Heb. 5.9. Matt. 5. 16. Pet. 5. 8. 10. indeed give us to reign with Christ in glory, and see Psal. 143. 10. thy face, and love thee, and be beloved of thee for Psal. 119. 133. ever? Yea, Lord, thou hast forgiven us, and thou 2 Cor. 5. 15. wilt glorify us, for thou art faithful that hast pro- Eph. 1. 11. mised. With the blood of thy Son, with the Sacra- 2 Cor. 1. 12. ment, and with thy Spirit, thou hast sealed up to us Psal. 119. 5. these precious promises. And shall we not love Luke 22. 31. thee, that hast thus loved us? Shall we not love Eph. 6. 11. thy servants, and forgive our neighbours their little Rom. 16. 20. debt? After all this shall we again forsake thee, and 1 Cor. 6, 20. deal falsely in thy covenant? God forbid! O set our affections on the things above, where Christ sitteth at thy right hand. Let us no more mind earthly things, but let our conversation be in heaven, from whence we expect our Saviour to come and change us into the likeness of his glory. Teach us to do thy will, O God, and to follow him, who is the author of eternal salvation, to all them that do obey him. Order our steps by thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over us. Let us not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again. Let us have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them. And let our light so shine before men, that they may Rom. 6. 22. glorify thee. In simplicity, and godly sincerity, and not in fleshly wisdom, let us have our conversation in the world. O that our ways were so directed that we might keep thy statutes! Though Satan will be desirous again to sift us, and seek as a roaring lion to devour, strengthen us to stand against his wiles, and shortly bruise him under our feet. Accept us, O Lord, who resign ourselves unto thee, as thine own; and with our thanks and praise, present ourselves a living sacrifice to be acceptable through Christ, useful for thine honour; being made free from sin, and become thy servants, let us have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. Amen. Next add this, or some such Exhortation, if there be time. DEAR brethren, we have been here feasted with the Son of God at his table, upon his flesh and blood, in preparation for the feast of endless glory. You have seen here represented, what sin deserveth, what Christ suffered, what wonderful love the God of infinite goodness hath expressed to us. You have Rom. 12. 1. had communion with the saints, you have renewed your covenant of faith, and thankful obedience unto Christ; you have received his renewed covenant of pardon, grace and glory unto you. O carry hence the lively sense of these great and excellent things upon your hearts: you came not only to receive the mercy of an hour only, but that which may spring up to endless joy: you came not only to do the duty of an hour, but to promise that which you must perform while you live on earth. Remember daily, especially when temptations to unbelief, and sinful heaviness assault you, what pledges of love you here received; remember daily, especially when the flesh, the devil, or the world, would draw your hearts again from God, and temptations to sin are laid before you, what bonds God and your own consent have laid upon you. If you are penitent believers, you are now forgiven, and washed in the blood of Christ. O go your way, and sin no more. No more through wilfulness, and strive against your sins of weakness. Wallow no more in the mire, and return not to your vomit. Let the exceeding love of Christ constrain you, having such promises, to cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God: and as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, to be zealous of good works, and shew forth the praises of him that hath called you. Next sing part of the Hymn in metre, or some other fit Psalm of praise, (as the Twenty-third, One Hundred and Sixteenth, One Hundred and Third, or One Hundredth, &c.) And conclude with this or the like Blessing: Now the God of peace, which brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. The Celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism. LET no Minister, that is therein unsatisfied, be forced against his judgment, to baptize the child of open atheists, idolaters, or infidels, or that are unbaptized themselves, or of such as do not competently understand the essentials of Christianity, (what it is to be a Christian,) and the essentials of Baptism, nor of such as, never since they were baptized, did personally own their baptismal covenant, by a credible profession of faith and obedience, received and approved by some Pastor of the Church, as before Confirmation is required, and in his Majesty's Declaration. Nor yet the child of parents justly excommunicate, or that live in any notorious, scandalous sin, or have lately committed such a sin, (as if the child be gotten in adultery or fornication,) and being justly convicted of it, refuseth penitently to confess it, and promise reformation. But if either of the parents be duly qualified, and present the child to be baptized, (or another for them in case they cannot be present), the child is to be received unto Baptism. And if both the natural parents are infidels, excommunicate, or otherwise unqualified, yet if any become the pro-parents and owners of the child, and undertake to educate it in the faith of Christ, and fear of God, and so present it to be baptized, let it be done by a Minister whose judgment doth approve it, but let no Minister be forced to it against his judgment. Let the parents or owners come to the Minister at some convenient time the week before, and acquaint him when they intend to offer their child to Baptism, and give an account of their foresaid capacity, and receive his further ministerial assistance for the fuller understanding of the use and benefits of the sacrament, and their own duty. The font is to be placed to the greatest conveniency of the Minister and people. The child or children being there presented, the Minister may begin with this or the like speech directed to the parent, or parents that present it. THAT you may perform this service to God with understanding, you must know, that God having made man in his own image, to love and serve him, our first parents wilfully corrupted themselves by sin, and became the children of death, and the captives of Satan, who had overcome them by his temptation and as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all, for that all have sinned, and came short of the glory of God. We are conceived in sin, and are by nature children of wrath; for who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean. By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. But the infinite wisdom and love of the Father hath sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt on earth, and overcame the devil and the world; fulfilled all righteousness, and suffered for our sins upon the cross, and rose again, and reigneth in glory, and will come again, and judge the world in righteousness. In him God hath made and offered to the world a covenant of grace, and in it the pardon of sin to all true penitent believers, and power to be the sons of God and heirs of heaven. This covenant is extended to the seed also of the faithful, to give them the benefits suitable to their age, the parents dedicating them unto God, and entering them into the covenant, and so God in Christ, will be their God, and number them with his people. This covenant is to be solemnly entered into by baptism (which is an holy sacrament instituted by Christ, in which a person professing the Christian faith (or the infant of such) is baptized in water into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in signification and solemnization of the holy covenant, in which, as a penitent believer, (or the seed of such) he giveth up himself (or is by the parent given up) to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, from henceforth (or from the time of natural capacity) to believe in, love and fear this blessed Trinity, against the flesh, the devil and the world; and this especially on the account of redemption: and is solemnly entered a visible member of Christ and his Church, a child of God, and an heir of heaven. How great now is the mercy, and how great the duty that is before you? Is it a small mercy for this child to be accepted into the covenant of God, and washed from its original sin in the blood of Christ, which is signified and sealed by this sacramental washing in water, to be accepted as a member of Christ and of his Church, where he vouchsafeth his protection and provision, and the means and Spirit of grace, and the renewed pardon of sin upon repentance, and for you to see this happiness of your child? The duty on your part, is, first to see that you are stedfast in the faith and covenant of Christ, that you perish not yourself, and that your child is indeed the child of a believer; and then you are believingly and thankfully to dedicate your child to God, and to enter it into the covenant in which you stand. And you must know, that your faith and consent, and dedication will suffice for your children no longer than till they come to age themselves; and then they must own their baptismal covenant, and personally renew it, and consent, and give up themselves to God, or else they will not be owned by Christ. You must therefore acquaint them with the doctrine of the Gospel as they grow up, and with the covenant now made, and bring them up in the fear of the Lord. And when they are actually penitent believers, they must present themselves to the Pastors of the Church, to be approved and received into the communion of the adult believers. If the persons be before well instructed in the nature of Baptism, and time require brevity, the Minister may omit the first part of this Speech, and begin at the description of Baptism, or after it. If there be need of satisfying the people of the duty of baptizing infants, the Minister may here do it; otherwise let the questions here immediately follow. The Minister shall here say to the Parent, and the Parent answer as followeth. Ir being the faithful and their seed to whom the promises are made; and no man will sincerely dedicate his child to that God that he believeth not in himself; I therefore require you to make profession of your own faith. Quest. Do you believe in God the Father Almighty, &c. Answ. All this I do unfeignedly believe. Quest. Do you repent of your sins, and renounce the flesh, the devil, and the world, and consent to the covenant of grace, giving up yourself to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, as your Creator and reconciled Father, your Redeemer and your Sanctifier? Answ. I do. [Or thus rather, if the Parent be fit to utter his own faith.] |