stitution had prevailed from the Apostles' days, that those who believed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, should be signed with the sign of the cross." St. Chrysostom makes it the glory of Christians, that they carry in their foreheads the sign of the cross. And St. Austin, speaking to one who was going to be baptized, tells him, that he was "that day to be signed with the sign of the cross, with which all Christians were signed;" that is, at their baptism. As to the meaning of the ceremony, it signifies our consignment to Christ; whence it is often called by the ancient Fathers, "The Lord's signet, and Christ's seal." And how commendable is it to retain this practice, as a token that this child shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and that he has now enlisted under Christ's banner, and hath engaged to fight against all his spiritual enemies under this victorious Leader!

Q. Why is the cross made after baptism?

A. That none may charge us with making the ceremony essential to baptism, which is finished before the cross is made, and which is esteemed not at all deficient when baptism is celebrated without it: and, indeed, our church has given express permission, that" if those who present the infant shall desire the sign of the cross to be omitted, although the church knows no worthy cause of scruple concerning the same, yet in that case, the minister may -omit it."

XVII. Of the Exhortation after Baptism.

2. What follows the reception of the child inte the church?

A. A serious exhortation, in which the minister teaches us, what must be the subject of our ensuing praises and petitions.

Q. What does the minister mean when he says, This child is regenerate?

A. He means that it is baptized and engrafted

into the body of Christ's church; and for these benefits he exhorts us to thank God, which is very reasonable, and our bounden duty; for if we consider it a matter of joy, that a child is born into the world to partake of the benefits of a natural life, it is certainly much more so, when he is born out of the world, into the Christian church, to par take of the benefits of a spiritual life.

XVIII. Of the Lord's Prayer.

Q. What follows the exhortation?

A. The Lord's prayer; which, as has been already observed, was prescribed by our Saviour to his disciples, as a badge of their belonging to him; and, therefore, it never can be more proper to use it than now, when a new member and disciple is admitted into his church. And for this reason, that whereas in other offices this prayer is generally placed in the beginning, it is here reserved till after the child shall be baptized, and received solemnly into the church; when we can more properly call God, Our Father, with respect to the infant, who is now by baptism made a member of Christ, and more peculiarly adopted as a child of God. And this is conformable to the primitive church for the Catechumens were never allowed to use this prayer, till they had become sons of God by regeneration in the waters of baptism. Whence this prayer was frequently, by the ancient writers, called, the prayer of the regenerate," as being their privilege and birth-right.

XIX. Of the Collect.

What follows the Lord's prayer?

A. A prayer, wherein we first give God thanks for affording this child the benefits of baptismal re

generation; and then we pray for God's grace to assist the child through the whole course of his life.

XX. Of the Exhortation to the God-Fathers and God-Mothers.

Q. How do we conclude this solemn rite?

A. By a suitable exhortation to the god-fathers and god-mothers; for nothing tends more directly to the security of religion and holiness, than a conscientious performance of this solemn vow of baptism. In the first ages of christianity, when people of discretion were baptized, the exhortation was addressed to the persons themselves, as it now is in our office of baptism for those of riper years; but since children are at present the subjects of baptism, and are not capable of admonition, a serious and earnest exhortation is here made to the sureties; which, if it be well considered, will show how sinful it is for any to undertake this trust merely in compliment, without a design to fulfil it. But this evil would be prevented, were sureties to do their duty, by labouring to prepare children for confirmation, and causing them to receive it; which the minister, in the last place, enjoins the sureties to do; for till the child, by this means, takes his baptismal vows upon himself, the sureties must answer for all his errors and vices through their neglect; but when the child is confirmed, they are freed from their obligations to him, except the duty of charity, or that which pertains to them as Christians.

* I here recommend to the serious perusal of my reader an excellent Sermon on Regeneration, by Dr. Waterland, who may justly be styled, the Demosthenes of the Church of England; and also an excellent sermon by bishop Moore, of New-York, on the same subject.

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CHAPTER VIII.

Of the Ministration of private Baptism of Children

in Houses.

MARK X. 14.

For of such is the kingdom of God.

I. Of the Rubrics before the Office.

Q. WHAT is to be treated of in this chapter? A. Such particulars as are different from the order for public baptism of infants; for where this office agrees with the former, the reader must be referred to the next preceding chapter.

Q. What does the first rubric require?

A. That "the minister of every parish shall often admonish the people, that they defer not the baptism of their children longer than the first or second Sunday next after their birth, or other holy day falling between, unless upon a great and reasonable cause."

Q. Why is the church so intent upon the baptism of infants?

A. Because this sacrament is ordained by Jesus Christ, as the only means, in the ordinary way, for receiving the first justification, by which we are delivered from original sin, and partake of the merits of Christ's sufferings, so as to become members of his body.

Q. How does this appear from scripture?

A. From the express declaration of our Saviour, in his conversation with Nicodemus; for, says he, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God;" and a little after he shows how this new birth is bestowed upon us. "Verily,

verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Q. What is required in the second rubric?

A. That" also they shall warn them, that without like great cause and necessity, they procure not their children to be baptized at home in their houses.' """

2. Why is the church so averse to private baptism, except in cases of necessity?

A. Because it is contrary to the reason, and the plain design of the institution of this sacrament; for the end of this sacred ordinance is to initiate the child into the church of Christ, and to entitle him to the privileges of it; and, therefore, there can be no better representation of that society, than in a congregation assembled after the most solemn and public manner for the worship of God. No. where can the profession be more properly made of such initiation, or the stipulation be given, or the promise entered into to undertake the duties of a Christian, than in such an assembly of Christians. But how can all this be so properly done, without any timely notice or preparation, in private, and in the presence only of two or three, or so few that they can hardly be called a congregation? The ordinance is certainly public; public in the end and nature of it, and therefore such ought the celebration of it to be; the neglect whereof is the less excusable, because it is so easily remedied.

Q. But if necessity shall require them so to do, how is baptism to be administered?

A. The rubric says, "Let the minister of the parish, (or, in his absence, any other lawful minister that

In the original, it is a un' Tis, except any one, that is, man, woman, or child; which strikes at the very root of that modern and heterodox opinion, which denies baptism to infants, in opposition to the practice of all good Christians in all ages from the Apostles.

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