on the reception of new converts. As to the particular rite her intended, there seems to me a great deal of difficulty in determining. Commentators to whom I have had access, have all without exception avoided expressing any opinion of what the apostle means. There are two things to which it may refer the ordination of ministers, and the confirmation of converts in their new profession; both these solemnities were performed by the laying on of hands, and both are very appropriate and important ordinances in the existence of organized christianity. Neither, it is true, can be supported by an express precept; but both have the authority of apostolic practice, and of the great body of the christian church to the present day.

Ordination to the clerical office, is that rite by which the call of an individual to preach the Gospel is officially recognized. Its validity as we conceive, depends not upon the imposition of the hands of a papal or diocesan bishop, but entirely upon the physical, mental, and moral qualifications of the individual who is the subject of ordination. And though we do not claim for this rite the communication of any special grace, or the transmission of any authority not previously possessed by the candidate more than a public recognition of his Divine call, and the moral influences of the ceremony itself; yet, it will be conceded by all christendom, that some such govermental regulation is absolutely essential to the preservation of the church from error, ignorance, and imposition.

Confirmation is that ordinance or rite transmitted to us from the fathers, by the reception of which youth baptized in infancy, and converts from heathenism received on probation, are received into full and confirmed membership in the visible church. All denominations have discovered the indispensable necessity of some regulations for such cases; and all, whether practicing or rejecting this particular rite, have adopted some mode by which the membership of baptized children is confirmed. The most appropriate mode, we believe to be that practiced at least on some occasions by the apostles, and by the great body of the church since then, viz. by "the laying on of hands." I know that objections have been brought against this solemnity, but their force for the most part bears upon its abuses and not against its proper use. The Rev. Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the passage under consideration, rests his main opposition to it upon the fact of its liability to be abused. But why not then also reject the rite of ordination to the ministry because its observance led to the unrighteousness of papal domination and high church extravagance? Both ceremonies rest upon the same authority, nor has the "laying on of hands" in confirmation been more abused than the "laying on of the hands of the presbytery." And looking at the solemn influences exerted by this rite both upon the surrounding congregation and the individuals themselves, I am constrained to look upon it as by far the most appropriate way of performing what all admit to be an action of essential importance in preserving the visible organization of the church of Christ. So much then for the doctrine of "the laying on of hands."

V. Another elementary doctrine mentioned in the text is the "Resurrection of the dead." Upon this christianity mainly depends for its significance. It lies at the foundation of all our hopes. The Scriptures speak of a first and second resurrection. But as the two are only distinguished as regards the time of their accomplishment, we may comprehend them both under the same view.

That there will be a resurrection of all, including the righteous and the wicked, the Scriptures the most clearly teach. The Savior himself has pointedly declared, that "the time is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth-they that have done good to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation." The Scriptures also teach us that, though precisely the same particles of the dead body be not raised, there is to be an identity of the risen body with the one that was deposited in the grave. Death is to bring about an important change to subserve the important ends of our future existence; yet in the great and mysterious transition, it is still true, that "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality." The same man who dies shall live again.

And in what an imposing manner do the Scriptures present this subject. What awful interest and what joyful hopes mingle in the thought of the resurrection! How awful to contemplate the angelic mission to sound the trump of God as the general signal for the sleeping millions to awake; and to follow its alarming clangor from continent to continent and from zone to zone, everywhere dropping its dread peals upon the startled ear of death, and everywhere causing the graves and charnel-houses to rattle with the stirring dead! The widespread ocean, convulsed to its deepest caverns at that sound shall cast forth the millions who sleep beneath its crested waves. Vaults and sepulchres shall burst, and every massive tower and marble pillar which the hand of friendship reared to the memory of the departed, down even to the rudely sculptured sandstone which marks the humblest peasant's grave, shall fall, and uncounted multitudes shall rise up shaking their deathclothes from their freshning limbs to sleep and die no more. Egyptian pyramids, painted catacombs, and patriarchal dormitories shall swarm with the re-animated legions of their nameless dead. Cities long forgotten shall be convulsed through all their desolate ruins by