Household Consecration

HOUSEHOLD
CONSECRATION.
NATHANIEL
E.
JOHNSON,
PASTOR OF THE THIRD FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW-VORK.
NEW-YORK:
EZRA COLLIER,
148
NASSAU-STREET.
West & Trow,
Printers.
1836.
j7
^0
^/ Q
CONTENTS
Preface
CHAPTER
Fundamental
The
The
principles.
constitution of the family state
CHAPTER
Fundamental
The
I.
constitution of the moral universe.
13
II.
The consequences of
principles.
the apostasy.
gracious design to bless parental faithfulness
CHAPTER
The Abrahamic covenant.
18
III.
and
Its terms, promises,
seal.
Its
27
perpetuity
CHAPTER
The
right of Christians to the
nant not abolished

of the
IV.
Abrahamic covenant.
confirmed
transferred
The
cove-
at the expense
Jews
38
CHAPTER
The change
V.
Circumcision abolished.
of the seal.
Baptism sub47
stituted
CHAPTER
VI.
Argument from ecclesiastical history. Household consecration,

in some form, the uninterrupted practice of the Church, during
four thousand years. Not neglected by any considerable portion until within three hundred.
denied by any sect during the

ity.
Not commenced
at
first
Consecration by baptism not

thousand years of Christian-
any period
since the apostolic age.
Universally practised in the fourth century.

tory.
Establishing
its
apostolic origin
1*
Its previous his-
61
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
VII.
Household consecration in the apostolic age. Its prominence.

Under the ministry of John, of Jesus Christ, of the apostles.
76
The Church obUgated to regard it in the same manner
CHAPTER
VIII.
household consecration. The state of mind essential to

acceptable performance.
The distinct and solemn pledge.
Utility of
its
Its actual bearing
on parental
91
duties*
CHAPTER
IX.
household consecration, continued.

Its influence on
consecrated children. Examples. Its connection with prevailing prayer. Examples. The early conversion of children
100
Utility of
CHAPTER
X.
household consecration, continued. Relation of bapchildren to the Church. Influence on the prosperity of the
Utility of
tized
Church.
The
theory, viewed in connection with the practical
operation
106
CHAPTER XL
Household consecration in its administration.
The Wyandot
chief.
The baptism
114
CHAPTER
XII.
Practical reflections.
Application of these principles to parents.... 118
Application of these principles to fathers.
CHAPTER Xni.
CHAPTER
Practical reflections,
to
continued.
...
127
XIV.
Application of these principles
mothers
13Q
CHAPTER XV.
Application of these principles to consecra-
ted children
143
CHAPTER
XVI.
Duties of the Church on the subject of household ,consecration.

Special consecration of children, in reference to the gospel
ministry.
Conclusion
150
CONTENTS.
Address
to parents, delivered in the
Broome-street,
New- York,
Association, at their
The prayer
of
Central Presbyterian Church,
New- York Maternal

Annual Meeting, March, A. D. 1836
157
before the
Habakkuk, or consolations of the covenant
186
The
altar of consecration
190
The
consecration
191
To
a consecrated youth
192
^^yrrrw^^^'
The
Consecration
stood,
when
time has arrived

is
and practised, than
stitution
the subject of Household
be more thoroughly studied, under-
to
at
An
any former period.
in-
founded upon imperishable reasons, and animated
by principles which control the destinies of our race,

must, in the progress of mankind towards the ages of universal Christianity,
The
honored.
infant schools
relations
be more
rise
fully
displayed and divinely
of Sabbath schools, Bible classes, and
the publication of books on the domestic
the formation of maternal associations
the his-
tory of revivals, as written in the biography of departed
worthies, and in our
own
spired to arouse the
Church of God
lier faith in
The
delightful experience
to a
have con-
deeper and
live^
the covenant of consecration.
author has, for years, watched with intense inte-
rest the operations of divine
Providence and grace, in
re-
ference to this ordinance of the Church, and has become
animated with the firm and joyful
and
virtue have not at
their splendor.
to speak of
if
by one
it
As
all
this interest
to others,
common
belief, that
been developed
its
power
in the fulness of
has led him occasionally
he has been delighted
influence, the
to find, as
minds of many devoted
10
PREFACE.
ministers and Christians watching

ness,
and rejoicing
same
in the
it
with the same eager-
Under these
convictions.
impressions, he feels constrained to exert such influence

as he
may
possess, to turn the attention of greater
numbers
to this subject.
He
has,
therefore, resolved to
employ the press, as
hitherto he has often employed the pulpit, to

to his fellow Christians his views
the consecration of households to God.

sive chapters the
communicate
and feelings respecting

In several succes-
divine origin of the practice of infant
dedication; the fundamental and perpetual reasons of its

institution
the designed application of
nations and ages
which the
faith of the
designated; the
its
Church
utility
principles to all
modern form, by
the ancient and the
to all the interests of future generations, will

for the consideration
cially for
those
this subject
many
who
lovers of peace
cause even those

ual principles
already practise itj
among
and
who
much
be presented
its
The
practise
it
many households have
friends averse to
to
its
fre-
to exclude
slumber over
when
its spirit-
In this slum-
fearfully suffered.
Had
made
its
from the pulpit, to
this institution
ther been fully experienced, nor,
enced, duly appreciated.
fact, that
controversy, has
this exclusion
and healthy influences of
relations
Christian professors, and espe-
and ecclesiastical importance.
tion according to
its
This aversion has operated
from the pulpit
ber
all
has awakened so
quent discussion.
it
of
been
in these principles has
of this ordinance, and
The
rich
of ages have neipartially
experi-
this subject received atten-
merits, instead of being considered
as scarcely contained in the Scriptures,
it
would have been
PREtACE.
11
regarded as intermingled with the whole current of inspi'

ration
instead of being considered as an ordinance mere-
}y harmless,
would have been recognized as an arrange^
it
ment, around which the deepest plans of divine Providence
have taken
and on which the great multitude of pre^
root,
cious promises have bloomed and Clustered. Indeed, there

is
good reason
preserved in
its
to
had
believe, that
this
ordinance been
original purity, the dark ages could never
have intervened
and had
it
not fallen into disuse, the

;
and had
its spirituality,
the world
reformation could scarcely have been impeded

it,
to the present time, preserved
would have been
filled,
ere this, with the influence of a
pure Christianity.
The
writer
by many of
its
is
aware that
who have regarded

mony,
it
will
this will
be considered, even
friends, as extravagant language.

it
By
those
as a superstitious and frivolous cere*-
be considered as an outrage upon the princi-
sober reasoning.
He
wishes them, however, so
ples of
all
far to
suspend their decision, as to consider calmly the
views and reasons which, to his
own mind,
assertions as the language of truth
present these
and soberness.
does not expect to convince, or impress those
He
who do not
read, or, reading, do not reflect, or, reflecting, do not pray.
To those,
however,
who
are willing to study the great per*
manent arrangements of divine Providence,

history of the
Church,
venant, and admit the
he
feels assured that a
to
full
to
ponder the
contemplate the everlasting coforce of parental responsibility,
thorough examination of
this sub-
ject will result in a conscious justification of his strongest
language.
If this great theme shall thus obtain a stronger
12
PREFACE.
hold upon the spirit of prayer

if this little
hook
and abler minds
now
rising in the
shall excite believing
preach and write,
to
great theme, until
it
shall
rise in its
minds
Church
to think,
respecting that
magnitude upon
the vision of the Church; then will the author rejoice in

the thought that he has not written in vain.
this
hope
Encouraging
a hope derived from having already presented
these views in other methods, he commits this volume to

the examination of the Christian public and to the blessing
ofthe God of truth.
^*'*er
HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION.
CHAPTER
Fundamental
The
I.
The constitution of the moral universe.

constitution of the family state.
principles.
The
consecration of households to God, has been prac-
by the great body of the Church ever since the time

of Abraham.
That it originated in the wisdom of God, and
tised
is
emphatically a divine plan, admits of direct and positive
This
proof.
sons.
gin, their justice.
the practice
1.
tion
There
its
fundamental
evinces their power, and
We
What foundation
for
must have
institution
Its antiquity
its
rea-
divine ori-
shall therefore proceed to inquire,
there is in the constitution
of things
of household consecration.
a natural foundation for it in the constitu-
is
of the moral universe.

In that constitution
God has claimed
the
supreme right
of property in matter and has revealed himself the supreme

and exclusive proprietor of mind. This right is original,
independent, absolute, and universal.
It is inalienable and
^
indestructible.
clusively,
It is
Jehovah's prerogative, peculiarly, ex-
and forever.
In the system of moral govern-
ment which he has established, for eternity, he has involved,

this claim, and committed himself to maintain it among angels and men.
It is wrought into every living glory of
heaven, and acknowledged
poured
in
religion,
in
upon man through
and
all
every
all
celestial song.
the ordinances of revealed.
It is
the testimony of natural,

It
pervades
14
all his
on
circumstances and relations.
It is
new
started a
mind
that
right
fore,
its
endless career, and ought not
be speedily consecrated to God
to
is in
nnind on
The
it.
divine claim
is
upon
Thus,
consecration.
verse
lies
another
mind
it.
should hasten to acknowledge them
knowledgment by the proper persons,

is
placed upon him
Creative power hath
his first introduction to existence.
divine
there*
and that ac-
proper manner^
in the constitution of the
moral uni-
There is, moreover,

exert an influence over
one fundamental reason.
That mind
in the
The
Man,
universally
is
ordained
to
and forever.
The moral sentiments and feelings of immortal minds

must have channels of mutual communication, and When
communicated, must produce similar or diverse sentiments
and feelings
The
tal
in associated
minds.
peculiar desirableness of an intelligeilt and immoi'*
universe must consist in the capacity for niutual and in-
fluential
communion.
In consequence of this capacity, the
of created and immortal mind will be able to
universe
study the perfections of God, and

their feelings of approbation
and
mutually to exercise
delight,
as he shall con-
descend to reVeal more and more clearly, through eternity,

his nature, his character,
this capacity,
and his glory.
they can understand,
In consequence of
appreciate,
love,
and
elevate each other.
God may
thus cast over the mighty uni-
verse of mind flash
afl;er flash
of his radiant glory, as his be-
nevolent plan shall be unfolded, and thus educate, for an im-
mensity of mutual happiness, his obedient offspring.
That
one system of inûence, mind acting upon mind,
whole plan
is
uncreated
intelligence
influencing in law, and in grace,
created intelligences^ and created minds influencing each
This
other.
much
to
great
principle of the
moral universe has
do with the practice of infant consecration.
design of that ordinance
over mind in God's behalf.
is
to secure the influence of
The
mind
So
far, therefore,
that design,
and so
for this purpose
as
so far, moreover, as
to
property
it
in
promote
employ it
itself to
God has determined
far as
ous and absolute claim

rationally based
adapted in
is
it
15
to
asserts his righte-
universal mind,
it is
on the constitution of the moral universe
itself.
There
2.
is
a natural reason for
this
ordinance in the
domestic constitution.
God has there given mind influence over mind in a most

and responsible degree. The parties are, first, two
intense
beings, the parents
They
immortal.
probation
and a third being, the child
and
all
a state of moral
introduced into
are
and on the character formed and developed
in
The
their probationary' state, depends their eternal destiny.
parental minds combined, are placed in circumstances calculated to give them an unrivalled degree of influence over
the mind of the child.
between the parties
The
ardent and mutual affection
the complete superiority of the pa-
rents to the child in every intellectual acquirement

entire
dependence of the child on them for
cerning
itself,
the world, and
course existing between them

sions
its
all
the
the habitual inter-
additional influence of the
elder children over the younger, in
the parents
opinions con-
on the most ordinary occa-
power of securing the
the
God
its
harmony with
that of
these circumstances united, conspire to fur-
nish the parents with an almost absolute control over the

earlier habits and opinions of their offspring.
is
Such, then,
the construction of the family state, and such the moral
influences exerted in the intimacies of
the
first
issues of
earliest impulses sent forth
begin to flow. There the
warmed
cradled.
There,
There
nurtured the
bosom.
upon human minds and hearts
first affection in
into conscious existence.
tions are
its
moral character are
in
an eternal series
There the
the
is
destinies of na-
smiles, the
tears, the
16
playfulness,
and the laws of home, the great moral history
of human nature
is
This
constitution, with all its
designed by
its
They
portrayed in living hieroglyphics.
indeed form an essential part of
it.
springs of influence^ was
great Author for the purpose of forming cha*
racterfor the confirmed glories of eternity.

It was ordained
before the fall.
It was adapted to preserve the choicest
influences of holy parents, unimpaired, and to send
accumulating through successive millenniads.
Malachi
Spirit,
God had
although
asserts, that
the residue of the
he established the marriage relation between two
definite
and avowed object of the family
were opened
ling intimacies awakened, its physical,
its
living fountains
These being
ral relations founded.
For
state itself.
deep and
its
in-
This was the
dividuals that he might seek a godly seed.
this,
them on
The prophet
intellectual,
thril-
and mo-
universal, entering into
the experience of every individual, were adapted to consti-
a most permanent,
tute
affecting,
and
influential
medium of
communication, from heart to heart, throughout the race.
was adapted
to
make
one broad ocean of
affection, lying
to the perpetual breath of truth
open with
all time,
and thus
Thus
were
its spiritual tides
It
was on
would have taken
all its
waves
to the congenial impulses
of the purest and sublimest motives.

fountains of forming influence
through eternity.
It
the wide brotherhood of human nature
to
its
replenishing
gush forth through
were
to
heave onward
this constitution,
that
the
seat, in
extending his pre-
serving grace over unfallen probation.
These were the
Sanctifier
his
cords which, thus pervading innumerable minds were pla-
ced
in
their
the hands of
whole extent,
Adam, and were

life
to
convey, through
and peace, or death and woe, ac-
cording as he should touch them with the unction of obedience, or with the poison of rebellion.
Had our first
parents held fast their allegiance, and ex-
17
erted all their influence to form their children to holiness
had death remained a stranger to our race

ert
lived to ex-
a holy influence, and the collected wisdom of six thou-
sand years remained
in
accumulated treasures
its
struct the present generation
by
and even down
had the ancient patriarchs
to the present time
to in.
had there been growing also
side ten thousand friendships, family alliances, long
its
cherished intimacies, and ever kindling, ever strengthening
attachment
O, then, in what heavenly places would the
innocent child of beauty have inhaled
earliest impres-
its
Yet such was the tendency and the prospect, before

entered, " and with it death with all our woe."
sions.
sin
The
of infant
institution
founded in
mankind
in
this
men
of
descendants of
and made us
at once,
Adam
and connect with
system of influence and

then, a special
is
all
could have crea-
contemporaries, instead
He saw
and Eve.
best,
how-
wisdom, to constitute the parental rela-
ever,, in his infinite

tion,
God
successive generations.
ted all
all
consecration, therefore,
great Providential arrangement, of placing
such a powerful
this constitution
Does there
responsibilities.
why
reason at once appear,
not,
parents, en-
trusted with such a charge as the education of an immortal
mind
for
to give a
trust 1
an eternal residence
heaven, should be required
in
solemn pledge for the
Would
it
faithful
not accord with the
discharge of their
immense
interests
connected with their influence to secure that influence for

the eternal welfare of the child
tant to
make deep
Would
it
not be impor-
the impression of the infinite value ot
the young immortal?
In view of the grand object of the
domestic constitution, therefore,

reason for the divine institution
evidently has no trivial origin
we
discern a most urgent
f household dedication.
it
It
has relations of most im-
pressive and enduring importance, and seems at once to be
seated in the deep foundations of
2*
human
nature.
CHAPTER
Fundamental
II.
The consequences of the apostasy.

God to bless parent faithfulness.
principles.
The
gracious design of
The
strength and justice of this institution in
mental principles will be farther apparent,

3.
The consequences
if
its
we
funda-
consider,
of the apostasy on the
human
character and the domestic constitution. Without controver-
consequences
sy, those
now
in
themselves are tremendous.
It is
certain that every child, in forming his character for
the judgment, will
tit
himself for everlasting destruction.
Since the earliest affections of the infant are supremely

fish,
first
he
will invariably resist
presentation, and persist in his rebellion until
comes habitual and

is
it
eternal, unless through divine grace
renewed, forgiven, and prepared for heaven.
to this, his native
sel-
the claims of God, at their
and voluntary
depravit)',
he
be-
he
In addition
will certainly
be surrounded by evil and vicious examples he will certainly be tempted to the vicious indulgence of his constitu;
tional propensities,
holiest parents,
finally
he
he
will certainly see
much, even
which he cannot imitate with
will inevitably
grand adversary
Call
and
be exposed to the wiles of the
the original, successful, and universal
now
to mind the principle of

mind influencing mind on moral subjects and
tempter.
in the
safety,
injiuence
also the na-
ture of the family constitution, giving to such influence an

intense and unrivalled sway, and
you
will at
once perceive
that in these appalling circumstances the parents are placed
on
either side like
own example be
two guardian angels.
evil, will
evil habits of their child.
They,
if their
confirm, strengthen, and foster the

If they
do not instruct him
in the
19
knowledge of God, he will grow up ignorant and impenitent.

If they do not guard him from the contamination of evil and
seductive examples
they do not endeavor to
if
on the side of the true
feelings
God
God and
should inculcate views of
if
enlist his
they, above
all,
religion fundamentally
erroneous, they will exert a deep, continual, and efficacious

influence in fitting their child for confirmed irreligion in
time,
and endless destruction when time
This
fearful
to exert
it,
but from their neglect of pious duties
love for worldly pleasures
The
shall be
no more.
influence will issue, not from a studied design

;
from their
from their vain conversation.
character formed under such influence will of course
reproduce
the next generation, and thus float
itself in
down
an accumulating weight of guilt

and mourning. T.ius tlie institution of household relations,
so admirably calculated to perpetuate holiness through
for ages,
bearing with
successive ages
tendencies,
is
so
it
much
made, by
like Paradise in
The grand
mitting evil dispositions and habits.
has only to poison the domestic fountain,

his
agency
world with
in the
his
own
all its
original
man's depravity, the engine of transin
deceiver
order to mingle
vast concerns of men, and cover the
The
luxuriant and congenial harvest.
passions and the selfishness of men, bursting forth amidst
innumerable occasions of excitement, have always required

the most efficient restraints, even for the preservation of the
common
How
interests of society.
often, indeed, the
most weighty considerations, the
most affecting motives, which either time or eternity can

furnish, are like the green withes of Sampson, or the fetters
of the Gadarenian demoniac.
it
spreads through
all
therefore, manifest,
It is,
that since this controlless depravity
the avenues of
is
so universal
human
action
since
since
especially in the family circle these depraved minds are
most intimately connected
since thus there are indissoluble
20
cords of influence binding
all
generations together,
sin,
once
introduced, will spread like fire in the dry and thick forest.
If,
any thing
therefore,
man
is
to
be done for the restoration of
to holiness, the early sanctification
of the domestic
in-
fluences would of course be regarded as a prominent and

all -important
Unless grace had interposed, the
measure.
augmenting depravity of man would have overwhelmed the

human race with one universal and impervious darkness.
The eruptions of depravity in different generations would

have buried the mortal and spiritual interests of man under
If, then, restoring
ten thousand cemented incrustations.
mercy were to exert
her benevolent offices
at all
would be directed by
behalf, she
all right
in
our be-
understanding of
the permanent plans of God, to apply her energies to those
cords of inffuence which bind the ages together.
If she
would elevate a sinking world, or even transiently suspend

it, from the cavernous ruin beneath, she must apply her le-
The
ver here.
nature of moral influence in
tense action in the domestic circle

ling perversion through
and above
itself
all, its
its in-
appal-
mun's entire depravity, demand,
therefore, that the parental agency be secured on the side
of God's truth,
in
order permanently to establish any sys-
The work
tem of restoration.
of restoration must employ
these original and all-pervading energies
and
into
into the
nature
joints
in
whole structure of that

its
fearful edifice
What
evil
this edifice,
agencies has
shall be
done
human
Through
growth o^ generations.
and timber and compartments of
of possession.
principles are
the very constitution of the moral universe,
meating presence of
The
and the system
These
during and all-controlling principles.
wrought
administration must be founded in these ever
of gracious
left its
all
the
the per-
monuments
The plague
is
raging
prospective atonement has rendered forgiveness possi-
ble, if the hearts
of
men
are changedj and
if
the sinful race
21
The
can be brought to repentance.
cy here commence
condition of man.
contrivances of mer-
upon the moral
their direct operation

It
was reasonable
that the holy
Agent
of grace should prepare himself a passage through this

It was reasonable that
thoroughfare of moral influence.
He
should connect his arrangements for restoring holiness,
with the same principles which were
designed for per-
first
petuating holiness had our race never revolted.
was
It
rea-
sonable that in order to subdue the power of the devil, he
should atttack the strong holds, which he had erected for himself,
out of these very principles.
that this
should be done,
making among
when
was the more reasonable

was
and especially when their
It
the ravages which death
the guilty race,
imminent exposures, were considered.
It
was the
dictate of
some direct and

should be commenced, in re-
reason, of benevolent necessity even, that
well adapted course of effort
ference to the renovation of children.

If such a course of effort
were
to
could the eye of merciful visitation

tal influence ?
How
be commenced,where
rest, if
not upon paren^
could that influence be secured, even
in the case of regenerated parents, better than
by requiring
from them such a pledge as should give them a powerconnected with such
ful sense of their responsibilities
;
promises as should encourage them amidst their parental

anxieties
Therefore, in presenting the original reasons for
establishing this practice,

4.
The
design of
( J od
we
adduce,
to dispense spiritual blessings in
connection with parental faithfulness.
ready contemplated
priety, of such
a plan.
The
now be
contemplated.
ed according to
principles al-
this
and pro-
actual existence of such a
design, as an enduring principle of

will
The
illustrate the reasonableness
divine government,
That God has always proceed-
general arrangement
the earliest records of his gracious deeds.
is
evident from
It is
evident
22
from that history, even

ness.
Consider
After the
fall,
parents
first
When,
now
the promise of a Saviour
a Saviour
view of the progress of wicked-
in
the primeval operations of grace.
who was
therefore, after the
to
was made
to
our
be their descendant'
murder of Abel, the
Seth occurred, the believing mother of us
all
birth of
seems to have
looked upon him in the remembrance and application of the
From him
merciful promise.
the Messiah eventually de-
In the progress of mankind through the antedi-
scended.
we find two distinct classes mentioned, viz. the

God and the sons of men. From the fact that pious
luvian period,
sons of
patriarchs of those days were the descendants of Seth
com-
bined with the fact that the intermarriages of the two classes prepared the
way
for the universal corruption
whole earth, we are authorized

between the two classes was a
of the
to infer that the distinction
distinction
between the pious
and impious families. The patriarchs in the Hne of Seth.

were the leaders among the sons of God, while those of
Cain were undoubtedly the leaders among the sons of men.
The names of Enos, Enoch, Methusaleh, and Noah, designate the first and those of Cain, Lamech, Tubal-cain, are
;
characteristic of the other.
What
an age of patriarchal moral power was
longevity of those
men
that.
The
enabled them to exert an unrivalled
agency over their descendants. Hundreds of years rolled

away, and still the venerable patriarch was there. How
must the aged Cain have looked, after the spirit of murder
had drawn
years.
If
its
lines
on hia countenance for hundreds of
he continued unrenewed, his
been loaded with a catalogue of
memory must have
sins like the record
of an
empire, and in the aspect of his multiplied descendants he
could behold his
own
God
terrible
own
scornful likeness forming, and his
example applauded.
For a while the sons of

same advantages.
enjoyed, from their longevity, the
23
Enoch) the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth, was

contemporary with Adam himself, for the space of three
hundred and eight years.
Methusaleh, his son, enjoyed
Enoch
the instructions of the heavenly
was able
years, and
to
derful translation, for
longer
What
for three
hundred
extend them, after his father's wonsix
hundred and ninety-five years
a sublime spectacle,
to
have seen the aged
Methusaleh, training up the young Noah, his grandson,
and watching with tearful eye the labor of Noah

the mysterious ark.
The main
in building
channels of grace were
certainly along the line of this sanctified parental and patriarchal influence.
establish
The
The
object of this arrangement
was
advantage of the original family constitution, and
to take
it
with
its
perpetual influences over the world.
time, however, for the complete accomplishment of this
object,
had not then arrived^may
arrived.
God,
tive nature
for wise reasons,
not say, has not yet
perhaps that the destruc-
of unholy agency might be more
bited, permitted the attractions of the
world
the family allegiance the sons of God.
the wicked began to mingle in families.
to
fully exhi-
seduce from
The righteous and

The descendants
of such marriage connections copied the more agreeable

fashions of the licentious world
tlie barriers were broken
down, and the impious opinions and example of the wicked
obtained currency and ascendency around the homes and
;
the hearths of the saints.
went down
to the grave.
altar-places
One holy patriarch afi;er another

The spirit of grace forsook the
which once he delighted
to
overshadow, and a
deep-minded^ dark-hearted race of giant
men
controlled,
with violence and oppression^ the abandoned world.
God had
When
suffered this state of things to exist, until the full
tendencies of perverted family influence were fearfully exhibited, until
it
resulted in the production of a countless race
of old, experienced criminals, gigantic
in stature
and proudly

24
doing evil
intelligent in
in
purpose
grovelling in imagination
unrestrained in conduct
design to limit the days of man's probation to a

period, and to destroy the
Noah and
base
he announced his
much
shorter
whole of the antediluvian race
his family excepted.
How
strongly does the
story of those ancient days evince the existence of a design
already stated, to make the family relation the main channel

After the deluge, the settlement of the
of grace.
race was again commenced, in the family of Noah.
moreover, the evidence
is
human
Here,
equally convincing of the exist-
The descendants, especiShem and Japhet, appear to have included the piety
The art of war was introduced, probably,
of those ages.
by Nimrod, a descendant of Ham. It is very clear that
ence of such an arrangement.
ally of
idolatry also originated with the descendants of Cush, the
Ham,
Egypt and Canaan, countries peopled by

Ham, show in the inspired record of the
character and curse, the power of the family constitution
son of
the descendants of
when perverted.
The evidence of existing piety from the time of Noah to
Abraham is all to be obtained from the history of the race
So far, then, during a period of 2000
of Shem and Japhet.
years, there
is
evidence that the great amount of
all
the
dispensations of grace has been on the principle of Messing
These
children through the influence of believing parents.

facts
will,
moreover, explain the reason annexed to the
second commandment, and through that explanation will

shed much admonition and encouragement around the family
relations.
They
will explain
how
it is
that
God may
visit
the iniquities of the father upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation of those that hate him.

to leave the
on
their
own
wicked parents
He
has only
to exert their natural influence
children, and withhold his regenerating grace
from those households whose parents never seek
it
in the
He
behalf of their offspring.
25
will eventually punish the
own
children themselves only for their
yet their
iniquities,
course of action was influenced by the examples and ini

structions of their
ungodly parents.
much to encourage,
as well as
There
For he does Mess with his converting grace the

his
He
He
faithful people.
heavenly influence.
bestow his gracious
howeverj
is,
much to admonish the parent.

houseliolds of
does bless the holy patriarch's

does, actually, as
visitations
we have
according to
this
seen,
rational,
permanent, and independent arrangement.
Let
me
may
goodness exceeds his
in the
house of the wicked
its
consequent train of spiritual blessings,
extend through a thousand generations of those that
love him.
of
his
be removed in the third or fourth generation, his gra-
cious design and
may
how
also here remark, with grateful adoration,
much, according to this principle,

severity !
While his curse that is
this
Thus by carrying
out the spirit and principle
general design in the special
work of
his grace, all
the precious promises will be accomplished, and the original

constitution of the family state will thus be restored, to pour
its
millennial influences over the world, until

"
The
rose of
Eden blooms again
for
man."
which we have stated does
exist as a
permanent gracious arrangement, how perfectly proper
that an institution should be founded, in which the parent
If,
then, the design
should promise to
in
tain
an
fulfil his
high religious obligations, and
which the covenant-keeping God should promise
him among
institution
is
his
overwhelming
to sus-
Such
by
infant consecration, founded originally
the direct appointment of Jehovah.

to be continued
responsibilities?
whether
Whether
it
ought
now
the form of consecration should
be water baptism, are questions hereafter

3
to
be examined
26
but that infant dedication
was
himself, cannot of course be denied
the
Bible.
show
The
considerations
that the ordinance
reasons.
by Jehoby any believer in
originally ordained
vah
already suggested
will
was based on the most important
CHAPTER
The Abrahamic
We
is
covenant.
III.
Promises, seal, perpetuity.
Terms.
have seen that the ordinance of infant consecration

and like all other divine institutions, hath
from heaven
a strong foundation composed of the great elementarya

truths of moral government and family constitution
foundation laid amidst the ruins of the fall, by the hand of
;
mercy, embodying the great

pense spiritual blessings
tal faithfulness.
nent plan,
is
The
to
fact, that
God
designs
to dis-
children in connection with paren-
existence of this design, as a perma-
manifest already
by the
consideration that
even before any external form of consecration was enjoined,

the transactions of grace had proceeded for two thousand
years, in uniform
accordance with
time at length arrived,
when
this
its
design
principles.
was
to
The
be brought
more prominently to view, and when its principles were to

become more powerful in action. The experience of ages
had manifested, not to God, but in man's history, for man's
future use, the importance of some distinct and solemn
pledge, which should be adopted to secure the parental
faithfulness,
and with which the fulfilment of the gracious
design was so intimately connected.
Abraham,
tablished,
At the
calling of
esidolatry had become

and the worship of the true God was sinking
into disuse.
firmly,
How
and generally
fearfully, in these facts of ancient days,
power of depravity exhibited! What

lessons of instruction will be communicated to the ages to
what impressive admonitions to all worlds against
come
is
the contagious
28
the introduction of sin
An Eden lost
a new world corrupted.
The
voice of
a world destroyed
God
calls
from that
burning portion of history, Beware of sin.

God, however, was, in the course of all these events,
developing the truth of his law, and the arrangements of
He ordered the whole current of human affairs

view of the advent of Christ.
This great event, on which
his grace.
in
was now
the interest of a world depended,
to
be connected
with the posterity of Abraham, and a nation was to be provided as a cradle for the Saviour, and a nursery for the
For
Church.
this purpose,
and
in
view of
was
go out from
called to
his native land,
Abraham
a lonely pilgrim,
He was
yet an heir of glorious promises.
con-
all results
sequent upon the establishment of Christianity,
assured that in
his posterity all the families of the earth should be blessed.
He
was
and by
trusted in God,
Then
glad.
it
mankind
interests of
faith,
saw
the
day of Christ and
was, that God, from a regard to the

in all ages,
revealed to him his gracious
plan, and established the everlasting household covenant.
This covenant, like the rainbow

to shine illustrious
essential to
itself
its
by
in its
humid beauty, was
the living principles which
formation.
As
this
were
covenant combines in
the aforesaid fundamental principles, and establishes,
until the period
consecration,
of
its
own
abolition, the practice of infant
shall solicit the
candid attention of the
reader to the following topics

I.
The
nature and provisions of the Abrahamic cove-
nant.
The
II.
nations, to
III.
right of God's people, through all ages
its
The
invaluable privileges
evidence that baptism
and
and,
is
now,
in
the place of
circumcision, the appointed seal of that everlasting covenant.

I.
The
covenant, whose nature and provisions
we
are
29
now
examine,
to
contained in
is
17th chapter of
the
Genesis.
" And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the
Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the
Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect. And
make my covenant between me and thee, and will

And Abram fell on his face
and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold my
covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations.
Neither shall thy name any more be called
Abram but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of
many nations have I made thee. And 1 will make thee
exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee; and
kings shall come out of thee.
And 1 will establish my
I will
multiply thee exceedingly.
me and
covenant between
their generations, for
thee, and thy seed after thee, in

an everlasting covenant, to be a God
And
unto thee and to thy seed after thee.

thee,
and
a stranger,
will
Abraham, Thou
and thy seed
be their God.
shalt
keep
my
And God
me
me
it
shall circumcise the flesh of
that
is
that
is
born
in the house, or
stranger, which
your
eight days old shall be cir-
cumcised among you, every man-child
he
my
shall be a token of the covenant betwixt
And he
and you.
is
and you, and
every man-child among you shall be
And ye
circumcised.
and
This
after thee, in their generations.
thy seed after thee
said unto
covenant therefore, thou
covenant which ye shall keep, between
foreskin,
give unto
the land of Canaan, for an everlasting pos-
all
and
session,
I will
thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art
to
is
in
your generations,
bought with money of any
He
not of thy seed.
that
is
born
in
thy
bought with thy money, must needs

be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for
And the uncircumcised msman everlasting covenant.
house, and he that
child,
whose
is
flesh of his
foreskin
8*
is
not circumcised, that
30
soul shall be cut off from his people
my
he hath broken
covenant." 1-14.
In order to understand the nature and provisions of this
we must
covenant,
consider
its
terms,
its
promises, and
its
seal.
What were
1.
the terms of the covenant?
In order to enter this covenant
Abraham
it
was
essential that
should give credible evidence of his faith.
had been well known, and well
after his faith
was
It
tried, that
it was formed.
Saving faith, or
was required in the language of its introduction, " I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and he
thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham fell
on hisface.^^ He exercised unwavering faith in the divine
word, and consented to the holy terms, which were essen-
his public connection with

vital
godliness,
tial to his
As
admission.
covenant, moreover, respected his offspring as
this
well as himself,
was
it
essential that
he should exercise that
faith in a course of parental faithfulness.
Thus, shortly
after this transaction, the Lord, referring to this
very house-
hold promise, said, " For I know him, that he will

his children,
and
his
household after him
keep the way of the Lord,

the
to
xviii. 19.
and
command
they shall
do justice and judgment ; that
Lord may bring upon Abraham
ofhim.^' Gen.
It is
which he hath spoken
that
manifest from
this, that
God
intended to bless his posterity according to his parental

faithfulness
and that the promise
household, was
2.
made on
What were
The
promises
the promises of this covenant
made
to
Abraham on
specified, respected both himself
grand object of
to him, in behalf
this
of his
this condition.
covenant, in
conveyance of spiritual blessings.
and
all
the conditions above

his offspring.
its
The
bearings, was, the
Of this,
the phrases, " to
to thee," " I will
God
be a
31
be their God," are conclusive
This was the language of God through
proof.
when
Scripture
the
all
were promised.
the gifts of saving grace
Jer. xxxi. 33. " This shall he the covenant that
make with
the house
Israel, saith the
of
law in their inward parts, and will
and I will
Lord
ivrite
it
in their hearts^
my people.
God, and they shall he
he their
I will
I will put my
In
^^
20 xxxvi. 25-28 xxxvii. 26, 27 the

same expressive language is employed for the same purEzekiel
xi.
19,
Thus, indeed, the new and everlasting covenant
pose.
is
The same language is as full of

when used to Abraham, as when used cm
emphatically expressed.
grace and truth
Not only
any subsequent occasion.
the grand idea of the expression
will be thy God,''^
than to have the great
spirit possess,
and eternal portion
"
What more can any
obliges us to this interpretation.
mortal
the scriptural use, but
itself,
What bestowments
imagined not included here
Nor
is it
God
im-
his sure
of grace can be
an objection
to these
views, that temporal blessings are promised, in the context,
This
as well as spiritual.
raises
"
No good
uprightly.
also, elsewhere, the Bible pro-
thing will he withhold from them that walk
I have never seen

Godliness hath
the righteous forsaken, nor his
seed begging hread:
now
Lord is
that
is,
as well as of the
life
promise of the
the
which
is
to
come^
the guardian of his people in every interest,
ther temporal or spiritual
round about them,
is
life
The
whe-
and the angel that encampeth
not less the minister of his providence
than of his grace.
This glorious covenant conveys these spiritual hlessings

His regeneration, his saving faith,
to the believer himself.
his personal obedience to the truth,

tial
to his entrance
is
presupposed, as essen-
upon these covenant
privileges.
personal promise to him, as a believer, insured,
don
2d. Sanctification
3d. Perseverance.
For
1st.
The
Par.
all these,
32
together with
needful temporal good, are included in the
all
I will be thy God, as explained by the Bible itself.

His own regeneration is not promised, because it is itself a
phrase,
prerequisite to an entrance
upon the covenant
This
title.
being supposed, these other blessings the covenant insures

to
him absolutely and unconditionally, as a believer in Jesus

His faith is the connecting bond, which unites him
Christ.
to these
By
blessings of adoption.
thus securing the per-
severing holiness of the believer himself,

foundation for
it
to his offspring,
The
it
forms a sure
farther procedures respecting his house-
Therefore,
hold.
grace
ness.
its
promises to convey the blessings of

on condition of his parental faithful,
promise, as extended to his children, included
regeneration in addition, and as the grand prerequisite to

the others.
faith,
and
all
promise so rich, was made only to living
in proportion to the
rental faithfulness.
It
degree and eminence of pa-
placed the redeemed head of a fallen
household on the rock of salvation, and roused him, by
most
thrilling motives, to attempt, while
it
encouraged him
to expect, according to his operative faith, their certain re-
demption
also.
conditional,
This promise
and graduated
in
to the believing parent
its
was
gracious meaning, accord-
ing to the measure of faith which should be manifested in
Should the parent's
the domestic constitution.
light
be
should
obscured, and his conduct be grossly inconsistent
covenant
engagement
should
fail,
he
like
the
break
he
;
Eli, to restrain his children
in
should he be grossly deficient
any parental duty, he has reason
to expect the
astrous consequences to his family.
On
most
dis-
the other hand,
should he perform the conditions of the covenant should

Jie exercise the higher degrees of faith, in its promises
;
should he avail himself of
may
all
its
possible resources
he
expect, not their salvation merely, but their dlstin-
tinguished usefulness, their exalted temporal prosperity, and
33
eminence of
their
voice, to the
On
glory.
celestial
make
hath always delighted to
his
confiding parent
grace
this subject
God
illustrious.
His
Come up
continually,
is,
higher
There is one point here which should be distinctly markThat all the spiritual blessings which the believer is
expect for his children he must expect on the ground of
ed.
to
this special promise,
and through
God has
the special visitations
the
Holy Ghost.
ful
resources of the family state in his
means
to
of means,
have us understand, that

it is
of
designed to employ the wonder*
own cause
but he
after all this adaptation
only through the special influences of grace,
provided in the covenant promise, that the blessing shall
come.
What was the import of the seal ?

The seal itself, in its great original import, was spiritThe apostle declares it " a seal of the righteousness
ual.
of the faith which he had, being yet uncircumcised.^' By the
3.
command
of
God
When
child.
it
was placed upon
the parent and the
placed upon the parent,
it
was a token of
God's claim upon him, and of God's personal promise to

him, and of his professed submission to the claim, and living
faith in the promise.
When
placed upon the child,
a token of God's claim upon the child

to the father
on behalf of the child
and
also,
cases, the entire consecration of the individual on
was placed, by the
implied.
When God
sion to the seal
faith
said,
was the
In both
whom
same
father's
amen
I will
father's
to this
therefore, a pledge, in the
consecration to Jehovah
the
of the father, was necessarily

he thy God, the submis-
amen.
When
he said,
" and of thy seed after thee," the sealing of the child
that
was
of the father's
consent to the claim, and faith in the promise.
seal
it
of God's promise
first
and
promise also.
instance, of his
in the
It
was
implied,
own
entire
second, that he as sin*
34
cerely consecrated his household as he did himself; that he
himself would walk before
God
would thus command

promise, on the part of God,
that he
jailer, " Believe
The
household after him.
to him,
was
like that to the
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt he
saved and thine house*"
was
with a perfect heart, and
his
The promise, on his part, to God,

As for me and my house, we will
like that of Joshua, "
serve the Lord,"
The
seal of the
Abrahamic covenant,
therefore,
placed upon the father and his family, dedicated
when
all
the
domestic relations, influences, and interests, to the Supreme
When
God.
placed upon the father,
made between God and

child,
it
it
his soul.
When
placed upon the
was a significant sign of that same gracious arrange-
ment, in
infant.
publicly attested
it
arrangement of saving grace which was
glorious
that
its
bearing, through a conditional promise, on the
When
the consecrated infant
himself believed,
then became to him a token of his interest in the promise
Then, and
of pardon, sanctification, and preserving grace.

not
till
and offspring,
then, he also, personally, for himself
entered into covenant with God.

nant, with
its
terms,
its promises,
The Abrahamic
and
ecclesiastical administration of the
its seal,
cove-
was a glorious
covenant of grace.
included the provisions of that covenant
and more
It
also,
unless the covenant of grace be defined, as including^ in

itself the conditional provisions
of the Abrahamic covenant,

The covenant ot
respecting the households of believers.
Perhaps
grace has not generally been thus defined.
may, more
it
correctly, be termed the covenant of grace,
brought into public profession, and extending
its
promise
to
parents in behalf of their children, through certain appropriate conditions.
The
great ideas are the
same
in either
case, and the conclusions are precisely the same, respecting
parental duties and parental hopes.
The
application of the
seal, both to the parent
manner
in
The
child,
was the appointed
which the ancient believer professed
and solemnized
of that
and the
35
his
was
right of circumcision
faith
his faith,
household consecration.
well adapted as a seal
which receives remission of
through the
sins
shedding of blood, and professes a spiritual and internal
Hence
change.
the frequent application of the term to
"The
heart."
" Ye
the moral state of men.
cumcise thine
Lord thy God
sed in heart and ears, ye do always resist the
There was
as your fathers did, so do ye."
will cir-
and uncircumci-
stiff-necked
Holy Ghost,
also a special
propriety in the selection of circumcision, as the seal, be-
cause
it
prefigured a bleeding Saviour to
come
and pre-
served the nation of Israel distinct from other nations, until

the Messiah appeared.
The last suggestion will explain
particularly the
reason of
its
adoption, and will vindicate
the propriety of a change of the seal,
was
to
be pubhshed through
when
the gospel
the world, and the
all
many
nations were to hail the Chaldean Shepherd as their father.
The advantages
compensate
one
sex,
of this seal were
for the disadvantage
when
it is
remembered
of
sufficient, therefore, to
its
application only to
that the other sex
was con-
sidered as characterized and included in the household, as
surely as
if
any other
seal
had been selected
and that the
circumcision would harmonize well with the Jewish cereit was to be associated, and
might be easily exchanged for another, when the Chris-
monies, with which, for ages,
its more liberal privileges, should

commence.
The same general course of reasoning will explain the
tian dispensation, with
propriety of especially including in the promise, the land
of Canaan, as the everlasting inheritance of the

scendants of Abraham.
It
literal de-
was a promise subordinate
to
the main design, like the establishment of the Jewish na-

HOUSEHOLD CONSECEATION.
36
tion,
and connected
in this
manner with the coming of the
Mediator, in the fulness of time, on which event the power

and vaUdity of all the gracious arrangements depended.
On
the whole,
conclusions
1.
we arrive
at the following
unembarrased
That Abraham entered into this covenant after having
given evidence of his
faith.
That this covenant was a divine arrangement established by Jehovah himself! with which Abraham, as a believer^ was called to comply.
3. That the terms of this covenant were personal faith,
2.
and parental
4fc
That
fidelity.
all
the promises of this covenant were
made
in
and through the glorious Mediator.,

5. That this COY enant promised spiritual blessings as the
main scope of its
provisions,
and temporal blessings as sub-
ordinate and collateral.

6.
That
promised spiritual blessings to Abraham, ab-
it
solutely on his
own
behalf,
and conditionally on behalf of
his offspring.
7.
That Abraham was required
to seal this
covenant
by circumcising himself and his household and that circumcision on these principles was personal and household
;
consecration.
8.
That the same mode of consecration was used for

which was used lor himself
That this circumcision was the appointed token, or
his children
9.
memorial, between
God and Abraham
of this spiritual
covenant.
10.
That
covenant
this
is
repeatedly declared to be
everlasting.
The proof of
the final conclusion
the covenant itself

everlasting covenant.
will
is
in the
language of
make between me and
thee an
In 1st Chron. xvi. 15, 17, that co-
87
venant is portrayed in the following manner : " Be t^

mindful always of his covenant, of the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Even the covenant
which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac

and hath confirmed the same unto Jacoh for a law, and to
Israelfor an everlasting covenant,"
These
assertions re,
specting the perpetuity of this covenant correspond with
the natural conclusion which results fVom the permanent
character of
more valuable
than a
vileges
full
?
its
fundamental principles.
to the believer, during
assurance of his
title
to
What can
any period of
its
be
unsearchable
time
pri,
CHAPTER
IV.
right of Christians to the Abrahamic covenant. Covenant not abo)ished

confirmed transferred, at Uie expense of the Jews, to the Gen-
The
tiles.
We shall
II.
The
now proceed
to consider,
and
Abrahamic co-
right of God's people, through all ages
nations, to the invaluable privileges of the
venant.
The
evidence that Christians are entitled to
vileges of the
vincing.
Abrahamic covenant
is
all
the pri-
abundant and con-
In the Scriptures of truth a series of positions are
maintained, which constitute, together, a most satisfactory-
proof of the perpetuity of that covenant, and of the right of

Christians to
1.
its
promises.
That covenant has never heen aholished.
The
truth of this sentiment might be strongly argued,

it was originNot only the great reasons remain un-
from the fundamental principles upon which

ally established.
changed, but the
institution is
as well adapted to the circum-
stances of all ages and nations, as the age and nation of
Abraham.
all
its
remain
The
family constitution remains the same, with
moral bearings, and the

;
and the design of God
responsibilities
of parents
to bless believing parents
in their consecrated households is incorporated into the liv-
ing promises and procedures of God.
If
God has
publicly
recognized these principles, and this covenant, as a part of

his perpetual
system of administration,
posed that he has now abandoned
it.
it is
If,
not to be sup-
however, he has
given up that covenant, some intimation of such relinquish-
ment must be contained
in the Scriptures.
It
may
be well
39
examine a few passages which are sometimes adduced
to
to prove the abolition of the
language of Jeremiah
Abrahamic covenant.
31-33,
xxxi.
is
quoted
The
for this
purpose
" Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that
I will
make
a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house
not according to the covenant that I made with
of Judah
their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to
;
my
covenant
was a husband unto them,
saith the
bring them out of the land of Egypt
they brake, although
But
Lord.
my
will put
law
which
I will
make with
After those days, saith the Lord,
in their
hearts; and will
be the covenant that
this shall
the house of Israel
inward
parts,
and write
it
in their
be their God^ and Ihey shall be
my
people."
That
this text,
however, does not assert the termination
of the Abrahamic covenant,

derations.
The
first
is,
is
evident from several consi>.
that the covenant here said to be
was a covenant formed hundreds of years after

Abraham. " The covenant which I made
with your fathers in the day when I took them out of Egypt.**
superseded,
the existence of
The
2.
apostle, in his Epistle to the
Hebrews, 8th and 9th
chapters, quotes this passage, and explains
and Christian
dispensations..
The
it
of the Jewish
Levitical priesthood and
the sacrifices, the tabernacle and
its furniture, were all laid

These are particularly referred to by Paul, as matappertaining to that covenant which was done away.
aside.
ters
3.
The
the
Abrahamic covenant, but from the
neH) covenant
tical establishments
sation
away.
is
is
not called new, in distinction from

civil
of the Jewish nation.
and ecclesias-
new
had commenced, and the old was expected

4.
Another consideration
is,
that the
dispen-
to vanish
new covenant
expressed in almost the same language with the Abra-
40
HOtJSEKOLD COJfSECRATION.
hamic covenant. The main promise is the same, " I will

be their God and they shall be my people." In it God pro*
mises to put his law in their hearts, and to prevent the final
apostasy of his redeemed children from his service. This is

the covenant of grace. The Abrahamic covenant breathes
the same spirit, and is the covenant of grace brought into public profession, and extending its promise to parents in behalf
of their children. This passage, therefore, strongly evinces

that the ancient household covenant
The
expression in Daniel
ii.
is
44,
not abolished.
also produced
is
by
some, to prove that the two dispensations were in truth two

distinct
its
Churches
or that the present
Church commenced
existence with the advent of Christ. " In the days of those
kings shall the
God of heaven
Are we
never be destroyed."
set
to
up a kingdom
that shall
understand that
God had
no spiritual kingdom before the coming of the Saviour ? This

we know is an unscriptural sentiment. Hundreds of years
before the Messiah came, the harps of Judah had chanted
the glories of the
kingdom of grace. It should be consider,

prophecy was spoken in view of the
ed, therefore, that this
perishable kingdoms of earth
and while Assyria, Persia,
Greece, and Rome> were successively overthrown, the prophet saw the pure gospel winning its way triumphant over
the obstacles in its pathj and finally established in a com*
plete ascendancy throughout the world. There was, there*
fore, a propriety in calling the commencement of a new
administration the setting up of a kingdom.
kingdom before since it

God was destroyed in order
;
to establish another, there be-
ing no intimation of this in the passage

terpretation
struction
Since, there*
God had no spiritual

cannot mean that one kingdom of
passage cannot mean that
fore, this
we have
it is
suggested
is
since, too, the in-
the fair and obvious con-
manifest that the passage does not authorize
nOUSEHOLO CONSECRATION.
the sentiment, that the
41
Abrahamic covenant
is
abolished.
If neither of these passages inculcate that doctrine, I

fully persuaded that
it
will not
am
be found in the Bible.
The distinction we have made between the covenant

made with Abraham, and extending its glorious promises
and the covenant of national customs and
upon the Jews, is abun-
to his children;
ecclesiastical ceremonies, enjoined
dantly sanctioned.
The covenant
bondage, but that of
faith is full
Now
mises.
promise.
of Sinai gendereth to
of free and cheering pro-
we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of
Isaac was a child consecrated to
sealed covenant, and
was indeed a
God under
the
By
child of promise.
exercising the faith of his patriarchal father, he too could
bring his children to the altar of consecration, and pledge
father's faithfulness,
As
and plead Jehovah's grace.
the destruction of the Jewish system of rites and cere-
monies did not invalidate the original gracious covenant, so

the enacting of those regulations did not disannul the pro*,
Hence
mise.
the covenant of promise could remain
when
these superincumbent things were removed, to cheer us and

bless us with all
iii.
17,
we
its
read, "
undiminished privileges.
And
confirmed before of
this
God
I say,
Thus, in Gal.
was
was four
that the covenant that
in Christ, the law, which
hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should

make the promise of none effect.^^ Notwithstanding, then, any
changes which may have occurred since, in the circumstances of the Jewish nation, the great and invaluable Abra-
hamic covenant
If,
retains
its
then, this covenant
reasons,
if it is
unchanging
is
truth.
founded on such imperishable
so well adapted to the necessities of our race
throughout the revolutions of time,
if
it
promises blessings
of the soul to the parent in behalf of his immortal offspring,

if
it is
proclaimed an everlasting covenant, and

4*
if
it
is
no
42
where
sacred Scripture abolished,
iri
it
certainly
comes be-
fore us with a most impressive aspect.
God has
2.
ing
confirmed this covenant^ instead of aholisk"
it.
In the delightful comparison of Paul between
Moses and
Christ, this sentiment appears to be decidedly inculcated.
Moses was a servant, and
faithful in all his house,, for
testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.
Moses did, he acted not as a son, but as a serwas not proprietor of the house, but merely a servant
Christ acts as a son
and he has more
of the proprietor.
In
all that
Vant
honor than Moses, inasmuch as he
who
house hath more honor than the house.

argument, Moses himself, considered
hath huilded the
According
workmanship, z. e. the building of Christ.

a part of that house in which he was called
however, declares, that we,
apostle,
ChrisVs house, and that Christ

fore Christ
was over Moses,
is
every age, as constituting one

house, of which he
is
i.
over his
as he
believers, over those of later
is
The
to serve.
believers,
e,
own house ;
are
there-
over us, over ancient
ages, over all

spiritual
the head.
to this
was the
He himself was
spiritually,
body
According
believers of
one
to this
spiritual
view of
the subject, the Church has ever been one in both dispensations,
is
and the covenant confirmed before of God
thus confirmed through
the Messiah. In Gal.

after the
Though it be but a man's coveman disannulleth or addeth

The covenant, then, which God made with Abra-
manner of men.
nant, yet, if
thereto."
ham,
and
is
is
iii.
in Christ,
time by the reigning glory of

15, we read, " Brethren, we speak
all
it
be confirmed, no
confirmed unto every believer on the same terms,
wisely calculated to waft the blessing from genera-
tion to generation.
sition, that.
We are
now prepared
for the third po-
3.
This covenant
transferred, with all
not only confirmed, hut distinctly
is
privileges, to the Gentiles.
its
The proof of this

of scripture.
position
In (xal.
43
is
contained in
13, 14,
iii.
many
passages
said, " Christ
it is
hath re-
deemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
usJfor it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth on a
That the blessing of Abraham might come on the
that we might receive the
;
tree.
Gentiles through Jesus Christ
The
promise of the Spirit through faith"

of justification by
faith,
in the
great doctrine
atoning Saviour,
here
is
clearly taught, and in view of the general atonement the
mercy have been
invitations of
The atonement was

Spirit
man
sent out to the Gentile.
necessary in order that the Holy
might consistently bestow his influences upon the huand therefdre, it is through the doctrine of the
race,
atonement that the design of blessing the successive generations of men has been formed.
When, therefore, the
Saviour
ham
is
said to
have
suffered, that the blessing of
Abra-
might come on the Gentiles, and that he might receive
the promise,
justified
it
is
certainly
by the same
faith,
meant that we
also should
be
and that we should possess with
him the promise of the Spirit in behalf of our children.

This was the blessing which Abraham possessed, and this
was
The
the promise in which his parental heart delighted.
passage, therefore,
is
Christians are entitled to
are blessed with faithful

positive
all
the privileges of the ancient
Knoiv ye, therefore,
*'
covenant.
conclusive in proving that Gentile
how
precious
is
that they
Abraham"
which be offaith
How
the assurance
explicit
Gal.
iii.
how
26-29
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ,
have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female
*'
for
ye are
all
one
in Christ Jesus.
And
if ye be Christ's,
44
then are ye AhrahanCs seed, and heirs according
This
mise.^^
last
to the
verse most surely implies that
tians are the spiritual seed of
Abraham, and
all
pro-
Chris-
that therefore
they are heirs of the promise with Abraham, and have the
same title with him to all its privileges. In the fourth chapRomans, the admission of the Gentile believers, into
ter of
these exalted privileges,
and
plicitness,
is
satisfaction.
inculcated with great force, ex-
There
it is
asserted, that he re-
ceived circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the

faith
which he had being uncircumcised, that he might be
the father of
end
to the
If,
them
that believe, though they be not cir-
that the
it
is
to
offaithf that
it
promise might be sure
then, the promise to
be a God
this
all
Therefore
cumcised.
him and
Abraham
to his seed after
might be by grace,
to all the
was, that
him
if
promise through faith in the Redeemer
encouragement
plied great
welfare of his children
to
him
if this
seed.
God would
he received
if this
im-
to labor for the spiritual
covenant
is
founded on im-
mutable principles, and is not abolished, but solemnly conif the great embankments, which for ages had
firmed
;
kept the waters of holy influence in one solitary channel^

were torn away when the Saviour came, that the blessing of
Abraham might flow

real believer
the promise
is
is
to the Gentiles
and
if,
finally,
every
counted as a descendant of Abraham, and
sure to
all his seed, is
if
not the evidence abun-
same
same covenant of generations ?
however, one more position, which will serve to
argument more impressive.
dantly decisive, as to the right of Christians to that
household promise, that
There
make
4.
but
it
is,
the
This covenant is not only bestowed upon the Gentilest

is
The
even bestowed upon us at the expense of the Jews,

full
import of this
last
statement
may
be seen in a
candid exposition of the eleventh chapter of Romans.
The
Jews, the natural branches, are there represented as broken
45
HOtrSEUDLD CONSECRATION.
off from their
own
olive-tree,
and the Gentiles as taken
From the wild olive-tree of nature, and graffed
into the olive-
tree of grace, into the Church of the living God, to be
nourished by the root and fatness of new covenant privi-
No new
ieges.
olive-tree
planted, but the Gentiles are
is
represented as graffed into the old olive-tree, into the

privileges
which the Jews by
same
their outrageous unbelief had
forfeited.
If,
now, any one wishes
value of this covenant,
to gain just impressions of the
him consider,
let
The poor Jews
1st.
broken off and abandoned to perpetual unbelief and dark*

From generation to generation the same hard-heartntss.
ed
infidelity travels
No
on.
into their spiritual condition,
seems
to find
no amount of evidence
dispel their delusions,
work of
light
Can any one
conviction.
its
way
no arguments have power to
continued moral wreck, and not
is
equal to the
look upon thai
remember
long
the apostolic
Wrath Tia$ come upon them to the uttermost.

1
Can any mind study that mournful history, and not tremble
prapliecy
a1
the thought of perverted family influence
Yet, amidst these paiiful emotions, consider,
power of ike ancient covenant
away
G<d hath not finally cast
2d.
The
in securing their restoration
Their delu-
that people.
heavy night of thick

For God
Abraham.
made
with
he
Which
the
covenant
remember
sions shall speedily vanish
their long,
darkness shall be turned into refulgent morning.

will
In this respect, their tenacious observance of their Jewish

ritas
;md ceremonies
their preservition as
pie in all their wanderings

idolatry, a sin to
ed
all
which
distinct peo.
their universal abhorrence of
their falhers
were so much
addict-
these are scarcely less adapted to the doctrine of
their restoration, than
is
their blindness or their obstinacy
to the fulfilment of the terrible sentence of their righteous
Judge.
f46
If,
then,
it
is
fact, that
such judgments follow the per-
version of these great covenant truths
only hope of redemption

patriarchal covenant
of
theirs, salvation
is
if,
in the far
through
if
it
be so that our
reaching grasp of that
this
most melancholy
has come to the Gentiles
fall
coming
if,
with no stinted measure, she has brought the fulness of

those heav<;n-born privileges, and poured
shall
we
them
at
our
all
feet,
not prfy-e an inheritance for ourselves and our off-
spring in that everlasting covenant
Shall
by every persuasive motive
selves bound
whatever that seal
may
be
we
not feel our-
to affix its seal
upon our immortal children
The conclusion to which we are conducted is,

God has not abolished the Abraharnic covenant
since he
the gospel dispensation
has positively confirmed
it
he has even bestowed
explicitly, with all its immunities,
it
upon the Gentile believers

this at fearful
it is
since, finally,
since
he has even done
expense to the original proprietors themselves,
the certain'privilege of every believing parent to conse
crate his children to
and
in
that since
it is
his
God on
solemn duty
the terms of that covenant
to affix the appropriate
token of
faith and promise upon them, according to the example of

the Church for almost four thousand years.
CHAPTER
The change
V.
Baptism
Circumcision abolished.
of the seal.
aubsJi-
tuted.
Having
discussed the nature of the
Abrahamic cove-
nant, and the right of behevers in all places and times to

its
glorious privileges,
That baptism
III.
its
authorized
We hope
and
it
we
is
shall proceed to prove,
now, in the place of circumcision,
appropriate seal.
be remembered, that the existence o
will
infant consecration, as an institution of Heaven, founded on
unchanging reasons, and secured by a perpetual covenant,

whose duties and blessings are extended with the whoJe
extent of the gospel
However,
proved.
itself,
has been already abundantly
therefore, the present question
determined, the duty of parents in some

their households to
argument perfectly
God,
is
clear.
even
form
may
in the present stage
It will
be
to dedicate
of the
be seen, moreover, that
the facts and principles already established will not only
harmonize with the sentiment, that baptism

but will even constrain us to
consider
to
God
1.
it
its
adoption.
now
is
the seal,
We therefore
the duty of parents to consecrate their children
by baptism, for the following reasons

It is
certain that circumcision
do not mean that circumcision
is
is
abolished.
By this
abolished merely as
form of infant consecration, but as a seal of the covenant,

It should be remembered that
either for adults or infants.
circumcision
ham
was
for adults as well as for infants.
dedicated himself to
God
in this form.
Abra-
When
the

48
Christian dispensation
commenced, the Jews, understanding

were to be admitted to the Church,
that believing Gentiles
the ancient Church, with
all its
the
undiminished privileges
Jewish Church even, for Christianity commenced
among
establishments
the Jews, and
and most successful preachers
The
ought to be circumcised.
the apostles
Jews were
thought
put upon the Gentiles, because
this
was
we
referred to
Circumcision
are introduced into
all
the rights
am prepared to go
farther,
and say circumcision
is
abo-
The
among
among the
as far as Jewish Christians are concerned.
reasons assigned by the apostle for not requiring

the Gentiles are equally valid for
Jews
to con-
some other seal.
secrate our children to God, in the use of

I
is
Hence
are concerned.
and privileges of the children of Abraham, we are
lished
neither
This passage of
course decides the case of the Gentiles.
the conclusion, that as
earliest
was a yoke which
it
we
its
yoke was not to be
they nor their fathers were able to hear.
certainly abolished, so far as
earliest
that the Gentiles
question
and they decided that
its
its
abolition
which neither we nor our fathers
it
ii^re able to hear.
In this expression they did not consider circumcision merely

as a form of infant consecration, but as a
rite
in the circumstances, to certain other rites
which constituted the
He
i.
ritual service
that is circumcised is
e. to
observe
all
a debtor
of the old dispensation.

to
keep the v>hole law
those rights and ceremonies.
had served
fore, circumcision
binding them,
and ceremonies,
this
As, there-
temporary purpose, of
binding the ancient son of the sealed covenant to the heavy
and cumbersome observances with which,

it
was associated
for
wise reasons,
it was very
when that whole'system of carnal ordibe abolished, a new and better rite should
until
the fulness of times,
reasonable that now,
nances was to
be
substituted, as
this should
be
a seal of the everlasting covenant, while
lefl
gradually to vanish away.
With
these
49
and rational views, the whole history of the aposChurch perfectly corresponds and all the language
scriptural
tolic
of apostolic scripture corroborates

these reasons for
its
selection of that particular
form served
that
now
While, therefore,
it.
abolition existed, the
reasons for the
form had ceased
to indicate the cleansing
to exist.
the blood of atonement had been already shed.
that form served to secure the
a descendant of
the Saviour had
If
of sin by bloodf
If
coming of the Saviour as
Abraham by keeping the nation distinct,

now come, and that particular purpose was
no longer necessary.
If that
form had long been associated
with the observance of the ceremonial law,
ceremonial law had expired,
it
was well
of the mind should be changed, and a
now
since the
that the association
new form, bearing a

new dispensation,
similar relation to the contents of the
which
lasting
had borne
this
covenant
to the old,
itself all,
and sustaining
to the ever*
and even more than
all,
the
appropriateness which this had ever sustained, should be

substituted in
with
all its
its
place.
Since, then, the covenant remains,
reasons, privileges, and authority, unabolished,
confirmed, extended, and this at great expense,
some appropriate and authentic
sess
seal.
it
must pos-
Since circum
is displaced from that exalted honor, some other seal

must have been provided. Whatever that new seal is, it
is the duty and the privilege of the Christian parent to apply
it to himself and his offspring, because he is an heir of that
same gracious and unchanging covenant, and the applica-
cision
tion of
its
its
seal
is
the direct and public profession of faith in
provisions.
2.
Whatever
that
new
form of dedication, both
was
seal
is,
there
for the parent
is
but one seal, one
and the
child.
the case in the ancient administration of the
covenant.
child
Then
This
Abrahamic
both the believing adult and his infant
were circumcised.
Faith was an indispensable con-
50
on the part of Abraham, and
ditlon
was an
ecclesiastical covenant
He
his entrance into this
act of solemn profession.
thereby declared his dependence for salvation
Saviour to come, and dedicated by the same
and
self
household to the
his
respecting his
faith
own
God
rite
on a
both him-
His
of the covenant.
and respecting the
justification,
promises of God to his children, each terminated upon Jesus

Christ as
that
object.
its all-sufficient
It
was
proper, therefore,
should be expressed in the same manner, indicated
it
by the same rite, and lay fast

same divinely appointed seal.
Venant
remains
itself
hold of the covenant by the

Since, then, the spiritual co-
since remaining,
by which our consent
seal or token
shall be publicly
given
same
therefore be the
and
whatever
or form
beheving adult,
is
is
now
arrangements
its
the
in the coniSecration
the consecration of the parent*

rite
since
must have some
it
to
new
seal
must
of the child as in
Conclusively follows, that
it
the seal of the covenant to the
of course to be applied to the consecra*
tion of his offspring.
Baptism by Water
3.
is
That baptism
the ordinance
is
name of
in the
and Holy Ghost,
the Father, Son,
the seal of the covenant to all believers.
by which the
adult believer
professes his faith in Christ, his dependence on the regene*
rating and sanctifying influences of the

entire dedication of himself to the
known
to all those
of the
New
who
are at
Testament.
*'
all
Go
Holy Ghost, and
Most High,
is
his
a fact well
familiar with the contents
ye, and teach all nations,
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Ghost." " He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that belieVeth not shall be
damned." The numerous instances of baptism mentioned
baptizing
in the
those
Acts of the Apostles, and the epistolary addresses to
who
are
members of
ligation of their baptismal
the Church, enforcing the ob-
engagements, are
sufficient
proof
of the sentiment that baptism
seal of the gracious covenant,
an
is
Abraham was
that
its
spiritual provisions are
the appropriate
is
irresistible inference
We
from the positions already established.

that the covenant with
have proved
a spiritual covenant
extended to the Gentiles, and
that in baptism the believer expresses that faith
he appropriates
himself
to
therefore baptism
is
which he
If,
enters.
its
the seal to
then,
is
it
mode of
the authorized
is
That baptism
Christian consecration.
51
by which
invaluable blessings, and
him of the covenant
into
certain that this covenant
requires the consecration of his children, and promises spiritual blessings to
him on
their behalf
to be applied to the child
which
is
if
the
same
seal
is
applied to the adult, then
the duty and the privilege of the Christian parent to dedicate his household to
God by
baptism
That baptism
testably established.
is
is
clearly and incon-
now,
in the
place of
circumcision, the appropriate seal, will be evident from a

consideration of the points of resemblance.
Both are seals of

trine of justification
of faith. The doca Mediator has ever been the
the righteousness
by
faith in
cardinal doctrine of the Church.
proving
this
The
fundamental sentiment,
had sought salvation
in strict
in
adherence
servances, produces the example of
all
showing that from the days of Abel to

noble
army of
doctrine.
Romans
apostle Paul,
when
view of those who

to
mere carnal ob-
the holy
his
men
of old,
own, the whole
confessors were witnesses to the truth of hig
Abraham he positively asserts, in

"That he received the sign of circumcision
Respecting
iv. 11,
as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet
being uncircumcised."
Circumcision was therefore a seal
of the righteousness o^faith.

The great doctrine of justification by faith alone was signified in it, and the covenant
of mercy was thereby sealed between
Need
even tarry
to
God and
prove that baptism
is
the believer.
a seal of
the
52
thou belie vest with
**
"Believe and be baptized,"
righteousness of faith?
As
thy heart, thou mayest."
all
If
an-
ciently no adult could be circumcised without believing, so
now no
adult can be baptized without believing.

faith in
In the ancient days the believer professed

Saviour to come;
in
the
new
dispensation the believer
In both
professes faith in a Saviour that has already come.
was justified by his faith, and the circumwas

what
the baptism is now, a seal of his
then
cases the believer

cision
gracious justification.
To
each, faith is
sense.
The
an indispensable condition
of children be consistent with the
be baptized
How can
inquiry sometimes rises,
An
command
answer the inquiry.
Abraham
baptized adult believer cannot
giving evidence o[faith.

in
but to adult unbelievers.
The
adult heathen
Abraham, was
is
and
now be
So under the
to believe first
faith.
The
un-
baptized without
to believe
and be
are not addressed to infants,
who came
In this respect, therefore, the

to adults,
to lelieve
could not be circumcised
The commands
New Testament
the
same
attention to the point of resemblance will
himself until he had given evidence of his
baptized
in the
the baptism
to
old dispensation.
be circumcised as did
and then
to
command, so
be circumcised.
far as
precisely the same, requiring faith
it
relates
first,
and
then offering circumcision or baptism as a seal of the righteousness of the faith exercised previous to participation in
the ordinance.
Nor
is
the resemblance less complete in respect to the
consecration of children.
his household,
first,
by
The
ancient believer presented
circumcision, to that
God
to
whom
with inward sincerity and with external
crated himself.
Even where the
parent
was
rite,
he had
conse-
him.self a child
of the covenant in his infancy, and circumcised at eight
days
old,
he was expected, by living
faith, to act
when he
53
God
Thus
Thus Jacob devoted
his group of young patriarchs to the God of Abraham,
Faith in the Shiloh of future times was essential to the ac,
offspring to the
dedicated his
of his fathers.
Isaac consecrated Jacob and Esau.
ceptable performance of the severe but significant cere*
mony.
Now if the
baptism
is
to
dren of believers,
faith,
by every parent who
correct,
of course,
who merely
is
and
chil-
professedly exercised
claims, in behalf of his household, the
The
privilege of consecration.
rents,
we have taken be
positions
be applied as a seal of the covenant to the
practice of admitting pa-
assented to the confession of faith with
the understanding, to present their households for baptism,
was
utterly unauthorized,
as
it
direct
was
called,
was
and
The
terms of the covenant.
in direct violation
not only unauthorized, but
and sacrilegious perversion of these
rious privileges.
tion, the
of
When
spiritual
Lord Jesus
but, in
it was a
and glo-
Christ,
and
the ordinance
It is true,
can be administered when but one of the parents

;
the
the jailer heard the apostolic direc-
voice said, " Believe on the
thou shall he saved and thyhouse,^''
liever
all
plan of the half-way covenant,
such cases, the parental relation
is
as sanctified in consequence of the believer's faith.
is
a be-
regarded
" E)lse
were your children unclean, but now are they holy." I?

not, then, perfectly evident, that faith was equally essen-^
and in both
tial to circumcision as it is now to baptism
cases, is it not an indispensable condition, in the same sense
it
and
in all respects
Both denote the same spiritual change.

That the depraved heart of man must be renewed by
the efficacious grace of the Holy Spirit, is a most important
doctrine of the Christian religion.
upon every
action,
individual,
and these claims are
where the
The
claims of
God are
through the whole course of moral
selfish heart is not
in
every instance resisted
changed by the sanctification
5*
HOUSEHOLD CONSECRA.TION.
54
of the
When God
spirit.
rent, that
demands of every believing pa-
he shall yield up his child to these supreme and
righteous claims, and shall consecrate him forever to his

service, he has rendered the
impressive
memento of
very form of consecration an
the necessity of regeneration, and
held up to the anxious hope of the parent a cheerful and
animating promise
"
I will pour out my
and my Messing upon

in the ancient
thine offspring.''^
upon thy seed
Spirit
Accordingly, both
and the modern form, the purification of the
heart by divine grace
is
the great doctrine most prominent-
ly illustrated, whether the individual consecrated be an
" For he
adult or infant.
neither
he
is
is that
is
not
a Jew which
circumcision which
a Jew which
of the hearty in
is
is
one outwardly
outward in
the flesh
one inwardly; and circumcision
is
the spirit,
and
hut
is that
not in the letter , whose praise
of men but of God." From this passage it is evident

that the spiritual import of circumcision is not realized unless
is not
the inner
man
is
renewed.
cumcise thine hearty
And
the
arid the heart
Lord thy God
will cir-
oîhy seedy to love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that
thou mayest live. Circumcision, therefore, was truly " an
outward and
visible sign of
It signified that
an inward and
grace."
spiritual
surrender of the heart to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that spiritual dedication to his service,
which
is
the fruit of the Spirit, in every instance of its occurrence^
That the
either in the present or in former dispensations.
ordinance of baptism denotes precisely the same thing,
abundantly manifest from the sacred Scriptures
''
figure whereunto, baptism doth also now save us
The
is
like
not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a

good conscience toward God" the response of a regene" Then will I sprinkle
rated heart to the calls of Jehovah.
clean water upon you,

filthinesSf
and from
and ye
shall be clean
from
all your idols loilll cleanse you,
all
your
A new
55
I give you^ and a new spirit will I put with'

and I will take away the stony heart out of your
and will give you a heart ofjlesh," Ezekiel xxxvi.
heart also will

in you^
Jlesh,
The
26.
is
import of the word, and the ordinance, baptism,
purification
ment
is
the external application of the purifying ele-
emblematic of the inward operations of the purify-
ing Spirit.
Hence
tarriest thou
sins."
It is
said
arise,
Ananias
to Saul, "
And now, why
and be baptized, and wash away thy
certain, therefore, that both circumcision
and
baptism denote an inward and spiritual change, and indicate

the
same great regenerating
perfect,
children.
The resemblance
process.
The
adult believer received circumcision as
token of his inward and spiritual grace

the
same form,
his children, as
of God's promise
The
in
a
and dedicated, by
a sign of their necessity, and
reference to the Spirit's
work
same form,
in his
cumcision.
If,
own
case,
and dedicates
same
his child in
same necessity, and the same

was anciently represented by cir-
indicating the
glorious promise, which
then, the covenant remains, promising spi-
ritual blessings to
parents on behalf of their children
circumcision, the ancient seal,
is
introduced at the very time of
abolished
its
and
if
if
baptism,
abolition, certainly signi-
the very same thing that circumcision did, then
fies
within.
adult believer receives baptism as a token of the
inward cleansing,
the
is
extending the comparison, either to adults or
in
conclusively established, that baptism
is
now
is it
not
in the place
circumcision the seal of that everlasting covenant
of
and
that the form of consecration, for both parent and child,
appropriate to the circumstances, and authorized by Christ,

is
baptism, in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost ?
Again Baptism is to the Lord's supper what circumci*

was to the passover. Those that were admitted to the
:
sion
passover, an ordinance originating in a temporal and na-
56
tional deliverance, but so appointed as to
Lamb
of the
be representative
of God, and analogous to the design of the
Lord's supper, were the consecrated households of IsraeL

Circumcision preceded the reception of the passover
although the
itself
rite
was applied
for,
to the males, yet the
whole household was considered as a consecrated house-
The distinction was as strongly marked between

" the daughters of Israel" and " the daughters of the uncirhold.
cumcised," as between the sons of
The
venanted Gentile.
Abraham and
ted to partake of the passover, until
age
to
understand
meaning, and approach
its
ply, now, these principles
to the
sustains to the Lord's supper.
ed to
all classes, is
is
relation
Baptism^ in
Ap-
in faith.
which baptism
nature adapt-
its
evidently considered, in the Scripture,
The sacrament
as preceding the communion.
supper
the unco-
were not admitthey were of sufficient
children, however,
an ordinance
of the Lord's
for professed believers only, in
which
they unite to commemorate their spiritual deliverance.

it is
asked
to the
why we
If
do not universally admit our children
communion, the answer
is,
we do
that
admit them
just as soon as they give us evidence of faith in Christ.
Such a profession was implied in the ancient passover, when

Yet that ordinance had a
it was celebrated acceptably.
temporal and national import, as well as a spiritual and
typical signification.
The
Christian passover has no such
temporal and national associations

its
tized child
he
is
it
an ordinance
The
design and recollections altogether spiritual.
of the Church
is
in
bap-
therefore told, that as soon as
will yield to the righteous claims of
God, and
to the in-
fluences of the Spirit, and to the mediation of Christ, the
very change indicated as indispensable
welcomed
in his
communion.
baptism
He is
itself,
by
he
shall be
all
the proffered advantages of a spiritual and immediate
to the
invited,
union with the Church, to acknowledge the justice of Jehc-
57
vah's claims, and to consecrate himself, in heart and
the
God of the
against these merciful invitations, he
by
the will of the Church, but
by
life,
to
If he hardens himself
everlasting covenant.
is
his
admonished, that not
own
inexcusable dis-
sent from the terms of the covenant, he debars himself from

its
When we
glorious privileges.
consider, therefore, the
propriety of this strictness on the part of the Church, as
viewed
in connection with the entirely
the Lord's supper
spiritual nature
and then compare the
of
relation of cir-
cumcision to the passover, and of baptism to the Lord's

supper,
we
see precisely such a resemblance as the great
principles of the covenant, as here indicated,
must logically
authorize.
Each is alike a
For
distinguishing
mark of the
visible
Church,
ages, circumcision thus designated the people of God,
and was employed as a token of covenant
When
a parent neglected to circumcise his
was excluded from
relationship.
child, that child
those privileges which the covenant se-
cured to the children of his people.
He could
not
come
to
the passover, nor be admitted to the fellowship of the ancient
Church.
When a
heathen family would seek a union
with the congregation of the Lord, the same seal of the
covenant was applied to them.
Since circumcision was
abolished, baptism has certainly been substituted in

in this respect.
The
child of a Christian parent
its
who
baptized, cannot be admitted to the table of the Lord.
heathen family that would cast
away
place
is
not
The
the idols of their
former worship, and join the Christian Church, must be baptized. When persons have been excluded from the Church,
whether they were baptized

they are not to have the
rite
in
adult age, or in infancy,
repeated on their readmission,
after giving evidence of repentance.
The
points of resemblance already mentioned, are of
Such a nature, that
if
admitted as facts, they sustain incon-

58
testably the position
^that
baptism has been substituted in
the place of circumcision, as a seal of the
For a
nant.
still
Abrahamic cove-
stronger confirmation of this argument,
contemplate the points of difference.

Circumcision was
adapted to prefigure a Saviour to come ; baptism, to profess
the Saviour already
Circumcision was
incarnate.
adapted to serve, for a few ages, a national and temporal
purpose
baptism comes
in after that
temporal purpose
accomplished, and the national partition wall
Baptism
is
is
is
demolished.
even a more expressive ordinance, so far as
spiritual purification
concerned
is
expressive, indeed, of
same great truths which circumcision indicated, but

expressive of them in a manner more appropriate to their
clearer developments.
Circumcision was applied only to
the
one sex, while in the ordinance of baptism there is not only

" neither Jew nor Gentile," but " neither male nor female,
for
we
are
all
one
While, therefore, the
in Christ Jesus."
points of resemblance
compel us
to
regard the ordinance of
baptism as the authorized seal of the covenant, in the place
of circumcision, inasmuch as
it
does actually answer
the original spiritual purposes of such a seal, and
is
all
divinely
established in the Christian dispensation, the points of differ-
ence do as truly suggest several substantial reasons
change of the
seal
was
Let
desirable.
me now
why a
ask the
reflecting reader to re-examine the several positions of this
number, and
let
the individual strength of each argument,
and the combined testimony of the whole, be admitted in

the final settlement of this important question.
Finally, let there be added to the foregoing considerations
the fact, that baptism

tian circumcision^
the circumcision
is
denominated in Scripture the Chris,
" In
made
whom
also
ye are circumcised with
without hands, in putting
off*
the
body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ."
"Buried with him by baptism." Col,
ii.
U-^14.
"Beware
;;
59
of the concision
God
in
the
for
spirit,
we are
the circumcision,
and rejoice
which worship
and have no
in Christ Jesus,
Thus, when the Jews urged the
confidence in the flesh."
necessity of circumcision, the believing Gentile might reply,

If circumcision indicated a
that
possess
ciently,
my
if
new
heart, a spiritual
reception of Christian baptism has expressed
with equal,
if
certainly abolished
is
According
not superior emphasis.
course of argument through which

cision
of the covenant
is
the
same
the acknowledged
is
it is
God
in the
of circumcision, the seal of the
it
its
privi-
ordinance of baptism.
Since, moreover, the fact that baptism
being manifest that
the seal
the duty of the believing parent to
consecrate his children to
by every
for the child as for the parent
therefore, as the covenant itself remains with all
leges undiminished,
it
to the
we have passed, circum-
baptism
seal of the gracious covenant for adult believers
tained both
religion,
circumcision expressed that change an-
is
now
in the
place
A brahamic covenant, is
point of resemblance
sus-
and diversity
it
does take the place of circumcision as
a seal of the righteousness of
faith
as having faith for
its
same way that circumcision

had as a sign or token of the same spiritual change as a
distinguishing mark of the visible Church; the very points
in which circumcision itself was a seal of the covenant
and finally, since it is called the circumcision of Christ, and
indispensable condition in the
answers
in the
new
dispensation, not only all the original
purposes of circumcision under the
old,
but
all
extensive applications of the covenant under the
the
more
new
dis-
pensation, the decision appears inevitable, that baptism is
noWf in the place of circumcision, the authorized and appropriate seal of the
Abrahamic covenant.
The covenant
then remains
blessings in behalf of children

seal
is
to
is
the promise of spiritual
sure to every believer
be applied to both parent and child
the
and that seal
60
is
Dear brethren
the ordinance of Christian baptism.
Christ
nant
When
you consider your
parents
tions
in
how precious, how infinitely glorious is this covehow delightful the duty, how invaluable the privilege.
influence and responsibility as
the great and solemn object of the family rela-
the dreadful depravity of your unrenewed oiTspring
the gracious design of

to their eternal
good
God
to sanctify
your pious influence
the glorious arrangement of patri-
archal ages in which he requires the trembling parent to

consecrate his household to him, and gives his promise, his
own
sure word, that he will be a
God
to
him and
to his
seed, affixing to this covenant a delightful, expressive, and
memorable
seal
O,
how
thrilling is the
thought
This
covenant
these promises
this indulgent God
all are
mine ! With what unutterable tenderness may you kneel
!
at the family altar
and say, Here
which thou hast given me
am I and
Christian
worth more to you than worlds
this
the children
covenant
is
CHAPTERVI.
Argument from Ecclesiastical History. Its use.
Household consecration, in some form, the uninterrupted practice of the Church
during four thousand years. Not neglected by any considerable porConsecration by baptism not
tion until within three hundred.
denied by any sect during the first thousand years of Christianity
n6t commenced at any period since the apostolic age universally
Its previous history establishing
practised in the fourth century.

its apostolic origin.
The manner
in
which we have Contemplated the or-
dinance of infant consecrationj renders
it,
both in
and form, independent of the testimony of the
The
fathers.
Bible alone
There on the firm
ants*
a building on a rock.
history, that
is
its spirit
ecclesiastical
the infallible guide of
Prote.5t-
basis of scriptural proof let
Were
it
it
rest,
manifest from ecclesiastical
the whole Church, through successive ages>
had neglected her duty and her privilege, our astonishment

might have been awakened, while our confidence in the perpetual covenant remained unshaken.
beside
its
pure fountains,
we
Planting ourselves
could call upon the recreant
Church to repent of her sin, and partake of the waters she

had so long undervalued.
The argument from

while
it
ciples,
is
the history of the Church, however,
not necessary for the establishment of our prin-
has several important uses.
gument
distinct
and overwhelming
presses the conclusions to which
and
it
will
it
is
in
itself
illustrates
we have already
an ar-
and imarrived,
prepare us to understand a portion of scriptural
evidence which
As
It
;
we have
not yet examined.
the testimony of the fathers has been oflen collected
and urged by
able, candid,
and pious men, the object of this

62
HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION*
chapter will be^ simply to present a few grand points which
and which
are conclusively established,
constitute the
strength of the argument.
The
now
consecration of infants ly baptism being
the
general practice of Christendom, must have originated either
some period subsequent*

can be attributed to no
The adoption of
later period than the days of Abraham.
baptism as the form, if an unauthorized ordinance of man,
must have excited attention, provoked opposition, and left
under apostolic authority, or
The
consecration of infants,
after
its
prevalence palpable traces of its origin.
other hand,
tory, at
it
be of God,
we
The
first
that the practice
pointing
still
New
Testament
point
which
survey of historical evidence,
If,
on the
shall find the evidence of his-
every ascending height,
luminous age of
1.
at
itself,
upward
to the
inspiration.
arrests attention in a general
That
is
cannot he proved
it
of infant consecration has eter ceased in the
Church of God, since
it
was
established in the
Abrahamic
covenant.
This
bly, as
it
is
the impression which strikes the mind Very forci-
ponders on the path of the Church through
portions of her eventful history.
From
all
the
the time that the
Chaldean shepherd dedicated his household to the present

however brief, can be designated
hour, no one period,
when We can
say, then there
Empires have
fallen,
was no
and risen and
tional law, code after code,
which
political
systems of na-
in the science
prudence appeared as monuments of
and
infant consecration*
fallen
of juris-
intellectual strength
wisdom, have been rolled together as a scroll
while the deep, unostentatious household law has continued

like a cord extended through successive ages,
with the jewels of God.
Even
and strung
the changing features of the
Church itself have preserved this feature unaltered.

The
bondage of Egypt
the law of Sinai
the ritual observan*
;
63
ces
the splendor of the temple worship
captivity
Roman yoke
the
wonders of the new age
the mournful
the advent of
Christ
the
the dispersion of the Jews
the
introduction of the Gentiles into their forfeited privileges
the pagan persecution
Reformation
Church
the
all
the papal corruption
have had
their influence
the glorious
on the aspect of
but in this respect the great body of the Church
has remained steadfast, that she has consecrated her
spring to the Most High.
off-
cessation of this practice for
one season cannot be proved from the whole record of his,

There, through
tory.
all
their gift of souls before
viewed
tration
changes, the altar of consecra-
and successive generations have bowed with
tion has stood,
How
it.
sublime
is this
when
fact
What an illusmoral import and bearings

of scriptural promises, " I will be a God to thee, and
in its
"
thy seed after thee."
Abraham's
seed,
And
ye be
if
and heirs according
Christ's, then are ye
to the promise.
"Four
thousand years proclaim with united voice, that his mercy

endureth forever.
2.
to
The
make,
next impression which
That
is
the practice
this
survey
calculated
is
of infant consecration has
not been neglected even ly any considerable portion of the
Church until within about
We present
pared with the
felt
in
three
We
first.
hundred years.
here because
we wish
it
to
By
impression
the above statement
year 1522.
we
history of
That a higher
Through
such neglect
antiquity
this or-
express the general
of ecclesiastical history.
we have no
be com-
think that this fact ought to be
forming our estimate of the importance of
dinance.
records
this fact
is
all
until
its
the
claimed by those
who deny the privilege of believing parents, in this respect,

is true. They endeavor to prove that the testimony against
infant baptism
was part of
low valleys and
in the
that testimony which, in the
mountain fastnesses, was borne by the
64
persecuted and the faithful against the
man
of
sin.
The
utmost, however, which can be admitted in behalf of this
claim
is,
year 1120 one sect of the Waldenses
that " in the
declared against
the baptism of infants, because they be-
them incapable of salvation." Their unbelief, howmain body of that people, and they
who cherished it soon dwindled away. Their number and
importance were not sufficient to render any exception
lieved
ever, did not affect the
necessary to the statement
we now
year 1522, there rose a body of men,

invalidity of infant baptism,
insisted
In the
upon the
and demanded a rebaptism of
was not strange that

was shaking the foundmany who were ignorant should not
those consecrated in childhood.
when
contemplate.
who
It
the spirit of the Reformation
ations of superstition,
discriminate between the tares and the wheat, between the
The
precious and the vile.
wild and extravagant notions
which they embraced, have prevented even the respect

of Protestants for the fathers of the Reformation from ascribing any weight to their opinions.
tion of the
that period,
The
history of that por-
Church which denies baptism to infants since

in its rise to respectability and influence, does
not belong to the survey necessary to sustain the position

before us.
Another conclusion forced upon us by a candid conargument is-^That for the first
thousand years of Christianity^ no sect or body of men can
3.
sideration of the historic
he found, denying the validity of infant baptism.
Notwithstanding
like so
many
all
manner of
heresies rose and burst
bubbles, this great and powerful arrangement
The world has been
of ancient ages was not annulled.
challenged to produce the proof of such a class of Chrismay, it is thought, extend it to eleven hundred
tians.
We
years, and
deny
that in all that period
mitting baptism at all,
have denied
its
any
Chris:tians, ad-
validity because ap-
plied to infants.
For
fifteen
65
hundred years, almost for
ele-
ven hundred altogether, the practice of the whole Church was

based upon the covenant principles which we have urged upon
the attention of Christian parents. During all these centuries,
baptism has been used
in the
place of circumcision, as the
seal of that everlasting covenant, in the practice of the uni-
At
versal Church.
least
we may
rest assured, that there
no proof of any portion whatever holding to baptism at

all, which gave to this species of unbelief any foothold duris
ing the
thousand years of the Christian era.
first
whole Church have mistook
sible that the
of a seal to that covenant, which
connected with
all
her
Is
it
pos.
in the application
God has
so mtimately
Again, an exami-
vital interests ?
nation of ecclesiastical history, convinces us,

4.
That
it
cannot be proved that the adoption ofhaptism,
as the seal of the covenant, has commenced at any period sub^

sequent to the days of the apostles.
The
baptism
it
bearing of this argument

is
of
human
is
invention, there
simply
this
if infant
must be a period when
originated, subsequent to the first century.
Its introduc.
Church must have been a marked occurrence,

must have awakened controversy. It is highly probable,
tion into the
therefore, that the researches of historians
would have de-
tected that period, and rationally accounted for
ance.
If
it
Nothing
like this,
has a birthplace
its appearhowever, has been accomplished.
among human
speculations,
it
has
been, like the grave of Moses, screened from the scrutiny
of men.
consistent.
If
it
is
The
from heaven,
rity of the ordinance,
the admission of
wisdom.
The
all
these facts are perfectly
history corresponds with the divine autho-
its
and
is
most rationally explained by
claims to be an ordinance of infinite
consecration of children
by baptism,
cannot be proved, by any historical evidence

6*
now
then,
in posses.
HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION,
66
human
sion of the world, to be of
origin.
It
is
no testimony against
that ecclesiastical history has
certain,
it.
infant consecration
Combine, now, these four positions
has existed for four thousand years without cessation
it
has never been opposed by any considerable portion of the
Church
until within three
hundred years
its
validity
was
Church for the first one

thousand years it cannot be proved to have originated at
any period subsequent to the apostles. Now, had we found
that the opposition to it had always been strong, like that
and the controversy always
to the doctrine of the Trinity
by any portion of
not denied
the
sharp, like that between the advocates of Augustinian theo-
logy and their opponents
had we found even that
it
had
always been depressed and obscure, with a testimony

had its existence
scarcely audible amid the voice of ages
;
been suspended
for centuries,
and even
its
introduction ques-
tionable until the sixteenth century, all this frowning aspect
of history could not banish from our sight that testimony of
which seems incorporated
revelation
in the
whole connection
of Bible truth.
What,
then, should be the conclusion,
when
the whole
current of history coincides with the written word
we trace,
in the aspect
when
of ages, the light of principles reflect-
reflected through them

upon us? What but to exclaim with stronger confidence as we ponder the Abrahamic promise. Hath he said,
and shall he not do it ? hath he spoken, and shall he not
ed in glory from preceding ages
all
make
it
good
The
study of the argument from history
does not terminate here

5.
it
proves,
That, in the fourth century, the consecration of infants
hj baptism was universally practised, on the ground of the
Abrahamic covenant
was regarded as
substituted
cumcision, and as sanctioned by apostolic authority.
for
cir-
In proof of this position,
we
of four substantial witnesses,
The
century.
67
shall rely on the testimony
all
belonging to the fourth
it
should be remembered,
fourth century,
presents a period of time less than three hundred years after

the apostles, and the witnesses
were the most conspicuous
who
flourished in the latter part
of its fathers.
Augustine,
of that century,
is
very
explicit
" Which
of the Church holds in the case of
who
baptized,
salvation,
the whole body

infants,
little
who are
certainly cannot believe with their heart unto
and yet no Christian
say that they are bap-
will
tized in vain."
"
The custom
infants,
it
of our mother, the Church, in baptizing

must not be disregarded, nor accounted useless, and
must by
"
It
is
all
be an order of the
to
most justly believed to be no other than a thing
by
delivered
means be believed
apostolic authority, that
is, it
came
by a
not
general council, nor by any authority later or less than that
of the apostles."
"
By
the authority of the whole Church, which
was
undoubtedly delivered by our Lord and his apostles."
These several passages, taken from the writings of

it was universal in the Church, and
was regarded as an apostolic ordinance. That it was an
institution whose importance was generally realized, and
was so strongly regarded as divine, that in controversial
Augustine, prove that
writings on other subjects

others were to be tried.
it
was used as a
The
test
by which
question then stood, Is this
new
doctrine consistent with the baptism of infants
full
conviction of
refutation.
its
inconsistency
was
This remark prepares the
and a
sufficient for its
way
for introducing
the testimony of Pelagius, the contemporary and opponent
of Augustine.
He
denied the doctrine of original
was pressed hard with
sin,
and
the argument from infant baptism.

68
He
repels the charge of denying that institution, in very-
earnest language
" Men calumniate me by charging me
with a denial of infant baptism.
any impious
He
heretic or sectary
who
have never heard of
denied infant baptism,"
labors to prove that his sentiments on the subject of
original sin did not involve the denial of infant dedication,
and that many reasons existed
from
for the practice, aside
by Augustine. This appeal of both parties

to a common institution shows how firmly it was then established, throughout the Church of God.
Tempted, as Pelagius was, to deny its authority, he was able to oppose it, if
that assigned
it
He
could have been opposed.
in Britain,
had travelled extensively
Gaul, Italy, Africa, Egypt, and Palestine.
Yet,
with his learning and travel, he makes the affirmation above.
He
could say, "
sectary
who
learned men,
/ never heard of any impious heretic or

Thus we have two
denied infant baptism.'^
warm
opponents, both uniting in the strongest
kind of testimony on this subject.
The
testimony
is
given
incidentally, not to prove or disprove infant baptism, but to
bear on another
He was
The
topic.
third witness is Chrysostom.
a contemporary with Augustine and Pelagius.
" But our circumcision, that
is,
us cure, without pain, and
it
circumcision has."
two
witnesses,
If
we must
we
the grace of baptism, gives
has no determinate time as
admit the testimony of the
believe that infant baptism
universally practised, as an apostolic institution
shall perceive that
it
and
if
Chrysostom,
will admit in explanation the evidence of
was considered as coming
first
was now
we
we
in the place
of circumcision, and as possessing some advantages over

the ancient form, as a seal of the everlasting and extended
covenant.
is
The
last
witness, under the
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, born
also calls baptism circumcision.
miracle of dividing Jordan, he says,
present position,
in the
year 340.
He
Having mentioned the

" But perhaps this may
69
seem to be fulfilled in our time and in the apostles' time."

" For that return of the waters backward towards the head
of the river, which was caused by Elias,
was
when
the river
mystery of the lava of salvation

be instituted, by which those who
divided, signified the
which was afterward
to
are baptized in infancy are reformed from a wicked state
Now
to the primitive state of their nature."
exegetical capacity, or
what objection we
of the efficacy of the ordinance.
The
it
is
of no
we form
of his
raise to his
views
consequence to the argument what opinion
present argument
simply requires the evidence of the existence of infant baptism as an established institution of the Church, on the
ground of the Abrahamic covenant, and claiming apostolic

authority.
The
united testimony of these four witnesses
conclusively establishes the fact.
When we
consider the
nature of the Pelagian controversy, and the standing of

the several witnesses, their evidence seems unimpeachable.
The
position which
we have
taken, then,
is
firmly supported,
that in the fourth century, this institution, with all
its
claims,
was universally honored by the Church of God. There is

another consideration connected with this testimony, that
in the fourth century,
i.
e.
within three hundred years after
was impossible to trace its origin. Then

the most learned men in the Church had never heard of its
the apostles,
it
Pelagius inquires, " Who can be so impious as to hinder the baptism of infants ?" It is useless to
being rejected.
say that these ancient writings were corrupted in these

passages, for there was no temptation to interpolation.
There was no controversy on the subject until centuries

manner in which it was interwoven
afterwards, and the very
in the Pelagian controversy forbids the supposition of faithless records.
The same and similar reasons sustain the

now to be made to substantiate another
credit of extracts
position.
70
6.
It
can be proved, that previous
to the
fourth century
this institution
had been established so long as
supposition of
its
every rational theory of
The
to
render the
existence in the apostolic age essential to

its
origin.
witnesses to this position are Cyprian, Bishop of
Carthage, Origen, and TertuHian.
Two
hundred and
one hundred and

sixty-six bishops
fifty
years after the birth of Christ,
fifty after
the apostolic age, a council of
was convened
at
Carthage.
Fidus, a
Presbyter, believing that infants ought not to be baptized

before eight days old, presented the subject
council,
of
and obtained
infants, whereas
this ofticial
you judge
answer
that they
"
As
before the
to the
case
must not be baptized
within two or three days after they are horn,
and
that the
rule of circumcision is to be observed, that no one should be
baptized or sanctified before the eighth day after he is born,
we were
of a different
all
One hundred and

five
opinion,''^
eighty-five years after Christ, eighty-
His
years after the apostolic age, Origen was born.
is, first, " That he himself was a baptized child."
testimony
Second,
''
That the Church received an order from the

Third, " That
apostles to give baptism even to infants."
infants are baptized for the remission of sins."
About one hundred and
fifty
years after Christ,
years after the apostolic age, TertuHian was born.
fifty
He
advised a delay of baptism, because he believed that sins

committed after baptism were not forgiven. " The delay
of baptism
why
is it
is
more
profitable as to
little
children.
For
necessary that the sponsors should incur danger?
For they may fail of their promises by death, or be disappointed by the child proving to be of a wicked disposition."
These three witnesses present the evidence from which
the apostolic origin of infant baptism
The
is
rationally inferred.
testimony of Cyprian respecting the council at Car-

71
1. That the practice of consecrating infants

by baptism was an established order of the Church, unques-
thage, implies,
tioned and unanimously honored.
That
2.
was regarded
infant baptism
infant circumcision
else,
as substituted for
why the anxious question
respect-
ing the propriety of baptism previous to the eighth day
That the baptism of infants was understood to be a

sanctijicaiion-^thsit is, a consecration of them to God.
4. That the council considered the gospel dispensation,
3.
not only as preserving to the Gentiles

the ancient covenant, but as applying
tation,
and with wider extent,
we proved
less limi-
forms, and
in milder
The same
glorious significancy.
the privileges of
all
them with
to be established in the fourth century,
see established in the third
been involved
in the
more
great principles which
we now
the very principles which have
whole argument of these essays.
This practice, founded on these principles, could not have
moment, if it is of human invention. Could

have become universally practised without opposition,
arisen in a
indeed
it
were an innovation
years after the apostles,
on
permanent
its
secration of those times

that
it
now
the proof of
The
We
is.
its
we
principles.
Thus, one hundred and
behold
We
this
institution
it
if
fifty
founded
see that the infant con-
was the same
in object
and
in
form
rely on the testimony of Cyprian for
established credit, and for
its definition,
testimony of Origen proves, that this institution, thus
defined, existed at least sixty-five years previous to the
council of Carthage.
his father a martyr,
by a
letter
from
steadfastness,
Even
at
child
had
mother,
his
The parents of Origen were pious

who, while imprisoned, was consoled
consecrated child, exhorting him to
and congratulating him on
a more tender age

to
lest
still,
his privilege.
the zeal of that baptised
be guarded by the vigilance of a believing
he should rashly expose himself to martyrdom.
72
If,
they did
it
believing
it
their duty
There was no temptation
lege.
household
the
and mother consecrated
then, that fathei*
in infancy,
command
was
was believed and
Had
practised as an institution
there been a time knoion to them,
have
not practised in the Church, they could
Origen would needj
pointed out the innovation.
search no farther than his
inquiries, to
In the days of his
of Christ required them.

it
of the apostles.
it
expose their rising
to
those days of persecution, any farther than
in
parents, then,
when
their children
and their privi-
own
in his
family history.
TertuHian's testimony proves, that one hundred years after

the apostles the baptism of infants, on the faith of others,
was the common
This strengthens
practice of the Church.
own
the testimony of Origen, while the fact of Origen's
baptism by such parents necessarily carries the evidence

at least fifty
Carthage,
dence.
The
years nearer the apostles.
in their decision,
council of
corroborate this train of evi-
All the five preceding positions corroborate this
We
view of the subject.
knowledge
its
are obliged, therefore, to ac-
existence and prevalence, within
years
fifty
of the days of inspiration.
Contemplate that period*
The aged
of John, was alive and vigorous through

also,
was
Justin
Martyr.
So, also,
Polycarp, disciple
all its
was
years.
noble guardians of purity in the second century
was martyred
169
in
lived until after 202.
Justin
Martyr
it
Polycarp
164
Irenaeus
If the application of baptism, then,
to infants, as the seal of the covenant,

institution,
in
So,
Three
Irenseus.
was not of apostolic
must have been introduced by
and immediate successors, the apostolic
their disciples
fathers.
If
it
was
introduced by them, understanding, as they did, the mind of

the apostles
consecration.
is
then
If
we have
it
was
their views
of the household
not introduced by them, then there
only the remaining conclusion,
it
arose under the authori"
ty
of the
73
In either case, the testimony of the ages
apostles.
previous to the fourth century compels us to regard

divine
tions,
There
institution.
are,
it as a
however, other considera-
sustaining the present position.
In the
place,
first
since Tertullian wished to have baptism delayed,
why
he not show that such early baptism, on the
of spon-
sors,
was an innovation ?
such had been the
fact.
faith
did
He certainly was able to do it, if

He had only to consult with Ire-
nsBus, the disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of John, or with
Polycarp himself, for he was contemporary with both.

Yet no such plea is presented against it. Instead of that,
his
whole language implies that he
common
with the
himself contending
felt
and established practice
vagant writings, together with his
and
Church, show that same unsound judgment which

sonings themselves discover.
was not
his extra-
final separation
Of Pagan
from the
his
rea-
descent himself, he
likely to appreciate the unfeigned faith of a Chris-
tian ancestry.
Actuated by false views of the importance of baptism, he
was even
led to advise
all
persons to postpone
season of youth had passed away.
it
until
the
The principle on which he
dissuaded the practice of infant baptism
was equally
valid in
pleading against the baptism of young persons on the profession of their
own
faith.
While these circumstances dimi-
nish our confidence in his opinions, they leave us the evi-
dence that the prevailing practice of the Church was against

have already shown that this practice was firm-
him.
We
ly rooted
works.
an
at
So
earlier
age than the publication of
his
that every circumstance conspires to guide us
into the scenes of the first century for
its
birthplace.
In the next place, consider that, according
to the testimo-
we are directly assured that the Church received an orderfrom the apostles to give baptism to infants.
This was certainly the opinion of Origen. When we con-
ny before
us,
HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATIOTT.
74
sider that he could ascertain the truth of

his
own
family
it
that he could ascertain
in the history
of
from Irenaeus
it
and other contemporaries that he had only that century

which was overshadowed by the presence of the
;
to review,
apostolic fathers
that he
was remarkable
tiveness and extensive learning,
subject he
was competent
testimony,
it
it is
for his inquisi-
manifest that on this
to testify with assurance.
That
seems, corresponds with the plain deductions of
reason, as stated above.
ready before
us,
it
may
In addition to the evidence al-
be proper to remember the
allu-
If these are
sions of Irenseus, Clement, and Justin Martyr.
admitted, according to the proper rules of interpretation,
they strengthen the conviction produced by the evidence

just
examined.
It is
sufficient,
however,
say
to
on
that,
the supposition that infant dedication existed then, these allusions are naturally to be understood as referring to
design and
its
tyr speaks of those

their infancy
Thus
form of administration.
who were made
Justin
its
Mar-
disciples of Christ from
Irenasus, of infants born again
while Cle-
ment evidently exhons fishermen, in engraven images on

seal-rings, to choose the image of an apostle baptizing infants.
The testimony of Cyprian, Origen, and Tertullian, is suffithe fact of
cient to establish
century and in the second.

supposition of
essential to
Thus,
tory,
in
is
prevalence in the third
existence in the
century, becomes
first
every rational theory of
its
origin.
contemplating the evidence of ecclesiastical
we have
of which
its
its
This being established, the
his-
collected several substantial positions, each
impressive
of overwhelming proof.
and
all
combined constitute a mass
While
it
cannot be proved that
the practice of infant consecration has ever ceased, in the
Church of God,
covenant
since he established
while
it
it
in the
cannot be proved that
it
Abrahamic
has ever been
neglected by any considerable portion of the Church, until
75
within about three hundred years
that
while
it
cannot be proved
any body of men denied baptism to infants during the
thousand years of the Christian dispensation

not be
shown
while
that the practice of baptizing infants has ori-
ginated at any specific period since the apostolic age
moreover,
first
can-
it
it is
abundantly proved
that, in the fourth
while,
century,
was universally practised, on

Abrahamic covenant, by baptism in the
the consecration of infants
the ground of the
place of circumcision
while, finally,
it
is
manifest that,
previous to the fourth century, the evidence of
lence
the
gin
first
;
its
preva-
such as to render the supposition of its existence in
is
century essential to any rational theory of
its
trustworthy, principles so consistent, and providential

trations so accordant with divine appointments
ed predictions, that I
quirer,
ori-
see a body of evidence so harmonious, witnesses so
Go
thy
Still, let it
saying
feel confident in
way forth by
the footsteps
not be forgotten, that
we
illus-
and revealto
every
in-
of the flock !
regard this sublime
arrangement as resting on the unchanging word of God.
We
on
rely on the sacred
this as
volume as our only
well as on other
subjects.
considerations from history, chiefly,
We
infallible
as confirmatory of
preceding arguments, as illustrative of principles, and,

ly,
guide
present these
final*
as preparatory to an examination of other scriptural evi^
dence which
we have
not yet considered.
CHAPTER
VII.
Its prominence unHousehold consecration in the apostolic age.

of Jesus Christ of the apostles. The
der the ministry of John
Church obligated to regard it in the same manner.
:
To
the portion of scriptural evidence which
to examine, the
solicited.
My
attention of believing parents
object will be, to exhibit the
which the great
selves,
are now
earnestly
manner
in
principles of infant consecration influenced
We
the feelings of the early disciples.

this subject, if
we
is
we have
fully
are prepared for
imbibed those principles them-
and admit the evidence by which they are incontro-
The
vertibly established.
blessings connected
spiritual
with parental faithfulness, in the ancient household cove-
nant
the perpetuity of that covenant, and the right of be-
lieving Gentiles to
privileges
its
seal,
have been spread before us
Scripture.
All these, as
understood
its
new and appropriate
in the decisive testimony
we have
and advocated by the apostles

thus
substitution of bap-
the
tism in the place of circumcision as
seen,
in their
these truths, their
writings.
own
If they
feelings,
and conduct must have been powerfully affected by

influence.
first
The
plans,
their
universal practice of infant baptism in the
centuries, as evinced
this impression.
of
were understood
It
by ecclesiastical
history, confirms
therefore seems proper to examine the
inspired history of the
first
century, with the expectation of
beholding there the dignity and grandeur of these vital

principles of the Church, exhibited in their native simplicity
and power.
spired,
There,
in the writings
and conduct of the
in-
and in the establishment of the new dispensation,
77
the native, quiet operation of parental faith
We
portrayed.
is
most sweetly
cannot, of course, expect to find these
truths stated as if in the language of controversy, for there
the idea of controversy on this subject

if
we read
was unknown
the inspired record with the proper
but
spirit,
we
more practical
importance than ever they have been in the more degenthan they had been, even in the more ancient ages.
erate
shall perceive these principles invested with
If this be considered unusual ground,

;
less
even now awakened, that
is
it
to exert a
still
should
prominent agency
in
this
it
be sus-
which doubt-
will strengthen that presentiment
tained
institution
is
destined
producing and perpetuating
the state of millennial glory.

1.
ful
These principles of infant consecration had a power-
influence in preparing the Jewish nation
for
the
Mes-
siah's advent.
The
resting.
on
this
evidence of this fact
We
is
conclusive, and deeply inte-
pass by the providential preparation which
axle turned the wheel of
operations for succes-
its
minds upon that special preparatory

work which was prosecuted under the ministry of John the
sive ages, and fix our
Baptist
In the close of Old Testament prophecy, he had
been designated as the messenger who was

Saviour's approach.
It
was particularly
to herald the
stated,
he should
turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart
The
of the children to the fathers.

instrumentality which he
agency of family
was
influence.
to
great and prominent
employ, was the powerful
The
voice of one crying in
kingdom of heaven is at hand prepare

ye the way of the Lord, must have wrought mightily on
the wilderness,The
the heart of the believing parent in behalf of household education.
As
was constantly
Jew endeavor to
the glorious Prince of Israel
expected, with what eagerness would the
make ready a people prepared for

7*
the
Lord
to set his house
78
in order for the reception of the
Hence,
Son of David.
at
that joyous event, the circumcision of John, the venerable
Zechariah dwelt with peculiar delight on

mised
to
*'
oath which he sware to our father
pro-
in the consecration
provisions,
By
fulfilled.
operating through
he effectually prepared great multitudes of the
common people to believe on the

moment his arrival was announced.
From
its
of John the Baptist, and in the ministry
of preparation which he
this channel,
Such was
Abraham."
the prominence given to this covenant and
Baptist
mercy
the
our fathers ;" " on his holy covenant," and " the
the predictions
from
the
Saviour's
name
at the
specific mission of John the
the results of his mission, as manifested in
the succeeding history of the
first
century,
it is
evident that
the principles of infant consecration were regarded as allfirst advent of the Son of God.
The mission of Christ himself while on earth, was
characterized by a special and continual regard to these
important to the
2.
principles.
He
devoted his entire course of personal labor to the
He
children of the covenant.
ing occasion, " I
am
house of Israel."
ones
front
the
^he
even on a most
said,
aflTect-
not sent but unto the lost sheep of the
He came
unto his
own
his consecrated
devoted to them his miracles and his instructions
them he selected
first offers
his apostles,
of salvation
and
to
them he made
he proclaimed himself ^7*8 King
he treated them as the privileged children of

Abrahamic covenant. Consecrated to God himself in
infancy, he practically acknowledged the justice of the divine claim thus placed upon him in the commencement of
his existence, by a personal and perfect consecration of him-
of the Jews
the
self to the will of his
took a deep interest
When
Father, until his dying hour.
in the
He
consecrated children of his friends.
some believing parents brought
their devoted
oflT-
79
spring to him, that he should recognize them, he took them
up
in his
arms and blessed them.
In the very
ancient covenant, he exclaimed, " Suffer
little
spirit
of this
children to
come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the king,
dom ofheaven.^^ During many ages previous, the spiritual
kingdom, and the visible kingdom of God, had been maintained chiefly, and perhaps entirely, from the action of con-
secrated family influence on consecrated households.
Of
such, out of such, the lively stones had been taken, with
which the building of God has thus

If,
been erected.
far
however, the kingdom of heaven
is to
be understood
particularly of the Christian dispensation, then the perpetuity of these covenant privileges in after ages is complete-
ly established.
He saw
in those consecrated children of
believing parents the future martyrs of the
His
generations.
broke out
spirit
first
century,
Abrahams of successive
the future pillars of the Church, the
in
joy as he cried, "
thank thee, Father, that thou hast hidden these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes
seemed good in thy sight.'* How

illustrious, to him, did that wisdom of God appear, by which
" out of the mouth of babes and sucklings he had ordained
even
so.
Father, for so
it
strength, that he might
Glorious arrangement
still the enemy and the avenger.'*

by which around this plain, endur-
ing, *univeral principle of household consecration,
God had
clustered all the prospects of the Church, and all the interests of the
whole
train of generations
ecclesiastical history, both inspired
The
testimony of
and uninspired, ancient
and modern, J&wieh and Christian, proclaims that there
wa? meaning
sion
in the
Saviour's
jay power
and glory in his blessing*
ancient patriarchs, however, do
Not
we
in his condescen-
in all the histof y
of
find their principles so
recognized in a whole course of action, and so
made a mat-
;;
!
80
ter of exulting joy, as in the life
and the language of the
Messiah.
The commission which Christ gave his apostles to

teach and baptize all nations, embraces, establishes and espe^
3.
daily honors these covenant principles.
Contemplate the circumstances.
was now
tion
to cease
The
Jewish dispensa-
the particular reasons for using cir-
cumcision as the sea] of the covenant, had

was thenceforth to be displaced
circumcision
pointed
to
a Saviour yet
sation of John
had also
to
come
closed,
to
all
others in
the everlasting covenant
itself,
it
had once
his baptism,
now
this, that its
point to a Saviour already come
it
which
come; a new dispensation
of that same ancient covenant was
varying from
the preparatory dispen-
and with
pointed to a Saviour jws^ about
vanished
all
be established,
to
public rite must
now
like the great principle of
that sealing rite
was
to
be
applied, not to one nation exclusively, but to all nations
not to one sex, but to both
but in the
more
name
name of Jesus alone,

Holy Ghost now
God and in that reve.
not in the
of the Father, Son, and
clearly revealed as the triune
lation clothing that
same covenant of faith with augmented
importance, because of the vast extent of
its
gracious pro-
and because of the transcendant efficacy of its adThese were the circumstances in which the
ministration.
visions,
apostolic commission, establishing the ordinance of Christian
baptism,
was
What
to
that covenant
seal
How
ham
How
In
be given.
vast importance must have been connected with
which was thus
to receive
new and
must he have remembered the promise
to
nobler
Abra-
thee all the families of the earth should be blessed
must
his omniscient
mind have enjoyed the
tory sight of his numerous seed, for

as he tore
away
whom
the partition wall, and
satisfac-
he had travailed,
commanded
the
81
Abraham to flow upon the Gentiles ! He knew

Abrahamic covenant promised spiritual blessings
blessing of
that the
on behalf of their children that although there

were important reasons for changing the seal, there were
to parents
all
the ancient, together with additional reasons, for retain,
ing the covenant and confirming
Jews would
that the
mined
to
bestow
the Gentiles
all
promises
its
reject the gospel offer,
the immunities of that covenant upon
he was now about to appoint a seal
place of circumcision,
by which
faith like that
would be more emphatically expressed,

stances of his Church, than
which had served,
it
in the
new circum-
could be by retaining the one
in addition to
whatever the seal might
in the
of Abraham
spiritual
its
and original
purpose, certain temporary and national ones

that
foreseeing
he had deter-
used in the consecration of children,
he knew, for
consecration of parents
has fully revealed in his
own word.
all this
he knew
same had always been

which was used in the
be, the
Knowing
all this he
all this,
he
yet appointed baptism, in view of fulfilling these promises

until the
end of the world
rized, or permitted
any
he neither commanded, autho-
limitations of the ancient privileges
and appointing it in this manner, and with this knowledge,

he must have intended the application of baptism as the
new seal
of the ancient, confirmed, and extended covenant,
to believers
He
and their households,
knew, moreover, that the apostles were
crated children of the covenant
valued their descent from
Abraham
fully understand then the design to

in other words, the
covenant
on
spiritual
the Gentiles
all
conse-
that they, as Jews, highly

;
that even they did not
bestow the gospel
blessings of the
that, for
or,
Abrahamic
a while, therefore,
thus understanding the gospel, they would confine their

ministrations to the
Jews
that ultimately, however, they
82
would understand that believers of all nations were the

seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise ; and
Jews
would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith he
therefore must have intended the apostles to understand
that under their labors, the Gentiles as well as the
him as commanding them
knew
apply that
to
which they
rite
to be the seal of the covenant to believers and their
households
and that ultimately they should thus apply
both to the Jews and the Gentiles.
wished
infants,
therefore,
If,
under the new dispensation,
baptism, and parents, under the
new
it
he had
be denied
to
dispensation, to
be
deprived of their ancient privileges, ho would have explicitly stated this

is
stated.
On
in
the commission
the other hand,
understand him as confirming
did
parents,
among
all
such thing
that the apostles
these privileges to
because they have fully taught
all nations,
this in their epistles to the
No
itself.
we know
Churches.
We
must thus have understood him, from
know
all
that they
their habitual
views of the household relations.
How
sublime
is
this
view of the Saviour.
Having
having abolished
the whole
completed the great atonement
superstructure of the exclusive dispensation, he took the
great fundamental principles of household consecration;

the heavenly blessings of the everlasting covenant
the
promises of grace which had been spread like a canopy
over a thousand generations, and wrought them
new
He commanded
dispensation.
his
all into
the
ministers to seal
them upon the company of believers in all nations and

through all ages and promised to be with them in the
;
majesty of his mediatorial throne
The unvarying
practice of the
until the
Church
end of the world.
for the first
years, the general practice for eighteen hundred,
explained by the
command
is
thousand
thus fully
to baptize, as given to apostles

83
HOtTSfiHOLD CONSECRATION.
who
who on
cherished these covenant views, by him
who
sanctioned them by his example, and
earth
heaven has
them by the outpouring of his
gloriously honored
4.
in
Spirit.
These principles were especially sanctioned by
manner in which
the apostles
They preached
the
preached the gospel.
thus at the day of Pentecost.
**
Then
Peter said unto them. Repent and be baptized, every one of
you,
in the
and ye
name of
Jesus Christ, for the remission of
Holy Ghost.
shall receive the
unto you and to your children, and to
many
even as
all
Lord our God
as the
sins,
For the promise

that are afar
shall call."
is
off,
The
Saviour had made the atonement, ascended on high, established the Christian dispensation^ and
now
stood forth to preach the gospel in
the fulness of
mercy
to
They
a dying world.
the ancient covenant promise
all
the Spirit
holds.
its
held up to the view of
all
the promise to parents and
They
their children-^the promise of the Spirit.
that if the
the apostles
expected
Jews then embraced the gospel, the influences of

would be poured d<wn like rain upon their house*
They
secured their
by all the value and

comply with the conditions which
feared not to urge them,
efficacy of this promise, to
own
salvation and that of their children.
When
they retired from the crowded assembly, they preach-
ed
the
in
same manner
trembling jailer
Boul,
fell
to the private family.
down
When
the
before them, inquiring about his
they said, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved
and
thy
house.''''
he believed, and consecrated
his
would
bless
all his
house should be saved."
and save
They expected
household to God,
that if
God
same manner,
Cornelius was informed that the apostle for whom he was
directed to send, would tell him " words whereby he and
his
promise, and preached
They seemed
it
children.
In the
They
believed the divine
in all its simplicity
to rejoice in the fact that the
and
new
freeness.
dispensation
84
was
by the power of God
distinguished
great principles of consecration, as
manner more
applied in u
and they used the
here they might be
if
They
glorious and efficient.
did
not teach that either parents or children could be saved
without believing
his Spirit
but they did teach that
on their seed, and
According
God would pour
on their offspring.
to the truth of the everlasting covenant,
expected that the
and labor
his blessing
for the
conversion of the children
that such
prayer and labor would be successful, because that
made them
heirs of the promise, "
and thy seed
afler thee."
establishing over the
they
of the parent would produce prayer
faith
They
its
will
be a
God
faith
to thee
gloried in the prospect of
whole world
petual covenant, of extending
this
spiritual
and per-
privileges to all the fami-
of the earth, and thus providing the system of influences
lies
requisite to perpetuate the universal
We have
anticipations of the apostles

that
if
triumph of the gospel.
reason to believe that in the
first
churches, these
were gloriously
and
realized,
the principles of infant consecration had been trusted,
and employed
in successive ages, as
times, the gospel
perpetual
gion of mankind
venly in
its
they were in apostolic
would have been, long ere
operation.
in
its
this,
the
reli-
ascendancy, and hea-
But when the Church began
degenerate, although the principle
was maintained, and
form was disproportionately esteemed, the living
faith
to
the
and
enlarged expectations of the earliest believers were comparatively disregarded.

4.
The influence of these principles, in the first centuries,

evinced hy the fact, that when parents believed,
is strikingly
they immediately consecrated their households to God,
On this subject we are not left to inference only

from all the
facts before us,
voidable, because otherwise
mony
although
such an inference would be una-
we
of ecclesiastical history
could not explain the
and
chiefly,
because
testi-
in this
Way alone the
85
own
apostles could act consistently with their
established and
avowed
principles.
We should expect them
to be in their practice consistent with their sentiments
We
their preaching.
no
positive record
The
existed in
narrative, however,
so far as
it
conversion
testifies,
it
is
reference to their practice.
not silent
it
does speak
and
proves that in every case when the
and baptism of parents are
particularly meniion-
ed, the consecration of their households by baptism is
tioned also.
The
and
should conclude they were, even if
trembling
liler,
men-
as soon as he heard
was baptized, he and all

some suppose, all his household
believed, the force of the principle would not thus be aba*
This fact would corroborate the statement already
ted.
the terms, embraced them and
his straightway.
If,
as
made, that the apostles expected the conversion of households to follow the conversion of the parents, because tliey
unwavering faith on the meaning of the Abrahamic promise. This was the only promise which would
warrant such an expectation and this did warrant them to
relied with
view of the salvation

which they would thus secure to themselves and their household.
If, however, there were children too young to be
invite parents to believe in Christ, in
baptized, on the profession of their
own
faith, that
same
promise would require them to be consecrated on the
faith
of their parents.
The language
of this passage speaks of
the jailer's baptism as following his
own
faith
while
it
clearly implies that their baptism followed in consequence
of their relation to him.
This leaves us the conclusion, that
his household consisted of those
who
in their
of the jailer.
The
record of the conversion of Lydia, whose
heart the Lord opened,

sent position
who were of nonage, and

God on the faith
baptism were consecrated to
is
another confirmation of the pre-
and when she was
baptized and' her
hold" the baptism of her household seems

8
to be
house
mentioned
86
as a matter of course, after her
heart
own
a word
Even had
respecting the failh of her household.
been mentioned,
it still
mode of
present
is,
ful-
that she con*
God by
immediately to
baptism, in
The man-
reliance on the provisions of that covenant.
which the baptism of the household of Stephanas
ner
mentioned, conveys the same impression.
in
said
while, according to the
narration, the impression
secrated her househol
is
the faith
would appear as the immediate
filment of the covenant promises
full
and yet while hef
especially mentioned as opened, not
is
is
Since, therefore,
whenever the conversion and baptism of heads of families are

recorded, the baptism of their families
while their conversion
not
is
since,
household dedication occurred
fest that the
of the faith of the parents
avowed
since, finally,
we
in
it is
mani-
consequence
since in this fact
direct application of those views
in their views
also recorded,
is
moreover,
we
see the
which the apostles always
believe the apostles consistent
and practices, we are
at
once presented with
the general custom of the Churches under their ministration.

It
seems, that so clearly was the promise presented, and so
was
joyfully
it
received, that believing parents hastened to
devote their children to the triune God,
in the
same form
in
which they had devoted themselves forever.

The manner in which
6.
the covenant relation
dren was regarded, in apostolic days,
manner
is
manifest
of chiU
from
the
in xohich the consecrated households of believers were
treated.
The
first
thought
is,
that they
must have sought, and
generally witnessed, the piety of their offspring in very

early
life.
There
is
nothing said of the conversion of the
children of believers after their arrival at adult age.

far as- we
pidly followed the conversion of the parents.
tomary
So
can gather, the conversion of the households ra-
to see the conversion of children
If it
delayed
was
until
cus-
many
87
years had rolled away,
it is
probable that, in the writings
we should find some notice

some admonitions in view of such deand some allusions to the great change thus wrought
of the apostles and evangelists,
of such conversions
lay,
Instead of
in believing families.
this,
we
find
parents di-
and admonichildren commanded to obey their
rected to educate their children in the nurture

tion
of the Lord
we
parents in all things
find
we
find the
animating promises of
the covenant reiterated in the instructions of the Holy
Ghost, and accomplished in his operations.

flection
is,
Another
that children of believing parents are
re*
no where
mentioned as subjects of baptism after they have become
No
adults.
account can be found of the baptism of a child
of Christian parents, unless
it is
found in the cases of house-
hold baptism, where the baptism was administered in con-
sequence of the
faith
of the parents,
If
now we
consider,
were immediately consecrated

of grace early descended upon
that the children of believers

to Christ,
and that the
them,
answer
in
whole Church
Spirit
to the
prayers of their parents and of the
so that they generally had an experimental

knowledge of the gospel, and appeared " sober and steady,"
;
serious and consistent in their deportment
of course, there
would be no record either of conversions or baptism in after

This is precisely the state of the case, as a sober
years.
estimate of the
This
is
New
Testament record would give
only having
all
the baptisms of her children in infancy, but
all their sanctification,
their
it.
the state in which the Church ought to be, not
early beginning, then growing with
growth and strengthening with
their strength.
the state in which the Church will be
when
the Lord, from the least unto the greatest,''''
This
" all shall
Then
is
know
all
her
children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the
peace of her children,

tion
is,
that so important
still more impressive considerawas the relation regarded, that
88
even where only one of the parents was a believer, the chil*
dren were accounted holy " Else were your children unThe apostle proves the vaeleaUf but now are they holy.^^
of the marriage, although one of the parties remained
lidity
an unbeliever, perhaps a base
idolater,
by the
fact, that the
children^ in consequence of their relation to the heliever,
were considered and treated as

predicated of the children
holy.
relative.
is
The holiness here

The words unclean
and holy are used
in reference to religious observances.
That was unclean,
in
not
to
fit
an ancient Jewish usage, which was
be offered to God.
consecrated to his
service.
feast days, the temple,
ments
holy.
its
That was holy which was

Hence the Sabbath, the
vessels
the priests, their vest-
and the circumcised children, were all denominated

This was the customary language of the nation and
When,
of the Church for ages.
a believer are called
holy,
we
either actually consecrated to
universally
it
is
was
of
God, or are proper subjects

in which in-
The very manner
of religious consecration.
fant dedication
therefore, the children
understand that they are
alluded to in this passage indicates

practised,
and how highly
it
how
was esteem-
ed among the apostolic Churches. The children, then, of

the Church are to be regarded with peculiar attention in
her prayers and instructions.
By
the providence of
God
upon her bosom ; by

the command of God, they are claimed for his own, and
enstamped with the seal of his covenant. The Church, therethey are
fore,
is
cast, in their helplessness,
under solemn obligations to acknowledge the claim,
by obeying
the
be responsible
command
God in
to
between the parent and

self,
and
and the parent who refuses

that
day when God
the child.
If this subject
in its scriptural representations,
parent should give

consideration.
it
will
shall judge
is in it-
so important, every
a deep, and prayerful, and
faithful
It is
89
time for the whole Church to awake.
estimable in
its
value
is
committed
to
her
trust in-
But her
faith.
When will she feel this theme in all

When will she prepare herself for
its thrilling influence ?
the millennial glory ? When will she go back, or rather as-
slumber
cend
appalling.
is
In the
commence-
said, that in the first
century the
to the standard of apostolic
ment of this chapter
it
was
ages?
principles of household consecration
preciated than at
any other
preparation for
mission
period, before or since.
Is
1.
com^
In the fulness and extent of the apostolic
not
How
were they honored in the

In the whole course of
Messiah's advent
the position substantiated?
his ministry
were more highly ap-
In the freeness and exuberant riches of gospel
proposals as apostles preached them
In the immediate
God!
consecration of Christian households to the triune
In the whole manner of treatment which the baptized chil-
dren of the
first
century received from parents and apostles,
from the Churches and Saviour

can we
fasten, in the
Qn what
!.
period of time
whole range of ecclesiastical memory,
so highly distinguished for the spiritual power and gran-
deur of this
institution, as
of Christianity
What
spirit-stirring
evidence which
dationof this
were the purest and
earliest
years
is
now
motives evolve from the body of
before us
We have seen the
institution laid in the great principles
eternal government, and of the family
foun.
of God's
constitution
we
have seen its principles characterizing the divine procedures

and its enthronement signalized
until the time of Abraham
;
by
the stipulations of the covenant, and the appointment of
we have
an external form of consecration
finement to the Jews, and in
power of preserving the
Jewish Church
riment of
its
until
its
seen
in its
con-
Shiloh came, one long successful expe-
energy
we have
seen the incontrovertible
evidence of that covenant's perpetual nature ; of
8*
its
exten^
90
with
sion,
all
Gentile world
its
;
blessings enhanced,
spiritual
we have
seen the
title
over the
of believing Gentiles
we have
listened
to
its
promises incontestably established
to
its
assurances of mercy to believers in behalf of their
children
lished,
we have
felt
was abo-
that while the ancient seal
a more appropriate, significant and universal one
was wisely
established in the form of baptism.
"We have
seen the whole testimony of ecclesiastical history ascribing

this
change of the seal
to the
days of the apostles
we have
seen in the records, the inspired and infallible records, of

those days, evidence that then this institution flourished with
universal honor, uncorrupted purity, and transcendant pow-
er
In view of this overwhelming mass of proof,
fore call
ing."
upon the Church
An
institution
thus interwoven with
"
Be
we
there-
not faithless, but believ-
thus distinguished, thus established,

all
ing four thousand years,
the vital interests of religion duris
and unceasing confidence.
worthy of our
entire, increasing,
CHAPTER
VIII.
Utility of household consecration. The state of mind essential to its acceptable performance. The distinct and solemn pledge. Its actual
bearing on parental duties.
God has
If
ordained the practice of infant consecration,
presumptuous
it is
to question its utility.
not at once prove

or
its
its utility,
we
practical results,
faithfully,
and prize
it
from
Genuine
when
Here, however,
The
command.
terious
no
sacrifice
Our
is
if
is
it
God
command is
his
in
no dark and mys-
obedience of faith would leave
God
required
it.
his son of
Here, however,
demanded.
its
and bearing, there

fluence.
is
divine authority.
In
its
very nature
abundant evidence of
its
salutary in-
In the living facts of
drous sanctions of the

its
could
belief in the importance of this institution does not
depend simply on
of
we
faith
the parent even to sacrifice his son, his only son
promise and of love,
if
should be bound to maintain
highly.
shrinks not from obedience, even
dark and mysterious.
Even
inherent adaptation*
its
Spirit,
there
honorable connection
Whether we contemplate
its
its
history,
is
with
and the won.
demonstration strong
the divine economy.
impressive agency on the
parent, on the childf on the Church, on the world,
constrained to believe that, considering simply

tendencies, the Christian
we
are
practical
its
Church has not another ceremony
of equal value.
The
reader
is
requested to bear in mind that
infant dedication as
preceding chapters,
lity
it
speak of
has been defined and defended in the

I shall not undertake to prove the uti-
of a spurious consecration.
reject alike that which,
92
having the form, denies the power, and that which, confi.
dent of the power, contemns the form.
If there be infant
consecration" to false gods, or to an imaginary god, or even
God, with a
to the true
eulogize
its
chapters
is
false heart,
is
it
no part of mine
The argument
operation.
practical
to
of these
not responsible for the infant dedication of a cor-
rupted Christianity in any land, family, circumstances^ or

generation.
The
infant consecration here
which the
**
father of us all"
solemnly urged,
practised,
first
Saviour himself modified for
the
all ages.
firmed for
Thus
will
it
in
infant consecration produces
manner God
the parental faithfulness, and in what

in
show
shall therefore attempt to
what manner the ordinance of

that faithfulness
and con-
nations,
all
is that
and which
remembrance of
appear that through
this institution
beneficial influence is conveyed, that
blesses
his holy covenant.
a stream of
makes glad
the city
of our God.
1.
from
The
performance.
of househoid consecration is inferred

of the mind esseniical to its most acceptable
The parents are supposed to be true believ-
utility
the state
they regard the terms of the covenant as
ers,
mises as infinitely precious, and
nificant token of his gracious design,

love.
They regard
just, its pro-
appointed seal as a sig-
its
and of their confiding
the special promise of persevering
grace to them, as giving them a strong foundation, for

prosecuting their holy plans in their household.
They
re-
gard the conditional promise of grace fOr their offspring, as

affording
them a
full
opportunity for trying the strength of
They
vigorous, household faith.
see that
access inexhaustible stores of grace.

promise,
prize upon prize.
opens into another.
wide
its
portals,
The
One
it
opens to their
Promise
rises
upon
apartment of mercy
angel of the covenant throws
and beckons them
still
to
advance.
The
;
*
93
continuance of God's Church in their household
member
vation of each individual
welfare
the
high attainments of holiness
guished usefulness of their children
grees of celestial glory

tion,
and
all
the sal-
the needful temporal
the
distin-
the surpassing de-
these not for one genera-
but by the extension of the vital principle of conse.
cration,
These are the promises of the

and the pathway of
for a thousand.
covenant, in their glorious gradation
ascent from the lowest to the highest,
open
is
to the aspir-
ings of parental faith
He
regards the sacred seal, as implying an entire con*
secration of himself and his household to these lofty pro-
He
mises and purposes of the covenant.

that this relation
is
ed only through
Jew
is
gained only through
The example
faith.
The danger,
before him.
is
admonished
faith, is
maintain-
of the unbelieving
the guilt, the consequent
ces of covenant violations, of parental unfaithfulness, are

all
before him in the history of the Church, and the records,
Suppose the parent
of the covenant.
deeply
in his heart
secration, with that state

tions
produce and
common
sanction,
appeal to philosophy, to
sense, to experience,
its
supposed.
exposure
its
The
ponder these things
let
when
parental influence must be secured
here
to
him come to the altar of conof mind which all these considera-
then
say that a powerful
by
need of regeneration
of the divine government in
its
mind
that state of
value of the child
its
depravity
the great principle
dealings with
parents
the
development of that principle in the Abrahamic covenant

the solemen earnestness and fulness of that promise
privileges conferred
by the gospel on
cessity of self-examination
the Gentiles
the
the ne-
of genuine faith; of an entire
surrender of the young immortal
the conviction of personal
parental responsibility combined with a sense of personal

insufficiency,
and with the strength of parental
affection
94
pressing on the soul, must render the scene of bap.
all these,
tism, to the spiritual parent, intensely impressive
Jf ever the
can be formed, they could be formed then.

soul of
man
when
just
and over-
If ever strong resolves of parental faithfulness
whelming.
braces herself for high and noble
all
the arguments of fear, with
all
efforts, it is
the animation
of hope,'blend their strength in one impulse, and urge her
on
To deny
one specific movement.
to
gy of such
laws of mind, and

2.
The
the practical ener-
consecration, would be to reason against all the

all
the principles of sound philosophy.
of this ordinance
utility
is evident from the fact,
of consecration involves, on the part of the fa*

rents, a distinct and solemn pledge to educate the child for
that the act
Jehovah*
The
reasons
why
such a pledge might wisely be re-
quired were stated in the
first
two chapters.
for the institution of infant consecration,

It is
ful,
reasonable that,
and
in its
Several fun.
for believing in infant baptism, but
damental reasons, not
if moral
influence
is
were then
in itself so
family relations so energetic
entire and universal, and if
God
if
stated.
power-
depravity
is
designs to bestow the in-
fluences of his grace in connection with parental faithfulness, a distinct
and solemn pledge should be required of
parents to consecrate their whole parental influence to the
Lord. Such a pledge

absolute right of
for
The
God
moral government
rental obligation
required and given in the ordinance
is
of infant dedication.
his
regenerating grace of
parent there acknowledges the
to his child
;
the capacity of his child
the force and abiding reality of pa-
own dependence on the

God and in view of all
;
relations connected with the spiritual nature

his offspring,
he gives
struct, guide, restrain,
rally, thcit
immortal
the pledge that
atoning and
the invisible
and destiny of
he will faithfully
in,
and educate, intellectually and mo-
spirit for
heaven,
\\.
is
given at the
95
HOUSEJIOLD CONSECRATION.
family altar
given in the house of God
it is
it is
inscribed
on every parental and eVery Christian memorial it is given

of the Church, of the world,
in presence of his household
;
It
of ministering angels, and a covenant-keeping God.
given in a state of mind most calculated, of all others,
insure
a power, a meaning, and a spiritual energy.
it
is
to
It is
useless to say, that the parent will discharge his duties as
We
well without giving a pledge as with.
any other
thus on
thus in his business.
do not reason
The merchant
does not reason
God has not reasoned
thus in the mar-
subject.
riage institution, nor in requiring his followers to pledge
themselves by a public profession to be
Our
faithful.
fa-
thers did not reason thus in signing the Declaration of Inde-
Nations have not reasoned thus
pendence.
Among
monarchs.
their
human and
divine,
and
all nations,
when
in
crowning
in all institutions,
great interests are at stake, the
pledge, the sacred, inviolable pledge, has been required,
both by the dictates of
human
nature, of reason, and reli-
argue against
folly thus to
gion.
It
human
experiencCj and against all the principles of
is
all
the current of
human
practice.
To
stances,
disprove the utility of a pledge in these circumit is
essential to
of small moment
is
useless
prove that the interest at stake
that the
common
same tendency
each of these
is
here.
is
powerful
here.
The
ral culture
ings
faith,
If
it
is
it
Where
is
frail,
is
is
mo*
important any where,
any where,
must
souls of a household
of two
opposite of
and the demonstration
rational
any where,
The
as in others.
self-evident,
rally invulnerable, that if a pledge

it
is
mankind
or that a piedgCj in these circumstances, will
not have the
is
practice of all
it
is
here*
If
it
be peculiarly powerful
!
entrusted to the
trembling,
the parental heart
mo*
and imperfect bewhere the heart of
or mercy, or compassion, which would not wish to
96
have secured to those souls, as strongly as possible, those

means and mfluences on which their eternal welfare depends
Who
how
C!in fail to see
infant consecration
is
well the ordinance of
adapted to give this security
of infant baptism is manifest from its ac

the
performanee of parental duties.
on
tual bearing
The parents retire from the sanctuary to the household
The
3.
utility
There they bow at the family
hearth.
They
They
altar.
the soul which they have given to God.
commend
their vows,
and
covenant.
Can they do
strongest feelings
their child to the
less, if
plead for
reiterate
Spirit of the
they act according to their
and solemn promises
Where
has family
Unquestionably,
where the household dedication advocated
in these chapters
worship been most faithfully maintained
has been most

to
England,
countries.
faithfully performed.
to the
I
United States, as compared with other
appeal to the history of those Churches which
have most clearly understood these

highly proved them.
is
appeal to Scotland,
principles
The maintenance
and most
of family worship
regarded as a sacred, indispensable duty, generally
universally, in those
is
rightly practised.
we
if
not
Churches where family consecration
As a
convincing illustration of
this^
need but present, as a specimen of a whole class, the
household worship of New-England.
It is
unnecessary to
extend the comparison minutely, through different denominations,
yet let the inquiry be prosecuted ever so exten-
sively, the
tion.
It is
same
principle
would gather continual confirma-
painful to present the other side of the picture.
An aged godly minister once said, when addressing a Churchy

like himself, rejected infant dedication, " lam acquaint-
who,
ed with
the state
of our Churches in
all this region,
and
are but few members who maintain family worship.^*

assertion could never be
tise
infant consecration
made
respecting families
there
This
who prac-
on the principles here professed-
97
What
glowing interest must these principles awaken in the
bosom of the family
The
circle
saint, the father,
and the husband prays."
They
not only preserve family worship, but they purify, inspire,
and ennoble
it.
If the parents are

in
prompted
to maintain family worship,
consequence of their covenant
and engagements,
faith
same manner, be influenced to diligence in

family instruction.
They will draw around them the consecrated group.
The father, when he sitteth down, and
when he riseth up, when he goeth out, and when he cometh
in, in the house, and by the way. The mother in the closet
they
will, in the
and
in
the nursery, each in their respective stations
at their united domestic fireside.
Such
is
the inference forced
family worship
is
The
inference.
household regulations
ciples,
instilled
cestors
upon
catechetical
both
for according as
us,
The
will instruct them.
neglected or honored, so will
be with religious instruction.

the
They
it
generally
facts correspond with
instruction
the strict
the stern doctrinal and moral prin-
even with proverbial diligence by our an-
the Sabbath school instruction
ciation, the simplified religious reading in
the maternal asso-
modern
times, all
bear witness to the truth of these statements, and have

chiefly originated
among
those
who
baptize their children,
and have been mainly propelled by the zeal which the

It is true that
coals from this altar have enkindled.
much
is
cation
is
felt,
now done where

not practised
there
is
no doubt
the ordinance of infant dedi-
that
an increasing
interest is
now
other truths and principles have
operated, in a measure, to stimulate
and more especially
the presence and example of infant consecration in the
same
neighborhoods has counteracted the tendency of neglect in

many families. Yet the inspiring, moving spring of this
98
unusual interest
is
manifestly the spirit of household dedi*
cation.
For the same
reasons'that family worship and instruction
are nourished by this influence, will intellectual education
The
he promoted.
parents feel that the minds for whose
moral culture God has adapted^ such a special system of

provision, ought to receive the beat possible intellectual cul-
Hence
tivation.
always tended
Again
to
the principles of infant consecration have
promote the general education of youth.
mention Scotland, England, the United States, and
especially
New-England.
especially the last,
is
To
sufficient.
mention these countries,
Their
their educated ministry; their literary

tutions
odicals,
their
numerous
publications, in
common
and
schools
scientific insti-
volumes and
peri-
and their general intelligence, are known and ho-
nored of all men.
The
train
up
parents
who
are influenced as described above will
their households to sanctify the Sahbath.
The mind imbued with the reasonings which
establish
the divine authority of infant baptism, will feel the beauty
and force of that which sustains the divine authority of the

Christian Sabbath.
On
the other hand, those
who have
taught the abolition of the Abrahamic covenant, have extensively advocated the abrogation of the fourth
ment.
command-
The heart which prizes most highly the covenant
of consecration, will naturally feel most deeply the value
The same manner of investiof the Lord's sacred day.

gation, adopted under the other specifications, will equally
illustrate the
correspondence of the history with the logical
deductions.
If these things are so
tion, if the
if
family worship and instruc-
benign influences of liberal education, and the
auspicious energies of the Christian Sabbath, are promoted,
99
preserved, and elevated, through the influence of household

consecration, can
any man question
passing
If,
utility ?
pledge, and
its
moreover,
its
its
manifest and
living truths,
its
its
sur-
solemn
actual bearing on the performance of parental
duties, are so conspicuous,
how salutary nnust be its
influence
of parental character. The constant exercise of such Abrahamic faith, of such patriarchal solicitude,
on
the formation
of such strong, deep, and prevailing prayer, as the
ment of the pledge, the development of these
fulfil-
principles,
and
the performance of these duties demand, must tend to form
a lovely, steadfast, and consistent character. How sweetly

must it combine warmth of affection with vigor of intellect,
and domestic cheerfulness with holiness of conversation.
It is " as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended on the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore."
;
CHAPTER
IX.
Utility of household consecration continued. Its influence on consecrated children. Examples its connection with prevailing prayer. Examples the early conversion of children.
Having considered
what manner the ordinance of
in
infant consecration produces parental faithfulness,
we
shall
proceed to inquire in what manner God Messes that faith,
fulness
Hence we
in rememhrance of his holy covenant.
remark,
4.
utility of this ordinance is manifest, from,

moral influence which it exerts upon the minds
That the
the restraining
of consecrated children while impenitent.

A pious lady, being solicited by her daughters
My
mission to attend a ball, replied.
infancy
give
consecrated you to the Saviour
my consent
him forever
cation
to
your request
do you wish
to
how then can
have dedicated you
They
now
consent to
paused, considered, assent-
ed to her decision, and rejoiced that they had a mother
was
steadfast to her baptismal
young
lad,
to
break away from that dedi-
Will you not rather yourselves
that precious covenant
for per-
dear children, in your
who
engagements.
over whose infancy a dying mother
breathed her prayer of faith, and over whose earliest years

the watchfulness of that mother's parents and sisters exercised the care of holy affection,
when
at
was once strongly tempted,
play with his shoolmates, to take the
covenant God
in
vain.
So powerful was
name of
his
the temptation,
even resolved to venture his first oath. The word

was forming on his lips, when the thought of his infant de-
that he
mind
dication rushed to
name which has been
How
can
sealed upon
101
profane that sacred
me by
the
divine mercy, and the faith of parental love
command of
was never uttered and that child, in all future

was preserved from the sin of profaneness.
An
intelligent gentleman, not himself
that he should infer from his
dinance
more valuable
is
any other
own
for
own
its
oath
a professor, says
experience, that this or,
practical tendencies, than
The
the Christian Church.
in
Th.'it
temptation,
thought of his
had powerfully restrained him amidst

the temptations of life, and preserved his character from vice
To these examples multitudes might be
and immorality.
infant baptism
added, showing in what
manner
the finger of God, through
The
touches the impenitent heart.^
this institution, often
public morals of those communities where this ordinance

practised in
tration of
5.
its
The
answers
its
is
illus^
restraining influence.
utility is
the
an appropriate
spiritual import, afford
evinced from the manner in which
God
prayers of his people while directly pleading the
covenant promises.
It
was the
meeting
in
privilege of the writer to attend a protracted
one of our
which was charac

power of the cove,
whose mind had been
loveliest villages,
terized with thrilling exhibitions of the
rant.
brother in the ministry,
long awake to the importance of this subject, being grieved

at the lifeless aspect of a
very large Church, had almost
solved to abandon the scene of labor.

pastor
if
there were
who were
many. Then
tion
many
stay.
re,
inquired of the
baptized youth in his congrega-
unconverted.
I will
He
Yes, said he, there are very
This subject of infant dedication
was immediately presented before the congregation. The

baptismal vows of believing parents, and the consequent
guilt of their stupidity in
holy fervor.
The
repentance flowed
such a season, were urged with
fountain
was unsealed
parents9* pressed
the waters of
forward with their
102
renew their vom's, and supplicate forgiveness

and salvation for their offspring baptized
children whose parents wore not present were invited, and
came trembling forward to solicit the prayers of the Church
children, to
for themselves,
parents
baptized
but unconverted, and by
infancy,
in
and their children from
their unbelief cutting off themselves
came with weeping also
the covenant blessing,
united hearts plead the glorious promises of the
and, while
Abrahamic
came down like

moment the work
covenant, the Spirit of the Lord

the
ed
mown
until
grass, and from that
many
hibitions
were added
souls
to the Lord.
have oflen been witnessed
And were
inquiry to be strictly
springs of influence,
it
in
made
rain
upon
progress-
Similar ex-
scenes of revival.
more
into the
secret
would oflen be found that the win-
dows of heaven were opened by some strong grasp of the

covenant.
In the ordinary circumstances of the Church, and in the
spiritual history of individuals, the connection
promise with prevailing prayer,
of household
abundantly exhibited.
is
God
lawyer, while visiting the place where the work of
was
progressing,
was awakened
to
a sense of his
The
danger, and sought the prayers of Christians.
prayer meeting] was nearly closing, and he

surrender.
"
He
a baptized child,"
is
prayer was renewed
it
still
was
and
guilt
little
refused to
The
said.
the covenat promise urged at the
throne of grace, and he rose up rejoicing in the Lord.

believing wife states, that she distinctly
remembers the hour
when her husband (now occupying a sphere of distinguished usefulness
Church) was delivered from the bon-
in the
sin while
prayer was made unto
the ground of the
Abrahamic covenant.
dage of
similar character might be recounted
pages of a volume.
And
in this
till
God
for him,
on
Instances of a
they should
age of revivals,
fill
the
it is
the
solemn duty of the Church to make known these wonders

of grace.
The
6.
utility
103
of infant consecration is most appropriits bearing on the early conversion of
ately exhibited by
children.
presents this subject in
It
Church.
It
atonement as their only hope, and
to the
as the almighty agent.

its
true aspect before the
its
proclaims their need of regeneration
speedy renovation.
It
encourages them
Should the parent
the ability and willingness of
when he
cise the
same
faith in
on earth
life
infant
may
points
to plead
who
God
for
believes in
to regenerate the infant,
about to translate him to another world, exer-
is
of his
God
it
to the Spirit of
God
in
reference to the continuance
should he seek, not merely that the
be saved, but that he
may
glorify
God
in his
whole earthly existence, and therefore plead for his early

conversion with that intense earnestness which sometimes
wrestles with God at the dying bed of some hardened and
abandoned child of the covenant, this would be acting accord,
In whatever degree
ing to the spirit of the ordinance.
parental faithfulness has thus taken hold of the covenant,

the blessing of
God has been
The
accordingly granted.
mother of Samuel acted thus when she consecrated him to

God, and multitudes of parents in ages since have rejoiced
in the
same covenant promise fulfilled in early childhood.

this, the names of many distinguished divines
In proof of
and holy men, in

ject
is
now
recently been
holds,
ted
ages, might be adduced.
many examples
Abrahamic promise.
ones, he obtained
had given
filled his
their hearts to
God
delightful
God.
prayer, which
clergyman
a season of special prayer with
little
This sub-
of the conversion of house-
especially in connection with
plead the
after
all
happily growing in importance, and there have
The
has
states, that
for his consecra-
evidence that they

great subject which
thoughts, and his wrestling prayers,
was the glory
of (xod as connected with the household covenant.
There
104
should be, indeed, great faithfulness in deciding on the evi-
dence presented, but the parental
niind, rightly affected
by
these views, will rather expect daily to behold such evidence
than be surprised at
its
occurrence.
bered, that the grand object

it is
that they
may
is
be holy in
It
should be remem-
not simply their conversion,

all their life
that they
honor the gospel by their whole course of action
may
be trained for the service of Christ as
that
God may be
is
subordinate and essential.
To
object.
degree,
conversion
Until the parent can be satis-
Therefore,
the reign
rest until
this their
he cannot be assured of the higher
fied of the conversion,
and grander
faithful soldiers
glorified, in the highest possible
through the family constitution.
may
that they
grace
of
throughout the household.
The
is
he should give him no

manifestly established
increase of this spirit
is
one of the brightest harbingers of millennial glory. It is indescribably important as connected with the efforts now
made
to
instruct the rising
generation.
While we are
pouring light upon their tender age, with what intense
vor should
is
we beseech
the genial influences of grace.
ferIt
true that most affecting instances might be mentioned of
the power of infant consecration, to affect the mind of bar-
dened and abandoned sinners, when all other means have

and the grace of God in these marvellous outgoings
failed
of
its
healing virtue, deserves our loudest praise
yet the
primary and regular operation of this gracious economy

is in its own legitimate and direct bearing on the early regeneration of children.
O, when will Zion understand the
depth, the sweetness, the purity of her
own
ancient
and
everlasting fountains.
On the whole, there are several considerations connected

may well astonish us. It is aston-
with this subject which

ishing that the
privileges
Church has not appreciated these wonderful
more
justly.
It is
astonishing that notwithstand-
HOirSEHOLD CONSECRATION.
105
ing her cn'mmaZ unfaithfulness, the covenant promises have
been
fulfilled
so manifestly.
any should be
It is, finally,
disposed, afler such
astonishing, that
demonstrations as the
history of Zion affords, to question the utility of infant consecration.
CHAPTER
X.
Utility of household consecration continued. Relation of baptized children to the Church. Influence on the prosperity of the Church. The
theory.
The
to
utility
of infant consecration will farther appear
every reflecting mind,

7,
By
sustain
contemplating the relation which baptized children
to the
Church.
Having by the
act of the parent received the seal of
the great ecclesiastical covenant, they are included in the

relative promise
ded
until
to the parent.
They will not be inclumade to the believer,
promise of grace
they exercise the
of genuine
to
made
in the personal
On
faith required.
faith in the triune
the profession
God, their baptism becomes
them a token of their personal
interest in his saving grace.
commune
Until they will do this, they are not permitted to

at his table, nor to present their
tion.
Thus by
their
own
children in consecra-
voluntary impenitence and unbelief,
they exclude themselves from fellowship with the Church.
Their own dedication
to
God
in childhood, if
they
resist
the
righteous claim, cannot qualify them for the Lord's supper,
or for the baptism of their households, because these are

ordinances in which they must personally act, and the action
required
this
is
the exercise and expression of living faith.
holy manner the ancient
In
Hebrew was commanded
to
observe the ordinances of the Church, and he was forbidden

to participate with a
the wicked
statutes,
God
wicked heart.
saith,
What
Ps.
1.
16
*'
But unto
hast thou to do to declare
or that thou shouldst take
my
my
covenant in thy
107
Irsouth ?"
relation, while
This
it
does not authorize them to
enjoy the privileges peculiar to believers, does, however,

powerfully affect their condition.
Church
It hinds the
their parents.
By
have covenanted
to
Church covenant,
all
over each other
to
watch for their souls, through
consecrating them to Christ, the parents
By
labor for their salvation.
members have engaged
the
in this respect, as
well as in
to
the
watch
all others.
If,
Church is bound by
admonish him faithfully, and to
then, a parent neglects his duty, the
her covenant with him to

require the performance.
does not do
If she
The
breaks her covenant.
pastor, too,
is
this,
she
pledged to watch
over the Church, the parents, and the children, and see to
it
that family worship, government, instruction,
and the
ordinances of the Sabbath and sanctuary, are secured to
every household of
faithful
his
sure that the baptismal

the
The
Church.
well regulated and
make
covenant-keeping Church will certainly
Church regarding
vows are regarded.

this relation
Of
it
course, if
does thus, through the
parents, act on the lambs of the flock, their moral character
and condition must be moulded under her influence.

another manner
It
still
hinds the parents
Church.
In
this relation affects their condition.

to
press upon them the claims of the
Suppose the child well instructed
ples of his consecration
that
in the princi-
God, by ordaining
it,
has
turned the eye of the Church especially upon him, and has
presented both his righteous claim and his merciful offer
by
the hand of parental affection
tures of silver.
The question
at
apples of
once
ledge that claim and accept that offer
gold in pic*
arises, shall I
?
acknow-
God having mer-
propounded them my parents having coincided with

them shall I comply ? It is difficult to perceive in what
manner the gospel proposal could be introduced to the mind
cifully

108
of a young child, better adapted to
enlist his intellect
and
melt his heart.
Suppose, now, that child witnesses the communion.
Not being permitted
The
parent explains.
partake, he inquires the reason
to
me
In participating with
in this ordi-
nance, you would profess that with an honest heart you

in Christ.
You have given me no evidence
you are prepared to make this profession. I am
grieved that you are not.
Will you now consent to the
entire surrender which, as a parent, I made of you to Christ ?
Will you from this time be his, unreservedly, and forever ?
have trusted
that
O, do not exclude yourself from these privileges any

longer.
Suppose the parent weekly,
daily,
should urge his
household to be prepared for the next communion
that
he
should expostulate, portray the divine mercy, dwell on the

guilt of
refusal,
on the danger of procrastination, on the
Now
strong motives for immediate compliance.

fest that this
does, legitimately from the nature of the relation

existing just so far as that relation
cannot
fail
it is
mani-
method of parental exertion, springing, as
is
it
itself,
and
understood and
felt,
to furnish seasons in the domestic history,
when
the sense of personal responsibility will be overwhelming,
and when the
thrilling call
of the gospel will pass
This
the deep places of the soul.
relation,
down
into
moreover, has
another bearing.
It
hinds all the memhers of the Church
souls of the household
when
the parents die.
his holy providence calls the parent
a right
to point
Woman,
is
It
elevating
is
the
Church
behold thy son
to
his
The
my
soul thrills
When God
in
away, that parent has

orphan boy, and say,
influence of such feelings
salutary auspicious
wonderful
watch for the
to
in
the highest degree.
when
I call
to
mind
this
precious legacy of the righteous.
ness might be recited, of the
of the orphan's promise
dying believer,
in
109
Tales of melting sweet-
power and
practical operation
especially of the promises to the
When
behalf of the consecrated child.
which God has made for the salvation

removed by his own providence, he seems
the special provision
of the child,
is
himself to take the parent's place, and he

to
do
through
it
his
Church.
Analagous
on the relation here considered,
The consecrated
child,
is
generally seen
remark,
to this last
by virtue of it,
wherever he may wander, may
is
another, that
always find those that will care for his soul.

He may say
to the Christian, wherever he meets one, Your brother and
sister
gave
me
to
your God
sake, I ask your prayers.

family, not merely
tion of divine
Pie
by the
ties
in their
is
name, and
for his
a connection of the great
of blood, but by the delinea-
mercy. Wherever such a youth makes himself
known, or is known as a child of the covenant, the Church

bound to plead those covenant promises in his behalf. It
surrounds the liomeless wanderer with a thousand guardian
is
spirits
to
belter for not being angels, if indeed they are those
whom
the glory
8.
appertaineth the adoption
with the covenants and
The practical uses of infant consecration are mani.

of the preservation and prosperity of tJie Church,
fest, in view
throughout successive ages.
Previous to the Abrahamic covenant,

principles operated surely, but
more
definite covenant, with its sacred seal,
therefore their native force
was not
its
silently.
fundamental
The
express,
was unknown, and
fully developed.
Yet,
Through all the veins of ages household streams

Oozed from their sacred fountains.
The
current,
however, although subterranean, can someby the verdure above it.

After the
times be traced
establishment of this institution, the
10
pathway of
its
in-
llO
fluence, through the successive periods,
luminous as the galaxy
in
the
of mercy have rolled down

the fountain covenant
Where
uous channel.
from age
was opened,
this
as distinct and
is
The waters
heavens.
in
to
age,
since
one conspic-
this
ordinance has been fundamen-
Church has been corrupted, but her

prosperity has always attended its faithful obser-
tally perverted, the

spiritual
vance.
since, in one portion ofthe Church, it has been

an unwarranted ceremony, there have not only
Even
laid aside as
been no particular tokens of approbation discoverable toward those who have done so, but the healthiest and noblest
tide of prosperity has flowed on in the ancient channel, and
the evil tendencies of the disuse are already visible in the
You must," said an
short space of a few generations.
aged minister to his brethren, " you must dedicate your
Our
children to God, as well as your meeting house.
chil-
dren are growing up uninstructed they are hunting on the

Sabbath they are becoming skeptical you must awake,
and dedicate them to God." And although the good and vene-
rable father in Israel was careful to state that he did not intend to urge the dedication of children, by the affusion of water,
in the name ofthe Trinity, his exhortation implied, that where
the form did not exist, there
where
infant dedication
was
was but
ing tendency to the neglect of
The
truth
is,
nected with this
there
is
little
of the power, and
neglected, there
was an alarm-
all visible religion.
a sweet and holy influence conwhich passes into the closet,
institution,
as well as in the family circle
and which
is
shed over the
great congregation, as well as into the soul, that shutteth the

It tends to
door and prayeth to Him who seeth in secret.
impress the parents, the children, the community, with the
solemnity of the marriage covenant.
and
its
It
unfolds
its
primary
heavenly design, and makes those sins which
at defiance
appear peculiarly abominable.
The
set
it
value of

Ill
these, the legitimate impressions
of
this ordinance,
Especially, in view of
be too highly appreciated.
practical bearings, does the importance of this
cannot
all
these
institution
manifest, as connected with the system of missionary
seem
Tending, as
operations.
does, to give
it
by
Christian establishments
permanency
to
bearing on successive gene-
its
rations, we have reason to hail with joy the formation of

every new Church among the heathen, on the principles of
An encouraging prospect is
the Abrahamic covenant.
before us, even in most disheartening present labors, because
we know
that the
God of
that everlasting covenant has, in
all ages, thus illustrated the
whole course of
his
reality of his
promise by the
in the preservation
providence
and pros-
perity of Zion.
The
tion, is
practical importance, therefore, of infant consecrafully
influence.
evinced by an extended examination of
The
writer
commenced
the firm belief that, important as the inductive philosophy

to
human
science,
it
theories of revelation
is
cannot be permitted to control the

;
any scheme of doctrine
that if
and the universe of
is
may be adopted without

facts may be trusted to fur-
sanctioned in the word of God,

hesitation,
its
these discussions under
it
nish a continued scene of varied and appropriate illustration.
we have taken of the actual bear,

we may, however, return with war-
After the survey which

ings of this practice,
mer
is
impressions of confidence to the theory with which
indissolubly connected in the
how
ously
consistent,
it
and sublime,
illustrates the
word of God.
is
that theory
wisdom of the
Infinite
it
How rational,
How glori-
Mind, and the
benevolence of his unfailing counsels.
We
behold him taking the great principle of the moral
that mind is ordained to exert moral influence over

mind universally and forever and applying it to the probation of man in a most emphatic manner, by means of the
universe
112
family constitution and

rations
of
and when
all his
the
incorporating
it,
by means of the family
methods of restoring mercy, that
constitution into all the

it
of gene-
of man, and the certain depravity
generations, rendered this principle powerful for
we behold him
evil,
the consequent relationship
fall
Then, as the cove-
might be equally powerful for good.
nant of redemption had secured in Christ, and for him, the

certain renovation and salvation of great multitudes from
consecrated household influence was

main channel of his grace, for the accomplishment of
generations, the
all
made
the
Moreover, as the covenant of grace

purpose.
secured in Christ the pardon, perseverance, and progressive
this eternal
holiness of every believer, a foundation
was thus
laid, in its
very nature, for securing thsit permanent, holy parental influence, during his lifetime, over his descendants. Therefore,
in order that a holy influence of mind over mind might be
secured, as a channel of grace, during
household constitution, he
on the covenant of grace

family influence
design, and
first
all time,
through the
established his visible
placed in her hands
this
encouraged her by revealing
Church
powerful
his gracious
wrought the elements of the three
into the
Abrahamic covenant ; thereby making it a glorious administration of grace, and confirmed it by a solemn seal for a
thousand generations.
As
that covenant thus contained the
personal promise of persevering grace to the believer, and a

distinct
and precious promise of
spiritual blessings to the
believing parent, in behalf of his descendants, the
was
applied both to the parent and the child
God
to both thus being asserted,
same
seal
the claim of
and the consecration of both
being necessarily implied, on the part of the parent, in his
own
voluntary act of receiving the appropriate seal for
himself and his household.

the old dispensation,
on
this foundation
Thus, through
God was
all
the ages of
erecting his spiritual temple
gathering his polished stones chiefly from

the Jewish nation
113
and by the very peculiarities of the an-
economy, preparing for the Messiah's advent. When

the Saviour appeared, and that same spiritual temple was
cient
to derive its materials
pensation
was
from
established
all nations,
the Christian dis-
mheriting the ancient covenant,
with confirmed, augmented, and elevated privileges, extending
its
vital principles
over vaster regions of mind, and em-
bracing, as the result of their practical operation, the
umphs of a universal gospel.

Such is the outline of the
consecration.
We
should characterize
beautiful.
It
scriptural theory of infant
have called
it
better
sublime
it
by the
perhaps
appellations
that deep domestic
fount,
Whence streams of life perennial flow where

Of holy promise, all unwithermg bloom.
;
flowers
There, too, great Spirit of redeeming grace

(Amidst these principles and changeless truths,)
!
There
thou, enthroned, abidest
The ages
of redemption
roll
and
10*
at
whose
shine.
feet
we
grand and
presents before us
That covenant sealed
tri-
CHAPTER
Household consecration,
XI.
The Wyandot Chiet
in its administration.
The
baptism.
and believing mind, this ordinance

it must in administration
be animating and impressive. This indeed is evident from
the fact, that even the untutored mind, if awakened by paIf, to the reflecting
be grand and beautiful
in theory,
and inspired by gospel
rental love,
attraction,
and
illustration
of
be adduced.
to
this,
glow with
its
truth, is able to feel its
As an
elements.
Wyandot Chief might
vital
the story of the
Converted to Christ
travelled a great distance with his
wilderness, he
in the
little
son, in order to visit
a band of Christian ministers, and commit him to their
He
charge, to be educated for the Lord.
stood amidst the
Presbytery, and consecrated him to the service of Jehovah.
He
asked them
when they
to
undertake the education of his son, and
ten pledge that they
When this deed
would be
Suppose
the Christian father and
witnessed
to give
faithful to their
him a
writ-
solemn charge.
of faith was accomplished he returned, con-
fiding, satisfied, rejoicing.
their infant children to Jehovah,
even
them
assented, he required
in his untutored
this
poor Indian had
mother consecrating
would there not have been'
mind, an apprehension of its propriety,
and an inward fellowship with the parental vows and hopes
How much
be appreciated, when the mind has entered deeply into

spiritual
more, then, shall the scene of infant consecration
design,
and incorporated with
its
its
strongest emo-
tions these everlasting principles.
To
the thoughtless
it
may seem
a vain ceremonial and
an unscriptural
rite
115
but to the studious heart, to the en-
lightened parent, to the instructed children, and to " their
angels which do always behold the face of our Father
which
is
in
heaven,"
will reveal,
it
pect the grandeur of
its
through
its
eternal relations.
humble
To them
in truth
'Tis the day

scene of glowing beauty
Zion gathers to the house of prayer.
Behold a young and godly pair advance,
And in the presence of that solemn flock
Present their offering to the King of saints
Their first-born son, a holy child of faith.
Then, as the angel of the Church implores
The God of Abraham for his changeless love
!
When
To those believing parents, and
How low they bow, how

That
child of love
their seed.
earnestly
and beauty
commit
to his grace.
In that deep prayer uniting. Who can tell

strong the father's purpose, or how full
The fond maternal heart, as on the brow
How
Of that fair infant, in affusion holy.

The man of God the sealing water sheds.
See, *midst the scene, that infant aspect glow
With beams of glory for the smile suppressed,

The rich parental tear and mutual glance
;
Tokens expressive of glad faith within
Lo the triune God

Fall sweetly on it.
Hath set a glorious seal, his own great name.
On that immortal creature. Guardian forms
Pledge to each other, to the Church, to God,
That they will guide him in the ways of truth,
Watch o'er him as a consecrated thing,
I
And train his spirit

O, how it girds the
for the
soul
up
Lord of hosts.
that deep
^ôice
In the pure musings of the inmost heart

' Fear not, O parent, I loill he a God
To thee and thine /" How rich that promise seemed,
As from that sacred altar they returned,
Bearing, amidst the yearnmgs of their faith,
Greeting their return,
A sealed spirit
Some aged Simeon,
or
some Anna,
rich
In heavenly treasures and in title-deeds
as-
it is

116
To
everlasting promises, would hail
With
them
and holy kiss.

Involving and expressing on the cheek
kiss of love, with long
Of that dear infant the unsullied faith

Of ancient generations, and bestow
The patriarchal blessing on his head.
How
felt
those parents
as, retiring
calm,
Tender, resolved, with lofty purpose filled.

They to their own sweet home rejoicing bore
The gift of God, the child of covenant love.
Never, till then, O, never
Their holy offspring
Seemed, in their view, that beauteous babe so dear
Seemed that sweet home so glorious, so refined
!
'twas like heaven, as with a mutual care

They placed the cradle by the altar's side.
And, kneeling where their loved one sleeping smiled,
Renewed before the ancient household shrine
The heart-felt consecration ; then implored
That grace which He, the God of promise, sealed
!
To them
and
theirs.
If faith, which works by love,
Be strong with God, strong in prevailing prayer,

Then rose that altar's incense pure to heaven,
And angels looked upon that sacred spot.

Where bloomed the rose of Eden looked and
How
said,
Ah, many, many

sweet the work to guard it
Such glorious watching places angels find
Round Zion's sunny hills and streams of grace.
!
Think not
And
far
that angel visits are but " few

Oft at the rosy morn.
between."
Or the still quiet evening, lo, they come,

Spirits invisible, to watch, to kneel
In the loved circle of a covenant home.
Strengthening the saint, the father, while he prays,
And leads e'en guardian angels to the throne.
Celestial
work
high, elevating task
To wear the unsullied ephod, which is cast.

By God's own mercy, round the household priest,
As
To
trembling he advances. As he leads

the pure shrine the partner of his cares,
O,
how
their souls
Of minds
commingle
How the power
and giving forth.
!
united, fired,
Into one prayer, issues of endless life.

Wrestles in words of faith, and tones of love.
>
117
HOUSEPIOLD CONSECRATION.
The new creation pours its shining truths

In one strong argument the radiant law,
Claiming for God life's earliest loves and hopes
The immortal soul of infancy the cross
That op'd the gates when came the Holy Dove,
Bearing the peace-branch, wet with purest dews
Of paradise restored the fall of man,
The chain of ages generations linked,
For good or evil, bearing from earliest guilt
Sin to each life, and second death to death ;
Redemption's glorious scheme and covenant grace*
Poured like a stream in sunlight, and in joy
From age to age all, all these lofty truths
Press on the soul, and form themselves in prayer.
And prayer, so formed, shall lodge its great request
Deep in the bosom of its covenant God,
Shall grasp the chain of promises, and bind
Around the loved that spiritual string of pearls
Pearls of great price gems of especial grace,
Hung, like the shield of knighthood, on the just
Or like the star that gilds the royal brow.
Glows on the patriarch's forehead, and beseems
The crown of glory, such ae Christ bestows
On heavenly princes. Higher than all degrees
:
Of earthly
Of empire
heraldry
beyond
all
gems
purer, brighter, costlier far.
In the course of thought pursued in this chapter,

rather followed the promptings of
scriptions of
erful
method.
There
and attractive beauty
is,
my
have
heart than the pre-
indeed, so
much of pow-
in this ordinance, that
it is
cal-
culated to impart intellectual enjoyment, as well as salutary

religious impression.
exclaim, "
How
Indeed,
we have always
amiable are thy tabernacles,
reason to
Lord of
hosts !" in reference to all the nêtôds of his grace, and al]
the ordinances of
his'
worship,
>
CHAPTER
Application of these principles to parents.
The grand
XII.
object of this discussion having been to pro-
mote the practical influence of
this ordinance, I trust that
the different classes concerned in
will permit
it,
me
to ad-
dress them with such reflections as the principles before us

authorize.
In the
To them
place,
first
I solicit
the attention of pa-
argument proclaims that the parental

relation itself is of deep and solemn import.
It is a relation
which no angel may sustain which in the higher grades
rents.
this
of intelligence no being but God sustains.

Its design
educate souls for an endless and blissful existence.
has therefore confined, and adapted
through the
it,
is
to
God
institution
of marriage, to such a mode of existence as should
eflTectu-
ally conduce to the spiritual welfare of all the parties con-
This ordinance of infant consecration, has stamped
cerned.
this relation
with the seal of
protection.
It
interests
and
infinite
responsibilities
reaching cords of eternity.
which draw hard on the
As he
path, and the bright but rugged
shines about his steps
it
till
the path
is all
faith to
Through
this ordinance, the

institution,
The
them
for
her
way,
it
lifl;
destination of the
it
him up and lead him

day is perfect.
Church has taken hold of the
and of the parental
own
beckons him on
brightness, and the
marriage
tifying
far-
climbs up the straight
reaches forth the hand of promise,
and clasps the hand of his

higher,
mercy and gracious
regards the parent as a being loaded with
relation, thus sanc-
appropriate and lofty purpose.
Church
is
so glorious, and the pur-
119
poses of her existence so spiritually grand, that the parental

relation deriveth
from
this
connection and subserviency a
It is no light
corresponding sacredness and grandeur.
thing that this relation should be publicly designated as the
main channel between the high designs of the spiritual

Church and their accomplishment in the salvation of immortal souls.
It is
light thing for the parents to sustain this relation
no
through which the redeeming grace
no
to
trifling
is
poured.
It will
be
matter for the impenitent parent, that he refused
acknowledge the benevolent claims of the Church upon

It will sound strange to the august
his parental influence.
spectators of the judgment, that he strove to
spring from
all
it away
own oflT*
wrench
from the tenure of the Church, and secured
his
participation in the blessings of the cove-
There will then be appalling disclosures as to the

manner in which the human heart has scorned all the ap-
nant.
proaches of the Church, in these provisions of mercy*

will then appear,
(what
tion, that the impenitent
it
really
is,)
It
most amazing infatua-
parent could so deliberately bind
around the souls of his children the ligatures of moral polluIt
tion.
is
abhorrent to
all
the instinctive principles of
unfallen moral natures, or of ransomed spirits, whether
made
perfect in heaven, or going on towards perfection on
earth, that parents can seat themselves beside their babes
with thoughtless levity, to weave into the open heart of
childhood the principles of eternal woe.
What
are not
the passions of your child sufliciently ardent, unless

stimulate
them with the ingredients of madness
you
Are not
the tendencies of his depraved heart sufficiently malign,

unless
Are
you mingle
into
them the elements of eternal despair?
not the temptations of Satan and the wiles of the pit
enough
to effect his ruin, unless
conspiracy
you
shall
engage
in the
Will not his moral interests be sufficiently
120
exposed
you carefully withdraw
in this guilty world, unless
from them a parent's protection
Through
rent look to this.
God demands your
child.
Let the impenitent pa-
your insulted
this ordinance,
He
claims from you, in behalf
of that child, that family, a holy parental influence.

promises,
you
if
will yield to his claim, to
make
He
that holy
influence of yours a channel for his own, and to transcribe
from the moral lineaments of your own mind the characIf you
teristics of holiness on the heart of your child.
refuse this claim, and pass on impenitent, he will permit the
spirits
of darkness to amuse themselves in painting on the
soul of
your child the moral likeness of its parent.
calls
upon you
He now
every public administration of
in
this ordi-
nance, to decide whether you will have a holy character
and hence the promise of the

from generation
to generation
Spirit to transmit
;
wrought by the agency of Satan
that
same
into that of
These
unto the third and fourth generation.
be answered without delay, for the
Even
features
or whether you will have a
character of pollution, and have
already going on.
its
character
your
off*spring
inquiries
must
terrible portraiture is
while you hestitate, the image
is
Awake, and give

yourself and give your child over into the bosom of the
covenant, and into the dominion of the Holy Ghost, if you
assuming
its
inefl'aceable lineaments.
would escape a speedy and a multifold damnation. Strive

yearn struggle
for, peradventure, even yet, the plague
!
may
be stayed.
You must meet that child whom you withYou must there
hold from Christ, at the judgment seat.
account for the perversion of that family influence.

a
strict
inquiry will be
made
into all the
There
history of your
There you must meet the glance of

your example has corrupted, your neghas ruined, and your perverted influence has moulded
household relations.
every child
lect
whom
for the scenes of the
pit.
You must meet him
amidst those
121
How terrible that meeting in such a place
scenes.
There
be the ungodly parents, with their ungodly children.
will
There
will
and
be reason, unclouded, tracing, in the light of
the connection between the household influences
eternity,
horrible
f(\e
There
pit.
memory
be
will
recallingj with the vividness of
immortality, each event in the whole series of fireside agen-
by which
There
cies,
was
per-
he fancy portraying, with terrible
bril-
the utter ruin of your offspring

will
fected.
liancy of conception, the realities of eternally augmenting
woe.
There
be conscience, binding
will
the scorching chains of truth
fast
about the soul
and pouring from
its
vials
of unmitigated wrath the scalding anguish of remorse.
There
be
will
self-will
ed into frenzy
settled
unsubdued malicious passion, goad-
unmingled depravity, assuming
and festering blackness
and
there,
and
therij
and
group of lost children gather round the neg-
thus, will the
the unbelieving, and the prayerless parent
lectful,
hue of
its
companionship which was most intimate
most appalling there.
be
The endearments which were most
valued here will be changed into most disgusting
The
The
here will
bitter-
where the smile of impenitent joy

was lighted most brightly, and the image of impenitent parents reflected most softly
where impenitent hopes were
most warmly cherished, and impenitent songs most sweetly
ness there.
circle
chanted
aspect,
will
become the circle whose

whose despair and wailing,
will, if transported there,
whose
reflected image,
seem, to the impenitent parent, most hateful and ago-
nizing,
amid
ing voice,
art, the
all
Hearken
the groups of hell.
impenitent parent
gospel yet offers pardon.
into the family of
God.
It
To
It
thee,
to the
warn-
guilty as thou
proposes to adopt thee
proposes, even now, to bring
salvation to thine house. Believe on the
and thou and thy house shall be saved.

11
Lord Jesus Christ,

There is room for
122
The footsteps of eterand room for thine offspring

mercy are heard about thy dweUing. She knocks
thee,
nal
loudly at thy door
sake of thine own
She
dren.
she implores thee

soul, for the
chil-
them, the blessings of the ever,
offers thee, for
She throws open
lasting covenant.
admit her, for the
to
sake of thine idolized
its
door, and cries aloud,
Come thou and all thy house into the ark.

To pious parents I may speak with confidence. They
will feel, that if God has indeed established this ordinance
on the principles advocated in these chapters, their relation
is most tender and momentous. Their mar-
to their children
riage covenant itself assumes a loftier and a sweeter aspect.

It is
a mutual league, not for purposes of personal advanand overwhelming objects. It is a league
tage, but for high

to defend
devil
a group of immortal souls from the wiles of the
to instruct them,
from extremest ignorance,
mightiest truths of religion
to constitute
eternal influx of sanctifying grace
into the
a channel for the
to train
up agents des-
a heavenly influence on their associates in

educate and qualify them for the deep, sacred com-
tined to exert
time
to
pacionships of heaven
affection,
to form, out of the ties of natural
bonds imperishable, of sweet, celestial love
finally, to polish
and fashion them
to
be stones
ual temple in which the fulness of the triune
forever
living in
and
in that spirit-
God
resides
every part, and through every part
shi-
ning out, irradiating the intelligent universe with his light,

and eternity itself with his glory. If these are thy hopes^
Christian parent,
with what earnest grasp shouldst thou
With what untiring labor

lay hold of covenant promises.
shouldst thou bind all the healthy influences of the household covenant about the soul of thy child
With what
assi-
duous carefulness shouldst thou sow the ideas of the covenant in the soil of his earliest emotions How shouldst thou
!
water them with thy
tears,
and beseech the
Spirit of all

grace
to
warm them
energy
vital
partner in
into life
How
life
and productiveness by his own
shouldst thou be concerned, lest thy
grow remiss
should
in
duty
should ye be not to embarrass each other
mutually to strengthen each other

respective duties
mise, "
Where two
am
there
How
How careful
How anxious
your appropriate and
in
ardently should you plead the pro-
or three are met together in
in the midsl
fathers' house,
my
name,
of them to bless them."
Perhaps you can each number,
your
123
in the ancestral line
a company of holy,
of
faithful believers
in the covenant.
Perhaps a cloud of witnesses encompass
your habitation.
Lay
hold, then, of the age-lasting cove-
Avail yourselves of their precious intercessions
nant.
and corresponding labors from which the hea*
intercessions
venly influences have descended like dew on your

souls
dren,
Let
make
the
intercession and imitating the labor.
mward yearnings
power
to
own
these the heritage of your children's chil-
by renewing the
all
their
all
own
of your
souls concentrate
weave, from these household
ark of bulrushes,"
truths, " the
Moses and place it among

the flowers of promise, which bloom along the Nile of the
Church the river of the everlasting covenant. Art thou
for the infant
aware. Christian parent, that death will soon sever thee
from thy partner
That thou
shalt soon be called
away
to
O how
leave thy partner with the uncompleted charge ?
should the certainty of this separation, and the uncertainty
when
it
shall occur, or
which
shall first be called, constrain
thee to live in such a manner, that if thou art
first
called,
thou mayst leave behind thee the legacy of a parent's

prayers, and the
memory
of a parent's instruction
lustre of a partner's holy example.
So
let
and the
thine energy be,
that the surviving partner shall be admonished
by the me-
mory of thy
and encou-
raged
in
faithfulness to
augmented
view of the covenant promise
diligence,
that treasure-house
124
for the prayers of a departed ancestry
amid the
to sing for
there follows these lines the moistened eye of
ed parent.
to thee
ordinance speak
this
how
How
solemnly,
presence thy partner has ascended
some widowsweetly does
God
How
whose
into
solemn,
if
which formerly rested on both are now
responsibilities
ed upon thee alone
How
oft
sustained both, and
especially pledged to sustain thee, because
thou art lonely.
How
glorious the thought, that thou
mayest now lay hold of the

greater confidence than ever
all-sufficient
How
covenant with
consoling, to lead the
fatherless or the motherless into his banqueting house,

to
under
sit
his
banner of love
My
no portion
in
partner
is
and
Perhaps some parent reads

exclaims,
the
roll-
comforting, in these circum.
arm which
stances, to lean on that

is
how
delightful the 'thought, that
thou hast consecrated thy family to that
which now
joy even
Perhaps even now
widowhood.
loneliness of
this,
whose agonized soul
hving, but hath no hope in Christ,
covenant promises.
then, let the interests
of thy family prompt thee to redoubled diligence for their

salvation.
If one-half of the parental influence
or perverted, to which that
your determination so
young group are
withheld
is
entitled,
be
it
to live, that the deficiency shall be,
as far as possible, supplied, or the adverse influence counter-
Thou
acted.
grace
wilt
is sufficient
need large supplies of grace
even
for thee.
Be
but his
resolved, moreover,
power of the covenant for thy partner's

For what knowest thou, O wife whether
to plead the full
conversion.
*
'
thou shalt save thy husband? or
how knowest thou, O man
whether thou shalt save thy wife ?"
may be taught of the

may be saved, and the
verted
hold
stitution
be secured.
Plead that the uncon-
Lord, in order that thy housefull
design of the marriage in-
Let the glory of divine grace, as
manifested through the covenant, be the grand argument
HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION".
thy prayer
in
let
and, like Jacob wrestling, cry, "
thee go, except thou bless
On
125
I will
not
me !"
the whole, this ordinance
is
calculated powerfully
to impress us with the importance of holiness of
pious parent should remember, that he
The
life.
not merely to
is
seek the conversion of his children, but to seek to educate
them
for unblemished, consistent,
and eminent Christians.
If he wishes this for his family, he must sustain this chaIf he backslides, if he falters, or
racter himself
if
he
grossly deficient,
is
he has reason
on
his children,
The
shall be saved.
wavers
guilty of outbreaking sin,
is
to expect that the effects
will be terribly visited
he and they
he
if
of his transgression
even
if
so as
by
fire,
standard of Christian cha-
racter must be high in the aim of parents, if we expect to

have it high in the purpose of their children.
That the standard of personal piety should be vastly
elevated in the Church of God, is painfully manifest.
Unless
it is,
we
shall
never witness the
pel in this guilty world.
It is
by
evangelical holiness that religion
The
full
power of the gos-
the beauty and energy of

is
to shine
and advance.
glory of God, the excellency of his government, the
specimens of his holiness, are to be exhibited through the
moral features of
triumph
for
glorified.
Zion
On
his visible
is
Church. The day of universal
thus to be introduced, perpetuated, and
the parents, therefore, of this generation the
responsibility rests of
moulding the character of the millen-
Never
before seemed the provisions of this
nial
Church.
covenant so
that
its
infinitely
many
voices
important as at the present
crisis.
might break like sevenfold thun-
der on the slumbering parents of the present generation.
Ye men
of Israel,
who bear
the vessels of the
wait around the courts of this altar, where
chinah
tarries,
awake!
Ye
parents,
Lord
still
who
the She-
ye holy watchers
about the fountains of holiness for unborn ages, be carC"
11*
126
ful
how ye
tread.
thousand interests
One false parental step may crush a

One holy, consecrated parent may
yet descry, from the
hills
of God, some sweet, perpetual
stream of far distant ages issuing from the fountains which

his faith replenished.
CHAPTER
Application of
The
train of thought
to address
Hon
is
tliese principles to
fathers.
which we have pursued, urges
a few considerations
parents, but fathers.
XIII.
It
who
to those
me
are not only
proclaims that the 'paternal rela^
May
pre-eminently responsible.
not hope that the
fathers will listen while I attempt to utter, in appropriate
words,
deep and earnest tones.
Its call to you is pecuyou are the constituted head of the

This station you hold by right of nature, of neces-
its
liarly loud, because
family.
sity,
and
tions.
marriage covenant.
the
The
relation of
primary to the secondary

of the strong to the
Duties
your sex
weak
to provide.
The
out of rela-
of the original to the derived
as
is
manifest in the order of
The
creation and the constitution of nature.
from these relations are
grow
to the other, is that of the
duties arising
to cherish, to love, to protect,
and
obligation, thus arising, being as durable
as the relations themselves, constitutes the foundation and
the safety of the marriage covenant.

nant, therefore, has
The marriage
bound you, as an individual,
these duties towards the wife of your choice.
manner these
spring,
relations
have been extended
to
In the
to
cove-
perform
same
your
off-
and these duties are extended as far and as perpetu-
ally as these relations.
The mother
shares with you in
the obligations, just in that degree that she shares the* ex-
tended relations, and therefore subordinately*

in
them both being primal and paramount,
it
Your share
down to
binds

128
your soul a corresponding weight of
You^
responsibility.
then, as a husband and father, are held supremely responsible both to
man and
to
God,
for the support, defence,
You
welfare of your family.
first
connection in which you are placed.

select
You,
first to
in the
It
was yours
first
ta
mature the proposals and present them.
marriage ceremony
preference and your purpose
From
and
sought the matrimonial
avowed your
gave the sacred pledge.
itself, first
first
the nature of things, from the necessity of the case,
and from the marriage covenant, you have been set forth
On you, thereas the constituted head of the household.
fore, the heaviest
are
made
bearings of the covenant of consecration
to rest.
Your
responsibilities are the
corner
That covenant claims

your offspring for Christ, and demands of you, as the auThat covenant claims
thorized head, an explicit consent.
your paternal influence for Christ, and demands that you,
stone on which
its
claims are based.
as the head of that family, shall sincerely pledge
it
to him,
That covenant points you to a code

of laws ordained for those young immortals, and claims the
whole weight of your supreme authority to sustain and
That covenant is a system of protection
enforce them.
and exert
it
for him.
graciously provided in their behalf, from the tyranny of sin
and the curse of the law

and the wiles of the
from the temptations of the world
devil.
It claims, therefore, not
that the united parents shall, as such, take hold of

that you, in your relation as father, in
your
it
only
but
station as the
head of the household, shall stand forth, and pledge that all
the power which God has vested in your hands for these
purposes, shall be exerted to give your household its full
advantages as a system of protection.
Your
obligation to
stand forth in the obedience of faith in this great matter, as

far exceeds
your obligation
to
protect
them against an
attack of wild beasts or savage men, as the interest at stake
129
On you , therefore,
in this case exceeds that in the other.
pre-eminently, the responsibility rests of maintaining family
government on the principles of the gospel.
God said, I know him, that he will command
after
me.
household
expects that you will do the same
He
will so rule
Of Abraham
his
that
your own house that your children
trained up in the
way
He
that they should go.
you
shall
be
has placed
before you solemn warnings against a refusal in the case of
Adam, of
When
Cain, of Eli, and of David.
he maketh
inquisition for the blood of souls, shed amidst household

Your name will be
scenes, he will call first for the father.
heard first, as Adam heard his, as Eli and David heard
theirs,
when
the providence of
God
prophet in the other, and his judgment

art the
man
The
!"
you prominent
relation
sustain,
in responsibility, will set
That
in the final retribution.

in
you
in
one ease and bis

" Thou
in both, said,
which thus makes
you
forth prominent
station being so conspicuous
view of your offspring, invests your conduct with great

The whole weight and power connected with it
solemnity.
will
be thrown on the side of covenant claims, or will ope-
rate against them.
main neutral on
You
cannot retain that station, and re-
this question
justify yourself before the
will not
govern your
life
You
of consecration.
God
of these relations,
according to them.
If,
cannot
if
you
against
the voice of God, and against the strong claims of his covenant,
you deprive your household of this system of perfection,
and lead them by your neglect or example

exposures,
God
will
avenge himself of the
immortal children of the injury.
He
into
dangerous
insult,
and your
has bestowed upon
each child a natural right to parental care, instruction, and

example.
He
pledge that
this right shall
has demanded of the parents a solemn

be regarded, and he calls upon
you, as the father, to see to
it
that the pledge
is
and performed. The authority which you possess
both given
is
conferred
130
HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION".
Upon you
it,
for the sake of the child
by using
it
for his worldly
if
you misemploy
good only, or
for purposes ad-
and
verse to his spiritual and highest good, you will involve
yourself in a condemnation which will be pre-eminently

fearful.
Another consideration, which

of parental responsibility,
'priest
is,
will illustrate the nature
that thefather is the constituted
of the household.
Your household, Christian father,

Its
if regulated
of the covenant, resembles a
to the principles
members are consecrated
to
glory in the salvation of souls
God
its
according
little
Church.
great object
its
is
his
daily meals are feasts
of intimate communion, commemorating in the " blessing"
and the
''
thanks" his abounding love.
speaks for
To
officiate.
services
all
administer
desk of the
is
discipline
its
sanctuary
little
Its
these respects
;
the words of
work of the
your place to
to direct
to lead the confiding
the office
family worship
it is
from the father's seat
to dispense
the sacred page
of grace,
In
itself
life
group
its
to
expound
to the throne
These
father.
religious
that sacred
duties in.
vest him, in the view of the observing flock, with a sacred
character.
The God
ed to you
from year
this
of the household covenant has assign,
important station.
to year,
From day
your sentiments are thus
to
to
day,
be uttared,
and your deepest and strongest emotions to be exhibited
The
their presence.
of Ihe week
in
the providences
the affecting incidents of the family, are to
collect their lessons in
family altar.
events of the day
If
your prayers and instructions
you are
week
breathed through
all
ritual also.
therefore, vastly important that
It
is,
at the
spiritually minded, the influence
the concerns of the
will
be
spi-
your
at-
tainments in evangelical knowledge and holiness should he

great, eminent,
and manifest.
If you will feel this as you
ought, your heart will burn to obtain the best qualifications,
and
honorably in view of witnessing an-
to acquit yourself
You
amidst these responsibilities.
gels,
pure and serene joy,
131
if
you are enabled
ther, in her
own peculiar
covenant.
You
will rejoice
sphere, cleaving to
will delight to enforce
with
moLord of the
to behold the
t\\e
her judicious regu-
your decisive authority, and embody her affecand persuasions in your paternal counsels and prayers.
lations with
tions
How
and yet who
hold
whose
who
guilty are those fathers
ligion,
voice, if heard in prayer,
in the ears of those children
table of the Lord.
If there
these remarks, I conjure
remember, that God
who
is
him
will hold
them
glect,
if
she
often behold
nitent,
To
it
which he has demanded
if
pious wife, in
impe-
Perhaps, a
ing in her mind
why
why
the
Perhaps the thoughtful child that
has visited where the family altar was honored,

her father does not pray.
the simplicity of childhood, she asked you,
Perhaps you are called

father,
in life
is
come with implo-
the ear of her child, has to explain
father does not pray.
aged
she
probably ruin her soul.
the impenitent father these views
ring earnestness, and with alarming import.
pray.
Your ne-
your partner
discourages her exertions
it
at the
reading
to repent.
I beg of him to
him responsible for depriving
guilty professor, embarrasses
will
them
now
very provisions of the covenant.
in the
pious,
is
of their house-
would sound strange
one such father
his family of these sacred rights,

for
publicly profess re-
will not act as the priest
sits
wonder-
Perhaps in
why you do
to stand in the place of
not
your
now superannuated or departed, and that on you
rests the guilt of
causing the voice of prayer to cease in the
ancient mansion, whose walls had for ages been consecrated
by
the holy words of faith, and the simple rites of the
patriarchal Church.
cumstances put
that heart be,
If
any or
all
in their plea for
which
of these impressive
cir-
God, how stubborn must
shall interpose
between the descending
132
blessings of consecrated ages past, and the immortal inter-
of ages to come, and erect the barriers of unholy
ests
parental influence, to roll back the living waters. Perhaps,
you have no such pious ancestry, you have lured away
if
G )d
from the
of her fathers your devoted wife, and are
standing between her soul and the spiritual good which,
were
it
not for your influence, she would have secured to
herself and her children.
Yet,
if
no such peculiar
tory, there are
nal relation,
that
is,
for all
two great
connected with your his.
fact is
your pater-
facts connected with
which should arouse you
to repentance.
God will call you to account, as the head
One
of the family,
your abuse of the sacred powers with which he
The
vested you.
other
is,
that
he
will
in-
demand of you a
reason for your refusal to act as his minister,
in the circle
where he placed you. From this station of responsibility

you cannot descend, so long as your paternal relations ex-
The
ist.
final
wilt thou say
account will of course be called
when he
shall punish thee
meet thy God," impenitent father. Be

he will not meet thee as a man.
3.
he transmits
his
for.
*'
What
Prepare to
sure, moreover, that
Tlie responsibility of the father
fact, that
is
manifest from the
name, and the great
historical
associations of the family, through all the periods of time.
no object
to you. Christian father, that the
Is
it
is
written on the
Lamb's book of
life,
name which
and that which you
transmit to innumerable descendants, should pass down,
laden with promises
and revered
that either
for its
venerable for
holy memories
you now
inherit such a
its
Is
Christian renown,
it
nothing to you,
name from ages
past, or
now may thus present in the chancery of the covenant

your own name, for ages to come ? It is a great thing for a
It is
father to have his name written in the book of life.
written on the bright leaf of the covenant of grace, ensured
133
for free
pardon
and perseverance
for
on the leaf of the household cove-
for sanctification,
It is written
final glory.
nant, adorned with the personal promise of grace, on one
page, and with the everlasting household promise on the
An
other.
may
edition of the
book of life, pubhshed, so far as it

Will it be
be to mortals, for the use of the Church.
no joy, to have angels continue
to
announce
it,
for the delight
of heaven, that another and another of distant generations,

bearing that name, have repented
Will
not be above
it
earthly applause, to hear the ancient inhabitants of heaven respond " that same name, that old, familiar name ?"
all
This
is
father.
the glory, the honor, the immortality, of the faithful
Is
it
shall
rot.
be associated with your name,

it
Is
the records of
in
shall be indelibly disgraced in
nothing, that as to the third
noth-
it
whatever honors
impenitent father, that
worldly glory,
of the just
remembrance.
But the name of the wicked

ing to you,
may
name
In these methods, surely, the
shall be held in everlasting
heaven
and fourth generation,
thy influence descends^ upon those that wear thy name,

**
the tormentors" shall calmly await the death of thy des-
cendants, as affording a sure addition to their number, or

taunt thee with astonishment, if
place of their dwelling
mercy of God
Is
it
any of thine come not to the

when the overcoming
nothing,
shall supplant thy influence,
name, as worn by
millennium, to have
it
distinctly recorded, that
influence been especially counteracted
grace, thou wouldst have sent

those glories
Is
and elevate that
distant ages, amidst the salvations of the
it
it
by
had not thy
his sovereign
down disgraced amidst
nothing, to expose those that
way
to those terrible
judgments which
the millennium,
by the extermination of the ungodly
will prepare the
all
wear
?
it,
for
Is
it
nothing, amidst the revelations of the judgment, to have thy
name, as transmitted along with thine influence, stained

12
184
with
manner of crime, and characterized by
all
grees of rebellion, through various ages

it
appear,
when
all
de-
Ah how
will
the searchings of the judgment shall reveal
the hearts that have gloried beneath
Reveal those
it ?
hearts, in all the history of their outbursting influence,
the secresy of their vilest passions
and give thy name
father,
thy
hereditary appellation to the

associated with the
names of thy
of grace.
children,
and
impenitent
name
patriarchal
God
Pause,
thine
Inscribe
it,
and of thy wife,
The wings of that covenant

on the Abrahamic covenant
O come thyself, and gather thy
are lifted, to cover thee
!
children under
The
He
may
same time be
stituted
is
is
pre-eminently great.
fully appreciate his responsibility,
sustained under
its
He
pressure.
and
is
at the
the con^
head, priest, and representative of his household.
invested with these offices
He may
ces of God.
sibilities.
He
needs, therefore, to understand the covenant, in order
that he
He
them
responsibility of the father
by the unchanging ordinan-
not retire from this station of respon-
Overwhelming motives
needs to take advantage of
call
all
him
faithfulness.
to
the covenant promises.
His daughter, blending the mother's grace with the father's

dignity, claims the guardianship of the covenant.
the elevation of
its
principles, should be so
father's character, that his
image
in all times
should rise upon her heart, like a guardian

energize, and protect.
His son, exposed
The purity,
wrought
into the
of temptation
spirit, to purify,
in this bustling
licentious age, to a thousand snares, as he breaks forth
and
from
the scenes of the nursery and of quiet home, to mingle with

the world, needs a father's thorough instructions, nobleness
of example, unsullied reputation, and inspiring presence, to
be
at
once a model of imitation and a wall of defence.
great enterprises of benevolence
of the age
The
the revolutionary spirit
the great conflict of principles
the rising im.
135
portance of questions, of a moral nature, call loudly upon

the fathers of this age to build the prospects of their sons
on the enduring foundations of the gracious covenant.
how
unwise,
how
recreant to
all
who, not content with refusing
sacred trust,
is
O,
that father,
to discharge his duty,
does
he can to countervail the efforts of a believing wife

who, by his habitual ungodliness, his vile sentiments, and
all
perhaps his outrageous abuse of conjugal relations, perverts all the high powers of usefulness
ferred
upon him,
into stores of
read
the
into
means of
vengeance for himself.
this passage, I
widow and
beg him
to
which God has con.
ruin for his offspring, and

If such a father shall
remember, that the God of
the orphan will avenge upon his soul that
worse than widowhood and
conduct which, to his family,
is
orphanage.
save the family,
Perhaps God,
to
suddenly down, in order that the mother
form the duties which he neglects, or
may cut him

may freely per.
her owa
at least exert
influence, uncounteracted.
Perhaps the mother
may be removed
the wicked trouble not, while the father
to
a place where
is left
fashion morally his offspring according to his

ter,
mould and
own
charac-
and provide himself with accusers for the judgment
and with tormentors

will
to
be the
fall
of that fither
which the covenant

thority of that
for the scenes of the pit.
is
who
tramples on the interests
designed to protect, and defies the au-
God who has pledged for
its
vindication, not
only the issues of his grace, but the severity of his

bution.
seat,
Terrible
retri,
CHAPTER
Practical
XIV.
Application of these principles to

mothers.
reflections continued.
In applying the fundamental principles of this institution

to those
who
are not only parents but mothers,
pose a mother situated as she
is
assumed
I shall
to he, in its
sup-
original
and natural design.
The father is supposed

liar relation,
and
and the ruler of
to fulfil the purposes of his pecu-
to stand in his place the prophet, the priest,
his household.
trate his authority, strength,
purposes of grace
He
and
command
to
is
supposed to concen-
his
household after the
Lord, and trust the life-giving promise

the act of dedication
and
influence for the
official
finally,
to lead the
to exercise
that though his wife disbelieved, neglected,

his purpose
would be fixed
to establish
house on the principles of consecration.
way
such
in
faith,
and opposed,
the order of his
Abraham, Isaac,
Such is
and Jacob, Job, and Joseph, were such fathers.
presumed
to be the character of every Christian bishop,

and through him as an exemplar of every Christian father.
is supposed to be the situation of the mowherever the covenant is completely recognized in a
family.
Suppose the mother to be decidedly pious, like
Such, therefore,
ther,
the mother of John, of Jesus, or of Timothy.
have the covenant model

Is
it
yours,
my
Then we
for the domestic constitution.
Christian sister, thus to be situated
Then you have reason
to
weep
for joy,
when you study
the gracious covenant.
You have
daughter to that father.
In his guardianship the heart con-
presented a son or a
137
You know
fides.
of grace
behalf,
listed in its
that
that he will bear that child to the throne
may
be en-
unchecked, unchilled, unimpeded.
Nay,
that all the tenderness of
you cannot
better
your heart
his strongest wishes,
meet
nor even
otherwise satisfy his most cherished expectations, than by

giving unrestrained activity to every holiest impulse, and
baptizing every child with the gushing emotions of a believ,
To
ing mother.
how
you,
pressibly precious
blessed assurances.
is
how
strong,
thrilling,
this ordinance, in its
how
inex-
holy claims and
The seal of God that is placed upon your
a memorial of mutual love, to strengthen with

mighty motives your marriage vows and Church relations.
It binds you both to the child, to each other, and to the
child, is
Church of God. With
this threefold
How
to the provisions of grace.
cord
it
binds the child
enrapturing must be your
communion with your husband over the child of your vows

Often does
it
resemble that of Zechariah and Elizabeth at
They
the consecration of John.
John
did not doubt that
would be born again. Why may not your joy also be full ?
They had a promise, so have you. They walked in all
the ordinances of the Lord blameless, so should you. They
and
felt in their souls that the promise could never fail
;
you may,
if
you believe and
live like them, enjoy the
same
be thy God,
assurance respecting the great promise,
I will
and Ihe God of thy seed.
and thou shall see
Only
believe,
the salvation of God.

If,
'
however, you are impenitent,
faithless,
and neglect-
you grieve your pious husband by your coldness,

if you manifest aversion to all spiritual religion
if you thwart rather than encourage his household plans, your criminality is appalling.
ful
if
worldliness, vanity, and evil temper
You
are guilty of perverting
all
those strong and tender in-
God has blended with the maternal relation,

of wrenching away the spiritual interests of the child from
fluences which
12*
138
by defeating his efforts

There is one who will
neglected group when he maketh inquisition
the endeavors of a believing father,
and counteracting
avenge that
He
for blood.
guilt
for
his exanmple.
will
he has
mark your case as one of extreme

Can a mother forget ? It would be
said,
any circumstances, you had spiritually debut what will the unsleeping guardian
of the covenant say to that mother, who, when her husband
hath borne the child into the secret place of the Most High,
will not let it abide under the shadow of the Almighty ? O
enough,
in
if,
serted your child
there
is
a spiritual savageness
heartless,
in
the laugh of a worldly,
and skeptical mother, which
one shudder
all
is
enough
to
make
All the eloquent tones of a mother's love
the tenderness of a mother's caress
all
the outgoings
of the maternal heart are fraught with poison for the soul
if she has no fear of God, no regard for reliyou have made the profession, it does not relieve
the difficulty, while you retain a character adverse to your
profession. Who is not shocked when woman commits herself to hardihood in sin, or in skepticism.
An infidel mother is regarded, even by the world at large, as a shocking
monster.
How then must she, or any impenitent mother,
be regarded in the sight of God
There are many such
of her child,
gion.
If
mothers
in
our land
many pious
heart, at the mournful influence
fathers are grieved at
which the mother
ding over their consecrated offspring.
Her
the deep and precious fountains of moral

like sacrilege.
Her touch
impulses of the mind

stant
gaze
dries
shed-
life,
seems almost
up the early and genial
her caress stings the soul
petrifies the heart.
is
presence, about
There,
in the
her con-
most sacred
places of moral being, she daily breathes, and moves, and
moulds the
is
away.
plastic character of childhood
The grand
when
the father
deceiver need not concern himself
as to his prospects in your family, so long as such a mother
139
watches
were
for him,
it
not for the covenant with the fa-
your children are
still
living
prays for them and for you,
come
glory of covenant relations
by
ther.
If
which you
if their father still
God
to
by
all
the
the everlasting traces
all
leave on the character of your children
will
by
all
the jealous scrutiny of your whole
which
seat
will take place at the
come
Kneel down by the
your husband, and break your heart
side of
amidst your consecrated children

2.
and influence,
judgment, come to the mercy-
covenant throne
to the
life
stances
in penitence
shall suppose a mother situated in other circuni'
that her
husband
is
impenitent, profane,
and un-
willing to consecrate either himself or family to God.
Suppose that she, alone yet

altar, consecrates
going before the
faithful,
her children to the
God of her
salvation
day and night to fulfil her vows with sleepless vigilance watches to guard them from evil, and to lead
them in the way of life. As a hen gathereth her brood
that she toils
under her wings, so she, under the outspread wings of the

covenant, gathereth them.
Turn
Afflicted
sister
hand nor the
neither to the right
from the high, and sublime, and glorious

Providence has
be the
mother
lifted
father's
;
resolve
influence,
to
of covenant grace.
and
faint not
Lord.
fort
thee
left.
Persevere.
Shrink not
station to
which
may
Resolve, that whatever
God
have that of the
shall
seek continually a double portion

Toil on, and
murmur
and when your soul
is
not
toil
hard,
wearied, wait on the
Pillow your head on the covenant promise, and com-
Then
your heart with the visions of Jacob.
freshed, shake thyself from the dust,
Set up the stone of help, and
still
toil
rising re-
daughter of Zion
on.
There
is
one
^^
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.^*
your husband willing that you should train the children
for God? Be thankful for the divine mercy, and be diligent
that hath said,

Is
140
to
improve sacredly every capacity you possess
purpose.
Tliere
heart of a father,
for this
nothing which will sooner affect the
is
who
has been rightly instructed, than to
behold his pious wife consecrating the household alone, and
good.
toiling alone for their spiritual
He knows who is
Many an
responsible for suffering her to go forth alone.
impenitent child of the covenant has trembled
he saw
when
thus
beloved wife venturing forth to stand in his de-
his
serted place.
It is,
therefore,
wicked
any mother
for
defer a public profession, in order that her husband
come with
her.
to
may
could mention several instances illustra-
tive of the grievous consequences of neglecting duty, and
of the happy results arising from

Is
your husband opposed
dainful towards religion
double vigilance.
Fill
Seek
of benevolence.
its
faithful
your household
performance.
piety,
and
Then guard your temper
your heart with the

his
with assiduous concern

principle
to
veriest strength
temporal comfort and happiness

but never yield your religious
never forget your vows of consecration
shrink from doing
all
dis-
with a
your duty
to
your children.
never
Does
he use a profane expression in the presence of his wife or

children? Let your tears of grief, let the manifest majesty of
your eye and whole demeanor, tesDoes he inculcate erroneous sentiments in

Let your diligent, sure, and heaveii-directed
insulted piety seated in

tify against
him.
his household
Let
influence counteract them.
ergy be so put
forth, that
called in the remorseful

to
all
a mother's utmost en-
no occurrence shall ever be
re-
remembrances of the dark world,
proclaim that your unfaithfulness caused the ruin of one

On the brow of the father alone let that curse be
child.
written
if
it
must be written any where.
woman
of
crifice
any earthly
God
like
Hannah,
interest,
let
But, O, thou
your vows be deep
sa;
chasten into heavenly purity
every emotion, bear any personal
affliction
whatever, en-
dure
wrong
all
that
may
141
be endured without
canst reach the soul of the father
if
sin
if
so thou
thou mayest by any
means deliver him from going down to the pit if even

when he hath perished thou mayest be able to look up and
;
say, Lord, thou knowest that he did not perish through
my
neglect,
3. Suppose the mother in

Suppose that the father is dead
different circumstances
that his pious
still.
example has
ceased to guide, or his impenitent career no more leads
God has left you
astray.
If
strength,
and step forward
tie is left
with you.
The
God
vacant place.
divine providence has
the head of the family, and
nances of
lonely, look at once to
into the
It is
ordi-
your business now
to minister at the family altar, to instruct the fatherless,
to rule with gentle but
mother,
who
tions, will
for
made you
you must preserve the
your household.
in
him
His man-
No
decisive authority.
and
widowed
has a proper sense of her covenant obliga-
ever suffer the
away because
the father
fires
of the family altar to die
absent, or deceased.
is
Let not
you from doing your duty.

Act as the covenant requires you to act, and the God of its
the fear of your children deter
promises will not suffer his faithfulness to

4.
The views
fail.
presented in this book, call upon mothers
throughout our land and the world,
to arise
and address
themselves to the great work of establishing the gospel for

all
generations.
A spirit
ess of the nursery to

treat
it
which
abroad, calling upon the priest-
is
magnify her
office.
with contempt, but there

is
not to be mocked.
household consecration
Spirit of
God.
it
It
is
The world may
a power
in that voice
utters the great truths of

in close affinity with the
works
Numerous maternal
hearts are swelling
The
maternal associations re-
cently formed in our country, and
now spreading in Europe,

They are introducing
under the mighty impulse.
are the lyceums of the nursery.
142
valuable publications, both volumes and periodicals, to the
They
attention of mothers.
are conveying particular in-
and preparing them
structions to individual mothers,
They
their silent but effectual operations.
for
are magnifying
the mother's work in her own view

creating a deeper and
more powerful interest in the concerns of home taking the
;
place of the tea party and scandal-retailing
former years complained so

lectual
and
race.
These
much
stitutions
to obtain
from them
all
of our
own
land, dependent as they are
to respect in
its
prac-
The
her appropriate and important duties.
upon maternal mind
in-
and ever
will, call
loudly
nursery cares the
in-
He that can
influence may calcu-
of the Church and the fates of nations.
estimate the tendencies of maternal

late
intel-
institutions will continue to increase in value,
should be under God, upon the popular
terests
of which
and exciting an
spiritual interest in the highest welfare of the
and every mother should seek

tical aid in
visits,
shrewdly respecting the moral characteristics of the
next generation.
How
inconceivably important, then, that
the principles of household consecration should be graven
deeply on the heart of American mothers, and of Christian
mothers every where, and on maternal affection universally.
This
if
is
an object most commanding
in its importance,
and
those principles are true, he that shall contribute essen-
tially to elevate
jesty,
vice for the

his
maternal mind to grasp them in their ma-
and apply them
human
name, and
in their
race.
power, will do no mean ser
Future generations
his posterity shall
be blessed.
will
revere
CHAPTER
Application of these principles

children of the Church.
The
now
natural order of thought
consecrated youth of the Church.

will seriously
makCi
It
XV.
to the
me to the
many of you
am about to
introduces
I trust that
weigh the suggestions which
has often been
consecrated
my privilege
by the
to kneel
side
of parents while they have gathered their consecrated
The forms
whom I have
households at the family altar.

are present to
my
mind, for
of many youth
heard the be-
lieving father pray, in the language of promise-trusting
The forms
faith.
in the
fallen,
of
many
children are present, on
whom,
hour of baptism, the tears of believing parents have

almost mingling with the sacred water.
Many such,
have reason to believe, will read these pages. For them

and lor every baptized child who shall read and consider
I
trutlis, I feel a deep and thrilling interest.

Let me
hope that every such reader will consider himself personally
these
The
addressed.
alize,
1.
first
thought which
desire
you
That
this
ordinance of household consecration has
created very interesting connections between you
Church of
of Jesus Christ
Church
all
understood the nature and value of
Consider with
is
and
the
Christ.
Have you
nection
from
to re-
is,
whom
And what
that vast
is
it
the
company of
is
formed
Church
this
con-
The Church
The invisible
the regenerated, gathered
ages and nations, which will finally meet
in
one
144
general assembly at the right hand of God.
The
visible
Church consists of all those who profess to be among this

number, and who unite in the regular observance of Chris-
The moral grandeur
tian worship.
and
overwhelming.
invisible, is
of the Church, visible
She
is
to constitute that
channel throusrh which the river of divine manifestation will
Through her appointed
flow forever.
hibits the
of
his
God on
glory of
name from age
within her, as in the

reb.
There, as
its
presence of
God
is
God
a world created for the purpose,
in
childhood only, but in
a new creation,
The
to age.
unconsumed yet burning bush of Ho-
exhibits the deep things of his
not in
ordinances, she ex-
earth, and preserves the honor
own
its
nature to the universe,
maturity.
It is,
indeed,
which he has wrought the indestructible
in
evidences of his triune existence, and his utmost moral

glory, as he has into the material creation wrought the
bright but perishable evidences of his being, and of his

original perfections.
tion, will live
This building of God,
and breathe
this
new
crea-
forth that surpassing glory,
and
when
all
the cords of the material creation shall be unstrung, and
all
glow with the unconsuming presence which

its light
and majesty
shall
peculiar and mysterious
fills it
have rolled away.
mode
There the
of the divine existence
is
incorporated as a perpetual and vital truth, revealed not in
word only, but in the commemorative monuments of divine

workmanship and intellectual transformation. There the
Father shines in the spiritual law ; there the Son in the precious atonement
moulding
fallen
there the Spirit in his high office work,
image of God,
into the
for eternity, the hearts of
men, regenerating, sanctifying, and eventually per-
fecting his spiritual
ransomed mind.
workmanship, the
There,
in
active, living temple of
the union, harmony, and per-
petual combination of all the rays of truth which issue from
the revealed character of Jehovah, the Church, the one
fiOtSEHOLD CONSECRATION.
Christ, proclaims the unity, as well as the
body of Jesus
fulness of the
Godhead.
features of the
new
are
145
Subordinate to these prominent
creation, the natural perfections of
God
furnished with intenser radiance than they can evef
all
gather from the natural operations of providential agencyw
Not
in all the living tokens of
nature
clothed,
is
a present God, with which
does his energizing omnipresence so
shine, as in the fruits, and flowers,
ened mind, bursting
all
and garniture of quick-
around us into
freshness of immortal beauty
life,
and assuming the
not in all the majestic ope^
rations of the laws of nature, or of providence, linking in
one perpetual chain the events of ages, or of moral govern*,

ment, uttering
its
paralyzing with
or
all of
as
when
free
thunders in the ear of individual

its
shock rebellious nations
these does the omnipotence of

it
God
and decisive moral
bitterness of
so gleam forth,
and preserving moral agency
action,
supreme hate
perfections of
it
from the
into the rapturous friendship
of
Corresponding with these views, the moral
eternal love.
bitions.
or
touches the immortal soul in the very place of
unimpaired, certainly and efficiently transforms
stitution
guilt,
not in either
Jehovah have also located
in the
very con-
of the Church their mightiest and sublimest exhi-
Never, any where
in the several
else,
compartments of
but in the foundation and
this building,
could justice,
her most unsullied purity and most terrible frown, meet

with mercy in her extremest tenderness, and most effectual,
in
unrestrained outgoings of forgiveness
ship, bursting forth with
meet, not in tolera*
mutually enhanced and
tion merely, but in lustre
mutual rejoicings, and
in
in fellow-
one song,
at the
name of
Jesus.
of the
intellect
and the heart of Jehovah, which shall over-
Finally, that glorious development
awe, elevate, and gladden the holy universe forever,
is
made
through the Church, wrought into the Church, hung in

folds
of light about her, preserved in
13
all
the progress of her
146
growth
in time,
and
Thus will
forever.
shall be evolved
yet
more and more
the confirmed Church, as she holds on
her shining and eternal course, constitute the galaxy of

On her path thus
divine glory in the spiritual heavens.
radiant, suspended worlds will
gaze
on her history thus
evolved, a thoughtful universe will dwell, and will open

itself forever to these
grandest manifestations of the triune
God. While through the Church the moral glory of Jehovah is thus developed, there is, moreover, in her spiritual
guardianship, life, safety, peace
in her deep communion
of consecrated mind, that fellowship for which the human
:
spirit thirsts.
value
its
Its
warn
present interruptions
future perfection
is
the richest,
us of
loftiest
its
real
reward
to
The connection which

which immortality can aspire.
binds you as consecrated youth to this community is therefore of a most elevated and interesting nature.
my
heart
the
Church are now members
when
think
how many
It
rejoices
of the dear children of
communion, having
in full
sought her fellowship, acknowledged her claims, and devoted
themselves to the covenant God.
Often have
seen them
approach, with humble but joyous aspect, to confess their

guilt in rejecting so long the claims which Were placed upon
them in their childhood, and in voluntary covenant to
avouch the God of their parents' faith and of their infant
years, to be their
God
tion has resulted in
dency
forever.
To
all
gracious design
such, this connecits
legitimate ten-
made known. It is yours, therefore, to feel and

its value.
Your present membership should lead
is
exhibit
you
its
to grateful recollection
of your covenant God,
in his
early care, and your piety should be as eminent as your
advantages have been distinguished.
youth
who has never
To
that consecrated
consented to the terms of
life, this
connection speaks with unutterable tenderness and solemnity.
It
unfolds to
you the overwhelming grandeur of the
Church
most persuasive manner.
in the
147
It
has taken that
great name, which she wears as her crown of glory, and

It has publicly separated
it upon your brow.
you from the world, and set you apart as the devoted proIt has placed you in the courts of the
perty of Christ.
Lord's house commanded for you the full exercise of pasanctified for your eternal welfare the deepest
rental faith
emotions of human nature, and spread the majesty of the
To
spiritual world around the minutest concerns of home.
has sealed
place you in these circumstances, the
God
of grace has
waves of ages, long before your

birth, invested the very beginnings of your existence with
He did not give your soul to the
the most solemn pledges.
controlled the winds and
charge of the Pagan, the Mahometan, or the Jew
murderous parentage of the
He hath rocked you in
vicious.
signed you
first
infidel,
first
to the
to the
the thoughtless, or the
the cradle of faith, and con-
The
purity of regenerated love.
token of affection which saluted your cheek was from
sanctified lips,
and the
first
breathings of music which
over your soul were the songs of the Lord.
The
came
justice
of the claim so tenderly asserted, you will not deny

right of
God
now
me
your
let
soul,
thus early to assert
ask,
most
is
it,
not his tender
affecting,
is
perfectly clear
the
and
mercy thus revealed to

What, did he
most astonishing
begin so early to bind you with the cords of love
Did he
so soon build a hedge about you to shelter you from the destroyer
Did he
let
dom, and then reveal
your parents
into his spiritual king-
them that so they might

unfold them to you ? Did he require them both to promise,
before all his people, that they would do all in their power
to prepare you for his presence ?
Did he mercifully pro.
its glories to
mise to bless their exertions, and crown their labors with

success
^pal,
Has he
placed upon them his mild and spiritual
and placed the same seal also upon you
When your
148
parents have almost fainted, hath he strengthened
when
they forgot their covenant vows, hath he forgiven ; and

when you have resisted their faithful warnings, hath he
still
waited
pursued you with the kind invitation
ed you with the dew of his
Spirit,
and
rebuilt
soften-
around you
again and again the enclosures of his everlasting covenant ?
consecrated youth
enmity
God
to
vances of grace
asunder
child of the
that
is
which
what
away from
bitter
these ad-
which rends those silken cords of mercy
Look up and behold
Church
starts
the ineffable grandeur of
Church consider that precious connection which makes

thee an object of intense interest to those venerable forms,
the
yet detained from those higher glories, that yet they

linger,
who
thy voice, thou

of
who
God from thy
2.
madly
hast
forehead
ing form shall pass away,

people shall he
let
may
them hear
hast long rebelled against the holy
baptismal claim, thou
name
and weep, and plead with thee.
let
my people, and
striven to erase the
before that last linger-
thine heart speak out,
thy
<*
Thy
God my God,"
The consecrated children of
the
Church must give
account at the judgment seat of Christ for the manner in
which
this interesting
connection
is treated
Interesting as this connection
unless
is, it
you actually give yourselves
question
now
is
placed distinctly before you.
are debarred from the

state of
certainly
can never save you,
to Christ.
mind which
demand
it
communion of
calls for
in
saints.
The great
As yet you
That very
your exclusion now,
eternity.
On
will
as
account of the ten-
derness of this connection, your long resistance of God's
mercy
will
appear infatuated depravity.
If you have lightly
esteemed these noble advantages hitherto,

to
we
beseech you
pause and consider in what manner you can finally meet
the rejected
God
of the covenant.
How terrible, if turning
your hack upon the claim of God when presented in mercy^
you
shall be compelled to
meet
it
in the
149
frown of insulted
With what plea can the
justice and avenging retribution.
who has
What wilt thou say, O child of
many tears O son of many vows when he shall punish
thee ?
How will that violent breaking away from covenant
kindness seem to angels ? How will it seem to many a
How will
lost soul who never enjoyed such advantages?
it appear to thine own soul in the scorching meditations of
favored son of the Church approach the throne,
and died impenitent
lived
the
How will thy restlessness under salutary restraints,
pit ?
thy pride under parental admonitions, thy rashness amongst

so
many
will
interests that
hung trembling around
Pause, now, and prepare to meet thy
God
assaults, think of this connection.
It will
become an
for thee to
When
less.
thee,
how
appear in those terrible scenes of despair?
all this
When infidelity
be time enoygh
when thy case is utterly hope-
infidel
Shall
vice allures, think of this connection.
the child of such lofty hopes descend to vicious indulgence
Canst thou,
like
Esau, like Saul, like Absalom, turn
from love, and mercy, and

time cry unto God, "
issue
bitterly,
darkly
Wilt thou not from
My Father
Wilt thou not yield
youth."
which
Canst thou
life ?
perish in thy violent ebellion
away
this
thou art the guide of my
to
those choice influences
from the consecrated affection of the Church,
and are shed around thy soul
which are mingled with
all
the deepest, strongest, priceless sympathies of the domestic
Repent of
constitution?
door
is
open
thy sin
Press in while the

the Father, the
thy father's and thy mother's.

carried
all to
Then shall thy name be inscriHoly Ghost

same bright page, where stand written together
Son, and the
bed on the
all
Give thine eternal
by angels
into
Then
shalt thou, also, be
Abraham's bosom.
13*
CHAPTER
XVI.
Practical reflections. Duties of the Churches. Consecration, with

special reference to the ministry. Conclusion.
The
discussions
which have engaged our
attention sug-
gest a^few concluding thoughts respecting the duties of the
Church.
1.
The
ordinance of household consecration should be
practically regarded according to
its
real importance.
lln these times of revolution and of storm, the subject of

family religion must be set forth prominently
great concerns of the Church.
among
the
While the walls of Zion
are built rapidly and high, they must be cemented well and
firmly founded.
The
vital
power of household
essential to the stability of our times
moral bulwarks
will
without
for,
piety is
this,
our
This power can be
be worthlessj
ensured, enhanced, and completely developed, only

principles of household consecration.
by the
work
In the valuable
of Anderson on the Domestic Constitution, the persons
whom
he eulogizes, as monuments of its moral power, were
nearly
all
probably consecrated
all
impressive, as the selection
to
God
in childhood
more
was made without recognizing
on the principles of the covenant.

the presence of infant dedication.
This
fact is the
The
history of such
households as were formed under Cotton Mather, Philip
Henry, and Thomas Scott, should be familiar to the

Churches. If the Church wishes for more such men as
Matthew Henry, she can thus understand in what manner
they are to be nurtured.
2.
The
ministry must give this ordinance a prominent
place in their
The
for their
151
official
performances.
pastors of the Churches will be held responsible
manner of treating
shall avail himself of the aid

institution is able to afford,
of living preachers,
who
this subject.
which
may
jThat
pastor
who
this divinely established
gather about him an
army
holy streams of the
will direct the
sanctuary into the open channels of communication with

millennial ages.
duty
in
If the ministry will perform their
whole
prayer, in preaching, and in family visitation, the
Churches
soon be awakened, and the energies^ pf
will
institution will
this
be fully appreciated.
3. The application of these principles must be extended

more thoroughly to servants and other permanent members
Where
of the household.
head of the family

the
way
is
So
of lifej
bound
the connection
He
interest.
hold
who
ought never
A servant, whether
and guide
is
and patriarchal
to introdjice those into his
honor the
in
con-
and members of the family
to his prayers, watchfulness,
will not
transientJthe
far as their spiritual welfare
ceined,'all the transient servants
have a right
is
to direct, instruct,
institutions
house-
of family religion.
Catholic or Prgtestant, should never be
allowed habitually to refuse attendance at the family altar.
Where
the connection
the adoption
is
expected to be permanent, as in
of orphans and other children as our own, as
in the taking of poor children to
remain for years as do-
mestics, they should be consecrated to
This was the case
of the covenant.
God on the
in the
principles
household of
Abraham.
This was the manner in which the connection

between master and servant was guarded, sanctioned, and
blessed, under the ancient dispensation.
It was a vq][untary
connection,
mutual
when
benefits,
principles
not a penal infliction was formed for
and hallowed by rehgious vows.
were duly recognized, very
different
If these
would b@
152
the condition of poor servants in most families, even of the
The
Church.
domestic relations of a free country would
be blessings to thousands of those who otherwise would die

without instructioji.
Were
the principles of household con-
secration thus to prevail in the Church, the spirit of slavery
would be forever banished from her borders. Even Abraham, holy as he was, could not be entrusted with the mild
authority which he exercised over his servants, without be-
ing required to give a most solemn pledgp for their pious

education.
44jChurches should take special care that the meaning

of this ordinance be fully explained
For
dren.
this
to
her consecrated
purpose, the pastor
and
officers
chil-
of the
Church should directly and frequently meet with the childrg^.

For this purpose, the manner in which this duty is
discharged by every parent should be especially investigatedj
full
apprehension of
its
real imgiort
a most salutary influence on the minds of the

consciousness that the children understood
it
would exert
children.
JÂ
would power-
parent^
5.^The Churches must exercise a peculiar care over
fully affect the
their baptized childrerj

is
The
nature of their relationship
such, that they are to be considered as the lambs of the
flock.
În
this
ordinance
God
has erected around them a
Church not to abanSo long as they refuse

to believe, the Churches must not admit them to the communion, nor in this sense consider them as members. Neither, while they thus remain, is it best, in any sense, to call
them members, as this application of the term leads to confusionj Yet the connection which they do sustain requires
railing of defence,
don them
just
to the
and has charged
his
prowling wolves.
such a system of discipline as shall at once most cer-
tainly exclude
them from the communion
really pious, and most powerfully hold
until
they are
them around her
altars so long as
any hope of their conversion remains, and
most speedily prepare them

iTherefore,
let
153
for
a free and
full
admission.
convincing evidence of regeneration be de-
manded, as essential to membership let them be admonished through their parents, and pursued with entreaties,
however
up,
till
far they
may wander
let
them never be given

and finally, let
they are utterly beyond our reach
their early conversion
be sought, as the legitimate object
of faith, and the most obvious design of their consecration.

JJVhen a family of consecrated children generally grow up
impenitent, and madly break away from religious restraint,
inquiry be made of their parents respecting their
household regulations, and the question, " Is there not a
let diligent
cause ?" be urged
home upon
the conscience! In this
man-
ner a rigorous discipline, of the most tender and appropriate

nature, should be maintained, and
embrace
in its supervi-
sion the lambs of the Church.

6.
There
one more duty which demands considera-
is
tion at the present crisis.
I refer to infant
consecration,
There are
some exThe nature
tent exists, should be generously encouraged.
of all genuine consecration of infants to God implies a corwith special reference
several reasons
why
gospel ministry.
to the
this practice,
which now
dial consent, on the part of parents, that
any or every son for the sacred office.

parents who have publicly dedicated
to
God should
take
There are many

their sons>
and are
unwilling that Christ should call them into the ministry, or
send them on a mission.
They
are overcome with the
temptations of the world, with the prospect of acquiring the

fortunes and the
fame which
it
offers.
They
are averse,
especially, to give the noblest of the flock for his sacred
service.
Let the Church
lift
aloud her warning voice
against this parental invasion of her Master's claim.
Let
154
her denounce
Let her read aloud
as sacrilege.
it
to
such
parents the story of Ananias and Sapphira.
The nature and privileges of the covenant encourage this^

*^ We have seen that the promise of
special consecration.
the covenant
is
large, extensive, and inviting to the highest
There is ample room for this enlarged

glow and burn freely within it. Now, if the beparents, gazing on their son, feel that nothing would
exercise of faith.
desire to
lieving
so
their hearts as to
fill
minister, let
behold him an eminently devoted
them mingle
crating faith, let
that feeling in the act of conse-'
them breathe with
it
freely in the
very
atmosphere of the covenant.

This special consecration
history
is
encouraged in
the ancient
of the Church.
The
consecration of the tribe of Levi to the priesthood,
the special consecration of the first-born, the voluntary de-
Samuel by his mother, and the sublimer dedica*

and of Jesus to their exalted destination, cerinvite the Church of the present age to the frequent
dication of
tion of John
tainly
exercise of this precious privilege.
Farther encouragement
is
afforded in the biography of
The number of such men who

have been consecrated to God in childhood, with special
reference to the ministry, would surprise any one who had
many eminent
ministers.
not maturely considered the subject.

the
need but mention
names of Buchanan, Newton, Hooker, Swartz,
Mills,
Rice of Virginia, Summerfield, and Thomas Spencer.
The
Newton must have
tried
early history of Buchanan and
exceedingly the
faith
the sacred office.
which had especially devoted them to
What memorable energy must have
been lodged in that covenant grasp which
lifted
Newton
from shameful debasement, and recalled the wandering
Buchanan from vagrancy and
ruin,
which made
their feet
155
HOrsEHOLD CONSfiCRAnOX*
to walk
and caused them
like hinds' feet,
The Church
of Zion.
of that parental
which gave these men
faith
to the ministry of his
Church,
in
that,
^^
and
The
previously to
has been frequently heard
child, hisfather
of this
consequence
to Christ,
early childhood.
biographer of Summerfield remarks

the birth
on the high places
will forever rejoice in
say, there was nothing that he desired more
to
in early life
than that he should have a son, that that son should he a mi'
nister
and
of the gospel, and that
at the time
dedicated him
his
of the birth of
name should
The
work of the ministry."
to the
be called John,
this babe hisfather solemnly
interesting
statement presents before us the very principle which
lies
consecration/a^/i on the part of

the parent, in the gracious promise of God, strong, enlarged,
at the foundation of all
cheerful,
and
God has
active.
come, and present their choicest

plan of God's grace
solicits
thus invited his friends to

gifts
before his altar.
from the believer the
confidence and the noblest aims and efforts.
In accordance
with these invitations, the believing parent, assured that

will receive
him graciously,
especially,
when
may come
object
his
is
to
behold his son a
faithful niinister
may know
glorify
the
This practice commends

its
Saviour,
feels that to
of the cross, would be his
both from the promise, and from
the history of the Church, that
by
God
boldly to the throne,
through the services of his children ;'and when he

highest joy, he
The
fullest
God
itself
will not upbraid
moreover
to the
him.
Church
intrinsic propriety.
Where
cration
is
the parental faith

sincere
is
vigorous, and the conse-
where the believer hath gone up
into
the higher resources of the covenant, and feels himself anointed with
its
peculiar power, so that he
fant son in his Saviour's arms,
his countenance
he
is
may
and rejoice
place his in-
in th e light
of
prepared to enter upon the steady
prosecution of the purpose which this consecration implies.
156
That a consecrated son of the Church, who should enter the

ministry, through such a process of special and definite
training,
is
would be surrounded with unwonted advantages,
abundantly manifest.
duced,
we may
To
the considerations already ad-
finally suggest, that the increasing
for ministers powerfully urge
tion of the Churches.
The
dwell.
tions of the
for mn,
Oa
this practice
this
point
it
demand
upon the attenunnecessary to
is
necessities of the world, the straitened opera-
Church, send forth an exceedingly earnest cry
They have appealed
good men, and many men.
to our pious youth,
and are appealing
still.
This appeal
must reach, not the youth only, but the parents.

pass through the outer courts.
It
It
must
must be lodged upon the
altar.
The Church
of Christ, in this age of moral
the inexhaustible
These
conflict,
needs
of this gracious covenant.
resources
supplies, so ample, so glorious, are the purchase of
her Saviour's blood
the gifts of his mediatorial throne
Let them neither be wasted nor lightly esteemed. The

blood must be sprinkled upon the door-posts of Israel, before the Church shall escape from Egypt. 1 She must write
" Holiness to the Lord" upon her children,
behold
it
if she
wishes to
written upon all things J in the spirit of consecra*
ting faith she
must stand
forth.
She must descend upon
the vales of the nineteenth century to battle. She must en-
large the place of her tent
she must extend
its
cords*
She must drive down her stakes amidst the deep principles of
truth, and make them strong. Then when she consecrates her
offspring to God, she will feel that approaching generations
are looking on
then every
fresh conquest will be hailed as
another pledge of universal triumph

gained, shall thus be secured
nant shall be glorious

paradise
is
regained.,
when
that
triumph, thus
and the rainbow of the covethe morning breaketh, and
ADDRESS TO PARENTS,
Delivered in the Central Presbyterian Church, Broome-street, New- York,
before the New- York City Maternal Association, at their Annual
Meeting, March, A. D. 1836.
The
spirit
of the age demands the discussion of those
great principles which
venerable
lie
at the foundation
These
institutions.
principles, as
up, take strong hold of the public mind.
prevailing
maxims of the Church and
They
conflict.
even of old and

they are roused
They
force the
the world into fiercest
are impelling the interests of both towards
their final junction.

It is
centuries,
of
this
war of
delightful in this
veteran truth shake
and break forth
principles, to behold
some
from the mountainous rubbish of
itself
to grapple with the
and of former ages.
The
moral Hydras
soldier of the truth, the
champion of the right, the heaven-entitled defender of the

must have intimate communion with these permanent
faith,
principles of all times
and places.
Only thus can he acquit
himself worthily in these present and approaching conflicts.
He
must look deeper intothe elements of human nature,
and
to
into the divine provision for their control, than simply
wonder
at
its
earthquakes, or analyze the ruin of
its
eruptions.
The
leaders of the
Church and of the State must descend

They must detect those
below the surface of public opinion.

latent energies
The
and
which
necessity which
lie
around the roots of the mountains.
is
thus devolved upon us in our civil
ecclesiastical relations,
has intruded
14
itself into the do-
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
158
mestic constitution.
cility, to
wave
It is useless,
The
back.
it
over the moral abyss>
is
with the hand of imbe-
God, who broodeth
Spirit of
summoning these
giant principles
of truth to abandon their cloisters, to disencumber themselves of unadapted armor, for the purpose of returning
defeat for defiance to the champions of sin.
the
first
He
calls to
principles of rehgious truth, of civil government, of
He
the domestic constitution.
they will come.
them come
bids
forth,
and
The purity and enlargement of the Church
the defence of inalienable civil rights
the salvation of do-
mestic interests in the present and in future generations,
demand
life,
Every
their presence.
and of God's holy cause,
principle of
will
man's highest
hear that summons.
Since, therefore, the great truths of the family
compact
must be roused, it is the duty of every parent to comprehend them, to appreciate them, spiritually, in their bearings, both upon the kingdoms of men and the kingdom of
God.
Now,
should the Christian parent acquit
if ever,
Now,
what
commanding, far-reaching
influence, God hath wrought into the relations of home.
Now, if ever, should he comprehend what God has done in
himself well.
power of
if
ever, should he understand
self-preservation, of
power for the renovaWithout such understanding, no parent

can be completely furnished for the responsibilities which
his gracious covenant to apply that
tion of the world.
are rolled upon him.

this position
As
it is
important that the truth of
should clearly appear,
I solicit
your considera*
lion of the following sentiment
That an enlightened and spiritual faith in the provisions

of the
Ahrahamic covenant
is essential to the perfection
of
the parental character.
In contemplating this proposition,

application to the father and the
relations.
we
mother
shall consider
its
in their respective
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
159
That the faith of which we speak is an

cation for the father,
From the
1.
is
essential qualifi-
manifest,
fact, that
without
it
no father can
fully ap,
preciate the moral grandeur and resources of the domestic

constitution.
That
this constitution
welfare and
has
history of
civil
tion of character
much
much to do with the temporal

man much with the forma^
;
with man's spiritual and highest
good, is a fact with which the philanthropist, the philoso^

phe r, and the Christian are well acquainted. Should not
its
resources, therefore, be thoroughly understood
by the
head and responsible agent?
Who
father,
natural
its
would appoint one to manage the movements of a steamboat,

who was entirely ignorant of its mighty enginery, or to
superintend the concerns of a large manufactory,
not the
tions
who knew
power of its machinery or the value of its produc,

Who would commit an extensive mercantile esta-
blishment to one unacquainted with mercantile transactions
Who
would
elect a president
over
this nation,
who
under-
stood neither the magnitude of her interests, nor the nature
of her institutions
The importance
of a thorough acquaintance, on the
part of the father, with the great moral designs and re-
sources of that constitution which he

not be questioned.
in the
That an
Abrahamic covenant
is
intelligent
is
to administer, will
and
spiritual faith
essential to that
thorough
acquaintance, will be not merely questioned, but promptly

denied.
one inquiry
do with
ask, however, your candid consideration of this

:
What
the provisions
of that covenant have
The God
of the Abrahamic covenant
author of the family
state.
Through
was himself the
that covenant he has
revealed the grand original design of the institution.
was
to
the domestic constitution 7
the promotion of holiness, through perpetual time,
It
by
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
160
means of moral
influence.
It
was, after the
fall,
the reco-
very of a train of generations from the progress of eternal

degradation.
It
was
to gather,
even from the appalling
spectacle of the tendency of evil influence on a course of

generations, lessons of most impressive admonition for the in-
tercourse of unnumbered worlds in ceaseless ages.
improve
all its
inherent energies for the
lofl;iest
It
was
to
purposes of
grace.
In the administration of this design, he hath lodged in
these household scenes the
dential revolutions with
been
germs of the mightiest provi-
which the human race has ever
aflTected.
He
rolled over the world the waters of the flood,
swept away every ungodly family
and
he called Abraham
from the idolatry of Chaldea, and promised him a numerous

posterity,
and the land of Canaan; he nourished that
posterity even in the land of
Ham, even
dage, until they multiplied to milhons
in
Egyptian bon-
he gathered those
millions around the base of Sinai, for the promulgation of

his
law
he secured a long succession of sentinels
safe transmission
cast up a
for the advent of the Messiah,
of depravity a
soil
The
and spread over the regions
which should absorb
descending dews of the
for its
highway of holy generations

for
its
moisture the
Spirit.
action of the covenant upon the natural ingredients
of the family constitution, has extended the chain of gracious designs through all the periods of time, and anointed
each link with
their living energy. It has prepared
from these
domestic elements the sublimest monuments of mercy, and
by
contrasting these with the natural results of family influ-
ence, perverted, misemployed, debased, he has revealed, as

majestic beacons to
avenging
justice.
all
It
ages, most remarkable specimens of
has poured grandeur over the whole
system of household intercourse
it
has connected the least
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
of
161
concerns with the concerns of the Church
its
Church
has
it
main design to the main design of the

and wherever the grace of that covenant has
subordinated
;
its
entered a house, to be greeted with welcome, and there wel-
comed
to abide,
has transcribed the genealogy of its ages
it
Lamb's book of
into the
life,
and preserved the story of its
of angels and the admiration of
fireside for the instruction
worlds.
It
and
has brought
truth, full of
down
life,
to the father
promises
full
of grace
inexhaustible wealth, and hereditary
glory.
Moreover,
woven
it
has drawn upon the relations which are
into its constitution, as
ments of
spiritual
its
upon a canvass, the

.
kingdom.
between husband and wife
It
linea-
has taken the relation
to illustrate that
between Christ
Church between parent and child, to illustrate that

between God and the believer between the children themand
his
denominate those between believers
;
between
master and servant, that between Christ and his ministers.
Finally, it has taken the family constitution itself, with all
selves, to
its
combined
relations, to illustrate the
harmony and
bless-
edness of heaven.
The
father,
will, therefore,
aspect.
He
who
will appreciate in his
mise, I will be a
will plead
it
believes and rejoices in the covenant,
regard the domestic relations
God
to thee
before God.
own
and thy seed
It is
only by
in their spiritual
soul that great pro-
He
after thee.
this faith, therefore,
that he can so consecrate the household influence as to meet
the conditions of the promise.

realize
its
largeness and inherit
the rule of mercy.
Be
It is
its
only thus that he can

advantages.
Is
it
not
itio you according to your faith ?
Must not faith lean upon a promise 1 Then, to believe,

must not man understand? If the promise is large, must
not the faith which meets, honors, inherits it in its fulness, be
14*
162
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
enlarged
also
Can a man,
approach the highest
then,
attainable blessings for himself, his family, and his posterity
without this faith
Is
it
of no
can he without
If not, then
a father should be
it
moment whether
there pass
down upon
posterity an unfailing river of curses or of blessings
the long valley be
be what
full
of dry bones or of living
his
whether
men
Faith in the promise, being thus essential to the blessing,

essential
is
both to the performance of the condition and the
The
application of the seal.
consecration of our families
but the public expression of this faith
of a fixed purpose to
these conditions
fulfil
is
the public avowal
the public
sealing over of these immeasurable interests to the faithful-
ness of a covenant-keeping God.

Manifestly, then, an intelligent,
Abrahamic covenant,
in
essential to the father, if
spiritual
faith
in the
promises, terms, and seal,
its
he would gain
is
for the long suc-
cession of immortal minds committed to his care the highest possible blessings, if he would elevate
moral efficacy the domestic constitution.
Is
this
Can
it
he worthy of a father's station
who
be done without
faith
thus endorsed
by the hand of
impossible
please
to
Mm.
No
It
is
not do
Without faith
here, as elsewhere.
that will grasp the promise, and rejoice in the blessing,

believe.
pact,
He
who, standing
will develop
resources of
hath endowed
in
at the
is
it is
He
must
head of the family com-
view of the world those amazing
mercy with which

it,
it ?
every leaf of grace
justice
would not do
who can
he qualified for that station
Is
to its highest
the covenant connection
must therefore have
this faith clearly in
the understanding, glowingly in the heart.

2.
The
from the
truth of this sentiment will be farther manifest,
fact, that
without this faith the father cannot lay
his plans for the regulation of his official
conduct on proper
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
163
His plans of action should be graduated ac-
principles.
cording to the dignity and resources of the state over which
he presides. He should aim to accomplish all which the

compact is designed to accomplish. He cannot be expected
higher than he aims
to rise
his aim, therefore,
high as the occasion warrants.

shall exercise the faith of
If,
which we speak, he
apprehend the capacities of the domestic
aim
will
effect
to
must be as
then, unless the father

will not
even
constitution,
accomplish only what he imagines
it
and
able to
then, of course, his noblest plans of action will fall
mark which he
as far below the
should endeavour to reach,
as his views do below the moral grandeur of the relation.
Faith in the covenant, however, will aggrandize
He
family arrangements.
all his
form every household plan

on the principle, that the glory of God, in the spiritual
will
welfare of his whole household, shall be
He
will
plan, therefore,
belong to Christ
the living
its final
that he
and
object.
all
his
that every calculation should be such as
Head
remembering
himself would sanction
that his household
have been especially claimed by the Saviour himself; that

on him it rests to instruct them in that claim, and plead with
them
to
acknowledge
that
add the divine blessing
to
God has
his
certainly promised to
labors
from
his parental faithfulness that
forth a glorious
will send
down
moral influence
own
his
for
that the Sanctifier
himself has promised, assured success
same
and
that, finally,
spirit will
bring
ages yet unborn, and
precious grace to a thousand gene-
rations through the channel thus constructed.
Thoughts
like these
must elevate the plans which they
control. His daily domestic habits
by which he
which he
his choice
of the business
will maintain his children; of the society to
will introduce
them
of the schools in which he
will educate
them
will seek to
form their character
the personal influence under which he

;
the religious ordinances
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
164
from which he
will derive their spiritual impressions
must all be adopted
which
in
his faith in the
he be prompted
shall put the
these
conformity with the elevated purpose
Thus
covenant has produced.
to resolve
will
on that course of conduct which
moral resources of the domestic constitution
to the test, and prove to the utmpst the spiritual wealth
of
the everlasting covenant.

3,
is
That an
intelligent
essential to the
otherwise the
der which
The
full
God
and cordial
father, is
force of those motives will not be
objects of the family
God has
covenant
felt
un-
designed to form the parental character.
compact are so
rests so precious, its influence
that
faith in this
manifest from the fact, that
in his
vast,
when perverted
its inte-
so terrible,
covenant provided the strongest con-
ceivable motives, in order to secure the co-operation of the
own
father with his
truth and Spirit.
him the companion of his
For
this
he gave
love, entrusted her temporal
fort to his care, blended her earthly interests with his
comown,
revealed to him the gracious design, addressed him as an

him persevering grace, provided
intimate friend, promised
him with strength to defend his household, and with influence

to do them good, commanded him publicly to devote them as
really as he had devoted himself, directed him to do it in
same form, required a solemn pledge that he would

them as the Lord's, assured him of grace to fulfil his
and, finally, ofiered him the Spirit's influence, not
pledge
the
treat
merely
for his immediate offspring, but for his
remote de-
scendants.
What
motives can
we imagine
stronger than these?
Combining the consciousness of parental authority with the

tenderness of most intimate love, with the joyousness of
every bright hope blending all a father's with all a Chris;
tian's
his
emotions
calling into the service his sincerest vows,
most public character, and most noble aspirations
;
!
165
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
pledging him personal immortality in heaven, and relative
immorlality on earth
and both resulting
through his heart, will
vail
in multiplied sal-
This combination of motives,
vation hereafter.
lift
him
if
pre-
it
to a sublime relation-
ship to all the glories of the Church, and the final develop-
ments of the Godhead.

Is
it
rash
now
to say, that unless
man
believe the co-
venant from which these motives are drawn, he cannot
Can
their
power ?
who
doth not apprehend their existence
you diminish a
feel
he rise under their elevating influence

?
By
father's faith in the covenant,
fore detract from the influence under
so
mueh
as
do you there-
which the God of the
covenant designed the character of a father to be moulded,

polished,
and perfected.
Thus again we are brought
conclusion, most directly, that this covenant faith
4.
to the
an
es-
every father.
sential qualification for
which
is
is substantiated by the manner in

him up among the precious promises
This conclusion
this faith leads
and unlocks
The
to
him their inexhaustible treasures.

by which the believer inherits the
principle
of his faith has been already stated.
It
peculiar promise of this covenant, in order to obtain

culiar blessing.
His
faith will,
in its
object
must respect the

its
pe-
different degrees,
enable him to ford the stream, according as the waters rise

to the ankles, or successively to the breast
him
to
over.
walk on
The
their current
will
strength of faith shall produce depth of study
and the well-studied promise
will react
upon the
faith,
ing strength to strength, and giving grace for grace.
valuable then to the father
Since he
is
enable
when they cannot be passed
is
add-
How
this privilege of believing
thus appointed the spiritual guardian of his fa-
mily, placed
in
most responsible circumstances, how rea-
sonable the expectation,
how
precious the knowledge, that
166
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
ample provision
is
made
for all his
wants and for every
conflict.
this, let him come boldly to the Spirit's
Let him study the scope and bearings of this cothe illustrious instances of its might, which the
Assured of
throne.
venant
and the highest of its heawhich the Church militant may aspire. In
history of divine grace unfolds
venly places
to
the lofly honors of the twelve tribes, in the advent of the
Messiah, in the prosperity of the gospel

in the
arm of mercy, which,
among
outstretched
the Grentiles,
still
standing eighteen hundred years of unbelief
notwith-
even
now
holds every wandering Jewish father, as the ancestor of a
race of saints
in the utterance of prophecy,
which an-
nounces restoration for the Jew, and enhanced glory of

adoption for the Gentile
on the gracious
bring the promise
of to glory.
may
he
things of God.
home
It will
to his
may
read the deep
Such
feast
studious faith will
own heart, as a
teach, that even for
parental good inaccessible to his aspiring
thing where-
him there
toil
no
is
that he
can
neither aim too high, trust too far, nor hope too
will aim,
and
trust,'
His emotions
much, if he
and hope as the covenant guides him.
will
become
stronger, richer, mellower,
as he follows the meandering of
its
waters, in the domestic
scenery which the hand of Providence hath created within

his
own observation.
Although few indeed are the fathers
that have risen to the highest awards of faith, yet there are
those whose very
names are brightened by the unction of

The name of Edwards, a
the blessing so long abiding.
very mantle
for the saints
holy radiance
of Dwight, the inheritor of
its
of Mather, and Scott, and Henry, and huo-
dreds of others well
known
in the public records of
of multitudes more, well known
in the deep, but
Zion
more obscure
records of the heart, might be adduced as illustrations of
its

167
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
hallowed sway.
It
mentioned
is
lous, that the children
seven generations of a pious

this
seem marvellous ?
covenant
faith
in
It
does not to the enlarged heart of
a careful examination of household records
around us would even present
many
very many, that are more illustrious.

fathers,
have
one book as marvel-
named above, can reckon

Yet why should
ancestry.
of a man,
cases not
Many
nay,
less,
indeed are the
who, by the strong wrestlings of patriarchal faith,

the accumulating
the power of their example
left
interest of their
own
rich grace, as a glorious legacy for
successive generations.
But " thou

millennium.
was adapted,
It
millennial faith
might contain
The
shalt see greater things than theseJ'^
covenant promise was made by him
its
all
who
predestinated the
therefore, to the largeness
structure
was capacious,
that so
of*
it
the interests which the earlier fathers of
may
those bright ages
roll into
it.
As
that blessed era
approaches, th^ vision of the Church will be enlarged, to

read, and measure, and enjoy the covenant prospects.
ancestry, not remote, of those millennial fathers,
forming.
How
shall
the fathers
now on
is
The
now
the stage acquit
themselves honorably towards the coming generations, unless
they
now take
It is faith
generations.
hold of the covenant
alone which annihilates the distance of
Faith places the covenant
gate of heaven.
It
enables the father,
many
home by the very

who has well com-
pared spiritual promises with spiritual providences, forming

his character
under these views, and plans, and motives,
summon even
here, and daily, descending thousands, in the
to*
assuring visions of promise, around the domestic altar.
He may
and the
say, as
We shall
2.
if in their
realized presence,
Here am
/,
whom thou hast given me.

now proceed to prove,
children
That an enlightened and
spiritual faith in
the Abra-
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
168
hamic covenant,
is
From
1.
essential to the perfection of the mater'
The
nal character.
truth of this sentiment, appears,
the consideration, that the mother
with the charge of
human
Thje introduction of a
accountability
which
is
will
nature in
its
is
new immortal
moral
to scenes of
a seres of moral feelings and deeds
to
never end,
is
the prerogative of the mother.
her voice, that, morning by morning, wakens
impressions.
entrusted
earliest conditions.
It is
its
It
softest
her soul of thought, and tenderness, and
which first seeks out the hidden sources of moral life,

and calls up the harmonious energies of existence.
She can hear the inward chiming of the affections when
She fashions its earliest smile, and dries
others cannot.
fire,
up
its
She daily governs, originates,

She sings the cradle hymn.
earliest tear.
fies its earliest plans.
her
lips the child first gains,
and best gains,
diversi*
From
his impressions
of God, and Christ, and duty, of happiness and heaven.
From her
man the
It is
lips
he catches his
first
idea of the chief end of
great, the marvellous idea of eternity.
then of vast
moment
mother
She should
that the heart of the
should be well qualified for this ministry.

clearly perceive the worth of the
to
God and
its
human
spirit, its relations
connections with the plan of redeeming
grace, with the final disclosures of the triune, self-reveal-
ing God.
She should understand
the design of
God
moral formation
quately apprised
in trusting
in
her hands.
how
correctly, and practically,
such an agent for purposes of
She hath need
fearful are the elements
to
be ade-
of depravity
and the exposures of an immortal nature. All this she

needs in order to comprehend the full scope of that responsibility
under which she
will gain
is
commissioned
to act.
This she
only by a prayerful study of the grand principles
and design of the covenant.
Thus she
will perceive
how
the covenant of redemption mingles with the covenant of
169
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
grace, and
how they
make
both
Abrahamic covenant
Thus she
the
the reservoir for the main body of their waters.
can see why the God of the covenant hath
set
the
all
strength of a mother's love about the moral beginnings of the
Thus
infant mind.
upon her of rousing
her predestined work
Thus she
of her nature.
when by
which
will she feel the necessity

to
will understand
laid
is
the energies
all
why
that
it is
the very strength of her natural affection, she
might be tempted
to idolatry,
God
has written in front of
brow of her child, This is mine. Why it is,

that just when she would be tempted to remissness, he has,
in the ordinance which presents his claim, demanded her
her, on the
pledge
Why
for glorious
it
is
that this intense love, thus sanctified
purposes, should prompt her to ply
all
the
energies of a mother's ingenuity for the spiritual welfare of

the child.
Thus she
will
comprehend why the son of her

why that same
sorrows should be the son of her vows
wisdom which wrought into her being the elements of insuppressible love, wrought also amidst the scenes of its
birth the ingredients of the primeval curse.
might know, and that she might
whelming value of the
It
most of
was, that
all,
all
the over-
and the overwhelming grandeur
soul,
of that relation on which
feel,
its
character and interest are sus-
pended.
I
ask, now, if the
to the mother's
mother can demonstrate her adequacy
work, without a glowing
faith in these
cove-
Must she not understand, believe, and feel

them, in order to walk in the full light, and have the candle
of the Lord shine with all its own lustre about her tabernant truths
nacle
2.
The
faith
of which
ther, because her province
To
we speak
is
educate the intellect
in early years.
To
is
essential to the
mo-
peculiarly with the heart.

is
not peculiarly hers, except
educate the heart,
15
is
peculiarly hers,

170
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
The
always.
earliest affection in the
bosom of an
infant,
which seems like moral affection, is love to the mother.

The young being soon begins to feel that relations
exist between him and the ever present object from which
his comforts come, in whose smile he reads delight, and in
whose frown he feels control. Hence, probably, the earliest feelings of remorse of which children are usually conscious, arise from having grieved a mother, from having
violated those relations
which they most clearly perceive
and most keenly
The
through
its
feel.
The mother
of its affections.
she receives the

ther's caress,
the
is
providentially placed
To
outgoings of affection.
first
first
perceptible and
spirit,
to pass
down
where
mo-
that
most attenuated
cords of moral agency are attuned, and the
which are
issue from
human
happiness of the
future moral history, depends on the bestowment
first
impulses
the everlasting current of affection
it.
If to these considerations
the maternal love,
we
we add
the intense energy of
once perceive that the mo-
shall at
ther has an access to the heart, which, if subservient to

evil purposes, is truly terrific,
power is in her hands

is
since the
so familiar to her, that even
covered
it,
and the crimes of
oflen alone can find
and
Since,
benevolently majestic.
it
should be spiritualized
how
if
consecrated to good,
therefore,
pathway
when
life
is
such peculiar
to the
young heart
the rubbish of age hath
encrusted
it,
she hest and
important that her affections
that their first emanations should
How
be pure, and their earliest impulses should be holy.
important that the great sun of truth should look in upon
them and form them
fountain of spiritual
into
a heart of spiritual vigor,
into
life.
Yet what views of truth can so lifl up the heart as those

which the covenant gives. What amazing objects of concern
What intense power of
it unveils to the vision of faith.
ADDRESS TO PAEENTS.
motives
it
171
brings to bear precisely on the point
where the
mother's love and the child's love are linked together.
It
takes the ardent aspirations of the soul, and treasures them

as blessings for the child.
It
transforms whatever there
is
sensual, trifling, or vain, in the natural sympathies of the

relation, into
the
claims
God, and having connected the welfare of the
all for
the
pure,
elevated,
the
spiritual.
It
child with the admission of the claim, urges the principles
of entire consecration deep to the heart, forming that heart

into correspondence
maternal
with holiest truth, and reflecting the
formed upon the open heart of the
light thus
aflTection,
of sanctification and spiritual elevation to

tions,
and
will
shine most radiaut in
The
child.
become
thus ennobled, will
all
the channel
other affec
the family constel-
lation.
It is
by
the aflTections that
men
are swayed, character-
ized and impelled, classed into families, beset with companionships, and
combined
in business.
by the
It is
that they are deceived, brutalized,
they are converted, sanctified, and glorified
maddened
for deeds of
shame
affections
and destroyed
that
that they are
that they are inspired for
actions of self-denying virtue and benevolent daring.
The covenant, therefore,

God over all man's affection,
first
placing the great claim of

writes that claim over the
throbbings of the infant brow, infuses
it
into the first
burning glance or gaze which reveals the mother's heart

to the heart of the child,
agency of the
How,
Spirit only
and sheds abroad the mellowing

on the
affections.
then, shall the Christian
mother advance
to th
solemn business of living, breathing, moving amidst a circle

of young, susceptible, and glowing hearts, who hath not
gained that celestial anointing which deep communion with
the spirit of the covenant alone can give
That mother
172
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
who
tears,
hath washed the feet of covenant mercy with her
who
hath revealed her most enshrined love to
heart-searching inquiries after idolatrous
thoughts,
hath devoted her strongest passions and her
loftiest
to its grand,
will feel that the
gives, is
compassionate,
its
its
who
energy
glorious purposes, she
its
promise of the Spirit which the covenant
more precious than
hopes, that without
other precious things
all
the vital presence of the Spirit
is
that
so essential to her fondest
she would not dare to leave the print
it
of a mother's footsteps along the pathway of domestic affection.
3.
This
faith in the
the mother, because
it
sphere of action which

Ordinarily, she
physical strength
incurred.
She
is
is
is
household covenant
God has
assigned to
much
requisite, or
strife
occupy the sacred desk or the
at the bar, or to sit

skill
requisite physical
much
public notoriety
of public
She
affairs,
is
is
to
or the
not expected
hall of legislation
on the throne
or of martial glory.
for this sphere,
woman.
not expected to appear amidst the bustle
severe labors of the shop, or the farm.
of medical
essential to
scenes where
not called to
of the exchange, amidst the
to
is
unfolds the vast importance of that
to plead
contend for the prize
Had she been destined
God would have endowed her
with the
might and intellectual hardihood.
There
have been emergencies, however, when public or private

necessity has constrained even
woman
to stand forth as the
queen of nations and the prophetess of God.
We
do not stay to relate
how God hath
taught her
and used her wisdom to defeat the wise, and her

But her sphere, her
feebleness to overcome the strong.
own peculiar sphere, is wide and powerful, yet it is diverse
discretion,
from
all this, for
it
lies
nearest the spiritual world.
has stationed her there, that she
may
God
grasp the young
173
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
on
spirit
first
its first
entrance upon this stormy
and deeply upon the early heart
and stamp
life,
just impressions
of
prepare even the son for
all
the spiritual world.
By
this
means, she
may
She must remember
future scenes of moral conflict.
that
is to go where she may not go, and that

where the mother herself is not seen, she will be known
her beloved boy
through her son, and that
if his
terity, posterity will inquire after
not for her
name
name goes down
only, but for her character
look in upon her nursery
of her temper ; they
they will
they will study the peculiarities
will
to pos-
hers; they will inquire,
connect them with the shame or
glory of her son.
The mothers
of Samuel, of David, and of John the Bap-
of Jesus Christ himself, and of Timothy, are
tist,
The mothers
widely as their sons.
known
as
of Wesley, and Ed-
wards, of Dwight, and Doddridge, and a host of others, share

in the holy
eminence of these men of God.
The mothers
of many a tyrant, or profligate writer, or miserable
infidel,
share in another eminence, the eminence of authority abused
and of genius morally degraded.

tells
to those
who
shall
come
maternal character of
of the past.
fold
Faithful biography, that
these stories of the dead to us, will
it
statue
after us.
this
tell
She
the
same
stories
will deal with the
generation as she has with that
In the statuary which she chisels out, she will
as the everlasting drapery of the figure; for the
and
its
drapery are chiselled from the same material.
Should the Christian mother consecrate her son to some

high, patriotic, philanthropic, and evangelical labor and office,
if
she can do
much towards
giving the
first
direction
she lays hold of the covenant, she can realize the aspi-
rations of her fondest wishes
if
she will study deeply into
the import, the history, and the privileges of household con-
15*
174
ADDRESS TO
T^RExN'TS*
secration, though she never will proudly
ther of Zebedee's children, she
pray
may
She
mother of Sannuel.
like the
pray
silently,
will
the sweet, quiet peace of covenant faith, to "
like the mo-'
but effectually
know how
sit
in
at the feet
of
Jesus," and will " ponder these things in her heart" over her
children,
till
she can hear
*"
their angels" whisper, "
She
hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken from
her."
There
is
another peculiarity in woman's sphere, which
illustrates the
cially
value of faith in the covenant.
She
is
espe-
When
charged with the education of the daughter.
her son has gone forth amidst the conflicts of life, the daughter
is still
with her. That daughter should never be obliged
to apply to novels for the
knowledge of human nature, nor

knowledge of manners, nor to
to hired instructers for the
the heartlessness of fashionable
Let the
life
for ideas of propriety.
intelligent, watchful, affectionate
Bible in her hand
mother, with the
with the lessons of experience on her lips
and the impulses of genuine delicacy
in
her heart
point to the sources of healthful knowledge,

into her daily habits the elements
Let her apply
all
let
her
and weave
of attractive manners.
the spirituality of the covenant to that
daughter's affections.
Let her gentle persuasion remove
the vanity, the love of display, the undue curiosity when-
ever exhibited.
The faithful mother will

ter's vivacity, but to
Saviour
to enlist
report.
not seek to annihilate her daugh-
engage
not to chill the
it
for delightful services of the
warm
affections of the mind, but
them in whatever is pure, and lovely, and of good

She will impress the mind of the daughter with the
vast importance of the right use of influence
explain to
her the nature of that influence which she will exert
the
exposures to which her powers of exciting interest will lead
175
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
her
and point her
which the author of
;
to those
all
grand and elevating purposes
her powers commands her to che-
rish.
She,
who
as a mother
sits
queen amongst a
daughters, has a most responsible post
coming generations are domesticated about the

interests of
unborn ages
lie
circle of
the destinies of
fireside
the
concealed in their toys.
It is
the mother's province to revere those destinies, and to guard
What motives can persuade the mother
these interests well.

to
do
this
drawn from
so effectually as those
the everlasting covenant
What
the
living grandeur
domestic influences with such
bosom of
other truths stamp the
What
other sun pours around that hearth such radiance of glory
What
history of a consecrated and pious daughter
There
is
other views shed such imperial beauty on the future
is
another item which must not be forgotten.
peculiarly in her
power
to instruct all
the subject of forming alliances for
These
life.
It
her children on
instructions
should be early bestowed, and deeply impressed.
Let her
remember what Rebecca did for Jacob.

Let her remember what Esau did to grieve Isaac and Rebecca.
Let her
guard her young group against all the devices of Satan
:
instruct
them
into the nature of the
ing them what amazing interests
gust connections
to do thus she
nant.
it
marriage covenant, showit
involves,
and what au-
originates with the final judgment.
Yet
must understand the principles of the cove-
She must know how
on the godly household
that covenant pours
how
it
admonishes,
its
blessings
in all past his-
tory of the Church, the believing son never to introduce an
enemy of God,
as
the
head of
his
family
the
believ-
ing daughter never to put all her earthly interests under

the protection of the
story of the flood
ungodly.
Let her remember the
of heart-broken Lot
of wandering
Asa
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
176
of miserable Solomon
sex in
all
when
ages,
let
the
her learn the story of her
power has been
in the
own
hands of
the unbeliever.
Be
God,
all
assured,
is
often placed, to perform
her duty here, and so to bear the case before the throne,
own
that all her
these warnings,
is
requires strong faith in the covenant of
it
a mother, as the mother
for
children shall be prepared to profit
by being themselves
by
early converted. This
a consummation which God does often vouchsafe to those

who walk in all the ordinances of the Lord blame-
parents
less.
This
is
a result which the covenant has provided for
those in whose hearts

its
its
appropriate faith does not
fail,
and
appropriate purpose never wavers.
May we not,
in
view of the peculiar sphere assigned
the mother, again appeal to that covenant
are adequate to
all
the necessities of her state, and to all
the approaches of a correspondent faith.
would venture
covenant
4.
What mother
into that sphere without taking hold of the
This
the peculiar
It is
to
whose provisions
mother, on account of
faith is essential to the

liabilities
of her condition.
oftener the lot of the Christian mother to be asso-
ciated with an impenitent husband, than of a Christian father
with an impenitent wife. In some circumstances this connec-
embarrasses her
tion greatly
in the
discharge of family duty.
It may, therefore, generally and especially be said of a Christian woman, that she needs all the vigilance, and resolution,
and encouragement, which the full persuasion of covenant
promises can give her. She needs it, in order that, in the
hour of temptation, she

is
mighty
that,
loved ones under

faileth,
she
when
its
may cast
all
her care upon one that
trials thicken,
wings
may renew them
that,
she
when
both,
by
may
gather her
strength and heart
fresh application to
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
177
her abiding place, under the shadow of the Almighty. The

changes of home come to her with a louder call upon her
vigor, and create a keener necessity of superhuman aid.
Suppose her widowed, and surrounded with a group of
The father's watchful eye and guardian

hand no more restrain them. They are in the recklessness of unmanageable youth, and her voice, though stronger
unconverted sons.
in virtuous persuasion
tained
by the
in death.
than another's, yet needs to be sus-
sterner tones of the father.
They
are silent
then, surely, does the maternal heart need to
cling closer than ever to the Saviour, and lean
where the
beloved disciple leaned, and ask her questions, with

confidence of a sustained and quiet
lonely
widow
spirit.
all
the
See yonder
She has a son turbulent and unthankful
and though young, far on the road
to
he resorts to the theatre, spending
hell.
Every night
his earnings vilely
while she, with difficulty living, has no power to control
He
him.
are
There
has no respect for himself or for her.
many such widows
faith in the everlasting
in Israel
covenant can furnish
tion to a heart so deeply
Suppose that she
is
and what but a
full
spiritual
consola-
wounded.
called,
not thus to break her heart
over an undutiful son, but herself to bid the beloved circle

of her children farewell
leaving them, perhaps, in the
care of an impenitent, a dissipated, or a skeptical father.
Then, with what energy of

the covenant,
maid depart
tion."
if
in
There
faith
does she need to embrace
she would say, "
Now
lettest thine
hand-
peace, for mine eyes shall see thy salvais
nothing beside
this,
which can move a
Christian mother in such a case, so that she
may
rise
up
to the full dignity of her spiritual relations.
Yet, in order to
is
this, in
both the cases supposed, there
a long and previous action of this faith required.
not a kind of faith which
is
It is
energetic, because roused in
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
178
some
its
terrible crisis, but that which,
by the uniform tenor of
efficacy, shall rather prevent the necessity itself; or,
when
comes, meet
it
and
strength,
Happy
with the calmness of conscious
it
triumph without extraordinary exertion.
indeed
is
mother who so wisely and constantly
that
labors for the immediate conversion of her children, that
no
day
evil
we
of which
this
faith,
She can-
a mother's moral greatness
all
it.
She
Suppose her affected by another change.

to
she needs
she must have this
speak, to herself and before God.
not in those cases rise to
without
For
unawares.
shall take her
the utmost fulness of the promise
is
about
behold her sons pass out from her immediate control.
They are
bustle
spirits
to enter the public school, to press
and
forward in the
of business, to go forth amidst the
activities
of this world, amidst
its
fascinations
and
perils.
Her
eye cannot be upon them, but her heart throbs with painThen, again, she even fainteth, to rest herful emotions.
She must
self, like the sparrow, by the altars of her God.
strengthen herself for the watchings of
upon the
faith,
truths of that perpetual covenant.
for her then if she
can say, " Lord, thou knowest
consecrated them to thee
borne them on
my
by
It will
heart
them
be well
have
day I have
have held fast mine in-
day
that from
that
feasting
to
have trusted in thy word." It

should be the resolve of every mother so to live, that when
a son of hers passes out from her presence, amidst spiritually perilous scenes, he may go forth an heir of the perNot till the evidence
sonal promise of unchanging grace.
tegrity before
of this
is
seen should her heart give over.
The mother
the bishop
tieutly
-to
when she implored
of Augustine did right
exert himself to save her son, until he impa.
exclaimed,
" Begone,
prayers and tears can never be
woman
lost !"
the
son of such
She had reason
for
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
this anxiety,
and
importuning
faith,
it
which brought the
That mother
was this very union of

which constrained her
solicitude with
to
plead,
and
blessing.
did right who,
the public ball, told
him
when her son would go
to
was there she should

his soul.
It was the
that while he
spend the whole time in prayer for

earnest action of sincere faith
heart, honored
179
and God, who looks
at the
as such, in manifesting his converting
it
grace amidst the scenes of mirth, and
in returning to
her a
penitent son.
When
termined
the maternal soul, under the impulse of such de-
faith,
can take
sublime energy in
gous
to that
call of
its
which
it
hold of the promise, there
fast
movements on moral
when roused by
oft times exhibits
is
subjects, analo-
temporal necessity, or of pressing danger.
does the historic page cause our hearts to
thrill
the
Often
with tales
of lofty daring, and more than masculine prowess, to which

the roused soul of woman hath risen in the pressure of some
These instances are not confined

mankind who win the renown of history.
terrible crisis.
portion of
are constantly occurring
poor woman, whose
which was considered very

felt
son had fallen into a deep well,

difficult
saw him
the most experienced foot,
the water, and
They
the ordinary ranks of life.
in
little
to that
that he
of descent, even for

to the surface
rise
of
must be saved then or never*
Regardless of life, of danger, of all things but her child, she
went down
to the
water cautiously- rapidly
caught
her
child and up the perilous foot-holds of the well, bearing

him in her arms, she ascended with safety and in triumph.
How she did this she knew not it was the rapid and won;
drous exertion of a
capacities
into
human
spirit
were concentrated
to
when
one
a sublimity of execution surpassing
sion in successive
all
point,
and calmer moments.
its
its
marvellous
and borne forth
own comprehen-
180
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
There are
perils
of a moral nature,
when the mother's
heart must be awakened to analogous action, or in the deep
of sin the child will be
pit
the
movements of parental
loftiest
will trust
how
far
but this he hath said, "

ters
I will
le with thee
not overflow thee

shalt not
I will
God, that
to
The
faith.
and obey that covenant promise
he hath not said
Thanks be
lost.
in
he has made adequate provision for
his gracious covenant
which
he hath appointed no bounds
When
thou passest through the wa-
and through
soul
may venture-
the rivers^ they shall
when thou walkest through
behurned; neither shall
thejlre, thou
the flame kindle
upon
thee.
never leave thee nor forsake thee /"
mothers, in
all
Thousands of
these promises, and have
ages, have tried
never found them to
fail
covenant, and sung of
they trusted
its
The
glory.
in
the everlasting
Elizabeths and
Ma-
rys of other days have exchanged their glad salutation, and
mutually exclaimed, " Blessed
is
she that believed, for there
shall be a performance of those things which were told her
from the Lord."

The considerations on which we have dwelt in this address, have sustained, we trust, the main sentiment which
it
presents,
an
and
intelligent
hamic covenant essential
spiritual faith in the
the perfection
to
Abra
the parental
of
character.
If this sentiment
is
true,
it
ought
It should be felt by all those
to
be felt.
parents who treat the conse-
cration of children as chiefly a thing offashion

It is
painfully true that
children for baptism,

considerations.
its
many
seem
to
The beauty
parents
who
and
display.
present their
be influenced by no higher
of the child, the elegance of
dress, the public annunciation of
its
name, the compli-
ance with ecclesiastical fashion, occupy the thoughts, first,

midst, and always. These motives might influence an infidel
to present his child,
and do influence
many
nominal Chris-
181
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
Were
tians.
wrought
such
the principles of the covenant fully
into the parental
mind and
unhallowed profanation
and unworthy motives
forbid
they would banish such ridiculous
would
heart, they
they would consume them by the
intense flame of consecrating faith.
who are influenced

There are many
It should he felt hy all those parents

to olserve
by feelings of superstition.
it
parents who,
to
have
it
a child
if
is
dangerously sick, will be anxious
baptized, and yet never think of assuming the
obligations
which
will baptize
it,
If the minister
ordinance enforces.
this
they think that
all
well.
is
They do
not
pretend to exercise any faith themselves, nor feel disposed

to'perform, in
any
respect, the conditions of the covenant.
They have no spiritual apprehension of the Abrahamic

promise.
Were the promise and terms of that covenant
would not dare to have the sacred
had no penitence or faith themselves.
fully before them, they
seal affixed while they
Were
this subject to
be presented, with
parents in such a state of mind,
gent convictions of
sin,
it
all
its
claims, to
might produce very pun-
and lead them
to
tremble under the
charge of withholding their own soul from the God

they
in infancy
whom
to
were devoted, and of voluntarily placing an
insuperable obstacle in the'way of their children's consecration.
but
it
Then
it
would no more seem
would speak
in tones of mercy
like
a superstitious
in their heart like the voice
and of admonition, both for them and
It is essentially important that
rite,
of God pleading
theirs.
parents in our large
cities
should feel the sentiment of this address.
You know the peculiar temptations of the city. You

mourn and tremble when you consider the exposures of
your beloved children. You often feel as if, like Lot, you
must gather all the members of your household together,
and make haste away. All around us is a vast wilderness
of mind, dark, apostate, ruined.
16
Deadly serpents are
coiled
ADbRESS to pAreJJTS.
182
poisonous waters stagnate
moral marshes.
O,
beasts of prey devour, in these
any where the
if
strength, authority,
and tenderness of the parental character should be

veloped,
it is
If any
needful here and now.
should exert
all
a father's rights, and perform
duty, and put the glowing presence of

fulness about every domestic interest,
all
fuliy de-
where the father

all
a father's
a father's watchhere.
it is
If ever,
or any where, the maternal character should shed
most
its
hallowed purity around the infant heart, should mingle
its
most transmuting energy among the follies of childhood,

should extend its strongest, most constraining influence over
the passions of youth,
of Zion.
is
it
Look around
here.
the walls
See the vast throng of her consecrated yet im-
penitent youth suspended over the bottomless gulf.
of the sanctuary hold them.
There
hold them.
an arm put forth
is
Cords
Restraints of Providence
;
it
grasps with
the energy of maternal love the cords of the covenant

is beautiful
and slender
but
God hath made
it
strong.
it
Let the arm of the father be stretched forth by its side.

Let the strong grasp of combined and perpetual parental
character take hold of those covenant cords, and through
them take hold of those unwavering
interests to
which God
hath fastened them.

It should befett throughout the
it
Church of God, because
will fire his people with holy zeal to extend the
of the earth.
Let this faith
city.
benefits
of
the covenant to all the families
Extend
it
through
this
in the
cove-
nant seek the immediate conversion of the heads of families

among us. Gain every Christian, and father, and mother,
into the practical belief of these truths*
full confidence in the
formance of the covenant pledge.

tent father and mother. Hold up
*'
Incline your ear,
Enlist
them
into
covenant promise, and sincere per-
Appeal
this
to
every impeni*
covenant
and come unto me ;
heart
Cry
aloudj
and your soul
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
shall live
and I
183
make an everlasting covenant with

Tell them what the
Repeat the great Abrahamlc promise
will
you, even the sure mercies of David. ^^
sure mercies are.
Make
point to the faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God.
every father and mother the full, explicit, glorious proposal,

" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt he saved,
and thy house."
Do
your hearts
under the overwhelming interests which
thrill
not forget the last three words.
Press them, in
they include.
Let
emphasis,
all their original
on the impenitent heart. Give them the additional emphasis
which the tremendous circumstances of a city population

require.
Rest not give Him no rest ye that sigh for
the abominations that are done in our midst
until the An-
gel of Israel
s'aall
whose long crowded streets, on every

The blood of the covenant.
Remember
the
come away from
rejoice over one great city
many
through
door-post, shall shine.
consecrated children which have
the care of Churches
in
our country,
from the guardianship of pious homes, from the watchfulness of covenant-trusting parents, to enter into the business,
to
conquer or eternally
die,
amidst the temptations of the
The blood of many such hath already stained our

The young budding plants of covenant cultivation
streets.
city.
have withered rapidly and mournfully, under the moral influence which here assailed them.
Search out the early
history of the young, whom you behold, from week to week,
approaching
sion,
your
privileges,
The
and your promise-pleading prayer.
of consecration
country.
Receive them to your compasyour watchfulness, your Christian
this vortex.
friendship,
As
in the city
cords
must be joined with those of the
the worldly business, intercourse,
and
influ^
ences of both amalgamate, so must the prayers, the endeavors, the strong, enduring faith of the Church, throughout
our
cities
and our towns, be speedily united.
Pledge must
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
184
extend
to pledge
responded
promise woven in with promise
prayer
prayer, until the presence of cove-
in associate
nant principles shall be, upon our intermingling nation, universal, like the air
we
breathe
and communicative, as our
country's waters.
We
would
said that this faith
fire
The
families of the earth.
who
Christian
experience of the promise, in his
own
God
the people of
with holy zeal, to extend the covenant blessings to
all
the
rejoices in the
household, will gaze
with pain on the spiritual desolation which reigns in the
The
house of the wicked.

cious constitution of
sensibility of the
motives drawn from
mercy are
soul.
They
will present before
unevangelized portions of mankind, with

cated woes, weighed
and debasing
shame
is
down under
him the
compli-
all their
the pressure of hereditary
The burden
superstition.
this gra-
calculated to raise all the
of falsehood and
going down with unbroken force upon successive
Like the wheels of Juggernaut, it crushes

generations.
where it rolls. He reads in the precious book, that the
ample provisions of grace are designed for them as well as
Will he not feel his whole soul stirred within him to
him.
carry these provisions to them, to tell them of their value,
to urge them upon their acceptance beseeching them, with
;
strong crying and tears, not to receive the grace of

vain.
This subject has not yet been brought
the cause of the world's conversion, as
{ew noble
spirits,
will
be.
however, have been prompted by
vating impulse.
Having experienced
covenant
own
tlie
it
to
in their
heathen, impelled
mises, and governed
by
souls,
by
its
its
in
Some
its
ele-
power of the
they have gone forth among
the
motives, cheered
by
principles.
O'er pagan realms, long seal'd in fearful sleep,

did Mills and toil-worn Martin weep %
O why
God
bear on
its
pro-
185
ADDRESS TO PARENTS.
They heard and
we
should feel, the cry

rose on hio^h
Heard the pale infant's faint, expiring scream
Saw the wild mother in her frenzied dream
Of coming joy, self-martyr'd, clasp the stake,
Hug the cold corpse, and perish for his sake !
For them these youths life's deepest sorrows bore.
And long'd, in death, to make one struggle more :
For them this last warm, dying prayer they gave,
"
God, look down and save !"
God, redeem !
Of hopeless
felt,
as
millions, as
it
O, could the Churches of Jesus Christ once be tho-
roughly roused to comprehend the bearings of

the world's conversion
could they
first
this faith
on
consecrate their
offspring to this great work

could they realize the overwhelming importance of shedding these truths amongst poor
!
heathen families
ages
of breaking
away
the habits of
many
of setting a course of generations into the channel
of the covenant in every pagan land, and in
would then begin
to
comprehend what
is
all lands,
the height,
they
and
breadth, and length, and depth of that promise, In thee shall

all the families
of the earth he blessed!
THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK,

OR CONSOLATIONS OF THE COVENANT.
The
cannot
attentive student of the third chapter of

fail
to perceive in its
whole
Habakkuk,
train of thought a living
Abrahamic covenant. Having just been called to

most fearful divine denunciations against Israel, and
faith in the
utter the
oppressed with the certainty of their long Babylonian captivity,

he seems to have taken up his harp, and, as the ancient wonders
which a covenant-keeping God had wrought for the Church
rushed to mind, his soul was borne upward from the deepest depression to the strongest confidence, and even to adoring rapture.
Believing that
it is
a precious specimen of the sustain-
ing power of covenant-faith, amidst
severest trials, I have

thought that a paraphrase, which should somewhat elucidate its
obscurer phrases, might be at once animating and instructive
to every believer in the covenant.
The
able to spread the prophecy before him,
reader will find
and compare
it
its
profit-
indivi-
dual verses, with those of the paraphrase, according to their

respective numbers.
1.
prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, upon Shigionoth.
O Lord, I heard, and as thy speech distill'd,

My listening soul with thoughts of terror thrill'd
Though
unhonor'd and unstrung.

Shall long o'er Babel's willow'd streams be hung,
Yet, when thy wrath our tribes shall captive lead,
'Mid those dark years let mercy intercede ;
Make known thy power, that thy flock may thrive
Amidst those years, O Lord, thy work revive !
Israel's harp,
187
PRAYER OF HABAKKUK.
3.
From Paran's wilds, and Edom's rocky shore,

Where the proud surges of the Red Sea roar,
Where Sinai, based on Teman's granite breast.
sky his thunder-blasted crest.
towers untrod by mortal man.
his glorious march began ;
On Sinai's brow he fix'd his burning throne
Earth teem'd with praise, and heaven with glory shone
Rears
to the
Where Horeb
The holy God
'.
4, 5.
What
robes of splendor o'er that scene were cast,

The lightning's flash, the trump's tremendous blast,
The trembling tribes that heard the voice of God,
The quaking mount, for there Jehovah trod,
And there his fiery law engraved on stone.
Treasured the might of Israel's holy One.
There was the ark of God to Jacob given,
There round their camp was shed the light of heaven,
Then quail'd each foe, death struck before his ire,
Whose van was
pestilence,
whose rear was
fire
6.
He
stood and measured for that wond'rous host,

Canaan, thy realms against him who can boast
Onward they march'd, that promise-shielded flock,
While to their deep foundations wildly rock
Earth's everlasting mountains who can stay
The march of God eternal is his way
;
7.
When his keen sword o'er wolfish Amalek gleam'd.

When Heshbon fell, when Bashan's life-blood stream'd,
I
saw surrounding realms and tyrants quail,

shake his tents were frail
Saw Ethiopia
Midian's light curtains quiver'd as they past.

And wild Arabia hark'd at every blast
!
8, 9, 10.
Nature's free elements, to form their path,

Became their slaves. Jehovah was thy wrath
!
PRAYER OF HABAKKUK.
188
Against that rifted sea, or Jordan's flood,

Or Egypt's fertile waters turn'^ to blood 1
And wast thou angry with the rivers 1 No
The time predestined came thy uncased bow
Wrought for thy people. 'Twas salvation gave
Egypt to blood, and Pharaoh to the wave
'Twas for thy word, with oaths unchanging seal'd,
The floods of earth were cleft ; the mountains reel'd.
For this the overflowing of the stream pass'd by.
And the deep lifted up his voice and hands on high.
:
11.
Earth bow'd, but not alone. Heaven knows thy

the sun and moon stood still
all his orbs
In their eternal mansions, or rolled on
Hid their bright beams, or else refulgent shone,
To fill thy saints with joy, thy foes with fear.
Like thine own arrows, and thy glittering spear
Through
will,
12, 13, 14, 15.
Then sail'd thine ark, O God,

Her tribes the sheaves, her land
in
Canaan's gore
the threshing floor

Tremendous " march'' beneath thine angry tread :
Those realms of crime, like groaning Egypt, bled
When from her iron grasp thy son was saved,
When thine own rod, by hands anointed waved,
Its withering curse o'er cot and palace flung ;
Till the death-wail of every household rung.
Till the long shriek of agony had burst
Through all his villages then when the accursed,
Steel-hearted monarch, like a whirlwind, rush'd
Fierce on thy feeble saints, his power was crush'd,
Thou ledst thy horses through the dark Red Sea,
That monarch perish'd, and thy flock was free
:
16.
When first, O
God, thy fearful warning came

long captivity and shame,
my faltering lip
Terror ran through my frame
Quiver'd to tell how holy blood must drip
From all Judea's altars every bone
Drank the cantation, till with deepest groan
Of Israel's
: ;;
189
PRATfER OF HABAKKTJK.
My trembling-, fainting soul essay'd to pray

For strength and rest
When proud Chaldea
And
in that
avenging day,
shall thy flock invade,
cruel troops through Zion's blood shall wade.
all his
17, 18, 19.
But thou art God thy hand will still restrain

Those ancient wonders were not wrought in vain
Strong is thy covenant though thy judgments come,
Firm are my hopes, and all my murmurings dumb.
Although the fig-tree shall no blossom wear.
And green, luxuriant vines no fruit shall bear
Though each bright olive grove in mockery shine,
Though every field in withering want shall pine,
!
Though
our flocks shall perish from the fold,

wonted herd shall hold.
Still shall Jehovah's praise my tongue employ,
And God, my Saviour, fill my soul with joy.
Jehovah covenant God my strength, my rock,
'Mid dangerous paths my soul shall safely walk
Climb, like the hind, still guarded by thy rod,
And shout exulting on the hills of God
And
all
not a
stall its
190
THE ALTAR OF CONSECRATION.
THE ALTAR OF CONSECRATION.

God of salvation, we rear thee this altar
Awake and upon it thy glory record
Here may the faith of thy saints never falter
!
While they
their dear children devote to the Lord.
thy Saviour will shield thee,

cause thee to rest with thy lambs in his fold ;
Here shall the Spirit that wash'd thee and seal'd thee,
His seal on thy loved ones in mercy behold.
Joy to the parent
And
Altar of Jesus, what thousands surround thee.

What ages of glory upon thee shall rest
True to thy trust have the saints ever found thee ;
The home that hath own'd thee hath ever been blest.
Firm as of old, thou
shalt not be demolish'd

Till nature's great temple retains not a stone
of the stones which his Spirit hath polish'd,

God's temple shall shine 'midst the blaze of his throne
Till, built
!;
THE CONSECRATION.
191
THE CONSECRATION.
God of the cross, this heart is thine
Thou knowest that closet's secret shrine
Where, when no eye but thine could see,
!
wept and gave it all to thee.

Sweet hour of mercy sacred spot
I
And shall
that closet be forgot 1

Its pardoning smile, its secret shrine
Never while beats
this heart
of mine.
God of the cross, this life is thine

Thou knowest that temple's glorious shrine,
Where, e'en while men and angels bow'd,
Thy suppliant child sincerely vow'd,
And shall that altar be forgot ]
!
Never, in deed, or word, or thought
But
oft before that glorious shrine
Renew'd
shall be that
vow of mine.
Blest was the hour, and sweet the vow,

Serenely on this throbbing brow
Fell the pure water-emblem true.
Of Saviour's blood and Spirit's dew-^

Pledge that through all this dangerous race
Mine, mine shall be thy conquering gracePledge that through sin and passion's strife,
Thine, thine shall be my heart and life.
TO A CONSECRATED YOUTH.
192
TO A CONSECRATED YOUTH.
Though
pleasure's soft whisper fall sweet on thine ear,

bliss-lighted visions appear,
And young fancy's

Though thou
hearest the music which youth loves to hear,

give not thy heart.
Though wealth should allure thee to kneel at his shrine,

With gifts of the ocean and gifts of the mine,
Though round thee his splendors should brilliantly shine,
O
Though
And his
Though
give not thy heart.
glory hath spread his pavilion on high.

rainbow-gilt temples e'en dazzle thine eye,
thou deemest his breast never rent with a sigh,
give not thy heart.
But when the kind voice of Emanuel pleads.

From the throne where he reigns, or the cross where he bleeds,
Haste thee and list 'tis thy God intercedes
O give him thy heart.
!
Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library
1012 0100 1 5826

Household Consecration

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Household Consecration

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HOUSEHOLD

PASTOR OF THE THIRD FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW-VORK.

West & Trow,

constitution of the family state

constitution of the moral universe.

gracious design to bless parental faithfulness

Its terms, promises,

right of Christians to the

nant not abolished

Argument from ecclesiastical history. Household consecration,

denied by any sect during the

Consecration by baptism not

since the apostolic age.

Universally practised in the fourth century.

Its previous his-

Household consecration in the apostolic age. Its prominence.

household consecration. The state of mind essential to

Its actual bearing

household consecration, continued.

theory, viewed in connection with the practical

Application of these principles to parents.... 118

Application of these principles to fathers.

Application of these principles

Application of these principles to consecra-

Duties of the Church on the subject of household ,consecration.

to parents, delivered in the

Central Presbyterian Church,

New- York Maternal

Habakkuk, or consolations of the covenant

time has arrived

and practised, than

the subject of Household

be more thoroughly studied, under-

any former period.

founded upon imperishable reasons, and animated

by principles which control the destinies of our race,

displayed and divinely

of Sabbath schools, Bible classes, and

the publication of books on the domestic

the formation of maternal associations

tory of revivals, as written in the biography of departed

worthies, and in our

spired to arouse the

the covenant of consecration.

author has, for years, watched with intense inte-

rest the operations of divine

Providence and grace, in

ference to this ordinance of the Church, and has become

animated with the firm and joyful

virtue have not at

has led him occasionally

he has been delighted

minds of many devoted

ministers and Christians watching

with the same eager-

impressions, he feels constrained to exert such influence

possess, to turn the attention of greater

employ the press, as

hitherto he has often employed the pulpit, to

the consecration of households to God.

and feelings respecting

divine origin of the practice of infant

dedication; the fundamental and perpetual reasons of its

the designed application of