Perhaps a great feast is prepared; godfathers and godmothers (if they have
the warrant of some valuable presents) are chosen; and then in all the
glare and parade of fashion, they have the ordinance administered. And what
then is the first joyful cry of the fond parents, after the solemn ceremony
is ended? Why "now, dear, you have your name!" And this is the end,--yes,
the finale of the vows there made before God,--the end of all until God
shall call them to account!
It requires but very little discrimination to see that in all this the
nature, design, and obligations of Christian baptism are left totally out
of view. They do not here appreciate this ordinance as a channel for the
communication of God's grace to their children. When baptized they do not
regard them as having been received into gracious relation to God, as
plants in the Lord's vineyard, as having put on Christ, and as having their
ingrafting into Him not only signified but sealed. Thus being undervalued,
it is, as a consequence, abused and neglected.
The great neglect of Christian baptism is doubtless owing to the low,
unscriptural views of its nature and practical importance; for if they
realized its relations to the plan of salvation, and its office in the
appropriation of that salvation to their children, they would not permit
them to grow up unbaptized, neither would they be recreant to the solemn
duties which are binding upon the parent after its administration.
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