The name in which he has chosen thus to appear to you, is not God Almighty, nor his name Jehovah; but those names which redemption has brought to view, and which impress upon us the acts of redeeming grace and love.

Do not feel, chiefly, that you give yourself up to God in this transaction, though this, of course, you do, and it is essential that you do so; but feel that the Father, Son, and Spirit, come to you, and own you in the covenant of redemption, in consequence of your accepting Christ, by faith, which itself, also, is the gift of God.

Professing repentance of your sins, and faith in the Lord Jesus, you are now to receive, from the Sacred Three, a sign and seal, confirming to you all the promises of grace, adopting you as a member of the whole family in heaven and earth, and engaging God to be your God.
"And now, as you are, yourself, a child of God, your children God adopts to be, in a peculiar sense, his.

This is the method of his love from the beginning.

Had Adam remained upright, doubtless his children would have been confirmed in their uprightness; but, inasmuch as he fell, and, by his disobedience, they were made sinners, God reestablished his covenant with Abraham as the father of all believers, under a new church-organization, to the end of time, promising to be the God of a believer's child." He then read this hymn; and certain expressions in it never struck me with such force and sweetness as in that baptismal scene: "How large the promise, how divine, To Abraham and his seed; I'll be a God to thee and thine, Supplying all their need.
"The words of his extensive love From age to age endure; The angel of the covenant proves, And seals, the blessing sure.
"Jesus the ancient faith confirms To our great fathers given; He takes young children to his arms, And calls them heirs of heaven.
"Our God, how faithful are his ways! His love endures the same; Nor from the promise of his grace Blots out the children's name." "And now," said he, "as you belong to the church of Christ, so your children, in a certain sense, and that a very important and precious sense, _belong_ to the church.