SERMON XX.
.ERHAPS there are no words uttered by ow Lord in the Gospels more ga'acious and considerate, as wcll as holy, just, and go.d (that is, if we date measure His words 1)y our own sense of them), than the encouragement given in this text, and others of a simi]ar character; none, more ga'acious ant considerate, taking into account out nature and the necessary consequence of believing the doctrines He has brought to light. He has brought to light life and immortality; but, with hmnortal life, He bas also brought fo light eternal death; He has revealed the awfifl truth, that the soul never dies, never ceuses to think and to be couscious, to be capable of happiness or misery; that when once a man is born into the world, neither rime nor place, friend nor enemy, Angels nor devfls, can touch the living principle within him; hot even himself has any power over himself; but, as he has begun, so he must continue to exist on to eternity. He has taught us, that every chfld, from the l,oment of his birth, has this prospect before him; also, lhat far from being sttre of heaven, he is to be put on a trial, vhether IIe will serve God or no; nay, hOt ouly,»t a trial, but on a trifl hot on even terres; hot a trial to which he is equfl, but with a strong propensity withil him to the worse alternative, a tendency weiging him down to earth; so that of himself, he camtot serve God acceptably, or even repent of his uuworthy service. [ say, if we ]«ew only this, no thoughtfifl person could ever, without the greatest hmniliation and terror, reflect on his beig responsible for the existece of beings exl)osed to such miseml)le disadvant;ges. Surely, if we otly knew the 1)rimary doctrines of the Gospel, riz., that man is a siroter by nature, and though redeened by Christ, cannot turn fo ç'hrist of his own strength, I say, the cruelty of giving birth to poor i,fimts, who shotld inherit otr n:ture and receive from us tl,e birthright of coïul,tio, wofld be so g'eat, that bowing the head to God's al»pointment, and believing it toe good and true, we cofld but conclude with the A1)ostles on one occasion, that "it were good hot to muïy." Or lcuowledge of the real condition of ma.n in God's siglt would surcly lead fo the breaking tp of socict.y, in proportion as it was sincerely and simply received; for whtt good were it to know that Christ h.s died for us, ff we a.lso knew that no one is by nature a.l»le to repent and believe, and knew nothing more? It wofld lead tholghtful men to think of fleh" own personal salvation only, and thus to defraud Christ of the succession of believers, and the 1)ert)etual famfly of
Saints, which is tobe the salt of the earth to the end of tne and the fuil fruit of His passion. It is true, there is another doctrine besides those which I bave stated, viz., that Christ has not only dicd for sinners, but also vouchsafes from above the influences of ga'ace, to enalle them to loYe what by nature they eannot love, and to do whut they eannot do—to believe and obey. But even this wouhl hot be enough to remove the Marin and distress of the Christian parent.:For, lhough God mercififlly gives His graee to enal,le men to believe in ][is Son, yet itis as certain as truIh of Seripturc itself, that He does not give I[is gmce to ail, but to those to whom He will. If any word of Seripture be true, itis this—that lhere is an eleetion, that "it is lmt of him that willeIh, nor of hiln that runneth, but of God that showeth merey," that some men are brought neuf unto God, and gifted with His regenerating graee, and others hot; so that, although we knew ever so mueh eoneerning the gift of the Holy Ghost, as well as eoncerning the meritorious death of Christ, yet, that knowledge wmfld not tend a whit more to reeoneile religious men to what they nmst eertainly eonsider the eruelty, and the personal responsibility of beeoming a parent. I would say, then, thut if this were all we knew on the subjeet, no one of any seriousness eould bear the thought of adding fo this world's '" children of wa'ath," exeept un express diviue eolnmand obliged him to do so. If even a single delibemte uet of sin be (as it is) great and fearful lnatter, lnortM and damnable, yet what is any sin, say blaspheny, murder, idolatry, eveu the [III]
29o Infant atism. greatest, what would it be to the giving being to a sou] intelligent, individual, accountable, fraught with all the sensibilities and affections which belong to human naf.ure, capable of pain, inmmrtal, and in due season manifesting a will incural,ly corrupt, and a heart at enmity with God, even though there were the chance that possil,ly it might be one of those who were elected for eternal life? There can be no doubt that if we know no more of the Gospel than I bave hitherto mentioned, if we content ourselves with that hall Gospel which is sometimes taken for the whole, none would be so selfish and so unfeeling as we, who coldd be content, for the sake of worldly comforts, a cheerful home, aud the like, to surround ourselves with those, about hom, dearly as we loved them, and fervently as we might pray for them, we only knew thus nmch, that there was a chancea chance of some sort that, perhaps, they might be in the number of the few whom Christ rescues from the curse of original sin. Let us lmW see how His gracious words contained in the text remove the difficulty. In truth, our Mercifu] Saviour has done much more for us than reveal the wonderful doctrines of the Gospel; ]te bas enablcd us to apply them. He bas given us directio)s as well as doctrines, and while giving them bas impmoEed to us especial encouragement and comfort. What an inactive useless world this would be, if the sun's light did not diffuse itself through the air and fall on all objects around us, enabling us to see earth and sky as well as the sun itself! Cannot we conceive nature so constituted that the sun appeared as a bright spot in the heavens, while the heavens themselves were black as in the starlight, and the earth dark as night? Such would have been our religious state, had hOt our Lord applied and diversified and poured to and fro, in heat and light, those heavenly glories vhich are concentrated in Ilim. He would shine upon us from ahove in all His high attributes and offices, as the Prophet, lriest, and King of His elect; but how should we bring home His m-ace to ourselves? How indeed should we gain, and know we gain, an answer to our pmyers—how secure the comfortable assurance that He loves us personally, and wil] change our hearts, which we feel fo be so earthly, and wash away our sins, which we confess to be so manifold, unless tic had given us Sacraments —means and pledges of ace keys which open the treasure-house of mercy—ordinances in which we hot only ask, but receive, and know we receive, al] we cart receive as accountable beings (hot, indeed, the certainty of heaven, for we are stil] in the flesh), but the certainty of God's present favour, the certainty tlmt He is reconciled to us, will work in us and with us al] righteousuess, will so supply our need, that henceforth we shall lack nothing for the completion and overflowing sanctification of our defective and sinful nature, but bave al], and more tha.u al] that Adam ever hd in his first purity, all that the highest Archangel or Seraph ever had, when on his trial whether he wotld stand or fall? For instance, in the particular cuse I hure been considering, our 'acious Lord has done mch more than tel] us that some souls are elected fo the mercies of redemption and others hot. He bas hot left Christians flms unceloEain about their chfldren, te has expressly assured us that children are in the number of His chosen; and, if you ask, whether all chfldren, I lply, all children you can bring to 13aptism, ail chfldren who are within reach of if. So literally has flùfilled His promise: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, corne ye fo rite waters, and he t.hat hath no money corne ye buy and eat; ye.a, corne buy wine and milk without money and wit.hout priee!" and again, "Ail that the Father giveth me shall eome to Me, and him that eometh to Me, I will in no wise east out." IIe has disclosed His secret eleetion in a visible Sacrament, and thus enables Christians to bear to be, what othelvise they wotfld neeessarfly shrink from being—parents. He relieves, my brethren, your anxious minds, anxious (as theymust ever be) for:your chfldren's welfare, even after ai1 the good promises of t.he Gospel, but unspeakably anxious before you understand how you m'e to be rid of the extreme responsibility of bestowing an eternal being upon sinfui creatures whom you eannot change. With the tenderest feeling He relnoves your difficulty. He bids you bfing them to Him from the first, and then take and educate them in His naine. Like Pharaoh's daughte; He ta.kes them up when you, their natural kin, bave been foreed to abandon them to inevitable death; and then He gives them back to you to nurse for His sake. "Surfer the little ehfldren to eome unto lIe, and forbid them hot, for of sueh is the kingdom of God. '' Aguin in the text, "Whoso shail Mkx. 14.
receive one such little child in My naine, receiveth l[e." Observe how He speaks, as if He wolfld give you some great and urgent encouragement; hOt only does He give permission, but He promises a reward to those who dedicate children to Him. He hot only bids us do the very thing ve wish to do, but bestows on the doing if a second blessing. He promises that if we bring childrcn to Him fi)r lIis blessiug, tic will blcss us for bringiug them; if we receive them fir l[is sake, tIe will make it as if we received I[imsêlf, which is the a'eatest reward l[e could give us. Thus, while we are engaged in this work of receiving children in Itis naine, let us recollect, to out great comfort, tht we are about no earthly toil; we are taking part in a joyful solenmity, in a blessed and holy ordinance, iu which out Saviour Christ not only cornes to them, but is spiritually received into out own souls. These reflections arise on lhe first view of the subject. However, it may be objected, that, after all, numbers fall away fl'om God, even with l.le advantages of ]3al»tism, and if so, the birth of children is hot a less, awffl subject of conteml)lation no than belote, nay rather more so, inasmuch as a heavier doom awaits those who sin after grace given, than those who lmve not received it. ]3ut this objection surely brhgs us toa very different question. Y-lat I have been saying cornes fo this:— that a chfld seems by ifs very nature, which is corrupt and ungodly, fo complain of those parents who gave it him; I mean, seems fo do so in the parents' estimation, when they think of him. Their tender love towards him is humbled and distressed by this thought: "This dear and helpless object of our affection is a sinner through his parents, shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin, born a child of wrath." Now, I conc.eive this dreadful thought is at once removed, direcfly it is known tiret they who gave him his natural being may also bring" him fo a second birth, in which original sin is washed away, and such influences of grace given and pronised as make if a child's own fault, if he, in the event, fails of receiving an eternal inheritance of blessedness in God's presence. They undo their own original injury, lov that Christ receives us in our infancy, no one has any ground for complùning of his fallen nature. He receives by birth a curse, but by.]3aptism a blessing, and the blessing is the greater; and to murmur now against his condition is all one with nmrlnuring against his being created at all, his being created as a responsible being, which is a murmuring, hot against man, but against God; for though if was man who bas ruade our nature inclined to evil, yet, that we are beings on a trial, with morfl natures, a power to do right or wrong, and a capacity of happiness or misery, is hot man's work, but the Creator's. Thus parents being allowed fo bestow a second birth upon their off.spring, hencetbrth do but slmre and are sheltered in His resl»onsibility (if I may date so fo speak), who is ever "justified in ttis sayings, and overcomes when He is judged." However, it may be asked, how this applies fo the case of the heathen? They cannot bring their chfldren to ]3aptism, therefore they do incur the responsibility of
ving being to souls who live and die in the wrath of God. I answer, that a man cannot be responsible for that about which he is altogether ignorant. The heathen have no knowledge of the real state of mankind, and therefore they can lmve none of the duties which arise out of that knowledge. Iqone of us, hot even Christians, know fnlly our own condition, and the consequences of our actions; else, doubtless, we should be too much overpowered to act at alL Did we see the complete consequences of any one siu, did we see how it spreads by the coutagion of example and influence through the world, how many souls it injures, and what its eternal effects are, doubtless we should become speechless and motionless, as though we saw the flames of hell tire. Enough light is given us to direct us, and to make us responsible beings, not so much as to overwhelm us. We are hot told the secret of our guilty nature, tfll we are told the means fo escape from if; we are hot told of God's fearful wrath, till we are told of His love in Christ. The heathen do not know of Baptism, but they do not know of original sin; for God would allot fear, faith, and hope to all nen, despair to none. Agin, the heathen know nothing of the eternity of future 10unishment, yet our Lord, in His account of the Judgment, when "all nations" shall be gathered before Him, does not except them from the risk of it. They know neither of eternal death nor eternal life. Let us leave the case of the heathen, about which nothing has been revealed to us; they are in the hand of God, the righteous and merciful God; " Shall hot the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen. xviii. 25.
But filrther, it may be objected that though Baptism is vouchsafed to tbe cbildren of Christian parents, yet we are expressly assured that the few, hOt the many, shall be saved; so tlmt the gift, however g'eat, does hOt remove the diculty in out way, or make it less of a risk to bring into existence those who are more likely to be among the sa'etched many than the blessed few. But, surely, this is a misconception of our Saviotr's words. Where does tte say that only few of the children of His sincerc followcrs shall be saved? He says, indeed, tlmt there will be but few out of the whole multitude of the regenerate; and the geater nmnber of flmm, as we know too well, are disobedient to their calHng.,o wonder if their children turn out like themselves, and lire to this wofld. But, because the mass of nmn abuse their privileges, which we see they do, and because we dare hot entertain any sanguin bopes of the children of careless parents, how does this prove that those s ho do live h God's faith and fear, and are labouring and tending to be in the number of the elect few, may hot cherish the confidence tlmt tlmir chfldren, in like manner, will in due season obey God's calling, yield to ttis ttoly Spirit, "be ruade like the image of His Only-begotten Son, walk religiously in good works," and at length attain to everlasting glory? Solomon, even under the Law, assures us that, if "a chfld be trained up in the way he should go, when he is old he wfll hot depart from it." Iuch more (please God) will this be true, where he parents' prayers and the children's training are preceded by the grant of so Prov. xx]i. 6.
great and presenta benefit as regenerating Baptism; much more, when His Son has so ga'aciously ruade the little children patterns fo own men, declaring that then, and then only, we become true menti»ets of His Kingdom when we become like them, and whcn, in si of His fvour "He took them up in His arms, put hands upon them, and blessed them." Let a man consider how much is contained in the declamtion, that God "h«tth hot appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation;" 1 and he will feel tlmt he umy safely trust his chihh'n to their Lord and Sviour—reluctance being no longer a serious prudence, but an unbelieving and unthankflfl jealousy, and the ca.re of them no butdensome nor sorrowful toil, though an anxious oe, bu a la.bore' of love, a joyful service done to Christ. Lastly, i my still be sked 'hat encouragemeut after all has been gained through Christiau Baptism, which we shotfld hot hve lmd without it, since seems the children's hopes are to be ultimately rested not on the Stcrament administered, but on the parents' fiaith nd prayers and careflfl training of them. These means, it may be objected, might and wofld lmve been used by religious men, even though they had known only of Christ's merits and gifts without direction how fo convey and apply them fo individuals; they would hve prayed and been careful then, and so gined grace for their children, and they can do no more now. But can you indeed thus argue? Vhat! is there no difference between sking and receiving?—for pryer is an asking and ]aptism is a receiving. Is there no Thess. v. 9.
difference between a chance and a certinty? How many infants die in their childhood! is if no difference 1,etween knowing that a child is gone fo heaven, or that he has died as he was born?:But supposing a child lires, is hot regeneration a real gain? does not if renew our nature, exalt us in the scale of being, give us additional powers, open upon us untold blessings, and moreover brightelt in an ext.reme degree the prospect of our salvatim, if religious training follows? I wi]l say more. Many men die without any signs of confirmed holiness, or formed character one way or the other. We know, indeed, that privileges hot improved will save no one; but we do not -know, we cannot pronounce, whether in souls where there is but a little strength, yet much conflict, and much repentance, their regeneration may hot, as in the case with children, avail them hereafter in some secret manner 'hich, with our present knowledge, we cannot speak about or imagine. Surely if is hot a slight benefit fo have been "ruade partakers of the Holy Ghost, and tasted of the heavenly giït and the powers of the world fo corne." lgow, I trust that these considerations may suffice, through God's groEce, fo open on you a more serious view of the snbject treated of, than is off.en taken even by those who are hot without religious thoughts upon it. I fear, iudeed, that most men, though they profess and have a regard for religion, yet bave very low and contracted notions of the dignity of theh" station as Chï'isli«ns. To be a Christian is one of the most wondrous and awftù gifts in the world. If is, in one tteb. ri. , 5.
sense, to be higher than Angel or Archangel. If we bave any portion of an enlightened faith, we slmll understand that our state, as Members of Christ's Church, is fttll of mystery. What so mysterious as to be born, as we are, under God's wrath? What so mysterious as to be redeemed by the death of the Son of God nmde flesh? What so mysterious as fo receive the vioEue of that death one by one through Sacra- Ments? What so inysterious as fo be aMe to teach and train each other in good or evil? When a man at all enters into such thoughts, how is his view changed about the birth of children! in what a diffcrent ]ight do his duties, as a parent, break upon hiM! The notion entertained by most men seems to be, that itis a pleasant thing to bave a home;—this is what would be called an innocent and praiseworthy reason for Marrying;that a ife and family are comforts. And the highest view a number of persons take is, that it is decent and respectable to be a married man; that it gives a Man a station in society, and settles him. All this is true. Doubtless vife and children are blessings from God: and it /s praiseworthy and right to be doMestic, and to lire in orderly and honourable habits. But a Man who limits his view fo these thoughts, who does hot look at Marriage and at the birth of chfldren as soMething of a nmch higher and More heavenly nature than anything we see, who does hot discern in Holy Matrimony a divine ordinance, shadowing out the Mi0n between Christ and the Church, and does not associate the birth of children with the 0rdinance of their new birth, such a one, I ca.n only sa.y, has very ca.rnal views. It is well to go on labouring, year after yeal; for the bread that perisheth; and if we are well off in the world, to take interest a.nd 1)leasure in our families ra.ther tha.n to seek a.musements out of doors; itis very well, but it is not rcliion; and let us endeavour to make our feelings to'ards flmm more and more religious. Let us bewa.re of aiming at nothing higher than thcir being educated well for tMs world, their forming respectable connections, succeeding in their callings, and settling well. Let us never think we bave absolved ourselves fl'om the responsibflity of being their pa.rents, till we have brought them to Christ, as in Baptism, so by relious tra.ining. Let us bear in mind ever to 1)ray for their eternal salvation; let us « watch for their souls as those who must give account." Let us remember tiret slvation does hot corne as a nmtter of course; that Baptism, though administered to them once and long since, is never past, always lires in flmm as a blessing or s a burden: a.nd that though we may cherish a joyfitl confidence that "He who hath begun a good work in them will perform it," then only lmve we a right to cherish it, 'hen we are doing our part tova.rds fulfillhg it.