and cherish that stern sense of the presence of our God; that feeling of entire dependence equally upon his providence and his grace; that love of his holy name, and reliance on his love; which constitutes the soul's best safeguard amid its dangers and its trials. And is it nothing to the poor and the lowly, that they share with the rich and great these holy services? Nothing, that they find there displayed to them in its practical bearing upon the circumstances of life, the blessed gospel of Christ Jesus! Nothing, that it is so presented to them in all the purity of its doctrines, all the fulness of its precepts, all the glory of its promises! Surely some gain is theirs, who in poverty learn contentment; in tribulation, patience; in selfdenial, cheerfulness. Yet such is the lesson which the Church teaches in this service. And where Faith thus receives children as an heritage and gift which cometh of the Lord, it gains so firm a reliance on the love of the Giver to bless the gift, that no vain fears disturb the enjoyment of its blessings. Hence we find those who are animated by this faith, poor though they may be, and of the world unfriended, still enlarging their hearts in all the noble spirit of unselfishness, still cherishing the kindliest sympathies and the tenderest affections, still having higher aims as the higher interests of their children rise around them, and with all their faculties bent to extended exertion for others' sake, rejoicing in the happy smiling faces of the children God has given themtheir toil welcome, their industry sweet, their care lightened; for their trust is in the goodness and bounty of Omnipotence.

CHAPTER VIII.

PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS 1.

THUS rejoicing in the birth of your child, as a precious gift from heaven; and pondering in your heart the monitory truth, that for the right use of every blessing we must give account, you feel that a special responsibility is attached to this blessing; for another's welfare than your own is at stake, in time and in eternity: and that other, the child which is dearer to you than yourself. You feel therefore, that if it be a parent's care to provide things necessary for the body, it is a still more important care to take heed that things necessary for the soul be not wanting: for though the

1 Though the observations in explanation of this service might seem at first more properly to have been addressed to godfathers and godmothers, yet as they, if by the death or incapacity, or negligence of parents, they be called upon to instruct the children in the nature of their baptismal covenant, and the duties and privileges connected with it, do in fact stand in the place of parents, and then bear the whole of that responsibility which in ordinary cases they share, it has been thought right still to address them, to parents. In either view of the case they are intended for the Christian guides of children baptized. Nor can sponsors feel too solemnly the sacredness of the trust they undertake, or its inestimable value to those on whose behalf they undertake it. They undertake to watch over the young members of Christ's Church, that they "be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and to the praise of his Holy name," and lose not their covenanted title to an inheritance in heaven. The children learn to bless a care, which has in view their best interests in time and in eternity. The Church has thus a guarantee that there be no apostatizing, no going back, no neglect; but that the child, thus baptized, "be virtuously brought up, to lead a godly and a Christian life;" by the grace which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

life, upon which your child has entered is a transitory state, it is also a passage into an eternal state of being where happiness or misery will be its portion for ever. Hence, a great work is before you—so to guide its steps into the right way, that it may "eschew the evil, and do good:" so shall its immortality be blessed. To this end, as its powers of reason expand, and the passions and affections, at first apparently dormant, awake to action, yours be the task so to direct that reason, curb those passions, and regulate those affections, that they prove no stumblingblock in the way to heaven. Now perhaps, as you bend over its happy countenance, beaming with smiles, you can hardly imagine it possible that the time can come, when all the infirmities of a fallen nature will have grown with its growth, and be continually struggling for the mastery. But you know such to be the fact. Your anxious care therefore is, to be beforehand with evil; and with that unwearying vigilance, which mothers feel most deeply, train your child for good. You welcome the bidding to bring your loved infant to Christ, place it, through Him, in covenant with the God of grace, and thus secure its best interests in time and in eternity; being encouraged thereto by the example of the blessed Jesus himself, who, having assumed our nature, was in early infancy dedicated to God.

Entrusted as you feel yourself with the care of an immortal soul, every wish is centered in its welfare. Who can tell the many secret prayers of your heart, that the child, whose birth is cause to you of joy, pure, holy, heavenly, may never have reason to lament its birth; but may be trained so to know and love the Lord its Maker and Preserver, that through life it

may rejoice to adopt the pious language of the Church, and "bless God for its creation and preservation." Yet that it can only do, when it shall be established in righteousness, by a Christian faith and a Christian hope. You therefore gratefully bring this dear infant, that he may be baptized, according to Christ's holy ordinance; “in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ;" and so enter into covenant with God.

That in this solemn though joyful work, you may engage with that reverence which befitteth creatures approaching their Creator-sinners, drawing nigh unto their God-the Church has provided a service, which has only to be understood to be appreciated - SO scriptural is it, so instructive, so comforting. To a right feeling of it however, at the time when you are immediately engaged in it, nothing would more directly tend, than a careful previous meditation upon it. And, in proportion as your service is, not merely that of the lips, but of the heart and the understanding also, so have you the better hope of finding a gracious acceptance of it by the Being to whom it is offered 2.

2 Before the service commences, the minister asks-"Hath this child been already baptized, or no?"

The reason for this question is, that the Church, agreeably to the solemn declaration of apostolic faith, believes in one only baptism for the remission of sins, (see Eph. iv. 5. and the Nicene Creed). The analogy too instituted by our blessed Lord,-" Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be born again"-holds good throughout; and affords a most happy and intelligible illustration of the point. As in our flesh, so in our spirit, we are born but once. We may be weak, and recover our strength; be sick and regain our health; accidents of various kinds may befal us, and be remedied; but once only are we born. And as the body before birth, though in existence, is yet dead as to any consciousness of life and action, so the soul,

The service opens with an address, reminding you of the necessity for every soul, which desireth salvation, to accept the new covenant, of which baptism is the appointed seal for since by nature all are born in sin, so by grace in Christ Jesus alone can all be made alive. And in this address how wisely and how carefully does the Church distinguish between a mere assumption of spiritual privileges and a holy fulfilment of the duties connected with them! How faithfully does she warn every man, and how explicitly does she teach every man that, a new birth is but an entrance upon new duties-that to remain “a member of Christ, and a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven," there is to be no resting upon profession; no trusting to the outward ordinance; no folding of the hands in slumber, and waiting for some irresistible impulse to the work of the Spirit. The power is there, of grace and the privilege is there, to pray for strength to exercise it. Hence the startling address of St. Paul to the sinful professor of the Gospel: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Hence too the earnest prayer of the Church, however it may have within it the latent powers of spiritual life, yet cannot exercise them acceptably before God, till it be new born by his Spirit in Christ Jesus. Further, as in the beginning of his ministry, our Lord in a manner and in language too clear to be mistaken, did thus argue the necessity of being "born of water and of the Spirit," so at the close of it, in his last commandment, after his resurrection, and immediately before his ascension into heaven, He confirmed the duty by the emphatic and universal command— "Go ye and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” And to this day, by this one baptism— the Church admits into the family of God,-the once fallen sons of Adam.