or disavow them. But as the child is asked in the Church Catechism, "Dost thou think that thou art bound to believe and do, as they have promised for thee?" and is taught to answer, "Yes, verily, and by God's help, so I will," so there have been no engagements entered into on his behalf, but such as he must adhere to, if he hopes for the blessing of eternal life. His sponsors, however, cannot be supposed to be answerable for anything more than the seeing that he has been fully acquainted with his baptismal engagements; and as to the sponsors undertaking an obedience for the child, which they know he will not be able strictly to observe, (an objection sometimes alleged,) we can only say, that a promise of a partial or imperfect obedience can never be accepted by God, neither for ourselves or for others. Our desire and intention must be to keep the whole law; "I shall observe it," says the Psalmist, "with my whole heart; and yet, through the frailty of our nature, "in many things we may offend all."

After the contract is made, the Church, mindful that the grace given in baptism, may, unless duly cherished, be stifled and altogether sinned away, INTERCEDES With God FOR THE CHILD; 1st, for his regeneration; 2nd, for his sanctification; 3rd, for power against spiritual enemies; 4th, for his increase in

grace.

By the expression, "the old Adam,” occurring in the first prayer, we mean that original pollution, which we derive from our first parents; by the "new man, that gracious renovation which is wrought in us by the Spirit of God, through Jesus Christ; and by the "burial" of the one, and the "raising up" of the other, we mean the mortification of the one, and the increase and vigour of the other.

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CHAPTER XVII.

PUBLIC BAPTISM, CONTINUED.-PRIVATE BAPTISM.— BAPTISM OF ADULTS.

THERE is much significance in BEGGING OF GOD TO SANCTIFY THE WATER. The world was darkness and a chaos, until "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," Gen. i. 2, whence the rude and indigested matter received a quickening influence, which produced that order and beauty we now behold. And as it was in the first creation and generation of all things, so it is in the new creation and regeneration of a Christian; the Spirit moving upon the waters of baptism, giveth light and life, and bringeth in order and comeliness instead of the confusion and darkness which sin had caused. Wherefore, since there is so great a work to be done by the Spirit, we must most humbly beseech that the Holy Spirit may return to its ancient seat. The primitive Church used a prayer for the consecrating of the water, similar to ours.

Our Church differs from the Romish as to the water used in baptism. Our Church simply uses a prayer for the dedication of it to its sacred use; to this the Romish Church has added strange and superstitious rites, breathing into it, quenching a candle in it, mixing oil and balsam with it, &c. Our Church directs that the water should be sanctified on every occasion on which baptism is to be administered, conformable to the ancient and universal practices of the Eastern Churches. The Romish Church only appoints the water to be changed, and new water consecrated, when that which is in the font is unfit for use.

It was the usage of every nation to NAME THEIR CHILDREN on the day on which they underwent a

peculiar ceremony. The Jews named them at the time of circumcision, Gen. xxi. 3, 4; Luke i. 59, 60, and ii. 21; and though this rite was changed into that of baptism by our Saviour, yet he made no alteration as to the time and custom of giving the name, but left that to continue under the new, as he had found it under the old dispensation. Accordingly we find this time assigned and used for this purpose ever since; the Christians continuing from the earliest ages to name their children at the time of baptism. We derive our name, together with our original guilt, from our parents, which ought to humble us, and remind us of our being born in sin; but this new name being given us as a badge that we belong to Christ, we cannot more properly receive it than when we are enlisted under his banner; and it should remind us of our new birth, when being washed in the "laver of regeneration," we were cleansed from our natural impurities, and solemnly dedicated to God; and though chosen by our parents, it is fitly given to us by those who engage we shall be brought up to live like Christians; and this was the practice of the Church in all ages.

The custom of our Church in baptizing either by immersion or affusion, is borne out by Scripture. The word baptize implies them both, it being used frequently to denote not only such washing as is performed by dipping, but also such as is performed by pouring or rubbing water on the thing or person washed, Mark vii. 4; Luke xi. 38, and therefore when the Jews baptized their children, in order to circumcision, it seems to have been indifferent to them, whether it was done by immersion or affusion; and that the primitive Christians understood it in this latitude, is plain, from their administering this holy sacrament in the case of sickness, haste, want of water, or the like, by affusion, or pouring a small

quantity of water on the face or head. Thus St. Paul felt no scruple in baptizing the jailer of Philippi and his family at night within the prison, where no mode could have well presented itself but sprinkling or affusion. Our Church, with great moderation, does not totally lay aside immersion, if the strength of the child will bear it, as indeed it seldom will without danger in this cold climate; in which case, she allows affusion rather than occasion danger to the body of a tender babe, wisely considering that, in the sight of God, "mercy is better than sacrifice." The two modes, immersion and affusion, both significantly express the ends and effects of baptism. Immersion, that is burying, as it were, the person baptized in the water, and raising him out of it again, may be considered as representing the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and our being dead and buried to sin, and rising again to a life of piety and virtue, Rom. vi. 4; but pouring or sprinkling of water, may likewise sufficiently express our purification from the guilt of past sins, and our obligations to keep ourselves in future unspotted by those things which defile the inner man. This mode of baptism, moreover, represents that sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," 1 Peter i. 2, to which we owe our salvation; and the use of it seems not only to be foretold by the prophet Isaiah, who says of our Saviour, "that he shall sprinkle many nations," Isai. Lii. 15, that is, many shall receive his baptism; and by the prophet Ezekiel, ch. xxxvi. 25, but to be had in view also by the apostle, when he speaks of our having "our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water," Heb. x. 22.

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Though the quantity of water in baptizing by affusion be left by the Church to the minister's discretion, yet he should observe, 1st, that the action be such as

is properly a "washing," to make the administration correspond with the institution, and this he should observe as a minister of Christ at large; 2nd, that the action be such as is properly a "pouring of water," which is the rubrical direction to express that washing at all times when dipping is not practised; and this he ought to do, as a minister of the Church of England in particular; taking it always for granted, that there is a reason for whatever is prescribed in a rubric, and such a one as is not to be contradicted by our private practice, or rejected for the sake of any customs brought in we know not how. And we

should the rather keep to the rule of affusion, because we have in a manner lost the primitive way of baptizing by immersion, the dress in which children are usually brought to the font being taken as a certificate, without any more formal declaration, that "they may not well endure dipping."

By BAPTIZING IN THE NAME OF THE THREE PERSONS, is meant, not only that it is done by the commission and authority of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but also that we are baptized into the faith of the Holy Trinity, and are received into that society of men who are distinguished from all false professions, by believing in three Persons and one God. This is the great fundamental article on which all the rest depend, and to which they may be referred.

Next, and after the baptism of the child, there is a CEREMONIAL DECLARATION THAT IT IS DEDICATED TO CHRIST, and become a member of his Church, into which the minister, as a steward of God's family, doth solemnly receive it. "We are all baptized into one body," 1 Cor. xii. 13.

He then solemnly MARKS IT WITH A CROSS, for the better understanding of which ancient ceremony of the primitive times, it may be observed, that masters