IV. By what name are Sponsors, or Sureties, more commonly called? Why do they bear this name? See Canon XXIX. Fathers not to be Godfathers in Baptism. V. What warrant had others to become your Sponsors, and to promise these things for you, when you were too young to promise them for yourself? 1. The encouraging words and gesture of Christ. Mark x. 13-16. Comp. Matt. xix. 14. Luke xviii. 15. τὰ βρέφη. 2. Practice of the Jews in circumcising infants, as commanded by God. Gen. xvii. 9-14. Luke i. 59. ii. 21. 3. Practice of the Apostles in baptizing whole families. Acts xiv. 15. 33. 4. Practice of the Church in all ages.-See Article XXVII. VI. What else was there given you in your Baptism to remind you still further of your being born anew? See Gen. xvii. 5. 7. 10. 24. Luke i. 59-63. ii. 21. and comp. Is. lxii. 2. VII. Explain the several particulars of what took place at your Baptism. 1. A minister of God took me up in his arms, in token of God's embracing me with the arms of his mercy. Mark x. 16. Tit. iii. 5. Eph. ii. 8. 2. Then he poured upon me consecrated water, in Acts ii. token of my sins being washed away. 3. At the same time he named me by the new name of my being made a new creature, by the operation of God the Holy Ghost (Col. ii. 12. Acts i. 5. 1 Cor. xii. 13. Tit. iii. 5. 2 Cor. v. 17), and pronounced over me the words of Christ, "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," i. e. of the God whom Christians worship. 4. Lastly, he signed me with the sign of the Cross, in token of my having been made a Christian, and that thenceforth I should not be ashamed to confess the Faith which I believed, and manfully to fight against the enemies whom I had renounced. Matt. xvi. 24. 1 Tim. vi. 12. VIII. Why was your name thus joined with the most holy name of God in this ceremony? Because I was thereby admitted into covenant with God, that is, I received from God certain benefits upon my promise (by my sureties) to observe the conditions required of me. See Jer. xxxi. 31-34. Heb. viii. 7-12. IX. What necessity was there for your admission into this covenant? "Forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin," &c. Bapt. Serv.-Original or birth-sin. Its origin and consequences. Gen. iii. 6. 2 Cor. xi. 3. 12-18. Ps. li. 5. 3. 5. Rom. iii. 10. Job xxv. 4. Eph. ii. 3. Rom. v. John iii. X. What was the means by which you were admitted into this covenant? Could you have been admitted into it without Baptism? And having been baptized, are you sure that you are admitted into it? 1. "Means, whereby," &c. Acts ii. 38. 47. iii. 19. 2. "Generally necessary," &c. Mark xvi. 16. John iii. 3. 5. Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. XI. What are the benefits you received from God in virtue of this covenant? The essential, hereditary sinfulness, with which I was born, was taken from me as if by death (Col. ii. 12. Rom. vi. 3-11), and I received a NEW BIRTH (1 Pet. i. 23), according to which, 1. I was elected" and made a member of Christ,” i. e. 3. I was "made an inheritor of the kingdom of hea ven," the land of everlasting life;-Gal. iv. 7. Rom. viii. 17. 1 Pet. i. 3. 5;-instead of remaining an heir of perdition, and of the region of everlasting death. 1 Cor. xv. 22. XII. How does the Catechism sum up these severa benefits in one single expression? Had you died in infancy, after being baptized, were you certain of being saved? See Article at the end of the Order of Public Baptism. XIII. Why does the Church teach us to think and speak of Baptism as Holy Baptism? 1. Because a Sacrament, i. e. a sacred mystery. μvoтholov. Sacramentum. See John xix. 34, ordained by Christ himself. Matt. xxviii. 19. 2. Because hallowed by the operation therein of the Holy Ghost. 3. Because the source and well-spring of holiness in all Christians. XIV. What is the definition which the Catechism gives of this word Sacrament? and what other ordinance of the Gospel is included under that definition? XV. What are the types or similitudes by which Holy Baptism is represented to us in the Bible? 1. The saving of Noah and his family in the ark from perishing by water. 2 Pet. ii. 5. 9. 1 Pet. iii. 19. 21. 2. The leading of the Children of Israel in safety through the Red Sea. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2. 3. The death and burial of Christ. Rom. vi. 4-6. Col. ii. 12. Comp. Luke xii. 50. XVI. What is required of all persons who have been baptized? 1. To lead the rest of their life according to this beginning, i. e. to live as followers of Christ. Rom. vi. 3-6. 11. Col. iii. 5. 3.-As in the love of God. Jude 21.-As in the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Rom. viii. 1—15. 2. To grow in grace, i. e. in the favour of God. 2 Pet. iii. 18. Eph. iv. 15. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. 3. To perfect holiness in the fear of God-being "stedfast in faith, joyful through hope, rooted in charity." 2 Cor. vii. 1. Heb. vi. 1. iii. 14. 6. Rom. xv. 13. Eph. iii. 17. Col. iii. 14. 4. To shine like lights in the world. Matt. v. 14. 1 Pet. ii. 9. Phil. ii. 15. 5. To be as the salt of the earth, withstanding and purifying the corruptions of the world. Matt. v. 13. Mark ix. 50. CHAPTER II. OF CONFIRMATION. I. WHAT is the meaning of CONFIRMATION? 2. God's Confirming. II. Show where these two meanings appear in the Office or Order of Confirmation. III. How many parts are there in Confirmation? 2. IV. Why then is it not a Sacrament like Holy Baptism? |