consecrated unto Christ. They made baptism, just what circumcision was, a domestic as well as a parental service. They baptized the family as well as the man; not as an extraordinary circumstance, but as a common practice; just as our missionaries do, who are placed in circumstances similar to those of the apostles; and who baptize not only men and women, but families also—the household of Stephanas; Lydia and her household; the jailor, and all his straightway. When they wrote epistles to the churches which they had baptized, they addressed children as well as parents, and appealed to them in the name of the Lord. And though the history of their labours extends over a period of sixty years, yet in all that time they baptized none but Jews and heathens; they never baptized any adult, who was an infant when his parents were baptized; nor is there an instance upon record, of a person who had been taught the gospel from his infancy, and whose baptism was deferred till the maturity of life. The argument on behalf of the baptism of infants, which has been thus briefly and imperfectly sketched, is full of conviction and satisfaction; it is an argument for the understanding and the heart; and it is in blessed harmony with all that a believer desires on behalf of his children. We thank God for it; and we thank God that having withheld a direct and formal precept for the practice, he has been pleased to make known his will to us in such a way, as enables us more fully to understand and to appreciate his word. We consider that baptism in any case, but especially to our children, is a valuable privilege; not indeed as a mere ceremony, but as a token of the goodwill of our heavenly Father. We regard the rainbow, not merely because of the beauty of its arch, but because it betokens the covenant which preserves the earth, and perpetuates the seasons. And we regard baptism, not superstitiously, as if it contained some mystic charm, but because it is a memorial of God’s covenant mercy, and the means by which our offspring are dedicated and discipled. And we regard it too, because it is an institution which is in beautiful harmony with the whole system of revelation, in the Old and New Testaments. As the substitute for circumcision, it connects the church at its origin, with the church in its progress, and in its gospel maturity. Whilst the promise, “I will be a God unto thee, and unto thy seed after thee,” remains the same, baptism now attaches to it the sign and the seal which was once affixed by circumcision. The language and the conduct of Christ to little children, in the case before us, is in perfect harmony with their baptism, and with all the principles on which their baptism is practised. And when the apostles baptized households; when they called the children of believers “not unclean but holy;” and when they addressed children in the epistles which they wrote to the churches, they adopted a style of speaking and of action, which is not