Family Lessons 148: Baptism & Parents

My 9x great-grandfather, Richard Gibson, who lived from 1653 to 1699, was baptised, as one might expect, in the Church of England. The records, however, are little jumbled, presumably owing to a clerk or vicar’s ineptitude or carelessness. A record exists for 1 December, 1663, for

Richard Gibson - sone of Georg Gibson, shall be 11 yearres of adge

-at St Cuthbert’s Church, Over Kellet, Lancashire. The records’ lack of clarity even causes the transcriber to question if it is referring to a baptism at all, though it can hardly be a marriage, and we know he did not die that year, so it is highly probable. Yet baptising a ten-year-old in a denomination which practises the sprinkling of infants in rather unusual. Some people waited for the summer to have their babes baptised so a family celebration might be enjoyed in the warmer weather when modest cottages were too small to host receptions. Waiting an entire decade rather stretches this point. Whether his was an utterly godless family, which seems unlikely for that century, or whether they had dabbled with nonconformist sects under Cromwell, especially Quakerism with its dislike of church buildings and religious ceremonies, seems rather more likely. Richard seems to have stuck with the state church thereafter, marrying Elizabeth Higgenson at St Cuthbert's 22 June, 1669, and receiving burial there on 17 July, 1699. Whatever attraction the Friends’ Meeting House initially held for Richard’s parents, George and Margaret Gibson (and assuming this explanation of the late baptism age is true), it held little for the son. Whether young Richard sought admission to the Church of England freely and of his own accord, or whether his parents made the choice for him, perhaps making the switch on account of the 1660s’ persecution of nonconformists, we shall never know.

Our parents’ influence can be a good or a bad thing. They can put us off church and Jesus Christ, or can they be the most winsome adverts for Him. Sometimes we must leave their shadow and refute their example; other times, it behoves us to recall their godly precedent and prayerful wrestling for their children’s souls.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Exodus 20:12