“When I was talking to you about Abraham, a little while ago, do you remember my telling you that God had called him away out of an idolatrous country; because He intended, from Abraham and his children, to raise up a nation, in which the knowledge of Himself should be preserved? God then commanded Abraham, that he and all his children—meaning all the Jewish nation—should be circumcised; intending, by setting this mark upon them, to shew that they were a distinct people, and not intended to mix with any other nations of the world. From that time, until the advent of our Saviour, every male child amongst the Jews was circumcised on the eighth day after its birth. “After the resurrection of our Saviour, He commanded His apostles to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. It was no longer to be confined to this one nation. Christ had died for _all_, not for the Jews only: and all must hear this good news. Circumcision was a painful rite; and as Christ had suffered for us, He no longer enjoined this upon His followers: in its stead, the simple, beautiful, and expressive ordinance of baptism was instituted; and all who call themselves Christians should thankfully use it, as making a line of separation, as it were, between them and the heathen world, as the Jews used circumcision to distinguish themselves from the idolatrous nations by which they were surrounded. “When, therefore, we take our infants to be baptized, it is as if we said—‘I call the Church and the world to witness that I desire for my child that he may be brought up in the faith and practice of a Christian. I beseech you, that are here assembled, to unite with me in prayer to Almighty God, that, through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, He will grant to this child that thing which by nature he cannot have; that he may be baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ’s holy Church; and that I may have grace given me so to train my child that he may be a blessing to the world as long as he lives, and, finally, through the righteousness provided by the death and sufferings of our blessed Saviour, may come to the land of everlasting life and happiness, and dwell in His bright presence for ever.’” This explanation, although it was broken up and illustrated in a way that it would be tedious to repeat here, was not perfectly intelligible to them at first; but as they asked questions about it, a clearer light seemed gradually to dawn upon their minds. One woman said she “always had a-done it, but never had no _thought_ in her mind about it before.”