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his duty that men should glorify Christ in him; and that an unfailing supply of his Spirit shall be granted to maintain this divine life in his soul, to his "diligent" and persevering prayer ; and you have " a Christian life" also a life of which Christ is the beginning, the middle, and the end; of which the example of Christ is the unfailing rule, faith in Christ the ever-flowing spring, and the Spirit of Christ the ever-animating support. This is the Christian man of virtue; the man alone who can live "a godly and a Christian life:" never yet did a human soul, formed upon the mere precepts of the Law, attain this state of perfection; it is to the vitally-operating promise of the Gospel alone to which the praise of such a character is due.

The address concludes, by recommending the Sponsors, for the better performance of their duty, to "remember always, that Baptism doth represent unto us our profession, which is " to imitate the life and graces of our Redeemer,"to follow the example of our Saviour Christ, and to be made like unto him; that as he died and rose again for us, so should we who are baptised die from sin, and rise again unto righteousness." These two expressions comprise the whole of our sanctification, the mortification of sin; and, as our old divines term it, vivification to holiness: and this will be the work of the baptised believer "unto his life's end; even till the graces of time are consummated in

the glories of eternity for as Christian men, our whole lives must be spent in "continually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections, and in daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living." Here the Christian course is described, as a continual contest with sin, and a daily progress in holiness, even to the last gasp of life. This is real and vital and bible-proof Christianity the Child thus qualified is a child of grace, holy and humble; while every other child is merely moral, and therefore worldly and unhumbled, for he can attain nothing more than a proud and meagre morality.

And here, my Dear Friend, permit me to ask, on what other consideration could a Christian man become responsible for the Christian education of his charge? He is too well acquainted with his own infirmity, and that of the Child committed to his care, to advance one step in this spiritual work without the encouragement of the promise, and the aid of the Holy Spirit. Unless in a judgment of faith and charity this Child is a "member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven,' unless he is "a lively member" of the Church, unless he is really regenerated by the Holy Spirit, received "as God's " own child by adoption, and incorporated into the holy Church; unless in answer to the faithful prayers of himself, the Parents, and the Church, "the Holy Ghost" is "sanctifying " him as one of "the

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elect people of God," and being one so truly blessed, he shall "ever remain in the number of "his "faithful and elect children,"-with what hope of success could a Christian man accept the office of a Sponsor? For a man who sees nothing more in Baptism than the mere ceremony, it is consistent enough to undertake the promise without any subsequent endeavour to execute it; as he never understood the vows, so neither had he any intention to discharge the obligations of them; but for a Christian man to engage in this office knowingly and intelligently, for such an one to undertake to train up a soul for glory, to endue it with spiritual qualities, and to make it "conformable to the image of the Son of God," without believing that it was the good pleasure of God to fulfil his promise in sanctifying that soul as one of his own electwould surely be the height of rashness and presumption.

How different the process of the Sponsor's engagements when faith in the promise is ever animating him to discharge them? Grounded on faith, he proceeds in hope. "Our Lord Jesus Christ has promised in his Gospel, to grant all those things that " he has "prayed for; which promise," the Church assures him, "he for his part will most surely keep and perform." "Wherefore," he is "persuaded of the goodwill of" his "Heavenly Father towards" the Infant of his care, "declared by his Son Jesus

statute law? It is usual to admire the code of Napoleon for its intelligible and lucid arrangement; but here is a code, which, whether for brevity or comprehension, which for exquisite arrangement and intelligible precision, exceeds any known effort of legislation on earth. We commend the study of Political Economy, but what are all the projects of mere Political Economy compared with this? a Moral Economy which, originating in the charities of domestic life, gradually expands those charities through the whole circle of human relations, and knows no termination till it has mixed with all the sympathies and wants of suffering and sinful man. It is a Universal Economy, which being grounded on the four first fundamental statutes, man's duty to God, is engaged in promoting the interests and advancing the happiness of his creatures, not only as those interests and that happiness are connected with time, but as they are connected with eternity also. And viewed through the Gospel, what an inestimable advantage has this over every human code? This does not merely enact what is “holy, just and good," it provides ability to perform also: it does not merely demand, it provides compliance with its own demands. The Everlasting Gospel, contained in the Articles of our Creed, provides a power to perform the Law, from the constraining love of Christ to the soul; and prayer is annexed for grace, from the fountain of grace,

by which every needful help is supplied, to enable us to do that" which by nature we cannot do." And now let the warmest benevolence, the most matured judgment, and the most enraptured imagination, apply themselves to pourtray a finished state of human society; let a Republic, a Utopia, or any other political device, exhibit the best and most perfect designs of Plato or More, or of the most gifted philanthropist, to ameliorate the condition of their species, yet how pitifully do they fail? and for this plain reason, because "the soul's health' is not the leading object of their systems. Whereas Christianity, by uniting man to God by the bonds of faith, animates him to obedience by the constraining influence of love. It gives a simple law which respects the regulation of the inmost thought of the soul, it supplies a desire and an ability to observe this law, and it opens a channel of divine communion between the soul and its God, which in return for every ascending confession of defect, and humble petition for supply, readily conveys infinitely more than the lips of man can express, or the soul of man can desire.

Were "the soul's health," then ever to become the object of education; according to this great Baptismal injunction, it is evident that our present mode of general instruction must receive a materially new character. Then ideas would not be imparted for the sake of teaching lan