_Sacrifice_. Great blessings were attached to sacrifices, but not invariably; for “The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind.” (Prov. xxi. 27.) _Prayer_. We know the rich promises attached by God to prayer; but prayer itself may be powerless; for “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.” (Prov. xxviii. 9.) _Preaching_. There is scarcely any ordinance to which such language is applied as is used of preaching. It is “the power of God” (1 Cor. i. 18); the channel by which “faith cometh” (Rom x. 17); an instrument of the new birth (1 Peter i. 23, 25); and nothing less than a means of salvation to the hearer (1 Tim. iv. 16). Yet we must not argue even from this that the personal benefit is invariable; for “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.” (1 Cor. i. 18.) But are not the two _sacraments_ an exception? Certainly not that of the Lord’s Supper. The blessing connected with this sacrament is the highest and choicest of which the Christian soul is capable, even the communion of the body and blood of Christ our Saviour. But this is not invariably given, for in some cases the communion is a curse and not a blessing. “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” (1 Cor. xi. 29.) We should gather, therefore, from the harmony of God’s dealings, that the spiritual grace was not invariably attached to the outward sign in Baptism. We find that under every dispensation He attached certain moral conditions, such as faith and repentance, which were pre-requisites, to any special grace conveyed by His ordinances. If Baptism be an exception to this general law we should expect to find some statement to this effect in sacred Scripture. If there be any deviation from God’s wonted principles of religious government we should naturally expect to find the deviation explicitly taught. We might reasonably look for some dogmatical passage in which it is declared that every baptized person is invariably made one with Christ. But it we look in vain for such a passage. There are texts in which the connexion is assumed, but we may safely assert that there is not one single passage in which, as a matter of doctrine, invariability is either taught or proved. If, however, it be an exception to the general law, it must be so from one of two causes. Either there must be something peculiar in its nature as a sacrament, which makes the connexion sacramentally invariable without reference to moral character, or there must be something in the moral character of the recipient which invariably insures the blessing.