come to the use of their reason, they are allowed and required to do it by their Godfathers and Godmothers, who accordingly make this promise in the name of the child which they bring to be baptized.

They do not then make the promise for themselves, for that was done at their own baptism: neither do they promise that the child shall do it, for that is not in their power, and therefore more than they can promise. But they make the promise in the child's name, as his proxies, so that the child doth it by them. The Minister saith to each of them, Dost thou in the name of this child renounce the Devil and all his works? &c. To which the child answers by them, I renounce them all. The Minister saith, Dost thou believe in God the Father Almighty? The child answers by them, All this I stedfastly believe. Again the Minister saith, Wilt thou be baptized in this faith? To which the child answers by them, That is my desire. They speak the words, but they speak them only in the name of the child: so that he makes the answer in and by them.

As when a king is crowned in his infancy, he takes the coronation-oath by some deputed to take it in his name; and he is bound as much by it as if he took it himself. And in such tenures of land, where the heir cannot be admitted without doing homage, or swearing fealty to the head-landlord; if a child or minor doth it by his guardians, or they in his name, it is as good in law as when it is done by the heir himself in his own person.

The promise which his Godfathers and Godmothers thus make in the child's name, consisteth of three parts, or, as the child is here taught to answer, They did promise and vow three things in his name ; whereof the first is, that he should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh.

By the devil we are here to understand that subtle serpent, who having tempted our first parents to eat of the forbidden fruit, and so brought them and their whole posterity into the same state of sin and misery with himself; he hath ever since domineered over all mankind, carrying them captive as he will, 2 Tim. ii. 26. so long as they continue in their natural state. Now when any one is to change this state of nature for that of grace, wherein he will have power to overcome the devil, he then promiseth to renounce him, to disclaim his dominion, resist his temptations, and leave off all his works, such as he doth himself, and tempts men to do, such as pride, rebellion, apostasy, hatred, malice, murder, lying, slandering, backbiting, hypocrisy, and all uncharitableness. These are properly the lusts of the devil, which our Saviour speaks of, John viii. 44. and those works of the devil which He came to destroy, 1 John iii. 8. which all therefore that would be His disciples must renounce, that is, avoid, forsake, and leave off; so as not to do them any And so they must renounce too the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, that is, all things that are apt to draw off men's minds from the other world, and

more.

fix them upon this: therefore called pomps, because they make a great show, as the word imports, and appear great in the eyes of sinful men, but they have nothing in them of real goodness or satisfaction, and therefore called also vanity, or emptiness. Such are the riches, and honours, as they are called, of this world; which every one therefore that would be a Christian, must renounce, so as not to be covetous of the former, nor ambitious of the latter. He must not love the world, nor the things that are in the world, 1 John ii. 15.

He must also renounce, subdue, and avoid all the sinful lusts of the flesh; what they are, the Apostle tells us, saying, Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. The renouncing of all which, is the first thing that is here promised.

The second thing is, that he will believe all the Articles of the Christian faith: that is, all such doctrines as are revealed to us in the holy Scriptures, written by the inspiration of God, 2 Tim. iii. 16. and are briefly contained in the following Creed.

The third is, that he will keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of his life. What they are, we shall see, God willing, when we come to the Ten Commandments, wherein they are all comprised.

QUESTIONS.

Why is any such promise made in Baptism?

In what sense do Godfathers and Godmothers make it in the name of the child?

How many parts doth the promise consist of?

What do ye mean by the devil and his works?

What by the pomps and vanity of this wicked world?
What by the sinful lusts of the flesh ?

In what sense did ye promise to renounce all these?

What are those Articles of the Christian faith which ye promised to believe?

Where are they revealed ?

What are those commandments of God which ye promised to keep?

Question. Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe and to do as they have promised for thee?

Answer. Yes, verily; and, by God's help, so I will. And I heartily thank our Heavenly Father, that He hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me His grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's

end.

Although the promise which Godfathers and Godmothers make in the name of a child at his Baptism be, as we have seen, the child's own promise, and he is bound to perform it when he is come to years of discretion, as much as if he had made it in his own person, and with his own mouth, whether he afterwards own it or no; yet to make him the more sensible of it, so

soon as he is capable, he is put in mind of it, and taught to acknowledge it with his own mouth: for when this question is put to him, Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe and to do as they have promised for thee? he answers, Yes, verily, and, by God's help, so I will. He makes no doubt at all of it; but positively affirms it to be a great truth, that he is bound to believe and do all that was then promised in his name; saying, Yes, verily. And accordingly in a most solemn manner he now promiseth it over again with his own mouth, saying, And, by God's help, so I will. So that every time that a child saith his Catechism, he renews the said promise, and that too in the name of God Himself, as God shall help him : which imprints upon his mind a sense of his own inability to do it of himself, and teacheth him to look up to God for His help and assistance in it, and to trust on Him, according to His promise for it: not doubting in the least but that God will help him, and therefore saying confidently, Yes, verily, and, by God's help, so I will.

After this, to possess his mind with a due sense of God's mercy in admitting him into the Church of Christ, and that he may learn betime to give God thanks for the same from the bottom of his heart, he is taught farther to say, And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that He hath brought me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. He looks upon himself now as in the number of God's children, and therefore calls Him, our heavenly Father: