her, unclasped it, and turned to the fifty-second chapter of Isaiah, at
my request, and began to read. O, how soft and sweet was the sound of a
female voice, repeating words of inspiration in that beautiful, solitary
spot! The Scriptures had not been divided into chapters and verses for
the eunuch, as for us, but we noticed that the last verse of the chapter
preceding "the place of the Scripture which he read," not divided from
it in his copy of Isaiah, was, "So shall he sprinkle many nations;"
which, we thought, proved that the eunuch had had the idea of baptism
suggested to him by those words; and quite as conclusively proving it,
as "buried with him in baptism" proves immersion.
However, being agreed on all these points, we made no long discourse
about them, but dwelt upon the Son of God as the Redeemer of Abraham's
seed, and in whom all the promises of God, including those made to
Abraham, are yea, and in him amen.
I said to my friends, "The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are about to
write their several and joint names on this child's forehead.
"As a lamb has the owner's mark upon his side, this child is to be
claimed by them, to be brought up for the service and glory of its
redeeming God.
"You are to give him away, to be disposed of by the Most High. You are
to be, for Him, what the mother of Moses was for Pharaoh's
daughter--nurses to your own child. This dear child lay helpless and
exposed, with all of us, to destruction; the Redeemer passed that way;
he heard its cries: he had compassion upon it; he saved it from the
condemning sentence of divine justice; and now he calls you, and says,
'Take this child, and bring it up for me, and I will give thee thy
wages.' He does not commit the child to church, nor pastor, nor
Sabbath-school, but to its own father and mother, who may and will avail
themselves of all the appointed and the useful helps for its nurture and
admonition in the Lord; but he looks to you, as having the chief and
principal responsibility, to bring up this child for God.
"You covenant to lay your plans for this child, so that he may, by the
surest means, live for God. To this end you will pray with him and for
him; teach him what was done for him in baptism, and before, and
afterwards; how God was beforehand with him, and was found of him who
sought him not. He is to be trained up as a Christian child, with a view
to his early conversion, and your great concern is not to be, how he may
promote his private happiness, or yours, but how he may best serve God.
"To this end, you will, from the first, watch over all his moral
faculties, and instil into him the principles of truth and uprightness;
not letting him run loose among the vanities of the world, and feed
upon its miserable, corrupted sentiments, and choose worldly and godless
persons for his intimate associates, his manners and his habits being
like a garden which runs to weeds, and his whole nature left to the
perils of sin, trusting to some sudden act of conversion to bring him
right; but you will rather be diligent to 'fill the water-pots with
water,' and wait for Christ to turn it into wine. You intend, and you
promise, that you will educate this child from the beginning with all
that strictness of Christian principle which you would expect of him
were he, in his infancy, to be a professing Christian, his duty being
the same, and, consequently, yours toward him, whether he is regenerate
or not,--one and the same law of God being our rule, irrespective of
conditions.
"In all times of sickness and peril, you are to feel that this child is
the Lord's, to be disposed of by him, without consulting you. If called
to die and leave him, you will remember that you received him from God,
that he belonged to God at first, and when he was placed in your care;
and that God, who thus has the most perfect claim to him, will perfect
that which concerns him, even if his parents are in the grave.
"And while you thus covenant with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
covenant with you, and with the child through you, to be the God of your
seed, affording you special help in training the child, bestowing
special blessings upon it tending to its spiritual good, having a
particular regard for it as something lent to him, and belonging to you;
while, in another sense, it is lent to you, and belongs to him; and he
and you are to regard the child agreeably to this beautiful
transmutation of ownership and loan. The baptism itself cannot save the
child, any more than the Lord's Supper can save you; but it is among the
first of means to promote the salvation of the child, not merely through
its effect on you, or its remembered grace and goodness when the child
can be made to appreciate it; but above all, and through all, and in
all, it seals that covenant of a covenant-keeping God, assisting your
efforts and those of the child,--that promise, I say, 'I will be his
God, and he shall be my son.'"
We named the little boy, PHILIP, as a memorial of the road-side baptism.
We stood under the shadow of that great rock, and worshipped Abraham's
God. "Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us,
and Israel acknowledge us not." The voice of prayer was joined by chimes
and symphonies from trickling rills, and the freshening breeze in a
silver-leaved maple, leaning at an angle of thirty-five degrees, just
above us in the rock, all as quiet as the dear infant's breathing;
while, now and then, the sudden flapping and rushing of birds' wings
made the monotone around us more soothing.
From a little jet of water, that formed an arc of about an inch, as it
burst into life and then disappeared in a great moss-bed, I caught my
palm full, and laid it upon the unconscious head.
The little hands were suddenly lifted and dropped, as though a slight
shock had been experienced, then a smile played round the mouth, and the
sleep seemed deeper.
And will God in very deed dwell on earth? Will the adorable Trinity be
present at such a scene as this? Present! "All power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
He will not appoint this ordinance, and fail to be present; the God of
redemption is a party to that transaction by which an immortal soul,
with an existence commensurate with his own, is consecrated to him by
its natural guardians, acting in the place of God, and for the child,
and joining them in covenant.
"Shall we ever forget this?" said the husband to his wife, as we were
riding along that beautiful afternoon.
"Never," said she; but she added, sensible woman as she was, "the beauty
and sentiment of the place seemed to me nothing, compared with the
privilege of covenanting with God, and having him covenant with us for
the child. After all," said she, "I would have been glad to have had the
baptism in our little church at home, and to have secured good Mrs.
Maberry's prayers, and those of our church, for the child, at its
baptism. I must write to her, and get her to tell the Maternal
Association about it, and ask them not to forget little Philip."
"What would you have named it," said my wife, "had it been a girl?"
"O," said she, smiling, "I was thinking on the hill, that, if it had
been a girl, I should have called it Candace, for the Ethiopian queen."
"And Canda, for shortness and sweetness, I suppose," said her husband,
his eyes twinkling and sparkling with love, as he looked at her, and
from her upon us.
"He's a sweet little thing, you know he is," said the mother, burying
her face in the child's bosom, and giving it something between a good
long smell and a good long kiss, or both; a thing which mothers alone
know exactly how to do.
"Suppose," said I, "that, instead of little Philip, it had been you,
sir, and Mrs. Blair, who had needed to be baptized.
"Here you are, on a journey. You do not know that you will be able to
avail yourselves of religious ordinances, in your new home, for a long
time to come; and, besides, regarding baptism not merely as a profession
of religion, but as an act of Almighty God, sealing you with his
appointed sign of the covenant, you have strong desires to receive it,
here in this 'way unto Gaza, which is desert,' from my hands.
"'See, here is water,' in rich abundance. But, alas! there is no pond,
nor pool, no lake, nor river!"
"Even if there were," said my wife to Mrs. Blair, "I should shudder to
have you venture into untried waters, in this lonely place. Fear, at
least, would prevent any peace of mind, or satisfying enjoyment."
"'What doth hinder me to be baptized?' you would properly say to me," I
continued. "'O,' my reply could be, 'the water is not in an available
shape. Had we time to scoop out a tank in the earth, or make a stone
baptistery in the rock, then you might be 'buried with him by baptism
into death.' But it is impossible. This living fountain of waters in the
mountain, full and overflowing though it be, does not allow of Christian
baptism. Besides, as to suitable apparel, and all the necessary
arrangements for comfort, not to say propriety,--you see that baptism,
here is out of the question.'"
"Do you think," said Mrs. Blair, "that the Head of the church has
appointed any such invariable mode of administering baptism,--one that
cannot be applied in numerous cases?"
I said to her, "I cannot believe it. The genius of Christianity seems
opposed to it. Let all who will, use immersion; we love them still, and
rejoice in their liberty, but I cannot agree that it was the New
Testament method. Even had it been, I should expect that the rule would
be flexible enough to meet cases of necessity."
"I was thinking," said Mr. Blair, "that, at least, four fifths of all
the people of God have gone to heaven unbaptized, if immersion is the
only valid mode of baptism. This is rather a serious thing, if the
solemn words, 'He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved,' look
only to baptism by immersion. It seems to me," he added, "that the
providence of God would have brought in some great reformation from so
calamitous an error in the church, if it were an error. Some Luther, or
Calvin, or Knox, or some John Baptist, would have been raised up, as in
other emergencies, to bring the church back to her duty."
"How clearly," said I, "does that seem to prove that all the people of
God have, as Paul says, 'One Lord, one faith, one baptism,' however
variant their modes of worship and administration may be."
"How many baptized children, from Christian families," said my wife,
"are gathered together in heaven! I cannot think of them as the
unfortunate subjects of a superstitious or corrupt observance, at the
hands of the ministers of Jesus, in all ages of the world. There must
seem to them, as they increase in knowledge, a beautiful fitness in
their having had those adorable names inscribed upon them, with God's
own initiatory seal of his covenant. What loving-kindness it must appear
to them, that God gave them the ordinance of baptism, and became their
God! How it will stand out before their minds as a principal
illustration of being saved by grace!"
"And then, again," said Mr. Blair, "think of the millions of children in
heaven who were not baptized,--saved, the most of them, from heathen and
pagan lands. How 'the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many.' Baptism is not an austere law. There is
nothing austere or rigid, in any sense, connected with it; but it makes
me think of the water itself, scattered in so many beautiful and pliable
forms all over the earth, in fountains, water-falls, dew, rain-drops;
and, when it cannot 'stand before His cold,' it comes down softly upon
us, in crystal asteroids and all the geometrical forms of snow. I love
to think that God has associated that beautiful element, the water, with
religion. And now it does not seem accordant with the works and ways of
Him, of whom we say, 'How great is his goodness, how great is his
beauty,' to make one obdurate mode of bringing the water in connection
with us essential to an ordinance, whose element seems everywhere to
shun preciseness."
"Water is certainly a beautiful emblem of open communion," said one of
the ladies. "It must be conscious, one would think, of violence done to
its ubiquitous nature, to be made the occasion of separating beloved
friends, at the Table whose symbolized Blood has made them one in
Christ."
But we had to part. I told them that my wife and I would certainly be
sponsors for little Philip, in the best sense; we would make a record of
its history, thus far, among our family memorials; tell our children
about him, and charge them in after life to inquire for him, and lose no
opportunity of doing him good. Though, as to that, I could not help
saying, no one knows in this world who will be benefactor or
beneficiary.
"Our children will always be interested in each other," said his wife,
"for their parents' sake."
"Can we not sing a hymn?" said the husband.
We found that our voices made a quartet. Susan was ready with her
beautiful contralto, Mrs. Blair sung the soprano, Mr. Blair the tenor,
and I the base.
THE BAPTISMAL HYMN.
"Lord, what our ears have heard,
Our eyes delighted trace--
Thy love, in long succession shown,
To Zion's chosen race.
"Our children thou dost claim,
And mark them out for thine;
Ten thousand blessings to thy name
For goodness so divine.
"Thee, let the fathers own,
And thee, the sons adore,
Joined to the Lord in solemn vows,
To be forgot no more.
"Thy covenant may they keep,
And bless the happy bands
Which closer still engage their hearts,
To honor thy commands.
"How great thy mercies, Lord!
How plenteous is thy grace!
Which, in the promise of thy love,
Includes our rising race.
"Our offspring, still thy care,
Shall own their fathers' God;
To latest times thy blessings share,
And sound thy praise abroad."
We saw them and their baggage on board the wagon that was to take them
over to the river; we waved our farewell, and sent our kisses; and, just
as they were turning a corner which hid them from our view, the father
stood up in the wagon, and held little Philip as high as he could (the
mother, of course, reaching up her arms to hold them both fast), as
though to catch the last benediction. The long, flowing white dress of
the child gave the picture a waving, vanishing effect, reminding us of
our first sight of the cascade, which, with the whole transaction to
which it gave occasion, has taken a permanent place in our sleeping and
waking dreams.
Chapter Ninth.
THE CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH.
Go, now, ye that are men, and serve the Lord.--PHARAOH.
We will go with our young, and with our old, with our sons, and with our
daughters.--MOSES.
Hosanna to the Son of David.--THE CHILDREN IN THE TEMPLE.
The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be
established before thee.--PSALM 102:28.
The reader will now be introduced, in imagination, to a seat in the
window of a country parsonage, with honeysuckle-vines trained over an
arched lattice-work that spans the window. There are several large
maples in the yard, which is a grass-plot, where six gentlemen are
enjoying pleasant conversation, and are seated at their ease, some in
chairs, and the rest on a sofa, which, at the suggestion of a kind lady,
they had lifted from its place in the parlor to the yard.
They are all of them pastors of churches, met, for social intercourse
and friendly counsel, at the house of one of their number, with their
wives, who are also together by themselves, in a pleasant room on the
north side of the house, and into whose sayings and doings these
husbands will, no doubt, be disposed to make, in due time, suitable
inquiry.
Those wonderful little elves, the humming-birds, are frequent visitors
to those honeysuckles, under which I have placed my reader to be a
listener. How many vibrations those little wings make in a minute, how
so long a bill can have subtractive force sufficient to get anything
from the flower, how, when obtained, that product is conveyed to the
throat, and where these creatures build their nests, and whither they
migrate, are questions which will, perhaps, divert attention from
everything else for a time, especially if the reader has escaped for a
season from a large city, and is one of those who there "dwell in
courts." Perhaps, therefore, he will choose to refresh himself, in
silent contemplation, in this arbor; and I will make true report of all
that transpires in the yard.
One of these pastors, Mr. A., has been reading to his brethren, for
their judgment as to the soundness of his views, a sermon, not yet
preached, on the relation of baptized children to the church. We will
call him, and two of the ministers who agreed with his views, by their
initials, respectively, which consisted of the first three letters of
the alphabet; while the three who dissented from them had, as initials
to their names, letters remote from these. Neither Messrs. A., B., and
C., nor Messrs. R., S., and T., had had any previous concert or
comparison of views on this interesting subject; but they found
themselves thus arrayed on different sides of the question.
Omitting the sermon that gave occasion to the discussion which follows,
a few lines only will put us in possession of the whole subject. I give
the opening paragraph:
"It is held by all who practise infant baptism, that the children of
believers have a peculiar relation to the church. That relation is very
generally expressed by the word membership. We have treatises, by the
most orthodox divines, on the church-membership of the children of
believers; which children they freely call members of the Christian
church; and, in catechisms and confessions of faith, the church of
Christ is declared to consist of such as are in covenant relations with
God, and their offspring."
The sermon being finished, Mr. R. was first called upon by the chairman,
Mr. C., for his remarks. The question, as stated by the chairman, was,
Are the children of believers, in any sense, members of the church? If
so, what is it? and, if not, what relation to the church do they
sustain?
_Mr. R._ I presume that brother A. does not wish us to take up time with
criticisms upon his style. He seeks to know our views with regard to the
subject of the sermon. I am compelled to say, at once, that I differ
from the views expressed by the reader, if he means by the terms,
_members_ and _membership_, which he employs, all which they would
convey to the majority of hearers. But I noticed that when he, and those
excellent men whom he quotes, come to define what they mean by members,
and membership, in this connection, they make explanations, and
qualifications, and also protestations, showing that no one can be, in
their view, a member of the spiritual, or, what is called the invisible,
church of Christ, without repentance and faith. Rightly understood,
therefore, they are free from any just imputation of making unscriptural
terms of membership in the kingdom of Christ. And, perhaps, when those
of us who dissent from some of their propositions, fully understand the
limitations which the writers themselves affix to their use of terms, no
great discrepancy will be found to exist.
It admits of a question, therefore, in my view, whether the terms
_members_ and _membership_, as applied to children, really mean that
which these writers themselves intend to convey by them; for certainly
they do not mean all which their readers at first suppose. The terms in
question require a great deal of explanation, which a term, if possible,
ought never to need. And, after all has been said, a wrong impression is
conveyed to the minds of many, while opponents gain undue advantage in
arguing against that which, for substance, all the friends of infant
baptism cordially maintain.
If Br. A. is asked, "In what sense are children members of the church,"
he resorts, for illustration, to citizenship, and to the sisterhood in
the church itself, to show how children and females may be members of
the community, and, in the case of females, may belong to the church,
while yet their privileges and functions are limited. So, he says, the
children of believers are a component part of God's church, not entitled
to the use of all its privileges till they are renewed by the Spirit of
God, yet so related by the sovereign appointment of God to those who are
members, as to be, in a subordinate sense, a part of the church.
Could the friends of infant baptism agree on some term, which would
express their common belief with regard to the relation of believers'
children to the church, better than _member_, I think it must have a
happy effect in promoting harmony of views and feelings, and take away
from others the grounds of several present objections.
It was here agreed that, instead of the question going round to each in
turn, the conversation should be free, subject to the rule of the
chairman.
Mr. A., the reader, then said that he should be glad to learn from his
Br. R. precisely what his views were of the relation of baptized
children to the church. "Let us see," he said, "how far we are agreed as
to the actual nature of this relation."
"Well, then," said Mr. R., "I will begin with this:
"_They are the children of God's friends_. We all know how God reminds
Israel of their relation to Abraham, his friend, tells them they are
beloved for the fathers' sakes, and he remembers his covenant with those
friends of his, their fathers, when provoked by the children's sins.
Toward the child of one who loves God (not merely a church-member, but a
friend of God), I suppose there are affections on the part of God, of
which our own feelings toward the child of a dear Christian friend are a
representation. This love to the child of his friend, I always thought,
is the great element in that arrangement of the Most High which we call
the Abrahamic covenant; for he who made us, knew how much a love for our
children, on the part of others, draws us together, and what bonds are
constituted and strengthened between men through their children; and
that one great means of promoting love to Him would be, his manifesting
special love and care for the offspring of those who love him. God has a
people, friends; and the children of such are the children of his
dearly-beloved friends. In this we are all agreed."
"Certainly," said Mr. A., "but you will go further than this, I
presume."
_Mr. R._ Yes, Mr. Chairman. One thing more is true of them:
_They are the principal source of the church's increase_. The selection
of Abraham, with a view to make of his lineage, the banks, within whose
defensive influences grace should find helps in making its way in this
ungodly world, had reference, I believe, to that power of hereditary
family influence, which has not ceased, and will not cease, to the end
of time. It is beautiful and affecting to see that recognition of our
free agency, and that unwillingness ever to interfere with it, which
leads the Most High to fall in with the principles of our nature
established by himself, in placing his chief reliance on the natural
love of parents for their offspring to contribute, by far, the larger
part of those who shall be converted. In this arrangement and
expectation do we not find the deep roots of infant baptism? which thus
appears to be neither Jewish nor Gentile, but grows out of our nature
itself, which also requires, which demands, some rite, a symbolic sign
and seal. God made the children of Adam partakers with him of his curse;
so that the parental and filial relation was, from the beginning made a
stream to bear along the consequences of the first transgression. No
new thing, therefore, was instituted when God, in calling Abraham,
appointed the parental and filial relation to bear, on its deep and
mighty stream, the most powerful means of godliness in all coming
generations. How little do we think of this, Mr. Chairman, and brethren;
how apt we are to neglect this great arrangement of divine providence
and grace,--the perpetuation of the church, chiefly by means of the
parental and filial relation. But, if such be the divine appointment,
and the children of believers are therefore the most hopeful sources of
the church's increase, of course they may be said to belong to the
church, in a peculiar sense, but without being "_members_."
_Mr. A._ I think you are coming on very well toward my ground. I
certainly agree with you thus far.
_Mr. R._ If I am not taking up too much time, Mr. Chairman, I should
like to proceed a little further, in order to do full justice to my
views. If I am found to agree with Br. A., it will be just as pleasant
as though he agreed with me.
_Chairman._ Please to proceed. Two things which are equal to the same
thing, are equal to each other.
_Mr. R._ I will, then, say, once more:
_The children of believers are the subjects of preeminent privileges and
blessings._ Special promises are made to them from love to their
parents; great advantages are theirs, directly and indirectly, from
their relation to those who are the true worshippers of God;
forbearance, long suffering, the remembrance of consecrations and vows,
prevail with God, oftentimes, in their behalf when they have broken
their father's commandment and forsaken the law of their mother. No
words of tenderness, in any relation of life,--said Mr. R., turning to
the Psalms,--surpass those, in which are described the feelings of God
toward the rebellious sons of Abraham: "But he, being full of
compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea, many a
time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath." "For
he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant." God still
remembers Abraham, his servant, in the person of every father and mother
who loves him, and is steadfast in his covenant; and "the generation of
the upright shall be blessed." Mistakes in family government, growing
out of wrong principles, too great reliance upon future conversion, and
the neglect of that moral training which is essential to the best
development of religious character, and, indeed, without which religious
character is often a melancholy distortion, or sadly defective, may be
followed by their natural consequences; and we cannot complain,--for God
works no miracle, nor turns aside any great law, in favor of our
misconduct; yet it remains true that all who love and serve him, and
command their children and households to fear the Lord, enforcing it in
all the proper ways of government, discipline, example, and the right
observance of religious ordinances, public and private, may expect
peculiar blessings upon their offspring.
One of the youngest of the company, the father of one young child, here
inquired, if the speaker would have us infer that the conversion of such
children is to be looked for as a matter of course.
_Mr. R._ Ordinarily, they will grow up in the nurture and admonition of
the Lord, to be followers of Christ; the proportion of persons baptized
on admission to the church, will become small; a healthful tone of
religious feeling will pervade our churches; less and less reliance will
be placed on startling measures, on splendid talents, on novelties, to
promote the cause of religion; but Christian families will extend like
the cultivated fields of different proprietors, whose green and
flowering hedges, instead of stone walls, mingle all into one landscape.
"And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of
righteousness, quietness and assurance forever." "And my people shall
dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet
resting-places." "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and
great shall be the peace of thy children." Such, I believe, is sure to
be the manner of the church's prosperity, and therefore the children who
are to be the subjects of these inestimable blessings must be said, in
some sense, to _belong_ to the church, they being the objects of special
regard with the church and with God. Br. A. agrees with me in all this,
I presume.
_Mr. A._ Entirely; or, rather, you agree with me.
"Now, Br. A.," said an earnest man of the company,--who, however,
immediately checked himself, and bowed to Mr. R., and said, "I dare say,
Mr. Chairman, that Br. R. was going to put the very question which I
intended to ask."
_Mr. R._ Proceed, Br. S. I owe an apology for speaking so much.
_Mr. S._ Will Br. A., Mr. Chairman, please to tell us why he feels
obliged to call these children "_members_ of the church?"
For, we all know, that, notwithstanding all these glorious things, which
are spoken of them, to which Br. A. has also referred, not one baptized
child of a true believer can be, really, a member of the church, in
regular standing, till he, like the unbaptized heathen convert, has
repented of his sins and believed on the Lord Jesus. All the promises
and privileges appertaining to his relationship as a child of a
believer, promote, and make more certain, his repentance and faith; and
therefore, if asked, "What profit, then, hath circumcision, and its
substitute, infant baptism?" we can reply, "Much every way;" but it
never stood, and never can stand, in the place of justification by free
grace through the personal exercise of faith in the Redeemer.
_Mr. C._ But I wish to ask, in the name of Br. A., and for my own sake,
what objection there is to retaining the name, _member_, in this
connection?
_Mr S._ My answer is, it is the occasion of great stumbling to those who
reject infant baptism, and are confirmed in rejecting it, by
misapprehending the views and feelings of many who use the term in an
objectionable sense.
The discussion now became animated. Mr. S. said that he had a further
objection. It leads many, who use it erroneously, into perplexing and
fruitless positions. Assuming that the children are members of the
church, they discuss the question, as the sermon has stated, Of what
church are they members? Some reply, Of the church to which their
parents belong. Others say nay, but of the church universal. Then they
feel it incumbent upon them to provide some means of discipline for
these so-called members. In case they grow up, and neglect to come with
their parents to the Lord's Supper, must they not be disciplined? Some
insist that discipline, in some of its forms, must be administered, and,
in certain cases, excommunication must take place.
_Mr. T._ I know it, and I wonder at it. I should like to ask, who has
deputed to any church the power to say when the divine forbearance with
a child of the covenant has come to an end? Does it terminate at the age
of twenty-one in the case of male children, and at eighteen in the case
of females? David, when a full-grown man, plead the covenant of God with
his mother: "O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the
son of thine handmaid." Or, does it cease on the child's leaving the
parental roof for another place of residence? Or, on entering upon the
married state? Or, upon the commission of some great act of outward
transgression, shall we pronounce the covenant to be dissolved? Do we
not see that we are meddling with a divine prerogative, if we assume to
act in such cases? Expostulations, warnings, entreaties, from parents,
pastor, brethren of the church, may always be in place; but further than
these we cannot proceed.
"Perhaps, too," said Mr. R., "if discipline were to fall anywhere, it
might more justly descend on the parents of such a child."
_Mr. T._ The seeming mockery of a church punishing a youth for the
neglect of that which he himself never promised to do, would most
likely have the effect to drive him to a returnless distance from the
church, extinguishing the last ray of hope as to his conversion. A fit
parallel to such proposed church-discipline of children, is found in the
practice, which was not uncommon, twenty-five years ago, in a region of
our country where great religious excitements prevailed for some time,
when it was publicly recommended, in preaching and from the press, that
parents who had labored in vain for the conversion of children, should,
in certain cases, punish them, to make them submit to God.
_Mr. D._ Is it possible?
_Mr. T._ Yes, sir; and the records of those times furnish instances in
which this was done. Of such means of grace, I am happy to say, we have
no such custom, neither the churches of God.
_Mr. S._ Nor shall we probably ever see young people disciplined by the
churches, for not repenting and believing the Gospel. It is insisted on
as theoretically proper, but they have never ventured to carry it out in
practice.
Mr. C., the chairman, said, "Brethren, there is strong authority in
favor of the sermon. Since you have been talking, I have been looking
over Dr. Hopkins's works, to find this passage, which, if you please, I
will read. Dr. Hopkins says:
"Though under the milder dispensation of the Gospel, no one is to be put
to death for rejecting Christ and the Gospel, even though he were before
this a member of the visible church, yet he is to be cut off, and cast
out of the visible kingdom of Christ. And every child in the church, who
grows up in disobedience to Christ, and, in this most important concern,
will not obey his parents, is thus to be rejected and cut off, after all
proper means are used by his parents, and the church, to reclaim him,
and bring him to his duty. Such an event will be viewed by Christian
parents as worse than death, and is suited to be a constant, strong
motive to concern, prayer, and fidelity, respecting their children, and
their education; and it tends to have an equally desirable effect upon
children, and must greatly impress the hearts of those who are in any
degree considerate and serious."
Again: "When the children arrive at an age in which they are capable of
acting for themselves in matters of religion, and making a profession of
their adherence to the Christian faith, and practice, and coming to the
Lord's Supper, if they neglect and refuse to do this, and act contrary
to the commands of Christ in any other respect, all proper means are to
be used, and methods taken, to bring them to repentance, and to do their
duty as Christians, and, if they cannot be reclaimed, but continue
impenitent and unreformed, they are to be rejected and cast out of the
church, as other adult members are who persist in disobedience to
Christ."[8]
[Footnote 8: Hopkins's Works (1852), vol. ii., pp. 158, 176.]
"Such words, from such a source," said Mr. C., "are entitled to great
consideration."
"But," said Mr. S., "here is a passage from his own theological
instructor, President Edwards:
"It is asked,' he says, 'why these children, that were born in the
covenant, are not cast out when, in adult age, they make no profession.'
He replies, 'They are not cast out, because it is a matter held in
suspense whether they do cordially consent to the covenant or not; or
whether their making no profession does not arise from some other cause;
and none are to be excommunicated without some positive evidence against
them.'"
"My dear sir," said Mr. A., "Mr. Edwards is there speaking of those who
merely refuse to own the covenant, without being guilty of scandalous
sin."
_Mr. S._ It is evident, nevertheless, that Hopkins goes further than he,
and requires that those who, at years of full responsibility, refuse to
own the covenant, shall be cut off. Modern writers on this subject,
while insisting on the church-membership of children, draw back from
this position, and are more in harmony with what, it seems to me, may be
said to be the general sense of the churches on this subject. I feel
glad, when reading such passages as those from Hopkins, that we have
liberty of opinion, and are not compelled to swear by the words of any
master. I bow to such a divine as Dr. Hopkins, but he fails to satisfy
me that he is right in these views of church-discipline for children.
Mr. R., who was the oldest man of the company, now returned to the
discussion, and said: "It is clear that one cannot be dispossessed of
that which he never possessed, except as in the case of a minor, who may
have his claim to a future possession wrested from him. Of what is a
child of the covenant, allowing him to be, while a child, a member of
the church,--of what is he in possession? Not of full communion, not of
access to the Lord's table, not of the right to a voice in the call and
settlement of a pastor, nor in any other church act. From what, then, is
he turned out by being cut off? He has never arrived at anything from
which he can be separated, except the covenant of God with him through
his parents, and its attendant privileges of watch and care. If, then,
we excommunicate an unconverted child, we can only declare the covenant
of God with him, henceforth, to be null and void,--an assumption from
which, probably, Christian parents and ministers would shrink. The same
long-suffering God, who bears and forbears with ourselves, we shall be
disposed to feel, is the God of this recreant child, and no good man
would dare to pronounce the child to be separated from the mercies of
'the God of patience and hope.' One who, being in a church, breaks a
covenant to which he assented, may be a just subject for discipline,
even to excommunication; but, all the promises of God to the child being
wholly free, conditioned, at first, upon his parents' relation to God,
all the disability which the child seems capable of receiving, is, that
the promises made to him he must fail, by his own fault, to receive.
Who will declare even his prospect of their fulfilment to be terminated
at any given time? Much more, who will undertake to divest him of things
which he never had? The church-membership, from which you profess to
expel him, does not yet exist in his case; he has not reached it. All
the church-membership of which, if any, he has been possessed, is, his
hopeful relation to God and his people through a parent. To
excommunicate a child from this would be a strange procedure."
_Mr. A._ That is the strongest thing which I have heard on that side. I
must confess (said he, rising and leaning against one of the maples)
that I am a little staggered.
But Mr. B. came to reinforce his faltering brother.
"Here," said he, "is the Cambridge Platform. You will all be willing to
hear from that source."
"Let us hear," said two or three voices.
Mr. B. read as follows:
"The like trial (examination) is to be required from such members of the
church as were born in the same, or received their membership, and were
baptized in their infancy or minority, by virtue of the covenant of
their parents, when, being grown up unto years of discretion, they shall
desire to be made partakers of the Lord's Supper; unto which, because
holy things must not be given to the unworthy, therefore it is requisite
that these, as well as others, should come to their trial and
examination, and manifest their faith and repentance by an open
profession thereof before they are received to the Lord's Supper, and
otherwise not to be admitted thereunto. Yet those church-members that
were so born, or received in their childhood, before they are capable of
being made partakers of full communion, have many privileges which
others, not church-members, have not; they are in covenant with God,
have the seal thereof upon them, namely, baptism; and so, if not
regenerated, yet are in a more hopeful way of attaining regenerating
grace, and all the spiritual blessings both of the covenant and seal;
they are also under church-watch, and consequently subject to the
reprehensions, admonitions, and censures thereof, for their healing and
amendment, as need shall require."[9]
[Footnote 9: Cambridge Platform, chap. iii. 7.]
_Mr. R._ Now, please, Br. B., what does all that prove?
_Mr. B._ Why, it proves that, in the judgment of the Cambridge Platform,
the children of church-members are members of the churches.
_Mr. R._ It shows that the Cambridge Platform calls them members; but it
gives us no proof that they are properly called members. A great deal in
that extract, I undertake to say, will command the cordial assent of all
who practise infant baptism, if we except the use of the term members.
It shows that, as to coming into the company of true believers, and
being one of them, the only way is through repentance and faith,--a way
common to the unbaptized. The only advantage, but one which is
exceedingly great and precious on the part of the believer's children,
being, that they "have many privileges," and "are in a more hopeful way
of attaining regenerating grace." But the term membership does not
express their relation to the church before they are converted.
_Mr. B._ (After a pause.) I do not know but you are right.
Mr. C., the remaining advocate of the sermon, said, "Let me refresh
your memories with the famous case quoted in Morton's New England
Memorial. He says:
"'The two ministers there (Salem, 1629), being seriously studious of
reformation, they considered the state of their children, together with
their parents, concerning which letters did pass between Mr. Higginson
(of Salem) and Mr. Brewster, the reverend elder of the church of
Plymouth; and they did agree in their judgments, namely, concerning the
church-membership of the children with their parents, and that baptism
was a seal of their membership; only, when they were adult, they being
not scandalous, they were to be examined by the church officers, and
upon their approbation of their fitness, and upon the children's public
and personally owning of the covenant, they were to be received unto the
Lord's Supper. Accordingly, Mr. Higginson's eldest son, being about
fifteen years of age, was owned to have been received a member together
with his parents, and being privately examined by the pastor, Mr.
Skelton (the other minister of Salem), about his knowledge in the
principles of religion, he did present him before the church when the
Lord's Supper was to be administered, and, the child then publicly and
personally owning the covenant of the God of his father, he was admitted
unto the Lord's Supper, it being there professedly owned, according to 1
Cor. 7:14, that the children of the church are holy unto the Lord, as
well as their parents.'"
Mr. R. stood up, and, with an animated look and manner, but with a very
pleasant voice, said:
"What, now, my good brother, did these good ministers do, with this
youth, more or less than we all do for the children of our pastoral
charge?
"Of what practical use was his so-called infant 'church-membership,' in
addition to his being, as we all hold, a child of the covenant?"
They made no reply for a little while, till at last Mr. A. said:
"Well, Br. R., what names would you substitute for _members_ and
_membership_?"
_Mr. R._ "THE CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH;" for you have it in the last
sentence of the extract which you read from Morton;--the true, the most
appropriate, and, in every respect, the best name for those who are so
ambiguously called _members_.
_Mr. B._ There is great beauty and sweetness in that name, I
confess,--"the children of the church," "the church's children."
_Mr. R._ A father never, except for concealment, says, "a member of my
family," when "a child" is meant. The term _members_, besides being
equivocal, and requiring explanation, is not so good as "children of the
church," an expression which includes and covers all that any would
claim for "infant church-members."
_Mr. C._ I confess, I like Br. R.'s views and proposition. If, by
calling the offspring of believers, "the children of the church," we, by
implication, abridged any of their privileges, or if, by calling them
church-members, we believed that they acquired rights and privileges not
otherwise appertaining to them, we ought to prefer the words member and
membership; but it is not so. No one of the writers cited,--and the
proofs we all know could be extended by quoting from other
authors,--claims the right of a child to full communion, except upon
evidence, in his "trial and examination," that he is regenerate. Indeed,
the only use to which the terms member and membership seem to be
applied, is, in furnishing some ground for urging the discipline and
excommunication of the child. This, though urged by some, is urged in
vain.
_Mr. R._ Other terms, in connection with members and membership, have
been proposed, such as members in minority, members in suspension,
future members; but all in vain. The children of believers are certainly
the children of the church, and such I devoutly hope and pray they may
come to be called.
_Mr. A._ Seeing that the use of the term _member_ keeps before our minds
a theoretical, hard necessity, from which every one shrinks, I think I
will alter my sermon so far as to dismiss the term, and, with it, all
sense of inconsistency in neglected obligations as to disciplining these
young "members."
"Well, Br. A.," said Mr. B., "I will join you in submission."
"So will I," said Mr. C. "How good it is to be convinced, and to give up
one's own will; is it not?"
"It ought to be," said Mr. A., "to those whose great business it is to
preach submission. But I think we did not differ at first, except as to
the use of terms."
_Mr. T._ I wish to make a confession. Though I have always been of Br.
R.'s opinion, I have felt it to be invidious, and, for several reasons,
disagreeable, to call a meeting of "the children of the church,"--making
a distinction between them and the other children of my pastoral charge.
Am I correct in such views and feelings?
"Come, Mr. Chairman," said Mr. A., "we have not paid you sufficient
deference, I fear; for we have hardly kept order, in addressing one
another, and not through you. Now, please to speak for us, and tell us
what you think of Br. T.'s difficulty."
_Mr. C._ I have sinned with you, as to keeping order, if there has been
any transgression; but I have been so much interested and instructed,
that I forgot my preëminence over you. But to Br. T., I would say, There
is a church; and it means something, and something of infinite
importance. All our labors have this for their end, to make men
qualified for worthy church-membership, on earth, and in heaven,--the
conditions of admission here and there, as we hold, being essentially
the same. This church, which we thus build up, has children, call them
what we may, the objects of God's peculiar love. On that topic I need
not dwell. We ought to pay some marks of special regard to these
children, for God has done so. As to its being invidious, it is not more
invidious than to address our congregations as partly Christians, and
partly unconverted; or to invite the unconverted to meetings especially
designed for them. Meetings of the children of my church, called by me,
and addressed by me, never fail to make very deep impressions upon the
young, upon their parents, upon other children, and upon the parents of
those children. Another form of effecting the same desirable ends, is,
to call meetings of parents in the church, and their children, and to
address the parents and the children in sight and hearing of each other.
In doing so, if there are any parents in the church who are withholding
their children from baptism, we have the best of opportunities to
conciliate their feelings to the ordinance of baptism. We all know how
little is effected in our minds by abstract reasoning upon any subject,
where the feelings are deeply concerned; close argument, invincible
logic, absolute demonstrations, and all measures seemingly intended to
coërce the will, excite resistance, and confirm us in our prejudices.
But open to a parent, who has doubts on the subject, its inestimable
benefits to all concerned, and he will be more disposed to see the
grounds for it, and the abundant proofs of its divine authority, which
the atmosphere of pure reason had not sufficient power of refraction to
make him apprehend.
_Mr. S._ I thank the chairman heartily for those remarks. May I add a
leaf from my observation? I have noticed that in such meetings of
parents, in the church, and their children, good influences sometimes
reach those who are pursuing the mistaken course of withholding their
children from baptism, under the plea that they can consecrate their
children to God as well without baptism, as with it. They need to learn
the spiritual power which God has vested in the sacraments of his own
appointment, and to be disabused of the notion that the baptism of a
child is, from beginning to end, merely a human act, of which God is
only a spectator;--they need to feel that baptism is something conferred
upon a child by God; and not merely a sign, but a seal.
"Yes," said Mr. R., "it is an ordinance of God, and the neglect of it is
not merely a failure to obtain blessings, but a disregard of a divine
ordinance; not merely the withholding a sign of allegiance, but the loss
of a seal,--the government seal, not ours, which God would affix to the
intercourse between himself and our souls. If we, pastors, feel this
deeply, and so perceive the design of God in bestowing baptism upon the
children of his people, we shall convey to the hearts and minds of
doubting Christian parents, persuasive influences, which will succeed
where arguments and appeals, based on mere proofs and obligations, have
failed."
_Mr. A._ It is gratifying, now, to think that these things, and others
like them, may be done without calling the children "members of the
church." Except discipline, it is obvious that everything in the way of
watchfulness may be done for them as children of the church, which it
would be proper, or even possible to do, if they were counted as
members.
_Mr. R._ I am aware of the analogy which many, who plead for the term
members, seek to carry out between the Old and the New Testament church,
making children members of the Christian church, because the church in
ancient days included the children. But it seems to me that there is
the same difference, now and formerly, between the relation of children
to the church, that there is between the relation of the whole religious
community, now and formerly, to the church of God. Formerly, all the
members of the religious community were, by their association under the
same belief and worship, members of the church. To make the case with us
parallel, our whole Christian community ought to be members of the
church. No examination or discrimination should be used; to belong to
the Christian community should constitute church-membership.
But this, we know, is not the case. God chooses now to make up his
visible church not as formerly, but of those who give credible evidence
of regeneration. They who worship with us, but do not profess to be
Christians, are hopeful subjects of effort and prayer, whom we expect to
receive hereafter to the visible church, on profession of their faith.
As the Christian church is constituted differently from the Jewish
church, in this respect, discrimination and separation taking place
between the members of a Christian congregation, have we not analogical
reason to infer that it may also be thus with regard to children?--who
once, indeed, were members of the church of God, but, under the
dispensation of the Spirit, they fall, with other unconverted members of
the congregation, out of membership in the church.
_Mr. C._ And yet, Br. R., the fall is not far, nor hurtful. They are
entitled to all the privileges, and they enjoy, or should enjoy, all the
care and effort, which they would have under a different name. Only they
do not come to the Lord's Supper, as a matter of course, as they did to
the Passover.
_Mr. S._ Suppose that the legislature should incorporate a fish-market,
and cede to the proprietors fifteen square miles of the sea, within
which they should have the privilege of taking fish. All the fish,
within those fifteen miles of salt water, might be said to _belong_ to
the market; yet every one of them must be taken by hook and line ere his
belonging to the market is of any practicable value. So the children of
the church may be said to belong to the church, and are to constitute
her chief resource. Rivers, and other distant or neighboring waters,
would also send fish to that market, even if they were "far off;" but it
is from the bay at her doors that the market would derive her principal
supplies. I do not see that children are members of the church, any
further than those fishes belong to that market. Go there when you will,
you see the stalls filled from those adjacent waters; supplies are
continually coming in; they are, in a sense, secured to the market by a
covenant; yet every fish is caught and handled, before he has anything
like membership in that market, as really as though he swam and were
caught in Baffin's Bay;--only he is now far more likely to be caught,
and, in a sense, he already belongs to the market by the seal of the
state.
Mr. A., the reader of the sermon, not having much ideality, but much
plain good sense, yet taking everything literally at first, and from his
own honesty supposing that all figures of speech are to be cashed, as it
were, for what they purport on their face, immediately challenged his
brother to carry out the illustration. He asked him whether the constant
passage, in and out, of fishes from and beyond the ceded fifteen miles,
allowed of any resemblance, in the migratory creatures, to the children
of the church, who are born and remain in the limits of the church, and
are designated, individually, by virtue of their parentage.
Mr. S. replied, that he did not mean to make a comparison to satisfy all
the points of the case, and he hoped that the brethren would take it
with due allowance.
Mr. T. said that he had thought of this illustration: "All the young
male children of the Levites might be said to be members of the
priesthood. They certainly 'belonged' to the priesthood. But no one of
them could officiate till he had complied with certain conditions, nor
if he was the subject of certain disabilities. He believed that the
children of God's people have, by the grace of God, as really a
presumptive relation, by future membership, to the church of Christ, as
an infant Levite boy had to sacred offices; prayer, with the child, as
well as for it, and faithful training, with a spiritual use of God's
appointed ordinances, constitute, he was persuaded, as good reason to
hope that the child of a true believer will become a Christian, and
that, too, early in life, as that the young son of Levi would minister
in the levitical office."
"O," said Mr. B., "how many cases there are which seem to disprove
that. You will be obliged to reflect severely on some good people as
parents, if you take so strong ground."
_Mr. T._ I do not despair of a child whose parents, or parent, has
really covenanted with God for him, even though the child be long a
wanderer from the fold.
But it is the same now with Abraham's spiritual seed as it was with his
natural posterity,--neglect on the part of parents may work a forfeiture
of the covenant promises; failure in family government, above all
things, may frustrate every good influence which would otherwise have
had a powerful effect in the conversion of the child. The sons of Eli
were not well governed; Esau was evidently of an undisciplined spirit.
With regard to the children of several good men, in the Bible, it may be
inferred, that the public engagements of the fathers hindered them from
bestowing needful attention upon their sons. The only thing derogatory
to the prophet Samuel, of which we are informed, is, that his sons were
vile. With regard to certain cases of mournful wickedness, on the part
of the children of eminently good men, it will be found that some of
these men, occupying, perhaps, important stations of a public nature,
such as the Christian ministry, were so engrossed in their public duties
as not to give sufficient time and attention to their own families;
which is a great shame and folly in any father of a family. In vain do
we plead the covenant promises, if we neglect covenant duties. Grace is
not hereditary in any sense that compromises our free agency; its
subjects are born "not of blood;" there are many of the children of the
kingdom who will be cast out into outer darkness, but among them, we may
venture to say, will not be found those whose parents diligently sought
their moral and religious culture in the exercise of a strict,
judicious, affectionate, prayerful, watch and care, praying with them in
secret, which, it seems to me, is, perhaps, the most powerful of all the
means which a parent can use to influence the moral and religious
character of a child.
"Is it not a mournful inconsistency," said Mr. R., "for us to be
laboring and spending our strength and lives for the conversion and
salvation of others, and not be equally zealous for the souls of the
children whom God has given us?"
_Mr. C._ Our habits of seclusion and study may operate to make us
reserved, moody, and so repulsive, to our own children. We ought to be
interested in their every-day affairs, and watch for opportunities to
form their opinions, on moral as well as religious subjects, and be as
kind and assiduous to them, certainly, as we endeavor to be to other
children.
* * * * *
What more could these good men have said, with regard to the subject,
had they concluded to adopt the terms "member" and "membership," to
express the relation of children to the church? They were not conscious
of omitting or diminishing one privilege or blessing to which the
children of the church are entitled; everything which the most strenuous
advocates of "infant church-membership," so called, mention as accruing
to them, they claimed in their behalf. Did infant church-membership
admit to the Lord's Supper, as it did to the passover, the children
would now, with propriety, be said to be "members of the church." But,
inasmuch as, under the Christian dispensation, they cannot come to the
sacrament which distinguishes between the regenerate and the
unregenerate, without a change of heart, they, and all those who are
associated with the church in general acts of worship, and in Christian
privileges, but are not converted persons, are, alike, under the
Christian system, removed from outward membership--only, that the
children of the church have privileges and promises which go far to
increase the probability of their future church-membership, and directly
to prepare them for that sacred relation.
"THE CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH," then, is the sufficient name by which it
seems desirable that the children of believers should be designated.
And, instead of using the term "church-membership," applied to them, we
shall include everything which is properly theirs, we shall lose
nothing, we shall prevent great misunderstanding, and liability to
perversion, by substituting the "Relation of Baptized Children to the
Church," whenever we wish to express the peculiar and most precious
connection which they hold, in the arrangements of divine grace, with
the covenant people of God.
Chapter Tenth.
MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS.
The mother, in her office, holds the key
Of the soul; and she it is who stamps the coin
Of character, and makes the being, who would be a savage
But for her gentle cares, a Christian man.
--Then, crown her Queen o' the world.
OLD PLAY.
The pastors now adjourned their session under the maples, and repaired
to the room where their wives were sitting. The ladies had finished
their deliberations, and had been strolling in the woods. But they, too,
had been engaged, like their husbands, in conversation about their
children, and the children of the church. "Maternal Associations" had
been the chief topic. They had discussed their advantages, and had
considered objections to them. The result was, that they had unanimously
agreed to promote such associations in their respective churches. Their
influence on young mothers, in helping them to train their children,
affording them the results of experience gained by others; the privilege
of stating difficult and trying cases for advice, of praying together
for their children, of having those mothers, during the intervals of
their monthly meetings, pray for the children of their sisters, and
sometimes, specially, for a child in peculiar need of prayer, commended
these associations to their judgment and affections. One lady referred
to the possible disclosure of family secrets, at such meetings, which it
was unpleasant to hear, and to the undesirableness of revealing the
faults of a child. They agreed that these things should never be done,
and that it was easy to avoid them by employing a friend, if necessary,
to state the case, hypothetically, so as to conceal its connection with
any member of the circle. The ladies had gone so far as to adopt a
little manual, for their respective circles, which they submitted to
their husbands for criticism. One of the gentlemen read it, as follows:
"MATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS.
"Maternal Associations are designed for mutual instruction and
consultation, in connection with united prayer. Subjects for reading and
discussion relate chiefly to the physical, mental, moral, and religious
training of children. Some individual is usually prepared at each
meeting to give method and tone to the conversation, which might
otherwise become desultory. The faults of children who are known to the
members are _not_ made the subject of remark; but cases of difficulty
are so presented as to avoid individual exposure. Associations conducted
on these principles are found to be greatly beneficial.
"CONSTITUTION OF----CHURCH MATERNAL ASSOCIATION.
"Impressed with a sense of our entire dependence upon the Holy Spirit to
aid us in training up our children in the way they should go, and hoping
to obtain the blessing of such as fear the Lord and speak often to one
another, we, the subscribers, do unitedly pledge ourselves to meet at
stated seasons for prayer and mutual counsel in reference to our
maternal duties and responsibilities. With a view to this object, we
adopt the following constitution:
"ARTICLE I. This circle shall be called the 'Maternal Association
of----Church;' any member of which, sustaining the maternal relation,
may become a member by subscribing this constitution. Other individuals,
sustaining the same relation, may be admitted to membership by a vote of
two thirds of the members present.
"ART. II. The monthly meetings of this Association shall be held on
the----of the month.
"ART. III. The quarterly meetings in January, April, July, and October,
shall be held on the last Wednesday of the month, when the members shall
be allowed to bring to the place of meeting such of their children as
may be under the age of twelve years, and they shall be considered
members of the Association. The exercises at these meetings shall be
such as shall seem best calculated to instruct the minds and interest
the feelings of the children who may be present.
"ART. IV. At each quarterly meeting there shall be a small contribution
by the children for benevolent purposes.
"ART. V. The time appropriated for each meeting shall not exceed one
hour and a half, and shall be exclusively devoted to the object of the
Association. Every monthly meeting shall be opened by prayer and reading
a portion of Scripture, which may be followed by reading such other
matter as relates to the interests of the Association, or by
conversation tending to promote maternal faithfulness and piety. These
exercises may be interspersed with singing the songs of Zion, and with
humble and importunate prayer, that God would glorify himself in the
early conversion of the children of the Association, that they may
become eminently useful in the church of Christ. It is desirable that
the last meeting in the year be spent in reading the Scriptures and in
prayer.
"ART. VI. Every member of the Association shall be considered as
sacredly bound to pray _for_ her children daily, and _with_ them as
often as circumstances will permit; and to give them from time to time
the best religious instruction of which she is capable.
"ART. VII. It shall be the duty of every member to qualify herself, by
daily reading, prayer, and self-discipline, to discharge faithfully the
arduous duties of a Christian mother; and she shall be requested to give
with freedom such hints upon the various subjects brought before the
Association as her own observation and experience may suggest.
"ART. VIII. When any mother is removed by death, it shall be the
special duty of the Association to regard with peculiar interest the
spiritual welfare of her children, and to evince this interest by a
continued remembrance of them in their prayers, by inviting them to
attend quarterly meetings, and by such tokens of sympathy and kindness
as their circumstances may render proper.
"ART. IX. Every child, upon leaving the Association, at the prescribed
age, shall receive a book from the mothers, as a token of their
affection, to be accompanied by a letter, expressive of the deep
interest felt in their temporal and spiritual welfare.
"ART. X. The officers of the Association shall be a 'First Directress,'
a 'Second Directress,' a 'Secretary,' and a 'Corresponding Secretary,'
who shall be appointed annually in September.
"ART. XI. The duty of the First Directress shall be to preside at all
meetings, call upon the members for devotional exercises, and regulate
the reading. In the absence of the First Directress, these duties shall
devolve upon the Second Directress.
"ART. XII. It shall be the duty of the Secretary to register the names
of the members, and of their children, and to supply each of the mothers
with a list of the same, together with a copy of the constitution. She
shall also keep a record of the proceedings of each meeting, and, as far
as may be convenient, of the topic discussed, and of the remarks
elicited by it. This record shall be read at the commencement of the
next subsequent meeting. She shall likewise receive the contributions of
the children, keep an account of the same, and pay it according to the
vote of the Association.
"ART. XIII. It shall be the duty of the Corresponding Secretary to write
the letters addressed to the children upon leaving the Association, to
conduct the general correspondence, receive the contributions from the
mothers, and purchase the books to be given to the children.
"ART. XIV. Any article of this constitution may be amended by a majority
of the members present at any annual meeting.
"It is recommended to the members of the Association to observe the
anniversary of the birth of each child in special prayer, with
particular reference to that child. May He who giveth liberally, and
upbraideth not, ever preside in our meetings, and grant unto each of us
a teachable, affectionate, and humble temper, that no root of bitterness
may spring up to prevent our improvement, or interrupt our devotions.
The promise is to us and to our children; we have publicly given them up
to God; his holy name has been pronounced over them; let us see to it
that we do not cause this sacred name to be treated with contempt. May
Christ put his own spirit within us, that our children may never have
occasion to say,
'_What do ye more than others?_'"
* * * * *
No criticism was made upon this production, but the pastors commended
it, and rejoiced in the good which an increased attention to the subject
would be sure to accomplish. They promised to preach on the subject,
and, in their pastoral visits, to encourage mothers in the churches to
join the Associations.
One of the ladies said that she had a paper, which she had thought best
to read, if the company pleased, when they were all together, and she
had therefore reserved it until the gentlemen came in.
It was a paper in the handwriting of a Christian friend, which was found
in her copy of the "Articles and Covenant" of her church, after her
decease. This lady had been in the habit, as it seemed, of reading over
those articles and the covenant, on the Sabbath when the Lord's Supper
was to be administered; and the religious education of her children,
being identified with her most sacred thoughts and moments, she read
these questions at the same time.
The lady who read them said that it was proposed by some to append them
to the little manual already presented for Maternal Associations.
* * * * *
"QUESTIONS TO BE THOUGHT UPON.
"1. Have I so prayed for my children as that my prayer produced an
effect upon myself?
"2. Have I realized that to train my children for usefulness and heaven
is probably the chief duty God requires of me?
"3. Have I realized that, if I cannot eradicate an evil habit, probably
no one else can or will?
"4. Have I granted to-day, from indulgence, what I denied yesterday from
principle?
"5. Have I yielded to importunity in altering a decision deliberately
made?
"6. Have I punished the beginning of an evil habit?
"7. Have I suffered the indulgence of an evil habit through sloth or
discouragement?
"8. Have calmness and seriousness marked my looks, tones, and voice,
when inflicting punishment?
"9. Was my convenience, or the guilt of the child, the measure of its
punishment?
"10. Has punishment been sufficiently private, and have I tried to
affect the mind more than the body?
"11. Do my children see in me a self-command which is the effect of
principle?
"12. Have I, in my plans, my heart, and conduct, sought first for my
children the kingdom of God?
"13. Have I commended God to my children, and my children to God?
"14. Have I aimed to govern my children on the same principle and in the
same spirit which God adopts in the government of his creatures?
"15. Have I, in pursuance of the above resolution, acted in the spirit
of that prayer in God's word, 'Them that honor me, I will honor, and
they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed'?
"16. Have I aimed to secure the love and obedience of my children?
"17. Have I remembered that it is full time to make a child obey when it
knows enough to disobey?
"18. Do I realize that the fulfilment of covenant promises is dependent
on my fidelity? Gen. 18: 19.
"19. Have these resolutions been undertaken in the strength of Christ,
remembering 'I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me'?
"20. Have I labored to convince my child that its true character is
formed by its thoughts and affections?
"21. Do I daily realize that each of my children is a shapeless piece of
marble, capable, through my instrumentality, of being moulded into an
ornament for the palace of the King of kings?
"22. Do I, by my conversation and actions, teach my children that
character, and not wealth or connexions, constitutes respectability?
"23. Do I realize what circumstances are educating my children;--my
conversation, my pursuits, my likings, and dislikings?
"24. Do I realize that the most important book a child can and does
read, is its parents' daily deportment and example?
"25. Do my children feel they can do what they like, or that they must
do what they are commanded?
"26. Have I felt that a timid child is in great danger of being
insincere?
"27. Do I, as an antidote to timidity, cultivate the fear of God and
self-respect?
"28. Do I realize that I must meet each child at the judgment-seat, and
hear from it what my influence over it has been as a mother?
"29. Do I realize that it is in my power to exert such an influence that
Christ shall see in each the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied?
"30. Do I realize that my children will obey God much as they do me?
"31. Do I impress on my children that little faults in Christian
families may be as dangerous to the soul, and as evil in their
tendencies, as larger faults where there is no Christian education?
"32. Do I realize the danger of retarding or hindering the work of the
Holy Spirit, by evil habits, worldly pursuits, or companions?
"33. Do I make each child feel that it has a work to do, and that it is
its duty and happiness to do that work well?"
* * * * *
The paper having been read, one of the pastors stated that he knew the
lady who had been referred to; that she died leaving a large family of
children, all of whom, he had learned, were now members of the church of
Christ except the youngest, of tender age. He hoped that the Questions
would be printed in the Manual for the Maternal Associations.
"I was struck with the remark in some old writer," said Mr. R., "that
'God had clothed the prayers of parents with special authority.' It made
me think that, as the Saviour promised the apostles, for their necessary
assurance and comfort, that they should always be heard in their
requests, while engaged in establishing the new religion, so parents are
encouraged to think, since family religion, the transmission of piety by
parental influence, is so important, in the view of God, that they will
have special regard paid to all their petitions for aid, as God's
vicegerents in their families."
But the repast was now ready. It was a goodly sight, when that company
of ministerial friends and their wives were sitting round that table.
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity." There is a mysterious charm in eating together. It is well
known that associations designed for social acquaintance and
conversation, have, very generally, fallen to pieces soon after the
relinquishment of the repast. Our great ordinance, for the communion of
saints, is appointed to be at a table, where it originated. The flow of
kind feeling, which had prevailed during the afternoon among these
friends, seemed now to be in full tide, and many were the entertaining
and gratifying things which were there said and done. All possible ways
in which the products of an acre or two of well-cultivated land could be
prepared to tempt the appetite, were there. Br. S. was informed that
those fried fishes swam in Acushnit brook no longer ago than when he was
rehearsing his parable of the fishes. The strawberries had been kept on
the vines a day or two, for the occasion, and were in perfection. Eggs
figured on the table in every shape into which those most convertible
things could turn themselves; and, being praised, the lady of the house
said that she must tell them of Ralph, a boy of fourteen, whom her
husband had taken to look after his horse and garden, giving him his
tuition in Latin and other branches, for his services. Ralph was a great
amateur in fowls and eggs. No sooner did a hen cackle, but he resorted
to the nest, and, with his lead-pencil, wrote the day of the month upon
the egg. The lady rung her table-bell, and called him to her, telling
him to bring his egg-basket. He brought in an openwork, red osier
basket, with a dozen and a half of eggs in it, laid on cotton batting,
each egg as duly inscribed as the specimens of a mineralogist. Ralph was
highly praised.
"I suppose you think, my son," said Mr. R., "that an egg, like
reputation, should be above suspicion."
"It is best to be safe, sir," said he.
"Ralph," said Mr. S., "do you know who baptized you?"
"You baptized me yourself, sir."
"Do you remember, Ralph, how you reached out your hands, at that time,
and took my hand, and put my finger into your mouth, and tried to bite
it with your little, new, sharp teeth?"
Ralph blushed, and smiled.
"You do not remember it, Ralph. Well, I do; and now, Ralph, you must
come and preach your first sermon in my pulpit."
"It will be a long time first, sir," said Ralph.
"Your dear mother told me, when she was sick, that she thought she left
you in the temple, like Samuel, when she offered you up in baptism."
"Be a good boy, Ralph," said another of the pastors; "we will all be
your friends." He retreated slowly, feeling not so much alone in the
world.
The company did not separate till two of their number had led in prayer,
seeking, especially, the blessing of God upon their own children, and
that they, as parents and ministers, might be warned by the awful fate
of the sons of Aaron and of Eli, and not feel that the ministerial
office gave them a prescriptive right to the blessings of grace for
their children, but rather made them liable to prominent exposure and
calamity, if they suffered public duties to interfere with that first,
great ordinance of God, family religion.
The horses were now coming to the door. Farewells and good wishes were
intermingled, the joyous laugh at some pleasantry or sally of wit made
the house and yard alive for some time, the pastors had arranged their
exchanges for several months to come, visits and excursions were planned
and agreed upon, till one by one the vehicles departed, leaving the
parsonage silent, while its occupants sat down to rest a while, and talk
over the events of the day, in their pleasant window under the
honeysuckle.
Chapter Eleventh.
BAPTISM OF THE SICK WIFE AND HER CHILDREN.
In having all things, and not Thee, what have I?
Not having Thee, what have my labors got?
Let me enjoy but Thee, what further crave I?
And having Thee alone, what have I not?
I wish nor sea, nor land; nor would I be
Possessed of heaven, heaven unpossessed of Thee.
QUARLES.--"_Emblems._"
He whom God chooseth, out of doubt doth well.
What they that choose their God do, who can tell?
LORD BROOKE (London, 1633).--"_Mustapha._"
A lady with whom we spent a summer at a watering-place, and who was then
an invalid, and with whom we had formed an intimate acquaintance, was
now very sick, with cancerous affections, which threatened to end her
life at no distant period.
She had become established in the Christian faith, during her illness,
and, being a woman of great intelligence and cultivation, it was
instructive to be in her company. Many a lesson had I learned from her,
in the freshness and ardor of her new discoveries as a Christian, the
old themes of religious experience being translated by her renewed
heart, and discriminating mind, into forms that made them almost new,
because they were so vivid. She was fast ripening for heaven; she had
looked in, and her face shone as she turned to speak with us.
A lady, a friend of hers from a distance, was visiting us, and, knowing
that she was sick, requested me to call with her upon the invalid.
Hearing that I was in the parlor, she sent for me to come up and sit
with her and my friend, after they had seen each other a little while.
She was in her easy-chair, able to converse, and was calm and happy.
The door opened suddenly, as we were talking, and in rushed a little boy
of about six years, his cap in his hand, a pretty green cloth sack
buttoned close about him, his boots pulled over his pants to his knees,
and his face glowing with health and from the cold air.
"O, mother!" said he, before he quite saw us,--and then he checked
himself; but, being encouraged to proceed, after making his
salutations, he said, in a more subdued tone, holding up a great red
apple, "See what the man, where we buy our things, sent you, mother. He
called me to him, and said, 'Give that to your mother, and tell her it
will be first-rate roasted.'"
As the mother smelt of it, and praised it, with her thanks, the boy hung
round her chair, and wished to say something.
"Well, what is it, my son?"
He spoke loud enough for us to hear, with his eyes glancing occasionally
at us, to be sure that we were not too intently looking at him, and,
with his arm resting in his mother's lap, he said:
"Do, please, let me go with my sled on the pond. It is real thick,
mother. Gustavus says that last evening it was as thick as his big
dictionary, and you know how cold it was last night, mother. Please let
me go; I won't get in; besides, if I do, it isn't deep--not more than up
to there; see here, mother!" putting his little mittened hand, with the
palm down, as high as his waist.
His mother looked troubled, and knew not what to say to him, but
remarked to us, "O, if I were well, and about the house, I could divert
him from his wish; but," said she to him, "if you will ask Gustavus to
take care of you, and bring you home when he comes, you may go."
Off he went, making fewer steps than there were stairs, and we heard his
merry voice without announcing his liberty.
"Here I am," said she to us, "with those three children, who come home
from school twice a day, and there is no mother below to receive them.
With the best of help, things sometimes go wrong, and the young woman
who sews for me cannot, of course, do for them what a mother could.
Nothing has tried my patience, in suffering, more than to hear the door
open, and my children come in from school, and to feel that I am
separated from them, within hearing, while I cannot reach them."
She controlled her feelings, and helped herself to conceal them by
turning to rock a cradle which stood behind her, though we perceived no
need of her doing so; yet we must all distrust our own ears in
comparison with a mother's. The child was a boy seven months old.
"Do you know," said she to me, "that I am thinking of joining your
church? I have had a very trying visit from my own pastor, and he says
that I am too sick to be baptized by immersion, and that it is,
therefore, too late for me to receive Christian baptism. It is not
necessary, he says, in order to being accepted of God. I was born and
brought up in that Communion, and never thought much of the subject of
baptism till I hoped that I began to love God, here in my sick-room. If
baptism is so important as our ministers tell us it is, in their
preaching and by their practice,--for you know how important they deem
it, in times of religious attention, to have people baptized in our
way,--I cannot see why it is not important to me. If it is man's
ordinance, and merely for an effect on others, very well; but if God has
anything to do in it, I feel that I need it as much as though I were in
health. So my husband asked your minister to come and see me, and he
did; and he is to baptize me and my children on Saturday afternoon, and
administer the Lord's Supper to me after church the next day."
I asked her what ground of objection her pastor had in her case.
_Mrs. P._ My minister tells me it is superstition to be baptized on a
sick-bed, and that they are careful not to encourage such Romish
practices.
"But, O," I said to him, "Mr. Dow, I am afraid it is because your form
of baptism will not allow you to baptize the sick and dying, so you make
a virtue of necessity." He colored a little, but said, pleasantly,
though solemnly, "We see how important it is, Mrs. Peirce, to attend to
the subject of religion in health, when we can confess Christ before
men, and follow the Saviour, and be buried in baptism with him."
That made me weep, though perhaps it was because I was weak; but I said,
"God is more merciful than that, Mr. Dow. I know that I have neglected
religion too long, but God has brought me to him, by affliction, and now
I do not believe that the seals of his grace are of such a nature that
they cannot be applied to people in my condition. I feel the need of
those seals, not as my profession to God, but as his professions of love
to me. I believe you are wrong, Mr. Dow. You seem to make baptism our
act toward God, chiefly; now I take a different view of it. My sick and
weak condition makes me feel that in being baptized, and in receiving
the Lord's Supper, I submit myself to God's hand of love, and take from
him infinitely more than I give him."--"O, that is rather a Romish view
of ordinances," said he, smiling.--"No," said I, "Mr. Dow, I am not
passive in the ordinances, any more than in regeneration; my whole soul
is active in receiving their influences. But there is something done for
us in the ordinances, as there is something done for us in regeneration,
while we actively repent and believe. Are you not so afraid of Romanism,
and of 'sacramental grace,' that you go to an opposite extreme? for it
seems to me a morbid state of feeling. I wish for no extreme unction,
but I do believe that, in being baptized, and in receiving the Lord's
Supper, something more is done for us than helping us to take up and
offer to God something on the little needle-points of our poor feelings.
I should feel, in being baptized, that God has adopted me, and not
merely I him; and, in the Lord's Supper, that it is more for Christ to
give me his body and blood, than for me to give him my poor affections."
He asked me if I had not been reading the Oxford Tracts. I told him that
I read the Oxford Tracts, and other Puseyite publications, in their day,
and that I saw through their errors, and had no sympathy with their
views.
But I told him I was satisfied that the human mind, in that
development, was craving something more supernatural in religious
ordinances, to make the impression that the hand of God is in them, and
not that we are the principal party. So, instead of taking enlightened,
spiritual views of ordinances, the Tractarians sought to improve the
quality, by multiplying the quantity, of forms; and others are following
them into the Roman Catholic church in the same way.
"There always seemed to me," she said, "to be a grain of truth in every
great error. Is it not so? Even among the Brahmins of the East, and
among savages, each superstition, and every lie, retains the fossils of
some dead truth. When a new error breaks out among us, I feel that the
human mind is tossing itself, and reaching after something beyond its
experience. It seems to me," she continued, "that, at such times, it is
good for ministers and Christians to reëxamine their mode of stating the
truths of the Bible, to see how far they can properly go to meet the new
development, and, by preaching the truth better, intercept it. The cold,
barren view, which many take of ordinances, makes some people hanker
after forms and ceremonies; whereas, if we would present baptism and
the Lord's Supper as divine acts toward us, we might meet the
instinctive wants of many, and hold them to the side of truth.
"But I told Mr. Dow that I was no formalist, nor did I believe in
compromising the truth to win errorists. Clear, faithful, strict
doctrinal views commend themselves to men's consciences."
I came near saying to the good lady, that, if she were able to talk in
such a strain, and to say so much to her minister, he, surely, could not
have deemed her so enfeebled in mind as to be incapacitated for
admission to the Christian church.
"I told him, also," she added, "I was satisfied that his unvarying mode
of baptism was not ordained by Him who sent the Gospel to every
creature.--Why, said I, Mr. Dow, what do you make of the apostles'
baptizing the jailer, 'at the same hour of the night,' and 'before it
was day?' It could not have been for any public effect. What need to
have it done just then? Was it superstitious and Romish? No; it was to
comfort the soul of the poor, trembling convert, with a sense of God's
love to him. How it must have soothed and cheered him to receive God's
hand of love in that ordinance, before he himself fully knew what the
making of a Christian profession implied! I want that same hand of love
here, in my prison of a sick-chamber,--And, I never thought of it much
before, but, I said then, it seemed so clear to me that they would not
have gone to all the trouble, that night, and in the prison-house, and
after the terrors of the earthquake, to put a whole family into
bathing-vessels. To take people from sleep, ordinarily, and immerse them
in water, would be a singular act; much more when they are weak and
faint, as the jailer's family must have been, from fear and excitement.
In my own case, I could not be immersed, even at home; it would probably
cost me my life. Sprinkling came to me as so sweetly harmonious, in that
scene of the jailer's baptism, that I believed it to be the apostolic
mode of baptizing, and I told Mr. D. that I should imitate the jailer;
and that I should send for a minister who could imitate Paul and Silas."
"But," said I, "what brought you to believe in the propriety of
baptizing your children?"
_Mrs. P._ Your minister enlightened me on that subject. I told him my
heart yearned to have it done; for I took the same view of it which I
have mentioned with regard to my own baptism--that it is something which
God does, to and for the children, primarily, and it is not merely a
human act. He said that it was like laying "a penal bond" on children,
to baptize them, and oblige them to do or be anything without their
consent. O, how many such "penal bonds" I have laid on my children,
already!--the more the better, I told him. "A penal bond" to love and
serve God!--I mean to add my dying charge to it, and make it as binding
as I can. How imperfect such a view of baptism is! It is God coming to
us with his seal, not we coming with our own invention to him. I wished
to have God enter into a covenant with me, who hope I love him, to be a
God to my children forever. I felt that I could die in peace, if I might
feel some assurance of this; and, it seemed to me that, to have a sign
and seal of it from God himself would make me perfectly happy.
She handed me a book, which her pastor had lent her, and she asked me to
read a passage, to which she pointed. It was an argument against baptism
in sickness. Speaking of the penitent thief, the writer says:
"The Saviour did not, as a Papist would have done, command some of the
women, that stood by bewailing, to fetch a little water; nor the
beloved disciple to asperse the quivering penitent."
Remembering the view which the mother of little Philip took of such
things, I merely said, that the writer seemed to me to asperse a large
part of the Protestant world, under the name, Papist. Christian baptism,
I remarked, had not been instituted when the Saviour and the thief were
on the cross.
I received an invitation from the husband, a day or two after, to be
present at the baptism of his wife and children. The husband was not
professedly, nor in his own view, a regenerate man, but one of the best
of husbands and fathers, destitute, however, of the one thing needful.
The wife had on a loose cashmere dressing-gown, but was sitting in bed
for greater support and comfort.
The pastor read to her the articles and covenant of the church. She
assented to them; whereupon, at his request, I laid the church-book of
signatures before her, gave her a pen full of ink, and she wrote her
name among the professed followers of the Lamb.
The pastor then declared her to be admitted, by vote of the church, into
full communion and fellowship, after she should have received the
ordinance of baptism.
He rose, and read, "And Jesus came unto them, and spake, saying, All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world. Amen."
He continued: "My dear Mrs. Peirce, God is your God. He will have his
name written upon you, by its being called over you, with the use of his
own appointed sign and seal of baptism. The name in which he has chosen
thus to appear to you, is not God Almighty, nor his name Jehovah; but
those names which redemption has brought to view, and which impress upon
us the acts of redeeming grace and love. Do not feel, chiefly, that you
give yourself up to God in this transaction, though this, of course, you
do, and it is essential that you do so; but feel that the Father, Son,
and Spirit, come to you, and own you in the covenant of redemption, in
consequence of your accepting Christ, by faith, which itself, also, is
the gift of God. Professing repentance of your sins, and faith in the
Lord Jesus, you are now to receive, from the Sacred Three, a sign and
seal, confirming to you all the promises of grace, adopting you as a
member of the whole family in heaven and earth, and engaging God to be
your God.
"And now, as you are, yourself, a child of God, your children God adopts
to be, in a peculiar sense, his. This is the method of his love from the
beginning. Had Adam remained upright, doubtless his children would have
been confirmed in their uprightness; but, inasmuch as he fell, and, by
his disobedience, they were made sinners, God reëstablished his covenant
with Abraham as the father of all believers, under a new
church-organization, to the end of time, promising to be the God of a
believer's child."
He then read this hymn; and certain expressions in it never struck me
with such force and sweetness as in that baptismal scene:
"How large the promise, how divine,
To Abraham and his seed;
I'll be a God to thee and thine,
Supplying all their need.
"The words of his extensive love
From age to age endure;
The angel of the covenant proves,
And seals, the blessing sure.
"Jesus the ancient faith confirms
To our great fathers given;
He takes young children to his arms,
And calls them heirs of heaven.
"Our God, how faithful are his ways!
His love endures the same;
Nor from the promise of his grace
Blots out the children's name."
"And now," said he, "as you belong to the church of Christ, so your
children, in a certain sense, and that a very important and precious
sense, _belong_ to the church. Your little, unconscious babe belongs, in
that sense, to the church. You will not, you cannot, misunderstand me.
These are the children of a child of God. All your brethren and sisters
in Christ count them in their great family circle. They covenant with
you to pray for them, to watch for their good, and to rejoice in it, to
provide means for their spiritual prosperity, and to seek their
salvation. But, above all, God will ever have special regard to them as
the children of his dear child.
"Receive now," said he, "the divine ordinance of baptism, whereby God
signifies to you, and seals, all that is implied in being your God."
He drew near the bed, with a silver bowl, from which he sprinkled water
upon the head and forehead of the dear believer, whose countenance
expressed the peace of receiving, rather than the effort of giving,
while her lips moved now and then during the quiet scene.
They brought Edward, the first-born, and he stood, with his hand in his
mother's hand, and was baptized. There were almost tears enough shed by
us for his baptism, had tears been needed. Lucy came next, and then the
rosy-cheeked Roger, who had been persuaded to leave his new sled, a
little while, that Saturday afternoon.
But now the little boy was coming in from his cradle. His mother raised
herself in the bed, and received him in her arms. He had been weaned,
but, on coming to his mother, he began to make some solicitations,
which, beautiful and affecting though they were, some of us endeavored
not to see, but turned to smell of some violets, and to open a book of
engravings. The mother smiled, and held him off, but immediately put two
fingers, one on each eye, and wept;--the marriage-ring on one of those
fingers,--ah, me! how had the finger shrunk away from it. The nurse took
the child and diverted its attention. The husband sat far on the bed,
put one arm under the pillow that supported his wife, and held her hand
in his. Recollections and anticipations, we knew, were thronging,
unbidden, into that mother's soul. She had been reminded of fountains of
love sealed up, and yet there were opening within her living fountains
of water. She grew calm, beckoned for a little book on the table, opened
it, and pointed her husband to a stanza, which she had marked, and he
read it for her:--
"When I can trust my all with God,
In trial's painful hour,
Bow all resigned beneath his rod,
And bless his sparing power;
A joy springs up amid distress,
A fountain in the wilderness."
That was her profession of religion, and her signal to the pastor to
proceed. The father took the little boy in his arms, held him over the
bed, before his wife; the pastor reached from the other side, and
baptized Walter, in the name of the covenant-keeping God. The father
held the child for the mother's kiss, and then took him away, fearing a
repetition of the previous scene. But the wife drew her husband back to
her, and left a kiss on his own cheek, amidst his tears.
"And now," said the pastor, after prayer, "God has been in this place,
and has himself applied to you and your children the seal of his
everlasting covenant. Do not make your faith in it to depend on the
degree of equanimity or vividness in your feelings; but remember what
Elizabeth said to Mary: 'And blessed is she that believeth, for there
shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the
Lord.'"
"O," said Mrs. P., "is it possible that I live to see this day? I almost
forget my sickness, my separation from my husband and children, in the
thought that God is my covenant God, and the God of my children. My
baptism is to me a visible writing and seal from God; and my children's
baptism is the same. I always used to think of baptism merely as a
profession on our part. O, how much more there is in it, besides that!
It is God's covenant and testimony toward me. Blessed names!" said she,
soliloquizing,--"Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! sweet society of the
Godhead! They come together; they are like the three that came to
Abraham's tent. Each has his precious gift and influence for my soul.
Why was I allowed to see this day, and enjoy this?"
The pastor said, "This is just one of those things which make us say,
'His goodness is unsearchable.' There seems to be no way of accounting
for this rich, free, sovereign love."
"Can I fear," said she, "to leave my children in such hands? No. God of
Abraham! 'thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.'
Faithful God! 'a God to thee and thy seed after thee;' what power the
seal of the covenant has to make you believe it; yes, and seemingly to
hear it read to you. Do speak to all our dear mothers, and tell them in
health to make far more, than many do, of baptism for their children."
"And have you no blessing for me?" said the husband, as the pastor rose
to go.
"Dear sir," said the pastor, "they seem to have left you alone."
He had been sitting, somewhat out of sight, at the foot of the bedstead;
but, it was evident, from several signs, that his feelings were deeply
moved.
The pastor took his arm, and, bidding the wife an affectionate but hasty
adieu, he went with him to the sitting-room below.
"I need no arguments," said the husband, "to satisfy me, further, that
you are right. You have a system of religion which, I see, is good for
everything, and for everybody, and for all times, and places, and
circumstances. Sir, I have been sceptical; but I must confess that a
religion which can come into a family, like mine, and do what it has
done, through you, sir, to mine, and to me, must be from God. Sir, I
shall always respect our pastor for his consistency with his principles,
and for many other reasons; but I prefer principles like yours, which
can go to the sick and dying, and to little children whose mother----"
Here he began to weep. The pastor said, "To take a mother from a young
family of children, like yours, Mr. Peirce, is just the thing which we
should prevent, could we have the ordering of affairs."
"I feel," said Mr. P., "that God's hand is upon me. Passages from the
Bible, which I learned at sea, from love to my mother, come to me now.
She put a Bible in a box, and covered it up with a dozen pairs of
woollen hose, knit with her own hands. I have been saying to myself, in
the chamber, 'Behold, he cometh with clouds.' It is growing dark over my
dwelling; God is descending upon us in a cloud. 'Behold, he taketh away,
who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, what doest thou.' O, you
never lost a wife, my dear sir, nor looked on a motherless family, as I
begin to do. God help me, for I shall lose my reason."
"No, my dear sir," said the pastor; "think what has just taken place up
stairs. You now seem to say, as Manoah did, 'We shall surely die;' but
his wife said, 'If the Lord were pleased to kill us,--he would not have
showed us all these things.' God has bestowed on your children, through
their believing mother, his covenant, to be their God.--You are a Notary
Public, I believe, sir."
"I am," said Mr. Peirce.
"Then," said the pastor, "you know the importance of seals."
"O, yes," said Mr. P. "A gentleman, last week, came near losing the sale
of a large property, situate in one of the Middle States, because he had
had some papers executed, here, before a court not having a seal. I told
him, beforehand, that he was wrong; but he wished to know of what
possible use a seal could be, when the judge and the clerk used printed
forms, and the blanks were filled under their own hands. The papers came
back, and he had to do his business over again, and before a court
having a seal."
"But he was perfectly honest, at first, I presume," said the pastor,
"only the form was defective."
_Mr. P._ Yes, sir; but the form, in such a case, is the warranty. You
know that the power to have and use a seal is one of the things
specially conveyed by a legislature.
"God has seals," said the pastor. "One is baptism. It used to be
circumcision. But, as the old royal seal is broken at the coronation of
a new king, God appointed a new seal, baptism, to mark the new
dispensation; as he also changed the Sabbath of creation in honor of
his Son's reign, and removed the memorial of his deeds of greatest
renown, the Passover, for one that signifies still greater deeds, the
Lord's Supper. Thus God has his seals. He attaches great importance to
them. He binds himself by them. Your wife, being a child of God, it is
his arrangement, from the beginning, to enter into covenant with her in
behalf of her children. He stands, now, in a special relation to them,
and has placed the beautiful seal of Heaven upon his promise to that
dear sick mother, 'I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee.'"
"Is it necessary that the father should be left out?" said Mr. P.,
covering his face with his handkerchief. "They are mine, and God holds
me responsible for them. I am to be left alone with them in the world.
Is there not mercy for me, too? O, I had such a gleam of hope in the
chamber! As I saw the water descending from your hand upon those dear
heads, I thought, How much like a divine act such baptism is,--something
from God. I always thought of baptism as a cross, to which I must
submit; now I see that it is a token of love, bestowed upon me. So I
thought of those words: 'I am found of them that sought me not.' God
seems to have come to me in that baptism. I was expecting that, if I
ever became a Christian, I must, in token of my submission, be buried in
the waters of baptism. I would be willing to be, still, if necessary;
but that gentle baptism, coming to me and mine, seems like God being
beforehand with me, doing something with me and for me. It made me think
of Christ inviting himself into the house of Zaccheus, to save his soul.
I always felt that I must obtain religion wholly of myself; now I feel
that God has begun the work in me. I am sustained and borne on. That
baptism was the most powerful appeal that ever reached my heart. It
seems to me, in its connection with the gospel, like a beautiful
symphony of instrumental music in an anthem, which strives to interpret
the words. It proved an overture to me, indeed, in the best sense. But,
my dear sir, how near we came to losing all this which my wife has
enjoyed."
The door opened, and little Lucy came in with two plates and two silver
knives, and that great red apple which her mother had received a few
days before. "Mother sends her love to you, sir, and begs that you and
father will eat this."
They looked at the apple for a few moments, when the husband said, "I do
not feel like eating it. Do oblige me by taking it home with you."
The pastor took it home with him, placed it on his mantel-piece in his
study, where, for several days, it gave such an odor as to attract the
notice of every one that came in. The hand that sent it to him, in less
than a week had finished its work on earth. The apple then became a
hallowed thing. There it remained till it wilted, grew soft, and finally
turned nearly black.
A little, unceremonious visitant to his father's study would often climb
into the chair near the shelf, and express his wonder, and repeat his
questions, at the seeming mystery,--first, of not eating the apple, and
suffering it to be wasted; and then, of letting it remain when it ought
to be thrown away. It was not long, however, before the apple was buried
in a pot of earth. In due time green shoots appeared. And when the
pastor saw them, he said with himself, "The children of thy servants
shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee."
How it grew in the pastor's study, a little sacramental emblem of
hallowed scenes, and of infinitely precious truths,--how a place was
selected, and afterwards prepared, for it, near a garden-wall which
separates the wife's little garden from her grave,--and how the husband
came alone, one Sabbath, and joined the church, receiving the seal of
baptism from the same hand that sprinkled the water upon the heads of
his wife and children,--I cannot tell you now, nor, after so long
detention, would you be willing at present to hear.
THE END.
End of Project Gutenberg's Bertha and Her Baptism, by Nehemiah Adams