requires the person to be baptized, (or sponsors as sureties in his name, who thus become godfathers, and godmothers,) to make a solemn vow, promise, and profession, that he will renounce the three great enemies of our souls-the world, the flesh, and the devil; and that he will keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of his life.' After a solemn promise of all these things, a devout prayer is presented to our merciful God, that he may grant that the old Adam in the person baptized may be so buried, that the new man may be raised up in him, that all carnal affections may die in him, and that all things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow in him, and that he may have power and strength to have victory, and to triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh.

In the act of consecration, the minister, sponsors, and people, offer up a prayer to the Almighty, ¡everliving God, to sanctify the water to the mystical washing away of sin, and to grant that the person to be baptized may receive the fulness of his grace, and ever remain in the number of his faithful and elect children through Jesus Christ our Lord. He is then baptized by

the minister in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, received into the congregation of Christ's flock, signed with the sign of the cross in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. The form of sound words now proceeds to declare the person so baptized to be regenerate and grafted into the body of Christ's church, and the whole congregation yield their hearty thanks to their most merciful Father, that it hath pleased him to regenerate him with his Holy Spirit, to receive him for his own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into his holy church, and earnestly prays that being dead unto sin and living unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in his death, he may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin, and that as he is made partaker of the death of his Son he may also be partaker of his resurrection, so that finally with the residue of his holy church, he may be an inheritor of his everlasting kingdom through Christ our Lord.

The Church of England when in its form of the baptismal service it speaks of infants being regenerate, and of adult persons as having put on Christ, charitably presumes that all is well done, and in due order,-that the sacrament of baptism is rightly ministered,-and that it is received by a true and living faith, by that faith which purifies the heart, which worketh by love, and which keeps the commandments of God. "For that is the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath received him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." It presumes that humble and earnest prayer has been offered up with a pure heart fervently, and in the faith of Jesus Christ by minister and people, by parents and sponsors, by witnesses and sureties, and by the whole congregation then present for the persons baptized, whether they may be infants or adults. The infant child is admitted to baptism on the promise and engagement of others, his godfathers and godmothers, as his sponsors, or sureties to the church of God, which promise,

after he comes to age, he is bound to keep and perform. Infants ought not to be admitted without such pledge.

The adult person is received into the church by baptism on his own solemn and public confession that he renounces the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this world, with all coveteous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that he will not follow nor be led by them, that he steadfastly believes in all the articles of the Christian faith in which he desires to be baptized, and that he will obediently keep God's holy will and commandments and walk in the same all the days of his life. It is only on the fulfilment of this solemn vow, promise and profession, both on the part of children, when they come to age to take it upon themselves, and of adults immediately after baptism, that the Father of lights and God of all grace promises to pour out his Holy Spirit upon them to live in them, to dwell with them, and to abide with them for ever, to enlighten their minds, to comfort their hearts, and to sanctify their souls. The blessing which can only be had in Christ are promised to those who love him and keep his commandments. "If,"

said he, "ye love me, keep my commandments."

In referring to the rule as to the persons who under the new covenant of grace ought to be received into it, by the sacrament of baptism, we cannot but infer from the command given by Christ, and from the custom which universally prevailed in the primitive church, that baptism is to be ministered to all who are ready to make a solemn profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only to adult believers, but also to infant children, when presented in faith. Blessings both temporal and spiritual, were often bestowed by Christ on the faith of others, and why not to children? Not only the male children of all Jewish parents, but of all those who were in the houses of the people of Israel were all to be circumcised. "This," says God, "is my covenant which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee every man-child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man-child in your generations, he that is born in the house or bought with money of any

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