t for his baptism. Never will a member of that witnessing
congregation see him, without a feeling of tenderness and something
bordering on respect; he will not be merely "Silly Joe" to them; that
element of truth in the heathen superstition, which leads heathens and
pagans to regard an idiot as something sacred, will have its
verification with regard to him; the children of that assembly will be
restrained from rudeness and cruelty, in their sports with him, by that
transaction, while the prayers offered for him at the time, and the many
ejaculations which the sight of him will occasion in the hearts of good
people, will make his baptism one of his richest blessings. O, what a
loss it is to have a child baptized at home, or anywhere and at any
time except among the public services of the Sabbath in the sanctuary of
God! Necessity, indeed, controls our choice, many times, in this thing;
and we are accepted of God irrespective of time and place, in yielding
to his providence.

Since my mind has been deeply interested in this subject, leading me to
converse with parents and with ministers, and to make observation with
regard to it, I have seen and heard many things relating to the
providences of God, in connection with the baptism of children, which,
while we ought to be slow in confidently interpreting providences, make
us do as Mary is said to have done, in regard to things relating to her
child,--she "kept these things and pondered them in her heart." We
cannot say, for example, that the death of that little girl, whose
father refused to let his wife enjoy the privilege of going, alone, with
the child, to the house of God for baptism, or to invite the pastor to
his house for the purpose, was a judicial consequence of his conduct;
but we know that his own thoughts trouble him, and that he has a sorrow
bound upon his heart, which he will carry with him to his grave.

Neither is it certain that the little one, who was raised to life from
a sickness which baffled the physicians, was spared to her pious mother
for her Christian behavior, in taking it, a few months before, to the
house of God, and offering it in baptism, with no help from her husband,
but with many sad thoughts that the father of the child--he on whose arm
she and the child needed to rest--refused her gentle and affectionate
pleadings with him, to support and cherish her at an hour so precious to
her heart. Nor will we say that the kind and obliging husband,