ddle States, because he had
had some papers executed, here, before a court not having a seal. I told
him, beforehand, that he was wrong; but he wished to know of what
possible use a seal could be, when the judge and the clerk used printed
forms, and the blanks were filled under their own hands. The papers came
back, and he had to do his business over again, and before a court
having a seal."

"But he was perfectly honest, at first, I presume," said the pastor,
"only the form was defective."

_Mr. P._ Yes, sir; but the form, in such a case, is the warranty. You
know that the power to have and use a seal is one of the things
specially conveyed by a legislature.

"God has seals," said the pastor. "One is baptism. It used to be
circumcision. But, as the old royal seal is broken at the coronation of
a new king, God appointed a new seal, baptism, to mark the new
dispensation; as he also changed the Sabbath of creation in honor of
his Son's reign, and removed the memorial of his deeds of greatest
renown, the Passover, for one that signifies still greater deeds, the
Lord's Supper. Thus God has his seals. He attaches great importance to
them. He binds himself by them. Your wife, being a child of God, it is
his arrangement, from the beginning, to enter into covenant with her in
behalf of her children. He stands, now, in a special relation to them,
and has placed the beautiful seal of Heaven upon his promise to that
dear sick mother, 'I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee.'"

"Is it necessary that the father should be left out?" said Mr. P.,
covering his face with his handkerchief. "They are mine, and God holds
me responsible for them. I am to be left alone with them in the world.
Is there not mercy for me, too? O, I had such a gleam of hope in the
chamber! As I saw the water descending from your hand upon those dear
heads, I thought, How much like a divine act such baptism is,--something
from God. I always thought of baptism as a cross, to which I must
submit; now I see that it is a token of love, bestowed upon me. So I
thought of those words: 'I am found of them that sought me not.' God
seems to have come to me in that baptism. I was expecting that, if I
ever became a Christian, I must, in token of my submission, be buried in
the waters of baptism. I would be willing to be, still, if necessary;
but that gentle baptism, coming to me and mine, seems like God being
beforehand with me, doing something with me and fo