sanctifying these waters a new and heavenly off-spring may hence arise full of health and light that humane nature which was made after thy own image being reformed and restored to the honour of its first beginning may be cleansed from all the impure adherencies of sin preserved from the Dominion of it and rescued from all its sad effects that what shall be so born in the wombe of the Church may dwell in the house of God and Reign with thee for ever in the inheritance of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Amen II. OUR Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus who was baptized of John in Jordan who walked upon the waters who converted water into wine who out of his precious side shed forth bloud and water the two Sacraments of life unto his holy Church and commanded his disciples to teach all nations baptizing them with water in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost he blesse and sanctifie by his holy Spirit this water that it may be instrumental and effective of grace of pardon and sanctification Hear us O most gracious God that whoever shall be baptized in this water may be renewed by thy grace justified by thy mercy sanctified by thy Spirit preserved by thy providence and guided by thy word that in this water springing from the Paradise of God the Soul or Souls presented unto thee may be cleansed and purified and that there may be added to thy Church daily such as shall be saved in the day of thy glorious appearing O Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Amen Then the Minister and People arising from their knees the following Gospel shall be read Hear the words of the holy Gospel written by S. Matthew in the third chapter c. Verse 13. to verse 17. inclusively THen cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him * But John forbad him saying I have need to be baptized of thee and commest thou to me And Jesus answering said unto him Suffer it to be so now for thus it becommeth us to fulfill all righteousness Then he suffered him And Jesus when he was baptised went up straitway out of the water and loe the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove and lighting upon him * And loe a voice from heaven saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Hear likewise what S. Mark writeth in his tenth chapter Verse 13. 17. exclusively THE Jews brought children to Christ that he should touch them and his Disciples rebuked those that brought them * But when Jesus saw it he was much displeased and said unto them Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdome of God Verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the kingdome of God as a little child he shall not enter therein * And he took them up in his armes put his hands upon them and blessed them FRiends in these Gospels you see the actions and hear the words of our Blessed Saviour how he commanded little children to be brought unto him how he rebuked those that would have kept them away how readily he blessed them how kindly he embraced them how he pronounced them capable of and entitled to the kingdome of God how he commanded us to receive the kingdome as infants received it and affirmed that we can no way receive it but by being like them you know also that although Christ commanded them to be brought unto him there is no ordinary and appointed way for Infants to come to Christ and no way poâ—â—â—ble for them to be brought to Christ but by this new birth and regeneration in the laver of Baptisme you see also by the example and words of our Blessed Lord himself that even the most innocent persons ought to be baptized For he himself who knew no sin was yet baptized in the Baptisme of Repentance and so to doe was the fulfilling of righteousness we may therefore easily perceive that the innocence of infants and their freedom from actual sin cannot excuse them from Baptisme and if we remember that although our Blessed Saviour required faith of them who came to be healed of their diseases yet by the * faith of others who came in behalf of such as could not be brought or could not come the sick person was healed we are sufficiently instructed that although Infants have no more actual faith then they have actual sin yet the faith of others can be is by the usual and revealed method of the divine mercy as well imputed to them to the purposes of grace and life as the sin of Adam can be imputed to the purposes of death that as in Adam all die so in Christ all should be made alive we may therefore from these certain evidences conclude that God alloweth in you this obedience and charity in bringing this child to Christ to receive all blessings of which he is capable a title to the promises and adoption to be the child of God a sanctification by the spirit a designation to the service of Christ and putting him into the order of eternal life Therefore as circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of faith and yet minâ—stred to infants eight daies old and commanded so severely that God said the uncircumcised child whole flesh is not circumcisedâ— that soul shall be cut off from his people so Baptisme which is now the seal of the same faith and the same righteousness and a figure like unto the former is to be administred to infants although they have no more actual faith then the children of the Israelites had our Blessed Saviour having made Baptisme as necessary in the new Testament as Circumcision in the Old For because little children can receive the kingdome of God and in infants there is no incapacity of receiving the mercies of God the adoption to be children of God a title to the promises the covenant of repentance and a right to pardon whosoever shall deny to baptize infants when he is justly required is sacrilegious and uncharitable Since therefore the Church of God hath so great so cleer so indubitable a warrant to baptize infants and therefore did alwaies practice it let us humbly and charitably give thanks to God for his great mercies unto us all and with meekness and love recommend this child to the grace of God Let us pray O Almighty and eternal God who hast redeemed us from sin and shame from the gates of hell and the sting of death and from ignorance and darkness by thy holy Son who is that light which lightneth every man that cometh into the world we praise and glorifie thy name that thou hast called us to the knowledge of thy will and the love of thy name and the service of thy majesty which is perfect freedome the freedome of the sons of God II. As thou hast
and truth good laws and good government an excellent religion undivided undisturbed temperate air seasonable showers wholesome dewes fruitful seasons Crown the year with goodness and let the clouds drop fatness that we may glorify thy name and confess thy goodness while thou bearest witness to us from heaven filling our hearts with food and gladness III. With a propitious eye a great pity behold the miseries of mankind put a speedy period to all our sins and to all our calamities Hear the sighings of the distressed the groans of the sick the prayers of the oppressed the desires of the poor and needy support the weakness of them that languish and faint ease the pains of them that are in affliction and call to thee for help Take from the miserable all tediousness of spirit and despair Pardon all the penitents reform the vitious confirme the holy and let them be holy still pity the folly of young men their little reason and great passion succour the infirmities and temptations of the aged preserving them that they may not sin towards the end of their lives for Jesus Christ his sake IV. Admit O Blessed God into the society of our prayers and the benefits of this Eucharist our Fathers and Brethren our wives and children our friends and Benefactours our charges and relatives all that have desired our prayers and all that need them all that we have and all that we have not remembred thou knowest all their necessities and all their dwellings their joyes and their sorrows their hopes and their fears the number of their sins and the measures of their repentances O dear God sanctifie them and us let our portion be in the good things of God in religion and purity in the peace of Conscience and the joyes of the Holy Ghost in the love of God and of our Neighbours O gather us to the feet of thy elect when thou wilt and in what manner thou art pleased onely let us appear before thee without shame and without sins through the merits of JESUS Christ our most mercifull Saviour and Redeemer Amen Then shall follow the Eucharistical prayers I. GLory be to thee O God our Father who hast vouchsafed to make us at this time partakers of the Body and Bloud of thy holy Son We offer unto thee O God our selves our souls and bodies to be a reasonable holy and living sacrifice unto thee Keep us under the shadow of thy wings and defend us from all evil and conduct us by thy Holy Spirit of grace into all good for thou who hast given thy holy Son unto us how shalt not thou with him give us all things else Blessed be the Name of our God for ever and ever Amen II. Glory be to thee O Christ our King the onely begotten Son of God who wert pleas'd to become a sacrifice for our sins a redemption from calamity the Physician and the Physick the life and the health the meat and the drink of our souls thou by thy unspeakable mercy didst descend to the weakness of sinful flesh remaining still in the perfect purity of spirit and hast made us partakers of thy holy Body and Bloud O condemne us not when thou comest to judgement but keep us ever in thy truth in thy fear and in thy favour that we may have our portion in thine inheritance where holiness and purity where joy and everlasting praises doe dwell for ever and ever Amen III. Proceeding from glory to glory we still glorifie thee O Father of Spirits and pray thee for ever to continue thy goodness towards us Direct our way aright establish us in holy purposes keep us unspotted in thy faith let the enemy have no part in us but conforme us for ever to the likeness of thy holy Sonne lead us on to the perfect adoption of our Souls and to the redemption of our bodies from corruption and fill our hearts and tongues with everlasting praises of thy name thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen The Blessing The peace of God which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Sonne Jesus Christ our Lord and the blessing of God Almighty and Father Son and Holy Spirit be upon you and abide with you and be your portion for ever and ever Amen The end of the Communion Office A form of Administration of the Holy Sacrament OF BAPTISME A FORM OF Administration of the Holy Sacrament OF BAPTISME Pure water being provided and put into the Fount or into a Lavatory of silver or some other clean vessell fit and decent for this sacred action the Minister being vested in an Ecclesiastical habit shall begin with this exhortation Dearly beloved Brethren FOrasmuch as from our first parents we derive nothing but flesh and corruption and that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven it is necessary that every man who is reckoned in Adam should be also reckoned in Christ that every one who is born of the flesh be also born again and born of the spirit that every son of man by nature may become the son of God by Adoption be incorporated into Christ intitled to the promises and become heir of heaven by grace and faith in Jesus Christ and that this cannot be done but by being admitted to the Covenant of grace in Baptisme our Blessed Saviour saying that except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God let us humbly and devoutly pray unto God in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that he will be pleased to send down his holy Spirit upon these waters of Baptisme that they may become to this infant all that shall be washed in them a laver of regeneration and a well of water springing up to life eternal and that this infant may be admitted to the Covenant of grace and pardon of mercy and holiness receiving from grace what by nature he cannot have that being baptised in water to the remission of sins he may all his life walk in this Covenant of grace and holiness as a lively member of the holy Church which is the mysticall body of Christ our Head Let us Pray I. O Almighty and Eternal God Father of Men and Angels Lord of heaven and earth whose spirit moving upon the waters at the beginning of the world produced every living and every moving creature thou by the flood of waters did wash away the iniquity of the old world and by preserving to thy self a generation of holy persons whom thou didst bring up from those waters didst consign to us a type of regeneration Look O Lord graciously upon the face of thy Church and multiply in her thy regenerations and the new births of thy Spirit With the abundance of thy grace make thy holy city to rejoice and still open this holy fountain of Baptisme for the reformation and sanctification of all the nations of the world that thy blessed Spirit
dealt graciously with us so deal with this infant whom we humbly bring and offer to our blessed Saviour Jesus that he should receive him and blesse him with the blessings of an everlasting love Receive him O most gracious Lord who is thy child by creation make him thine also by adoption into thy covenant of grace and favour let him be consigned with thy Sacrament be admitted into Christs kingdome enter into his warfare beleeve his doctrine labour and hope for his promises that this child witnessing here a good confession may have his understanding for ever brought unto the obedience his affections to the love and all his faculties to the service of Christ and after he hath served thee in his generation he may receive his part and portion in thy glory thorough Jesus Christ our Lord. Then arising from their knees the Minister shall say unto the Godfathers and Godmothers as followeth WEl beloved friends you have brought this child to be presented unto Christ as a servant of his laws and a Disciple of his doctrine ye have prayed that God would receive him and give him a portion in the Gospel and kingdome of his Son ye have heard what promises God hath made on his part and ye beleeve and know all his words are yea and Amen and not one tittle of them shall pass unaccomplished now therefore because it is a Covenant of grace and favour on Gods part and of faith and obedience on ours though God prevents us with his grace and begins to doe for us before we can doe any thing to him yet you under whose power this child is and by whose faith and charity this child comes to Christ in holy Baptisme must also on his or her behalf promise that he will forsake the devil and all his wicked works that he will faithfully beleeve Christs holy Gospel and dutifully keep all Christs Commandements Minister Dost thou abjure and renounce and promise to forsake the Devil and all his wicked works not to listen to his temptations not to be led by the flesh by the vain powers of the world by carnal or covetous desires but thou wilt be the servant of the Lord Jesus Answer I forsake them all and will be a servant of Jesus Minister Dost thou beleeve in God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth And in Jesus Christ his onely begotten Son our Lord And that he was conceived by the holy Ghost borne of the Virgin Mary that he suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried that he went down into hell and also did rise againe the third day that he ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and from thence he shall come again at the end of the world to judge the quicke and the dead And dost thou believe in the holy Ghost the Catholick Church the Communion of Saints the remission of sins the resurrection of the flesh and everlasting life after death Answer All this I will profess and stedfastly beleeve Minister Wilt thou be baptized into this faith Answer That is my desire Let us Pray O Almighty God who hast given the promise of thy Spirit to us and to our children even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Give thy holy Spirit to this infant that the evil spirits of darkness may not take thy portion from thee nor hurt the body nor deceive the understanding nor corrupt the will nor tempt the affections of this infant but that thy Spirit who bloweth where it listeth no man knows whence he cometh nor whether he goeth may be in this child as the seed of God springing up to life eternal that the kingdom of God which is within and commeth not with observation may early rule and conduct this infant prevent the folly of his childhood from growing up to sins in his youth and may work strongly in him when his weakness his ignorances and temptations are most powerful to prevail upon him that from his cradle to his grave he may be guided by the Spirit of God in the paths of the divine Commandements Admit him O God into the bosome of the Church into the armes of thy mercy into a right of the promises into the service of Christ into the Communion of Saints and give him power to become the Son of God that being buried with Christ in Baptisme he may also rise with him thorough the faith of the operation of God thorough the same our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen Then the Minister of the Sacrament shall take the child in his armes and ask the Name Then naming the child aloud he shall dip the head or face or body of the child in the water saying N. I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Dipping the head at the naming of the holy Trinity If the child be weak or any other great Cause intervene it may suffice instead of dipping to sprinkle water on the face using the same form of words Then shall the priest make the sign of the Cross upon the childs forehead saying WE sign this child with the sign of the Cross and enroll him a Soldier under the banner of Christ to signifie and in ceremony to represent that the duty of this and all baptized persons is manfully to fight under the banner of Christ against the flesh the world and the Divel all the daies of their life and by the power which Christ our Blessed Lord who hath the key of David hath given unto me I admit this child into the Communion of Saints into the bosome of the visible Church the kingdome of Grace and the title to the promises Evangelical and the hopes of glory OUr Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus who when he had overcome the sharpness of death did open the kingdom of heaven to all beleevers and gave unto his Church the keyes of the kingdome that his ministers might let into it all that come to him he of his infinite goodness and truth make good his gracious promises upon this infant that what we doe on earth according to his will he may confirme in heaven by his spirit and by his word to the glory of the blessed and undivided Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen Then shall the Minister adde this Invitation SEeing now dearly Beloved that this infant hath received holy Baptisme and is washed in the laver of regeneration admitted into the bosome of the Church into the Covenant of faith and repentance pardon and holiness let us give thanks to God for these graces and pray that this child may lead his life according to the present undertaking I. WE give thee thanks and praise O heavenly and most gracious Father that it hath pleased thee to call this child to thy holy Baptism to renew him with thy holy Spirit to admit him into the Church to adopt him for thy child and to receive him
and all people princes and all judges of the earth 12 Both young men and maidens old men and children 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent his glory is above the earth and heaven 14 He also exalteth the horn of his people the praise of all his saints even of the children of Israel people near unto him Praise ye the Lord. PSAL. CXLIX The praises of God and his glory in the prosperity of his Church the priviledges and advantages of the saints in the old Testament and in the spiritual sense to be translated to the Christian Church PRaise ye the Lord sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of saints 2 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Zion be joyfull in their king 3 Let them praise his name in the dance let them sing praises unto him with the timbrell and harp 4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation 5 Let the saints be joyfull in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds 6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people 8 To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron 9 To execute upon them the judgement written this honour have all his saints Praise ye the Lord. PSAL. CL. David calls upon the Church to recite Gods praises and especially upon the Levites whose office it was to sing and play on instruments of musick in the service of God he uses the word praise thirteen times in this short Psalm according to the number of the thirteen Attributes of God which the Rabbins usually reckon PRaise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power 2 Praise him for his mighty acts praise him according to his excellent greatnesse 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the psaltery and harp 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance praise him with stringed instruments and organs 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals praise him upon the high sounding cymbals 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. The End Coloss. 3â— Tortura Torti P. 142. Cambd. Annal. A. D. 1560. 2 Chron. 29. Apoc. 15. Exod. 15. Psal. 145. Jer. 10. 6,7 a De Spir. sanct c. 27. b De celebratione Missarum c. cum Matth. c In gemma animi l. 1. c. 86. d De Divin Offic. e Super Act. 20. Una autem Sabbathi f L. 8. c. 17. g Mystâ—gog Catcchis 5. Hom. 6. iâ— 1 Epist. ad Tim. In Comment a Apologet. c. 14. b Ep 59. ad Paulin. c Ep. 1. d De dogmat Eccles. cap. 30. e L. 1. de vocat gent. c. 4. f In Commentar Institut Cleric l. 1. c. 32. 1 Tim. 2. Epist. 59. ad Paulin. q. 5. De instit Cleric lib. 1. c. 32. Acts and Monument pag. 1385. pag. 1608 1565. pag. 1840. pag. 1844. alibi Pag. 1848 1649 1840. Contra haeres c. 7. Num. 6. 23. * Directory * Or Parish or Church or Commonwealth * This clause is to be omitted if there be no Sacrament that day * According to the present need of raine or fair weather respectively Here name what relation you please Apocal. 22. * The Minister at those words shall touch the Bread * Here he must touch or handle the Chalice * If the place be populous and Baptismes frequent and this water be kept as it is usual in most Churches both of East and West then that clause within the Columns may be used else not Matt. 8. 13. Matth. 9. 28. John 4. 50. Mark 9. 23. All this may be omitted between the Columnes according to the discretion of him that ministers * Rom. 41. 11 12 13 17. Gallat 3. 14. 29 * This may be inserted or omitted according to the present circumstances If she have children insert this within the ColuÌ„ns Jer. 42.