Mexico weekly ledger., 1886-04-15

barren with family, faskus1 and to
be joyful ,aether of children" lst
Sam. 2;2a, ''ana all the increase of |
thine hoas (oskos-famils) shall die, :
! have about fifty of these passages
in the scriptures read by the apostles
where oikos Is used for family, and
where especial reference is made to
babes, infants. even those unborn.
oikioa (the word used in verse thir-
ty-twol has a wider range of signii
cation aud may embrace more than
the immediate family, (childrem bat
it is not used in Acts l6:I5 where 1t
is said that Lydia and her family
We're baptized,
The word g,tae (wifel is derived
from the participle gegona and signi-
Ties Zone that bears or brings forth
children" According to the bible
every adult female of the human race
was expected to be wife, and every
wife was expected to have family,
aud any exception to this rule was
viewed as mark of Gods displeas-
ure. 1t is with very bad taste that
MIR. Duncan asserts that there ares
many households without children.
That is one OF the denominations of
modern society, for which opposition
10 infant baptism (and the RESPONSE
blhties it involves) is largely respon.
sible. And further, it is contrary to
the laws of God for any but mar
ried woman to be a mother, and that
is the reason none but the wife is
designated by the word yu,se. So the
Greek tells me that Lydia was a wife
and had family, (oikos) as she had
right to, and that when she became
a believer she was baptized and then
had her family (oikos) baptized. Mr.
d. may 60 on supposing as much as
he pleases. His whole system is
built on guesses and suppositions.
Mr.. Duncan asserts that jumped
over the day of Pentecost and inti-
mates that it was because I was
afraid of the teachings of Acts, I'd
chap. But with his customary OBJ
tuseness he has failed to learn that
the baptism of Pentecost did not
come under the great commission
at all, (Mathhew 28:l9,20) except
In so far as by their rejection
of Christ as the promised Messiah
they had made Gentiles of them
selves. For the law of baptism says,
go We therefore. make disciples of
all the Gentiles, baptizing them into
the name," etc. If Mr.. d. will ex-
anime Acts 4:27. 2l :21, Rom. 9:24,
Gal. 2:14 he will see that the word
(ta ethaa) translated nations in Math
2S:l9 is used to distinguish the Gen
tiles from the people of Israel. The
baptisms on the day of Pentecost
were confined to the people of Israel
and were not, strictly speaking,
under the commission, while the hap
tism of Lydia and her family" and
the Philiplan ''jaiIor and all his, -
were under the commission and are
properly introduced to show how the
Apostles understood the commission.
If Mr.. D. was aware how vague and
unscriptural his ideas are of that I'd
of Acts he would not talk of any one
jumping over Pentecost. He says
Peter used the keys to open the
kingdom to the Jews on the day of
Pentecost. Let us have chapter
and verse where we are taught that
he did any such thing And if Peter
used the keys to open the kingdom
to the Jews, and no one else had the
right to use them, how did Paul get
the kingdom open for thesentrance OF
Lydia and the jailor at Philippi, q
heathen city? Did he borrow the
keys from Peter? And how did
Walter Scott get those keys on Nov.
Is, 1927, when he opened the king.
dom to penitents and baptized for
the remission of sins tthe first per.
sons in modern times?''
And now again Mr.. D. repeats that
stale and oft-exploded statement that
Lydia's home was not at Philippi
She said, "come into my house and
abide there" Nothing very transient
about that! We read in Acts % &c
that Paul dwelt two whole years al
Rome in his own hired house
Would Mr.. ID. say that he was a Wis
itor because Tarsus was his native
city? But what has Lydia done tc
Mr.. d. that he calls her such name
as ''haberaasher9' The only reason
that can think of is that the record
of her conversion and baptism, will
the baptism of her family, furnishes
when properly interpreted, so invinci
bic an argument for infant baptism
lNo, Mr.. D., LYDIA was an unoffend
, ling ''seller of purple" horn at Thy
atira. in Asia Minor, but now making
her home at Philippi, in Europe, ant
attending to q legitimate business
She had her family with her, fo
when she became believer in Chris
she was baptized and her family, ant