Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-14
BAPTISM OF INFANTS.
The Arguments Against 1t to be
Found in the Scriptures
ARE NOT ARGUMENTS AT ALL.
Significance of Silence and the Language
That is Used.
REAL MEANING OF THE SACRAMENT
WRITTEN FOR THE DrsrArcH.I

| htHyuoHtV He0UeH.
1t is not easy to find fitting text for 9
sermon about infant baptism, because there
is nothing about infant baptism in the Bible.
There is good deal in the Old Testament
about infants in their relation 70 the Church.
and there is good deal in the New Testa-
ment about baptism. But concerning infant
baptism there is neither precept nor example.
We are assured, it is true, as in the words
which 1 have taken for q text, that our
Lord loved little children; that He took
them up in His arms and blessed them; that
He "blamed those who would have kept
them from Him." and that He "exhorted
all men to follow their innocency," declar-
ing that in the kingdom of heayen-which,
| whatever else it means, means the church
they are following the best ideal closest who
| are like little children, humble, trustful,
obedient ard loving. This is very beauti-
full and helpful, but it solves no problems
about infant baptism.
We are told, it is true, of whole house
holds being baptized in Christ's name, and
we know that most households have chill
dren in them; we read in St. Paul's letters
to various churches, letters in which he
particular exbortations made to children.
The promise" st. Peter said, sis unto you,
and to your children" But we can ex-
plain away all these things.
SIGNIFICANCE OF SILENCE.
Against the ministration Of baptism to
young children stands the argument OF
silence. And this silence is emphasized by
certain words of significant speech, in which
two spiritual qualifcations-one of them
repentance, and the other faith; both of
them impossible to infants-are set down as
necessary preliminary to the right reception
religion of this Initiatory sacrament. But this
silence of Holy Scripture-what does it
mean? And these forbidding words-what
do they mean? Before we make up our
minds that the whole Christian Church for
sixteen centuries was mistaken about this
matter, and that more than nine-tenths of
all Christians since the sixteenth century
have been mistaken also, we will do well to
study this subject with some care.
begin with this curious silence. 1t is
the truth that there is no more in the New
Testament about the admission of children
to the sacrament of baptism, than there is
about the admission of women to the sacra-
of the Lords Supper. What does this
silence signify?
1t is evident, whatever NAV have been the
practice in the ministry of the apostles. that
up to that era in religious history, little
children were admitted to the church OF God.
Jewish history makes this unquestionably
plain. 1t is evident, also, whatever Christ
and the twelve may have said or left unsaid,
that since that era in religious history, little
children have been continuously and by al
most universal consent admitted to the
church Of God. Christian history establishes
this beyond doubt.
do not believe that the idea ever once oc-
Cured to any OF the apostles that the re-
ceiving of little children into the covenant
OF God would ever be questioned by any
body. From time out of mind, they and
their fathers before them, had never heard
OF any other custom. They no more thought
Of setting down in so many words that little
children were baptized among them than
the secretary of a sewing society would
think of stating in her report that the
gingham aprons which the ladies had made
were made with thimbles. They were chiefly
interested, as all missionaries in pagan
lands are interested to-day. in the convert
ing and baptizing of grown men and women:
So they tell US good deal about that, and
they leave the babies out.
WOULD HAVE MADE A STIR.
They leave the babies out of the record,
but if they had left the babies out of the
church, then there would have been any
thing but silence. To the Jew it was just ss
significant and beautiful a thing as it is to
u.s. that parents and children should stand
together within the covenant of God. If
any change had been made in such a matter,
in custom which concerned every home; if
the new dispensatIon had been narrower
than the old; if there had appeared such
singular phenomenon as a church for grown
up people only; if there had been written
over the church doors, and preached In the
church sermons, that condition which is
sometimes set down in advertisements of
apartment houses, that no children were
wanted; if the new church had gone so
sharply in the face of the old; do you think
that we would have had only this perfectly
severe silence? The early Christians were
all Jews; they would certainly have
protested; their protest would have required
an answer, and that answer would have
found a place in the pages of the New
Testament
I ask no stronger assurance that the little
Christian children were just as lovingly
received into the Christian church as the
little Jewish children were into the Jewish
church, than this remarkable silence: The
silence means that the old passed into the
new, unquestioned.
So much for the silence. But just here
speech breaks in upon the silence. And the
speech takes shape in statement of certain
qualifications for baptism. Repent and be
baptized. Beliete, first, and then be bap-
tized And the little children cannot meet
either OF these tests. And SO perhaps the
church is, after all, only grown-up peo-
pies club. Let US see.
THE OTHER OBJECTION.
Repent and believe before baptism-why? |
Why, because baptism is an initiation into |
that great religious society, the church.
nature, made up of people who
are enlisted against sin. This,
description may not, as matter Of fact
accurately describe every member OF this
society, but it does describe all the honest
members; it leaves out Only the traitors.
And in order that it may, SO far as is hu-
manly possible, describe every member with
out exception, provision is made that
test shall be proposed in the initiatory sac
Nobody can join this Anti-Sin
Society unless he will declare himself
against sin. The theologic name for such
declaration is repentance.
Again, this society is made mp of those
who treasure certain great spiritual truths.
These truths are set down in brief in the
Christian creed. The Church is thus a
truth defense society. 1t exists to bear its
testimony to certain truths about God, and
His dealings with men which have been
handed down in sacred books, and by
q chosen order OF religious teach
ers from the days when men saw
with their eyes and heard with their
ears the plain manifestation, the adequate
revelation, of the will of God. This is the
church's open secret. To admit one into
this great society of witnesses who could
not do his part in bearing witness, and in