Does the gospel place them under such a ban of proscription?
Surely not! He who instituted the family relation had special regard to the
family in all the appointments of his grace. His command is like that of
Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark." "The promise is unto you
and your children." This is the comfort of the parent, that his children
are planted by the ordinance of God into the soil of grace, where they may
grow up as a tender plant in the likeness of His death, and be "like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that shall bring forth his fruit in his
season; his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
Baptism in the Christian home is eminently infant baptism. Take this away,
and you sever the strongest cord that binds church and home. As the Jew was
commanded to circumcise his child, and thus bring it into proper relations
to the theocratical covenant, so the Christian has a similar command from
Christ to bring his children, through the holy sacrament of baptism, to
Him. It is not our purpose to discuss the baptistic question. When we
shall have thrown sufficient light upon it to convince the Christian
parent, that it is a duty to have little children dedicated to God in
baptism, our plan shall be fully executed. We must either admit infant
baptism, or deny that the Christian covenant includes children, and that
the parent is bound to dedicate them to God.
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