_Jac._ “This must be proven to me by the Scriptures; I believe the word of the prophet, who says: ‘The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; but the soul that sinneth it shall die.’” Ezekiel 18:20. _Inq._ “It is not to be understood thus; but the child is impure until it has received baptism.” _Jac._ “Are the infants purified through the external sign of the water?” _Inq._ “No; but they must be purified with water, and then with the Holy Ghost.” _Jac._ “Which washing precedes; the external or the internal?” _Inq._ “The external; and after these words: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost have been spoken, they ape purified internally.” _Jac._ “My lord, you say this without warrant of Scripture; for Christ says that those are hypocrites who first make clean the outside; but that first, that which is within shall be cleansed, and the outside will be clean also. Matthew 23:25,26. _Inq._ “You err, and do not understand the Scriptures, and have suffered yourself to be deceived by a set of vagabonds.” _Jac._ “My lord, I rely not upon men; but it has not been given me to understand it differently, and men can not give me the faith; for it is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught of God.’ Is. 54:13. And Jesus Christ says that no man can come to him, except it be given him of the Father. John 6:44. But now, my Lord, prove to me exclusively by the Scriptures, that the baptism of little infants is a planting and ordinance of God, and that it was practiced by the apostles, and I shall believe it.”
_Inq._ “The ordinance was made by Jesus Christ, when he said: ‘Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’” John 3:5. _Jac._ “Christ is not speaking to infants, but to a doctor in the law; nor does he speak of little infants that have just been born; for he says afterwards in the same chapter: ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.’” Verses 6–8.
After I had read this in his German testament, printed at Zurich, I said: “My lord, if the external baptism of infants is the new birth, we know whence it comes, for we can see it with our eyes.” _Inq._ “How do you understand it then?” _Jac._ “I understand it to be the new birth of him that was in the old Adam, in the body of sin; that we must put him off, and mortify and crucify the body of sin, together with all its lusts and affections, in order to be born again unto newness of life, after the new man Christ Jesus, as Paul testifies at length.” _Inq._ “This is to be understood with reference to adult persons; but the little infants that are impure, must be cleansed with water, that they may obtain salvation.” _Jac._ “What do you believe concerning infants that do not receive baptism here, according to the faith which you hold, namely, from the Pope?” _Inq._ “They all go to the devils.” _Jac._ “O my lord, it is written: ‘If you Judge, judge righteously.’ And Christ says: ‘With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged.’ Matt. 7:2. You condemn innocent infants, notwithstanding Christ says that theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3. _Inq._ “Those children were baptized or at least had received circumcision, which served them instead of baptism.” _Jac._ “The Scripture does not state that they were circumcised, and you cannot show whether they were Jewish or gentile children.” _Inq._ “The inhabitants of Jerusalem and thereabouts in Judea, were all Jews.” _Jac._ “Luke makes a different statement, saying (Acts 2:5) that at Jerusalem, in Judea, every kind of tongue under heaven was represented.” _Inq._ “Is it not a sad thing of you people, that you thus err in the Scriptures? Does not Paul say that he [Christ] cleansed his church with the washing of water?” _Jac._ “Paul says: ‘With the washing of water by the Word.’ Eph. 5:26. Now, then, can you cleanse infants by the Word? or only by the washing of water? for they cannot believe the Word.” _Inq._ “Then they are damned, since they do not believe.” _Jac._ “Don’t speak thus; for they are innocent and poor in spirit, and to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 5:3. He said as before: “First of all they must be purified by water baptism, in order to attain salvation.” _Jac._ “The apostle Peter clearly declares that as the ark which Noah had made preserved from death and the wrath of God those who had forsaken the company of the wicked and of the world, and had entered into it, so baptism is to us for salvation; but the apostle does not at all esteem the baptism which takes away the filth of the flesh, unless there be a good testimony of a good conscience before God; and I do not believe that infants have the testimony of a good conscience, since they know neither good nor evil.” 1 Peter 3:21.