Infant Baptism.

"Go,' said her husband, and get the children together; we must not miss this opportunity of having them christened.'

"Mrs. N

"Mr. P

Book.

retired to collect the group

asked Mr. Northend if he had a Prayer

"His reply was, I believe that we have an old one that belonged to my father.'

"After much search, an old English Prayer Book was at length found under a collection of dingy looking papers and pamphlets that were lodged upon a shelf or board, nailed to the logs that ran transversely across the house, and supported the chamber floor.

“The children were now present, except the two oldest boys. They, having heard what was intended, had hid themselves in the corn-field. While a search was going on for them, the missionary took occasion to speak upon the importance and exalted privilege of Christian baptism.

"Yes,' said Mr. Northend, not understanding the spiritual sense in which Mr. P—— spoke, any more than the woman of Samaria understood the meaning of the Saviour when he discoursed about the living water' at Jacob's well yes, I have always thought I would have my children christened. I have known persons to lose a fortune on account of their not having been christened, or their not having had their names properly registered at the time.'

"While Mr. N was making this remark, the mother returned with one of the absentees, reporting that the other, the oldest son, a boy about twelve, was nowhere to be found. After some consultation, it was determined, that those that were present should be baptized, at all events.

"Perhaps they who object to infant baptism, or to the baptism of children whose parents are not pious, would think that all the circumstances I have related go to show, most conclusively, the validity of their objections. And perhaps you may think, for I did, that it would have been

Baptismal service.

well for Mr. P―, before proceeding to the baptismal service, to have explained the nature and spiritual intent of the holy rite he was about to administer. And, in most instances, this would, undoubtedly, have been the true course. But, in this instance, he thought another course preferable, and the result showed that he judged correctly. It was his opinion that no explanations could so luminously or impressively set forth the nature and design of this sacrament as the baptismal service."

While Mr. Heyden was relating this, I was indeed most forcibly struck with the apparent injudiciousness of the course pursued, in this instance, by the missionary. And, although the results were favourable in that case, I did not think it a safe precedent to follow. I was too much absorbed in the narrative, however, to interrupt Mr. Heyden, to communicate to him my dissent from his conclusion, and so he went on.

"Without adding one word, therefore, in reply to Mr. Northend's singular remark, he began the service. This service I have always admired, and, in point of sublimity and feeling, it is certainly equal to any human composition. I have heard it pronounced, with great solemnity, on numerous occasions; but never did I hear that sublime service uttered in tones so solemn and deeply impressive as that time. We all felt its meaning. The missionary had not proceeded three sentences, before the utmost gravity and seriousness were visible upon every countenance. It seemed as though the words he uttered exerted, at the time, an instantaneous and almost irresistible influence upon our minds. After the questions had been proposed, just as the minister lifted up his eye to heaven, uttering these words, Grant that the old Adam in these children may be so buried, that the new man may be raised up in them, I looked at Henry Northend. The big tear stood on his cheek; and his wife had covered her face, agitated by deep emotion, with her hands. Each part of the service seemed very affecting, and that

peculiarly so, when the minister, holding the little one in his arms, after having poured the water upon him in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' repeated these words,-We receive this child into the congregation of Christ's flock, and do sign him with the sign of the cross, in token that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banner, against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end. And there also seemed much meaning and force in the concluding exhortation, and I saw it went home to their hearts; ye must remember, it is your parts and duties to see that these infants be taught, so soon as they shall be able to learn, what a solemn vow, promise, and profession they have here made by you.

"At the close of the service, Mr. P———, kneeling down, offered up a devout and fervent prayer for this family. Then, with much kindness, but yet with great plainness, he thus addressed the parents :

"You have been making very solemn promises for your children. Let me tell you, that you cannot keep those promises, unless you have an altar to the Lord in your dwelling; unless you gather these children together, morning and night, and pray with them. For them you have promised to renounce the devil, to exercise Christian faith, and to lead a godly life. You cannot do this for them unless you are in earnest to do it for yourselves. You can never do this, either for them or yourselves, unless you look up continually to God in prayer. See what

a group of young immortals are committed to your trust! These children, in all probability, will be happy or miserable in eternity, according to the course you pursue with them. They have this day been admitted into the congregation of Christ's flock; they have been invested with great and glorious privileges; but whether those privileges will ever be of any service to them, depends, in a very

Happy effect of the use of the baptismal service.

considerable degree, upon you. I do entreat you, therefore, for your children's sake, and for your own sakes, seek, with all diligence and earnestness, "the kingdom of God and his righteousness."

999

"These words, in connexion with the effect already produced by the baptismal service, went home to the bosom of those parents like barbed arrows. From that day Henry Northend began to read his Bible, and think deeply about the salvation of his soul. He left off profane swearing. He never again yoked up his cattle, or went a fishing on the lake, on Sunday. Whenever there was preaching in the settlement, whoever else was absent, Henry Northend was there. He has frequently told me, that for weeks, 'the remembrance of his manifold sins and wickedness was such an intolerable burden to him, that he often thought he must sink, beneath their pressure, into the abyss of unending ruin.'"'

Here Mr. Heyden paused, and turning his eye to the grave, which we noticed in the early part of this chapter, for a moment seemed lost in thought. The continuation of his narrative will be found in the next chapter.

Affecting reminiscences.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CHANGE.

The promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Acts of the Apostles.

"THREE months after the occurrences just related," at length said Mr. Heyden, keeping his eye still fixed upon the consecrated spot of earth to which it had been turned, "three months after the occurrences just related, there might have been seen, in a log school-house, that then stood on the very spot where yonder church is now built, fifteen persons kneeling to receive the hallowed symbols of the body and blood of Christ. Mr. Northend, his wife, and myself were among the number. O, I shall never forget that man, whose ashes slumber beneath yonder hillock of earth. He was the successful messenger of God to my soul and to the souls of many others in the settlement. Many, through his preaching, were brought to a knowledge of themselves as sinners, and led to seek mercy at the foot of the cross. When I die, I desire to be buried by his side that, in the morning of the resurrection, my body may go up in company with his to meet, in the air, that Jesus whom he taught me to love.

much

"Yes, through the labours of the Rev. Mr. Pgood was done. The morals of the whole settlement were greatly improved; an Episcopal church was organized, and, for a while, every thing promised well.

"With Mr. Northend and his family, literally old things had passed away, and all things had become new.