1. Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the person baptized into the visible Church, but also to be a sign and seal of the covenant of grace to that person, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of the remission of sins, and of his being given up to God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life. This sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in his Church until the end of the world.

2. The outward element to be used in this sacrament is water, with which the person is to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, by a minister of the Gospel, lawfully called to this.

3. Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water on the person.

4. Not only those who actually profess faith in and obedience to Christ, but also the infants of one believing parent, or both, are to be baptized.

5. Although it is a great sin to neglect this ordinance or to treat it with contempt, yet grace and salvation are not inseparably connected to it; a person can be regenerated, or saved, without it, and not all people who are baptized are necessarily regenerated.

6. The effectiveness of baptism is not tied to that moment of time when it is administered. Nevertheless, by the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Spirit to those whom that grace belongs to, whether of age or infants, according to the counsel of God’s own will, in his appointed time.

7. The sacrament of baptism is to be administered to any person only once.