YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

TILLAGE SERMONS

ON

THE BAPTISMAL SERYICE.

VILLAGE ^SERMONS

on

THE BAPTISMAL SERVICE.

The Eev. JOHN KEBLE,
AUTHOR OP " THE CHRISTIAN TEAR."

SOLD BY JAMES PAEKEE & CO., OXFOED,
AND 377, STRAND, LONDON;
AND RIVINGTONS,
LONDON, OXFORD, AND CAMBRIDGE.
1868. «

PLYMOUTH :
PRINTED AT THE PRINTING-PRESS OF THE DEVONPORT SOCIETY.
1868.

NOTICE.

The following Sermons were given to me for publication
by my revered friend John Keble now many years ago. It
was at a time when, sermons of our common friends Newman
and Manning having been withdrawn from circulation, the
want was felt, of some to replace them. I did not then publish
these sermons, on a ground which in the eyes of some will
give them now a special charm ; their simplicity. I wanted
sermons for the intellectual classes, and these were written
for the poor. I feared too that, since they were written un
der circumstances, wliich required the writer to withhold so
much of his thought, their publication would rather be dis
appointing. I asked him, from time to time, for sermons,
like those of his, whieh were preached at the Consecration
of St. Saviour's, Leeds. He told me at last ; " They said to
me, that I was preaching over the people's heads, and so I
changed my style."
The characteristic then of these sermons is their affec
tionate simplicity. Here and there, there occur hints of
an accurate theology, or gleams of poetic thought, or what
would have been eloquence, had it been developed. But
so, through human mismanagement, it was arranged, that
the writer of "the Christian Tear" should, for the chief part
of his life, preach to a peasant flock, of average mental capa
city. He had been chosen as one of the " select Preachers "
before the University when not yet 30, and again seven
years later in 1828. In 1833, at the appointment of the
Vice-Chancellor, Dr Rowley, he preached an Assize sermon
at Oxford, which formed an era in the Oxford movement.

iv Notice.
One more Sermon, " On Church and State," he preached
at the appointment of the same Vice-Chancellor, on the
anniversary of the accession of King William IV in 1835.
On the following year, 1836, at the visitation of Dr Dealtry,
Chancellor of "Winchester, he preached a remarkable Ser
mon, " Primitive Tradition recognised in Holy Scripture."
Thenceforth, as far as I know, no one gave any opportunity
for that voice (whose every word, in our early years, rivetted
the thoughts of us all) to be heard by any intellectual audi
ence, until, when he had reached the threescore years and
ten, the late Vice-Chancellor, Dr Lightfoot, asked him to
undertake the ofiice of select Preacher. The invitation
drew out an answer of his characteristic modesty; that
" his voice was no longer strong enough to be heard, and
that he himself was not of the calibre for such a congre
gation." With these rare exceptions, his high intellectual
gifts were (as far as man gave him the opportunities) con
fined to teaching his Hampshire village -children and his
peasant flock.
And so ended the. history of his preaching, according to
that wide law of God's Providence, Who, while He accepts
what would be done, as if it were done, and forms, the
more, active souls through the inaction to wliich they are
assigned, allows or orders that so many of His gifts should
in human sight be wasted. It is not in the English Church
alone, that gifts are wasted and those whose talents might
be treasures to the Church are misplaced. What the
Mind of Him, Who formed their minds in so rare a mould,
was in this apparent waste, will be known in that Day
alone, when He "maketh up His jewels," and the light,
which men hid here, shall shine the more brightly in the
Eternal Day.
E. B. P,
Christ Church,Trinity Sunday. 1868.

CONTENTS.

SERMON I.
JUNE 17, 1849.
Acts xix. 5. Page
' They were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus." 1
SERMON H.
FEAST OF St. JOHN BAPTIST. 1849.
St. Luke iii. 16.
' I indeed baptize with water, but One mightier than- 1
an.wth, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy
to unloose, He shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost and with fire." . . . . . . 10
SERMON IH.
JULY 1, 1849.
Eph. iv. 5.
One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism." ... 19

vi CONTENTS.
SERMON IV.
JULY 8, 1849.
Ps. li. 6.
'' Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath
my mother conceived me." ...» 29
SERMON V.
JULY 15, 1849.
Ezekiel xxxvi. 25.
" Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you
shall be clean." .....•• 36
SERMON VI.
JULY 22, 1849.
St. John vi. 44.
" No man can come unto Me, except the Father which .>
hath sent Me draw him." ..... 46
SERMON VII.
JULY 29, 1849.
1 St. PETEKiii. 20, 21.
" The long-suffering of God wa/ited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was a preparing j wherein few,
that is, eight souls, were saved by water : the like
figure whereunto, even Baptism, doth now save us." 56
SERMON Vin.
SEPTEMBER 2, 1849.
I.Coe. x. 1, 2.
"All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea : and were all baptized unto Moses
¦-, in the cloud and in the sea." .... 65

CONTENTS. Vii
SERMON LX.
SEPTEMBER 9, 1849.
St. Matt. iii. 15.
" Thus it becometh its to fulfil aU righteousness." . 76
SERMON X.
SEPTEMBER 18, 1849.
1 Coe. vi. 11,
"But ye are washed, but ye are sanctijied, in the
Name qf the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our
God."  86
SERMON XI.
SEPTEMBER 23, 1849.
St. Matt. vii. 11.
"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more shall your
Fatlier which is in heaven give good things to them
that ask Him." ....... 96
SERMON XH.
september 30, 1849.
St. Mark x. 14.
" Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and for
bid them not; for of such is the kingdom qf God." 106
SERMON XIH.
OCTOBER 7, 1849.
Deut. xxxiii. 27.
" The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are
the Everlasting Arms." . . . . . 116

viii contents.
SERMON XIV.
OCTOBER 14, 1849.
Psalm cxix. 32.
"I will run the way of Thy Commandments, when
Thou hast set my heart at liberty." . . . 126
SERMON XV.
OCTOBER 21, 1849.
Psalm 1. 5.
" Gather My saints together unto Me, those that have
made a covenant with Me by sacrifice." A . 135
SERMON XVI.
OCTOBER 28, 1849.
2 Coe. vi. 14.
" What Oomriiunion hath light with darkness ? " . 144
SERMON XVII.
NOVEMBER 4, 1849.
Acts viii. 36, 37.
" The eunuch said, See here is water ; what does hin
der me to be baptized ? and Philip said, If thou
believest with all thine heart, thou mayest." . . 154
SERMON XVIII.
NOVEMBER 11, 1849.
St. Luke xiv. 23.
" Compel them to come in."  X63

contents. ix
SERMON XIX.
NOVEMBER 18, 1849.
Jeremiah vii. 23.
"This thing commanded I them, saying, Obey My
Voice, and I will be your God and ye shall be My
people."  17,3
SERMON XX.
JANUARY 20, 1850.
Colossians ii. 12.
" Buried with Him in Baptism, wherein also ye are
risen with Him." ...... 181
SERMON XXI.
JUNE 2, 1850.
Colossians i. 23.
"If ye continue in the Faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the Gos
pel which ye have heard." . . . . .189
SERMON XXH.
JUNE 9, 1850.
St. John xix. 34, 35.
" One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side,
and forthwith came there out Blood and Water ;
and he that saw it bare record, and his record is
true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye
might believe." ....... 197

X CONTENTS.
SERMON XXIII.
JUNE 16, 1850.
St. Matt, xxviii. 19.
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the Name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost."  207
SERMON XXTV.
JUNE 23, 1850.
Zechariah xiii. 1.
" In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and for uncleanness." .... 217
SERMON XXV.
JULY 7, 1850.
Rev. iii. 12.
" I will write upon him My new Name." . . . 227
SERMON XXVI.
JULY 14, 1860.
Proverbs xviii. 10.
"The Name of the Lord is a strong tower; ihe
righteous runneth into it, and is safe." . . . 237
SERMON XXVII.
JULY 21, 1850.
Romans vi. 4.
" We are buried with Him by Baptism into death ;
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of tlie Father, even so we also should
walk, in newness of life." ..... 246

contents. xi
SERMON XXVIII.
AUGUST 11, 1850.
St. Matt. x. 38.
" He tliat taketh not his Cross and followeth after Me,
is not worthy of Me"  254
SERMON XXIX.
AUGUST 18, 1850.
' Mark viii. 38.
" Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of
My words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of him also' shall' the Son ofMan'be ashamed, when'
He cometh in the glory of His Father with the
holy Angels."  264
SERMON XXX.
AUGUST 25, 1850.
St. John xv. 3, 4.
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you. , Abide in Me, and I in you." . 272
SERMON XXXI.
september 1, 1850.
1 Thess. v. 23, 24.
" The very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I
pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be
preserved bla/meless unto tlie Corning of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, Who
also will do it."  282

xii contents.
SERMON XXXII.
SEPTEMBER 8, 1850.
1 Sam. i. 22.
"I will bnng him, that he may appear before the
Lord, and there abide for ever." . . . . 292
SERMON XXXIII.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1850.
Psalm Ixxxiv. 7.
fc They will go from strength to strength, and unto
the God of gods appeareth every one qf them in
Sion."  301

SERMON I.

Acts xix. 5.
" They were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus?1
You know that there are in our Prayer Book, besides
the regular morning and evening services, appointed
for the use of the whole Church every day through
out the year : — I say you know that besides these
there are certain services, sometimes called occa
sional because they are only needed on certain spe
cial occasions. Such as the Offices for Holy Baptism
and Holy Communion, for the Visitation of the Sick,
the Burial of the Dead, and others. For as the
Church by her morning and evening prayer does as
it were sanctify and offer to God through Christ all
our ordinary course of life, so she is careful, like a
good and perfect Mother, . to sanctify and offer up
also, on our behalf, all the chief events and changes
of every Christian man's life, his birth, his growth
and nourishment, his coming to man's estate, his
marriage, his sickness, his death. Our birth she
sanctifies by giving us Holy Baptism ; our growth
and nourishment by Holy Communion ; our coming
A

2 Holy Baptism.
of age, by Confirmation; our marriage, by the
office of Holy Matrimony ; our sickness, by the Visi
tation office ; our death by the office of Burial. Thus
from beginning to end, our gracious Mother the
Church waits upon us all ; and these, the occasional
Services in the Prayer Book, are the means whereby
she waits upon us.
Not a sore, not a sickness in our life, but she is
there to heal it : not a hope, not a blessing, but she is
there to make it doubly blessed. Oh ! happy and
comfortable indeed are they, who go on in this faith
from their cradles to their graves : accounting it
their greatest privilege, that Christ died to receive
them, newly-born, in His Arms : their chief help, that
whatever happens to them for joy or for sorrow, He
still holds their hands ; and their best and only hope,
that, whenever they die, He will be at hand, enabling
them to offer their death as well as their life in
sacrifice to Him. I am sure, my beloved Brethren,
it must do us much good, if we can get into a way
of thinking deeply and steadily on these things:
remembering all our life long, that, whatever happens
to us, the Church our Mother is at hand to turn it into
a great blessing. Therefore I intend, please God, to
go on from time to time in a course of regularly ex
plaining some ofthe occasional Services ofthe Church;
and of course I begin with Baptism, because Baptism
is the beginning, the first thing whereby each one
of us has to do with the Church of God.
Now we all know in a general way, out of the
Catechism, what Holy Baptism is.
We know in the first place, that it is a Sacrament
ordained by Christ in His Church : that is to say, that

Holy Baptism. 3
it has in it something inward and something outward;
the water which we see, and the grace of God which
we do not see : both appointed by Jesus Christ Him
self, Who did also appoint the words which should
go along with the water in order to give the grace,
viz. that the Person baptizing should say, " In the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost." All this we know well, whether we have thought
much of it or no. We have been used to see child
ren so baptized : we know that we were so baptized
ourselves, and we should account it a very wrong
and inexcusable thing, if we knew of any person
omitting to have his children so baptized. Because
Baptism is the regular way out of the world into the
Church, out of Satan's kingdom into the Kingdom of
God ; and any one wilfully neglecting it, wilfully
leaves himself, or those belonging to him, in the
world and out ofthe Church, in the power of Satan
and not in the family of God. And therefore as
Baptism is a blessing, whereof the world hath not the
like, so neglect of Baptism, and unthankfulness for
it, is one of the most grievous sins which a Christian
can be guilty of. All this, as I said, we all of us
know in a way. Let us now see what special care
Holy Church has taken in our Prayer Book to put
us in mind of all this, and warn us against making
light of it.
First, if you will look in the Bubric i. e. in the
directions of the Church, set before the Baptismal
Service, you will see that we the Clergy are to ad
monish you, that Baptism should not be administered
but upon Sundays and Holydays, when the most
A 2

4 Holy Baptism.
number of people come together. For being so great
an act, it ought to be transacted in the most solemn
manner possible. When a king or queen is crowned,
you know, the day is set beforehand, and all the chief
people in the country are gathered together. All the
nobles and great men of the land are made witnesses
of what is done. So when persons are married, it is
not a thing to be done in secret, but publicly in the
face of the Church. They are to come into the Church
with their friends and neighbours, after notice
publicly given.
Now Baptism is in some respects a coronation and
a marriage. The child of the very meanest beggar,
though he be brought to the Font in rags, and have
no home to be carried to afterwards, yet is he then
and there most truly crowned a great king. For it
is written, " He hath made us kings and priests unto
God and His Father." Every Christian is a king,
for he is a member of Christ the Great King ; and
therefore every Baptism is a Coronation, more solemn
and glorious in the sight of God than the crowning
of the greatest Emperor on earth : and as the princes
and nobles of the land make haste to be present when
a king is crowned, so the Holy Angels and the Saints
reigning in Heaven are no doubt present unseen by
us, whenever a little child is Christened. Again,
every Baptism is a marriage, because in it by a won
derful working the Holy and Almighty Spirit of God
unites the baptized person to the mystical Body of
our Lord, making him a member of Christ, who was
before but a child and limb of Adam, in all his natu
ral uncleanness. Christ Himself teaches us to. say
that Baptism makes such an one " bone of His Bone

Holy Baptism. 5
and flesh of His Flesh." Therefore it is a marriage
and more than a marriage, being indeed that of which
earthly marriage is but a figure : and being a marriage
it is best to be public as a marriage solemnly contract
ed and proclaimed before proper witnesses, and bless
ed by the Lord in the hearing of men and Angels.
For such reasons as these, it is convenient that
Baptisms should generally be celebrated, not at home
but in Church ; and not on ordinary days but on Sun
days and those Holy days when the most people
come together. From that time forward there can be
no doubt of the person or child so received being a
Christian, — and all the congregation, being made
witnesses of it, are bound thenceforward to treat him
as a Christian : to pray for him, and shew all bro
therly love towards him. So that neither he himself
nor any one else may any more doubt of his being a
Christian, than of his being a man born naturally
into the world. And every one present at his Bap
tism will be a witness against him hereafter, that, if
he go wrong, it is not because he never received
God's grace, but because through wilful sin he re
ceived it in vain.
Our Church mentions also another reason why
Baptism should be as public as possible : viz. that
every man there present should be reminded of his
own Baptism. I am sure we must all feel how great
need we have of being so reminded. Although Bap
tism is the greatest of blessings and makes the great
est difference to us all, yet we are apt to pass days
and weeks with very little thought of it, because it
was provided for us without our knowledge or trou
ble, and because we see that almost all whom we

6 Holy Baptism.
know of are baptized. And yet the Angels, who
are all around us invisibly, know that God in giving
us Baptism gave us the greatest of all favours, a fa
vour which He has bestowed on very few of the
children of Adam : for the most part, by very far,
never even heard of the Name of Christ. We ought
therefore to make very much of the opportunities
which God gives us of being present at Baptism and
joining in the prayers and thanksgivings there.
When there is a pause, as the manner is, after the
second Lesson, and you see the Minister go towards
the Font, and the nurses with the children waiting
to meet him there, and hear him ask of each one of
them, " hath this child been already baptized or no ?"
then think with yourself, "so it was with me one
day : I was carried to the Font in like manner.
I was met there by God's Minister, and God by him
adopted me before the Congregation to be His own
child. Alas ! how little have I thought of it since !
how unthankful have I been for that unspeakable
gift ! nay, have I not gone near to cast it away for
ever by wilful grievous sin ? " Again, when you see
the congregation all turning towards the Font, and
watching and listening as they are apt to do at a Bap
tism, think with yourself, " Even so do guardian an
gels, as many of them as here present in God's House,
though to us invisible : even so they in this moment
are turning in their heavenly watchfulness the very
same way ; they are waiting in all reverence for the
Holy Ghost to come down and set His seal upon
this child, that they may begin to take the little one
into their especial charge : and did they not, so many
years ago, wait in like manner on the christening

Holy Baptism. 7
of me unworthy? did they not take me also into their
charge ? and I alas ! how have I requited their care ?
May I not fear that at this very moment they may
be regarding me with a kind of disappointment, and
hoping that this child now to be baptized may prove
far other than I have been ? "
My brethren, if such thoughts as these ever come
into your mind when you are present at a christ
ening, do not, I beseech you, let them pass quickly
away : try to carry them home with you, and to renew
them very often. For instance, when you see young
and innocent children, and take notice of their happy
ways, say sometimes to yourself; " Ah, they have a
right to be happy, for they have received the Un
speakable Gift and have not yet cast it away. Christ's
wonderworking Touch renewed the original Image
of God in their souls, and they have not yet effaced
it by wilful grievous sin, nor done anything to stamp
there the image of the evil one instead. Well, then,
may they be happy and joyous : but as for me, I
know that in proportion to my sins I ought to go on
with humble fear and trembling : and then (blessed
be His Name) my lamp, kindled in Holy Baptism,
will not have quite burned out when the Bridegroom
cometh : then Baptismal grace will revive and
flourish in me, and death and judgment will find me
still a member of Christ, a child of God, and an In
heritor of the Kingdom of Heaven."
These, my Brethren, and such as these are the
thoughts to do us good when we are present at others'
Baptism, to remember, as we join in prayer for them,
that the very same puayers were once said in Church
for us : as we listen to the answers, made by their

8 Holy Baptism.
Sponsors, that the very same engagements were made
for us also : as we hear the Priest say the solemn
words, and see him pour the water upon them, that
over us also the water was poured, and the Thrice
Holy Name pronounced : — and what if it should prove
all in vain ? What if this little simple child, whose
Baptism we have been now attending, should rise up
with us in the Judgment, and condemn us for
not repenting now at least, now that God by this
means has brought it all before our mind ?
By this, you may partly understand how much
good it might do us all, if we permitted the Baptism
of others to remind us of our own Baptism : and there
fore how like a Mother's love it is, that, our holy
Church takes order for one being so reminded as often
as possible : directing not only the place of Baptism,
that it should be in the Church, but the time also,
that it should be when most come together.
As for the grace given to the infants baptized,
that is as well provided for, be the Baptism never so
private : in a Church with only the Sponsors, or, as
you know often happens in sickness or alarm, in a
private room. The Spiritual grace, we trust, is the
same ; but the profit of the example to others is likely
to be greater, the more are present. The Church
for such purposes is, "Wheresoever two or three are
gathered together in Christ's Name." The priest, the
nurse, and the infant, are three gathered in Christ's
Name and in obedience to His Will. Doubt ye not
therefore, but earnestly believe that a child so offer
ed receives the fulness of baptismal blessings : only,
as I said, the more witnesses are by, to be reminded
of their own Baptism, the better.

Holy Baptism. 9
Thus have you heard concerning the Church's
care in ordaining that Baptism should be as public
as possible. Let us see to it, brethren, that her mo
therly tenderness be not thrown away upon us. . Let
us not be careless unthankful children of such a wise
and loving Parent. So often as we see others bap
tized, and hear what is promised in their name,
surely we are without excuse, if we ever let a day
pass without thanking God for our own Baptism and
examining ourselves how we haye kept our vows.

SERMON II.

St. Lube iii. 16.
lt I indeed baptise you with water, but One mightier than
I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy
to unloose ; He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost
and with fireP
When you come into Church, the first thing you
see is the Font, close to the principal entrance. We
all know, why it is placed there ; it is, because Bap
tism is the beginning, the way into the Kingdom of
Heaven, and, without Baptism, there is no ordmary
way to the other good things which our Lord gives
us in His Church. We must pass by the Font, in
order to take our place among God's people for Prayer,
before hearing of Scriptures, for Confession and
Absolution, for Confirmation and all other Holy ordi
nances, and especially for Holy Communion. And
as the Font stands at the entrance of the Church,
so Baptism, if you mark it, stands at the beginning
of the Gospel. The very first- thing related in the
history of the New Testament is the promise given to
Zacharias that St. John Baptist should be born. St.
Mark's Gospel opens as follows; "The beginning of

Christian Baptism, how greater than St. John's. 11
the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God ; as it is
written in the prophets, Behold I send My messen
ger before Thy Face, which shall prepare Thy way
before Thee ; The Voice of one crying in the wilder
ness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths
straight. John did baptize in the wilderness, and
preach the Baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins." St. John, as soon as ever he has declared
the Godhead of Jesus Christ, and His wonderful
Incarnation, goes on to tell us of John the Baptist,
how He came to bear witness of that Light, bap
tizing with water. St. Matthew relates at large,
how our Lord, when He would begin His ministry,
came to be baptized by St. John in Jordan. Thus
in every one of the Gospels you see that Baptism
was the beginning. But what Baptism ? Not that
of Christ, but that of him who was only the fore
runner of Christ. The Master Himself did not for a
long time begin to baptize, but left it entirely to
His servant. St. John's Baptism, to which the people
from all parts thronged so largely, was not at all the
same thing with the Baptism which we have re
ceived, and at which we are continually present in
the, holy Church. It was no Sacrament of Christ, as
our's is. No special promise of heavenly grace was
added to it ; much less the great and heavenly Pro
mise, " He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved." Hear how the Holy Baptist himself points
out the difference of the two. " One mightier than
I cometh, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not wor
thy to stoop down and unloose." That was one un
speakable difference, namely in the persons baptiz
ing : no lesser difference than between God and man.

12 Christian Baptism,
Another was the difference in the Baptism itself.
" I indeed baptize you with water, but He shall bap
tize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." St.
John had no power but to apply the outward sign.
The Holy Ghost he could not give ; but when our
Lord began to baptize on and after the Day of Pente
cost, He baptized with the Holy Ghost — the same
Holy Ghost Who on that day came down as fire, as
fiery tongues lighting on the Apostles.
And when St. John spake of our Lord thus bap
tizing, he meant no other than the Baptism which
now goes on in the Christian Church. Wonderful
as it is to think of, yet by God's mercy we believe it
to be most certainly true, that this prophecy of the
Baptist is fulfilled even among ourselves, as often
as a young child is brought to yonder Font to be
baptized. The person then and there baptizing is
not St. John nor any mortal man, but it is our Lord
Jesus Christ Himself : the Priest or Deacon standing
there in his surplice, and taking up the child in his
arms, is in himself nothing at all to the Baptism ;
whether he be good or bad, the infant is just as
truly christened: because the minister is simply
and only a token of the Presence of Jesus Christ,
Who by him takes the child into His loving Arms,
pours the water upon him, and blesses hiin with the
very greatest of His gifts and blessings, i. e. with
the Holy Spirit then and there given him, to make
him " a member of Christ, a child of God, and an in
heritor of the Kingdom of Heaven. ' ' This, I say, this
great and miraculous work is truly wrought among
Christians, whensoever and wheresoever any one is
rightly baptized : and though there seem to be as

how greater than St. John's. 13
many baptizers as there are ministers to apply the
water, yet all the while there is but one Baptizer,
even Jesus Christ Himself, even as all are baptized
with one and the same Spirit. All this goes on as
truly and as wonderfully, whenever a child is christ
ened here, as it did in Jerusalem on the day of
Pentecost, the first day of Christian Baptism, when
they who gladly received St. Peter's words were bap
tized, not with water only, but with the Holy Ghost
also and with fire.
As a certain proof, how much greater and holier
the Baptism of Christ was than the Baptism of John,
we read again and again in the Acts of the Apostles
how they who had received John's Baptism only,
were obliged, on becoming Christians, to be again
baptized with water. And again, whereas St. John
Baptist simply baptized men with water unto repent
ance, our Lord in His Baptism, i. e. His Apostles
and Priests in His Name, always baptized in the
Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Ghost : for so He Himself had ordained. This again
is a great difference, a hidden wonder of Christian
Baptism, that in it the Name of the most Holy Tri
nity is put upon men, which it was not in St. John's
Baptism. Thus every way is our Baptism so much
higher and more blessed than St. John's, that there
is no comparing them one with another.
See then how high and holy and sacred even St.
John's Baptism was, how much it required of the
baptized person, and consider thereupon what man
ner of persons we ought to be, who have received so
much greater gift from a Person so much more holy
and glorious.

14 Christian Baptism,
For indeed St. John was a very holy person filled
with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb :
such an one that our Lord said, " Among them that
were born of women there had not arisen a greater
Prophet." And our Saviour gives us to understand
that St. John's appearing among the Jews left them
entirely without excuse, if they continued in their
impenitence. " John came unto you in the way of
righteousness, but ye received him not." But if, the
Jews of that time were without excuse for not re
ceiving John the Baptist ; what shall we say for our
selves, in so far as we stand off and refuse to receive
Jesus Christ ? John, when he had baptized any, went
away generally from them or they from him, and
they saw no more of him : yet the mere remem
brance of him ought to have been enough to keep
them in order. But we Christians know and are
sure, that He who baptized us is with us >always.
He is with us always, by day and by night, watching
to see whether we are keeping the promise which we
made to Him, whether we are making use of the gift
and grace which He trusted us with. And then,
what great things He hath done for us ! The Israel
ites, when St. John first appeared, thought it a great
thing that he had spent so much time in the desert,
hardly clothed and sparely fed, in order that he might
prepare himself to do them good : but what is that to
our Baptizer, Who left the glories of heaven to do us
good, and made Himself one of us, to live a whole life
in the wilderness of this world, among evil men and
evil spirits, and at last had Himself crucified for us ?
Again, the Baptism of St. John was a very serious
matter for the Jews of that time, because it required

how greater than St. John's. 15
a solemn confession of sin : as we read, " Then went
out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jeru
salem, and were all baptized of him in the river of
Jordan, confessing their sins." It is a fearful thing
to come into the presence of the Living and True God,
bringing with you the sad account, how grievously
you from time to time had offended Him. But if it
was a sharp and severe trial to confess with a view to
that Baptism by water only, much more is that con
fession sharp and severe, wliich Christian Baptism re
quires of all grown-up persons who have received, or
are to receive It : because if we keep back anything
from that confession, we do not only profane a holy
ceremony, as persons coming lightly to St. John's
Baptism did ; but we make void the grace, the par
doning grace of our God, and cause His merciful ab
solving Words to be of none effect ; and besides, people
coming to St. John had only to acknowledge what
they had done amiss in their natural unregenerate
condition : but our sins are the sins of the regene
rate ; so much worse than their's, by how much the
grace we have received is greater. We alas ! are so <
used to transgress and to see others transgress, as a
matter of course, that it is very hard for the most
thoughtful of us all to think seriously enough of
the hideousness of his own sins : but let us use our
selves, when we confess, to recollect for a little
moment what passed in the moment of our Baptism. '
Who was there : what a solemn promise we made
Him : what a heavenly lift He gave us, that we may
have power to keep that promise: — what a thing
then it was for us wilfully and knowingly to break
that promise, and to affront Him to His Face : and

16 Christian Baptism,
that, not once or twice, but as often as we have con
sented to known sin : hundreds, may be, or thousands
of times. Whose heart, alas ! would not die down
within him, when he thinks of all this, were it not that
by the same Baptism he obtained an interest in that
Saviour Who is always more ready to forgive, than
we to sin ; and so we may hope, that by true confes
sion even now, by true confession I say, and sincere
amendment — all may be set right, even with such an
one as he has been? But all will depend on our
being quite in earnest : very serious indeed, very
much concerned for our souls.
And this so much the more, as there is another
difference, a very remarkable one, between our case
and their's who came to St. John the Baptist. He
spake to them of the axe laid at the root of the trees,
ready to be used at any moment against any tree that
bore not fruit. Every such tree, he said, would be
1 ' hewn down and cast into the fire. ' ' It may be doubt
ful perhaps, whether St. John in those words did not
refer in part to the grievous troubles and judgments,
which were just then about to come on the Jewish
people : but there is no doubt whatever, that, when
the same words are uttered to us — when the Scrip
tures speak to us of the fire of judgment, and that
" our God is a consuming fire," — something is meant
far more terrible than the destruction of Jerusalem.
There is no doubt what the unquenchable fire is,
nor who are meant by the chaff which it will burn
up, and by the trees that will be cast into it, after
they have been hewn down for bearing no good fruit.
We sometimes, I daresay, think what a sad thing it
must have been to have lived in those times when

here greater than St. John's. 17
Jerusalem was finally destroyed ; and perhaps some,
who are mothers among you, may have felt horror
before now, on hearing or reading ofthe frightful suf
fering which came upon mothers and infants in that
siege, when the Prophet's saying came true, " The
hands of the pitiful tender-hearted women have sod
den their own children," and, as our Lord said, the bar
ren were blest, and it was woe to them that had child
ren to nurse. But if that history is shocking to
you, think, I pray you, this with yourselves, what if
the children of your own body, the little ones over
whom you have watched day and night, who seem
more dear to you than your own life — what if you
should see them one day cast into the unquenchable
fire, far worse than anything that happened at Jeru
salem, — because they cared not enough for their
Baptism, because, being tempted by the world, the
flesh and the devil, they sinned away the grace which
the Great Baptizer had given them ? What if some
of you mothers should have to witness this horrible
end of your children ? And what if you should
then have to reproach yourselves, that, although you
brought them to be christened, you took no real and
earnest care to bring them up afterwards in the me
mory of their christening ?
Many such thoughts are brought into a consider
ate person's mind by the yearly return of St. John
Baptist's day : and more so, perhaps, as the world
grows older and the axe is more evidently laid at
the root of the trees. All seems tending to decay
and confusion : except so far as there are any, who
are willing like the Baptist to lead holy and mortified
lives — to deny themselves for the sake of their Lord

18 Jesus' Baptism greater than St. John's.
and Saviour. As Jerusalem in her latter days, when
she was on the edge of the final reprobation and ruin,
had the Holy Baptist sent to her for a solemn warn
ing, if haply she would repent in time for our Lord's
first coming : so this old worn-out world of ours now
perhaps, in her latter days, may be favoured more or
lesswithholy and self-denying examples, "witnesses"
as the Scripture says, " clothed in sackcloth " — to
warn her of the Judge standing before the door, the
Lord of the harvest approaching with His fan in His
Hand. Bepentance and self-denial prepared the
way for the first Advent of our Saviour : and if we
would be ready for His second Advent, we must
repent and deny ourselves. That is the only way to
save ourselves, and it is the likeliest way to do good
to the souls of others. Do you not see that, on the
whole, he who is most in earnest can do most in win
ning hearts to God ? and how are people to prove
themselves in earnest, but by repenting of their sins
and by denying themselves for the love of Christ and
the Church? Do this, and your Baptism will be a joy
to you at the last Day. But if you will not repent,
nor deny yourself, it were better for you never to
have been baptized, never to have been brought to
Christ at . all.

SERMON III.

Ephesians iv. 5.
" One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.''''
Do you not perceive, by the very sound of these /
words, what a great and holy thing Baptism must '
be : seeing that it is reckoned up with the greatest ,
and holiest Name of all — the Name of our Lord !
Jesus Christ, and of God the Father of all — and with
faith in those Names ? as though it were not altoge
ther sufficient for us to have all one Lord, one faith J
and one God, but we must also have one Baptism.
Plainly we are here given to understand two great
truths concerning that holy Sacrament : first, that it
is a very solemn thing — one of the most solemn and
important that can possibly be : and secondly, that
it can come but once ; a man can be baptized only
once in his life.
Now regarding the solemnity of Baptism I have
shewn you from the Bubric in the Prayer Book, at
the beginning of the Baptismal Service, what care
the Church takes, to make it as public as she can,
that all persons may think much of it, in fliat it is
b 2

20 Solemnity of Holy Baptism
appointed to be, if possible, only on great days. Now
I will remind you of some more things of the same
kind, which have already been pointed out in the
Catechising. It is convenient that Baptism be administered in
the vulgar tongue : i. e. in the English language, not
in the Latin which has sometimes been used in the
Church : in order that all persons present may be
more effectually reminded of their own Baptism.
Now see, how certainly this makes every one of us
answerable before God for a devout remembrance
of his Baptism, as being indeed that good work,
whereby he was made a member of Christ, a child
of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of Hea
ven. If we lived in Spain or Italy, or France, and
did not understand the words of the service when we
heard it, then of course we could not out of that
Service learn the doctrine of Holy Baptism : but as
it is, if we will but attend, we can hardly help learn-'
ing a great deal : how that we were all conceived and
born in sin, that we cannot get out of this miserable
condition and enter into the Kingdom of God with
out being born again of water and the Holy Ghost ;
that this new birth takes place at Baptism, seeing
that before the child is christened we pray to God
that he may be regenerate, and after he is christened,
we thank God that he is regenerate; and that, being
once baptized, his great care must be to keep the
good thing then given him, daily dying to sin, and
rising again unto righteousness. All this and more
those who will, may learn for themselves, by merely
attending to the service of our Church whenever a
child is baptized. And are we not then without

¦impressed by the Church. 21
excuse, if we think little of our own Baptism ? Will
not those Christians one day rise up in judgment
against us, who, although they cannot understand the
words ofthe Baptismal service, do yet believe and re
member what a great gift they then received, saying
to themselves as St. Paul says for us all, "If we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit ?"
Observe what the Church next appoints : " There
shall be for every male child to be baptized two
Godfathers and one Godmother, and for every female
one Godfather and two Godmothers." Now this again
is a very solemn circumstance : for the Godfathers
and Godmothers are in a manner deputies appointed
by the Church to bring the child to Almighty God
and beseech Him to receive him : and by coming for
ward as they do, they not only make themselves
answerable for the child, in the manner which is ex
plained at the end of this service, and that, publicly
before all men, but they also are a kind of token of the
great care which the Church takes to make our Bap
tism as solemn as possible. It is a great honor done
to them, that the Church should permit them to bring
her little ones in their arms, and lay them as it were
at the feet of the great King, that He may take them
up in His Arms : just as it would be a great honor if
the queen should trust her young children to any
one to be carried any where, and to receive any
good thing.
Observe further, that notice is to be given, the
parents are to inform the Pastor of the parish over
night or in the morning before the service. Because
Baptism is a great Sacrament and nothing should be
done in it hastily and without preparation : and be-

22 Solemnity of Holy Baptism
cause the Pastor should have time to enquire about
the persons intended to be sponsors, and, if need be,
to talk with them or with the parents, since we see
and know of our own selves, that, in so holy a service
as Baptism, all who take part should at least be try
ing to be holy ; and, as it is greatly to be com
mended and a very charitable work, when sincere
and thoughtful persons, young or old, come forward
to present Christ's little ones at His Font, so it is a
great pity for any to come in a light and thoughtless
way ; much more if they be known neglecters of
Church-services and Sacraments; or if unhappily
they be notorious evil livers. All this is plain of
itself; and so is the motherly care of the Church in
taking that order which she doth, that the sponsors
may be such as to honor the Sacrament and do a
good part by the babe.
We may notice also, in what part of the service
the Sacrament of Baptism is appointed to be ad
ministered. It is to come after the second lesson;
and the second lesson, as you know, is always taken
from the New Testament. And do you not see how
suitable it is, that immediately after the written
Word of Christ should come the blessing of His Sa
cramental Word ? that such as He has been declared
in our hearing by His Holy apostles and prophets,
such He should come in our sight by the no less
Holy Mysteries which He Himself ordained ? even
as, when St. Peter first preached to the Jews, they
that gladly received his word were baptized: and
when he preached again to the gentiles, the Holy
Ghost fell upon all them that heard the word.
The Bubric goes on. The sponsors and people are

impressed by the Church. 23
to be ready at the Font, and then the Priest is to come
to them : the Font being, as we have before noticed,
close to the principal entrance, because Baptism is
the entrance into Christ's Spiritual Body: it is the
beginning of our Christian life, even as we begin
each new day by washing with water. When we
turn towards it, as we commonly do at the commence
ment of the baptismal service, well were it, if in heart
we always turned back towards our own Baptism,
remembering what a good beginning we then made,
and how grievous it will be, if our latter end be not
answerable. Take notice that this- Font is to he filled with pure i
water. The Water must be pure, because it is to
represent and convey the purest of all beings, the Holy
Spirit of God; and it must fill the Font, because
God's mercy is overflowing ; and because, as the ser
vice afterwards shews, it were well if the infant, not
being weak or sickly, might be plunged entirely in
the water, instead of merely having it poured on
him. • All things being thus prepared for the solemn out
ward baptizing of the child, the Priest begins the
office by asking, Hath this child been already bap
tized or no ? — H they answer no, he goes on at once :
if yes, he asks some three or four more questions, in
order to make sure of its having been rightly made
partaker of the Sacrament : of which questions I shall
speak presently : but in no case is either the same
Priest or any other ever to think of baptizing that
child again. Baptism can in no case be repeated :
it were a'kind of sacrilege, an utter abomination to
the Lord. Did you not hear, how solemnly St. Paul

24 Solemnity of Holy Baptism
told his Ephesian converts, "As -there is but one
Lord, and. one Faith, so there is but one Baptism."
Nor is the reason hard to see. Baptism is a kind of
birth, a second birth after the first, a new birth into
a new and spiritual life. Therefore it can come to us
once only. For as Nicodemus argued with our Savi
our, " How can a man be born when he is old ? can
he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and
be born ? " And our Lord answered by telling him,
not that a man could be born twice in the same kind
of birth, but that He was speaking of a different birth,
of quite another kind from that which Nicodemus was
thinking of. But in the same kind, man cannot be
born twice : so far Nicodemus was quite right : and
for this reason, that birth is always a beginning of
life, and there cannot be two beginnings of the same
life. Therefore as a man cannot litejally enter the
second time into his mother's womb, so neither can a
man be born more than once of water and ofthe Spirit.
As we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "It is im
possible for those who were once enlightened and have
tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of
God and the powers of the world to come, if they
shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance."
They cannot be baptized a second time, if they have
once quite lost and forfeited for ever the blessings of
their first baptism. The Church therefore in the
Nicene Creed acknowledges but "one Baptism for the
Bemission of sins." Those who fall away after Bap
tism and repent and amend and are saved at last,
are saved, not by a new Baptism, but by the mercy of
God awakening, as it were, within them the virtue of

impressea oy the Church. 25
their first Baptism which had gone to sleep. You
cannot be baptized a second time : if a person tried to
be so, it would be either in ignorance, and then I sup
pose it would just come to nothing — or, if he did it
by way of disparaging his former Baptism, surely it
would be a great and grievous sin, a sin and dis
honour done to a very special grace and Gift of the
Holy Ghost.
Nevertheless there are cases, in which the Church
is not content with asking whether the child hath
been before baptized or no : i. e. if a child is brought
to Church and they say it hath been already baptized,
still the Priest is to ask three or four questions (un
less he was himself the baptizer). He is to ask, By
whom was the child baptized ? and, Who was pre
sent ? — that the Church may have regular testimony
of its having been done. And then, for fear some
thing of importance might be left out, the Priest is
to ask two questions more, With what matter was this
child baptized ? and, With what words was this child
baptized ? Because in the outward part of Baptism,
there are two things of consequence, the element or
matter, which is the water, to bury the child in, or to be
poured or sprinkled upon it : and the. form of words,
ordained by our Lord Himself, "In the Name of the Fa
ther, and the Son and the Holy Ghost." If either of
these two were wanting, i. e. if the child were washed
or dipped in water, but not in the Sacred Name : or,
again, if the Name were said over it, but no water ap
plied to it ; then it would not be baptized : and it is to
make sure of its being baptized, that those two ques
tions are asked. When they are sufficiently answered,
then, says our Church, we are to make no doubt that

26 Solemnity of Holy Baptism
the child is lawfully and sufficiently baptized, and
ought by no means to be baptized again. He is not
half but wholly baptized, if the water have been once
applied in the saving Name. Thenceforth it is a
Christian ; not for a time, but for ever, unless by its
own wilful sin it finally cast away that grace. It
needs no more christening ; only, for its good and
for the Church's satisfaction, it must be presented
publicly in Church and make its profession before
God by its godfathers. But by no means, and in no
sense, can it ever be baptized or christened again.
" Once baptized and always baptized," that is a
point for us all to muse deeply over. All of us na
turally think a good deal of any thing that is done once
for all : it seems such a sad thing, should it be wrong
ly done : we feel beforehand how miserable it will be,
should we have bye and' bye the feeling that it was
all wrong, all ill done, and at the same time that it
never can be mended. Think of the great turning
point of this our earthly life, such as, choice of busi
ness or employment, e. g. when a lad enlists to be a
soldier, or is bound apprentice to any trade; and
more especially if a person marries ; for that of course
is the great turning point in respect of this world's
happiness or discomfort. This is the fearful, anxious
thing, that, when we make a choice in such mat
ters, we choose for good and all : it settles one way
through life : if we are right, it is well ; but if wrong,
we must bear it : it can hardly or at all be mended.
But what is all the good or evil of this one short
space of time here, compared with what depends on
the moment of our Baptism ? what signifies success
or failure in this or that profession, this or that line

impressed by the Church. 27
of life, compared with our keeping or not keeping
the grace of regeneration? To baptize is a thing
done in a very short time : the water is poured on the
child in a moment : the words are said in a very few
moments : but to that brief and fleeting moment the
soul will look back through all eternity, in joy and
thanksgiving, or in bitter shame and remorse. All
the children of Adam will look back to the moment
of their natural birth, as to that which introduced
them to an eternity of joy or despair : but we, his
regenerate children, shall have to look back on the
moment of our Baptism also, as lifting us to a far
higher Heaven, or sinking us into a lower and more
miserable Hell.
My brethren, you know, better than I can tell you,
how you cherish, how you treasure and value this
short life of our's : with what unfeigned horror, for
the most part, you shrink from deadly sickness,
from fatal and alarming accidents, from everything
which you think apt to shorten your life. You
know how eagerly you welcome every plan which
at all promises to secure you from death, or those
whom you love, though it be but for a short
time. Why will you not as truly, as earnestly, trea
sure and value the baptismal grace of Christ — the
Holy Spirit given you at the Font, to abide in you,
if not driven away, not a few years, not all your life,
but in the whole of your being, in life, in death, in
Eternity ? If you had a jewel in your keeping, most
precious in itself, and of such virtue that, as long as
you wore it, it kept you from all serious sickness,
should you not prize that jewel very much, and not
let it lie about, to be caught up by those who would

28 Solemnity of Holy Baptism.
do you a mischief? Such a jewel, my Brethren, is
Baptismal Grace. 0 watch it well, hold it very
dear, never forget it, for it is exceeding precious:
and, if once entirely lost, it can never be recovered.
Life, this earthly mortal life, is still very dear to
us, even in our sickness and old age : people gene
rally cling to it, even when but little of it remains.
May not this too teach us something in respect of
our Baptismal life in Christ Jesus ? Too often and
too sadly is that life within us impaired by griev
ous sin : and not seldom are we tempted to put by
all thought of it : to give ourselves up in despair say
ing, " Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die." I
beseech you, never for one moment hearken to any
such thought. What if you are grievously fallen ?
By His great mercy your Baptismal life remains, you
are not given over by the heavenly Physician ; else
why are you here, caring at all about your sins ?
As you value and take care of your life, even when
you are on your sick bed, so and much more, for
Christ's sake, I pray you to value and take care of
your soul, diseased but not yet dead i take care of it,
nurse it well, keep it from evil, cleanse and
chasten it with penitence; feed it, if God permit,
with Holy Communion. Such methods, taken in
earnest, cannot fail in time to effect a complete cure :
by virtue of that holiest seal which the Spirit of
Christ set on you in Baptism — the Name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. What if you
are weak and fallen? In that Name Christ bids
you arise : in that Name He once for all gave you
power to obey His bidding : and if you do obey it,
in that Name He will bless you for ever.

SERMON IV.

PSALM li. 6.
" Behold, I was shapen in wickedness and in sin hath my
mother conceived me."
The first foundation and groundwork of the doctrine
of Baptism, and that on which all the rest of it de
pends, is the doctrine of original sin. What origi
nal sin is, you will find explained in one of the
XXXIX Articles of our Church which are printed
at the end of the Prayer Book. The ninth Article
says, "original sin is the fault and corruption of
every man naturally engendered of the offspring of
Adam — -whereby man is very far gone from original
righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to
evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the
Spirit." That is to say, that in every child born
into this world, however wise and good his parents,
and however earnestly they pray to God for him,
there is still something very bad, from the very first
moment of that child's being, affecting both his soul
and body. For so David says in the text, " I was
shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother
conceived me." David was shapen and conceived

30 Original sin.
like other men : his father Jesse was a good man :
and, if David was shapen and conceived in wicked
ness, so must have been all other men. So it was in
David's time as it is now ; so it has been in all times ;
so it will be to the end. Only one of the children
of Adam, that we are told of, was conceived without
sin; and that one was our Lord and Saviour, the
Child of Adam by the mother's side : but He was
not naturally conceived, but in some miraculous and
unspeakable way, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
All the rest, as soon as we were born and before,
were the worse for this original sin, this taint with
in us, very bad, very displeasing to Almighty God,
and quite sure, like a bad seed, to ripen into all sorts
of mischief, if only it were left to itself.
To some this may seem a hard saying, when they
look at a little child, whether it be their own or an
other's, and see how sweet and innocent it looks ;
as sweet and as innocent, to all outward appearance,
before it is christened as after. It may sound strange
in their ears, that the Priest should look at the sim
ple babe, lying so quietly in its nurse's arms, and
pronounce it to be in a wretched and sinful state.
For so he undoubtedly does, my brethren, when, hav
ing been told that it is yet unbaptized, he begins to
speak to the people and say, " Dearly beloved, foras
much as all men are conceived and born in sin :" so
going on to rehearse the doctrine of Baptism. Un
thinking persons might wonder at this : but after
all, why need it appear to them so much out of the
way ? They would at once own how true it was, if
one were to take up a child out of its cradle and say,
" this child does indeed look for the present most fair

Original sin. 31
and healthful; yet depend upon it, this child, like all
other children, must one day die ; nay, and he will
die very soon, if you do not provide him with the
food and medicine which are necessary for him."
You might think it odd, if a man took such pains to
teach you what you knew very well before ; but at
least you would not doubt the truth of it; for you
have long since known that we are all mortal, all
subject to pain and sickness : and this babe among
the rest. Look at the most miserable helpless per
son you know, him who is most entirely worn out
with age and disease, and fancy him what you know
he once was, an infant in his mother's or nurse's
arms ; can you be sure, that he too was not just as
fine and promising and happy a little creature as any
that you most admire now ? You are aware that it
is very possible ; therefore you would readily allow
that any child, of which you are now proud, may one
day be as the most deformed and decayed of your
acquaintance. Now why have I said all this about sickness and
the change which it and old age and the wear and
tear of life make in children ? In order that you
might better know, how to think on what the Prayer
Book teaches of original sin. For sin is in many
respects like sickness ; and original sin is like a na
tural taint, a bad constitution whieh the child in
herits from its father and mother. Adam and Eve,-
by their unhappy disobedience, brought the com
plaint upon themselves, and God in His wise and
just judgments, secret to us, permitted it to be con
veyed on to all their posterity : just as many sick
nesses, sometimes the result of sin, are known to run

32 Original sin.
in the blood of such and such families. As I said
then about bodily sickness and affliction, so now I
say about sin, which is the sickness of the soul. If
it seems hard to you to say of the babe at the Font,
"this infant is in original sin, he is subject to the
wrath of God," imagine to yourself the worst cri
minal that ever lived. Imagine Judas Iscariot, who
betrayed our Lord, and for whom, our Lord said,
good were it, if he had not been born : and consider
that he was once as harmless as any other little
babe, and very likely looked so ; and it may be his
mother little thought of his proving so wicked.
Therefore their sweet childish innocence is no proof
that there is not something very evil lying hid in
their nature. Does not the Bible tell us so plainly ?
"They are all gone out ofthe way; they are altogether
become abominable, there is none good, no not one."
"All have sinned and come short of the glory of
God." "The Heavens are not pure in His Sight:
how much less man that is a worm ! " And then
see how we turn out, if God leave us to ourselves.
See how children go on, if they are turned loose into
the world without education, and just permitted to
go their own way. They bear a full crop of sin and
vice of all kinds, as surely as a neglected piece of
ground bears no good fruit, but only thorns and
thistles. Why should not the ground as well bear
wheat and barley, grapes and apples ? It is cursed :
cursed for the sin of man : that is the only account
that can be given of the matter. So these hearts
and bodies of ours, having the heavy curse and mark
of that first transgression upon them, are naturally
inclined to evil, and, left to ourselves, every imagina-

Original sin. 33
tion of our thoughts would be only evil continually.
It is a sad thing, but there is no disputing it. The
best way is to leave off wondering, why or how such
a burden should be laid upon us, and thankfully and
gladly to accept the sure and certain remedy which
God has provided — Jesus Christ crucified, taught in
His Gospel, given in His Sacraments, present ever
more in His Church.
And indeed you do all accept Him, and I am most
thankful that you do, in one very chief matter, the
matter of which we are speaking: you all make
a point of bringing your young children to be chris
tened in good time. I only wish you thought as
much of this Sacrament of Food as you do of the
Sacrament of birth. It will be well with us, when we
are all as careful to come ourselves worthily and
-bring our children to the table of the Lord, as we are
to secure the benediction of His heavenly washing.
In the mean time it is no small mercy, that here at
least, among us, the enemy has not been able to make
Baptism little thought of. In some other places,
especially in large towns, I fear it is far otherwise :
I fear that thousands are born, bred, and sent ¦ out
into the wicked world with the foul stain of their
original sin upon them ; no holy name pronounced
over them ; no cross on their foreheads to drive away
the evil one. Whatever becomes of you, and where
ver you go, never, I beseech you, be partakers of this
sin : never be at all slack, nor encourage others to be
slack, about Holy Baptism. Never defer it without
cause : some have done so to their great grief. Let
those who belong to the family make it a matter of
earnest prayer, both before and after an infant is born,
c

34 Original sin.
that he may live to be baptized : and when he has
been so, let them remember it in earnest thanksgiv
ing. It would be well if we all made a point of ac
knowledging God's great goodness in having us
baptized, at least as often as we join in the general
thanksgiving, and praise Him for giving us the means
of grace. For of all the means of grace Baptism is
the first : and it is the way to all the rest.
But neither, on the other hand, may we ever safe
ly forget that, although the guilt of our birth-sin was
blotted out in our Baptism, yet the sin itself remains
like a spark from hell-fire within us, which may be
fanned into a flame, and the devil is always trying
to fan it. The lust of the flesh — evil desire— abideth
ever in them which are regenerate, and is not en
tirely subject to the law of God. Good Christians
are aware of it, and are always trying to tread it out
by holy discipline, prayer, and self-denial : they are
never satisfied, until every thought be reduced to the
obedience of Christ ; i. e. they never in this world feel
as if their work was done : the hidden, spark, they
are too well aware, is still lurking within them : sin is
there ; and their very soul shudders at the thought,
" what if some day or other it should be mortal sin ?
and surely it will be so, if I become careless in prayer,
if I do not cherish the grace given me in Baptism."
Or it may be likened to an inveterate ulcer, by God's
mercy in process of cure, yet still imperfectly cured :
subdued, but not entirely healed : if not attended to,
it will soon begin to grow worse, and will spread
afresh, no one can say how far. Or again, the rem
nant of birth-sin in the heart, may be fitly compared
to the root of an obstinate weed, which lingers in the

Original sin. 35
ground, when most of the plant has been cut out.
You must keep on noticing, vexing, persecuting it,
as constantly as ever you can, if you would make
sure of its never growing to a head in your ground
again. Bemember all this for yourself, and remem
ber it for your children also, and for others who are
under your care. Be always owning God's mercy in
having you and them baptized : be always using the
grace then given to destroy the remnant of evil
then left within you. So shall it be found, when you
come to die and rise again, that the spark, the root,
the infection of Adam's sin, has quite wasted away
from your heart and your body. So will there be
good hope, that the baptismal days of yourself and
your children will be feasts and good days to you for
ever. And if places known on earth are recollected
on high, the Font in which you were baptized will
be to you as a bright spot, not fading, but more and
more gladdening to think of, as you go deeper on in
Eternity.

o2

SERMON V.

Ezekiel xxxvi. 25.
" Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall
be clean.''''
As meat is by nature necessary to cure hunger, and
drink to allay thirst, and sleep to remove the weari
ness of watching, and fire and clothing to keep off
the cold, and shelter to protect us from ill weather,
so is Holy Baptism necessary, by the rules of God's
heavenly kingdom, to allay and cure, to keep off and
remove, the sin and misery in which we were born.
So the Priest proceeds to tell us at the beginning of
the Baptismal Service. He tells us first of our mi
sery : "all men are conceived and born in sin :" and
then he tells us of the remedy which the merciful
God has provided. " None can enter into the king
dom of God, except he be regenerate and born anew
of water and of the Holy Ghost ; " as if he should
say, Were we left as we are by nature, all would be
lost ; but the good God has provided a remedy : be
sides the kingdom and power of Satan under which
we are by nature, there is the kingdom and power
of God, in which is entire happiness, perfect peace,

Baptism cleansing from in-born sin. 37
complete deliverance : and how are we to enter into
that kingdom? The King Himself hath told us
very plainly. Our Saviour Christ told Nicodemus ; it
was one ofthe first lessons He taught, after He began
to teach and tell of His Own approaching kingdom.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be
born again, born of water and of the Spirit, he can
not see," i. e. he cannot enjoy, cannot enter into
" the kingdom of God." Baptism therefore is neces
sary in both its parts : as our Church teaches also in
the Catechism, it is " generally necessary to salva
tion:" so necessary that, when it may be had, no
one may reasonably hope to be saved without'it. We
cannot be saved without being in Christ's kingdom :
and Baptism is the way into the kingdom. We can
not live the heavenly life, except we be members of
Christ : and Baptism makes us members of Christ.
We cannot be in the Church without going through
the door : and Christ, given in Baptism, is the Door.
We cannot please God whilst we are in the flesh, i. e.
in our natural state, all fallen and corrupt : but the
Holy Spirit, entering into us at Baptism, takes us
out of our natural state, mends our fallen and corrupt
nature, so that we are no longer in the flesh but in
the Spirit, and may please God if we will. All this
our Lord teaches, and the Church after Him, in say
ing that "none can enter into the kingdom of God,
except he be regenerate and born anew of water and
of the Holy Ghost." When you hear the Priest say
these words, you are to listen, as if it were the Voice
of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For indeed it is His
Voice. His minister speaks but by His commission
and by the power which He gives him, and the words

38 Holy Baptism,
which he speaks are our Saviour's own Words : " Ex
cept a man be born again, born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Do you not hear how very plain the words are ?
He says, Holy Baptism is necessary generally, neces
sary in both its parts : there is no coming into the
¦'kingdom of God without it. The water must be
there, and the Holy Ghost must be there. He names
the one as expressly as He does the other. He joined
them together ; it is not for us to part them. What
He then told Nicodemus secretly, in that retired room
by night, He hath since proclaimed in the light and
upon the house-tops, bidding His apostles go and
make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in
the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
He taught it by the same apostles, inviting all who
eared for their souls to "repent and be baptized,
every one in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remis
sion of sins," and so they should receive the gift ofthe
Holy Ghost. It is Christ's own Truth, plainly taught
in the Scriptures and faithfully delivered to us in the
Creeds and offices of the Church, that there is " one
Baptism for the remission of sins," the way into the
kingdom of Heaven, viz. to be " regenerate and born
anew of water and of the Holy Ghost."
I say it over and over again, because, although we
all know it as a thing to be said, we are apt to pass
it over a great deal too easily and unthinkingly, as a
matter of course, a thing done for us, a thing prac
tically gone and past, with which we have now
little to do, but to be thankful when we think- of it.
With respect indeed to the outward part, Baptism
by water, persons are commonly ready enough to

cleansing from in-born sin. 39
allow that it is necessary. If a child is ill, they make
haste to go for the minister ; they are grieved and
shocked at the thought of the child's passing out of
the world unbaptized : and it is very right, and we
ought to be very thankful that Christians should be
so minded in regard of Holy Baptism. But then
ought we not to consider far more deeply than we
commonly do, why we take all this care for the child,
and how deeply we are concerned in it ourselves ?
What is the sense and meaning of sending for the
Clergyman in a great hurry, perhaps in the middle
of the night, to baptize a sick infant ? Is it not in
order to the good ofthe child's soul, for fear it should
die in its original sin, and lose the blessing prepared
by Christ for His members? Of course, that is the rea
son, and a very great and deep reason it is. But what
if the person, who is thus anxious for his child or it
may be for his neighbour's, child, should be all the
while neglecting his own soul ? What if, while he
is really anxious that Jesus Christ should come and
take the sick infant in His Arms and bless it and
make it His Own before it die, he have no anxiety, ^
no wish at all for the same Jesus to be with him, to
bless him and keep him in the Kingdom of Heaven}
when it shall be his own time to be sick and to die ?
Must not this be a sorrowful and a wonderful sight
to the blessed spirits and souls of the righteous, so far
as they know what is done on earth ? Must it not
amaze our guardian angels and fill them with some
thing like a holy anger, to see persons so very
thoughtless, so very negligent of their own immortal
souls, even in the very act of waiting on other men's
souls ? May we not fancy them whispering in our

40 Holy Baptism,
ears ; " you are going, or sending to the man of God
in behalf of this little child, that it may not die un
baptized : would it not be well if you said a word to
him on your own behalf also, lest you should die im
penitent? Consider : that sinful nature which- will
make it so great a calamity if the infant should die
as it is — that same nature is in you also : the grace
of your Baptism did not cure it entirely, it only put
it in a way to be cured : if you have not made much
of that unspeakable gift, if you have since been
grieving and vexing'that holy Spirit, how can you be
at all easy about yourself?" Surely, my brethren, if
we would listen to the good counsels and friendly
whisperings of the blessed angels - around us, we
should sometimes be aware df such thoughts and
misgivings as these ; and, as we feel uneasy if any
little child belonging to us is left unbaptized, so
should we long to confess our own sins, which may
have brought us perhaps into a worse than unbap
tized condition. We should feel no comfort, until
by true confession we had made our peace with God,
and received from Him absolution and remission of
our sins.
We must be regenerate arid born anew ; how great,
how thorough a change do these words signify!
They lead us to think of an entirely altered state of
things : we expect to see what was seen in vision by
the Prophet and Apostle St. John ; a new Heaven and
a new earth; the first Heaven and the first earth
having clean passed away. We expect to see the
old things departed, and all things become new. As
Heaven is altogether unlike this earth ; as the life of
a child, born into the air and light of day, is utterly

cleansing from in-born sin. 41
unlike the life of the same child so long as he was
shut up in the womb ; so ought the life of a Christ
ian to be unlike that which the same person would
lead, if he were still in his heathen state. This is
what we should expect, if we considered our Lord's
words only in their natural meaning ; if we did not
look out upon the world around us and see what
passes there. And whereas, the Lord saith by
His Prophet in the text, "I will sprinkle clean
water upon you and ye shall be clean ; " would not
one naturally look to see great purity, great clean
ness of heart and life, in the Christian people to
whom that promise is made ? We should expect
them to appear, to our eyes at least, undefiled, with
out spot or blemish, as a flock of sheep just going up
from the washing. But alas ! my brethren, how do
things really appear to us ! We dare not deny it ;
it is a sad truth : sin is even now so reigning and
prevailing among us ; the cares of the world and the
lusts of the flesh have so great dominion over us ;
that to speak of being delivered by Baptism appears
to many "a hard and impossible doctrine. They say
in their hearts, " such and such an one cannot have
been born anew and made a member of Christ : I
cannot have been so myself ; there must be some
mistake ; for if we have been new-born, how should
our temptations continue so strong, and our good
ness so very very weak ? " And so they come to
think little of the grace which God has given them ;
and, thinking little of His grace, they think little of
their own sins ; and are in a way to go down to the
grave without even seriously abhorring and forsak
ing them.

42 Holy Baptism,
This is a fearful and dangerous snare. It is, I fear,
the ruin of millions. I pray, that you all, my brethren,
may have grace to be kept from it : and you will be
kept from it, if you simply and lovingly believe God,
that it was even as He had said, that when He was
pleased by His minister to sprinkle the clean water
upon you, you were indeed made clean. Believe
this in earnest ; and consider with yourself what a
thing it is to have been once clean, so clean in God's
sight from the deadly stain of your birth-sin, that
if you had then been taken from the world you
would surely have been taken into Paradise, — and
then by your own sloth or wilfulness to have
brought yourself back in any degree to the foul
and miserable uncleanness of your first condition.
There is, in the 16th chapter of Ezekiel, an account
in most deep and touching words, of the Lord's mercy
shewn to Jerusalem, how she forfeited it by her sin
and uncleanness, whereby she made herself far worse
than the heathen ; how, notwithstanding, in the latter
days He would make a new covenant with her, re
ceiving her again to be His own, when she should
remember her ways and be ashamed. Doubtless, in
so speaking to Jerusalem the Holy Ghost is speak
ing to every soul amongst us, who hath unhappily
fallen away from baptismal grace.
First, there is our sad lost condition throughAdam's
sin; "Thou wast cast out in the open field to the
loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast
born." Next, there is God's free mercy, electing
us to the Heavenly life. " When I passed by and
saw thee polluted in thine own blood," the blood
which came to thee from Adam, corrupted with

cleansing from in-born sin. 43
sin, " I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood,
live." Then it speaks of Holy Baptism, < ' I sware un
to thee and entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God ; and thou becamest Mine ; then washed
I thee with water ; yea, I thoroughly washed away
thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil."
0 well and happy were it for us, my brethren, if our
history stopped there : but alas ! too truly may we
know our own sin in what follows, even as we may
know God's goodness in what has gone before.
" Thou didst trust in thine own beauty," saith the
Lord to Jerusalem, ' ' and playedst the harlot. Sodom
hath not done as thou hast done — neither hath Sa
maria committed half thy sins." The sins of the
heathen and unregenerate are not to be compared
with the sins of Christians : because the love shown
to Christians is so much greater than that shown to
the heathen and unregenerate. But great as our sin
is in falling away after Baptism, it is not so great, as
His Love. For mark what is. said to Jerusalem, af
ter all her backslidings and treachery, " I will re
member My covenant with thee in the days of thy
youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting
covenant : that thou mayest remember and be con
founded and never open thy mouth any more because
of thy shame, when I am pacified towards thee for
all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God."
Let us all take particular notice, what was the be
ginning of the sad fall, which we have just been re
collecting. Jerusalem trusted in her own beauty.
That was what gave her tempters such advantage of
her. On the other hand, the sign of her recovery is, ,
if she be confounded, and never open her mouth any '

44 Holy Baptism,
more because of her shame. So if any of us, my
brethren, get into a way of thinking ourselves good
enough ; if we begin to take liberties, and scorn the
the advice and warnings of those whom Christ sends
with messages to our souls ; what can happen, but
that we too shall be led astray ? we shall break our
vows and forfeit our baptismal innocence. If on
the other hand any is so happy as to retain that in
nocence to the end, it will be by walking daily be
fore God in reverence and godly fear — fear of sin,
and reverence of Christ's Inward Presence. He who
is once thoroughly washed does not therefore think
he has no more need of ablution : on the contrary, if
he loves to be clean, he will carefully renew his
Avashing from time to time ; so the thoughtful Christ
ian, once purified, will nevertheless be every day
purifying himself, as Christ is pure. By daily
self-examination and prayer, confession and peni-
tency, he will bring his sins late and early to be
washed away in his Saviour's Blood. He will do his
best to return to his baptismal purity every morn
ing and evening of his life : his regular washings
and cleansings will remind him of it. Instead of
vainly trusting to have all done for him, he will
think thus with himself : " When I was a child in my
original corruption, I had clean water sprinkled up
on me and I was clean ; now if I do not wash myself
continually, I shall lose all the benefit of that first
sprinkling : I shall lose it by my own fault ! and I
wonder who will pity or befriend me ? Such an one
therefore will keep his conscience tender, he will be
very much on his guard against what are called les
ser faults, pardonable sins, as they are called. For

cleansing from in-born sin. 45
why ? he will sadly feel that every such fault, every
idle word and imagination will go some way, more
or less, in polluting his soul, and making his Bap
tism void. Therefore he will watch, mistrusting
himself; he will lose no time in ridding his soul's
garments of the faintest speck of what he knows is
hateful to his God. He will never neglect nor slur
over his prayers, because he has settled it in his
heart to believe that he cannot go on for a moment
without God's special grace. He will think, say, do
all, with the deepest reverential fear of the Great God
dwelling within him. He will pray to know more
and more of the Blessed Son's infinite condescension
in coming so very near to him, and to be more and
more afraid of dishonouring Him by wilful sin.
Taught by St. Paul, he will say to himself continually,
" shall I take the members of Christ and make them
the members of an harlot ? Shall I steal with the
Hand of Christ, tell lies with the tongue of Christ,
look proudly with the eyes of Christ ? God forbid."
May we find grace and help thus to remember our
Baptism in all things : so shall we never lose the bles
sing of it, and if we seek that grace in sincerity, we
surely shall find it.

SERMON VI.

St. John vi. 44.
" No Man can come unto Me, except the Father which
hath sent Me draw him.
There are two very great mistakes which are apt to
haunt us as it were, and trouble us, because of our
Bin and frailty, all our way through this world : the
one, that we can do nothing at all, nothing, I mean,
towards our own salvation ; the other; that we can do
anything without God. According as men are sloth
ful or presumptuous, they are apt to take up with
one or other of these. He who is spiritually slothful,
and had rather not take any trouble about his soul,
too readily takes up with the notion, that Almighty
God, when He pleases, will touch his heart and bring
him to a better mind, and that in the mean time he
can but wait ; it is no use for him to take any special
pains ; that, if he keeps from sin one day, he will fall
into it the next, and so he may as well let things take
their course. Such an one as this, will too commonly
neglect his prayers, because, not finding that he takes
delight in them, he will fancy they do him no good.

Prayer for gifts of Holy Baptism. 47
On the other hand, there are some who neglect their
prayers as well from a habit (not distinctly known
to themselves yet really lurking in the bottom of their
hearts), that they are well enough as they are ; that,
on the whole, they are in a good way, and need not
be so earnestly calling upon God for special help so
very often or on every sort of occasion. Such per
sons do indeed say their prayers ; but too often they
allow themselves to think of something else all the
while. But all who in earnest care for their souls, and
especially all dutiful children of God and of His
Holy Church, having learnt of our Lord to pray al
ways, and of the Apostle, to pray without ceasing,
will neither leave out any of their prayers, nor say
them over carelessly, as though they could do as
well without them. Whereas our Saviour said, " No
man can come to Me except the Father draw him :"
they will own and feel, that in everything, little or
great, we have need of His special grace, to go be
fore, to accompany, to follow us ; without it, we can
not move one hair's breadth towards Heaven. Again,
whereas the same Saviour complained, "ye will not
come unto Me, that ye might have life :" they will
understand that to all, unto whom He makes Himself
known, He offers so much grace, as that they may
come unto Him and have life, if they will. There
are two things, then, which should always go together,
if our souls are at all to prosper. Those two things
are, prayer and work. All good prayer is in order
to good works : no work can ever be good without
good prayer. As the meat which God has not bles
sed will do us no good, so the plainest undertakings,

48 Great gifts in Holy Baptism,
which we enter on apart from God are sure to fail.
It is vain to expect a blessing on them.
All good Christian works must be begun with
prayer, with earnest prayer. No wonder if the work
of baptizing a child or person, which is in one sense
the greatest of the works which God calls us to do
here on earth, should be ordered by the Church to
begin with very earnest and special prayer, since
" no man can come unto Christ except the Father first
draw him ;" none can enter into the kingdom except
by God's free gift in Baptism — " except he be rege
nerate and born anew of water and the Holy Ghost :"
no wonder if the priest, at the very entrance of the
Service, beseeches "us to call upon God the Father,
through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of His bounteous
mercy He will grant unto this child that thing which
by nature he cannot have, that he may be baptized
with water and the Holy Ghost, and received into
Christ's Holy Church, and be made a lively member
of the same."
Consider, my brethren, what a great idea these
words give us of Holy Baptism. To our outward
ears it may seem a very simple thing for the priest
to take the child in his arms, to pour the water on it
and say the words ; but you see here that it is a work
so high and so serious, that the whole Three Persons
ofthe Blessed and glorious Trinity are called in, as it
were, "to bring it about. Even as they consulted to
gether in the first creation of man, saying, " Let Us
make man in Our Image, after Our likeness," so
they are to be prayed to for their heavenly grace and
Blessing in the new-making, the new creation of the
soul of every poor little helpless infant, brought here

to be prayed for. 49
to receive It. Observe, how all the Three Holy
Persons are named; the priest says, "I beseech you
to call upon God the Father through our Lord Jesus
Christ." As if he should say ; Here, as we stand round
this Font, we see only a few weak and sinful mortals
like ourselves, the infant, the nurse, the sponsors
with the rest of the congregation, and witliin the
Font we see nothing but ordinary water ; but Faith,
if we have but ever so little of it, tells us of a great
deal more here present, which we do not see. By
faith we know that God the Father is here; God,
Who made all things in their season and ordered
the times before appointed and the bounds of their
habitation. He did from all eternity predestine this
little child to be born, not among Jews or heathen,
but here among His own people; not to have un
believing parents who might scorn and blaspheme
Holy Baptism, but such as would send it here into
the Church to be christened. His merciful Provi
dence has caused this child to be born alive, and He
has preserved it hitherto : (whereas so many Httle
ones are caught away before they can be brought to
the Font.) He is here, prepared in His unspeak
able mercy to bless what He has put in our hearts to
do, and give this child the new and heavenly birth,
as He has already given him the first birth from
Adam. The Great King is here ; the gift is ready ;
but He expects that we should humbly ask Him
for it.
And how are we to ask ? In the name of God the
Son. We are " to call upon God the Father through
our Lord Jesus Christ." For He too is here, doubt
it not : the Saviour of us all, and of this little one also,
D

50 Great gifts in Holy Baptism,
is with us by this Font, around which we are gathered
together in His Name : and He is ready to receive
the prayers of this congregation now humbly to be
offered up, and to present them to His Father, in
union with those of His whole Church in heaven
and in earth and with His Own mysterious Interces
sion. Through Him, all the petitions we shall now
offer for this little one will be favourably heard by
the Great Eternal Father.
He will intercede : He will be this child's Advo
cate and Mediator : for to this end was He born and
for this cause He came into the world, to save this
child among other sinners. As He had us all in His
Heart, when He took the Body prepared for Him and,
said to His Father, " Lo ! I come to do Thy Will, 0
God," so did He, at that time and all along since, know
and foresee all concerning this particular child also.
For He was made Man and born into the world, to be
poor, helpless, tender, as this child now is : for him,
as for us all, He was baptized ; by the Touch of His
Sacred Body giving virtue to all the waters of the
world, and among the rest to that water which is now
in this Font, to the mystical washing away of sin.
When He was baptized, He had us all, and especially
this child, in His Heart ; and so He had when He was
dying ; He poured out His Divine Soul unto death,
He gave His Body to be torn and pierced, with dis
tinct purpose to redeem this little one whom we see
now here in his nurse's arms, just as much so as if
there were no other but this one child to be redeemed ;
and ever since, in His Work of Mediation in Heaven,
this same infant has been in like manner present to
His All-knowing Mind. And now since He is here

to be prayed for. 51
with us, doubt not but He will both hear our prayers
and intercede for this child to His Father, that it
may receive the fruit of His ancient undying Love,
and may be truly made a member of Him Who hath
loved it.
And then, whereas the priest adds further, that the
particular grace now to be asked of " God the Father
through our Lord Jesus Christ," is that " this child
may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost ; "
you see what a very special place the Third Person
also in the most Holy Trinity graciously takes in this
assembly of ours. For He too is present, ready to
come down as on the Day of Pentecost, and over
shadow these waters, so that they shall be apt to bring
forth living creatures, souls full of heavenly life.
He is present ; ready, when the Sacrament is given,
to enter into the soul and body of this child, as He
hath entered into the souls and bodies of all who
have been rightly baptized hitherto : to make him
" a member of Christ, a child of God, an inheritor of
Heaven: " to destroy the old Adam, the power of sin
within him, and make him for ever, (if he fall not
wilfully away), pure and free, holy and happy.
By this you see, what a solemn thing it is in the
account of our holy Mother the church, whenever an
infant is baptized, and how much we ought to think
of it. It is in fact no less than the Day of Pentecost
over again, so far as that infant is concerned. It is
Jesus Christ Himself coming down to baptize that
child with the Holy Ghost. The Whole Sacred Tri
nity, as you have heard, is called to the work. No
wonder that the priest goes on, in speaking of the
Baptismal gift, to declare it to be " that thing which
d 2

52 Great gifts in Holy Baptism,
by nature the child could not have. " For being by
nature conceived and born in sin, the child of the old
Adam, heir of God's wrath and damnation : how
could it ever redeem or sanctify itself, any more than
a dead carcase, thrown to the bottom of some loath
some pit, could raise itself up and make itself an an
gel ? The baptismal gift cannot be had by nature ;
it cannot be given by. any created being ; it is such a
gift and such a work, as only the Most High Himself
can accomplish for us. For who but God can make
one partaker of God ?
To make us understand this the more thoroughly,
the priest goes on to give some account of what the
child is presently to receive. The great and good
gift, too high for nature, which will go along with
the simple pouring of water on the child in the Name
of the Trinity, is, first, that he will be baptized with
the Holy Ghost ; secondly, that he will be received
into Christ's Holy Church ; thirdly, that he will be
made a lively member of the same.
He will be baptized with the Holy Ghost, i. e. as
I just now said, the same Spirit, Which came on the
Apostles on the first Whit-Sunday, will descend upon
him, to change his heart and soul, to give him a
new nature after the likeness of Jesus Christ, to re
new in him that Image of God, in which Adam was
at first created. And hereby he will be admitted
into Christ's Holy Church ; he will be made a mem
ber of that Body, of which Christ is the Head ; one
Christian more, among all the millions of Christians
who make up the holy family in earth and in Hea
ven. Now this may seem to many a very simple
thing. We all profess and call ourselves Christians ;

to be prayed for. 53
and so do all, or almost all, with whom we have
ever been acquainted: therefore to be made a Christ
ian may appear to us no great thing, no extraordi
nary work, no special favour. Moreover, we see
with our eyes that both good and bad are members
of the outward Church. A great many, almost all,
fall very short of their profession. Some forget or
renounce it entirely : and so people come to think,
" after all, it signifies very little whether I belong to
the visible Church or no." But think it once over
again, my brethren, and think of it in this way ; that
the sheep who stays quietly in the pasture has not
the less to thank his shepherd for, because there
are a great many others enjoying the pasture, if it
be abundant, with him ; nor yet, because some are
so foolish as to wander from that pasture or to
neglect it, not knowing when they are well off.
Neither ought the blessing and favour of God to
wards each Christian to be at all the less thought
of, though all the world were Christians as well as
ourselves : nor yet, though ever so many should
prove hypocritical unstable Christians, and in the
end fall away. Still to each one of us the offer of
mercy is the same : our own souls are equally pre
cious, and ought to be equally dear to us, whatever
happens to the souls of others : and besides, who
would not find it a joy and an encouragement to
know, that, in every right thing he does, he has with
him all the blessed spirits and souls of the right
eous, all who go to make up the whole Church ? He
is never alone : there are always more for him than
there ever were against him. This is ah exceeding
privilege, to be really one with all the saints and

54 Great gifts in Holy Baptism,
martyrs, all who at any time have served Christ
faithfully; and this we could have in no other way,
than by being united to Christ and through Him
to all Christians.
And, thirdly, this again depends on one thing
mentioned before, that we be lively members of
Christ's Church : lively, i. e. living, not dead, having
life and spirit within us. That is, as we are limbs of
Christ's Body, we may never become dead and pal
sied as to the doing of what God commands us, but
all of us be always quick, earnest, and alert in per
forming it : that we may not be like withered hands
which will not, or cannnot obey the Head, that
would fain stretch them out to do good : nor yet like
feet that are benumbed and useless, and unable to
go where He, Whose they are, would send them.
This is the Prayer that our Church instructs us to
make over every child that is to be christened, that
it may become a lively, or living, member of Christ's
Holy Catholic Church. Observe that, " of Christ's
Holy Catholic Church." Our Prayer-Book has no
thought of any salvation or regeneration, any union
with Christ or interest in Him, apart from the Holy
Church thoughout all the world, His Mystical Body,
to which all His Promises are made. Of Christ's
Holy Catholic Church we are to be members, not dead
but living members : we must be so when we come to
die, else we are surely lost for ever. We had need
be so all our lives long ; for we may die at any moment.
0 Lord, can we ever think enough of it ? Simple as it
may seem, and a mere matter of course for a child to
be brought here and christened, it is indeed the great
est of all changes. It places that child ever after in a

to be prayed for. 55
supernatural and miraculous state, with God for his
Father, the Church for his Mother, angels to wait on
him, Christ's Body and Blood to be his nourishment.
He belongs from that hour to Christ in a nearer and
more aweful way than he belonged to Him before :
as the children of Israel were the Lord's people in a
different sense from all other nations, though the
whole earth is His. This is our condition, as many as
have been baptized ; we cannot be as the heathen,
though we wished it : we cannot give the heathen's
account ; our account, whenever we give it, must be
that of members of Christ. God grant, it may be the
account of true and living members, that we, and all
who are concerned for. us, may render it with joy,
and not with grief.

SERMON VII.

1 St. Peter iii. 20, 21.
" The long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few,
that is, eight souls, were saved by water. The like
figure whereunto, even baptism, doth now save us."
We have now done with the priest's exhortation,
in which he tells the people the need of Holy
Baptism, and asks their prayers for the child now
to be baptized. They kneel down ; and what are
the words in which the Church instructs you to
pray? "Almighty and everlasting God, Who of
Thy great mercy didst save Noah and his family
in the ark from perishing by water . . . We beseech
Thee, for Thine infinite mercies, that Thou wilt
mercifully look upon this child: wash him and
sanctify him with the Holy Ghost, that he, being
delivered from Thy wrath, may be received into the
ark of Christ's Church."
You see, in the very first prayer, we are put in
mind of the ark of Noah : how that, when we
read of it, God would have us think of Christ's
Church, and how that, as the ark and all that
were in it was in God's providence saved by
water, so the Church, and each Christian soul in

The Flood, type of Holy Baptism. 57
the Church, according to the law of the kingdom
of heaven, is saved by Holy Baptism. The flood
in the time of Noah was really and truly, in the
purpose of Almighty God, a type of Christian
Baptism. The Church has known this, ever since
the time of St. Peter. For he, speaking by the
Holy Ghost, saith, that Baptism, being the thing
represented by the waters of the flood, saves us,
bearing up the Church of Christ, as the flood bore
up Noah's ark. Then he gives us to understand,
that, as that old world of the ungodly, being over
flowed with water, perished, so the heaven and the
earth that now are, shall one day perish in a flood
of fire ; and as nothing escaped that destruction,
but only Noah and those who were with him in
the ark, so nothing will escape the fire of the last
day, but only those who shall be found in the ark
of Christ's Church. As the flood came not with
out warning (for God gave one hundred and twenty
years' notice of it, commanding Noah to prepare the
ark) ; so likewise of the Day of judgment, ample
notice has been given beforehand, seeing that for
eighteen hundred years every Christian child has
been taught to prophesy of it, repeating his creed
and saying, " From thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead." But as then they made
scorn of Noah and his forebodings, and went on
just as they had been used to do ; so it will be
in the last days : " they will eat, they will drink ;
they will buy, they will sell ; they will plant, they
will build ; they will marry wives, or be given
in marriage, until the day that the Son of Man
is revealed; and the flood will come and destroy

58 The Flood, type of
them all. " They only who believe what the Church
teaches, of a judgment to come and everlasting
life, and who therefore have entered into Christ's
Church by Holy Baptism, and have remained there,
they only will be saved ; -just as all, who did not
with Noah go into the ark and abide there, were
drowned in the flood. And as the ark was a long
time preparing, even one hundred and fifty years,
so is the Church of Christ a long time building up.
For all this eighteen hundred years that work has
been going on ; Noah, i. e., Christ and His apostles,
have been preaching, and the ark, i. e., the Church,
has had daily additions made to it. As the ark
was framed, it is said, of incorruptible wood, so is
the Church made up altogether of the Cross of
Christ, and of those who by faith are nailed to it.
As the ark was builded under the Almighty's parti
cular direction, so also is the Church. For we know
that our Lord, during forty whole days, was teach
ing His Apostles after His resurrection ; and what
things did He teach them ? the things pertaining to
the kingdom of God. And when they went out
and preached everywhere, gathering disciples into
the Church, this was Noah's building up the ark
according to all that God commanded him. There
were clean and unclean in the ark, so there are
in the Church of God: some faithful and some
hypocrites. Of all that whole generation, only
seven besides Noah were saved in the ark; and
we know that our Lord's way of life is narrow, and
the gate is straight, and few there be that go in
thereat. And as it might be truly said, that all
those who were in the ark were saved by water

Holy Baptism. 59
(for the water bore up the ark, and it went upon
the face of the waters) ; so, and much more, may it
be truly said, that all Christians are saved by
Baptism. The water which joins them to Christ is
the means of their salvation : not of course in
itself, but in that it joins them to Jesus Christ by
the power of the Holy Ghost going along with it.
Thus you have heard some of the chief points of
resemblance between Noah's deliverance and ours.
Now what should be the thought of a good Christ
ian going over these things in his mind ?
First, he cannot fail to perceive how great, how
unspeakably great is the gift given and the work
wrought in Holy Baptism ; seeing it is compared to
the two greatest deliverances of God's people in the
Old Testament. He will say to himself, When I see
a little child christened, I see an instance of God's
power and goodness, of which the preservation of
Noah in the ark was but a faint image and shadow.
The preservation of Noah in the ark, and the pas
sage of Israel through the Bed Sea, were the two
greatest and most wonderful miracles whereby God
delivered His ancient people ; the one kept all man
kind- from perishing, the other the holy and chosen
seed; and both these were by water, and were
types and tokens of the Holy Sacrament of Baptism ;
both these great deliverances, the wonder of the
world, were but types and tokens of what Almighty
God did for me, when He by His Spirit came to me
in my Baptism, and made me a member of His Son.
This is -our deliverance, my brethren, your's and
mine ; it has been really wrought for us : let us not
cast it away. Think how it would have been with

60 The Flood, type of
Noah, or with any of his sons, if they had refused
to go into the ark, or had cast themselves out of it,
after they had been admitted. The ark, as we read
in Genesis, was finished, and Noah and his sons in
vited to come into it, full seven days before the flood
was upon the earth. We are not told that to the eye
there were any signs of a great storm, any gathering of
dark clouds, any lightning or thunder, or other such
tokens ; we are told that everything around went on
as it had done before. Whichever way Noah looked
about him, he might see people building houses,
planting forests, making bargains and sales with one
another, contracting marriages, and doing everything
else, just as if the world were to last for ever, — as if
God had never said a word of His anger against it
for its sins. There was no sign, of a flood, and no
body thought there would be one ; or, if they did
ever notice what God had said to Noah, they made
sure it would not be in their own time. Well!
what if any of Noah's sons had said, "After all, I see
no sign of a flood, and I see that nobody but my
father believes there will be one ; I am sure there
must be some mistake ; I am not going to make my
self foolish by entering into this ark before there is
any occasion ; it will be time enough when it begins
to rain ; till then at least I will enjoy myself as other
people do." I say, if any one of Noah's family had
reasoned in this way with himself, and in consequence
had stayed out of the ark, refusing to know and con
sider until the flood came, we know what the conse
quence would have been. The ark, as we read in
Genesis, was closed, after Noah and his family went
into it. That was a full week before the flood began.

Holy Baptism. 61
They went in, and the beasts and the fowls which
were to be preserved with them ; and the Lord shut
them in. The Lord shut and fastened the door of the
ark, when all had gone in, who were obedient to His
call ; it might not open again to receive any more.
If then any of Noah's sons had waited, as I said,
till the rain had actually begun, and then had come
to the ,ark, intending to go in, he would have
found liimself too late ; he would have been in the
condition of those foolish virgins who came knocking
at the bridegroom's door, after he and the wise vir
gins were gone into the wedding, and found it shut,
never to be opened unto them.
This would have been the condition of any person
who had put off going into the ark. And would it
not be very like the condition of any of us who should
wilfully delay his entering into Christ's Church, be
cause he saw not yet with his eyes the horror and
misery, from which the Church would save him ?
Yes ! I am sure you perceive at once that a person
refusing to be a Christian casts himself away in a
manner infinitely more fearful, than if he had been
unbelieving in Noah's time, and had refused to enter
into his ark.
But you may be tempted to think, "What is all
this to me ? I am a Christian. I am no unbeliever.
I have been in the ark long since, ever since I was
baptized in my infancy." True, my brother, you have
been so ; it is your great privilege, and you cannot
thank God enough for it. But think of this again
with yourself, that it is not enough to have been
once in the ark ; no, nor even to be there at present ;
but the thing is, to be there when the flood shall

62 The Flood, type of
come. For suppose either one of Noah's sons to have
gone indeed into the ark when God bade him, seven
days before the flood, but to have grown tired of
waiting there ; suppose, when he looked out through
the window, he had seen his neighbours and ac
quaintances, and thousands besides, enjoying them
selves, just as they had been used to do, or rather
more; some of them perhaps mocking at him for
shutting himself up where he could have no such;
pleasure ; and suppose therefore he had grown rest-'
less and uneasy, and had first in his foolish heart
longed to be with them, and then at last contrived to
get out of the ark, and join them, and had been
caught in that condition by the great waters when
they arose. I say, such a miserable person as that
would not be half so miserable as you, baptized as
you are and born again in Christ, if you so go after
the things which you in Baptism renounced, as that,
when the Judge comes and the fire goes out before
Him, you shall be found out of His Church, and
among His enemies. And this will be, if you either
die in your sins, or be caught by Him living in them.
You, having been baptized, think you are safe in
the ark. God grant it may be so ! It surely
is so, if either you have kept your robe pure from
grievous sin, or, having fallen, have truly repented
and received our Lord's absolution. Then you are
not only in the ark, but are safe in it ; for in that
case it would be well with you, were you to die this
very moment ; but if you are going on in careless
ness, or any other known sin, you may indeed be in
the ark, I don't deny that, but you are by no means
safe in it. If the storm were now to arise, you

Holy Baptism. 63
would find yourself suddenly cast out and exposed to
its fury. Do not say, " I have plenty of time, I see
no storm as yet." That was the very saying which
the sinners of the old world had in their mouths,
when the flood came and took them all away. Do
not say, "Why should I be strict and particular ? they
will all laugh at me, and I cannot bear this laughter."
Look on a little while : imagine the flood come — the
flood of fire which shall drown all sinners, and con
sider, how such an excuse will appear to you then,
Neither, again, can it be safe for you to say (as the
manner of some is), " why make so much ado about
my being in this ark, the Church ? why cannot I be
saved without that ? I see in this Church clean and
unclean together ; surely God's mercy is not limited
to such a company." Nay, but what should you
have thought of Noah, if he had scrupled about
trusting to the ark, because beasts and fowls, as well
as men, were to be in it ; and because it was to hold
for a time the clean and unclean alike ?
Sometimes the evil one puts it into our minds to
think less of Christ's Church, because even outwardly
it has been received as yet by much the smaller por
tion of the sons of Adam, and because at the last it
would seem that but a few of many will be saved in
it. But do you not observe what is written of the
ark ? ' ' Few, i. e., only eight souls were saved in it ; "
yet it was God's way of salvation, and those who
slighted it brought ruin on themselves.
Much less will any person, who has faith as a grain
of mustard seed, stumble at what Holy Church and
Holy Scripture tell us of Baptism, for want of under
standing how such great good should come by water.

64 The Flood, type of Holy Baptism.
This would be no wiser, nor more dutiful, than
if we had lived in Noah's time, and had despised the
ark, because it was merely wood ; or if, living in our
Lord's own time, we had despised the Cross for the
same reason.
But let us all, who by His great mercy have been,
before we could know it, saved by water ; whom His
Fatherly hand has so far brought in safety over the
waves of this troublesome world, outwardly at least
within the ark of His Church ; let us put away once
and for ever all thoughts of doubting, indifference,
or scorn as to the high privileges of our baptism;
and having seriously confessed and amended our sins,
let us with earnest and thankful hearts contemplate
what is prepared for us, when the flood shall have
finally abated, and the ark should have settled on the
mountain of God. The raven, i. e., the unclean and
the heretic, will have been turned out of the ark for
ever ; the dove, i. e., the spirit of prayer, will have
brought the olive leaf, the token of peace. The rain
bow of our Lord's forgiving mercy will be all around
Him on His Judgment Seat, and Noah and his sons,
all good Christians (God grant we may be there)
will come out of this earthly ark, to glorify Him in
His nearer Presence with a sacrifice of eternal
thanksgiving. Then, and not till then, shall we know what He
did for us when He had us baptized.

SERMON VIII.

1 Cor. x. 1. 2.
" All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea : and were all baptised unto Moses
in the cloud and in the sea."
In considering our Church's baptismal service, we
are come to that sentence in the first collect, which
makes mention of the Israelites' deliverance from
Egypt. "Almighty and Everlasting God, Who of
Thy great mercy didst save Noah and his family in
the ark from perishing by water ; and also didst safe
ly lead the children of Israel Thy people through the
Bed sea, figuring thereby Thy Holy Baptism — look
upon this child, — wash him and sanctify him with
the Holy Ghost, that he, being stedfast in faith, joy
ful through hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass
the waves of this troublesome world, that finally he
may come to the land of everlasting life."
Here we see, as I have pointed out before, how
great a thing Baptism is ; seeing that the two chief
est and most wonderful deliverances in the old Tes
tament are but shadows and figures of it : — the ark
which saved the race of Adam, and the passage of
the Bed sea which saved God's own favoured peo-
e

66 Deliverance at Red sea,
pie. And we know that what happened at the
Bed sea, as well as what happened about the ark,
was meant to be a figure and type of Baptism.
We do not only guess it, but we know it ; for it is
expressly taught us by St. Paul, as the other is by
St. Peter. " All our fathers were under the cloud,
and all passed through the sea : and were all bap
tized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Now
these things were types and figures of us ..." all these
things happened unto them for types."
As therefore we considered, not long ago, how the
ark and its safety was a type of Christian Baptism, so
it falls to-day to be considered, how the passage of
the Bed sea by the Israelites is another type ofthe
same great reality. And of this you heard a good
deal in the Catechising : how that the profane and
heathen land of Egypt, in which God's people
were slaves, answers to this wicked world, in which
by nature we are all born. Egypt is the world,
and Pharaoh the king of Egypt is Satan, the prince
of this world, who boasts to have all its kingdoms
and the glory of them made over to him, to bestow
them on whom he will : and who will never cease to
do his worst against the faithful people of Christ.
Pharaoh is Satan, and his work and bondage is sin —
those foul dark miserable ways, in which he compels
his unhappy subjects, to walk against their own judg
ments and better will. Canaan, on the other hand, is
the better country, of which the Israelites had heard
and to which they looked with faith : for none, of them
had seen it. Canaan was the type of Heaven, our
eternal rest. And the wilderness, through whioh
they had to pass in making their way into Canaan,

type of Holy Baptism. 67
is the type of our condition here as Christians ; the
Church militant here on earth, our state of trial
intended to prepare us for Heaven. The passage
then from Egypt to the wilderness is the passage
from the world to the Church: and that is none
other than Holy Baptism. For our Lord's own Word
is, "Verily verily I say unto you, except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven." You see then, how aptly
the water of the Bed sea, through which God's people
had to pass in order to be delivered from Egypt —
you see how aptly that water represents the water
in our Fonts, the water of Holy Baptism ; the
water, through which we passed out of Satan's king
dom into the Kingdom of Christ. And as the sea re
presents the water, so the cloud represents the Holy
Spirit coming down upon the water, to quicken and
bless it and make it effectual to the good purpose
for which God's providence has set it apart. And
so St. Paul's saying is, that they were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea : even as we
all are baptized unto Christ in water and the Holy
Ghost. And, in this our Baptism, whosoever out
wardly performs it, Christ is the real Baptizer. It
is He that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost : much in
the same way as none but Moses might lift up his
rod over the waters of the sea, and cause them to go
back for the people. And as Moses did this by his
rod, so our Lord by the Virtue of His Cross. He
did not ordain His Sacrament of Baptism, He did
not begin to baptize with the Holy Ghost, until after
His Saving Passion and Besurrection. The water
of Baptism saves only by the power of Christ's Cross,
£ 2

68 DeUverance at Red sea,
as the Bed sea parted to save the Israelites, only at
a token from the Bod of Moses. And lastly as Pha
raoh and all his host, all the might and power of
Egypt, essaying to follow Israel through the sea,
were drowned, so that all Israel saw them dead upon
the sea-shore and they could never again do them
any harm for ever : — so when one is rightly baptized
the body of sin is destroyed within him : i. e. the
power of sin, which it naturally has over us : so that
we are made free to keep the Commandments, if we
will. That is one deliverance : just as it was Israel's
deliverance, to be released from the heavy burdens
and painful and irksome labours imposed by Pha
raoh's taskmasters. The Son, the Eternal Son of
God, the Great Master and Owner of the family, has
made us free ; and we are free indeed ! It is a great,
a high, a blessed, yet fearful thought ; very blessed,
and therefore very fearful. Let us try and think it
well over ; let us turn it this way and that, in our
minds. We were all, one and all, baptized unto
Christ with water and the Spirit. We have all been
made free indeed: we have been admitted to the
glorious liberty of the children of God. What fol
lows? In the first place, this is most evident; that now we
are without excuse, if we any more serve sin ; if we
make ourselves slaves to it. What would you have
thought of those Israelites, if, as soon as they were
safe on the farther side ofthe Bed Sea, they had again
set about their hard bitter slavish work ? Gathering
stubble, and making bricks, and building cities for
their severe unpitying master ? If they had forgotten
God their Deliverer, and had taken pride and. plea-

type of Holy Baptism. 69
sure in being again servants to Pharaoh ? Should we
not at once say, that they were mad? But their
madness is nothing to our's, as often as we, being
baptized, give up ourselves anew to serve sin. The
foulness and noisomeness of their dirty work is no
thing, compared to inward uncleanness and corrup
tion of heart and body. The pain and toil and weari
ness of making bricks is not to be compared with that
of making money by dishonest and irregular ways.
The task-masters, who kept the Jews to their work,
were not half so hard and severe, as the evil spirits
driving us on ever in mischief. Think, my brethren,
but for one moment ; think steadily on the wretched
condition a man's heart and mind must be in, who
actually chooses to say with the heathen, " The good
that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not,
that I do," rather than to say with S. Paul, " I can do
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Think on it, you who unhappily allow yourselves to
give way to anger, or lust, or any other evil habit.
Say in your hearts ; " it need not be so : I am free, I am
not in Egypt ; the Holy Spirit has been given in Bap
tism, to help me : why should I do this great wicked
ness and sin against the Lord, and bring back upon
myself the chains which He mercifully brake, and
bind them for ever?" For, although you are not a
slave now, yet be sure that every known sin brings
you some way backward towards a state of slavery.
Every time you tell a lie, or say knowingly any other
kind of bad word, you help to make a sort of chain for
your tongue, a chain of evil and accursed habit. If
it be continued long enough, it will seem as if it left
you no choice, as if you were under a perfect neces-

70 Deliverance at Red sea,
sity of lying, or otherwise sinning with your tongue.
This is the kind of thing, of which the apostle warns
all Christians, when he says, "stand fast in the liberty
with which Christ hath made you free, and be not
entangled again in the yoke of bondage." Assert this
freedom, my brethren : claim it wheresoever you go,
as St. Paul claimed the privilege of being a citizen of
Bome. St. Paul told the Boman officer who would
have used him disgracefully, " I was free-born; " do
you make the reply to the enemies of your soul, when
they would fain get you to disgrace and pollute your
self with sin. When the evil spirit of lust comes
near you with a tempting thought — when he whis
pers ; "all men give way sometimes, and you cannot
be perfect ; you of course must have your faults as
well as other people, and it may as well be now as
any other time, just this once, now that the tempta
tion is so strong ; " — when you perceive such whis
perings as these in your frail heart, you may know for
certain, from whom they come, and how you ought
to treat them : you should reject them at once, and
say " I am free-born ; I am born anew, by God's great
mercy, of water and ofthe Holy Ghost; I am a member
of Christ, Who is my life ; I have or may have such
thoughts, that for me to indulge this sin is quite in
excusable : I cannot, and I will not ; Get thee behind
me, Satan." Do this once with a firm purpose of
heart, and pray to do it better the next time : and,
when that next time comes, do the same again : oppose
the remembrance of your Baptism, and faith in its
privileges, to each temptation as it arises : and you
will find that, like a mighty shield, it will shelter you
against all bad thoughts, all the fiery da?ts of the

type of Holy Baptism. 71
wicked one : it will quench them, as the Apostle says,
before they have laid hold of your mind, and kindled
it into any flame of evil desire.
But, in order to get this benefit from the remem
brance of your Baptism, you must have it always at
hand, always in use, as a soldier, who would catch on
his shield or buckler all the darts of the enemy, must
not lay it by, but must wear it constantly on his arm,
to accustom himself to turn it every way at a mo
ment's warning. Therefore the good thought should
be renewed every morning : every morning the dis
tinct acknowledgement of our baptismal blessings
should go along with our prayers, and also of our
baptismal vows : as in Bishop Ken's morning hymn,
well-known to many of us; "Lord, I my vows to Thee
renew." Surely it would be well, in saying or think
ing over those words, to recollect for a moment what
the vows are, by which as Christians we are bound :
to say unto God solemnly, every morning, for our
selves what our godfathers and godmothers said in our
baptism once for all, " I renounce &c. I believe &c.
&c. and I will keep &c." Do this in the morning with
devout prayers, and you will find help, I doubt not, to
do it in the day from time to time, as often as you
are aware of temptation coming near you; and so the
Bock will, as it were, follow you ; Christ the Bock, and
the Water which flowed from His Side, will be in a
manner always at hand ; and there you will quench
all impure and unholy fires, and go on your way,
like Israel in the wilderness, not indeed without
hardships and trials, but with a sure and certain trust
that you are free at least from your Egyptian slavery;
that the Eed Sea, Christ's Holy Baptism, is between

72 Deliverance at Red sea,
you and your enemies ; and if we believe this, we can
not but be very thankful, even as we read of Moses
and the children of Israel, that, when they had passed
over as on dry land and they saw the Egyptians dead
on the sea-shore, they presently brake out into
hymns and triumphant singing : " Sing unto the Lord,
for He has triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his
rider hath He thrown into the sea." Christians ! if
we truly call ourselves Christians, we are partakers
of a deliverance as much more awful and wonderful
than that of Israel, as hell-fire is worse than Egypt,
the devil more cruel than Pharaoh, and the Kingdom
of Heaven purer and happier than Canaan : and shall
not we, as Christians, be joyful and glad in our Lord ?
Shall we suffer any temporal affliction, much less
any passing annoyance, slight or disappointment, to
ruffle our temper, make us cross and unthankful,
cross towards man, unthankful to our gracious God ?
Ought we not rather to use the recollections of this
deep baptismal Love, breathing over our hearts like
fragrant airs of a summer morning ? ought we not to
be refreshed by them, especially on a Sunday morn
ing and most especially on days of Holy Com
munion — so that, all our earthly cares and sorrows
being soothed and turned into pledges of His Love,
we may approach His Altar with all fervency and
gratitude ? Yes, surely, so it ought to be, and so by
His grace it will be with us, in such measure as we
are sincere and constant in our devotion. We shall
not be so grievously put out, as most men are, when
news comes to us of our having lost so much money,
or of a friend's illness, or of the ill behaviour of some
one whom we trusted. None of these things, not

type of Holy Baptism. 73
even the sudden death of a dear friend, will disturb
the thankfulness of that man's heart, whose joy is in
God, made his own God in Holy Baptism.
And if we are thus thankful, we shall, of course, be
sincerely obedient. Little good would Israel have ob
tained by the passage of the Bed sea, had the peo
ple, then landing in the wilderness, refused to follow
the guiding cloud. And little good will even our
Baptism do us, good and holy and perfect as it is in
itself — if we will not follow on through this life, where
that Holy Spirit shall lead us, Who was present in
our Baptism — Who alone made us Christians — He is
our Sanctifier and guide as well as our Comforter. If
we will let Him, He will be to us more than a pillar
of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night : only
we must make up our minds to go where He guides
us : no great thing surely to ask, when the guide is
God Almighty, and the end to which we are guided,
everlasting Life.
Moreover, as we know that the Israelites in the
passover always kept up the special remembrance of
their deliverance from Egypt by the blood of the
Paschal Lamb, as the Lord had said, " remember this
day ; " so it is good and wholesome for us Christians to
bear in mind, as well as we can, the day of our baptism,
and to make it a day of solemn thoughts -and good
resolutions, a day of deep penitence for our many sad
breaches of our vows : a day, wherein to sacrifice our
selves, our souls and bodies, more devoutly than ever
to our Lord. More particularly is it good and useful
to think of our Baptism, when we are preparing to
draw near the other Sacrament. For how shall we
examine ourselves thoroughly, if we do not go back to

74 Deliverance at Red sea,
our first vows ? They are the very rule, by which
we are to be tried : by them, accordingly, we must
try and judge ourselves. How again shall we be
sorry and ashamed, as we ought, for our sad transgres
sions of God's law and our own engagements, except
we duly bear in mind the abundant grace which was
given to help us in keeping them, and against which
we have sinned ? how shall we stedfastly purpose to
lead a new life, but by reliance on the same merciful
Spirit Who gave that first grace ? how shall we be
thankful enough in our remembrance of God's "mercy
through Christ," and of His saving Death, without
bearing in mind always, how we ourselves have
been made partakers of that Death and those mercies
in our Baptism which joined us to Him ? Thus you
see, the recollection of our Baptism should always go
with us to Holy Communion. Finally and above all,
since without it all would be void, it behoves us, as
baptized children of God, to walk on our way through
life with a deep sense of His aweful and peculiar
Presence, in Baptism first imparted to us, His pre
sence in our very hearts : wherein also the children of
Israel may be an example, going on their way
through the wilderness in company with that pillar
of fire, that guiding cloud, under which they all were
in the sea. Ought not they to be full of reverence,
having God so nigh unto them ? and if they, much
more we ! 0 my brethren, what shall we say ? For it
is even now our own case. We, you and J, and all of
us here present, are under that miraculous cloud ; all
our ways, our words, and our thoughts, good, bad, or
indifferent, are immediately and specially before Him,
and, as such, are noted down by His angels. What

type of Holy Baptism. 75
shall we do ? We must fly to His mercy, which is
over all His works. We must try to serve Him, as
well as we can, in our poor and low way, and He will
reward us in His rich and overflowing way. If we
remember the covenant of our baptism, be sure He
will never forget it.

SERMON IX.

St. Matthew iii. 15.
" Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
When a child is to be christened, the Priest, as you
know, puts God in remembrance, as it were, of the
great mercies, which in old time He had wrought for
His chosen people by water. First, in that He de
livered the whole world by the ark ; next, in His
bringing the children of Israel, His people, safely
through the Eed Sea. These two, even to the out
ward eyes, even to the eyes of unbelievers, were very
great things indeed. They were events, which it was
quite impossible for any one to pass by. But there
is a third type, greater than either, which to the eye
of man was, in comparison, very obscure and insig
nificant ; yet in itself far greater, far more wonder
ful, far more miraculous and heavenly, than these
deliverances of Noah and the children of Israel.
This was the Baptism of our blessed Lord ; concern- '
ing which the collect in our service says, that "by the
Baptism of His well-beloved Son Jesus Christ in the

Baptism of our Lord. 77
river Jordan, Almighty God sanctified water to the
mystical washing of sin."
I say, that our Lord's Baptism was outwardly and
visibly, and according to what the people of that time
knew, a far quieter and more ordinary thing than
either the flood or the passage of the Bed Sea. For
what was our Lord's Baptism, measured by what
men's senses shewed to them ? How may we draw
the picture of it in our own minds ? We may ima
gine a very still and solitary place, the river Jordan
flowing quietly on, and St. John the Baptist, in his
well-known dress, the raiment of camel's hair, the
leathern girdle about his loins; and Jesus of Nazareth,
in Whom the world saw no great difference from other
men (as it is written, " There is no form nor come
liness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty
that we should desire Him "). Him, I say, we may
imagine coming up to the holy Baptist, and offering
Himself to be baptized, as multitudes had been be
fore. But St. John, who knew our Lord well to be
the Holy Son of Mary, of Whom so great things had
been promised, forbade Him at first, in deep humi
lity, saying, " I have need to be baptized of Thee,
and comest Thou to me?" Dost Thou, who art so
much holier, come to me, who am not worthy to wait
upon Thee ? Our Lord however goes on, and tells St.
John, how necessary it was for Him to be baptized,
though He had no sins to be forgiven. " Suffer it to
be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all right
eousness." Upon this, St. John gives way, and in deep
fear and reverence baptizes his and our Lord. Jesus
goes down into the river, and St. John pours some of
the water upon Him, as the manner is in baptizing ;

78 Baptism of our Lord
and then He goes up out of the water ; and, whilst He
is beginning to pray to His Father on the bank, this
great wonder happened, the heavens are opened,
and the Holy Spirit descends in a bodily shape like a
dove, and lights upon Him, and there is a voice from
heaven, "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well
pleased." It was an unspeakable wonder, even to the
outward eye and ear. But it does not appear, that
any one besides the Baptist himself was a witness to
it. His own account is, that he had received before
from Almighty God this notice, " Upon Whom thou
shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon
Him, the Same is He which baptizeth with, the Holy
Ghost, And I saw, and bare witness, that this is the
Son of God." He speaks, as if he himself were the
only witness ; and if so, only think how very quiet
and secret were the doings of God in this great mat
ter. How truly was the saying here fulfilled, l ' Verily
Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, 0 God of Israel,
the Saviour; the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the great
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace !"
Behold, He is here, as the son of a poor carpenter, to
he washed by another poor man in a lonely river.
What is there here outwardly, for the world to be
amazed at, and adore ? And yet, inwardly, it is so
great an event, that the heavens were opened ; and
we read not, as at other times, that angels came and
ministered unto Him ; but the heavens were opened,
and the Spirit of God descended in a bodily shape
like a dove, and abode upon Him ; and there was no
voice ofthe heavenly host, singing, "Glory to God in
the highest," but the Eternal Father Himself spake
from heaven, and said, " This is My beloved Son, in

sanctified the water of Baptism. 79
Whom I am well pleased." And thus, as the Psalmist
had sung years before, " The Voice of the Lord, which
is a glorious Voice, was upon the waters, the great
and many waters." The glory of the Lord was seen,
and His Voice heard upon the waters of Jordan ; but
it was only seen and heard by St. John the Baptist.
Now the Prayer Book informs us, that this event,
so simple in man's account, so full of majesty and won
der to saints and angels, was altogether a token and
a pledge of the blessing given to Christians in Holy
Baptism. For it says, that "by the Baptism of His
weLUbeloved Son Jesus Christ in the river Jordan,
God did sanctify, the element of water to the mysti
cal washing away of sin." For to this end was God
the Son made Man, and for this cause did He take
to Himself a body in the womb of the blessed Vir
gin, of her substance, that He might not only offer
Himself up as a sacrifice of atonement for our sins,
but also might cure our sin and misery by causing us
to be partakers of Himself. By His touch, when He
was upon earth, He healed diseases, and restored
sight to the blind. By His spiritual but real Touch
in Holy Communion, He from time to time renders
" our sinful bodies clean through His Body, and washes
our souls in His precious Blood." And so, by His
touching the waters of Jordari, in that solemn and
mystical way, when St. John baptized Him, He gave,
not to Jordan only, but to all earthly waters generally,
His heavenly blessing, so sanctifying them all, that,
when duly applied in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, a person, yet heathen and un
regenerate, has his sins so washed away by the
power of the Holy Ghost, that God will remember

80 Baptism of our Lord
them no more. They are in His sight as if they had
never been; as it is written, "I will sprinkle clean
water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; " I mean of
course, unless we make void the blessing, and bind
our sins on us afresh, by continuing in them, or re
turning to them. This virtue Christ gave to the
waters of this fallen world of ours, when He permitted
Himself to be touched by them in His Baptism by St.
John. In Jordan, all water was sanctified by the
touch of Christ ; it has been sanctified, to be a pledge
and means of our sanctification ; and, that we may
know that we have been so favoured, observe what
followed on Christ's touching the water. Immediate
ly the heavens were opened, and the Holy Ghost de
scended upon Him ; that we may know, that as in Jor
dan, that day, all water was in a manner sanctified,
so in Christ at the same time, all believers were made
partakers of the Spirit of adoption. For the Person
of our Lord Jesus Christ is, in a manner, all believers
in one ; all are members of Him, all are branches
graffed into Him, the True Vine. So that what was
done and suffered by Him is, in its measure, a type
and token of something to be done and suffered by
each one of them. The Holy Ghost, poured on Him
at His Baptism, was a figure and pledge of the same
Holy Ghost poured on His apostles at Pentecost, and
on each one of us when we receive the Sacrament of
Baptism. He wanted no fresh gift of the Spirit, Him
self ; for He is One God with that Spirit for ever and
ever. And God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto
Him ; but on our behalf He received that Spirit. It
came all over His blessed Body, like the oil of gladness
mentioned in the Psalms — " like the precious oil upon

sanctified the water of Baptism. 81
the head that ran down unto the beard, oven unto
Aaron's beard, and came down to the skirts of his
clothing." So was Christ, our Head and Priest,
anointed for us, and we, His members, are every
one anointed in Him. By His Holy Spirit, received
in Baptism, we are made righteous and holy ; and,
if we die without grieving the Spirit, we shall re
main righteous and holy, and so happy with Him
for ever. And this, perhaps, was part of our Lord's
meaning, when, on St. John's being loth to bap
tize Him, He said, " Suffer it to be so now, for
thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."
As if He should say, "you must baptize me ; for I, the
Head, am in all things to be a type to the members ;
and this, that is, Holy Baptism, is the way in which
it is appointed for them and Me to fulfil all righteous
ness." To be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost,
and so made members of Christ, was to be the or
dained cure for men's natural unholiness and unright
eousness ; therefore it was requisite that Christ Him
self should be baptized. For He was to show us in
His own Person all things needful to our justification
and salvation through Him.
See then, my brethren, what we ought to think of
the gift and blessing of our own Baptism. It is so
very great, that our Lord condescended to be baptiz
ed, for a type and token of it. For John indeed bap
tized with water, i. e., with water only,- but Christ
baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. As a token whereof,
the Holy Ghost, in our Lord's Baptism, did not come
down immediately as St. John poured the water upon
Him, but afterwards, when He had gone out of the
water and was praying. But He Himself baptizes,
F

82 Baptism of our Lord
through the ministers ofthe New Testament, with both
at once, with water and the Holy Ghost ; as the Apos
tle plainly teaches, " As many as have been baptized
into Christ, have put on Christ." Of these two things
then we, by God's mercy, are quite sure ; we need
have no doubt of them at all ; viz. that when a little
child is brought here and baptized, first it is baptized
by Christ Himself; and, secondly, it is baptized with
the Holy Ghost. Now of Christ Himself being the
Baptizer, I hope to say more another time ; but at this
time I would ask you a question about the Holy Ghost,
wherewith our children are baptized. I would ask
you every one, (0 that you would but put your minds
to it), what if, at the moment of the little child's Bap
tism, just as the consecrated water is being poured on
his face, you were to look up and see the heavens open
ed, a great light and glory from God, and His Spirit
descending in a bright cloud, in a bodily shape like
a dove, and resting upon that little child, as He
rested on our Lord presently after His Baptism?
What if you , could see this ? would it not fill you
with unspeakable thoughts of the high place and
dignity to which that child was called, and of God's
mercy and grace towards him ? Would it not come
strong over your mind, how shocking, how intolera
ble it will be, if this child should fall into grievous
sin, and drive away the good Spirit thus graciously
taking possession of him? Should you not have
thoughts of this kind, if you had seen the Holy
Ghost descending like a dove, and abiding on any
little child which you have just seen taken from the
Font ? I am sure you would ; you could not help it.
Well then, try, as near as you can, to have the same

sanctified the water of Baptism. 83
thoughts now. For whether you have them or no,
the thing is true. The Holy Spirit has really come
down upon the child, though not in a bodily shape
like a dove. He has entered into him, and is yet abid
ing in him. We see it not ; but that surely makes no
difference. The Divine Spirit is dwelling in that
infant's soul and body, and God the Father, for
Christ's sake, is for the time at least well-pleased
with that infant, God hath adopted him, for Christ's
sake, to be His well-beloved son. Of all this we are
certain by God's word concerning every infant that
is baptized ; we are certain it was our own case, just
after we were baptized. If we had died then, we
should have been undoubtedly saved. If now it is
not so with us, whose must be the fault ?
And even should it prove that, by His continual
mercy, we are not lost in wilful sin, but yet retain
some reasonable hope of pardon, yet surely it is a
serious thought, how very unlike our doings are to
what we should expect from one on whom the Holy
Ghost had gloriously descended. I have read some
times of Saints, who, when they were infants, had a
bright light shining round them in their cradles.
What should you think their parents and nurses ex
pected of them, when they came to grow up ? That
they should only tell a few lies, when the temptation
was very strong ? only help themselves dishonestly
to a little at a time, according to what they supposed
other people did ? only indulge lust and sinful desire,
when it came urgently upon them? only swear
seldom, and less coarsely perhaps than some others ?
Would this satisfy you, as an account ofthe behaviour
of one who had been miraculously marked out for a
f 2

84 Baptism of our Lord
saint ? I know it would not ; neither would you be
quite content, were you told that he only kept clear of
notorious wilful sin. You would look for more than
this ; you would say, the glory of God was around
this child from his birth ; his goodness surely was
meant to be more than common ; it will be a pity
and shame, if we do not find him unusually pure,
self-denying, humble, charitable, devout, never for
getting his Saviour, but doing all to His glory. This
exalted goodness, I say, you would naturally look for
in a child, which had had God's glory around him in
his cradle. Well ; but we have all had God's glory
around us in our cradles. He Who came down visi
bly on our Lord, He, the very same Spirit, is invisi
bly among us, and within us. In good truth, then,
we ought all of us to be saints. Let us at least be
ashamed and confounded to think, how far, immeasu
rably far, we are at present from that glorious name ;
how great a work remains for us, and how short a
time to do it in. Yet let us not fear to attempt it ;
for " greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the
world." As for temptations, we know they must
arise. Jesus Himself, immediately after the descent
of the Holy Ghost and the Voice from heaven, was
led up into the wilderness to be tempted of the
Devil. Temptations will come ; and, that we may be
armed against them, we must prepare for them as
our Lord did, by prayer. His prayer after His Bap
tism is mentioned, as having much to do with that
wonderful descent of the Holy Ghost. "Jesus being
baptized and praying, the heavens were opened, and
the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a
dove upon Him ; and lo, a voice from heaven. ' ' There-

sanctified the water of Baptism. 85
fore we, being baptized, must pray ; we must pray
every morning and evening on our knees, and all
day long in the purpose of our hearts ; that the sin
which it has washed away may never return and de
file our souls again. If we have grieved the Spirit
by serious sin, we must pray Him to return, and
to grant us, as it were, a second Baptism in tears of
penitence. We must pray without ceasing ; for the
Evil One will not cease to tempt us. Thus having
been baptized and praying, we too, like our great
Head and Pattern, may hope one day to see the hea
vens opened, and the Glory of God revealed, and the
Voice from heaven owning us for His well-beloved
sons, and saying, "Come, ye blessed children of My
Father. " 0 God, grant that these words may be
spoken to us through Jesus Christ, Thy well-be
loved Son, our only Saviour and Eedeemer.

SERMON X.

1 Cor. vi. 11.
11 But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are
justified, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the Spirit of our God."
When the Priest in the first collect has put God in
remembrance of His great deliverances, wrought for
His people in old time by water, and of the mysteri
ous Baptism of Jesus Christ, he goes on and beseeches
Him to apply the same mercy to the particular in
fant who is now brought to the Font ; "We beseech
thee, for Thine infinite mercies, that Thou wilt mer
cifully look upon this child." The goodness and
bounty, which is offered to all the world, is here at
tracted as it were to the soul and body of that one
little boy or girl ; as when the lightning, which is
mysteriously and invisibly floating all above us in
the whole Heaven, is attracted to a particular point,
and strikes upon it. The prayer of the Church does as
it were attract it. The little child in its nurse's arms
by the Font is, as it were, one called out of all the
millions of people that are on earth, to receive an
especial favour of God : as if some great king, having
before him all the people of his kingdom, should call

Graces prayed for us at our Baptism. 87
out one of them singly and apart, and, in the presence
of all the rest, shew himself ready to grant him some
great favour. In such a case we may well imagine,
how attentively all the Court and the king's whole ar
my — all the people, rich and poor, would watch and
listen, to know what special favour was going to be
conferred on that person. So, no doubt the Saints
and Angels from Heaven are round the Font, though
we see them not, and watch when a child is christ
ened ; and so do all good Christian people who are
present ; they try to join, with all their heart, in the
petitions which the Church puts up, remembering at
the same time with a thankful heart, that they have,
by the same mercy, been made partakers of the same
blessing, and, with a penitent heart, how they have
trifled with it, or abused it.
Now, what the Church prays for is this ; " wash him
and sanctify him with the Holy Ghost." Grant that,
when his body is washed with water, his soul may
be washed by the power of God's Spirit in the Blood
of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin. So
St. Paul told the Corinthians, that they, even those
among them who had sinned most grievously while
they were heathens, were nevertheless washed, sanc
tified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus and
by the Spirit of our God. If they were washed from
their grievous sins, much more are little children, who
as yet have done no wilful sin, washed in Baptism from
the guilt of their birth-sin, which they had from Adam.
And we have no doubt that, by God's mercy, they
are so washed ; so that, if they die before they commit
actual sin, they are unquestionably saved for ever.
For being washed, they are sanctified ; i. e. they are

88 Graces prayed for us
made holy, made holy to the Lord, by the gift of the
Holy Ghost, the good Spirit sent into their hearts.-
And God will not part with His own. What is once
His, He means it to be His for ever. It cannot be
lost, except it lose itself by sin. 0 what a happy
condition is this, and what a fearful thing to deal
carelessly with it, or to put ourselves wilfully out of
it ! But let us consider it more particularly ; for so
the Collect goes on to describe it.
The fruit and effect of Baptism is this first ; that
the child or person is delivered from the wrath of God.
It was born, as the Catechism says, a child of wrath,
but now it is made a child of grace. It was born in
original sin, and in the wrath of God ; but as soon it
shall be made partaker ofthe laver of Begeneration in
Baptism, it will be received into the number of the
children of God, and heirs of everlasting life. God
is naturally so far angry with that child, as He dis
cerns in it that taint of Adam's sin, which is against
His holy will, and is sure to bear evil fruit. There
fore we pray, that the child, as the first good effect
of Baptism, may be delivered from God's wrath.
Christian Fathers and Mothers, have you ever
tried to think worthily of this ? If you saw your
child exposed to a roaring lion, hungry and furious,
and seeking whom he might devour, and knew at
the same time that you could do nothing of your
selves to take him out of the lion's reach, and that
the only person who eould help him was for some
reason angry with him, would it not be enough to
break your heart ? and would you not look on him as
the best of friends, who should reconcile that person
to you and your child, and teach you how to obtain

at our Baptism. 89
protection and favour, so that the little helpless crea
ture might not be the prey of the cruel beast ? Now,
this is just what happens in Baptism. The devil is a
roaring lion, seeking to devour your child. Your
child, because of his sinfulness which he has from
Adam, is out of God's favour ; yet no one can help
him but God : and Jesus Christ the Son of God has
taught and invited you how to bring your child to
God, and obtain that gracious help. Surely He is
yours' and your child's best friend ; surely this is a
favour never to be forgotten, never to be out of our
minds all day long ; surely you cannot do less in re
turn, than serve Him truly as long as you live, and
teach your children, whom He has saved so wonder
fully, to do the same.
The Collect goes on, and prays that the child, being
delivered from God's wrath, may be received into
the Ark of Christ's Church. Now we are used to con
sider it as a matter of course for every child that is
born among us to be baptized ; so that it is hard,
very hard for us to understand, how it should be a
special favour ; and thus, unhappily, too many of us
take no pains to be thankful, when children are bap-
' tized, nor to remember our own Baptism with thank
fulness. But let us carry back our thoughts again
to the time which the Church here puts us in
mind of. Let us remember Noah and his Ark. Had
you been a father or mother when the flood came on,
should you have thought it a small favour then, to
be admitted into the Ark ? Should you have counted
it a matter of course ? You would not, because you
would have seen with your eyes, that only eight per
sons, Noah, with his three sons, and their four wives,

90 Graces prayed for us
were there admitted. 0 what a favour would you
then have thought it, how would you have looked
and longed for your children and yourself to be, if pos
sible, among that happy number who were admitted
into that vessel of God's own building, and whom the
Lord shut in there with His servant Noah ! And yet
that flood of water could but drown the bodies of
men ; but the flood to which we look forward, the
flood of fire, will in some mysterious way inwrap and
torment both the souls and bodies of those who are
so miserable as not to be caught away from it. All
who shall not then be found in Christ's Church will
perish ; and Holy Baptism is the ordinary way into
Christ's Church ; and when we come to think it over,
though we ourselves may know but few unbaptized,
yet the whole number of the baptized, taking all the
world over and all ages of it, is small, I fear, in
comparison with those who are not so. Why, it
was 4000 years before there was any Baptism, any
Body of Christ on earth at all ; and, for the 2000
years or near it which have since passed, few in com
parison of the nations of the world have been Chris
tians. At this present time it is believed that not
more than two or three out of eight even call them
selves such. The rest, being born among Turks or
Heathens, continue without God in the world. So,
you see, the Church goes on as it began, and as St.
Paul says God's people always have gone on — not
taking in the whole world but in the manner of a rem
nant, and by way of election — as a few out of many :
and those who belong to it, or have their children be
longing to it, ought to own it as a special favour; as it
is written, " He predestinated us unto the adoption

at our Baptism. 91
of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself."
And if we fall away, so much the greater is our
misery. But the collect goes on to pray for those graces
which still secure us against falling away : that the
child may not only be received into the ark of Christ's
Church, but also may be " stedfast in faith, joyful
through hope, and rooted in charity." What good
and gracious and beautiful words are these, my bre
thren, to be spoken over young children in the first
days of their tender life ; spoken by God's ordinance,
in His own special Presence, and to be .sealed pre
sently by Christ's Holy Sacrament of Baptism. How
sad to think of their being slighted, as they too often
are, at the time : and of the kind of lives afterwards
led by too many of those, over whom that Prayer has
been said. For consider what it is, to be stedfast in
faith. It is, to look to the great things out of sight,
not only now and then ; but continually and regu
larly. It is, to remember every morning, you have
an account to give and every evening, that you are so
much nearer that account ; and all day long, that your
doings are being put down there. It is, to turn your
heart to Jesus Christ, God and Man, crucified for you,
and to refrain from sin for His sake ; not merely to
speak affectionately, and to be at times touched with
the thought of Him. To be stedfast in faith is more
over, to believe our Lord when He says, that we must
take up our cross, we must lead strict lives, we must
be zealous and repent. It is, to part with our worldly
wealth gladly for Christ's sake and the Gospel's,
looking forward to the treasure in Heaven. It is,
to turn away our eyes from improper sights, be-

92 Graces prayed for us
cause we know that those eyes shall one day have to
look upon Jesus Christ. It is, to believe that, in
Holy Communion, we verily and indeed take and re
ceive the true Body and Blood of Christ, which is
the life of our souls, as bread and wine of our bo
dies ; so we cannot do without it. And he who be
lieves this, will of course be earnest to come often to
it. All this and more the Church prays for, when it
prays that the baptized may be " stedfast in faith."
But alas ! how unlike is all this to the ordinary
course of those, over whom the Prayer has been said.
To be tolerably decent and respectable; to go to
Church once on a Sunday, when it is not too much
trouble ; to be no worse than other people — this is the
religion of many in this Christian land. But is this
being stedfast in faith ? is this walking by faith, and
not by sight ? is this setting our affection on things
above, not on things on the earth ? 0 my brethren,
think better of it; and you, my younger brethren
especially, remember that the Prayer made over you
was, not only that you might believe, but that
you might be " stedfast in the faith;" that, having
begun well, you should not suffer yourselves to be
hindered; having been confirmed, you should be
Communicants ; and, having communicated once, you
should go on doing so regularly. If you let your
selves be moved from such good rules for fear of men's
opinions or ridicule, or for love of the world's plea
sures, where is the stedfastness of your faith ? and
how are you to continue in the ark of Christ's
Church ? Only think how sad it will be, if these lov
ing prayers, which were made over you at your Bap
tism, should be remembered at the Last Day, only to

at our Baptism. 93
add to your shame and reproach for having lived so
unsuitably to them.
You know the next thing asked for you at the
Font was, that you might be "joyful through Hope."
Hope naturally makes men joyful and glad of heart.
One reason, I suppose, why young persons are com
monly merrier and more cheerful than old ones is,
that they live more upon hope ; they look forward
to many pleasant things. So now the Church, in
praying that the new Christian may be joyful in
hope, prays that he may continue all his life long in
the freshness of early youth, with joy and comfort
looking on to pleasant things. But in order to this,
there is but one true way ; he must abide in the in
nocence also of his early youth ; he must keep the
good thing, which God gave him at the Font, un
polluted by grievous sin. Or, he must so truly re
pent that he may, according to Scripture, hope that
God remembers his sin no more. Either way there .
must be a reasonable trust in God's Pardon. Other
wise any joy which you feel, any notion of things i
going well, is a mere dream, not the joyfulness of
Christian Hope. But if prayer, the Church or the I
Sacraments, be wilfully neglected, there can be no \
reasonable nor Scriptural trust in God's Pardon, i
Let those look to it, who think it enough to say an
earnest prayer or go to Church now and then; to
have communicated once or twice in their whole
lives. I do not imagine they would themselves say,
that they thought they had such faith and hope as
was asked for them at their Baptism.
But perhaps they may think they have charity,
since they do not bear malice. I hope few or none

94 Graces prayed for us
do so, and are glad in some sort to help a neighbour
in distress. Eeflect, however, for one moment, what
the charity is, which the Collect speaks of, when it
says, " rooted in charity." It means the true love of
God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost ; such
a love, as our Saviour meant, when He said ; " If ye
love Me, keep My commandments. And this, not to
come and go, as one might chance to be minded at
the time, but regularly, as a matter of course ; much
in the same way as dutiful children love their parents,
and do as they bid them. This is being " rooted " in
the love of God, when we have hold of it, and do not
waver about ; as plants that are rooted have constant
hold of the ground. And this is so necessary, that,
as you well know, the word steadiness is very of
ten used, as if it meant all manner of goodness in a
young person. "Such an one is very steady," is
accounted one of the highest characters that can be
given. And indeed what can be higher, provided
it be truly spoken of any one, not by men only, but
by the inhabitants of Heaven also ? What higher
praise than to say, he is steady, he is rooted in cha
rity, he has fast hold of the true love both of God
and of his neighbours, it is what he lives upon ; in
charity he has struck deep root ; his leaves and fruit,
his words and actions, are ordinarily such as Charity
only can bring forth.
There is no higher praise than this to be given to
the sons of men ; nor is there any other way to their
final blessing. Hear the end of our Collect. It prays
that, being stedfast in faith, joyful through hope, and
rooted in charity, he may so pass the waves of this
troublesome world, that finally he may come to the

at our Baptism. 95
land of everlasting life, there to reign with Thee,
world without end, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Our life, my brethren, is a voyage. We are all
embarked on it, whether we will or no. So far we
have no choice. But Christ, that we may voyage
safely, has put us in His ark, the Church. The rest
is all at our own choice ; whether we will abide in
that Ark, by practising faith, hope, and charity,
or whether we will wander from it, and be ship
wrecked for ever. This is our choice ; we sealed it
once for all at our Baptism ; we are called upon to
renew it every day and hour. Happy, through God's
grace, if our daily and hourly choices do not contra
dict our first and most solemn choice.

SERMON XI.
St. Matt. vii. 11.
" If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask
Him."
As the first collect in the Baptismal Service pleads
with God by His mercies to His ancient Church, so
this second Collect puts Him in mind of His graci
ous ways at all times, and especially of His Son's
promises, whereby He encourages the Church to pray.
We do not now mention the Ark and the Passage
of the Bed Sea, and the Baptism of our Lord, but we
call Him " the aid of all that need, the helper of all
that flee to Him for succour, the life of them that be
lieve, and the resurrection of the dead." And we
put Him in mind of Christ's sayings in His sermon
on the mount, "Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and
ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto
you. For every one that asketh receiveth, and he
that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it
shall be opened." All these mercies and promises
are drawn down, as it were, by Holy Church in this
prayer upon the head of the little child just coming
to Holy Baptism.

Force and meaning of the second Prayer. 97
She seems to plead with her great Maker and say,
" Thou art the aid of all that need, and behold this
child is in grievous need ; ' born in sin and the child
of wrath,' stripped of the Eobe of original Eighteous-
ness, and lying half-dead by the wayside, like him
who had fallen among those cruel thieves. Be Thou to
him a good Samaritan, and bind up his wounds, pour
ing in oil and wine. Take him up in Thine Everlast
ing Arms, bring him to Thy Holy Church, and there
have him taken care of, till Thou comest again."
Again, the Church says, "Thou art the helper of all
that flee to Thee for succour" against the enemies of
his soul. For, though he cannot yet come of himself,
nor feel, nor understand why he should wish to
come, yet his very sobs and cries are a plain token
.what he would do, if he could know. Did you
ever observe this, my brethren ? Did it ever strike
you, how children crying as they do is a token from
Almighty God, how much they need a Saviour?
Think, when you hear the little voice in such distress
at the Font — :think, what is indeed the truth, that
you hear the poor helpless one crying out to Christ
for succour : and lift up your hearts to discern and
acknowledge, that he does not cry in vain. The
Almighty and Immortal God, the Helper of all that
flee to Him for succour, He has promised to be there :
and there, you may be sure, He is. As surely as ever
you hear the child cry, so surely, depend on it, is
Jesus Christ at hand to answer that cry : to take the
babe up in His Arms and quiet him with more
gentle nursing than ever did mother or nurse on
earth. What pity, that our sad transgressions should
ever make such care void !

98 Force and meaning of the
Again, we call upon God by His title, The "Life
of them that believe;" because Christ is our Life,
and the Holy Ghost, since He joins us to Christ,
is called in the Creed "the Lord and Giver of Life."
As in God, our Creator and Preserver, all men,
whether Christians or no, live, move, and have
their being — their being and life in this world ; and
not only men, but the lower creatures also ; so in
God Incarnate, that is, God the Son, the Second Per
son in the Blessed Trinity made Man for us, Christ
ians live by a special life ; a heavenly and spiritual
life ; a life which they have, as members of Him. God
is the Life of all : but Jesus Christ, God made Man,
is especially the Life of them that believe. Observe
that last word, my brethren. In order to keep the
life which He has given us, we must in good ear
nest believe. The. little child indeed, who is brought
to be christened, cannot actually at the time be
lieve — at least it seems as if he could not : and there
fore our Lord mercifully accepts the faith of the
Church presenting him, as if it were his own faith,
and gives him life in Himself accordingly. But as
soon as he is old enough, he must believe with a
faith of his own ; else the heavenly life that is in him
will wither and die away. Now you know what
we mean, when we talk of believing, and Faith. We
mean persons looking always to the great things
out of sight, which are to last for ever. And by
unbelief and unbelievers, we mean people caring
only for the things in sight, the things of this
world. Such persons, although our Lord did ac
tually give Himself to be their Life in Baptism, yet
must not expect to live by Him, any more than

second Prayer in Baptismal Office. 99
they may expect to be warmed by a fire which they
have wilfully allowed to go out. The fire was really
lighted within them ; they could not do it for them
selves, it was kindly done for them ; but whether they
would feed it and keep it up or no, this did depend
on themselves. I pray God, we may all look well
to the fire which Qod Almighty graciously lit up in
our hearts, when He made us members of Christ.
Deadly indeed is the chill which will come upon us,
if we once^ suffer that fire to go out; if, as St. Paul
says, we " quench the Spirit." And it will go out, if
we are not careful to feed it with Holy Communion,
and to fan its flame, if I may say so, with prayer
and good works.
Once again, we plead with God for the child
which is going to be Christened, how that He is " the
Eesurrection of the dead." Because the young child,
being naturally Adam's flesh and blood, is dead in
sin, and cannot of itself do works pleasing to God, any
more than a dead body can do the acts of a living
one, therefore we put God in mind, that He has pro
mised to be the Eesurrection of the dead; as our
Lord said over the grave of Lazarus, "I am the
Eesurrection and the Life." And as Lazarus, pre
sently after, arose from the grave at our Lord's call,
though he had been buried four days, so we trust and
pray, that He will presently put forth His quickening
power to raise this child from the state of spiritual
death and helplessness in which it was born, and in
which it is brought to the Font : that it may live
with Him, and by His Spirit do works well-pleasing
to Him. This is part of what we mean when we
call upon God first before a Baptism, as being the

100 Force and meaning of the
Life of them that believe, and the Eesurrection of
the Dead.
And what is it we are going to ask of God,
that we so earnestly and solemnly remind Him of all
these His glorious attributes ? Our Prayer is, this
time, not at all for ourselves, but wholly for the lit
tle helpless child whom we are bringing to the
Font. " We call upon Thee for this Infant that he,
coming to Thy Holy Baptism, may receive remis
sion of sins by spiritual Begeneration." Eemission
of sins, we know, is given in Baptism. For St. Peter
invited the Jews to "repent and be baptized every
one of them in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the
remission of sins," and Ananias invited St. Paul to
" arise and be baptised, and wash away his sins," and
the Church teaches us all in the Creed to acknow
ledge " one Baptism for the Eemission of sins." But
what sin has this Babe to be forgiven, which is only
perhaps a few hours old ? You know, my Brethren,
it has the stain and guilt of Adam's sin born in it
self, which is sure, like a plague-spot, to spread over
soul and body, and ruin both, except it be forgiven
and cleansed. How can we be thankful enough —
any of us who care either for our own souls or for
the souls of these little ones — to Him Who has pro
vided so sure and merciful a way out of that sad
condition, which is the beginning of all sin and
misery. You know, if there were any frightful in
fectious disease in the place, and some one came, pro
vided with a sure and easy way of guarding all your
children against it, so that it should never take hold
of them to hurt them, how earnestly you would seek
that man, and thank him when he had made your

second Prayer in Baptismal Office. 101
ohildren partakers of the benefit. Something like
this you will do, if you are wise, next Friday. For
the very fatal disease, though not yet- in the place,
is, we know, not far off; and we trust that, next
Friday, One will be here, Who has both the power
and will to cure or keep it off. Our Lord Jesus
Christ will be here, to see what use we are making,
in Church and out of Church, of the call which He
has favoured us with by His servant the Bishop, to
humble ourselves before Him in earnest. 0 let Him
not find us cold, careless, indifferent, little caring for
them and for our own souls ! That would be a very
likely way to provoke Him to let the pestilence loose
upon us, which He has so long kept off. At any rate,
were it actually here, I am sure you could not be care
less about it ; you would hasten to the bodily Physi
cian at least. Why then are any of you cold, unthank
ful, indifferent about Baptismal grace, which Jesus
Christ has Himself brought hither from Heaven for
your children to be a sure safeguard, if you and they
will so take it, against the far deadlier infection of sin ?
And then observe how this remission comes. Not
simply by passing over the sin but by overcoming,
and as it were overwhelming, it by an unspeakable
free gift of goodness. For thus saith the Church :
" That he, coming to Thy Holy Baptism, may receive
remission of his sins by spiritual regeneration." Not
only are his sins forgiven, but he has the root of
holiness put into him. Not only is the Evil One
driven out, but the good Spirit has come to dwell in
his place. Not only is he put in a better outward
condition, as one of God's kingdom and family,
but he is inwardly and spiritually regenerated, new-

102 Force and meaning of the
born unto righteousness and made a new creature.
Henceforth One abides in this child, greater than he
that is in the world. A spark of holy fire is lit up in
him, which, if it be duly attended to, will consume all
that is gross and earthly, and purify him altogether
in the likeness of Jesus Christ. What a great thing
is this to ask ! And yet we dare ask it ; for, besides
all that is gone before, we have the great and preci
ous promise of which the Collect next speaks.
" Eeceive him, 0 Lord, as Thou hast promised."
Here we bring our Saviour's Words before God as
our warrant, to receive without fail the blessing we
ask for, great as it is ; much in the same way as a
person might present a ticket of admission to a
hospital, or an order to receive a little bread or
money or clothing, and, if signed by the proper per
son, it would ensure him the gift. Our Lord's pro
mise, in like manner, is our pledge and warrant
which we bring before God in prayer, with a sure
and certain hope to be graciously received. See
what a full, what a bountiful promise it is : three
times repeated, that we might have no doubt at all
about it. "Ask and ye shall have ; for every one that
asketh receiveth." We are to ask, because, even as
the world goes and according to the ways of men,
there is no good thing to be had but for asking. And
if these earthly matters, which last but for a day,
are yet counted worth the trouble of earnestly beg
ging for them, well may it be expected of us that we
should ask for heavenly things. Again, "seek and
ye shall find ; for he that seeketh findeth." Do you
not see when people have lost any thing, let it be
ever such an ordinary thing, how they presently be-

second Prayer in Baptismal Office. 103
gin to search after it, and, if they will not take that
trouble, nobody expects them to find it ? We and
our children have lost no ordinary thing. In Adam
we lost the happy innocency, the Image of God, in
which our God at first created us. But Almighty
God tells us where we may find it again, — in His
Church, at His Font : only we must seek it with
the eye of persevering faith.
Again, Christ has said, "knock, and it shall be
opened; for to him that knocketh, it shall be opened."
He only that knocks in earnest at a door has any
right to expect, that the Porter within will hear and
attend to him, and open the door as he wishes. If
he only waits loitering about the door, now and then
looking towards it but never knocking, never seek
ing an entrance, who can believe that he really de
sires to get in, or who will take the trouble of open
ing to him ? So with Baptism, which is the Door
into the Kingdom of Heaven. Almighty God loves
that those who are seeking an entrance there, should
knock at the door with all humble earnestness : that
they should pray to Him again and again with all
their hearts for the fulness of the blessing : as it is
written, "The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth vio
lence, and the violent take it by force :" i. e. there is
a kind of holy violence, an earnestness in devotion
which God greatly loves, and by which men shall
make their way, in spite of the worst difficulties and
fiercest opposition, into His Kingdom with all its
Blessings. As therefore you see, that we could not
be too earnest in asking and seeking baptismal grace
for ourselves, if we were not yet Christians, so you
see that our wishes and prayers should be very fer-

104 Force and meaning of the
vent, when any one belonging to us has to come to
Christ in Holy Baptism. Devout persons have al
ways been used, even before a child is born, to make
it matter of special prayer that it may be spared to
receive that Holy Sacrament of Begeneration; so
that this prayer of the Church at the Font is only
the summing up, as it were, and the last solemn re
hearsal of the petitions which have been continually
made by parents, kinsfolk and friends at home. And
indeed this may be one chief meaning of the peti
tion, put up in the Litany for young children.
When those words are said, we may well think in
our hearts of the little ones who are yet unbaptized,
especially of any that we know of, and charitably
help them with a kind wish and prayer that they
may not be unbaptized long.
It is a prayer meet for all good Christians, but
for good parents more especially : for our Lord, in this
promise, is speaking especially to Parents. For He
goes on and says, " If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father, will he give him a stone ?"
As parents, He here teaches us to pray. Parents have
a key to His full meaning, which others, perhaps, in
some measure want. Therefore He adds again, " If
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts un
to your children : how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ?"
Christian fathers and mothers, to you the word is
spoken : as parents, you were encouraged by our Lord
to pray for your children : and He encourages you,
moreover, to pray to Him as to a better and more
real parent than yourselves. He is that Father of us
all, from Whom Alone our fathers and our mothers

second Prayer in Baptismal Office. 105
too learnt all their love for us. They may think it
came of itself, or, as the saying is, by nature ; but, in
deed and in truth, it comes direct from God. Bray
then, fathers and mothers ; pray for your children
more earnestly : be sure that He Who fills you with
love to them, will not reject your prayers for them.
And He is that Father, Who has not only what you
can give them, bread and fish and the like, to keep
their bodies awhile from starving, but His Holy Spi
rit to make them partakers of His Son. Pray for
that : which is indeed worth praying for. And pray
that it may never pass away : " that they may receive
the everlasting Benediction and come to the Eternal
Kingdom ; " and, when you rise up from your prayers,
do not forget those words. Go home, full of the
thought, that these children's souls will last for ever,
and that you are entrusted with them. So may you
save, by God's mercy, both yourselves and them.

SERMON XII.

St. Mark x. 14.
" Suffer the little children to coihe unto Me and forbid
them not, for of such is the Kingdom of God."
We may consider the Introduction of the Baptismal
Office, that which prefaces the way for the rest, — as
coming to an end after the second Collect : and the
Office itself as beginning, when the people stand up
and the Priest gives out the Gospel. This, I say,
may be regarded as properly beginning the Baptis
mal Office, inasmuch as in Holy Baptism there are
two things to be considered : It is both a covenant
or agreement between Almighty God and the per
son baptized ; and also a mean, whereby God bestows
on that person a very great and unspeakable gift.
Now, in our Prayer-Book, as soon as the Collects
are over, the covenant or agreement is set forth. It
has of course two parts, as all covenants and agree
ments must have. For no person covenants and
makes agreements with himself. To such a trans
action, there must be two parties at least. And you
plainly see, that in Holy Baptism the two parties
are, on the one side Almighty God, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost; on the other the little

Suffer little children to come unto Me. 107
infant, who is now for the first time brought nigh
unto God. Wonderful it is, that the great God
should so condescend to treat with such a helpless
little creature, made out of a little dust, and soon to
return to dust again, and, what is more, polluted all
over with the taint and infection of Adam's sin.
Wonderful, yet most assuredly true. But because
it is so greatly beyond what a sinful mortal might
have to expect, therefore in setting forth the cove
nant God's part is rehearsed first, as is meet and na
tural; for, without such express invitation, how could
anything so frail and unclean safely draw near or be
brought to the Qod of all Purity ? God's part there
fore of the Baptismal covenant is first set forth and
rehearsed out of the Gospel of St. Mark, and after
wards the child's part, when the promises are made
in his name by the godfathers and godmothers.
And in both there is one thing very particularly
to be observed ; viz., That as Holy Baptism and its ,
blessings are entirely matters of faith, not of sight,
so in the Covenant, which seals those blessings, nei
ther party is so present as to answer and speak open
ly for himself. Both are indeed present, yet for both
the agreement- is spoken and made by another per- '
son — or as it is sometimes called, by proxy. On the ,
one hand, our Lord, we know, is especially present at
the Font, not only because He is God and therefore
is present every where, but also by virtue of His
special promise, "where two or three are gathered to
gether in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." ,
He is present, but we see Him not ; He hides Him
self, to try our Faith, and commissions His Priest to
speak for Him; which the Priest does by reading the

108 Suffer little children
appointed words out of Christ's gospel. Again, the
other party to the covenant, the child, is indeed pre
sent, and we see him : but then he is so young, that
he can neither speak, nor in any other way signify
that he agrees to the covenant, and will be bound by
it. Therefore the Church speaks for him by the god
fathers and godmothers whom she appoints : and it is
his own covenant just the same, and he is equally
bound by it, exactly as if he had promised it with
his own lips, and set his own hand and seal to it.
However, in both respects it is, you see, more or less
a trial of people's faith, of their putting their minds
in good earnest to things out of sight, and making
very much of them. It is an act of religious faith, to
feel sure that our Lord is there speaking to you,
though you see and hear only the clergyman and the
Book. It is another act of religious faith, to believe
that the young child does really, before God, make
the promises, though to our eyes and ears it would
seem to be only the godfathers and godmothers.
I wish we thought more than we do of both ; both
of our Lord's Presence and of the promise being
our own.
But let us now consider the words which contain
our Lord's own part of the covenant : the words
themselves, and the manner in which they were
spoken. They were spoken very solemnly, in the
hearing of the assembled Apostles, and they are care
fully set down in three out of the four gospels, St.
Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke. It seems that,
when He was very busy, certain women brought to
Him theh- infants, that He might lay His Hands on
them, and bless them : and His Disciples, as many

to come unto Me. 100
would have done in their place, rather checked them,
thinking it was troublesome. But when Jesus saw
it, He was much displeased and said, "Suffer the lit
tle children to come unto Me, and forbid them not ;
for of such is the kingdom of Heaven. Verily I say
unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom.
of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter there
in. And He took them up in his arms, put His
hands upon them, and blessed them." Here we see,
Providence so ordered things, as that the doubts and
scruples of the disciples should help us to an end of
all doubts and scruples in this matter. Their com
plaint it was, which drew from our Lord the remark
able saying, "of such is the Kingdom of Heaven; " by
which we know that not these children only, but all
infant sons and daughters of Adam, have a right to
Holy Baptism, as soon as they can well be brought to
it. For He said expressly, "Of such is the Kingdom
of Heaven," i. e. the Church — the condition of bap
tized persons. The Church, which is Christ's Body,
pertains to such as they are : they were made for it,
and it for them : and what right they have to the
Church, just the same, of course, they have to the way
into the Church, i. e. to Holy Baptism. For if God
calls them to come into His house, of course He calls
them to go through the Door. If the Kingdom is
theirs, so is the entrance into it. And so, as the Jews
knew for certain that all their boys were to be circum
cised, so Christians know for certain that all their chil
dren are to be baptized: not only that they may be, but
that our Lord is very earnest, very desirous to have
them all so brought to Him. See how many tokens
He gave, at that very time, of this His desire and

110 Suffer little children
wish. First, He was much displeased with those
who were for sending away the children. He took
it very much amiss of them. He complained, as a
man might do, who counted himself ill-used. Not
above once or twice in His Ministry do we read
of His expressing the like feelings : and each time
it was in behalf of some one who had been ill-treated.
That displeasure of His was one token of His special
love for young children. Another was His express
command, "Suffer them to come to Me." As if He
should say, "There is something in. them which will
cause them, if let alone, to come to Me : do not you
hinder them. They cannot do without Me, and I in
a manner cannot do without them. They want Me
for a Saviour, and I want them for members. Who
dare take on him to hinder us from coming together ? "
Thus our Lord's saying, "Suffer them to come," is
a second and most clear token of His love. A
third is, His adding, "Forbid them not." For when
a master not only commands his servants to do a
thing, but adds, Take care you leave it not undone,
the servant understands that his master's heart is
more than usually set upon that thing. But again
our Master gives the reason, why He is so earnest
upon having the little ones brought to Him : and this
is another and an unspeakable token of His Love.
For what is the reason ? "Of such is the Kingdom of
Heaven," i. e. the blessed condition which I came
into the world to provide for men, belongs as it were
by right to them : to them and to such as they are,
children and those who are become like children, are
the very persons for whom that Kingdom is provided.
Instead of being unfit, they are the very measure and

to come unto Mc. Ill
standard of fitness for it, so that by comparison with
them shall be known, who are true children of the
Kingdom. " Verily I say unto you, Whosoever
shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child,
he shall not enter therein." Instead of keeping them
out, know that you must become like them, in order
to enter in yourselves. And He confirmed His gra
cious words by three most merciful signs, actions of
love which no one who beheld, certainly I suppose
no mother, could well ever forget. He took the child
ren up in His Arms — one by one, the babes which
were brought to them — that was His preserving,
nursing care — He took them in His Arms, and their
mothers knew that they were safe in His care from
all the powers of evil and spirits of darkness. But
He did more. He laid His hands on them ; He touched
them, as a father his children, or a Pastor, when he
would most earnestly desire to shew his anxious and
tender love for them. He touched these children,
as He was used to touch those who came to Him for
healing, or who were vexed with unclean spirits : and
no doubt virtue went out of Him, to do them un
known, unthought-of good: no doubt each one of
those was the better for our Lord's touch, (unless
he threw away the gift) as long as he lived.
But there is yet one thing more — "He laid His
Hands on them, and blessed them." To His gracious
Touch He added words of Blessing : as His Bishops
and Priests do in their solemn Benedictions ; and as
He doth Himself continually in His holy Sacraments.
All these tokens of love are, as it were, gathered and
bound together in that one minute of our Lord's life,
in that one sentence of His gospel. So that we can

112 Suffer little children
no more doubt that, whoever else have Him for their
Saviour, surely He is in a special way the Friend and
Saviour of these little ones.
This then, as I said before, is our Lord's part oi
the covenant made at the Baptism of any child ; the
words being " Of such is the Kingdom of heaven; "
the sign and seal, His taking those children up in
His Arms, and so lovingly laying His Hands upon
them, and blessing them. It is His part of the cove
nant : and, as such, it is taken up afterwards in the
Priest's instruction to the sponsors — " Ye have heard
that our Lord Jesus Christ hath promised in His gos
pel," i. e. in this place just read out of the gospel of
St. Mark, " to grant all these things which ye have
prayed for : which promise He for His part will most
surely keep and perform." That is, those few short
words, " Of such is the Kingdom of God," are a pro
mise, that Christ will receive the Infant presented to
Him for Holy Baptism — will release him of his sins,
will sanctify him with the Holy Ghost, will give
him the Kingdom of Heaven, and everlasting life.
0 great and glorious Promises ! how can we ever
think enough of them ? We never can think enough:
but we may, by God's mercy, be in a way to think
rightly : and I will endeavour to shew you how.
When one who is a parent stands by and hears
with his own ears Jesus Christ standing to His cove
nant; when he hears out of the gospel read over a lit
tle Babe, ' ' Of such is the Kingdom of God : " surely if
he have a parent's heart, it must overflow with love
towards the Saviour of his child : surely he must
wish and long to know what he can do, by way of
shewing forth some small gratitude to Him. You

to come unto Me. 113
may talk of loving your children ; but how is it pos
sible you can truly love them, if you are not very
full of love towards Him Who so chooses out and
blesses them, Him Who is even now taking them up
in His Arms to save them from Hell. And if you
love Him, you will try to please Him. You will
not pass slightly over any of His Commands, especi
ally His last dying Command, " Do this in remem
brance of Me." Your love to your child, if you really
believe in Christ's blessing given to that child in
Baptism, will be enough, by God's grace, to make you
a good Christian.
Next, let us suppose a child or young person lis
tening to the baptismal service, thoughtfully listen
ing to the saying, "Of such is the Kingdom of Hea
ven." Of course it will come into his mind, "not so
very long ago I was received in this way, and God
made His covenant with me to enter me in the King
dom of Heaven : of which I have ever since been an
Inheritor. He made it at that time with me : with
me and with no other : I did, as it were, stand on the
one side of the Font, and Jesus Christ stood on the
other, and we pledged our troth either to other, as
people do when they are married, — and He for His
part will most surely keep His word — but what shall
I do for my part ? how will it prove, in the end, with
me ? Oh, it is a serious thought, a heavy burthen :
but no need to sink under it : He is so good, that He
has even promised to help me effectually to do my
part : I have but to put myself in earnest to the work,
and He will give me His Holy Spirit to perform
it. Therefore I will not listen to the busy tempi
ter, who is even now whispering to me, ' It is too
H

114 Suffer little children
much — you cannot do these great things — neither
you nor any man can keep the baptismal engage
ment.' Nay, I will say, 'get thee behind me, Satan.'
By the help of my God I can and I will keep my
vows : Christ promised me as much at the Font, and
I dare not doubt His Promise."
But what if one has already fallen; fallen into
grievous sin-; into a course of neglect and forgetful
ness towards God? what is he, then, to think of
God's part in the covenant sealed to him in Bap
tism ? Alas, his thoughts must be very sorrowful,
they cannot and they ought not to be otherwise; yet
it may be a sorrow, mingled with joy and hope. Sad
indeed it is to think of Christ's most true and loving
Promise, " Of such is the kingdom of Heaven" — dis
honoured and met on one side by a broken vow and
an untrue profession : sad to think, how very unlike
one has become to the pure and guileless babe, over
whom the gracious words were uttered. But never
mind the sadness : encourage and welcome it : let it
sink into jcur mind : only keep on all the while, be
seeching God inwardly to turn it to your good : so
by His infinite mercy it may prove the commence
ment of a true penitence. And, for your comfort, you
may take this thought home with you, and may He
cheer and establish your heart with it : that, although
your sharing in your Lord's baptismal promise, of
course, makes your sins more intolerable, yet, on your
truly repenting of these sins, part of that promise is
to grant you a free pardon and cleanse you entirely.
Only take care that you truly and sufficiently repent,
and do not abuse yourself with a vain shadow of pe
nitence. So when the last day comes, and the account

to come unto Me. 115
begun at the Font will have to be finally closed, you
with these who have kept their first vows, the Inno
cent and the Penitent together, will praise Him for
His great and precious Promises, wondering to find
them accompHshed in yourselves.

H 2

SERMON XIII.

Deuteronomy xxxiii. 27.
" The Eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are
the everlasting Arms."
We saw last Sunday, that after the first prayers the
Church in the Baptismal Service begins to set forth
the terms of the covenant which God vouchsafes to
make with us in Baptism; and that God's part of
course is declared first ; that is, the free gift which
He bestows upon the child, and how plainly and
mercifully He has promised it. This is contained
in the Gospel, i. e. in the account of our Lord's re
ceiving the little children, declaring that "of such is
the Kingdom of Heaven," taking them up in His
Arms and blessing them. After those words have
been read, the Priest, as you know, makes a short
discourse upon the words of the Gospel, saying, "Be
loved, ye hear in this Gospel the words of our Savi
our Christ, how He commanded the children to be
brought to Him," i. e. when He said, "Suffer the lit
tle children to come unto Me; " "how He blamed those
that would have kept them from Him," i. e. when
He said, " Forbid them not ; " how He exhorteth all
men to follow their innocency, i. e. when He said,

Jesus receives children in His Arms. 117
" Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven," and verily I
say unto you, " whosoever shall not receive the King
dom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise en
ter therein." Having thus put you in mind of our
Lord's words, the Holy Church next goes on to put us
in mind of His doings at the same time ; " Ye perceive
how by His outward gesture and deed He declared
His good will towards them ; for He embraced them
in His Arms, He laid His Hands upon them, and
blessed them." Then we are encouraged to apply
what He said and did to the little child who is even
now to be baptized ; " Doubt ye not therefore, but
earnestly believe, that He will likewise favourably
receive this present infant, that He will embrace
him with the Arms of His mercy, that He will give
unto him the blessing of Eternal Life, and make him
partaker of His everlasting Kingdom." These sure
ly are great, unspeakable things ; far greater than if
one should say, Doubt ye not, but earnestly believe
that this child will be a rich and fortunate man never
out of health, never failing in what he undertakes.
If a person made you such a promise, as he stood by
your child's cradle, you would with reason doubt it ;
you would not believe it at all. Why are you then not
to doubt at all, but earnestly to beHeve, these promises,
infinitely greater, and more precious? Because these
are Christ's own promises, and He is the unchange
able God, "the Same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;"
and, being God, all things are at all times present to
Him. When He did and said the things, which have
been just read out of the Gospel, He did, in His mind
and purpose, do and say them to this child, and to all
who should at any time be brought to Him for Holy

118 Jesus receives children
Baptism. For every one of them was in His mind ; He
knew and thought of every one. In encouraging
those mothers to bring their children, He en
couraged you Christian mothers, coming here from
time to time with your children to the Holy Font.
In blaming His disciples for wanting to keep
them back, He was blaming all who in any time
should carelessly or mistakenly keep a child back
from Baptism. In taking them up in His Arms, He
was taking up you and me, and all who have had the
unspeakable privilege of being baptised as Infants
in His Holy Church. When He laid His Hands up
on them and blessed them, Virtue went out of those
Divine Hands to bless us all, even every child who
is brought to Him to be christened.
For indeed this is the manner in which we are
taught by the true Faith to look upon what passes
when a child is baptized. As I am often telling you,
what we see then, is nothing in comparison of what
is there present unseen. The Priest is but a shadow
and token of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the water is
but a shadow and token of the cleansing and sanctify
ing Spirit. It is Christ Who baptizes ; only He does
it by His servant's hand ; for so we have been taught
by St. John Baptist, " This is He that baptizeth with
the Holy Ghost. There may have been hundreds of
thousands of Priests and Deacons, since the Church
began, but all along there has been only one real
Baptizer, viz. our Lord Jesus Christ. When there
fore you see the nurse or godmother, coming to the
Font with the child, and lifting it to the Priest, try
and imagine that you see one of those women in the
Gospel, bringing an Infant to our Saviour. When

in His Arms. , 119
the Priest takes the child in his arms, think you see
Jesus Christ doing so ; think of the words, "Jesus be
holding him loved him ; " and remember also those
other words, "The Eternal God is thy refuge, and
underneath are the everlasting Arms." For all these
things really are so. Jesus Christ is really then and
there especially present, taking the child up in His
Arms, which are the everlasting Arms ; only let us
have faith to see it.
Now supposing our eyes and ears for once opened,
so that we were able to see and hear what we can now
only believe, what would our thoughts be of it all ?
how should we feel ? Surely our hearts would be
very full of exceeding deep and earnest thoughts, both
concerning the Httle child, and concerning ourselves.
First, as concerning the child, we should, as the
Church teaches us, not doubt but earnestly beHeve
that it was receiving aU these blessings. Far too great
a thing were it for us to beHeve upon any reasoning
of our own, any thing which we saw or made out for
ourselves. But now the Word of God, as declared by
His Church, is so plain, that we are not to doubt it at
all, but simply to believe it. Fathers and mothers,
are you in care for your children ? Do you love them
very much ? are you always, night and day, longing,
wishing, labouring for their good ? 0 then consider
it well, and bring it home to your hearts, that, when
they received Holy Baptism, Christ, the Friend of lit
tle children took them up in His Arms, and that He is
the Eternal God, His are the Everlasting Arms, so
that if they have not changed, you may be sure He
has not. "His gifts and calHng are without repent
ance: " He is " the Lord and changes not." If they

120 Jesus receives children
are still young children, tpo young for actual sin, He
is still bearing them up; the world is very bad
and dangerous, there are thousands of evil spirits
abroad, but your Httle ones, so far, are safe : and if He
should take them as they are, they are safe for ever.
0 fathers and mothers, and all .who care for these
little ones, what a comfort is this for you to carry
about with you through all the changes and chances
of this mortal life ! Come what will, you may say to
yourselves over and over, " my child, if it please God
to keep him as he is, is safe." " The Eternal God is
thy refuge, and underneath are the Everlasting
Arms." Jesus Christ hath taken him up and blessed
him, and none can take him out of his Saviour's
Hand. I say, as long as your children are very
young, before they are of age to commit known and
actual sin, so long you have this unspeakable com
fort, whenever you think of them ; and especially if
it please God to visit them, as He does so often in
those tender years, with pain, sickness and death.
It is said, I beHeve, by those who are skilful in reck
oning the chances of life, that more persons die be*
fore they are two years old, than in the whole re
maining years of man's life. What a mass, what a
quantity is here of deep distress and sorrow ! but then
what a consolation too ! "not to doubt, but earnest?
ly to believe " that each one of these tender Babes, cut
| off, as to us it may seem, so untimely, is but removed
j to a brighter room in God's House, from earth to
Paradise, from its cradle to Abraham's Bosom, from
its nurse's songs to the chanting of the Holy Angels.
What a wonder of love to think on such a tender
I Babe getting the victory over all the spirits of dark-

in His Arms. 121
ness, and especiaUy over the Evil one, the Prince of
them all ; passing unhurt through the midst of them,
in the Name and through the power of Jesus Christ !
WeU may we thank our Father in Heaven for His
good will towards this Infant, declared by His Son
Jesus Christ, and for His favour to us also, in look
ing graciously on what we do, and counting it a
charitable work, when we bring the child to His
Holy Baptism.
But besides these thoughts, relating to the child
to be christened, a serious person, when present at
a christening must needs have many thoughts con
cerning himself; he will say in his heart, "not long
since, I too was a little infant, I too was brought to
the Font, a child of wrath ; and by God's mercy went
from it a chUd of grace ; that great and marvellous
work was wrought in me, which we are now beseech
ing God to work in this Infant. Surely I ought to
be very thankful for myself as well as for this child.
Surely, when I see him taken up in his Saviour's
Arms, I feel how good it is for him to be there ; I
cannot but remember that I too, not so very long
since, was embraced in like manner by the Arms of
the same Mercy, and made partaker ofthe same bless
ings. Surely if I do not feel very thankful, at least
I may be ashamed of being cold, heartless and un
thankful ; and I may beseech Him Whom I know to
be especially present to receive those little ones, that
He would make Himself present to me, to kindle in
my dull, lukewarm soul one little spark of that ear
nest adoring love, wherewith the Saints in all times
have been ever used to think of their Baptism." If
we have but one grain of faith, something like this

122 Jesus receives children
must be our wish and prayer, as often as we are by
when a child is baptized ; and it is the very wish and
prayer which our Mother the Church puts into our
mouth. She says, " Let us faithfully and devoutly
give thanks unto Him, and say, Almighty, everlast
ing God, heavenly Father, we give Thee humble
thanks, for that Thou hast vouchsafed to call us to the
knowledge of Thy grace and faith in Thee. ' ' In these
words every fresh christening is made an occasion of
thanking God for all the christenings which have
gone before ; for each person to call to mind the bless
ings of his own Baptism — the Election and calling out
of the world, whereof, as I have shewn you before, a
small portion only have been even outwardly called :
the knowledge of the grace of God, while so many
lie in darkness ; the faith in Him, while so many dis-
beHeve. The sight of an infant brought to the Font
is to remind us of these favours ; and if we have them
really in our mind, we cannot but be very thankful ;'
for we must needs feel that these mercies are every
thing to us, and that without them our life would do
us no good, and it were better for us that we had never
been born.
But along with this deep thankfulness, must go
also another feeling, more or less, of deep anxiety and
fear. The more thankful we ought to be for the great
grace bestowed on us in Baptism, the more keenly, a-
las ! may many of us fear, whether we have not sinned
it aU away; and he who has least to reproach himself
with, may yet be humbled in the dust to think, how
very much more he might have made of it than he has.
Therefore to the words of thanksgiving are present
ly added words of prayer, "We give Thee hearty

in His Arms. 123
thanks for that Thou hast vouchsafed to call us to the
knowledge of Thy grace and Faith in Thee ; increase
this knowledge and confirm this Faith in us ever
more." We began in our own Baptism to know
this Thy regenerating grace ; increase, we beseech
Thee, that knowledge; help us to grow more and
more in it ; order our hearts and our lives so, that we
may daily and hourly set a higher value upon the
good thing given us in our Baptism, and shrink from
all that might rob us of it. Confirm also our faith,
to which Thou didst at the same time call us ; grant
that we may go on until the very hour of death, be
lieving more thoroughly, and minding more stead
ily the great things out of sight, and most especially
Christ on His Cross. This is the prayer for ourselves,
which the Church puts into the mouth of every one
of us and teaches us to mingle it with our thanks
givings, when we assist at the Baptism of a child ;
" Increase this knowledge, and confirm this faith in i
us evermore." I beseech you, my brethren, if we
have but a little remnant, but one faint spark of care
for our own souls, let us try to say at least this one
prayer in earnest. Let us try to know more of God's
grace to have our weak faith strengthened ; not to be
left to grow quite like the beasts that perish, with
hard hearts and unbelieving minds. Who knows but
his earnestly endeavouring to join in such a prayer
as this, may by God's mercy do great things for him?
It may be the turning-point, the salvation of his soul.
It may win for him that precious and powerful look
of Christ, such as when the Lord turned and looked
upon Peter and Peter remembered the word of the
Lord. Therefore, whatever we do, let us strive to. be

124 Jesus receives children
quite in earnest, when we say, "Increase our know
ledge, and confirm our faith."
And if in that Petition we are ever so little in ear
nest, we shall of course be earnest also in the other
petition which follows and concludes the Collect;
wherem we leave off praying for ourselves, and present
the child to God, interceding for it, that it may be
baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, "Give Thy
Holy Spirit to this infant, that it may be born again,
and made an heir of everlasting salvation through
Jesus Christ." Then we lay down the tender babe
in a manner at the foot of God's throne, beseeching
Him to receive it, and deal with it as He has dealt
with us, and with so many who, since the Day of Pen
tecost, have been made Partakers of His grace. And
then in a manner we leave it? until the other part of
the Covenant, its own part, has been transacted for
it ; to which the Priest immediately goes on, in what
he proceeds to say to the godfathers and godmothers.
To this we shall go on by God's Blessing another
time. For the present how can we do better, than en
deavour to go away with this consideration deep in
our hearts, That what prayers and thanksgivings we
say, or have had said over us, here in our baptismal
Services, have by no means passed entirely away?
They are set down in God's Book; they sound continu
ally in God's Ear ; they wiU be remembered to our
honour or to our confusion at the Day of Judgment.
We have prayed that God would increase in us the
knowledge of His grace. How, if on that Day it be
read out of the Book concerning us, " This man wil-
fuUy neglected prayer ; he never came to Holy Com
munion ; he cared not to know more of God's grace."

in His Arms. 125
Again we have prayed to have Christ's faith confirmed
in us. How, if we be found to have gone on, from
week's end to week's end, without ever saying the
Creed, or thinking on the great truths contained in it?
If we have sense to think of ordinary matters, I do not
well see what we can say for such neglect ofthe great
est of all. Lastly we have prayed for the child, that
it may be born again, and made an heir of everlasting
Salvation. What, if any one of us by our bad example
shall be found to have led or encouraged that child,
directly or indirectly, in the way of sin and ruin?
What if we have made void our prayers by going on
in our sinful ways : perhaps as soon as ever we come
out of Church ? How should such prayers as those
do any one good, himself or his children ? God grant
us for Christ's sake, and for the sake of Christ's little
ones, to be in earnest when we call on Him !

SERMON XIV.

Psalm cxix. 32.
u I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou
hast set my heart at liberty."
We treated last Sunday of that portion of the Bap
tismal Service which concludes our Lord's part of the
Covenant, and also of the Prayer and Thanksgiving,
in which the whole Church joins, acknowledging
God's mercy in calling them, and asking it for this
child. After this it is directed that the Priest shall
speak to the Godfathers and Godmothers; putting
them in mind of God's part, and telling them what is
the child's part; as who should say, "Here is this
agreement to be signed and sealed ; behold, the one
party has signed and sealed it, and now it is your
turn, who are the other party, to do the same. Our
Lord Jesus Christ hath given you His assurance, in
answer to your prayer and to the prayer of the
whole Church. He hath declared HimseH0 ready to
receive it, by causing His gracious words to be said
over it, in which He encouraged the little children to
come to Him. It is just as muqh His own declara
tion, as if He were here in sight, to say the words to
us concerning this child in particular." Then whereas

On the Exhortation to the God-parents. 127
the Priest says, "Ye have prayed that our Lord would
release the child of its sins," we may remember that
in the second collect the petition had been, " That he,
coming to Thy Holy Baptism, may receive remission
of his sins by spiritual regeneration." And this too
Christ had promised, when He said, Let them come
to Me; for He hath told us Himself, "Him that
cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast (out);" now
the Blessing and Embrace of Jesus Christ cannot be
without forgiveness of sins.
Also it is said here by the Priest, " Ye have prayed
that our Lord Jesus Christ would vouchsafe to sanc
tify this child with the Holy Ghost." That was,
where in the first collect it was said, "We beseech
Thee for Thine infinite mercies that Thou wilt mer
cifully look upon this chUd ; wash him and sanctify
him with the Holy Ghost." This prayer our Lord
promised to hear, when He said, " Of such is the
kingdom of Heaven ; " seeing that to enter into that
kingdom of Heaven we must be regenerate and born
anew of water and the Holy Ghost. Thus you see
how Justification, which is being made a member of
Christ the Eighteous, (as all little children are at their
Baptism), brings with it both pardon and peace,
Pardon for sins past, and for original sin, and grace
to do well for the time to come. How great is this
gift ! can we be too careful of it, or too penitent for
our many sins against it ?
Further ; the Priest reminds the Godfathers that
they had prayed God to give the child the kingdom
of Heaven; that was, when they prayed that he
might be received into the ark of Christ's Church ;
for the Church of Christ is the kingdom of Heaven.

128 On the Exhortation
And to this our Lord, as you all know, has pledged
Himself in so many words, saying, " Of such is the
kingdom of Heaven."
And observe ; this means not only that God will
make the child one of His Church, a Christian, in
this world; but also that He means him to go to heaven,
and to be happy in God's Presence with the Saints
and Angels for ever. " The kingdom of heaven, and
everlasting Life" — this we had asked in our Prayers
for the Child ; " that we may so pass the waves of
this troublesome world, that finally we may come to
the land of everlasting life," and again, that he
" may come to the eternal Kingdom which Thou hast
promised;" and once more, "that he may be made
an heir of everlasting salvation." And as we had
prayed, so Christ had met us with His Promise, " Of
such is the Kingdom of God." "Whosoever will
not receive it as they, he shall not enter therein,"
meaning not only the church in this world, which is
the beginning of the Kingdom of God, but much
more the Church triumphant and glorious in Heaven,
which is the perfection and fulness of His Kingdom.
Thus you see that the prayer bf the Church, and
the Promise in the Gospel said at baptism, provide
for the Child's entire salvation, both in time and in
eternity. They take him up, if I may so speak,
just as he is ; and they never leave him ; they carry
him on for ever. Christ having once taken him up
in His Arms, will never let him drop, you may be
sure. I pointed it out to the children last Sunday in
the Catechizing, how seldom it happens that children
are let fall on the ground, considering how many are
being constantly nursed by persons more or less

to the God-parents. I°i9
weak, ignorant, and careless ; and if helpless mortals
can do so. much for those little ones, how much more
may we make ourselves certain that the Everlasting
Arms will not fall from under us ; that Jesus Christ
will never, of His own accord, cease to bear us in His
loving Embrace. We may break away from Him ;
that, alas ! we know too well : but He will never of
His own accord leave us or forsake us. As the Priest
goes on to say, " This promise He for His part will
most surely keep and perform." It cannot be broken,
because He is True, and not only True but Truth
Itself. " If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful ;
He cannot deny Himself." His Word endureth for
ever in Heaven. Well may we doubt or fear for our
selves ; but we may not, we must not, in any wise
doubt what He hath told us, or fear lest He should
prove untrue.
Now you know what a satisfaction and comfort it
is, in any matter of this world, any covenant or bar
gain we have to make, to be quite sure that we may
depend on the other party : when he is so honest,
prudent, and punctual, that we may without hesita
tion take his word, and settle all our matters accord
ingly, knowing that whatever he has promised, (be
it to pay money, or to bring home work, or to ren
der an account, or to meet us af any time or place,)
there he will be, God willing, and that he will do.
O then, if we only cared for the things of the eternal
world as much as we care for a sum of money to be
paid us, a piece of work to be done for us, the bring
ing of some business to an end — how great to us
would be the joy and blessing of having for our souls a
friend and helper, of whom we can say with absolute

130 On the Exhortation
certainty; "His Promise He for His part will most
surely keep and perform." And consider this too,
my brother, whoever you are, who have been bap
tized to be a Christian. If you had to do with such
a friend as I am speaking of, and knew that he was
continually putting himself out of his way for you,
that he spared no pains to keep his engagements,
and to bring your business to a good and comfortable
end, should you not feel a little bound to save him
what trouble you could, to meet his wishes and con
venience, to put him to no unnecessary pains or ex-
pence, to shew how entirely you trusted in him, and
how you thanked him from your very heart ? Yes ;
I am sure you would have some feelings of this kind ;
you would not be so entirely cold-hearted and selfish,
as to take all the benefit of your friend's kindness and
punctual trouble to yourself, without at all thanking
him, or putting yourself out of the way to be exact
and punctual as well as you could in your turn. Now
apply this to the great agreement, the covenant made
in Holy Baptism between God Almighty and you
His unworthy helpless creature, His promise He for
His part will most surely keep and perform. There
is no doubt of it ; "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from His Gospel until all be fulfilled." And can
you find in your heart to receive all this good at His
Hands, and take no pains to please Him ? Can you
forget Him morning by morning, not even trying
always to say your prayers to Him in earnest ? Will
you take your meals like the beasts that perish, with
out begging a blessing beforehand, or offering praise
to God afterwards ? Will you, all the day through,
let things have their own way, never stopping to

to the God-parents. 131
consider what will best please Him, but only pleas
ing yourself, and seeking your own profit ? 0 my
brethren, be ashamed of such ingratitude.
And if you are not ashamed, be afraid. For now
I must put you in mind of the other part of the Bap
tismal covenant, your own part ; what you pro
mised and vowed immediately after you had heard
God's part. As the Priest, taught by the Church,
said to your godfathers and godmothers : " After
this promise made by Christ, this infant must also
faithfuUy for his part promise by you that are his
sureties, until he come of age to take it upon him
self, that he wiH renounce the devil and all his
works, and constantly believe God's holy Word, and
obediently keep His commandments." As much as
to say, though it is a free gift, yet it is given you in
the way of a Covenant, and may be forfeited if you
break what you promised in the Covenant. He will
keep His word, you need not fear about that ; only
do you take care to keep your's.
The whole transaction appears to me very like the
verse which I read to you for the text out of the
cxixth Psalm, "I will run the way of Thy command
ments, when Thou hast set my heart at liberty."
God has set our heart at Hberty; we were in sad and
hard bondage, born in slavery to the world, the flesh
and the devil; and He has come down to be our
Saviour and mighty Deliverer ; He hath broken our
bonds in sunder ; the snare is broken, and we are
delivered. He has set our heart at liberty, so that
it need no longer be led captive at the wiU of the
Evil One. It is no longer forced to lust after evil
things, as the Gentiles which know not God. He is
i 2

132 On the Exhortation
ready to set this child's heart at liberty ; and then
what will the child have to do but to run the way
of His commandments ? Mind, the Psalm says, not
"walk" but "run" — not go slowly and lazily, as
if it had no pleasure in the work, but make haste and
put forth its strength ; doing God's will heartily and
thankfully, as to the Lord, and not as to men ; com
ing forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and
rejoicing as a giant to run his course. This is what
Christ expects of us, that, He having delivered us
out of the hand of our enemies, we should serve Him
without fear, not fearing nor doubting to trust our
selves with Him, in holiness and righteousness be
fore Him, all the days of our life. This is, in sub
stance and meaning, the vow by which we bind our
selves at our Baptism, as the Priest goes on with his
instruction : " Wherefore, after this promise made by
Christ, this infant must also faithfully, for his part,
promise by you that are his sureties, until he come
of age to take it upon himself, that he will renounce
the Devil and all his works, and constantly believe
God's holy Word, and obediently keep His com
mandments." Now concerning the particulars of this promise,
there will be something to be said another time ; how
I will add a word concerning the part which the God
fathers and Godmothers have in it. It is plain that,
if the ehild is to make the covenant, he must do it by
another, since he cannot yet speak or write, nor make
any sign at all of himself. That other is his surety,
he becomes bound, as it were, to Almighty God and
His Church, for the child, that he will keep his cove
nant ; just as in earthly matters, in the case of an

to the God-parents. 133
estate for instance ; If a rich man die while his cMld
is under age, there are trustees ordained to manage
the property for the benefit of that child, any bar
gains and engagements they make in the child's name
are held binding on him when he comes to age, be
ing made entirely for his advantage. And of course
such trustees are bound in duty, when the heir comes
of age, to get him to fulfil such engagements, so far
as he can ; still, if he will not, the loss and the dis
grace must be bis own. So it is with the sureties of
our souls in Baptism. We are bound by their words,
bound before God and man to all eternity, and that at
the peril of our souls. The Covenant of our Baptism is
one from which we can never be discharged, and they
are bound, as they have opportunity, to put us in
mind of our duty, and see us to do it. Being then
so far in the place of parents, they should have some
thing fatherly and motherly in them ; however young
they may be, they ought to feel as if God had put
into their hands something of a father's or mother's
trust. The least they can do is to wish and pray in
their hearts, that the little one for whom they answer
may keep his vow. But this they cannot do, they
cannot really wish and pray for the child's soul, ex
cept they be really in care for their own souls also.
Now the Church weU knows, that no one whatever, |
who in earnest cares for his own soul, will live in
wilful neglect of Holy Communion, and therefore
she has ordained, that no person be admitted to an
swer for a child before he or she has been admitted
to receive Holy Communion, and although, in this
sad condition of things, we find it hard to keep to
this rule, and sometimes think it more charitable not

134 On the Exhortation to the God-parents.
to insist on it, yet I am sure you must all feel how
reasonable and proper it is ; and that nothing can be
quite right, while Communion is neglected. -
But as for such as really endeavour to be regular
and worthy Communicants, I most earnestly recom
mend it to them as a real work of Charity, to answer
for their neighbours' children without making too
many difficulties ; intending of course to do their
duty according to the best of their power. If God
fathers and Godmothers were always so minded, then
our gatherings round the Font would oftener prove,
by God's mercy, unfailing tokens of so many meet
ings in Heaven.

SERMON XV.

PSALM 1. 5.
Gather My saints together unto Me, those that have
made a covenant with Me with sacrifice.
After rehearsing God's part in the Covenant of Bap
tism, the Priest speaks thus to the Godfathers and
Godmothers, setting forth what part the child has in
the same Covenant. " After this promise made by
Christ, this infant must also faithfully promise for
his part, until he come of age to take it upon him
seH, that he wUl renounce the DevU and all his works,
and constantly believe God's holy word and obediently
keep His Commandments."
We hear this very often, as often as we are present
at a child's christening. I wish we as often reflected
on the very serious and aweful account which these
words give us of our own condition. They teU us
that we are every one under a Covenant with God,
bound to Him by a promise and vow. You see in
the Psalm, God accounts this as the very mark of His
own people, His Saints. For the word Saints does
not always mean really good and holy persons, but
sometimes it only means those who especially belong
to God. People are not seldom called Saints in Scrip-

136 Our covenant with God.
ture, whether they be good or bad, if God have called
them to be His own in any special way, apart from
the rest of the world. So here, He makes proclama
tion, " Gather My saints together unto Me," and in the
next words He explains whom He means to call saints,
those namely who have made a Covenant with Him
with sacrifice : not those only who have kept their
covenant, but also those who have at all made it : bad
Christians as well as good ones. For all Christians,
good and bad, are alike in this, that they are under
covenant with God ; and also in having that covenant
sealed by sacrifice. We make the covenant, the en
gagement, here at the Font ; and having once made it,
we never can at all unmake it : we never can be, as if it
had not been made. We may go on sinning, until we
wish it to be so : we may wish that we were not at all
in covenant with God : but it is a wish which cannot
be granted. As the prophet Ezekiel said to the Isra-'
elites (in the first lesson this very morning), " that
which cometh into your minds shall not be at all, that
ye will be like the heathen, the families of the coun
tries, to serve wood and stone :" so it. is with us. We
are baptized, and do what we will, be as wicked as
ever we may, we cannot unbaptize ourselves. We may
turn our Baptism into a curse, but we cannot get rid
of it altogether. We cannot be, as if we had never
made any promise and vow to God. His mark is set
upon our foreheads, and although, by wilful sin un-
repented of, we wear out all its beauty and glory,
all its saving grace and virtue, we cannot altogether
wear out the Mark itself. It wUl be there, to be our
worst condemnation, if it is not there to save us.
Thus you see, that wc are, once and for ever, in

Our covenant with God. 137
covenant with God, we cannot be like the heathen
and unbaptized who never heard of Him : and consider
also what the Psalmist tells us, that this covenant
was made with sacrifice. It was signed and sealed
with the Precious Blood of the Son of God, God and
Man. In fulfilment of God's mysterious Will, He in
due time offered Himself up a Sacrifice and Sin-offer
ing for us. He offers to His Father continually the
same Sacrifice on our behalf ; and we, on earth, offer
and present the perpetual memory of it in Holy Com
munion. He sealed His gifts and promises with His
Own Blood poured out on the Cross, and we seal our
offerings and promises with the same Blood poured
out and received in Holy Communion. Thus you see
how our Covenant is with Sacrifice.
It will be all the plainer perhaps, if we recollect
what we are told of God's covenant with His ancient
people the Jews, which was so ordered as to be
throughout a type and figure of this covenant of ours.
The IsraeHtes, we know, made a covenant with God,
and He made a covenant with them in Mount Sinai.
He agreed to be their God, and they agreed to keep
aU His commandments. And this covenant was
made with sacrifice ; for, when Moses had written it
in a book, he took the blood of rams and goats which
he had sacrificed to God and sprinkled it both on the
book and on all the people, saying, " This is the blood
of the covenant which God has enjoined you." Thus
the first covenant was made with sacrifice, and
sealed with blood as the second Covenant is : only
that was the blood of bulls and goats, this is the
Precious Blood of Christ, Who, as a Lamb without
spot or blemish, offered HimseH without spot to God..

138 Our covenant with God.
And thus we, as well as the Jews, indeed far more
truly and really than they, may be said to have made
a Covenant with God by Sacrifice.
Now here are two thoughts, two certain and un
doubted truths, which we ought surely to have ever
before our minds : the one, that we have made a
Covenant with the Most High, the Almighty Ever
lasting God, the other that we made it with Sacrifice.
It was sealed by the Blood of Christ Crucified.
We are all of us in covenant with God, you, I,
every one of us. It is not as if He had made a ge
neral rule, and then left us to ourselves ; for He has
made His agreement with each of us, one by one.
You know what kind of difference it makes in the
Priest's way of speaking to you and telHng you any
thing for your good, whether he only says it in Church
to the whole congregation together, or takes an oppor
tunity of mentioning it to each one of you privately
at home. It may be God's Word just as much in
the one case as in the other, but we naturally feel it as
brought more home to us in particular, when it is ad
dressed to us ourselves privately. It is so much the
surer proof of God's kind and watchful care of us.
Not exactly like this, but something like it, is the dif
ference between our case as it is now, and as it would
have been, had God made no Covenant with each one
of us separately. Our duty and our Blessing is
brought more home to ourselves, we are the more
utterly without excuse, if we give ourselves up and
forget God. For instance, take any person who is
most poor and miserable, most forlorn and neglected
among Christians. Suppose his friends all dead or
departed, no one in the world, that he knows of, to

Our covenant with God. 139
take care of him ; let him be all ragged and hungry,
and without any certain prospect of maintenance even
for a single day : yet if he knows and believes and
wUl earnestly remember that he is in covenant with
God and God with him, surely he will look up and
Hft up his head, and he may say to himself, " Jesus
Christ Who is the Truth has taken me up once for
aU in His Arms, He has promised to be my God ; I
am sure He will not forget me, nor let me drop ; for
not even a sparrow which is worth but haH a farthing,
is ever permitted to fall on the ground without His
and His Father's leave." And so it has been always ;
as saith the wise Son of Sirach, "Look at the gene
rations of old, and see; did ever any trust in the
Lord and was confounded ? or did any abide in His
fear and was forsaken? or whom did He ever de
spise that caUed upon Him ? " Therefore be of good
cheer, 0 thou afflicted and poor Christian. If such
were God's promises even before the Gospel, be sure
that under the Gospel they are far more bountiful.
Never for a moment allow yourseH to think, that our
Lord has ceased to be your Father, and to care for
you, though the times be never so hard, and your pains
of body and mind never so grievous. Complaining
thoughts, I dare say, will come into your mind ; but
never do you let them stay there. Put them away
by the remembrance of your Baptism, of the Holy
Covenant then and there made. Say in your heart
over and over, " My flesh and my heart faileth ;" I
have nothing at all of mine own, whether within or
without, to lean upon : " but God is the strength of
my heart and my portion for ever." Do you think
there is any forlorn beggar, any person incurably

140 Our covenant with God.
sick, any one outcast or forsaken of those who ought
to be kindest to him, any sufferer at all among men,
who might not find comfort in such thoughts as these,
if he really and steadily tried to have them in his
heart, as often as ever the distress and anguish came
on him ? But the misfortune is, that we do not
steadily and regularly try this : such thoughts, it may
be, come sweet to us now and then, and seem to do
us good for a little while ; but we do not endeavour
and pray to have them always at hand for our relief.
We suffer our poor frail hearts to be carried away
by earthly things far more entirely than they need
be : we willingly forget God for a long time together :
too often alas ! we do things which we know will vex
and grieve Him ; and then, when the trouble is again
strong upon us, and we try in some measure to go
back to our Baptism for comfort, it seems as if the
good thought would not come, or as if, though it came,
it did us no good. This is most sad : but the remedy
for it is plain, and by God's great Mercy it is. in our
own power. We must use ourselves to think of our
Baptismal promises, not now and then, but regularly
and always. ' We may pray and try for this : and if
we go on doing so, and fighting in earnest against
all known sin, the good thoughts will by degrees
come oftener, and stay longer, and give us more help.
It is much the same in our fighting against sin. As
the covenant of our God, truly remembered, would be
our greatest comfort in trouble, so would it be also
our greatest help in temptation. Joseph, when the
wicked woman would have led him astray, repulsed
her with this plain and earnest saying, " How can I
do this great wickedness and sin against God ? " So

Our covenant with God. 141
may we fellow sinners and fellow Christians, as of
ten as we are tempted. We may say to the lawless
and unclean Spirit which would cause us to look
where we ought not, or to take any other improper
liberties," How can I do this great wickedness and sin
against God, Whose I am and Whom I serve ? I
am not my own ; I am bought with a price ; I am to
glorify God both in my body and spirit." So to the )
devil that would tempt us to indulge anger we mayj
say : "All my strength, courage, and spirit is made
over in a manner to my God : I must not waste any
of it upon those provoking persons and their ill be
haviour. To Him I belong, and Him I am to serve :
therefore for His sake I will keep my temper ; I will
not let others' ill behaviour hinder me from serving \
Him with a quiet mind." Thus you see how that,
if we would constantly remember our being in cove
nant with God Almighty, it would furnish us with
direct helps against two of the worst sins, anger and
unchastity: and it is just the same with all other
wicked ways. The covenant of Baptism, well and
dutifully remembered, will sufficiently set us at liberty
from them all.
Particularly if we remember always that we are
not only in covenant with God, but also that our co
venant was made with Sacrifice. Christ laid down
His life to purchase us. He bought us by His Own
Blood that He might set us free. When we read or
hear His Commandments, " Thou shalt not take My
Name in vain, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not com
mit adultery," and the like, we may set ourselves ear
nestly to consider what we are bound to, and how awe-
fully. These commandments are to us written, as it

142 Our covenant with God.
were, with the Blood of the Precious Lamb without
spot : if we wilfully break them, we scorn and make
Void His Blood. Oh ! then let us hesitate no more :
let us shew to the tempter, when he next assaults us,
the Commandments of God written on our hearts,
written in the Blood of His Son our only Saviour :
when the Evil one sees God's Word so written in the
hearts of His People, he will go away dismayed : and
the words of the Psalm will be fulfilled in us: "God
will arise, His Light will arise, and shine over us,
and His enemies will be scattered and they also that
hate Him will flee before Him." 0 how happy is that
Christian, who has so regularly used himself to obey
the Voice of God's Spirit reminding him of his Bap
tismal Covenant, that every new temptation is a new.
Victory : he is the better and the happier for every
thing that the devil does to make him wicked and
miserable. This blessedness shall be yours, my bre
thren; it is promised even to the simplest and meanest
among us, if we will but look back, as we go on in
life, on the Covenant of our first beginning : if we wUl
rightly and dutifully call to mind, that we stand before
God, bound by a promise which can never wear out,
"To renounce the devil and all his works, constantly
to believe God's Holy Word, and obediently to keep
His Commandments." This is our three-fold Cove
nant, the triple cord of our Baptism, our Catechism
our Confirmation : most of us know it well, so far as re
peating it goes : most of us account themselves bound
to pay to it some regard, more or less, but observe, I
pray you, what kind of regard we promise, even in the
very letter of what we say. We promise to ' ' renounce
the devil and allhis works :'*hot some, not the most, not

Our covenant with God. 143
the worst of his works : but all. We are "constantly
to beHeve His holy Word : " not at times only, as in
sickne,ss, in leisure or in devotion, but always ; giving
up our fancies at once when He teaches us better :
our favourite fancies as well as any others. Lastly,
we are obediently to keep His Commandments, i. e.
as I suppose, in the temper and spirit of obedience,
doing things with joy and delight because He bids
them, this is our Covenant and vow, one and all of
us. How are we keeping it ? May God give us
grace to ask ourselves this question seriously this
night and every night before we lie down to rest :
that we may not have to ask it of ourselves with
seared hearts and bewildered minds when we shall
be taken for death, and the time for keeping our vow
will have passed by for ever.

SERMON XVI.

2 Cor. vi. 14.
" What communion hath Light with darkness ? "
Since it has pleased Almighty God to give us His
unspeakable Blessings, freely indeed, for we never
could deserve them at His Hands, yet by way of an
agreement, signed and sealed, the Baptismal Service
goes on next to declare the terms of that agreement :
as if one who knew should read over to another the
terms of any lease or covenant before he had to sign
it. And whereas in earthly covenants it happens
sometimes, that people set their names in a hurry to
what they do not well understand, here in God's
agreement with us, what we are to do is so plainly ex
pressed, that no one can fail to understand and know
it, when once plainly set before him. It consists of
three parts, as eyery child knows ; for it is taught
near the beginning of the Catechism. The first con
dition of the Covenant is, that we renounce the Devil
and all his works, the pomps and vanities of the wicked
world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh : the second
is, that we believe all the Articles of the Christian
Faith : the third, that we keep God's Holy Will and
Commandments, and walk in the same all the days of

The three renunciations. 145
our Life. Or, to put it in a shorter form, first we are
to renounce what God hates, secondly to believe what
God teaches, and thirdly to do what God commands.
For since Baptismmakes us members or parts of Christ,
living by a life from Him, of course we must have the
wUl and mind of Christ. The members must agree
with the Head, and not go contrary to it. Therefore
we must love what Christ loves, and hate what He
hates. And because we are naturally in a bad way, in
a way to do the very contrary of this, to love what
Christ hates, and to hate what He loves : therefore the
renouncing part is the first part of our three-fold vow.
We are as people who have their faces turned away
from the Light, and looking towards darkness : if we
would come to the Light, the first thing is to turn
our backs on the darkness. For what communion
hath Light with darkness ? The two are contrary,
the one to the other, and we cannot look towards
both at once. God is our Light, and all that is
against God, aU that God hates, is utter darkness.
If we would come to God in Holy Baptism, we must
first of all turn away, in the purpose of our mind and
heart, from all that God hates.
For this reason, there being, as you know, three en
gagements, which the priest requires the child to make
by his sureties, the first is as follows : " Dost thou, in
the name of this child, renounce the devil and aU his
works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with
all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal de
sires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be
led by them ? " And we read in old books, that in
very ancient times this renunciation was made, not
in words only, but in action also, at the Baptism of
K

146 The three renunciations.
every grown person. He stood with his face towards
the West ; because that is the region of darkness ;
looking Satan as it were in the face : and then, while
he repeated the words, " I renounce Satan and his
works andhis pomps and his service," he was bidden
to stretch out his hand, as though he were putting
something very disagreeable away from him : where
by all that saw might understand that he was pledg
ing himself to have no more to do with Satan, his
pomps and his works.
And this shaking of the hand at the enemy and
ordering him, as it were, away, with some other ex
pression of abhorrence, was ordered to be done three
times, perhaps because ofthe three enemies, wliich we
renounce. For we have three enemies, as you know,
the devil, the world and the flesh, all banded toge
ther for our ruin. First, there is the devil, the mali
cious and subtle spirit who has hated man from the
beginning, because God loved him ; and is never far
off, never off the watch for occasions of hurting us ;
as the Psalmist, you know, describes him. " He sit
teth lurking in the thievish corners of the streets,
and privily in his lurking-dens doth he murder the
innocent ; his eyes are set against the poor. For he
lieth waiting secretly ; even as a lion, lurketh he in his
den, that he may ravish the poor." This enemy is
without us, just the same as any wicked person among
men desiring our harm : only he is so much the more
dangerous and dreadful, as he is out of sight. We
never can tell at any time how near he is to us, or
what encouragement we give him by the slightest
word look or gesture of known sin. We know
that, when he is near us, he is very sharp-sighted and

The three renunciations. 147
watchful : nothing escapes him : he never lets the
moment pass for putting what he knows will most
tempt us full in our way. He contrives so to bring
the wicked world before us, as that it shall most
effectually tempt our frail and corrupt hearts. Still
he can do us no harm, except by our own fault. His
only way of really hurting is by making men sin :
and he cannot make them sin against their will.
Therefore we may be bold to defy him. Holy Scrip
ture encourages us to be so : as David with his sling
and his stone was bold to defy Goliath with his full
armour. ' ' Eesist the devil, ' ' it says, ' ' and he will flee
from you." Say to him in the Name of Jesus, " get
thee behind me, Satan :" and he will by and by depart.
This is in effect said to the Evil one at every Bap
tism ; and though it is but a little child who says it,
and he is a great and strong and wise spirit, an
Archangel, though a fallen one, yet he trembles and
departs when it is said to him, and the saying is
sealed with Holy Baptism : he is forced to let that
Httle child go, having no power at aU against it, un
til it shall have grown older and shall have given
him power by wilful sin.
But we renounce not the devil only, but likewise
all his works, that is to say, all sin ; for all sin in man
is originally the devU's work, as we know by the ac
count of the Fall. However, those sins more especially
are reckoned works of the devU, which are practised,
as Scripture teaches, by the devil himself: not what
are called carnal sins, for he, being a spirit and hav
ing no body, cannot be guilty of such. For example,
he cannot be a glutton or a drunkard, but he can and
doth abound in spiritual sins, such as Pride, Envy,
k2

148 The three renunciations.
Malice, Aversion to God : he was a murderer from
the beginning : he is also a Liar and the father of
it. Thus, then, in renouncing his works, we put away
from us all pride of heart, all setting-up of ourselves
against our God : we draw back also from the thought
of envy, or of grudging our brother any good
thing which God has given him : for this was that
very sin of Satan which caused Adam's fall and all
our misery. He could not bear to see our first pa
rents so happy as they were in Paradise, and so he
contrived how to tempt them and get them turned
out ; and in doing this he told most fearful lies, say-
that sin would not bring death : so that whenevei
men lie, whenever they indulge envy or malice, they
are but rehearsing over again the great sin of our
great enemy, Eemember this, when you are next
tempted : especially when you are tempted to tell a
lie : and say to yourself, "It is the devil's work : I
have renounced it and can have nothing to do with it."
Next, we renounced " the vain pomp and glory of
the world with all covetous desires of the same : " i. e.
all things around us, so far as they draw off our
heart from Heaven, and make us to be in love with
this present world : such as money, or things that are
money's worth, beauty, dress and fine clothes : skill
and strength in bodily labour : the praise and honour
and goodopinionof men: satisfaction in being admired,
and in feeling that we ought to be. All these things
are " the world;" they are " pomps," when the world
sets them before us in any remarkably subtle and en
ticing way ; as when Balak tempted Balaam with the
promise of promoting him to great honour : and they
are "vanities," because they are vain, and have no

The three renunciations. 149
soundness in them : they are sure, before long, to pass
away as in a dream. Whatever they are, and on what
side soever they tempt us, we have renounced and
must renounce them : we must not, for money nor
for beauty nor for pleasure nor praise nor amusement,
go near any of the things or places which we know to
be hateful to God. For these things, vain as they are,
have a wonderful power to attract and dazzle our poor
frail spirits. Gold and silver, jewels and embroidery,
take a great hold upon some minds : praise and honour,
and seeming to be of consequence, upon others : it is
not easy to turn away from them undazzled, and to
make up our minds to do without anything ofthe kind ;
especially since the malicious Adversary is ever put
ting things in our way, shewing to us, as he did to
our Lord, the most tempting objects in the most se
ducing way, and causing us, even if we can do nothing,
to sin in covetously desiring such things.
And even if we had no world without us, no evil
spirit to put the bad world in our way, there is an
enemy in the very fortress, a Serpent lurking in our
own bosoms : ' 'the carnal desires of the flesh, " which are
therefore mentioned to be renounced in the last place.
To see how these desires are distinct both from the
world and from the devil, consider the first sin, that
of Adam. There was the devil, standing beside the
Tree, pointing to it, and saying the false words. That
was one enemy. There was the Tree itself with its
forbidden fruit within a near distance of Adam. That
was as " the world," a second enemy ; and both these
were without the man. But there was also the frail
and evil desire within his own heart, whereby he
consented to the wickedness suggested to him : that

150. The three renunciations.
was the third enemy, "the lust of the flesh : " and so
this last, having conceived, brought forth sin, when
Adam ate of the fruit.
If then the mischief wrought in us by that first
sin is to be cured, we must renounce all three : as
we do renounce them in our Baptism. We must
neither listen to the unseen Tempter, nor look greed
ily at the outward and visible world, nor indulge
the evil craving within our own heart. So we have
promised. God grant we may be keeping our pro
mise ! If not, we know the consequence.
But there is another thing which we had need ob
serve very particularly in this first parcel of our
Baptismal vow. We promise concerning these our
three enemies, and especially concerning the sinful
lusts of the flesh, to " renounce them, so that we will
neither follow nor be led by them." To be led away
by temptation, in either of these kinds, is bad enough ;
to follow after temptation is much worse. It is not
so very hard to perceive the difference. David was
"led away" by temptation coming in his way, when
from the roof of his palace he beheld his neighbour
Uriah's wife, and all that sad and mournful history
followed. That was being " led by the carnal desires
of the flesh." That was bad enough, so bad that all his
life after was spent in the deepest penitence ; but it
would have been still worse, had he gone up to the
housetop, foreseeing the mischief, on purpose to put
himseH in the way of it : which kind of thing, follow
ing after enticement and seeking to be tempted to sin,
is alas ! but too common even among Christian peo
ple, though they have all so expressly renounced it.
However David in this instance, as it appears, was

The three renunciations. 151
led by the sin, he did not follow after it ; but it came in
his way, and he was too fraU to resist it. The Pro
phet Balaam, on the contrary, seems to be an instance
of one who wished to be tempted, who, as it were,
went out of his way to get near temptation, i. e. in
the words of our Baptismal Service, he followed after
evU desires. His covetousness was so strong on him,
that, although God had forbidden him most plainly
to go to Balak and curse the people, yet, when the
messengers came to ask him, he would not send them
away at once : he said, " lodge here this night, and I
will see if God will permit me to go with you : " that
is, he would not send the temptation away, he kept
it as near him as he dared, he sought somehow to
persuade himseH, that, if he sinned in strong tempta
tion, God would be mercHul to him and forbear to
punish : and so he went on following his covetous
fancy, making his own temptation strong, and came
at last to that miserable end.
Do you seek a plain example of what I mean,
on the difference of" following " and being " led by"
sinful lust ? Suppose then — a common case, alas !
that there are two persons in the same parish or
famUy, alike in this respect, that both are apt to
sin in the matter of strong drink : but suppose also
this difference between them, that the one has to
pass the public-house every day, going and return
ing from his work : the other we will suppose to
have his home quite in another direction: so that
he, if he go to the alehouse, sins more wilfully,
he follows after the temptation ; the first does but
permit himself to be led. Do you not see that the
one of these is at the beginning so far worse than the

152 The three renunciations.
other ? But if the other use himself to give way, he
will soon be just as bad as the first : he will be con
triving excuses to put himself in the way of mischief.
It is just the same with regard to all other sins. The
course of them commonly is, that, men being overcome
by surprise and strong temptation in the first in
stance, the false and miserable sweetness of the sin
haunts them afterwards, corrupting their minds, and
if they have not a real fear of God, and sense of His
presence, this will tempt them to sin again ; they will
be rather glad to have the sin come in their way :
and when they have sinned a second or third time,
they will even follow after the temptation, and try to
make themselves opportunities of sinning : each time,
perhaps, saying to themselves, " only this once," but
alas ! it comes over and over, until by degrees they are
past feeling and give themselves over to their sin,
committing it with greediness. 0 fearful, but too true
history of thousands of, redeemed and regenerated
souls ! And there is no security, no recovery from it,
without our earnestly and constantly remembering
this our solemn and sacred vow, " neither to follow
nor be led " by such things. Especially let young
people, who are as yet happily ignorant of many
sins, draw back from seeking even to know any thing
about them, except so far as they are warned against
them in Holy Scripture and by such as have care
over them. To look after sin, except just so far as
is useful in order to avoid it, is in- some measure
"following after" it — tempting ourselves: and we
shall be so much the more easily " led by " it. There
fore ' ' stand not in the way of sinners : ' ' say not, "Hozo
do such and such transgressors go on ? I will just look

The three renunciations. 153
on and see : " nay, my brother, but rather give ear to
our Lord's warning ; " Turn away your eyes lest you
behold vanity : " let not the evil way, if possible, be
" once named among you ; " be not ashamed to be en
tirely ignorant of it ; much less dwell upon it in
your thoughts : for why should you go out of your
way to corrupt your new-born soul, and put such a
stain upon your white baptismal robe, as will either
make your life anxious by a sad and careful repent
ance, or what is infinitely worse, being found on you
at the Last Day, -wUl cause you to be cast into the
outer darkness ?

SERMON XYII.

Acts viii. 36, 37.
" The Eunuch said, see here is water; what doth hinder
me to be baptised? and Philip said, If thou believes t
with all thine heart, thou mayest.''
The first part of your baptismal vow or Covenant is,
we saw last Sunday, to renounce what God hates ;
because we cannot be His own, His servants and
children, as long as we are in league with His enemy.
Therefore we turn at first as it were towards the West,
the land of darkness, and say to Satan, the prince of
darkness, " get thee from me, with all that take thy
part, whether they are openly in the world around
us, or inwardly in our own wicked hearts." And then
we go on in a manner to turn the directly contrary
way towards the East, the region of light, the side
on which the Day-Spring from on high hath visited
us. Whether we do so with our bodies or no, we
assuredly turn towards the East with our souls, when
we make answer about believing. We make it of
course, i. e. the godfathers and godmothers make it, in
the child's name ; as the promise before was made.
Before, it was said, " Dost thou in the name of this

The Faith, wherein we are baptised. 155
child, renounce the devil and all his works ; now it
is said, "Dost thou believe in God" and the rest.
You see plainly that we are still to understand it, as
it was before expressed. The Faith is accepted in the
child's name, as the world, the flesh, and the devil
had been renounced in his name. And he is bound to
it ; the child from that moment is bound to be a sin
cere, constant, complete believer, in things whereof
for the present it seems as though he could not know
anything. He is bound to believe what God teaches ;
all of it ; all the days of his life ; and that, most seri
ously. You heard the engagement just now; you
heard when the Priest asked the sponsors,
" Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth ?
" And in Jesus Christ his only -begotten Son our
Lord? And that he was conceived by the Holy
Ghost ; born of the Virgin Mary ; that he suffered un
der Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried ;
that he went down into hell, and also did rise again
the third day ; that he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty ;
and from thence shall come again at the end of the
world, to judge the quick and the dead ?
"And dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy
Catholic Church ; the Communion of Saints ; the Ee
mission of sins ; the Eesurrection of the flesh ; and
everlasting life after death ? " And you heard the
Sponsors make answer, " all this I stedfastly believe."
There were three of them at least, and yet they said,
I, not we. Why was that ? Because they were
speaking altogether in the child's name. They were
speaking, not for themselves, but for that little one.

156 The Faith,
And though that little one cannot as yet have any
understanding of what they said, yet he is bound by
it and will be so all his life long. That you know
very well. You know that he will be called to a strict
account, as to how he has kept that engagement. He
cannot be as if he had never been so near God. You
feel and are sure of it concerning that little child, con
cerning each child that is brought here to be bap
tized. Can you help reflecting, that you are no less sure
of it as concerns your own self also ? For over each
one of us also, when we were first brought to Church,
were the same holy words rehearsed. We too, in our
sureties, had the same question put to us concerning
the Creed, "Dost thou believe" &c. and we, by the
same sureties, made answer and said, "All this I sted
fastly believe." We are in covenant then to believe
all this, and if we do not really believe it, we have
broken the covenant ; and what will become of us, if
we die in that condition ?
Wherefore the very least we can do, in order not
to slight this covenant, is to consider it very often
over, and see how far we are going on stedfastly in
it. The covenant binds us, you see, to believe some
thing. What is believing? We all have a notion
that we believe ; we should all be angry to have it
made out that we were unbelievers. But can all of
us be truly and really said to believe ? Nay, consider,
as I said, What is believing ? It is receiving some
thing, which God Almighty tells us or teaches us, not
in our eyes or ears only, but in our minds ; and not
in our minds only, but in our hearts. I will try and
shew you what I mean. There are little boys and
girls here, aye and grown people too, who can say

wherein we are baptised. 157
the Belief, every word of it, who could read it quite
exactly out of a book, and would do so presently, if you
asked them ; and yet they cannot well be said to
believe, because, with or without their own fault, they
know not the meaning of what they speak ; they only
say it over, like parrots; they are too young or too dull
to attend, or they will not take the trouble to do so.
Now of these it may be said, they believe with their
eyes ears and tongues, but they do not believe with
their minds, much less with their hearts. Others again
do believe with their minds, i. e. they not only say or
mark the words of the Creed, but they really attend
to its meaning, and being perhaps quick of under
standing, they see how it all comes out of the Bible.
So far as it is a, lesson to be read, thought over, and
answered about, they have learnt it well ; they receive
it with their minds and understandings. But is this
Christian believing ? is this true Faith ? No ; for they
do not yet receive it with their hearts. What is re
ceiving it with their hearts ? You will know this bet
ter, if we stop for a moment to consider what sort of
things we, as Christians, are to believe, and why it
is so needful we should believe. They are the great
things out of sight ; What and Who God is, and the
wonderful course of His doings towards us sinful
children of men. And it is quite necessary we should
know and receive them, in order to overcome our
enemies, which are also the enemies of God. Those
enemies we have just renounced ; we have promised
to have nothing to do with them, to be altogether on
God's side ; knowing that to be against God is certain
ruin. But they are not easy to renounce ; they are
all three close at hand, and one of them, the flesh, is

158 The Faith,
even within us, we carry it about with us wherever
we go ; our three enemies are close at hand ; the false
goods wherewith they would tempt us are full in our
sight, and seem often "within our- reach, and we are
naturally very weak and frail. Therefore the graci
ous Lover of our souls, earnestly desiring that we may
never perish, has provided us, in His holy Book and in
the Creeds which are taken out of it, .with the know
ledge of a world out of sight, and of wonders unspeak
able wrought for us in that world, on which we may
set our hearts, and carrying the remembrance of them
everywhere about with us, may be able to overcome
God's enemies, near and powerful as they are, and to
keep the Commandments, though contrary to flesh
and blood. Thus, Faith comes second in our baptismal
vow ; for it is receiving God, and the things which God
hath done, into our hearts, clinging to the thought of
them, having them ever before us, and by their
mighty presence and power driving away the devil,
overcoming the world and the flesh, and really keep
ing the Commandments both in will and deed. Be
lieving what God teaches is the only way to have
power and will to renounce what He hates and to do
what He commands.
Observe, it is said, constantly believe and stedfastly,
"All thisl stedfastly believe." Our faith must not come
and go, according as the fancy takes us, now in the
heart and now out of it ; but it must stay and abide
with us day and night. This is meant when it is said,
"Do all in the Name ofthe Lord Jesus," and "whether
ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory
of God." Since we cannot for one moment besafe with
out our Lord's blessed Presence, since the world the

wherein we are baptised. 159
flesh and the devil are always at hand to do us harm,
therefore we had need have Christ dwelling in our
hearts by faith, like a shield ready to turn every way,
to quench aU the fiery darts of the wicked. Therefore
God's Saints and those who have learned of them have
been used to begin every serious work in the Name of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost ; in that Name
to rise up from their beds, in that Name to kneel down
to their Prayers, in that Name to make all solemn
gifts and engagements ; as a token that, wherever
they go, they carry with them by Faith that Holy
Trinity into which they were baptized, as a shield
against all enemies, visible and invisible. They do not
only beHeve while they are saying the Creed or think
ing it over, but at aU times, whatever they are about.
When temptation comes, it finds them believing that
Christ wiH judge the quick and the dead ; and that
faith enables them to resist it. When pride or ma
lice would find room in their souls, there is none ; for
their souls are filled with faith in God made Man, and
crucified for His enemies. When a thought would
come over them, I am so very weak and frail ; surely I
shall be forgiven if I do for once give way to this
strong temptation; Faith says to them in the depth of
their conscience, "you believe in God the Holy Ghost,
you know that He dweUs in you ; greater is He that
is in you than he that is in the world; " and so they put
away the bad thought. This is constant and stedfast
Faith, the Faith whereby good Christians shall be
finally justified, the Faith by which people walk on
the way towards Heaven, and do not only gaze on
it, and wish they were in it. And it is of this faith,
I suppose, that so great things are spoken in Holy

160 The Faith,
Scripture. The faith of the heart, not of the mind,
much less of the tongue only, is what we promised
in Baptism.
As for example ; when St. Philip the Deacon met
that Eunuch on the road, as he was sitting in his
chariot, and reading the -fiftythird chapter of Isaiah,
and when the Saint, beginning at that Scripture, had
preached unto him Jesus, and, on their coming to some
water, the Eunuch said, " What doth hinder me to
be baptized?" St. Philip's answer was, " If thou be-
lievest with all thine heart, thou mayest." He was
not simply to believe, but to believe with all his heart.
When St. Paul on his conversion was invited to
"arise and be baptized, and wash away his sins, calling
on the Name of the Lord," it was that he not only
believed in Christ, but so believed in Him, as to cry
out heartily, " Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ?"
When the prison doors at Philippi flew open at mid
night, God having sent a great earthquake to deliver
His servants Paul and Silas, and the keeper of the
prison, moved to repentance, fell down before the two
Saints, and asked, " Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?" St. Paul's answer was, Believe; " Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
Did St. Paul mean that the jailor should merely agree
in his mind to the Gospel which he was preaching ;
that he should say as so many do, " yes, it is all very
true, very good," and should go on in other respects as
he was before ? Did he mean that the heathen jailor,
continuing in his heathenism or in any other known
sin, might and would be saved, only for a strong feel
ing which he had, that Christ died to save him, and
that He was very good and merciful to do so ? Nay, my

wherein we are baptised. 161
brethren, we all know better than that. We know that
when the Apostle said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ," he was requiring of the jailor far more than
any such inward conviction and feeling. He was re
quiring of him that he should give up all, change his
way of life altogether, turn his mind day and night
towards the great, pure, unseen wonders which the
Creed of the Apostles would teach him, and live al
together as one believing in them all. This was the
Apostle's meaning when he said, ' ' Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." This was
also our Lord's own meaning, in those most hea
venly and comfortable words, the very Gospel of
man's salvation, " God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, to the end that whoso
ever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have
everlasting life." " Whosoever beHeveth in Him ;"
not with any kind of beHef, but with constant, steady,
hearty, practical belief. That man shall not perish.
For he shall conquer the enemies of his soul : he has
that within him, whereby he shall overcome the world.
So beHeving in Jesus Christ, we shall not pray to Him
in vain. He will give us more and more of His
Spirit, which will help us to please and obey Him.
Thus, beHeving the Articles of the Christian Faith,
which is the second part of our baptismal vow, is the
only safe way for us to keep the first, and the third.
We must believe rightly ; otherwise we shall neither
renounce, nor obey quite rightly. The temptations
wUl be too strong for us, and the commandments too
hard. But, this constant, enduring, ever-present faith,
which of us, my brethren, has it as he ought to

162 The Faith, wherein we are baptised.
have ? It is too true, that many of us permit them-
, selves to be so taken up with the labours, cares, fol
lies, of this short and miserable world, that they
hardly think, from week's end to week's end, (even
if they do it regularly then) of such high matters as
the Creed sets before them. But if they think not
of it, how can it help them in temptation ? If you
) go out to your work in the morning without a thought
of Jesus Christ Crucified, if you lie down at night
without any apprehension of sleeping in death, and of
waking afterwards to stand before His Judgment
Seat ; how can you depend upon His being with you
to guard you ? What can you expect, but that the
Evil one should have power over you, sleeping and
waking? Wherefore, I beseech you, beloved bre
thren, as you have learned your Creed, use it. Use
it (I know very many of you do so) as a part of your
daily devotions ; only beware of merely saying the
words over. Whilst you speak them, believe them in
your heart, and treasure them up against the hour of
temptation. The Baptismal Creed, thus put into prac
tice, will by the help of God prove the best help to pre
serve Baptismal grace ; heavenly things will be more
and more to you, and earthly things less and less ; be
lieving, you will keep the Commandments, and then,
whatever happens, you may go on your way rejoicing
in Christ.

SERMON XVIII.

St. Luke xiv. 23.
" Compel them to come in."
You wUl remember, many of you, that these words
are part of a prophetic parable of our Saviour's, in
which, under the similitude of a great supper, He
told His disciples how they might expect men to
behave, when His Kingdom the Church should be
set up, and all should be invited into it. When those
who were first called, the Jews, had made their un
dutiful excuses, and were rejected, the servants were
to gather in, first the poor, maimed, halt and blind,
out of fhe streets and lanes of the city, then those
who were scattered in the highways and hedges, the
lost and undone GentUes, wherever they are. They
were to be compelled to come in, to be urged and
pressed and not let alone, to be constrained with a
holy and loving violence, if haply they might be
brought to take care of their own souls.
But besides all this, it has been truly said, there is
another way of compelling persons to come in, i. e.
of bringing them into the Church of Christ, by a
sort of compulsion, without asking their leave. I
mean, when little children are brought, as the man
ner is and always has been, to be made partakers of
l 2

164 The Faith,
Holy Baptism. Plainly they are brought to Christ
without their own leave; they are, in a man
ner, compelled to come in. Now this is brought
strongly before us in the part of the Baptismal Ser
vice to which we are now come. After the Priest
has made enquiry about the Articles of the Christ
ian Faith, and has had answer made him in the
child's name, "All this I stedfastly believe," he is di
rected to ask, "Wilt thou be baptized in this Faith?"
and answer is made for the child, "That is my de
sire :" and yet we cannot well think, that the child
has any such desire, so as to feel it, in his little heart;
it is answered for, and made a Christian, without any
permission from itself; very often, as we know, in
its sleep : and we need not doubt that all this is right,
seeing that our Lord tells His Apostles, and through
them all His ministers, not only, " Suffer the little
children to come to Me," but " compel, force them to
come in." They cannot give you leave in words, but
you are to bring them, and answer for them, all the
same for that.
And in this you do them no wrong, but the very
greatest good you can do them. So that you may
truly say in their name, " That is my desire," being
so very certain as you are, that if they could know,
they would desire it above all things. Just as if one
had a humble petition to make to the Queen for any
child who was too young to know the meaning of it,
to have its property taken care of, or the like, one
should present it in the name of the child, and call
it that child's petition. Or, if an infant was crying
at the door for hunger, though it were too young to
understand its own wants, or at all to speak them

wherein we are baptised. 165
out in words, yet we should not scruple to say, The
child is longing and asking for bread. So here comes
a little child to the door of the kingdom of heaven ;
it comes, partaking ofthe distress and weakness, spiri
tual and bodily, in which all children are born ; re
hearsal is made of those blessed and saving truths,
which make up the Creed or Gospel or Faith of Jesus
Christ; and the child being asked, "Wilt thou be bap
tized in this Faith ? " well may we answer for it, that
such is its desire ; knowing as we do most assuredly,
that this is the very thing which it wants, the only
petition which being granted wiU do it real good.
For let us consider one by one, but very shortly,
the articles of the Faith into which the child is to be
baptized. Let us try and look at them with the eye
of a parent who is just bringing his child to Bap
tism ; a serious and faithful parent I mean ; one who,
in presenting his little one at the Font, does not only
mean to go through a serious and proper form in a
dutiful manner, but who reaUy believes that Holy
Baptism is to that child the one thing needful, be
cause it is thereby put into the Arms of Jesus Christ.
How will such a parent as that feel when he hears
the Priest in our Lord's Name asking his child, H he
beHeves in God the Father Almighty, and in the
other articles of the Creed ?
I should think that when he hears, first of all, of
God the Father, he might very well say to himself,
" Yes indeed, thankful may I well be, and I desire to
thank God with all my heart, that He invites this
my child to be His child ; to have the great Almighty
Father of all for his own Father by special adoption
and grace. Poor child, if he knew his own condition,

166 The Faith,
sinful and born of sinful parents, cast out of the
great family for the sin of his first father, and
with no chance, if left to himself, of not perishmg
eternally : — how earnestly would he join in the an
swer, ' That is my desire,' when asked if he wished
to be baptized in the Faith of God the Father."
So again, when the priest goes on to make men
tion of Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord, may
not a parent well say in his heart, "how great, how
aweful a blessing, that our little infant should be thus
enlisted on the right side, on the Church's side, be
fore he could believe or know anything." Our hearts
sometimes burn within us, when we read of our Lord
taking up the little children, embracing them in His
Arms, laying His Hands upon them and blessing
them, though He presently set them down and de
parted thence. But here, Christian Fathers and Mo
thers, here at the Holy Baptismal Font, your chil
dren are taken into Christ's Arms, not to be set
down again, but to be embraced and blessed and
lifted up by Him for ever. The parents know how
the child very early begins to cling to them, what
pain and tears it very often costs bim to go to any
one else. Well may they say for him, ' ' That is my de
sire," when he is asked whether he will go to Christ,'
and abide with Him, Who is the very fountain of
all fatherly and motherly love.
Next the Priest, reciting the Creed, goes on to
speak of our Lord's Sufferings ; how He suffered un
der Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried ;
and when, having done so, he asks the child, " Wilt
thou be baptized in this Faith ? " in the Faith espe
cially of Christ crucified ; — what father or mother

wherein we are baptised. 167
who believes wiU not in heart eagerly answer for
their child, " That is my desire ;" the very desire of
my heart; of all things I long to be partaker of
Christ crucified? And while you thus answer for
your children, you will lift up your hearts in loving
thankfulness to Him Who has vouchsafed to be their
Saviour. You will imagine to yourselves what mi
sery it would have been for you, the parents of these
Httle ones, who feel as if your very souls were bound
up in them, to know that they were doomed to eter
nal ruin, that they were lost, body and soul for ever.
Why, when you hear of any dangerous and fright
ful disease, such as we have been lately delivered
from, it is more than you can well bear to think,
What if one's own dear children should be seized
and taken away by it, first one and then another ?
And if this thought is so shocking, how would it be,
were there no deliverance in eternity, nothmg be
tween them and everlasting death ? Set your minds
to it earnestly, my brethren; for surely it is quite
true, that without Christ crucified these your trea
sures, so unspeakably dear to you, must have been
lost for ever and ever. Well may they, and you for
them, desire that they be baptized in the Faith of
Him ; for so they lay hold of the only Hand which
may keep them from falling into the bottomless pit.
And when you think of His sad Sufferings, and re
flect that He bore it all willingly for the sake of
these dear children of your's, surely your hearts can
not be so hard, but that, even on your children's be
half, you will love Him and try to please Him.
And this so much the more, if from His Cross you
go on in thought to His Judgment. For so the Faith

168 The Faith,
teaches you, into which your child is baptized; it says
that " He shall come to judge the quick and the dead."
We have heard it often, may be, in Baptisms as weU as
at other times, without its making much impression
upon us. Yet assuredly it is a most solemn thing, to be
thus reminded of the judgment to come, when we stand
by the Font. It may be, the parties who are there
assembled, child, sponsors, minister, attendants, may
never meet again in this world ; but there will be one
day known to the Lord, in which they will assuredly
meet. Then the mark, which is now to be set invi
sibly and mysteriously upon the infant, will be seen
openly before men and angels, either to his exceeding
glory, or to his incurable shame and torment. This
moment of Baptism is a sure pledge and token of that
moment of absolution or condemnation. Now, we are
made God's own for the time ; then, He will determine
whether we shall be His or the prey of the Evil One
for ever. 0 that Christians would so remember, so
use, what is given them now, that it may be their joy
and not their condemnation in that hour !
They may do so if they will. You may do so ;
you children may do so, every one who is baptized
may do so. Do you not hear how the Priest, after
the questions about the Father and the Son, saith
to your children, "Dost thou believe in the Holy
Ghost ? " and then they desire to be baptized into the
faith of the Holy Ghost, as well as into that of the
Father and the Son. Thus their Baptism introduces
them to a Comforter, as well as to a Father and a Sa
viour ; and all Three alike Divine, One God in sub
stance, power, and eternity. Thus the hearts of
thoughtful parents may be comforted concerning

wherein we are baptised. 169
their children, of whom otherwise they might almost
despair. Knowing by sad experience the sore temp
tations which await them, they might be swallowed
up with fear, lest their children, after all, should for
feit the mercy so dearly bought for them. But see
ing that their little ones are baptized into the Faith
of the Holy Ghost, they may take courage ; for
the Holy Ghost, they know is, Almighty ; and where
He is, there is liberty, and persons are free to keep
God's commandments, and to save their own souls,
be their enemies never so troublesome. Thus He,
Whose Name is the Comforter, is so in this respect
among others, that, in coming to young children at
the Font, He comforts and assures the hearts of beHev
ing friends and Parents by the certainty,, that the
infant, come what may, wUl not be left to himseH.
He wiU not be left alone in the forlorn and danger
ous world, to wrestle with the evU powers. His father
and his mother may forsake him ; death or other
change may remove them ; but the Lord hath taken
him up. If ever the thought comes over parents'
minds, (as I suppose itmust now and then come, ) What
if we should be called away, and these chUdren be
left orphans? what greater relief could they have
under such a sad thought, than in remembering how
their chUdren have been baptized into the faith of
God the Holy Ghost, the Comforter ; how He hath
taken them under His especial guardianship ; how He
hath said- to them, I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee ? Surely such a remembrance as this must be
everything to a loving parent, when his spirit is vexed
with the thought of having to leave his children
unprovided for.

170 The Faith,
Then, my brethren, think of those comfortable truths,
which follow the mention of the Holy Ghost in the
Creed ; the Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of
Saints. Is it not a great thing to a parent, to be
sure of a home for his child ? Now the Holy Church
of God is a sure Home to every Christian. Is it not
a great thing to have kind, good, near and powerful
friends, ready to help your children in need or trouble?
Well, here are allthe Saints of the Most High, in Para
dise and in earth, made your child's friends at Bap
tism, and ready and willing to help him by then-
prayers to God. And, 0 my Brethren, which of us all,
that unhappily knows what wilful sin is, how bitter,
how noisome, yet how subtle and ensnaring, how hard
every way to cure, — which of us, I say, who knows
this, but would thank God with all his heart for mak
ing the Eemission of sins, a part- of his own and his
children's Baptismal Creed ? So that .he may yet feel
hope concerning those Httle ones, though in this mi
serable and naughty world they should be offended,
and do things which would ruin their souls : he may
hope and pray and labour that they may truly re
pent; and, truly repenting, he knows that they will
be forgiven ; for they were baptized into this Faith,
of the Eemission of sins.
Lastly, since in presenting your babes at the Font,
you make them declare that they believe in the Ee
surrection of the Flesh, and everlasting life after
death ; ought it not to reprove you, and make you
tremble, if your life and behaviour be such as to
shew, in God's sight if not in man's, that you care
little for such things, that you are wholly swallowed
up in minding this body which you now have, and

wherein we are baptised. 171
in the business and gain and amusement of this
present life ? Still, whatever your conduct be, you
can scarcely be so blind, so irreligious, as not to
believe in your heart that there will be a Eesurec-
tion, a Judgment, an Eternity of Life or Death.
Then you must needs be glad to have your children
early brought to that faith ; you will wish and pray
that they at least may be better than yourself; ancl
who knows but such wishes and prayers may come
home to your own bosom, and our long-suffering
God in His own good time may give you true repent
ance, as He has to so many others, shewing charity
for His sake ?
I have mentioned now the chief heads of the Bap
tismal Creed, that parents, going over it in their minds,
might perceive how comfortable a thing it is to have
their children brought early to the acknowledgement
of it ; and also for the parents' own sake, that they
may be ashamed to have set so little store by these
greatest of all truths. In conclusion, mark this.
We are to be baptized in this Faith. We were so, all
in our turns ; that is, as holding this Faith, as pro
fessing it, and saying that, because we believe it,
therefore we ask to be baptized. Again, we are bap
tized in this faith, as it is our state and condition,
in which we hope to grow and improve, as we should
in any bodily state and condition. Therefore, my
Brethren, dearly beloved in the Lord, if we would
not renounce our Baptism, and with it all our hope,
we must hold fast this faith ; we must cling to it ; it
must be very near and dear to us ; we must sooner
die than part with it, or any considerable portion of
it. Come what will, we must never slight nor deny it.

1 72 The Faith, wherein we are baptised.
We must live by it ; live as believing it, and then it
will be sure to stay with us. Then we shall die in
the same holy faith ; it wUl rise with us in the Last
Day ; it will save our souls ; through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Amen.

SERMON XIX.

Jeremiah vii. 23.
" This thing I commanded thee, saying, Obey My Voice,
and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people."
We are now come to the last, and in some respects
the most aweful portion of the covenant we made in
our Baptism. When the person to be baptized has
said, I desire to be baptized in this faith, the priest
asks, " Wilt thou then obediently keep God's holy
will and commandments ? " As if he should say, ' ' you
cannot be baptized, unless you seriously engage your
self to be a true servant of God, doing His will from
the heart, in all respects, as long as you live." Now,
this is a great, a wide, and a deep promise, and I
have known people before now, who were afraid to
make it in the child's behaH; and when they were
asked at the Font, have said instead of the two little
words, " I will," " I will endeavour myself so to do,
the Lord being my helper," or " That is my desire,"
or some other like form of words. I do not blame
such persons, if they do so in a reverent spirit, not
as finding fault with the words whieh the Church
puts into their mouth, but simply as expressing their
deep sense, how weak and unworthy we aU are

174 Why we should not shrink
through sin. I do not blame them ; I do not wonder
that at first they inclined to shrink from the promise,
considering how great a promise it is, and how sadly,
alas, it is broken and profaned to their knowledge. For
it reaches through the whole of life, childhood, youth,
middle age, old age — and it extends to every part of
duty, to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves,
binding us both to do what ought to be done, and to
leave undone what ought not to be done. And they-
see and know how many persons, having made this
vow, live in open neglect and defiance of it, and (what
is still sadder ) their own hearts and consciences tell
them how many things they have done, and still
perhaps are doing from time to time, very contrary
to this Christian obedience. For these reasons, some
good sort of people, naturally enough, shrink from
this solemn promise; saying, they know not how
the child may turn out, and how can they engage
that he will be good ? But they need not so draw
back, any more than, if they were grown-up hea
thens, they would draw back on the same account
from receiving Holy Baptism themselves. You know
that, if you were born and bred among the Pagans
and unbelievers, and Christ had mercifully called you
to the true Faith, you could not come to Him with
out making this profession. By the act of entering
into His service and family, you do in reality pro
mise to obey Him, whether you make the promise
in words or no. For what is the sense, or use, or
goodness of calling yourself the servant of such and
such a Master, if you do not mean that you will do as
he bids you, or owning yourself the child of such and
such a Father, if you do not intend to be dutiful to

from promising in the child's name. 1 75
Him? Therefore if you came to be baptized in
your riper years, you would feel that you must not
shrink from this engagement ; you must intend, and,
being caUed on by the Lord, you must promise to
keep obediently God's holy wiU and commandments,
and to walk in the same aU the days of your Hfe.
And as you would promise it for yourseH if you
were grown up, so you need not fear to promise it
for the child, who cannot speak for itseH. The chUd
is quite entirely bound by the promise, whether you
make it for him in words or no, it is only speaking
out a duty which would be put upon the chUd by
the very act of Baptism (as indeed it is when a chUd
is privately baptized) without a word being said
about it.
If you ask the reason, why the chUd or person
need not shrink from so large and serious an engage
ment, the reason is, the great help which is given
in Baptism, and which is continued to every bap
tized person, until he has finally cast himseH away.
You know that I mean; the help of God's Holy
Spirit. Suppose a child were asked, WUl you en
gage yourself to be at such a place to-morrow ? it
being weU known that the place was far too dis
tant for the chUd to reach in the time by its own
strength ; stUl, H the child knew that he had a kind
and strong father, on whom he might entirely depend,
and who had promised to be with him, and carry
him in his arms for the whole of the journey that he
could not perform alone; there would be no pre
sumption, nothing wrong, (would there?) in the
child's promising and making the engagement. So
it is with us in Holy Baptism. We have a great, a

176 Why we should not shrink
long, a dangerous journey before us, the journey
from this sinful world to heaven. Of ourselves we
have no strength to perform it; yet we are called upon
to promise that we will perform it. Why are we not
wrong in making that promise ? Because our Father
in heaven has promised, for Christ's sake, to be with
us by His good Spirit, and to help us along every
step of the way ; we being members of Christ, and
not breaking off from His holy comfort and guidance.
That gracious offer of His makes all the difference.
It is no longer presumption nor boasting, but plain
faith and duty, for every the simplest Christian to
say in his heart, " I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me;" without Him I can do no
thing, but with Him all things are possible.
I say then, Let Christian people look their own
condition boldly in the face. Let us all for once lay
to heart this most serious, yet most certain truth, We
are: Whether we will or no, we exist: we are in God's
world, and we cannot resist His Will. We are ; and
in spite of what the Evil One may sometimes whisper
to us, we very well know in our hearts, that we shall
be for ever. What if a person, having the choice, were
to refuse Baptism altogether, and to say, I had rather
remain heathen and unregenerate ; perhaps I shall
have less to answer for ? Would that do him any
good ? Would it save his soul, or abate his punish
ment ? We cannot dream of such a thing; the imagi
nation is too profane; although indeed, my Brethren, it
is too fearfully Hke what many Christians say and do in
respect ofthe other Holy Sacrament, that of the Body
and Blood of Christ. They decline coming to God's
Altar, in the thought, that perhaps they shall have

from promising in the child's name. \77
less to answer for. I am sure they will find one day
that they have made a great and inexcusable mistake :
T only wish their conviction may come in good time.
Yes indeed, I most sincerely wish that all my brethren
and sisters who now hear me, and to whom God's
Providence has in any way brought the knowledge of
His holy Sacrament of Communion, would seriously
consider in their hearts, that, having once heard of it,
they cannot be as if He had never said anything to
them about it. Put it fairly to your own consciences.
Would it not be very wicked to refuse to offer your
child to Baptism, in order that it might go on by and
by with less guilt in sin and ungodhness ? and is it
not the same kind of profaneness to stay away from
the Supper of the Lord, in order that you may your
seH with less danger abide in wrong ways ? Believe
me, my friends, you cannot do so and be safe. You '•
cannot put away from you the yoke and the burthen
which your Creator has laid on your shoulders, the
yoke and burthen of your duty to Him and to your
neighbour. You may, by His grace, cause the yoke to
become easy and the burthen light ; but you cannot
put it away from you. You cannot bury your talent,
or hide it in a napkin, and hear no more of it ; an ac
count is sure to be demanded of you. You are fairly
embarked on the great Ocean of Eternity ; you cannot
stop, you cannot draw back ; on and on you must sail
for ever and ever. A great prize is set before you, or
a great and unspeakable loss : you have a soul to save
or to lose, an immortal soul, and you cannot say, you
had rather decline doing either : it is a hazard which
must be run : your soul must be either saved or lost.
Make up your mind to this at once, I beseech you. One
M

178 Why we should not shrink
choice or other must be made. If you say, you had
rather not choose yet, this is in reality, for the time,
choosing amiss, it is choosing Hell before Heaven.
Hear what He says, Who cannot lie ; He Who holds
you in His Hand, both body and soul, and Who can do
what He will with you ; though He most mercifully
wills only your good, He says, " Behold, I have set
before you this day life and good and death and evil ;
therefore choose life." Choose you must, one or the
other ; you cannot avoid that ; therefore choose life.
Choose life, my brethren, and lose no time in choosing
it ; for why should you pour out the best of your cup
on the ground, and offer the dregs only to your God
and Saviour ? Why should you of set purpose af
front Him by giving Him only a few of your latter
years, the years of which it is said, " There is no plea
sure in them; " whereas He counted nothing too much
for Him to give up to you ? Why should you wantonly
throw away so much of this life's sweetness and com
fort ? For, depend on it, all the days and years that
we put off turning to God, are so much sweetness and
comfort thrown away. 0 believe this, now while you
have time. Wait not to learn it by bitter experience.
Fear not to devote yourself at once. Now, without
waiting any longer, turn towards the bright and glo
rious Light which freely and graciously offers to shine
in your hearts. You ought to have done so, on the
very first ray which you perceived ; your not having
done so is your great loss, and may be your loss for
ever. The good Angels, we may well believe, did so
at once. On the first moment of their creation, they
turned themselves in adoring love towards Him Who
made them, and began that glorious exercise in which

from promising in the child's name. 179
they now go on, and will go on to all Eternity. They
began at their first Creation, and since then they have
never rested, day nor night, saying, " Holy, Holy,
Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is, and is
to come." Is not their's all perfect happiness ? Is
not the Lord infinitely gracious, Who allows your
children, in their measure, the same happiness, by
inviting them to meet Him at the Font at the be
ginning of their IHe ? He invites them to turn to
Him, He will not have them forbidden. You would
think it cruel to keep them back, and you are right
in thinking so. But how are you behaving to the
same gracious goodness, no less freely offered to your
seH? On you too that glorious Light has risen, and
is even now waiting to shine into your heart, H you
will let Him, H you will at once obediently give your
seH up to the fulfilment of all His holy Command
ments. How can you think you should lose anything
by this ? Is it not what the most affectionate pa
rents have always most longed for in their children ?
Bemember what Hannah did for Samuel, her only and
dearly beloved Infant, when she was most earnestly
bent on making him happy. She even parted with
him herself, that he might appear before the Lord,
and there abide for ever. Why should it be so very
hard to get Christians to care for their own souls, as
much as Hannah cared for Samuel ?
If you say, " Samuel was a child, and so are those
whom we see continuaUy devoted to Christ in Holy
Baptism; they had not other things prepossessing
their hearts ; but I am of such and such an age, and
my heart is unhappUy full of other things ; how can
/devote myself to God ? " If you feel such a scruple
M 2

180 Why we should not shrink, Sfc.
as that, I own it is a sad thought, but not a thought
to make you despond. Again I remind you, " with
God all things are possible." Eemember the Baptism
of Saul, who was afterwards called Paul. Whose
heart was ever more full of thoughts contrary to
Christ than his ? Yet when the Light of Christ
shone upon him, he turned at once towards It, say
ing, ' ' Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do ? " And he
never afterwards turned his back upon It; never
again did he look towards the world, the flesh, and
the devil. His vow helped him ; and i£ you will, by
the grace of God, your baptismal vow shall help
you. When you are tempted, you will say in your
heart, " I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I
cannot go back." So will hard duties become easy,
pleasant sins will become hateful, and the Light
towards which you have turned will shine on you
more and more until the perfect Day.

SERMON XX.

Colossians ii. 13.
" Buried with Him in Baptism, wherein also ye are
risen with Him."
When the chUd by his sponsors has stood to his
Baptismal Covenant, the Church, as you know, goes
on to commend him to God in four very solemn
prayers ; as if a father, sending his chUd a journey,
should first give him instructions what to do, then
make him solemnly promise to do it, and lastly cause
him to kneel down, and bless him very religiously
before he set out. If that would be a comfort to
the chUd undertaking the journey, so ought it to be
a great comfort in our journey through life, when
ever we call to mind these affectionate interces
sions, which our loving Mother the Church offered
up for us, before she put us in Christ's Arms to be
baptized, and so to take the first step (and the
greatest but one i. e. death) in our spiritual journey.
There were four intercessions which she then offered
up for us ; and three of them, following Holy Scrip
ture, represent our Christian condition by a sort of
parables. The first is, "0 merciful God, grant that
the old Adam in this child may be so buried, that

182 Prayers for the child
the New Man may be raised up in him." This likens
Baptism, as you see, to death and resurrection. The
second is, " Grant that all carnal affections may die
in him, and that all things belonging to the Spirit
may live and grow in him." This likens the soul of
a Christian to a garden, in which are some foul
weeds, carnal affections, which we pray may die ;
others, good plants, things of the Spirit, whieh we
pray may live and grow. The third prayer is,
" Grant that he may have power and strength to
have victory, and to triumph, against the devil, the
world, and the flesh." This collect has also its
parable, and it is very plain what it is. It likens our
Christian life to a warfare against the three enemies
of our souls ; as after Baptism, when we are signed
with the Cross, it is said to be in token of our fight
ing under Christ's banner against sin, the world,
and the devil, and of our continuing to our life's
end His faithful soldiers. Thus then each of the
three prayers which are offered up for the child,
immediately after the covenant and before the Christ
ening, refers us to something which we well under
stand, in order that our duty, when we come to
know it, may sink the more thoroughly into our
minds, and be more easily recollected on all occa
sions. The fourth prayer will be considered by it
self another time.
The first of them, as I said, compares Baptism to
death and burial. It asks that the old Adam in
this child may be buried. You know what is meant
by the old Adam ; or, as St. Paul calls it, the old
man. It is the old bad nature, which we brought
with us into the world. The child who is going to

before the Baptism. 183
be baptized, be his parents who they may, has, we
are sure, his part in the old Adam. He is of his
own nature corrupt like the rest, and inclined to
evil, and H he be left to himself, wiU surely go far
ther and farther from God. This is as certain as
that he is born of flesh and blood, and cometh of the
seed of Adam and Eve.
WeU, the Church's prayer is, that this old bad
nature may be buried in the chUd who is being
brought to the Font ; that it may be dead and buried,
done away with and put out of sight. A great
miracle, greater than raising the dead, and only to
be wrought by the Almighty power of the Spirit of
God, yet most surely wrought in each chUd that is
truly baptized, as our Lord himseH taught : " Except
ye be born again of water and of the Spirit, ye can
not enter into the kingdom of God." This is the
great baptismal change, which God wrought for
every one of us in the beginning of Hfe; and the
whole business of our after-Hfe ought to be, the be
having ourselves worthy of it. What should we
fancy right behaviour, in any person who had really
and HteraUy died, and been raised from the dead, e. g.
in Lazarus of Bethany ? Surely it would disappoint
us, we should think it strange and unnatural, i£ such
an one still went on as H there were no other world,
or as i£ he had no soul to be saved or lost eternally
in it. In like maimer, well may the Angels wonder,
and be filled with holy indignation, when they see
an impure and unworthy Christian ; rather I should
say, when they see a Christian who is not really
striving to purify himself, even as Christ is pure.
For this is the purpose of Almighty God in killing

184 Prayers for the child
and burying the Old Man, that the New Man may be
raised up in his stead. The New Man is the image
and likeness of God, renewed and brought into being
again in the baptized soul and body by the power of
the Holy Ghost making the child a member of
Christ. As the Old Man is the likeness and "nature
of fallen Adam, so the New Man has the likeness
and nature of Jesus Christ; and this is what we
pray to have raised up in our children, when we
bring them to Holy Baptism. Think for a moment,
what a great thing it is we ask for them. Think of
them as children. We may ask that they may grow
up like that Holy and Blessed Child, Who was the
very Word and Wisdom ofthe Father, Incarnate, and
dwelling among men: Who, as He grew, waxed strong
in Spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God
was upon Him : Who, when He was parted awhile from
His parents, was found in no other place than His
Father's House, in no other employment than about
His Father's business ; Who abode quietly with His
parents, and was subject unto them, increasing con
tinually in favour with God and man. This is He,
Whose Image and Likeness you pray that you may
see in these little ones ; and surely we may see a
great deal of it, if we will but watch, in their loving
and confiding ways, in their little acts of seH-denial,
in their contrivances how to be kind and dutiful and
obedient. Yes, indeed, he that will reverentially look,
may in many things discern the New Man in the be
haviour of baptized children ; and much, very much
more, would be to be seen, were parents and elders
such as Christians should be, especially in their cares
and prayers for the lambs of the flock ; and perhaps

before the Baptism. 185
it may help some of us to remember our duty to them,
if we will sometimes recollect, that when they were
christened, prayer was made especially that they
might be changed into the Image and glory of Christ,
and how fearful it would be, if through any fault of
our's they should be found rather to have put on the
horrible image of Christ's Enemy.
But we pray besides, that all carnal affections may
die in the babe which is about to be baptized, ancl
that all things belonging to the Spirit may live and
grow in him. Carnal affections are the lusts of the
flesh ; all undue appetite for meat and drink and plea
sures ; all those many thoughts, fancies, wishes, habits,
which get hold of men who give themselves up to
this world ; and are like so many foul and weak and
noisome weeds, overgrowing the garden of the soul.
Concerning all these, we pray that they may wither
and die; but for the things belonging to the Spirit, i. e.
for "all holy desires, good counsels, and just works,"
for these we pray, that they may live and grow in
that child ; even as fair flowers and precious fruits
thrive in the good soil of a kindly and well-managed
garden. And it should be particularly noticed,
that we pray not only for their living, but for their
growing. We pray, and therefore we should labour,
that in every baptized person there should be the
spirit of improvement, not of continuance only. We
are not contented if the plants we set merely just
keep alive; if they leave off growing, we consider
that more or less as a sign of decay. So it is not
enough for a man to say to himself, I have not gon'e
back that I know of; I believe I am no worse than I
was ; but he ought to have some reasonable ground

186 Prayers for the child
of hope that on the whole he may be advancing.
That is the necessary token of spiritual life. Thus, if
youhave left off telling absolute lies, still you are not to
be satisfied with yourself; you must practise every day
to be more tender and exact in your regard for truth ;
and so of all other virtues ; as we read of the Holy
Child, that He did not continue in one stay, but in
creased in wisdom. For as no garden is ever so per
fect, but a great deal may be done in it, so no Christ
ian's soul is so exact in any good thing, but it may
be greatly improved — there are yet more things be
longing to the Spirit which may be introduced into
it, to live and and to grow there ; and those which
are there already, may be cultivated into higher beauty
or more abundant vigour. Eemember this, Christ
ian Brethren and Sisters, when you are tempted to be
weary and fall back. Eemember, it was prayed over
you, the first time you were brought here, " may all
spiritual things not only live, but grow in him."
And remember, lastly, that the Church prayed for
you as for young Soldiers ; that you may have power
and strength to have victory and to triumph against
the devil, the world, and the flesh. She did not pray
that you might be at rest and entire peace from all
tempations ; this, the Church knows, cannot be had
in this world ; she did not pray that you might have
no warfare, but that you might get the better in your
warfare. Two things she prayed for, victory and
triumph ; victory here over the enemies of your soul,
triumph hereafter on the great Day, when God will
finally put under the feet of His saints all the powers
of evil, to rise again no more. This, your Spiritual
Mother asked on your behalf of the Great King as a

before the Baptism. 187
very precious baptismal gHt ; and you cannot doubt
that He would grant her request. You may not
doubt, you must earnestly believe that God has given
you power and strength to have victory and to tri
umph against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. If
you do not fight, or if fighting, you do not prevail,
you may be quite sure it is not for want of power and
strength given you in Holy Baptism. It is not for
want of such a gHt, but for abuse and forfeiture
of it. Put this home to your own hearts, dear bre
thren. The victory is in your own hands if you will.
Neither the devil nor any other power, can make you
sin against your will. He may dart evil thoughts into
your mind, but H you turn away from them at once,
and decidedly, they will hardly be so troublesome
again ; at any rate, they wUl do your soul no harm.
And then imagine the triumph at last ; how the Great
King will come in person, and all His holy Angels
with Him : how from the innumerable multitude be
fore Him, He wiU in some marvellous way single
out each one separately who has pleased Him, with a
" well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the
joy of the Lord : " and so each one of us, H not found
unworthy, shall meet the Lord in the air, and being
blessed by Him and taken up, shall follow Him
through the everlasting doors into His Kingdom.
I say, let us often think of this day of triumph,
and fear greatly, as indeed we have great occasion,
lest our own careless and wilful ways deprive us of
our portion in it. Do you not see, when any parti
cular Festival or Holiday is soon coming on, how much
better than usual young people are apt to behave, for
fear of losing their share in the Holiday ? So and

188 Prayers for the child before ihe Baptism.
much more should we do our best, to secure the place
graciously provided for us in that last and most glo
rious Procession, the procession of our Lord and His
saints from Judgment to glory ? It is but a short
while ; the day will very soon be here ; and if we have
many adversaries, yet a great door, by God's mercy,
is open, and we have large and sufficient helps. May
He grant that on that day we may each one of us
look back to the day of his Baptism with joy and not
with grief I

SERMON XXI.

Col. i. 23.
" If 'ye continue in the Faith, grounded and settled, and
be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which
ye have heard."
In taking up anew the course of Catechising which
has been interrupted this year by the holy seasons
of Lent and Easter, I may remind you that we were
going through the Baptismal Service, and had en
tered on the consideration of the short prayers, which
follow after the replies of the godfathers and god
mothers, and come immediately before the Consecra
tion of the water. They are four in number, and
the last time we considered three of them.
The first begs for the Child the grace of regenera
tion : that " the old Adam in this child may be so bu
ried, that the new man may be raisedup in him." The
second begs for him the grace of conversion, or con
tinual, gradual, silent turning towards God : " that
all carnal affections may die in him and that all
things belongmg to the Spirit may live and grow in
him." The third supposes him (as he is sure to be)
in a state of warfare and asks for him the grace of
victorious resistance: "Grant that he may have

190 Prayers for the child
power and strength to have victory and to triumph
agamst the devil, the world and the flesh." And
the fourth and last of those short collects, prays for
the crown of all, final perseverance. " Grant that
whosoever is here dedicated to Thee by our office and
ministry, may also be endued with heavenly virtues,
and everlastingly rewarded: Through Thy mercy, 0
Blessed Lord God, Who dost live and govern all
things, world without end."
Consider first, for whom we offer this prayer : not
for the child only which is waiting to be christened
(to whom the other short collects plainly refer), but
for all, " Whosoever is here dedicated to God by our
office and ministry." What is "here"? It may
mean at this Font, in this particular Church, and
congregation : or it may mean generally, in this evil
and trying world. The Priest, when he offers that pe
tition, may mean something similar to that which So
lomon offered concerning the Temple, to Him Whose
eyes were open all night and all day towards that
Holy place, that God would hear the prayers offered
to Him there, or by Israelites afar off, turning that
way in prayer. Or he may mean more general
ly, for all who have been duly baptized anywhere
and by any Christian. Being so dedicated to God,
they are an especial~mark for the devil to shoot his
arrows at : they have special need therefore to ask
for perseverance, and to have it asked for them. It is
a prayer of great, extensive, unbounded charity, tak
ing in all the baptized, as the like prayer in the
Communion office does all the members of Christ, in
that it says; " we Thy humble servants entirely desire
Thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our

before the Baptism. 1 9 1
Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving ; most humbly
beseeching Thee to grant, that by the merits and
death of Thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in
His Blood, we and all Thy whole church may obtain
remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His Pas
sion." That collect, as you may perceive, is a charita
ble intercession, extending the benefit of the holy
Saprifiee and Sacrament which has just been offered
up, far beyond the Communicants present, even to
all God's whole Church, everywhere, according to
their needs. Such is the love and such the prayer
of the Holy Catholic Church. From every Font and
from every Altar, it flows and spreads itself all around,
until it have filled Heaven and earth : like a holy fire
which, wherever it is kindled, will naturally lay hold
of things on every side, where it can find proper
materials. So that as the Apostle says, "no man li
veth unto himself, " in like manner we may also say,
no Christian is baptized for himself alone, no Com
municant receives for himself alone. All the mem
bers rejoice and are the better for the grace imparted
to each one, and for the prayer of the church accom
panying the gift of grace.
Consider secondly, what this prayer teaches of the
condition of those newly baptized. It represents
them as dedicated to God by the office and ministry
of His Church, put in a way of being endued with
heavenly virtues, and everlastingly rewarded, yet
capable (alas !) of falling away also for ever. It is
then, in short, a prayer for the gHt of Perseverance.
Perseverance is the great and aweful subject, on
which we are led to think to day. But first I would
say a few words on the account here given of the

1 92 Prayers for the child
state, in which the Church prays that we may per
severe. 1) It is a state oi dedication. The child is dedicated
to God by our Office and Ministry. What " dedica
tion" means, you know. It is solemnly setting apart
any person or thing to God's service. A Church is
dedicated, when it is consecrated : when the Bishop,
as you know, comes and blesses it with the ordained
Psalms and prayers and ceremonies. From that hour
the building and its furniture are taken out of ordi
nary and common use, taken in a manner out of this
world, and made part of the heavenly world. For as
the glorified bodies of the saints in heaven have no
other employment, so far as we know, than to shew
honour and praise to the Most Holy Trinity (as it is
written, " They fall down before Him that sitteth on
the throne and worship Him that liveth for ever and
ever, and cast their crowns before the Throne,'') so
these outward and visible Churches or holy build
ings, once dedicated, are never more to be put to any
profane or temporal use. No more then are Chris
tian children, once dedicated in Holy Baptism, to pro
fane themselves by serving any other master. They
are all anointed ; all Kings and Priests. If I may
say a bold word, they are all Christs. Woe to him
who shall try to use them in ways unworthy of their
heavenly dedication and nature ! Woe to themselves,
if they forget it, and behave as though they had not
been born again, not specially consecrated to our Lord,
not called, as saith the Apostle, to be saints ! All this
the Church would have us remember, when we ac
knowledge ourselves dedicated to. God in Baptism.
2) Whereas the Church prays that the baptized

before the Baptism. 1 93
may also be endued with heavenly virtues, this re
minds us of another thing, not to be doubted, nor for
gotten, in our condition, viz. that for those who Hve
beyond infancy the one gHt of Baptismal Grace will
not suffice to carry them to Heaven, except they
have the further grace to improve the first gift by holy
care and obedience, by continual turning towards
God Who gave it: even as the first gift of natural IHe
in this world will not abide either in a child or a
grown up person, unless care be taken to preserve it
by supplies of food and other seasonable helps. We
pray then, that the spark which was lit in the soul
in regeneration, may in after-life be kindled into a
flame by the Unceasing Wonder-working Breath of
God, i. e. by His Holy Spirit, enduing the child or
man from time to time, as he becomes capable of it,
with more and more of heavenly virtues. This is a
Christian's intended condition, the best he can arrive
at in this world, a condition imperfect and to himself
always unsatisfactory, but, by God's great Mercy,
always sUently and secretly improving. .
3) A third remark here to be made on it is, that the
things in which we should be always improving are
heavenly virtues, not the good qualities which are
most in sight, and which the world loves most to
praise, but heavenly vHtues ; thoughts and ways and
turns of mind which can only come from heaven, and
which are continually tending up thither, like fires
from an altar. These heavenly and Divine virtues
are more especially Faith, Hope and Charity : looking
off the world and the things which we see, to the
great and aweful things out of sight : hoping to see
God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost : and
N

1 94 Prayers for the child
loving Him above all for His unspeakable mercies in
Christ Jesus. This is what we mean when, standing
around the Font, we beg that all the little infants
that are brought there may be endued with heaven
ly virtues ; that the tender clinging hearts, which we
know to be naturally so full of love, may be early
opened to receive that perfect love, which never can
in any wise fail or pass away. The sons and daugh
ters of this world, when they look at their young
children, .look forward to what they will do and what
they will become in the matters of this world : how
they will one day take the place of their parents, and
thrive, and enjoy themselves, and be respected and
comfortable. But the true believer, when he looks at
his young child, waiting to be christened, says to him
self, "here is onewhowiU live for ever and ever: Christ
has died for him, and will now give him His Spirit, in
order that eternal life may be spent with Him in
Heaven, and not with the Wicked one in the place
of torment. O God, grant him all heavenly virtues :
give him a heart to abide in Christ : let it not be said
of him, He had better never have been born."
And this is the meaning of the concluding words
of the Prayer, that those who are here baptized, may '
be everlastingly rewarded. It is in short, as I said
before, a prayer for perseverance. Perseverance is
a very special grace, to be added over and above the
grace of regeneration, that God's great mercy may
not have been received in vain. For it is too certain,
as our article teaches, that, after we have received
the Holy Ghost, we may fall from grace given, may
fall into deadly sin, and if we die in that state, the
sin is unpardonable. Therefore our Lord so earnests >

before the Baptism. 1 95
ly exhorts His disciples again and again, as the one
thing needful, " Abide in Me, and I in you : " and as
soon as we can speak, we learn in our Catechism not
only to thank God that He hath brought us to a
state of salvation, but also to pray for His Grace that
we may continue in the same unto our life's end.
This is the great thing : persevere, continue, abide.
Contmue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the Gospel. Keep
Christ's commandments, and abide in His Love. We
learn the Prayer in our young days, that we may
continue in the same unto our lives' end : and we
must never, never leave it off : in heart we must be
praying that prayer night and day ; for night and
day there is one watching to take our crown from
us. He cannot bear to see a virgin soul, a soul and
body as yet unspotted with wilful grievous sin : he
hates the pure white robe, and wUl do his best to
defile it, and he surely will get us to defile it, if we
permit him. He watches, to tempt and defile us :
we cannot do less than watch, to keep ourselves pure.
He says, "time enough, by and by, to repent and
serve God ; you may as well enjoy yourself a little
for the present." Let us say, " the time is short ; if I
persevere that Httle while, I shall be everlastingly
rewarded." O think on that word everlastingly 1
Finally, take notice of God's most loving Conde
scension in counting that unutterable glory a reward
for our poor services : and understand by it, how sure
our place in Heaven will be, if we lose it not by our
own fault : as sure as the labourers' wages in our
Lord's parable, the penny a day, promised by Him
Who cannot lie. He calls it our wages, though we
n 2

196 Prayers for the child before the Baptism.
cannot properly earn it, because He is sure to treat
us as though we had earned it. Persevere, and it
cannot fail you.
You perhaps know something of the joy of heart
[a which God sometimes gives upon one strong earnest
purpose to do, or leave undone, somethmg, out of
love for Him. You know the joy of having strong
ly broken off one sin, for the love of Him "Who loved
you and gave Himself for you." Every good choice
has such a joy. Pray God, day by day, that you
may persevere in making anew, for that day also, that
good choice, and you will persevere to the end. God
gives the grace of perseverance to all who ask Him.
And then not one thing will you have done, in any
one day, for God, which will lose its reward. Not one
kind word or one act, done for the love of Jesus, but
you will find it there ; not one fear or anxiety borne
meekly for His sake, but it is stored for you there ;
not one tear shed for past sin, not one wish for the
love of God, that you had not done it, but it will
have its reward in the Infinite love of your God].
a The Sermon must have been finished orally. I have ventured
to add some thoughts of the kind which seem to have been in the
writer's mind, without attempting to imitate his simplicity. E. B.P.

SERMON XXII.

St. John xix. 34, 35.
" One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His Side, and
forthwith came thereout Blood and Water : and he
that saw it bare record, and his record is true : and
he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe."
As the solemn moment of the Baptism itseH draws
on, the suppHcations of the Church become more
earnest and aweful, and we are taught to go back in
faith to the times when our Lord and Saviour, newlv
dead and newly risen, did, in the most distinct and
remarkable way, set His seal to that blessed ordi
nance. The portion of the service which so takes us
back is the prayer at consecration of the water, which
takes place, as you know, immediately after the four
short coUects. For as the chUd about to be bap
tized had been solemnly offered to God, by prayer,
and by the threefold promise and vow made in his
name by his sponsors : so it is meet that the water
also, which is to be the outward mean and pledge of
the chUd's regeneration, should be in its way solemnly
dedicated to God. Not that such form of words
is necessary for the Baptism itseH, as the form of
Consecration in Holy Communion is necessary for

198 The Water and Blood from Jesus' side
that Sacrament. For we know that in private Bap
tism, the case being urgent, this and all other prayers
might be omitted, and only the Form itself of Baptism
used, and yet we are not to doubt that the child is
lawfully and sufficiently baptized. But in Church,
and also in private when there is no such extreme
haste, it is meet and right that this solemn prayer
should be said, and the very element of water
itself blessed, which is "to be made the Channel of so
great a good. We may consider it as the act of our
Great High Priest and Saviour, applying by the
Church's prayer to the particular water which is in
the Font, the sanctifying virtue which in His own
Baptism He had conferred upon all the waters of the
earth. By His heavenly touch in the river Jordan
under the Ministry of St. John Baptist, He had made
all water apt for the mystical washing away of sin,
and now the meaning of our prayer is, that the same
blessing and virtue may not be wanting to this
water in particular, nor to the child about to be bap
tized in it. That is the general meaning of this
prayer at Consecration of the water. And now we
are to take special notice, what are those mercies of
her Lord and Saviour, by which the Church, as her
manner is, pleads with His Father and our Father at
the commencement of this prayer. They are two :
the first is, the issuing of Blood and Water from His
Side, as He hung dead upon the Cross ; the other is,
His commandment to His disciples, a short time be
fore His Ascension, to baptize all men in the Name of
the Most Holy Trinity. At present I have only to
speak of the first of the two. You heard the parti
culars in the Catechising, as also some general ac-

symbols of His Sacraments. 199
count of their meaning. What I have now to say
on it is this.
First, it is plain that there must be something very
deep, deeper than we might have imagined, in this
pouring out of the Blood and water from our Lord's
Side after His death : seeing that St. John, who was
even then waiting by the Cross, is so very earnest in
bearing witness about it. " One of the soldiers
with a spear pierced His Side, and forthwith came
thereout blood and water ; and he that saw it bare
record and his record is true." Why all this care
to tell us that he saw it, to affirm the truth of it
over and over again, to speak of our faith as espe
cially assured by it? We should not beforehand
have thought it of such great consequence to our
faith. There must be something in it, more than we
can tell at first sight. And to draw our attention
the more to it, the same St. John in his first epistle
says, "Who is he that overcometh the world, but
he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God ?
This is He that came by water and Blood, even
Jesus Christ ; not by water only, but by water and
Blood; and it is the Spirit that beareth witness,
because the SpHit is truth. For there are three that
bear witness on earth, the SpHit and the water and
the Blood. If we receive the witness of men, the
witness of Qod is greater." Put it all together, and
it appears plainly, that the faith that overcometh the
world, the faith that Jesus is the Son of God, as
it receives of course the whole witness of God which
He hath testified of His Son, so it cannot be with
out receiving the point that " Jesus Christ came by
water and blood." There is something in that, quite

200 The Water and Blood from Jesus- side
necessary to entire belief in Jesus Christ. What
that something is, was emphatically betokened by the
Blood and Water which flowed by miracle from our
Lord's Side when He was hanging dead on the Cross,
and to which St. John so earnestly draws our atten
tion. In a word, the Blood and Water teaches the
doctrine of sacramental grace ; and first and espe
cially, the grace of Holy Baptism. Therefore the
Church mentions the shedding of that Water and
Blood, in the beginning of this Consecration-prayer,
and says that it took place for the Forgiveness of
our sins : which Forgiveness, as we all know, is first
imparted in Holy Baptism : as the article of the
Creed teaches : "I acknowledge one Baptism for the
Eemission of sins. ' ' The Church most unquestionably
means us to understand, that the Water and Blood
from our Lord's Side was a token and pledge of the
grace of His LHe -giving Sacraments. The Holy
Spirit by St. John means us to understand the same,
when it says, concerning this witness borne by the
Spirit, the Water and the Blood, " This is the re
cord (or witness), that God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son." He does not say,
" God will give it unto us," but " God hath given it
unto us." He gave it unto us when He made us
members of His Son : and we know when that was.
To state 'the matter a little differently. In order
that each one of us, fallen children of Adam, might
be saved, it was needful not only that Christ should
die for all sinners, but that the merits of His death
should be applied to each individual sinner : not
only that He should offer Himself a Sacrifice and a
sin-offering, but that the blood of that Sacrifice

symbols of His Sacraments. 20 1
should be sprinkled on each of us, one by one : not
only that He should take our nature and suffer in it,
but that we should be mysteriously made partakers
of Him. John had baptized with water, but Christ
should baptize with the Holy Ghost. John came by
water only, but Jesus Christ came by Water and
Blood. John's baptism was but a token of the re
mission of sins to be granted by and by, but
Christ's was the " One Baptism for the Eemission of
sins," which therefore could not be without His
Blood, for without shedding of blood, the Blood of
the appointed Saviour, is no remission.
Thus the Blood and Water is the complete token
of both parts of the grace of Holy Baptism. The
Blood of Christ, to make atonement for sin, ancl
purge the soul of the guilt of it, in the sight of
God: and the SpHit of Christ, which is as living
water, to apply that Blood to us, to purge our con
science from the stain of sin, to wash the sinful
creature, and make him whiter than snow. For
that all may go well with the sinner, that he may
finally escape everlasting death, he must have both
pardon for the past and grace for the future. The
Blood from our Lord's Side is the token of that par
don; the water, the token of that grace. Both
pardon and grace are by the law of God's kingdom
conveyed to us one by one in His blessed Sacra
ments. First and once for all, in Holy Baptism :
that is the water from the Bock following Christ's
people through the whole wilderness of this world.
Pardon and grace come first in Holy Baptism, and for
the time they come completely : they save us, until
they are forfeited by sinful relapsing: but as we

202 The Water and Blood from Jesus' side
grow older and temptations come on, new supplies
of grace and pardon, new ways of partaking of
Christ, the God-Man, are needed : and most especi
ally the Sacrament of Holy Communion : and there
fore when we read or hear of the Water and Blood of
the Crucifixion, we are to think of Holy Communion
as well as of the other Sacrament. We may con
sider that when St. John saw the wound made in the
precious Side of his dearly beloved Lord, and the
blood and water gushing out of that wound, it was as
if a Voice had come from the Cross, and had told us
all, " By this Blood and by this Water, by the merits
of Christ crucified and by His Holy Spirit, the fal
len children of Adam may be grafted into Him,
the disease of sin cured, the image of God restored,
and souls and bodies nourished unto eternal life."
Since, moreover, these blessings depended entirely
on our Lord's Death, and were the price of His Pre
cious Blood, we are particularly told that He was
quite dead, before the soldier pierced His Side, and
the Bleod and Water came out.
And as He is called the Second Adam, in Whom all
should be made alive, even as all died in the first
Adam, so there is, in the history of the first Adam,
a very remarkable type of the Blood and Water
flowing from Christ's Side. The ancient Church al
ways believed, that the Creation of our first mother
was a shadow and figure of the building up of the
Church : a figure and shadow of the way in which
God would by and by form her, who would be the
Spouse and Body of Christ ; bone of His Bone and
flesh of His Flesh. For recollect what the history tells
us in Genesis. Adam had the rule over Paradise : he

symbols of His Sacraments. 203
might eat of aU the fruits but one, and all creatures
were to obey him : yet he was not quite happy, he
needed a help meet for him. So our Lord, in His
great mercy, accounts Himself incomplete and imper
fect without us : He is straitened until our Salvation
through Him begins to be accomplished. He sends
both for ass and colt, both for Jew and Gentile, say
ing, the Lord hath need of them. Therefore so far,
as I said, He is like Adam needing a help.
In the next place, when we read, the Lord caused a
deep sleep to faU upon Adam, and he slept ; who does
not see that this represents our Holy One sleeping-
the sleep of death upon the Cross ? " Then one of the
Soldiers with a spear pierced His Side ; " it being so
permitted by God's unsearchable Providence, even
as God had HimseH made an opening in Adam's side
and taken out one of his ribs, in order to make of it
the first woman. And it is very remarkable what
care was taken by God's Providence to make sure of
His being dead, before the Fountain of Sacramental
grace in His Side was thus opened. The Jews, in
that strange state of mmd which made them particu
lar about forms and ceremonies, while they had no
scruple in commiting murder, were anxious to have
our Lord and the thieves dead, that they might not
hang on the cross, durmg the day of the Paschal
Sabbath : and Pilate accommodating himself to the
Jews, ordered the soldiers to see to it :. but when they
came to Jesus, they found Him dead already, no
need to use violence as they had done to the thieves,
to bring them to an end : only one of them (as it
would seem, out of a kind of savage wantonness) with
a spear pierced His Side, and the Blood and Water

204 The Water and Blood from Jesus' side
flowed out. For as St. Paul argues, when a testament
or last will is to do a person any good, you must
prove the death of the person making the will : as
long as he lives, the will is of no force at all, but
only after he is dead. So the Sacraments of the New
Covenant had all their virtue from His Death and
Passion : and therefore the Wound in His Side, which
was the token of His Sacraments, was not opened,
until after He was dead; and things were so ordered,
as that there might be no mistake about this. Thus
much about the sleep of Adam and our Saviour's
sleep of death upon the Cross, of which Adam's sleep
was a figure.
The next thing we read is, how that the Lord
"builded up " the rib which He had taken from
Adam's side, into the full form and stature of a
woman, whom He afterwards brought to the man,
who owned her to be " bone of his bone, and flesh of
his flesh." I say the Lord "builded her up" to be a
woman; for that is the proper meaning of the word used
in this place, as you may see in the margin of some of
our English Bibles. Now consider this word ' ' build
ed her up," how exactly it expresses the building up
of the Church, out of millions of Christian's, one by
one, added to it by Holy Baptism. You will thus see,
how the Church was really taken out of our Lord's
Side, as Eve was taken out of the side of Adam.
Eve was " builded up," i. e. formed by degrees, one .
limb after ,another, from the rib taken out of Adam's
side, as the Church was formed, and is even now
formed, by degrees, by the Blood and Water, the
Baptismal grace which flowed from our Saviour's Side.
But further ; when God brought to the man the

symbols of His Sacraments. 205
woman thus newly created, and Adam said, "this is
now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh," it was
added, " therefore shall a man leave his father and
his mother, and shall be joined unto his wife and they
twain shall be one flesh." That is, Holy Matri
mony, the nearest union that can be on earth, is a
type and shadow of the mystical Union, that is be
twixt Christ and His Church. And as a man being
joined unto his wife, has leave to quit his father and
his mother ; the old home passes away, and he has a
new home, a new state of things altogether ; so it
must be with us, when by Holy Baptism we are made
members of our Lord's Body. The whole world, and
all things in it, must be quite different to us from
what they would be H we had never been baptized.
As the Heavenly Spouse Himself teaches; "whoso
ever wUl come after Me, let him deny himself, take up
his Cross and follow Me." "I have made MyseH alto
gether his : I grudged him no drop of My Blood ; it
flowed altogether out of My pierced Side ; therefore
neither must he grudge anything of his to Me : he
must make himseH altogether Mine."
This is the doctrine of Sacramental Grace, the
great doctrine which Holy Church proclaims, in
teaching every one of us to say, when we come to
Holy Communion, " I acknowledge one Baptism for
the Eemission of sins." This is the great, the un
speakable mercy which we acknowledge most thank
fully to our Heavenly Father, when, just before the
Baptism of a child, we put Him in mind that His
Most Dearly Beloved Son Jesus Christ, for the for
giveness of our sins, did shed out of His most Pre
cious Side both Water, and Blood. And for a conti-

206 The Water and Blood from Jesus' side, &fc.
nUal remembrance of it, you will observe, that in all
the pictures of our Crucified and Eisen Lord, He has
this Wound in His Side, along with the four wounds
in His Hands and Feet. As they are the token of
His Perfect Sacrifice, offered once for all on the Cross,
so is this the token of His communicating Himself to
us one by one in His blessed Sacraments."
a It appears from some short heads written for this Sermon, and
preserved with it, that it too was finished orally. The following,
which form the concluding heads, were not expanded in writing ;
" Thomas could not own Him without the wound in His side, -
and we always look for it.
" Therefore we must cling to the faith of His Sacraments.
"Fearful view of the sins of Christians.
"Blessed view of their privileges."

SERMON XXIII.

St. Matt, xxviii. 19.
" Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost"
There are two very solemn moments in our Lord's
Ministry on earth, to which we are carried back by
the address at the beginning of the Prayer at Con
secration of the water. The one, just after His
Death; the other, just before His Ascension. The
one, of which you heard something last Sunday, was
the piercing of His Sacred Heart with a spear, for
the pouring out of Water and Blood. The other, of
which you heard in the catechising just now, was
His meeting with His Apostles in Galilee, and giv
ing them that great commission, in virtue of which
the Holy Church has by theH ministry gone forth
into aU the world : Hi vHtue of which, from time to
time^ in presence of the Holy Angels and in all our
presence, Httle children are admitted into fellowship
with the Most Holy Trinity.
Now those two things are connected one with an
other, as the shadow with the Substance, the reality
with the type. Christ's Side pierced, the Blood and

208 Our Lord's Institution
Water flowing out in the sight of those who stood by
the Cross, is the shadow and token ofthe great "things
which He was about to do for His people one by one,
invisibly and inwardly, to be witnessed not by sight,
but by faith. As the Blood from our Lord's Side
flowed not alone, but mingled with Water, so we may
understand that even His Perfect Sacrifice saves us
not, except it be applied by His Sanctifying Spirit in
Baptism and Holy Communion. We must be made
and continue members of Him. Thatis being saved
by Him. Again, although in Baptism water only is
visible, faith looking back to what happened on the
Cross, discovers in the Font precious Blood, saving
Blood, the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ mingled
with the water, to wash our souls clean both of the
guilt and stain of our sins ; so that the Almighty
shall take off His Hand from punishing, the All-see
ing shall cast our sins behind His Back, and no longer
behold on us the sad taint and pollution of them.
Thus, the flowing out of the Blood and Water has
respect to the Baptism which was afterwards to be
instituted ; and the Baptism, when it was instituted,
was understood to bring with it the vHtue of the
Blood which is not seen, as well as the cleansing
power represented by the water which is seen.
When I speak of the Institution of Baptism; I mean,
as you will all understand, what our Lord did at that
meeting with His Disciples in Galilee, of which you
heard just now. For although our Saviour had men
tioned Baptism on more occasions than one before,
especially in His discourse with Nicodemus, and
although His Baptism had been distinctly foretold
by St. John, yet He had never in form ordained and

of Baptism. 209
appointed it before His Death, as He had done the
other Sacrament of His Body and Blood, His Dis
ciples had indeed baptized, but not with His Bap
tism, but rather with such a Baptism as that of
St. John, as a mere token of the purity and clean
ness of heart which God requires, and which He
would hereafter give by His Blood and His SpHit.
They had baptized with water, but our Lord was
now about to begin baptizing with the Holy Ghost,
His proper Baptism; and so, in a very solemn manner,
He lays down a law concerning it, makes His people
a covenant and an ordinance. He meets them, after
long notice given, and three times repeated, on a
mountain in Galilee. He appears in some very
wonderful way, which caused some of them to -doubt
at first whether He was their very Lord Jesus or no.
He comes close to them and takes away theH doubts,
and then He delivers the Law of His Baptism in those
plain and well-known words, "All Power is given
unto Me in heaven and in earth, Go ye, therefore,
and teach all nations, baptizing then! in the Name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Then He instituted Baptism, not before. His words
to Nicodemus were but prophetic of what He would
do by and by. "Except a man be born of water
and of the SpHit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God." But then this could not be until the great
Day of Pentecost ; for then was the Kingdom of Hea
ven first set up. That saying was prophetic of Bap
tism, as the Holy Communion was foretold in St.
John, " a Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man^
and drink His Blood, ye have no IHe in you." What
a St. John vi. 53.
O

210 Our Lord's Institution
it was to eat the flesh and drink the Blood of the
Son of Man, the Disciples could not well imagine, till
they saw Him take Bread and Wine into His Sacred
Hands, and heard Him say, "This is My Body,"
and, " This is My Blood." So neither could they at
all make out, how people are to be born again, born
of water and of the Spirit, until our Lord distinctly
enjoined that all should be baptized in His Name.
And although water was not mentioned, yet they
would be quite aware that it must be done with
water : for the Jews never baptized with anything
else. Thus was the law of Holy Baptism first laid
down in the Church.
I would next remark that it seems to come in as
the first, if not the chiefest law of the Pastoral care.
When our Lord had spoken of the matter before, I
mean of their meeting Him in Galilee, He had always
seemed to allude to it in connection with our care of
His flock. He speaks to them as the Head Shepherd
might sometimes speak to the under-shepherds.
Thus in the night of His Last Supper, while they were
yet gathered round the Table ; He told them, "All ye
shall be ashamed because of Me this night, for it is
written, smite the Shepherd and the sheep shall be
scattered." I, the Chief Shepherd, in My Coming
Agony and Death shall be forsaken of you the sheep :
but fear not, I am not going to cast you off, much
as you perhaps deserve it. " After I am risen again,
I will go before you into Galilee." As shepherds go
before their flocks, so our Lord promises to go be
fore St. Peter and the rest, when they shall have to
travel into Galilee. It was to be altogether a pas
toral meeting. A Shepherd calling to Him those of

of Baptism. 2 1 1
His flock whom He saw fit to put in trust with the
rest : calling them into a place apart, where all might
be together "in peace." And the same expression,
" going before into Galilee," is twice repeated after
His Eesurrection in directions to the same under-shep
herds. To the women the Holy Angels say, "go tell
His Disciples and Peter that He goeth before you in
to Galilee, there shall ye see Him as He said unto
you." And He HimseH, afterwards meeting the same
women, repeats the message : " Be not afraid, go tell
My brethren that they go into Galilee; there shall
they see Me." The whole was as when a flock that
has been scattered is gathered again in a particular
place. And then observe, what place. It was not any
where in Galilee, they might go to look for Him, but
He appointed unto them one particular mountain ;
the mountain : perhaps the same mountain where our
Lord with all authority spake His Beatitudes, and
the rest of His gracious Sermon to His Apostles
especially, as to those who should be the salt of the
earth. The Mount of the beatitudes was a place for
pastoral instruction : their meeting in that place, there
fore, may be taken as a sign that the Great Shepherd
was about to say or do something important as con
cerning the care of the flock.
And indeed what could be more important than
what our Lord goes on to tell them, that now He has
taken on Himself the full office of Universal Shep
herd; saying, "All Power is given unto Me in hea
ven and Hi earth ? " And next He gives them their
commission as under-shepherds, "Go ye therefore and
teach all nations," not the Jews only, but all the na-
o 2

212 Our Lord's Institution
tions, all the tribes and families of the earth. As all
power was given Him, as He was to be not only King
ofthe Jews, but King of kings and Lord of lords, nay,
even King over all the Angels in Heaven : so they
were to go with His message to all nations.
And what was their errand ? Merely to say their
message and be gone, like a person delivering a let
ter which requires no answer ? Nay, it was much
more than that. Our Lord's word is, " Make disciples
of them; " not merely, teach, but cause them to become
My disciples. Now the disciples of Jesus, we know,
were His inseparable attendants and servants, trusted
to wait on Him in all things; nay more, they were His
chosen friends, trusted to know His Heavenly secrets.
For His Word is, "I have called you friends, for all
things that I have heard of My Father, I have made
known unto you." In a word, the favour now to be
offered through the Apostles to all the world, to all
the Gentiles, to every one of the fallen race of Adam,
was that they should come to be to our Lord as St. Pe
ter and St. John, His chosen friends; not simply that
they should hear and believe certain truths concern
ing Him and themselves, but that they should become
His friends and followers, part of His family, nay,
members and limbs of His Body. For so He had
spoken to the disciples before, " I am the Yine, ye
are the Branches;" and now He will have all the
world to be His disciples.
So far then was plain : all people were to be made
Christians: but how ? Was it to be merely by teach
ing ; as people are taught to understand and believe
things, which they could never get to understand and
believe of themselves? Would that be enough to

of Baptism. 213
make them Christians, simply that they should.believe
with the heart and confess with the mouth the great
things concerning Jesus Christ ? We, or some of
us, might have thought so. But our Lord's law is far
otherwise. As He redeemed our whole race, not by
teaching, but by making Himself one of us, and dy
ing for us, so it is His Will to save us one by one,
not by mere teaching, but by making us one with Him.
He took our Flesh, that we might be partakers of a Di
vine Nature. And to seal and convey this blessing,
and to work this wonder in us, He ordained His
blessed Sacraments. " Make Christians of them," He
saith, not by " instructing," not by " reforming," not
by " educating and training them up," but by " bap
tizing them." Baptism then is the beginning of
Christianity, the pledge and means of our being in
Christ at the first. "As many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." Until one
is baptized, he is not properly a disciple. This, my
brethren, we all know and believe. I only wish we
considered as deeply as we ought, what a deep and
aweful change this our Baptism made in us ; such
a change as we shall feel through all the endless ages
that are to come : we shall feel it more and more
through all Eternity. We who are baptized shall be
for ever and ever more like Angels, or more like devils,
than as if we had not been baptized. This is our
blessing, this also is our burthen. God give us a heart
to know and feel it rightly. And that we may do so,
consider the next words, the words in which our
Saviour appointed the very Form of Baptism ; for He
did not only appoint the water, but the Word also.
" Make disciples of them by baptizing them in the

214 Our Lord's Institution
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost." He does not say with water, because that
would be understood, as it has been understood and
practised by all Christians. But the form of words
He expressly adds ; and it is such a form, as ought
to fill every one of us with deep fear and dread
and anxiety, lest he lose a soul, his own soul ; lose
it for ever, after that Jesus Christ has spoken such
a word to it. Attend, brethren. When the Priest
says, " I baptize thee in the Name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost," or rather,
when our Lord says it by the Priest, he does not
merely mean, " I do this by the authority of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost," and by
theH commission which they have given me : as a
constable or magistrate among ourselves might say,
I do this or that in the Queen's name and on her be
half; or as one standing for another speaks, Our own
godfathers and godmothers for example ; " they did
promise and vow three things in our name." Far
more than that was meant when our Lord commis
sioned His Apostles to baptize in the Name of the
Most Holy Trinity. The Form, " in the Name," here
means " into the Name." It means that we are par
takers of the Name, and may in some sense be called
by it : that we are joined to the Almighty God, the
glorious Being, whose Name it is ; as I said before
out of St. Peter, " We are partakers of a Divine Na
ture ;" as it is written in the Psalm,, " I said, ye are
Gods." What could be said or done for us more ?
There will perhaps be more hereafter to be said of
this Form of Baptism. The chief thing now to be
noticed is, how in our Lord's way of appointing it,

of Baptism. 215
it is connected with keeping His commandments — not
one commandment, but all. For after fixing the sa
cred Form, "In the Name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost," He adds, "teaching them to
observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded
you." If we are wholly joined to God, we must be
wholly His : we must not leave out any part of our
Sacrifice, but purpose and endeavour to do all that He
bids us. And it may be that our Lord in this saying,
"All that I have commanded you, " meant especially
what He had been saying to His Apostles durmg those
forty days, in which, as St. Luke says, He was speak
ing to them ofthe things which concern the Kingdom
of God. They were to build up the Church by Bap
tism, and to order it by the rules and laws in which
He had been instructing them. So doing, He pro
mised them His Own especial Presence, the greatest
of all encouragements. "Lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world." " I am with you al
ways ; " with you My Apostles, with those whom you
shall ordain to be in your place, with the Church
which you shall estabhsh. " I am with you always, ' '
with all Christians, faithfuUy desHing and endeavour
ing to abide in your Communion.
If Christ is with His Apostles and with all faith
ful Christians always, we are to make sure that He
is not absent when He is called upon to sanctHy the
water, in which one of those for whom He died is
presently to be baptized. The child cannot have
done anything to drive Him away ; and no one's un
worthiness, but our own, can possibly hinder the effect
of a Sacrament upon us. We are not then to doubt
of the grace of our Baptism, but to give God thanks

216 Our Lord's Institution of Baptism.
for it day and night. But one thing we must never
forget : that at the same time when our Lord com
manded us to be baptised, He commanded that we
should be taught also to observe all that He had
told His Apostles of : all the rules of holy and Chris
tian living. If we be wilfully wanting in any of
these, Christ indeed will be with us in a way in
which He is not with the heathen, but it will be to
our judgment and ruin, not to our salvation.
As then we bear His Name, as we carry about
with us (in some sense) the Holy Trinity, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, as He is with us in all our
days ; so in all our days and in all our doings, let
us remember Him.
What sort of days, in the world's account, the days
which are to come will be, no man can tell. This only
we know, that if He be with us, they will be good
days to us : and He will be with us, if we drive Him
not away by our sins. Thus, the remembrance of
our Baptism may be an anchor to our souls, sure
and steadfast. Thou art among us, O Lord, and Thy
Holy Name is called upon us. Thou wilt not for
sake us, if we do not forsake Thee.

SERMON XXIV.

Zechariah xiii. 1.
" In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
for sin and for uncleanness."
The Prayer at the Consecration of the water, before
administering the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, is, like
most Collects and prayers, made up partly of acknow
ledgement of God's past favours, partly of petitions
for mercies to come. The past favours we acknow
ledge are,
1) The opening of His Side, and the pouring out
of Water and Blood on the Cross ;
2) The regular Institution of Baptism, when He
bade His Disciples go, teach and baptize all nations.
The mercies to come, for which we then beseech
Him, are three :
1) That He would sanctify the water then in the
Font to the mystical washing away of sin :
2) That the child now to be baptized therein may
receive the fulness of His grace :
3) That it may ever remain in the number of
His faithful and elect children.
The address or thanksgiving part we considered

218 ' Prayer for the Sanctification
last Sunday. Now we go on to the petitions. The
first, as I said, is for the Sanctification of the water.
" Sanctify this water to the mystical washmg away of
sin ; " Sanctify, i. e. hallow and bless it : set it apart,
or separate it, from the common uses of water, to this
most sacred and heavenly use, "the mystical wash
ing away of sin : " so that it shall be a profane thing
to apply it to any other purpose ; as it would be pro
fane "to take the vessels of the Altar and use them for
mere ordinary refreshment.
And not only so : the prayer goes beyond that, it
asks for more than such Sanctification as every thing
has, which is devoted to God's service and honour.
For it uses words which in one of the former Collects
had been used concerning our Lord's own Baptism
by St. John. It prays that the water may be, not sim
ply sanctified, but " sanctified to the mystical washing
away of sin." Now in the other CoUect just mention
ed,- acknowledgment was made, that by the Baptism
of His Well-Beloved Son Jesus Christ Hi the river
Jordan Almighty God sanctified water to that same
purpose, " the mystical washing away of sin." The
prayer therefore here is, that He would grant to this
water especially that blessing which by our Lord's
Baptism He granted to all the waters of the earth,
viz : that being duly applied, they might be effec
tual to the washing away of sin. We are taken back
in thought to the Baptism of Jesus Christ : we seem
to stand by the banks of Jordan, and to see the Holy
Baptist, in fear and religious wonder, pouring the
water on our Saviour, and over Him the heavens open
ing and the Holy Ghost descending in a bodily shape,
Hke a dove : and in spHit we hear the gracious Yoice,

of the water of Baptism. 219
" Thou art My Beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleas
ed." All this, if we have any faith, is brought be
fore our minds' eye, although with our bodily eye we
only discern the stone Font and the "Minister stand
ing by it with his surplice, and the child waiting near
with its attendants. And we understand that, as
Christ our Lord by then descending in£o the ^waters
of Jordan, set apart not only that river, but all the
waters of this lower world to be used Sacramentally,
when needed, for our regeneration, so in this prayer,
He renews the same blessing especially to that par
ticular water over which the prayer is said. It is a
part of the general course of God's unspeakable mespy
to us sinners, to heal us by the Touch of our Incar
nate God. When He was here on earth, His Hand
was from time to time laid on persons to heal them,
and on things to make them healing. ' ' Come and lay
Thine Hand upon her and she shaU Hve," was the kind
of prayer with which He was constantly approached
by those who had belongmg to them any sick and
distressed. And to shew that it is His Will to -con
fer blessing not always simply by His Own Touch,
but through the persons or things which He had
touched, He healed the blind man in St. John, not
by simply putting His hand upon his eyes, but by
spitting on the ground and making clay of the spit
tle, and so anointing the eyes of the blind man with
the clay. And to certain handkerchiefs and aprons
long after, He gave power to be of use in healing
diseases, and in driving away evil spirits, as being
brought to the sick from the body of St. Paul. He
Who did all these things, in an extraordinary way,
at the first beginning of His Gospel, now in an ordi-

220 Prayer for the sanctification
nary way is so present in our Baptisms to sanctify the
waters in "our Font by the prayer of His Church, that
we may be quite sure of the sanctifying power of those
waters. When we see the Priest leaning over them,
and offering up that devout supplication according
to the purpose of our Mother the Church, we are to
make no manner of question but that the Power of
the Lord is present to heal the souls that shall
duly be baptized therein. The gift obtained by our
Lord at His Own Baptism is applied to that parti
cular water, as the Holy Spirit Which came down on
all at Pentecost, is applied to each one of us seve
rally and particularly, by our own Baptism and
Confirmation. And this whole process, you see, is called "mysti
cal : " i. e. secret and invisible. We see not, nor
feel, nor at all reason it out ; but it is not the less sure
and certain. We may not doubt God's part : He will
surely give His creature of water the Power which
He has long ago promised to give it in behalf of His
sinful creature, man. Doubt not His Presence nor
His Mercy. Bow yourselves humbly down, and make
sure of it. But see that with all your heart you go
on and join the Priest in the petitions wHich yet re
main, and which are two, — two very deep and grave
prayers, in their meaning and virtue reaching the
whole way from the moment of the child's Baptism
to the last Day, and onward through his Eternal
state. The first of these petitions relates to the child's im
provement in this world. • "Grant that this child now
to be baptized therein may receive the fulness of Thy
grace." What is the fulness of God's grace? More

of the water of Baptism. 22 1
and more of it; full measure, according to all that the
redeemed soul can need, either in this world or in the
world to come : as it is written, " of His fulness have
aU we received, and grace for grace;" i. e. each one
who is made a member of Christ by Baptism has his
portion in Christ's wonderful Incarnation ; for in Him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily ; and
we in our turn and in our measure are mysteriously
made partakers of the Blessing, partakers of the Di
vine nature. God giveth it not scantily nor by mea
sure. It is poured out richly according to every man's
power of receiving it. And so we ask for each child
that is christened, that it may receive the fulness of
God's grace : that no unworthiness of our's who make
the prayer, no craft or assault of the DevU, may either
dimmish the blessing now, or tend hereafter to the
forfeiting and making it void ; that as the child will
now by his Lord's lovingkindness receive the full
blessmg of Begenerating grace, so, as soon as ever he
is capable, he may be helped with more grace to turn
to God more and more, giving up every thought to the
obedience of his Saviour, and that all his Hfe long from
time to time he may so turn himself, till his conver
sion be quite perfect : and more especially may we
understand that the Church, in asking for us, the ful
ness of God's grace, meant especially to ask that our
Confirmation might be very .blessed : that we, coming
worthily and kneeHng before the Bishop, and feel
ing his fatherly hand over us, might be strengthened
by the Holy Ghost to keep all our Baptismal vow.
And is there not another time besides Confirmation,
to which that prayer did especially look on ? Yes,
surely, my brethren, it looked on very especially to

222 Prayer for the sanctification
the holy times of Communion in the Blessed Sacra
ment, to which, more than to anything else, belong
eth the fulness of God's grace in this present world.
0 think of these things; think, as your time of Confir
mation draws on, that it was in the mind of those who
prayed for you at the very moment of your Baptism ;
The Holy Spirit, Who will have all men to be saved,
Who then came to regenerate you by His free grace,
was even then preparing for you this additional grace
of Confirmation, and the still greater gift ofthe Lord's
Body and Blood. Will you make His good purpose
void? Will you not put on the wedding garment and
come ? Will you coldly and unthankfully say to your
Saviour, " Thou hast indeed been good to me in giving
me Baptism, without any thought or trouble of mine,
but this other grace which Thou offerest me I care not
to accept, because it will cost me pains and trouble :
I shall have to deny mine own will, and keep my
self in order, and that, as yet, I have no mind to do."
Will you deal thus with your God and Saviour, even
while the Blood and Water, the LHe-giving grace of
His Sacraments, is flowing abundantly from His
pierced Side for you ? Alas ! what grief to the
Holy Angels, who waited so lovingly round you at
your new birth ; what grief especially to your own
Heavenly guardian, who then took charge of you,
that you reject the fulness of God's grace, and think
scorn of His overflowing mercy ! Nay more, it is
grief to the Heavenly Comforter Himself: for we
read, " grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
ye are sealed until the Day of Eedemption." The
Holy Spirit has put His Own Seal, the Name of the
Trinity, upon you, to save your souls alive Hi the

of the water of Baptism. 223
great day : and, of His condescending Love, He calls
it a grief to Him, if we slight this exceeding favour.
Grieve Him not by careless dealing with Baptismal
grace. And we do deal carelessly with Baptismal
grace, if we trifle with those other graces which natu
rally come after Baptism. You are young perhaps
and unthinking, or you are trusted with the care of
some who are so, and it seems to you but a natural
kind of weakness, a pardonable thing, to trifle about
preparing for Confirmation and First Communion. 0
think again ; think more seriously : think what it
must be to grieve our God. Eemember Christ's rule
is, "He that hath not, from him shall be taken even
that which he seemeth to have: " i. e. If you seek not
to grow in grace, the Lord will take away what He
has already vouchsafed to you.
For lastly, there is yet one special and crowning
gHt, over and above those gHts which are properly
called Sacramental: a gHt, without which all the rest
will only increase our condemnation; and that is the
gHt of Perseverance. We had prayed before that all
who are here baptised might be endued with heavenly
virtues and everlastingly rewarded, that is, for the
fulness of God's grace, and for the gHt of perseverance :
and now the same prayer in substance is offered for
the infant just about to be baptised, that he may
receive the fulness of His grace ; and that he may
ever remain in the number of God's faithful and elect
children. You see, the Prayer Book makes no doubt
that our infants are all by baptism made God's faith
ful and elect children: what it earnestly asks for the
little one to be christened is, that it may ever remain
in that number: as our Lord said to His disciples,

224 Prayer for the sanctification
"Now ye are clean through the word which I have
spoken unto you : abide in Me."
This then is the point which the Church would have
all Christians well to consider, when they are com
ing to the end of theH devotions just before an infant
is christened, that by its christening it is made one of
God's faithful and elect children, and that, in order
to contmue such, it will need very special grace and
prayer. And H the child, at whose Baptism you are
assisting, will be made faithful and elect, so, be sure,
through God's mercy, were you made at your own
baptism. Consider this well, and never forget it. I
speak to you all, one and all, to men, women,, boys,
girls, and little children: to every one who is but just
old enough to understand what I say, consider well
and never forget it, that in your Baptism you became
a child of God, faithful and elect ; faithful, not then
by any faith of your own, for of course you were too
young for that, but by the faith of your Holy mother,
the Church, who by your Parents' or nurses' hands,
or by the sponsors whom she herself appointed, offered
you to be baptized in the faith of Jesus Christ. By
the faith of the Church you became faithful, in the
happy moment of your Baptism. And in the same
moment God Almighty declared you one of His elect;
one of those whom He has chosen out of the world to
be members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors
of the kingdom of Heaven. This may seem to some
of us no such great and peculiar favour, because it is
what we are used to in the case of all children born
among us. But it is a favour, shewn in comparison
to very few of the children of Adam. It was shewn
to none of those who died before God the Son was

of the water of Baptism. 225
made man. Not even Abraham Isaac and Jacob were
in theH IHe-time made members of Christ. And
even now it is believed that not nearly one haH the
inhabitants of the world are Christians. See then
what a favour it was on God's Part to you and me
and each one of us, that we should be born in a
Christian country : see how truly we may be called
"His chosen and elect, even as the Jews were of old
His Own elect people, set apart from among all the
other nations of the earth.
And think, my brethren, how it is with you, H at
any time you are chosen out, without any virtue or
merit of your own, to receive any special favour.
Do you not feel that it binds you to be very thank
ful, that the person behaving so kindly wiU have a
great deal to say agamst you, if you prove ungrate
ful afterwards, and undutiful to him? Suppose a
class of children at school, and that some great and
wealthy king were to come: in and choose out so ma
ny of the children, and say he would adopt them to
be his own, and so take them home to his palace,
and bring them up as young princes and princesses,
should you not say it was doubly shameful, doubly
inexcusable in those children, H they turned out UI
and ungrateful ? So it is, and much more, between
you and God Almighty. Here are you, elected and
set apart from all the heathen and Jewish children, to
be brought to Christ in your infancy and put into
His Arms, to be adopted children of God and made
partakers of the Divine nature. So many, by far
the greater part as yet, of the children of Adam, lie
in darkness and the shadow of death : but you, from
no desert of your own, have light in your dwellings.

228 Prayer for ihe sanctification of the water, Sfc.
What ought you to do, what can you do, but shew
yourselves in every way thankful to Him Who hath
so favoured you ? He hath chosen you ; what can
you do less than choose Him ? You have found special
favour with God : remember her, who of all mankind,
nay of all the creatures of the Most High, was most
blessed and highly favoured. Eemember the Blessed
Virgin Mary, whom He chose to be His own Mother,
as He hath chosen you to be His brethren ; and let
your return be like hers. She, the pattern of God's
elect, instead of at all lifting herself up, said in all
lowliness of heart, "Behold the handmaid ofthe Lord;
be it unto me according to thy word." Do you, in
like manner, give yourself up to Him, and reject all
that would turn you from that good mind. Do so, day
after day, as often as ever you are solicited to any
thing that you know to be wrong. Bray, and strive
in earnest to do so : and you will be helped ; you wUl
not fall from grace given : and He Who chose you in
the beginning to be a Christian, will choose you again
in the end to be a Saint Hi Heaven. It is all His
Gift., but you may make sure of it, if you wiU.

SERMON XXV.

Eev. iii. 12.
" I will write upon him My new Name."
We are now come to that part of the Baptismal ser
vice, which all of us, perhaps, know best ; that part
which even when we were little chUdren most drew
our attention to it. For even very young children are
apt earnestly to look towards the Font, and to mind
what is going on, when it comes to this part of the
service. When, after the prayer at the Consecration
of the Water, there is silence, and the Priest takes
the child in his arms according to the next direc
tion of the Eubric, it is to the eye a very simple and
ordinary thing, that the clergyman should receive
the infant into his arms in order to christen it, but
to the eye of faith that simple action is full of high
mysterious meaning. For when we see it, we are
not to think of this or that particular minister who
happens to be then doing duty. As St. John Baptist
many times told us, we are to think of the One only
real Baptizer, Jesus Christ, of Whose Presence the
mortal and visible Priest is but a type and figure and
shadow. We are to think, as nearly as we may, just
as we would have thought, had we been present when
p 2

228 Our Christian Name.
He took the little children in His arms, when He
laid His hands upon them, sanctified and blessed
them. Had any one of us been by at that time, we
might perhaps have recollected in our minds what is
written in the Old Testament, " He shall feed His
flock like a Shepherd, He shall gather the lambs
into His Arms, and shall carry them in His Bosom."
The good, the kind, the considerate Shepherd looks
most especially after the lambs. Of all things He
will not suffer them to be forsaken and neglected :
not only because they are the hope of His flock, and,
if they fail, there is no chance of His Shepherd's
work prospering in time to come, but also out of real
pity for their helpless tender delicate condition. For
which cause also the Brophet adds, " He will gently
lead them which are with young." Or we may call
to mind the saying of the great Prophet Moses, when
he puts the children of Israel upon considering the
love and care, which they had experienced for so many
years in the wilderness. " The Eternal God is thy re
fuge, and underneath are the Everlasting arms;" i. e.
He bears thee up strongly, securely, and lovingly, as
a nursing father carries his sucking child : there is
no fear of His growing tired or letting thee go : you
may feel His arms under you, and be quite sure that
you are safe. Or, as the same prophet utters the
blessing of Benjamin, the youngest of Jacob's family,
the child of his old age, his darling and best-beloved ;
"The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety by
Him, and the Lord shall cover him aU the day long,
and he shall dwell between His shoulders;" i. e. on
His Bosom, supported on both His arms, as one may
often see fathers carrying young children. And as

Our Christian Name. 229
we feel, when we see it, what safe and tender care the
children are in, so, and much more, may we imagine
the perfect peace and security of these little ones,
when Christ, the Great Shepherd, the Eternal Nursing
Father, has just taken them up in His merciful arms.
Of aU which, the Priest receiving the infant from the
nurse, and holding it in his arms by the Font, is a
lively Image and Type.
We are also to consider from whom the Priest
receives the child. Of course from the parents or
sponsors : for the nurse who presents it is but theH
attendant and minister ; and they themselves are in
truth but attendants and ministers of the Church.
This should be considered more than it is. The god
fathers and godmothers are not there as friends of
the parents only, but as persons appointed by the
Holy Church to offer and present the young chUd to
its Saviour, and put it into His arms. As Hannah
brought young Samuel to Eli, who stood Hi the place
of God to receive the chUd, so the nurse, the God
mother, or the mother, brings a Httle infant now to
the Priest, who stands in the place of Jesus Christ,
to take it up in his arms and bless it. And as, when
you see the Priest, you are not to think of him, but
of our Lord : so when you look upon a woman stand
ing by the Font with a chUd to be christened in her
arms, you are not to think of her, but of the Church
of God, the Mother and Nurse of us aU, who brings
us one by one in her arms to our Saviour when we
are infants, presents us to Him, and makes the en
gagements in our name.
Thus we have explained what is meant by the
Godmother or nurse presenting the child, and the

230 Our Christian Name.
Priest taking it up in his arms. The next thing is
for the Priest to enquHe the chUd's name, saying to
those who presented it, " Name this child." Now
why should the Child have a new name given him
at Baptism ? Because a new name is a token of a
new nature, or at least of a very great change of con
dition. It signifies that the person receiving it is in
some material respects not exactly the same as he
was before. He may be better off or worse : but he
cannot be exactly the same. Therefore those who
seek the very best things for their children, naturally
desHe that God should give them a name, for a token
and pledge that He will not deny the blessing. He
having all power and wisdom, when He gives the
name He will also give the thing, and when He
changes the name, He will change the thing. So it
was from very old times indeed ; the times, of which
we read in the Bible, the times of Abraham and
Jacob, of Joshua, St. John Baptist and others. As
often as we read of God's putting a distinct name
upon any of those whom He delighted to honour, we
may well think of Christian Baptism, and of the gift
of God, properly so called ; i. e. the Holy Begenera-
ting Spirit. Thus, God changed Abram' s name;
changed it to Abraham, and we know the meaning
of that change. Abram means simply a great father :
but when God, in His Mercy, chose him openly for
His own, and entered into solemn covenant with him
by the sign and token of circumcision, He saw fit to
change Abram' s name also. He changed it to Abra
ham ; a father of many nations ; because not only so
many peoples, in and around the Holy Land, were to
be of the seed of Abraham after the flesh, but, what

Our Christian Name. 231
was a great deal more, all of us, all Christian people,
aU who to the end of the world shaU be made mem
bers of Christ, are at the same time made truly and
really children of Abraham, the father of Christ after
the flesh. And so it came to be a custom, that to
every IsraeHtish man-child, when he was admitted
into Abraham's covenant by the solemn rite of cir
cumcision, God gave a new name for a seal and token
of that co venant. And this new name, to the people of
Israel, signified always two things; first, that they
belonged specially to God ; secondly, that they had an
especial blessing from God. Our Christian names,
my brethren, signHy the same two things to us. As
often as ever we are called by them, it is a token and
pledge to us (whether we consider it or no) that we
do indeed belong to God, to His holy nation and pe
culiar people ; we are bought with a price, and cannot
be as H we had no Divine Master. Again, our Christ
ian name is, to every one baptized in infancy, a token
how greatly Christ has blessed us : that we are among
His highly favoured, His own family, whom all ge
nerations shaU call blessed. In these two respects,
as set apart to be Christ's own, and as looked upon by
Him with extraordinary love and pity, we resemble
our fathers, the Jews of old : but in that which I am
next to mention, we have greatly the advantage of
them. Our Christian Name, besides all that has been
mentioned, is a token of our new and heavenly nature,
given to us in Holy Baptism, because we are then
made members of Christ. This is more than had been
promised to the greatest Prophet before our Saviour ;
but it is given at our Fonts to every Httle child. And
the greatness of the gift you may partly understand

232 Our Christian Name.
by considering what was signified and given to those,
whose names were from time to time changed and
made new by God Almighty : how Jacob, for exam
ple, had his name changed to Israel, because he should
be a mighty prince and king before God. This was
a token that we Christians should be to our God a
sort of kings, to reign over our own hearts and ima
ginations, and to command and order all outward
things so, as that they shall work together for our good,
we truly loving God : for such is His Promise. Again,
Joshua had his name changed and made new; it meant
"a Saviour," and it was altered so as to signify, " The
Lord shall save : " and this was a token and pledge to
him, that he should bring the people into the Holy
Land ; as our Christian Name is a pledge to us, that
the great Almighty God hath indeed come down,
suffered, and triumphed, to redeem us, and guide us
to our everlasting Home, and help us to win it.
Again, consider the names which were bestowed on
different persons by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
and see what a blessing they brought with them in
each case. We may reckon as one of them the name
of St. John Baptist, which was sent down from Heaven
by special message through an Angel : and was given
him, when the time came, not without remarkable
miracles. That name John signifies gracious, and
was a sign and token of God's true graciousness to
every one coming to Christ. Again, when Simon
son of Jona came to our Lord and He gave him the
name of Cephas or Peter ; i. e. of a Bock, firm and im
moveable ; this betokens the sure and certain hope,
the unswerving faith, of one keeping baptismal grace.
And so aU along : Christian names, or names which

Our Christian Name. 233
were meant to prepare men to be Christians, as they
have always in reality been given by Almighty God,
so have they no less really brought each one its spe
cial blessings from Him.
Such names we know are commonly chosen by
friends and parents, for love's sake : for love of some
departed one, whom the new name wiU always bring
to remembrance. And it is very weU indeed, so to
call to mind earthly friends departed. But it is far
better, H we call to mind the whole body of heaven-
friends, the saints and martyrs of old time, those
who now reign with Christ, but with whom we are
truly now in Communion, by virtue ofthe Communion
of Saints. It is far better that whatever a man's own
particular name may be, he shaU never forget the
Name which he bears in common with all his brethren,
the holy Name of Christ, by which aU Christians are
called. I would wish to put this very earnestly both to pa
rents, kinsmen and friends, in regard of theH chU-
dren's names, and to each one among us in regard of
his own name. Have we ever turned our minds,
thoroughly and distinctly, to what Scripture tells us
of the true meaning and virtue of the christian names
which we aU bear ? For instance we read in the book
of Eevelation Hi the verse out of which our text is
taken, and it is our Lord Jesus Christ HimseH Who
pronounces the words, " Him that overcometh I wUl
make him a pUlar in the temple of My God, and he
shall no more go out, and I wiU write upon him the
Name of My God, and the name of the city of My
God, new Jerusalem which cometh down from Heaven
from My God : and I wUl write upon him My new

234 Our Christian Name.
Name." As much as to say : He that keeps his bap
tismal vow, Christ will give him a sure place in His
Church, a strong place, a glorious place, where he shall
be not only safe himself, but shall adorn and support
in his measure the holy society to which he belongs,
as pillars adorn and support a consecrated building.
On that man, the finger of Christ will write, as it were,
three names ; the Name of the Father, the Name of
the Church which is the New Jerusalem, and His own
New Name. And these three names shall be so far one,
as that they shall be written on each one of us by the
gift ofone Name which is called our Christian Name.
Yes, Christian Brethren, however little we may think
of it, the very name by which we are ordinarily named,
the name by which our friends and neighbours ad
dress us, is the name of God sacramentally written
upon us. As a man might write his name in a book,
or have it engraved on an implement or article of
furniture, or marked on a garment, that all might
know it to be his , so the Almighty Everlasting God
hath written His Own Name upon you and me, and
upon all who have received a Name in Holy Baptism ;
from those who came to St. Peter on the Day of Pen
tecost, even unto the little babe, whose christening
we have just now witnessed, we all truly bear writ
ten upon us the Name of Almighty God as our owner.
Angels, good and bad, see the great Name written up
on us : the bad with hate and fear and envy longing to
to steal us away for ever from Him Who so vouchsafes
to own us ; the good, with an earnest and longing desire
to do His Will in watching and guarding us.
But further : as men for greater security common
ly write the name of the place they belong to, as well

Our Christian Name. 235
as theH own name in a book or anything else ; so Ave
see our Lord represents Himself as writing on each
one of us, not only the Name of His God and Father,
but also the Name of His City, New Jerusalem, the
Church of God. Our Christian Name is a token that
we are God's Own, not only as all creatures are His,
but as belonging to His holy Church.
Thirdly, our Lord says, — they are wonderful and
mysterious words, — X( I wUl write upon Him My new
Name : " we are not only marked as belongmg to His
Father, and to His Church, but also as being parts
and members of Him, in such sort that His Name is
ours : the Name of Christ is the Name of each
Christian: and the Name of Christ is our Lord's
new Name, because it was not His Name from
eternity, but began to be His Name when He came
into the world to redeem us : to be made Man,
taking our nature upon Him. And thus each one's
Christian Name is in a manner three names in one,
the Name of the Father to Whom we belong, the
Name of the Church wherem we abide, and most
especially the Name of Christ, Whose members we
are, and through Whom we have our other blessings.
Now, Christian parents and friends, fathers and
mothers, brothers and sisters, god-fathers and god
mothers, kinsmen and kinswomen (I speak to you all,
for which of you is there, who is not in one or other
of these ways concerned with one or more of these
little ones ? ) might it not be well for you to think
more deeply than hitherto what a Christian Name is:
what deep and high things we speak of when we talk
of a Christian Name ? You see a young child in the
cradle, or an eider chUd moving about the house, and

236 Our Christian Name.
it is a deHght to hear that child called by such and
such a name, which brings back it may be the thought
of some dear parent, kinsman or friend far away, or
departed this world. What if you were to think also
of that other and greater andmore blessedName, which
the same child surely bears written upon him, the
Name of Christ, marking him as belonging to God,
as abiding in His Holy Church, as a member of His
Son ? And if we think of this in respect to the young
children in any way committed to our charge, surely
we must think of it in respect of ourselves also. For
we too, brethren, both old and young, have each of us a
Christian name of our own. It was one of the first
things we learnt in our early childhood : we may see
by other children now, how we ourselves, many years
ago, began to call ourselves by that name, and in our
lisping way to make what we could of it. 0 that we
would make much also of the Name of Christ, our
Lord's new Name, which He wrote upon, us also at
our Christening, which we bear along with us through
the world, and which unites us to the great Family in
Heaven and earth, the Holy Catholic Church through
out all the world ! 0 that Christians would learn
to think a great deal of the name Christian, the true
token of the real high birth of us all, and would take
a holy and loving pride in walking worthy of theH
Baptismal Name ! The Almighty Lord give us that
good mind ! that when the names of the whole world
shall be called over at the last Day, we may answer
to our names without that fearful confusion which
must needs overwhelm all those, to whom their very
Christian name will be a reproach, because they will
be found to have led unchristian lives.

SERMON XXVI.

Prov. xviH. 10.
" The Name of the Lord is a strong tower : the righteous
runneth into it and is safe."
There are two Names which come into the actual
administration ofthe Sacrament of Baptism, the Name
of God, and the name of the child : and the wonder
and the mystery is, that these two names are in a
manner made one. The child is so united to God
Almighty, that from thenceforth the Name of God is
in a manner the child's name. But as to the child's
own name, that which is commonly called his Christian
name, we said something of it in our last Catechising.
Now let us go on to the other, the most Holy Name,
that Name which by an ordinance for ever is annexed
to the Sacrament of Baptism, so that without it there
can be no Baptism : the Name ofthe most Holy Trinity,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. For such is
the foundation law of the kingdom of Heaven, enact
ed by the Great King at the moment when He was
just about to take to Him His great power and reign.
He met His Disciples by special appomtment in
Galilee, on the same mountain probably, where He
had spoken in the hearing of the same Apostles His

238 The Name of God,
eight Beatitudes and the rest of His Divine Sermon ;
which mountain may in some respects appear to hold
the same kind of place among Christians, as the
mountain of Sinai among God's ancient people.
Consider Him with His Apostles, on the mountain in
Galilee, and mark what His words are. It is the King
meeting His chosen officers and giving them theH
instructions for nearly the last time, as to how they
should order the Kingdom in His absence. And this
is the Proclamation He makes : " all power is given
unto Me in Heaven and in earth : go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them Hi the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
These are the words or Form of Baptism, settled once
for all by Him Who baptises all. For however many
and various are the persons baptized, and the cir
cumstances under which they are baptized, the real
Baptizer is always one : as the Forerunner said, " This
is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost : " and the
words used by the priest are always the same, " In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost."
On this Sacred and mysterious Name I have first
of all to observe, that here is the most express ac
knowledgement of the Faith of the Holy Trinity,
ordained by our Lord Himself at the very entrance
into His Kingdom. No one can be a disciple of His,
i. e. no one can be a Christian, without this solemn
acknowledgement: that the God to whom He be
longs is both One and Three : One, for it says, " I bap
tize thee in the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost ; not, " in the Names," but
" In the Name " : there seem to be three Names, but

put upon us in our Baptism. 239
in reality it is One Name : because the three Persons
severally named are One God ; and this God, our God,
for ever and ever. He is Three also ; therefore the
Three Personal Names are added, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost. The Father, the One Fountain
of all good, from Whom in eternal unspeakable ways
the other two Divine Persons have theH Being : The
Son or Word of God begotten from everlasting of the
Father : The Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father,
and sent out by the Son ; or, as we acknowledge in our
Communion Service, "Proceeding from the Father and
the Son." In the One Divme Name of these Three
Persons our Lord hath commanded us one and all to
be baptized. He wUl have us love, trust and serve
them all aUke, they being so inseparable, that what
ever obedience love and honour is paid to One is
paid to all : although with respect to that One of
them Who vouchsafed to be made Man for us, we
must have special feelings turned towards Him as
He is Man, doing and suffering so much for us,
feehngs which we cannot have as concerning those,
Who never were Incarnate. However, it is quite
plain, that our Lord has here put the Faith and Name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost at the very
door of His House and Kingdom, so that no one can
enter in, without taking that Name and that Faith
upon him.
Now by this we may understand, secondly, that our
Lord expects each one of us to keep up and practise
the same faith continually : even as the priest enquHed
of us when we were brought to the Font, " Wilt thou
be baptized in this Faith ? " and we answered by our
godfathers and godmothers, "That is my desHe."

240 The name of God,
We desHed to be baptized into the faith of the Father,
the Son and the Holy Ghost, and He graciously
granted our desire : you see then how we are bound, in
all duty and thankfulness to go on living in that faith.
What is " living in the faith of such and such a doc
trine ? " It is, turning our minds to it, recollecting it
continually, making very much of it in our thoughts
and in all our behaviour. You would not say a man
lived in the faith of Christ, if he never thought of
Christ, never made any difference in his doings for
Christ's sake, and in order to please Him. So neither
ought you to consider yourself as living in the faith of
the Holy Trinity, unless you very often think of the
Trinity, and lift up your heart in prayer and praise, in
love and worship, to the Divine Three in One. Are
you accustomed so to do, my brethren ? Do you care
fully use the opportunities which the Church, in her
wisdom and charity, gives you of acknowledging the
" Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity, Three Persons
and One God : " giving glory to the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost ? You know how often she in
vites you to do so, at the end of every Psalm and
Canticle. Do you always endeavour to answer her
invitation with all reverence and earnestness of heart?
There is fear of our not doing so ; and if we do not, it
cannot but prove a serious harm to us, for the very
reason that the opportunity occurs so often. In truth,
H you have not hitherto taken special care on this
point, there must have been more or less inattention
and Hreverence, though you were far perhaps from
meaning it : and it may have been silently hurting
others as well as yourself. Let me beseech you then,
brethren, henceforth always to pay special regard to

put upon us in our Baptism. 241
the Most Holy Trinity, the Three Persons in One
God, making some act of reverence, if not in body, yet
at least in mind, as often as you read, hear or speak
of them. Those Divine Three are ever present in all
theH love, wisdom and power. Whenever and how
ever they are mentioned; the mention of them is
their own providential way of putting you in mind of
their Presence. Can you do less than notice and
acknowledge it ?
Certainly you cannot do less, H you at all believe
what I am next going to point out to you, as the
undoubted teaching of Holy Scripture concerning our
portion in that Holy Name : viz., that we are bap
tized not only in, but into it. We have the Name of
the Most High God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, so
put upon us, as that we shall be rightly called by it ;
it becomes in a manner our name. We are called by
the Divine Name, as being made partakers of the
Divine Nature. So St. Peter tells us ; referring par
ticularly to the regenerating grace of the Holy Ghost,
making us members of Christ, Who is God, in the mo
ment of our Baptism. But let us consider how the
three Sacred Names, the Names ofthe Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, are each severally our Names —
how we are in a manner called by each of them.
FHst, we are called from God the Father, of Whom
the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
Bemg admitted into His family, we are called from
Him, as being called His children : for all children
have theH being and theH name from theH Father,
In Baptism we are regularly adopted to be His chil
dren, and His Name is thenceforth called upon us :
and the angels looking upon us, think of Him, and
Q

242 The Name of God,
of the love which He hath towards us : just as we,
meeting with any child whom a great rich person
had adopted, should naturally think of that person, and
of the love which he had shewn to that child. Can
we then help saying to ourselves, " He is our Father ;
where is His honour ? I am His child, His adopted
child : how can I ever reverence and love Him
enough?" Such as these ought to be our thoughts
of God the Father, seeing we are called by His
Name. And then as to the Second Person, God the Son, we
are baptized into His Name, as you all know Avithout
my telling you, in that we are by that Holy Sacra
ment made members of Him, Bone of His Bone, and
Flesh of His Flesh, and as truly united to Him, as a
wife is joined to her husband in the holy and myste
rious ordinance of matrimony. And therefore, as the
wife from thenceforth takes the husband's name, giv
ing up her own ; so the baptized person is thence
forth called a Christian after the Name of Jesus
Christ: and of his own earthly names and con
nexions he ought to think little in comparison, as
they are indeed nothing to compare with the honour
and blessmg of becoming a member of Christ. Has
it been so with us, brethren? is it so even now? We
know that we are members of Christ ; those who
know least of theH Catechism can hardly be igno
rant of that: how often in the day are we used to
remember it? When we are tempted to sinful or
doubtful liberties, either in thought, in word, or in
deed, do we regularly check ourselves with remem
bering, "Nay these members of mine, this heart,
this tongue, these hands, this whole body and soul,

put upon us in our Baptism. 243
are the heart, tongue, and hands, the body and soul
of Christ Jesus : shaU I take the members of Christ
and make them the members of an harlot ? Shall I
tell lies with the tongue of Christ, steal with the
hand of Christ ? God forbid." And on the other
hand do we encourage ourselves in every good word
and work with the sure and certain hope, " It is not
I, but the grace of Christ which is in me ? I may
hope for a blessmg, since it is not I, poor frail
unworthy being, but Christ that dwelleth in me, He
doeth the works." Do we say to ourselves, "Come let
us be up and doing : let no good opportunity pass
away ; we have our Lord's eyes to see with, our
Lord's hand to work with, the tongue of Christ to
utter our words, the mind of Christ to order our
thoughts : we are inexcusable if we bear no good
fruit : whoever else may be slothful, we may not." If
we are really members of Christ, this is how we
ought to quicken ourselves, and not let our time and
aU our blessed opportunities pass away as in an idle
dream. And this, because we are baptized unto God
the Son, into the Name of Christ.
But, thHdly, we are also baptized into the Name of
the Holy Ghost. We are the children of the Father,
being members of the Son: and how are we mem
bers of the Son? by the work of the Holy Ghost.
Therefore we are called regenerate, sanctified, spHi
tual persons ; i. e. the Name of the Holy Spirit is put
upon us, no less than the Name of the Father and of
the Son. That blessed Comforter, uniting us to Christ,'
has also united us to Himself and to the Father.
It is a three-fold Cord : who may break it ? Who
shaU separate us from the love of the Holy blessed
q 2

244 The Name of God,
and glorious Trinity ? from the God who made us His
own, before we could think or know anything ?
Here then is the saying of Solomon wonderfully
accomplished, " The Name of the Lord is a strong
tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." We
are here in an evil and trying world, encompassed
with many and great dangers. Storms are in the
aH, they may come down upon us any moment :
whither shall we fly for shelter? To our earthly
homes and friends ? Alas, they are under the same
sky as ourselves, they are subject to the same tem
pests : they, no less thah we, may this very hour be
swept away suddenly and without warning. Shall
we set to work and build ourselves up a shelter, a
tower, as some did of old time, whose top might
reach unto heaven, a great Babylon of our own con
trivance, in which we may have our own way undis
turbed ? We know beforehand it will be all in vain :
the experience of near 6000 years has told usj and the
most simple among us knows it as well and as cer
tainly as he knows his own existence, that all such
devices are in vain. And so, when we have looked
far and wide, when we have thought and dreamed all
things over, we shall find but this one refuge, this
one hope and shelter; the Lord God Almighty, Who
hath taken us to HimseH, putting His own Name
upon us in our Baptism. To Him let us hasten, as
children run to theH parents. Why should we seek
any other refuge ? His own saving Almighty Name,
the Name of the most Holy Trinity, is ours, if we
will use it, for a sure defence, and strong weapon
against all that our enemies can do to hurt us. To
flee away to any other, neglecting this, is in reality

put upon us in our Baptism. 245
setting up the Evil One against God : it is the sin of
witchcraft, so called in the Scriptures : it is trusting
in names and divinations and charms : but may our
trust always be in that worthy Name whereby we are
called, in the Name of the most Holy Trinity, which
we carry about with us ever since our Baptism !
Whatever else we use, and thankfully use, to help
and comfort us for awhile on the way, let us never
trust in anything but in this One Holy Name, this
glorious and fearful Name, the Lord our God, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Into this
Tower we will run, and there by His mercy we shall be
safe : only let us remember to what manner of per
sons this is promised. The righteous runneth into
this strong hold and is safe, i. e. they who by sincere
obedience or true repentance have kept or recovered
that righteousness of Christ which He bestowed on
them in their Baptism. But if you turn back to
your own wickedness, to the evil works which were
your own by nature, the holy Name which should
have been your Salvation will turn Hi the end to
your more dismal ruin. Preserve us, 0 Lord, from
that worst of sin and misery.

SERMON XXVII.

Eomans vi. 4.
" We are buried with Him by Baptism into death that
like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory
of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of

The Priest, having the child in his arms and nam
ing it as dHected by the godfathers and godmothers,
who are appointed by the Church to bring it to him,
proceeds at last to the actual Christening, the man
ner whereof you well know. The' words which he
repeats we have already considered : that Most Holy
Name which is the stay and strength, the hope and
refuge of every one of us : the Name of the Trinity,
which thenceforth the child is to bear with him
through this world, and to take with him into Eter
nity to be either an Eternal blessing or an infinite
aggravation of Eternal punishment. This Name is
put upon the child ; he is as it were sealed with it ;
but not by merely saying the words: it is God's
Will, that the words should always be accompanied
with the act which is called baptizing, in itself so
a A second text was added in the margin, quoted at the end of
the Sermon Cant. v. 3, " I have washed my feet how shall I defile
them ? "

Buried with Christ in Baptism. 247
simple, in the mystery and meaning so great. The
two together, the words and the act, make up (as the
Catechism says) the outward visible Sign or Form in
Baptism. It would not be Baptism, were a chUd
washed or dipped in water in silence with only good
thoughts : no, nor if he were washed or dipped with
the best and most beautiful Prayer : it would not be
Baptism, unless the very words which our Saviour
appointed were used, "In the Name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." So on the other
hand neither would it be Baptism, were this Most
Holy Name ever so solemnly repeated over the child,
with the Amen of the whole Church. This would
not, I say, be Baptism, unless the child or person at
the same time were actually washed or dipped in
the water. There have been indeed and are persons
in the world, who call themselves Christians, yet
make Hght of this ordinance. What can we say of
them, but that they are like Naaman the Syrian who
would not believe that his leprosy would be cleansed
by washmg seven times in the river Jordan ? Had
he persisted in that scornful way of thinking, his
leprosy would never have been cleansed. And so we
may well fear, regarding those who go on making
light of the actual washing of Baptism, that they
are sadly trifling with Christ's way of Salvation.
They may seem to themselves wise and knowing ;
they may think to be more spiritual, further ad
vanced in Gospel grace than others : but even as that
mighty man of Syria, Naaman, was better instructed
by his own servants, when they remonstrated with
him on his rude way of rejecting what God had told
him by the prophet ; so the most learned and clever

248 Buried with Christ in Baptism.
of us all, if we at all feel disposed to make light of
God's Holy Sacraments, may well learn a lesson from
the simplest. Yes, brethren, the poorest, the meanest,
the most ignorant in this or any other Christian con
gregation, who has learnt to behave himself respect
fully at Holy Baptism, does by his behaviour give
the best rebuke to those who are so ill-instructed as
to disbelieve in its vHtue. Without speech he seems
to say to us, " If the Prophet, the Great Prophet
Jesus Christ had required of you some great thing,
would you not have done it ? how much more when
He saith unto you, c Wash and be clean ! ' " I can
not help having fomewhat of this sort of feeling, when
I observe how in our congregations, the simple,
quiet, believing worshippers turn reverently towards
the Font, when the holy Service of Baptism begins :
how they listen with all reverence, how earnestly
they watch all that is said and done, either by the
Priest or sponsors. It is a part of the Church Service,
in which the dutiful children of the Church, the little
ones of Jesus Christ, join, as it appears, with most
especial affection and dutifulness : and when one sees
them, sometimes it may come into one's heart to think,
what if one of those should be here, who by any
sort of wrong training has been taught to have little
faith in Holy Baptism, to think of it as of a mere or
dinance, surely, whether he were unbelieving or un
learned, the sight of a whole congregation so devoutly
assisting at a child's Baptism may very well move
him to have other thoughts. As St. Paul says of
one in a like case, he may be convinced of all, "he
may be judged of all," he may humble himself in
heart, and believe and confess that God is in Holy

Buried with Christ in Baptism. 249
Baptism of a truth, in a way which he had not before
thought of. Thus by the reverent behaviour of
those who may seem only babes in Christ, He may
correct and convert some of those who, in their seem
ing wisdom and prudence, have as yet the glory of
God's Sacraments hidden from them.
But let people's thoughts and behaviour be what
they may, the Holy Sacrament is, as I have said, the
same, and the Divine Presence equally attends it.
And now let us consider some of the things which
were mentioned in the Catechising, as to the manner
in which that Sacrament is administered.
The words of the Eubric are, " Naming the child
after the sponsors, H they shaU certify him that the
chUd may well endure it, he shall dip it in the water
discreetly and warily," saying the aweful and blessed
words. Evidently then the Church prefers that way
of baptizing, in which the child is plunged entirely in
to the water. For which cause also it is directed, that
at Baptisms the Font should he filled with pure water :
that there may be enough to dip the chUd. Why
does the Church prefer this way to the other, suppos
ing it were quite certain that the child may well
endure it ? FHst, perhaps, because the word Baptise
properly means this sort of action, and not merely
pouring on a little water, much less sprinkling it.
Secondly, because the action of dipping sets forth to
the very eye the proper force and meaning of Christ
ian Baptism, how that it is both a Death and Eesur
rection ; the pouring of the water scarcely gives that
meaning at all. This is what St. Paul so often alludes
to, "buried with Him by Baptism, wherein also we are
risen again with Him, through the faith ofthe opera-

250 Buried with Christ in Baptism.
tion of God, Who raised Him from the dead." And
in the text, "We are buried with Him by Baptism un
to death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk
in newness of life." Yes, we are buried with Him
even bodily; buried in the baptizing water for a
moment, and. in the next moment raised out of it:
whereby are shown forth to the very eyes and ears
of the bystanders a lively Image of the Death and
Eesurrection of Christ Crucified, an Image also of
the spHitual death and Eesurrection of every one of
us, the death unto sin, and the new bHth unto right
eousness. And in this way no doubt, the more part
of Christians, in hot countries, have been baptized:
the very form and gesture, as well as the words and
the water, serving to shew them the nature of the ac
tion they were performing, and to remind them, ever
after, of their true condition towards God. But with
us in these northern parts, it would plainly be very
dangerous, in many cases, to insist on this way of bap
tism, and in all countries there would be instances in
which it would prove inconvenient and next to impos
sible. And, therefore, He Who will have mercy and
not sacrifice, has given us plainly to understand that
pouring the water on the child or person, with the
proper words, is sufficient. There is a tradition in the
Church, that He Himself was baptized in this way, as
you may see in the usual pictures of our Lord's Bap
tism. Therefore the Holy Church in her charity has
added, as you know, to the Eubric which recom
mends dipping, another Eubric which permits us
merely to " pour water on the child if it be certified
that the child be weak."

Buried with Christ in Baptism. 251
And now, the child being taken out of the water,
the Priest, before he restores him to the arms of those
who are trusted to take care of him, has to make
upon him the sign of the Holy Cross. But before we
go on to speak of this, let us take time to think ear
nestly on this great thing, that now this child is real
ly made partaker of a holy Eesurrection, answering
to our Lord's rising from the grave : nay more :
not only answering to Christ's Eesurrection, but, in
inward and spiritual power, really and truly partak
ing thereof : so that it is said in Holy Scripture over
and over again : "Ye are risen with Christ ; ye are
risen again with Him ; ye are partakers of His Death
and Eesurrection; now it is not ye that live, but Christ
liveth in you. Because, being made members of
Christ, you are at once made to share in all that
Christ did and suffered for you. You are dead with
Him, you are buried with Him, you are risen with
Him, you are ascended with Him."
As then our Lord's Blessed Body was changed and
glorified at His Eesurrection, so did our souls, yea,
and our bodies too, begin to be changed and glorified
at our Baptism, to be henceforth spiritual as was His
glorious Body ; but in Him the change was all in a
moment, in us it is to go on gradually through all
our time of trial, and to be completed only at the last
day. The Almighty Spirit of God, Who came to us
at the Font, dwelleth in and shall be in us to ac
complish this change ; and our work is to obey His
godly motions, to be workers under Him, in renew
ing our own souls, and in keeping our bodies chaste
and pure, that they also may be renewed hereafter.
This is our new life, answering to the Life of our

252 Buried with Christ in Baptism.^
Eisen Lord, that as He, being raised from the dead,
dieth no more, so we, being raised in Baptism from
the death which Adam brought on us, should sin no
more. As He during those forty days was only
preparing for His Ascension, so we for the short, the
very short,, time that we have to abide here on earth,
should be only preparing for that other and eternal
world. What indeed have we else to do, since God
has so graciously ordered our concerns,- that all our
other innocent cares, our love for our friends and kins
men and the like, may be turned that same way, may
be made steps towards heaven? Think then, bre
thren, day and night of your Baptism. You cannot
think of it too much ; only take care to think of it in
this way, that being so risen with Christ you have
but one thing to do, to seek those things which are
above, where Christ sitteth on the Bight Hand of
God. One thing more, and it shall be something which all
may understand. When you think of Baptism, you
think of washing ; for Baptism, you know, is a wash
ing with water. Now what is the use of washmg ?
Of course, to make one clean. Baptism is ordained
by Almighty God to make our souls pure and clean,
not by any virtue which it has in itself, but through
the most precious Blood of our Only Saviour Christ
Jesus, which it pleases Him to apply to our souls in
that way. Eemember this : you have been, once at
least, effectually cleansed : once at least there was a
time when our Lord might have said to us as He
said to His Apostles: "now ye are clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you." In whatever
degree we have become unfit to have the same word

Buried with Christ in Baptism. 253
spoken to us now, we know whose fault it must be,
and the same consequence of it. Those who are
careful to be neat and clean in their houses, their per
sons, and theH clothing, and to keep all belonging
to them the same, know how provoking it is, when
things which they have been taking trouble with,
are wilfully and wantonly stained and sullied again.
It is a very great trial of temper. Now by this you
may judge how angry our Lord must be, when, hav
ing washed us clean in His own most precious Blood,
so painfully shed for us on the tormenting Cross, He
finds us by our oavti fault all foul and filthy again.
Let us beware that it be not so with us. Eemember
the King coming in to see the guests, and what be
came of him whose dress was not what it ought to
have been. When temptation comes near, say with
the spouse in the song of Solomon, " I have washed
my feet, how shall I defile them ?" Alas ! how many
at the last Day wUl wish that they had borne these
things in mmd, when it will be too late !

SERMON XXVIII.

St. Matt", x. 38.
" He that taketh not his Cross and followeth after Me,
is not worthy of Me."
When the child has been christened, the Priest does
not, as you know, immediately restore it to the nurse's
arms, but keeps it in his own arms until he have made
the sign of the Cross upon its forehead, saying at
the same time those noble words, known, as I trust
to a great many, if not to the greater part of you.
" We receive this Child into the congregation of
Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the
Cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed
to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manful
ly to fight under His banner, against sin, the world,
and the devil ; and to continue Christ's faithful sol
dier and servant unto his life's end."
In order to have proper thoughts of this part ofthe
service, we must consider, what is the use of signing
and sealing things among men, how Holy Scripture
teaches us to apply that use to the things of God, and
what use we ourselves ought to make of our Lord's
own sign and seal, the sign of the Cross, which we
thus received at the time of our Baptism. I say, at

The sign of the Cross, Christ's seal upon us. 255
the time of our Baptism, not in our Baptism: because
I would wish carefully to guard against the error
which some, I know, fall into, of accounting the sign
of the Cross part of the Sacrament itseH of Baptism.
The Sacrament is complete with only the water and
the word ; as it is given, when an infant, being serious
ly ill, is baptized at home. In such case you know
there is no sign of the Cross. That is added after
wards when the infant is brought to Church ; yet we
are not to doubt that the infant is lawfully and suf
ficiently baptized.
What is the use then of the Holy Sign, H it is no
part of Baptism ? The Priest's words, when he makes
it, are sufficient to explain its use,, if only we bear in
mind what is men's purpose in signing or sealing
anything. Generally speaking, a sign or seal, put
upon anything, is put for one or both of two uses. To
keep the thing safe, and to make known whom it be
longs -to. Thus the chief Priests made our Lord's
Sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, as well as setting a
watch: and thus Jezebel when she wrote that wicked
letter about Naboth, not only wrote it in Ahab's name,
but sealed it also with Ahab's seal, that there might
be no doubt of the letter coming from Ahab.
And now we know what the uses of a seal are, we
shall the better understand how the sign of the Cross
is, as Christ's Seal, put upon each of us, immediately
after we have been made members of Christ in
Baptism. For first of all, the Priest with the infant Hi his
arms says aloud in his own name, and in that of all
the congregation and in the name of all Christian
people, " We receive this child into the Congrega-

256 The sign of the Cross,
tion of Christ's flock." It may be asked, what need
so to receive the child ? since, his Baptism being
complete, he is already a member of Christ, bone of
His Bone and flesh of His Flesh, and therefore much
more is he already one of Christ's congregation and
flock, and no doubt the inward blessing is already
complete : the child cannot be more entirely baptized,
more truly and really joined to Christ than he is.
But the Church has always thought it well, that
what has been inwardly and spiritually done should
be outwardly and visibly accepted and declared ; that
Christians should acknowledge each fresh Christian,
coming or brought into their assembly, with such
solemn words of welcome. "We receive this child
or this person into the congregation of Christ's flock,"
into the Holy Catholic Church and the Communion
of Saints, into the blessed brotherhood and family,
named of our Lord in Heaven and earth : — and surely,
as the words are said, they may well go deep into each
one of our hearts, husbands and wives : and as those
who truly and religiously love one another had
thoughts which cannot be put into words, when they
listened to the Church pronouncing that they were
man and wHe together, so, and even much more,
ought the thoughts to be very deep and blessed, which
come into a Christian man's mind, when he hears in
fant after infant solemnly received into the flock, and
considers that he has himself been so received. He
may consider with himself that these words were, Hi
deed and in truth, the voice of all Saints and Angels
greeting him, as he enters within the Holy House
hold ; they are the pledge and earnest of the yet more
unspeakable greeting which the same Heavenly hosts

Christ's seal upon us. 257
have in store for him, against the time when, if it
please God, he shall pass through the everlasting
doors, and with open face behold the things in which
now he only believes.
But now mark how the Service goes. The Priest
says not, "We receive this child into Christ's con
gregation," but, "into the congregation of Christ's
flock," putting us in mind that all we are sheep,
that the Church is our Fold, Jesus Christ our Shep
herd, and the infant of course who has just been
christened, can be no other than a lamb, a lamb of
Christ's fold, newly born, and of course an object
of the good Shepherd's very special care. Now we
know what shepherds do, in order that their sheep
and lambs may be kept safe. They put their mas
ter's name, some letter of it, or some mark belonging
to theH master, upon each sheep or lamb separately,
and so turn them out, when they have been washed
and shorn. Even so is the Name and Mark of Christ
put upon His lambs by His under-shepherds, when
they mark them, newly baptized, with the sign of the
Cross. That sign is the Name and Mark of our Lord
Christ, put upon them, to tell whose they are, and to
protect them from dangerous enemies : as sheep, when
properly marked, wander at large in mountainous
countries and are safe, because men see whom they
belong to, and are afraid of the peril and trouble of
stealing them. Let us consider a little how the sign
ing of our foreheads in Baptism may be a protection
to us in ways which we little dream of.
One might naturally say, how can this be, seeing
that the sign itself is not really made in our fore
head ? It is not stamped or painted there, as it is on
r

258 The sign of the Cross,
the sheep ; but only the Priest's fingers, for one very
short moment, trace the figure in the air close to the
child's brow, leaving no trace when they are taken
off. To all outward appearance the babe is the same
as before. But, my brethren, there are others by, spec
tators and witnesses of the child's Baptism, of whom
we may well believe that they see the print of the
Cross remaining, although we do not see it. These
are the good Angels, especially that one to whom,
according to the Church's old opinion, the care and
guardianship is committed of the child's own soul
particularly. The good Angels, I say, looking oh a
newly christened child, see that blessed and saving
Sign in its clear baptismal brightness, not as yet
dimmed nor sullied by actual sin ; and, generally as
they go about the world, we may well believe that
they see who among mortals have Christ's mark upon
them, and that, for the love of Christ, they are always
ready, always forward to do all they can for the help
of those whom they perceive to belong to Christ ? Just
as any friend or faithful servant of a man owning
sheep upon the mountains would look after those
sheep or lambs on which he saw his master's or his
friend's mark. Thus the Baptismal Cross, though
to our eyes it leave no mark remaining, may yet be
traceable by the eyes of the good Spirits, and we may
have by it the more of their care and help. And, on
the other hand, the evil spirits also discerning if may
be abashed and afraid ; the Sign of the Cross may
discomfit and drive them away, as it discomfited and
drove away Amalek when fighting against Israel.
Amalek, we read, gave way and was overcome by
Moses lifting up his hands in the shape of a Cross :

Christ's seal upon us. 259
and so, H we steadily keep and cherish the Cross in
our foreheads by prayer and holy obedience, we shall
overcome our spiritual enemies, or they will fear to
attack us so fiercely.
This use of the holy Sign to frighten away bad
angels, and secure the help of good, appears to be re
ferred to more than once in Holy Scripture. Not
unlike it is what happened at the time of the First
Passover. An Angel, a destroying Angel, an Angel
of God's vengeance, was to pass through the guilty
land at midnight, and enter into each house and slay
the first-born only. Into those houses, on which he
should see the token of Eedeeming mercy, the sprink
ling of the blood of the lamb, into those he was not
to enter, but to pass them over. Now the sprinkling
ofthe lamb's blood over the door was not unlike mak
ing the Sign of the Cross on the forehead ; the one, as
well as the other, might well serve for a token to our
invisible friends and enemies, causing the one to
draw back, the other to watch over us.
Again, we read in the Book of Joshua how that
when Jericho was taken, one woman, Eahab the harlot,
had her house and all that belonged to her spared :
because she had dealt kindly with the men whom Jo
shua had sent to search the land. The men gave her
a sign ; they bad her hang out a scarlet thread at her
window, which when the armies of the Lord should
see, they would know it was His sign, and would
spare the house when they saw it. What was that
scarlet thread but a type of and token of Christ's
saving Blood ? In other words it was a sign of the
Cross. Again, and yet more remarkably, God revealing
r 2

260 The sign of the Cross,
Himself to the Prophet Ezekiel shewed him this vi
sion: he seemed to himself to be in the Temple, and to
see all manner of wicked idolatries carried on there,
in the very sight of the glory of the Lord : and there
fore he saw also, how that the Lord appointed six
ministers of vengeance who were to pass through the
city slaying all sorts, but before they set out on theH
errand, another, a merciful Priest, was commanded to
go round and seal those who were penitent and bet
ter than the rest, to seal them in the forehead with
a certain letter, which is believed to have been of the
very shape of the Cross. That being done, the Angels
of vengeance went forth and slew all the rest ; but
whomsoever they saw thus sealed, him they passed
over. Not otherwise will those glorious beings
deal with us sinners at the Last Day : they will sever
the wicked from amongst the just, to be cast into the
furnace of fire : but those, on whom they shall see
our Lord's mark, they will pass over, leaving them
to be admitted by our Lord Himself into Heaven.
And to make us sure that this kind of sealing has
something like it in the Gospel and Church of Christ,
you heard, out of the Book of Eevelations, concerning
the four Angels which were appointed to hurt the
earth, and the sea and the trees, how that they were
commanded to forego any such thing, until they
should have sealed the servants of our God in their
foreheads. With all this Scripture authority, no
wonder that our first fathers in the faith, the Christ
ians in the next generation after the Apostles, made
very great use indeed of the sign of the Cross : inso
much that we find one of them saying, " In all our
travels ancl movements, in all our coming in and go-

Christ's seal upon us. 261
ing out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the
table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sit
ting down, whatever employment occupieth us, we
mark our forehead with the sign of the Cross."
The saving sign, which both we and they need con
tinually, they kept repeating in act : we, who do not
so, must be the more careful to repeat it very often
Hi mind.
Thus you see in a general way, why Christ's sign
or seal should be put upon the new-baptized. It
is placed, to mark them for Christ's own, and to pro
tect them from evil spirits. Now Avhy that sign
should be the Cross, rather than anything else, you
all know very well. By using the Cross and no
other figure, we declare our faith not simply in
Christ; but in Christ Crucified, in God Incarnate,
dying on the Cross to be the Sacrifice for our sins.
We say the same in gesture, which St. Paul said in
words, when he told the Corinthians, " I determined
to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and
Him Crucified." By that act we profess obedience
to the many sayings of our Blessed Master, in which
He bade us take up and bear the Cross : the first
of which sayings, in point of time, is that which I
read to you for our text to-day, "Whosoever tak
eth not up his cross and followeth after Me is not
worthy of Me." Those words were addressed to
the twelve Disciples by our Lord, when He first
sent them out to preach Hi His Name ; they are part
of our Master's original instructions, in" first form
ing His Divine Kingdom and Household. If you
would be worthy of Me, take up your Cross. Well
is it then, that on each one of us, on our entrance

262 The sign of the Cross,
into that Holy Family, the very mark of the Cross
was put, our Lord's own mark, uniting in one His
Truth and our duty, Faith in Christ and denying our
selves for His Sake. Well is it for you and me, that,
even as infants, the Cross was thus laid upon us, to
mark us for Christ's own and to keep off the powers
of darkness. Well is it for us so far ; but it will be
very ill for us if, being come to years, we decline the
loving and blessed burden so graciously laid upon us.
Observe our Lord's Word. He says, "Whoso taketh
not his cross and followeth not Me is not worthy
of Me." We must take it, i. e. willingly accept and
receive it, when we are old enough to know what it
is. We must bear it, i. e. carry it along with us on
our journey through this evil world; we must not pre
tend or wish to part company with it. Now what do
I mean, when I talk of parting company with the
Cross ? I mean, putting by our duty when We find
that it becomes unpleasant ; as for instance there are
some here who, being come to the appointed age, are
now preparing solemnly to take upon themselves the
Cross which was laid upon them in their Baptism.
They are preparing themselves to be confirmed : let
them well understand what our Lord expects of them.
He will not give them His confirming Spirit, unless
they come to Him taking up their cross, i. e. with a
mind set to do their duty, however unpleasant. Now
it is plain they have not yet such a mind, it will be
no blessing to them to be confirmed, if they have not
yet the courage to do unpleasant duties ; and I am
sorry to say concerning some of them, that it is too
plain, there is one duty at least, and that a very
serious and sacred one, which they have not yet

Christ's seal upon us. 263
courage to do : I mean the duty of behaving well in
Church. I take this opportunity, brethren, of giving
as public notice as I can, that we shall not consider
any person as fit to be presented to the Bishop for
Confirmation, who shews by his behaviour that he is
not trying to behave well and reverently at Church.
However well he may answer all questions, he ought
not to be confirmed and he will not be confirmed
here, H he be noticed as commonly rude and ir
reverent in God's House. Neither he nor his friends
must complain, H he be disappointed in the end
when he asks for the Bishop's Blessing. Better by
far for him to be disappointed, than to draw near
with an untrue heart, and affront his Saviour. But
how very foolish, how very sad that any Christian
youth or maiden should lack even the little courage
and conscientiousness to behave with outward de
cency and reverence for the few hours in the week,
which we spend here in Church. Surely in vain, so
far, has the sign of the Cross been put upon such an
one, since the fear of being laughed at, or dislike of
the little trouble of keeping himself in order, is of
more avail with him than the fear of God and the feel
ing of Christ's Presence. I hope there are not many
such. But some I too greatly fear there undoubtedly
are. At any rate I have given them plain warning,
not however plainer than the word of God has given,
concerning all those who, by evil doing, shall be found
at last to have worn out of their foreheads the mark
of Christ, made there in their Baptism. He will pro
fess unto them, "I know you not: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity." 0 God, grant that those words
may not be spoken to any of us.

SERMON XXIX.

St. Mark viii. 38.
" Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My
words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him
also shall the Son of Man be ashamed when He cometh
in the glory of His Father with the Holy Angels."
The point of time in the Service for Holy Baptism
on which we are to think to day, is while the priest
holds the new-baptized yet in his arms, and is in the
act of signing it with the Sign and Seal of Christ.
That Sign and Seal, I need not tell you, is the Cross.
We considered about it last week ; and of how great
use it may be in keeping off Evil spirits and in invi
ting the help of the good. Now the next point to be
considered is, why this mark should be made upon
the forehead of the child, rather than any where
else. We see it always was so ; according to that in
the Eevelations, " Hurt not the earth, neither the
sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants
of our God in the forehead." And the beast, the
great evil Power on earth, is said in the same Book
of Eevelations to cause them that worship his image
to receive a mark in their right hand or their fore
heads. There must then be a special meaning in

The Cross on the forehead. 265
having the mark in that part of the body ; nor is such
meaning hard to find. The Service points to it, " We
do sign him with the Sign of the Cross, in token that
hereafter he shall not be ashamed?" How is it a
token that he shall not be ashamed ? For this reason
especially, because it is made in the forehead. For,
if a person were ashamed of Christ, surely the fore
head, of all places, is where he would least wish to have
Christ's mark upon him ; because the forehead is the
most plain to be seen of any part of the body, and
any mark set there is, in a manner, more public
than any where else. To put the mark of Christ then
upon the forehead, before the child can at all know,
is as much as to pledge him that, when he does
know, he wiU never be ashamed of Christ's mark,
he wiU always bear it openly upon him ; that he will
never be ashamed of it, come upon him -what will.
We do sign his Forehead, especially, "with the Sign
of thc Cross, in token that he shall not be ashamed
to confess the faith of Christ crucified."
It should seem then, as though baptized children
were in some special manner in danger of being
ashamed to confess Christ. Let us consider how
this is.
We will suppose a good and simple child, going
about for a while in his own simple way. He know
ingly encourages no ill thoughts, he is kind and gen
tle, he speaks the truth, he will not be greedy, he
does as he is bid, he tries to mind his prayers, he is
the same, in sight and out of sight. How happy is
that chUd ! But it is sad to think how sorely he may
soon be tried. Before long he may find himself
among other children, or even among grown-up peo-

266 The Cross on the forehead.
pie, who have been brought up in very different
ways from these, and who, to keep themselves in
countenance, will be too likely to laugh at his child
like goodness. They will laugh at him, perhaps, for
his strict honesty ; he would not for the world take
what is not his, without leave. But they have been
used to deal freely with other men's goods, and help
themselves boldly to what they please, when they
think they can safely do it. If they see you back
ward to do the same, they will laugh at you ; they
will say, you want sense and spirit, you know nothing
of life, you are altogether poor and contemptible.
Can you bear it all ? Will you go on just the same, as
strict and exact in your honesty, as if you had never
been laughed at for it ? Or will it not rather have
this effect upon you, that, although you were greatly
shocked at first with their talk, you nevertheless
cared for it so far as this; that you rather kept
your honesty out of sight, you were a little un
easy when you thought it was going to be noticed ;
and soon you were tempted to relax a little, not
to seem so strict and particular and so unlike. other
people; (for that is hoAv these tempters will talk
of you ;) and when you have got so far, to hide
your honesty for fear of being laughed at, I fear it
will be found but a very little step farther, to join
those whom you mind so much, in something positive
ly dishonest, or to follow their bad example in ways
of your own. Perhaps it is not so much dishonesty,
by which the simple young heart is tried, as that most
sad and painful temptation of impurity. Too often
those who in any manner are losing themselves in
this grievous sin, become so like the evil spirit, as to

The Cross on the forehead. 267
grudge others theH goodness and innocence, and they
will mock and jeer at them for being ignorant ofsin,
and afraid to fall into it. For such company there is
but one rule ; as soon as ever you perceive what they
are about, avoid them, come not near them, stop your
ears, look another way ; you know not what incurable
defilement you may bring upon yourself by any wU
Hng mtercourse with them, though it be but for half
an hour. Shut your eyes from seeing of evU, whe
ther it be in books or in the ways of living people ;
never mind theH sneers and their scorning ; never
mind what they will be sure to say about your want
of spirit, your unmanliness, your pitiful ignorance of
IHe. Eemember the Lord's mark in your forehead,
and be bold and courageous to despise all this, or, if
the tempter's agents take another course with you, H
they despise andmockyou for being respectful to those
whom God has set over you, for minding them when
they are out of sight, this again is often a sore trial,
through the sad frailty of our nature ; but it is not a
trial in which a well-disposed mind can have any .
doubt of its duty. Arm yourselves, then also, with
the sign of the Cross, His sign Who was not ashamed
to live thHty years at Nazareth in quiet subjection
to the poor Carpenter and his wHe, and, having that
sign, be bold to disregard those who would taunt you
with your precise notions of duty; let them, if they
wUl, mock on, but let no sayings or doings of theirs
make you less respectful, loving, and true.
How plain is all this, as we speak and hear of it,
how very foolish to be ashamed of keeping either of
God's holy Commandments, on account of what a few
thoughtless persons may say ! yet how few of us, alas !

268 The Cross on the forehead.
can say that we have been, or even are now, quite
above being tempted in that way. Both open ridi
cule, and secret scorn, are to many most painful to
be encountered ; many a good resolution has failed
before them ; many an one, who seemed like a rock,
has wavered, from being ashamed of Christ. The
very first sin that was committed in this world
seems to have been partly occasioned by this. Eve
knew perfectly, and answered exactly, what com
mand God had given concerning the Tree of Know
ledge. But the Serpent said, in the tone of scornful
unbelief, "Ye shall not surely die," as if he should
say, you "are not quite so foolish as to believe
that;" and she was so weak that she listened to
it. There are too many places, too many compa
nies, where young people who know their duty are
tempted much in the same way. TheH dread of
another's ridicule or secret scorn comes dangerously
in, to aid their other bad inclinations. This was
partly the temptation at the High Priest's door,
when St. Peter, young in eagerness if not in years,
was tempted to say with oaths and cursings, "I
know not the Man." It would not seem to have
been merely fear for his own life, but he did not
like, so it may appear, to be accounted one of so
strange and unaccountable a set, whom nobody could
understand well enough, either to pity or respect
them. Take care, my young friends, lest you too in
some unguarded hour should utter words which come
to the same, " I know not the Man, I care not so
much for this or that point of the Creed, this or that
form of words," and yet in your hearts you know or
ought to know that the points of the Creed, the form

The Cross on the forehead. 269
of sound words, are to be cared for by Christians even
unto death. Take care that in none of these respects
you so forget the Cross in your foreheads, as to seem
to agree with sin and unbelief, for fear of differing with
other people. I think it very likely that some, per
haps many of you, may be tried in this way. A time
is at hand, in which very holy things will be freely
talked of in all manner of companies. Holy Baptism ,
and those who believe in it, will be more and more
a scorn and an offence to the children of this world.
Take care that none of you ever be tempted by fear
of standing alone, or by fear of being laughed at, to
say any thing like, " I know not the Man."
Our time is in some respects a time like that in
which the gospel was first preached, when it was " to
the Jews a stumbHng-block and to the Greeks foolish
ness." So now Jesus Christ in His Sacraments is a
stumbling-block to those who think they know better,
and have a more spHitual religion, and He is "foolish
ness " to the ordinary sort of people, who will not be
lieve theH own high calling, nor be told how bad
theH sins are. At such a. time and in such tempta
tions, the Cross in our foreheads, seasonably thought
of, may help us very greatly. We were told, when
it was marked there, that it marked us not only as
Christ's sheep, but also as His soldiers and servants.
We are " manfully to fight under our Lord's Ban
ner; " that is what is requHed in soldiers. What is our
Lord's Banner ? the Cross, that Sign of the Son of
Man in Heaven, which, as many have believed, will
be carried before Him when He shall come with His
armies at the last Day. Under that Banner, i, e. the
Banner of self-denial and of suffering, we are to fight
against sin, the world, and the Devil. We are not to

270 The Cross on the forehead.
have an hour's peace with them; the warfare on
which we enter at our Baptism is to continue unto
our life's end. And how are we to fight ? in one word,
"manfully;" we are to be courageous, loyal, persever
ing, in one word, to quit ourselves like men. Bear
this in mind, my young friends. You are ready
enough in general and glad enough to be reckoned
men and treated as men. Not seldom you are seek
ing and contriving to be so before the proper and
natural time, in a great hurry to leave school, to be
your own masters, to be dealt with as if you were
grown up. Well then, if you want to be men, shew
yourselves manly where Christ requires you to do so;
i. e. in striving against sin, in never being ashamed of
Christ. Nothing so unmanly, as to be put out of
countenance, when you are standing up for your
King, your Master, or your parent ; and still more for
Him Who is all these in one, and more than all these,
your Saviour. Nothing so truly manful and coura
geous, as to go on simply and plainly in the way of
duty, whether those around us regard and respect
us, or no.
We must be manful and we must be faithful ; man
ful to enter on the fight, faithful to continue it unto
our lives' end. This indeed is great part of true man
liness, not to be " like children carried away with
every blast of vain doctrine," but to be ordered and
established in the truth of Christ's holy Gospel. Sure
ly, if you would be men, (as you all wish to be)
this spiritual and inward manliness will be all in all
to you. Keep to it- firmly, yet humbly and devout
ly, and all besides will be sure to come right.
Finally, remember, Brethren, that we are slaves,
given up entirely by Jesus Christ as a living Sacrifice

The Cross on the forehead. 271
to our Lord ; and this is one reason more, why we
bear the Sign of the Cross ; we are to continue His
faithful soldiers and servants. Slaves in old time
bore theH master's mark in their foreheads ; I believe
it is so in some countries even now : it is the mark
which shews to whom they belong, and by which
they are found out if they forsake his service : they
no doubt, poor creatures, are often unwilling enough
to bear it ; but let us with aU joy and willingness wear
our mark, the Cross of our Saviour. He made Him
seH a Slave for us, when He took our nature upon
Him ; as He says in the Book of Psalms, " Mine ears
hast Thou opened," i. e. I have made MyseH Thy ser
vant, and Thou hast taken Me to be Thy servant for
ever. " Lo, I come to do Thy wUl, 0 my God." Thus
did He make HimseH a slave for us all, and we were
taken by Him to be His slaves, when He had us signed
with the sign of the Cross. Let it be all our joy and
glory, as it is our only hope, that we are not our own,
but His, whether we will or no. We are His ser
vants ; let us see to it that we are faithful servants.
Our Master is away out of sight : let us take care to
be awake, when He returns. For blessed are those
servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find
watching. Therefore the Church, Hi signing us with
the Sign of the Cross, put us in mmd of our lHe's end,
which wUl be but a short time. The Sign was to
make us recollect, that we are pledged to continue
Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto our life's
end. So be it, 0 Lord. May we so lead our short
lives here that Thou and Thy good Angels may own
us to be Thine, seeing Thy mark upon us in the Day
of Eesurrection.

SERMON XXX.

St. John xv. 3,4.
" Now ye are clean through the word which I have spo
ken unto you. Abide in Me and I in you."
The infant having been solemnly admitted into the
congregation, and Christ's mark put upon his fore
head, the Priest restores him to his nurse's or God
mother's arms : in which action when we behold
him, we may think of Jesus Christ, how He is even
now committing this little lamb of His, newly sealed
with His own Name, to the care of its Spiritual Mo
ther the Holy Church, whieh promises and is bound
to nurse and to teach him. Every woman, thus re
ceiving a newly baptized child from the Priest, is for
the time a figure and type ofthe Holy Church of God,
receiving infants from Christ, and would do well to
consider what a serious thing it is, what a great won
der and mystery, in which she is so permitted to bear
a part, and so she should keep her attention from
being wholly taken up with the child, and should
try to think as much as she can of the great work
which God has just been doing for its soul.
When the Priest has so given back the child, he
proceeds to invite the congregation to join him in

The thanksgiving after Baptism. 273
thanksgiving and prayer; "Seeing now, dearly be
loved Brethren, that this child is regenerate and
grafted into the Body of Christ's Church, let us give
thanks unto God for these benefits, and with one
accord make our prayers unto Him, that this child
may lead the remainder of his IHe according to this
beginning." Now the first thing to be observed upon this is, that
the Church dHects us to speak the words over every
baptized infant alike. Whatever be the child's name
and his parents', be they rich or poor, high or low in
the world, nay whatever their character be, good or
bad, religious or irreligious, to the chUd it is aU one,
so far as this : that the Church commands us to thank
God for its Begeneration. We are to say distinctly,
"this chUd is regenerate; " H there were any doubt, the
Church, I suppose, would bid us say, "we hope that
this child is regenerated." There is no reason against
our saying that, if it were more according to the truth,
according to our Lord's sayings, and the mmd of His
Holy Church. We might say, we hoped this chUd
was regenerate, just as we say in the Burial Service,
' ' our hope is " that o ur Brother or Sister is now resting
in Christ. The word would have been just as easUy
spoken. But instead of saying, "we hope," we say,
positively, "it is regenerate." We say it concerning
every child: no distinction is made between this one
and that one. Why should we say it, if we are not
to beHeve it? Surely the Church meant us all to be
lieve it: and if we will be true Churehmen, we must
beHeve it. I say it over and over again, and I Avish
you to take notice of it, and always to remember it,
that over every child without exception, immediately
s

274 The thanksgiving after Baptism.
after it has been baptized, the Priest is desired to say,
"This child is regenerate: " not, "it may be," or, "we
hope it is," but plainly and distinctly, "it is." Sup
posing any person should come up at the same mo
ment and say, "Perhaps it is not so, we cannot tell,
we can only hope that it is so," would you not say
that person contradicts the Prayer-Book? Surely
this matter is so plain, that no one can help perceiv
ing it, unless he chooses to be blind. And we ought
to be very thankful that the matter is so .plain. For
unhappily there are too many who for various rea
sons wish to make it out that we need not believe
all infants to be regenerate in Baptism : and they
have many subtle things to say, which may perplex
the hearts of the simple ; and we all know too well
that Satan is very busy in this matter, for it exactly
serves his purpose, if he can get men to imagine that
their sins are not so very bad, because perhaps they
have never had grace given them ; and since unhap
pily even well-meaning persons have somehow got
to persuade themselves that the Prayer Book does
not say, all baptized infants are regenerate, I fear, I
greatly fear, that the evil one will be more than ever
busy in deceiving us. Therefore I say, we ought to
be very thankful that God has given us such a plain
and direct answer to him. We have but to point
with our finger to this one place in the Baptismal
Service, "this child is regenerate;" — words to be
spoken over every single infant that is christened.
We have but to point to these in faith, and the ad
versary must go away ashamed. And this is what I
should advise you generally to do, instead of enter
ing upon long arguments. Keep close to the simple

The thanksgiving after Baptism. 275
saying, this child is regenerate ; let nothing drive you
from it: so may the simplest who now hears, be a
sound and effectual witness to God's holy truth. O !
who can thank our Merciful God enough, that His
good Providence has caused our Church-Prayer-Book
to be so very plain and distinct upon that one point
especiaUy, which Hi our age people are most apt to
scorn and disbeHeve.
And to make it, H possible, still more distinct, ob
serve what we are dHected to say, when a child is
brought to Church that has been christened at home.
The Priest takes it also in his arms and makes the
sign of the Cross in the regular form : but when he
invites the people to give thanks, instead of saying,
"this child is regenerate," he says, "this child is by
Baptism regenerate," not by the prayers of its friends
and sponsors, nor by some unknoAvn gift before Bap
tism, but by Baptism itseH. What can be plainer ?
And you mil observe further, that this thanksgiv
ing, to which the Priest invites us all, refers to cer
tain prayers which had gone" before. Before the
child is christened, we pray that it may be regene
rate : after it has been christened, almost the next
moment after, we thank God that it is regenerate.
How should that be, H Holy Baptism has nothing to
do with regeneration ? 0 my brethren, others must
do as. they please : let us for our part, you and me,
keep our faithfulness to the old and good ways.
We ought rather to die, than wUlingly to sacrifice
any portion of the Church's treasure, any one Arti
cle of the Faith?
But now observe, we have been truly regenerated
in Baptism. Every one of us here present has indeed
s 2

276 The thanksgiving after Baptism.
been born again : every one of us, being by nature
born in sin and a child of wrath, has been truly and
really grafted into Christ, truly and really made a
member of Him. We are taught it in the very first
answer of the Catechism. For there every one of us,
one as much as another, was brought up to say, "In
my Baptism I was made a member of Christ." We
do not say, "perhaps I was so, but I cannot be quite
certain." We make no doubt of the fact, no more
than we do of our own bHth. We have been re
generate, and we have been made members of Christ,
every single one among us. In that respect there is
no difference. " As in Adam we all died, even so in
Christ have we all been made alive." What then ?
are we to go on at our ease, taking no care of our
selves, because He hath done so mueh for us ? why,
only just consider how it is in regard of our natural
life, the life of the body, the life which we had from
our parents at our first birth. You know very well
that if no care had been taken, no meat and drink,
no lodging nor clothing, no help nor watching, that
life would soon have passed away : and yet it was a
true and real life ; none of us ever doubted that; you
would think a person out of his senses who should
say, "I see that such and such a child is dead : I con
clude therefore that it never was really born." And
you may be quite sure, it is much the same grievous
mistake, when you hear it said, as it often is said, " I
see that such and such a person is dead in sin : how
can I believe that he ever was born again ?" As if
there were no such thing as dying after birth : as if
it Avere impossible to depart from grace given : as if
we had never heard of the fallen angels nor of Judas

The thanksgiving after Baptism. 277
Iscariot, nor of the Prodigal son in our Lord's para
ble. Never, I beseech you, listen to any one, how
ever good and wise, and greatly to be regarded in
other respects, who shall come teaching you such a
doctrine. Say to them in your heart, H not with
your lips, "I cannot, I must not beHeve you:" the
Church says plainly in every case, " This child is re
generate ;" the Holy Scripture says just as plainly,
" as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ." But when you have said some
thing like this in your heart, as concerning those who
would lead you into false doctrine, say a good word,
I beseech you, to yourself also. Go on and think to
yourseH, "yes indeed I was regenerate and grafted
into the Body of Christ : but where is my spHitual
life now ? am I at this moment a working Hmb of
that Blessed Body, not dead nor palsied, not yield
ing to wilful sin ? " 0 my brethren, it is a sad con
fession to make, but there can be no doubt at aU of
it : H we, who know that we were baptized and born
again in Christ, had been always careful to maintain
our life Hi Him ; H we had always walked worthi
ly of the great unspeakable gHt; H we had never
quenched the SpHit; no one would ever have thought
of denying the great truth of baptismal grace. It is
our sins, which have given occasion to the enemy so
to blaspheme and to weak brethren so to stumble.
0 may the merciful SpHit, to Whom we have made
so UI a return, humble us more and more with the
most true and sorroAvful conviction, that all this con
fusion and unbelief is in reality the doing of such as
we are, who knew ourselves to be the members of
Christ, but did not the works of Christ.

278 The thanksgiving after Baptism.
When we were christened, Holy Church after pro
nouncing us regenerate, invited all her children to
give thanks to God for so great a benefit. Each
one of us then in turn has had the thanks of the
Church spoken over him; not only of the persons
then present, but of the whole Body of Christ.
For Faith perceives and owns the presence of the
whole Body, wherever there are but two or three
persons gathered round the Font in the Name of
Christ. Eeflect, my brethren, what an honour and
blessing this is : that when, after the christening of
a child, rich or poor, it makes no matter, the Priest
invites us to return thanks, not only we who see
one another, not only all our friends far and near,
who may be aware of our christening -day, but
the Angels also in Heaven whom none of us can
see, and perhaps too the blessed Saints departed
in Paradise or in Heaven unite in one and the
same joy with the parents and friends of that
little child. As it was at our Lord's Nativity,
so it is at the Spiritual Nativity, the new birth
of all who are made His members. There is a
glory round each one of them, as there was round
Him in the manger ; and as Mary and Joseph and
the Shepherds and the Angels joined in praising
God for what they saw that day, so doth the glori
ous company of Heaven join with Christ's people on
earth, and especially with the parents and sponsors
of the new-baptized, in praising Him, for that He
hath regenerated this infant by His Holy SpHit.
Some of us may remember, what joy there was when
Our Queen's eldest son was born. But what was that,
what is the inheritance of all earthly kingdoms put

The thanksgiving after Baptism. 279
together, in comparison with the glorious condition
of a chUd just made a member of Christ, and sure, H
it die as it is now, of an everlasting kingdom in
Heaven. Depend on it, there is joy in the other
world and in this, at the Baptism of the meanest in
fant, far deeper, far more transporting than all that
is felt here on the bHth-day of an heir to the greatest
and most beloved prince.
But observe this also very particularly, that along
Avith her thanksgiving the Church then offered her
prayers. "Let us give thanks," the Priest said, "unto
Almighty God for these benefits ; and with one ac
cord make our prayers unto Him, that this Child may
lead the rest of his Hfe according to this beginning."
For here, as all along, from beginning to end of
the Baptismal office, two doctrines go together, or
rather two parts of one doctrine. The one, that
every baptized babe without exception is regenerate
by the Holy Ghost, the other that every one who
Hves to the age of actual sin wUl stand in need of
further grace, — the grace of perseverance and of im
provement, most likely of conversion also, that he
may not after all be a castaway. These two are
necessary parts of the Church's doctrine of Baptism,
and we have no right at all to leave out either of
them : neither we in our teaching, nor you in your
belief. And therefore it is, that both thanksgiving
and prayer are necessary parts of the duty of the
congregation, and are therefore both made part of the
office, after the Sacrament has been administered.
Because the child is regenerate, we give thanks; be
cause it wUl surely fall away without further con
tinued help, therefore we pray for more grace. We

280 The thanksgiving after - Baptism.
are invited to pray that the favoured and happy
child, having really been made a member of Christ,
may "lead the rest of his life according to that begin
ning." What " beginning ? " Surely a reality, not a
mere fancy and shadow, not a set of words without
meaning. Surely what the Church means is, that we
all, not doubting that the infant has received the hea
venly IHe, should unite in praying, that it never
may lose that IHe, but may go on from strength
to strength, and finally appear before God in the
heavenly Jerusalem. This is the prayer, which was
made over every one of us. My brethren, let me
beseech you with all earnestness, not to make that
prayer void. Yoid indeed it cannot be, any more
than the Baptism can be, on which it follows : it
must be either a great blessing or a great curse.
You, by His mysterious Providence, are left free to
choose which it shall be. The prayer of the Angels
and of the whole Church was, that you might " lead
the rest of your life according to that " good " begin
ning." That is, that as your Baptism was the great
est of changes, so your Hfe should be all new ; quite
different from what it could have been, if you had not
so put on Christ. Then, that as you were washed in
pure water, so your souls and bodies might conti
nue pure from all stain of wilful, deadly sin. Then,
that as your Baptism grafted you into Christ, so
you might never, never be cut off from Him, accord
ing to His Own blessed Promise : " Now ye are clean
through the word which I have spoken unto you :
abide in Me, and I in you."
This was the prayer : and by God's great Mercy
it .rests with yourself, whether it shall be fulfilled or

The thanksgiving after Baptism. 281
no. And it may do you good, sometimes to think
thus with yourself, that the same company which
then offered this prayer for us after our Baptism avUI
be once again assembled around us : we shall meet
them all face to face, both Angels and Saints, and
Parents, and Sponsors, and neighbours, and friends
present and absent, openly before the Judgement
seat of Christ. Who can express the joy that it will
be, if they find theH good prayers fulfilled ? or the
misery, H our folly and wickedness force them even to
bear witness against us, and consent to our condem
nation, as they gave thanks at our Baptism. The Good
Lord enable us to keep this thought in our hearts !

SERMON XXXI.

1 Thess. v. 23, 24.
' ' The very God of peace sanctify you wholly ; and I pray
God, your whole spirit and soul and body may be pre
served blameless until the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will
do it."
When our young children have been baptized, the
Church theH Holy Mother does not send them home
without special prayer to God, that they may never
lose the benefit received, special thanksgiving to Him
for bestowing it, and special directions what they
must be taught and how brought up, in order to walk
worthy of it. The special prayer is first the Lord's
Prayer. It hadnotbeen used in theBaptismal Service
before, though in many services it forms the very
beginning. This may be, because the Lord's Brayer
is in an especial sense the Prayer of Christians ; the
Prayer of regenerated persons, the Prayer of the
faithful. Therefore, until we are faithful, regene
rate, Christian Persons, — in one word, until we be
baptized, we have not, strictly speaking, any right
to say this Prayer. We cannot so properly call God
our Father, until we have been graciously made

The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service. 283
His adopted chUdren ; and the early Christians kept
this rule, never permitting an unbaptized person to
use it.
But now that this has been assuredly done ; — now
that this present infant has, without any manner of
doubt, been made the child of God by faith in Christ
Jesus : (for having beenbaptized into Christ he has put
on Christ,) the Father sees him now, not as he is in
himseH, but as he is in Christ : — this being so, we
all, in that child's behaH, kneel down and say the
Prayer which the Lord HimseH taught us.
And see, my brethren, consider, you aU more
especially, who have ever had children of your own
christened, — what a deep and affectionate meaning
the words of this prayer carry with them, as they
are used on this particular occasion. Our Father,
Thou Who hast now been pleased to adopt this child
to be especially Thine Own, uniting bim by Thy Holy
SpHit to Thy True and Eternal Son Christ Jesus ;
Thou art now to this little one a Father in Heaven :
and hast prepared for him a place in Heaven, H he
lose it not by his own miserable falling away. How
can those, who are his earthly parents, ever thank
and praise Thee enough for this Thine unspeakable
mercy to him ? All the love they have to theH chUd
is but a drop poured into theH hearts from Thee Who
are the only Fountain, or rather the unexhausted
Sea of Love. All they can ever do for him is nothing,
less than nothing, and vanity, compared with what
Thou hast done, in making him, by this Thy Baptism,
a member of Thine Only Begotten Son, and so a par
taker of Thine Oavu Divine Nature. We can but
faU prostrate and praise Thee.

284 The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service.
But since we are all as yet Hi a world of trial ;
smce the child is as yet only entered into a state of
salvation, not finally and entirely saved ; we must
add to our humble acknowledgements a no less hum
ble prayer. For this child Ave pray ; and our prayer
is, " Hallowed be Thy Name." May Thy glorious
and dreadful Name, which has even now been called
upon this child, be ever kept sacred by him and in
him : may it never be blasphemed through him or his
doings. May he always remember, even in his most
secret thoughts, that he bears about with him in very
deed the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost : he is trusted with it : he has taken it on him :
and H he be found at last to have taken it in vain,
the Lord, we know, will not and cannot hold him guilt
less. Our very first prayer, then, for this new-bap
tized infant, must be that he may always honour
God's holy Name and His Word : that instead of
being a reproach to it by any kind of sin, he may ho
nour it always by all kinds of holy obedience, and may
be a happy instrument, at least by good example, of
bringing Others to honour it also. And with all our
hearts, kneeling round the Font, we say for the new-
baptized infant, " Hallowed be Thy Name."
Next, since the infant has also just been made by
Baptism an inheritor of God's Kingdom, we pray
also that God's Kingdom may come to that child, not
only as it cometh to children, but more and more,
until every thought word and work is brought into
the obedience of Christ, and that which is now a little
babe, having but the seed of Holiness implanted in it,
shall have become a full-grown man in Christ Jesus,
a perfect King and Priest unto God and the Father.

The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service. 285
We pray, tbHdly, that this tender babe may be a
blessed instrument in God's Hand to work His Will
in all things : that, as long as he lives, he may be a
Priest as well as a King, sacrificing himself and all
that belongs to him to the great God, the Giver of
all. This is what we ask, when we say on behalf of
the newly christened child, " Thy will be done on
earth, as it is in Heaven." And those moreover, to
whom the child is especially near and dear,, may well
have such a thought as this following : " Now, by-
God's great mercy in Christ Jesus, the great point is
for the present seeure : H my child die as he is now,
he will undoubtedly be saved through Christ for ever.
In this faith I cheerfuUy trust him to the Saviour
Who died for Him ; being sure, that He Who lovedhim
so dearly will deny him nothing that is really for his
good. Thus may parents, in theH deep anxieties,
support themselves by the thought of their child's
Baptism. He is safe in Christ's arms for the present :
they have but to pray and strive, calmly and earn
estly, that he may never lose his place there.
- Therefore they go on to ask for the little one the
daily blessings of support, pardon and grace : that
He Who has given him Hfe will not leave off to give
Him bread : by His Almighty Spirit continuing and
supporting the Heavenly life whieh He has just
breathed into him. Give unto us all, and especially
to this child, his daily bread, the continuation of his
part and portion in Christ, without which he cannot
hve to God. Give him this precious gHt this day
and all the days of his life. This is our especial
meaning when we say at the Font, " give us this day
our daily bread." In old time, at least in many parts

286 The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service.
of the church, the words had also another very special
meaning. They related to the Holy Eucharist, which
was then given immediately after Baptism, even
to infants. Now, this has ceased to be the. general
custom of the church : still there is no harm in
thinking of Holy Communion, when at the Font we
come to this part of the Lord's Prayer : there is no
harm in thinking then of the child's first Communion,
and praying in one's heart that he may live to be
worthily confirmed, and worthily to receive his Savi
our's Body and Blood.
Since also he has just been made partaker of the
"One Baptism for the Eemission of sins :" when we go
on and say, "Forgive us our trespasses," we may well
look forward to the time, when he will like others be
exposed to sin and temptation, and we may under
stand ourselves as saying, "Forgive, 0 Lord, this child,
whom Thou hast now taken into Thine Arms and
blessed, all the sin that he shall hereafter fall into,
through the unhappy stain of his nature, the original
sin which cometh from Adam, abiding in him even
now after his Baptism. Preserve him by Thy grace
from all deadly sin, and cause him speedily to
recover from all sin of infirmity, and carefully to
watch against it. Who can tell how much good it
might do to those whom we love best, H we followed
up the first gracious beginnings with such prayer as
this, earnest and persevering, and above all things,
recommended by repentance and seriousness of heart?
Again, when one thinks of that malicious one, how
even in Paradise he went walking about, seeking
whom he might devour : how, wherever the sons of
God are, there he also is found among them, how

The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service. 287
natural does it seem, to say in one's heart, " Lead not
this infant, just made Thine Oavu, lead him not, O
Lord, into temptation : watch around him and keep
him from the evil world. Leave him not to the de
vices of his own heart, and of all things deliver him
from evil ; from the Evil One, from the crafts and
assaults ofthe devU." In former times, it was a part
of the Baptismal service, to exorcise the child, i. e.
to command the evil spHit to depart from him, since
all children are by nature born in sin, and under the
power of Satan. We, my brethren, may piously be
Heve, that devoutly saying these last words of the
Prayer of our Lord may help in like manner to keep
him off from our children.
And having thus prayed as our Saviour taught us
to pray, and said Amen with aU our hearts, we in
the Name of the whole Church may solemnly thank
Him for what He has done for the child, adding him
to the number of His elect, and putting him into a
state of salvation. This we do in the words follow
ing. " We yield Thee hearty thanks, most Merciful
Father, that it hath pleased Thee to regenerate this
infant Avith Thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for Thine
own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into
Thy Holy Church." Here are three unspeakable
blessings, for which we thank Almighty God on be
half of the new-baptized. The first, Begeneration,
the second, Adoption ; the third, Incorporation into
the Church. Concerning each of the Three we are
dHected to speak quite positively. We are not to
say, "we hope it hath pleased Thee," but, "it hath
pleased Thee." What can this mean, but that we are
not to doubt, but earnestly to believe, the Eegenera-

288 The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service.
tion of each baptized chUd ? As surely as ever we
see him at the Font, the priest pouring the Water
and saying the Words over him, so surely are we
to believe that he is born again of water and of the
Holy Ghost : that God for Christ's sake has adopted
and accounts him His ehild : and that he is grafted as
a real member into the Church which is the Body of
Christ. He may hereafter (God forbid it, but he
may) turn out an undutiful chUd, a rotten unfruitful
branch, and then his new BHth wUl do him no good
but harm. It wUl but serve, unless he repent, to
his greater condemnation : still he will have been
new-born : for what is done eannot be undone. But
for the present, being as he is a simple child, who
cannot do anything to frustrate the grace of God,
his Baptism, we are sure, is a mere blessing, a cluster
of all blessings .to him. We are sure he is born again
to a new and heavenly life, we are sure he is adopted
into our Lord's OAvn family : we are sure he is united
to Him, and made a member of Him. What a
thought is this to fiU all the heart of a father or mo
ther who truly loves his ChUd ! and what a sad cala
mity, what a grievous loss will it be, if we listen to
those who would disturb us in our faith and thank
fulness, and say the child's blessing is doubtful : all
indeed are baptized alike, but only some, we cannot
teU which, are blessed. Surely this, though not so
intended, is both unthankful to God and unkind to
man. Far be it from those who gather round this
our Font, this our blessed Laver of Begeneration, to
have any such doubt in their hearts. The Angels,
who are Avith us invisibly, have no such doubt. As
they gave thanks to God with no uncertain sound at

The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service. 289
the BHth of the Lord Jesus HimseH, so do they, de
pend on it, at the new birth of any of His little ones.
Fear not and doubt not : only try to praise Him as
they do, and humble yourselves, as unworthy of so
great a blessing.
After the Thanksgiving, the Church falls to Prayer
again: Prayer for improvement, and Prayer for per
severance : for those are the two graces which the
infant now stands in need of. As for improvement
we humbly beseech God to grant, that this child, being
dead to sin and living unto righteousness, and being
buried with Christ in His Death, may crucHy the old
man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin.
You see, the Prayer takes up the notion of Death
and Burial as representing our Christian condition.
The child is so far dead to sin, as that the guUt of its
original sin is clean washed away, and as yet it has no
power to commit actual sin. It is also alive unto
righteousness ; for it has within it the Quickening
SpHit, the Lord and giver of the LHe which is in
Christ: so that in Him it can do all things, though
of itseH it can do nothing. StUl there is abiding
deep in the heart of that chUd, the sore and plague-
spot of what we call original sin : that is to say, the
old man, the likeness of Adam, that, of which comes
the body of sin. This then we pray, that the child
may be always crucifying, and at last that he may
utterly abolish it. For the Christian's calling is,
not simply to overcome sin, but to crucify it, i. e. to
get the better of it by the Cross of his Saviour : put
ting it doAvn by faith in the Cross, and by real mor
tification and self-denial after the pattern of the
Cross. We pray that the child may be doing this
T

290 The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service.
continually, that it may be his daily and hourly ex
ercise, all his life long. And it is perhaps but the
same prayer in other words, when we add, that as he
is made partaker of the Death of Thy Son, he may
also be partaker of His Eesurrection. The child is
baptized once for all into Christ, into His Death ; he
is once for all made partaker of the benefits of His
Death. But during the child's whole life and being
afterwards, God graciously means, and we are hum
bly to pray, that the child may partake of the Ee
surrection, i. e. of what is sometimes called the Eisen
Life of our Lord : that as Christ dieth no more, so
the baptized may sin no more : that as Christ as
cended into Heaven, so we may in heart and mind
thither ascend. Thus we ask for each little one the
grace of improvement : and we end with asking the
grace of final perseverance : ' ' that finally, with the re
sidue of Thy Holy Church, he may be an inheritor
of Thine everlasting Kingdom." Thus from the be
ginning we look on with hope unto the end. We
stand in the strait and narrow gate, the lowly bap
tismal entrance into Christ's Kingdom, and we look
along the strait and narrow way, and see the glim
mering, more or less clearly, of Eternal Life at the
end. We look on in faith and charitable prayer,
as St. Paul looked on for his Thessalonians : pray
ing that God would " sanctify them wholly, and pre
serve their whole spirit and soul and body blameless
unto Christ's " aweful "coming." This is our prayer,
our hope is stedfast : for we know how faithful He
is. He hath called us : He will do it. He for His
part is most sure to hear His Church's prayer, and
to keep us in the right way. Only it rests with each

The Lord's Prayer in the Baptismal Service. 291
one of ourselves to confirm His mercy or make it void.
It is an aweful burden : may He give us grace to
bear it, and turn it into a Crown at last.

t 2

SERMON XXXII.

1 Sam. i. 22.
" I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord,
and there abide for ever."
It is Hannah who speaks these words, the mother of
Samuel, that mother who shewed her love to her
child in nothing so much, as in being willing to part
with him. She thought not of her own comfort, but
of his good; she wanted to do the very best for him;
therefore she thankfully gave him up to his God.
As soon as ever Samuel was weaned, just at the time,
perhaps, when he was as precious to her as he could
well be, and she would most entirely feel as if she
could never do without him, just then she brought
him to God's Priest and left him there, to pass his
IHe at a distance from her. It was a great sacrifice,
and the Almighty rewarded it with a very great
blessing: as He will always richly reward those
parents, who for love's sake give up theH children to
Him. No doubt it was, for the time, very trying.
Samuel was as yet her only child, much prayed for,
long waited for : and it must have gone to her very
heart to leave him there, where for the future she
would only see him for a short time once a year,

Admonition to God-parents. 293
when she and her husband came to offer the yearly
sacrifice. But Hannah had faith, and therefore she
willingly endured it : and God made her one of the
happiest of mothers, a true type of her whom "all
generations shall call blessed," Mary the Mother of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought her Child also in
His Infancy to present Him to God in His Temple,
but did not for the time leave Him there, as Hannah
did Samuel. He, the Child Jesus, willed for the time
to be redeemed with an offering of turtle-doves or
young pigeons : but His mother only took him back,
to part with Him by and by, in a way infinitely
more grievous and trying, when she had to stand by
His Cross, and the sword was piercing her own soul
also. One cannot imagine any other parting like
that. Still, Hannah's parting with Samuel was in
some respects an image of it : even as are all part
ings of Christian mothers with theH children, for
heavenly love and duty's sake. And Hannah's
words, in preparing for it, as they speak a real pa
rent's mind, so are they not ill fitted to express the
mind and purpose of a Christian godfather or god
mother, standing in a parent's place. Therefore I
have made mention of them on this occasion, when
I am to say something to you on the last portion of
the whole Baptismal Service, the admonition to the
godfathers and godmothers.
Hannah's words in themselves are very plain and
simple; "I will bring him, that he may appear before
the Lord, and there abide for ever;" a short and easy
saying, yet, if I mistake not, sufficient to remind us
of the whole duty of those whom we call godfathers
and godmothers. For they set before us two things ;

294 Admonition to God-parents.
first, Hannah's act which she was about to do, the
bringing the child to Eli the Priest; secondly, the pur
pose for which she was to do it, that he might appear
before the Lord, and there abide for ever. Now
these are just the two purposes, for which godfathers
and godmothers are appointed: first, they are to
present the child to be baptized ; in which respect
they stand for the whole Church, which is our true
Mother in God. The Church brings her children to
be christened, as Hannah brought her child Samuel :
and she makes their profession for them by the mouth
of the sponsors, as Hannah declared to Eli that Sa
muel should thenceforth belong to God only. " For
this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my
petition which I asked of Him : therefore also I have
lent him to the Lord : as long as he liveth, he shall
be lent to the Lord." That saying of Hannah, you
see, comes to very nearly the same as the promise and
vow which infants make by their sponsors: "I desire
to be baptized in this faith, and I will keep God's
holy will and commandments, and walk in the same
all the days of my life." This is the duty of god
fathers and godmothers, so far as it is set down in
the first part of the baptismal office : to present the
child for Holy Baptism and make the promise and
vow in his name ; and this is why they are called
*' sureties." For sureties, you know, are persons who
answer for another, and become bound for them : as,
when a man is put into a place of trust, and some
friend pledges himself in writing, that the man will
perform the duties of the place, and agrees to forfeit
so much if it prove otherwise, then you would say
he became surety for his friend. Something like

Admonition to God-parents. 295
this, though not exactly like it, is that which spon
sors do, in making the answers requHed of them in
the Baptismal Service: and therefore, you know, they
are called "sureties," both in the Service itself and in
the Catechism afterwards to be learned. In the ser
vice the Priest says to them, after rehearsing Christ's
part of the covenant, "Wherefore, after this promise
made by Christ, this infant must also faithfully, for his
part, promise " so and so, " by you that are his sure
ties." And again in the Catechism, when we were
asked, why should infants be baptized, H Eepentance
and Faith be required, they as yet not being capable
of either; our answer, as you know, was, "because
they promise them both by theH sureties."
But now it is very plain, that, when any persons
have engaged for another that he will fulfil certam
duties, if they have it in their power at all to help
him or encourage him in doing so, they are bound
to do theH best for that purpose : just as Hannah,
presenting her son to the Lord, was bound to do her
best, that he might contmue always the Lord's ser
vant ; for she says, herself, that she brings him, not
only that he may appear before the Lord, but also
that he may abide with Him for ever. In this sense
Godfathers and Godmothers are not only sureties, but
trustees also; they are to do Avhat they can towards
the child's abiding for ever with the Lord, to Whom
they have brought him: and this is what the Priest
reminds them of in the very end of the Baptismal
office. "Forasmuch as this child hath promised by
you his sureties to renounce the devil and all his
works, to beHeve in God, and to serve Him ; ye must
remember, that it is your parts and duties to see that

296 Admonition to God-parents.
this infant be taught, so soon as he shall be able to
learn, what a solemn vow, promise and profession he
hath here made by you." Now it is very much to
be noticed, that this instruction, and the words which
follow it, do in fact draw out a short plan for the
Christian education of all children, a short and sim
ple plan, but a very complete one, and sufficient, if
carried out, to make them good and happy for ever,
through Christ Jesus. Therefore this is a part of the
Prayer Book, which concerns not godfathers and god
mothers only, though it is specially addressed to them,
but it concerns all who are engaged in the care of
young chUdren, and most nearly and dearly does it
concern all fathers and mothers. Surely it is their
part, even more than the sponsors', to see that these
infants be kept as near as can be in that happy state
of pardon and salvation into which they were brought
by Baptism. Surely it will be a fearful hearing,
one day, for that father or mother, to whom the Judge
shall have to say, "where is thy flock that was given
thee, thy beautiful flock ?" thy beautiful flock of sons
and daughters, lent unto Me, for all their life long, in
Holy Baptism, and committed to thee to be taken
care of for Me ? Where are they ? What is become
of them ? Why are they on the left hand, in the
wrong place ? Oh how shall we look up, when that
question is asked cf us, if our own hearts shall bear
the sad and shameful witness against us, that our neg
lect was too much the cause of their being where they
are, of their losing Christ out of theH hearts ? Some
of us may have had such a thought as this : " Nay, I
do not willingly neglect those under my charge ; but
it is so great a matter, that I know not how to set

Admonition to God-parents. 297
about it, and so I neglect it from day to day, and can
only hope that God will forgive me at last." But we
ought not to talk or think so ; indeed, we ought not.
Only just consider these few short sentences, which
you hear as often as you are present at Holy Bap
tism. "It is your parts and duties to see that this
Infant be taught, so soon as he shall be able to
learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and profession,
he hath here made by you." Here is the very prin
ciple and beginning, the corner-stone of Christian
teaching. Fix very deep in theH young hearts,
that of all things their vow in Baptism is to be kept.
It is that, which the Church mentions first in her
short account of your duties : and if you live to lie
upon your sick bed, and to be in need of Church
ministrations there, this matter, ofthe Baptismal vow,
is the very first which the priest will begin impress
ing upon you : " I exhort you," will he say, " first of
aU, to remember the promise which you made unto
God in your Baptism." 0 fathers and mothers, can it
possibly be, that you think it too much trouble to use
your children in good time to that, which will be theH
greatest help -on their deathbed ? What if you are
no scholars ? What H you cannot understand long
discourses ? Thus much surely you can understand,
that it is your duty and your children's duty, to keep
a promise when you have made it, much more when
it is made to God : and therefore that both you and
your children, to keep the vow, must have it conti
nuaUy in mind. That is the first thing : and H you
heartUy set about it, you will soon find that the most
ignorant, by God's gracious help, may understand
and remember it to good purpose. None so igno-

298 Admonition to God-parents.
rant, none so dull, but he may ask himself, and teach
his children to ask themselves, "is this which I am
going to do, agreeable to what I have vowed or no ?"
Next, the godfathers and godmothers are told, "that
he may know these things the better, ye shall cause
him to hear sermons," i. e. as I understand it, you shall
make him regularly go to Church, as soon as ever he
is of age, and you shall see, as well as you can, that
he attends to the holy lessons which are there taught
him. This is one among the many reasons, why
children should be brought to Church very early,
and very early instructed to make a religious differ
ence between the Church and other places : not only
for the prayers' sake, (though that is a most sacred
matter which ought never to be forgotten), but also
for the instruction's, sake, that, being all their lives
long trained to attention and reverence in the holy
place, they may be ready and disposed to receive the
sermons and lessons, when they shall be able to un
derstand them, into their very minds and hearts.
And this, about hearing sermons, which cannot be
without going regularly to Church, is set down speci
ally in these dHections to the godfathers, not only, I
suppose as being a needful part of the child's Christ
ian education, but also as being a thing in which the
godfather may be of special use in many cases. For if
he misses the child often from Church, he ought to
take some friendly way of remonstrating with the
parents about it : if he may see him inattentive, or
otherwise ill-behaved, a quiet word or two from him
can hardly be out of season. And this is a part of a
young person's duty which all can see and take no
tice of; so that the "godfather, H he see it neglected,

Admonition to God-parents. 299
can hardly be thought wrong in interfering: and
here is one among the infinite reasons, why all, who
are in any way trusted with others', should be very
diligent themselves in their Church duties. For how
can you really and truly cause your children and god-
chUdren to hear sermons, if you do not set them the
example, and consequently are not yourself at Ghurch
to see that they are there, and that they behave
properly ?
The next caution relates to the Catechism. ' ' Chief
ly ye shall provide that he shall be taught the Creed,
the Lord's Prayer, and the ten Commandments in the
vulgar tongue, and all other things which a Christ
ian ought to know and believe to his soul's health."
This plainly binds it upon all godfathers and god
mothers to do their best to make sure that the young
persons for whom they answer, shall be properly
taught the Catechism. They ought to look to it early,
and to see about it from time to time. If they, find
it neglected, they should put the parents in mind,
not minding H they are sometimes a little affronted.
One day, they may depend upon it, both parents and
children will own, that they ought to have thanked
their baptismal sureties for any such kind and Christ
ian interference. No one can say, how much good
might be done by a word, now and then spoken in
due season, seriously and lovingly, for the souls of
these tender little ones, by those . who are so bound
to look after them ; or how much it might strengthen
the hands, both of theH pastors and of those who have
to teach them at school. What a blessing it might
bring down upon the charitable godfathers or god
mothers themselves, if they put themselves a Httle

300 Admonition to God-parents.
out of the way, according to their vows, to do good
to the children's souls ! May God give grace to all
who are concerned, to think more and more of it ! Of
course, when parents do their duty, the cares of the
godfathers in this respect are greatly lightened. But
then too there ought to be this very serious thought ;
" What if the child, otherwise in a good way, should
take any hurt or hindrance by my neglect or ill exam
ple?" And there should be constant prayers and en
deavours that he may prove not only good, but very
good: not only escaping damnation, but going on or,
as the Church says, " daily proceeding in all vHtue
and godliness of living." But of this I must speak
next Sunday, when I hope, if it please God, to finish
what I had to say on the service of Holy Baptism.
In the mean time I wish we might all pray, that He,
Who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost, Who never fails
to be present at our Fonts, may give unto us all, and
especially unto all parents and godfathers, and to all
whom He has entrusted with young children, grace
to think more and more of Christian perfection, as it
is written of those whose strength is in God, " they
shall," not merely abide in Him but, "go on from
strength to strength," better, purer, more loving,
and more humble, each new day, than they were the
day before.

SERMON XXXIII.

Ps. Ixxxiv. 7.
" They will go from strength to strength, and unto the
God of gods appeareth every one of them in Sion."
If you look back to the commencement of the Holy
Baptismal Service, you will find that it began with
setting forth to us our natural condition ; " All men
are conceived and born in sin ;" and this is declared
to be the reason why the child is brought to be bap
tized. Our Saviour Christ saith, "None can enter
into the Kingdom of God, except he be regenerate
and born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost."
"I beseech you, therefore, to call upon God the Fa
ther through our Lord Jesus Christ, that this child
may be baptized with water and the Holy -Ghost,
and received into Christ's Holy Catholic Church, and
be made a lively member of the same." Thereupon
the prayers are offered, the covenant made, the child
baptized and signed with the sign of the Cross, and
thanks given to Almighty God. Is the child then
left to itself, to work out its own salvation without
any special help from above ? Far from it. Bap
tism, great as it is, is but the beginning of an end
less stream of mercy. The Good Shepherd is not

302 Baptism to be improved to the end.
contented to have found the lost sheep, but He lay
eth it also on His Shoulders rejoicing, and beareth
it all the way home. And thus, as the Holy Service
begins with declaring what we are by nature, and
how we may, by God's mercy, be put into a better
condition, so it ends with declaring what we are
made by grace in Baptism, and how we may go on
to improve the gift unto the end. For that is the
meaning of the last words of the exhortation to the
Godmothers and Godfathers, to which we are now
come. " It is your parts and duties to see that this
child be virtuously brought up, to lead a godly and
a Christian IHe, remembering always that Baptism
doth represent unto us our profession." Thus, before
we go away from the Font, we are reminded once
more of the great work which has been wrought
there, and by it of all our future duty. We are put
in mind, how in those few minutes a great change
has been wrought, a great miracle ; how very differ
ent the child's condition is now from what it was
when he was brought into Church, although to the
outward eye there is no difference. As saith the
Scripture, "The world knoweth us not, because it
knew Him not ;" the world, which could not see the
difference between God Incarnate and a mere man,
neither can it see the difference between a child of
wrath and a child of God. But Faith has eyes to
see the difference ; Faith acknowledges in the little
child, given back from the Font to the Church's
arms, an instance of God's miraculous mercy in rais
ing a soul from death to life : Faith sees in Holy
Baptism a lively image of the Death and Burial of
Christ, and of His rising again from the dead. To

Baptism to be improved to the end. 303
him that believeth, Holy Baptism, especially if it be
done by immersion, represents our profession ; when
he sees it, he sees with his mind's eye both the Creed
and the LHe of a Christian. Just consider this for
a moment. FHst, when you see a child christened,
you see things done, which are indeed most simple
in themselves, yet, taken altogether, they contain in
them very many of the chief truths which we are bound
to believe. The three Immersions, or Pourings,
with the Threefold Holy Name, represents to us the
mystery of the Trinity in Unity: the plunging ofthe
child in the water is like the Death and Burial of
Jesus Christ : his rising up again is like Christ's
Eesurrection : the water represents the sanctHying
Power of God's Spirit : the ministering Priest repre
sents Jesus Christ, God and Man, pouring that Good
SpHit upon us, or, as St. John Baptist said, baptizing
us with the Holy Ghost. Thus does Holy Baptism
represent our profession, in respect of what we are
to belieye of God's saving mercy ; and no less does
it represent our profession, in respect of what we are
to do, that we may not forfeit that mercy. It is an
outward and visible sign, both of our blessing and of
our duty. It is a sure pledge, whenever we think
of it, that we are dead unto sin and risen again unto
righteousness : and no less is it a lesson which can
not be mistaken, how we are to lead the rest of our
short lives here on earth. It represents unto us,
how that we have promised and vowed to follow the
example of our Saviour Christ, and, by God's
mercy, to be made like unto Him : " that as He died
and rose again for us, so should we, who are baptized,
die from sin and rise again unto righteousness." We

304 Baptism to be improved to the end.
should " die to sin," i. e. we should account it as much
out of the question, for us who are baptized to com
mit and indulge wilful sin, as for a dead body to do
the works of a living one. "He that is dead," says
the Apostle "is freed from sin," i. e. a dead man can no
more commit murder, nor steal, nor swear, nor add to
his account by any sin here committed : so ought a
Christian to try and behave himself, as if he were, (as
indeed he is if he will be,) freed from all necessity of
wilfully sinning, free to serve God in holy obedience
continually. This deliverance, this inward death and
resurrection, the outward act of Baptism both repre
sents and seals and conveys to all receiving it as in
fants, or receiving it worthily after they are grown
up. But it represents also the life which God expects
us to lead : as is explained in the latter part of this
exhortation to the sponsors. Baptism, so far as it
is like death, is like that which a Christian should
be always practising, i. e. our daily dying unto sin ;
and so far as it is like Eesurrection, it no less re
sembles our daily rising again unto righteousness.
At the Font we died with Christ ; let this remind
us that we are daily to mortify all our evil and cor
rupt affections. At the same Font we rose again
with Him : let this equally remind us that we are
daily to proceed in all virtue and godliness of living.
Holy Baptism then, by what is done in it, not only
teaches us some of the chief points of the Creed, but
also what we ourselves are to do : it sets before our
very eyes both God's part in the mystery of our Sal
vation, and, also (if without offence I may so call it)
our own part. Whenever we see a child christened,
whenever we remember our own Christening, it is

Baptism to be improved to the end. 305
something to put us in mind of our present duty.
We should say, when temptations are troublesome,
"I was dead and buried in Baptism, how can I let my
sins be so awake and alive in me, as that I should do
this wrong thing ? " And when we are inclined to be
slothful and lukewarm and to omit any part of our
duty, we should say, " I am risen again in Baptism, I
am made partaker of the new life in Christ, how
can I lie still like a dead body, and suffer the hour
and the day to pass, without doing any thing
to show that I live, or rather that Christ liveth
in me ? "
In this way, says the Church to the Godfathers,
" you are to take care, that the child be brought up ; "
and Avith a view to this, you must even now be put
m mind of his Confirmation, which is to obtain him
health of spHit, and strength to do all that he has
promised. " Ye are to take care that this child be
brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him, so
soon as he can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and
the ten Commandments, in the vulgar tongue, and
be further instructed in the Church-Catechism set
forth for that purpose." Why are the Sponsors to
take care that the child shall be brought to be con
firmed ? Because Confirmation, if not exactly a Sa
crament, is nevertheless so great a help to Christian
people in the way of grace ; for in it they receive the
Holy SpHit, to encourage and strengthen them in
that hard work, the keeping of the Commandments
of God. And as the Sponsors' office is chiefly useful
to young children, before their own mind can be made
up, it seems very natural that it should be made
especially useful Hi bringing them worthily to Con-
u

306 Baptism to be improved to the end.
firmation : at which time they are supposed capable
of full consideration and of choosing theH own way
of life : and so the Sponsors' office does in a manner
cease. And what so natural, as that they should
take leave of them by presenting them to God's
minister to be confirmed? so leaving them, as it
were in His Arms, Who Alone can guide them safe
through the world. Accordingly the Church di
rects, that each person at his confirmation should
have a sponsor to witness it : and I wish this to be
taken notice of.
Finally, the Godfathers and Godmothers are told
what the young Christian is to be taught, in order to
be a worthy candidate for Confirmation. He must
be able to say, Avord for word, the Creed, the Lord's
Prayer, and the ten Commandments, and he must be
so far further instructed in the Catechism, as to be
able to answer, if not in exact words yet in their
meaning, the questions contained in it. That is the
least which the Church will accept as the ground
work of Christian Knowledge. But that being once
learned and the person otherwise well-disposed, in
ordinary cases the Confirmation should not be put
off. The Prayer-Book says, "They shall be brought
to the Bishop as soon as they can say the Creed, the
Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, in the
vulgar tongue, and be further instructed in the
Church-Catechism set forth for that purpose." Bi
shops indeed ordinarily direct us, not to bring our
young persons till they are about fifteen years old.
But H there be any young person who is really well
informed and well-disposed, the Bishops generally
allow us to bring such an one for Christ's blessing,

Baptism to be improved to ihe end. 307
though he be a year or two under the age which
they have marked out.
And so, the Baptismal Service being all over, we
return to our places in the Church, and go on with
the regular Service, the Holy Angels rejoicing with
us, that another soul is taken out of Satan's kingdom,
another son or daughter born into God's Family.
The Angels, my brethren, rejoice greatly; we may
not doubt it. But what, in general, are the thoughts
of us mortals, who are most nearly concerned with
the blessings and mysteries of Baptism ? Alas ! too
often we think very little of it; a child is christened ;
very well, we say to ourselves : that is no such ex
traordinary thing. Nay we are very little careful
to remember our own Christening, and, when we are
put in mind of it, we do not make much of the
thought. And yet a King's Son, a great Prince, one
born to a royal inheritance, as he would find plenty
to put him in mind of it, so he would commonly think
much of it himself. We are sons of the great King,
ourselves made Kings and Priests unto Him. Can we
so entirely forget our own dignity and the treasures
freely given and carefully guarded for us, as to go on,
as if nothing had happened ? Alas ! too often it is
even so. People live and die and go away to be judg
ed, almost without ever thinking of their Baptism.
We may be sure it is so, when they take no pains to
improve. If a man really and truly believed, that,
he having been baptized and born again in Christ,
Jesus Christ was in him by His Spirit, H he really be
heved this and kept it in his thoughts, would he not
strive and pray to be better than he is? It must
come across his mind, how very very little he is doing,
u 2

308 ' Baptism to be improved to the end.
in comparison with what he might and ought to do.
When a man is entrusted with a great treasure, to
lay out to the best advantage, and knows in his heart
that he is not at all laying it out well, nor deeply
considering how to do so, would it not greatly alarm
him if he heard a Yoice from Heaven, " The owner
of this treasure will soon be here; he will demand a
strict account; he will expect to find you making a
profit, laying out his stores to the best advantage ?
What if you, hearing those warnings, were conscious
to yourself that your stock had been allowed to lie
dead, and you had nothing to shew for all that you
had the care of ? Would you not be ready to sink into
the earth ? to " say to the mountains, fall on us, and
to the hills, cover us," and hide us from the wrath of
Him Who so trusted us, and to Whom we have proved
so unfaithful ? Oh my brethren ! consider with me
for a few moments what we might have been, every
one of us, had we, according to the Church's injunc
tion, continually mortified all our evil and corrupt
affections, and proceeded daily in all virtue and god
liness of living. We might, for instance, have come
greatly to delight in our prayers ; the sound of the
Church-bell might have come to us with a real charm ;
Ave might have been able to say with the Holy Psalm
ist, "How amiable are Thy Tabernacles, 0 Lord of
Hosts :" it might have been a true joy to us, both
Sundays and weekdays, when they said, "let us go in
to the House of the Lord. " This might have been our
lot, had we improved our baptismal grace. But now
I fear there are few hearts which are able to feel in
this way. Again, had we attended to the Church's
good advice, and believing that "Christ was in us of

Baptism to be improved to the end. 309
a truth, had we continually mortified our evil and
corrupt affections, mastering and keeping down our
flesh, that it might not rebel against the gracious pre
sence of Him, the very God of Purity, how far bet
ter and happier we should have been by this time
than now we are ; how much more inclined to fasting
and self-denial and to strict and religious ways of or
dering those pleasures even, which would still be law
ful and right for us. What different things would
the daily meals and festive entertainments of Christ
ians be, how differently would husbands and wives
live one with another, if we Avere careful, as we might
have been, to honour one another and the Presence
of God within us, partakers as we all are of a Divine
Nature by our membership with Christ ! How far
deeper and more perfect would our penitence be,
whenever unhappily we fall into wilful sin, if we well
considered what a thing it must be to sin at all know
ingly after Baptism, after receiving the Holy Spirit
in our hearts and bodies to join us to Christ and to
change us into His likeness.
In these respects, and in our whole Christian IHe,
what we are, we see and feel ; what we might have
been, we may partly understand by the word of God
and the good example of His Saints : and if we had
no more to think of, miserable indeed would our con
dition be. But thanks be to His infinite and mi
raculous mercy, we are permitted further to think
and to hope, what we may yet be, H we will diligent
ly and humbly make use of the little time which yet
remains. We may, by His Grace, be true Penitents,
bewailing and lamenting our sinful and imperfect
lives, and seeking to bring forth worthy fruits of Ee-

310 Baptism to be improved to the end.
pentance : only let us try immediately, perseveringly,
and in earnest. 0 that it would please Him to pour
out upon us even now, His good and loving Spirit,
upon us, I say, who are here present, that we might
from this very hour begin, one and all of us, to shew
forth our Baptism in our lives, far more truly, far more
courageously, far more lovingly, than we have yet
done ! And one fruit of that good Spirit will assu
redly be that Parents and Teachers, Godfathers and
Godmothers, will go on making more and more of
theH precious and tender charge, the little ones of
Christ. If we make much of our own souls and of
theHs, they will learn themselves to make much of
them also. If we make light of them, fearful indeed
is the end we must expect, both to them and to us.

THE end.

4

OP THE HOLT CATHOLIC CHURCH, ANTERIOR TO THE DIVISION
OF THE EAST AND WEST.
Translated by Members ofthe English Church.

Volumes Published.

Vol. 1.
2. 3.

St. Augustine's Confessions. Third Edition
St. Cyril's Lectures. Third Edition .
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6. St. Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians.
Reprinting.
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15. 16.

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17.

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18.

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42.

St.

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