was deemed advisable that
for the instruction of those seeking membership therein, either for
themselves or for their children, the form of sound doctrine set forth
at such a time should not be varied even in the manner of statement.

The Sacrament was administered in the Church "on the day appointed to
Common Prayer and preaching," instruction being given that the child
should there be accompanied by the father and godfather; Knox himself
had, as godfather to one of his sons, Whittingham, who had been his
chief assistant in compiling the Book of Common Order, and who had also
been his helper and fellow-worker at Geneva. The opinion of the Swiss
reformers, as well as that of their Scotch followers, was in favor of
the presence of sponsors in addition to the parents at the baptism of
children. The parent having professed his desire to have his child
baptized in the Christian faith, was addressed by the minister, and
called upon to profess his own faith and his purpose to instruct his
child in the same. Having repeated the Creed, the minister proceeded
to expound the same as setting forth the sum of Christian doctrine, a
prescribed prayer followed, the child was baptized, and the prayer of
thanksgiving, also prescribed, closed the service.

The Book of Common Order required that marriages should be celebrated
in the Church and on the Lord's Day:

"The parties assemble at the beginning of the sermon and the Minister
at time convenient saith as followeth:"

In the forms of exhortation and admonition to the contracting parties
no liberty to vary the address is allowed the minister, but in the one
prayer which formed a part of the service, viz., the blessing at the
close of the ceremony it is ordered:

"The Minister commendeth them to God in this _or such like sort_."

The service ended with the singing of an appropriate Psalm.

In the service for burial of the dead it was ordered by the First Book
of Discipline that neither singing, prayer, nor preaching should be
engaged in, and this "on account of prevailing superstition." In this
matter, however, permission was granted to congregations to use their
discretion; Knox, we know, preached a sermon after the burial of the
Regent Moray, and the directions in the Book of Common Order clearly
leave much to be determined by the circumstances of the case:

"The corpse is reverently brought to the grave accompanied with the
Congregation without any further cere