dren, and youth," etc. All turns here on the mean- ing attached by Irenasus to the word renasci; and this is clear from a passage (lib. iii, c. 19) in which he speaks of the Gospel commission. " When," says he, "[Christ] gave this commission of regenerating to Cod [renasci], he said, 'Go, teach all nations, baptizing them, etc' " Neander (whose loose admissions as to the entire question are eagerly made use of by Bap- tists) remarks of this passage that "it is difficult to conceive how the term regeneration can be employed in reference to this age (i. e. infancy), to denote any- thing else than baptism" (Ch. Hist. \, 314).
i 4. Justin Martyr, who wrote his "Apology" about A.D. 138, declares that there were among Christians, in his time, "many persons of both sexes, some sixty and some seventy years old, who had been made dis- ciples to Christ from their infancy" (</< tic -aicwv i/ia- 6i]Tii'Qi]aav T<ji XpicrrcJ, Apol. 2), and who must there- fore have been baptized during the lifetime of some of the apostles. In his Trypho he says, "We are cir- cumcised by baptism, with Christ's circumcision." If ek iraidwv means from infancy, which is probable, but
! not absolutely certain, this passage is conclusive.
These citations seem clearly to carry back the prac- tice of infant baptism to a date very near the apostles'
I time. If it were then " an innovation," we should have had some indication of so great a change ; but there is none. Up to the rise of the Anabaptists in the lGth century, the practice of infant baptism exist- ed in the church without opposition, or with only here and there an occasional word of question.
| (ii.) At the present clay the Greek Church, the Ro- man Church, and all Protestant churches (except the Baptists) hold to infant baptism. The usage rests on the following grounds (among others), viz. :
1. If the practice of infant baptism prevailed at the early period above mentioned, and all history is silent as to the time of its introduction, and gives no intima- tion of an}' excitement, controversy, or opposition to an innovation so remarkable as this must have been
I had it been obtruded on the churches without apos- tolical authority, we may fairly conclude, even were Scripture silent on the subject, that infant baptism has invariably prevailed in the church as a new Testament institution.
2. From the very nature of the case, the first sub- : jects of the baptism of Christ and his apostles were
adults converted from Judaism or heathenism. But although there are no express examples in the New Testament of Christ and his apostles baptizing infants, there is no proof that they were excluded. Jesus Christ actually blessed little children ; and it is diffi- cult to believe that such received his blessing, and yet were not to be members of the Gospel church. If Christ received them, and would have us " receive" them, how can we keep them out of the visible church ? Besides, if children were not to be baptized, it is reason- able to expect that they would have been expressly forbidden. As whole households were baptized, it is also probable there were children among them. : 3. Infants are included in Christ's act of redemp- tion, and are entitled thereby to the benefits and bless- ings of his church. Moreover, they are specifically embraced in the Gospel covenant. The covenant with Abraham, of which circumcision was made the sign and seal, is not to be regarded wholly, nor even chiefly, as a political and national covenant. The en- gagement was, (1.) That God would bless Abraham. This included justification, and the imputation of his faith for righteousness, with all spiritual blessings. (2.) That he should be the father of many nations. This refers quite as much to his sp' ritual seed as to his natural descendants. (3.) The promise of Canaan; and this included the higher promise of the eternal in- heritance (Ileb. xi, 9, 10). (4.) God would be " a God to Abraham and to his seed after him," a promise con- nected with the highest spiritual blessing, and which
BAPTISM
649
BAPTISM
included the justification of all believers in all nations. See Gal. iii, 8, 9. Now of this spiritual covenant, cir- cumcision was the sign and the sea!, and, being enjoined on all Abraham's posterity, was a constant publication of God's covenant grace among the descendants of Abraham, and its repetition a continual confirmation of that covenant. Baptism is, in like manner, the in- itiatory sign and seal of the same covenant, in its new and perfect form in Christ Jesus; otherwise the new covenant has no initiatory rite or sacrament. The argument that baptism has precisely the same federal and initiatory character as circumcision, and that it was instituted for the same ends, and in its place, is clearly established in several important passages of the New Testament. To these we can only refer (Col. ii, 10-12; Gal. iii, 27, 29 ; 1 Pet. iii, 21).
"The ultimate authority for infant baptism in the Losom of a regular Christian community and under a sufficient guarantee of pious education- — for only on these terms do we advocate it — lies in the universal import of Christ's person and work, which extends as far as humanity itself. Christ is not only able, but ■willing to save mankind of all classes, in all circum- stances, of both sexes, and at all stages of life, and consequently to provide for all these the necessary means of grace (comp. Gal. iii, 28). A Christ able and willing to save none but adults would be no such Christ as the Gospel presents. In the significant par- allel, Rom. v, 12 s(j., the apostle earnestly presses the point that the reign of righteousness and life is, in its divine intent and intrinsic efficacy, fully as compre- hensive as the reign of sin and doubt, to which chil- dren among the rest are subject — nay, far more com- prehensive and availing; and that the blessing and gain by the second Adam far outweigh the curse and the loss by the first. When the Lord, after solemnly declaring that all power is given to him in heaven and earth, commands his apostles to make all nations disci- ples (paBij-evar) by baptism and instruction, there is not the least reason for limiting this to those of maturer age. Or do nations consist only of men, and not of youth also, and children ? According to Ps. cxvii, 1, 'all nations,' and according to Ps. cl, G, 'every thing that hath breath,' should praise the Lord; and that these include babes and sucklings is explicitly told us in Ps. viii, 2, and Matt. Nxi, 16. With this is closely connected the beautiful idea, already clearly brought out by Irenaeus, the disciple of Poly carp, and the faith- ful medium of the apostolical tradition descending from John's field of labor — the idea that Jesus Christ be- came for children a child, for youth a youth, for men a man; and by thus entering into the various condi- tions and stages of our earthly existence, sanctified ev- ery period of life, infancy as well as manhood. The Baptist view robs the Saviour's infancy of its profound and cheering significance.'" — Sehaff, Apost. Ch., § 143.