fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James v. 15, 16. The desire of the righteous shall be granted. Prov. x. 24. Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. Psal. 1. 15. He relieveth the fatherless and widow. Psal. cxlvi. 9. They cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. Psal. cvii. 6. The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore : praise the Lord. Psal. cxv. 17, 18. The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want: he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters: he restoreth my soul thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Psal. xxiii. 1, 2, 3. 5. The Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. Isa. xliv. 23. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Eph. i. 3. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things: and blessed be his glorious Name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen. Psal. lxxii. 18, 19. 1. Dearly beloved, forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin; THE MINISTRATION OF PUBLIC BAPTISM OF INFANTS. CLIV. Exhortation to the Congregation in behalf of the Candidate for Baptism. 1. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psal. li. 5. How can he be clean that is born of a woman? Job xxv. 4. Among whom also we all had our conversation in 2. and that our Saviour None can times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Eph. ii. 3. As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. By the offence of one judgment came upon all mer. to condemnation. Rom. v. 12. 18. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. John iii. 6. 2. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, Christ saith, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Verily, kingdom of verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of God, except water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the rate and born kingdom of God. John iii. 3. 5. enter into the he be regene anew of the Holy Ghost; 3. I be seech you to through our Lord Jesus Christ, that to this Child that thing which by nature he cannot have; Water and of 3. In every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Phil. iv. 6. If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according call upon God to every man's work, pass the time of your sojournthe Father, ing here in fear. 1 Pet. i. 17. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John xiv. 6. Again I of his boun- say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on teous mercy earth, as touching any thing that they shall ask, it he will grant shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matt. xviii. 19, 20. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. Eph. ii. 7. According to his mercy he saved us. Titus iii. 5. Of his fulness have all we received. as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John i. 16. 12. 13. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Job xiv. 4. They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Rom. ix. 8. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Eph. ii. 10. The new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph. iv. 24. As many 4. that he may be bap tized with Water and the Holy Ghost, and be made a lively member 4. Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized? Acts x. 47. John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Acts i. 5. Then they that gladly received received into his word were baptized and the same day there Christ's holy Church, and were added unto them about three thousand souls. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as of the same. should be saved. Acts ii. 41. 47. By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. 1 Cor. xii. 13. The Church which is his body. Eph. i. 22, 23. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 1 Cor. xii. 27. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him : knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 3. 8, 9. 11. And when they were come up out of the water, the eunuch went on his way rejoicing. Acts viii. 39. lasting God, thy great save Noah and his fa perishing by CLV. Prayer that Spiritual Benefits may be conferred upon the Candidate in the Sacrament of Baptism. No. 1. 1. Almigh- 1. If God spared not the old world, but saved ty and ever- Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, who of bringing in the flood upon the world of the unmercy didst godly; the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations. 2 Pet. ii. 4, 5. 9. And God mily in the looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; ark from for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. water; and And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence the children through them; and, behold, I, even I, do bring a perael thy flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh; through the but with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, holy bay and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. Gen. vi. 12, 13. 17, 18. Fifteen cubits upward did the also didst safely lead Red Sea, figuring Baptiam; 2. and by of thy well Jesus Christ, sanctify mystical washing away of sin; waters prevail; and the mountains were covered: and all flesh died; all, in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground; and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. Gen. vii. 20 to 23. The spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us, (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20, 21. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up; so he led them through the depths. Psal. cvi. 9. The children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. Exod. xiv. 29. Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2. 2. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan the Baptism unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbeloved Son, bade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of in the river thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answerJordan, didst ing said unto him, Suffer it to be so now; for thus Water to the it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. Matt. iii. 13, 14, 15. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Col. ii. 11, 12. This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. 1 John v. 6. Why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Acts xxii. 16. 3. We beBeech thee, for thine ininite mer cies, that thou wilt sanctify hims delivered from thy 3. His tender mercies are over all his works. Psal. cxlv. 9. It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Matt. xviii. 14. He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom. Isa. xl. 11. They brought young children to him that he should touch them and Jesus said, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and Holy Ghost; that he, being forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God. Mark x. 13, 14. Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Cor. vi. 11. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Mark xvi. 16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John iii. 16. Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Rom. v. 9. And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. Gen. vii. 1. The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved. Acts ii. 47. wrath, may into the ark be received of Christ's Church; 4. and being stedfast in faith, Joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, may 4. Now abideth faith, hope, charity. 1 Cor. xiii. 13. We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end. Christ, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm so pass the unto the end. Heb. iii. 14. 6.-Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. waves of this troublesome world, that finally ke the land of everlasting reign with thee world through Je sus Christ may come to Heb. vi. 19. Stedfast in the faith. 1 Pet. v. 9. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and life, there to peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Rom. xv. 13. without end; And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Col. iii. 14. Being rooted and grounded in love [charity]. Eph. iii. 17. All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Psal. xlii. 7. The floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Psal. xciii. 3, 4. Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise our Lord. Amen. |