is difficult to understand why an infant may not receive the outward sign of admission into the church, just as the Jewish child received the outward sign of circumcision.
The objection that baptism ought only to be given to those who are old enough to repent and believe, does not appear a convincing one. We read in the New Testa- ment that the " houses" of Lydia and Stephanus were baptized, and that the jailer of Philippi and " all his" were baptized. It is very difficult to suppose that in no one of these three cases were there any children. (Acts xvi. 15, 33. 1 Cor. i. 16.)
The objection that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself never directly commanded infants to be baptized is not a weighty one. The church of the Jews, to which He came, had always been accustomed to admit children into the church by the sign of circumcision. The very fact that Jesus says nothing about the age for baptizing, goes far to prove that He intended no change to be made.*
* In considering the arguments in favor of infant baptism, there are two facts which ought to be duly pondered. They are extra- soriptural facts, and I have therefore purposely omitted them in the Expository Thoughts on this passage. But they are weighty facts, and may help some minds in coming to a conclusion.
1. One fact is the testimony of history to the almost universal practice of infant baptism in the early church. The proof of this is to be found in Wall's History of Infant Baptism. If infant baptism is so entirely opposed to the mind of Christ, as some say that it is, it is least a curious circumstance, that the early church should have been so ignorant on the subject.
2. The other fact is the notorious practice of baptizing the infant children of proselytes in the Jewish Church. The proof of this is to be found in Lightfoot's HoraB Hebraicae on St Matthew iii. 6. He says, for instance, " The Anabaptists object, ' it is not commanded to baptize infants — therefore they are not to be baptized.' To whom I answer, ' it is not forbidden to baptize infanta — therefore they are to