The Minister then proceeds

Wilt thou then obediently keep GOD's Holy Will and Commandments, and walk in the Same all the days of thy life?

Answer.-I will.

In the strict letter of this engagement a very fearful pledge of immaculate conduct may at first view appear to be given, and such as may have the tendency to double the guilt of subsequent actual Sin by adding in effect the breach of a solemn vow, in its most awful application, unto the weight of past offences, and hypocrisy perhaps among the fearful catalogue. But this open avowal of intended obedience is in reality no more virtually than the inward devotion, which every heart should yield to GOD and His Council, and would do so, if that heart made GOD the confiding Hope of Salvation. To believe in Him for the Benefit of our Souls, not only should He be acknowledged to be The LORD, but there should be felt towards Him that sincere and holy love, which, by The SPIRIT's Agency, should prompt to an unfailing observance of His Will and a fulfilment of His Commandments. Then and Thus the Christian's walk would be firmly trod, and the Way be found to be That both of Pleasantness and Peace.

Then shall the Priest say

O MERCIFUL GOD, Grant that the old Adam in this Child may be so buried, that the New Man may be Raised up in him!

And the People add

Amen.

Grant that all carnal affections may die in him; and that All Things Belonging to The SPIRIT may live and grow in him!

And the People add

Amen.

Grant that he may have power and strength to have victory, and to triumph against the Devil, the World, and the Flesh;

And the People add

Amen.

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, O Blessed LORD GOD, Who dost Live and Govern All Things, World without end!

And the People add—

Amen.

By Adam's transgression the Fulness of the Grace of The HOLY GHOST, Which before had been Poured out upon him, Departed from him; and thenceforth Human Nature became the victim of its own weak reason; and but too generally the Slave of its own unbridled passions and conceited prejudices; the Spirit that was in Man, and which constituted that of his free Agency, did not harmonize with the pure Nature of Heavenly Spirits; and had Things thus continued we might All have died with Adam, in our sins (if indeed we had after his Dismissal from Paradise ever been Called into a state of existence,) without any just hope of arriving at Immortality, and reaping the Fruits of Righteousness and True Holiness in a Life to come. But Blessed be GOD! Who Accepted The Merciful and Wondrous Offer of His Only SON, to Give Himself a Ransom for Human Sin; and by a Condescension, Mysterious even to Angels, Undertook to Adopt our Nature, and by Submitting to Suffering and Sacrifice Therein, with Obedience unto Holiness in All Perfectness, to Gain Pardon and Reconciliation for the Penitent and Believing, who, under those happily combined Influences, become, as it were, new Creatures, exchanging a sensual for a Spiritual Nature. That Such an Anticipated Change in the Soul of the Infant now presented may be Realized, is the tendency of this opening prayer; to which is added the acquiescing Amen.

The next prayer is for the extinction of all evil propensities in the Child's nature, and the Substitution of a disposedness to be and to do good, under HEAVENLY Guidance and Governance.

The third prayer is in reference to the conflicts, to which the Infant will be exposed, from the restless artifice and

treacherous devices of Satan, amidst his most successful Instruments, the false pleasures and allurements of the World, and of sensual indulgences and excesses; for the combating with which, owing to our natural weakness, the Strength of The LORD, and an humble Reliance on Him and earnest prayer for His Support under every temptation and Spiritual trial and difficulty in life, are thus sought.

The concluding supplication is, that not only the immediate Object of attention, the now presented Infant, but every after Child brought to the Celebration of the Baptismal Sacrament, may be Blest with The DIVINE Countenance, and be so Imbued with SPIRITUAL Power and Wisdom from Above, that the Life of GOD may be Manifested in their Souls, and the Faith in JESUS may reign in their hearts; that so The Promised Reception by Him, on Whose Final Judgment the Destiny of every One will depend, may be the Fulfilment of their Hope of Everlasting Life in the Glories of His KINGDOM in HEAVEN.

The following Prayer is then delivered by the MinisterALMIGHTY, Everliving GOD, Whose Most Dearly Beloved SON, JESUS CHRIST, for the Forgiveness of our sins, did Shed out of His Most Precious Side both Water and Blood; and Gave Commandment to His Disciples, that They should go teach all Nations, and Baptize them in The Name of The FATHER, The SON, and The HOLY GHOST! Regard, we beseech Thee, the supplications of Thy Congregation! Sanctify this Water to the Mystical Washing away of sin! And Grant that this Child, now to be Baptized the rein, may receive the Fulness of Thy Grace, and ever remain in the Number of Thy faithful and Elect Children, through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.

And the People add

Amen.

On the side of our SAVIOUR, when Suspended on His Cross of Crucifixion, to extinguish the last spark of Life, if still such had remained, being Pierced by a Soldier's spear, forthwith came Thereout Water and Blood. The Latter the Emblem of Atonement for Man's iniquities, the Former That

of the Purification of his Soul and Body by The Sanctifying Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT. The Atonement was Thus Once Made for All by Him, Who was at Once both The Oblation and The Sacrificing PRIEST. But The Ablution of the Human Soul is The Unceasing Operation, for all Time, of The DIVINE Unction, Which, through The SON of GOD's Incarnation and Meritorious Intercession, is Poured out upon All Susceptible Hearts: and, in Symbolical Representation of That DIVINE Diffusion, Water in this Sacrament of Baptism is applied. Un JEHOVAH, Whose Power is Infinite and on Whose Mercies are Dependant The Issues of Life and Death Eternal, in this Prayer, with the virtual acknowledgment of These Great and Comprehensive Truths, it is sought, that the Water used in the Baptismal Ordinance, effectual as it is or may be made to the cleansing the outer defilements of the Body, may be a faithful semblance and an Associated Instrument of Heavenly Grace for the United Work of Purifying and Sanctifying the heart and affections of the Infant; and, for CHRIST's Sake and through His Interposed Merits, tend to present the Infant a living Sacramentalist, holy and without spot before GOD; as being not only Called unto but through life Continued within the Pale of Salvation; and Prepared by purity and fidelity in the Christian School for Spiritual Communion, as Numbered amongst the Finally Appointed Saints in Light and Life Eternal.

Then the Priest shall take the Child into his hands, and shall say to the God-Fathers and God-Mothers—

Name this Child!

And then, naming it after them (if they shall certify him that the Child may well endure it) he shall dip it in the water discreetly and warily, saying

N. I baptize thee in the Name of The FATHER, and of The SON, and of The HOLY GHOST.

And the People add

Amen.

In the choice of names for Children it is not easy, nor indeed is it necessary to offer much of observation. The selection of Scriptural Ones, if emanating from Scriptural reverence and cherished esteem for the qualities of the Individuals Recorded to have borne them, is obviously that which should seem not only unobjectionable but even entitled to encouragement. In the Upper Grades of Society, where two names are frequent, that of the Maiden one of the Mother may be used from respect to her, and as a testimony for the Alliance with her Kindred.

The total immersion of the body in the water, or very nearly so, was the custom with Adults on the first Introduction of Christianity; but in the weak state of Infancy, when disorders are sometimes latent, but which sudden chill might fearfully bring forth, and especially in a Climate so varying as ours, it may seem prudent and therefore has become the practice for the Minister to apply the water to the Child's forehead, figuring with his finger the cherished Emblem of the Cross, on Which The Blessed FOUNDER of the Religion embraced was Martyred; the Church rightly assuming that the Measure of Inward Grace, on Which The Consummation of Baptism depends, is not Proportioned to the quantity of water used and applied for the Occasion, but on The DIVINE Election or Rejection of the rising spirit of the Child and The Penetration of OMNISCIENCE into the tendency and propensity of the heart, in its onward course to the grave, if life be continued, when consciousness and a knowledge of good and evil will belong to it. Still the Church does All in its power by prayer, by admonition, by exhortation, and remonstrance, in reference to the Parents' and Sponsors' liabilities and engagements, to draw down from The UNITED GODHEAD, The Dispensation of Redeeming Love, of Mercy and Acceptance unto the Child at once and for ever; and thus outwardly, in the faithfulness and charity of Christian hope, gives Induction within Its Pale, and to the utmost of Its Authority, as descended from the Apostles, under the Express Appointment of CHRIST Himself, ere His Ascension into Heaven.