baptized, die from sin, and rise again unto righteousness; continually mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections, and daily proceding in all virtue and godliness of living.

YE

T Then shall he add, and say,

E are to take care that this Child be brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him, so soon as he can say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and is sufficiently instructed in the other parts of the Church Catechism set forth for that purpose.

THE MINISTRATION

OF

PRIVATE

BAPTISM OF CHILDREN

IN HOUSES.

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¶ The Minister of every Parish shall often admonish the People, that they defer not the Baptism of their Children longer than the first or second Sunday next after their birth, or other Holy-day falling between, unless upon a great and reasonable cause.

And also they shall warn them, that, without like great cause and necessity they procure not their Children to be baptized at home in their houses. But when need shall compel them so to do, then Baptism shall be administered as followeth.

First, let the Minister of the Parish (or, in his absence, any other lawful Minister that can be procured) with those who are present, call upon God, and say the Lord's Prayer, and so many of the Col. lects appointed to be said before in the Form of Public Baptism, as the time and present exigence will suffer. And then, the Child being named by some one who is present, the Minister shall pour water upon it, saying these words:

N.

I baptize thee in the name of the Father, ⚫ and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost Amen.

WE

Then the Minister shall give thanks unto God, and say, VE yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant with thy holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own Child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy Church. And humbly we beseech thee to grant, that he, being dead unto sin, and living unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in his death, may crucify the old man, and utterly abolish the whole body of sin; and that as he is made Partaker of the Death of thy Son, he may also

be Partaker of his Resurrection; so that finally, with the residue of thy Holy Church, he may be an Inheritor of thine everlasting Kingdom, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

¶ And let them not doubt, but that the Child so baptized is lawfully and sufficiently baptized, and ought not to be baptized again. Yet nevertheless, if the Child which is after this sort baptized, do afterwards live, it is expedient that it be brought into the Church, to the intent that if the Minister of the same parish did himself baptize that Child, the Congregation may be certified of the true form of Baptism, by him privately before used.*

*The remaining part of this office which relates to the public acknowledgment in the church of the private baptism of infants, is of course here omitted.

Ed.tor.

THE MINISTRATION

OF

BAPTISM

TO SUCH AS ARE OF RIPER YEARS,

AND ABLE TO ANSWER FOR THEMSELVES.

When any such Persons as are of Riper Years are to be baptized, timely notice shall be given to the Minister; that so due care may be taken for their examination, whether they be sufficiently instructed in the Principles of the Christian Religion; and that they may be exhorted to prepare themselves, with prayers and fasting, for the receiving of this Holy Sacrament.

And if they shall be found fit, then the God-fathers and God-mothers, (the People being assembled upon the Sunday, Holy Day, or Prayer Day appointed) shall be ready to present them at the Font, immediately after the Second Lesson, either at Morning or Evening Prayer, as the Minister, in his discretion, shall think fit.

¶ And standing there, the Minister shall ask, Whether any of the Persons here presented be baptized or no? If they shall answer, No; then shall the Minister say thus:

EARLY beloved, forasmuch as all men are

born of the flesh is flesh) and they who are in the flesh cannot please God, but live in sin, committing many actual transgressions; and our Saviour Christ saith, None can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be regenerate and born anew of Water and of the Holy Ghost; I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous goodness he will grant to these Persons that which by nature they cannot have; that they may be baptized with Water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ's holy Church, and be made lively members of the same.

A

¶ Then shall the Minister say,

Let us pray.

LMIGHTY and everlasting God, who, of thy great mercy, didst save Noah and his family in the Ark from perishing by water; and also didst safely lead the children of Israel, thy people, through the Red Sea, figuring thereby thy holy Baptism; and by the Baptism of thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ in the river Jordan, didst sanctify the element of water, to the mystical washing away of sin; we beseech thee, for thine infinite mercies, that thou wilt mercifully look upon these thy Servants; wash them and sanctify them with the Holy Ghost; that they, being delivered from thy wrath, may be received into the Ark of Christ's Church; and being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in charity, may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, that finally they may come to the land of everlasting life; there to reign with thee, world without end, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A

T Or this.

LMIGHTY and immortal God, the aid of all who need, the helper of all who flee to thee for succour, the life of those who believe, and the resurrection of the dead; we call upon thee for these Persons, that they, coming to thy holy Baptism, may receive remission of their sins, by spiritual regeneration. Receive them, O Lord, as thou hast promised by thy well-beloved Son, saying, Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: So give now unto us who ask; let us who seek, find; open the gate unto us who knock; that these Persons may enjoy the everlasting benediction of thy heavenly washing, and may come to the eternal kingdom which thou hast promised by Christ our Lord. Amen.

¶ Then the Minister shall say,

Hear the words of the Gospel, written by Saint John, in the third chapter, beginning at the first verse: