necessarily performed by any particular person, or in any particular place. A father might, if he chose, circumcise his own child; and generally the ceremony was performed at home. It was the ordinance by which the Jews were admitted to the privileges and responsibilities of the first covenant made with their fathers, as baptism is that by which we are now admitted to the far higher and unspeakable blessings of the new or Christian covenant. By the one, the Jews were sealed as servants under the law; by the other, we are sealed no more as servants, but as sons, receiving not the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba! Father, delighting thenceforth to do the will of God as dear children. Circumcision looked forward, as baptism looks back, unto the shedding of blood, without which there could be no remission of sin; but now in holy baptism our robes are washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, and the circumcision to which we are called is the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; in other words, dear little ones, it is to be like the Holy Child Jesus, undefiled, separate from sinners, walking in the law of the Lord.

It was commanded by the Lord that circumcision should be on the eighth day after the birth of a son; and though there is no such precept about baptism, yet the eight-sided shape of so many of our baptismal fonts points us to the same truth, that is, to the resurrection of Christ from the dead, not on the seventh, but on the eighth or

first day of a new week, looking forward to the day of the final resurrection of all the dead, spoken of, in Revelation xx. 12th verse, as being after the first resurrection and the thousand years of Sabbath rest and blessedness, for which we look at the coming of our Lord. There is the rest of the seventh day; but there is after this an eighth day, the commencement of a new period, when the full meaning of circumcision shall be shewn out, in the cutting off for ever of all that is evil from the creation of God, and when He that sitteth upon the throne shall say, “Behold, I make all things new; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." In that blessed day, when God shall have cut off all evil-doers from the city of the Lord, and when death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire, the Lord will look upon every thing that He hath made, and it shall be seen to be "very good," and the people whom He hath formed for Himself shall for ever shew forth His praise. But, oh! dear children, most sad will then be the condition of those who have refused to know the true circumcision of the heart, and to cut off, or to pluck out the offending member of their body, because it seemed necessary to them as a hand, or as a foot, or even as an eye, that is, who have refused to put away their most besetting sin, however painful a thing it might have been to them; for in that day they must themselves be cut off for ever from life and blessedness, and cast into the fire that never shall

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be quenched. Then that word of warning unto us, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still," will be to them a word of hopeless condemnation; for then, according to the condition of each one must be his everlasting portion. These are very solemn truths, and we ought to bear them in our mind.

Beloved little ones, who have been washed from all your sins in the fountain of baptism, and clothed with the shining garment of salvation, the robe of innocence and righteousness, and to whom a new name, your Christian name, was then given in token that you were made new creatures in Christ Jesus, and inheritors of that new heaven and new earth spoken of in Revelation xxi., remember that if you do not learn to cut off and put far from you all sin, and daily to deny yourselves, taking up your cross after the example of your Lord and Saviour, your white garments will soon become defiled in this present evil world; and as a stain upon a white robe shews more sadly than upon any other, so will your sins, if not washed away, appear in the sight of God, and angels, and saints; but we are told by an apostle of a way in which we may now be cleansed from our sin: "My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins."

A thoughtful child once learned a useful lesson about this matter from the following trivial circumstance: - She had been dressed in a clean white frock to go out upon a visit; and having had the misfortune to get it spotted with some ink, which she ought not to have meddled with, she came in some distress to one of the servants to have the stains taken out, which, to her great joy was soon done with some salt of lemons and hot water; but during this operation the quick eyes of the little girl found out another ugly spot, not black like the ink-stains, but of a yellowish colour; and she asked the servant to take it out too, but it would not come out as the others did; and the servant said it was because it was an old stain, and that fresh ones came out easily; but that when left, they turned to iron-moulds, and nothing but boiling them with the salt of lemons would fetch them out. So the little girl, who was fond of finding out what she called " pictures of this kind," thought within herself that it was like the difference between being sorry for sin and coming to have it washed away directly, and letting the stain remain until we lose sight of its blackness, and it becomes as it were ingrained, and very difficult to be removed. And so, dear little ones, I would have you, when you have been so unhappy as to stain your pure white garments, lose no time in seeking to have the stain removed.

Remember the words of absolution spoken to us from time to time by the servants of the Lord in His name, who, if we confess our sins, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse

us from all unrighteousness; and He who, according to His mercy, saved you in holy baptism by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, will save you from all your sins and keep you from falling; but oh, remember also that His promise is not to save you now from suffering, but from sin, and so from endless misery in the world to come. Now, indeed, He chasteneth every one whom He loveth; but it is for their profit, and to make them partakers of His holiness, and meet in this way to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Oh, do not forget that you were signed with the cross of Christ in baptism; and you may not suppose that you will have no cross to take up as you follow in His steps, but learn rather to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. This, I think, is one great lesson set before us this day, that we should seek, in the words of the Collect," that our hearts and our members being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts" (and you know selfmortification is no pleasant or easy matter), we may in all things obey God's blessed will through His Son Jesus Christ, who, though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and we too must submit to learn in this way, and very blessed are those little ones who being early taught to practise selfdenial, grow up strong in spirit, faithful soldiers and servants of Christ crucified, fighting manfully under His banner against sin, the world, and the devil. Could we see them as they are seen of God, we should mark the cross which was signed