And when this grace thus manifests itself powerfully and actively in the heart and life, when it awakens and kindles that in the heart, and thereto animates and incites it, then the man belongs to the elect, the saints, the beloved of God; then is he by Jesus presented holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable in the sight of God. Those whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. That man has in the Spirit the pledge and witness of the paternal love of God and the fraternal love of Jesus. And whoever he may be, and wherever he may live, and however he may fare, he is and remains a member of the body of which Christ is the Head: he is a fellow-member of the one, universal, Christian church, which is limited to no seasons, to no peculiar men, to no particular places, to no religious societies or parties, to no places of assembly or forms of external worship; which is fettered to nothing outward, visible, earthly, perishable and mutable; which has its aim not on earth, but in heaven; he has come to the first-born, which are written in heaven!

Children, the first thing that befel you in your lives, relating to Jesus and the welfare of your souls, was, that your parents presented you for that baptism which Jesus instituted. They desired to give you up to Christ; to him who, while he lived on earth, so loved children to whom parents then brought their children, that he might bless them; and who received them with kindness and tenderness, took them in his arms, pressed them to his heart, and gave them back to their parents with his blessing;—to him they were not too little and insignificant for the blessings of his love. He understood and appreciated the motive of those who brought them. He gave them not a word of censure or reproof. But the adults, who felt not at heart like those parents, who saw not in parents or children what he valued above all things else: his disciples who cherished thoughts, and desires, and hopes, and expectations, which were contrary to his mind and heart, and who cared not for the childlike spirit, and childlike mind, and childlike heart, them he suddenly reproved for their feelings and conduct. To them he

said: Suffer little children to come unto me,

and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily, I Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein. On one occasion, when his disciples manifested vain, earthly minds, and strivings after great things of a worldly nature, he called up one of the children who loved to be about him and with him, to be a lesson and example to them. He set the little child in the midst of them, and said: Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

O listen, then! Let it be deeply impressed upon your hearts, how dear to him were

children; how he received them and would have them received; how he blessed them, and how much he is concerned when no one brings them to him for his blessing. Let it be deeply impressed upon your hearts, how much a child's disposition, a child's heart, a child's innocence is prized by him; how he requires and thinks it necessary, that all who would be happy in his kingdom shall be children in modesty and comeliness, in freedom from arrogance and pride and self-exaltation, in frankness and rectitude and desire to learn, in tractability and obedience, in silent attention to, easy reception and right apprehension and pursuit of the truth, in faith and dependence on the word of the Father, in compliance with the will and desire of the Father, in confidence and trust in the love of the Father and the expression of his love, in calm reliance, quite free from vexation, and from painful, tormenting care, in inward attachment, love. and peace. After these declarations of Jesus, you may imagine to yourselves with what an eye he looks down upon parents and children, when parents bring their children to his bap

tism; with what an eye he looked down upon you, when you were so brought to him. To whom could your parents have given you up and confided you better than to him? By whom can you be better counselled than by him? For him you must be educated! was the silent declaration of your parents, when they brought you for baptism, that he might accept and bless you with all his blessings; that you might through him be children of God, through him be purified, hallowed, and blest. How naturally was this wish of your parents expressed by the presentation for baptism!

At that time you knew not him to whom you were to belong. You could not then understand what was ensured to you in his name, and what was promised to him in your name. When you grew up, and the capacities and powers of your soul had so far developed themselves, that you could learn and comprehend something about him, then your parents remembered the engagement which they, (or in their place the witnesses of the baptism, your sponsers,) had made. You were made