t have been
forever, had they kept that covenant of which circumcision was the seal.
Had they remembered only this, and had they adhered to it, "I will be a
God to thee and to thy seed after thee," and had they been a
covenant-keeping people, their peace, as God says to them, would have
been as a river; an endless, inexhaustible tide of prosperity and
blessedness.

And now, if Christian parents will but lay hold on that covenant as they
may, that Abrahamic covenant, still in force for them who are Christ's,
and so Abraham's, seed, and heirs according to the promise, we should
soon see, in family religion, in the early conversion of children, and
in their large Christian culture, those promises of God fulfilled which
have respect to the great increase, chiefly by this means, of his
church in the latter days. This is one thing which makes me love and
prize infant baptism so much; its being an expression and exponent of
parental love, faithfulness, and zeal, in those with whom it is preceded
and followed by the entire consecration of their children to God, their
feelings and conduct toward them agreeing with the covenant made for
them with God.

But, in saying this, let me guard you against the erroneous notion that
infant baptism is primarily a parent's covenant, an expression of his
feelings toward God. No, it is God's covenant, an expression of his
feelings toward the children of believers. That is the chief thing which
gives it value. For, it is not because parents love their children, that
God commands that they be offered in baptism; but because God loves
them, and has promised to be a God to them, as he is to their parents.
People, however, sometimes treat the ordinance as though it were their
act toward God, and not primarily his act toward them. They, therefore,
are liable to use it with far less effect than if they were receiving in
it, and by it, God's own transaction with them and the little child.

_Mr. M._ In thinking of Pagan and Mohammedan nations, lately, at the
Concert of Prayer for Foreign Missions, I was struck with this thought,
how error has been transmitted from father to child, and what an awful
power for evil lies in transmitted family influence, when it is
corrupted. This led me to think whether God did not have this in mind
when, in establishing his church in Abraham, he connected children with
parents in his covenant, and gave a sign and seal to be affixed to their
children as a constant admo