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John Calvin on Infant Baptism
Excerpt
from Institutes of the Christian Religion,
Book 4, Chapter 16;
translated by Henry Beveridge
Edited
by Dennis Bratcher
[Editor’s Note: With the exception of replacing the first paragraphs
with a more exact translation of the original French edition, the changes to the
translation mostly involve substituting more modern words for archaic
ones, and using synonyms for seldom used terms (such as "obstinate" for
"contumacious," or "womb" for "matrix"). Other minor changes include
breaking long paragraphs into shorter ones, updating punctuation, and
using American English in place of the British spelling of some words.]
1. Now, inasmuch as we see that the practice which
we have of baptizing little children is impugned and assailed by some
malignant spirits, as if it had not been appointed by God, but newly
invented by men, or at least some years after the days of the Apostles,
I think it will be very seasonable to confirm weak consciences in this
matter, and refute the lying objections which such seducers might make,
in order to overthrow the truth of God in the hearts of the simple, who
might not be skilled in answering their cavils and objections.
The argument by which infant baptism is assailed is, no doubt, specious, that is, that it is not founded on
the institution of God, but was introduced merely by human presumption
and depraved curiosity, and afterwards, by a foolish facility, rashly
received in practice; whereas a sacrament has not a thread to hang upon,
if it rest not on the sure foundation of the word of God. But what if,
when the matter is properly attended to, it should be found that a
calumny is falsely and unjustly brought against the holy ordinance of
the Lord? -1-
First, then, let us inquire into its origin. Should
it appear to have been devised merely by human rashness, let us abandon
it, and regulate the true observance of baptism entirely by the will of
the Lord; but should it be proved to be by no means destitute of his
sure authority, let us beware of discarding the sacred institutions of
God, and thereby insulting their Author.
2. In the first place, then, it is
a well-known doctrine, and one as to which all the pious are agreed, -
that the right consideration of signs does not lie merely in the outward
ceremonies but depends chiefly on the promise and the spiritual
mysteries, to typify which, the ceremonies themselves are appointed. He,
therefore, who would thoroughly understand the effect of baptism - its
object and true character - must not stop short at the element and
corporeal object, but look forward to the divine promises which are
therein offered to us, and rise to the internal secrets which are
therein represented. He who understands these has reached the solid
truth, and, so to speak, the whole substance of baptism, and will thence
perceive the nature and use of outward sprinkling.
On the other hand, he who passes them by in
contempt, and keeps his thoughts entirely fixed on the visible ceremony,
will neither understand the force, nor the proper nature of baptism, nor
comprehend what is meant, or what end is gained by the use of water.
This is confirmed by passages of Scripture too numerous and too clear to
make it necessary here to discuss them more at length. It remains,
therefore, to inquire into the nature and efficacy of baptism, as
evinced by the promises therein given. Scripture shows, first, that it
points to that cleansing from sin which we obtain by the blood of
Christ; and, secondly, to the mortification of the flesh, which consists
in participation in his death, by which believers are regenerated to
newness of life, and thereby to the fellowship of Christ. To these
general heads may be referred all that the Scriptures teach concerning
baptism, with this addition, that it is also a symbol to testify our
religion to men.
3. Now, since prior to the
institution of baptism, the people of God had circumcision in its stead,
let us see how far these two signs differ, and how far they resemble
each other. In this way it will appear what analogy there is between
them. When the Lord enjoins Abraham to observe circumcision (Gen.
17:10), he premises that he would be a God unto him and to his seed,
adding, that in himself was a perfect sufficiency of all things, and
that Abraham might reckon on his hand as a fountain of every blessing.
These words include the promise of eternal life, as our Savior
interprets when he employs it to prove the immortality and resurrection
of believers: "God," says he, "is not the God of the dead, but of the
living" (Matt. 22:32).
Hence, too, Paul, when showing to the Ephesians how
great the destruction was from which the Lord had delivered them, seeing
that they had not been admitted to the covenant of circumcision, infers
that at that time they were aliens from the covenant of promise, without
God, and without hope (Eph. 2:12), all these being comprehended in the
covenant.
Now, the first access to God, the first entrance to
immortal life, is the remission of sins. Hence it follows, that this
corresponds to the promise of our cleansing in baptism. The Lord
afterwards covenants with Abraham, that he is to walk before him in
sincerity and innocence of heart: this applies to mortification or
regeneration. And lest any should doubt whether circumcision were the
sign of mortification, Moses explains more clearly elsewhere when he
exhorts the people of Israel to circumcise the foreskin of their heart,
because the Lord had chosen them for his own people, out of all the
nations of the earth.
As the Lord, in choosing the posterity of Abraham
for his people, commands them to be circumcised, so Moses declares that
they are to be circumcised in heart, thus explaining what is typified by
that carnal circumcision. Then, lest any one should attempt this in his
own strength, he shows that it is the work of divine grace. All this is
so often inculcated by the prophets, that there is no occasion here to
collect the passages which everywhere occur.
We have, therefore, a spiritual promise given to
the fathers in circumcision, similar to that which is given to us in
baptism, since it figured to them both the forgiveness of sins and the
mortification of the flesh. Besides, as we have shown that Christ, in
whom both of these reside, is the foundation of baptism, so must he also
be the foundation of circumcision. For he is promised to Abraham, and in
him all nations are blessed. To seal this grace, the sign of
circumcision is added.
4. There is now no difficulty in seeing wherein the
two signs agree, and wherein they differ. The promise, in which we have
shown that the power of the signs consists, is one in both, that is, the
promise of the paternal favor of God, of forgiveness of sins, and
eternal life. And the thing figured is one and the same, that is,
regeneration. The foundation on which the completion of these things
depends is one in both.
Therefore, there is no difference in the internal
meaning, from which the whole power and peculiar nature of the sacrament
is to be estimated. The only difference which remains is in the external
ceremony, which is the least part of it, the chief part consisting in
the promise and the thing signified. Hence we may conclude that every
thing applicable to circumcision applies also to baptism, excepting
always the difference in the visible ceremony.
To this analogy and comparison we are led by that
rule of the apostle, in which he enjoins us to bring every
interpretation of Scripture to the analogy of faith (Rom. 12:3, 6). And
certainly in this matter the truth may almost be felt. For just as
circumcision, which was a kind of badge to the Jews, assuring them that
they were adopted as the people and family of God, was their first
entrance into the Church, while they, in their turn, professed their
allegiance to God, so now we are initiated by baptism, so as to be
enrolled among his people, and at the same time swear unto his name.
Hence it is incontrovertible, that baptism has been substituted for
circumcision, and performs the same office.
5. Now, if we are to investigate whether or not baptism is justly
given to infants, will we not say that the man trifles, or rather is
delirious, who would stop short at the element of water, and the
external observance, and not allow his mind to rise to the spiritual
mystery? If reason is listened to, it will undoubtedly appear that
baptism is properly administered to infants as a thing due to them. The
Lord did not anciently bestow circumcision upon them without making them
partakers of all the things signified by circumcision. He would have
deluded his people with mere imposture, had he quieted them with
fallacious symbols: the very idea is shocking.
He distinctly declares that the circumcision of the
infant will be instead of a seal of the promise of the covenant. But if
the covenant remains firm and fixed, it is no less applicable to the
children of Christians in the present day, than to the children of the
Jews under the Old Testament. Now, if they are partakers of the thing
signified, how can they be denied the sign? If they obtain the reality,
how can they be refused the figure? The external sign is so united in
the sacrament with the word, that it cannot be separated from it; but if
they can be separated, to which of the two shall we attach the greater
value?
Surely, when we see that the sign is subservient to
the word, we shall say that it is subordinate, and assign it the
inferior place. Since, then, the word of baptism is destined for infants
why should we deny them the sign which is an appendage of the word? This
one reason, could no other be furnished, would be amply sufficient to
refute all gainsayers. The objection, that there was a fixed day for
circumcision, is a mere quibble. We admit that we are not now, like the
Jews, tied down to certain days; but when the Lord declares that though
he prescribes no day, yet he is pleased that infants shall be formally
admitted to his covenant, what more do we ask?
6. Scripture gives us a still clearer knowledge of
the truth. For it is most evident that the covenant, which the Lord once
made with Abraham, is not less applicable to Christians now than it was
anciently to the Jewish people, and, therefore, that word has no less
reference to Christians than to Jews. Unless, indeed, we imagine that
Christ, by his advent, diminished or curtailed the grace of the Father -
an idea not free from appalling blasphemy. Wherefore, both the children
of the Jews, because, when made heirs of that covenant, they were
separated from the heathen, were called a holy seed, and for the same
reason the children of Christians, or those who have only one believing
parent, are called holy, and, by the testimony of the apostle, differ
from the impure seed of idolaters. Then, since the Lord, immediately
after the covenant was made with Abraham ordered it to be sealed,
infants by an outward sacrament, how can it be said that Christians are
not to attest it in the present day, and seal it in their children?
Let it not be objected that the only symbol by
which the Lord ordered his covenant to be confirmed was that of
circumcision, which was long ago abrogated. It is easy to answer, that
in accordance with the form of the old dispensation, he appointed
circumcision to confirm his covenant, but that it being abrogated, the
same reason for confirmation still continues, a reason which we have in
common with the Jews.
Hence it is always necessary carefully to consider
what is common to both, and wherein they differed from us. The covenant
is common, and the reason for confirming it is common. The mode of
confirming it is so far different that they had circumcision, instead of
which we now have baptism. Otherwise, if the testimony by which the Jews
were assured of the salvation of their seed is taken from us, the
consequence will be, that, by the advent of Christ, the grace of God,
which was formerly given to the Jews, is more obscure and less perfectly
attested to us. If this cannot be said without extreme insult to Christ,
by whom the infinite goodness of the Father has been more brightly and
benignly than ever shed upon the earth, and declared to men, it must be
confessed that it cannot be more confined, and less clearly manifested,
than under the obscure shadows of the law.
7. Hence our Lord Jesus Christ, to give an example
from which the world might learn that he had come to enlarge rather than
to limit the grace of the Father, kindly takes the little children in
his arms, and rebukes his disciples for attempting to prevent them from
coming (Matt. 19:13), because they were keeping those to whom the
kingdom of heaven belonged away from him, through whom alone there is
access to heaven.
But it will be asked, What resemblance is there
between baptism and our Savior embracing little children? He is not said
to have baptized, but to have received, embraced, and blessed them; and,
therefore, if we would imitate his example, we must give infants the
benefit of our prayers, not baptize them.
But let us attend to the act of our Savior a little
more carefully than these men do. For we must not lightly overlook the
fact, that our Savior, in ordering little children to be brought to him,
adds the reason, "of such is the kingdom of heaven." And he afterwards
testifies his good will by act, when he embraces them, and with prayer
and benediction commends them to his Father. If it is right that
children should be brought to Christ, why should they not be admitted to
baptism, the symbol of our communion and fellowship with Christ? If the
kingdom of heaven is theirs, why should they be denied the sign by which
access, as it were, is opened to the Church, that being admitted into it
they may be enrolled among the heirs of the heavenly kingdom? How unjust
were we to drive away those whom Christ invites to himself, to spoil
those whom he adorns with his gifts, to exclude those whom he
spontaneously admits.
But if we insist on discussing the difference
between our Savior’s act and baptism, in how much higher esteem shall we
hold baptism, (by which we testify that infants are included in the
divine covenant,) than the taking up, embracing, laying hands on
children, and praying over them, acts by which Christ, when present,
declares both that they are his, and are sanctified by him?
By the other cavils by which the objectors endeavor to evade this
passage, they only betray their ignorance: they quibble that, because
our Savior says, "Suffer little children to come," they must have been
several years old, and fit to come. But they are called by the
Evangelists brethe kai paidia, terms which denote infants
still at their mothers' breasts. The term "come" is used simply for
"approach."
See the quibbles to which men are obliged to have
recourse when they have hardened themselves against the truth! There is
nothing more solid in their allegation, that the kingdom of heaven is
not assigned to children, but to those like children, since the
expression is, "of such," not "of themselves." If this is admitted, what
will be the reason which our Savior employs to show that they are not
strangers to him from nonage? When he orders that little children shall
be allowed to come to him, nothing is plainer than that mere infancy is
meant. Lest this should seem absurd, he adds, "Of such is the kingdom of
heaven." But if infants must necessarily be comprehended the expression,
"of such," clearly shows that infants themselves, and those like them,
are intended.
8. Every one must now see that infant baptism, which
receives such strong support from Scripture, is by no means of human
invention. Nor is there anything plausible in the objection, that we no
where read of even one infant having been baptized by the hands of the
apostles. For although this is not expressly narrated by the
Evangelists, yet as they are not expressly excluded when mention is made
of any baptized family (Acts 16:15, 32), what man of sense will argue
from this that they were not baptized?
If such kinds of argument were good, it would be
necessary, in like manner, to prohibit women from the Lord's Supper,
since we do not read that they were ever admitted to it in the days of
the apostles. But here we are contented with the rule of faith. For when
we reflect on the nature of the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, we
easily judge who the persons are to whom the use of it is to be
communicated. The same we observe in the case of baptism. For, attending
to the end for which it was instituted, we clearly perceive that it is
not less applicable to children than to those of more advanced years and
that therefore, they cannot be deprived of it without manifest fraud to
the will of its divine Author. The assertion which they disseminate
among the common people, that a long series of years elapsed after the
resurrection at Christ, during which infant baptism was unknown, is a
shameful falsehood, since there is no writer, however ancient, who does
not trace its origin to the days of the apostles.
9. It remains briefly to indicate what benefit
redounds from the observance, both to believers who bring their children
to the church to be baptized, and to the infants themselves, to whom the
sacred water is applied, that no one may despise the ordinance as
useless or superfluous: though any one who would think of ridiculing
baptism under this pretence, would also ridicule the divine ordinance of
circumcision: for what can they adduce to impugn the one, that may not
be retorted against the other? Thus the Lord punishes the arrogance of
those who forthwith condemn whatever their carnal sense cannot
comprehend.
But God furnishes us with other weapons to repress
their stupidity. His holy institution, from which we feel that our faith
derives admirable consolation, deserves not to be called superfluous.
For the divine symbol communicated to the child, as with the impress of
a seal, confirms the promise given to the godly parent, and declares
that the Lord will be a God not to him only but to his seed: not merely
visiting him with his grace and goodness, but his posterity also to the
thousandth generation.
When the infinite goodness of God is thus
displayed, it, in the first place, furnishes most ample materials for
proclaiming his glory, and fills pious breasts with no ordinary joy,
urging them more strongly to love their affectionate Parent, when they
see that, on their account, he extends his care to their posterity. I am
not moved by the objection that the promise ought to be sufficient to
confirm the salvation of our children. It has seemed otherwise to God,
who, seeing our weakness, has herein been pleased to condescend to it.
Let those, then, who embrace the promise of mercy to their children,
consider it as their duty to offer them to the Church, to be sealed with
the symbol of mercy, and animate themselves to surer confidence, on
seeing with the bodily eye the covenant of the Lord engraved on the
bodies of their children.
On the other hand, children derive some benefit
from their baptism, when, being ingrafted into the body of the church,
they are made an object of greater interest to the other members. Then
when they have grown up, they are thereby strongly urged to an earnest
desire of serving God, who has received them as sons by the formal
symbol of adoption, before, from nonage, they were able to recognize him
as their Father. In summary, we ought to stand greatly in awe of the
denunciations that God will take vengeance on every one who despises to
impress the symbol of the covenant on his child, (Genesis 17:15) such
contempt being a rejection, and, as it were, renunciation of the offered
grace.
10. Let us now discuss the arguments by which some
furious madmen cease not to assail this holy ordinance of God. And,
first, feeling themselves pressed beyond measure by the resemblance
between baptism and circumcision, they contend that there is a wide
difference between the two signs, that the one has nothing in common
with the other. They maintain that the things meant are different, that
the covenant is altogether different, and that the persons included
under the name of children are different.
When they first proceed to the proof, they pretend
that circumcision was a figure of mortification, not of baptism. This we
willingly concede to them, for it admirably supports our view, in
support of which the only proof we use is, that baptism and circumcision
are signs of mortification. Hence we conclude that the one was
substituted for the other, baptism representing to us the very thing
which circumcision signified to the Jews. In asserting a difference of
covenant, with what barbarian audacity do they corrupt and destroy
scripture? and that not in one passage only, but so as not to leave any
passage safe and entire. The Jews they depict as so carnal as to
resemble brutes more than men, representing the covenant which was made
with them as reaching no farther than a temporary life, and the promises
which were given to them as dwindling down into present and corporeal
blessings.
If this dogma is received, what remains but that
the Jewish nation was overloaded for a time with divine kindness (just
as swine are gorged in their sty), that they might at last perish
eternally? Whenever we quote circumcision and the promises annexed to
it, they answer, that circumcision was a literal sign, and that its
promises were carnal.
11. Certainly, if circumcision was a literal sign,
the same view must be taken of baptism, since, in the second chapter to
the Colossians, the apostle makes the one to be not a bit more spiritual
than the other. For he says that in Christ we "are circumcised with the
circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of
the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ." In explanation of his
sentiment he immediately adds, that we are "buried with him in baptism."
What do these words mean, but just that the truth
and completion of baptism is the truth and completion of circumcision,
since they represent one thing? For his object is to show that baptism
is the same thing to Christians that circumcision formerly was to the
Jews. Now, since we have already clearly shown that the promises of both
signs, and the mysteries which are represented by them, agree, we shall
not dwell on the point longer at present. I would only remind believers
to reflect, without anything being said by me, whether that is to be
regarded as an earthly and literal sign, which has nothing heavenly or
spiritual under it.
But lest they should blind the simple with their
smoke, we shall, in passing, dispose of one objection by which they
cloak this most impudent falsehood. It is absolutely certain that the
original promises comprehending the covenant which God made with the
Israelites under the old dispensation were spiritual, and had reference
to eternal life, and were, of course, in like manner spiritually
received by the fathers, that they might thence entertain a sure hope of
immortality, and aspire to it with their whole soul. Meanwhile, we are
far from denying that he testified his kindness to them by carnal and
earthly blessings; though we hold that by these the hope of spiritual
promises was confirmed.
In this manner, when he promised eternal
blessedness to his servant Abraham, he, in order to place a manifest
indication of favor before his eye, added the promise of possession of
the land of Canaan. In the same way we should understand all the
terrestrial promises which were given to the Jewish nation, the
spiritual promise, as the head to which the others bore reference,
always holding the first place. Having handled this subject fully when
treating of the difference between the old and the hew dispensations, I
now only glance at it.
12. Under the appellation of "children" the
difference they observe is this that the children of Abraham, under the
old dispensation, were those who derived their origin from his seed. But
now the appellation is given to those who imitate his faith; therefore
that physical infancy that was ingrafted into the fellowship of the
covenant by circumcision typified the spiritual children of the new
covenant, who are regenerated by the word of God to immortal life.
In these words we indeed discover a small spark of
truth, but these giddy spirits err grievously in this, that laying hold
of whatever comes first to their hand, when they ought to proceed
farther and compare many things together; they obstinately fasten upon
one single word. Hence it cannot but happen that they are every now and
then deluded, because they do not exert themselves to obtain a full
knowledge of any subject.
We certainly admit that the physical seed of
Abraham for a time held the place of the spiritual seed, which is
ingrafted into him by faith, (Gal. 4:28; Rom. 4:12). For we are called
his sons, though we have no natural relationship with him. But if they
mean, as they not obscurely show, that the spiritual promise was never
made to the physical seed of Abraham, they are greatly mistaken. We
must, therefore, take a better aim, one to which we are directed by the
infallible guidance of Scripture. The Lord therefore promises to Abraham
that he shall have a seed in whom all the nations of the earth will be
blessed, and at the same time assures him that he will be a God both to
him and his seed. All who in faith receive Christ as the author of the
blessing are the heirs of this promise, and accordingly are called the
children of Abraham.
13. Although, after the resurrection of Christ, the
boundaries of the kingdom of God began to be extended far and wide into
all nations indiscriminately, so that, according to the declaration of
Christ, believers were collected from all quarters to sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:11), still,
for many ages before, the Jews had enjoyed this great mercy. And as he
had selected them (while passing by all other nations) to be for a time
the depositaries of his favor, he designated them as his peculiar
purchased people (Exod. 19:5).
In attestation of this kindness, he appointed
circumcision, by which symbol the Jews were taught that God watched over
their safety, and they were thereby raised to the hope of eternal life.
For what can ever be wanting to him whom God has once taken under his
protection? Wherefore the apostle, to prove that the Gentiles, as well
as the Jews, were the children of Abraham, speaks in this way: "Faith
was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned?
when he was in circumcisions or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal
of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised:
that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not
circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed to them also: and the
father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but
who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he
had yet being uncircumcised" (Rom. 4:9-12).
Do we not see that both are made equal in dignity?
For, to the time appointed by the divine decree, he was the father of
circumcision. But when, as the apostle elsewhere writes (Eph. 2:14), the
wall of partition, which separated the Gentiles from the Jews was broken
down, to them, also, access was given to the kingdom of God, and he
became their fathers and that without the sign of circumcisions, its
place being supplied by baptism. In saying expressly that Abraham was
not the feather of those who were of the circumcision only, his object
was to repress the arrogance of some who, laying aside all regard to
godliness, plumed themselves on mere ceremonies. In like manner, we may,
in the present day, refute the vanity of those who, in baptism, seek
nothing but water.
14. But in opposition to this is produced a passage
from the Epistle to the Romans, in which the apostle says, that those
who are of the flesh are not the children of Abraham, but that those
only who are the children of promise are considered as the seed (Rom.
9:7). For he seems to insinuate, that physical relationship to Abraham,
which we think of some consequence, is nothing.
But we must attend carefully to the subject which
the apostle is there treating. His object was to show to the Jews that
the goodness of God was not restricted to the seed of Abraham, nay, that
of itself it contributes nothing, produces, in proof of the fact, the
cases of Ishmael and Esau. These being rejected, just as if they had
been strangers, although, according to the flesh, they were the genuine
offspring of Abraham, the blessing resides in Isaac and Jacob.
This proves what he afterwards affirms, that is,
that salvation depends on the mercy which God bestows on whomsoever he
pleases, but that the Jews have no ground to glory or plume themselves
on the name of the covenant, unless they keep the law of the covenant,
that is, obey the word. On the other hand, after casting down their vain
confidence in their origin, because he was aware that the covenant which
had been made with the posterity of Abraham could not properly prove
fruitless, he declares, that due honor should still be paid to physical
relationship to Abraham, in consequence of which, the Jews were the
primary and native heirs of the gospel, unless in so far as they were,
for their ingratitude, rejected as unworthy, and yet rejected so as not
to leave their nations utterly destitute of the heavenly blessing.
For this reason, though they were obstinate
breakers of the covenant, he styles them holy (such respect does he pay
to the holy generation which God had honored with his sacred covenant),
while we, in comparison of them, are termed posthumous, or abortive
children of Abraham and that not by nature, but by adoption, just as if
a twig were broken from its own tree, and ingrafted on another stock.
Therefore, that they might not be defrauded of
their privilege, it was necessary that the gospel should first be
preached to them. For they are, as it were, the first-born in the family
of God. The honor due, on this account, must therefore be paid them,
until they have rejected the offer, and, by their ingratitude, caused it
to be transferred to the Gentiles. Nor, however great the stubbornness
with which they persist in warring against the gospel, are we therefore
to despise them. We must consider, that in respect of the promise, the
blessing of God still resides among them; And, as the apostle testifies,
will never entirely depart from them, seeing that "the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance" (Rom. 11:29).
15. Such is the value of the
promise given to the posterity of Abraham, - such the balance in which
it is to be weighed. Hence though we have no doubt that in
distinguishing the children of God from illegitimate children and
foreigners that the election of God reigns freely, we, at the same time,
perceive that he was pleased especially to embrace the seed of Abraham
with his mercy, and, for the better attestation of it, to seal it by
circumcision.
The case of the Christian Church is entirely of the
same description; for as Paul there declares that the Jews are
sanctified by their parents, so he elsewhere says that the children of
Christians derive sanctification from their parents. Hence it is
inferred that those who are chargeable with impurity are justly
separated from others. Now who can have any doubt as to the falsehood of
their subsequent averments that is, that the infants who were formerly
circumcised only typified the spiritual infancy which is produced by the
regeneration of the word of God? When the apostle says, that "Jesus
Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to
confirm the promises made unto the fathers" (Rom. 15:8), he does not
philosophize subtlety, as if he had said, “Since the covenant made with
Abraham has respect unto his seed, Christ, in order to perform and
discharge the promise made by the Father, came for the salvation of the
Jewish nation.”
Do you see how he considers that, after the
resurrection of Christ, the promise is to be fulfilled to the seed of
Abraham, not allegorically, but literally, as the words express? To the
same effect is the declaration of Peter to the Jews: "The promise is
unto you and to your children" (Acts 2:39); and in the next chapters he
calls them the children of the covenant, that is, heirs. Not widely
different from this is the other passage of the apostle, above quoted,
in which he regards and describes circumcision performed on infants as
an attestation to the communion which they have with Christ.
And, indeed, if we listen to the absurdities of
those men, what will become of the promise by which the Lord, in the
second commandment of his law, engages to be gracious to the seed of his
servants for a thousand generations? Shall we here have recourse to
allegory? This would be the merest quibble. Shall we say that it has
been abrogated? In this way, we should do away with the law which Christ
came not to destroy, but to fulfill, inasmuch as it turns to our
everlasting good. Therefore, let it be without controversy, that God is
so good and liberal to his people, that he is pleased, as a mark of his
favor, to extend their privileges to the children born to them.
16. The distinctions which these men attempt to
draw between baptism and circumcision are not only ridiculous, and void
of all semblance of reason, but at variance with each other. For, when
they affirm that baptism refers to the first day of spiritual contest,
and circumcision to the eighth day, mortification being already
accomplished they immediately forget the distinction, and change their
song, representing circumcision as typifying the mortification of the
flesh, and baptism as the burial, which is given to none but those who
are already dead. What are these giddy contradictions but frenzied
dreams?
According to the former view, baptism ought to
precede circumcision; according to the latter, it should come after it.
It is not the first time we have seen the minds of men wander to and fro
when they substitute their dreams for the infallible word of God. We
hold, therefore, that their former distinction is a mere imagination.
Were we disposed to make the allegory of the eighth day, theirs would
not be the proper mode of it.
It would be much better with the early Christians
to refer the number eight to the resurrection, which took place on the
eighth day, and on which we know that newness of life depends; or to the
whole course of the present life, during which, mortification ought to
be in progress, only terminating when life itself terminates. Yet, it
would seem that God intended to provide for the tenderness of infancy by
deferring circumcision to the eighth day, as the wound would have been
more dangerous if inflicted immediately after birth. How much more
rational is the declaration of Scripture, that we, when already dead,
are buried by baptism (Rom. 6:4), since it distinctly states, that we
are buried into death that we may thoroughly die, and thenceforth aim at
that mortification?
Equally ingenious is their cavil, that women should
not be baptized if baptism is to be made conformable to circumcision.
For if it is most certain that the sanctification of the seed of Israel
was attested by the sign of circumcision, it cannot be doubted that it
was appointed alike for the sanctification of males and females. But
though the rite could only be performed on males, yet the females were,
through them, partners and associates in circumcision. Wherefore,
disregarding all such quibbling distinctions, let us fix on the very
complete resemblance between baptism and circumcision, as seen in the
internal office, the promise, the use, and the effect.
17. They seem to think they produce their strongest
reason for denying baptism to children, when they allege that they are
as yet unfit, from nonage, to understand the mystery which is there
sealed, that is, spiritual regeneration, which is not applicable to
earliest infancy. Hence they infer that children are only to be regarded
as sons of Adam until they have attained an age fit for the reception of
the second birth.
But all this is directly opposed to the truth of
God. For if they are to be accounted sons of Adam, they are left in
death, since, in Adam, we can do nothing but die. On the contrary,
Christ bids them be brought to him. Why so? Because he is life.
Therefore, that he may quicken them, he makes them partners with
himself; whereas these men would drive them away from Christ, and
adjudge them to death.
For if they pretend that infants do not perish when
they are accounted the sons of Adam, the error is more than sufficiently
confuted by the testimony of Scripture (1 Cor. 15:22). For, seeing it
declares that in Adam all die, it follows, that no hope of life remains
unless in Christ. Therefore that we may become heirs of life, we must
communicate with him. Again, seeing it is elsewhere written that we are
all by nature the children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) and conceived in sin (Ps.
51:5) of which condemnation is the inseparable attendant, we must part
with our own nature before we have any access to the kingdom of God. And
what can be clearer than the expression, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God?" (1 Cor. 15:50).
Therefore, let every thing that is our own be
abolished, (this cannot be without regeneration,) and then we shall
perceive this possession of the kingdom. In summary, if Christ speaks
truly when he declares that he is life, we must necessarily be ingrafted
into him by whom we are delivered from the bondage of death.
But how, they ask, are infants regenerated, when
not possessing a knowledge of either good or evil? We answer, that the
work of God, though beyond the reach of our capacity, is not therefore
null. Moreover, infants who are to be saved (and that some are saved at
this age is certain) must, without question, be previously regenerated
by the Lord. For if they bring innate corruption with them from their
mother's womb, they must be purified before they can be admitted into
the kingdom of God, into which shall not enter any thing that defiles
(Rev. 21:27). If they are born sinners, as David and Paul affirm, they
must either remain unaccepted and hated by God, or be justified. And why
do we ask more, when the Judge himself publicly declares, that "except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God?" (John 3:3).
But to silence this class of objectors, God gave,
in the case of John the Baptist, whom he sanctified from his mother's
womb (Luke 1:15), a proof of what he might do in others. They gain
nothing by the quibble to which they here resort, that is, that this was
only once done, and, therefore, it does not forthwith follow that the
Lord always acts thus with infants. That is not the mode in which we
reason. Our only object is to show that they unjustly and malignantly
confine the power of God within limits, within which it cannot be
confined.
As little weight is due to another subterfuge. They
allege that, by the usual phraseology of Scriptures "from the womb," has
the same meaning as "from childhood." But it is easy to see that the
angel had a different meaning when he announced to Zacharias that the
child not yet born would be filled with the Holy Spirit. Instead of
attempting to give a law to God, let us hold that he sanctifies whom he
pleases in the way in which he sanctified John, seeing that his power is
not impaired.
18. And, indeed, Christ was sanctified from
earliest infancy, that he might sanctify his elect in himself at any
age, without distinction. For as he, in order to wipe away the guilt of
disobedience which had been committed in our flesh assumed that very
flesh, that in it he might, on our account and in our stead, perform a
perfect obedience, so he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that,
completely pervaded with his holiness in the flesh which he had assumed
he might transfuse it into us. If in Christ we have a perfect pattern
of all the grace, which God bestows on all his children, in this
instance we have a proof that the age of infancy is not incapable of
receiving sanctification. This, at least, we set down as
incontrovertible, that none of the elect is called away from the present
life without being previously sanctified and regenerated by the Spirit
of God.
As to their objection that, in Scriptures the
Spirit acknowledges no sanctification save that from incorruptible seed,
that is, the word of God, they erroneously interpret Peter's words, in
which he comprehends only believers who had been taught by the preaching
of the gospel (1 Pet. 1:23). We confess, indeed, that the word of the
Lord is the only seed of spiritual regeneration; but we deny the
inference that, therefore, the power of God cannot regenerate infants.
This is as possible and easy for him as it is wondrous and
incomprehensible to us. It would be dangerous to deny that the Lord is
able to furnish them with the knowledge of himself in any way he
pleases.
19. But faith, they says comes by hearing, the use
of which infants have not yet obtained, nor can they be fit to know God,
being, as Moses declares, without the knowledge of good and evil (Deut.
1:39.) But they observe not that where the apostle makes hearing the
beginning of faith, he is only describing the usual economy and
dispensation which the Lord usually employs in calling his people, and
not laying down an invariable rule for which no other method can be
substituted.
Many he certainly has called and endued with the
true knowledge of himself by internal means by the illumination of the
Spirit, without the intervention of preaching. But since they deem it
very absurd to attribute any knowledge of God to infants, whom Moses
makes void of the knowledge of good and evil, let them tell me where the
danger lies if they are said now to receive some part of that grace, of
which they are to have the full measure shortly after.
For if fullness of life consists in the perfect
knowledge of God, since some of those whom death hurries away in the
first moments of infancy pass into life eternal, they are certainly
admitted to behold the immediate presence of God. Those therefore whom
the Lord is to illumine with the full brightness of his light, why may
he not, if he so pleases, irradiate at present with some small beam,
especially if he does not remove their ignorance before he delivers them
from the prison of the flesh? I would not rashly affirm that they are
endued with the same faith which we experience in ourselves or have any
knowledge at all resembling faith, (this I would rather leave
undecided), but I would somewhat curb the stolid arrogance of those men
who, as with inflated cheeks affirm or deny whatever suits them.
20. In order to gain a stronger footing here, they
add that baptism is a sacrament of penitence and faith, and as neither
of these is applicable to tender infancy we must beware of rendering its
meaning empty and vain by admitting infants to the communion of baptism.
But these darts are directed more against God than against us; since the
fact that circumcision was a sign of repentance is completely
established by many passages of Scripture (Jer. 4:4). Thus Paul terms it
a seal of the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4:11).
Let God, then, be demanded why he ordered
circumcision to be performed on the bodies of infants? For baptism and
circumcision being here in the same case, they cannot give any thing to
the latter without conceding it to the former. If they recur to their
usual evasion, that, by the age of infancy, spiritual infants were then
figured, we have already closed this means of escape against them. We
say then that since God imparted circumcision, the sign of repentance
and faith, to infants, it should not seem absurd that they are now made
partakers of baptisms unless men choose to clamor against an institution
of God.
But as in all his acts, so here also enough of
wisdom and righteousness shines forth to repress the slanders of the
ungodly. For although infants, at the moment when they were circumcised
did not comprehend what the sign meant, still they were truly
circumcised for the mortification of their corrupt and polluted nature,
- a mortification at which they afterwards aspired when adults.
In summary, the objection is easily disposed of by
the fact that children are baptized for future repentance and faith.
Though these are not yet formed in them, yet the seed of both lies hid
in them by the secret operation of the Spirit. This answer at once
overthrows all the objections which are twisted against us out of the
meaning of baptism; for instance, the title by which Paul distinguishes
it when he terms it the "washing of regeneration and renewing" (Tit.
3:5). Hence they argue that it is not to be given to any but to those
who are capable of such feelings. But we, on the other hand, may object
that neither ought circumcision, which is designated regeneration, to be
conferred on any but the regenerate. In this way, we shall condemn a
divine institution.
Thus, as we have already hinted, all the arguments which tend to
shake circumcision are of no force in assailing baptism. Nor can they
escape by saying, that everything which rests on the authority of God is
absolutely fixed, though there should be no reason for it, but that this
reverence is not due to infant baptism, nor other similar things which
are not recommended to us by the express word of God. They always remain
caught in this dilemma. The command of God to circumcise infants was
either legitimate and exempt from cavil, or deserved reprehension. If
there was nothing incompetent or absurd in it, no absurdity can be shown
in the observance of infant baptism.
21. The charge of absurdity with
which they attempt to stigmatize it we thus dispose of. If those on whom
the Lord has bestowed his election, after receiving the sign of
regeneration, depart this life before they become adults, he, by the
incomprehensible energy of his Spirit, renews them in the way which he
alone sees to be expedient. Should they reach an age when they can be
instructed in the meaning of baptism, they will thereby be animated to
greater zeal for renovation, the badge of which they will learn that
they received in earliest infancy, in order that they might aspire to it
during their whole lives.
To the same effect are the two passages in which
Paul teaches that we are buried with Christ by baptism, (Rom. 6:4; Col.
2:12). For by this he means not that he who is to be initiated by
baptism must have previously been buried with Christ; he simply declares
the doctrine which is taught by baptism, and that to those already
baptized: so that the most senseless cannot maintain from this passage
that it ought to precede baptism. In this way, Moses and the prophets
reminded the people of the thing meant by circumcision, which however
infants received.
To the same effect Paul says to the Galatians, "As
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal.
3:27). Why so? That they might thereafter live to Christ, to whom
previously they had not lived. And though, in adults, the receiving of
the sign ought to follow the understanding of its meaning, yet, as will
shortly be explained, a different rule must be followed with children.
No other conclusion can be drawn from a passage in
Peter, on which they strongly found. He says, that baptism is "not the
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good
conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet.
3:21). From this they contend that nothing is left for infant baptism,
which becomes mere empty smoke, as being altogether at variance with the
meaning of baptism. But the delusion which misleads them is that they
would always have the thing to precede the sign in the order of time.
For the truth of circumcision consisted in the same answer of a good
conscience; but if the truth must necessarily have preceded, infants
would never have been circumcised by the command of God.
But he himself, showing that the answer of a good
conscience forms the truth of circumcision, and, at the same time,
commanding infants to be circumcised, plainly intimates that, in their
case, circumcision had reference to the future. Wherefore, nothing more
of present effect is to be required in infant baptism, than to confirm and
sanction the covenant which the Lord has made with them. The other part
of the meaning of the sacrament will follow at the time which God
himself has provided.
22. Every one must, I think,
clearly perceive that all arguments of this stamp are mere perversions
of Scripture. The other remaining arguments akin to these we shall
cursorily examine. They object that baptism is given for the remission
of sins. When this is conceded it strongly supports our view; for,
seeing we are born sinners, we stand in need of forgiveness and pardon
from the very womb. Moreover, since God does not preclude this age from
the hope of mercy, but rather gives assurance of it, why should we
deprive it of the sign, which is much inferior to the reality? The
arrow, therefore, which they aim at us, we throw back upon themselves.
Infants receive forgiveness of sins; therefore, they are not to be
deprived of the sign.
They adduce the passage from the Ephesians, that
Christ gave himself for the Church, "that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26). Nothing could be
quoted more appropriate than this to overthrow their error: it furnishes
us with an easy proof. If, by baptism, Christ intends to attest the
ablution by which he cleanses his Church, it would seem not equitable to
deny this attestation to infants, who are justly deemed part of the
Church, seeing they are called heirs of the heavenly kingdom. For Paul
comprehends the whole Church when he says that it was cleansed by the
washing of water. In like manner, from his expression in another place,
that by baptism we are ingrafted into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13),
we infer, that infants, whom he enumerates among his members, are to be
baptized in order that they may not be dissevered from his body. See the
violent onset which they make with all their engines on the bulwarks of
our faith.
23. They now come down to the custom and practice
of the apostolic age, alleging that there is no instance of any one
having been admitted to baptism without a previous profession of faith
and repentance. For when Peter is asked by his hearers, who were pricked
in their heart, "What shall we do?" his advice is, "Repent, and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the
remission of sins" (Acts 2:37, 38). In like manner, when Philip was
asked by the eunuch to baptize him, he answered, "If thou believest with
all thine heart, thou mayest." [KJV, Acts 8:37]
-2-
Hence they think they can make out that baptism
cannot be lawfully given to any one without previous faith and
repentance. If we yield to this argument, the former passage in which
there is no mention of faith will prove that repentance alone is
sufficient, and the latter, which makes no requirement of repentance,
that there is need only of faith.
They will object, I presume, that the one passage
helps the other, and that both, therefore, are to be connected. I, in my
turn, maintain that these two must be compared with other passages which
contribute somewhat to the solution of this difficulty. There are many
passages of Scripture whose meaning depends on their peculiar position.
Of this we have an example in the present instance. Those to whom these
things are said by Peter and Philip are of an age fit to aim at
repentance, and receive faith. We strenuously insist that such men are
not to be baptized unless their conversion and faith are discerned, at
least in as far as human judgment can ascertain it.
But it is perfectly clear that infants must be
placed in a different class. For when any one formerly joined the
religious communion of Israel, he behaved to be taught the covenant, and
instructed in the law of the Lord, before he received circumcision,
because he was of a different nation; in other words, an alien from the
people of Israel, with whom the covenant, which circumcision sanctioned,
had been made.
24. Thus the Lord, when he chose Abraham for
himself, did not commence with circumcision, in the meanwhile concealing
what he meant by that sign, but first announced that he intended to make
a covenant with him, and, after his faith in the promise, made him
partaker of the sacrament. Why does the sacrament come after faith in
Abraham, and precede all intelligence in his son Isaac? It is right that
he who, in adult age is admitted to the fellowship of a covenant by one
from whom he had hitherto been alienated, should previously learn its
conditions; but it is not so with the infant born to him. He, according
to the terms of the promise, is included in the promise by hereditary
right from his mother's womb. Or, to state the matter more briefly and
more clearly, if the children of believers without the help of
understanding, are partakers of the covenant, there is no reason why
they should be denied the sign because they are unable to swear to its
stipulations.
This undoubtedly is the reason why the Lord
sometimes declares that the children born to the Israelites are begotten
and born to him (Ezek. 16:20; 23:37). For he undoubtedly gives the place
of sons to the children of those to whose seed he has promised that he
will be a Father. But the child descended from unbelieving parents is
deemed an alien to the covenant until he is united to God by faith.
Hence, it is not strange that the sign is withheld when the thing
signified would be vain and fallacious. In that view, Paul says that the
Gentiles, so long as they were plunged in idolatry, were strangers to
the covenants (Eph. 2:11).
The whole matter may, if I mistake not, be thus
briefly and clearly expounded: Those who, in adult age, embrace the
faith of Christ, having hitherto been aliens from the covenant, are not
to receive the sign of baptism without previous faith and repentance.
These alone can give them access to the fellowship of the covenant,
whereas children, deriving their origin from Christians, as they are
immediately on their birth received by God as heirs of the covenant, are
also to be admitted to baptism. To this we must refer the narrative of
the Evangelist, that those who were baptized by John confessed their sin
(Matt. 3:6). This example, we hold, ought to be observed in the present
day. Were a Turk to offer himself for baptism, we would not at once
perform the rite without receiving a confession which was satisfactory
to the Church.
25. Another passage which they adduce is from the
third chapter of John, where our Savior’s words seem to them to imply
that a present regeneration is required in baptism, "Except a man be
born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God" (John 3:5). See, they say, how baptism is termed regeneration by
the lips of our Lord himself, and on what pretext, therefore, with what
consistency is baptism given to those who, it is perfectly obvious, are
not at all capable of regeneration?
First, they are in error in imagining that there is
any mention of baptism in this passage, merely because the word water is
used. Nicodemus, after our Savior had explained to him the corruption of
nature and the necessity of being born again, kept dreaming of a
corporeal birth. So, our Savior intimates the mode in which God
regenerates us, that is, by water and the Spirit; in other words, by the
Spirit, who, in irrigating and cleansing the soul of believers, operates
in the manner of water.
By "water and the Spirit," therefore, I simply
understand the Spirit, which is water. Nor is the expression new. It
perfectly accords with that which is used in the third chapter of
Matthew, "He that comes after me is mightier than I;" "he shall
baptize
you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire" (Matt. 3:11). Therefore, as to
baptize with the Holy Spirit, and with fire, is to confer the Holy
Spirit, who, in regeneration, has the office and nature of fire, so to
be born again of water, and of the Spirit, is nothing else than to
receive that power of the Spirit, which has the same effect on the soul
that water has on the body.
I know that a different interpretation is given,
but I have no doubt that this is the genuine meaning, because our
Savior’s only purpose was to teach that all who aspire to the kingdom of
heaven must lay aside their own disposition. And yet were we disposed to
imitate these men in their mode of quibbling, we might easily, after
conceding what they wish, reply to them, that baptism is prior to faith
and repentance, since, in this passage, our Savior mentions it before
the Spirit. This certainly must be understood of spiritual gifts, and if
they follow baptism, I have gained all I contend for. But, caviling
aside, the simple interpretation to be adopted is, that which I have
given; that is, that no man, until renewed by living water, that is, by
the Spirit, can enter the kingdom of God.
26. This, moreover, plainly explodes the fiction of
those who consign all the unbaptized to eternal death. Let us suppose,
then, that as they insist, baptism is administered to adults only. What
will they make of a youth who, after being imbued duly and properly with
the rudiments of piety, while waiting for the day of baptism, is
unexpectedly carried off by sudden death? The promise of our Lord is
clear, "He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed
from death unto life" (John 5:24) .We nowhere read of his having
condemned him who was not yet baptized.
I would not be understood as insinuating that
baptism may be condemned with impunity. So far from excusing this
contempt, I hold that it violates the covenant of the Lord. The passage
only serves to show, that we must not deem baptism so necessary as to
suppose that every one who has lost the opportunity of obtaining it has
forthwith perished. By assenting to their fiction, we should condemn
all, without exception, whom any accident may have prevented from
procuring baptism, no matter how much they may have been endued with the
faith by which Christ himself is possessed. Moreover, baptism being, as
they hold, necessary to salvation, they, in denying it to infants,
consign them all to eternal death.
Let them now consider what kind of agreement they
have with the words of Christ, who says that "of such is the kingdom of
heaven" (Matt. 19:14). And though we were to concede every thing to
them, in regard to the meaning of this passage, they will extract
nothing from it, until they have previously overthrown the doctrine
which we have already established concerning the regeneration of
infants.
27. But they boast of having their strongest
bulwark in the very institution of baptism, which they find in the last
chapter of Matthew, where Christ, sending his disciples into all the
world, commands them to teach and then baptize. Then in the last chapter
of Mark, it is added "He that believes, and is baptized, shall be saved"
(Mark 16:16). What more (say they) do we ask, since the words of Christ
distinctly declare, that teaching must precede baptism, and assign to
baptism the place next to faith?
Of this arrangement our Lord himself gave an
example, in choosing not to be baptized till his thirtieth year. In how
many ways do they here entangle themselves, and betray their ignorance!
They err more than childishly in this, that they derive the first
institution of baptism from this passage, whereas Christ had from the
commencement of his ministry ordered it to be administered by the
apostles.
There is no ground, therefore, for contending that
the law and rule of baptism is to be sought from these two passages, as
containing the first institution. But to indulge them in their error,
how nerveless is this mode of arguing? Were I disposed to evasion, I
have not only a place of escape, but a wide field to expatiate in. For
when they cling so desperately to the order of the words, insisting that
because it is said, "Go, preach and baptize," and again, "Whosoever
believes and is baptized," they must preach before baptizing, and
believe before being baptized, why may not we in our turn object, that
they must baptize before teaching the observance of those things which
Christ commanded, because it is said, "Baptize, teaching whatsoever I
have commanded you?"
The same thing we observed in the other passage in
which Christ speaks of the regeneration of water and of the Spirit. For
if we interpret as they insist, then baptism must take precedence of
spiritual regeneration, because it is first mentioned. Christ teaches
that we are to be born again, not of the Spirit and of water, but of
water and of the Spirit.
28. This unassailable argument, in which they
confide so much, seems already to be considerably shaken; but as we have
sufficient protection in the simplicity of truth, I am unwilling to
evade the point by paltry subtleties. Let them, therefore, have a solid
answer. The command here given by Christ relates principally to the
preaching of the gospel: to it baptism is added as a kind of appendage.
Then he merely speaks of baptism in so far as the dispensation of it is
subordinate to the fiction of teaching. For Christ sends his disciples
to publish the gospel to all nations of the World, that by the doctrine
of salvation they may gather men, who were previously lost into his
kingdom.
But who or what are those men? It is certain that
mention is made only of those who are fit to receive his doctrine. He
subjoins, that such, after being taught, were to be baptized, adding the
promise, Whosoever believes, and is baptized, shall be saved. Is there
one syllable about infants in the whole discourse? What, then, is the
form of argument with which they assail us? Those who are of adult age
are to be instructed and brought to the faith, before being baptized,
and, therefore, it is unlawful to make baptism common to infants. They
cannot, at the very utmost, prove any other thing out of this passage,
than that the gospel must be preached to those who are capable of
hearing it before they are baptized: for of such only the passage
speaks. From this let them, if they can, throw an obstacle in the way of
baptizing infants.
29. But I will make their fallacies palpable even
to the blind, by a very plain similitude. Should any one insist that
infants are to be deprived of food on the pretence that the apostle
permits none to eat but those who labor (2 Thess. 3:10), would he not
deserve to be scouted by all? Why so? Because that which was said of a
certain class of men and a certain age, he wrests and applies to all
indifferently. The dexterity of these men in the present instance is no
greater. That which every one sees to be intended for adult age merely,
they apply to infants, subjecting them to a rule which was laid down
only for those of riper years.
With regard to the example of our Savior, it gives
no countenance to their case. He was not baptized before his thirtieth
year. This is, indeed, true, but the reason is obvious; because he then
determined to lay the solid foundation of baptism by his preaching, or
rather to confirm the foundation which John had previously laid.
Therefore when he was pleased with his doctrine to institute baptism,
that he might give the greater authority to his institution, he
sanctified it in his own person, and that at the most befitting time,
namely, the commencement of his ministry.
In summary, they can prove nothing more than that
baptism received its origin and commencement with the preaching of the
gospel. But if they are pleased to fix upon the thirtieth year, why do
they not observe it, but admit any one to baptism according to the view
which they may have formed of his proficiency? Nay, even Servetus, one
of their masters, although he stubbornly insisted on this period, had
begun to act the prophet in his twenty-first year; as if any man could
be tolerated in arrogating to himself the office of a teacher in the
Church before he was a member of the Church.
30. At length they object, that there is not greater reason for
admitting infants to baptism than to the Lord's Supper, to which,
however, they are never admitted: as if Scripture did not in every way
draw a wide distinction between them. In the early Church, indeed, the
Lord's Supper was frequently given to infants, as appears from Cyprian
and Augustine, (August. ad Bonif. Lib. 1;)
but the practice justly became obsolete. For if we attend to the
peculiar nature of baptism, it is a kind of entrance, and as it were
initiation into the Church, by which we are ranked among the people of
God, a sign of our spiritual regeneration, by which we are again born to
be children of God, whereas on the contrary the Supper is intended for
those of riper years, who, having passed the tender period of infancy,
are fit to bear solid food.
This distinction is very clearly pointed out in
Scripture. For there, as far as regards baptism, the Lord makes no
selection of age, whereas he does not admit all to partake of the
Supper, but confines it to those who are fit to discern the body and
blood of the Lord, to examine their own conscience, to show forth the
Lord's death, and understand its power. Can we wish anything clearer
than what the apostle says, when he thus exhorts, "Let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup?" (1
Cor. 11:28). Examination, therefore, must precede, and this it were vain
to expect from infants. Again, "He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats
and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." If
they cannot partake worthily without being able duly to discern the
sanctity of the Lord's body, why should we stretch out poison to our
young children instead of vivifying food?
Then what is our Lord's injunction? "Do this in
remembrance of me." And what the inference which the apostle draws from
this? "As often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you show the
Lord's death till he comes." How, pray, can we require infants to
commemorate any event of which they have no understanding; how require
them to "show forth the Lord's death," of the nature and benefit of
which they have no idea?
Nothing of the kind is prescribed by baptism.
Therefore, there is the greatest difference between the two signs. This
also we observe in similar signs under the old dispensation.
Circumcision, which, as is well known, corresponds to our baptism, was
intended for infants, but the Passover, for which the Supper is
substituted, did not admit all kinds of guests promiscuously, but was
duly eaten only by those who were of an age sufficient to ask its
meaning (Exod. 12:26). Had these men the least particle of soundness in
their brain, would they be thus blind as to a matter so very clear and
obvious?
31. Though I am unwilling to annoy the reader with
the series of conceits which Servetus, not the least among the
Anabaptists, nay, the great honor of this crew, when girding himself for
battle, deemed, when he adduced them, to be specious arguments, it will
be worth while briefly to dispose of them. He pretends that as the
symbols of Christ are perfect, they require persons who are perfect, or,
at least, capable of perfection.
But the answer is plain. The perfection of baptism,
which extends even to death, is improperly restricted to one moment of
time; moreover, perfection, in which baptism invites us to make
continual progress during life, is foolishly exacted by him all at once.
He objects that the symbols of Christ were appointed for remembrance,
that every one may remember that he was buried together with Christ. I
answer, that what he coined out of his own brain does not need
refutation, nay, that which he transfers to baptism properly belongs to
the Supper, as appears from Paul's words, "Let a man examine himself,"
words similar to which are nowhere used with reference to baptism. From
this we infer, that those who from nonage are incapable of examination
are duly baptized.
His third point is, That all who believe not in the
Son remain in death, the wrath of God abides on them, (John 3:36) and,
therefore, infants who are unable to believe lie under condemnation. I
answer, that Christ does not there speak of the general guilt in which
all the posterity of Adam are involved, but only threatens the despisers
of the gospel, who proudly and obstinately spurn the grace which is
offered to them. But this has nothing to do with infants.
At the same time, I meet him with the opposite
argument. Every one whom Christ blesses is exempted from the curse of
Adam and the wrath of God. Therefore, seeing it is certain that infants
are blessed by him, it follows that they are freed from death. He next
falsely quotes a passage which is nowhere found, Whosoever is born of
the Spirit, hears the voice of the Spirit. Though we should grant that
such a passage occurs in Scripture, all he can extract from it is, that
believers, according as the Spirit works in them, are framed to
obedience. But that which is said of a certain number, it is illogical
to apply to all alike.
His fourth objection is, As that which precedes is
animal (1 Cor. 15:46), we must wait the full time for baptism, which is
spiritual. But while I admit that all the posterity of Adam, born of the
flesh, bear their condemnation with them from the womb, I hold that this
is no obstacle to the immediate application of the divine remedy.
Servetus cannot show that by divine appointment, several years must
elapse before the new spiritual life begins. Paul's testimony is, that
though lost by nature, the children of believers are holy by
supernatural grace.
He afterwards brings forward the allegory that
David when going up into mount Zion, took with him neither the blind nor
the lame, but vigorous soldiers (2 Sam. 5:8). But what if I meet this
with the parable in which God invites to the heavenly feast the lame and
the blind? In what way will Servetus disentangle this knot? I ask,
moreover whether the lame and the maimed had not previously served with
David? But it is superfluous to dwell longer on this argument, which as
the reader will learn from the sacred history, is founded on mere
misquotation.
He adds another allegory, that is, that the apostles were fishers of
men, not of children. I ask, then, What does our Savior mean when he
says that in the net are caught all kinds of fishes? (Matt. 4:19;
13:47). But as I have no pleasure in sporting with allegory, I answer,
that when the office of teaching was committed to the apostles they were
not prohibited from baptizing infants. Moreover, I should like to know
why, when the Evangelist uses the term anthropous,
(which comprehends the whole human race without exception,) he denies
that infants are included.
His seventh argument is, Since spiritual things
accord with spiritual (l Cor. 2:13), infants, not being spiritual are
unfit for baptism. It is plain how perversely he wrests this passage of
Paul. It relates to doctrine. The Corinthians, pluming themselves
excessively on a vain acuteness, Paul rebukes their folly, because they
still required to be instilled with the first rudiments of heavenly
doctrine. Who can infer from this that baptism is to be denied to
infants, whom, when begotten of the flesh, the Lord consecrates to
himself by gratuitous adoption?
His objection, that if they are new men they must
be fed with spiritual food, is easily obviated. By baptism they are
admitted into the fold of Christ, and the symbol of adoption is
sufficient for them, until they grow up and become fit to bear solid
food. We must, therefore, wait for the time of examination, which God
distinctly demands in the sacred Supper.
His next objection is, that Christ invites all his
people to the sacred supper. But as it is plain that he admits those
only who are prepared to celebrate the commemoration of his death, it
follows that infants whom he honored with his embrace, remain in a
distinct and peculiar position until they grow up, and yet are not
aliens. When he objects, that it is strange why the infant does not
partake of the Supper, I answer, that souls are fed by other food than
the external eating of the Supper, and that accordingly Christ is the
food of infants though they partake not of the symbol. The case is
different with baptism, by which the door of the Church is thrown open
to them.
He again objects that a good householder
distributes meat to his household in due season (Matt. 24:45). This I
willingly admit; but how will he define the time of baptism, so as to
prove that it is not seasonably given to infants? He, moreover, adduces
Christ's command to the apostles to make haste, because the fields are
already white to the harvest (John 4: 35). Our Savior only means that
the apostles, seeing the present fruit of their labor, should bestir
themselves with more alacrity to teach. Who will infer from this, that
harvest only is the fit time for baptism?
His eleventh argument is, That in the primitive
Church, Christians and disciples were the same; but we have already seen
that he argues unskillfully from the part to the whole. The name of
disciples is given to men of full age, who had already been taught, and
had assumed the name of Christ, just as the Jews behaved to be disciples
under the law of Moses. Still none could rightly infer from this that
infants, whom the Lord declared to be of his household, were strangers.
Moreover he alleges that all Christians are
brethren and that infants cannot belong to this class so long as we
exclude them from the Supper. But I return to my position, first, that
none are heirs of the kingdom of heaven but those who are the members of
Christ; and, secondly, that the embracing of Christ was the true badge
of adoption, in which infants are joined in common with adults, and that
temporary abstinence from the Supper does not prevent them from
belonging to the body of the Church. The thief on the cross, when
converted, became the brother of believers, though he never partook of
the Lord's Supper.
Servetus afterwards adds, that no man becomes our
brother unless by the Spirit of adoption, who is only conferred by the
hearing of faith. I answer, that he always falls back into the same
paralogism [logical fallacy], because he preposterously applies to
infants what is said only of adults. Paul there teaches that the
ordinary way in which God calls his elect, and brings them to the faith,
is by raising up faithful teachers and thus stretching out his hand to
them by their ministry and labors. Who will presume from this to give
the law to God, and say that he may not ingraft infants into Christ by
some other secret method?
He objects, that Cornelius was baptized after
receiving the Holy Spirit; but how absurdly he would convert a single
example into a general rule is apparent from the case of the Eunuch and
the Samaritans, in regard to whom the Lord observed a different order,
baptism preceding the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The fifteenth argument is more than absurd. He says
that we become gods by regeneration, but that they are gods to whom the
word of God is sent (John 10:35; 2 Pet. 1:4), a thing not possible to
infant children. The attributing of deity to believers is one of his
ravings which this is not the proper place to discuss; but it betrays
the utmost effrontery to wrest the passage in the psalm (Ps. 82:6) to a
meaning so alien to it. Christ says that kings and magistrates are
called gods by the prophet because they perform an office divinely
appointed them. This dexterous interpreter transfers what is addressed
by special command to certain individuals to the doctrine of the Gospel,
so as to exterminate infants from the Church.
Again, he objects, that infants cannot be regarded
as new men, because they are not begotten by the word. But what I have
said again and again I now repeat, that, for regenerating us doctrine is
an incorruptible seed, if indeed we are fit to perceive it; but when,
from nonage we are incapable of being taught, God takes his own methods
of regenerating.
He afterwards returns to his allegories and says
that under the law, the sheep and the goat were not offered in sacrifice
the moment they were birthed (Exod. 12:5). Were I disposed to deal in
figures I might obviously reply, first, that all the first-born on
opening the womb, were sacred to the Lord, (Exod. 13:12), and, secondly,
that a lamb of a year old was to be sacrificed. From this, it follows
that it was not necessary to wait for mature age, the young and tender
offspring having been selected by God for sacrifice.
He contends, moreover, that none could come to
Christ but those who were previously prepared by John; as if John's
ministry had not been temporary. But, to omit this, assuredly there was
no such preparation in the children whom Christ took up in his arms and
blessed. Wherefore let us have done with his false principle.
He at length calls in the assistance of
Trismegistus and the Sibyls to prove that sacred ablutions [washing,
that is, baptism] are fit only for adults. See how honorably he thinks
of Christian baptism when he tests it by the profane rites of the
Gentiles, and will not have it administered except in the way pleasing
to Trismegistus.
We defer more to the authority of God, who has seen
it meet to consecrate infants to himself, and initiate them by a sacred
symbol, the significance of which they are unable from nonage to
understand. We do not think it lawful to borrow from the expiations of
the Gentiles, in order to change in our baptism that eternal and
inviolable law which God enacted in circumcision.
His last argument is, If infants, without
understanding, may be baptized, baptism may be mimicked and jestingly
administered by boys in sport. Here let him plead the matter with God,
by whose command circumcision was common to infants before they received
understanding. Was it, then, a fit matter for ridicule or boyish sport,
to overthrow the sacred institution of God? But no wonder that these
reprobate spirits, as if they were under the influence of frenzy,
introduce the grossest absurdities in defense of their errors, because
God, by this spirit of giddiness, justly avenges their pride and
obstinacy. I trust I have made it apparent how feebly Servetus has
supported his friends the Anabaptists.
32. No sound
man, I presume, can now doubt how rashly the Church is disturbed by
those who excite quarrels and disturbances because of infant baptism. For
it is of importance to observe what Satan means by all this craft, that
is, to rob us of the singular blessing of confidence and spiritual joy,
which is hence to be derived, and in so far to detract from the glory of
the divine goodness. For how sweet is it to pious minds to be assured
not only by word, but even by visible demonstration, that they are so
much in favor with their heavenly Father, that he interests himself in
their posterity! Here we may see how he acts towards us as a most
provident parent, not ceasing to care for us even after our death, but
consulting and providing for our children. Ought not our whole heart to
be stirred up within us, as David's was, (Ps. 48: 11,) to bless his name
for such a manifestation of goodness?
Doubtless, the design of Satan in assaulting
infant baptism with all his forces is to keep out of view, and gradually
efface, that attestation of divine grace which the promise itself
presents to our eyes. In this way, not only would men be impiously
ungrateful for the mercy of God, but be less careful in training their
children to piety. For it is no slight stimulus to us to bring them up
in the fear of God, and the observance of his law, when we reflect, that
from their birth they have been considered and acknowledged by him as
his children. Wherefore, if we would not maliciously obscure the
kindness of God, let us present to him our infants, to whom he has
assigned a place among his friends and family that is, the members of
the Church.
Notes
1. This paragraph is translated from the original
French version. [Return]
2. Acts 8:37 does not appear in most modern
versions. [Return]
-Dennis Bratcher, Copyright ©
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