Question. Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe> and to do9 as they have promised for thee?
Answer. Yes verily (truly); and by God’s help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvationy through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life’s end.

Although God will never force you to keep your three Baptism Vows, at the same time your free will cannot keep them without his grace (St. John 15, 4 and 5). And you must always remember that it was he who “called” (“invited, welcomed”) you into the Church. He chose you, before you chose him.

The “state of salvation” means the “state of being safe.” When you were in your Anderson in your back-garden, or in Baum’s Shelter in Boston Street, or in a tube-station, during an air-raid you were in a “state of salvation” from shrapnel and blast.

In the Catechism, the words mean “being safe from hell,” worse than any air-raid.

The Church is often pictured as a ship (which is the reason why part of it is called the nave); and the Baptism Service speaks about the baby passing safely through “the waves of this troublesome world.” God called you to baptism to make you safe in the Church, as safe as Noah in his ark: safe for ever.

So you say, “Thank you, God.” It is a good thing to find out from your mother or your priest the day on which you were baptized, and to say a special Thank You then in your prayers - in church, if you can. And always you pray for grace to stay in the safe Church, built on and made by Jesus Christ our Saviour; the Church which will never be destroyed (St. Matthew 7, 24-27).