Paedo-Baptism Answers Meditations for parents who will baptize their children

[César Augusto]

My almost one month old daughter will be baptized next Lord's day. Trying to make the correct use of this ordinance, I looked for thoughts and meditations for my wife and me to prepare ourselves for the vows we will take, but I found nothing. Does anyone know any material in this regard? Meditations for parents who will baptize their children, from puritans or modern authors.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Contra_Mundum]

Have you read/considered those vows themselves, in advance of taking them? Perhaps you have heard others taking them, so you know what they are. Your church will almost certainly use different, but perhaps similar matter to that found in my denomination's Book of Church Order

1. The Baptism of Infants

a. Prerequisites

For a child to be presented for baptism, at least one parent must be a communicant member of the Church, in good standing, normally of the local congregation. In order to present a child for baptism, parents shall make prior arrangements with the session. Before presentation for baptism, the session shall ensure that instruction has been given to the parent(s) as to the nature, privileges, and responsibilities of baptism for the parents and the child. Only parents who are communicant members of the Church may be permitted to take parental vows. If the session shall judge it appropriate, a parent who is not a communicant member may stand with the spouse during the baptism. In such a circumstance, it shall be the duty of the minister to inform the congregation of the situation, including that the one parent is not a member of this congregation and is not taking the vows. In extraordinary circumstances, at the parents' request, the session may permit the baptism of a child of parents who are communicant members of another church which is approved by the session, on behalf of and with the written permission of the governing body of that church. In such a case, the session shall inform the other governing body, in writing, when the baptism has been administered.

b. The Administration of Baptism to Infants

(1) The Institution of the Sacrament

The minister ought to read the words of the institution of the sacrament of baptism from a passage such as Matthew 28:18-20.

(2) The Meaning and Nature of the Sacrament

The minister shall first summarize before the congregation the teaching of the Word of God and the Confession and Catechisms of this church as to the meaning and nature of the sacrament of baptism. In doing so, he may use these or like words:

The Lord Jesus Christ instituted baptism as a covenant sign and seal for his church. He uses it not only for the solemn admission of the person who is baptized into the visible church, but also to depict and to confirm his ingrafting of that person into himself and his including that person in the covenant of grace.

The Lord uses baptism to portray to us that we and our children are conceived and born in sin and need to be cleansed.

He uses it to witness and seal to us the remission of sins and the bestowal of all the gifts of salvation through union with Christ. Baptism with water signifies and seals cleansing from sin by the blood and the Spirit of Christ, together with our death unto sin and our resurrection unto newness of life by virtue of the death and resurrection of Christ. The time of the outward application of the sign does not necessarily coincide with the inward work of the Holy Spirit which the sign represents and seals to us. Because these gifts of salvation are the gracious provision of the triune God, who is pleased to claim us as his very own, we are baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In our baptism, the Lord puts his name on us, claims us as his own, and summons us to assume the obligations of the covenant. He calls us to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, to renounce the devil, the world, and the flesh, and to walk humbly with our God in devotion to his commandments.
​

(3) Exhortation to the Members of the Congregation to Improve Their Baptism

Then the minister may exhort the congregation in these or like words:

As solemn vows are about to be made before you, and baptism is now to be administered, you who are baptized will do well to take this occasion to reflect on your own baptism. Christ has put his name and claim on you. He calls you to be repentant for your sins against your covenant God, to confess your faith before men, and to live in newness of life to God, who sealed his covenant with you by the blood of his own Son.
​

(4) The Ground of Baptizing Infants

The minister shall then give instruction as to the ground of the baptism of infants. He may use these or like words:

Although our young children do not yet understand these things, they are nevertheless to be baptized. For God commands that all who are under his covenant of grace be given the sign of the covenant.

God made the promise of the covenant to believers and to their offspring. In the Old Testament, he declared to Abraham: "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee [you] and thy [your] seed after thee [you] in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee [you], and to thy [your] seed after thee [you]" (Gen. 17:7). For this reason, in the Old Testament, God commanded that covenant infants be given the sign of circumcision.

The covenant is the same in essence in both the Old and the New Testaments. Indeed, the grace of God for the consolation of believers is even more fully manifested in the New Testament. Thus, rather than rescinding the covenant promise to believers and to their offspring in the New Testament, God reaffirms it. He declares that "the promise is unto you, and to your children" (Acts 2:39). He promises, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt [you will] be saved, and thy [your] house" (Acts 16:31). He affirms that if even one parent is a believer, the children are "holy" (1 Cor. 7:14). Moreover, our Savior admitted little children into his presence, embracing and blessing them, and saying, "Of such is the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:14).

And so, in the New Testament no less than in the Old, the children of believers have an interest in the covenant and a right to the covenant sign and to the outward privileges of the covenant people, the church. In the New Testament, baptism has replaced circumcision as the covenant sign. Therefore, by the covenant sign of baptism the children of believers are to be distinguished from the world and solemnly admitted into the visible church.
​

(5) The Covenant Commitment of the Parents

The minister shall then require the parents to vow publicly their duty as Christian parents to present their children for baptism and to nurture them in the Christian faith, by answering these or equivalent questions in the affirmative:

(1) Do you acknowledge that although our children are conceived and born in sin and therefore are subject to condemnation, they are holy in Christ by virtue of the covenant of grace, and as children of the covenant are to be baptized?

(2) Do you promise to teach diligently to [name of child] the principles of our holy Christian faith, revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and summarized in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of this Church?

(3) Do you promise to pray regularly with and for [name of child], and to set an example of piety and godliness before (him/her)?

(4) Do you promise to endeavor, by all the means that God has appointed, to bring [name of child] up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, encouraging (him/her) to appropriate for (himself/herself) the blessings and fulfill the obligations of the covenant?
​

(6) Prayer

The minister shall then pray for the presence and blessing of the triune God, that the grace signified and sealed by baptism may be abundantly realized.

(7) The Baptism

Then, calling the child by name, the minister shall say, as he baptizes him with water, without adding any other ceremony:

[Name of child], I baptize you into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
​

(8) The Covenant Commitment of the Congregation

It is appropriate that the minister exhort the congregation, in these or like words:

As [name] is baptized into Christ and becomes a member of his visible church, the whole congregation is obligated to love (him/her) and receive (him/her) as a member of the body of Christ. For "we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body," and therefore are members of one another. Christ claims this little child as his own and calls you to receive (him/her) in love and commitment. Therefore, you ought to commit yourself before God to assist [name of child] and (his/her) parents in (his/her) Christian nurture by godly example, prayer, and encouragement in our most precious faith.
​

(9) Charge

It is then fitting that the minister give a charge to the parents in the following or like words:

Beloved in Christ Jesus, we give thanks to God for this child that he has given you, and for your expressed desire for (him/her) to know the Lord and to follow him all (his/her) days. Along with the great blessing of the gift of this child have come responsibilities that you have just acknowledged and to which you have solemnly committed yourselves, and I charge you to continue steadfastly in the commitments that you have made today before God and these witnesses, humbly relying upon the grace of God in the diligent use of the means of grace—especially the Word of God, the sacraments, and prayer.
​

(10) Prayer

The whole service of baptism shall then be concluded with prayer. It is well in such prayer to thank the Lord for his covenant of grace, rejoice that this child has been included, and to ask the Lord to graciously enable him to be a covenant keeper, daily dying to sin and walking in newness of life in Christ.
​

Perhaps you and your wife may consider this theology, the justification for baptism (and the baptism of infants particularly), the weight of responsibility that parents acknowledge when they make the solemn presentation of their children for baptism, the hope you place not only in the sacrament as a means of grace but also in the word of the gospel to be from this day continually preached and otherwise brought to bear as a means of grace upon the life of your child, in order that the promise of God: "to be God to you and to your seed after you," should be believed on unto salvation.

 

[C. M. Sheffield]

Of course I maintain the practice of infant baptism as unbiblical. But that does not mean that I think those convinced of it as ungodly. Far from it. And for that reason, I submit to you the counsel of a eminent paedobaptist minister in answer to the question you have asked. . .

Improve the Baptism of your children, as an obligation, and an encouragement unto you, parents, to endeavour the salvation of your Baptised little ones.​

Of your children, you may say, with Jacob, in Gen. 33:5 These are the children that God hath graciously given to me. Now, will not you heartily give back those children to God again: their Baptism is to be the sign and seal of your doing so.​

You generally bring your infant children unto the Baptism of the Lord: I suppose, it is because you are satisfied, that the children of believers were in the Covenant with God, in the days of the Old Testament; and, that the children of believers then had a right unto the initial seal of the Covenant, and, that in the days of the New Testament they have not lost this privilege.​

Well, but when you bring your children to the Sacred Baptism, what is it for? Oh, let it not be done, as an empty formality; as if the Baptism of your children were for nothing, but only a formal and a pompous putting of a name upon them.​

No, but let the serious language of your souls, in this action, be that of Hannah, in I Sam 1:28: I have given this child unto the Lord, as long as he lives, he shall be given unto the Lord.​

I find in the private writings of an holy man, who died in this place, not much above a year ago; That the day before one of his children was to be Baptised, he spent the time in giving up himself and his child unto the Lord, and in taking hold of the Covenant for both of them, and in praying that he might on the morrow, be able in much faith and love and Covenant obedience, to do it, at the Baptism of the Lord. Oh, which he writes it is not easy, though common, to offer a child unto God in Baptism.​

Sirs, when you have done this for your Children, you have a singular advantage to plead for the fulfillment of that word upon them in Is. 44:3 I will pour my Spirit upon thy Soul, and my blessing upon thy offspring. You may go before the Lord, and plead, Lord, Was not the Baptismal water poured by thy command upon my children! Oh, do thou now pour upon them the heavenly grace, which that Baptismal water signified.​

And now, no sooner let those Children become able to understand it, than you shall make them understand what the design of their Baptism was. Parents, I am to tell you, that if you let your Children grow up, without ever telling them, that, and, why, they were Baptised into the Name of the Lord, you are fearfully guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain.​

It was the manner of an excellent minister, upon the Baptising of a child, solemnly to deliver the child into the hands of the Parents, with such words as those, here, take this child now, and bring it up for the Lord Jesus Christ, I charge you.​

God from Heaven speaks the like words to you, O Parents, upon all your Baptised Children. And that you may bring up your Children for the Lord Jesus Christ, you must as soon as you can, let them know, that in Baptism, they were dedicated unto Him.​

Show them that when they were Baptised, they were listed among the servants and soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that if they live in rebellion against Him, Woe unto them!​

Show them, from Matthew 28:19 &20. That since they are Baptised into the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they must observe all things, whatsoever the Lord Jesus Christ, has commanded them.​

Show them from Romans 6:4, that since they are Baptised, they are Buried with Christ in baptism, and must live no longer in sin, but be Dead unto all the Vanities of the World.​

Show them from Galatians 3:27, that since they are Baptised, they have put on Christ, and must follow His Example, and be as He was in the World.​

Show them from I Peter 3:21, that being Baptised, they must now make the Answer of a good conscience, to all the proposals of the New-Covenant: and God propounding to them, shall my Christ be thine, and wilt thou be His? They must conscientiously answer, Lord, with all my heart!​

Put this very solemnly unto your children; My child, shall God the Father, be thy Father? Shall God the Son, be thy Saviour! Shall God the Spirit, be thy Sanctifier; and are thou willing to be the servant of that one God, who is, Father, Son, and Spirit?​

Leave them not, until their little hearts are conquered unto that for which they have been Baptised. It has been the judgment of some Judicious men; that If infant baptism were more improved, it would be less disputed. Oh, that it were thus Improved.​

​

—Cotton Mather, The Duties of Parents to Their Children​

​

My prayer for your children is the same as for my own: That they may be subjects of the new birth by faith in Jesus Christ, which is "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13) I pray you will have the same testimony of a good conscience possessed by Robert Bolton when he said to his children on his deathbed,—“I do believe that not one of you will dare to meet me at the tribunal of Christ in an unregenerate state.”

 

[J.L. Allen]

It is regrettable that an unserious remark now detracts from a rather sincere and weighty point; and regret that more attention will likely be paid to the slip than to the lengthier exhortation that occasioned it.

I meant no offence, but was merely being playful. My apologies. I have deleted the comment and will delete this one if needed.

 

[C. M. Sheffield]

I meant no offence, but was merely being playful. My apologies. I have deleted the comment and will delete this one if needed.

I'm sure you meant no insult and I was wrong to take offense. I was in a rather serious frame of heart in composing the previous post and reacted too harshly to your playful response. Please forgive me, brother. I have deleted mine as well.

 

[jwithnell]

J Vos has a section on baptism in his book on the WCF larger catechism that I found helpful while preparing to have my Samuel Obed baptized. I disagree with a bit of it (he takes the view that a Christian child is born a member of the church and is therefore baptized) but otherwise found the writing helpful.

Also, here's a link to several excellent sermons on baptism.

 

[Solparvus]

- How wonderful that Christ would put your children under the care of pastors and elders, effectively bringing them under His discipleship; how blessed they are if they improve it
- How serious and solemn it is if they reject and misimprove that discipleship
- How both considerations ought to impact your diligence and care in discipling them
- How baptism signifies that all the success in discipleship is attributed to the one who gave the ordinance

 

[Taylor]

J Vos has a section on baptism in his book on the WCF larger catechism...

@César Augusto, if you are interested, I can provide a scan of these pages via private message.

 

[Poimen]

Jacobus Koelman's "Rules for Expectant Parents" (from his book The Duties of Parents) as lifted from the summary here.

13. Do not be satisfied with the external baptism administered in the church but continue to occupy yourself with baptism through your earnest prayers and by the renewal of the solemn promises made before the Lord and his church at the time of baptism….Pray that [God] may regenerate [your children].
14. At this point and henceforth, practice your faith by attending to God’s promises concerning help, blessing, and grace for your children.
15. Therefore, do not believe unconditionally that all your children are beloved by God in Christ and will certainly inherit salvation or that they are truly sanctified in Christ and already born again and in a blessed state, for that is unknown and uncertain. The Lord freely loses and loves whom he will, has compassion on whom he will, and rejects whom he will. Some he sets apart from the womb; others he regenerates and converts when they are old. You must therefore regard them as children who are still in danger of being lost, as guilty and corrupt, and who must be converted. You must therefore pray for them and instruct them in the faith and in the Word. You must bring them up in all godliness so that they themselves in their own person may consent to that covenant with God and surrender themselves to it in order to be saved.

See also chapter 7 of Matthew Henry's book "Family Religion" as published by Christian Focus Publications.

 

[César Augusto]

Have you read/considered those vows themselves, in advance of taking them? Perhaps you have heard others taking them, so you know what they are. Your church will almost certainly use different, but perhaps similar matter to that found in my denomination's Book of Church Order

My denomination has a baptism order very similar to yours. Already included in our readings.

Thank you so much.

 

[César Augusto]

Of course I maintain the practice of infant baptism as unbiblical. But that does not mean that I think those convinced of it as ungodly. Far from it. And for that reason, I submit to you the counsel of a eminent paedobaptist minister in answer to the question you have asked. . .

Improve the Baptism of your children, as an obligation, and an encouragement unto you, parents, to endeavour the salvation of your Baptised little ones.​

Of your children, you may say, with Jacob, in Gen. 33:5 These are the children that God hath graciously given to me. Now, will not you heartily give back those children to God again: their Baptism is to be the sign and seal of your doing so.​

You generally bring your infant children unto the Baptism of the Lord: I suppose, it is because you are satisfied, that the children of believers were in the Covenant with God, in the days of the Old Testament; and, that the children of believers then had a right unto the initial seal of the Covenant, and, that in the days of the New Testament they have not lost this privilege.​

Well, but when you bring your children to the Sacred Baptism, what is it for? Oh, let it not be done, as an empty formality; as if the Baptism of your children were for nothing, but only a formal and a pompous putting of a name upon them.​

No, but let the serious language of your souls, in this action, be that of Hannah, in I Sam 1:28: I have given this child unto the Lord, as long as he lives, he shall be given unto the Lord.​

I find in the private writings of an holy man, who died in this place, not much above a year ago; That the day before one of his children was to be Baptised, he spent the time in giving up himself and his child unto the Lord, and in taking hold of the Covenant for both of them, and in praying that he might on the morrow, be able in much faith and love and Covenant obedience, to do it, at the Baptism of the Lord. Oh, which he writes it is not easy, though common, to offer a child unto God in Baptism.​

Sirs, when you have done this for your Children, you have a singular advantage to plead for the fulfillment of that word upon them in Is. 44:3 I will pour my Spirit upon thy Soul, and my blessing upon thy offspring. You may go before the Lord, and plead, Lord, Was not the Baptismal water poured by thy command upon my children! Oh, do thou now pour upon them the heavenly grace, which that Baptismal water signified.​

And now, no sooner let those Children become able to understand it, than you shall make them understand what the design of their Baptism was. Parents, I am to tell you, that if you let your Children grow up, without ever telling them, that, and, why, they were Baptised into the Name of the Lord, you are fearfully guilty of taking the name of the Lord in vain.​

It was the manner of an excellent minister, upon the Baptising of a child, solemnly to deliver the child into the hands of the Parents, with such words as those, here, take this child now, and bring it up for the Lord Jesus Christ, I charge you.​

God from Heaven speaks the like words to you, O Parents, upon all your Baptised Children. And that you may bring up your Children for the Lord Jesus Christ, you must as soon as you can, let them know, that in Baptism, they were dedicated unto Him.​

Show them that when they were Baptised, they were listed among the servants and soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that if they live in rebellion against Him, Woe unto them!​

Show them, from Matthew 28:19 &20. That since they are Baptised into the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they must observe all things, whatsoever the Lord Jesus Christ, has commanded them.​

Show them from Romans 6:4, that since they are Baptised, they are Buried with Christ in baptism, and must live no longer in sin, but be Dead unto all the Vanities of the World.​

Show them from Galatians 3:27, that since they are Baptised, they have put on Christ, and must follow His Example, and be as He was in the World.​

Show them from I Peter 3:21, that being Baptised, they must now make the Answer of a good conscience, to all the proposals of the New-Covenant: and God propounding to them, shall my Christ be thine, and wilt thou be His? They must conscientiously answer, Lord, with all my heart!​

Put this very solemnly unto your children; My child, shall God the Father, be thy Father? Shall God the Son, be thy Saviour! Shall God the Spirit, be thy Sanctifier; and are thou willing to be the servant of that one God, who is, Father, Son, and Spirit?​

Leave them not, until their little hearts are conquered unto that for which they have been Baptised. It has been the judgment of some Judicious men; that If infant baptism were more improved, it would be less disputed. Oh, that it were thus Improved.​

​

—Cotton Mather, The Duties of Parents to Their Children​

​

My prayer for your children is the same as for my own: That they may be subjects of the new birth by faith in Jesus Christ, which is "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13) I pray you will have the same testimony of a good conscience possessed by Robert Bolton when he said to his children on his deathbed,—“I do believe that not one of you will dare to meet me at the tribunal of Christ in an unregenerate state.”

Thanks for sharing even in disagreement.

God bless you.

 

[César Augusto]

- How wonderful that Christ would put your children under the care of pastors and elders, effectively bringing them under His discipleship; how blessed they are if they improve it
- How serious and solemn it is if they reject and misimprove that discipleship
- How both considerations ought to impact your diligence and care in discipling them
- How baptism signifies that all the success in discipleship is attributed to the one who gave the ordinance

Really good questions to think.

Thank you.

 

[César Augusto]

J Vos has a section on baptism in his book on the WCF larger catechism that I found helpful while preparing to have my Samuel Obed baptized. I disagree with a bit of it (he takes the view that a Christian child is born a member of the church and is therefore baptized) but otherwise found the writing helpful.

Also, here's a link to several excellent sermons on baptism.

Very interesting. I have Vos's commentary on the larger catechism and I didn't even think to use it, thanks for remembering this work.

 

[César Augusto]

@César Augusto, if you are interested, I can provide a scan of these pages via private message.

Thank you for your willingness, brother. I have this book in Portuguese (my native tongue). I will definitely use it.

 

[César Augusto]

My prayer for your children is the same as for my own: That they may be subjects of the new birth by faith in Jesus Christ, which is "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13) I pray you will have the same testimony of a good conscience possessed by Robert Bolton when he said to his children on his deathbed,—“I do believe that not one of you will dare to meet me at the tribunal of Christ in an unregenerate state.”

May God lead our children in His ways.

 

[César Augusto]

Jacobus Koelman's "Rules for Expectant Parents" (from his book The Duties of Parents) as lifted from the summary here.


See also chapter 7 of Matthew Henry's book "Family Religion" as published by Christian Focus Publications.

Wow, this is pure gold.

Thanks for sharing.