Transcribed from the 1842 Josiah Fletcher edition by DavidPrice.
THE BAPTISM OF THE PRINCE.
A SERMON
PREACHEDIN
PRINCE’S STREET CHAPEL,NORWICH,
ON SUNDAY MORNING, JAN. 23,1842,
INANTICIPATION OF THE BAPTISM OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE OF WALES.
BY JOHN ALEXANDER.
Publishedby Request.
NORWICH:
JOSIAH FLETCHER, UPPER HAYMARKET;
SOLD ALSO BY JARROLD AND SONS, NORWICH;AND BY
JACKSON AND WALFORD, LONDON.
1842.
Price Fourpence.
p.iiiPREFACE.
The Author of the followingdiscourse hopes it will appear from the perusal of it, that thebaptism of infants is a practice which he not only believes to bescriptural, but which he warmly and devoutly loves. As aparent, and as a pastor, one of his most delightful employmentshas been the dedication of his own children, and of the childrenof others, to the God of mercy. He endeavours also tocherish in his own heart, and in the hearts of others, theassurance that baptism is a sign of spiritual influences, whichour covenant God will graciously bestow upon our children, if wedisciple them to Christ by gospel instruction as well as bywater, and if we “teach them to observe all thingswhatsoever Christ has commanded.” The connectionbetween our baptized households and church membership is sointimate, that children should be trained for communion by theparent, as well as by the pastor; and every baptized familyshould thus strive to be a church of Christ, and seek to possess,by the grace of God, a domestic as well as an individualrelationship to “the general assembly and church of thefirst-born.” Were this made the object of moreanxious and prayerful effort, the degree of success, divinelygranted, would surprise and bless our hearts; the sacredordinance in which we delight, would be less ridiculed than itis; the fatal mistakes which are made relative to it, would becorrected; and it would soon become, as in primitive times,universally practised. “If infant baptism were moreimproved,” says Philip Henry, “it would be lessdisputed.”
The following discourse is not put forth as a completetreatise on the subject of baptism. It is the mere outlinep. ivof onebranch of an argument which is briefly stated, and which is noteven defended from the customary objections. It waspreached, and is now published, not so much for those who denythe ordinance to their children, as for those who practice it; toremind them of the privilege which they enjoy, and of theconsequent responsibility which they incur. Nothing is saidin the sermon about the mode of baptizing, because theobject which the preacher had in view did not require it; andbecause, during the time of its delivery, he was desirous tooccupy the attention of his hearers with matters of moreimportance than the question, Whether, in baptism, the water isto be applied to the person, or the person to thewater?—though he believes that the former mode is morescriptural and more seemly than the latter.
As the discourse was occa