part, from their own experience, and so, in part, of adult Baptism. Some of them are, undoubtedly; and if this objection is meant to imply, that we, who were not so consciously "translated from the power of Satan unto God," cannot be expected to look back to our Baptism with the same vividness, and clearness of perception, as the source of our spiritual existence, this may be, in part, true; for we are, comparatively, in this respect, walking by faith, not by sight. We, as many of us as "are led by the Spirit of God," have the effect of Baptism in ourselves: we know also, from God's word, that this, our "new birth," commenced then; but the connection between the "healing waters" and our "cure" is not so visible; especially has it been obscured in many of us, by our own wilful opening again of the wounds which God then closed; as, on the other hand, the grateful remembrance of their Baptism is most observable in those who have most uniformly profited by it. It is not, however, the feelings of the early times, whose absence I deplore, but their faith; not the vivid terms in which they express themselves, but their strong conviction; not simply the liveliness of their gratitude, but their love for their Saviour's ordinance. And we, too, might have the same faith, and conviction, and love, because it is His ordinance; and, until we have it, I see no hope for the prosperity of the Church, none of a more general early piety, none of the extension of Christ's kingdom by our means, none of its fuller realization among ourselves. For, if the entrance into God's temple be thought of thus lightly, is not this the way to make it "a den of thieves," rather than of "spiritual worshippers?" If the "earnest of the Spirit" is thus disparaged, dare we hope that God will bestow upon us His fulness? Rather, I would hope, that the sayings of these holy men might be witnesses, not against us, but to us. Their witness is obviously the more valid in this respect, because they knew the fruits of Baptism from experience. We dare not speak (as some of old have done,) of hyperboles; for we know it to be language of experience and truth. They testify to us that which they have known, seen, handled, of the Word of Life, in His ordinance; and we dare not set aside their testimony. Observe we, then, 1st, That they
