him to repeat the Catechism, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. You will pray with and for this child; you will set an example of piety and godliness before him; and endeavour, by all the means of God's appointment, to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

"These promises being made, the child shall be named; and the Minister calling him by his name, shall say:

I

BAPTIZE thee in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

"As he pronounces these words, he is to baptize the child with water, by pouring or sprinkling on the face of the child, without adding any other ceremony: and the whole shall be concluded with prayer.”

THANKSGIVING.

E lift up our eyes unto Thee, most Holy and

WE

Merciful Father! Who not only dost bless us with the common benefits bestowed upon mankind, but also dost lavish the precious and wonderful gifts of Thy Gospel upon us and we give Thee most humble thanks for Thine infinite goodness: that Thou hast numbered us among Thy Saints, and of Thy free grace hast called our children unto Thee; marking them with this Sacrament, as a singular badge and token

of Thy love. Wherefore, most loving Father! though we deserve not so great a benefit, we beseech Thee for Christ's sake to confirm Thy favour more and more towards us: and take into Thy tuition and de

fence, this child, whom we offer and present unto Thee with our common supplications. Suffer him never to fall into ingratitude, and to lose the force of Baptism; but may he perceive Thee continually to be his Merciful Father, through Thy Holy Spirit working in his heart; by whose divine power he may so prevail against Satan, that in the end obtaining the victory, he may be exalted into the liberty of Thy Kingdom: Through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

OTHER FORMS

FOR THE ADMINISTERING OF

THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.

I.

ADDRESS.

L

ET us consider, dearly beloved, how Almighty God

hath not only made us His children by adoption, receiving us into the fellowship of His Church: but also hath promised that He will be our God, and the God of our children, unto a thousand generations. Which promise, confirmed to His People in the Old Testament by the Sacrament of Circumcision, He hath renewed to us in His New Testament by the Sacrament of Baptism: giving us thereby to know, that our infants belong to Him by covenant, and therefore ought not to be deprived of those holy signs and badges, whereby His children are known from unbelievers.

Neither is it requisite that all those who receive this

Sacrament should have the use of understanding and

:

faith but chiefly that they be contained under the name of God's People, so that remission of sins in the

blood of Christ Jesus doth pertain unto them by the promise of God. This is most evident from the words of St. Paul, who pronounces the children begotten and born, either of the parents being faithful, to be clean and holy. Also our Saviour Christ admitteth children to His presence, embracing and blessing them. Which testimonies of the Holy Ghost assure us, that infants are of the number of God's People, and that remission of sins doth also belong to them in Christ. Therefore they can not without injury be debarred from the common sign of God's children.

Further, it is evident that Baptism was ordained to be ministered in the element of water, to teach us that, like as water outwardly doth wash away the filth of the body, so inwardly doth the virtue of Christ's blood cleanse our souls from that corruption wherewith by nature we were infected; whose venomous dregs, although they continue in this our flesh, yet by the merits of His death are not imputed unto us, because the righteousness of Jesus Christ is made ours by Baptism. Not that we deem any such virtue or power to

be included in the visible water, or outward action; for many have been baptized, and yet never inwardly cleansed: But that our Saviour Christ, who commanded Baptism to be ministered, will, by the power of His Holy Spirit, effectually work in the hearts of His Elect, in time convenient, all that is meant and signified by the same. And this the Scripture calls our regeneration; which consists chiefly in these two points: mortification, that is to say a resisting of the rebellious lusts of the flesh; and newness of life, whereby we continually strive to walk in the pureness and perfection wherewith we are clad in Baptism.

And although in the journey of this life we are assailed with many foes, yet do we not fight without fruit. For this constant battle which we wage against sin, death, and hell, is a most infallible argument that God the Father, mindful of His promise made unto us in Christ Jesus, doth not only give us desire and courage to resist them, but also assurance to overcome. Wherefore, dearly deloved, it is not only necessary that we be once baptized, but also it profiteth much to be often present at this ministration; that being put in mind of the league and covenant made between God and us, that He will be our God, and we His People,