BAPTISM. 



261 



enterprise. There are acknowledged difficul- 

 ties in the way of fertilizing with Christian 

 privileges, and evangelizing a moral wilder- 

 ness ; but they are not greater than the first 

 settlers contended with, and overcame, in pre- 

 paring the soil of the forest for the sowing, 

 and the vegetation of the seed. It is not by 

 preaching baptismal regeneration, as the only 

 scriptural regeneration required, that the work 

 of reformation and salvation is effected. — For 

 it has been well said, c That daily experience 

 proves that no outward means can remove the 

 crimson stain of sin, or do away its filthiness. 

 — Nothing but the blood of the Lamb can 

 perform so great a work. — While some are 

 contending that baptism has this power, thou- 

 sands around us who have been baptized in the 

 name of Christ, are giving a death blow to all 

 their reasonings by their worldly and ungodly 

 lives. This, as well as every other ordinance, 

 is indeed sometimes made the means of com- 

 municating blessings to the soul ; but there is 

 no inseparable connexion between the outward 

 visible sign, and the inward spiritual grace 

 of any sacrament. A man may go to the table 

 of the Lord, and yet not discern the Lord's 

 body there — he may be washed in the water 

 of baptism, and yet be as much in the gall of 



