nted is your faith, and that the
solemn promises you have made are the serious resolutions of your
heart, please to announce the same in the presence of God, by saying
'Yes.'"

"Yes," they replied.

"I baptize thee, Wilhelmina Vesta," concluded the minister,
stretching out his hand over her, "in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Let us pray."

Gerhardt bent his gray head and followed with humble reverence the
beautiful invocation which followed:

"Almighty and everlasting God! we adore Thee as the great Parent of
the children of men, as the Father of our spirits and the Former of
our bodies. We praise Thee for giving existence to this infant and for
preserving her until this day. We bless Thee that she is called to
virtue and glory, that she has now been dedicated to Thee, and brought
within-the pale of the Christian Church. We thank Thee that by the
Gospel of the Son she is furnished with everything necessary to her
spiritual happiness; that it supplies light for her mind and comfort
for her heart, encouragement and power to discharge her duty, and the
precious hope of mercy and immortality to sustain and make her
faithful. And we beseech Thee, O most merciful God, that this child
may be enlightened and sanctified from her early years by the Holy
Spirit, and be everlastingly saved by Thy mercy. Direct and bless Thy
servants who are intrusted with the care of her in the momentous work
of her education. Inspire them with just conception of the absolute
necessity of religious instruction and principles. Forbid that they
should ever forget that this offspring belongs to Thee, and that, if
through their criminal neglect or bad example Thy reasonable creature
be lost, Thou wilt require it at their hands. Give them a deep sense
of the divinity of her nature, of the worth of her soul, of the
dangers to which she will be exposed, of the honor and felicity to
which she is capable of ascending with Thy blessing, and of the ruin
in this world and the misery in the world to come which springs from
wicked passion and conduct. Give them grace to check the first risings
of forbidden inclinations in her breast, to be her defense against the
temptations incident to childhood and youth, and, as she grows up, to
enlarge her understanding and to lead her to an acquaintance with Thee
and with Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Give them grace to
cultivate in her heart a supreme reverence and love for Thee, a