PRESENTED TO THE LIBRARY 
 
 
 OF 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINHRY 
 
 BY 
 
 MPS. Rleii^andeP Pfoudfit. 
 
 BV 813 .A3 A32 1836 
 
 Adams, Nehemiah, 1806-1878. 
 
 The baptized child 
 
THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
THE 
 
 BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 / 
 
 BY NEHEMIAH ADAMS 
 
 Pastor of Essex Street Church, Boston. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM PEIRCE 
 1836. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by 
 
 WILLIAM PEFRCE, 
 in tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts, 
 
 D. K. Hitchcock, 
 9 Cornhill. 
 
THIS BOOK 
 
 AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 
 
 ^(^iitiXat ^$$i^(;UUm 
 
 [l©©g^ ©TKHIg'i? ©KJtiDB^IKl. 
 
 BOSTON, 
 
 BY THEIR 
 
 s*^^i;g<s>^a 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 It is not the object of this book to exalt a rite above its proper 
 place as a means of religious benefit, into a test of Christian character, 
 or a reason for schism. Its object is to shew that the practice of 
 Infant Baptism is fitted to promote parental faithfulness and the 
 early sanctification of children. The motive in preparing it, is, to 
 assist those who practise the rite to do it with a full sense of its 
 meaning and importance, and to see the beauty and use of the 
 ordinance. The title of the book might be, in part. The Inter- 
 nal Evidences of Infant Baptism as a reasonable and 
 scriptural practice. The mode of Baptism is fully considered, for 
 the purpose of showing the validity of sprinkling in Baptism. 
 
 It is not the object of this book to promote a sectarian observance 
 of rites and forms. The wall of separation already made by them, 
 between different denominations of Christians, is, in one sense, ' so 
 hiffh that it is dreadful.' The forms that characterize the various 
 sects of true Christians, and even the differences in their doctrinal 
 belief, may remain to the end of time ; but when the full power of 
 Christianity is known, the manifestation of it will appear in the 
 triumph of Christian love amongst the followers of Christ : and 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 Sprinkling, and Immersion, and Infant Baptism, the Right of Ordina- 
 tion, and the Liturgy, or Election and Perseverance, will be no 
 greater hindrance to Christians, in their affection for each other and 
 in their union to convert the world, than the different costumes 
 adopted and worn by the different companies in a Fire Department 
 should prevent their co-operation to put out a fire. All these things 
 will be subordinated to the love of Christ, and of one another, because 
 Christians will have learnt the spiritual nature of Christianity ; and 
 looking upon their own denomination and upon others, the words of 
 Christ will be felt in their sublime and beautiful truth : " TVoman I 
 believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this moun- 
 tain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. But the hour cometh 
 and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father 
 in spirit and in truth ; for the Father seeketh such to worship him." 
 
 Then the world will feel that greatest proof of the divine origin of 
 Christianity, The union of Christians in spite of the diversity in 
 their forms and creeds. In view of past alienation and strife, that 
 union will appear the greatest instance of the presence and power of 
 God on earth since the days of miracles ; and therefore, Christ, in 
 prophetic prayer, looked to this consummation as the triumph of his 
 cause: — " That they all may be one; that the world may 
 believe that Thou hast sent we." 
 
 But the surrender of rites, forms, and peculiarities of religious 
 belief, and the composition of one Church out of the various denom- 
 uations, would not be so great an illustration of the power of Chris- 
 tianity, as that the various denominations now existing should remain, 
 but make their peculiarities secondary to Chirstian union and effort. 
 The former might be effected by human policy, ambition, or the 
 influence of some powerful but sinful motive stronger than the love of 
 sect. The latter can be done only by the Holy Ghost sent down 
 from Heaven. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 The preference of different orders and forms of worship grow out 
 of a diversity in the human mind ; and though the enlightening influ- 
 ence of Christianity will prevent schism and separation hereafter, it 
 is to be expected that different minds will continue to prefer different 
 modes and customs in religion. But these things will be sunk into 
 mere matters of taste ant^ form, and all that hold the essential doc- 
 trines of the Gospel, will show the earnest of Heaven in their feelings 
 and conduct towards one another. The true church will then appear 
 to consist of such as the Father seeks to worship Him, confined to no 
 one Christian sect, but representing, by its diffusion amongst many, 
 and at the same time its spiritual union, the society of Heaven made 
 up from every kindred and tongue and people. 
 
 Who does not believe that such a day will come ? What Chris- 
 tian heart does not leap at the sound of its coming ? As the heart 
 panteth for the water brooks, what follower of Christ, in this world of 
 alienation and strife, does not pant for such a day ? Is it probable 
 that God will suffer the dissensions of Christendom to be transferred 
 into the rising communities of Christians in heathen lands, and our 
 disputes and the scenes of our disagreement to be acted over again ? 
 Forbid it. Spirit of all Grace ! Let centuries of time and generations 
 of men no more be lost, because the Christian church cannot agree 
 that immersion is or is not the only scriptural mode of Baptism, or 
 whether the right of ordination has descended in one line only from 
 Christ, or whether saints are elected, and will persevere ! Sad 
 profanation of the Christian name and spirit ! To Christ and angels 
 we know not which is the more revolting sight, the rites and prac- 
 tices of heathenism, or the practices of a divided, wrangling 
 Christendom. 
 
 We must agree to differ. It is impossible for any sect, by direct 
 effort, to bring others into conformity with it. The greater the 
 effort, the greater will be the repulsion. But if all denominations 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 should make it appear that they regard their peculiarities of forms 
 and order as mere accidents and not essentials, and forbear to urge 
 them to the prevention of union with true Christians of every 
 name, and show the spirit of Christian love and fellowship rising 
 superiour to what is not of vital consequence in religion, it is not im- 
 possible that a strong tendency towards union of spirit which would 
 then begin to prevail, would seek for union in outward form, and 
 several of the great sects in Christendom might unite in one church. 
 If it be asked, Which of the present denominations would be most 
 likely to receive and include the oihers ? the answer might be. That 
 which should be the first to manifest the spirit which has now been 
 described. 
 
 It does not seem probable that such a union of sects will ever 
 take place ; but if it does, no arguing about rites and forms, no legis- 
 lation, in short, no direct attempts to produce conformity will effect 
 it. This experiment has failed. The result will be accomplished, 
 we believe, by each sect throwing down its wall, — not to enlarge 
 its borders, but — because it cannot longer bear to be separate from 
 the children of God. The union in feeling and spirit that would 
 lead to this, would regard all differences in forms as unessential, 
 and either permit them to remain, as we believe they would, or, by 
 a stronger attraction in one denomination than in the others, unite all 
 under one name. 
 
 It is by no means certain, that we do not need peculiarities, 
 of form, or service, or denomination, to make us labour with more 
 interest within a certain sphere, and to prevent that loss of strength 
 which a diffusion of interest and labour, however pleasant in itself 
 it might be, would occasion. We know that such restricted interest 
 and zeal is essential to success in secular arts and labours. And 
 moreover, it does appear that some men are, by nature, Dissenters 
 from all religious forms but those that are perfectly plain ; and some 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 are born Episcopalians, and some will be Baptists, and others 
 Methodists ; and either of these, out of their own forms and practices, 
 can no more be free and happy, than birds of diflerent instincts can 
 be so when those instincts are not gratified. Some think that the 
 dislike which a Congregationalist may have to Episcopacy, is sec- 
 tarianism, in a bad sense of that word. Wrong feelings may 
 indeed attend such dislike ; but we believe that the first cause of it 
 is, in general, a natural, innocent diversity of taste. We have no 
 doubt that some are better Christians for being Methodists, and some 
 for being Congregationalists, and others as Episcopalians, others as 
 Baptists. 
 
 Now, why may we not all be willing that others should enjoy 
 their own religious attachments, and we esteem and love them in 
 proportion as we see in them the spirit of Christ ? 
 
 Have we not tried the experiment long enough of seeking to bring 
 others into conformity with ourselves ? What wars and fightings 
 have been the consequence ! When we look at the theological 
 department of a large library, and see what volumes of controversy 
 have been written by each denomination against others, and in self- 
 defence, we are reminded of a hall in a baronial castle, where 
 spears., habergeons, helmets, lances, and the battle-axe frown along 
 the walls. Their banner is feudal, and so are many of their sa- 
 cred songs, and the warlike motto of the Pilgrim Commonwealth, 
 JEnse petit placidam, sub libertate, quietem, seems to be held out, 
 sword in hand, towards other denominations. 
 
 Shall the morning of the Millenium break upon the church and 
 find the different divisions of her hosts embattled against each other ? 
 We cannot hesitate for an answer. The time will come, when 
 each denomination of Christians will freely commune with and love 
 all others, without requiring conformity to their own modes and 
 practices, so long as they see in the life and conduct the spirit of tru3 
 religion. 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 We are persuaded of the coming of this day. But any associa- 
 tion or combination to promote this union, would only create another 
 sect, and prolong the war by making men fight for peace. That 
 feverish restlessness for a visible union of Christian sects, which 
 some now manifest, is, we fear, only a new form of fanaticism. 
 This union must begin in the soul of every follower of Christ, in the 
 private cultivation of the Christian spirit, and in a growing knowledge 
 of Christ's religion. It cometh not with observation. The work 
 of preparation for it must be done in secret, when suddenly a glori- 
 ous temple will arise, and God will enter it, with the ark of his 
 strength. 
 
 Will it assist this consummation, the reader says, to publish a 
 book on Infant Baptism ? Ought you not to sacrifice your attach- 
 ment to this ordinance, to the cause of Christian union ? — The 
 answer is. It would be bigotry in us to say to Baptists, or Episcopa- 
 lians, or Methodists, we will love you and join in your plans if you 
 will accord with us in rites and forms. No. We expect to love 
 and honour them while they retain every peculiarity which is 
 no bar to Christian communion. Let them make no sacrifice of 
 attachment to forms or tenets, but, even with a Christian spirit, try 
 to convince others of their scriptural origin and superiour practical 
 influence ; at the same time holding this doctrine in common with 
 us, That he who has the spirit of Christ, let his costume be what it 
 may, is a friend and brother. Then, if their peculiar modes and 
 forms assist their piety and devotion, it will be little else than bar- 
 barism in us to mock at them or seek to draw them away from their 
 attachments. 
 
 It is dishonorable to the religion of Christ to suppose that there 
 can be no union amongst Christians but by truces, and compromises, 
 and the diplomatic arrangements of quarrelling nations or men. It 
 is inconsistent with Christian liberty to demand numerical unity in 
 
PREFACE. Xiii 
 
 Christian sects ; and we probably mistake the nature of man, if we 
 think that one order or form of worship can suit all men. We 
 rejoice in this diversity in unessential things, so far as it meets the 
 various dispositions and tastes of the human mind ; it is only in 
 spirit that we should be anxious for others to be one with us. An 
 attempt at any other union would be unnatural and forced. 
 
 In the exercise of the same spirit which we would desire that 
 others should exercise towards us, I have written this book concerning 
 a practice which is most precious to thousands of the followers of 
 Christ, for its influence on them and their children. But as this 
 practice and the mode of Baptism have made great dissension and 
 strife among Christians, it seemed proper to speak of the nature and 
 duty of Christian union in connection with a new publication on this 
 subject ; so that all might understand two things : 
 
 1. That we do not intend to abandon Infant Baptism in order to 
 a union of Christian sects. 
 
 2. That, at the same time, we regard this practice as no bar to 
 fellowship with those who reject it, and consider it only as a means 
 of spiritual good and not a condition of salvation, nor a test of Chris- 
 tian character. 
 
 If all denominations of true Christians will say these two things 
 of each of their rites and forms, give and receive full liberty of 
 conscience in interpreting the Bible, make nothing essential to 
 Christian communion on earth which will not be recognized in 
 Heaven, and triumph over names, and ceremonies, and the letter of 
 the word, in their zeal to maintain and spread abroad the essential 
 truth, then we shall all be one — as Thou, Father, art 
 IN Christ, and Christ in Thee ! 
 
 But the spirit of Christianity is yet like a beautiful captive in 
 bonds. Many sects m Christendom have laid their chain upon her. 
 But her day of liberty is near. Rising in the view of men, and 
 2 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 holding forth her fallen chains, she will appear invested with spiritual 
 and celestial beauty, and as each invokes and claims her as his own, 
 she will spread herself abroad in heavenly light, and surveying the 
 people of the Lord under their various names and forms, will bless 
 them and cry, Above all, and through all, and m you all. The 
 Lord hasten this in His time. Spirit of Christ ! escape from our 
 chains. We hereby take from off thy heavenly nature the bond of a 
 sectarian Baptism, and bid Thee hold communion with all of every 
 name who differ in rites and forms from us, but with us hold the 
 essential grounds of a sinner's Hope ! 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth of a child. Greatness of the event. Feelings and conduct 
 of a pious parent. The parents and child in eternity. Honour 
 of being a parent. Future joy of a pious mother. ... 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Proportion of deaths in infancy. Salvation of infants. Multitudes 
 in Heaven who died in infancy. Human infancy interesting to 
 superiour beings. ' Of such is the kingdom of God.' Destruction 
 of heathen Infants, an illustration of good brought out of evil. 
 Destruction of infants with wicked parents not inconsistent with 
 divine goodness. Infants slain by Herod. Their honour and hap- 
 piness in being identified with the Saviour's incarnation. Future 
 joy of pious parents who lost a young child. Meeting in Heaven. 
 Appeal to those not pious, who have lost children. Present 
 feelings of the departed children towards surviving parents. 
 Future meeting or separation 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Presentation of an infant for Baptism. Thoughts at the sight. 
 Feelings at an infant's cry in the House of God. Benevolent 
 nature of Christianity illustrated in an infant's baptism. Contrast 
 in this respect of Christianity and heathenism. A child baptized 
 at a heathen river. Interest of the scene to the souls of those who 
 perished there by violence. Beauty and power of Infant Baptism 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 in heathen lands. Baptism of infants in a Christian temple. 
 A congregation praying for a child. Effect on the parents. 
 The rite performed 28 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Meaning of the Ordinance. Object of rites. The two Christian 
 rites. Use of water in Baptism. Meaning of the form of Bap- 
 tism. Taking possession of a new land in the name of a king. 
 What is implied on the part of the parents? What is implied 
 on the part of God ? Abrahamic covenant only one form of a 
 great and general principle. Encom-agement from this in dedi- 
 cating children. Feelings of parents in retiring from Baptism. 
 Baptism of a household. Limit of age in baptizing children. 
 The refractory child. The widow's household, or infant. Infant 
 of a departed pious mother. Inconsistency of romantic names. 32 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Principles in the treatment and education of a Baptized child. 1. 
 Frequent renewal of the consecration. 2. Praying with a child. 
 Influence of it on a child. Mode of proceeding. The child's 
 appearance at prayer. Its impressions of the nature of the act. 
 Influence of prayer before a child in correction and encourage- 
 ment. John Newton's testimony respecting his mother's prayers. 
 Duty of a father to pray with his child. Interesting sight. 
 Effect on the parent's mind and feelings. Influence of it on the 
 child's feelings towards its father. 3. The child taught the 
 meaning of its Baptism. Good opportunity when the child has 
 witnessed a Baptism. God's attention to the young. Moses, in 
 the ark by the JXile, preserved and restored to his mother. Moses 
 on Sinai. Connection of his goodness and greatness, with God's 
 notice of him when a child. Call of Samuel in the Temple. 
 God's notice of children at their Baptism. Influence of these 
 thoughts upon a Baptized child. 4. Influence of Baptism on the 
 parents in directing the child. Maternal associations. General 
 influence of a sincere consecration of children upon parental 
 conduct. Inconsistent conduct of many parents. Wrong mo- 
 
CONTENTS. XVU 
 
 tives in Baptism. Effects. Parents punished in their children. 
 Apostacy of children. Appeal to the parent of a Baptized child. 
 Summary view of motives and feelings in offering a child for 
 Baptism. Annanias and Sapphira, or the guilt of insincerity in 
 a free-will offering. The service delightful as well as solemn. 40 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Benefits of Infant Baptism. Benefits to the Parents. 
 I. Deep impression of parental obligations. Use of a public 
 consecration. Answer to an objection. Use of the ordinance of 
 Baptism. Objection answered. II. Pleasure and satisfaction 
 afforded by the ordinance. The Baptism a new bond for the 
 parents to the love and service of God. Influence of the Baptism 
 upon the mind in thinking of the future. Death of the parents 
 while the child is young. The dying scene. Influence of the 
 Baptism on the mind of a dying parent. Influence of it upon the 
 parent at the loss of a child. Reasons. III. Ground of religious 
 appeal. Trait in childhood to which an appeal drawn from its 
 Baptism may be made. God's notice of it when an infant. 
 Prayers of a Church for it. 
 
 Benefits to the child. Objections considered. Investing 
 property for an infant. Unconsciousness of a benefit no objection 
 to it. Right of parents to benefit a child without its consent. 
 I. Baptism of a child properly performed, secures to the child the 
 favour of God. Simple view of this truth. II. Prayers of the 
 Church. Influence of these prayers. III. Influence of Baptism 
 on the child by its influence on the parents. IV. Thought of its 
 Baptism in after life, a ground of hope and prayer. Testimony 
 of Matthew Henry 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 To A Baptized Child. God's favour in infancy. The scene 
 of Baptism. God's notice of the child. The Saviour's feelings. 
 His recollections of his own infancy. His interest in the dedica- 
 tion of an infant. His thoughts at the sight. The prayer. 
 God remembers the Baptism. His feelings towards the baptized 
 
XVm CONTENTS. 
 
 child. His wishes for its welfare. Kindness of God to the 
 child. The child must have confidence in God's feelings towards 
 it. God regards the baptized child as His own. His rejection 
 of it, if it will not love and serve Him. 
 To A Baptized Youth. God's favour in infancy. The piety 
 of the youth supposed. Duty of a Baptized pious youth. God's 
 interview with Solomon. Observance of the Anniversary of 
 Baptism. An impenitent baptized youth. Expostulation. 
 Death of one or both of the youth's parents. Thoughts and 
 feelings of the parent in Heaven. Meeting of an impenitent 
 baptized youth and the glorified parent. Address of the parent. 
 The farewell. Contrast to such experience upon repentance. 
 Appeal to the youth whose parents are living. A pious youth at 
 his parent's dying bed. Parents at the dying bed of a pious child. 
 Meeting of a pious child with his parents in Heaven after a life of 
 usefulness. Form of consecration. Appeal to one who has 
 renounced his parents' faith 67 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Words to a Husband, who has offered his child on the ground 
 of the mother's faith. Evidence of kind foeling on his part. 
 Feelings of a minister and of Christians towards him. Present 
 difl^erence between the parents may be eternal. Consequences. 
 The mother and child in Heaven. The father lost. His 
 recollections of home. Appeal to him from God's goodness in 
 giving him a child. Obligation and inducement to consecrate 
 himself to God. 
 
 Refusal of a husband to have his child baptized. Unfavorable 
 influence on his character. Eflects of the opposite conduct. 
 Cases of the first kind. Consequence of injudicious marriage. 
 Duty of the wife and friends in the case. Discipline of the 
 mother in faith and prayer. Wives of impenitent husbands. 
 Influence of either upon the other a decided one. The wife's 
 danger and duty. 
 
 A household without religion. An infant placed there. Meditations 
 upon such a house. The parents poor. Life not the only season 
 of trouble and sorrow to the impenitent. Appeal from their 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 children. Feelings of children in eternity towards irreligious 
 parents. The dwelling of the rich. Children and other blessings. 
 Susceptibilities to pleasure. Prospect beyond the grave. The 
 whole family in hell. The whole family in Heaven. Fearful 
 responsibility of impenitent parents. Dedication of themselves 
 and children urged 82 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Restriction of Infant Baptism to the children of believers. 
 I. The ancient privilege of believers. The sign of the covenant 
 with them. Illustration. The rainbow. No reason why 
 either should cease. II. Inconsistency of one who is not a 
 Christian offering a child to God. Principle of divine govern- 
 ment. Importance of a visible distinction between the church 
 and the world. Answers to objections. 
 
 On being re-baptized. Its impropriety shown, from the 
 meaning of Baptism. Cases of adult Baptism by the apostles, 
 and the Baptism of Christ not in point. Baptism not a profession 
 of religion. Right view of this matter, and an argument from it. 
 To be re-baptized is to renounce the previous Baptism. Solemn 
 and responsible act 91 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The mode of Baptism. Sprinkling is valid Baptism. Ex- 
 amination of cases in the New Testament. I. Saul of Tarsus. 
 II. The Jailer of Philippi, and his house. III. The Eunuch. 
 IV. John's Baptism. Baptism of Christ. V. The three thousand 
 at Pentecost , . . • 99 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Mode of Baptism, continued. 'Buried in Baptism.' No 
 reference in the expression to any mode. The word ' Baptize,' 
 used without reference to a mode. Illustrations. Lord's Supper. 
 Baptism of the children of Israel. Mode of Baptism amongst 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 the earliest Christians uncertain. Reasons for baptizing only by 
 immersion. Difference of opinion on the mode of Baptism. 
 
 The mode of Baptism not prescribed in the New Testament. 
 Illustration in this of the nature of Christianity. Further illustra- 
 tion in the Lord's Supper. Conformity to the original mode of 
 the Supper. Inferences. 
 
 Reasons for preferring Baptism ey affusion. Conclu- 
 sion of the subject. 
 
 On leaving a Church to be re-baptized. . . . 110 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 The authority for Infant Baptism. Objection considered. 
 Authority for Infant Baptism illustrated. I. By family prayer 
 II. Females at the Lord's Table. III. The change of the 
 Sabbath. Inferences. 
 
 Proof from THE EARLY Christian Fathers. I. Augustine. 
 II. Cyprian and others. III. Pelagius. IV. Origen. Remarks 
 on this kind of evidence 123 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Relation of baptized children to the church. Dif- 
 ference in the constitution and grounds of membership, in the 
 Jewish and Christian church. Illustration of the use of Baptism, 
 and its intention. Objection to Infant Baptism, that unbaptized 
 children are frequently converted. 
 
 Influence of a right observance of this practice in 
 THE conversion OF THE WORLD. Pious parental influence 
 the great means of strengthening and increasing the church. 
 The family, considered as a means of spiritual good. Appeal 
 to parents. Conclusion. Future scenes in parental 
 
 AND FILIAL RELATIONS 133 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth of a child. Greatness of the event. Feelings and conduct 
 of a pious parent. The parents and child in eternity. Honour 
 of being a parent. Future joy of a pious mother. 
 
 The birth of a child is an event of great impor- 
 tance, as well as an occasion of gratitude and joy. 
 Life, from the infinite Source of Being, is begun 
 in a spirit which is to outlive the sun and stars. 
 Could it speak, it might say with its Maker, from 
 the first moment of its existence, Of my years 
 there is no end ! Follow it into eternity, think of 
 its possible experience at the end of millions of 
 years, see it then looking forward with great sus- 
 ceptibilities and powers ; — and how interesting 
 the moment when you, its father, first hang over 
 it, with mingled smiles and tears ! nay, how solemn 
 is that hour, for then it becomes immortal ! Over- 
 whelmed with the thought that an undying spirit 
 is born, and committed to your care, you cast 
 yourself with it at the feet of your Maker, beseech- 
 ing Him to take it into his protection. 
 
 Amidst the general joy that fills a household at 
 3 
 
18 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 the birth of a child, a parent who thinks at all of 
 the future, cannot but be thoughtful and solemn. 
 He stands before the universe, responsible as the 
 parent of an immortal creature. To him, in the 
 ages of eternity, a glorious inhabitant of Heaven 
 will turn and say. My father ! and he, as he sees 
 it rising in happiness and honour, will say. My child ! 
 Or else, the child in its eternal separation from 
 God, will think of its parents with feelings growing 
 more dreadful with its increasing guilt and pain. 
 Your child will hereafter awaken joy and praise in 
 your heart for its birth, or, if you spend eternity 
 without it in Heaven, or with it in hell, you will 
 say. Good were it for you and for me if you had 
 never been born ! 
 
 It is the great glory of God, as Creator, that He 
 
 is Father of Spirits. Angels and other spirits 
 
 are the joy and crown of his works. It is an 
 
 honour, then, in itself considered, to sustain the 
 
 relation of parent to an immortal creature ; and they 
 
 who in Heaven behold their offspring amongst the 
 
 spirits of the just, will feel that, in their relation as 
 
 parents, they have a likeness to God in that which 
 
 to Him is a source of infinite joy. The parental 
 
 relation, indeed, begins with a part of the race 
 
 in sorrow. But not as the offence will be the 
 
 free gift : for she that was first in the transgression 
 
 will have susceptibilities to happiness, from natural 
 
 feelings towards offspring, which may make her 
 
 first in the bliss of Heaven. 
 
FUTURE JOY OF A PIOUS MOTHER. 19 
 
 Can the reader think of a more perfect image of 
 bhss than the mother of a glorified spirit ? a spirit, 
 that shall have turned many to righteousness, and 
 will forever be loved and honoured by Christ and 
 the redeemed, for the part which he bore on earth, 
 in the cause of human salvation. If it is seen that 
 the mother gave such direction to the opening 
 mind of her son as that his subsequent usefulness 
 can be traced back to her influence, surely there 
 will be no crown in Heaven for which that mother 
 would exchange her joy. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Proportion of deaths in infancy. Salvation of infants. Multitudes 
 in Heaven who died in infancy. Human infancy interesting to 
 superior beings. ' Of such is the kingdom of God.' Destruction 
 of heathen Infants, an illustration of good brought out of evil. 
 Destruction of infants with wicked parents not inconsistent with 
 divine goodness. Infants slain by Herod. Their honour and hap- 
 piness in being identified with the Saviour's incarnation. Future 
 joy of pious parents who lost a young child. Meeting in Heaven. 
 Appeal to those not pious, who have lost children. Present 
 feelings of the departed children towards surviving parents. 
 Future meeting or separation. 
 
 The proportion of deaths in infancy is estimated 
 by different writers, at from one-fifth to two-thirds 
 of the whole number of deaths in a given number 
 of years. We know that a large proportion of the 
 race die in infancy and childhood ; but the exact 
 relative number it is difficult to determine. It has 
 been stated, that one half of all that are born, die 
 within three years. This being the case under the 
 common operation of the laws of mortality, if we 
 add the destruction of infants in heathen countries, 
 the proportion of the race that die in infancy and 
 childhood is exceedingly great. 
 
EARLY DEATHS OF PIOUS CHILDREN. 21 
 
 I need not argue the point that those who die 
 in infancy are saved. It is a point upon which it 
 becomes us to speak with the recollection that the 
 Bible makes no disclosures respecting it. Yet this 
 may be, because the salvation of infants is a matter 
 of obvious reason ; in which case, as in some others, 
 the Bible seems to pay regard to our common sense, 
 by leaving things which may properly be inferred, 
 to be deduced from the general principles of revela- 
 tion. We shall have occasion to apply this remark 
 in the course of this book. 
 
 We have all been interested and affected by the 
 fact that so many children who die, present such 
 striking forwardness of religious vicAVS and feelings. 
 I know that the whole matter of mental precocious- 
 ness is attributable to disease of the brain ; and that 
 thoughts and feelings upon religious subjects far 
 beyond the age of the child, are ascribed to the 
 same proximate cause. Yet, who can say that the 
 soul did not first affect the brain, and that the 
 forward action of the soul is not owing to some 
 uncommon spiritual action upon it, as the petals of 
 one flower amongst many are stimulated excessively 
 by the light which, by seeming accident, plays in 
 too profusely upon it, and its premature bloom 
 brings on its premature fall ? A child is a great 
 mystery ! We dwell upon its depravity, and alas ! 
 how early the blight of sin is found amongst the 
 affecting beauty of the opening mind ! Yet we 
 3* 
 
22 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 believe that the early sanctification of many chil- 
 dren, who, as we have suggested, are spiritualized 
 too highly for their physical natures, may be owing 
 to the love which Heaven bears them, and that 
 their death is only the necessary effect of the 
 rapid advancement of the soul, and analogous to 
 the change of the chrysalis into a higher form of 
 life. While we observe the love of God to these 
 children, who are evidently hastened from the 
 winds and storms of this world to Heaven, it indi- 
 cates to us a common and secret favour borne to all 
 the infant race, which secures eternal life to them 
 if they die. 
 
 Assuming the fact of the salvation of infants, it 
 will follow, that, of the multitude which no man 
 can 'number of human spirits in Heaven, a large 
 proportion went there in infancy or early childhood. 
 
 How interesting, then, to God and angels, is 
 human infancy and childhood ! since from those in 
 this condition of life, the company before the throne 
 is in so great a proportion multiplied. 
 
 May not Christ have had in mind the relation 
 which infants thus bear to the society of Heaven, 
 when He gave as a reason why they should be 
 brought to Him, Of such is the kmgdom of God ? 
 
 Having been familiar with the fact of the in- 
 crease of that society to so great an extent, by 
 accessions of infant souls, is it strange that, when 
 He came on earth, He took such notice of infants 
 and young children ? 
 
THE INFANT MARTYRS. 23 
 
 Many interesting reflections arise in the mind, 
 in connection with this subject. What consola- 
 tion does it afford in thinking of the horrid sacrifi- 
 ces of infants in heathen countries, where hundreds 
 of thousands perish every year ! The practice of 
 infant sacrifice has probably been the means of 
 saving multitudes, who, had they lived longer on 
 earth might have perished forever. What an illus- 
 tration of the truth, that God will bring good out of 
 evil ! 
 
 Does any one question the justice or goodness of 
 God in destroying the infants of the old world with 
 their parents, or the infants of the cities of the 
 plain, or those who in all ages have been par- 
 takers of the curse of Avar, pestilence and famine ? 
 It is goodness and mercy that took them from the 
 world ; — mercy to them, though a judgment to 
 others, and in its outward appearance a terrible 
 expression of God's hatred of sin, and of its effects, 
 which involve the innocent with the guilty. But 
 the temporary sufferings of the infants were not 
 worthy to be compared with the glory which was, 
 and is now, revealed in them in Heaven. 
 
 One of the most painful and mysterious dispen- 
 sations of God, as it has appeared to many, is the 
 destruction of the infants by Herod, who sent forth 
 and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, 
 and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old 
 and under, hoping to cut off the infant Jesus. This 
 must have been a terrific and distressing slaughter ; 
 
24 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 though, judging from the probable population of 
 those places, the number of infants was not so great 
 as many suppose. But still, what is there to alle- 
 viate the feeling of horrour that rises in the mind at 
 the seeming incongruity of the slaughter of helpless 
 children with the nativity of the Saviour of the 
 world ? 
 
 This view of the subject may afford relief. 
 Here were a company of infant souls that went to 
 Heaven together, as the first fruits of the Saviour's 
 incarnation. They were unconscious martyrs in 
 the cause of Him who died for them. Perhaps they 
 compose a band of glorified spirits, and are associated 
 in the minds of angels and of the redeemed with 
 that most interesting event, the incarnation and the 
 infancy of the Lord from Heaven ! Their sufferings 
 were brief; their salvation was made certain ; and in 
 view of their intimate connection with the entrance 
 of the Saviour upon his work of redemption, their 
 sufferings and early death were an honour and 
 privilege, rather than a calamity. 
 
 It is delightful to think that the ravages of the 
 great destroyer may have been the means of saving 
 so large a part of the race, and especially of the 
 heathen, from endless ruin. What wonders in 
 God's providence and government of the world 
 will burst upon our minds in connection with this 
 and similar subjects, when we look behind these 
 scenes of suffering and death ! 
 
ON HAVING A CHILD IN HEAVEN. 25 
 
 It is not impossible that angels, even now, have 
 new and more perfect views of the wisdom and 
 grace of God as often as they are sent to heathen 
 shores, or into our dwellings, to watch a dying 
 infant, and to bear the unconscious immortal and 
 future seraph from its exposure to certain suffering 
 and liability to eternal misery, to the presence of 
 its God and Saviour. 
 
 It must follow, moreover, that we shall probably 
 find the company of the redeemed consisting in a 
 great measure of souls who have grown up in 
 Heaven from infants and young children to the 
 measure of the stature of prophets and apostles. 
 Who, then, can look upon an infant without think- 
 ing of the words of Christ, Of such is the kingdom 
 of God ! 
 
 Parents who meet their children in Heaven, will 
 be more than consoled for their early death. 
 You cannot imagine what happiness is in reserve 
 for you from this source. The child perhaps was 
 taken to Heaven before it could tell its father from 
 a stranger ; or it was cut off like a beautiful bud, 
 when the embracement of its leaves is breaking 
 to let forth its bloom. 
 
 When you have entered Heaven, you will proba- 
 bly be met by a youthful seraph who will call you 
 father ! mother ! Is this my child ! you will say? 
 at whose death my heart was broken, and God's 
 justice and goodness were almost disputed ; in 
 whose little grave I buried all my hopes ? As you 
 
26 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 wipe the tears of joy from your eyes, you will say : 
 The light affliction, which was but for a moment, 
 works out for me a far more exceeding and eternal 
 weight of glory. 
 
 Have any of you lost children who are not your- 
 selves pious ? The mind of each of those children 
 has been unfolding in Heaven, and has probably 
 grown faster than if on earth. It has been made 
 acquainted with its relation to you, and perhaps 
 it watches every soul that comes up from earth 
 to Heaven, to greet its father or mother. Soon 
 you must appear at the bar of God. You may 
 there have an interview with your child ; and sup- 
 pose that you are there separated from that spirit 
 who has been growing in the knowledge of God 
 and of the universe, anticipating the delightful 
 employment of telling you about Heaven, and 
 leading you among its glorified society, and along 
 its celestial plains ! 
 
 Perhaps you have a little family there, expecting 
 your arrival. Can you bear the thought of being 
 separated from them in eternity ? 
 
 Are you an impenitent parent ? and have you 
 impenitent children who are growing up without 
 religion ? and has God taken away one or more of 
 your children in infancy or early life ? Perhaps it 
 was because He saw that your example or neglect 
 would ruin all the family, and He has therefore 
 rescued some of them from destruction by an early 
 death. 
 
INTERESTING ASSOCIATIONS. 27 
 
 But let the joy of meeting those that have gone 
 to Heaven excite you to save your own soul and 
 the souls of your surviving children. Then, though 
 you mourn over their early graves, you shall not 
 sorrow as they that have no hope. ' Them that 
 sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.' Their 
 early death may prove, if you are saved, a source 
 of the richest joy and of praise ! 
 
 It has been my object in this chapter to represent 
 a few of the interesting associations that belong to 
 infancy, that all may see a pertinency in bestowing 
 that notice upon young children which they receive 
 in the ordinance of Infant Baptism. There are 
 thoughts and feelings of intense interest in every 
 reflecting mind, in connection with an infant : and 
 inasmuch as everything of a spiritual nature which 
 is most interesting to a Christian, is connected in his 
 mind with the Church and the House of God, (as 
 David says of Zion, All my springs are in thee,) it 
 is easy to perceive the cause of that interest which 
 Christians in all ages of the world have felt in the 
 practice of Infant Baptism. The moral relations and 
 influences of this practice will now be considered. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Presentation of an infant for Baptism. Thoughts at the sight 
 Feelings at an infant's cry in the House of God. Benevolent 
 nature of Christianity illustrated in an infant's baptism. Contrast 
 in this respect of Christianity and heathenism. A child baptized 
 at a heathen river. Interest of the scene to the souls of those who 
 perished there by violence. Beauty and power of infant Baptism 
 in heathen lands. Baptism of infants in a Christian temple. 
 A congregation praying for a child. Effect on the parents. 
 The rile performed. 
 
 The presentation of an immortal creatm-e in its 
 infancy before God, is deeply interesting to a serious 
 and pious mind. There, in the presence of ' the 
 assembled brethren in Christ,' of angels, of Jesus 
 the Mediator of the new covenant, is an infant for 
 the first time in the House of God, the place which, 
 if the child lives to worship there, will forever be as 
 prominent as any other in its recollections of earth. 
 Its unconsciousness of what is doing for it is affect- 
 ing, and its quiet breathings are in beautiful keeping 
 with the peaceful rite. 
 
 Perhaps its cries disturb the prayer, and the 
 composure of the parents. The cry of a child 
 under such circumstances in the House of God, 
 
ILLUSTRATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 29 
 
 should never be thought of, either by parents or 
 spectators, but with the same kind of feehng with 
 which we may suppose its Maker hears its voice in 
 His temple. The dedication is not rendered less 
 acceptable to God by the appeal which is made by 
 its cries to his pity. 
 
 The parents bring the child to the baptismal 
 font, and the minister invites all present to unite 
 in commending them and the child to God. A 
 whole congregation is attentive to what is taking 
 place on behalf of an unconscious child. Who can 
 behold the sight, and not think of the contrast of 
 the scene with the scenes of infanticide that occur 
 in heathenism ? There, thousands perish every 
 week by exposure, or by a violence too horrid to 
 describe. Here, an assembly surround one infant, 
 and bear in it their prayers before God. In what 
 point of view could the Christian religion be made 
 to appear in more beautiful contrast to heathenism ! 
 How sublime in its simplicity does it seem, when, 
 with all the grandeur of its mysteries into which 
 angels look, it notices an infant, and permits the 
 ordinary worship of God's House to be suspended 
 for a while, that a child may be taken into the 
 covenant of mercy ! 
 
 Interesting and affecting as this rite may be to 
 
 us, in Christian lands, it cannot be less interesting 
 
 when performed by a missionary for the child of a 
 
 converted heathen, in the presence of Christian and 
 
 4 
 
30 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 heathen natives, and of the missionary band. I see 
 them standing on the shore of a river, whose bed 
 for ages past has received the bodies of mm^dered 
 infants. A father and mother, who perhaps have 
 sacrificed infants in that very stream, now bring a 
 child for Christian baptism. With water from the 
 river, or by immersion in the river, the child is 
 then baptized in the name of the Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost. Thus, on those shores where 
 sin has abounded, grace doth much more abound. 
 From Heaven, if he is saved, the reader will prob- 
 ably look down with thrilling interest upon such 
 scenes as these in company with multitudes of spirits 
 to whom that river was the death bed, and is now 
 the grave, of their bodies. The last command of 
 Christ to his disciples, Go teach all nations, baptiz- 
 ing them, will seem to have a most appropriate 
 fulfilment in such a scene. 
 
 The baptism of infants must be a delightful 
 and precious ordinance to converted heathen, who, in 
 witnessing it, may be more aff'ected than by any- 
 thing else with the contrast of the merciful and 
 condescending nature of Christianity, to that of 
 barbarous and wasting heathenism. But let us 
 return to our own temples. 
 
 It is the duty of every worshipper to join in the 
 prayer which is ofi*ered in behalf of the child, so 
 that the whole church shall send up a cloud of 
 incense to God. Who can tell what effect united 
 
A CONGREGATION PRAYING FOR A CHILD. 31 
 
 prayer at such a moment may have upon the child's 
 destiny, and thus upon the church and world ! 
 How delightful the thought of a whole church, 
 moved by brotherly love, sending up prayers for the 
 child of a brother and sister in Christ ! With Avhat 
 pleasure must a parent think of his infant's Baptism 
 beforehand, and at the time of its consecration, if 
 he knows that a whole church will intercede for it 
 with God ! and with what pleasure will he recollect, 
 through life and on a dying bed, that the prayers 
 of a church are on record for his particular child I 
 
 In the prayer that precedes and follows the 
 Baptism, every brother and sister in the Lord 
 should consider it a duty as well as a privilege to 
 join. 
 
 The rite is now to be performed. The minister 
 sprinkles pure water upon the infant's head, and 
 announcing its name, says, I baptize thee in the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Meaning of the Ordinance. Object of rites. The two Christian 
 rites. Use of water in Baptism. Meaning of the form of Bap- 
 tism. Taking possession of a new land in the name of a king. 
 What is implied on the part of the parents ? What is implied 
 on the part of God ? Abrahamic covenant only one form of a 
 great and general principle. Encouragement from this in dedi- 
 cating children. Feelings of parents in retiring from Baptism. 
 Baptism of a household. Limit of age in baptizing children. 
 The refractory child. The widow's household, or infant. Infant 
 of a departed pious mother. Inconsistency of romantic names. 
 
 But what is the meaning of this ordinance ? 
 
 It is natural to man to be affected by rites and 
 ceremonies. No kindred or tribe of men was ever 
 known that did not have them. They impress 
 the mind through several of the senses at once ; 
 they interest the feelings, excite the attention, and 
 fix the truth more deeply on the mind than could 
 be done by words without them. Too many 
 ceremonies are burdensome, lead to superstitious 
 observances, and take away the thoughts from 
 what is signified by them, and beget formality. 
 The entire absence of forms is not suited to man's 
 nature, which craves the presence of external ob- 
 jects to rouse and fix his attention and feelings. 
 
MEANING OF THE FORM OF BAPTISM. 33 
 
 The Christian religion contains two sacred rites, 
 Baptism and the Lord's Supper. These are admi- 
 rably fitted to affect the mind, not so much with 
 surprise, or to absorb the thoughts in the outward 
 forms, as to lead them immediately to the things 
 signified, and to fix them in inward meditation. 
 
 The use of water rather than anything else is 
 appointed to denote the purifying influence of the 
 Holy Spirit, of whose dispensation Baptism is the 
 sign and seal. 
 
 To be baptized in the name of the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost, is as though the subject 
 received a badge with that sacred name upon it, 
 to be worn as a remembrancer to himself, and a 
 witness to others of consecration to God. 
 
 When the discoverer of some new land or island 
 takes possession of it in the name of his king, and 
 attaches it to the crown, the same thing is done as 
 when we utter the name of the Godhead in solemn 
 form, and with a sacred rite over a human creature ; 
 we assert the property of God in him ; and it is only 
 by future rebellion persisted in, that the claim thus 
 asserted will not be followed by the everlasting 
 and glorious indwelling of God in that soul. 
 
 Let us consider what is implied in the act of 
 dedicating a child by Baptism, both on the part of 
 the parents and of a covenant God. 
 
 1. What is implied on the part of the parents ? 
 
 Before angels and men, they give up their child 
 *4 
 
34 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 to God, renouncing their own claim to dispose of it, 
 acknowledging that it was originally God's gift, 
 and is now laid upon his altar. It is presumed 
 that they have already given their child to God in 
 their private prayers, and at their family altar, and 
 now they come with the gift in their hands, to do 
 the same before many witnesses. 
 
 The parents consecrate their child to God, to 
 Christ, to the Spirit of all Grace ! to the service 
 and glory of the sacred Three, whose name is 
 called upon it. It is offered to God, its Father, 
 who made it, and from whose infinite Being, its 
 being came. It is offered to the Saviour, who for it 
 himself became a child, that He might fully sympa- 
 thize with us, even in our state of infancy, and 
 whose omniscient eye beheld this infant as an 
 object of his redeeming grace, when He gave him- 
 self for it. It is offered to the Holy Ghost, by whom 
 it must be born again, and on whom it will depend 
 for holiness even in Heaven. 
 
 To the compassion and favor of God, to the pro- 
 motion of that cause which the Father, the Son, 
 and the Holy Ghost, are carrying on in the world, 
 the child is solemnly offered and set apart. The 
 consecration is sealed by the sacrament or oath of 
 Baptism. 
 
 2. What is implied on the part of a covenant 
 God in his ordinance ? 
 
CONNECTION OF CHILDREN WITH PARENTS. 35 
 
 This cannot be better expressed than in the 
 words of the celebrated Shepard, of Cambridge, to 
 his son : '' God gave thee the ordinance of Baptism, 
 whereby God is become thy God, and is beforehand 
 with thee, so that if thou wilt return to God, He 
 will undoubtedly receive thee." 
 
 In consequence of the parents' relation to God, 
 He stands in a peculiar relation to their child. 
 Children were formerly included with their parents 
 in promises and threatenings, blessings and curses. 
 This is a principle in the government of the world ; 
 and when God revived his church in Abraham, 
 this principle came into view, and the admission of 
 children into covenant with their parents, was 
 grafted upon it. It has its foundation in our 
 natures and cannot cease but with the parental 
 relation. So that the question. Whether the Abra- 
 hamic covenant is abolished, is lost in the question, 
 Has that principle of the divine government ceased, 
 upon which God formerly included the children of 
 believers in his covenant with their parents ? 
 
 It is not my intention to discuss the Abrahamic 
 covenant ; though it will be mentioned with occa- 
 sional remarks in the course of the book. I 
 consider it only as one exhibition of a great 
 principle in God's government of the world, which 
 existed before that covenant was made, and will 
 last to the end of time, — I mean, the natural con- 
 nection of children with their parents in the divine 
 constitution. 
 
36 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 So that when a child is solemnly dedicated to 
 God in his House, and with the Christian rite of 
 Baptism, God, in reference to this voluntary ac- 
 knowledgement of His claims, and from regard to 
 the filial and pious feelings which prompted the 
 consecration, will, in view of His covenant with 
 believers and their seed, receive that child into the 
 number of those to whom He stands in a peculiar 
 relation. A pious parent, whose faith in God and 
 desire for his blessing upon his child leads him to 
 use the ordina ice of Baptism with a sincere and 
 prayerful mind, and who follows up his vows with 
 consistent practice, may be sure that the Great 
 Shepherd and Bishop of souls has written the name 
 of that child before Him in letters which His infinite 
 forbearance and mercy will long keep from being 
 blotted out, though the child should perversely 
 break its father's covenant. 
 
 Let us now consider the feelings with which 
 parents should retire from the baptismal service. 
 
 It is a solemn moment when they take the child 
 away from the Baptism. They have given it to 
 God ; and they bear it away, as the mother of 
 Moses did her own son to bring it up for another, 
 who, in this case, is God. They have, by their 
 vows, promised that the will of God concerning 
 their child shall be their will, so that the question 
 of its life or death is left implicitly with Him. 
 Though their hearts will bleed if it should be taken 
 
BAPTISM OF A HOUSEHOLD. 37 
 
 away, yet, by the baptismal service, they have 
 engaged to consider the child henceforth as entirely 
 at God's disposal ; and whenever they look npon it 
 hereafter, the feeling which they are to have is 
 expressed by these words, Le7it^ not given. If it 
 dies, they will remember its Baptism and their vows, 
 and the peace of God that passeth all miderstanding 
 will steal into their breaking hearts. If it lives, it 
 is to be trained up for that God to whom it has 
 been given. , 
 
 Suppose that, instead of bringing the child to the 
 altar, the parents had appeared there to receive the 
 child from God, and it had been placed in their 
 hands by ministering spirits who had brought it 
 from the presence of God, and this voice should be 
 heard in the temple : Take this child, and bring it 
 up for me ! With what feelings would you retire 
 from such a service ? How would you ever after 
 look upon the child ? Your vows of consecration, 
 and the expectation of God make the case the same 
 as though the child had been received in this way 
 from Heaven ! 
 
 It is an affecting sight when a household is 
 offered for Baptism. The feelings of a minister are 
 perhaps never interested more than in laying his 
 hand, with the seal of the covenant, on the head of 
 a boy, and bindmg his youthful spirit to the altar 
 of God. And when his sister follows him to receive 
 the sacred rite, there is a change in the feelings of 
 
38 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 the minister, and of the spectators, to a soft and 
 subduing sympathy. 
 
 Within what age may children be presented for 
 Baptism ? When the apostles say that they bap- 
 tized households, it has been the impression of the 
 great body of Christians, that there were children, 
 or servants, or both, in those households who were 
 baptized on the ground of their parents' or masters' 
 profession. I shall not argue this point, but proceed 
 to say : (if this were the case, we deduce this 
 principle from it ; Baptism may be gi\^en in all 
 cases where the parent or master has such control 
 over the subject, that he can carry out in his subse- 
 quent treatment of him the dedication to God, 
 which was signified in asking for and receiving 
 the ordinance. 
 
 Suppose that a youth, whose father is dead, and 
 whose mother is recently converted, is refractory at 
 her proposal to offer him in Baptism ? I put the 
 case because it has occurred. The greater pains 
 should be taken to soften and subdue his spirit. 
 He is probably a grief to his mother in his daily 
 conduct, and takes advantage of his having no 
 father to govern him. Now there is a good oppor- 
 tunity to affect him with religious considerations. 
 Let the minister be made acquainted with the case. 
 He will appeal to his feelings towards his widowed 
 mother, his departed father, and will try to remove 
 the shame which he feels at the thought of being 
 
A widow's infant. NAMES. 39 
 
 taunted for his baptism by his wicked playmates. 
 Their influence over him, and thus the dreadful 
 snare which the fear of others brings with it, may 
 now be broken, and preparation may be made for 
 religious influences to reach his heart. 
 
 Who can behold the Baptism of a wic'ow's 
 household, and especially of her infant, without 
 tears ! How appropriate to her situation and feel- 
 ings is this ordinance, in which her children are 
 cast upon the bosom of the church by that God 
 who says, A father of the fatherless and the judge 
 of the widows is God in his Holy Habitation ! 
 
 A mother died and left an infant. Soon after, 
 the father appeared with it in the House of God, 
 and in the name of the departed mother, and his 
 own, offered it in Baptism. One glorified spirit, at 
 least, if not a cloud of witnesses, we may suppose, 
 was moved at such a sight. 
 
 The names which are sometimes given to chil- 
 dren in Baptism, are so romantic that they seem to 
 have been taken from a novel. This is inconsistent 
 with the motive and the state of mind, with which 
 parents are supposed to offer their children in 
 Baptism. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Principles in the treatment and education of a Baptized child. 1. 
 Frequent renewal of the consecration. 2. Praying with a child. 
 Influence of it on a child. Mode of proceeding. The child's 
 appearance at prayer. Its impressions of the nature of the act. 
 Influence of prayer before a child in correction and encourage- 
 ment. John Newton's testimony respecting his mother's prayers. 
 Duty of a father to pray with his child. Interesting sight. 
 Eflect on the parent's mind and feelings. Influence of it on'the 
 child's feelings towards its father. 3. The child taught the 
 meaning of its Baptism. Good opportunity when the child has 
 witnessed a Baptism. God's attention ^o the young. Moses, in 
 the ark by the Nile, preserved and restored to his mother. Moses 
 on Sinai. Connection of his goodness and greatness, with God's 
 notice of him when a child. Call of Samuel in the Temple. 
 God's notice of children at their Baptism. Influence of these 
 thoughts upon a Baptized child. 4. Influence of Baptism on the 
 parents in directing the child. Maternal associations. General 
 influence of a sincere consecration of children upon parental 
 conduct. Inconsistent conduct of many parents. Wrong mo- 
 tives in Baptism. Effects. Parents punished in their chridren. 
 Apostacy of children. Appeal to the parent of a Baptized child. 
 Summary view of motives and feelings in offering a child for 
 Baptism. Annanias and Sapphira, or the guilt of insincerity in 
 a free-will offering. The service delightful as well as solemn. 
 
 What are some of the principles upon which the 
 parents will feel it their duty to train up the Bap- 
 tized child ^ 
 
RENEWAL OF THE DEDICATION. 41 
 
 1. They will frequently renew the dedication of 
 the child to God. 
 
 They will not regard the Baptism as a mere 
 ceremony, but as the commencement of obligations 
 of which they will be reminded, and thereby excited 
 to faithfulness, as often as they remember the Bap- 
 tism. They will frequently lift up their thoughts 
 to God imploring his help in the discharge of their 
 solemn trust. As often as their affections are 
 moved by watching its slumbers or its first motions 
 which betray its helplessness and excite a mingled 
 love and pity, they will raise a silent prayer for the 
 love and favour of God to rest upon it. The recol- 
 lection of the solemn and impressive ordinance of 
 Baptism, and the sight of the little creature that 
 was the subject of such a scene, will make them 
 think that the soul which has taken up its habitation 
 in the child was all that gave the ordinance its 
 propriety ; and the attention that was bestowed 
 upon the child in admitting it to such an ordinance 
 will invest that soul in their thoughts with some- 
 thing of its unutterable value. The dawn of its 
 being will be consecrated by frequent and fervent 
 prayer. 
 
 2. The parents will begin early to pray with the 
 child. 
 
 The object of this will be to lead the thoughts 
 of the child as soon as possible to that God between 
 5 
 
42 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 whom and the child a solemn and affecting rela- 
 tion has been instituted by Baptism. 
 
 The parents of a baptized child who do not pray 
 with it, as well as for it, neglect a most important 
 part of their duty. This is the best of all methods 
 to teach a child the nature and duty, and to form 
 in it the habit, of prayer. As soon as a child begins 
 to pray intelligently, it assumes upon itself the 
 obligations of its Baptism, and God hears its voice 
 and thinks of his covenant. The first thing that 
 the parents of a baptized child can do to carry out 
 the design of the Baptism, is, to pray ivith the 
 child. 
 
 It is surprising to see how early a child may 
 be made to understand something about prayer, at 
 least so far as to feel that there is something sacred 
 and solemn in the act. Let a parent when alone 
 with the child, and the child is in a pleasant mood, 
 ask it to kneel with him, and fold its hands ; or if it 
 cannot kneel, let the parent kneel, and place his 
 hand on the head of the child, and utter simple 
 words aloud. Let the look of the parent be such 
 as it naturally will be while speaking with his 
 Maker. The child will be impressed with the 
 apparent absence of the parent's manner, while it 
 hears its own name from his lips ; and will look 
 up with childish wonder. Soon, when invited to 
 go and pray, it will run to the well-known place. 
 
A FATHER AT PRAYER WITH HIS CHILD. 43 
 
 and the parent, by frequently repeating the practice, 
 will exert an influence upon the child as lasting 
 as eternity. When the child has done wrong, 
 after convincing it of its sin, kneel with it before 
 God, mingle your complaint and sorrow for its 
 sin with words and tones of affection, and upon the 
 softened feelings of the child there will be made an 
 impression of its accountability to this unseen 
 Power that can never be efl"aced. And when the 
 child has been remarkably good, kneel with it in 
 the same manner, and use some affectionate expres- 
 sions of commendation and of thankfulness, so that 
 prayer may be associated in the child's mind with 
 its happiest moments, and its thoughts of God be 
 of one who loves goodness as much as He hates 
 sin. 
 
 John Newton testifies, that, in the midst of his 
 infidelity and debauchery, he would sometimes 
 seem to feel the pressure of his mother's hand upon 
 his head, — though when she prayed with him, he 
 was too young to understand her words ; but the 
 pressure of that hand followed him in his manhood, 
 and was one of the means of bringing him to God. 
 No Christian mother should omit this practice ; it 
 is one of the mightiest means of good that God has 
 ordained. 
 
 But the father of a baptized child should, more 
 especially, perform this delightful service with his 
 child. The respect which a child feels for its 
 
44 
 
 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 father, and its filial fear towards him, will impress 
 it very deeply upon the child's memory. Can 
 there be a more interesting sight to Heaven than 
 that of a man kneeling before God, at the side of a 
 little child ? If the eyes of the parent in prayer 
 could be opened, — considering the views which 
 are entertained in Heaven of true greatness as 
 beginning in that which, to sinful creatures, is 
 humility, it would not be strange if he should see 
 a ministering angel beckoning to his fellows to 
 come and see the sight, and presently there should 
 be a circle of heavenly spectators around a scene of 
 such moral beauty and true greatness. How like 
 Christ is a parent when he is not ashamed of 
 humbling himself to the condition and feelings of a 
 child ! No act of worship can better soften the 
 feelings or soothe them when ruffled by the cares 
 and business of life, or bring the presence of God 
 more sensibly near to the soul than for a man to 
 commune with God for and with his child. That 
 child will revere your memory when you are dead. 
 You may be great in honour or riches amongst 
 men, but none of these things will sanctify your 
 memory, or so perpetuate your influence with your 
 child as your having kneeled with it before God. 
 In after life, yea, through eternity, you will be 
 associated with its first thoughts of its Maker ! 
 
 You may send that child from you, hereafter, 
 and whether in foreign lands, or on the ocean, or 
 
god's notice of a child illustrated. 45 
 
 in scenes of temptation and danger at home, or in 
 the quiet walks of preparation for future hfe, the 
 thoughts of you will rise before its mind like good 
 angels, and though dead, you will yet speak to it. 
 
 Let every father and mother, who bring their 
 child to the altar of God in Baptism, follow out the 
 influence of the solemn and delightful scene, by 
 repeating the dedication of the child in secret, and 
 by making the impression on its mind that it stands 
 in a solemn relation to Almighty God. This will 
 be done effectually, with God's blessing, by fre- 
 quently appealing to its Maker in the child's 
 presence and in its behalf, and by connecting its 
 name with the posture and words of supplication. 
 
 3. The parents will early teach the child the 
 nature and meaning of its Baptism. 
 
 It will be natural to use those occasions for this 
 purpose when the child's curiosity and interest are 
 excited by witnessing the Baptism of children. 
 
 In connection with this ordinance, the sight of 
 which will impress all that is said upon the child's 
 mind, it will be highly profitable to teach the child 
 the notice bestowed by its Maker upon infants and 
 young children. Of this, the Baptism of an infant 
 in the name of its God can be shown to be an 
 affecting illustration. As parallel to it, and an 
 illustration of the same divine regard for infants, 
 the history of Moses may be made familiar to the 
 
 child. It was the Maker of Heaven and earth that 
 
 #5 
 
46 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 directed the mother of Moses to prepare that ark 
 for her infant son ; it was God that led her with it 
 to the side of the river ; it was God that watched 
 the child as the swelling tide was rocking the ark, 
 that no monster of the deep should be attracted by 
 its cry ; it was God that led the princess to that 
 part of the river where the ark was ; and when the 
 babe wept, it was God that softened her heart. 
 And what an affecting instance of the goodness of 
 God, that when the princess sent to call a nurse, 
 He should have directed her, amongst the thou- 
 sands of Israelitish women, to the child's own 
 mother ! 
 
 All these incidents can be so represented to a 
 child as to give it delightful views of the conde- 
 scension of God, and to make it feel that He does 
 notice even an infant. Speak of him that was a 
 babe in the ark amongst the bulrushes, as after- 
 ward on the top of Sinai ; and by this and other 
 thrilling events in the life of Moses, connect the 
 notice and care which God took of him, an infant, 
 with his future usefulness and greatness. It will 
 then appear to the child a most interesting and 
 important, as well as solemn thing to have been 
 presented to God in Baptism. 
 
 If the child had advanced beyond infancy when 
 it was baptized, the call of young Samuel in the 
 temple by his Maker, and his subsequent goodness 
 and greatness, may be used to illustrate God's 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE BAPTISM. 47 
 
 notice of children at every period of childhood, and 
 the effect in after life of having the notice and 
 favour of God when we are young. 
 
 By these instructions, a child may be led to regard 
 its Baptism with feelings of the deepest interest. 
 The thought that God once looked upon it in His 
 House, an unconscious child, and that prayers were 
 offered in its behalf, and then, that in accordance 
 with God's special regard for the children of the 
 pious in all ages of the world. He gave it Bap- 
 tism, and permitted His name to be called upon it, 
 will have a tendency to bring Jehovah near to the 
 child as its condescending God and friend, and will 
 help to remove that dread of God which sin occa- 
 sions ; — to subdue which, and to inspire us with 
 confidence in himself as a God willing to forgive, 
 was one of the leading objects in the incarnation 
 and life of Christ, and is a great design in all the 
 ordinances of the Gospel. 
 
 As the child grows up, the parents will be careful 
 to make it understand what they did when they 
 offered it in Baptism. They will teach it, first, 
 that they gave it away to God, and that He has 
 the first claim upon it. In speaking with the child 
 about its future life, they will make it feel that in 
 giving it up in Baptism they intended the conse- 
 cration of its whole existence to God, and that they 
 shall inquire at every step of its progress for the 
 
48 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 will of God concerning it, and bring it up on prin- 
 ciples which they believe Christ will sanction. 
 They will keep this impression on the child's 
 mind, that God is its proprietor, and that they are 
 acting for God ; and they will thus lead the child 
 by their example to say, ' My Father, thou art the 
 guide of my youth.' 
 
 Then, in the second place, they will teach it that 
 its Baptism was permitted by its Maker, as a seal 
 and token that He is willing to be its God and 
 portion ; that He was mindful of it from the first 
 moment of its existence, and received it when it 
 was cast upon his arms at its birth ; and that having 
 thus signified his willingness to be its God, and 
 have it for his child, it has every inducement to 
 love God and no excuse for impenitence and 
 irreligion. ' God gave thee the ordinance of Bap- 
 tism whereby God is become thy God and is 
 beforehand with thee, so that if thou wilt return to 
 God, He will undoubtedly receive thee.' 
 
 Other thoughts upon this topic will be found 
 in another place addressed to the baptized child. 
 
 4. The parents will remember the consecration 
 of their child in Baptism and their covenant vows, 
 when deciding questions of duty in governing or 
 advising their child. 
 
 The general principles already stated will be 
 applied in particular cases by the help of knowledge 
 gained from various sources, to be guided by a 
 
MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS. 49 
 
 sound discretion. One of the best helps in a 
 Christian education of children is the ' Maternal 
 Association ' of modern times, composed of pious 
 mothers who meet to converse on the subject of the 
 management of children, to compare the various 
 experience of difficulties, trials and success ; the 
 little expedients that have been resorted to in the 
 family to secure obedience, subdue obstinacy, pro- 
 duce repentance, and encourage good dispositions. 
 Each mother gains in this way an amount of 
 practical knowledge that differs from the infor- 
 mation that books give, as coin does from wedges 
 of gold and silver. 
 
 Then, the united prayers of these parents, to 
 whom God has committed ' the Hope of the 
 Church,' are, without doubt, heard in Heaven with 
 a peculiar interest. 
 
 If any parent has a child in circumstances of 
 danger, or that seems to stand in need of special 
 prayer, (and what child does not ?) it would seem 
 that the privilege of securing the prayers of a circle 
 of pious mothers, who know so well from natural 
 instinct how to intercede for a child, would be 
 sufficient to induce every Christian mother to be a 
 member of such a circle. 
 
 In deciding questions relating to management, 
 education, amusements, and other things, an en- 
 lightened conscience may be trusted for right 
 decisions, being guarded on the one hand against 
 
50 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 narrow views of duty by information gained from 
 pious and intelligent sources of instruction, and 
 against worldliness on the other, by the fear of 
 God, the remembrance of covenant vows, and the 
 professed intention of living and of educating the 
 child, for eternity. While the parents will seek 
 the greatest usefulness of the child, they will be 
 restrained by their covenant vows from placing it 
 in situations of temptation, or where there is immi- 
 nent danger that errour and sin may frustrate all 
 that the grace of God may have done for it. ' Lead 
 me not into temptation,' will be a prayer which the 
 parents will frequently offer as a safeguard to the 
 ambitious desire of seeing the child prosper in the 
 world at the risk of its salvation. They will regard 
 the fear of the Lord, a conscientious love of truth, 
 of purity, of goodness, secured by the regeneration 
 of the soul, and the increasing strength of religious 
 principle as the pearl of great price to be sought for 
 their child. If its wishes are worldly, and it 
 manifests a taste for light and frivolous things, and 
 seeks amusements which the parents know are 
 dangerous to the soul, they will not hesitate a 
 moment in bringing parental authority, in a judi- 
 cious manner, to bear upon the child's conscience, 
 and will fortify themselves against the danger of 
 yielding to its perverse inclinations from mistaken 
 affection or weakness, by remembering the baptismal 
 vows, and the oft-repeated covenant with God. 
 
VIOLATION OF BAPTISMAL VOWS. 51 
 
 God will strengthen the parents' authority who 
 thus throw themselves upon His covenant in times 
 of difficulty and trial with their children. The 
 question by which a parent can best judge of his 
 treatment of his child in all cases of doubtful 
 expediency, is this, Hoio shall I wish that I had 
 acted in this case, when ony child is giving its 
 Maker, in 7?iy hearing, at His bar, an account of 
 my intercourse vnth it on earth 7 Carry yourself 
 and your child in this way in imagination before 
 your final Judge, and settle every religious scruple 
 under impressions borrowed from that hour. 
 
 It is affecting and painful to consider that some 
 parents who have offered their children to God in 
 Baptism, seem as if they were educating them for 
 Satan. All the principles upon which they bring 
 them up are worldly ; every question of duty is 
 settled with no regard to the christian standard of 
 propriety ; and in short, they have no more reference 
 to the will of God, or to his honour or glory in con- 
 nection with their children, than though there were 
 no God, 
 
 Why did they offer their children in Baptism ? 
 Merely for the sake of carrying them into the 
 public assembly, and giving them their names ; 
 and probably they never think of the Baptism 
 afterward, unless reminded of it by seeing the dress 
 which the child wore on the occasion, or by some 
 other accident > 
 
52 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 There is great guilt in such conduct ; it is 
 mocking God with an offering which they did not 
 intend to make, and have accordingly withheld. 
 
 Can we suppose that the child who is thus 
 presented, and whose education corresponds with 
 the careless manner in which it was offered, is 
 received into covenant ? Or if God, in pity towards 
 the unconscious creature thus trifled with in this 
 solemn scene of its spiritual history, does take the 
 child into his covenant, the parents may be made 
 to feel the consequences of their neglect by having 
 the child a scourge and torment to them many 
 years, though it be saved at last as by fire. When 
 we see the undutiful and cruel conduct of the 
 children of Christian parents, especially when we 
 see them piercing their parents' hearts with many 
 sorrows in choosing a professed belief and a place 
 of worship which their parents disapprove, we 
 cannot but ask, Did these parents really covenant 
 with God concerning their child ? or if they did, 
 Have they been covenant-breakers ? Does He not 
 call himself a covenant-keeping God, and has there 
 not been some fault with them that the blessings 
 of the covenant are not realized ? 
 
 Some Christian parents seem to regard their chil- 
 dren's apostacy with little or no concern, and perhaps 
 never remonstrated with them when they first dis- 
 covered their inclination to forsake the guide of their 
 youth, and the covenant of their God, but let them 
 
FEELINGS AT BAPTISM. 53 
 
 imbibe erroiir, and take up with forms of mibelief 
 that dishonour their God and Saviour, without even 
 the weak reproof of Eh, ' Nay, do not so my sons.' 
 
 Have you not solemnly given your children to 
 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ? and can 
 you permit them to violate their Baptism without 
 strong efforts and prayers to bind them to the 
 covenant that was made for them with Heaven ? 
 God has entrusted their immortal interests to your 
 care. You must one day surrender your charge at 
 his bar, when He will say. Give an account of 
 thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer 
 steward ! 
 
 In view of what has been said, the feelings with 
 which parents bring their children for Baptism 
 should be those of serious consideration, and great 
 solemnity. They come to take a most important 
 charge upon themselves, as lasting as the possibility 
 of influencing their children. It is not a formal 
 service upon which they attend ; it is to receive 
 the oath of Heaven upon themselves in regard to 
 their offspring, and to assume obligations which are 
 to affect the interests of the children for eternity. 
 Parents, therefore, should not come to the baptismal 
 service until they are impressed with the nature of 
 the service in which they are about to engage, and 
 the extent of the promise and covenant which they 
 are about to make. As it is a voluntary service, 
 they should be the more careful to do it acceptably 
 6 
 
54 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 and with godly fear. The two victims of falsehood 
 who fell dead at Peter's feet, were especially guilty, 
 because the offering which they counterfeited was 
 voluntary and not by constraint. If you see fit to 
 withhold your children from Baptism, it is in your 
 power to do so, and the consequence will indeed be 
 a loss to your own soul and to them. But if you 
 propose to make this voluntary offering, you must 
 be sincere and unreserved in the consecration, and 
 faithful afterward, for it will be better for you not 
 to vow than to vow and not pay. 
 
 But the feelings of the parents should not be 
 exclusively those of overwhelming responsibility. 
 They should come to the service with joy. They 
 have an immortal soul committed to their care, and 
 it will be a relief to their feelings if they may 
 secure the assistance and blessing of their Maker 
 in training it up for Heaven. By dedicating the 
 child to God, and making use of his appointed 
 ordinance of Baptism, they secure for the child the 
 special notice of God. He also enters into engage- 
 ments respecting it. This will not lessen the sense 
 of responsibility in the parents, but Avill increase it, 
 and at the same time mingle with it a feeling of 
 hope and confidence that will strengthen their faith 
 and efforts. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Benefits of Ijvfant Baptism. Benefits to the Parents. 
 I. Deep impression of parental obligations. Use of a public 
 consecration. Answer to an objection. Use of the ordinance of 
 Baptism. Objection answered. II. Pleasure and satisfaction 
 afforded by the ordinance. The Baptism a new bond for the 
 parents to the love and service of God. Influence of the Baptism 
 upon the mind in thinking of the future. Death of the parents 
 while the child is young. The dying scene. Influence of the 
 Baptism on the mind of a dying parent. Influence of it upon the. 
 parent at the loss of a child. Reasons. III. Ground of religious 
 appeal. Trait in childhood to which an appeal drawn from its 
 Baptism may be made. God's notice of it when an infant. 
 Prayers of a Church for it. 
 
 Benefits to the child. Objections considered. Investing 
 property for an infant. Unconsciousness of a benefit no objection 
 to it. Right of parents to benefit a child without its consent. 
 I. Baptism of a child properly performed, secures to the child the 
 favour of God. Simple view of this truth. II. Prayers of the 
 Church. lufluenee of these prayers. III. Influence of Baptism 
 on the child by its influence on the parents. IV. Thought of its 
 Baptism in after life, a ground of hope and prayer. Testimony 
 of Matthew Henry. 
 
 The benefits of Infant Baptism may be con- 
 sidered, 1. In reference to the parents, and 2. To the 
 child. 
 
 The benefits to the parents are as follows. 
 
56 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 1. The solemn baptismal service in the presence of 
 many witnesses is fitted to impress very deeply 
 upon the parents their obligations and promises in 
 regard to their children. 
 
 Some may say, If we dedicate our child to God 
 at home, what is the use of a public consecration ? 
 
 We may ask in reply, If you dedicate yourselves 
 to God in your closets, what is the use of a public 
 profession of religion? You can readily answer 
 the latter question. ' I must profess Christ before 
 men. God expects me to own my obligations to 
 serve Him before the world. I must do good by 
 my example. I shall be restrained from sin, and 
 prompted to duty, by remembering my public pro- 
 fession.' 
 
 These reasons may be applied in the case of 
 Infant Baptism. You must avouch the Lord 
 Jehovah, Father, Son and Holy Ghost to be the 
 God and portion of your children, before angels 
 and men. The recollection of what you have 
 done, will excite you to greater faithfulness. The 
 vows in public will have tenfold more effect upon 
 your mind than those which are made in private. 
 
 But some say. Why make use of Baptism in 
 consecrating children to God ? Why not bring 
 them to the House of God, and have public prayers 
 for them without using the form of Baptism ? We 
 may ask again in reply, Why use the ordinance of 
 the Lord's Supper when we would in a particular 
 
USE OF THE SEAL OF BAPTISM. 57 
 
 manner remember the Lord Jesus? Why not 
 come to the House of God, have prayers and a 
 sermon suited to bring the Saviour near to the 
 mind, and not use the ordinance of the Supper '' 
 The ready answer which every one will give, is, 
 There is something in the sight of the ordinance, 
 in taking consecrated emblems into our hands, that 
 affects the mind more deeply with the thoughts of 
 Christ, than silent meditation could ever do. Our 
 minds are affected through the senses. God 
 remembers this in appointing the ordinances of his 
 worship, and while He does not burden us with 
 forms and ceremonies. He retains the use of them 
 to a limited extent in Baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper. The parent feels that Baptism is of 
 divine appointment, and is deeply impressed by 
 using the divine rite for his child ; and the minister, 
 standing before the parents in the place of God, 
 and in His name placing the seal of Heaven upon 
 the infant, exerts a greater influence upon the 
 parent than any exhortations could do without the 
 ordinance. 
 
 2. Another benefit to the parents, of Infant Bap- 
 tism, is, The pleasure and satisfaction afforded by 
 the ordinance. 
 
 A Christian parent who loves his child will ever 
 think of its Baptism with delight. It is a satisfac- 
 tion to know that he has given up his child into 
 the hands of God, and that God has engaged to be, 
 *6 
 
58 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 in a special manner, the God of him and of his seed. 
 So that the service is a blessing to the parent, in 
 the feelings which ,it occasions towards God, as 
 standing in a new relation to him throngh the 
 child. A father and mother are conscious of a new 
 bond of love in and through their children. Thus 
 the dedication of a child to God, and his admission 
 of it into his covenant, makes a new tie for a 
 parent's heart to the love and service of his 
 Maker. 
 
 Whenever a parent, who has had his child bap- 
 tized, feels anxious in regard to the future, the 
 recollection of the baptismal covenant will quiet 
 his mind. If the parents die while the child is 
 young, the remembrance of its dedication to God, 
 and the confident belief that it was received into 
 his covenant, will help them to look at it from the 
 dying pillow, with peace. What a scene is this ! 
 A parent is dying. The children are brought in. 
 God only can describe the emotions of the parent 
 in casting the eye upon the children, so unconscious 
 of what is happening to them in losing a parent, 
 so ignorant of what the parent knows to be the 
 dangers of the world. In prayer, the dying saint 
 expresses his desire for the blessing of God upon 
 his children. But if he can remember that when 
 he was in health and strength, he did with sincerity 
 dedicate those children to God, in His House, and 
 that he had reason to believe that God received 
 
THOUGHTS OF THE BAPTISM, IN DEATH. 59 
 
 them into his covenant, and if their dedication has 
 been followed up by a consistent treatment of his 
 children, he will have a feeling of preparation and 
 readiness to die, so far as his children are concerned, 
 like that which he has when he remembers that 
 he has not neglected repentance till the dying 
 hour. Dying parents have frequently spoken of 
 their children's Baptism in a way that showed it to 
 be one of the richest sources of comfort this side of 
 Heaven. If parents would always regard this 
 service with proper feelings, and make it more of a 
 religious service than many do, it would strengthen 
 them when flesh and heart are failing. 
 
 But how does the recollection of the mere service 
 of Baptism add anything to the comfort of a dying 
 parent ? 
 
 Though a Christian relies upon the evidences 
 of piety which his whole life aff"ords, yet in times 
 of trouble, and especially in death, he recurs with 
 pleasure to seasons of special covenanting with 
 God. Every one who has not been superficial in 
 his Christian experience, has had times of peculiar 
 enjoyment in his religious life, days of fasting and 
 prayer, or other seasons of particular interest, when 
 it seemed to him that he had clear evidence of 
 knowing God and of being known of Him. To 
 these seasons the mind recurs in death with joy and 
 hope, though the general evidence of being a child 
 of God, which the life and conduct affords, is by no 
 
60 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 means to be overlooked. So it is a relief to parents 
 in death to look back to one particular act of con- 
 secration made solemn by the services of the House 
 of God and of the Sabbath. 
 
 3. i Another benefit to parents of baptizing their 
 children is, It affords them in after life a ground 
 of religious appeal to the conscience and affections 
 of the child. 
 
 A trait in childhood, perhaps as strongly marked 
 as any other, is a love of affectionate notice from 
 others. It is probable that the reader, recurring to 
 the scenes of early life, will find that those who 
 showed him special kindness in childhood made an 
 impression upon his mind which is amongst his 
 deepest impressions of love and gratitude. To this 
 peculiarity in the child's mind, the fact of having 
 been admitted by God to his special notice and 
 covenant, makes a strong appeal. The parent tells 
 the child that in infancy it was presented to God, 
 and its Maker was invoked by a whole congregation 
 on its behalf, and that God from that time regarded 
 It as in a peculiar sense His child ; that now the 
 child is under special obligations to love and serve 
 that God who was kind to it when it was helpless, 
 and had mercy on it when it was offered to Him in 
 His House ; that for a whole church to have prayed 
 to God for it, and for God to have heard their 
 prayer, makes it a very dreadful thing for the child 
 to be otherwise than good, and that if it is inclined 
 
BENEFITS OF BAPTISM TO A CHILD. 61 
 
 to be good, it may be sure that God, who remembers 
 its Bajotism and his covenant, will rejoice to help its 
 endeavours. The parents will find great assistance 
 in appealing to their child's feelings, if they can 
 thus refer in particular to one special act of God's 
 favour towards the child. When it has witnessed 
 the Baptism of another child, it may be made to 
 understand that all which was done for that infant 
 on the part of God, the parents, and the church, 
 was done for itself in its infancy, and thence an 
 appeal can be made to the child's feelings and con- 
 science which may never be forgotten. 
 
 Benefits to the Child. 
 
 After what has been said, no one will question 
 the benefits of Infant Baptism, even though they 
 should be no other than those which we have seen 
 come to the child through the parents. 
 
 But some ask. Of what benefit is the ordinance to 
 an unconscious infant ? 
 
 Suppose that a friend should propose to invest 
 property for your infant, and should wish you to 
 sign certain papers, would you say, Of what benefit 
 <;an this ceremony be to an unconscious child? 
 Would you indulge in expressions of ridicule at the 
 thought of doing such a thing for 'a senseless 
 child ' ? 
 
62 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 Suppose that in a circle that had met for prayer, 
 a mother should ask you to offer a special prayer 
 for the young children of those who were present, 
 would you say, Of what benefit can it be to the 
 children who are unconscious that we are praying 
 for them ? 
 
 Is 7iothing useful to a person unless he is con- 
 scious of it at the time i-ohen it is done for him 1 
 
 But what right have the parents thus to make 
 engagements for the child without its consent ? 
 
 The answer is found in the general principle 
 that we may benefit another without his consent. 
 
 This principle is often acted upon in private 
 instances of charity. The only question that 
 remains then, is, Is it benefitting the child or not, 
 to surround him in infancy with such influences as, 
 when he grows up, will incline him to believe the 
 Christian religion, and to love and serve God? If 
 there is any improper interference with the child's 
 freedom in so doing, we must do nothing for our 
 children in the way of moral influence until they 
 may have grown beyond that influence, and have 
 had time to be corrupted and ruined. "^ 
 
 The benefit to a child of infant Baptism may be 
 seen in several particulars. 
 
 1. It secures to the child the special favour of 
 God. 
 
 This is on the supposition that the consecration 
 is made by the parents in sincerity, in faith, and is 
 
SIMPLE VIEW OF INFANT BAPTISM. 63 
 
 followed by consistent conduct. If God has not in 
 any manner signified His will that the admission of 
 children into covenant with Him, through their 
 parents, should cease, — and this we nowhere find 
 that He has done, — the baptized child is of course 
 received into a special relation to God. 
 
 Suppose, however, that there had never been 
 such a thing as admitting the children of believers 
 into a peculiar relation, through their parents, to 
 God. We should still feel authorized to practise 
 infant Baptism, and should believe that it secured 
 the special favour of God to a child ; and on the 
 following grounds : Ba^ tism is the sign of separation 
 to the Christian faith ; there is no command to 
 restrict it to believers : ' Believe and be baptized, 
 no more excludes an infant from Baptism, than 
 ' believe and be saved, ' excludes it from salvation ; 
 the apostles baptized households, and it is as 
 probable that there were children in them, as that 
 there were not. There is nothing in the nature of 
 Baptism, in our view, to hinder it from being given 
 to any, at the request of a responsible Christian 
 applicant who has the rightful authority and a 
 professed religious qualification and disposition, to 
 carry out in his treatment of the subject of Bap- 
 tism, the solemn and important meaning of the 
 ordinance. 
 
 Now God is a hearer of prayer. He enters into 
 covenant with those who in a suitable manner 
 
64 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 covenant with Him. If a Christian parent brings 
 a child into the House of God, and receives upon 
 the child the sign of separation to the Christian 
 faith, thereby entering into solemn covenant with 
 God to bring up that child for Him, and praying 
 God to take it into his special care, we cannot doubt 
 that there is a peculiar relation instituted between 
 that child and God. We believe that the act of 
 dedication would secure it, if the Abrahamic cov- 
 enant had never been mentioned. 
 
 But when, in addition to this, we believe, as we 
 have before observed, that God still regards the 
 children of his people as in covenant with Him, we 
 are fully authorized in saying that the pious and 
 faithful performance of the act of infant consecra- 
 tion by Baptism, secures to the child the special 
 favour of God. 
 
 2. It secures to the child the prayers of the 
 church at the time of the Baptism, at the Lord's 
 table, and in the circles for prayer. 
 
 The fact of the public consecration of the children 
 to God, and of their holding by this means a pecu- 
 liar relation to God and to the church, has a ten- 
 dency to interest the feelings of the churches in 
 children. 
 
 The connection between these prayers and their 
 effects, may not be traced out by the child in this 
 world : but in Heaven he may see the connection 
 
VALUE OF PIOUS PARENTS. 65 
 
 of preservations, and blessings, and of salvation, 
 with the prayers of the church in his behalf, secured 
 by his being a child of the covenant. 
 
 3. Infant Baptism, if properly understood and 
 performed by the parents, will secure to the child 
 the highest measure of pious parental influence. 
 
 Anything that will make parents faithful and 
 prayerful with their children is of great benefit to 
 the child. Who can speak of the value of pious 
 parents to a child ! How many of our race will 
 place this in their future songs of praise as the first 
 of earthly blessings ! 
 
 ( We have seen that the influence of Infant Bap- 
 tism on a parent is one of the most powerful means 
 to secure faithfulness in bringing up the child for 
 God. It is therefore an important benefit to a child 
 to be baptized by pious, conscientious parents ; and 
 none but those who trust they are such, we should 
 hope, would baptize their children. 
 
 4. The thoughts of its Baptism will afl'ord the 
 child a ground of hope and prayer in after life, and 
 especially at the time of its conversion. 
 
 There are moments, especially when the Spirit 
 of God is striving with us, when anything that can 
 keep the soul from despair, and encourage hope, is 
 of great importance. At such times it will be 
 natural for a child who has been faithfully taught 
 the nature of his Baptism, and the relation in 
 which he thereby stands to God and God to him, 
 7 
 
66 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 to appeal to his Maker on the ground of the cov- 
 enant made for him by his parents. ' O Lord, I 
 am thy servant ; I am thy servant and the son of 
 of thine handmaid.' ^ Thou art the God that took 
 me from my birth ; I was cast upon thee when a 
 child.' Who can doubt that a child that has been 
 told that it was baptized, and has been made 
 to understand what Baptism implies, will find 
 occasions through life, and some of them having a 
 momentous bearing upon his destiny, when he will 
 be led with great effect to plead the covenant of a 
 covenant-keeping God ? 
 
 Here, as a specimen of the testimony of pious 
 men to the influence of their Infant Baptism in 
 after life, I will quote the testimony of Matthew 
 Henry. '' I cannot but take occasion to express 
 my gratitude to God for my Infant Baptism : not 
 only as it was an early admission into the visible 
 body of Christ, but as it furnished my parents with 
 a good argument, and I trust, through grace, a 
 prevailing argument, for an early dedication of my- 
 self to God in my childhood. If God has wrought 
 any good ivork upon my soul, I desire with humble 
 thankfulness, to acknowledge the influence of my 
 infant Baptism upon it.* 
 
 * Life, 60 p. I. Vol., Commentary. London, 1828, 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 To A Baptized Child. God's favour in infancy. The scene 
 of Baptism. God's notice of the child. The Saviour's feelings. 
 His recollections of his own infancy. His interest in the dedica- 
 tion of an infant. His thoughts at the sight. The prayer. 
 God remembers the Baptism. His feelings towards the baptized 
 child. His wishes for its welfare. Kindness of God to the 
 child. The child must have confidence in God's feelings towards 
 it., God regards the baptized child as His own. His rejection 
 of it, if it will not love and serve Him. 
 
 To A Baptized Youth. God's favour in infancy. The piety 
 of the youth supposed. Duty of a Baptized pious youth. God's 
 interview with Solomon. Observance of the Anniversary of 
 Baptism. An impenitent baptized youth. Expostulation. 
 Death of one or both of the youth's parents. Thoughts and 
 feelings of the parent in Heaven. Meeting of an impenitent 
 baptized youth and the glorified parent. Address of the parent. 
 The farewell. Contrast to such experience upon repentance. 
 Appeal to the youth whose parents are living. A pious youth at 
 his parent's dying bed. Parents at the dying bed of a pious child. 
 Meeting of a pious child with his parents in Heaven after a life of 
 usefulness. Form of consecration. Appeal to one who has 
 renounced his parents' faith. 
 
 To a Baptized Child. 
 
 Perhaps you were an infant, asleep, when you 
 were brought to the House of God to be baptized. 
 You of course knew nothing of what was doing 
 
68 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 for you. But God who is everywhere present, 
 saw you when you came into His House. The 
 Saviour saw you, and remembered that He was 
 once an infant Hke you, in the arms of his mother. 
 Whenever an infant is brought into the House of 
 God, it must be that the Saviour looks at it with 
 great kindness and love. AVhen He was on earth, 
 infants were brought to Him that He might touch 
 them, and He said, Suffer the little children to come 
 unto me, and forbid them not : for of such is the 
 kingdom of God. Now the Bible says that Christ 
 is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever ; and of 
 course. He has the same feelings towards children 
 now as He had on earth. 
 
 Without doubt, the Saviour looked down upon 
 you with great tenderness, when you were brought 
 into the House of God to be baptized. 
 
 Perhaps He thought, as He looked upon you, 
 " Here is an infant : it does not know where it 
 is, or what they are doing with it. But it has a 
 soul which is to live forever, and it will grow to 
 be like an angel, or a wicked spirit. This is one 
 of the souls for which I died on Calvary. Its 
 father or mother, or both, love me, and I love them ; 
 and they have come to give me this child, that it 
 may have my blessing, and if it grows up, be good 
 and useful in the world. I will look into the 
 parents' hearts and see if they really wish me to 
 take the child to be mine ; and if they do, I will. 
 
THE PRAYER AT BAPTISM. , 69 
 
 I will hear the prayers which are offered for the 
 child, and if it is good as it grows up, it shall be a 
 lamb in my flock." 
 
 Then the congregation rose, and the minister 
 prayed that the Saviour would take you to be His 
 child and love you forever. He prayed that you 
 might live, and know Christ, and what He has done 
 for you ; that you might early be pious, a comfort 
 to your parents, and a blessing to a great many 
 souls, and that you might be seen in Heaven with 
 your parents praising God. Then he said what 
 your parents would have said if they had spoken : 
 God, Thou hast given us this child ; and we come 
 to give it up to Thee. Thou madest it, and hast 
 breathed its soul into it, and it belongs to Thee, and 
 to Thee it shall be given. Look upon this child as 
 consecrated to Thee, and help us to remember, when 
 we carry it away, that we are to take care of it for 
 God, and to teach it how to love and please God 
 early. We give it to the Saviour, who himself was 
 once a child ; who came into the world to save 
 sinners, and who wishes to save this child. We 
 promise that we will begin early to teach it about 
 the Saviour, and we will endeavor to make it feel 
 that it has been given to Christ, and that it will be 
 delightful for it to love Him early, and to be loved, 
 as it will then be, by Him. 
 
 When it grows up, let it not forget God. If its 
 father and mother die when it is young, take care 
 
70 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 of it, and remember that we have given it to Thee. 
 If it shall be wicked, and will not love what is 
 right, and dies wicked, we know that God must 
 shut it out of Heaven, for Thou hast said, ' If you 
 seek me, I will be found of thee, but if you forsake 
 me, I will cast thee off forever.' 
 
 But, may this child live in Heaven with us, 
 having been good and useful in the world. When 
 it is old enough to understand what was done to it, 
 its being baptized shall make it feel that it belongs 
 to Christ, and that it cannot refuse to love Him 
 without being ungrateful to the Saviour, who was 
 kind to it when an infant. May its Baptism 
 always come to its mind when it shall be tempted 
 to do or say anything wicked. May it remember 
 that God still sees it, as He did when it was bap- 
 tized, and that He will be grieved with it if it is 
 not good, but will love it if it is a good child, and 
 take care of it, and Christ will prepare a place for 
 it in Heaven. 
 
 Then you were baptized in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 It was the same as though the minister said, 
 u -yy-g gjyg ^j^jg Q^Yildi to God the Father ; " and God 
 the Father had answered, so that all the congrega- 
 tion could hear, '' I will love and bless this child, 
 if it does not refuse my love now promised to it ; " 
 and the minister had added, We give this child to 
 its Saviour, Jesus Christ ; and Christ had answered, 
 
GOD REMEMBERS THE BAPTISM. 71 
 
 ''Of such is the kingdom of God ; — I love them that 
 love me, and they that seek me early shall find me ": 
 We give this child to the Holy Ghost ; and the Holy 
 Ghost had breathed His blessing upon you. 
 
 God remembers your Baptism. He has often 
 looked to see if your parents teach you, and pray 
 with you, as they promised they would do, when 
 they carried you away from the Baptism, as a child 
 given them to bring up for Heaven. 
 
 God remembers your Baptism. Perhaps you 
 pray to Him when you are alone. He hears your 
 voice and looks into your heart, and knows how 
 you feel. For when you were baptized He made 
 this promise. If you seek me I will be found of you. 
 
 Now though you are young, God knows you 
 and sees you. The same God that watched the 
 infant Moses when he lay in his ark by the riv- 
 er side, and kept him safe till the king's daughter 
 found him and gave him back to his mother, 
 watches you when you sleep, and when you 
 wake, and all day long. The same God that was 
 in the temple where Samuel slept, and that spoke 
 in the night, and said, ' Samuel ! Samuel ! ' now 
 sees you ; and indeed you are never out of his 
 sight. 
 
 God wishes you to come to Heaven with your 
 parents when you die, and there He will make you 
 happy. And now He wishes you to begin to love 
 Him and pray to Him, and He will certainly love 
 
72 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 you. He wishes you to be good to your parents, 
 always to mind what they say, and never to do 
 anything that will give them pain. 
 
 He wishes you to be kind and gentle to other 
 children ] to do what is right before them, so as to 
 make them love God. He wishes you to read the 
 Bible, for it is His book, and to think much of 
 what you read. He wishes you to love the 
 Saviour, and to think what that Saviour has done 
 for you in becoming a child like you, and at last 
 dying, that your sins and ours may be forgiven. 
 Is it not kind in God thus to think of you, and to 
 Avish so much to make you happy ? It is very kind. 
 Of course you wish to thank Him when you pray 
 to Him, and ask Him to be your friend forever, and 
 to help you to be as good as He and your parents 
 wish you to be. 
 
 You must never feel that God is not willing to 
 hear your prayers. You must never be afraid to 
 pray to Him ; if you have done wrong, you must 
 go to Him, as well as to your parents, and confess 
 your sin and forsake it. He loves to forgive chil- 
 dren when they repent, and if you ask Him, He 
 will help you to be good when you are tempted to 
 sin. I have only one thing more to say. God 
 looks upon you as His child. Your parents gave 
 you to Him, when you were baptized. The 
 minister and the church gave you to God in their 
 prayers. Angels from Heaven saw you when you 
 
A BAPTIZED YOUTH. 73 
 
 were given to God. Now, will you not be a child 
 of God ? If you will, He will certainly love you. 
 If you are not willing, but prefer to be wicked, 
 you must know that all who are not the children 
 of God, are called in the Bible the children of the 
 Wicked One. And all such must be sent away 
 after death, to live with that wicked one. But 
 God will keep you from him, if you will give your- 
 self to God as your parents gave you to Him when 
 you were baptized. He will defend you while 
 you live, so that nothing will happen to you which 
 will not in the end be good for you. He will at 
 last give you a place at His right hand in Heaven, 
 there to be happy without end. You must there- 
 fore make no delay, but immediately go before God 
 in prayer, and ask Him to be your God, and tell 
 Him that you would be His child. 
 
 To a Baptized Youth. 
 
 You have grown up beyond childhood, and have 
 long been old enough to know and love God. You 
 have been baptized in the name of the Father, the 
 Son, and the Holy Ghost, and God engaged at your 
 Baptism to be your God, if you would be his child. 
 He gave you to pious parents that you might early 
 be taught to love and fear Him. It was a special 
 favour to you that God gave you to pious parents. 
 
74 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 Have you ever given yourself to God to be His 
 child ? Do you love God, and do you hope that 
 He loves you ? Are you ever so happy as when 
 you have prayed, confessing your sins and asking 
 God to forgive and love you ? Are you confident 
 that when you die, God will take you to Heaven, 
 and does it give you joy to think of being in 
 Heaven with God ? If so, you have the highest 
 reason to be thankful and happy. What return 
 can you make to God for his kindness to you ? It 
 is your duty and privilege to devote yourself to 
 God's service and glory. It should be your great 
 question, How can I best please God ? Make this 
 question the rule by which you live, and by which 
 you form your plans for future life. For, you are 
 not your own ; you have been consecrated to God ; 
 you belong to the Father, and to the Son, and to 
 the Holy Ghost, by the covenant of Baptism. 
 What an honour to be thus related to your Maker ! 
 Now let it be your chief desire to do and to be that 
 which will best please God. 
 
 If you ask Him to direct you for this purpose, 
 He will be pleased to do it. You remember the 
 story of Solomon. God appeared to him in the 
 night and said, Ask what I shall do for thee. And 
 Solomon prayed for heavenly wisdom that he might 
 in the highest and best manner glorify God. And 
 God said. Because thou hast not asked riches, 
 
ANNIVERSARY OF BAPTISM. 75 
 
 wealth, nor honour, nor long life — wisdom and 
 knowledge is granted nnto thee, and I will give 
 thee riches and wealth and honour. 
 
 Now God says, ' In all thy ways acknowledge 
 me, and I will direct thy paths.' If you thus 
 acknowledge Him, you may confidently say, ' Thou 
 wilt guide me by thy counsel, and afterwards re- 
 ceive me to glory.' 
 
 Beside your daily prayers of consecration to God, 
 it will be profitable for you to find out the day when 
 you were baptized, and keep that day yearly, as a 
 special season of thanksgiving, and of renewing 
 your consecration to God. You will not forget to 
 do the same on your birthday, consecrating, with 
 solemn prayer, your body, soul and spirit, to God, 
 and thinking how solemn and important a thing it 
 is to have been born ; and that the favour of God 
 alone can prevent it from being an everlasting and 
 dreadful curse, and that with his blessing, eternal 
 life in Heaven will be the delightful and glorious 
 consequence. 
 
 Thus, till you die, as we trust you will through 
 eternity, bless and praise God for your Baptism, 
 and renew that consecration through life, and in 
 your dying hour, which, in the morning of your 
 life was like the dew of Heaven upon your spirit. 
 
 It may be, that my young friend is not yet a 
 Christian. You have never acknowledged the 
 
76 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 consecration which your parents made of you 
 when you were baptized. God has been waiting 
 for you to do it. To-day, He will rejoice to keep 
 His covenant with you, if you will call upon Him 
 in prayer. 
 
 Perhaps the father or mother who held you in 
 their arms when you were baptized, is dead. 
 Those lips can no longer pray for you ; that hand 
 can lio more press yours in prayer ; the heart that 
 beat with joy at the sound of your young footsteps 
 is still ; the eye that shed tears for you, that you 
 might not perish, is closed till the judgment day. 
 
 But in Heaven your parent thinks of you contin- 
 ually. That departed spirit looks round upon 
 Heaven, and says, Will my child dwell here with 
 me ? It sees whole families, in little circles, in 
 Heaven, rejoicing together at each other's salvation ; 
 the parents blessing God that their children are 
 saved, and the children praising Him that they are 
 not separated from their parents. At such a sight 
 your parent says, Shall my family meet together 
 thus ? and then the thought of your having been 
 baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost, with a most sincere consecration, 
 attended and followed with earnest prayers and 
 faithful instructions, inspires the hope that you will 
 come to Heaven when you die. 
 
 When a departed spirit from this earth enters 
 the heavenly world, there is doubtless great joy 
 
MEETING WITH A DEPARTED PARENT. 77 
 
 and welcomings from those already there. With 
 what interest may we suppose a parent in Heaven 
 hears it announced that another soul has come to 
 join their number, hoping that it is its child. 
 Thus, it may be, your departed parent thinks of 
 you ; but alas! as you now are, your entrance into 
 eternity will only occasion sorrow. 
 
 Perhaps you would meet your parent as you 
 entered the world of spirits. You would probably 
 find that parent a glorified spirit, arrayed in shining 
 garments, its countenance beaming Avith happiness, 
 its voice full of music. The parent would imme- 
 diately see by your affrighted look and trembling 
 voice that you were not found ready to die, that 
 you had not made God your friend, Christ your 
 Saviour, nor Heaven your home. 
 
 My child, your parent would say, Are you indeed 
 impenitent ? You were taught what you must do 
 to be saved. I gave you to God in Baptism, and 
 there was everything in your case to make it easy 
 for you to be a pious child. You have forsaken 
 the guide of your youth, and forgotten the covenant 
 of your God ; I can do nothing for you. — Farewell 
 my child, till the judgment day, and then, farewell 
 forever ! 
 
 Can you endure the thought of such a meeting 
 with your departed parent, and of such a separation ? 
 And must it not take place unless you are changed 
 8 
 
78 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 from what you now are ? Soon you may die, and 
 realize all that I have described. 
 
 Instead of this, a happy life, a calm death, and a 
 joyful meeting with the departed, may be yours. 
 You have been dedicated to God in Baptism, so 
 that now, if you will return to God, He will receive 
 you. Though you have neglected it so long, it is 
 not too late. God, and Christ, and the Spirit of 
 Grace will rejoice to own you as their child. And 
 if there is joy in the presence of the angels of God 
 over a sinner that repenteth, the news of your re- 
 pentance may reach your pare nts and friends in 
 Heaven, and make them more happy than we 
 can describe. 
 
 It may be that 3^our parents are yet living. 
 Nothing would give them more joy, if they are 
 Christians, than to see you devoting yourself to 
 God. 
 
 You may soon stand at their dying bed ,• how 
 happy will you make them if they can then look 
 upon you and feel that there is a probability of your 
 meeting them in Heaven ! 
 
 Perhaps they may soon be called to see you die. 
 If you have become a Christian, you and they will 
 rejoice at the prospect of having a home in Heaven, 
 where death cannot enter. And then, when you 
 are gone, the belief that you are in Heaven will 
 make them happy, and lead them to think of dying, 
 with the delightful hope of seeing their child a 
 glorified spirit. 
 
FORM OF DEDICATION. 79 
 
 Again, if you survive them, and are useful in the 
 world, how glad will you make them, in Heaven, 
 by all that you will have been permitted to do for 
 Christ on earth, and how happy will they be in 
 recollecting that their dedication of you to God was 
 not in vain. 
 
 Do you ask, What shall I do ? Go before God 
 in prayer, and tell Him that you have come to 
 renew the dedication that was made of you in 
 Baptism. 
 
 Then give yourself away to God in some such 
 words as these : My God and Father, Saviour of 
 my soul, and Holy Spirit — to whom I was given 
 wh€n 1 was a child — I feel that it is my duty to 
 love Thee with all my heart. Thou wast good to 
 me when I did not know it : Thou hast given me 
 pious friends to pray for me and to dedicate me to 
 God. Although I was not able to give my consent 
 to that dedication, I rejoice that it was made, and 1 
 now come to do myself what was then done for 
 me. I now give myself to God, and from this time 
 I will say. My Father, thou art the guide of my 
 youth. I give myself away to the Great Redeemer, 
 who loved me, and gave himself for me ; I bless 
 Him that He was willing to be a child, that He 
 was once young like me, though He also made 
 earth, and Heaven, and all things. To this Saviour, 
 great and glorious as He is kind, I now give myself 
 away, to love and serve Him forever. I give myself 
 up to the Holy Ghost, beseeching Him to dwell in 
 
80 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 me, and make me pure in heart, to correct all that is 
 wrong in my temper, disposition, and feelings, and 
 to fill me with the love of God, and fit me to serve 
 Him here and enjoy Him forever. 
 
 You cannot pray in this manner, with sincerity, 
 and then act accordingly, but God will hear you, 
 and remember his covenant, and be your God. 
 Then all things are yours : whether life or death, 
 things present and things to come, all are yours j 
 and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's. 
 
 It may be that you, who now read these lines? 
 were baptized in infancy by pious parents, but 
 have renounced the faith which was their comfort 
 and hope in life and death. Perhaps you have 
 joined yourself to those who reject the truths which 
 they thought essential to salvation, and in the 
 belief of which you were baptized. Their God you 
 may have forsaken, their Saviour you may have 
 denied, and the Holy Ghost, whom they adored 
 and loved, you may have grieved. Some tempta- 
 tion, perhaps, has lured you away from the path of 
 your parents. For the sake of praise, or favour, 
 or gain, or pleasure, you may have cast off the 
 covenant which God made with your parents on 
 your behalf. Or, without any obvious reason, you 
 are reckless of religion, and of your soul. 
 
 Are those parents in Heaven ? They can never 
 cease to think of you ; they are waiting to hear of 
 your return to that covenant which they made for 
 
EXPOSTULATION. 81 
 
 you with God. It is possible that you may be 
 brought back. I speak on the supposition that you 
 are fighting against convictions, and are determined 
 not to be converted. God may affect your mind 
 by that silent power which has brought hundreds 
 like you to think on their ways, and return from 
 their apostacy. Or He may send trouble upon 3^ou, 
 and bring you back by His rod. You may indeed 
 be an exception to the general rule of His grace as 
 a covenant-keeping God ; but it is in vain for you 
 to entrench yourself by arguments and bad influ- 
 ences against His mercy. If you do not provoke 
 Him to cast you off forever, the same power that 
 smote Saul to the earth, the still small voice that 
 made Elijah hide his face in his mantle when he 
 had withstood the thunder and whirlwind, can yet 
 bring you to repentance ; though this affords you 
 no ground for presumption. You are a baptized 
 child, and you know it ,• you belong to Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, and you cannot longer 
 refuse to hear the voice of your conscience, or to 
 yield to those cords of love which now are drawing 
 you into covenant with your Saviour, without 
 danger of being separated from your parents and of 
 being abandoned of God forever. 
 *8 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Words to a Husband, who has offered his child on the ground 
 of the mother's faith. Evidence of kind feeling on his part. 
 Feelings of a minister and of Christians towards him. Present 
 difference between the parents may be eternal. Consequences. 
 The mother and child in Heaven. The father lost. His 
 recollections of home. Appeal to him from God's goodness in 
 giving him a child. Obligation and inducement to consecrate 
 himself to God. 
 
 Refusal of a husband to have his child baptized. Unfavorable 
 influence on his character. Effects of the opposite conduct. 
 Cases of the first kind. Consequence of injudicious marriage. 
 Duty of the wife and friends in the case. Discipline of the 
 mother in faith and prayer. Wives of impenitent husbands. 
 Influence of either upon the other a decided one. The wife's 
 danger and duty. 
 
 A household without religion. An infant placed there. Meditations 
 upon such a house. The parents poor. Life not the only season 
 of trouble and sorrow to the impenitent. Appeal from their 
 children. Feelings of children in eternity towards irreligious 
 parents. The dwelling of the rich. Children and other blessings. 
 Susceptibilities to pleasure. Prospect beyond the grave. The 
 whole family in hell. The whole family in Heaven. Fearful 
 responsibility of impenitent parents. Dedication of themselves 
 and children urged. 
 
 Baptism; in the Mother^ s name. 
 
 It is pleasing to see a man who is not a member 
 of the church, or by profession a Christian, ready 
 and wiUing to assist his wife in presenting her 
 
FUTURE RECOLLECTIONS OF HOME. 83 
 
 child for Baptism. It is an evidence that shame 
 does not triumph over his respect and affection for 
 his wife and the mother of his children, and that 
 the fear of man that bringeth a snare has not wholly 
 entwined itself about his conscience. The man 
 who truly promises to respect and honour his wife, 
 will remember that he is to respect her conscience 
 and honour her fear of the Lord ; and he will do 
 this when she wishes to offer her child in Baptism, 
 though he knows that he will be condemned by it 
 for not being able to offer the child in his own 
 name. 
 
 Though one feeling which we have in seeing a 
 man do this, is that of respect for the submission 
 of his own feelings to those of his wife, we cannot 
 repress other feelings, and it may be proper to state 
 them here. 
 
 We always think. Shall the wide separation, 
 which now exists between these parents, continue 
 forever, and one of them be in Heaven, while the 
 other is lost ? Shall this father look up towards 
 Heaven from his future abode in eternity, and say, 
 ' I might have been there with my family, had 1 
 been wise to know what Avas for my peace ! ' Shall 
 he look round upon scenes of guilt and torment 
 in hell, and remember the fireside and the home 
 that smiled at his coming in, the wife of his youth, 
 and the children whose footsteps and voices once 
 made him think that he was the happiest man on 
 earth I 
 
84 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 It is affecting to see such a man hold up his child 
 for Baptism. God has placed the little creature in 
 his care, and now he seems to present it to his 
 Maker as an expression of gratitude, and of desire 
 for His blessing ; but on the part of its mother 
 alone ! Why not on his part ? Shall God giA^e 
 you a child, and his goodness not lead you to 
 repentance ? Can you hold up such a proof of 
 God's love as a child is, and not give your own 
 self to the Lord ? Does not such a scene bear 
 witness to the duty and obligation of loving God ? 
 and is it not a delightful opportunity for you to 
 consecrate yourself to God, when you come to His 
 temple with His gift in your hands, and draw 
 so near to Him in an act of dedication? If the 
 reader is one who has offered up his children for 
 Baptism in their mother's name, remember that God 
 says, 'I will be a God to tJtee and to thy seed; ' 
 and let His goodness lead you to repentance. You 
 will remember these scenes of your children's con- 
 secration in eternity : Shall it be with them, in 
 Heaven ? That happiness is now within your 
 reach. 
 
 The cases are rare, and yet they do occur, in 
 which fathers are not willing that their wives 
 should have their children baptized. When this 
 arises from self-will, as it frequently does, it 
 indicates a state of general feeling in the man at 
 home, which is not wholly favorable to domestic 
 
THE UNKIND HUSBAND. 85 
 
 happiness, nor to his reputation as a husband and 
 father. It is a great injury to a man to be an unkind 
 and disobliging husband ; it injures him in his 
 inner man, in ways which he does not suspect ; 
 whereas the smallest acts that indicate the submis- 
 sion of his own feelings to those of his wife in 
 certain cases, and that under consideration is one of 
 them — has a good influence upon him, by making 
 him a better and a happier man. 
 
 But we have known cases in which these con- 
 siderations could not be appreciated, but the man 
 has persisted in a rude and almost brutal resistance 
 of his wife's desire to dedicate her children in 
 Baptism. When the wife, though pious before 
 marriage, consented against the remonstrances of 
 friends and of her own conscience, to unite herself 
 with one who she knew did not fear God, and 
 perhaps was addicted to bad habits, we see her sin 
 in her punishment so clearly, as not to feel that her 
 desire to dedicate her children can be as sincere 
 and pious as it might have seemed under different 
 circumstances ; — and still, we feel more anxious 
 to surround the children of such a union with 
 religious influences. 
 
 There are cases in which the wife has become a 
 Christian after marriage, and has wished to dedicate 
 her children in Baptism ; but her husband, himself 
 a despiser of religion, will not yield to argument 
 or persuasion. What shall we say to such a man ? 
 
86 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 Anything of the nature of stern remonstrance, 
 may only make him more desperate in his general 
 resistance to religious influences, and to this par- 
 ticular proposition. Something may be done by 
 making him feel that it is the interest you take in 
 his children, and not any design upon him, that 
 leads you to urge the matter of their Baptism. The 
 thought, kindly expressed, of his being an obstacle 
 in the way of their salvation, and an appeal to his 
 better feelings in waiving his own opinions to please 
 his wife, may have some efl*ect upon him. When 
 you look at the power of a quiet south wind in 
 sinking piles of snow and ice into the earth, you 
 cannot but think how true an emblem it is of the 
 influence of ' soft answers,' and of a course of 
 uniform meekness and kindness in melting a stub- 
 born heart. 
 
 The mother, especially, should never cease from 
 prayer and judicious efl^ort ; by the circumstances of 
 her situation, God may be trying the strength of 
 her faith and her importunity, and may suspend 
 great blessings for her family upon the result of the 
 trial. 
 
 The wives of impenitent husbands are too apt to 
 suff'er themselves to be drawn away from their own 
 standard of duty, instead of seeking continually to 
 draw their husbands to that standard. You either 
 see a softening influence working upon the man's 
 character, at least in the way of restraint, from the 
 
A HOUSE WITHOUT GOD. 87 
 
 pious example and the consistency of his wife, or 
 else the wife, however exemplary before marriage, 
 sinks down into a state of stupidity, or conformity 
 to the world. A Christian in such a union needs 
 to mark that passage, 2 Peter, 1 : 10. " Give dili- 
 gence to make your calling and election swre," for 
 daily meditation and prayer;— not for her own 
 sake only, but for the sake of the offspring whose 
 eternal destiny is, in a special manner, and in the 
 midst of peculiar dangers, placed under her care. 
 It should be the mother's constant endeavour to 
 have her children baptized, so as to surround them 
 with every possible religious influence, as well as 
 for the influence which her vows may exert upon 
 her own conduct in her family. 
 
 This book may find its way into a house where 
 neither of the parents are pious, and their children 
 are growing up without religion. Perhaps there is 
 an infant in this house, the joy of its parents, the 
 gift of God, an immortal spirit destined to Heaven 
 or hell, and that according as the influence or neg- 
 lect of these parents may decide. 
 
 It is melancholy to be in a house where God is 
 not regarded. Over this dwelling no angel listens 
 to the voice of prayer or praise. On its door-post 
 is written by invisible hands. Without God in the 
 world. No blood of the passover marks it as a 
 dwelling of some of God's people ; no altar at the 
 
88 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 fireside or in the chamber, invokes his presence and 
 blessing. 
 
 Here is a family bound together by ties the most 
 interesting of any on earth. Perhaps the parents 
 are poor, and are compelled to labour hard for 
 a living. 
 
 How sad to think that after working like slaves 
 to live a few years, they may go where the wicked 
 never cease from troubling, and the weary are not 
 at rest ! How desirable that they should have God 
 for their portion, and Heaven for their home, so 
 that years of toil and hardship here may be fol- 
 lowed by rest and joy, made doubly sweet by 
 earthly trials. But now, there is reason to fear that 
 the family, parents and children, will struggle 
 through a hard life, only to meet a worse condition 
 together beyond the grave. 
 
 God now appeals to your hearts through your 
 infant child, or older children. Labour not for the 
 meat that perish eth to sustain the life of your child, 
 as though this were your whole duty. Remember 
 that God has committed the forming period of an 
 immortal spirit's history and condition to you, and 
 that your relation to this child is forever to be to 
 you a source of joy or sorrow. You must dedicate 
 this child, to God, and bring it up for Heaven. 
 
 Then, first, give your own selves to the Lord ; 
 it will be cruelty which that child will understand 
 
THE FAMILY OF THE RICH. 89 
 
 and feel, if it should be lost, and will utter impreca- 
 tions upon you for it, if you shall neglect its early 
 religious instruction. It may hereafter cry, " O 
 that I had been born a heathen, and my parents 
 had thrown me upon the shore. Then my soul 
 might have been taken to Heaven, and now I 
 should have been a saint in light, but my Cliristian 
 parents were the cause of my eternal pain ! " If 
 you would not occasion such weeping and wailing 
 from that child, who now smiles at you as its pro- 
 tectors, give yourselves with your oifspring to God 
 in the bonds of his covenant. 
 
 Perhaps in your dwelling God has poured out a 
 profusion of goodness, and with children. He has 
 given you much to charm the eye and delight the 
 heart, and you may be highly susceptible to the 
 refined pleasures of life. All this you may now 
 have, without religion, or a prospect of happiness 
 beyond the grave. Your hopes are bounded by 
 the narrow term of life ; you and your children 
 have no provision for another world. What must 
 it be for you, so sensitive to pleasure and pain, to 
 be shut out of Heaven with your family, and to 
 spend eternity with them in the world of sin and 
 suffering ! What exquisite pleasure will be yours, 
 if all your present sources of happiness and suscep- 
 tibilities to enjoyment, are refined and perpetuated 
 in Heaven ; — and if home and the relations of 
 9 
 
90 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 life, are so delightful to you here, can you bear 
 the thought of being stripped, like a tree by the 
 blast of winter, of those attachments that now con- 
 stitute your chief, perhaps your only, happiness ? 
 Consider what distress and ruin you are bringing 
 upon this beloved household, by neglecting to 
 consecrate yourself and them to God. You are 
 preparing the way for their final separation, or for 
 their united banishment from God. Your kindness 
 to them here, your affectionate endeavours to make 
 them happy in this world, will only make their 
 doom and their future portion more dreadful, by its 
 contrast with their happiness in this life. But who 
 can paint their bliss, if, by your pious and faithful 
 conduct, the whole meet in Heaven ! What way 
 of effecting this is more suitable than to dedicate 
 your children, and yourself with them, to God ! 
 What motive can more properly lead you to begin 
 a religious life, than a seasonable concern for the 
 souls whose destiny God has in a measure entrusted 
 to your care ? 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Restriction of Infant Baptism to the children of believers. 
 I. The ancient privilege of believers. The sign of the covenant 
 with them. Illustration. The rainbow. No reason why 
 either should cease. II. Inconsistency of one who is not a 
 Christian offering a child to God. Principle of divine govern- 
 ment. Importance of a visible distinction between the church 
 and the world. Answers to objections. 
 
 On being re-baptized. Its impropriety shown, from the 
 meaning of Baptism. Cases of adult Baptism by the apostles, 
 and the Baptism of Christ not in point. Baptism not a profession 
 of religion. Right view of this matter, and an argument from it. 
 To be re-baptized is to renounce the previous Baptism. Solemn 
 and responsible act. 
 
 On what grounds is Infant Baptism restricted to 
 the offspring of believers ? 
 
 When God revived his church in Abraham, who 
 was the father of all them that believe, He made 
 the consecration of children, and their admission 
 with their parents into covenant, the privilege and 
 duty of his peculiar people. It was to them a 
 precious privilege, it gratified the parental affection, 
 and was a bond between the pious Israelite and 
 God. If believers now do not enjoy this privilege, 
 
92 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 if their offspring do not bear a peculiar relation to 
 God, and God to them, we are deprived of a great 
 blessing, and that too, under a dispensation which 
 professes to be superiour to that which is past in 
 the richness of its blessings. 
 
 This privilege does not seem by its nature to be 
 restricted to one age or dispensation ; it grows out 
 of the natural relation of parents and children. 
 When God would mark by a peculiar token, the cov- 
 enant made by Him Avith believers, He selected the 
 natural affection of 'parents for their children, and, 
 as it were, sanctified or set apart this instinct, to be 
 a sign between Him and them. Many years before, 
 He had, in the same manner, set apart the natural 
 effect of the sunlight upon the retiring cloud, as a 
 sign of His covenant that the waters should no 
 more deluge the earth, and this was an appropriate 
 and beautiful emblem of his covenant. And now, 
 as the boAV in the cloud is as fresh and fair to us 
 as when eight souls hailed it as the sign of God's 
 covenant with them and with the world, as the 
 principle in nature by which it is produced is ever- 
 lasting, and as the significancy of it is as cheering 
 to us as to those who saw it spanning the Heavens 
 after the flood, so God's recognition of parental 
 affection in believers, and the bestowment of his 
 blessing upon it, is as desirable and precious now, 
 and the principle and reason of it is the same now, 
 and its significancy as a sign of his covenant is as 
 great now, as in the days of the early church. 
 
THE OFFSPRING OF BELIEVERS. 93 
 
 We cannot believe that the important article of 
 a peculiar relation of the believer's offspring to God 
 and of God to them is omitted in the New Cov- 
 enant, especially when we consider that there is 
 nothing in that relation which was any more 
 peculiar or precious to Abraham and the Jews, 
 than to Christian parents, and nothing in its nature 
 that required its restriction to one age or dispen- 
 sation. 
 
 Our belief of the peculiar relation of the children 
 of believers to God, established in the ancient 
 church, and continued without repeal, in the 
 Christian dispensation, is not the only reason for 
 restricting Infant Baptism to the children of be- 
 lievers. 
 
 It is inconsistent for a man to do that for another 
 which it is the other's duty to do for himself, but 
 which, without good reason, he is unwilling to do. 
 This is the case when parents, who have never 
 given their own selves to God in covenant, propose 
 to offer Him their children, that his covenant may 
 be established with them. There is an inconsis- 
 tency in their conduct that must strike every one 
 who does not regard the ordinance as a mere 
 ceremony. They seem to say, as they stand 
 before the congregation. We are not willing to 
 have that God for our portion, whom we now ask 
 to be the God and portion of our child. 
 
 Do you pity the child which is therefore ex- 
 *9 
 
94 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 eluded from the privileges of Infant Baptism by the 
 fault of its parents ? This is in accordance with 
 the great principle in the earthly government of 
 God, 'by which children are affected, for good or 
 evil, by the conduct of their parents. One way in 
 which He chooses to influence men, is through their 
 natural relations and affections. It has been one 
 object of this book to impress this principle upon 
 the minds of parents, and to induce those who are 
 not pious, to have mercy upon their children, and 
 for their sakes, upon themselves. Until they 
 acknowledge God as their God, it is inconsistent 
 for them to profess to do it for their children ; it 
 can be only a profession. 
 
 It is the tendency of this age to break down the 
 distinction between the church and the world, and 
 Christians, as they grow worldly, acquiesce in the 
 tendency. While we should not hoast ourselves as 
 the peculiar people of God, — if we are ashamed 
 before the world of our profession and hope as such, 
 God will cast us off. \Ye should insist on the 
 restriction of Infant Baptism to the children of 
 visible Christians, as not only right and proper in 
 itself, but as peculiarly important now, to make the 
 churches feel that they have privileges, and obliga- 
 tions also, which distinguish them from the world. 
 
 ' But evei^y Jew could have his child circumcised ; 
 and it is said that Infant Baptism is in the place of 
 circumcision.' 
 
ON BEING RE-BAPTIZED. 95 
 
 The whole Jewish nation was then, the church 
 of God ,• and other nations were, in a well-known 
 use of the term, the uwrld. All members of the 
 visible church 71010, are entitled to the privilege of 
 having their children baptized. 
 
 ' Bnt some church members who have their 
 children baptized, are not so faithful with their 
 children as some who do not profess to be 
 Christians.' 
 
 This is true, and greatly to be lamented, as well 
 as the fact that there were some Jews who had the 
 privilege of circumcision, who were not so faithful, 
 perhaps, as some heathens. On the same principle, 
 however, upon which Christ said of the wheat and 
 tares. Let both grow together till the harvest, we 
 must give Baptism to the children of those who are 
 connected with the visible church, without respect 
 to their private character as parents. To their 
 Master, between whom and themselves they have 
 made a solemn covenant, they must stand or fall. 
 
 It may be that the reader is one who has doubts 
 about the validity of his Baptism in infancy, or 
 childhood, on the ground that he was not capable 
 of giving his assent to the rite when he was 
 baptized. 
 
 What is signified by Christian Baptism ? I an- 
 swer, The separation or consecration of the baptized 
 
96 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 person to the belief and practice of that rehgion, in 
 distinction from all others, of which Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost are the objects of worship. The 
 performance of the rite of Baptism is only the 
 placing of a badge on the baptized person, or a 
 solemn mode of signifying his consecration. Now 
 if you have done that for yourself which was 
 implied by your Baptism, if you have consecrated 
 yourself to God, and in spirit and in truth have em- 
 braced the Christian religion, the repetition of the 
 ordinance can add nothing to what it has already 
 done for you. You now have all which it signifies. 
 To seek a repetition of the outward form would be 
 to exalt a rite above its spiritual end. If you have 
 gained the latter, it is all which was intended by 
 the ordinance. 
 
 It is no argument against Infant Baptism that 
 those who are mentioned as baptized by the apos- 
 tles were mostly adults. This does not prove that 
 none but adults were baptized. 
 
 Christ was not baptized in infancy, for the plain 
 reason that Baptism in the name of the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost had not then been 
 established. So that the example of Christ, or 
 of believers baptized by the apostles is no warrant 
 for us to be re-baptized. 
 
 Some think that Baptism is a profession of reli- 
 gion, and that for this reason they must be baptized 
 
ON BEING RE-BAPTIZED. 97 
 
 when they make that profession. But the Scriptures 
 represent Baptism as something given to us, rather 
 than something done by us; — 3. privilege, to be 
 received, rather than a duty to be performed. So 
 the Eunuch seemed to think. He looked upon 
 Baptism as something to be done to him and for 
 him. '' See, here is water : what doth hinder me 
 to he baptized. And PhiHp said, not, Thou 
 oughtest, but thou mayest ; it was permission, and 
 a grant, rather than an act. 
 
 Baptism is not our profession to God, but His 
 profession to us ; His seal placed upon us : and if 
 it was placed upon you in infancy, and He has 
 since owned it in your conversion, is it not taking 
 an unwarrantable freedom with a sacred and solemn 
 thing to demand it a second time ? 
 
 By being re-baptized, you reject your Infant 
 Baptism. It may be owing to that covenant which 
 your parents made with God for you when you 
 were baptized, that you now have a hope of Heaven. 
 It is probable that God, who remembers his cov- 
 enant for those that love Him, and for their 
 children, connected all your spiritual blessings with 
 your early dedication. Now, besides the useless- 
 ness of repeating the form of Baptism when you 
 have all that is signified by it, is it not a serious 
 matter for you to renounce, as you propose to do, 
 the covenant which God made with your parents 
 for you when you were young ? Your object in 
 
98 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 doing it, you say, is to make a covenant with Him 
 in your own name. But have you not done this 
 already ? 
 
 If you are re-baptized, you will come forth before 
 the world, not so much to make a covenant with 
 God, as to renounce the covenant already made 
 for you, with your parents, by your God and 
 Saviour. Your language will be, '' I do not believe 
 that God made a covenant with my parents forme." 
 But if He did, as we believe, you may put a stop 
 to the blessings of that covenant, and to the an- 
 swer of the prayers made for you by pious parents 
 and the church at your Baptism; — prayers yet 
 waiting to be fulfilled in blessings upon you and 
 yours to many generations. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 The mode of Baptism. Sprinkling is valid Baptism. Ex- 
 amination of cases in the New Testament. I. Saul of Tarsus. 
 II. The Jailor of Phillippi, and his house. lit. The Eunuch. 
 IV. John's Baptism. Baptism of Christ. V. The three thousand 
 at Pentecost. 
 
 But perhaps you cannot feel that you were 
 baptized in infancy, because you doubt whether 
 sprinkHng is Baptism. 
 
 It will be easy to show that sprinkling is valid 
 Baptism, and, therefore, that there is no objection, 
 so far as the mode is concerned, to the practice of 
 Infant Baptism. 
 
 Let us consider some of the more prominent cases 
 of Baptism recorded in the New Testament, and 
 see what appears to have been the probable mode of 
 Baptism in those cases. 
 
 I. We will begin with the case of Saul of 
 Tarsus. 
 
 Saul was struck to the earth, on his way to 
 Damascus, by a sudden blaze of light ; and a voice 
 proclaimed, ' / mn Jesus whom thou persecutest.'' 
 
100 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 His eyes were ' blasted with excess of light,' so 
 that he was blind three days and three nights. 
 You can easily imagine his excitement of mind, 
 and his consequent prostration of bodily strength, 
 especially when you consider that during these 
 three days and three nights, ' he neither did eat nor 
 drink.' 
 
 As he sat in the house, there came to him one of 
 his intended victims, the leader of the Christian 
 band, and probably the one to whom he would first 
 have done violence. The meek disciple lays his 
 hand upon the blind man's head, and says, ' Brother 
 Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, who appeared to thee 
 in the way as thou camest, has sent me that thou 
 mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the 
 Holy Ghost.' Were there no strong emotions 
 in the mind of Saul, at the pressure of that hand, 
 and at the sound of that voice ? And when ' there 
 fell from his eyes as it had been scales, and he 
 received sight,' and looked round upon the little 
 company of disciples watching him with wonder 
 and compassion, and compared the scene with the 
 anticipated scenes of blood for which he had come 
 to that place, could his condition have been such 
 as to admit of his being led out to a river to be 
 immersed ? He had not eaten anything for three 
 days and three nights, and did not eat till he had 
 been baptized ; for it is said, ' He arose and was 
 baptized; and when he received meat he was 
 
BAPTISM OF THE JAILER. 101 
 
 Strengthened.' How natural to suppose that water 
 was applied to him in a way consistent with his 
 exhausted condition. It is most rational to suppose 
 that it was done by affusion. 
 
 The public Baptism of Saul, the persecutor, in 
 'Abana or Pharpar, rivers of Damascus,' would 
 have made such an impression in favour of Christi- 
 anity, that it is probable it would not have been 
 omitted, if the practice of the apostles had been to 
 baptize by immersion. They would have strength- 
 ened him with meat, and then would have made a 
 great occasion of his Baptism. Had this been done, 
 it seems probable that so exciting a scene would 
 have been noticed by the sacred historian. But 
 the Baptism is passed over with a few words 
 because, as we believe, it took place in the house 
 and was performed by sprinkling, inasmuch as the 
 condition of Saul could not have permitted any 
 other mode. 
 
 n. Another case in which there is every reason 
 to believe that the mode of Baptism was not 
 immersion, is that of the jailer at Philippi. Paul 
 and Silas were bruised and sore, from the stripes 
 which they had but just received. The earthquake 
 had, of course, alarmed the city, and the streets 
 were not so empty and still as at other times. Can 
 any one suppose that Paul and Silas would have 
 ventured forth, with a whole household, into the 
 10 
 
102 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 streets of a city just alarmed by an earthquake ? 
 Would the jailer have had such disregard for his 
 own life, and for that of the apostles, as to have 
 carried these state prisoners outside the prison gates 
 at midnight ? Would the apostles have ventured 
 into a river, at that season, in the wounded state of 
 their bodies ? Can any one suppose that immersion 
 held such a place in the minds of the apostles that 
 they would disregard all these circumstances, for 
 the purpose of getting this family into the river at 
 the dead of night ? 
 
 '' But the jailer, and his household, and Saul, 
 may have been immersed in a bathing vessel." 
 
 And they may have been sprinkled. One supposi- 
 tion is as good as the other. 
 
 There is more probability that sprinkling or 
 pouring was used, than immersion in a bathing 
 vessel. There is something offensive and unnatural 
 in the supposition of the latter mode. Think of 
 the process of baptizing a whole family in this 
 manner. From the expression, 'all his house,' 
 there would seem to have been a considerable 
 number in the jailer's family, either of adults or 
 children. Suppose that they were all adults ; — and 
 that some of them were such, is probable from the oc- 
 cupation of the jailer,which required assistants or ser- 
 vants. A bathing vessel is filled ; the jailer is ordered 
 to prepare himself, his family and domestics, to be 
 
BAPTISM OF THE JAILER's HOUSE. 103 
 
 immersed. Is it probable that they all had garments 
 suited to the service ? One of them lies down in 
 the vessel, and Paul or Silas bends his aching body, 
 and in so doing, breaks the wounds that had 
 stiffened in their blood. It required no small 
 exercise of strength to lay a full-sized man into a 
 bathing vessel and lift him up again, and the apos- 
 tles, only a few hours before, had been severely 
 beaten. The service for the jailer is finished. The 
 wife comes next ; an hour before, she was a heathen, 
 and had just received impressions of divine truth 
 that had filled her with wonder and joy ; now, she is 
 commanded to lie down in the bathing vessel before 
 her servants, and two strange Jews. 
 
 Is the same water used for each successive sub- 
 ject ? Or are their common feelings of decency 
 such that the vessel must be emptied and filled 
 again after each Baptism ? No one of them would 
 ordinarily bathe in the water that another had 
 immersed himself in; they therefore must have 
 filled the vessel each time with clean water ; — and 
 all this is supposed to have been done in that most 
 interesting hour when the minds of the household 
 were awakened and anxious, or were just rejoicing 
 in hope. Their thoughts must be turned off from 
 Christ and the way of salvation, to the process of 
 lying down in a bathing vessel — a service which 
 must have been strangely inconsistent with their 
 state of mind, and must have given them bad im- 
 
104 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 pressions of a religion that could neglect the soul, 
 in its moments of intense feeling, for a ceremony 
 so inconvenient, unnatural, and improper, and of 
 ludicrous rather than impressive effect. 
 
 Nothing is gained by supposing that there was a 
 large number of vessels in the house or prison. 
 The performance of a service that required such 
 effort on the part of the apostles, and such prepa- 
 ration on the part of the household, at such a time, 
 a service that must have occasioned a distraction of 
 thought and feeling, which the apostles would have 
 been anxious to prevent, has no semblance of prob- 
 ability in its favour. 
 
 But look at a different scene. The family are 
 gathered in one room. One of the apostles is 
 preaching to them Jesus. The way to be saved is 
 clearly pointed out ; one after another breaks forth 
 in some expression of joy, penitence, or confession. 
 The apostles discern the evidence of true conver- 
 sion, and wish to consecrate the household to the 
 Christian faith. Water is brought in a convenient 
 form. Each bows the head, and the emblem of the 
 Spirit's influence descends like the small rain upon 
 the tender herb. All is still, save when the name 
 of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is uttered by the 
 apostle, or the feelings of the new converts break 
 through the restraint of the service. Everything 
 in the scene deepens the impressions of divine 
 truth ; no change of garments, no labour, no 
 
BAPTISM OF THE EUNUCH. 105 
 
 promiscuous meeting, or exposure, around a bath, 
 disturbs the thoughts of the inquirers after eternal 
 hfe. It is difficult to beheve that this household 
 were not baptized by sprinkling. 
 
 III. The case of the Eunuch may next be con- 
 sidered. When he said, '' See, here is water," 
 what reason is there for concluding that it was a 
 deep river, and not a shallow stream ? And why 
 could they not go doivn out of the chariot to a brook, 
 as well as down into a river ? for the prepositions 
 here used, may be rendered either way. 
 
 Besides, if the expression, doion into the water, 
 certainly denotes that the Eunuch was immersed, 
 then Philip must have been immersed also ; for 
 they both went down into the water, ' both Philip 
 and the Eunuch.' Many do not consider that down 
 into, does not mean down under; if it does, 
 the Eunuch must have immersed Philip, or Philip 
 must have plunged into the stream ; for one went 
 as much into the water as the other. The prepo- 
 sition here used does not necessarily lead any 
 further than to the edge of the water ; down to the 
 water. And then, allowing that they did step into 
 the water, it is as likely that sprinkling took place 
 as immersion. 
 
 It is not probable that the Eunuch would put the 
 garments, in which he was riding, upon his wet 
 body ; nor that he had conveniences for making 
 *10 
 
106 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 himself comfortable after bathing ; nor that he took 
 the trouble to have his change of raiment removed 
 from its secm'ed place ; for he merely commanded 
 the chariot to stand still, and took nothing with 
 him to the water, nor did any servant bear anything 
 after him, nor do we read that he went through 
 any process of arraying himself afresh after his 
 Baptism. The whole narrative leaves the impres- 
 sion on the mind that he and Philip stood in the 
 water, or by the side of it, (according as the prepo- 
 sition is translated down into^ or down to) and that 
 Philip baptized him with water raised in his hand. 
 Here, if any change at all was needed in their dress, 
 it could only have been to loose their sandals from 
 their feet ; for in those countries, the lower part 
 of the limbs was bare, and the loose garment 
 which they wore around them could easily be 
 adjusted without being removed. We never see 
 the picture of ' Philip baptizing the Eunuch,' in 
 which they are both represented as up to their 
 waists in water, Avithout thinking of all the incon- 
 veniences before and after the service, which make 
 it improbable that immersion was the mode of 
 Baptism. It is much more easy to think of them 
 as standing by the side of the water, and the 
 Ethiopian, without the confusion which exposure 
 to a stranger would occasion, without the incon- 
 venience or trouble of a change of dress, or the 
 natural agitation which any one feels in the hands 
 of another in the water, receiving from Philip the 
 
John's baptism. 107 
 
 simple sign of the affusion of God's Spirit, while 
 the small drops that flow from his temples upon 
 his dress, aff*ect his mind more than the violent 
 rushing of waves over him. Without excitement, 
 agitation, or delay, his thoughts averted not even 
 for a moment by the simple rite from the theme of 
 Philip's discourse, and bearing upon his head the 
 fresh emblem of his separation to the Christian 
 faith, he ascends the chariot, and goes on his way 
 rejoicing. 
 
 TV. In regard to John's Baptism, it seems most 
 probable that sprinkling or pouring was the mode of 
 applying the water. It is not probable that the 
 multitudes of men and women who came to John 
 were immersed in the dress which they then had 
 on ; and that they were uncovered in that promis- 
 cuous assembly is not to be supposed ; that they 
 all had changes of raiment, or that they could or 
 would have used them under such circumstances, 
 if they had them, is incredible. Besides, they 
 could go down into the water, and come up /row, 
 or out of the water, as well if they stood and 
 were sprinkled, as if they were immersed. They 
 had only to leave their sandals on the shore, and 
 adjusting their dress, which was convenient for 
 such a service, step into the stream where the 
 Baptist stood, receive the aff'usion of water from his 
 hand, which would cost him but little effort 
 compared to the labour of plunging and raising 
 
108 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 multitudes, and then retire for others to come 
 around him in quick succession. That a human 
 creature, especially of one of whom it is said, ' John 
 did no miracle,' could have endured the labour of 
 plunging multitudes day after day, is amongst the 
 many improbabilities of the case. 
 
 From this, it would follow that our Lord was 
 not immersed. If he was baptized in Jordan, if he 
 went into the river and came up out of the water, 
 all this it was most convenient to do in order to be 
 sprinkled. How far into the river he went, we are 
 not told. The improbabilities of immersion, in the 
 other cases of John's Baptism, lead us to suppose 
 that the Baptist took his usual place in the river, 
 but only so far in as not to be obliged to stoop 
 far to raise the water in his hand ; and that Christ 
 was thus baptized by affusion. The contrary can- 
 not be proved, and this, under the circumstances, 
 is most probable. 
 
 ' John was baptizing in Enon, near to Salim, 
 because there was much water there,' not because 
 he immersed : for the words much water are, in 
 the original, many waters, or streams, convenient 
 for the multitudes and their cattle. Had he bap- 
 tized by immersion, one stream would have 
 answered his purpose ; and many waters would 
 have been useless. 
 
 V. Then as to the three thousand on the day of 
 Pentecost, it cannot be made at all probable that 
 
BAPTISMS AT PENTECOST. 109 
 
 they were immersed. Did they stand all day in 
 the clothes in which they were plunged ? Or had 
 they suits of apparel, or convenient places to prepare 
 for immersion ? Besides, it cannot be shown to be 
 possible that the apostles could have immersed three 
 thousand in the given time, even if their strength 
 would have sufficed. All these cases appear to us 
 to have been cases of sprinkling or affusion. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Mode of Baptism, continued. ' Buried in Baptism.' No 
 reference in the expression to any mode. The word ' Baptize,' 
 used without reference to a mode. Illustrations. Lord's Supper. 
 Baptism of the children of Israel. Mode of Baptism amongst 
 the earliest Christians uncertain. Reasons for baptizing only by 
 immersion. Difference of opinion on the mode of Baptism. 
 
 The mode of Baptism not prescribed in the New Testament. 
 Illustration in this of the nature of Christianity. Further illustra- 
 tion in the Lord's Supper. Conformity to the original mode of 
 the Supper. Inferences. 
 
 Reasons for preferring Baptism by affusion. Conclu- 
 sion of the subject. 
 
 On leaving a Church to be re-baptized. 
 
 There is an expression in the New Testament, 
 which, perhaps, more than any other, leads many 
 to beheve that the proper mode of Baptism is 
 immersion. The expression is found in two 
 places. 
 
 Romans vi, 4. Therefore we are buried ivith 
 him by Baptism into death. 
 
 Colossians ii, 12. Buried with him in Baptistn. 
 
 It is said that these passages refer to the mode 
 of Christ's Baptism as being that of burial or immer- 
 
BURIED IN BAPTISM, 111, 
 
 sion, and indicate that those who were baptized 
 in the apostles' time, were buried, or immersed, in 
 water. 
 
 It does not appear to me that there is the least 
 reference in these expressions to the mode of Bap- 
 tism, but that the meaning is, As the burial of 
 Christ in the tomb signified that He was dead, so 
 our Baptism implies that we must he dead and 
 buried to sin. It is burial to sin, and not burial in 
 water which is here referred to, and the proof is 
 this : In the verse next to the passage from Romans, 
 it is said, ' For if we have been planted together in 
 the likeness of his" — what? Baptism? This 
 would have been the word if a comparison of our 
 Baptism with that of Christ had been made. But 
 no ; it is in the likeness of his death, and not of 
 his Baptism, in which we are here said to be 
 planted together loith Him. Those who are bap-, 
 tized into Christ, or into a belief or obedience of 
 Him, are obliged unto a resemblance, by deadness 
 to sin, to the death of his body. Thus they have 
 a fellowship with Him in his death, or are buried 
 with Him, they dying unto sin, because He died 
 for it. 
 
 Were we disposed to pursue this subject, it might 
 be said, in addition. There is no proof that Christ 
 was buried, when He was baptized. We have also 
 seen that it is improbable that Paul himself was 
 immersed. He would not therefore have been able 
 to say that we, meaning to include himself with 
 
112 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 his fellow Christians^ were baptized hke Christ, if 
 Christ were immersed, and Paul were sprinkled. 
 
 When, therefore, it is said of Christians that they 
 Eire buried loith Him in Baptism the meaning is, 
 They must regard their Baptism, whenever, and in 
 whatever way performed, as obliging them to be 
 dead and buried to sin, because Christ died and was 
 buried that they might thus die unto sin. An 
 attentive perusal of Romans vi, will confirm this 
 view of the subject ; and compared with the sol- 
 emn and important doctrine there enforced, the idea 
 of a mere similarity in an outward form of Baptism 
 is tame and without effect. 
 
 Those who practise immersion seek to derive 
 some authority for it from the original classical use 
 of the word Baptize. This is not sufficient, in our 
 view, to warrant the belief that immersion alone is 
 Baptism. It is often said, ' Baptizo, in Greek, 
 means, to plunge, or to immerse ; therefore, when 
 we are commanded to be baptized, we must be «m- 
 mersed, or it is no Baptism.' 
 
 The word supper means a full meal ; following 
 out the above argument. Unless you eat a full meal 
 at the Lord's Table, you have not eaten the Lord^s 
 Supper ! 
 
 The word Baptize, we see from this, is sometimes 
 used in the New Testament, just as the word Sup- 
 per is employed in connection with the other 
 ordinance, — not to denote the quantity, or stmode, 
 but merely a religious use of a common thing, 
 
THE BAPTISM AT THE RED SEA. 113 
 
 without respect to form or quantity. We have 
 eaten the Lord's Supper^ when we have taken only 
 the smallest part of each element ; we are Baptized, 
 let the original meaning of the word be as it may, 
 when we have had only a little water applied 
 to us. 
 
 Again. When the apostle says of the children 
 of Israel, And were all baptized unto Moses in the 
 cloud and in the sea, the idea of a mode of Baptism 
 is inadmissible from its obvious contradiction of his- 
 torical fact. The cloud was above and before them, 
 to guide their march. Had they been immersed in 
 it, they would, of course, have been in a fog or mist, 
 and then the cloud, instead of leading them safely, 
 Avould have confused them. An immersion in such 
 a mist would have been more favorable to modern 
 controversial purposes, than to the amazed and anx- 
 ious Israelite, in that hour of terrour. 
 
 How could they have been immersed 'in the 
 ^ sea ? ' The perfection of the miracle consisted in 
 their being wholly dry ; and the women and chil- 
 dren were probably spared the inconvenience of 
 such a spray as would have been necessary to resem- 
 ble our Baptisms. It is said. They were immersed, 
 by being surrounded with the sea. But they were 
 not surrounded with it. The sea was only ' on 
 their right hand and on their left j ' behind and be- 
 fore was an open passage. 
 
 Baptized, therefore, in this case, denotes merely a 
 11 
 
114 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 devotement, without reference to its being done by 
 immersion, or in any other way ; the writer 
 probably meant to express this thought, that the 
 Israehtes, as they followed the cloud, were sworn 
 under Moses by the solemn act of passing through 
 the divided sea under his guidance. 
 
 It cannot be said, therefore, that baptize always 
 means, and ought always to be translated, itmnerse. 
 The word, in this case and in others, has passed 
 into the signification of a religious devotement^ 
 without reference to mode, or quantity of water. 
 
 That the earliest Christians baptized by immer- 
 sion, there is more assertion or inference than 
 authentic testimony ; but that immersion was prac- 
 ticed within 200 years after the apostles, and then 
 for many centuries, is evident beyond dispute. 
 Whether the practice did descend from the imme- 
 diate successors of the apostles, no one can 
 determine. 
 
 It is easy for controversial writers to assert or 
 deny the contrary, but an appeal to the proper 
 authorities shows us that the mode of Baptism 
 immediately after the apostles' time, is not known. 
 
 Grant, now, that there are reasons which convince 
 some that immersion was practiced by the apostles. 
 We cannot feel their force. We see these reasons j 
 we understand the argument from the original 
 meaning of the word baptize ; but this no more 
 convinces us that Christian Baptism must be per- 
 
THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF BAPTISM. 115 
 
 formed by dipping, than the word Supper convinces 
 us that we must make a full meal at the Lord's 
 Table. 
 
 We understand the argument that John is said to 
 have baptized in Jordan, but we are convinced that 
 this does not denote the mode of Baptism, but only 
 the fact that John used the Jordan for his Baptisms. 
 We are familiar Avith the terms down into and up 
 out of but we know that the original Greek au- 
 thorizes us to say, down into and away from ; and 
 that Philip, who went dozv?iinto the water, was not 
 immersed ; and moreover, that the original, in this 
 case, neither requires us to suppose anything more 
 than a fountain or brook, nor any act of the parties 
 in it, rather than by the side of it. Still, learned 
 and conscientious men prefer to think that immersion 
 7aas the primitive mode of Baptism ; and others, 
 equally learned and conscientious, declare that 
 im^nersion is not prescribed in the New Testament, 
 by example or precept. These men can all judge 
 of evidence ; they all feel their accountability to 
 God for so doing ; and none can boast themselves 
 against their fellows in these respects. 
 
 Does any one say, It is not probable that so 
 important a thing as the mode of an ordinance 
 would be left uncertain ? 
 
 The fact, that it is uncertain, is evinced by the dis- 
 agreement, upon the subject, of the ablest scholars, 
 and the most devoted Christians. Christianity, then? 
 
116 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 binds us to no one form in any ordinance or service ; 
 and in this respect it breathes a free spirit, and seeks 
 in its worshippers only the spirit, and the spiritual 
 truth. It permits immersion, pouring, sprinkling, 
 in Baptism, and owns, by the richest of Heaven's 
 blessings, — the gift of that Spirit, whose influence 
 is emblematized by the water, — all true Christians 
 of every name, in whatever form the water of Bap- 
 tism may have been applied to their bodies. 
 
 Observe the spirit of the Christian religion in 
 regard to modes and forms, as illustrated in the 
 Lord's Supper. This Supper was instituted in an 
 upper room at midnight ; there was no leaven in 
 the bread used on the occasion, (for Christ had 
 called his disciples together to eat the Passover ; ) 
 they reclined upon couches around the table, lean- 
 ing the head upon the left arm ; hence, John is said 
 to have leaned upon Jesus' bosom, because he lay 
 next to Him, (which was a common mark of favour 
 to the particular friend of the master of the feast,) 
 and his head was on the Saviour's breast. There 
 Avere no females present at this Supper. 
 
 Now, Christ has said. Do this in reme'tnhrance of 
 me. Does any Christian church do this, in the 
 form and manner here described. On what princi- 
 ple do we vary from it ? We say. The outward 
 form is not essential to the validity and intention of 
 the ordinance. So long as bread and wine are 
 used in remembrance of the Lord, the ordinance is 
 satisfactory to every communicant, and no one feels 
 
STRICTNESS IN THE MODE OF THE SUPPER. 117 
 
 that he does not receive the Lord's Supper because 
 the mode in which it is administered differs from 
 that in which Christ gave it to his disciples. 
 
 If the precise mode in which the first Supper 
 was celebrated is not essential to the right observ- 
 ance of that ordinance, we cannot see that any 
 particular mode of applying water is essential to 
 Christian Baptism. If strictness of form is 
 necessary in either of the ordinances, we should be 
 more afraid of deviating from the original mode in 
 which the Supper was first celebrated, because it 
 is said, Whoso eateth and drinketh unworthily, is 
 guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. The 
 man who should insist upon having the Lord's 
 Supper administered in precise imitation of the form 
 used by Christ, would, however, have more reason 
 for his requirement, in our view, than if he should 
 insist upon one form of Baptism. There can be no 
 difference of opinion as to the manner in which the 
 Supper was celebrated ; but there is more reason to 
 believe, that, in several cases, to say the least, 
 Baptism was formerly administered otherwise than 
 by immersion, than that it was administered by 
 immersion at all. 
 
 It would seem, from all that has been said, that 
 God has purposely left the mode of Baptism unde- 
 termined, because it is unimportant ; and that we 
 are no more confined to one mode iji this ordinance, 
 than to one precise posture of the body, to the use 
 11* 
 
118 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 of one kind of bread or wine, to the hour of 
 midnight, or to an upper room, in celebrating the 
 Lord's Supper. It is, in our view, one of the most 
 beautiful traits of Christianity, that it triumphs over 
 external modes and forms, and seeks only a spirit- 
 ual effect by its two simple rites : leaving it to the 
 choice of every Christian in what way to have 
 water administered to him in Baptism, and in what 
 way, so far as outward forms are concerned, he will 
 receive the Lord's Supper. 
 
 If it be asked why we prefer Baptism by sprink- 
 ling, to Baptism by immersion, the answer is as 
 follows : 
 
 It seems to us more agreeable to the various 
 circumstances of seasons, age, sex, health, con- 
 venience, comfort, propriety, composure of mind. 
 It is the only form of Baptism which can be 
 practiced with convenience in all climates, at all 
 seasons of the year. It has an advantage over 
 immersion in a river, in the fact that we are not 
 restricted by the weather from baptizing in this 
 manner ; and it seems to us unlikely that God would 
 prescribe any mode of a religious ordinance, under 
 the Christian dispensation, which could not, if we 
 wished it, be performed for several months in a 
 year. We cannot feel that it is consistent with 
 the spirit of Christianity to break the ice of a river 
 for the purpose, of Christian Baptism ; — not that 
 any one is forbidden to do it who sees fit, or that 
 
REASONS FOR BAPTISM BY SPRINKLING. 119 
 
 any one has authority to question the Christian 
 hberty of his fellow Christians in this particular, 
 for that would be an equal violation of the spirit of 
 Christianity ; but it strikes the natural feelings of 
 most men as an austerity which does not comport 
 with our religion, so much as with some others. 
 The Saviour's words on another subject may be 
 accommodated to this case, and on the same prin- 
 ciple we may say, Baptism loas made for man^ and 
 not m^an for Baptism. 
 
 In warm climates, where bathing in a river is a 
 common practice, and the feelings of the people are 
 thereby accustomed to it, many of the objections 
 which some feel to public immersion, are obviated. 
 Still, we think that affusion is a better emblem of 
 that which the washing of water typifies, viz : the 
 influence of the Spirit ; which is represented in 
 the Bible as applied to the subject, rather than the 
 subject applied to, or immersed in, that influence. 
 Christianity, of which Baptism is one of the seals, 
 is called the dispensation of the Spirit, and the 
 Spirit is always spoken of as being poured out, and 
 shed upon us, and as descending upon us like rain. 
 
 We believe that Baptism by immersion is valid ; 
 and we would not interpose our preference of 
 another mode to the hindrance of full liberty of 
 conscience or taste in others. But that God has 
 confined us to any form of Baptism, without regard 
 to the manners and customs of different nations, we 
 
120 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 think is inconsistent with the spirit of the Christian 
 rehgion. 
 
 In view of all that has now been said, the reader, 
 whom I have supposed to have been baptized in 
 infancy, may see reason to believe that the inode 
 of Baptism is not essential to its validity, and there- 
 fore, if he is satisfied that he was a proper subject 
 for Baptism, as I have also endeavoured to show, 
 and shall illustrate further, there is no ground for 
 scruples about his Infant Baptism. 
 
 It may be that you are already a member of a 
 Christian church. If you are not deceived, you 
 have had communion with God, and Christ, and the 
 Spirit of all grace, which has been to you a seal of 
 your hope. If you know anything, you know that 
 you love God. You have had evidence, since 
 your connection with the church, of some increase 
 in Christian character, and of acceptance with 
 God. 
 
 Perhaps you have become dissatisfied with your 
 Baptism by affusion ; you propose to leave your 
 church, be immersed, and join another church who 
 hold that immersion is essential to church mem- 
 bership. 
 
 What I now say, has no reference to the belief 
 or practice of that church whose right to their own 
 opinion and conduct is as sacred as our own. But, 
 addressing a member of our own denomination, as 
 
A PARABLE ON BEING RE -BAPTIZED. 121 
 
 I now do, I feel at liberty to speak with the freedom 
 of a Pastor to the members of his flock. 
 
 Your feelings and proposed conduct may be thus 
 illustrated. I take so familiar a case with some 
 hesitation ; yet, as it aj^tly expresses the writer's 
 views of the conduct referred to, I shall make no 
 apology for using it. 
 
 An individual was once invited to meet a few 
 friends at the house of a distinguished citizen. He 
 felt embarrassed at the thought of complying with 
 the invitation, for the host was a stranger to him, 
 in some measure, and far above him in life. But 
 when he entered the room, he was received with 
 great attention and kindness ; soon, he was seated 
 at table with the family and their friends, and 
 was made to feel that he was welcome, and that 
 his host was desirous of his acquaintance and 
 friendship. 
 
 After he had thus been placed quite at his ease, 
 and had been A^ery happy, a cloud came over his 
 mind. He recollected that when he entered the 
 house, he omitted a very important ceremony ; or 
 that the form of it was so unlike the custom of good 
 society, that he had, in his own opinion, virtually 
 omitted the thing itself. Either he had not 
 rung at the door, or had not been properly intro- 
 duced, or had not paid proper respects at his in- 
 troduction to certain members of the family. He 
 begged to be excused, rose abruptly from his seat, 
 
122 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 in the midst of regrets, went to the outer door, and 
 shut himself into the street, then rung the bell, the 
 door was opened in due form, he was ushered into 
 the room, paid proper respects to his host and each 
 member of the company, and took his seat again at 
 table. 
 
 His host hardly knew whether to smile at his 
 scrupulous and formal conduct, or to reprove him 
 gently for thinking that after he had received the 
 most satisfying proofs of regard, he should suppose 
 him to be so set about modes and forms as to wish 
 to have this disturbance made by an attempt at a 
 more ceremonious introduction. 
 
 Such appears to me to be the conduct of every 
 Christian who, having received proofs of divine 
 favour in his connection with the church of Christ, 
 must needs go through the ceremony of joining the 
 church of Christ again, because he thinks that 
 Christ Avould have the water of Baptism applied to 
 the body in a different quantity, or by a different 
 mode ! And I cannot but feel that Christ looks 
 upon such conduct, perhaps with great tenderness 
 and compassion, but at the same time with sorrow 
 that his friend should have no better knowledge of 
 the nature and spirit of Christianity, as distinguished 
 from Judaism. 
 
CHAPTER XII, 
 
 The authority for Infant Baptism. Objection considered. 
 
 Autiiority for Infant Baptism illustrated. I. By family prayer. 
 
 II. Females at the Lord's Table. III. The change of the 
 
 Sabbath. Inferences. 
 Proof from the early Christian Fathers. I. Augustine. 
 
 II. Cyprian and others. III. Pelagius. IV. Origen. Remarks 
 
 on this kind of evidence. 
 
 It is frequently said, ' There is no commmid in 
 the New Testament to baptize children.' 
 
 There are many things for which we have no 
 specific command, whose propriety and duty are as 
 plain from the nature of things, as any mention of 
 them by name, in a particular precept, could make 
 them. 
 
 An illustration of this we have in the duty of 
 family prayer. 
 
 The neglect of family prayer, by the father of a 
 family, a member of the church, would be considered 
 censurable ; and the observance of this duty is 
 expected of a man who has a family, when he 
 makes a profession of his faith. It is probable that 
 most evangelical ministers and churches would 
 
124 
 
 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 hesitate to receive a man into the church, even if 
 they were satisfied with the general evidences of 
 his piety, if he should refuse to practice family 
 prayer. 
 
 But such a man might say to the minister and 
 to the church, Show me one command in the Bible 
 to observe family prayer, and I will do it. 
 
 We should search the Bible in vain for a specific 
 mention of family prayer. Ministers, who would 
 preach upon this subject, can never find a text that 
 comes nearer to it than this : ' And David returned 
 to bless his household.' A caviller could easily sug- 
 gest a want of connection between the text and the 
 duty derived from it. 
 
 But it may be said, The duty of family prayer is 
 very plain from the apostolic injunction, ' I will 
 that men pray everywhere,' and the family is 
 included by the term 'everywhere.' We might 
 accede to this remark, and add, The Saviour's last 
 command, ' Go teach all nations, baptizing them,' 
 warrants the Baptism of Infants, who are included 
 by the expression, 'all nations.' 
 
 It will be seen, from what has been said, that the 
 duty of family prayer, so important and proper, and 
 a prerequisite, under ordinary circumstances, in the 
 way of evidence of a right state of feeling, to ad- 
 mission to the church, is, after all, only a matter of 
 inference from the nature and fitness of things. 
 
 On the principle of rejecting Infant Baptism for 
 
AUTHORITY FOR INFANT BAPTISM. 125 
 
 want of a specific mention of infants as subjects of 
 Baptism, we could not admonish, nor even blame 
 a man, who should reject family prayer, saying, 
 The Bible contains no command to pray in the 
 family ! 
 
 We see, then, that a duty may, in some cases, be 
 a matter of inference, and that the absence of a 
 specific mention of a thing, which may be included 
 in a general direction or principle, is no argument 
 against that which is not thus specified. The New 
 Testament contains several striking instances of this 
 principle. 
 
 There were no females present when the Lord's 
 Supper was first instituted, and we find no com- 
 mand to admit them to this ordinance. Yet, the 
 nature of the Lord's Supper is such, that we infer 
 their right to it ; and in this case, inference is as 
 good authority as a positive command. 
 
 We nowhere find a command to observe the first 
 day of the week instead of the seventh, as the 
 Christian Sabbath. It is a matter of inference, from 
 the repeated mention of the assembling of the 
 apostles on that day, that it was the intention of 
 Christ that the first, instead of the seventh day, 
 should be observed in the Christian church as the 
 Sabbath. When the Christian Sabbath took the 
 place of the Jewish, some, without doubt, com- 
 plained. We have no express precept iox this change, 
 and will therefore observe the seventh day, as 
 12 
 
126 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 before, instead of the first. And so we read that 
 they did. But the apostles, while they were kind 
 and gentle towards those who required positive pre- 
 cepts, were themselves able to discern the propriety 
 of the proposed change, and to conform to it, though, 
 as far as we can learn from their writings, it was 
 wholly a matter of inference with them, and not of 
 precept. The day of the Saviour's resurrection 
 took precedence in their feelings of that day, which 
 had before been observed as holy time, through 
 which, however, the tomb retained their Lord and 
 Master. They perceived, in this, his intention of 
 uniting the influence of the Sabbath with his cause, 
 by making the day of his resurrection the Sabbath 
 day. They readily fell in with so wise and suita- 
 ble an expedient ; but it must be observed that 
 they record no command of Christ upon the subject ; 
 and our authority for hallowing the first day of the 
 week is only example and tradition. Yet, what 
 Christian mind does not feel the propriety of making 
 that the Sabbath, on which the Lord of life and 
 glory confirmed our faith by his resurrection ? 
 The mere mention of the assembling of the apostles 
 on the first day of the week, is, however, as good 
 authority for our observance of the Lord's day, as 
 the mention of the Baptism of households is for the 
 practice of Infant Baptism. 
 
 Female communion, the observance of the Lord's 
 day as the Sabbath, and Infant Baptism are, to our 
 
CHURCH HISTORY. 127 
 
 apprehension, equally and most plainly inferible 
 from the natm-e of things. The very absence of a 
 specific command upon these points is fitted to 
 heighten our respect for Christianity, as a system 
 that can trust its followers to exercise their own 
 sense of propriety, if guarded by the Christian 
 spirit, and in so doing, purposely exemplifies its 
 variance from that dispensation in which every- 
 thing was marked off to the apprehension of the 
 people by the square and compass of a particular 
 precept. 
 
 The Baptism of infants is, to our minds, plainly 
 deducible from the nature of Baptism, and from the 
 suitableness of the thing itself. We regard Baptism 
 as a sign of separation to the Christian faith. While 
 those who believe, are, of course, entitled t-o it, we 
 think that a pious parent who is resolved to bring 
 up his child on the principles of the Christian reli- 
 gion practically enforced, may present it for the seal 
 of Baptism. 
 
 From the full testimony in the History of the 
 Church, that the Baptism of infants was practised 
 by the apostles and early Christians, I select the 
 following, from Wall's History of Infant Baptism. 
 
 Augustine, a celebrated father of the early 
 church, wrote within 280 years of the apostles. 
 In Milner's Church History, he is called the great 
 luminary of his age. I mention this, not to get any 
 
128 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 authority from his name for the practice of Infant 
 Baptism, but only to show his competency as a 
 witness. He says, '' The whole Church of Christ 
 has constantly held that mfants ivere baptized.'''^ 
 ^'•Infant Baptism the lohole Church practises; 
 it was not instituted by Councils^ but was ever 
 in use.^^ 
 
 A learned scholar and a minister, who valued his 
 reputation, would not hazard it by such bold and 
 unequivocal assertions, unless he knew certainly 
 whereof he affirmed : — especially when history 
 and tradition were accessible to any who chose to 
 contradict him, and the short period between his 
 day and the apostolic age made it easy to ascertain 
 the truth. 
 
 One hundred and fifty years, only, after the 
 apostles, a Council of 66 Bishops was held at Car- 
 thage. A letter was receive# from another Bishop, 
 requesting the opinion of the Council on two 
 subjects, one of which Avas, Whether an infant 
 might be baptized before it was eight days old? 
 The following is an extract from the answer of the 
 Council : 
 
 ' Cyprian, and the rest of the Bishops who were 
 present in Council, 66 in number, to Fidus our 
 brother, Greeting: — Whereas you judge that 
 infants must not be baptized within tAVO or three 
 days after they are born, but the rule in circum- 
 cision must be observed, and no one should be 
 
CHURCH HISTORY. 129 
 
 bajDtized and sanctified before the eighth day, the 
 whole Council is of a different opinion.' 
 
 This proves that Infant Baptism was practised 
 at least one hundred and fifty years after the 
 apostles, and if the practice were of human origin, 
 it is not credible that, in that Council of devoted 
 men who, as Milner says, had stood the fiery trial 
 of some of the severest persecutions ever known, 
 there was not a question raised as to the propriety 
 of this practice, but a unanimous vote that a child 
 might, in their opinion, be baptized as soon as the 
 parents pleased. 
 
 Pelagius and others, who lived within 300 years 
 after the apostles, denied the doctrine of original 
 sin. A great controversy ensued. Augustine, the 
 champion of Orthodoxy at that day, demanded why 
 infants were baptized, if they had no sin ? With 
 Augustine's views of the object of Baptism, we are 
 not concerned. Our point is the historical fact. 
 
 This question was continually pressed upon 
 Pelagius and his associates, as an unanswerable 
 argument. Now, if there had been a possibility of 
 doubt as to the proper authority for Infant Baptism, 
 these acute and learned heretics would have made 
 use of it. The force of Augustine's main argument 
 could have been broken, by proving, had it been 
 possible, that Infant Baptism was improper. This 
 was not attempted, but efforts were made to show 
 the propriety of baptizing infants, even if they had 
 12* 
 
130 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 no sin. So far from questioning the propriety of 
 Infant Baptism, Pelagius said : ' / 7icver heard of 
 any^ not even the 7nost impious heretic^ who denied 
 Baptism to infants. Men slander me, as if I 
 denied Baptism to infants. Baptism ought to he 
 administered to infants with the same sacramental 
 words which are used in the case of adult persons.'' 
 
 Origen was born within 85 years after the apostles. 
 His grandfather or great grandfather could have 
 been cotemporary with the apostles. Eusebius, 
 the historian says, that his grandfather and great 
 grandfather were both Christians. Origen must 
 have known the opinion and practice of the apostles 
 in the matter of Infant Baptism. He had also 
 travelled extensively, and was acquainted with the 
 customs of the whole Christian church. 
 
 In commenting upon a chapter in Leviticus, he 
 says. According to the usage of the church. Bap- 
 tism is given even to Infants. In his commentary 
 on Romans, he says. For this cause it was that the 
 church received an order from the apostles to give 
 Baptism even to infants. 
 
 We have lately seen it stated that ' Infant Bap- 
 tism was instituted in the year 1311, by the 
 authority of the Pope ; and in a Council composed 
 of Episcopalians, Independents and Presbyterians, 
 assembled in the Chapel of King Henry VII., in the 
 year 1643.' It would appear from this, that the 
 
REASON FOR AND AGAINST INFANT BAPTISM. 131 
 
 practice had tivo or three births^ probably, because 
 one would not be considered sufficiently spurious. 
 — The quotations made above from the early fa- 
 thers have never been, and cannot be, refuted. 
 
 We would not practise Infant Baptism any sooner 
 because Origen, and Cyprian, and Justin Martyr, did 
 it. If Church History had been silent as to their 
 opinion and conduct, we should still have the 
 same grounds in Scripture and reason for the prac- 
 tice as at present. But when, in addition to these 
 reasons, we find that able and pious ministers of 
 Christ, who succeeded the apostles, and lived near 
 their times, declare, ' Infant Baptism, the whole 
 
 CHURCH PRACTISES : It WAS NOT ORDAINED BY 
 
 Councils, but was ever in use : The church 
 have received an order from the apostles to 
 GIVE Baptism even to infants,' could any form 
 of words make us more certain that the practice of 
 Infant Baptism is accordant with the will of Christ ? 
 
 But why, then, do Christians differ as to the 
 propriety of Infant Baptism ? 
 
 For this reason, chiefly: Some adopt the 
 principle that a specific mention of children, in 
 Scripture, as proper subjects of Baptism, is neces- 
 sary to warrant the practice ; and this, they say, 
 they do not find. 
 
 Others say. That a specific mention of children 
 is no more necessary to extend Baptism to the 
 infants of believers, than a similar specification is 
 
133 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 necessary to admit females to the Lord's Supper, to 
 have two services on the Sabbath, to require chil- 
 dren to be present at family prayer. They say 
 that, in their view, the intention of Baptism, and 
 the nature of the case, affords sufficient ground for 
 Infant Baptism. 
 
 Here, men differ; and between these two princi- 
 ples, which are the grounds of the rejection or 
 observance of the practice, the reader will be left, 
 in view of all that has been said, to take his 
 choice. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Kelation of baptized children to the church. Dif- 
 ference in the constitution and grounds of membership, in the 
 Jewish and Christian church. Illustration of the use of Baptism, 
 and its intention. Objection to Infant Baptism, that unbaptized 
 children are frequently converted. 
 
 Influence of a right observance of this practice in 
 THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD. Pious parental influence 
 the great means of strengthening and increasing the church. 
 The FAMILY, considered as a means of spiritual good. Appeal 
 to parents. Conclusion. Future scenes in parental 
 
 AND FILIAL RELATIONS. 
 
 It is a frequent question, What relation do bap- 
 tized children hold to the church ? 
 
 This question arises from the fact that when the 
 ancient Jewish iiation was the church of God, 
 children were iuembe7^s of the church. But the 
 constitution of the Christian church is diiferent 
 from that of the Jewish ; we are not members of 
 the visible Christian church by birth or lineage ; 
 but in every nation, he that serveth God is entitled 
 to membership. Hence, while we believe that the 
 children of believers now have a peculiar relation 
 
134 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 to God, like the children of his ancient covenant 
 people, their relation to the church is different 
 from that held by the latter, because of the differ- 
 ence in the constitution of the two churches. The 
 only respect — ^but it is the important one — in which 
 children of believers now resemble the children of 
 the ancient covenant people, is in the feelings with 
 which God regards them for the parents' sake. But 
 as church membership is not now a national right, 
 children are in no respect members of the Christian 
 church. At the same time, the reason why God 
 formerly admitted them into the church, and into 
 the covenant made with their parents, extends, we 
 think, to the children of believers throughout the 
 world ; and this reason is. His regard for his people. 
 ' Because He loved the fathers, therefore He chose 
 their seed.' 
 
 Another view of this point is of importance. 
 No one can doubt that an object of Jehovah, in his 
 directions and arrangements concerning the children 
 of his ancient people, was, to secure the succession 
 of a pious race. For this purpose, the children of 
 his own people, rather than of the world in general, 
 were calculated upon to perpetuate religion in the 
 earth. This was a natural and obvious arrangement. 
 Is it not equally natural and proper now to expect 
 that religion will be perpetuated in the same way, 
 and are we not to look to the offspring of Christians 
 for the transmission of a religious influence in the 
 
ILLUSTRATION OF BAPTISM. 135 
 
 world ? Is the family a nursery for all the depart- 
 ments of active life, of civil and patriotic service, 
 and shall it not secm'e the perpetuity of the true 
 faith ? 
 
 , For this purpose, we believe, children were 
 anciently included with their parents in the cove- 
 nant of God, and as the children of Christians now 
 stand in the same relation to the continuance of 
 religion in the earth with the children of the 
 ancient church, they have a peculiar relation to the 
 Christian church. 
 
 Now, though these children sustain no relation 
 to the church in the way of accountability or 
 subjection to discipline, they do sustain a most 
 interesting relation to it, as those in whom, from 
 their early consecration, and intelligent and faithful 
 instruction as children devoted to Christ, is the 
 hope of Christ and of his kingdom. 
 
 Another view of the propriety of baptizing them, 
 is as follows : v 
 
 Suppose that a great reformer, commissioned 
 from Heaven, should arise in this land, and should 
 visit all our towns to establish a certain form of 
 doctrine and practice, appointing the stamp of a 
 cross to be made upon the hand of every one who 
 received the system to denote that he was a dis- 
 ciple, and to remind him of the obligations implied 
 in the new faith. 
 
 That mark would be considered as a sign of the 
 
136 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 devotion or separation of him who received it to 
 the Christian faith. 
 
 While the reformer would wish that every one 
 who should receive the sign, would believe with 
 all his heart, and would refuse to give it, if he 
 suspected hypocrisy, he would nevertheless regard 
 it more as a sign or seal of discipleship, than as a 
 discriminating index of the state of the heart. 
 
 So, while the apostles required of every believing 
 adult, a profession of his faith in Christianity, and 
 of course sought for evidences of his sincerity, they 
 felt, without doubt, in placing the sign of Chris- 
 tianity upon him, that they were signifying his 
 separation to the Christian religion as a system, rather 
 than the certainty of his spiritual regeneration. We 
 know not how else to understand Paul's feelings, 
 when he says, ' I thank God, I baptized none of 
 you but Crispus and Gains. For Christ sent me 
 not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel.' 
 
 Such being the great object of Baptism, how 
 perfectly natural for the apostles to secure an influ- 
 ence for Christianity in the earth, by taking, as it 
 were, a vow of every believing parent for the 
 consecration of his children to the Christian faith. 
 How natural for the parent to say. Let the sacred 
 sign, whose impression marks upon my heart my 
 own consecration to the Christian religion, be laid 
 upon my child, I engaging thereby to bring him 
 up for Christ, and to instruct him hereafter that I 
 
REASONABLENESS OF INFANT BAPTISM. 137 
 
 have separated him, by the use of the Christian 
 seal, to the behef and practice of Christianity. 
 What a powerful means would this be of securing 
 for Christianity a hold upon the rising generation ! 
 The rite of Baptism administered to the child, 
 would make the parents feel that their child was 
 consecrated by an act of religious devotion ; and 
 we all know the power of an appropriate solemnity 
 upon the mind. Such a means of propagating the 
 Christian faith we do not believe the apostles over- 
 looked. We believe that their commission included 
 it. We have seen from the first of testimony, that 
 ' the early church received an order from the apos- 
 tles to give Baptism unto children.' 
 
 With the same understanding of the original 
 intention of Baptism, loe give the ordinance to 
 children. It will be seen that the object is not to 
 mark children as members, in any sense, of the 
 the church of Christ, but to impress upon the 
 parents and, through them, afterwards, upon their 
 children, the feeling that there is a special relation 
 between those children of the covenant and God, 
 and a special obligation upon them to believe, 
 practise, and maintain the Christian religion. 
 
 Were there nothing in Infant Baptism but the 
 
 pleasure of presenting a child in public, or if it 
 
 were only a distinctive ordinance of a denomination 
 
 of Christians, this book would not have been 
 
 13 
 
138 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 written. It is because the writer feels, in common 
 with ministerial brethren, that the practice properly 
 performed and carried out will do much for the 
 conversion of the world, that these pages are pre- 
 sented to Christian parents. 
 
 But it may be said, ' The children of Baptist 
 parents frequently become pious, as well as children 
 who have been baptized.' 
 
 The proportion of baptized children who are 
 converted, is more striking as a testimony in fa- 
 vour of Infant Baptism, than the conversion of 
 some who are not baptized, is, as an argument 
 against it. God will perpetuate his churches, we 
 have reason to hope, mostly by the children of 
 the pious ; now, does or does not the practice of 
 Infant Baptism tend to secure this end ? 
 
 ' What profit is there in Infant Baptism ? ' ' Much 
 every way,' as I have endeavoured to show in the 
 first part of this book, and chiefly, because that 
 unto the children who receive Baptism, is commit- 
 ted an oracle of God. It speaks to their parents 
 and bids them be faithful ; it speaks through the 
 parents to the children, reminding them of their 
 early consecration ; it speaks directly to the chil- 
 dren in after life, and, by the power which a solemn 
 act of dedication has upon the mind, it claims them 
 as the Lord's. I refer to the testimony of Matthew 
 Henry, already quoted, upon this point, and to the 
 
INFLUENCE OF INFANT BAPTISM. 139 
 
 memoirs of those who were faithfully taught the 
 meaning and obligations of their Baptism.* 
 
 If the children who are not baptized, are not 
 converted in such numbers as those that are, the 
 fact will seem to leave an impression in favour of 
 Infant Baptism. But if the children of Baptist 
 parents are frequently converted, it is wrong 
 to make the covenant goodness of God a reason 
 for omitting a duty. We have no strict ritual, 
 in Christianity, in which a ceremonial omission is 
 immediately and obviously punished. 
 
 If any parents rejoice over pious children who 
 were not baptized in infancy, we are persuaded that 
 they might have more joy by observing this 
 practice, — if they carried out its meaning and 
 intention into faithful and holy conduct. Let it 
 not be understood that there is any merit in baptiz- 
 ing a child, or in being baptized ; think not to say, 
 in a presuming spirit. We, or our children, are the 
 children of the covenant ; this, alone, will aggravate 
 our condemnation ; but faithfully prized and im- 
 proved, it will be as much a means of propagating 
 the gospel in the earth, as God intended that his 
 covenant with the Jews and their seed should be of 
 perpetuating true religion in the world. 
 
 Suppose that parents had suitable feelings at the 
 time of their children's Baptism, and afterward, and 
 
 * See " Records of a Good Man's Life." 
 
140 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 that in their subsequent treatment of them, they 
 should act upon the principles which have now 
 been recommended ; that they should continually 
 refer to the Baptism of their children in their 
 prayers, beseeching God now to fulfil his covenant, 
 and taking hold of that covenant to sustain them 
 in importunate prayer ; that they should regard 
 their children as those to whom the cause of God 
 in the earth looks for support in the coming gene- 
 ration ; that they should frequently remind their 
 children that they have been consecrated to God 
 the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; that God is 
 therefore willing and waiting to be gracious to 
 them ; that they are sinning against infinite good- 
 ness, and losing great blessings by neglecting to 
 choose God for their Portion, — and thus, by using 
 their Baptism, with explanations of its intention 
 and meaning, fix their thoughts definitely upon 
 God, His feelings towards them, and their obliga- 
 tions to Him : — Would not the parents be greatly 
 assisted in the religious education, and in the 
 conversion, of their children, and might we not 
 hope that God would fulfil that promise, Iivill pour 
 out iiiy Spirit iipo7i thy seed, and my blessing 
 upon thine offspring ? This promise will be ful- 
 filled, for it is founded on a natural principle — The 
 influence of the parental relation in perpetuating right 
 principles, when that influence is sanctified. God 
 
CONVERSION OF CHILDREN. 141 
 
 will use this principle, as in ancient times, to main- 
 tain his cause in the earth. We must always bear 
 this in mind, amongst our devices for spreading the 
 truth. Such attention must be paid to the religious 
 education of the young, and such labour be 
 bestowed for their conversion, as will be requisite, if 
 the proportion of the friends of God in the earth is 
 to increase, and if a large part of every life is not 
 to be spent in sin and the perversion and waste of 
 physical and mental strength. 
 
 When churches are composed chiefly of those 
 who were sanctified early, and have been trained up 
 for the service of religion, and are made to feel the 
 nature and meaning of their Baptism, we may 
 expect that the moral strength of the church will 
 be increased tenfold. Rapid advances will then 
 be made in extending the kingdom of Christ. The 
 early sanctification of the youthful mind will 
 prevent many of the dissensions in churches that 
 grow out of old natural habits and prejudices in 
 those who were too stiff to be pliable when they 
 were converted. Then it shall be said to the 
 ♦Saviour, Thou hast the dew of thy youth ! 
 Satan has it now ] and by the long detention of 
 souls in his service before they begin to serve 
 Christ, a great proportion of zeal and energy is lost, 
 or rather, is used against Christ. We must labour 
 more for the early sanctification of children if we 
 would see the church gain upon the world. To 
 *13 
 
142 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 this end, the Sabbath school is a useful means ; the 
 preaching of the gospel familiarly to children is prof- 
 itable ; right instruction from teachers in common 
 schools is invaluable ; but nothing is to be compared 
 to parental mfluence. 
 
 It is in the family, that God will chiefly own and 
 bless means for the conversion of children. The 
 family is an ordinance of God, wisely and beauti- 
 fully fitted to prepare minds to serve and glorify 
 God in his kingdom here, and forever. Its 
 incessant, gentle, noiseless influence is like that 
 unseen and silent power of vegetation that throws 
 up plants and flowers, herbs and trees, to crown the 
 earth's surface. So, when the family influence of 
 the church is what it should be. Truth shall spr^ing 
 out of the earth, Righteousness shall look down 
 from Heaven. 
 
 Could we learn the great truth that the kingdom 
 of God cometh not with observation, could we under- 
 stand the parable of the leaven, could we see that 
 God intends that the advancement of His spiritual 
 kingdom shall be emblematized by His kingdom of 
 nature, whose influences, like His own Omniscience 
 and Omnipresence, are as still and secret as they 
 are great, could we get instruction from the fact 
 that the perfection of machinery is evinced by its 
 noiseless movement, we should set more value upon 
 such influences as those of a Christian family, and 
 less upon combinations and showy methods of 
 
A NEW ERA. 143 
 
 doing good. Every father and mother might then, 
 by influencing their children aright, do more to 
 promote the reign of Heaven than we can describe. 
 We must remember that pubhc meetings and the 
 Sabbath school, are not to supersede, or interfere 
 with family instruction, but are intended as means 
 to promote the latter. Instead of violent, spasmodic 
 seasons of efl'ort, to get sinners into the kingdom of 
 God, large numbers of well-instructed and disci- 
 plined minds will, by the Spirit of God, we believe, 
 be brought out of Christian families to fill the 
 church, and promote the cause of Christ. 
 
 Let this day now begin. Let Christian parents 
 carry each new-born child to the altar of God, and 
 consecrate its body, soul, and spirit to Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost. Let them carry that child from 
 Baptism with the feelings which they would have 
 if God, by a special message, had placed it in their 
 hands to be trained up for Him. Let them think 
 what was implied in the Baptism of their children, 
 if they have others who have already been dedicated 
 to God. Let them watch the first opening thoughts 
 of the child to shed in the influences of truth and 
 goodness ; let them so teach it obedience and 
 submission as not to prepare it in after life to resist 
 the Holy Ghost ; let them impress the meaning 
 of its Baptism upon its mind, and lead it to 
 recognize the consecration which was made of it in 
 infancy. 
 
144 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 Then, by the blessing of God, we shall see a 
 generation prepared for the scenes of the latter day. 
 Perhaps the parents of this generation are to educate 
 the actors in those scenes! A holy and blessed 
 work is before us. Christianity is to be spread 
 throughout the earth. All nations are to be bap- 
 tized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost. Let us bring our children to the House 
 of God, and by the sign of separation to the Christian 
 faith, lay upon them the bonds of the covenant, 
 and upon ourselves the obligation to make ready a 
 people prepared for the Lord. 
 
 Does a Christian parent need anything to make 
 him faithful in discharging his whole duty to his 
 child ? Then consider that eternity is before you, 
 and that, amongst the thoughts which will be most 
 present to your mind in the revolution of eternal 
 years, no one will probably come to you with such 
 power as this, I am the parent of an immortal 
 SOUL ! Where is that soul ! See it, in company 
 with angelic choirs ! Hear it ; it has washed its 
 robes and made them white in the blood of the 
 Lamb, and the song of Heaven is on its tongue. 
 Around it, are some who bless it as the instrument 
 in their salvation. It is an honour to be the parent 
 of a glorified spirit ! 
 
 See two parents ascending ' the heavenly plains,' 
 with a whole family of redeemed children ! God 
 
SCENES IN ETERNITY. 145 
 
 only can measure the joy and transport of their 
 hearts. 
 
 Another spirit appears from amongst the ranks of 
 Heaven, with a calm, submissive look. Its children 
 are not amongst the spirits of the just ; its children 
 think of it, in their abode, on which the light of the 
 celestial city gleams afar, and its surging music 
 rolls and dies ; and one of them says to another, 
 If our parent had been faithful with us, we might 
 not have come unto this place of torment ! 
 
 O God, may we baptize our children in the name 
 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost I 
 Precious, inestimable privilege, that seals to them 
 thy covenant, helps us in fitting them for Heaven, 
 and, with bonds of love, holds them to thy service 
 and throne. May we prize this liberty as a means 
 of our future joy, in being surrounded at last with 
 our offspring in Heaven. May no child of ours 
 lie down in sorrow, with the name of his God, 
 Saviour, and Sanctifier, inscribed upon him. 
 May none of us, who have presented a child at thine 
 altar for this inscription, reflect upon our conduct 
 here as the cause of the child's perdition, nor, in 
 eternal bereavement of those whom we love, feel 
 that resignation and submission must chiefly con- 
 stitute for us the happiness of Heaven. Let the 
 family circle there be full ; and as Jehovah passes 
 by, in the special manifestations of His presence, and 
 
146 THE BAPTIZED CHILD. 
 
 smiles upon our household in the fullness of their 
 joy, may we, in participation of that joy which 
 He himself feels at the sight of His own holy and 
 happy offspring, cry, Here, Lord, are we, and 
 
 THE CHILDREN WHOM THOU HAST GIVEN US. 
 

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