03-Order For Baptism Adults

ORDER FOR THE BAPTISM OF ADULTS.

INASMUCH as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has given authority and command ment to his disciples to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; and hath declared that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salva tion: this person, having witnessed a credible profession before the Session, now comes for ward to obey this commandment. And in asmuch as we baptize only with water, and administer the outward and visible sign, while the Lord himself alone baptizes with the Holy Ghost and with fire, and com municates the inward spiritual grace which 22 OKDEK FOE. BAPTISM OF ADULTS. 23 Cashing with water signifies, let us now with one accord invoke the presence and blessing of God.

[ The Minister shall then offer the following or a similar prayer:], Most holy and merciful Father, when thy Son our Lord and Saviour gave commission to his disciples to teach all nations, baptizing them in thy name, and teaching them all his commandments, he did also promise to be with them alway even to the end of the world. In faith in this promise and in obe dience to this commandment we present unto thee this thy servant, who, repenting of and renouncing all sin, accepts thy salvation, and humbly desires to put on the sacramental seal and badge of discipleship. May the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge his conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Baptize him, O Lord, we beseech thee, with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Purify and purge him like gold and silver, that he may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. As he is hereby enrolled with the soldiers of the cross, clothe him, we pray, with the 24 MANUAL OF FORMS. whole armor of God the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit that, his loins girt about with truth and his feet shod with the preparation of the gospeJ of peace, he may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. And so mightily work in him by thy light and thy power that he may be preserved from all error, and maintained in the patience, perseverance and victory of thy saints; so that his name may not be blotted out of thy book of life, but that he may have place with them of every nation who, coming out of great tribulation, have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. AMEX.

Then the Minister shall say: Do you be lieve in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth?

Answer: I do. Do you believe in Jesus Christ his onlv Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suf fered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; who on the third day rose again from the dead; who ascended ORDER FOR BAPTISM OF ADULTS. 25 into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead?

Answer: I do. Do you believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resur rection of the body, and the life everlasting?

Answer: I do. Is it your desire to be baptized in this faith?

Answer: It is.

Having confessed your sin, and having embraced Christ as your Saviour, do you submit to him as your Teacher, and is it your purpose faithfully to obey and serve him as your Lord and Master as long as you live?

Answer: It is.

[ If desired, the choir may chant some passage of Scripture M Psalms 103:17-18.*], * Psalms 103:17-18. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to ever lasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that re member his commandments to do them.

26 MANUAL OF FORMS. The candidate kneeling, the minister shall say, N, 1 baptize thee in the name of the Fa ther, and of the Sou, ami of the Holy Ghost AMEN.

[Choir chanting Ezekiel 36:25-26, and Gloria Patri*\

Then shall the Minister charge the newly tiaptizcd, as follows: Seeing, beloved, that you have now publicly professed your faith and received the sacramental seal of that covenant whereby you are dedicated to Christ, and Christ with all the benefits of his redemption is made yours for ever, give all diligence to make your calling and elec tion sure; adding to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge tem perance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brother * KZEKIEL 36:25-26.

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filth iness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the floly Ghost, at; it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. world without end. AMEN.

ORDER FOR BAPTISM OF ADUITS. 27 ly kindness, and to brotherly kindness char ity; for if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be bar ren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And now, in the name of the Lord, 1 commend you as a member of the holy catholic Church to the confidence, the love and the care of the brethren. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you for ever. AMEN.

N O’T P:’S. f “ Baptism is not to be administered to any that are out of the visible Church, and so strangers from the cove nant of promise till they profess faith in Christ and obe dience to him.” Larger Catechism, Q. 166.

If “ When unbaptized persons apply for admission to the visible Church, they shall, in ordinary cases, after giving satisfaction with respect to their knowledge and piety, make a public profession of their faith in the pres ence of the congregation, and thereupon be baptized.”

Directory for Worship, ch. ix. $ 4.