Spirit will be quenched and extinguished in the soul. Not all the ten, who were cleansed of the leprosy by the miracle of our Saviour's mercy, "returned to

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give glory to God;"* and not all who are cleansed by the Sacrament of Baptism, answer the merciful purpose of their regeneration. But, oh! how bitter shall their condemnation be,-recovered from a lost estate, and self-destroyed;-purified and self-polluted;-elected by the mercy of the Almighty, and reprobate by their own ingratitude; - chosen and hallowed as the children of God, and wilfully reverting to the slavery of sin and Satan. Most miserable, my brethren, shall the eternal state of such men be. Our Saviour's baptism is of a

double nature. "He baptiseth with the "Holy Ghost, and with fire ;"* which, according to the interpretation of Tertullian, means, that, while " the baptism

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of the Holy Ghost" is to all his disciples whose faith is sincere and steadfast; there is an after " 'baptism of fire" for those whose faith is feigned and unstable, and who are therefore baptized, not to salvation, but to judgment. All who are baptized are his; but "his fan is in his hand, " and he will thoroughly purge his floor, "and gather his wheat into the garner; "but he will burn up the chaff with un"quenchable fire."-"Know ye not," says St. Paul, that ye are the Temple "of God, and that the Spirit of God

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* Matthew iii. 11.-Tertull. de Baptismo. See Bishop Key's Eccl. Hist. M. p. 434.

"dwelleth in you? If any man defile the

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Temple of God, him shall God destroy."*

Let not such be our desperate condition. Let us renew the grace we have received day by day; let us not neglect the holy privileges that have been communicated to us; let us apply to ourselves the admonition of St. Paul, and "stir 66 up the gift that is in us." As we are born again, let us put off the old man with his deeds; and, as by the grace of the Holy Spirit we are endowed with the ability of doing, let us "put on the new man, "which after God, is created in right66 eousness and true holiness." Let us

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grow in grace" by sincere devotion to the will of God; by living as constantly in his sight; by resisting the sugges

* 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17.

tions of the flesh; by following the suggestions of the spirit only; by study of the word of God; by attendance on the rites and ordinances of his religion; by constant prayer; by frequent self examination; by separating the heart from worldly and perishable things; and by attaching it, more and more, to the everlasting treasures of Heaven. Let us cherish the germ of the Holy Spirit, which was bestowed upon us in our Baptism, that the course of our sojourn upon earth may not be marked by the sad remembrances of trials and of failure, of sin and of repentance, of recovery and relapse; but may be bright as an Angel's flight, a course of progressive sanctification, a treading in the footsteps of the Saviour, a diligent imitation of his exam

ple,a studious adaptation of our character and our disposition "to the mind that was "in him:" till, from being the new born sons of God, we gradually attain that state, which the rich language of the Apostle of the Gentiles only can adequately pourtray : The measure of the stature of "the fullness of Christ."

THE END.