The Atlanta constitution., 1900-11-19
OUR SOUTHERN PULPIT

cial)-At the Second Presbyterian church
of this city Rev Neander Nj. Woods,
d. d., recently preached an impressive dis
course on What PreSbyterianS Believe
and Teach as to the Salvation of IN
fants." and on account of the deep inn
preston which the discourse made upon
people here as well as because of the in
terest which is felt I'm the subject through
out the country at large. DIR. Woods has
consented to let 1t appear in The Constl-
tuition lie based his sermon upon the
text found i'm Mark X, 1916: And they
brought young children to Him that lie
should touch them; and His disciples re-
bulxed those that brought them. But
when Jesus saw 1t, lie was much dis
pleased and said unto them, Suffer the
little children to come unto me, ana
forbid them not; for of such is the king
dom of God And lie took them
UP in His arms. put His hands upon
them. and blessed them" Said Dr.
Woods:
The faith of the Presbyterian churches.
holding to the Westminster standards,
concerning those members OF the race
who die i'm infancy has long been ms
understood by multitudes Of Intelligent
people. I'm spite of ten thousand dehh'ls
and refutations there are still to be iouhu'
here and there good people who are VIII
ing to repeat the ungracious charge that
Presbyterians believe there are infants III
hell a span long. When those VINO re
peat this charge are called upon 10 sun
Stantiate il all they are able TO say II
that they have heard or read that gen
erations ago somebody claiming To pe
Presbyterian believed or taught that nor
rible doctrine They Will also add. per
hams. that the Westminster confession
talks about the salvation OF elect IN
fauts i'm such Il manner as Clearly Ah-
pIies that some little babes Wh" dle III
early life are lost The main design oi
this discourse Is to prove that TINS cudrSe
* baeelpss. and very unjust To milhoilS
of Christian people 1t Is simply dnlaN-
ing that any Intelligent ana honest man
could rend the confession OF our church
md consider the uttcrances OF ITS repre-
sentative teachers and then be willing TO
.,,, that our church either believes or
teaches that amy infants dying IN lhl"ho9
are lost. ,,,.
Tho doctrine OF infant damh1um We
,,a..tfc.lv unknown in the Chrlsli"'
.nurch for the first three hGhdred Sc'i'
of its histor;. During all th1t peIlOu u"
repreSeutatiye teacher Df The chut'h h''U
that children dying unbaptiZed Were Z"
danger of damnation. Hence the bap'lS"
of infants was usually delayed III f-1'''''
regardless of the known fact thd' t""u
sands OF little babes born soon ait'r o"0
Easter season died before aholh's
rived. Eut about the middle of the looith
c.,tnr, uudar tha teachings Of teW
brilliant ana learned men like Gregory Oh
Nazianzas and Ambrose of Milan sAcet-
dotaI idaas ryan To spread in TN" chur'h
ana TN. necessity of baptism came l" ~
mere and more emphasiz sd. \ httle idIVi
the great Augustine began 70 INSIST on va
wretched dogma of baptismal res"het'-
tiun. and openly taught the damhdt'"' "a
an children dviRc without Christian p''P
ti~.n From him the CathoIc church So
its faith on this subject, ana IN l''f !.
confirmed and published The cahohS anu
dtcrres Of the Council ot Trent oh' "a
,,nos,. dormas was thus expressed; In
fauts. unless baptized, cannot enlei
heaven" And that is the faiih oi the
whole Catholic world go this day. Ih'
GREAT Protestant reform"rs of the siN-
t,..nth century were. not entirely ~r3ht'
f,,u nm the errors of Rome. and ncariy
1I of thcrn believed substantially as dl'
Catholics concerning infants d}ihI uH-
b.tutized Az the close ot the @lA"'''"
century the whole Christian world was
practically one ia having serious doupt9
as 10 the salvation of the children oi
heatheu and ntidel parents VINO Gltd Ia
infancy.
fo.,ie: and in every part ,f Chris -ndom
therr was manifested "a disposition to
shrink from The logical consequences OF
the horribl, htresy of baptismal res rlerd-
ton No one was willing 20 say mat "a
little babe could suffer the fun penalties
of eternal hell Mere deprivation OF th'
higher JOYS of heaven was felt 20 he the
worst possible evil they could ever know
AS the yc@rs passed the gradual toEi"s
down OF sentiment went ON until M
theology of TIM, hearts OF most ProteSiantS
had i'm large me4sur. parted company
with the cold. harsh Statements of the
various d1 trinal symbols of the churches.
Hence. when tn great assembly "i
divIneS convened at Westminster. i'm l6i5
10 frame the furmulaT!rS which today CON
stitute the Greco of our own church. II
would probably have been "a ditiiCult thing
u lind considerable number of theolo-
giane i'm a Protestant 'mmunion VINO
would say amy little babe diving I'm infancy
could be lost. The result was that th-
great historic creed which that assembly
save To the world and which e. this daN
cNI rcsScS. with few ait nrau"nS, th :
faith OF millions of Prtsbyteriaus IN
America and Great Britain. takes the
most liberal ana advanced position i'm re
gard 10 the salvation of infants of any
great erect of Christeudom. Partly 10y
what il Says, ana partly by what n
omitS. that cree ri opens "A wide door ol
hope fur infants. II cuts mp 10y the roots
the error of baptiSmIl regeneration. ana
provides toi tht salvation of infants ass mo-
other srca' creed has ever done. it sues
far ytnd the Lutheran formularics and
the thirty-uiur articles of the Church OF
England. and whilst il may not have
gone quite as far as many might have
wished il had, ana may not be as out
spoken ON this subject as are most of the
ministers who accept d as their creed, IL
contains uot single word about little
babes that is harsh or severe. 1t takes it
for granted that infants are saved with
out once iutimating that the Lack of hap
tsm or the unbelief of their parents
could impcril their salvation.
There are two WAYS Of determining g
what a church teaches on a given sub
jcct one is. to lote the ha3itual utter
ances of its duly authoriz Il pastors and
Theological professors and the other is.
10 study its published creed. What do the
preachers ana theoloaiaus Of our churcn
teach on this subject? If even a smau
proportion Of them believe that unbap-
tizld infants dying I'm infancy. are lu. l.
somebody ought To know the fact There
are more than ten thousand teachers and
preachers in America who hold to the
Westminster standards ana if there IS
even one of them who believes or teaches
that any little babe whatever. dying in
infancy. perishes. ! haze never heard ot
il in all the years / have been "a pastor.
Or Charles Hodge declared that IN ait
his acquaintance with Presbyt. .riau
divines l. had never met one who stVuw-
ed that horrible belief. II would. there