troversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth:
for the Lord hath a controversy with his people,
and he will plead with Israel. O my people,
what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I
wearied thee? testify against me. For I brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed
thee out of the house of servants; and I sent be-
fore thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
O my
people remember now what Balak, king of Moab
consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor an-
swered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye
may know the righteousness of the Lord. Where-
with shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself
before the high God? shall I come before him
with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I
give my first born for my transgression, the fruit
of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath
shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to
love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.

SERMON XII.

Preached at Buckland, Kent.

A SACRAMENTAL EXHORTATION ON THE SUNDAY

AFTER CHRISTMAS DAY.

1 Corinth. x. 16.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the

communion of the blood of Christ?

The bread

which we break, is it not the communion of the

body of Christ?

182

SERMON S.

SERMON I.

ON BAPTISM.

1 PETER iii. 21.

The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

A SLIGHT transposition in one or two of the clauses of this verse will, I think, for our immediate use, give a clearer and more simple expression; we will take it therefore thus-" The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

B

not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God." The main purpose of this epistle, at least of the part of it which stands in immediate relation to the passage before us, appears to have been to strengthen the minds of those whom the apostle was addressing, against some present or expected persecution. In the course of his reasoning he incidentally alludes to the preservation of the family of Noah from the flood which overwhelmed mankind: the means of this extraordinary delivery was water, the same element that, in its rapid and irresistible progress, carried terror and dismay to the hearts of the guilty, the same element, obedient to the providence which directed it, received into its bosom and protected the innocent. As inhabitants of the earth, it is natural we should take a deep interest in an event which affected the whole human race; but in a

higher point of view connecting ourselves more closely with our common author, our feelings assume an even deeper and more anxious character: in the one case, we consider it as a grand era in history, approaching which all is glimmering, beyond which all is dark; we know it only as something that is past and gone, and can never recur again: in the other, we look at it not as a mere isolated tradition, but as one in a series of remarkable events, which, apparently complete in themselves, in reality had reference to a period then remote, and a person hitherto unrevealed. The Christian eye, gifted with intenser brilliancy, sees, in the family thus wonderfully rescued, the ark the instrument of their preservation, the element that assisted in the work, the no less wondrous rescue of a larger family, the possession of a better ark, the co-operation of a holier element: to him, the family-is the family