I told him my heart yearned to have it done; for I took the same view of it which I have mentioned with regard to my own baptism--that it is something which God does, to and for the children, primarily, and it is not merely a human act.

He said that it was like laying "a penal bond" on children, to baptize them, and oblige them to do or be anything without their consent.

O, how many such "penal bonds" I have laid on my children, already!--the more the better, I told him.

"A penal bond" to love and serve God!--I mean to add my dying charge to it, and make it as binding as I can.

How imperfect such a view of baptism is! It is God coming to us with his seal, not we coming with our own invention to him.