Then he shall give thanks and pray.
We thank thee, most merciful Father, that when we had broken the law, and were condemned by it, thou hadst given us a Saviour, and life in him, and hast extended thy covenant of grace to believers, and to their seed, and hast now received this child into thy covenant and church, as a member of Christ by this sacrament of regeneration. We beseech thee, let him grow up in holiness; and when he comes to years of discretion, let thy Spirit reveal unto him the mysteries of the gospel, and the riches of thy love in Jesus Christ; and cause him to renew and perform the covenant that he hath now made, and to resign himself, and all that he hath, entirely unto thee his Lord, to be subject and obedient to thee his Governor, and to love thee his Father with all his heart, and soul, and might; and adhere unto thee, and delight in thee as the portion of his soul, desiring and hoping to enjoy thee in everlasting glory. Save him from the lusts and allurements of the flesh, the temptations of the devil, and the baits of pleasure, profit, and honour of the world, and from all the corruptions of his own heart, and all the hurtful violence of his enemies. Keep him in communion with the saints, in the love and use of thy word and worship. Let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Christ the Captain of his salvation, and be faithful unto the death, and then receive the crown of life, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.[265]
Then use this Exhortation or the like to the Parents.
You that have devoted this child to God, and engaged it in covenant to him, must be thankful for so great a mercy to the child, and must be faithful in performing what you have promised on your parts, in instructing and educating this child in the faith and fear of God, that he may own and perform the covenant now made, and receive all the blessings which God hath promised. Hear what God hath made your duty, "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." "The rod and reproof give wisdom; but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame." "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might: and these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart; and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in the house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Joshua saith, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." And Paul saith of Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus."[266]
Then say to the People thus, or to this sense.
You have heard, beloved, how great a dignity we were advanced to in our baptism, to how great duty we are all engaged. O search and try, whether you have kept or broken the covenant which you made, and have lived according to the dignity of your calling. And if any of you be atheists, unbelievers, or ungodly, and love not God above all, and neglect Christ and his salvation, and are yet unsanctified, and live after the flesh, the devil, and the world, which you here renounced; as you love your souls, bewail your perfidious covenant-breaking with God. Trust not the water of baptism alone: if you are not "born again of the Spirit also, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Baptism will not save you, if you have not the answer of a good conscience unto God. "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, the same is none of his." Much less those wretches that hate sanctification, and despise and scorn a holy life, when they were by baptism engaged to the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier. Can you think to be saved by the covenant which you keep not? O no! Your perfidiousness aggravateth your sin and misery. "When thou vowest a vow to God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed: better it is that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay." O bless the Lord, that it is a covenant of such grace which is tendered to you. That upon true repentance and conversion, even your covenant-breaking shall be forgiven; and therefore penitently cast down yourselves before the Lord, and believingly cast yourselves on Christ, and yield to the teachings and sanctifying operations of the Holy Ghost. Yet know the day of your visitation, and forsake the flesh, the devil, and the world, and turn to God with all your hearts, and give up yourselves entirely to your Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, and he will have mercy upon you, and will abundantly pardon you. But if you still live after the flesh, you shall die: and if you continue to neglect this great salvation, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fire, which shall devour the adversaries.[267]
Let no children be privately baptized, nor any Minister forced to baptize them any where, besides in the public assembly, unless upon some special weighty cause. If there be occasion for baptizing the adult, let the minister accordingly suit his expressions.
OF CATECHISING, AND THE APPROBATION OF THOSE THAT ARE TO BE ADMITTED TO THE LORD'S SUPPER.
Seeing none can be saved at years of discretion, that do not actually believe, and personally give up themselves in covenant to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; therefore as parents must do their parts, so ministers must catechise the ignorant, and diligently labour to cause them both to learn the form of wholesome words, (even the Lord's prayer and the ten commandments, and some brief, yet full and sound catechism,) and to understand the meaning of them, and to engage their hearts into the love of God, and a holy obedience to his laws.