Thomas, in what sense, think you, does baptism save us?

Thomas. It appears to me that if baptism in any sense save us, in that sense the unbaptized cannot be saved. But I do not fully comprehend in what sense it is that baptism saves us; I only believe that it saves in some sense, else Peter would not have said so.

Olympas. Salvation is a good deal like a cure. Of the diseased some are said to be healed and cured that are only partially so. But none are perfectly cured who are not restored to sound and vigorous health. The saved and the cured are not those who are merely getting better, or those who may hereafter be restored to good health, but those who are now healed, actually restored to perfect soundness. This perfect soundness in our moral nature requires a good conscience-an assurance of pardon founded upon the testimony of God-and a perfect reconciliation of heart to God. Now as this state of feeling and spiritual health presupposes a complete practical knowledge of the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah; and as none can possibly have that deep practical knowledge of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ but the baptised; so none but they are wholly saved from sin, and intelligently and cordially reconciled to God.

Thomas. But are there not many baptised who have not this perfect and complete knowledge of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and can they be said to be saved in the sense of the Apostle Peter?

Olympas. No more than the unbaptised. He

that is baptized without previous faith in Christ, repentance towards God, and intelligence as respects his death, burial, and resurrection, cannot have that spiritual and moral health which constitutes that cure called by Peter salvation. But we are getting too much into the antitype of the salvation of Noah by water. Let us look again at father Noah when the Ark was uncovered.

Thomas. It looked, indeed, very like the opening of a grave. There was no opening of the door, but an uncovering of the roof. Noah and his household seemed to arise from the dead, as those who had been long interred. There was a figurative burial and resurrection in this salvation of Noah.

Olympas. And in another point of view might he not be regarded as one born again?

Thomas. So it would appear to me; for he entered the world again-a new world too-the old having been destroyed.

Olympas. And what, Edward, is the first recorded act of the regenerated Noah?

Edward. HE BUILDED AN ALTAR UNTO THE LORD.

Olympas. Remember, my good children, that the first building on the new-born earth, after its immersion was an altar—an altar for the Lord; and that altars are reared for Jehovah alone. Let us, then, attend carefully to this circumstance. Tell me, Edward, was this the first altar that was ever built?

Edward. It is the first recorded but not the first that was built. Cain and Abel, after the example of Adam their father, offered sacrifice;

and without an altar nothing can be offered to God. Altar and sacrifices are, then, as old, as Both worlds began with altars,

the fall of man. victims, and priests.

Olympas. Reuben, you are fond of tracing the etymology of words: whence comes the word altar?

Reuben. From altus, high. Hence the veneration for high places for worship-the peaks of mountains, rocks, and hills. Thus Jacob reared a stone pillar, and Gideon offered a sacrifice upon a table-rock.

Olympas. But altus is Latin. Altars are older than the Romans. Whence got the Romans the idea?

Reuben. From the Greeks. Their bomus signifying basis: an elevated basis by which to ascend, was the place of their thusiasterion, or altar; which term indicated slaying, or offering sacrifice.

Olympas. And all these from the Hebrew word mizbeach, from zabach, to slay: the place for slain sacrifices, on which they were presented to God. Learn, then, from all this, that all true religion is founded on sacrifice. The first thing in Adam's family was the altar. It was also the first thing in Noah's, Abraham's, Jacob's, &c. Where, Thomas, did altars usually stand?

Thomas. Always about the entrance of temples and places of worship. The Jews placed theirs in the outer court, near the entrance; from whom other nations derived the custom.

Olympas. Eliza, did you ever read of an altar in heaven?

Eliza. Yes, I read of a golden altar which stands before God in heaven, Rev. ix 13.

Olympas. Relate to us all that you know about this altar in heaven.

Eliza. It stands immediately before the throne of God. It has fire upon it, and a cloud of incense towers above it, an angel ministers at it, and the prayers and thanksgiving of the saints are offered on it in a way acceptable to the Lord. Rev. vi. viii. and ix.

Olympas. An altar, then, is essential to acceptable worship in all places and at all times. It was so in the family of Adam; it was so in the family of Noah; it was so in all the families of the Patriarchs and Jews; it is so in heaven. And need I add that it is so in the Christian church. "We," the followers of Christ, "have an altar, at which they have no right to eat who serve in the tabernacle." Jesus Christ is our altar, sacrifice, sin-offering, passover, circumcision, prophet, priest, and king. What, Eliza, were the offerings of Noah?

Eliza. "He took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar."

Olympas. Enumerate the clean beasts and the clean fowls,

Eliza. The lamb, the kid, the calf,-or the sheep, the goat, the bullock, among beasts-the turtle dove and the pigeon, among birds, were only those used in sacrifice. Noah took of them all, and made a rich burnt offering to the Lord.

Olympas. Edward, can you explain the meaning of a burnt offering? What saith the law?

Edward. It was wholly consumed by fire. The offerer and the priest shared in other things, but not in this. It was wholly devoted to the Lord. Olympas. Were the victims put on alive, or after they had been slain?

Edward. Not until their blood was spilt upon the ground.

Olympas. How, James, did the Lord regard this offering of Noah?

James. I do not know.

Olympas. Read again the 21st verse, James. James. "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, though the imagination of man's heart be evil from his youth: neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

Olympas. Observe then, James, that "the Lord smelled a sweet savor" while the burnt offering was consuming on Noah's altar. This phrase means the Lord was delighted with this burnt offering. What, Thomas, do you infer from this?

Thomas. I infer, first, that God had commanded such altars to be built, and such offerings to be made, else he could not have been pleased with it: for he has always rejected the inventions and traditions of men in his worship.

Olympas. And what do you infer, Reuben? Reuben. I infer that this offering was a type of Christ's offering himself a sacrifice to God, because Paul seems to quote these words, Eph. v. 2.