Sunday 1st August, 2010
The Ninth Sunday After Trinity
Catechism Prayers: Holy Baptism
By Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711)
These Prayers are taken from "The Practice Of Divine Love" by Thomas Ken, Bishop of Bath And Wells under King Charles II. They are intended to help in the study of the Prayer Book Catechism.
Catechism Q & A
Q. What is the outward visible sign or form of baptism?
A. Water; wherein the person is baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost.
Q. What is the inward and spiritual grace?
A. A death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness; for being by nature born
in sin, and the children of wrath, we are hereby made the children of grace.
Q. What is required of persons to be baptized?
A. Repentance, whereby they forsake sin ; and faith, whereby they stedfastly believe
the promises of God made to them in that sacrament.
Q. Why then are infants baptized, when by reason of their tender age they cannot
perform them?
A. Because they promise them both by their sureties: which promise, when they come
to age, themselves are bound to perform.
The Outward Sign
GLORY be to Thee, O Laver of souls. It was by Thy preventing love that I was baptized with the "outward sign, water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;" (Mt 28:19) that I should believe in the most Holy Trinity; that I should entirely live devoted to the Three most adorable Persons, that I should wholly depend on Their gracious assistances, and that it should be my chief care to love and glorify that triune Love, the Author of my salvation. The invisible Glory be to Thee, O Jesu, who by water, grace. That washes away the filth of the body (Ezek 36:25), dost represent to my faith Thy "invisible grace in baptism," which spiritually washes and cleanses the soul.
Back To TopThe Invisible Grace
GLORY be to Thee, O blessed Lord, who in baptism savest us, not by the outward washing, but by the inward purifying grace accompanied with a sincere vow, and "stipulation of a good conscience towards God;" (1 Pet 3:21) by which Thy propitious love brought me into Thy Church, the spiritual ark, to save me from perishing in the deluge of sin, which overwhelms the generality of the world, and therefore all love, all glory, be to Thee.
GLORY be to Thee, O all-powerful Love, by whose "invisible grace" we in baptism die to sin (Romans 6:3-4), to all carnal affections, renouncing and detesting them all, and resolving to take no more pleasure in them than dead persons do in the comforts of life. O, may I ever thus die to sin!
GLORY be to Thee, O Jesu, who, from our "death to sin" in our baptism, dost raise us to a new life, and dost breathe into us the breath of love; it is in this "laver of regeneration" (Titus 3:3) we are "born again by waterd and the Spirit," (John 3:5) by a "new birth unto righteousness:" that as the natural birth propagated sin, our spiritual birth should propagate grace; for which all love, all glory, be to Thee.
GLORY be to Thee, O most indulgent Love, who in our baptism dost give us the Holy Spirit of Love, to be the principle of new life and of love in us, to infuse into our souls a supernatural, habitual grace, and ability to obey and love Thee; for which all love, all glory, be to Thee.
GLORY be to Thee, O compassionate Love, who, when we were conceived and "born in sin," (Psalm 51:5) of sinful parents [i.e. Adam and Eve], when we sprang from a root wholly corrupt, and were "all children of wrath," (Eph 2:1) hast in our baptism, "made us children" of Thy own heavenly Father by adoption and "grace:" (Rom 8:15) when we were heirs of hell, hast made us heirs of heaven, even joint-heirs with Thy own Self, of Thy own glory; for which, with all the powers of my soul, I adore and love Thee.
Back To TopRepentance
I I KNOW, O dearest Lord, that I am Thine, no longer than I love Thee: I can no longer feel the saving efficacy of my baptism, than I am faithful to my vow I there made; no longer than I am a penitent, no longer am I a Christian; if I "name the name of Christ, I am to depart from iniquity" (2 Tim 2:19). O, do Thou give me the grace of true repentance for all my sins, for my original impurity, and for all my actual transgressions, that I may abhor and forsake them all: wound my soul with a most affectionate sorrow for all the injuries, and affronts, and dishonours, I have offered to infinite Love.
Back To TopFaith
GLORY be to Thee, O most liberal Jesu, for all those exceeding great and precious "promises," (2 Pet 1:4) of pardon, and grace, and glory, which Thou hast made to us Christians in the sacrament of baptism: O, may I ever steadfastly believe; O, may I ever passionately love, may I ever firmly rely on Thy superabundant love in all these promises; for which I will ever adore and love Thee.
GLORY be to Thee, O sweetest Love, who in my infancy didst admit me to holy baptism, who by Thy preventing grace, when I was a little child, didst receive me into the evangelical covenant, didst take me up into the arms of Thy mercy, and bless me. (Mk 10:16) Glory be to Thee, who didst early dedicate me to Thyself, to prepossess me by Thy love, before the world should seize and defile me.
Ah, gracious Lord, how long, how often have I polluted myself by my sins! but I repent and deplore all those pollutions, and I consecrate myself to Thee again:
O Thou most reconcilable Love, pardon and accept me, and restore me to Thy love : O, let the intenseness of my future love, not only love for the time to come, but retrieve all the love I have lost.
Back To TopSureties
GLORY be to Thee, O tenderest Jesu, who, when by reason of my infancy I could not promise to repent and believe for myself, didst mercifully accept of the promise of my sureties, who promised both for me, as Thou didst accept for good to the paralytic (Mark 2:5) the charitable intentions of those that brought him to Thee, and of the faith of the woman of Canaan (Mt 15:22) for the cure of her daughter; for which merciful acceptance, all love, all glory, be to Thee.
O MY God, my Lord, the promise which was made by my sureties for me, I acknowledge that, as soon as I came to a competent age, I was bound myself to perform, and I own and renew my obligation: I promise, O my Lord, with all the force of my soul, to love Thee; O, do Thou ever keep me true to my own promise, since Thou art ever unalterably true to Thine; for which I will ever adore and love Thee.
