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about the eucharist, and they could hold no brotherly communion. In this they certainly did not manifest the spirit of Christ.-John Calvin procured the burning of Michael Servetus at the stake, because the latter disagreed with the former on certain theological points. If Jesus, the son of Mary, could have been standing by Calvin's side-and if Calvin had proposed the question, Shall I burn this heretic? what answer do you suppose our Saviour would have given him? There is a circumstance related in the New Testament which furnishes the desired information. When our Lord entered Samaria, some of the villagers refused to receive him. This aroused the spirit of anger in the hearts of James and John; and they said, "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?" What was the answer? "But he turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." My friends, if those disciples had been an hundred times immersed in water, they had not been baptized into Christ. And it is a clear case, that John Calvin was not baptized into the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Baptism into Christ, as we have seen, signifies being baptized into his spirit and wisdom. The wisdom which dwelt in him was the wisdom from above, which "is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and of good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." This was the wisdom in which God preached the gospel to Abraham; and this is the wisdom we must receive

into our hearts, before it can properly be said that we have been baptized into Christ.

Let us inquire a little farther. What is the doctrine of Jesus? "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." This is the spirit of the doctrine of Christ. If evil is done unto us, our way is clear; we must meet it with goodness. "The whole need not a physician, but they who are sick."These are the words of Jesus. They signify as much as though he had said, "I look upon sinners as sick persons. I look upon the wicked, as a physician looks upon the sick. As that physician would treat the sick, so my spirit treats sinners. I will do them good, and nothing but good." This is the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ; and whoever loves his enemies, and does good to those who hate him, is, in the proper meaning of the expression, baptized into Christ. And it very naturally follows, that "there is neither Jew nor Greek"-for the Christian is not to love a man because he is a Jew or Greek, or because he is of this or that denomination or class of men-but simply because he is a child of God, and as such embraced in the promised blessedness of the Abrahamic covenant. "What! a child of God!" says the hearer; "can any one be a child of God who does not believe in Christ?" The Apostle may be allowed to remove this difficulty. "And I say, that the heir, so long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world." The hearer will readily acknowledge that a disobedient son is nevertheless the child of his

father; and parental affection induces the father to place that son under tutors and governors, until reformation is effected. So we are all the offspring of God-and however vile any one may be, he is embraced in the promise made to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed." In the time appointed by the Father, the disobedient will be brought to righteousness, and the wayward to holiness-for he hath "made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ."

Let us who profess to believe the gospel which God preached to Abraham, inquire, whether we have been baptized into Christ? whether we have been baptized into his spirit and wisdom? This is a question which Universalists should carefully consider for vain is our profession without the reality. If we profess to believe "the glorious gospel of the blessed God," and have not put on Christ, we deceive ourselves, and our faith is no better than a mere speculation. If it does not bring us into the spirit of love and meekness, our faith can be of no possible advantage to us-for in this case, it would be of the head only, and not of the heart. Let it then be our chief aim, to keep our blessed Redeemer before our eyes, in all the loveliness of his character, doctrine and spirit. Let us imitate the example of our blessed Lord, who "suffered the just for the unjust, that he might bring them to God." The spirit that dwelt in him, has for its object the conversion of the ungodly to godliness, and the unwise

to wisdom; and it is every way calculated to bring those who sit in darkness into marvellous light, and those who are under the dominion of death to the spiritual life and blessedness of the gospel of peace.

These suggestions are submitted to your serious consideration. But I cannot do justice to the feelings which produce lively emotions in my heart, without tendering to my friends in Philadelphia my most grateful acknowledgments for the kind attentions I have received from them during my stay in this place. And though this may be the last time I shall speak in this house, I shall never forget the fraternal and endearing friendship with which I have been made acquainted in this "city of brotherly love."

SERMON IX.

Delivered in the Callowhill street Church, Sunday evening,
November 16, 1834.

CONSTRAINING INFLUENCE OF THE LOVE OF CHRIST.

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."-2 Cor. v. 14. 15.

In every enterprise in which men become engaged, there are two particulars which demand special attention and regard. In the first place, the object to be accomplished. Unless we have a particular and definite object, as the ultimatum of our enterprise, distinctly in our minds, we are by no means prepared to put any means into operation for the accomplishment of the undertaking. When this is distinctly understood, and when we have clear views in relation thereto, the next thing to be considered, is, the spirit of the enterprise. For every undertaking in which man is engaged, is naturally calculated to inspire him with a certain spirit, which will correspond with the nature of the undertaking. Should this spirit disagree with the object in view, we become dormant and inactive, and care but little whether the work goes on, or is retarded; whether it be accomplished, or whether it be not accomplished.

These remarks apply to all the enterprises in which men engage; and they are therefore justly

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