salvation which was promised.

"Behold, a vir

gin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us:" and, in another place, it is declared, that he shall be called "Jesus," that is, a saviour, "for he shall save his people from their sins;" and this is the salvation that we want. We do not want to be saved, or to experience salvation from any thing of an external nature, or any particular kind of principles, names, doctrines, or opinions; but we want to be saved from the perversion of our natural affections, dispositions, and lusts, which separate us from God, the author of our existence, and the power whom we profess to worship. But is it not obvious, that the religion in our land has not had this tendency; that it has not brought us nigh unto God; and that, therefore, it has wanted application to the minds of individuals. And now, my friends and fellow professors, for this application. This is wanting among us; we want to have the great truths of the scriptures brought immediately home, and applied to our own minds by the illuminating influence of that divine and living principle which operates in each and every one, leading us out of sin and corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons and daughters of God

where all these discords cease and all divisions have an end, and where we shall be no longer as children sitting in the market-places. I want us all to consider what is the governing principle of the gospel: it is love, for love is the fulfilling of the law, and if our minds are under this divine influence, if they are united to God, our understandings will come to be opened, and we shall be enabled to see those things which are hid from the wise and the prudent, with all their inventions and imaginations, and revealed unto babes. Now this was a cause of thankfulness, even unto Jesus Christ, when he came to do his father's will. He said, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight."

And I apprehend there is no other medium whereby we can become members of the church of Christ but by baptism. But it is not a baptism with water, nor with any outward element, that can purge us from our spiritual lusts. No; all the waters of the sea combined can never cleanse the soul of one single solitary sin or lust. We may wash from youth to old age, we may take snow water and wash ourselves never so

clean, yet without this baptising influence they will only plunge us into the ditch, till our own clothes shall abhor us. I want us to look a little at that baptism which was prophesied of, and which John declared should come. What was the baptism which John alluded to? That spoken of in the prophecy of Isaiah, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." And what is the consequence, and what must remain the consequence of this preparation? Why, "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." These are the effects produced by that baptism which John declared was of fire. "I, indeed, baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Now, what are we to understand by these valleys being exalted and the mountains and hills being brought low? It has no allusion or application to the undulations of the outward surface of this earth, but it comes nearer to ourselves. There are many of us whose spirits have been rash, fierce, headstrong, proud, and cruel. These are

mountains which have lifted up themselves in opposition to the divine will, and, consequently, above that divine harmony in which the pipe can sound and we can dance; in which we can rejoice with those that rejoice, or mourn with those that weep. But if we come under the influence of the Holy Ghost, it operates as fire upon these mountains until they are brought to a proper level. And rest assured, this fire will never consume any thing but that which is calculated to destroy our peace and happiness. It will only destroy the dross, tin, and reprobate silver, so that the pure gold may shine with the greater lustre. And what are these valleys that are to be exalted? Are there not among the members of the human family, those who are desponding, those who are despairing, those who are weeping, and those who are ready to adopt the language, a saviour or I die, a redeemer or I perish forever. There are those whose cup has been mingled with affliction, and what if I should say, with gall and wormwood: unto these, consolation is often opened, their minds are comforted, their spirits raised into confidence. Thus, by this operation, those that are rash, fierce, headstrong, proud, and cruel, are reduced to meekness, and those who are desponding and despair

ing are raised into firmness; the crooked and perverse dispositions are made straight and the rough places plain. Here is a state in which the glory of the Lord can cover every earthly propensity," as the waters cover the sea," and give us complete dominion over the whole. Hence, we see an effect produced by this operation, which was described by the evangelical prophet, when he declared, "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." Every opposite and perverse disposition shall be brought to the same state of innocency, and under the influence of the same divine purity, and be governed by the same illimitable principle of love. "And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the sucking child shall play on the. hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord of hosts, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." It is by and through this medium, and this alone, that this